Lunch Box

Featured

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Fruit

  • grapes
  • strawberries
  • blueberries
  • apples
  • mandarins

Carbs

  • bagels
  • pikelets
  • zucchini fritters
  • muffins
  • crackers

Veggies

  • carrots
  • peas
  • seaweed
  • capsicum
  • iceberg lettuce
  • cucumber
  • baby tomatoes

Protein

  • chickpeas
  • dried snack beans

Warm

  • pasta/meatballs
  • sausage rolls

 

 

Cinnamon Granola

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  • 3 cups old-fashioned oats
  • 1 cup wheat germ
  • 1 cup sunflower seeds
  • 1 cup sesame seeds
  • 1 cup almonfs
  • 1/2 cup pepitas
  • Pinch of salt
  • 3-4 tablespoons cinnamon
  • 1 tsp cardamom ground
  • 1 tsp ginger ground
  • 3/4 cup craisins/ cranberries to taste, optional
  • 1/2 cup vegetable or coconut oil, melted
  • 1 cup honey
  • 2 1/2 tablespoons vanilla

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees F. Line a big cookie sheet with parchment paper, and grease lightly.
  2. In a large bowl, combine your oats, wheat germ, coconut, flour, salt, and cinnamon.
  3. In a small bowl, whisk together your water, oil, honey, and vanilla.
  4. Pour the wet over the dry. Mix everything together, making sure there are no dry spots.
  5. Spread granola onto the prepared cookie sheet. The pan will be nice and full. Bake for about 1.5 hours total, stirring every 20 minutes to make sure everything bakes evenly. When you are stirring, don’t get too crazy because you don’t want to break up all of the clumps.
  6. When granola starts to turn a light golden color (about an hour into cooking), add your nuts and your dried fruit. Continue cooking, until everything is a nice golden color, taking care not to burn the nuts.  The granola will still be slightly sticky when you take it out and will crisp up after it cools.
  7. Store in an airtight container.

NOTES

  • You can change up the flavor of this granola really easily by switching out the cinnamon for something like pumpkin or apple pie spice or adding other spices, like cloves, nutmeg, or all-spice, to the cinnamon.
  • You can use half vanilla extract and half almond extract for a different flavor variation, too; it’s excellent.
  • Category: Breakfast
  • Method: Oven
  • Cuisine: American

Keywords: granola, homemade granola, how to make granola, granola recipe, healthy granola recipe, healthy breakfast idea

Cinnamon Granola is a simple snack that's bursting with mildly sweet and crunchy goodness, thanks to the oats, honey, shredded coconut, dried cranberries, cinnamon, vanilla, and nuts.

For more homemade granola recipes, check out:

This post was originally published in 2010 and has been updated and rephotographed in May 2019.

 

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38 Recipes for Busy Moms

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Bless This Mess - About Me

I’m Melissa, and I want to help you feed your family wholesome food.

As a hobby farmer and mom of five, I’m all about keeping it simple in the kitchen. I want healthy meals that feed my family well, and then I want to get back to my (messy) life. Let’s work together to find something yummy for your dinner table.

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Dinner Ideas for Busy Moms
AN ELITE CAFEMEDIA FOOD PUBLISHER

Southern Poelenta/Buttermilk Biscuits

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(full recipe: https://www.tastingtable.com/cook/recipes/Pulinos-Polenta-Biscuits-With-Sausage-Gravy-Recipe)

Yield: 6 servings

INGREDIENTS

Polenta biscuits:

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • ½ cup fine or medium-ground cornmeal
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 2 teaspoons sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • ⅛ teaspoon baking soda
  • ⅔ cup buttermilk
  • 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

DIRECTIONS

1. Make the polenta biscuits: Preheat the oven to 350°. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, sugar, salt and baking soda. In a small bowl, whisk the buttermilk with the melted butter, then pour over the dry ingredients. Mix with a rubber spatula until the dough comes together in a ball.

2. Using a measuring cup, form six ½-cup clumps of dough, dropping each onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Bake for 25 minutes or until lightly golden on the bottom.

 

Laugenbrezeln

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Zutaten

  • 400-420g Milch (400-420ml milk)
  • eine Packung Hefepulver (one pack dry yeast)
  • 600g Mehl (600gr flour)
  • 2 TL Salz (2 teaspoons of salt)
  • 600g Wasser (600ml water)
  • 4 EL Natron / Bicarb Soda (4 tablespoons bicarb soda)
  • ggf grobes Salz oder Sesam (if wanted course salt or sesame seeds for the top)

Zubereitung (Ingredients)

Arbeitszeit: ca. 30 Min. (takes about 30 min)
Makes about 10 large Brezeln, or 16 small ones.

Milk needs to be room temperature

Milch, Hefe, Mehl und Salz in den Mixtopf geben und gut per Hand kneten (3-5 Minuten)
Mix Milk, Yeast and Salt well and knead for circa 3-5 minutes

Den Teig dann an einem warmen Ort circa 30 Minuten gehen lassen bis sich das Volumen verdoppelt hat.
Leave the dough to rise in a warm location. It should have doubled its size in around 30 minutes

Den Teig in 16-20 Stücke für kleine Brezeln; ca. 10 Teile für große Brezeln teilen und nochmals zugedeckt ca. 20 Minuten ruhen lassen.
Split the dough into 10 or 16 dough parts (I do around 16 for small Brezeln) and leave it to rest another 20 minutes (you can also leave this part out)

Den Backofen auf 180° C (Umluft 160° C) vorheizen. Das Backblech mit Backpapier auslegen.
Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Put baking paper on the baking tray and position the tray near the pot…

Wasser mit 4 EL Natron / Bicarb Soda zum kochen bringen. Aus den Teigstücken Brezeln formen. Mit einem Schaumlöffel die Gebäckstücke ca. 30 – 60 Sekunden in die Lauge eintauchen und sofort aufs Backblech legen.
Bring water and bicarb soda to the boil. Make the Brezeln, by making a long roll with small ends. (I am rolling it, then swinging the around to stretch it long). The make the Brezel and put it for 30-60 seconds in the boiling water. Take it out with a slotted spoon and put it on the baking paper. 

