Literary Lunch: Jack-o-Lantern Bagels



The Legend of Spookley
the Square Pumpkin by Joe Troiano



We found Pumpkin spice cream cheese in the grocery store this week.  To get in the Autumn/Halloween mode we spread some on mini bagels and used a small pretzel stick for the stem and added facial features with mini letter shaped pretzels.  We also tried to make a “Spookley the Square Pumpkin”  by Joe Troiano by cutting whole wheat bread into a square .  To make them look more like they are in the pumpkin patch we added some lettuce leaves and parsley for a garnish.  Pair these simple pumpkin bagels with some apple slices sprinkled with cinnamon and enjoy with your favorite Halloween book!    



It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown
by Charles M. Schulz



The Biggest Pumpkin Ever
by Steven Kroll



Literary Lunches: One Morning in Maine Clam Chowder

Today my son had an early release day from school.  He also has his first loose tooth!  To celebrate we are having clam chowder for lunch.  While it simmers on the stove we’ll read a book from one of my favorite children’s book authors, One Morning in Maine by Robert McCloskey.   Sal, the main character also has her first loose tooth!  Enjoy this sweet little story and simple chowder recipe with your little one.

Simple Clam Chowder
Marge Perry, Cooking Light  JANUARY 2008

Ingredients

·         2 bacon slices

·         2 cups chopped onion

·         1 1/4 cups chopped celery  

·         1/2 teaspoon salt

·         1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

·         2 garlic cloves, minced  

·         6 (6 1/2-ounce) cans chopped clams, undrained  

·         5 cups diced peeled baking potato (about 1 pound)

·         4 (8-ounce) bottles clam juice

·         1 bay leaf

·         3 cups fat-free milk  

·         1/2 cup all-purpose flour (about 2 1/4 ounces)

Preparation

1.     Cook bacon in a large Dutch oven over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan, reserving 1 teaspoon drippings in pan. Crumble bacon; set aside. Add onion, celery, salt, thyme, and garlic to drippings in pan; cook 4 minutes or until vegetables are tender.

2.     Drain clams, reserving liquid. Add clam liquid, potato, clam juice, and bay leaf to pan; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes or until potato is tender. Discard bay leaf.

3.     Combine milk and flour, stirring with a whisk until smooth. Add flour mixture to pan; bring to a boil. Cook 12 minutes or until thick, stirring constantly. Add clams; cook 2 minutes. Sprinkle with bacon.

Literary Lunch: Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Fruit Salad

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom is a favorite in our house.  Its rhythmic text is fun to read aloud.  The kids and I love the bold colors and flat style illustrations.  It's a great book for children learning the alphabet.

This classic favorite comes to life when paired with a coconut tree fruit salad.  Assemble the tree for your little ones or help them strengthen fine motor skills and little muscles as they pinch the precut fruit pieces and put them into place.  These soft fruits are also perfect for practicing cutting skills with a kid-safe plastic knife and fork.

Ingredients (makes two fruit salads):

½ fresh mango, peeled and cut into slices
1 kiwi fruit, peeled and cut into wedges
1 small banana, cut lengthwise
3 red grapes, cut in half or 3 blueberries
a few alphabet pretzels

Assemble fruit to make the picture of a coconut tree and read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom to your little ones as they chow down.

Literary Lunch: Blueberries for Sal

One thing I look forward to each summer is taking my boys blueberry picking.  I value the experience of bringing them to any fruit farm or orchard where they can take part in harvesting the crop, making the connection that our food comes from the earth, not the grocery store.  The pride my son has over his hard work is evident as he passes his bucket around our group for us to feel how heavy it is.  My guys are lucky to have grandparents who live next door to a pick-your-own blueberry farm (Berries & Blooms in Holden, MA) where kids are welcome.  Once we’ve lugged our buckets home we feast on a blueberry pancake lunch, make a fresh blueberry pie or just gobble up the sweet juicy berries leaving finger tips and mouths stained a lovely shade of purple. 

Blueberries are a particular favorite because of a beloved childhood book of mine “Blueberries for Sal”  by Robert McCloskey.  It’s the perfect book to share before or after an excursion to the blueberry patch and here is a recipe for making a simple and tasty treat: Sal’s Blueberry Hill.

