High Holidays 2015/5776

Taking time to celebrate the High Holidays was always a joy. I would spend weeks preparing – baking, cleaning, decorating, planning homeschool activities around it. And when my kids went to Day School instead, the holidays were still a heavily prepared for and celebrated time. When I went back to work, the preparation dropped significantly. When Teen graduated from Day School and went on to public school, all of a sudden the holidays went haywire. Now instead of the cozy domestic scene we had started with years ago, we were juggling school and work schedules, increased homework loads, negotiating days off and the makeup work that accompanies them, cooking, cleaning, after school activities and the logistics of 2 kids at 2 schools on opposite sides of town from each other. So now, instead of charming and rejuvenating, the holidays are stressful and squeezed in.

And when we have 2 kids in non-Jewish schools I fear we will be in well over our heads.

In other news, I was reminded of Smitten Kitchen’s Apple Slab Cake yesterday when I was trying to figure out what I was going to do with the overload of not fantastic apples we got this year. The pie crust dough is in the fridge to finish it up tonight. The best thing about that is the huge number of lunch snacks I get out of that. It lasts for ages in the freezer.

Back to school today

It was an extra long weekend – one that was well used! But we are back to the grind, especially as we get ready to hit the high holidays full force.

Lunch today is an old favorite – Amy’s Southwestern Style Burritos. There is something about the masa chunks in it that the kids really like. Since the other veggie burritos last week were a crime against burritos according to tween (teen liked them okay as it turns out) I reverted back to the Amy’s, especially since I found them on sale.

In addition we have some cut up apples (with fruit fresh)
dried mango
black beans
a couple of baby cookies

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Now that lunch is out of the way, let’s get back to Rosh Hashanah. First a link:

Sweet Challah Dips from Busy in Brooklyn

I am 100% making the halva dip. And I am taking a page out of her book and making marzipan challah.

You know what – I might just make her whole Rosh Hashanah menu and call it a day.

Tuesday-Friday

How incredibly yawn-inducing this has been – amirite? There hasn’t been anything particularly charming or cute or any recipes or anything.

Only a few weeks into school and the nut-free, meat-free rules at school and I am already chafing. I don’t want him to have too much soy, and some items are too high fat/calorie/processed/etc. or too unlikely to be eaten to do too often.

I made schnitzel Tuesday night and the kids have been eating off of that for a few days. It shows up in Teen’s lunches and Tween even had it for breakfast yesterday in place of his usual breakfast wrap. But Tween wanted it for his lunch today too. No dice. So I made him a tilapia schnitzel instead. Let’s see how that goes over.

I even tried a new veggie burrito that I baked in the oven and wrapped in foil in his lunch a few days ago. He pronounced it gross and asked that I not send that again. Teen concurred.

So lunches this week have been chicken (and that one veggie burrito) and various side dishes for Teen and various ways around that for Tween. He’s had a Chik Patty sandwich, Nuggets, tilapia, and the aforementioned veggie gross burrito. Thank goodness Friday is pizza.

Monday August 32

Monday. Until this morning I had no idea what the main was going to be for today’s lunch. Luckily I had the rest of the box in hand, but it was a long weekend. And not the fun, 3-day weekend kind. 🙂

Lunch is the same for teen and tween today except for the main. Teen got leftover grilled chicken and Tween got Chik Nuggets with honey mustard.

Mixed berry salad
dried mango and a few cat cookies
a roll to turn the main into a sandwich if desired.

Wednesday Aug 27

Ugh. I can’t even.

Tuna on whole wheat
BabyBel
Grapes
Baby carrots
Somersaults (nut free but not seed free)
leftover birthday red velvet cupcakes

Wednesday Aug 26

It is taquito day! (Should that be on Tuesdays in the future for Taquito Tuesday!?)

Anyway.. lunch for both boys was black bean and cheese taquitos with a little dipping salsa, red grapes (because the green ones are gone) and mango. In the tops of their lunchboxes they also got Pickle Popcorn and a Clif/protein bar.

It really wasn’t a lunch worth photographing, which is good since I didn’t take a picture anyway!

I can talk about the packing process though. So many websites and blogs recommend packing the lunches the night before to get a jump on things, and that sounds great and all, but when the food is something that is just better warm, a night in the refrigerator does it no favors. Some meals do okay in the fridge overnight, but the bread on sandwiches starts to go stale or soggy, food like taquitos changes texture, etc. So I pack up what can be packed the night before (like washing and packing the fruit and packing the snacky items in the top of the box like their Clif bars, etc.) and then I make sure the boxes are ready for packing in the morning.

I saw this link yesterday from Gimme the Recipe:

School Lunches – The definitive guide

and it has some great advice and charts. I am definitely going to try to incorporate some of her ideas when the creative juices start to dry up!

Tuesday

So many of the lunches that I see online are either for much smaller children than mine and have a combo of too small and too cute or are not relevant for our kosher requirements. I keep trying though, hoping that I am just missing the blog that has my lunch-packing soulmate writing it. Until that day, I will keep putting our lunches out there one at a time!

That reminds me though that I haven’t talked about how I handle kashrut and lunches. With Tween it is easy. Since his lunches must be kosher dairy, I have one set of everything for him. With Teen, I use the same outer box, but have different inner containers (that actually touch the food) and different flatware. All of teen’s containers have lids, so if they contain meat things (or saucy things) they get a lid to keep from spreading.

The photo today was run through Instagram to try to make it a bit better. Progress, progress. I only took one photo because both lunches look the same until you open the bun.

Lunch today is:

sandwich (teen: leftover turkey burger and tween: tuna), grapes, celery, dried mango and a couple of  hidden cookies.

Plus a Baggie of baked chips and a Clif bar for snack.

No photo today

I am not feeling confident in my photos and I think they are pretty ugly. Working on that…

Same lunch today for both:

Baked Pasta
Green Grapes
dried mango
Baked chips
and a Clif/protein bar for snack time

Oops. I just realized I forgot to toss in the celery sticks I prepared last night. Oh well. After school snack I guess.

Friday is pizza day

And pizza is an imperative when the school’s hot lunch is pizza . I added some soy nuggets and key lime cookies to round out the box. Fruit and a baggie of baby carrots are in the top of the lunchbox again. It’s easier with whole fruit.

Taquitos and everyone is happy

I really have to figure out the whole photo thing. I hate these photos, but I haven’t quite nailed how I intend to fix it yet. Soon. Soon.

In the meantime, the kids got black bean taquitos baked in the oven. a clementine and a Babybel and the ubiquitous (and ending) 1st week of school teeny tiny cookies. Plus the baby carrots and Clif bar and 2nd clementine in the top of the lunchboxes.