All Request Lunch

It was a busy day at our house today.  Molly had her picture day so there was some extra primping in the morning.  Molly's sister had preschool.  Then, Molly's brother and I had Mommy & Me.  Molly's Daddy started his new position at work today too.  After all of that, there was Faith Formation (CCD) this evening for three of the five of us.  Plus, it's garbage night.  One last thing, dance classes start tomorrow for Molly and her sister so they are about to burst with excitement trying to plan everything.  Whew, that was a lot for one day.  Now off to make Molly's lunch.  The wonderful thing about her mind going crazy with lots of fun things is that she tries to incorporate her lunch into her thoughts.  This lunch was completely by request and I'm sure that Molly will enjoy every little bit of it.

Our main entree is a salami and cheese sandwich.  Molly asked that we use salami, pepper-jack cheese, mustard and our whole grain white bread.  We thought it was a great idea.  We used  pumpkin cookie cutters just for fun.

Our vegetable side is carrots.  Molly is going through a big carrot phase these days.

Our fruit side is a whole bunch of red and green grapes, again.  Molly said that they tasted so good today, that she can't wait to have them for lunch tomorrow.

Our dairy side is a colby-jack cheese stick.  We were told that these really help to complete the meal when Molly is feeling extra hungry...and apparently she has been lately.

Finally, our dessert is a Chobani Champions Verry Berry.  Molly has had one of these for a few days so she was craving the sweet and creamy flavor.

F-R-I-D-A-Y!

Final school day of the crazy week.  Molly is very excited to go to school tomorrow because she is so confident about her spelling test tomorrow.  She's been practicing all week and even the hard words aren't intimidating her.  Plus, it's Fun Friday!

Our main entree is a salami sandwich.  We used the new Sara Lee Iron Kids bread.  It has extra iron and calcium that are important for a kid's diet.  We added, salami, pepper-jack cheese and mustard then used a large heart cookie cutter and a micro heart cookie cutter to show our love for our girl.

Our vegetable side is a tossed salad.  Molly's Daddy helped out and made this for her.  There are black olives and light Italian dressing accompanying it.

Our fruit side is sliced strawberries.  We bought these today and the smell incredibly sweet and delicious.  Molly's Daddy also helped out with these by slicing them up just for his little girl.

Finally, our Fun Friday treat is a Little Debbie Pumpkin Delight cookie.  These are only around once a year so we have to take advantage of that awesome fall flavor.

First Full Week Friday

It's finally Friday!  This week seems to have gone slowly because we are just getting back into our routine so there were plenty of  hiccups.  We are looking forward to a great weekend and some time off.  The great thing about Elementary School is that there usually isn't any homework on the weekend.  Happy Friday everyone!

Our main entree is a repeat of today, salami sandwiches.  Molly went nuts over these and asked for them again, plus she wanted more of them, so we added more.  She said that they were so good and that she could have eaten a "whole bunch more" of them.  So, again it is our Wonder Smart White Bread with Genoa Salami, Pepper-Jack Cheese and mustard, cut with a fun cookie cutter.

Our vegetable side is cucumbers.  This was requested by Molly since she hasn't had them in a while.  She always says how great they taste in her lunch.

Our fruit side is a clementine.  We had these for our dessert after dinner tonight and Molly made the request to have them in her lunch tomorrow.  She said that they are extra sweet.

Our dairy side is a Colby-Jack cheese stick.  This is just in case she's still hungry after everything else.  We think that Molly might be going through a little bit of a growth spurt.

Finally, our Fun Friday Treat is ThinAddictives Cranberry Almond Thins.  These are similar to biscotti but much more thin.  They have a wonderful crunch and a great flavor.  Molly's Grammy purchased these and Molly has been begging to have them in her lunch so we've been waiting for Friday and a nice treat.

In a Pinch Lunch

My day started very early this morning.  Molly's brother was up before the sun but that allowed extra snuggle time with him.  Tonight, I went to see The Help with my Mom.  WOW!  It was incredible and I would recommend it to anyone.  I got home late and just made Molly's lunch.  I grabbed the things that I had already prepped and threw it all together.  Now, I'm writing this post and then going straight to bed because I'm sure tomorrow morning will be here before I know it.

