Whining 'N Dining

Traveling for Turkey Day? Healthy Snacks for the Road or Sky

“Are we there yet?” “I’m hungry!” Sound familiar? Traveling with kids can be, well, challenging to say the least. And eating well on the road can be even more so.

Whether you’re going on a road trip or traveling by plane, careful planning for a family trip is an absolute necessity. And you must prepare for the unexpected delays and snafus along the way. After many family trips, I can say that snacks or lack thereof can make or break a long trip. If you forget the all important snacks, you are at the mercy of fast-food chains and airlines who may only serve you peanuts for a cross-country flight. This year, Food & Wine has come up with the Ultimate Airport Dining Survival Guide to help you find the best of airport dining.

Here are some suggestions for you and yours to be snack savvy on your next trip:
•    Make your own sandwiches / pack a picnic if traveling by car.
•    Try to eat balanced meals / snacks. Think complex carbohydrates.

o    Peanut butter and whole wheat crackers
o    Turkey, cheese and spinach wrap in a whole wheat tortilla

•    Pack fruit and veggies that are easy to access and not so messy.

o    Bananas
o    Apple slices
o    Orange slices or easy-to-peel Clementine’s
o    Veggie sticks (bell peppers, carrots, celery)
o    Shelled edamame
o    Grapes
o    Dried fruit / raisins

•    Remember to bring breakfast (which often gets the short end of the stick on a busy travel day).

o    Make nutritious mini-muffins (such as bran or oatmeal).
o    Give everyone a smoothie in the car on the way to the airport.
o    Bring portable yogurts and fruit.
o    Pack cereal, granola and / or protein bars.

•    Use ice packs if traveling by car for longer than 30 minutes with any items that are perishable (such as eggs, milk, meat, salad, cheese).
•    Put all of your snacks in small, reusable containers to facilitate easy access in your bag and refilling for the return trip. Hit Trader Joe's before you get on the road. That place is the healthy snack emporium!
•    Bring napkins and wipes for easy clean up. Don’t forget bibs!

Age-appropriate Snack Ideas

For babies:

Travel with Baby: How We Can Help

Seats & Eats: Some Things To Know Before Traveling With Your Baby

For toddlers:
•    Raisin boxes or bag of dried fruit
•    Cereal bars
•    String cheese  / Laughing Cow  / or other cheese slices with whole wheat crackers
•    Apple slices
•    Rice cakes
•    Graham crackers
•    Individual applesauce or fruit cups
•    Bags of cereal (Cheerios, Wheat Chex)

For preschoolers / elementary school children:
•    All of the above
•    Get them involved in the snack preparation
•    Sandwiches (PB&J or turkey wrap)
•    Trail mix
•    Granola bars
•    Bag of grapes
•    Bag of shelled edamame
•    100-calorie packs of crackers
•    Veggie sticks and white bean dip
•    Whole wheat pita bread with hummus
•    Celery sticks with peanut butter
•    Banana chips
•    100 % fruit leather

Need Some Help Planning Thanksgiving? Download This

Started planning your Thanksgiving dinner, yet? It's OK....I haven't, either.

Even the Martha Stewarts of the world need a little help during the holiday chaos to stay organized and sane. Thanks to our friends at Yum Sugar we can download this handy, dandy Thanksgiving Planner to get us on the right track to tasty T-day eats.

So go on Martha, get your turkey day on!

Toddler Test Kitchen: Trader Joe's Macaroni & Cheese Once Again....

 Soooo, we recently had our second child. Five weeks ago today to  be exact. As you parents of multiple kids know, it is busy, busy, busy. I'd love to whip up a home-cooked meal each night like I did prior to baby #2, but that's just not realistic right now. Just gotta shelf my inner Betty Crocker for the time being.

Thankfully, there's Trader Joe's around the corner. So when my older one asks for mac 'n cheese once again, they've got it covered. I've tried a few frozen mac 'n cheeses, but TJ's takes the cake (at least for now). It's chock full o' cheese with cheddar, havarti, gouda and swiss, which gives it a richer taste than other macaroni and cheeses. Creamy and delicious! I've also been putting the leftover mac 'n cheese in my daughter's lunch.

If I start feeling ambitious and the kids cooperate, maybe I'll cook up a little of my Costco cubed butternut squash and stir it in to give it a nutritional  jolt. Speaking of nutrition, here's a link to more information about TJ's mac 'n cheese.

Kiss My Bundt or Kiss This Bundt

In honor of National Bundt Day (yes, there really is such a thing), LA bakery Kiss My Bundt is serving up bundt specials, free samples and a smattering of fallish flavors like pumpkin and cinnamon. If you are in LA, check it out. You'll die when you see their menu of to-die-for flavors. WOW.

OR you can DIY bundt with the below easy-peasy Poppy Seed Cake recipe. The recipe uses the pre-made yellow cake mix from the fabulous people at Duncan Hines. So, really, even you non-bakers out there can do this one!

By no means does this cake have to have poppy seeds. You can use your imagination, switch it up and you can make a dozen different bundts. Try swapping the vanilla pudding for lemon pudding, or throw in chocolate chips instead of poppy sees, or swirl in cinnamon and pecans for a coffee cake. See, there are so many options.

INGREDIENTS:

1 Duncan Hines Cake mix (yellow)

1 large vanilla instant pudding

1 cup vegetable oil

1 cup water

4 eggs

1/2 jar poppy seed

DIRECTIONS

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Mix all together in bowl and beat with hand mixer or in Kitchen Aid mixer on high for 5 minutes.

3. Pour in a greased bundt pan and bake for 1 hour.

Enjoy for dessert or breakfast! And for heavens sakes, don't eat this the night before a drug test. Think Elaine from Seinfeld.

Zoe's Cole Slaw

 

When it comes to cole slaw, I typically turn my nose up. It conjures up an image of a soggy, mayo substance being plopped onto my plate. Um, no thanks!

So, I’ll admit I was skeptical when my mom came to town singing the praises of the cole slaw from Zoe’s Kitchen in Dallas, TX. I agreed to let her make it to prove me wrong. And wow, it was so delicious and healthy and fresh. LOVED it! While this is not the exact recipe from Zoe’s, this is one we found on Recipezaar. Enjoy!

SERVES 8 -10

Ingredients

• 1 small head of cabbage, thinly sliced
• 1 (6 ounce) package crumbled feta
• 6-7 green onions, chopped
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar (I used a splash of white vinegar along with this)
• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• salt
• pepper
• 1-2 teaspoon sugar

Directions

1.     Combine shredded cabbage, feta and chopped green onions in a large bowl.

2.     In a separate bowl whisk together vinegar, salt, pepper, sugar, and EVOO.

3.     Pour over the slaw and toss.

4.     Refrigerate until ready to serve. It's best if you let it refrigerate for a few hours so you may want to make it the day before

Need to Save Time? Get Pre-Cut Butternut Squash from Costco.

 

Not sure about you, but I've got a toddler and an infant and certainly don't have the time and/or patience to deal with carving up a butternut squash. And I don't want to end up in the emergency room, either.  I love this fall / winter squash, but its the effort and the mess that keep me away.

So, you can imagine my shear delight when I learned that you can purchase pre-cut / cubed butternut squash from Costco. Halellujah, get the soup pot out!! Our favorite soup, Butternut Squash & Apple Soup, just got easier to make.

Happy Fall!

Roast Those Pumpkin Seeds

Have some pumpkins still kicking around? Grab your little one and get to work on roasting some pumpkin seeds.

Here's a step by step guide on how to make it happen from the Work It Mom Blog, "Ordering Disorder."

You'll love, love, love the delicious result!