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.

 

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.

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.

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)

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.  

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.

4th Lunch of Christmas

Tomorrow is the last day of school before Christmas vacation.  Molly and all of her little friends are positively giddy and it shows in the stride of their step and their smiles and giggles.  We're getting all of the teacher gifts together and also the candy canes that Molly is giving to her classmates.  Molly made cards for each of her teachers and can't wait to give them out.

At our house, we can't wait until it's time for Molly to come home.  That will signal the real start of vacation for all of us.  We have over a week where all of us are home and there isn't much on the agenda other than a few get togethers.  That means that we can spend lots of time playing and enjoying each other's company.

Our main entree is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  The sandwiches on Tuesday were a big hit so we decided to make mini-sandwiches and use our food safe markers to decorate them.  The one gingerbread man looks like his hand and foot got a little burnt but it's just a little bit of crust. haha!

Our fruit side is kiwi and apple slices.  We put them in the red and green pattern and added one of Molly's favorite picks from this season.

Our fun side is Utz Holiday Shaped Pretzels.  These are so cute.  They are shaped like Christmas trees, stars (or snowflakes) and bells.  We couldn't resist.

Our Fun Friday treat is a pizzelle cookie.  Molly's Daddy makes the most delicious pizzelles.  Our whole house smells amazing because he made about eight dozen anise pizzelles last night.  They are one of Molly's favorite cookies of all time.

Our extra Christmas treat is a small candy cane.  The story of the candy cane is that it was made to remind us of the true meaning of Christmas.  It is shaped like a "J" to represent Jesus and that is why we put it in her lunch that way.

From Our House to Yours, Merry Christmas One and All and a Healthy and Prosperous New Year to You!

3rd Lunch of Christmas

Family traditions are a big part of our Christmas.  Daddy makes fantastic cookies, the kids make special decorations, we light the advent candles and Santa falls down the chimney little by little every day until Christmas.  We also started a new tradition, The Elf on the Shelf, last year.  We didn't realize what hard work it is to keep up with the elf every single night.  There aren't that many places to put him in our house so we had to get very creative.  It's a really fun activity and it keeps the kids on their toes.  New traditions can be just as special as old traditions because all of them make the holidays so wonderful.

Our main entree is a waffle sandwich.  We spread peanut butter on two waffles, added a little honey, then sandwiched them together.  We used a big snowflake cookie cutter to cut it out and added a Christmas tree pick to the top.

Our protein side is turkey bacon.  We rolled it up a little bit so that it looks like Christmas ornament balls, or at least that was the thought. ☺

Our fruit side is red and green grapes.  These may not be the regular bright red and green of Christmas but they work for us.

Finally, our dessert is strawberry cheesecake yogurt.  We wanted to give Molly something extra special and we think that this will fit the bill.  We added a few sprinkles because they have gotten rave reviews lately.

*We had to share a fun Christmas themed dessert that Molly's little sister is bringing to preschool tomorrow.  We arranged cupcakes into a Christmas tree shape, then decorated them with frosting and cute little Christmas light bulb rings.

ps - Molly's Daddy came up with a great way to get these to school since the lid to the cupcake holder would've squished a few of the cupcakes.  He created a cardboard "border" and covered it with foil.  Just call him MacGuyver!

1st Lunch of Christmas

We're going to try to keep the Christmas theme running all week and hopefully there will be enough ideas to get us through Friday.  There is more red and green in our refrigerator than ever and we can't wait to see how fun things will get.

Our main entree is a salami and provolone sandwich with mustard.  (surprise, we know.  Molly keeps requesting this.)  We fancied it up with a snowman cookie cutter and a Christmas tree cookie cutter.  Then we used our food safe markers to decorate them.

Our vegetable side is sliced cucumbers.  We peeled these for something different and added a decorative Christmas tree pick.

Our fruit side is an apple.  Actually, it's half of two apples.  We sliced a red delicious apple and a green granny smith apple in half and cut the same amount of slices out of them.  Then, we replaced the same slices on each of them with the slices from the opposite apple.

Our dairy side is a colby-jack cheese stick.  We figured that the sandwiches were a little on the small side so Molly might want a little extra in her lunch.

Finally, our dessert is a melted snowman!  Really, it's just our regular old vanilla yogurt but we put a snowman hat on top of it to make it more festive.

Welcome Wednesday!

Yes, we are welcoming Wednesday with open arms this week.  It is the final full day of school before Christmas break.  That means that Christmas is almost here and we couldn't be more excited.  We are ready to celebrate the birth of Christ with our friends and family and even strangers as we greet them with a hearty "Merry Christmas!"  This time of year is amazing to watch when you have children.  The Christmas lights sparkling in their eager eyes and the incredible smiles that stream across their faces are unmatched by even their birthdays.

We would like to wish each and every one of you a Very Merry Christmas and a Joyous and Prosperous New Year!  See you next year in 2011!

The Final Lunch of the Year is a by request only lunch.  Molly and I sat down and she decided what she would like and I said that she could have anything.  This is what she decided on...

Our main entrée is pepperoni, cheese and crackers.  Molly thinks that this "party food" is one of the coolest things to have for lunch.  We used Keebler Town House Toppers Crackers in their holiday variety.  If you look closely, you can see a tree and a snowman embossed on the center of the crackers.  The cheese is Colby Jack and it and the pepperoni were loving prepared by Molly's Daddy.  (Thanks Daddy!)

Our vegetable side is a baby spinach salad with pea shoots.  It is served with Trader Joe's Balsamic Vinaigrette.

Our fruit side is a combination of Clementine segments, raspberries and pomegranate seeds.  Molly said that she really likes it when she gets a combination of fruits because she has so much to choose from.

Finally, our Christmas dessert is one of Molly's Daddy's Famous Pizzelles that has been broken in to bit sized pieces and a Brown Eyed Susan cookie.  These two are some of our absolute favorite holiday cookies and Molly definitely deserves a very special treat for her final school lunch of 2010.

Again, Merry Christmas to One and ALL!