Dairy Free Peppermint Hot Cocoa

The smell of hot cocoa reminds me of coming in from the cold. My mom used to make the most wonderful hot cocoa when I was a kid. I'd spend hours playing outside and come in to find a hot mug waiting for me on the kitchen table. It was never super sweet and while I have always had a sweet tooth, I never cared for sickly sweet beverages. 

My kids are no different than other kids; they love hot cocoa too. My youngest is dairy free so I bought some coconut milk (unsweetened) so that she can partake in this wintery treat. This morning she tried hot cocoa for the first time and (shocker) loved it! When I told my son that I made the hot cocoa with coconut milk, his first reaction was "eeeeeeew!" But when the moment came for him to drink it, my guy devoured it. I mean, nothing was left over. There was not even a smear of cocoa on the edge of his mouth. Here's the secret: I melted part of a candy cane in the mug. 

This is what we did (and I made this with my kids):
First, we poured 2 cups of unsweetened coconut milk into a saucepan. We put it on the stove on medium high heat.

Next, we combined 3 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa, 1 tablespoon of sugar and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon in a container (I used one with a pouring spout to make my life easier). 

Next we added 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract and about a tablespoon of hot water and stirred until there were very few lumps and it looked like melted chocolate deliciousness. 

The coconut milk began bubbling and I took it off the heat. I then poured the chocolate mixture into the hot coconut milk and stirred. There will be white clumps - that's okay. 

I stirred with a whisk and there were still some white clumps of coconut milk skin. When I poured it into mugs, I added a candy cane (somehow we have billions of these in our house) for minty flavor. 

The kids didn't even make it out of the kitchen with these. It's rich and thick and cocoa-y. Yum yum. 

Here's what you'll need (this made enough for my three kids): 
2 cups unsweetened coconut milk 
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon hot water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 candy cane

Wishing you all a festive holiday season and a happy, healthy new year! 

Banana Oatmeal Bars: A Fast, Easy, Healthy Breakfast

'Tis the season to be hectic. 
I don't know about you, but amid all of the awesomeness of the holiday season, I'm just pooped. Truth be told, my husband and I are relieved when the kids want cereal with milk and a banana or toast with a banana for breakfast these days. My kiddos choose their breakfasts and lunches in advance, which certainly makes things easier for me because I don't have the added stress of thinking about what to serve (let alone dealing with an argument about it). That said, I still have to prepare and serve those meals and unfortunately, there are no holiday fairies that take care of that for me. 

It's times like these that make Banana Oatmeal Bars so very amazing. 

These things are so easy to make, my kids do it themselves now, which frankly is one of the greatest holiday gifts ever. One batch makes 9 bars in our house – but it can make 16 more if you cut them smaller. My kids generally eat two apiece with breakfast. With just four ingredients, they're simple to prepare, quick to serve, and full of healthy goodness. Trifecta! In fact, putting two of these on a plate with some fruit is even easier than serving a bowl of cereal with milk. These bars also make for wonderful snacks! They're dairy free, gluten free, vegan and naturally sweet thanks to those super ripe bananas. 

Download the image below and add it to your LaLa Breakfast Food Library and/or your LaLa Lunchbox Food Library so that your mornings are just a teensy bit easier. Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have about that. 

Banana Oatmeal Bars

3 super ripe (aka brown) bananas
2 cups of rolled oats (not instant)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon salt
* optional: 1/2 cup of one of these: dried cranberries, raisins, nuts, pumpkin seeds or chocolate chips

How to:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line an 8×8 dish with parchment paper.
2. In a mixing bowl, mash the bananas until they are smooth.
3. Add the oats and mix to combine.
4. Add the vanilla extract and salt and mix until the ingredients are evenly distributed.
5. Pour into baking dish. Bake for 25-28 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes and enjoy.

Here are some other recipes you might like: 
Banana Sweet Potato Muffins
Banjo Muffins
Oatmeal Muffins
Banana Pancake Kebabs
 

Let's keep in touch! Follow us on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter to see what we're up to! 

Yummy Pasta, Made from Beans!

