Back After Vacation

The girls had a great time on their Thanksgiving vacation.  We had Thanksgiving dinner at our house with our family and it was wonderful.  Both Molly and Bean also got sick on vacation but everyone is better now.  We're all ready for the Christmas season at our house.  The tree is up and the whole house is decorated.  I know that time will fly between now and the next vacation time for Christmas.

Our main entree is a Banana Bread with whipped cream cheese sandwich for Molly and a peanut butter and Nutella sandwich for Bean.

Our vegetable side is cucumber slices.

Our fruit side is fresh pineapple for Molly and pears for Bean.

Finally, our dairy/dessert is vanilla yogurt.

1st Day of School Lunch

WOW!  That was fast!  Didn't I just write the post about the last day of school a few hours ago?  Seriously though, we are so excited for the new school year.  Molly and Bean packed their back packs, picked out their outfits and settled into their beds perfectly.  I remember it being like the night before Christmas.  I never slept well because I was SO excited to start school again.

Without further ado....LUNCH!

Bean's Lunch

Molly's Lunch

Our main entree for Bean is a Nutella and Peanut Butter and Company peanut butter sandwich on Trader Joe's whole grain bread.  We used our mini apple, alphabet and number cookie cutters to make some back to school shapes and our food safe markers to bring the apples to life.

Our main entree for Molly is Trader Joe's Perline Pasta and Prosciutto salad with some light Italian dressing.

Our vegetable side is a rainbow of bell peppers.  A favorite of both girls.

Our fruit side is figs and raspberries.  We drizzled a little bit of honey on the figs per the girls' request.

Finally, our dairy side is vanilla yogurt with little school bus sprinkles on it.  

We also made a little something for Molly and Bean's teachers.  We figured that a little survival kit would be a nice gift to start the new school year.

Some instant coffee, pretzels, milk and dark chocolate, raisins, antacids, vitamin C, gum and the teacher's favorite tool...the red pen. ☺

Happy 1st Day of School Everyone!

Marathon Lunch

If you follow this blog, you may know that Molly's Daddy and I will be running the Pittsburgh Half Marathon this Sunday.  This is Daddy's second half marathon and Mommy's 1st.  I'm excited and terrified at the same time.  I trust in my training and the shape that my body is in so I'm confident that it will be an absolute blast.

In honor of this massively amazing event, we decided to theme Molly's lunch with fun little bits from our training as "Runners of Steel" in our awesome city.

Our main entree is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  We used whole grain white bread, spread on some natural peanut butter and low sugar strawberry jam.  Then, we used our food safe markers to create a running shoe.

Our vegetable side is frozen peas.  These will thaw down and be a great cool addition.  The peas remind us of the little sport jelly beans that we use to fuel during long runs.  They are also a great source natural carbohydrate, something that runners are always looking for.

Our fruit side is a banana with some Nutella inside of it.  Runners love bananas for potassium and a quick sugar boost with carbohydrate.  We also added the word RUN using a strawberry fruit leather and our alphabet micro cookie cutters.

Our dairy side is a cheddar and mozzarella cheese stick.  This is a great source of protein.  A runner needs a certain amount of protein to fuel their muscles and keep their appetite satisfied long after the carbohydrates have burned off.

Finally, our dessert is Mommy's favorite post race snack.  Pretzels with a few dark chocolate chips.  The salt helps to keep electrolytes in check and the chocolate, well, it's dark chocolate...enough said.

Best of luck to our fellow Runners of Steel as we all tackle the City of Bridges!

Breakfast Lunch

Last night, Molly's Daddy made breakfast for dinner.  The kids were so hungry that there weren't any pancakes left for Molly's lunch today, so we decided to make a run to the store tonight to grab a few things for a breakfast lunch tomorrow.

Our main entree is a whole wheat waffle sandwich.  We spread natural peanut butter on one waffle and Nutella on the other, then sandwiched them together.  This combination is a huge hit in our house.

Our vegetable side is baby carrots.  We usually don't have a veggie with our breakfast lunches but these looked like they would fit in just perfectly.

Our fruit side is half of a banana.  We used a knife to lightly pierce a message to Molly on it.  It had a chance to oxidize while we were toasting the waffles.

