Leftover Pizza

A super fun and busy weekend resulted in a pizza night on Sunday.  We had plenty of leftovers and they are perfect for lunch.

Our main entree is leftover cheese pizza.

Our vegetable side is a green salad.  We put a side of blue cheese dressing in Molly's and ranch in Bean's lunch using our Easy Lunch Boxes Mini Dippers.

Our fruit side is apple slices.

Finally, our dairy/dessert is Chobani Champions Vanilla Chocolate Chunk Greek yogurt.

Cold Pizza Monday

After a long and tiresome week, we are going to rely on a standard Monday lunch, cold pizza.  Why not?  The kids at school are having pizza too and we have some leftover from the weekend.

Our main entree is leftover cold cheese pizza from this weekend.  We cut it into "pizza sticks" to make them easier for the girls to eat.

Our vegetable side is a green salad with a small dressing on the side.

Our fruit side is red grapes.

Our dairy/dessert is strawberry yogurt.

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Easy Lunchboxes Mini Dippers!!!

I had a plan for sandwiches tomorrow but when I was asking the girls what they wanted for their vegetable, they both were all about salads.  Molly then suggested that they have big salads for lunch.  Luckily, we just got our shipment of the new Mini Dippers by Easy Lunchboxes.  They are perfect for a lunch like this.  The only difference between the two lunches is the dressing choices.  They agree about most things but are completely different when it comes to condiments.

Our main entree/vegetable is a salad with black olives, mozzarella and salami.  One of their Mini Dippers has their dressing of choice (Ranch and Italian) and the other has some cottage cheese.  We were trying to increase their protein by adding the cottage cheese.

Our fruit side is a mix of berries.  The berries aren't quite as sweet as they were at the beginning of the summer but they are still really tasty.  We have strawberries, blueberries and black berries.

Finally, our dairy/dessert is Chobani Champions Vanilla Orange Greek yogurt.  We put a few little heart sprinkles on top to dress it up.

Tomorrow is the color black day in Bean's Kindergarten class, so we decided to make her snack blackberries.  We put a few little black and white animal picks in for fun.

Make Your Own Pizza "Lunchables"

The "lunchable" lunches were so popular with the girls that I decided to take it a step further with a cue from my good friend, Chef Corey, over at Family Fresh Meals.  The kids don't always ask for the crackers, cheese and lunch meat.  They ask for the pizza version a lot so I figured, why not?

 Molly's Lunch

Bean's Lunch

Our main entree is a make your own pepperoni pizza.  We used Trader Joe's Middle Eastern Flat Bread as the crust, some pizza sauce (in the small containers with the rainbows on them), pizza cheese blend and turkey pepperoni.

Our vegetable side is a green salad with Ranch dressing on the side.  When I was in school, salad was ALWAYS served with pizza.  Luckily for my girls, their salad is completely separate so it won't get the pizza soggy.  That was one of my biggest pet peeves about the pizza at school. 

Our fruit side is red grapes.  The local grocery store had these on sale for 99¢ a pound.  WIN!

Finally, our dairy/dessert is Chobani Champions Vanilla Chocolate Chunk.  This will round out the meal with a boost of protein and probiotics.

ps - Bean is bringing her own snack to Kindergarten starting this week and since tomorrow is red day, this is what we came up with.  Apple chunks.  Yum!

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.

Pizzadilla!

This week has been and will be beyond crazy.  Monday night included a sneak preview of the new Whole Foods store that will be opening near us tomorrow (I am overly excited about this!) and a great dinner with friends.  Tonight was dance for both girls and a run for Daddy plus cross training for Mommy.  Tomorrow is the end of Mommy's weight loss challenge with the final weigh in, which makes me feel like I gained 5 pounds over the last week.  haha!  Tomorrow is also my final run before the Pittsburgh Marathon 5K on Saturday and Half Marathon on Sunday.  We have several other things lined up too and God willing, it will all go off swimmingly.  We are all so excited and next week may feel like the day after the prom but the excitement of this week is something to behold.

Part of my strategy was to plan ahead with a menu and schedule so that nothing is forgotten.  Hopefully this will really help with Molly's lunches.

