Monday 5 October 2015

FOOD POST - FALL MEALS

FALL MEALS

Fall, or Autumn as some call it, can mean many things, to many people. To the citizens of the Place Under The Pine "Fall" instantly brings to mind food - warm foods, back to school foods, and appleicious foods!

Back to School Foods


One month into the school year the lunch containers have seen their fair share of delicious foods. As in other years the first few weeks of school are filled with exciting lunches and snacks. But, by the one month mark the monotony has started to set in. Luckily for the PUTP, monotony tastes great!
"Monotony" (noun) - Sameness, lack of variety....definition in the PUTP is demonstrated below:

Snack container - Fruit & Muffin

Bright red berries. Extra Oatmealy chocolate chip muffin...mmmm

Lunch - 'Main' and Fruit

Croissant. Peach. Hand picked local apple.

Extra container: Yogurt or apple sauce

The yummy high fat plain yogurt with fresh berries.

This year the food quality committee did some research into the lunch program to determine what went into lunches, but more importantly, what was eaten in those lunches. The first few days were recorded in the following video:


Apple-icious Foods


Fall is apple picking season. Every year the citizens take the short trip out to the apple orchard and pick a bushel of the wonderful fruit. Just like last year many of the PUTP's meals have ended with some sort of apple treat.

As you can see the apples are delicious

Apple sauce is sometimes made daily

Pair that apple sauce with some warm biscuits and you have the classic PUTP weekend breakfast

WARM FOOD - THAT CAN BE FROZEN


Fall also means cool weather. Cooler temperatures have an inverse relationship with the PUTP's oven. When it cools down outside, the oven heats up...and vice versa. The barbeque has been given a rest lately and the oven had taken over most of the cooking.

Piping hot stew...apple crisp in the background!
Fall is a very busy time. School, hockey, basketball, and extra jobs all start up in the fall meaning many nights are busy, busy, busy. Easy, quick meals are a must have. The head chef of the PUTP takes this into account and often prepares her patented Double Meals - essentially a double recipe of whatever is for dinner. One to eat. One to go in the freezer to be pulled out on a busy night.

Examples of the Double Meal are shown below:

Stuffed peppers - One to eat

Stuffed peppers - One to freeze


Cheese filled pasta bakes - in freezer ready containers

Bake and serve

Add some quick sides for those busy nights

There are still those unusually warm days in the Fall that must be dealt with. The citizens of the PUTP have found a variety of ways to handle the unexpected heat waves of September.

One way to deal with the heat is by drinking fresh lemonade
A nice strawberry milkshake can cool the soul - although, these are good anytime of year.









8 comments:

  1. These are all really great ideas. I love the lunchboxes you use, the extra little compartments look really handy. Thanks for sharing your meal ideas!

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    1. The little compartments are great - make lunch planning a little easier. I know I must fill two small compartments...what's in the fridge?

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  2. I love this time of year in the kitchen, all the warming foods, so good. We do a lot of batch cooking here too, it is one of my favourite things about fall and winter cooking. Enjoy all that goodness you are cooking up :)

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    1. Thanks Kim, I am enjoying...and thankful to have Jen around to make it all :)

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  3. We have a lot of monotony in lunches here too, no complaints so far! Those dinners look amazing - I love how on top of it you are, we are definitely moving that way. :)

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    1. Thanks Carlin. Doubling up and freezing meals sure saves time, and sanity on those really busy days.

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  4. man, you are WITH IT in the kitchen. those meals look fantastic. i think your school lunches put mine to shame :) but seriously... wow. i really need to start doing the cooking extra and freezing a batch. it would make life so much easier. thanks for the inspiration!

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    1. Your welcome. Let us know if you find a meal that freezes well, not all do, and we are always on the lookout for new ideas and inspiration too.

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