Finally, our dairy/dessert is a Chocolate Chunk Chobani Champions Greek yogurt.  (Say that three times fast!) Molly requested this one because she thought it would go nicely with the Nutella.  Smart girl.  ☺

All Better!

Molly is feeling much better.  She made it to school today, had a great day and lived to tell about it.  No call from the school nurse made me a very happy Mom.  Molly was pretty happy too and even had a fantastic night because she finally lost one of her top teeth.  We've been waiting on it for weeks and finally, the tooth fairy will be stopping at our house. ☺

Our main entree is a peanut butter and Nutella sandwich on whole grain bread.  Our cupboards are a bit bare because Mom hasn't had time to run to the store with two sick kids.  This is a great standby sandwich when there isn't much left in the pantry.

Our vegetable side is canned green beans.  Again, not much left on the fresh vegetable front aside from salad.  Besides, canned green beans are so yummy.

Our fruit side is a Macintosh apple that has been sectioned and sliced.  We've had several questions about how to keep the apples from browning.  The long and short of it is the type of apple.  We usually choose Macintosh and Empire apples because they naturally don't brown as much.  There may be a small bit of browning but nothing like a Red Delicious.  If you aren't a fan of these types, try fresh squeezed orange or lemon juice to prevent browning.

Finally, our dairy/dessert is plain vanilla yogurt.  We have no Cho!  We definitely have to make it to the store very soon to stock back up on Chobani Champions.

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

There was a big build up to tomorrow all week.  Molly's little sister's school was celebrating Dr. Seuss this week and we had lots of fun dressing up, reading the books and talking about how fun Dr. Seuss is.  Tomorrow, Molly gets to dress up as her favorite Dr. Seuss character at school.  She chose The Cat in the Hat.  We had a blast making her costume.  (See below)

Lunch is no exception in the theme.  We did our best to represent some of our favorite Dr. Seuss books.  We had to keep our food functional so please use your imagination.  After all, that's what Dr. Seuss did. ☺

Our main entree is a peanut butter and Nutella sandwich on 12 Grain bread.  We used our food safe markers to draw Horton from "Horton Hears a Who" on the front of it.

Our vegetable side is orange and yellow peppers.  We created the Lorax by cutting the peppers like a face, a mustache and eye brows.  We then added two small slices from a cheese stick for eyes and used our food safe marker to create pupils and a nose.

Our fruit side is apples and strawberries.  This is supposed to look like the Cat in the Hat's hat.  We did our best to keep it looking authentic but it was a little bit hard.

Finally, our Fun Friday treat is from "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish".  These are just some Sweedish Fish that we picked up and plan to use for dessert sushi. (A Rice Krispie treat rolled around a Sweedish Fish and then wrapped with a fruit roll up, very fun!)

We found some fun stickers and added them to Molly's Lunch Box so that she knows what books we are representing.

If you are looking for some easy costumes for Dr. Seuss Day, here are The Cat in the Hat and Thing 2.  Just t-shirts with felt.  The hat is felt with a barrette on the bottom and the Thing's hair is yarn tied around a hair elastic.

Easy Lunch

After a very full and fun Valentine's Day, we were looking for something easy to make for Molly's lunch tomorrow.  Sure, a classic pb&j is always a nice and easy option but we decided to mix it up a bit.  Then we threw in some other classics.

Our main entree is a Nutella and peanut butter sandwich.  We use a 12 grain bread for this because we think that it tastes awesome with any nut butter and since Nutella is a nut butter and so is peanut butter...no brainer!

Our vegetable side is cucumbers slices.  We used our crinkle knife to cut these into fun shapes.  Molly said that she really likes them this way because they are more fun to eat.

Our fruit side is a banana.  We cut a small chunk off of the top and then used cookie cutters to press in our special message to Molly.  It will be more visible when she sees it at lunch but it browned up pretty nicely while we were fixing her lunch.  ♥ U, Molly!

Our dairy side is a string cheese.  This is a great option for a little extra protein or a little extra something in case she is still hungry.

Our dessert is vanilla yogurt with mini chocolate chips.  Molly really enjoyed the mini chocolate chips the other day so we thought she'd enjoy them tomorrow.

Breakfast on Fun Friday!

