LUNCH TREATS

No Tastykakes or Hostess for my boys!!

I love making different treats every week to pack in everyone's lunches. Doug and Andrew take a lunch every day to work and Billy and Tommy are both out of the house once or twice a week when they need a packed lunch. So, even though we are a homeschooling family, we have lunches to pack.

Andrew and Billy have been asking for this treat for a while, and I finally got to them today. They are individual pumpkin pies. I freeze them and by the time the boys are ready for lunch, the pies have thawed. I got the recipe from http://www.30daygourmet.com/ . You can find the recipe here .

Basically, you make a 2 crust recipe for pie crust. I use your basic 2 cups flour, 2/3 cup crisco, 1 tsp salt and enough water to make it come together.


The recipe calls for using a custard cup to cut out circles. I have cutters that I use to make english muffins, so I use them instead.



I got more crusts than I had filling for, so we used the extra for dessert tonight. I sliced apples in small pieces and sauteed them in a little butter with brown sugar and cinnamon. I filled the cooked crusts with the apple mixture, topped it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of homemade chocolate syrup. The syrup was Doug's idea and it was a big hit!

I froze them on a tray and then put them in a gallon baggie in the freezer so I can take them out one at a time.

Another lunch box favorite of ours is granola bars. These are really delicious. I wrap them individually in saran wrap so they are easy to just grab. Wrapping them individually also keeps them fresh longer, not that this has ever been a problem. They go pretty fast!

I got the recipe originally from a Gooseberry Patch cookbook, but I've changed it a bit to make it a little healthier.

1/2 cup butter (softened)

1 cup brown sugar

2 Tbls honey

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1 1/2 cup oats

1 1/4 cup rice crispies

1/4 tsp salt

combine butter with sugar, honey, egg, and vanilla. Mix well.

stir in flour, oats, rice crispies, and salt

at this point, you can add whatever you like. I like to use a small handful of mini chocolate chips and a small handful of butterscotch chips. You can add coconut, raisins, sunflower seeds, dried fruit, nuts. You get the idea.

press mixture into a greased 9 x 13 pan (if you wet your hands with cold water and shake the water off, you can press it down without having it stick to your hands)

bake @ 350* for 20 minutes

Cool for a couple of minutes and then cut while still warm (not hot). I cut it once down the middle longways and then cut each half into 10 slices to get 20 granola bar looking shapes.

I hope you try these, they are really awesome!!