Our main entree is a pizzadilla, a/k/a a pizza quesadilla.  We spread a small amount of pizza sauce on two flour tortillas, added turkey pepperoni and shredded mozzarella cheese on one, topped it with the other, then heated it on the stove until it was all melted and yummy.  We then cut it into "pizza slices" to make it more manageable for Molly.

Our vegetable side is a green salad.  We added a small container of light Ranch dressing and filled it a little fuller than normal because we know that Molly sometimes likes to dip her pizza in Ranch.

Our fruit side is a sliced apple.  These a very small Empire apples that are the perfect side for kids.  They are crunchy and sweet.

Finally, our dairy/dessert is Chobani Champions Vanilla Chocolate Chunk Greek Yogurt.  This is Molly's favorite variety and we can't blame her.  Chocolate is so yummy!

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!

Lenten Lunch 1

The season of Lent started yesterday and as Catholics, we restrict certain things during this season.  Every Friday, we abstain from eating meat.  I am not someone who eats a lot of meat but for whatever reason, I crave a hamburger every Friday during Lent.  I guess it is something about not being able to have something that makes you crave it because when Saturday rolls around, I'm no longer craving the hamburger.  Funny how the brain works.

Hopefully Molly will not have the same cravings as her Mommy and be excited to have a Fun Friday lunch.

Our main entree is leftover cheese pizza.  This was part of our take out extravaganza earlier this week.  Dominos delivered and now Molly reaps the benefit of another leftover.

Our vegetable side is a green salad with light ranch dressing on the side.  We added a little extra dressing so that Molly could use it to dip her pizza crust in.

Our fruit side is sliced strawberries.  These strawberries are from Plant City, Florida.  I, Mommy, lived in Florida for a few years and I have to say that the strawberry festival in Plant City is one of the most awesome things I've ever experienced.  From the smell to the sights and finally the taste of those sun ripened, sweet and juicy delicious beauties.  INCREDIBLE!!

Finally, our Fun Friday treat is courtesy of a few Valentine's Day goodies that Molly's classmates gave to her.  There is a small pack of Bottle Caps and a small Reese's Peanut Butter Cup.

Soup, Salad and Facebook

Today, we started our own Facebook Page so that you, our readers, don't miss a single blog post. I am trying to figure out how to put the "like" box on the blog. HTML can be pretty confusing sometimes. For now, please search for Molly's Lunch Box on Facebook and like our page. ☺

Also, don't forget to comment on yesterday's post in order to be entered into our first giveaway, sponsored by Chobani Champions.  We will choose our winners this weekend and announce them in Sunday's blog post and also on our new Facebook Page.

On to Molly's lunch.  It's getting a bit chilly here in Pittsburgh so we figured that some yummy soup was in order.

Our main entree is Progresso Italian Wedding Soup.  Molly really likes this soup because of the pasta and meatballs.  We like it for the vegetables that she doesn't even notice.  We also added a few mini Club Crackers on the side because Molly likes to dip them in her soup.

Our vegetable side is a green salad with a little bit of French dressing on the side.  We gave Molly the option of another spinach salad but she chose the green salad to mix it up a little bit.

Our fruit side is half of a blood orange.  Our friends at Chobani have a new flavor called blood orange and Molly really liked the taste that I gave her from mine.  We decided to pick up a few extra blood oranges (Molly's Daddy's favorite) so that she could enjoy the real orange too.

Finally, our dairy/dessert is the awesome Chobani Champions Vanilla Chocolate Chunk Greek Yogurt.  Molly requested this variety again because she likes it SO much.  We can't blame her.  It is really delicious.  If you want to try it, join our giveaway by commenting on yesterday's post.  ☺

Back at it

I've been very sick for over a week and I'm finally feeling mildly human again.  Molly is very happy to be packing her lunch again.  She came home hungry on two days last week (she was home sick on Tuesday and didn't have school on Friday).  Those two days were the days she bought lunch.  She was thirsty because a 1/2 pint of milk isn't nearly enough to keep thirst at bay all day long.  She was hungry because most of the things that they served weren't really to her liking.  She said that she only ate some of most of what was served.

