Make ahead tasty and healthy recipe - lunch/snack for kids/office goers

Discussion in 'Recipe Central' started by hrastro, Nov 12, 2014.

  1. hrastro

    hrastro Platinum IL'ite

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    I had a pudina bunch and some pumpkin and was wondering what to do about it - dal or sabji ... and my DS10 told me "amma next week - I want something special for my lunch breaks!"

    So, sunday evening, I cleaned up and washed the pudina, while I put a large cup of pumpkin pieces on the stove (put in a kadai, with 1/2 cup water and close it and leave on sim - will cook in 10 mins)

    Grind the pudina with some ginger, green chillies and dhaniya and jeera powder !

    I had lots of pudina - so with one half of the above paste, I added curd, salt and made some chapati atta with 1 cup wheat flour and 2 tbsp besan - like pudina thepla !

    You can Keep the thepla atta or half cooked chapatis in fridge for 3-4 days or freezer for upto three months.

    Roll out into chapatis, apply a drop of oil, fold into triangles and roll out again!

    Heat on both sides on a pan with few drops of oil - pudina paratha !

    I applied 1 tsp cheese spread + 1 tsp tomato sauce on the roti, and added the dry sabji I had made for rice (beetroot fry/ beans fry/ bhindi fry or anything you have) and roll it into a kathi type roll - heat on pan for a few minutes and let cool and pack it

    So DS10 got pudina kathi rolls for lunch on monday !!!


    Rest of the pudina paste, I used to make bread dough
    - Prove 2 tbsp dry active yeast with warm water and 1 tsp sugar
    - Grind 1 cup cooked pumpkin to a smooth paste
    - Add pudina + ginger + green chilli paste
    - salt to taste, add any other herbs or masala powders at this stage
    - 2-3 cups whole wheat flour
    - 1 cup maida for dusting and working the dough to a smooth consistency

    Knead for 10 minutes, and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour till the dough is doubled in size.

    At this stage you can keep it in the refrigerator and use it the next day or in freezer for upto 3 months

    Monday morning baking time !!!

    Bring dough to room temperature and work the dough again till pliable.

    Make lemon sized balls and space it 1 inch apart in a greased baking pan - the dough will double up again in 20-30 minutes.
    Preheat oven to 200 C.
    Now brush top of the risen balls with milk or ghee. Bake for 10-12 minutes till bottoms sound hollow and the buns are baked.
    IMG_20141110_095816.jpg


    I used some of the bread dough to make focaccia - Just take some dough, flatten it with hands or with a rolling pin, roll it into a swiss roll and place on the pan with the seam joints at the bottom - now flatten this roll on the greased pan till it occupies the whole pan and is just 1/2 inch high

    IMG_20141110_103824.jpg

    Poke the dough with your fingers and apply tomato sauce (or any sauce you like). Add some veggies on top - sliced onions, capsicum, herbs like tulsi, basil, coriander etc
    Brush top with oil/ghee and bake in preheated oven for 10-15 minutes


    Take out from oven and let it cool on some grill racks so that both bottom and top cools down.

    IMG_20141110_111427.jpg

    Cut focaccia into rectangles or squares!

    This can stay in the refrigerator for 3-4 days or in the freezer for upto 3 months.

    I made all these on monday morning and my DS is enjoying different AVATARS of the same buns/bread everyday for lunch and snack time.

    You just have to heat it in the oven for 5 minutes again and add some interesting element to it or pack as it is !!

    Yesterday was grilled pieces of focaccia with some cheese slices

    Today I made a sabji with soya granules, carrot and capsicum cooked in tomato/onion/ginger/garlic paste - just keep it wet enough to be spreadable but not pouring consistency.

    Cut the mini buns horizontally - cover it with the sabji and add a small piece of cheese to it and grill for 5 minutes

    Son's lunch box below
    IMG_20141112_070344.jpg
     
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  2. AprilLisa

    AprilLisa Gold IL'ite

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    what an idea madam ji!!! :)

    every day its a challenge for me to decide what to give my son for snacks and lunch .... i can use these now........ Thanks to you!
     
  3. radv

    radv Gold IL'ite

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    So many options hrastro! Thank you for sharing.
    wondering what to make first.
    i think will bake buns first. Since I don't have fresh mint right now, will use dry mint and give it a try.
     
