Leftover Breakfast!

There was a lot on the schedule again for tonight.  Mom had her final weigh in (and I was down another 2.3 pounds!  WOOT WOOT!), plus a final run before the weekend races.  Then there was an impromptu meeting that I attended.   I knew that the night was going to be busy so breakfast for dinner was on the menu.  Everyone loves it and and it's easy to make and clean up after.

Our main entree is mini pancakes.  We tried a new mix called Honey Wheat Krusteaz.  It got two thumbs up from all of us.  You don't need any syrup because the honey makes them sweet already.  YUM!

Our protein side is bacon and eggs.  Well, bacon and an egg.  There are 3 strips of turkey bacon ripped into smaller pieces and a hard boiled egg.  The shell did not want to be removed so it's not too pretty, but it will still taste great.

Our fruit side is pineapple and cantaloupe pieces.  Mom made fruit bouquets for her weight loss coaches and these are the yummy bits leftover.

Finally, our dairy/dessert is a Chobani Champions Verry Berry Greek yogurt.  Molly loves her Cho!

PJ Day!

Molly's school has been having these "Funky Friday$" to raise money for their new playground.  On these days, the students can wear something funky on the specified Friday for a $1 donation.  Molly wore her Cat in the Hat outfit for the Dr. Seuss day.  She had very poofy and tall hair for crazy hair day.

Tomorrow is PJ day.  Molly will be wearing her favorite fuzzy pink Hello Kitty pajama pants and a fun pink top.  Plus, we will be putting a few pink foam rollers in her hair just for fun.  PJ Day calls for breakfast for lunch.  We decided to go a little crazy with this one.  Pancakes can be very versatile. ☺

Our main entree is pancakes.  We put the batter into a squeeze bottle and created fun shapes.  We attempted to make some Hello Kitty pancakes (to match her PJs) and wrote Molly's name too.  Writing in cursive backwards with a squeeze bottle is more complicated than it seems.  We added a small container of Biscoff Spread (after we took the picture) in case Molly wants to spread it on any of the pancakes.

Our fruit side is cantaloupe and strawberries.  These are a nice accompaniment to the pancakes.

Our dairy/dessert is a Chobani Verry Berry Greek yogurt.  These were on sale at the store yesterday so we scarfed some up.  This will serve as a great source of protein too.

Finally, our Fun Friday treat is two mini candy bars from Easter.  One is a Krackle Bar and one is a Mr. Goodbar.  Nothing like a little chocolate to complete a yummy lunch.

Orange-you Glad It's Wednesday?

Our crazy day went really well.  All things on the "to-do" list were checked off and completed nicely.  Molly had a great visit at the dentist and we all had a lot of fun today.

We were inspired by our lunch today when making our lunch for tomorrow.  Our orange inspired lunch.

Our main entree is a yummy pasta salad.  The pasta is Barilla Piccolini Mini Farfalle with tomatoes and carrots.  We had this for lunch today and it was a huge hit.  The flavors of the vegetables comes through but it isn't too overpowering.  We added a bit of light Italian dressing and some freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

Our vegetable side is baby carrots.  Molly and her sister had these with their lunch today (along with a few other vegetables) and both really enjoyed them.

Our fruit side is chunks of cantaloupe.  We were going to give Molly oranges but decided that they would be too obvious.  We added a cute little orange pic of a starfish to this container too.

Finally, our dairy/dessert is Chobani Champions Vanilla Orange Greek yogurt.  Here's our orange!  We flipped the container over so that you can see the orange ring to keep with our theme.

Back After Break

We had a fantastic Easter break.  Great traditions with our families and fun with friends.  We did our best to instill the real reason for Easter in our children.  They know that Jesus died for us.  They know that He Is Risen on Easter and that is why we celebrate.

All of the fun and celebrating has now become another chapter in our memory books and we are getting back to our routine.  This means we're heading back to school for the first time in five days.  YAHOO!

Our main entree is an alphabet pasta salad.  We figured that after five days off, a great reminder of Molly's ABC's would be alphabet pasta.  We added mini turkey pepperoni, black olives, mozzarella cheese and some light Italian dressing.

Our vegetable side is grape tomatoes.  Molly was never big on tomatoes but recently, she's starting to ask for them.  We're thrilled that her palate is changing enough to enjoy new things.

Our fruit side is cantaloupe chunks.  Molly keeps requesting this yummy melon.  We can't blame her.  The cantaloupes have been very sweet and delicious recently.

Our dairy/dessert is Chobani Champions Vanilla Orange Greek Yogurt.  This will also help to add protein to round out Molly's meal.

