WWVE – Brown Sugar Meatballs
Every new school year I try to document the lunches I make for the kids by doing “What Would____eat?” based on their lunch boxes.
Yoda ate very well in years past, so well that – I had an incident with teachers eating my Kid’s food. I know, right? Who does that?? Well that teacher (and daycare) is gone, and we’ve got a new lunch box. So I give you…What Would Vader Eat.
For lunch today Vader has Brown Sugar Meatballs. These are a big hit at parties but are so easy that I often make them for weekday dinners. The leftovers are perfect for the kid’s lunches because they can eat them quickly, no mess and can run off to play faster than you can say “Luke, I am you fa…”
Brown Sugar Meatballs recipe, here.
*More Vader lunches coming soon – depending on how busy this school year goes. Yikes.
**All lunches kept frozen or cold w/ice packs because of my complete and total paranoia.
WWIMeat: What Would Iron Man Eat? – Lychee Chicken
No, I don’t go all out with the crazy kawaii bentos like those moms in Japan, I’d like to, but you remember ‘the incident.’ So I tone it down now…just a touch.
However, with my handy dandy nori punch, I can make a little rice ball come to life like the cutest of pandas.
Served as a side to Lychee chicken – and Iron Man’s got a nice himself a nice little bento. He and Yoda should hang out and have a lunch date.
WWIMeat: What Would Iron Man Eat? – Honey Shoyu Chicken
The kids love Shoyu Chicken – it’s a Hawaii staple and oh so flavorful. Leftovers are hard to come by – but when we have them, I like to pack it up for a nice bento lunch – a break from the same old sandwiches.
Crock Pot Honey Shoyu Chicken recipe, here.
Snack bars
The kids get two snack breaks at school, two! Which means I need to get creative.
I decided to make them some snack bars – I could just buy them the boxed bars at the store, but I hate pre-packaged preservatives, so I like to avoid them if I can. (That rule is for the kids only. Me – I’m eating as many Halloween Twix as I can while I am typing this… ~hypocrite~) That being said, keep ‘em in the freezer for when the snack attack hits.
ingredients:
2 1/2 cups rice krispies
2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
1/4 cup cinnamon chips
1/2 cup craisins
1/2 cup sweet sunflower seeds
2 Tb brown sugar
1 egg
1 cup flour
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup applesauce
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prep a 9×13 pan by greasing it with melted butter.
Obviously this recipe is totally changeable, it was just about what I had in my pantry. I happened to get these AMAZING sweet sunflower seeds when I was at the snack store in Hawaii and they are soooo good, I just threw them in but regular old sunflower seeds would work fine too, as well as any nuts.
In a large bowl stir together the rice krispies, rolled oats, mini chocolate chips, cinnamon chips, craisins and sweet sunflower seeds.
In another bowl combine the brown sugar, egg, flour, honey and applesauce. Stir together well, and pour over the dry ingredient mixture. Stir until it’s completely coated.
Press the mixture into the prepped pan. Bake for 20 mins.
Let cool completely. Once cooled, cut into bars.
I like to wrap them in parchment paper and add a sticker to seal them up with a little note to the kids. Sometimes it’s hard to remember to go to all these after school activities, a little reminder is helpful.
I wish someone would tell me to have a good day sometimes. Maybe I should leave these in my purse as notes to MYSELF. (First sign of insanity: writing notes to yourself on food, I’m sure.)
These make great school snacks, change up the ingredients with whatever you have on hand. Keep them in an airtight container for 2-3 days or keep them in the freezer!
Double Sided Lightsaber – dogs
Made for the Ultimate Star Wars party (here)
When Darth Maul has lunch, this is what he goes for.
ingredients:
6 long, skinny hot dogs (8″ – 10″)
1 small package refrigerated crescent rolls
Now if it was up to me, I’d make the breading from scratch, but since I was trying to get the kids to do these themselves, I went the pre-packaged route. My goal is to get them to cook for me, so I can sit around and watch Hoarders.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and prep a baking sheet with a silpat.
You’re trying to make these look like a double sided lightsaber, so a simple ‘handle’ in the middle is all you need. Take a 1/2″ strip of the crescent roll and wrap it around the center of the long hot dog.
