Eat 'N Park Christmas Star

Just about anyone from Pittsburgh will agree that the Christmas season doesn't start until we've seen one particular commercial.  This year is the 30th Anniversary of the Eat 'N Park Christmas Star commercial.  It has a heartfelt story and a feel good message.  For our last school lunch of the 2012 year, we're paying homage to this Christmas staple.
*Eat 'N Park is a sit down restaurant similar to Denny's or Perkins. (only better!)

Our main entree is a tree shaped quesadilla.  We found the perfect cookie cutter for this lunch and the idea became reality.

Our fruit side is strawberries and blackberries.

Our dairy side is Chobani Champions Very Berry.

Finally, our final Fun Friday Treat of 2012 is something else that Eat 'N Park is known for, the Smiley Cookie!!!  We picked up a couple of mini Smiley Cookies just for this special occasion.

 

Here Comes Santa Claus

We were inspired by Keeley McGuire's Santa coming down the chimney and decided to use a couple of tools to create our own.

Our main entree is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich that was cut with the FunBites square cutter and then stacked it to look like a chimney.  We added a cute little Santa pick to the top.

Our vegetable side is orange and yellow pepper rings.

Our fruit side is a clementine and raspberries.

Finally, our dairy/dessert is a Dannon Light and Fit yogurt that we covered with a Christmas themed cupcake wrapper.

Our Lunchbox Love note today says it all.  We are so in love with our kids that no other gift is necessary.

 

Christmas Tree Ravioli

We found a great new thing for a Christmas at Sam's Club.  It's Christmas Tree shaped ravioli by Nü-ó-vö pasta.  It's not only cute but it tastes great!

Our main entree is Nuovo Christmas Tree ravioli.  We added a little bit of light Italian dressing to them to add flavor and keep them from sticking.

Our vegetable side is red peppers and sugar snap peas.

Our fruit side is sliced apples and pears.

Finally, our dairy/dessert is Greek Gods Honey Greek yogurt.  This stuff is AMAZING!

We also added a little Lunchbox Love note.

Christmas Lights Lunch

One of our favorite things about the Christmas season is all of the lights.  We love to hang them on the tree, on the front porch and ride around and look at all of them around the neighborhood.

Our main entree is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich cut with our Christmas bulb cookie cutter.  We cut a piece of Havarti cheese with the cutter and used our food safe markers to decorate it.  Then, we set it on top of the sandwich.  We added Christmas Goldfish for a little extra treat.

Our vegetable side is sugar snap peas and red and yellow mini peppers.

Our fruit side is blackberries and raspberries.

We put a little Lunchbox Love note with a little interesting fact about Christmas lights.  Use code : MOLLY to receive 15% off of your order.

A Day to Remember

The Hobbit Lunch Hop

The hubby's birthday was Wednesday and he's a huge Hobbit fan so we made our lunch for his birthday.  I wasn't sure which direction to go in when making this lunch.  Should I do a completely Hobbit themed lunch and try to recreate Gollum with cheese or should I go with food that Hobbits would eat.  I went with the latter so I'm hoping that this is a Middle Earth feast that Bilbo Baggins would enjoy.  These are all earthy fresh ingredients that might be found in the Shire.  I did add the Hobbit logo on a piece of cheese to top our main entree.

Our main entree is a Mushroom Reverse Shepherd's Pie.  I started by sauteing some onion, then added mushrooms, a little bit of turkey sausage and a few spices.  Then I added some milk and reduced it down, added a little cornstarch mixed with water and thickened it up.  This is served over (instead of under like a usual Shepherd's Pie) homemade mashed potatoes.

Our vegetable side is carrots that have been cooked with a little butter, honey and orange peel then finished with sea salt.

Finally, our fruit side is fried apples.  We started by melting a tiny bit of butter in our pan and then added a chopped apple, let it cook for a little while (stirring) and finished by adding some raisins, a dash of cinnamon and a drizzle of honey.

Now hop over to see what Marie has cooked up over at Healthy Eating Starts at Home.

Fun Friday Christmas Lunch

We had a fun night tonight filled with traditions.  C. J. had open house at his preschool (which both of the girls attended when they were younger).  We had a great time looking at all of his crafts and meeting his little friends.  Afterward, as we do every year, we drove all around and looked at everyone's Christmas lights.  There were brightly colored twinkling lights and big blow up snowmen, Santas and Snoopys.  We saw some big beautiful displays and some simple displays.  It was awesome!

Our main entree is a salami and cheese sandwich.  We used a Christmas stocking cookie cutter to cut it out and then used our food safe markers to color them in.  I wrote their names on them but they are kind of hard to see.

Our vegetable side is....well corn, maybe.  We added Xochitl tortilla chips in their red and green Christmas variety.

Our fruit side is strawberries.

Finally, our Fun Friday treat is a Trader Joe's Pfeffernusse cookie and a few Christmas themed gummies.

There is also a little note from Lunch Box Love.  They have really cute sayings on the front and then fun trivia on the back.  Use the code: MOLLY to receive 15% off.

Pizza!

After a trip to Trader Joe's, we've got plenty of inspiration for some fun festive lunches, including pizza!

