Lunch! Pasta Bakes - for here or to go?

A rediscovered old friend recently asked the universe for some advice on creative and practical school lunches for her toddler.  At our house we brown bag it every day, so it got me to thinking about how to spice up lunch in a way that's easy to make ahead and appealing to a toddler.  While there are no toddlers in our house, there is a grown man with very similar tastes.  So begins my new quest to create make-ahead lunches that will work for big kids and little kids alike.  I'll name them all "Lunch!" so they're easy to find.

We'll start with a couple of different takes on the pasta bake.  Once you get the principle down, sub in any ingredients or sauces that you dig, below you'll find 2 variations.  First, you'll want to get a big muffin tin if you're cooking for big kids, a regular one will do for little kids.  Once you get your 'bake' together, you'll smush it all into the cups and bake to set them.  In the end, you'll have pre-portioned lunches for quick packing.

The basic principle is to slowly braise a protein of your choice in a low oven so that it will be super moist and juicy and therefore will be able to stand up  to a couple of reheats.  You'll also par-cook some pasta or other starch, so it can happily go through the same thing without dissolving into mush.  To that you'll add raw veggies, some binding agents like cheese or egg, and toss it all together with the sauce you used to braise the meat.  Pop it in a tin, bake for a bit to set, and then nuke at lunchtime or enjoy at room temp.

I haven't tried it, but tightly wrapping and freezing individual portions should work well if you let them defrost before you reheat.  Might get a little wonky if you use egg - reheat at a low temp.

NOTE: you can easily sub in quinoa pasta, rice, or spaghetti squash to make this gluten free.  Cook the quinoa pasta a bit longer though - maybe 2 or 3 minutes.  Try marinated extra firm tofu or saitan to make it vegetarian...but cut back on your salt.

Cheesy Pizza Chicken Bake

Prep time: 1 hour
Yield: ~ 6 large bakes, ~ 10 small

Ingredients:

1-1.5 cups dry pasta, something hearty like rigatoni, ears, or penne

2 chicken breasts

1.5 cups pasta sauce or pizza sauce

1.5 cups broccoli florets

1.5 cups shredded mozzarella

1 handful sliced pepperoni (for the junk food lover)

1 t chili flakes (for big kids)

2 T grated parm

20 cherry tomatoes, halved

2 t dried oregano

1 t garlic powder

s & p

olive oil spray

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 350*, bring a pot of salted pasta water to a boil
• Slice your tomatoes in half, toss with cooking spray, salt, pepper, oregano, and garlic powder.  Pop these in the oven towards the bottom.  No need for the oven to be to temp.  You're going to slowly dry these out so you get the great tomato taste, without the liquid that will sog out your dish.
• Lightly salt and pepper the chicken and place it in a roasting pan just big enough to hold it.  I use a pyrex loaf pan.  Add enough pasta sauce to not quite cover the chicken.  Pop it in the 350* oven, uncovered, for about 30 min or until just cooked through - maybe even a little under if you're comfortable with that.
• While the chicken and tomato are doing their thing, cook your pasta for 5 minutes and drain it.  Return it to the pot and lightly spray with olive oil to prevent it from sticking.
• When your chicken is done, remove it from the oven and let it cool to touch.  Leave the chicken in the sauce and shred it with 2 forks.  Cut the longer bits into kid safe pieces.
• Once your maters look a bit shriveled, toss them in the pan with the pasta, veggies, chicken, sauce, and mozzarella.
• Spray your tins lightly with the oil and pack the pasta mix into them.  Top with a little more mozz and the parm.
• Return the pan to the oven for about 10 or 15 minutes - until the cheese has had a chance to melt and bring things together.  
• Remove, cool, and pop in the fridge.  Once the cheese is cool you can pop them out and pack them up.  

When I pack these up for big kid lunch, I throw a handful of green beans or other steam friendly veg to bulk up the portion.  It all can be nuked together for just a minute or so - yum.

Chicken and Sweet Sausage with Veggies

Prep time: 1 hour
Yield: ~ 6 large bakes, ~ 10 small

Ingredients:

1-1.5 cups dry pasta, something hearty like rigatoni, ears, or penne

1 chicken breast

1/4 lb sausage (hot, sweet, other), casing removed

3/4 c white wine

herbs / spices to complement the sausage.  I used unflavored sausage and added tarragon, thyme, garlic, pepper and lemon zest.

1.5 cups broccoli florets

1.5 cups grated fontina, gouda, swiss, mozzerella, or whatever goes with your flavors

2 T grated parm

1 c frozen peas 

1/2 c panko bread crumbs

20 cherry tomatoes, halved

2 t dried oregano

1 t garlic powder

s & p

olive oil spray

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 350*, bring a pot of salted pasta water to a boil
• Slice your tomatoes in half, toss with cooking spray, salt, pepper, oregano, and garlic powder.  Pop these in the oven towards the bottom.  No need for the oven to be to temp.  You're going to slowly dry these out so you get the great tomato taste, without the liquid that will sog out your dish.
• Lightly salt and pepper the chicken and place it in a roasting pan just big enough to hold it.  I use a pyrex loaf pan.  Form the sausage into a patty and place it on top of the chicken.  At this low temp, the fats and salts from the sausage will help baste the chicken in the same way that the pasta sauce did in the last recipe. Add white wine to come about 1/4 to 1/2 way up the chicken.  This acid will help tenderize the chicken like the acid in the tomato did.  Pop it in the 350* oven, uncovered, for about 30 min or until just cooked through - maybe even a little under if you're comfortable with that.
• While the chicken and tomato are doing their thing, cook your pasta for 4 minutes, add the peas and cook 1-2 minutes more then drain.  Return it to the pot and lightly spray with olive oil to prevent it from sticking.
• When your chicken is done, remove it from the oven, drain out the fat and remaining wine (sadness) and let it cool to touch.  Shred the chicken and crumble the sausage using 2 forks.  Cut the bigger bits into kid safe pieces.
• Once your maters look a bit shriveled, toss them in the pan with the pasta, veggies, meat, panko, and cheese.
• Spray your tins lightly with the oil and pack the pasta mix into them.  Top with a little more cheese and the parm.
• Return the pan to the oven for about 10 or 15 minutes - until the cheese has had a chance to melt and bring things together.  
• Remove, cool, and pop in the fridge.  Once the cheese is cool you can pop them out and pack them up.  

Other ideas I haven't tried yet:

• Ground beef or turkey (do it in a skillet like you regularly would), sloppy joe, rice, and cheese.
• Refried beans, rice, salsa, and cheese, topped with smashed tortilla chips.
• Roasted turkey, mushrooms, chopped spinach, melted tomatoes, feta and egg.
• Teriyaki chicken, broccoli, scallions, rice and egg.
• Chicken mac n cheese with broccoli or green bean bits.