We were trying to come up with ideas and looking in the fridge and pantry then we found a few things and breakfast was the winner.  This may not be our most nutritious lunch but it's still better than what the school is serving.

Our main entree is a waffle sandwich.  We toasted two whole grain waffles and added Nutella and peanut butter to them and sandwiched them together.

Our fruit side is a banana.  Something about a banana with peanut butter and Nutella.  YUM!

Our dairy side is vanilla yogurt with chocolate pearls for fun.  Molly really likes the chocolate pearls because they "stay crunchy" even when they have been in the yogurt over night.

Finally, our Fun Friday treat is two white chocolate Lindt truffles.  Molly got these in her stocking and they are the last two left.

Fall Fun

We've been having so much fun getting into fall this year.  Our annual visits to our favorite pumpkin patch, state park and candy store are all done.  Our Halloween parade, costumes and decorations are all done and there are only a few more things to do before the big day.  We can't wait for pumpkin carving, school parties and trick or treat with the annual screening of "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown."

Tomorrow's lunch has a few Halloween touches to it too, just to keep Molly in the spirit.

Our main entree is peanut butter and nutella sandwiches.  It was such a hit today that there was a request for it again in tomorrow's lunch.  We cut these out with pumpkin shaped cookie cutters and put faces on them with food safe markers.  We added a small witch hat to the smaller pumpkin for fun.

Our vegetable side is carrots and hummus.  Molly said that it was so delicious today that, again, she requested it for tomorrow's lunch.

Our fruit side is green grapes.  We were tempted to peel them like zombie eyeballs but decided against it just in case they shriveled up over night.

Our dairy side is a Babybel cheese.  We carved out a fun jack o'lantern face on it for Molly.

Finally, our dessert is peach yogurt.  We buy a large variety pack of yogurt for Molly's Daddy and he was nice enough to share one with Molly. ☺

Different Lunch

We're switching things up a little bit.  Molly's dessert is a bit non-traditional and in the container that usually houses our main entree.  Our vegetable might be considered our main entree and one of our sides is usually a main entree.  Gotta keep her on her toes!

Our main entree/side is cheese tortellini pasta salad.  We had about a dozen of these left over from our dinner and decided to use them for a side.  We put some light Italian dressing on it and added a little plastic spider for fun.

Our vegetable side is cut veggies and hummus.  We sliced up some red peppers, some carrots and added sugar snap peas.  We put about 2 tablespoons of red pepper hummus in a small container for Molly to dip her veggies in.

Our fruit side is a kiwi.  We slices this after peeling it and placed one slice on top because it reminds us of monster eyes.

Our dairy side is a cheese stick.  Since we don't have any yogurt and only hummus as our protein, we figured that this would be a nice addition.

Our dessert...well, the closest thing to a dessert is a peanut butter and nutella roll.  We used a hamburger roll and spread peanut butter on one side and nutella on the other.  We then cut it into pieces and added a little Halloween pumpkin pick.

Lenten Lunch 3

This whole time, I'm thinking that a Lenten lunch is going to be hard thing to figure out.  Then, as I look back at Molly's Lunch Box, most of her lunches are vegetarian.  Very rarely is there any meat in her lunch at all.  So, if you are looking for a kid friendly Lenten meal idea, just look at just about any lunch on this blog and you'll be set through Easter.

Our main entrée is our take on a peanut butter and banana sandwich.  We split a banana in half and filled it with Nutella hazelnut spread.  Then we spread peanut butter on one slice of bread.  We then put the banana on the bread, wrapped it up, and cut it in half.

Our vegetable side is small slices of green pepper.  Molly has liked peppers since she was very young.  Plus, it gives her a nice crunch.

Our fruit side is a plum.  We found these at Sam's Club and they have a great sweet/tart flavor.

Finally, our Fun Friday treat is candy.  There are two mini Kit Kats and two mini Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.  This is not a regular treat but we decided to go a little crazy since Molly has been doing very well in her school work and hasn't complained much at all about her homework this week.

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.

