Day 5, FUN FRIDAY!!!

We've made it!!!!  We have survived the first week of school!!!

We've always had a tradition of having a dessert or something fun on Fridays as a way to celebrate making it through the week.  Well, this week is our first Fun Friday of the year in Laptop Lunch Boxes.  Link below.

 

Our main entree is a pepperoni roll from an awesome little bake shop near our new house.  We added a small container of Ranch for dipping.

Our vegetable side is baby carrots.

Our fruit is grapes and clementine segments.

Finally, our Fun Friday treat is two heart shaped cookies from the bakery.

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.

Restaurant Leftovers

After our amazing half marathon, Daddy and I had a nice snack at the Hard Rock Cafe then went home, showered off and both fell asleep from shear exhaustion.  We woke up to a phone call from Molly asking us to join her, her siblings and her grandparents for dinner at Bravo! for dinner.  What runner could resist a pasta dinner after running 13.1 miles?

We had some great leftovers and Molly was able sneak some for her lunch tomorrow.

Our main entree is Bravo Mac and Cheese.  They use campanelle pasta and an amazing amount of cream and cheese to make a decadent and delicious entree.  The nice thing is that their portion is so big that it can serve as several meals.

Our vegetable side is a green salad.  Just some romaine lettuce with a side of light Italian dressing.

Our fruit side is a clementine.  We peeled and sectioned it for Molly to make it a little easier to eat.

Finally, our dairy/dessert is a Chobani Champions Verry Berry Greek yogurt.  Molly requested this variety since it is one of her favorites.

Post Party Lunch

Today, we celebrated Molly's 1st Holy Communion.  She was aglow in her beautiful white dress and veil and had a smile about a mile wide.  She was so proud to be receiving this sacrament and sharing it with her family and friends.

After mass, we had a whole slew of people at our house for a party with lots of yummy food and great conversation.  Luckily, there were a couple of leftovers and that made Molly's lunch very easy for us.  The other great thing about having a party at home, my house is still relatively clean.  Bonus!

Our main entree is linguini salad.  Molly's Nana makes the yummiest linguini salad and we were very excited when she offered to bring some to the party.  Molly requested that there be only olives and cucumbers and not any of the tomatoes or onions that were in the salad.  That was not a problem since Nana put in whole grape tomatoes and larger chunks of onion.  Thanks, Nana!

Our vegetable side is ants on a log.  We used some of the leftover celery from our veggie tray and added natural peanut butter and some dried currants that we got from our NatureBox.  Such a delicious and wonderful way to enjoy new and healthy snacks delivered to your door every month.  Enter the code NATURE to get 25% off of your first order.

Our fruit side is a clementine.  We were going to give Molly some leftover pineapple and strawberries but she asked for this instead.  It works for us!

Our dairy side is a Babybel cheese.  We weren't sure if there was quite enough protein in Molly's lunch and one of these is always a great source.

Finally, our dessert is a Chobani Champions Verry Berry Greek yogurt, by request.  Molly just loves her Cho!

Pantry Raid Lunch

It was a late night for us so we did a sweep of the refrigerator for Molly's lunch tomorrow.  Sometimes, leftovers and those pantry/fridge staples are all you need to make a yummy lunch.

Our main entree is pasta salad.  We used some leftover whole grain thin spaghetti, turkey pepperoni, black olives, mozzarella cheese and some light Italian dressing to make one of Molly's favorite lunches.

Our vegetable side is a green salad with a couple of small yellow tomatoes.  We added a small side of light Italian dressing to keep with the flavors of the spaghetti salad.

Our fruit side is a clementine.  We like to keep these on hand at our house since they are such a big hit with all five of us.

Our dairy side is a cheddar/mozzarella cheese stick.  Since there isn't a lot of protein in the spaghetti salad, we added this so that Molly won't get too hungry by the time the final bell rings.

Finally, our dessert is a Chobani Champions Chocolate Chunk Greek Yogurt.  Another favorite because it tastes SO good!

And the Winners Are...

We are so excited that we have had the chance to have our first giveaway sponsored by Chobani Champions!  There were so many nice comments about Molly's Lunch Box and Molly loved reading each of them.  Thanks to all who have entered.

