1 Turkey Biscuit Pie

If you have some leftover roast turkey or chicken, this is a super great way to use it up!

Turkey Biscuit Pie

You'll need:

3 cups shredded cooked turkey or chicken

10-12 frozen ready-to-bake biscuits

1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup

1 can condensed cream of chicken soup

2 cups chopped frozen or fresh veggies of your choice (I used peas, rainbow carrots, mushrooms and corn)

1 large yellow onion, chopped

1 stalk celery, minced

2 tsp sage

2 tsp thyme

1/4 tsp cracked black pepper

water

salt to taste

butter or olive oil for sauteeing

Preheat oven to 375F

In a large sautee pan, begin by sauteeing all the vegetables in a bit of butter or olive oil, until they are just cooked through, but still crisp.  The onions and celery will be translucent, but not browned.

Add both cans of soup, then fill each can 3/4 full with water and pour into pan, and add pepper, sage and thyme. Stir well to combine.

Fold in shredded turkey and taste for seasoning.  Only add salt after tasting, as there is quite a bit already in the soup.

Pour mixture into a large baking dish, about 9x12.

Top with frozen biscuits, enough to cover the top.  Push each one down slightly.  It's okay if they sink in, they will rise and brown beautifully!

Bake for about 30-40 minutes, until the liquid is bubbly and the biscuits are golden brown.  Check the biscuits to make sure they are cooked through and not doughy (if so, keep baking.)

Ella says this is her favorite dinner ever!

26 Bento #268 - Froggie World Animal Day Blog Hop

We're hopping again! ;)  Today is World Animal Day and my bento friends and I are each doing a different animal-themed lunch today.  I selected the noble frog.

The past few days we have been enjoying some delicious deli meats courtesy of Columbus Salame.  Today we're using their applewood smoked ham, which has this really savory, smokey taste.  It's great quality and flavor!  I've been having it grilled with melty cheddar and a smidge of deli mustard.  Delish!  I've prepared it today in E's lunch as ham spirals with cute froggie picks, with a side of carrots.

We have another CuteZCute cheddar sandwich, and this time I used the adorable froggie plate for the face.  I was able to emboss the bread as well with the tool, which is such a nifty feature!

Bento #267 - Columbus applewood smoked ham spirals, carrots, cheddar on whole wheat, mini bananas and Willamette Valley Granola chips.

Pssst...I have a Willamette Valley Granola giveaway going on, click here to enter!

Now, check out what Astrid has for WAD at Lunch Fit For a Kid!  Click below.

23 Bento #267 - Egg Salad Stuffed Heart Sandwich and Giveaway!

Yum, yum!  We have crossed over the boiled egg mountain and now Miss E just loves them!  She'll eat an entire boiled egg plain now. I made several yesterday afternoon and whipped them up into a simple, kid-friendly egg salad.  Just eggs, mayo, deli mustard and some minced celery.  I made a stuffed sandwich with my new heart-shaped sandwich press.  So cute!  I also have a collection of new picks, one of which is a sweets collection.

We also have some super delicious and addictive Willamette Valley granola chips!  They sent me a sample kit to try out and the whole family gobbled them down in record time.  In fact, we ate them so fast that they had to send me a few more packs so that I could actually blog with them!  Here we have a mixture of the Berry flavor and the Honey Nut.

Check out the snack-sized bags!  Butter Pecan...my personal fave.  That flavor doesn't last long at all in this place!  Not only is it great-tasting and totally satisfying, but it's filled with fiber such as oats, barley, amaranth and quinoa.  They also use no GMOs in their ingredients (call me impressed!)

Best of all, Willamette Valley Granola is giving a nice big sample kit away to one of my readers! One person will receive a kit with Butter Pecan, Wild Berry, Honey Nut and Vanilla Bean.  I'm trying out Rafflecopter this go-round, so let me know if it works (or not) for you.  

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I received Granola Chips from Willamette Valley Granola Company. I was not compensated for this review, and all opinions expressed are exclusively mine.  Winner will be notified via email, and has 48 hours to claim their prize.  Contest ends at midnight EST on 10/13/12.

1 Bento #260 - PB&J Sushi

Yummy!  We have organic peanut butter and strawberry jelly on whole wheat today, rolled into sushi and some cheese cubes on leaf skewers.

Bento #260 - Organic PB&J on whole wheat, mozzarella cheese, carrot chips and ranch dip.

1 Bento #244 - Spring Ribbons & Flowers

First day of Spring bento!  I had some lemon pepper pappardelle noodles left over from dinner last night (sans tuna and sauce) and I tossed them with a little extra-virgin olive oil and diced sweet Italian sausage.  On top are raw sugar snap peas and a few carrot "flowers."

