Thursday, November 29, 2012

Angry Birds Star Wars

Daddy and the girls have become OBSESSED with Angry Birds Star Wars.  Any computer time they can get, that is the choice.  Tonight, Daddy was a huge help to me.  We worked together on lunch and he said that he would make sandwiches while I cut fruits and vegetables.  He asked if I had a theme in mind and I said no.  He started to get giddy.  I knew that he had an idea and I was so excited to see what would happen.
Our main entree is a Millennium Falcon salami and cheese sandwich with yellow bird, Han Solo, as the pilot. We added a LightSaber to this container in case Darth shows up.

Our vegetable side is orange pepper slices.

Our fruit side is strawberries and pineapple with Obi Wan, the black bird.

Finally, our Fun Friday treat is two white chocolate truffle "Death Stars" nested in a Star Wars cupcake liner.

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

1st Christmas Lunch of the Season!

On the way home from dance tonight, I asked the girls what they would like in their lunches tomorrow.  Ready?  PB&J!  SHOCK!  But, they did ask for a Christmas theme and I am very excited to start the season off right.

Our theme is the candy cane.  When you ask my kids what Christmas is about, the first thing that they say is who it is about, Jesus.  The candy cane represents Jesus, not only in the "J" shape but a few other things that are beautifully described on this site.
Our main entree is a candy cane shaped peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  We embellished it with our food safe markers.

Our fruit side is raspberries, blueberries and apples.

Our vegetable side is canned green beans.

Finally, our dairy/dessert is vanilla yogurt.  We have a small container filled with candy cane sprinkles for the girls to add to their yogurt at school.
 

Monday, November 26, 2012

Back After Vacation

The girls had a great time on their Thanksgiving vacation.  We had Thanksgiving dinner at our house with our family and it was wonderful.  Both Molly and Bean also got sick on vacation but everyone is better now.  We're all ready for the Christmas season at our house.  The tree is up and the whole house is decorated.  I know that time will fly between now and the next vacation time for Christmas.
Our main entree is a Banana Bread with whipped cream cheese sandwich for Molly and a peanut butter and Nutella sandwich for Bean.

Our vegetable side is cucumber slices.

Our fruit side is fresh pineapple for Molly and pears for Bean.

Finally, our dairy/dessert is vanilla yogurt.

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Gobble, Gobble!

Tomorrow is the last day of school before Thanksgiving break.  We were looking for some fun ideas and Pinterest provided lots of inspiration, as usual.  We found a couple of turkeys made from fruit and decided to shrink it a little bit to fit into our lunch.
Our main entree is a turkey cornucopia.  We used a large flour tortilla for the base, added shredded cheese and sliced turkey.  We then heated it in the microwave, cut it into quarters and rolled each triangle quarter into a cornucopia shape.

Our fruit side is a fruit turkey.  We cut a pear in half and removed the seeds.  We then used plastic lollipop sticks to create our blueberry and grape feathers.  The orange feathers are carrots that we cut with a vegetable peeler.  The carrot was also used for the beak and feet.  Finally, we used a little bit of blueberry skin for the eyes and raspberry for the wattle.

Our veggie side is the carrot pieces of our turkey.

Finally, our dairy/dessert is vanilla yogurt was some mini leaf sprinkles.

Happy Thanksgiving, from our house to yours.

Monday, November 19, 2012

The Return of a Favorite

We did a special MOMables week a few months ago and made little strawberry waffle sandwiches per MOMables suggested menu.  We've made them before but it's nice to be reminded of some old favorites.
Our main entree is a waffle sandwich.  We toasted two whole grain waffles, spread whipped cream cheese on them, put sliced strawberries on it and then sandwiched it together.

Our fruit side is clementines and pomegranate arils.

Finally, our dairy/dessert is peach yogurt.

Sunday, November 18, 2012

I am Thankful

I've been one of those people that has written a "I am thankful..." post every day in November to actually celebrate Thanksgiving all month.  In this, the week of Thanksgiving, I wanted to let my girls know that I am so thankful for them.
Our main entree is a sandwich.  Bean's is turkey and smoked Gouda and Molly's is salami and Colby Jack.  We put a slice of smoked Gouda on the top and wrote our message with food safe markers.

Our vegetable side is cucumber slices.  We used our crinkle knife to cut them.

Our fruit side is strawberries and starfruit.

Finally, our dairy/dessert is vanilla yogurt with some fall sprinkles.
 

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Peanut Butter and Jelly

I guess we're going through a peanut butter and jelly phase at our house.  Both girls requested that they have pb&j again tomorrow.  I can understand.  I remember going through pb&j phases as a kid too.  Actually, there was one point in time, a/k/a college, where I lived off of peanut butter and jelly.  TeeHee!
Our main entree is peanut butter and jelly sushi.  We flattened the bread, spread the good stuff on it and then rolled it up, cut and placed on our long picks.  We used grape, apricot and lingonberry jams.

Our vegetable side cucumber slices.

Our fruit side is mixed berries.  We have blueberries, strawberries and raspberries.

Finally, our Fun Friday treat is M&Ms.

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

All Request Lunch

Most of the time, I ask the girls if they want anything in particular and tonight was no different.  This time, they both chose different things so Daddy helped to get things started while I was at run club.  Team work!
Molly's main entree is pasta salad.  It's whole grain penne pasta with a little bit of salami, mozzarella cheese, red peppers and light Italian dressing.  

