Tag Archives: The Lunch Box cookbook

What’s for Dinner Wednesday: Strawberry English Muffin Fruitwiches

24 Jul
English muffins: not just for breakfast!

English muffins: not just for breakfast!

A while back I posted about Elizabeth’s cookbook and I posted one of the recipes we’d tried at the time, a tuna salad recipe. Since then we’ve had it for lunch and even for dinner!

Today, I thought I’d post another recipe from that same cookbook, one that we have had for lunch and for dinner this summer, and one that we’ve also modified slightly to meet everyone’s different taste buds. It’s a great summer meal because it is cool, doesn’t involve using an oven, and uses a great summer fruit: fresh strawberries.

The ingredients for this are simple, no matter which way you choose to make it. You need:

Fresh sliced strawberries

an English Muffin

Strawberry jam

Goat cheese, cream cheese, or peanut butter

Elizabeth's cookbook of choice

Elizabeth’s cookbook of choice

The directions are even more simple!

“Split an English Muffin and lightly toast the halves. Spread the cut side of the bottom half with softened goat cheese or plain whipped cream cheese (we also have done peanut butter). Top with a thin layer of strawberry jam, followed by a layer of thin strawberry slices. Cover with the top half of the muffin, jam side down, and press gently.”

We prefer to do open-faced sandwiches, in order to have more fresh strawberries! This sandwich has been a hit every time we’ve served it, and it’s easily modified for everyone.

Next time you’re looking for a summery lunch or a cool dinner (or maybe even a yummy summer breakfast,) give these English Muffin Fruitwiches a try!

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Fun Friday: Elizabeth’s Lunches

28 Jun
Elizabeth's cookbook of choice

Elizabeth’s cookbook of choice

We’ve often described Elizabeth’s taste as being very mature for her age. She often likes things that surprise us, things that we think other kids her age may not like. It’s exciting to see her try new things, but it’s often challenging to pack her lunch because she’s not a fan of your typical, quick and easy pb&j sandwich.

Last year at some point, she spent one of her Barnes & Noble gift cards on a new cookbook, “The Lunch Box,” filled with unique lunchtime meals. I think she figured if she bought it, we’d make all the things in it for her lunch box.

It was a good thought, but she still ended up with a lot of the more typical lunches we put out each morning- turkey, pb&j, nutella, salad.

Poor Liz.

"The Lunch Box" was not the only cookbook Elizabeth had tabbed for me to start trying some new recipes this summer.

“The Lunch Box” was not the only cookbook Elizabeth had tabbed for me to start trying some new recipes this summer.

But, as the school year came to a close and summer began, Elizabeth came to me with the lunch box cookbook and showed me “a few” of the pages she’d tabbed that sounded good to her. She asked me if we could spend the summer trying out some of these lunches, and I agreed we could. She then showed me a few other cookbooks she’d tabbed a few other pages in.

Just a few.

This might take me more than one summer. Like five.

But, keeping my word, we tried the first recipe Elizabeth picked out, a Tuna & White Bean Salad. She even added in her own ingredient: sliced black olives.

She loved it. I made some for Don, he loved it. I even tried it myself, I loved it. I served some as one of the lunchtime options at a playdate and even they loved it. That’s recipe success in my book.

And so today, for my first real summertime Fun Friday post, here is the first fun lunchtime recipe we tried out of Liz’s cookbook. We’ve tried three or four more, and since I always find lunchtime meals to be particularly challenging, I’ll be sharing more of the recipes with you in the future as well.

In trying this recipe we have found that both cut-up triangles of pita pocket bread or crunchy tortilla chips make a good side with this. You can either put it in the bread, or use the bread or chips to scoop it up. You can eat it with a fork or in a sandwich or wrap. It’s a very versatile tuna salad!

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The very first recipe we tried from Elizabeth’s cookbook: Tuna & White Bean Salad

Tuna & White Bean Salad

from “The Lunch Box”

“In a small container with a tight-fitting lid, combine 2 teaspoons olive oil, 1 teaspoon lemon juice, and 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard. Add equal parts canned white beans, rinsed and drained, and canned tuna, drained and flaked. Sprinkle with minced celery and onion. Cover and shake to combine. Season with salt and pepper.”

Enjoy!!

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