Thankful for Veterans Day

As we approach Thanksgiving I am reminded of all of the wonderful things in this world that I am thankful for.  Tomorrow is Veteran's Day and I am extremely thankful for Veterans.  Without those who serve and protect our country, we wouldn't be able to live these privileged lives that we live.  My husband and I try to instill this gratitude in our children.  Every time we see a man or woman in uniform we thank them for serving our country.  This is just a small token of thanks for the daily sacrifice that they undergo. So, from my entire family, thank you to all former, current and future veterans.  We are forever in your debt.  And a special thank you to the families of these soldiers.  Your sacrifice is usually unsung but without your support, our troops would never be able to do the awesome job that they do, to thank you too.

On to lunch!

Our main entrée is a peanut butter and Nutella sandwich on whole wheat bread.  We've cut these out with some cookie cutters that represent a few of our other favorite things about November (other than Veteran's Day).  Turkey and Football!

Our vegetable side is some English Cucumbers that have been cut with a crinkle cut knife.  We just like to mix it up now and then. ☺

Our fruit side is some canned Tropical Fruit Salad.  Molly and her brother and sister really enjoy this combination.  It has some pineapple, papaya, mango and pears.  All nice and sweet and very juicy.

Finally, for dessert we have some New Pepperidge Farm Cocoa Adventures Goldfish Crackers.  These are chocolate flavored graham cracker goldfish with small marshmallows that are usually found in hot cocoa.  Its a really cute combination and the kids love them.

Wafflewich Wednesday

We are preparing for Halloween at our house.  Our town has a huge Halloween parade on Monday night.  The high school band plays and most of the town shows up for the celebration.  The kids get all dressed up and can even win prizes for their costumes.  Both of the girls have school dress up parties and parades on Thursday for Preschool and Friday for Elementary school.  Molly has a Halloween dress up ballet class on Friday.  Then the Main Event on Sunday night...Trick or Treat!  Needless to say, we've been busy getting our costumes together and our treats purchased.
Busy means an easy lunch for Mom to make so we've decided on Breakfast for Lunch.

Our main entrée is mini wafflewiches.  We spread peanut butter on one side and Nutella on the other and put them together.  We've also added a few slivered almonds on the side for some extra protein.

The fruit side is a Bosc pear.  We sliced this pear into large sections so that its easier for Molly to pick up and take bites from without chomping on any seeds.  These pears are more firm than the Sugar pears that we've served before, but they are just as sweet and juicy.

Our dairy/dessert side is blueberry yogurt.  This sweet and creamy yogurt is the perfect addition to any lunch. It adds protein and calcium without a lot of calories and fat, plus it tastes really good.

Monday Love

The weekend was beautiful and its back to school tomorrow.  I think its important to start the week of on a positive note so that the sentiment carries on through the week.  It dawned on me though, that sometimes even the kids can get a "case of the Mondays" now and then, so I decided to celebrate Monday with a little love.

 We start with a very yummy honey roasted peanut butter and Nutella sandwich on wheat bread that is cut into heart shapes.  This shows the little extra love from her family that Molly might be looking for on a Monday.  There are 2 large hearts that represent Mommy and Daddy and three little hearts that represent Molly, her sister and her brother.

Next we have crudités (or some fresh veggies cut up cutely but crudités sounds fancier!) served with roasted red pepper hummus.  There are cucumbers and baby carrots that are both cut with a crinkle cut knife, celery and a pepper from our garden that was half green and half red.  That's part of the fun of growing vegetables, you never know what they are going to look like until you pluck them off of the vine.

*side note - Not all kids are going to be jazzed about veggies and hummus but most kids that I know will at least try some vegetables if they are cut up in interesting shapes and/or served with a dip.  If you child doesn't like hummus, try ranch dressing or ranch dip made with sour cream and a dry ranch mix or even honey mustard.

For our fruit side, we cut up some strawberries (you have to take advantage of them before they are out of season) and added in a few red grapes that come from a batch that are particularly crunchy.  I like to mix textures to keep the food interesting.

Finally we have our dessert!  We made a healthier rice krispie treat.  We used puffed wheat cereal that we found in the inexpensive bagged cereal section of the grocery store.  We added the normal marshmallows but cut back on the butter just a little bit.  They taste similar to Sugar Smacks cereal only in bar form and the best part is, the nutritional value is MUCH better because you are using a whole grain durum wheat instead of a bleached rice.  ☺ Eating healthier doesn't mean sacrificing all of you favorites.  If there is a way to modify it to be healthier, then try it.