We're not gluten free in my house (we're nut free and fish free and my littlest one is dairy free, but all of that is another story). As an allergic person, I have an affinity for products that are specifically directed to those with allergies or special food needs, even if they aren't catering to my particular needs. 

When I spoke with the folks at Explore Asian, it was clear that while they set out to create products that were delicious, they are also keenly aware of the needs of those who are gluten free, health conscious, vegan and kosher. I fit into one of those four categories (health conscious) and I can say confidently that these pastas are delish. My kids have added this bean pasta to our LaLa Lunchbox Food Library and now we pack it in our school lunches. I struggle with family dinner sometimes, so this has been a welcome addition. 

The first flavor we tried was the Organic Edamame Spaghetti. My kids are big fans of spinach pasta (affectionately called 'green noodles' in my house) so the color of this was an immediate plus. The kids giggled - how can pasta be made with beans and water? These products are 92% beans and 8% water. I find that amazing. No weird fillers! I was initially a little nervous that the texture would be strange and gummy or rubbery but my concerns were unfounded. While it doesn't taste exactly like pasta made from wheat flour, the mouth feel is pleasant in it's own right. 

All three of my kids liked this. I gave it a quick toss with roasted garlic olive oil (see below) and my kids added freshly ground black pepper and voila! Dinner was done. These pastas are loaded with fiber and protein - it's like eating a giant bowl of beans with dinner, but with the ability to twirl on a fork! 

A few nights later, I made the Soybean Spaghetti for dinner with my husband (with plans for leftovers for my two year old). Again, the taste and texture were both satisfying. This time, I made the dish with olive oil, homemade roasted red peppers, sautéed snow peas, steamed green peas and salt. We devoured this. 

Explore Asian has other flavors (all organic) including Black Bean pasta, Mung Bean pasta, Adzuki Bean pasta and an Edamame and Mung Bean combination. They also make rice noodles, wheat noodles and noodle soup, but I have not yet tried any of those. 

Have you tried the Explore Asian products? If so, I'd love to hear about how you prepare it! 

Here's the deal with that Roasted Garlic Olive Oil: I roasted several heads of garlic recently and followed this recipe. I then mixed the soft, roasted garlic with olive oil, poured it into an ice tray and froze it. Now whenever I want roasted garlic-flavored olive oil, I just pop out a cube. For pasta dishes, I melt a cube into a sauce pan and give the pasta a quick toss, adding veggies or whatever else might be accompanying the dish. It is typically ready to plate in about 3-4 minutes. 

If you're interested in changing up your dinner game, or adding more variety to your school lunches, check out:
Our 2016 lunch resolutions
Fall/Winter 2016 lunches
Quick Weeknight Meatballs
Our favorite lunchboxes
Easy Spinach Pie
 

** full disclosure: Explore Asian sent me these pastas to try but I have not been compensated to write this post. 

School Lunch

People often ask me what my kids eat for lunch so I've decided to post a collection of images of the lunches that my 8 year old and my 4 year old cart off to school in the hopes that it perhaps provides some helpful ideas to others. I'll also post the occasional grown up lunch and lunch for my 2 year old because we need to eat too! 

Simply click the images below to see the description for each lunch and, where applicable, a link to an easy recipe or click here to open up the gallery. I'll keep updating the gallery, so you can visit http://lalalunchbox.com/schoollunch for fresh ideas and updates. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter for updates and Pin these for later too. 

As always, I welcome comments or questions and if you have product suggestions that your family loves and you think others should know about, I'd love to hear about that too! 

Body Puzzles

My son wondered aloud this morning about how tall he was, measured in sheets of paper. And so a fast morning project was born! 

First we laid out paper. As it turns out, my guy is 6 sheets by 2 sheets. 

Next, I traced him. Oops, there were some errors! Check out the difference between the ankles!

Then, he colored in the details he wanted to include. 

Now we're having a grand old time rearranging the pieces as a puzzle and fitting them together properly or putting them in absurd positions. Fun, fast and inexpensive! Woot woot!

As an aside, when I noticed my 2 year old with the end of the tape roll in her mouth, as if to cut the edge off with her teeth, I realized that my attempts to save a nanosecond by not using scissors is being watched more carefully than I thought.