Our main entree is a salami sandwich.  We used our Wonder Smart White Bread and added Genoa Salami, Pepper-Jack Cheese and mustard.  Then we used our fluted cookie cutter and Molly has finger sandwiches for lunch.

Our vegetable side is a rainbow of bell peppers.  They were a hit on pizza day so we were excited to have them already prepped so that we could quickly add them.

Our fruit side is a peach.  We cut it in half, removed the pit and then sliced it.  I think Molly might dip it in her yogurt.

Finally our dairy/dessert is another Chobani Champions in the Very Berry variety.  It's still on the favorite list so that's what we're putting in her lunch box.

Snack Lunch

Molly's little sister started preschool today as well and tomorrow she is the snack person.  We had to add some of our extra snacks to Molly' lunch so that she can share in the fun.  Normally, we wait until Friday for a special treat but we feel like the first week of school is pretty special.

Our main entree is a ham and cheese sandwich.  It is in a different compartment than normal but we still managed to fit it all in.  We used Wonder Smart White bread, added some Virginia ham, Pepper Jack cheese and mustard.  Then, we used a new small apple cookie cutter and made four small sandwiches.

Our vegetable side is cucumber boats.  We bought some pickling cucumbers at the farmers' market and decided that they would be perfect to add a little something extra to.  We hollowed the cucumbers by removing the seeds then added some light cream cheese that has dill mixed in it.  Molly and her sister really enjoyed this combination all summer.

Our fruit side is a nectarine.  This one is especially juicy and sweet but still has that great tartness that nectarines always offer.

Finally, our dessert is edible crayons.  We found this recipe at a great blog... http://www.gourmetmomonthego.com/2008/08/runs-with-scissors-and-eats-crayons.html 
We decided to go with Trader Joe's Honey Wheat Pretzels, dipped each end with colored white chocolate and then added the labels available at the Gourmet Mom on the Go website. So fun and mostly healthy.

Back to Normal

The consignment sale was a huge success and now life is getting back to normal, well at least our normal.  The week was busy and so was the weekend.  We had the consignment sale on Friday night and Saturday morning, then a birthday party on Saturday and another on Sunday and they were both a blast.  It's been quite a week.  Time to get back at it.

Our main entrée is a turkey pastrami and pepper jack cheese sandwich on multi grain bread.  We added mustard per Molly's request.  This box also contains a few pretzels for some extra crunch.

Our vegetable side is cucumber slices.  A cool and refreshing addition to Molly's lunch.

Our fruit side is green grapes and strawberry slices.  Molly requested the grapes but didn't know that we had strawberries so we added them as a nice surprise.

Finally, our dairy/dessert side is none other than Molly's favorite, Dannon Light and Fit Vanilla Yogurt.

Fo Friday

Tomorrow is the last day this week for Molly because she has the day off on Friday so that the teachers can get report cards ready.  We are pretty excited to have a 3 day weekend.  We have big plans!  Friday will be a relaxing day at home, Saturday we are going to see The Laurie Berkner Band Live and Sunday Molly's baby cousin is being baptized.  A fun filled weekend indeed!  Then we're on to February.  This year is already flying by.

Our main entrée is our good old turkey with pepper jack cheese on whole grain bread.  We added the normal mustard and used different sized heart cookie cutters to cut it out.

Our vegetable side is edamame.  This super food will add protein and nutrients to help Molly get through the rest of the day.

Our dairy side is Dannon Light and Fit vanilla yogurt.  A nice creamy and cool treat for our girl.

Finally, it's Fo Fun Friday (since there is no school on Friday) so Molly gets her special treat.  We added two Aldi Milk Chocolate Covered Gingerbread Hearts and a Hershey's Kiss to today's lunch because Molly has been such a good and helpful girl all week.

Food Trend Lunch

Molly is definitely a creature of habit.  She jumps on these eating trends and will ask to eat the same thing for days on end.  She enjoyed her sandwich so much that she not only requested it for her lunch tomorrow but she also requested it for her dinner tonight.  She is also still on her yogurt kick.  We've had request lunches before but this is a trend request lunch.  Seems a bit redundant to me but it's easy to prepare the same things and Molly likes it, win win!