Now, we're back to almost normal and Molly will be getting a delicious, nutritious lunch that has the correct serving sizes for a growing 7 year old girl and plenty of love from home.  Plus, we've added something new!

Our main entree is cheese pizza.  Since Mom wasn't feeling good, we got a fresh pizza from the deli of our local grocery store.  Molly's Daddy baked and served it for lunch today and Molly requested some of the leftovers for her lunch.  There is a small container of light ranch dressing for her to dip the crust in, just in case it gets too tough.

Our vegetable side is a green salad.  It is served with light Italian dressing on the side.

Our fruit side is sliced strawberries.  Molly requested these as well.

Finally, our dairy/dessert is a NEW Chobani Champions vanilla chocolate chunk.  These just came out as well as an orange vanilla flavor.  All three of our kids gave them both a resounding two thumbs up.  My cousin reminds me to watch the sugars in these so that is why they are a special treat once in a while.  (Thanks, Sarah!) ☺

Daddy's Lunch

Molly's Mommy (MM) is not feeling very well this weekend. She's suffering from some sort of evil Flu. Luckily, she has the best husband in the world to make Molly's lunch and write this super-awesome entry for her. ;) Actually, I am only half as awesome as MM's parents took all three kids today so that I could focus on taking care of the best thing to ever happen to me.

Our entree is Homemade Pasta with a meatball and red sauce. Molly, her sister, and Grandma made pasta today and sent it and the sauce home. 

Our veggie side is a salad with Italian dressing, 

Our fruit side is blueberries, blackberries, and strawberries. 

Finally, for dessert, we have vanilla yogurt and gingerbread graham crackers. 

As much I enjoyed making Molly's lunch and writing this blog, I hope that We all home that MM feels better very soon.

Molly's Daddy

Pizza Time!

After a fun weekend, we're ready to get back to a full week of school.  We are taking a cue from the school lunch menu again and made some pizza for Molly's Monday lunch.

Our main entree is cheese pizza.  We used a Trader Joe's Middle Eastern Flatbread as our crust, added sauce and cheese, then baked it off.  Molly said that she really likes having this pizza because it tastes like home.

Our vegetable side is a green salad.  When we were in school, salad was always served with pizza.  This is accompanied by some light ranch dressing.

Our fruit side is Granny Smith apple slices.  Our family goes through a lot of apples because all of the kids like  them, especially Molly's little brother.  He's the only person we know that would eat an apple at every meal.

Finally, our dairy/dessert is vanilla yogurt.  It's still Molly's favorite.

Soup, Salad and Bread Stick Lunch

Molly ended up staying home from school today because her belly hurt, so no popcorn chicken for her.  We figured that if she isn't feeling 100% tomorrow, soup would be a nice lunch for her.  Also, if this combination works for the big restaurants, it should be perfect for our girl.

Our main entree is Chickarina soup from Progresso.  Molly really enjoys this soup because it is just like Wedding soup.  We like it because it has a good combination of carbs and protein.

Our vegetable side is a green salad with light Italian dressing on the side.  We used the large container but didn't fill it too much so that Molly won't get too full.

Our fruit side does not exist today but we'll make sure that she gets in some fruit with her breakfast and snack.  This isn't a problem because Molly probably doesn't know any type of fruit that she doesn't like.

Our fun side is a bread stick that has been torn into smaller pieces.  We figured that she could either dunk it in her soup or just enjoy it with her salad.

Finally, our dairy/dessert is vanilla yogurt, as usual.  This should be soothing for her if her tummy is upset at all.

Candy Cane Pizzas

Christmas chaos is in full swing.  We are done shopping and decorating but there are still so many things to do.  We need to have a wrapping party to wrap all of the presents, bake a plethora of cookies and still remember the real reason for the season, Jesus.  You can't have CHRISTmas without Christ.

Our main entree is candy cane pizzas.  We used a cookie cutter to cut out our Trader Joe's Middle Eastern Flat bread and provolone sliced cheese.  Next, put a little sauce between the bread and cheese and added some stripes of turkey pepperoni.  Finally we baked them off in the toaster oven.