Bean's main entree is peanut butter and jelly.  Molly's vegetable side is in her pasta, Bean's is an orange pepper on the side.  We also added a cheese stick to Bean's.

Our fruit side is strawberries.  We added a little sunflower pick to this container.

Finally, our dairy/dessert is vanilla yogurt.  We added some mini chocolate chips that have fun colors on them.

Our little notes are from Lunchbox Love.  They went through a lot with Hurricane Sandy and they are doing a wonderful thing by donating to victims.  Here's their story.  http://bit.ly/W6YqfG  When you order, use the code MOLLY to save 15%.

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Fall Fun Lunch

The girls both requested peanut butter and jelly.  I love days like this!
Our main entree is peanut butter and jelly that we cut with leaf shaped cookie cutters. Fall is almost over here in western PA.  There are only a couple of leaves left on the trees.

Our vegetable side is cucumber slices.

Our fruit side is clementines, pomegranate arils and starfruit.

Finally, our dairy dessert is vanilla yogurt.  There is a little cinnamon sprinkled on top.
 

Friday, November 9, 2012

Firefly Lunch

I am a self confessed geek.  I love all of the crazy fun sci fi craziness and I have found a couple of bento friends that do too.  They created a little group and were nice enough to add me to the Edible Geekery Group.  We are paying homage to Firefly, the television series and the movie Serenity in honor of the 10th Anniversary of the show and the marathon on the Science Channel on Sunday, November 11th.  This lunch is for my husband who is equally, if not more of a geek.
Our main entree/vegetable is brown rice with Golden Tiger Chicken and vegetable mix on top.  We went with an Asian flair because of the Chinese language that they speak on the show and the chopsticks that they always use.  On top of the mix is pieces of mozzarella cheese.  We did the Firefly logo, Capt. Mal's brown coat, Kaylee's parasol and Jayne's hat all with our food safe markers.

Our fruit side strawberries.  Strawberries were very scarce and coveted.  Shepherd Book got off of the Persephone using strawberries and they just happened to be a huge hit with Kaylee.  We put "two by two, hands of blue" in cheese on top of these.  This is an ongoing theme through the series with River.

Finally, our dessert is an "energy bar" in the form of two small candy bars (from Halloween) that have been wrapped in aluminum foil.  The crew would use the energy bars as a form of nutrition and theirs didn't seem nearly as yummy as ours.

Hop on to see what Karen has made in her Lunch Bag.

Thursday, November 8, 2012

We Love Fridays!

A simple lunch with just the right Fun Friday treat is just what we need.  This is one of those lunches that took less than 10 minutes to make.  Both of the girls have the same lunch so we only took one photo.
Our main entree is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  We cut the crusts off and added a little lovey message with our food safe markers.

Our vegetable side is sugar snap peas.

Our fruit side is an Empire apple.  We halved it, cored it and then cut a small heart out of the skin.

Our dairy is vanilla yogurt with mini heart sprinkles on it.

Finally, our Fun Friday treat is a mini KitKat.  The girls each chose one of these from their Halloween treats.

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Hello Kitty Breakfast

Leftovers are essential, especially on Wednesday nights in our house.  I go to run club in the evening and after I get home, have something to eat, shower and get to making lunches, I'm ready for anything simple.  Tonight, Daddy made breakfast for dinner...BEST LEFTOVERS!!!
Our main entree is Hello Kitty pancakes.  Daddy used our Hello Kitty pancake maker (see link below) and he added some mini chocolate chips to them too.  We used our food safe markers to color the pancakes.

Our protein side is two sausage links.

Our fruit side is clementines.

Finally, our dairy/dessert is vanilla yogurt with a couple of Hello Kitty sprinkles on top.

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

...and they helped make it!

The girls did not have school Monday or Tuesday because of parent/teacher conferences and the election. (Their school is a polling place.)  We had so much fun playing games, reading books and making some fun recipes.  One of the things that we made was soft pretzels.  We found them in the canned refrigerated section of ALDI and they were a blast to make.
Our main entree is a soft pretzel from ALDI.  We added a small container of pimento cheese spread for Molly and some Bee's Knees Peanut Butter and Company peanut butter to Bean's.

Our vegetable side is yellow and red peppers.

Our fruit side is mini Empire apples that have been cut into slices.

Finally, our dairy/dessert is Chobani Champions Vanilla Chocolate Chunk Greek Yogurt.
Japanese Bento Box Accessories Sauce Container set of 4 Mayo Cup HappyJapanese Bento Accessories Hard Plastic Food Cup 6 cups

Thursday, November 1, 2012

It's The Great Pumpkin Lunch!

Our Trick or Treat has been changed to Saturday because of the storm earlier this week.  This means that we get one more fun Halloween lunch, even if it is after Halloween.
Our main entree is a turkey and cheese sandwich.  We put an extra piece of cheese on top with our rendering of Snoopy (with food safe markers) on a pumpkin in honor of our favorite Halloween movie, It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.  We have a Lucy pick on the side of our sandwich.

Our fruit side is strawberries and a clementine with a little face drawn on it to look like a jack-o-lantern.  We added a Charlie Brown pick to the top of it.

Our dairy side is Chobani Champions Vanilla Chocolate Chunk Greek yogurt.  We added a Snoopy ring to the top of it.

Finally, our Fun Friday treat is Snoopy gummy snacks.  We found these in the Halloween section of Target about a month ago and held on to them for this special lunch.

We also added a cute little Lunchbox Love note.  They have some wonderfully fun notes available at sayplease.com.  Use the code MOLLY to receive 15% off your order.