Our main entrée is a turkey and pepper jack cheese sandwich on whole grain bread.  We added a little bit of mustard and then we used some of our favorite cookie cutters to "lose the crust", as Molly likes to put it.

Our vegetable side is sliced cucumbers.  These will bring the crunch factor into this lunch.

Our fruit side is blueberries and kiwi...again.  We can't blame her though.  Blueberries and kiwi are a great combination.

Finally our dairy/dessert side (again) is Dannon Light and Fit vanilla yogurt.  Molly would rather have this than most any other dessert.

Regular Lunch

Not really much to say tonight.  So, on to lunch!

Our main entrée is a turkey and pepper jack cheese sandwich on whole wheat.  We added a little mustard and then we cut the sandwiches with Molly's favorite butterfly cookie cutter and micro heart cookie cutter.

Our vegetable side is canned mixed vegetables.  We had these with our dinner tonight and Molly raved about how they tasted like stuffed peppers and requested that they go into her lunch.  Well, we're not sure about them tasting like stuffed peppers but if she likes them, then we're more than happy to give them to her.

Our fruit side is the same as the last lunch.  Kiwi and blueberries.  Molly requested these also...with a huge smile on her face.

Finally, our dairy/dessert is our standard Dannon Light & Fit vanilla yogurt.  YUM!

Tinsel Tuesday

Our family has become obsessed with Disney's Prep and Landing, to the point that it is #3 on our all time favorite Christmas television specials.  We think that the story of Wayne and Lanny's attempt to save Christmas for Timmy Terwelp is so fun, hysterical and heartwarming.  One of Lanny's favorite phrases is, "this is SO Tinsel!"  Now our family is calling really neat or cool things, tinsel.  We received a very pretty Christmas card in the mail today and Molly's little sister said, "that's SO tinsel, Mom."  So, tomorrow will be Tinsel Tuesday because it's going to be a fun day at school and at home.  There are still a few more Christmas specials to watch and a few more cookies to bake.  This truly is the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

Our main entrée is a croissant sandwich with Castle Wood Honey Ham and Castle Wood Pepper Jack Cheese.  We added a little bit of mustard at Molly's request.  We also added pea shoots for a great veggie flavor and not the normal lettuce.  The croissant is a special and delicious Christmastime treat.

Our veggie side is carrot sticks dressed with a few extra pea shoots to fancy it up.  We feel that the crunch of the carrots will be an excellent pairing with the softness of the sandwich.

Our fruit side is a Clementine with a few pomegranate seeds to dress it up.  Molly absolutely loved the pomegranate seeds from yesterday's lunch so this may be a recurring fruit in her lunch.

Finally, we added two Hershey's kisses for her dessert.  Just a little something sweet to end her lunch.

ps - in case you are wondering what our top two picks for Christmas television specials are, here goes:
#1 - Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas
#2 - A Charlie Brown Christmas

What happened to Fall?

Where in the world did fall go?  It was in the 80's for weeks in September and October.  Then we had about a week or two of some nice 60-70 degree days.  Now its in the 30's and they are threatening snow!  I'm not a happy camper.  I love the fall and I feel like we got ripped off because it was so brief.  Plus, everyone in my house has some sort of cold so we are going through tissues at a rapid pace.  Hopefully we will have a nice long spring this year.  These extreme temperature changes are NOT fun.  No matter what, there is still school, which means that there is still lunch.  So, without further ado, here's tomorrow's lunch.

Our main entrée is a Castle Wood Honey Ham and Castle Wood Pepper Jack Cheese sandwich on white with mustard.  We used a large heart shaped cookie cutter for the main sandwich and a star micro cookie cutter for the tiny sandwiches.  

Our vegetable side is mini dill pickles.  Molly just loves these crunchy, salty and vinegary goodies.  They are a great accompaniment to a ham sandwich.  My grandmother always had a big array of pickles and olives on her relish trays that were always set out with sandwiches.  We think that her traditions are awesome so we keep them going, even in a packed lunch.

Our fruit side is a small apple cut into slices.  We've added a little dessert element to today's fruit with some Tastefully Simple Creamy Caramel Sauce on the side as a dip.  We all really like this sauce.  It tastes great, even just on a spoon.

Finally we are serving a dairy side since we've hit dessert in our fruit side.  We have some Dannon Light and Fit Strawberry Yogurt as our dairy side.  Its a nice creamy sweet flavor to balance out the whole meal.  