Easter Week Lunch 1

This is a short week at Molly's school because of the Easter break coming up.  Also, she has already decided that she would like to buy lunch on Tuesday (Taco Tuesday) so that only gives us three lunches for the week.  We like to go a little bit theme-y (word?) here at Molly's Lunch Box so this will be the first of three Easter lunches.

Our main entree is a salami and smoked pepper jack cheese sandwich on 12 grain bread.  We used some fun little cookie cutters to cut the sandwich into Easter themed shapes.  Then, we used our food safe markers to make them come to life.  (ps - the red one in the right upper corner is a tulip....looks kind of like Darth Maul to us though.  LOL!)

Our vegetable side is cucumber slices.  Molly requested these after having a few on her salad at dinner this evening.

Our fruit side is cantaloupe pieces.  Molly asked us to get a cantaloupe last week and we picked a winner.  This is so sweet and juicy.  We also added a cross pick so that she doesn't forget what we will be celebrating this weekend, the fact that Jesus gave his life for us.

Finally, our dairy/dessert is a Chobani Champions Vanilla Orange Greek yogurt.  This flavor reminds us of creamsicles.  Molly usually likes to put mini chocolate chips in it but we just didn't have room for them today.  She likes it just he way it is too.

Is it Friday Yet?

We were so busy last week and the time just flew by.  This week is already dragging on and it's only Monday night.  Hopefully the rest of the week will go a little faster.  Although, Molly's day seemed to go pretty quickly.  She said that she's all caught up on the few things that she missed on Friday.  ☺

Our main entree is a salami and smoked Gouda sandwich on 12 grain bread.  We picked up some salami at the end of last week.  Molly was very excited to request one of her favorite sandwiches for lunch.

Our vegetable side is red and yellow peppers with a side of roasted red pepper hummus.  We asked Molly what she would like for her vegetable and this was her exact answer.  (so much for cucumbers and carrots. haha!)

Our fruit side is cantaloupe chunks.  We picked this up last week as well and were pleasantly surprised at how sweet this particular melon was.  It didn't last long after it was cut up.

Finally, our dairy/dessert is Chocolate Chunk Chobani Champions Greek yogurt.  We were so happy to see that Chobani Champions is a sponsor of the USA Summer Olympic team.  Way to go Chobani Champions!

Easter Lunch

I was looking for some neat things to make for Molly's lunch tomorrow since it is the last full day of school before Easter break.  I couldn't find too many examples besides desserts.  So, my brain was in full on creative mode.  I used a few ideas that I had found with the desserts and tweaked them a little bit.

Happy Easter one and all!  Christ is Risen Indeed!

Our main entrée is bunny biscuits.  We took refrigerated biscuits and added shredded cheddar cheese to them for flavor.  We then used a circular cookie cutter to cut out the face and then using the same cutter, cut the ears off of the corners of the biscuit.  After attaching the ears to the head, we added turkey pepperoni noses, whiskers and inner ears.  Then, we added black olive ends for eyes and small section of the olive for a smile.

Our vegetable side is a cucumber bird's nest with three small mozzarella balls inside to represent eggs.  We have a vegetable peeler that makes "spaghetti" noodles out of the vegetables and we used it to make the nest.

Our fruit side is watermelon and cantaloupe.  We used a small bunny cookie cutter to cut these out into adorable Easter shapes.  These fruits are extremely sweet and juicy.

Finally, our "fun Friday" on a Wednesday treat is a chocolate dipped Peeps marshmallow treat.  Molly really likes regular Peeps so we figured that she'd really like one that was dipped in chocolate.

Again, Happy Easter.  May God Bless You!

Winter Wednesday

Mother Nature is really cooking up some wacky weather here in Western Pennsylvania.  We woke up to ice covered sidewalks, streets and cars this morning.  This afternoon, it was very sunny and in the mid 40s.  Now, we are expecting the current rain to turn into snow and possibly more ice.  Luckily for us, there was a 2 hour delay for school this morning and hopefully there will be another one tomorrow if needed.

Unless there is a snow day, here is Molly's lunch.

Our main entrée is a good old pb&j.  We used the new Wonder Smart White bread, a whole grain white bread.  We added peanut butter and then our good old Trader Joe's Cranberry Apple Butter.  YUM!  The star turned out okay but the moon split.  Oh well, it will still taste great!

Our vegetable side is edamame.  Molly and her little brother really enjoy edamame warm or cold.  It's a great snack and full of nutrients.

Our fruit side is cantaloupe.  We found these at the local grocery store for $1.50 each.  To our great surprise, they taste really sweet and flavorful.  Not something that we are used to in January.

Finally, our dairy/dessert side is Dannon Light & Fit Vanilla yogurt.  We added a few mini chocolate chips for sweetness and texture.