We're going to channel American Idol and reveal our winners...."after the" lunch part of our blog post.

Our main entree is a heart shaped sandwich.  We're getting ready for a great Valentine's Day on Tuesday so we figured that we'd get started early.  We have salami and smoked Gouda for tomorrow's selection.  We also added a small ring decoration so that Molly has something fun to remind her of home for the rest of the day.

Our vegetable side is a variety of tomatoes.  There are orange, yellow, your regular red and these brown with green striped ones.  These are all very mild and low on acidity.  Molly usually doesn't like tomatoes that much but she sure likes these.

Our fruit side is a clementine.  We peeled and sectioned it for Molly so that she has more time to eat instead of prep her lunch.  We added a little heart pick to this box too.

Finally, our dairy/dessert is our favorite Chobani Champions Greek Yogurt in the orange vanilla variety.  Molly said that she liked the chocolate chunk variety more but when we offered to put a few mini chocolate chips in her lunch to mix in, she was all for it.  Orange and chocolate is a fantastic combination.

Now, on to the winners!!!

Envelope please.....

We wrote the names or tags of every person that commented on our special blog post and Molly herself picked our winners.

AND THE WINNERS ARE...

Dana Hune and Lee Fandray!!!!  Congratulations Dana and Lee!!!  Please e-mail your address and e-mail address to us at mollyslunchbox@yahoo.com and we will send them to Chobani Champions.  You should expect and super fun box of awesome deliciousness in about a week or so.  We hope that you enjoy Chobani Champions as much as we do.

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.

1st Fun Friday

In our house, like many, we are trying to cut back on sugar.  We have yogurt or fruit for dessert.  (Grilled peaches were a huge hit this summer.)  We are trying to make our own recipes with less sugar and encouraging healthier snacks.  So far, we've been pretty successful.  That being said, we are realistic and understand that a special treat once in a while is a good thing...a really good thing.  So, we are carrying on our tradition of giving Molly a special "Fun Friday" treat.

Our main entree is a banana bread sandwich.  We tweaked our original healthy banana bread recipe by removing the brown sugar and using 2/3 cup of quick oats instead of the 2/3 cup whole wheat flour. (We kept 1 cup of whole wheat flour)  It isn't very sweet at all but the flavor is delicious.  It is much more dense and will keep Molly satisfied longer.  We spread light cream cheese and peanut butter (by request) on the banana bread then cut it into smaller sandwiches.

Our vegetable side is a pickling cucumber that has been cut with a crinkle knife.  These are incredibly crunchy and have such a fresh and clean flavor.

Our fruit side is two clementines.  These are much smaller than the varieties that we are used to, but the flavor is much sweeter.  Molly had some of these with her dinner tonight and requested them for her lunch tomorrow. We also added some dried cherries (in the tiny container) just to give her a little extra food.  She said that she ate her lunch today and was still a little hungry so we were happy to add a bit more for her.

Our dairy side is a colby-jack cheese stick.  We figured that Molly could use the extra protein to help fill her up and get her through the day.

Finally, our Fun Friday treat is a Little Debbie Fall Tree Cake.  Molly's Daddy loves the Christmas Tree Cakes by Little Debbie so he was very excited to see this new product. He even convinced me to purchase them by saying that they would make a great Fun Friday treat.  Daddy's a tricky one. ☺

Monday Tuesday

A long weekend is always welcome in our house.  We usually get a lot more done and still have the time to enjoy getting it done instead of rushing around.  Molly didn't have school today because it was an in-service day for the teachers.  So, we are doing our cold pizza Monday on Tuesday.

Our main entrée is cold pepperoni pizza.  We made the pizza on Sunday night and there were only a few pieces left over.  We are still sticking to our Lenten sacrifice of no fast food so we made this pizza using Trader Joe's pizza dough and sauce.  Then we added mozzarella cheese and mini pepperoni.

Our vegetable side is sliced cucumbers.  We decided to slice them in half just to mix it up since we usually just use whole slices.