Fresh blackberries with leaf picks.

Root veggie chips - these are delish!!  They are from Trader Joe's and made from sweet potato, taro, batata and parsnip pieces.  Just the right amount of salt, too.

Bento #244 - Lemon pepper pappardelle noodles, sweet Italian sausage, sugar snap peas, carrots, blackberries and root chips.  Snack - Nectarine.

5 Bento #241 - Green & Orange

I am just in LOVE with these new all-natural food dyes from ChocolateCraftKits.com.  I had to order some after I saw Karen at What's In John's Lunchbag blog posting.  I have historically stayed away (in general) from artificially dyed foods.  These powders change everything.  They are all made of vegetables, and they are shockingly vibrant.  A little goes a long way!

I made some spinach ravioli and added some of the green powder to the cooking water (I used my "dumpling method".)  Look how emerald green they turned out!!  I went with a green and orange theme since they came out so well.

I also cut out some flowers in half an apple, and rubbed some of the green powder on the whites.  It's a little uneven, but I think it would have taken better and more evenly if I had pre-mixed it in a little water.  Live and learn.

Ugh, the lighting is atrocious!  I have a bulb out above the island.

We also have a brand new Hello Kitty lunch bag, compliments of my mom!  E is in love with it.

Bento #241 - Pasta Prima spinach ravioli, carrot coins, herb parmesan mix and an apple.  Snack - Clementine and Goldfish crackers.

4 Bento #239 - Green Eggs & Ham

That's a green egg!  This is Dr. Seuss week, and also the debut of the new movie The Lorax (which we can't wait to see!)  I made these eggs very simply with some prepared basil pesto. Delicious!  I couldn't bear to color the "ham" green, (it's actually pastrami) so it appears here au naturale.

Bento #239 - Basil pesto deviled eggs, pastrami, carrot coins, and grape skewers.  Snack - organic peanut butter pretzel bites and mandarin orange.

0 Bento #210 - BBQ Pulled Pork & Rice

What week of school is this?  I've lost track.  Third week, I think.  The early mornings are doing a number on me.  We finally were able to do some grocery shopping, though I swear my daughter tries to find new and exciting ways to hurt herself, especially in public.  This time she stuck her hand in the back of one of my MIL's auto-closing van doors.  Oh my goodness.  I was on the other side of the van getting my baby niece out, and another passing mom ran over and was able to open the door lickety-split.  She was fine, though, thank goodness!  This child is going to give me heart palpitations. We are already having to bandage her leg daily for the next several weeks, don't need any broken bones or [more] missing teeth on top of it.

Where was I?  Oh, grocery shopping (so exciting, aren't you jealous?) at Wholefoods. Whenever I go shopping with E we spend lots of time in the fresh produce section.  I almost always encourage her pick out which veggies she wants, but now I'm going to start making a point of having her try one new fruit or vegetable each visit.  This time she chose her favorite sugar snap peas and carrots as well as some fresh green beans, which we don't usually get.

This yummy pulled pork is from our friendly neighborhood butcher who smokes the pork himself.  So good.

The veggies are sauteed carrots, bell peppers and baby portabella mushrooms, leftover from a stir-fry I did for dinner, along with some rice and sugar snap peas.

Fresh blueberries round out lunch, with a playful seal pick.

Snack consists of some of Stacy's sea salt pita chips and some fresh ground honey roasted peanut butter, which is awesome except that they don't use salted peanuts.  So...all of the fresh ground butters at Wholefoods lack that essential bit of salt.  Boo.  But, the salted pita chips ought to take care of that nicely.

Bento #210 - Smoked pulled pork with BBQ sauce, rice, sauteed bell peppers, mushrooms and carrots and fresh blueberries.  Snack - pita chips, honey roasted peanut butter and multi-vitamins.

3 Bento #208 - Beef Stir Fry Noodles & Veg

So we are in the middle of our third week of school!  It's a bit of an adjustment (OMG, waking up at 6ish am every morning is KILLING ME) but we are excited about what the year holds.  I volunteered to be room mom again, so I have some work cut out for me, but since I'm crazy and love all that organizational stuff (charts, calendars and to-do lists) I think I'll do okay.  Once or twice a week I let Ella get school lunch, which is amazingly healthy, for the most part.  Yesterday they had a fruit/yogurt/peanut butter plate and salad as a choice.  Love it!  Takes a little pressure off me.  

Today's lunch is delicious.  I made my Korean barbecue stir fry with carrots, bell peppers and spring onions. 

