I would get tired of sandwiches every day, so I’ve been trying to think of varied things to send for the boys’ lunches. (The older two eat at the school cafeteria, but the small private school that the younger three attend does not offer food service.)

In addition to standard lunchbox fare of pb&j or lunchmeat sandwiches, here are some other things we’ve tried:

In a Thermos … ravioli, Spaghetti Os, chicken noodle soup

Wrapped in foil, then wrapped in a paper towel … corn dogs, Hot Pockets

With an ice pack … “snack supper” (summer sausage, cheese & veggie sticks with crackers)

I always try to include a fruit of some sort, usually an apple, banana, raisins or applesauce. They also get a “crunchy” snack of chips or Chex Mix, etc. and one “sweet” snack — they love Lil’ Debbies and pudding cups. I try to buy reduced-sugar drinks, when they’re available, and they aren’t too picky about what they get.

If you have other ideas for quick, easy and inexpensive school lunches, leave a comment & let us know!

I haven’t really missed mashed potatoes since I went low-carb, especially since I discovered mashed zucchini as a delicious alternative. I do, however, love sweet potatoes, but they are a “splurge” food for me now. Although I enjoy eating them plain & warm (a habit I formed when I lived in China and could buy them piping hot out of a kiln from a street vendor — had to peel & eat with gloves on, but so very scrumptious!), there’s just something holiday-ish about a cinnamony, marshmallowy sweet potato casserole.

I discovered Walden Farms salad dressings quite a while ago (the Asian flavor is my fave), but they have more than just dressings. They also make jellies and other condiments. I decided to try the Marshmallow Dip to make a sweet potato casserole for Thanksgiving this year.

I started out by peeling and cubing three medium-size sweet potatoes and boiled them with a dash of salt till soft. Then, I scooped them out of the pot with a slotted spoon and used a pastry cutter to mash them up.

Next, I added about 3 tsp pumpkin pie seasoning (I happened to have some pre-blended on hand) and 1/2 c granulated sucralose (Splenda) and blended it with the mashed sweet potatoes.

I smoothed the surface with a spatula and scooped the marshmallow dip to cover the sweet potatoes. Can you ever have too much marshmallow flavor? 😉 I also sprinkled some ground cinnamon for color.

Aside from the carbs that occur naturally in the sweet potato and the nominal carbs in the granulated Splenda/sucralose, there are no added carbs or sugar in this dessert! I also like that the Walden Farms products are naturally flavored, so it’s not like you are eating some chemically-modified artificial gunk.

(Speaking of which, if you are turning up your nose at the idea of using sucralose instead of “real” sugar, I highly encourage you to read this eye-opening post about just how refined/manufactured table sugar is.)

The dish tasted yummy and sure cured my craving for sweet potato casserole!

I don’t want my Foodie Friday posts to sound like advertisements (though I should probably clarify that they are not sponsored by anyone, just my humble opinion), but I wanted to tell you about my new favorite way to eat a sandwich: lettuce wraps! They are crunchy, hearty … and I don’t miss the bread at all!

Here are three of my faves, plus another that isn’t really a sandwich, but I love it, just the same:

1. My first exposure to a low-carb burger option that was actually on the menu was at Hardee’s. We don’t have one nearby, but I like to stop there on roadtrips out of town. You can get a traditional burger or chicken sandwich made into a lettuce wrap, so it makes a great fast-food option for road trips.
2. Apparently Jimmy John’s was already popular in other parts of the country, but my town just got two franchises very recently. Any of their sandwiches can be made into an “Unwich” lettuce wrap. My favorite is the tuna, but I also like the all-veggie option.
3. One of the choices in the Student Center on campus is Mooyah, which offers an “Iceburger” option instead of bread. They also have yummy guacamole, which is always a winner, in my book.
4. Last, but not least, I love the lettuce wraps at Pei Wei. They are pretty messy to eat, but they are scrumptious and really hit the spot when I’m craving Asian food.

So, there you have it — several options for “sandwiches” that won’t sabotage your carb count! Enjoy! 🙂

Now that we’re having some mornings in the low-40s (and even 30s!), and I was in the mood for something other than coffee, so I made some Swiss Miss – No Sugar Added hot cocoa. I thought it was a pretty good choice at first, but then I did my label-reading homework and discovered that it really wasn’t the best option for me.