Our fruit side is a clementine and strawberries.  Molly really enjoys this combination and it offers a great boost of vitamin C.  Hopefully this will keep her from catching all of the things going around since the weather can't make up it's mind.

Finally, we have our lunch staple of Dannon Light and Fit Vanilla Yogurt.  Dessert and dairy all in one.

Crazy Week - Lunch 2

Still working hard at the consignment sale and there are three days left to work.  I'm tired just thinking about it.  But the sale will be great and the preschool will benefit so much from it.  Luckily, Molly's Daddy is so incredible and really helps me keep the ball rolling at home too.  He helped me with Molly's lunch again tonight so, thanks again, Daddy!

Our main entrée is spaghetti salad.  Molly requested some type of pasta salad and we had leftover whole wheat spaghetti from dinner last night, so that made the request much easier to fulfill.  We added turkey pepperoni, Monterey Jack cheese and light Italian dressing.

Our vegetable side is cucumber slices.  Another request from Molly.  These cool and refreshing veggies are always a nice addition to Molly's lunch.

Our fruit side is a Clementine and some green grapes.  Molly really likes both of these fruits so we figured that we'd add two of her favorites.

Finally, our dairy/dessert is Dannon Light and Fit Strawberry yogurt.  We usually buy a large container of vanilla yogurt and several small yogurts in fruit flavors.  Today, Molly chose strawberry just to mix things up a little bit.

Lenten Lunch 2

For as much as Molly would love a leftover corned beef sandwich for lunch, it's a Friday during Lent which means that there is no meat.  We'll save our St. Paddy's Day leftovers for Saturday.  So, we've decided to take advantage of some other leftovers.  We served a variety of Irish Cheeses with crackers as an appetizer to our Irish dinners and we have some left.  They will make a delicious Lenten lunch.

Our main entrée is an assortment of Irish cheeses with pita crackers.  Molly really likes these sharp and creamy cheeses that can be compared to cheddar and gouda in flavor but they are still very unique.

Our vegetable side is green pepper slices.  We had a bit of green pepper leftover from Molly's St. Patrick's Day lunch and she likes them, so might as well chop it up and pack it for lunch.

Our fruit side is a clementine and some blueberries.  There is a distinct tart and sweet flavor that goes along with both of these fruits to they compliment each other very nicely.

Finally, Molly requested yogurt for her dairy/dessert side.  (Shocker!)  So we have her favorite Dannon Light and Fit vanilla yogurt all set for her.

But....it's Fun Friday so we added a special treat on the side.  We found a few Nestles Chocolate hearts for Molly's treat.

Do Over With Help

Molly has recently expressed an interest in helping to make her lunches.  I've changed my schedule a bit lately and I'm home more often in the evening.  So, I figured that the more involved she is in the process, the more likely she'll eat it or try new things.  (Note: She doesn't eat all of her lunch all of the time and will sometimes turn her nose up to trying something new or very odd to her.)  Molly enjoyed her lunch so much today that we are repeating a few of the same things, and she helped to make them!

Our main entrée is Molly's favorite "quesadilla."  She spread Trader Joe's Pimento Cheese Spread on a Trader Joe's Middle Eastern Flat Bread, folded it in half and we cut it into quarters.

Our vegetable side is the same as yesterday's lunch as well.  We sliced up a few cucumbers and added a pinch of Trader Joe's Shredded Carrots for sweetness.

Our fruit side is a clementine with a handful of blueberries.  Molly peeled and divided the clementine and added the blueberries.

Finally, our dairy/dessert is Dannon Light and Fit Vanilla Yogurt with a special little twist for our helpful little chef.  We tossed a bit of teddy bear sprinkles on top for a splash of color and fun.

Lenten Lunch

Tomorrow is our first Lenten lunch because Molly bought her lunch on Wednesday.  When I was growing up we always had grilled cheese and tomato soup or fried fish on Fridays but now we have to be a little bit more creative since we serve a cold lunch.  Also, our family gave up fast food for Lent so any type of food that we serve is homemade.  If we give Molly her favorite cold pizza on Mondays, it will be made by us and not our favorite Sir Pizza.  Hopefully we will have some good ideas for our Lenten lunches and maybe break some traditions.