Sal's Blueberry Hill

Ingredients:
2 cups blueberries (fresh or frozen)
2 Tb grape jam
1 Tb cornstarch
Ice cream
animal crackers (bears)

Directions:

1.       Heat berries in a small saucepan over medium heat. 

2.       Once they have defrosted and juices are flowing and warmed, add the jam and cornstarch.

3.       Stir constantly as the mixture comes to a simmer and thickens. Remove from heat and allow it to cool slightly.

4.       Spoon over a scoop of ice cream and top with bear animal crackers.

Literary Lunches: Mortimer’s First Garden – Sweet Sunflowers

Mortimer's First Garden by Karma Wilson, is a great book to read in the springtime!  Mortimer, a little mouse, learns about the miracle of God’s creation through a little sunflower seed.  He finds out that with a little sunlight, water and a lot of patience something amazing transforms his one seed into many, enough to have some to share with a friend!  My boys and I read this book and then enjoyed these tasty, sweet sunflowers.    



the day I photographed these we threw on some cheerios too
but they are not necessary



Ingredients:
mini bagel
peanut butter
banana
raisins
honey

Directions:

1.       Spread peanut butter on the mini bagel. 

2.       Slice the banana lengthwise and then into coins to create semicircles for the petals that are then arranged around the edge of the bagel (hanging half over the edge).

3.       Fill the center of the circle with raisins.

4.       Top it off with a swirl of sweet honey and enjoy with a cold glass of milk.

Creative in the Kitchen: Literary Lunches Yoko's California Rolls

One of my son’s favorite books is "Yoko" by Rosemary Wells.  In the story the Japanese cat, Yoko, brings traditional Japanese sushi to school for lunch.  When she gets teased by her American classmates, toting American delicacies like “squeeze cheese on white and franks and beans”, her teacher plans a special international food day.  Each character brings a food from a different country under the expectation that they are to try everything.  This piqued my guy’s interest in sushi so we tried our hand at some simple veggie California rolls (see recipe below). 

available at my etsy store: www.etsy.com/shop/bybrookye

At the end of the book Yoko hasn’t changed everyone’s mind about sushi, with the exception of one classmate, Timothy.  They decide to push their desks together and open a restaurant where they share their lunches.  After lunch at our house my son and his brother can open a restaurant just like Timothy and Yoko.  I created their own Japanese style bento (which means box) complete with inarizushi, California rolls, spring rolls, edamame beans in the pod and a cup of sauce all made out of felt.

Ingredients:

cooked rice
cucumber
yellow pepper
avocado
carrot
toasted seaweed sheets

Directions:
Cut your veggies into sticks.  Place a sheet of toasted seaweed onto a bamboo mat.  You can also try rolling it without a mat or substituting a piece of waxed paper for the mat.  Spread a layer of cooled rice onto a sheet of toasted seaweed leaving an inch or two on the side furthest away from you.  If the rice is sticking to you dip your finger tips in cool water to keep it from sticking.  Place your sliced veggies across the end closest to you and roll.  Wipe a small amount of water on the wrap as you close it to help seal it.  Trim off the ends and slice into “coins” about an inch or so thick.

Creative in the Kitchen: Literary Lunches Crunchy Cinnamon Snowflakes

My four-year-old has been waiting for the first snow storm of the season and today it finally arrived!  What better way to warm up after frolicking in the new fallen snow than to put these crunchy cinnamon snowflakes into the oven and snuggle up to read “The Snowy Day”by Ezra Jack Keats.  Our young chefs will of course need help from an adult when it comes to cutting and using the oven.

Ingredients:
flour tortillas
canola oil for brushing
cinnamon and sugar to sprinkle

Directions:

1.       Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

2.       Line a baking sheet with parchment paper for quick and easy clean up later.

3.       Place your tortillas under a damp paper towel and microwave for 15 seconds to soften them up and make them more flexible.

4.       Fold the tortilla, one at a time, in half and then into thirds.

5.       Using clean scissors cut out triangles to make a snowflake shape (be careful not to cut along the entire fold or your snowflake will fall apart.)

6.       Place tortilla on prepared cookie sheet, brush with canola oil, sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar and pop them into the oven for 5 minutes.

7.       Flip them over and bake an additional 5 minutes until it starts to brown and becomes crunchy.  Watch closely so you don’t burn them!

8.       Let them cool a bit and then enjoy!