  4. mriduna

    mriduna Silver IL'ite

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    Thank you for starting this thread. I am also looking for more ideas for kids snack and to help speed up dinner. Pudina is difficult to get in large quantities especially in winter. I like the idea of baking some rolls/bread for the week and using it in different avatars. I really like your idea of half cooking chapathi's and storing it. I am going to try that this weekend. Any additional tips on how to store them?
     
  5. hrastro

    hrastro Platinum IL'ite

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    Thanx AprilLisa - even my son has the same problem - he will eat anything I keep in the box, food wise, he is very adjusting, but he would "like" something different - and when he took these to school, some of his friends told him to get the recipe - I wondered that even 10 year olds discuss recipes ??

     
  6. hrastro

    hrastro Platinum IL'ite

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    radv,

    Pudina was just what I had, you can omit the pudina or replace with green dhaniya or methi or palak or even basil or tulsi or the dried italian herbs like oregano and thyme etc also will work well in the recipe

    Giving you so many more options :)

     
  7. hrastro

    hrastro Platinum IL'ite

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    Hi mriduna,

    Use other leaves or omit pudina completely - no worries

    To store them, I dont usually store them as I am SAHM and in India, and we have fridge and power problems galore :) but I'll share what I've read

    You can store chapati atta - apply a thin coat of oil, cover in cling film or foil and keep in airtight box in fridge or in freezer in ziplock covers (get to room temp before use)

    Storing chapatis - you can roll out the chapatis, let cook only half - just few seconds on each side - let cool completely. Keep parchment paper between each chapati and store in serving sizes in ziplock covers in freezer - eg. if you finish 10 chapatis in a single meal, use 11 pieces of parchment papers and put the 10 rotis alternating in between them and store in freezer in a ziplock cover. Have a hot pan ready and use the rotis directly from the freezer !! So if you make 40 rotis over a weekend, you can have 4 easy meals - but do check out with smaller quantities - if your family likes the taste and texture !!!

    With breads, let cool completely and store in freezer bags - flash freeze them on a tray for half an hour and then once they become hard, put in freezer bags and grill before use
     
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  8. hrastro

    hrastro Platinum IL'ite

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    Yesterday was a very cold day - constant rains since the night before dreary anddepressing.

    So I wanted to spend the whole day in the kitchen :) Well, this didn’t take thewhole day, it just took 2-3 hours including waiting times

    I made a filling - To a big kadai - I added finely chopped capsicum, carrot, beetrootand 1 potato
    Grind 1 tomato, ginger and salt and dhaniya and red chillis and add to the mix
    Finely chop 1 bunch methi leaves and add to the mix
    Mash the whole sabji with a masher till everything comes together to a spreadable mass.

    IMG_20141113_062327.jpg


    I used up half a kg of Aashirwad multigrain atta - added to proved yeast, sugar, salt
    I added a handful of til seeds and ajwain seeds and made a soft dough
    Allow dough to double for an hour.

    Since it was such a cold and wet day, I used warm milk and warm water to make the dough and kept it for doubling for more than 1 hour.


    IMG_20141113_075823.jpg



    Roll out the dough on to a platform dusted with maida - and work into various shapes


    I made some with the karjikaya mould


    IMG_20141113_110739.jpg

    Made some in swiss roll model - spread the dough, spread a layer of filling on top and roll like a swiss roll


    IMG_20141113_110758.jpg IMG_20141113_110859.jpg

    Some of them I made like a stuffed bun/paratha

    ---- post continues below


     
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  9. hrastro

    hrastro Platinum IL'ite

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    You can see some buns, some envelopes, some karjikaya (karanji) and some swiss rolls - Ignore the heart, I had some leftover dough after the filling got over and I played with it :)



    IMG_20141113_130855.jpg IMG_20141113_130919.jpg

    Let cool completely before storing!!


    My son's lunch today - took out two "swiss rolls" and topped with some pieces torn from a cheese slice!
    Grill for 5 minutes, cut into wedges and pack for lunch




    IMG_20141114_071200.jpg
     
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  10. jlak

    jlak Silver IL'ite

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    Hrastro! thats a fantastic idea! how many days can you store this?

    so you stored this in an air-tight container in the refrigerator after making the shapes? you only cook it when you have to eat right?
     

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