Our main entrée is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on whole grain bread.  Yeah, not the most creative meatless meal but we have high hopes that there will be some more inspired entrées over the next few weeks.

Our vegetable side is cucumbers and baby carrots.  These will provide a nice crunchy texture and help to cleanse her palate from the peanut butter.

Our fruit side is a clementine and some fresh pineapple.  This tropical blend is a very refreshing and juicy.

Finally, our fun Friday dessert is a few Chewy Chips Ahoy cookies.  Molly's little brother hasn't been feeling well and he LOVES cookies so we splurged and got some for him.  But since he isn't quite 2 years old yet, he is more than happy to share his container of cookies since he can't eat them all.  Well, he probably could but Mom won't let him. ☺

We'll See

Poor Molly can't win.  She is just over that awful stomach flu and now she has a cough and cold.  She looks terrible and all I can do is just give her lots of love.  I think that when your child is sick, it eats away at you as a parent.  So, we'll see what the morning brings for our favorite 1st grader and whether she'll eat lunch at home or at school.  Say a little prayer for her that she gets well and stays well.

Our main entrée is a "tea sandwich".  Molly's Grammy picked up some Irish soda bread for our family and since Molly really likes it, we figured that it would be a nice comfort food for her.  We spread cinnamon honey butter on the two slices to keep them moist.

Our fruit side is a kiwi and a clementine.  These both have a sweet and tart flavor that will both taste great and feel great on Molly's sore throat.

Our vegetable side is a yellow bell pepper.  A nice crunch with a mild flavor.

Our dessert/dairy side is Dannon Light and Fit vanilla yogurt.  Molly requested this because she said it will help her tummy feel better.

Finally, we added a cheddar and mozzarella cheese stick to add some protein to Molly's lunch.  We're not sure if she'll even eat it but just in case, we decided to add it.

A Touch of Orange

We were the lucky recipients of some awesome sunshine today in Pittsburgh and it puts us in the mood for spring.  All of the bright colors of the flowers and the green of the grass are something that we look forward to every year.  We are done with the gloomy winter and want to see the daffodils and tulips poking their beautiful petals out of the ground.  We may be waiting a little while before we see them but until then, we can always brighten up the colors inside of Molly's lunch! Orange-ya glad to see some beautiful colors?☺

Our main entrée is cheese and crackers with pepperoni.  The cheese is Kraft Colby-Jack cheese made with 2% milk.  The crackers are Trader Joe's 12 Grain mini snack crackers.  The pepperoni is Hormel mini pepperoni, so cute and yummy!

Our vegetable side is orange bell pepper slices.  The peppery bite will go nicely with the creaminess of the cheese.

Our fruit side is a clementine and strawberry slices.  The colors remind us of some of our favorite spring flowers.  Plus, they taste really good together.

Finally, our dessert/treat is a trail mix made with pistachios and dried berries.  We shelled the Wonderful Pistachios and added them to Peterson Farms Cherry Berry Blend of dried fruit that includes cherries, cranberries and blueberries.  A sweet, salty, chewy and crunchy mix that gets two thumbs up from everyone in our family.

100th Day of School Lunch!

Tomorrow is the 100th day of school!!!  Molly is so excited because every year the teachers make a big deal about the 100th day.  We had our open house for school tonight and all of the talk was about what was going to happen for tomorrow and how they were going to mark the big day.  Molly wanted to make sure that she would wear something that represented the 100th day so we found the necklace that she made last year that has 100 beads on it.  She also asked for something in her lunch to follow the theme so, here we go!

Our main entrée is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  We do not have number cookie cutters so we freehanded the 100, which was pretty difficult on whole grain bread.  haha!

Our vegetable side is orange bell pepper slices.  These offer a color that is different from the normal green or red that we usually have for Molly's veggies.

Our fruit side is a clementine and some red grapes.  The grapes were a huge hit in today's lunch and she requested that they be part of tomorrows lunch.

Our dessert side is Trader Joe's Ginger Cat cookies.  Molly really likes these and hasn't had these in her lunch box for a while so we decided to add them.

