My SIL deserves equal credit for my "Sandwich Free Lunchboxes" series. Together, we dreamed up how to remove sandwiches from our kids' school lunchboxes. She also needs credit for all the hours that we've shared creating and cooking these recipes
I used to find the idea of school lunches frustrating. In Australia, there is no hot lunch. Growing up in the US, I ate hot lunch most days and loved it. It never occurred to me that other parts of world don't provide cooked lunches for students each day (that said, given the current controversy over what is served in American school lunches, I now feel blessed my children have never eaten hot lunch).
When my kids' started school in Australia, and I realized I had to provide lunch every day, I thought I would go insane. Most days, it was easiest to pour some honey on some bread and call it a sandwich, then shove some Tiny Teddies, flavoured yogurt and a piece of fruit into the lunch box.
When my family started to make major changes in our diets, stopped eating refined sugars and moved to eating mainly whole, real foods, I knew I needed a major overhaul of our lunchboxes. My SIL and I started discussing our options and decided that a homemade, sandwich free lunchbox was the healthiest and most cost effective option.
Our goal was to have lunchboxes filled with foods that were not just nutritious and filling, but easy. Food that could be made ahead of time and pulled out of the freezer each morning. Our brainstorming resulted in these recipes!
We do a "lunchbox cooking day" at the start of each term. We usually start in the morning and spend all day cooking. It's a lot of work, but at the end of the day, we have an entire term's worth of lunchbox food in our freezers (we have 5 school age kids between us, so it's a lot of food!).
So, here it is. Sandwich Free Lunchboxes!
I love Mexican. I love the flavours. I love the ingredients. I love fresh guacamole and sour cream. To me, a perfect meal includes my favourite spices, such as cumin and coriander (cilantro) with garlic and onion.
When we originally set out to create a freezer full of sandwich free lunches, we knew we wanted to pack the food with as many veggies as possible while still retaining flavour and taste. We wanted food that defrosted well and still tasted good when eaten cold. Empanadas were on the top of our list for lunchboxes.
Empanadas are essentially filled pastry. In other cultures, they're called pasties, samosas or calzones. We chose to call them empanadas because we use Mexican seasonings in ours. Our empanadas are packed with veggies, beans and mince (ground beef). They're flavoursome and are perfect reheated in the microwave, or as we use them, eaten defrosted in a lunchbox. These are by far my kids' favourite choice for lunchbox food.
Start the filling by melting 2 Tablespoons of butter in a very large heavy bottomed stock pot. Add 4 cloves of garlic and 6 finely diced onions. Saute for 5 minutes, or until the onions are soft. Add 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds) of beef mince (ground beef), 4 capsicums (green or red peppers, either is fine), and 2 grated carrots. Cook and stir until the meat is browned.
Add 2 (410 gram/14,5oz) tins of canned corn and 2 (410 gram/14.5oz) cans of tomato puree (tomato sauce in the US). We choose to use canned corn because we find that frozen corn goes hard when cooked then frozen again.
Next, add 4 cups of black beans. Because I purchase dried black beans (called black turtle beans in Australia) to cook and freeze them myself, I measure by the cup. However, if you choose to use canned beans, use 2 (410 grams/14.5oz) cans. Other types of beans, such as pinto, borlotti or white beans, are all good substitutes.
Stir in 2 Tablespoons each of ground coriander (ground cilantro), ground cumin, onion powder and Mexican chili powder (optional). Season with salt and pepper, to taste. You can adjust the herb and spice blend to suit your taste buds if desired. Simmer the mixture for a minimum of 30 minutes. The longer it simmers, the more the flavours will infuse. When cooked, remove from heat and let sit for 30 minutes to cool, stirring occasionally to release heat. (If you skip this step, the pastry will heat up as you fill it and become difficult to work with.
While the mixture is cooling, lay out the shortcut pastry in a single layer, and allow it to defrost. You don't want it to be too soft, because it becomes difficult to work with, but don't work with it frozen. It will crack and break while you try to fold it.
