Pizza Rolls are Perfect for School Lunches
Pizza Rolls are Perfect for School Lunches
Pizza Rolls might be our new favourite school lunch item!
Our family loves to make homemade pizza. I have a great recipe that came with our bread machine, and it takes minutes to dump in the ingredients.
You can also buy frozen pizza dough in the grocery stores and I’ve seen it in Apple Valley Pies Plus Outlet in Berwick (behind Union Street restaurant).
After we make our individual-sized pizzas, we always have leftover dough. This is when I make items for school lunches.
In the past, we have made pizza pockets:
And we have made Pizza Bites using muffin tins.
This time, we decided to make pizza rolls – something similar to a jelly roll, but pizza!
Here’s how we made the pizza rolls:
Roll the dough into a rectangle, and cover it in pizza sauce. Then add your toppings.
Roll the dough like a jelly roll.
Then slice it into 1″ pieces. Turn sideways and put on a cookie sheet.
I baked them at 375F for about 20 minutes, until they were golden.
Time may vary depending on the thickness of your rolls. I also find that anything on my stoneware takes longer to bake.
Once cooled, I froze them in a ziplock bag, and when needed, I will pop 2 of them into my child’s sandwich container for a school lunch.
They can heat them up in the microwave, or eat them cold!
Enjoy!
Double Chocolate Cookies
Double Chocolate Cookies
These double chocolate cookies are some of our favourites. Whenever my son makes cookies, this is the first recipe he pulls out.
So, when I had to make cookies for our annual back-to-school cookie exchange, I knew just which cookies to make!
By the way, here’s how the back-to-school cookie exchange works.
- 1 C Butter
- 1 C Sugar
- 1/2 Brown Sugar
- 2 Eggs
- 2 tsp Vanilla
- 2 1/2 C Flour
- 1/4 C Cocoa
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- Salt
- 1 1/2 C Chocolate chips
- Chill dough (optional).
- Drop by spoonful on cookie sheets.
- Bake approximately 12 minutes at 350F.
Delicious served warm with a glass of milk, too!
How to Host a Red Wines from Around the World Tasting Party
How to Host a Red Wines from Around the World Tasting Party
A few months ago, for my birthday, we hosted a Tidal Bay white wine tasting party. The red wine drinkers said they would rather test their favourites, so another idea was born. So, my friend hosted a red wine tasting party from around the world.
How to Set Up the Party
We set the party up, much like when we hosted the white wine tasting party. All the instructions can be found in my other blog post.
Red Wines from Around the World
For this tasting party, we chose cabernet sauvignon wines. We made a list of countries where we could find this type of wine. For our party, they included
Canada, South Africa, Argentina, California, France, Spain, Portugal, Australia and Italy.
Using Evite to manage the invitation, everyone selected one of these wines to bring.
Food from Around the World
Along with the wine, people were also asked to bring an appetizer from that country. These ranged from a variety of cheeses, some creative offerings of “California Raisins” (chocolate) and a bag of chips that said “EXOTIC” so they must have been from one of our countries!
You can see we were very scientific about the process. There was NO food pairing happening here.
Two of us brought desserts. One was a delicious cake from South Africa.
Then, because it was my sister’s birthday, I attempted a cake from my selected country, Argentina.
It turned out to be a prime candidtate for the “NailedIt” show. We had a great laugh, and ate it anyway.
The Tasting
As we had done before, our host poured glasses of each wine for us to sample.
At our last party, we had a different wine glass for each wine. This left a lot of dishes to keep washing throughout the night. This time, we got different coloured disposable glasses and labeled them accordingly, instead of using stickers, like before.
This worked well, but was still a lo of garbage. Someone suggested everyone bringing their own unique wine glass the next time to self-rinse in between.
Then, we tested each wine, and recorded our results in our high-tech, scientific chart.
DOWNLOAD PRINTABLE OF WINE TASTING CHART HERE
“Are you doing an official wine tasting where you spit the wine out?” one of them men asked. “We’re wine TASTING not wine WASTING!”
The Results
After we had tried all 8 of our selections, we revealed the results.
The group’s two favourites were the Protea cabernet sauvignon from South Africa
And, 19 Crimes from Australia. This one won the coolest bottle, too. Download the app, and the person on the label comes to life telling you a story!
Safety First
Please drink responsibly. We all arranged our husbands to come pick us up afterwards, so plan ahead to have a good time!
Future Ideas for Tasting Parties
We decided that our next tasting party will be ciders of Nova Scotia, since there are so many cideries popping up now!
The possibilities are endless, but really, it’s just a great excuse to get together with friends.
South Shore Family Fun
South Shore Family Fun
Nova Scotia is full of so many wonderful places to visit! Start by visiting the South Shore with your family! Here are some of our favourite places to visit starting from East to West.
Tancook Island
Tancook Island can only be reached by a walk-on ferry in Chester. Go and spend the day exploring this great place. Bring your bicycle or rent one while you are there.
Lunenburg
The Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic is one of our favourite places to visit. It has lots of hands-on activities for kids, lobster demonstrations, an aquarium and a touch tank!
The Ovens Natural Park is a great place to go discover sea caves outside Lunenburg. Admission charged. Camping available.
