Patriotic 4th of July Lunch

We're at it again!  The Bento Bloggers and Friends are doing a patriotic blog hop.  We all were talking and noticed that we are so proud of our countries and wanted to celebrate them with awesome lunches.  Canada celebrates their Independence Day on July 1st and the United States of America celebrates their Independence Day on July 4th.  We have friends in both countries that will hop with us and it made sense to hop a few days prior so that we could take the holiday off to celebrate.

Our main entree is an American flag open faced sandwich.  We cut the crusts off of our bread and created a rectangle for our flag.  Then, we spread some whipped cream cheese on the bread.  Finally, we added sliced strawberries and a few blueberries to create Old Glory.

Our vegetable side is zucchini and red peppers.  We used a small star cookie cutter to cut out the center of the zucchini to create white stars.  Then, we used our micro star cookie cutter to cut the red pepper into red stars.  We added an American Flag pick and a Captain America Shield ring to this section too.

Our dairy side is vanilla yogurt.  We added a few star sprinkles to the top to match our theme.  We also added a Statue of Liberty (one of our favorite symbols of freedom) to the bowl.

Finally, our fruit/dessert is a patriotic strawberry.  We dipped fresh strawberries in white chocolate and then just the tip in some blue sprinkles.  These were a HUGE hit with the kids.  Plus, they are much more healthy than most other holiday themed desserts.  There are two sparkly star picks below the strawberries.

Now it's time to HOP on over to see what incredible fun thing Bobbi has created for her kids at Bobbi's Bentos, then keep hopping to see what everyone else has imagined up to represent their patriotic side.

Camping Lunch

When the girls at Bento Bloggers and Friends came up with a summer lunch themed blog hop (see below), I jumped right in. *pun intended* This is a fantastic group of ladies that make incredible lunches for their kids and even some of them make lunches for their husbands.  They are all a great source of inspiration.

When given the theme of a summer lunch, I was torn between doing something like the summer lunch that I made for Molly at the end of the school year and something new.  I thought about some of our favorite summer activities and our theme was born.  Camping!

Our main entree is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  We cut our sandwich into a triangle and used our food safe markers to create our camping tent.

Our vegetable side is campfire peppers.  We cut pieces of yellow, orange and red peppers into flames, stacked them and put some kindling, a/k/a pretzel sticks, at the bottom.  These were a big hit.

Our fruit side is a banana, a sleeping bag banana.  We cut the banana in half and wrapped it with a fruit roll up.  Then, we added some chow mein noodles for crazy bed head hair.  Finally, we used our food safe markers to add a sleepy face.  *note: the moisture from the banana makes the fruit roll up very sticky and messy, but still yummy.

Our dairy side is a Babybel cheese.  We cut out a little tree shape in the red wax.  We are always surrounded by big beautiful trees when we go camping.

Finally, our dessert is roasted marshmallows.  We put mini marshmallows on pretzel sticks and used the burner from our gas stove to toast the marshmallows.  All three of the kids LOVED this, especially because they could eat the stick. ☺

*This tray is from Target and the cup filled with water is from Ikea.

Now, head on over to visit the incredibly talented Shannon at the awesome What's For Lunch At Our House by clicking on the blog hop link below and keep hopping for some great summer lunch inspiration.

Final Lunch of the Year - The Un-Birthday Lunch

WE DID IT!!!!!!!  2nd grade will be a thing of the past at 3:30 tomorrow afternoon.  This year was filled with lots of ups and downs but all in all it was a fantastic year.  Molly made huge strides in her reading and math, plus she formed a lot of great friendships.

Tomorrow, she will be celebrating her un-birthday since her real birthday is at the very end of this month.  We put together her goody bags to give to her classmates and included little squirt toys, bubbles, glow sticks and yo-yo's.  A GREAT way to start the summer off.

Tonight is the last time that we will be making just one lunch during the school year.  Next year, Molly's little sister will be joining the ranks at the elementary school.  We are SO excited for both of them.

Our main entree is a Molly sandwich.  This is Molly's favorite, a salami and colby jack cheese sandwich that we added some embellishments to. We used eyes that we picked up at the bake shop, our food safe markers for her face, and since Molly is known for her curly hair, we added some ramen noodles that are sprinkled with a tiny bit of the flavor packet to make her beautiful brown hair.  Finally, there is a little cheese bow in her "hair" just for fun.

Our vegetable side is a red pepper.  This is Molly's favorite vegetable.  We added a Happy Birthday pick and a few little candle picks to go along with the un-Birthday theme.

Our fruit side is Molly's favorite; strawberries and blueberries.  We had lots of fun with birthday picks in this container.  We have a "happy birthday" pick, a balloon and several of the little candles.  So much fun!

Finally, our Final Fun Friday treat is cake balls.  These are like cake pops without the stick.  They are chocolate cake mixed with cream cheese frosting then dipped in white chocolate with a few sprinkles added.  We put them in little cupcake wrappers and added another balloon pick and a candle pick.