Now is also a great time to preheat your own to 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit).
A note on frozen pastry: I realize that the ingredients in frozen shortcut pastry and frozen puff pastry are not the best ingredients.
Puff pastry contains the following ingredients:
(Wheat Flour, Water, Vegetable Margarine {(Vegetable Fats & Oils, Water, Salt, Emulsifier (471, Soy Lecithin), (Food Acid (330), Flavour, Antioxidant (306), Colour (160a)} Salt.)
Shortcut pastry contains the following ingredients:
Wheat Flour, Margarine {(Vegetable & Animal Fats & Oils, Water, Salt, Total Milk Solid – nonfat, Emulsifier (471, Soy Lecithin), Flavour, (Food Acid (330), Antioxidant (306), Colour (160a)}, Water, Baking Powder, (Wheat Starch), Salt.
In the future, I would like to start making my own pastry, but as you've heard me say before, sometimes life gets in the way. At times, we have to do what is realistic. For the moment, I am satisfied that my children are consuming healthy, nutritionally balanced lunchboxes.
Once your pastry is defrosted, cut each sheet into fours.
Take one of the four squares and put a heaped tablespoon of the filling in the centre of the bottom half of the pastry, as shown.
Fold the pastry in half, and using a fork, crimp the open sides of the pastry.
I like to do all four sides to make it a little prettier!
Once the sides are crimped, place each empanada on a baking tray, ensuring they are close together but not touching. Lightly brush with milk.
Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until browned. Baking time will depend on your oven.
Place on cooling racks and allow to cool completely, then flash freeze. Place the flash frozen empanadas in an airtight container and keep in the freezer. They will keep well for 3-6 months.
When I pack them in my kids lunches, I just pull them straight from the freezer and put them in their lunchbox containers. If it's hot outside, I ensure they have a freezer brick in their lunch box as well.
I hope that you and your kids love these as much as we do! Enjoy!
Lunchbox Empanadas
Yield: 108 - 120 (this recipe can easily be cut in half if you choose)
Ingredients:
2 Tablespoons butter
4 cloves garlic, crushed
6 medium onions, finely diced
4 green or red capsicum (bell peppers), finely diced
2 carrots, grated
1 kilogram beef mince (2.2 pounds ground beef)
2 (410 grams/14.5 oz) cans corn, drained
2 (410 grams/14.5 oz) cans tomato puree (tomato sauce in the US)
4 cups black beans, or other bean of choice (if using canned, 2 x 410 gram/14.5 oz cans)
2 Tablespoons ground coriander (ground cilantro)
2 Tablespoons ground cumin
2 Tablespoons onion powder
2 Tablespoons Mexican chili powder
Salt and Pepper, to taste
30 sheets shortcut pastry
Method:
- Melt butter in a very large heavy bottomed stock pot. Add garlic and onions. Saute for 5 minutes, or until the onions are soft. Add beef mince, capsicum, and grated carrot. Cook and stir until the meat is browned.
- Add the corn, tomato puree, and black beans. Stir through.
- Add the coriander, cumin, onion powder and Mexican chili powder (optional). Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Simmer for 30 minutes. Remove from heat and cool for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally to release heat.
- While the mixture is cooling, preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit). Lay out the sheets of shortcut pastry in a single layer, and allow to defrost.
- Once your pastry is defrosted, cut each sheet into fours. Take one of the four squares and put a heaped tablespoon of the filling in the centre of the bottom half of the pastry. Fold the pastry in half, and using a fork, crimp the open sides of the pastry. Place evenly on baking tray. Lightly brush with milk.
- Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until browned.
- Place on cooling racks and allow to cool completely, then flash freeze. Place the flash frozen empanadas into an airtight container and keep in the freezer. They will last 3-6 months.
I wonder if you could use a bread dough?
ReplyDeleteWhen I need shortcrust pastry I use a simple short crust recipe of 100g of butter and 200g of flour whizzed in the food processor. Once it's crumbled add 2 - 3 tablespoons of iced water and whiz until it comes together (be careful not to add too much water).