Our vegetable side is a salad with grape tomatoes and light Italian dressing on the side.  Molly usually isn't a big fan of tomatoes but these are so sweet and not as acidic.

Our fruit side is sliced strawberries.  Molly's Daddy was nice enough to cut these up especially for her, even though it's his birthday, he's always helping.

Finally, our Fun Tuesday treat is blueberry angel food cake.  This is one of the lightest cakes you can make.  The recipe is below.

Angel Food Fruit Cake

1 box of angel food cake mix
1 can of pie filling (blueberry, cherry or even crushed pineapple)

Mix together and put in an ungreased 13x9 pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

THAT'S ALL!  Yummy, easy and pretty healthy.

Pizza Monday is BACK!

What a weekend!  Weekends like this make me wish that there were no Mondays so that we could keep having fun without having to go to school or work.  We had a fantastic time with great friends and family.  My brother, sister-in-law and niece (who will be one year old next month) came for a visit from New Jersey.  A bunch of us met at Soergel's Orchard for pumpkin picking and hayrides. We head to Soergel's every year as part of our fall routine and it is always a wonderful time.

Next, everyone headed back to our house for snacks and dinner so that we could all sit down and catch up while the kids played.  My husband and I really enjoy hosting gatherings and this was no exception.  Granted, we did have to clean like crazy people but the bonus is that our house is still clean.  It was so nice to learn new things about old friends and to watch my family interact with each other.  My niece is growing by leaps and bounds and it is so awesome to see the milestones that she is reaching.  She sure is a gorgeous little girl!  ♥ you, Em!

Today, we all met for brunch and said our good-byes.  It was sad but we know that we'll see them in just over a month.  We can't wait!

Now, back at it.  We are bring back pizza Mondays.  Our dinner was pizza when everyone came over and we had some left so there we have it.

Our main entree is Little Caesar's pepperoni pizza.  Cold pizza has to be one of the best lunches ever.  Molly's school always serves pizza on Mondays so we like keeping her similar with this choice.

Our vegetable side is a green salad with light ranch dressing.  Molly really likes the pizza and salad combo.  She also likes to dip her pizza in the ranch so it is a great catalyst for one of her other favorite combinations.

Our fruit side is red grapes.  These are very firm and juicy with a nice sweet taste.  Grapes are really delicious frozen for a snack if the weather happens to be on the warmer side.

Finally, our dairy/dessert is vanilla yogurt.  We haven't gotten a chance to run to Sam's club over the past week or so and that means that we don't have anymore of Molly's new favorite yogurt, the Chobani Champions.  She likes regular old vanilla yogurt though, so she'll be fine until we can get to Sam's.

Something New

Our local grocery store intrigued me today by offering new and exotic fruits.  I had seen some of them before and some, I hadn't.  Most of these were pretty expensive and if I'm going to dip deep into my budget, I want to make sure that I at least like it.  We went for the least expensive variety of "fruit" so that we could all try it without breaking the bank.

Our main entree is mini-ravioli pasta salad.  We cooked up a bunch of Trader Joe's dried mini cheese ravioli for dinner and saved some for Molly's lunch.  We added black olives, light shredded mozzarella, turkey pepperoni and light Italian dressing.

Our vegetable side is a garden salad.  Molly loves black olives so we added a few extra to her salad.  On the side is more of her favorite light Italian dressing.  We figured it would go nicely with the pasta salad.  We added a Babybel cheese on top for extra protein.

Our fruit side is our "something new".  We decided on a pepino melon.  These originate mostly in South America and are really neat looking.  The pepino melon is small, like a large lemon and the skin is a pale yellow with dark purple stripes.  Pepino translates into cucumber and it is a very good translation.  The flavor (minus the skin, which is edible but not very tasty) is a mix between cucumber, pear and banana.  Very interesting.  The texture is soft, like a cantaloupe so it was easy to cut with our crinkle knife.  We're excited to see what Molly's verdict it.

Finally, our dessert is unsweetened applesauce.  Molly has been asking for this lately and since the pepino melon isn't all that sweet, we figured that it would be a nice addition to her lunch.

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.