It's Friday!

And another Friday rolls around.  FINALLY!  I am so happy that we made it through the week.  It's a big week for us next week with all of the Halloween festivities so I'm very glad that the calm before the storm is here to gear us up for another awesome week.  Happy Friday Everyone!

Our main entrée is a Castlewood Honey Ham and Castlewood Pepper Jack Cheese sandwich.  We used a ballerina cookie cutter for this because Molly has ballet after school.  She will be so excited because we've never used this cookie cutter before.

The vegetable of the day is carrot sticks.  Molly enjoyed the crinkle cut carrots but is also a fan of the sticks, so we decided to mix it up a little bit since she's already had carrots this week.

We've decided on mandarin oranges for the fruit side.  Sweet, juicy and so delicious.  These oranges are almost dessert-like because they are so sweet.

Finally, we have our Fun Friday treat.  We purchased a few more Little Debbie Pumpkin Delights before the season is over and we've decided that it would be a great Fun Friday treat for our Molly.

Have a great weekend!

A little SPOOKY!

Tonight I had a PTA meeting and I was in charge of refreshments.  When I went to the first PTA meeting this year, Kelly, the head of hospitality, did an entire back to school themed snack.  She made a school bus shaped cake, pencils made of string cheese and Bugles for the tip, plus some other really adorable things.  I felt like I had to keep up with this stellar display of refreshments so, I made my theme Halloween and went a little nuts.  First, I had a veggie tray with hummus, real scary right?  BUT, I peeled carrots and made them look like fingers by notching out knuckles and putting a sliced almond on the tip to make it look like a finger nail.  I put these fingers in the hummus and it looked like a hand was coming out of it.  Next I mixed some Tastefully Simple Spinach and Herb Dip Mix with one brick of cream cheese and the Fiesta Dip Mix with another brick of cream cheese.  After letting them sit in the fridge for a while, I scooped out small portions and rolled them into small balls.  I put slices of olives on them and they looked like eyeballs!  These were served with crackers.  I made vampire apples by quartering some Jonagold apples and cutting out a mouth, then I pushed slivered almonds into the mouth to make the teeth.  Finally I made some brownies, frosted them with cream cheese frosting, and piped spiderwebs and spiders on top with milk chocolate.  I think everything was a hit because there were only a few veggies and a couple of apples for me to bring home.  You'll see a few of the left overs in Molly's lunch.

Our main entrée is a Castlewood Honey Ham and Castlewood Pepper Jack Cheese sandwich on whole wheat bread with a little mustard for extra flavor.  We've cut this sandwich into a ghost and pumpkin to get us in the mood for Halloween.  Headless Horseman anyone?

The vegetable side is carrots and sugar snap peas.  The carrots were cut with a crinkle knife for texture and to make it easier to bite into.  The sugar snap peas are alway a favorite and go well with the carrots because they are both sweet.

For our fruit side, we are using some of the left over vampire apples.  We chose the Jonagold apples because of their bright red color, good for lips, and their firm yet sweet texture.  The slivered almonds do become a little soft and sometimes break but that's a great way to show your kids what happens when they eat too much candy.  ☺

Finally we have Annie's Homegrown Bunny Graham Friends for dessert.  This is a great blend of chocolate, vanilla and chocolate chip graham crackers.  It's just enough sweetness to get Molly through the second half of the day.

Sleep, Weekends and Oh Yeah, Lunch!

The countdown has been on all week.  Molly keeps saying, "we're getting closer to the weekend" or "is it the weekend yet?"  She keeps asking because she can't wait to sleep in on Saturday.  Mind you, I wake her up at 7:45 on school mornings and can barely drag her out of bed.  Then, Saturday morning comes around and she's up before 7:00.  I don't understand the logic of this.  If she is so tired during the week, then why doesn't she sleep in on the weekend?  Every morning, I go up to her room, reach over the top bunk and very quietly say, "Molly, honey, it's time to get up."  Then she proceeds to moan and groan like I am asking her to clean up every toy within a 5 mile radius.  So why, on Saturday morning when she has full advantage of sleeping until every last curl on her head has puffed out into whatever crazy shape the endless movement she does while sleeping causes it to do, does she wake up even earlier than the days when she's practically crying because it's too early?  But I must not complain because my incredible husband lets me sleep in on Saturdays so he is the one that has to deal with it.  Thanks Honey, you're the best!  Oh, yeah...one more day of school until the weekend, so on to lunch.