Our main entree is pepperoni pizza.  We used Trader Joe's Middle Eastern Flat Bread for our crust, added Trader Joe's tomato paste, pizza cheese and turkey pepperoni that we cut into tree and snowman shapes with mini cookie cutters.

Our vegetable side is cucumber slices.

Our fruit side is kiwi slices.

Finally, our dairy/dessert is Trader Joe's Strawberry Greek Yogurt.

Pick Your Lunch

This lunch shows a simple way use a few cupcake picks to make lunch look festive.

Our main entree is salami and cheese.  We rolled up a few pieces of salami, cut some colby jack cheese and skewered them with a few fun Christmas picks.

Our vegetable side is orange and yellow pepper rings.

Our fruit side is a clementine and a persimmon.  Bean wasn't too thrilled with the persimmon so only Molly will be eating them.

Finally, our dairy/dessert is vanilla yogurt.

Reindeer Sandwich

We found some great Christmas lunch inspiration all over the interwebs and this was one of the fun things we found.

Our main entree is a peanut butter and jelly reindeer sandwich.  We cut our pb&j with a heart shaped cookie cutter, added pretzel antlers, chocolate chip eyes and a little red nose.

Our vegetable side is a reindeer's favorite, carrots.

Our fruit side is strawberries and black berries.

Finally, our dairy/dessert is Trader Joe's Strawberry Greek yogurt.

Christmas Pasta

Kraft makes a really fun Christmas Mac and Cheese.  We sometimes make it at mac and cheese but sometimes we just use the pasta to make pasta salad.

Our main entree is a Christmas pasta salad.  We used the pasta form Kraft Winter Shapes Mac and Cheese, added turkey pepperoni, red peppers, sugar snap peas and light Italian dressing.  We finished it off with cheese that we cut with some plunger cookie cutters then decorated them with our food safe markers.

Our vegetable is in our pasta salad.

Our fruit side is apples and clementines.

Finally, our dairy/dessert is vanilla yogurt with multi colored mini chocolate chips.

We added a cute little note from Lunchbox Love.  (Use code: MOLLY for 15% off)

Kid Made Lunches

Molly, Bean and I had a girls night tonight.  Daddy was at a meeting and C.J. went to hang out at Grammy's.    We did a little Christmas shopping for the boys, had a fun dinner, did homework, worked on some craft projects and the girls decided to make their own lunches. I'm beaming with pride!

 Our main entree is peanut butter and jelly.  Molly's sandwiches were cut out with gingerbread and Christmas tree cookie cutters.  Bean used a snowman cookie cutter for all three of hers.  They both used our food safe markers to decorate their sandwiches.

Our vegetable side is sliced cucumbers.  (Mom sliced them and the girls put them in their lunches.)

Our fruit side is clementines and raspberries.  (The girls peeled their clementines and washed their raspberries.)

Finally, our Fun Friday treat is peppermint mini marshmallows and a peppermint Andes Candy.

Ho Ho Ho Lunch Blog Hop

The Bento Bloggers and Friends are doing several blog hops throughout December to inspire fun holiday lunches.  Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Our main entree is a cheese quesadilla.  We used a spinach tortilla wrap, cut out a tree and melted cheese between the two layers.  Then, we sprinkled some mozzarella on top as our "glue" for our pepper star and ornaments.

Our vegetable side is a little Santa made out of a red pepper and some cauliflower.  

Our fruit side is raspberries that have been filled with some mini white chocolate chips.  

Finally, our dairy/dessert is vanilla yogurt with a few candy cane and Christmas tree sprinkles.

Now, hop on over to see what festive awesomeness 

Kendra has cooked up at Biting the Hand That Feeds You.  

Waffle Pizzaaaahhh!!!

We looked to our favorite lunch cookbook, Cooking with Trader Joe's Cookbook: Easy Lunchboxes. The girls loved the waffle pizzaaah so much that we had to bring it back.

Our main entree is the awesome waffle pizzaaaah.  We used mozzarella and turkey pepperoni for the filling.

Our vegetable side is orange pepper rings.

Our fruit side is clementines and blackberries.

Finally, our dairy/dessert is vanilla yogurt again with the colorful mini chocolate chips.  They were a huge hit today so we had use them again today. 

Lunch Punch Lunch

When I started making lunch this evening, I had a general plan but nothing concrete.  I opened up my drawer of goodies and found some inspiration with one of our Lunch Punches and boom...lunch!

Our main entree is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich that was cut out with the ice cream cone lunch punch.

Our vegetable side is cucumber slices.

Our fruit is apples and clementines.

Finally, our dairy/dessert is vanilla yogurt.  We added some colorful chocolate chips to the top and it reminded us of the sprinkles on an ice cream cone.

Christmas "Lunchable"

We had great success with our homemade "Lunchables" and found some great things to make a Christmas themed one that's really fun.

Our main entree is turkey pepperoni, colby jack cheese and snowflake shaped Ritz crackers.  We used a small Christmas tree cookie cutter to cut our cheese.

Our vegetable side is some sugar snap peas in an Easy Lunchboxes Mini Dipper.

Our fruit side is a pear that has been cut into chunks.

Finally, our dairy/dessert is vanilla yogurt.  We put a small container of Christmas tree sprinkles in the main compartment for the girls to put in their yogurt.