Today's School Lunches, Ok, I Froze It...What Now? & I Can't Believe I Won!

Good Morning! 

The weather lately has been quite an improvement.  :)  I'll take it!

Here is what my kiddos took for lunch today...

 A thermos of 13 Bean Soup (Bob's Red Mill), organic orange slices & grapes, homemade organic hummus w/ organic carrots to dip, & 1 1/2 slices of Mediterra sourdough.  

We always buy Mediterra when we are at the West Side Market.  We love the values that they adhere to, using only the simplest and highest quality ingredients, often organic.  The same values that we, as a family, have with regards to our food.

We love their little sourdough loaves, and try to get to the market early enough to buy quite a few of them.  They are so cute, and are only $1 each! 

Each one is about the size of a bread bowl.  This past weekend, we bought 6 of them.  

You can find out more about Mediterra here.

There are times where I buy a lot of certain items, especially if I get a deal.  Or, there are just times when I have things in the fridge that I know I'm not going to be able to use before they go bad.  

What do I do?  I freeze them!  

I freeze left over soups and beans, no matter how small.  These things can be used in the kid's lunches, or even incorporated into new soups or other meals.  

If I have just a bit of marinara sauce left in this jar or that, or after a meal, or some pizza sauce left, I combine them and freeze them in a mini muffin tin.  This makes perfect portions for school lunches, so I use these when the kids have pizza "lunchables".  The sauce is thawed by the time lunch rolls around.

I wash & freeze a lot of produce.  I freeze grapes, mango, berries, bananas, peppers, and nearly anything else you can think of.  

In the pic below, you can see how I freeze nearly everything...a single layer, not touching, and once frozen I transfer to a freezer bag to use in smoothies, desserts, stir fry, soups, etc.

These berries

washed, dried, & dipped in plain organic Greek yogurt, became this after zipping them in the food processor...

a homemade banana berry frozen yogurt, sweetened with a hint of honey.  

This homemade strawberry banana ice cream

was made in the food processor from frozen bananas, frozen strawberries, organic milk, & honey.

Frozen pineapple becomes

"Dole Whip", with the addition of a bit of almond milk & honey.

I even freeze cheese...I just shred it and place it in a single layer on a baking sheet, then transfer to a freezer bag, once frozen.  I use this for pizzas.  It's a huge time saver!  

And finally, I can't believe I won!!  

Earth Fare is opening a new store in Solon, Ohio on May 8.  If you haven't been to an Earth Fare store, you should check them out.  Go here to look for the location nearest you.  We just love Earth Fare, and always look forward to going.  They also have great ready made, or made to order, meals at great prices.  The pizza is a great value and is delicious! 

They have been having a gift card giveaway on their Facebook page.  I entered, and I actually won!  I couldn't believe it!  Here is a screenshot...

I can pick up my gift card May 8-May 12...

Happy Mother's Day to me!  :)