Bridgewater
Discover the Wile Carding Museum, where this water-powered mill lightened the workload for Nova Scotian farm families by carding a week’s worth of wool in one hour!
Liverpool
Cosby’s Garden Centre, right outside of Liverpoool, has the most amazing trail of magical concrete statues to explore. Admission by donation. Open year round.
Rossignol Cultural Centre
Rossignol Cultural Centre is a great eclectic museum downtown Liverpool. We went in search of the outhouse collection inside, and found so much more to explore!
Fort Point Lighthouse
Down on the waterfront stands the Fort Point Lighthouse and Park. Wander for free inside the lighthouse, read panels of its history, and try cranking the fog horn! There are picnic tables and paths along the waterfront.
Shelburne
Right outside Shelburne in Birchtown is a must-see museum, the Black Loyalist Heritage Centre. Learn about the first free black community in North America in a great interactive way!
Roseway Beach
We discovered Roseway Beach, a hidden gem, near Birchtown and Shelburne through Trip Advisor! Sandy beach and a great place to explore!
Sheleburne Waterfront
We definitely want to come back again to Shelburne and spend more time exploring the waterfront. They have really developed this historic waterfront and park area with information panels, museums, plaques and more!
What are your favourite places along the South Shore to visit?
Baked Potato Party: Create your own topping bar
Create your Own Topping bar for a Baked Potato Party
I’m not sure if this is a British thing or not, but I always associated the baked potato topping bar with my British inlaws.
It’s a Baked Potato Topping Bar!
This summer when we got a bag of potatoes in our CSA veggie share from Taproot Farms, I knew just what to do with them! We would have a baked potato party!
My sister in-laws prepared all the toppings since they were the experts. We set them all out in bowls along the counter, so when you went through the assembly line to pick up your dinner, you could load up your baked potato with your favourite toppings!
Our toppings included:
Baked Beans
Eggy-Mayo (boiled eggs mixed with mayonaise, like you would for an egg salad sandwich, but a bit more mayonaise to make it runny.
Chopped chives or green onions
Sour Cream
Tuna- Mayo (again, mix a can of tuna with some mayonaise, but make it a bit heavier on the mayo)
Grated Cheese
The kids especially loved coming up with their own topping combinations. And, it encouraged them to eat their vegetables!
Try it for your next family night or set up your own baked potato bar at your next barbecue or party!
Local Litterless Lunch List: Where to go in the Annapolis Valley to buy supplies for a litterless lunch
Local Litterless Lunch List: Where to go in the Annapolis Valley to buy supplies for a litterless lunch
Disclosure: This Local Litterless Lunch List is a way for local businesses and entrepreneurs to tell you where you can buy items to help make your child’s lunch garbage free. This means they are sponsored links. Please support these businesses as they have supported me in making this guide.
Sandwich Containers
When it comes to litterless packaging for school lunches, Tupperware often first comes to mind.
Tupperware consultant Angela Baxter recommends the Sandwich Keeper.
Our family has used the same sandwich keepers for the past 3+ years. We have a Mabel’s Label sticker on the top with each boy’s name, so they don’t get mixed up in the fridge.
Cut lunch costs with reusable, hinged one-piece containers. Designed to fit easily into backpack, briefcase or purse, the container’s one-piece construction means no seals to keep track of or to get lost. Around the house or during travel, you’ll find dozens of additional storage uses for these handy helpers. Dishwasher Safe!
Set of 2: $18.
Drinks
Drinking just a little more water throughout your day can make a real impact on your health, and doing so with durable, reusable bottles make the planet feel better, too. And they also make great gifts. Dishwasher safe. Fits in most car cup holders. Includes Easy Sipper cap.
Snacks
Lunch Sets
Absolutely Fabulous At Home in New Minas has a wide variety of items for litterless lunches that are appropriate for both adults and kids alike.
Ziptuck™ lunch bags are food-safe, BPA and PVC-free, leak-proof and air-tight. Sold as a set of 2, one large flat bag for sandwiches or wraps, and the other a snack size that sits up on a gusseted bottom for easier snackability.
Hand wash, drip or wipe dry, and get ready to zip up some more food to go! Each pair is $12.99.
I just bought these for the boys’ lunches and they are a huge hit. The other kids comment on the cool emojis, and the boys can easily open and close them just like a ziplock bag. I fill them with crackers and other loose goodies everyday. Although one is technically a sandwich bag, I alternate who gets the bigger snack bag each day!
Now Designs snack bags are another pair of reusable bags for sandwiches and snacks. Certified food-safe, the bags are made of patterned cotton with lead-free, BPA-free moisture proof lining.
Hand or machine wash and hang to dry. The pair sells for $16.99.
OXO Good Grips has an On-the-Go lunch container with separate compartments. Pack a salad into the bottom, put a sandwich on the trap, snap it over the salad to make it leak-proof. Snap the see-through lid over the sandwich and pop the whole thing into a backpack or briefcase.
It can be used in a microwave and is dishwasher safe for $19.99.
On-the-Go silicone squeeze bottles (set of 2 for $12.99) are perfect for salad dressing on the side.
Please shop local when getting your litterless lunch supplies!