Classics Are Always Good

This is a very busy week at our house.  The girls started Faith Formation (a/k/a CCD) tonight and their Daddy is a Catechist (teacher) at the church so everyone was really excited to get things started.  This weekend is the semi-annual Consignment Sale at Molly's little sister's preschool so I will be busy helping there this week.  Also, Molly's Daddy and I are lucky enough to be seeing Wicked this week in downtown Pittsburgh.  It is one of my all time favorite Broadway musicals and the theaters here in Pittsburgh are amazing.  There is not a bad seat in either Heinz Hall or the Benedum Center.  We have something on the calendar everyday this week but, we will do our best take a breath and enjoy it.  ☺

Tomorrow's lunch started out with a general idea for sides but I didn't think of the main entree until I was almost done with everything else.  Then it hit me, nothing is better than a classic!

Our main entree is a peanut butter and grape jelly sandwich.  PB&J is good any day of the week.  We used whole grain white bread, added the peanut butter, Trader Joe's No Sugar Added Grape Jelly and used a large butterfly and a small butterfly cookie cutter to cut them out.

Our vegetable side is a green salad.  We added a few pieces of red and orange bell pepper and some black olives.  We are serving Ken's Steak House Light Italian Dressing on the side.  We've also added a Babybel Cheese to this container for some extra protein.  We used a micro cookie cutter to cut out a heart on the wax outer layer.

Our fruit side is a sliced McIntosh apple.  It's that time of year here in Western Pennsylvania.  There are apples and pumpkins galore!  These McIntosh apples are petite with a wonderful sweet and tart flavor.

Finally, our dairy/dessert is a Chobani Champions Greek Yogurt in Verry Berry.  Molly will be so excited when she sees this.  She has really taken a liking to these and isn't seeming to get bored with them.  This makes us very happy since they are so good for her.

Summery Lunch

Now that the weather has gotten much warmer, we're feeling the summer bug biting.  This means cool refreshing salads and simple sides.  We had a fantastic meal with wonderful friends tonight and one of our favorite things was eating outside.  Something about a great meal with great friends in the fresh air makes any stress of the day just melt away.

This made Molly decide that she wants to go summery for her lunch.  We were happy to oblige!

Our main entrée is a "big plain salad" per Molly's request.  She's so funny when she wants something.  Her eyes get wide and she can't come up with the words fast enough.  Our salad (romaine lettuce) is being served with light Catalina salad dressing.  We also added a few yellow tomatoes because Molly really likes them and she said it would be okay.

Our fruit side (since our main entrée is also our vegetable) is mixed berries.  We brought these to our friends' house as a topping to some vanilla pudding.  There were just enough left over to toss into Molly's lunch.

Our grain/dairy side is cheese toast.  We added some shredded cheddar cheese to a flat bread and melted it in the toaster oven.  When it cooled, we cut it into manageable pieces. We also added a string cheese on the side for some extra protein.

Finally, our fun Friday treat is two rolls of Smarties.  There wasn't enough room for anything else. ☺

Lenten Lunch 5

This is a Lenten Lunch by request.  Molly really enjoyed certain parts of her dinner tonight and requested that they be part of her lunch tomorrow.  She also requested a pimento cheese sandwich, but I had something else in mind.  Turning a favorite recipe into a meat-less recipe is pretty easy; we added extra vegetables to make up for the lack of meat.

Our main entrée is pasta salad.  Molly's Daddy was making some angel hair pasta to use for his lunch tomorrow and we asked him to add a little for Molly.  To the angel hair, we added chunks of colby-jack cheese, green pepper, zucchini, carrots, olives and light Italian salad dressing.  We don't think that Molly will miss the pepperoni that we normally add.

Our vegetable side is a plain romaine lettuce salad.  We figured that there was enough variety of vegetables in Molly's pasta salad, that a plain romaine salad would be nice.  This is served with Ken's Steakhouse light Italian salad dressing, Molly's favorite.

Our fruit side is sliced D'Anjou pears.  We found these Argentinian beauties very inexpensively at Aldi today.  They are very sweet and juicy.

Finally, our Fun Friday dessert is sugar free/fat free vanilla pudding.  We added a few white chocolate chips and bits of strawberry to the top as an extra added bonus.