Bento #208 - Korean stir fry with noodles, organic carrots, yellow bell peppers and spring onions, frozen blackberries, and multivitamins.  Snack - Applesauce and spiced nuts.  

0 Bento #196 - House of Ravioli and Wagamama Ramen

Bento #196 - Grilled chicken ravioli with herbs and parm, dried blueberries & cherries, organic baby carrots and ranch dip (and a carnation.)

Getting back into the swing of things!  For the first lunch back home I knew I wanted to use this completely adorable Cath Kidston food tray.  I picked it up as they were closing their Windsor location just outside the castle.  Bless the saleswoman, she allowed me to snap a couple of pictures (usually not allowed) to show you just how darling the store is!

Miss E, holding up our new find.

Afterwards, we grabbed dinner at Wagamama around the corner.  It's a ramen bar with locations around the world.  Ella was in fits of ecstasy at the prospect of Chinese noodles and gyoza.  

Ella had the "mini" kids ramen bowl.  It was huge!  It had a chicken and pork broth with a grilled chicken breast, sweet corn, shredded carrot, watercress and cilantro.  They also had these super cool kids chopsticks, gleefully demonstrated by Ella in the picture below.  

My mother-in-law had the pork ribs.

And I had the Wagamama ramen, complete with smooth dory, shrimp, kamaboko, (type of surimi) fried tofu, wakame seaweed, menma (bamboo shoots), mushrooms, watercress and spring onions.  Delish!

Yum!

0 Bento #184 - Tropical Mauli Ola Bento

This bento is inspired by the new video posted by my cousin James' foundation for people with genetic diseases.  The Mauli Ola Foundation has been focusing on taking kids with cystic fibrosis out surfing, which happens to be a natural (and super fun!) treatment for people suffering from this disease.  Not only that, but the Mauli Ola Foundation is going to be featured during National CF Awareness Month on the CBS show Hawaii Five-O on May 2nd (10/9 C)

The Mauli Ola Foundation exists to introduce surfing as a natural treatment to people with genetic disorders. Since 2007 we have concentrated on the amazing connection between Surfing and Cystic Fibrosis. We have taken nearly 400 CF Patients Surfing at over 40 MOF Surf Experience Days. In 2011 we look to expand our program to help patients affected with Cancer and Alpha 1 Antitypsin. We appreciate your interest and would love for you to join the Mauli Ola Foundation Ohana by becoming a member and help us with our mission to help people with genetic disorders through Surfing. 

Aloha, James Dunlop

As for the lunch, I made homemade basil pesto "sand", and set up carrots "surf boards" around it, and "palm tree" PBJ sandwiches surrounding a pool of fish.  The flowers are orchids picked up by Ella at the Atlanta Botanical Garden the other day (she picked them up off the ground after they'd already fallen off.)  We also have some cute flamingos hanging out with the other elements.

Bento #184 - Carrots, basil pesto, peanut butter, banana & honey sandwich on whole grain bread and Goldfish crackers. 

This year's events are planned from California to Hawaii, from New York to Florida, so if you live in any of these areas, check them out! Please visit mauliola.org to learn more about this great cause and see how you can help.  Click here to make a secure donation.

1 Bento #183 - Earth Day Lunch

First, this lunch is in a Planet Box, and the pasta is Barilla PLUS with Omega 3s and a lot of other goodness.  I made a huge batch for the volunteers at school, and packed some for Ella as well.  It's tossed with roasted organic veggies in a balsamic butter sauce and Parmesan cheese.

Bento #183 - Vegetarian organic pasta salad, dried blueberries and cherries, pretzel sticks, roast turkey slices and vitamins.

Officially, Earth Day is today, but E's school had their Earth Day celebration on Wednesday, marked with a school-wide parade, awards, booths, activities and presentations.  It's such great fun, and so informative!  This year we had the pleasure of hearing Dr. Marcus Eriksen, co-founder of the 5 Gyres Institute.  He spoke about the pollution, specifically plastic, that is inundating the Pacific with huge floating garbage patches.  He and his colleagues built a raft out of thousands of empty water bottles and an airplane cockpit and floated on it for 3 months from California to Hawaii, braving the elements and studying water and sea life along the way. It was so interesting!  Certainly makes one think twice about using disposable plastics.  One tip he gave which I hadn't even thought about was to skip the plastic straws when you go out to eat.

Dr. Eriksen speaking in front of the Earth Balloon in the community center.

Showing some of the empty cigarette lighters he picked up on remote Pacific islands that wildlife is ingesting.

A sea turtle which grew around a plastic milk jug ring.

 Later I sat with E's class as they ate.  Her friend L also brought a PlanetBox lunch!