Our main entrée is a Castle Wood Honey Ham with Castle Wood Pepper Jack Cheese sandwich.  We've cut these into two different leaf patterns because WE LOVE FALL!  We also added a little bit of mustard for extra flavor and because Molly is a big fan of mustard.

The fruit selection is a sugar pear.  We like how the colors on it vary.  The taste is so sweet and mild and the texture is a lot more smooth than most pears.  Plus, its very small so it makes a nice addition for a Friday lunch.

We grew lots of peppers in our garden this year and they keep on coming so we're serving slices of red pepper for our vegetable side.  We were amazed at the amount of vegetables that we are still getting and this beauty was perfectly ripe for the picking today.  The red color is amazing and it is so crisp and crunchy yet still has a subtle sweet flavor.

Fun Friday would not be complete without a special Friday treat.  We've placed some Junior Mints in a heart shaped silicone cupcake mold.  It's just our way of telling Molly how much we love her and what a great job she is doing in school and at home.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Finally Friday!

Goodbye September...Hello October!  This week seems to have dragged on, and I'm so happy that Friday is finally here.  Molly really enjoyed her lunch today and asked for a repeat performance tomorrow.  I am glad to oblige since its a pretty easy meal to prepare.  Also, its Friday and she has been really good this week, so we are going to have a Fun Friday treat.

Our main entrée is a Castle Wood thinly sliced honey ham and Castle Wood pepper jack cheese sandwich on whole wheat.  We added mustard because it is Molly's condiment of choice.  We used some fun cookie cutters again.  Molly especially likes the little sandwiches cut with the micro cookie cutters.

We're paying homage to Nana's traditions again by adding black olives and mini dill pickles.  All of our kids love pickles and olives.  A lot of kids frown at the sour taste but not ours, they would eat them with every meal if we allowed it.

The fruit selection is Trader Joe's no sugar added applesauce with cinnamon sprinkled on top.  We were going to use prune plums but when we looked at the few that we had, they had gone bad.  Its a shame because we only get fresh fruit for so long and then in the winter months it gets very expensive.  But since Molly enjoys applesauce so much, it will be a great alternative to something fresh.

Now for our Fun Friday treat!  Trader Joe's has some new cookies called Peanut Butter Goodies.  They are similar to a Girl Scout Tagalong cookie but there is more shortbread cookie inside of it.  Also, there are chopped peanuts on top.  Goodies describe them quite well.  They are absolutely delicious.

Have a great weekend!

This lunch is a mix of Molly's favorites.  I took inspiration from my grandmother, Nana.  She was the one that got me interested in cookie cutters and because of her, I have quite a collection.  Nana has always been very particular about the way that she presents her food.  She had 8 kids and always made sure that they had beautiful meals every day.  Her traditions are something that I strive to emulate.  

Our main entrée is a Castle Wood Thinly Sliced Honey Ham and Castle Wood Pepper Jack Cheese sandwich on whole wheat bread with a little mustard.  We cut this sandwich with a large heart cookie cutter and several micro cookie cutters, just for fun.  Molly raved about this ham and requested a ham sandwich.  We all agree, the ham is pretty darn yummy and has only 60 calories for 2 oz.  

The vegetable side is a pretty unconventional "vegetable" but they are both favorites of Molly's.  We have mini dill pickles and black olives.  Every time we go to my grandmother's house for lunch she serves pickles and olives on a relish tray to go with sandwiches.  So, we are taking Nana's lead and and serving them as a compliment to Molly's sandwich.  

We have Trader Joe's no sugar added applesauce for our fruit.  We topped it with a little dash of cinnamon, just like Nana does.  We find that it enhances the flavor of the applesauce, especially since there is no sugar added.

Finally we have a special dessert.  We made a Cinnamon Muffin Melt by Tastefully Simple.  This is like a cross between a cupcake, a doughnut and a muffin.  We HIGHLY recommend these because not only are they absolutely scrumptious, they are incredibly easy to make.