not-so pumpkin cookies

Is it really that time of year? The leaves are turning and the lunch bags cross my counter every morning. The kids' backpacks are strewn throughout the house and school projects are the talk of the day.

I am tickled to be back in the brown bag lunch season, where I dig deeper for new ideas and recipes, and try to rally my boys to try new snacks, dips and sandwiches.

One recipe that I reach for each fall is our pumpkin cookies; though the irony is that they are made with cooked carrots: not pumpkin. Don't be fooled, though, even though carrots are front and center for these cookies, the kids will scarf them down. They are called pumpkin cookies for two reasons: 1. they are orange, and 2. you can decorate the tops of them to look like jack-o-lanterns.

With mini chocolate chips and ideally some kids to help decorate, these cookies look like small reminders of Halloween. Though I must confess, the last time I baked these I only made a few pumpkin faces; the rest of the cookies were adorned with mini-chocolate chips in a happy clump on top. Pumpkin faces or not: the kids gobbled them up in true goblin style.

Carrot Jack-o-lantern Cookies, or
Iced Carrot Cookies, or
Wannabe Pumpkin Cookies... what to call these?

1/2 cup butter (room temp)
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup mashed cooked carrots
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp lemon extract
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
topping: mini chocolate chips

icing
2 T orange juice
1 cup confectioners sugar

Preheat oven to 350. Cream butter and sugar; mix in egg, carrots, extracts. Blend flour, baking powder and salt; mix just until blended. Drop onto cookie sheet, bake 12-15 minutes (makes 15-18 ping pong ball size cookies). Meanwhile, whisk together orange juice and sugar to make icing. Let cookies cool, then ice and adorn with chocolate chips.

silly dilly dip.

Because if it is silly, it cannot be boring. And Brown Bag Blues are all about chasing away the blues, the boredom, and the roll-your-eyes usual of midday munching.

Though this Silly Dilly Dip can scoot into a lunch alongside the daily veggies, it also mixes well with last night's roasted red potatoes. For a lunchtime treat, put in a very simple potato salad. Why not?

My kids would try it, as long as it is only Silly Dilly Dip and potatoes (they are still getting used to extra colors and textures and wierd, unfamiliar additions. I bet in the next few months I could add one more veggie into the potato salad mix...).

Silly Dilly Dip
1 cup mayo
1/2 cup sour cream
1/3 cup chopped fresh dill
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese
2 T lemon juice
2 T finely chopped shallots
3 cloves chopped garlic
1 T Worcestershire sauce

Mix all in blender; add salt and pepper to taste. Chill and serve.

a flurry of tzaziki

It is thick and white but won't be coming down from the sky. This flurry should be in kitchens all around, in a hurry to pop dipping options into brown bags the world over.

I thought flurry was a nice description of mixing up this recipe and/or filling a brown bag since for me that process is usually hurried. When I am really on top of my game, I make lunch the night before... but time and again I am throwing, chucking, shoving and grabbing all the nearest bagable items to rapidly insert into the bag on our way out the door: quick---before we are late! So, I make sure at least recipes are made the day/night before, to assist in my morning flurry. Recipes just are not going to happen at my house during the morning rush; but that is just me.

I made tzaziki so my boys could try it as a dip for cucumber half-moons, zucchini matchsticks and pita triangles. Turns out, one son prefers it with broccoli, another on pita with grilled (cold) lamb.

By the way, if my boys ate tomatoes, a pile of cherry tomatoes would be a perfect accompaniment with tzaziki; hopefully your kiddos like tomatoes. Tzaziki is a great partner for adding veggies to brown bags!

Quick facts I borrowed from Wikipedia:

• Tzatziki is a Greek appetizer.
• The Greek name is based on/means chutney.
• Tzatziki is traditionally made with strained sheep/goat yogurt, cucumbers, onion, garlic.
• It also might have: olive oil, vinegar and herbs (dill, mint, parsley).
• It is often served with pita bread/flat bread, olives.
• It is a standard condiment in Greek souvlaki and gyros.
• Tzatziki is served cold.

I adapted a Tzatziki recipe from Barefoot Contessa:

Tzaziki
Kosher Salt & Coarse Pepper
2 cups plain (or Greek) yogurt
1 medium cucumber, unpeeled and seeded
1/2 cup sour cream
1T champagne/white wine vinegar
2 T freshly squeezed lemon juice (1 lemon)
1 T olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 T fresh dill

Place the yogurt in a cheesecloth or paper towel-lined sieve and set it over a bowl. Grate the cucumber and toss it with 1 T of kosher salt; in another sieve. Place both bowls in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 hours so the yogurt and cucumber can drain. Squeeze as much liquid from the cucumber as you can; mix/blend yogurt, cucumber, sour cream, vinegar, lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, dill, 1/2 tsp. salt, and a few grinds of pepper. You can serve it immediately, but I prefer to allow the tzatziki to sit in the refrigerator for a few hours for the flavors to blend. Serve chilled or at room temperature.

A flurry of recipes:

• Chevre Tzaziki from Anne's Food.
• Beetroot Tzaziki from Cook (almost) Anything at least Once.
• Tzaziki from Cooking Light.
• Santa Cruz Organic based Tzaziki.
• Elise from Simply Recipes provides Tzaziki with Swiss Chard.
• Tzaziki from Family Fun.

the juice on jicima

My friend just told me about her favorite new veggie to pop into her children's lunches: jicima. Jica-who? Ah yes, that oddball whitish thing on the shelf at the grocery store, resting---more like hiding behind---roots of this and rutabaga that. I was wondering what that homely brownish sphere was, and always meant to pick one up and take it home. But alas, life is busy and newbies don't always find their way into my grocery basket.

So, it took a nudge from a friend, and now I am giving you that same friendly nudge: go try this. Buy just one little, homely blob and take it home. Then shave it like you would a potato and dice it into tiny 1/4 inch cubes or even matchsticks---the longer and skinnier the more enticing.

Now, all you need is a little loving dip and you are home free. My friend uses a mix of fresh squeezed lime juice and agave juice (I made it with the juice of two limes and 2 T of agave juice). You can just pour a bit of it over, unless the dipping is part of the daring, then by all means add an extra container in their lunch!

My sons just had a friend over; I plated this jicima and lime/agave concoction and set it out for pre-lunch dipping. I stated: "it is jicima, and tastes a lot like a carrot. And the dip is lime juice and sugar (because agave is a natural sweetener---but that is a post for another time)." My boys both tried it, but their friend gobbled it down. "Hey, did you know your kid loves jicima?" And I imagine they would say , "Jica-what?"

p.s. This would be the perfect bagable veggie in an all-white lunch!

p.p.s. My friends Ilva and Joanna just started a new site that will focus on eating healthy for your heart. This month they are focusing their efforts on finger foods---right up my alley since brown bag blues often focuses on finger-friendly foods (for fingers of all sizes!). I sent them these little jicima sticks to add to their list of healthy, heart-worthy foods. Keep up the good work Ilva and Joanna! (Click to read Joanna's list of heartable foods).