Die Brezeln am dicken Teil einschneiden mit Sesam und/oder groben Salz bestreuen und ca. 20-25 Minuten backen.
Cut a slit into the thick side. You can add coarse salt or sesame seeds to the Brezeln now if you like

Schmeckt hervorragend mit Butter bestrichen!

Lamb and sweet potato slow cooker casserole

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ingredients

  • 1 x  3 second spray Always Fresh Olive Oil Extra Light Olive Oil Spray
  • 4 large lean lamb leg chop, approx 600g, cut into 4cm cubes
  • 2 medium onion, chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 1 tsp ground coriander seeds
  • 8 whole cardamom pods, split
  • 1 medium sweet potato, cut into large chunks
  • 2 whole stock cube, dissolved in 2 cups hot water

method

  1. Place lamb, onions, garlic, coriander, cardamom, sweet potato and stock in a 5-litre capacity slow cooker. Season well with salt and pepper.
  2. Cover and cook on a low setting for 7 hours.
  3. Serve with steamed green beans or broccoli.

notes

  • Split the cardamom pods down centre (not all way through) with a large sharp knife. This will help cardamom flavour to infuse in casserole. Unfortunately some of the black seeds may come out during the cooking process, so be careful not to eat them. They aren’t at all harmful to your health, just a little full-on in flavour.
  • This casserole will taste even better the next day, after the flavours have had a chance to develop.
  • This will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days, and is suitable to freeze in an airtight container for up to 3 months.
  • This recipe was written by Weight Watchers as part of Kidspot’s Positively Life Changing initiative.
  • Use 3 second spray Always Fresh Olive Oil Extra Light Olive Oil Spray, and lean lamb leg chop, approx 600g, cut into 4cm cubes. Cut sweet potato into large chunks. Dissolve whole stock cubes in hot water.

http://www.kidspot.com.au/kitchen/recipes/lamb-and-sweet-potato-slow-cooker-casserole-1294

Southwestern Quinoa & Chickpea Salad

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Servings: 4 people

  • 1 cup quinoa
  • 1 3/4 cups water
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup canned chickpeas, rinsed and drained
  • 1 medium tomato, seeded and chopped
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 3 tablespoons lime juice
  • 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, finely chopped
  • 4 teaspoons olive oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

Place the quinoa in a fine-mesh strainer and rinse under cold running water until the water runs clear. Bring the water to a boil in a medium saucepan over high heat. Add the quinoa and salt and return to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes, or until tender and the liquid is absorbed. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine the chickpeas, tomato, garlic, lime juice, cilantro, oil, and cumin. Add the quinoa and toss to coat well.

Quarkhörnchen

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Makes 15-20 depending on size

quarkhörnchen

INGREDIENTS

  • 200g Quark
  • 2 eggs
  • 75g sugar
  • 2 tsps (12g) vanilla sugar
  • 2 tbsps milk
  • 6 tbsps sunflower oil
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • lemon zest
  • 300 g flour
  • 3 tsps baking powder
  • 20g caster sugar
  • 20g butter

Combine the quark, eggs, sugar, vanilla sugar, milk, sunflower oil, vanilla and lemon zest, then stir in the flour and baking powder and knead well. The dough should not be too wet so maybe keep aside one egg and some quark and add them in as needed.

Allow the dough to rest for 30 minutes. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, then roll it out to about a 1 cm thickness and cut into strips. Roll and form them into crescents. Melt half the butter and brush it onto the crescents. Bake at 180C for 8 to 10 minutes – they will still be pale when done.

Brush on the rest of the melted butter and dust with caster sugar.

 

SPICY BLACK BEANS & TOMATOES

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INGREDIENTS
  • 1 lb. (2 cups) dry black beans $1.20
  • 1 can (15 oz) diced tomatoes $0.88
  • 4 cloves garlic $0.18
  • ½ Tbsp cumin $0.05
  • 1 med jalapeno $0.13
  • to taste salt $0.05
  • 5 cups water $0.00
INSTRUCTIONS
  1. Sort through your beans to remove any stones or damaged beans. Rinse the beans well to remove any dust. Place the beans in the slow cooker.
  2. Also add to the slow cooker: a can of diced tomatoes (including juices), 4 cloves of garlic (smashed or roughly chopped), one jalapeno (diced and seeds removed), and ½ Tbsp of cumin. Do not add salt at this point. Add 5 cups of water, secure the lid and set the heat to high.
  3. After four hours open the slow cooker and check the beans to make sure they are tender. They should be fully cooked at this point but if they aren’t, simply cook them longer and check again after a couple hours. Season the beans with salt (I used about ½ tsp).
  4. Either serve the beans immediately or divide up and freeze in single or double serving sized portions.
NOTES
Additional options: diced onion, red pepper flakes, bay leaves (1 or 2) or low sodium chicken stock in place of water.