Healthy School Lunches Part 2

 1. Applegate Farms Organic all Beef hotdog (chopped), stick of Sargento Colby jack cheese, banana chocolate chip oatmeal cookie, baby carrots with homemade hummus, and jello jigglers.

 2. Watermelon chunks, gluten free Rudi's wrap with Applegate farms Turkey Bologna and sliced Colby jack cheese (rolled up and halved), homemade hummus and carrot coins.

 3. Another wrap, except with Applegate farms ham this time.  Again with Colby jack cheese and I heated it to melt the cheese and then rolled and halved it.  Gluten Free pretzels (I found at Aldi) and fresh raspberries.  Celery from our organic and non-GMO farmer with homemade hummus.

4. Leftover dinner from the night before.  Spaghetti squash with meatballs baked into a nest from PaleOMG.   Sourdough rolls that I made, which are gluten free.  And organic strawberry Trader Joes' yogurt cup.

Again, keep in mind these are not just for the kids!  These lunches can also be used for the office too.  Incase you missed it... also read my previous post Healthy  Lunches for School (and the office too!)

Fueling the kids for performance

 Almond Butter packets to squeeze on apples, applesauce squeezers (strawberry and carrot flavored), nut and dried fruit individual pack, fruit leather.  Bananas, apples, and grapes.  Individual servings of Wholly Guacamole. (organic blue corn chips to dip in the guac- not pictured)

Perfect Food bar (carob chip flavor), has 16g of protein, GF cheese crackers in a small individual serving packet, GF pretzels for dipping in hummus.

 Watermelon chunks (I freeze these and they are a nice refreshing treat like a popsicle), tart cherry jello jigglers (made with all natural ingredients unlike the boxed kind), homemade hummus (which they also used to dip sliced up veggies- red pepper strips, cucumbers, and celery, not pictured).

Colby-jack cheese sticks with Applegate Farms deli meat wrapped around them (not pictured), magnesium chocolate drops (to replenish the lost electrolytes lost due to sweating), mini burgers on GF sourdough rolls.

Yesterday my girls had a gymnastics competition and since they are on different levels, that meant that we would be there all day from 9-5:30!  Since the concessions usually has nothing we can eat, I needed to make sure we were fully prepared and would not need a thing!  This meant me too since I am doing the gut healing cleanse currently and only eating protein and healthy fats!  Call me crazy, but this is what makes me happy!  Fueling my kids for their best performance!  I enjoy it, I take pride in it and I know I am doing the best I can for them! 

No one went hungry!  We had plenty of food and we shared with our team mates too!  Competition was fun, but LONG!  This momma was really tired by the time we made it home!

*I will post recipes to the jello jigglers and the hummus soon!
*And the girls also ate a fat bomb each about 30 min before they went on to compete!  I brought a thermos with a "bullet-proof" coffee in it for me, and lots of boiled eggs, mini burger patties and a steak!

Gluten Free Sourdough

 This is an example of my first loaf, which is an artisan loaf (crunchy outside, soft inside)

In the left upper corner of this lunch box, is an example of my original recipe for sourdough rolls.

The process of growing the starter is the lengthy process that can be a little complicated!  I used 2 resources to help me get the perfect starter!  From www.culturesforhealth.com I ordered water kefir gains and followed the package directions for making water kefir and BONUS, you have a fermented beverage to consume and a wonderful additive to help grow your starter!  Then I purchased the book "The Art of Gluten-Free Sourdough Baking" by Sharon A. Kane, also from www.culturesforhealth.com for my recipe for the starter.  I use the Boosted Brown Rice Starter on page 50 in the book.
Once I have the starter ready to use to bake, this is the recipe for my sourdough rolls:
2 cups starter
2 cups white rice flour
1 TBSP xanthan gum
1/2 cup tapioca flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 3/4 tsp salt
*mix all these dry ingredients well
then add:
3 eggs
1 Tbsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp softened butter
1 1/4 cup plain unsweetened almond milk
1/4 cup warm water
*mix well until combined and the dough is sticky
I used my kitchen aid stand mixer
Using the Pampered Chef medium scoop, I scooped out the dough into rolls and baked on the pizza stone at 350 degrees for 10-15 min.  Don't over cook, as you can see in the picture, mine did not brown on the top.  They are softer this way.  I store them in a zip lock bag in the fridge and get them out as needed and nuke them in the microwave for 15 sec.  Serve warm with some butter! 
My kids said these rolls are better than O'Charley's!  That's good enough for me!

You could use this same recipe and bake the dough as a loaf.  I did not try this, so I do not have loaf pan sizes or times it would need to cook.  I would recommend starting with a small loaf pan and trying maybe 20-25 min at 350 and checking it periodically.  Again, not letting the bread get browned on top so that it will stay soft.  That's what I think of when I think of sourdough, soft bread! 

The artisan loaf that is pictured at the top of this post, is not an original recipe.  I did find the recipe at www.naturalfertilityandwellness.com if you want to visit this site and get the recipe.  It is really good and freezes well.  My family enjoyed this bread before I discovered this other recipe on my own.  The artisan loaf is more dense and not as soft as I like sourdough to be.  Try them both and see which one works best for your taste buds!