Tomorrow isn't just the 100th day, it's FUN FRIDAY!  So, we added a few Hershey's Kisses as an extra bonus.  Molly has been working really hard and deserves this special little treat.

Monday After a Super Bowl Loss

Our beloved Steelers fought a good fight but in the end, we lost the Super Bowl.  It was an awesome game and the better team won because they had less turnovers and scored a lot of points.  Great job black and gold, we are still SO proud to be members of the Steelers nation.

Some of the local schools have a delay in the morning so that everyone can recover from the game but unfortunately, Molly doesn't.  Just another Monday in Pittsburgh, which means that we have our Monday lunch.

Our main entrée is the typical Monday, pepperoni pizza.  Only, we made this pizza ourselves.  Trader Joe's makes some really yummy pizza dough and sells it in the refrigerated section.  We used this to make some mini pizzas.  We also used Trader Joe's pizza sauce, mozzarella cheese and mini pepperoni.

Our veggie side is a few slices of red pepper.  Crunchy and flavorful, these vegetables are loaded with vitamin C and beta carotene.

Our fruit side is strawberries and a clementine.  Strawberries and citrus complement each other so nicely because of the sweet/tart factor.

Finally, our dairy/dessert is Dannon Light and Fit vanilla yogurt.  Hopefully this will be enough sweetness after so many goodies from our super bowl party.  ☺

Peanut Butter and Jelly Roll Ups

I've been working on Molly's little sister's preschool snack tonight so I don't have much else to say but...wait until tomorrow's lunch for some Super Bowl inspired treats!

Our main entrée is peanut butter and jelly roll ups.  This is a simple and fun way to mix up a classic.  We made a regular pb&j and rolled it up.  Then we cut it into sushi-like slices.

Our vegetable side is cucumbers that have been sliced with a crinkle cutter knife.  They will be a nice crunch and refreshing taste.

Our fruit side is a clementine.  The citrus will be a great contrast to the peanut butter.

Finally, our dairy/dessert is Dannon Light and Fit vanilla yogurt.  One of Molly's favorite.

Nothing Green Lunch

As so many times before, Molly has requested breakfast for lunch.  And as so many times before, we are having an issue with fitting in a vegetable.  The cucumber worked fine last week but the more and more I thought about it, the more I would've omitted it.  I think that the veggies go great with a savory breakfast but we are doing a sweeter breakfast so the veggies just don't fit.  Guess we will be having  a few extra veggies with our dinner tomorrow night.  As long as she gets them somewhere.

Our main entrée is a whole grain waffle sandwich.  We flavored some whipped cream cheese with maple syrup, spread it on each side of the extra crispy waffle and layered thin slices of apple in the middle of our sandwich.

Our fruit side is a clementine and some pomegranate seeds.  This will help boost Molly's vitamin C level.

Our final side is a great combination of multi grain Cheerios, peanuts and dried cherries.  The main part of this mix is the peanuts to add protein to Molly's lunch.

TGIF!

Our whole house has been fighting illnesses this week and we are really ready for the weekend to be here.  Why did this surplus of sickness wait until the kids were back at school and Daddy back at work?  Oh well, we are all on the mend and the weekend is very close.  It's time to have a chill out, no plans, just hang around and do nothing weekend.

But, before we can do nothing, we've gotta get through Friday, so on to lunch!

Our main entrée is a Nutella and Strawberry Jam sandwich.  This combination is sweet and delicious.  We used a heart shaped cookie cutter for the big sandwich and a heart shaped micro cookie cutter for the mini sandwiches.

Our vegetable side is sliced cucumbers.  We used our crinkle cutter knife to make it more fun.

Our fruit side is a clementine, kiwi and pomegranate seeds.  Molly really loves fruit so the more the better in her eyes.

Finally, our Fun Friday treat is Snowball Soup!  We made this for Molly's little sister to bring in for her preschool snack.  They were reading a book called Snowball Soup so we decided to make our own for a special treat.  We combined Multi-Grain Cheerios with raisins and mini marshmallows as our snowballs.  It's a really nice combination and pretty healthy too.