Place the dogs on the baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes. There you have it – a simple, delicious…double sided lightsaber. Share one with your favorite little Sith Lord.
The Dark Side…of Egg Salad
Welcome to the Dark Side…of egg salad.
Even a Dark Lord needs to eat lunch. This egg salad gets it’s kick from a hefty dose of Tapatio. So good it hurts.
ingredients:
9 boiled eggs (no-fail boiled eggs recipe, here)
3 Tablespoons mayonnaise
2 teaspoons yellow mustard
2 Tablespoons pickle relish
1/4 cup diced celery
1 Tablespoon Tapatio hot sauce
salt
pepper
Using the ‘no-fail’ method, boil your eggs and cool them.
Then get a small child to shell them for you. Just use a Jedi mind trick and make him do your bidding. Let’s hear it for child labor. Once shelled, then rough chop the eggs and set aside in a medium bowl.
Add the mayo, mustard, relish and celery.
Right now, the egg salad is just egg salad. Here’s where the punch comes in. Tapatio – it’s so spicily (not a word) delicious, you can’t deny how much it adds to plain ol’ egg salad. Add the Tapatio and carefully toss to incorporate but not break up the eggs. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Of course, I like this on toasted King’s Hawaiian sweet bread, the sweetness of the bread cuts the heat and adds a nice toasty crunch to the soft egg salad.
Now, you know how much I LOVE Star Wars and I use the cookie cutters for darn near everything BUT cookies – so whether or not you want to cut the bread out in the shape of Vader’s head…
…well that is entirely up to you.
Either way it makes a nice lunch to serve to all the Imperial Troops.
Star Wars Cheese Sandwiches
The Dark Side…of cheese. You didn’t think I was going to use these Star Wars cookie cutters for cookies, did you? Well. I am – just not yet. No, first I needed to make lunch for the Kid, and we all know how much he loves cheese…
ingredients:
soft white bread
cheese
Man, that’s a pretty sad ingredient list. Anyway, I used very, very soft fresh bread from a Japanese bakery, but I’m sure Wonderbread or another soft white will do fine.
I positioned the cutters so I could maximize the bread and got both a Vader and a stormtrooper out of one piece. It’s pretty lame how excited that made me.
Once I cut the face out, I then pressed down to imprint the image. Voila – instant evilness.
Then I used just the outside to cut the outline of the cheese to fit.
Sure you could butter these bad boys up and make grilled cheese, but there was something nice and subtle about the shadow images of the faces pressed into the soft bread. Something…super evil. But mostly…super cute!
WWYE: What Would Yoda Eat? – Chicken Meatballs, What.
SURPRISE. I don’t think anyone wants to hear that when it comes to lunch, but these mini meatballs with a surprise edamame in the middle are pretty cute. Especially when you jazz them up with crazy bento picks. Look at that. The pick looks like a chicken bone. Freakin’ adorable.
Chicken Edamame Meatballs recipe here.
See all Yoda lunches, here.
WWYE: What Would Yoda Eat? – mini DOMO meatloaf
As you can tell from this series of lunches, I like to make sure The Kid not only has a healthy meal – but also a lot of fun.
Sometimes I wish I could see the Kid’s face when he opens his lunch box, and I’m sure the kid sitting next to him was totally freaked. Or maybe it will scare off certain…other people during lunchtime…hm?
WWYE: What Would Yoda Eat? – Ham & Homemade Tater Tots
So – the Kid is being bullied. Ok, maybe that’s a harsh term, but let’s just say…people are stealing his lunch! Apparently the things I send him off with look too good since kids try to eat his lunch regularly. And it’s not just the kids, it’s the teacher too! One of his daycare teachers ASKS him for his food AND eats it. Not cool. Listen, the Kid is mini, he needs all the nutrients he can get.
I don’t make him those super cute bentos, but I do try to send him off with GOOD tasting food. Too good, I guess? Now it’s backfiring. Looks like he’s going to have to eat liverwurst for lunch from now on…
Brown Sugar Ham Steak recipe, here.
Homemade Tater Tots recipe, here.