Happy Un-Birthday, Molly!!! ☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺

Have a FANTASTIC summer everyone.  We'll be posting a few random things here and there but otherwise, see you in August!!

Theme Week Lunch 4 - 3rd Grade!

We were going to save this lunch for the last day of school but Molly will be celebrating her un-birthday at school on Friday so we decided to switch up the last two days.  We can't believe that the 2nd grade is almost over and our big girl will be a 3rd grader in a few short months.  It is so exciting to think about all of the fun things that she has to look forward to next year.

Our main entree is a cheese quesadilla.  We melted cheese between two flour tortillas, cooled it down and then used a number 3 cookie cutter to cut out lots of 3s for our favorite soon to be third grader.  There is a side of Trader Joe's salsa verde for dipping because it is one of Molly's favorites.

Our vegetable side is cucumbers.  We have a small number 3 cookie cutter that we used to cut these out.

Our fruit side is green grapes, blueberries and apricots.  We used the same small number 3 cookie cutter to cut out the apricot to keep up with our theme.

Finally, our dairy/dessert is a Chobani Champions Chocolate Chunk Greek yogurt.  This is Molly's favorite yogurt so we had to include it.  We used some small Post-Its on the lid that say, "Look Out 3rd Grade, Here Comes Molly!"

One more lunch before summer vacation!!! ☺

Theme Lunch 3 - Summertime!

We can't wait until summer vacation begins.  We have grand plans of hanging out poolside at Grammy and Papa's house with fun in the sun, swimming, building sandcastles, hanging out at the neighbor's fire pit, eating great fresh fruits and vegetables and catching fireflies!

Our main entree is a salami and colby jack cheese sandwich.  We used a foot shaped cookie cutter to cut it out and then added a flip flop with our food safe markers.  Finally, we added a little sunglasses pick.

Our vegetable side is cucumber slices.  We used our crinkle knife to cut the cucumbers for extra fun.  We then added a beach ball pick to this container.

Our fruit side is watermelon.  Nothing says summer quite like fresh watermelon.  We used a small starfish cookie cutter to cut out a few pieces and then added some fun summer picks.  We have a sand pail and shovel, sunglasses and a beach umbrella.

Finally, our dessert is.....MONEY$$$$!  Summertime and ice cream go hand in hand.  We put a few quarters into a tiny container  form Molly to buy some ice cream.  We added it to a bigger container that we lined with a foil cupcake line and then added a cute ice cream cone ring.  Molly loves her rings!

Only a few days before it's summer all the time!!!  As Phineas and Ferb would sing, ♪♫ There's 104 days of summer vacation til school comes along just to end it.  So, the annual problem for our generation is finding a good way to spend it. ♫♪  This summer is going to be GREAT!

Theme Lunch 2 - Teddy Bear Picnic

Four days left in the count down to the last day of school.  Our theme week is going on strong and what better to remind us of summer than a teddy bear picnic?

Our main entree is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  We used potato bread, natural peanut butter and Trader Joe's Reduced Sugar Apricot Jam.  We then used a small teddy bear cookie cutter to cut out our little bear family.  Finally, we used our food safe markers to add details and a little picnic basket pick.

Our vegetable side is ants on a log.  What is a picnic without ants?  We used our natural peanut butter again on celery with currants because Molly really liked that last time.

Our fruit side is checkered apples.  We found this idea from Jenn at Bento for Kidlet.  She has a great little tutorial here.  Looks just like a checkered table cloth to us.  We also added a giant ant that we found at our local bake shop.  

Finally, our dairy/dessert is vanilla yogurt with fun colored sprinkles.  It reminds us of some fun desserts that we have had at our picnics.  Our kids are fans of funfetti cupcakes or cookies with sprinkles as a great picnic treat.

Purse Lunch

This is the last week of school this year and we've decided to make a theme lunch every day this week.  This is not an easy task but we're up for it and have the whole week planned out.  Hopefully it will all go off without a hitch. ☺
Monday is the purse theme.  We found some really cute picks at a local bake shop and decided to just go with it.  Plus, one of Molly's favorite entrees is purses.

Our main entree is Trader Joe's Perline Pasta and Prosciutto.  These are little purses of pasta hold yummy bits of prosciutto and cheese.  We added a little bit of light Italian dressing to keep the pasta from drying out.

Our vegetable side is carrot chunks.  These are manageable little pieces that Molly will be able eat easily and quickly during her short lunch period.  We added a little purple purse to this container.

Our fruit side is strawberries and blueberries.  The berries are in full bloom here in PA and taste so delicious this year.  We added a little blue purse to this container.

Finally, our dairy/dessert is vanilla yogurt.  A sweet and creamy end to a yummy lunch.  We added a little pink purse to this container.