I made the handy-dandy chart below to spare you the hassle of reading labels, although the Swiss Miss nutrition site is quite consumer-friendly to peruse. The point is, food boxes are a marketing tool. They are designed to appeal to the consumer with attractive colors, pictures, fonts and phrases that will result in a purchase. When a low-carber like me picks up a box labeled No Sugar Added, I would like to assume that it’s the lowest sugar option available, but it isn’t.

Ironically, many fat-free foods are actually higher in sugar than people would expect, so my gut response usually is to opt for low sugar over low fat. Interestingly with this line of hot cocoa, the Fat Free variety is better on several counts than the No Sugar Added!

I’m not picking on Swiss Miss; I happen to like their products a lot and buy them often. I just thought it was interesting how the carb/sugar contents can vary so dramatically in seemingly similar products. It’s worth the time to read the labels and be sure that you choose the product that is right for your eating plan.

(Swiss Miss and Sensible Sweets are registered trademarks of ConAgra Foods. Data source)

As for me, I’ll be picking up a few boxes of Diet hot cocoa the next time I’m at the store. It’s just not worth double the calories, triple the carbs and quadruple the sugar for the next-best kind. (I didn’t even mention the Classics variety; we’ll call that the control group. I could have a snack-size chocolate bar with my Diet cocoa and still end up with fewer carbs/sugar/calories!)

I can’t recall where I first heard/read the idea of carving bell peppers instead of (or in addition to) pumpkins, but I’m sure there are several sites to spark your creativity. We had a do-it-yourself dinner instead of carving pumpkins for Halloween, and the boys had a blast. It was the younger ones’ first time to use a “real” knife (a paring knife), and I’m pleased to report that dinner did not result in bloodshed.

I splurged on colorful bell peppers from the grocery store, one for each person. Our garden still has a couple of small, green ones, but the red ones got overheated in the Texas sun. I browned some ground turkey and added seasonings like I might use for meatloaf, etc. We topped it with shredded cheese. I knew that not everyone would like the bell peppers (they have a very strong flavor, after all), so I just took what was left over, chopped it up and froze the pepper pieces for future use.

Here are our creations:

Clockwise, from top left: No. 2 had the clever idea to carve his upside-down so that it would stand alone. No. 5 did a surprisingly good job on his red one! Mine is the “BU” one. 🙂  No. 4 started off well but accidentally cut his pepper’s face open. No. 3 decided to go with a Picasso look … or else just wanted to make a funny face. The pile o’ slivers on the last plate were No. 1’s creation that he decided to chop up, instead. I wasn’t going to include it in the photo, but that apparently hurt his feelings, so we’ll call his creation … abstract.

After dinner, I surprised the boys with a DIY dessert — inside-out candy apples! They are so simple and much, much easier to eat than the dipped kind. You just partially core the apple but leave the bottom of the core intact to keep the caramel from oozing out, then stuff a couple of caramel squares in the cored out section, bake at 350 or so until the caramel is melted and the apple is starting to get soft. Enjoy!

The 10-1/2yo certainly enjoyed his! 🙂

inside-out candy apples

I was looking for something in the bulk aisle at the grocery store and came across a mulling spice mix of coriander, cloves, allspice, orange peel and cinnamon. I have made mulled wine before using a recipe and my own spices, but I did not care for it. This entire baggy cost only $0.42, so I figured it was worth experimenting.

Mulled Merlot

I used about a half-bottle of Pellegrini Cloverdale Valley 2007 Merlot, but if mulled wine isn’t your thing, I’m sure apple juice or cider would be yummy.

The recipe on the label suggests 1/4 c. spice mix per 1/2 gal. beverage, but I used about 1 T for my half-bottle of wine. (That’s how much fit in my tea strainer, which I used to encapsulate the mulling spice.) I brought the wine to a low boil and then turned down the heat to simmer for about five minutes. I let it cool on the stove, then poured it into the carafe. It made about two traditional cups of wine or one coffee mug’s worth. (Since it was warm, I felt like sipping it from a coffee mug instead of a wine glass.)

I wish I knew the proportions to share the recipe with you, but you might just experiment with the above mix of spices. I would go easy on the cloves, though, because that’s one of the reasons why I didn’t like the homemade batch that I tried previously. It was way too clovey.

There’s still plenty of spice mix left, so I think I’ll try a batch of apple juice and see how the boys like it.