New Fruit from Trader Joe's

We ♥ Trader Joe's at our house.  It's a good haul from our house to the closest store but completely worth it.  We are all about those products that are exclusive to TJ's and we can't live without them.  We are totally addicted to a couple of them.  But, what is even better about Trader Joe's is their impressive fresh produce.  We've tried everything from teeny tiny potatoes to pea shoots and keep going back for more.  We also found something else on our trip last week and the girls are ecstatic to have them in their lunches for tomorrow.

Our main entree is a salami and colby jack cheese sandwich on Trader Joe's whole grain bread.  We used a flower shaped cookie cutter for the large sandwich and our micro heart for the tiny ones.

Our vegetable side is a seedless cucumber that has been cut using a fluted Japanese vegetable cutter.

Our fruit side is....Champagne grapes!  Those tiny little grapes that champagne is made from.  They are adorable and have a great sweet flavor.

Our dairy side is a Sargento colby jack cheese stick.  The girls have a larger appetite at the beginning of the year so this is a great way to curb their hunger.

Finally, our dessert is raspberry yogurt covered pretzels.  We put a few of these in this lunch for a special little treat.

If you like Trader Joe's and lunches as much as we do, our friends at Easy Lunchboxes are coming out with a cookbook very soon.  Pre-Order you copy with the link below.

The Return of an Old Favorite

When we went to Trader Joe's the other day, we picked up a bunch of things and a few old favorites made it into the cart.  Molly used to request pimento cheese sandwiches all of the time.  I introduced pimento cheese spread to my kids one day on the way home from the zoo.  Trader Joe's is very close to the Pittsburgh Zoo so on our way home, we stopped for a snack.  I bought mini whole wheat pitas and the pimento cheese spread as a way to introduce it in a small way, just in case they didn't like it.  Well, they are truly my kids and it showed with their new found love of pimento cheese spread.  We haven't had it for a while so Molly's eyes lit up when she saw it.

Our main entree is mini pimento cheese sandwiches.  We split 5 (there are 6 in a serving according to the nutritional information) Trader Joe's mini whole wheat pitas and filled them with Trader Joe's pimento cheese spread.  Molly is going to go crazy over this blast from the past.

Our vegetable side is mini cucumbers.  We used our crinkle knife to cut these up to make them look more like a pickle.  They are really crunchy and refreshing.

Our fruit side is a peach and some raspberries.  We found these peaches very inexpensively at a huge sale at  a local super market.  We like the combination for both aesthetic appeal and flavor.  

Finally, our dairy/dessert is plain vanilla yogurt.  Molly will more than likely add her raspberries to this yogurt.  She has been loving this combination of vanilla yogurt and fresh berries.

Trader Joe's Inspired Lunch

We made a run out to Trader Joe's yesterday to pick up a few essentials and some other goodies.  We just love Trader Joe's and heard a rumor that there might be one opening much closer to where we live.  It's about a 20 minute drive from where we are right now, but totally worth it!

Our main entree is a Trader Joe's mini Cinnamon Raisin bagel sandwich.  What's better with a bagel than cream cheese?  We added some whipped cream cheese and sandwiched it together.  We also added a little bow pick for fun.

Our vegetable side is Snap Peas Crisps.  These are a fantastic alternative to potato chips.  They are crispy, crunchy and salty.  The best part is that they are made with peas and baked so they are very healthy.  We added a pink flower pick to this container for a reminder of spring.

Our fruit side is strawberries.  These are still from the fresh picked batch of strawberries that Grammy got for us.  All four quarts are almost gone.  To say that we like strawberries at our house would be an understatement.  We added a small dragonfly ring to this container because Molly really likes when we put rings in her lunch.

Our dairy side is a cheddar and mozzarella cheese stick.  We think that Molly might be a little hungry (she didn't eat a lot at dinner tonight) so this is the perfect add on.

Finally, our dessert is peach yogurt.  Molly really likes to put her strawberries into her yogurt and peaches and strawberries are a great pairing.

Happy Parade Day!

As I said yesterday, we have a fantastic parade in our little town for Halloween.  All the kids get dressed up, parade down the main street for all to see, go to the judging area, then get a big bag of goodies.  This is the beauty of living in a small town...tradition.
Our whole family had a fantastic time dressing up as the characters from the Wizard of Oz and hopefully (fingers crossed) we'll win a prize!  Here's a picture from the festivities...

*You may notice the the Cowardly Lion is missing.  The dog had a wardrobe malfunction.  He just didn't want to keep his costume on so we were fine with letting him sit out the parade.

Our main entree is a Trader Joe's Pimento Cheese Sandwich.  Molly requested this and we were so pleased because it was nice and easy for us.  We used Trader Joe's pimento cheese spread on a Trader Joe's middle eastern flat bread and cut it into triangles.  This is always a hit!

Our fruit side is a Granny Smith apple.  We sliced most of these up and then cut out a jack o'lantern face on a quarter of it just to keep with the Halloween theme.

Our vegetable side is mini peppers.  Again, we sliced up most of these.  We used a yellow and an orange pepper.  Then, we cut out a jack o'lantern face in half of one of the orange ones.

Our dairy side is strawberry yogurt.  Molly lights up every time we tell her that this is in her lunch.

Finally, we added a little something from the goody bag.  Yes, we usually wait until Friday for a fun treat, but we decided that since she was a real trooper for the long parade, she deserved a mini Kit Kat. ☺

Picture Day!

Tomorrow is picture day at Molly's school.  No, I have no clue what she will wear.  And you thought I had it all together, didn't you?  Not so much. ☺  These past few weeks have completely worn me out and instead of going through all of Molly's clothes during nap time today, I joined the two little ones and napped too.  I did manage to figure out what to make for Molly's lunch though!  I was trying to think of something that Molly would like and that would be easy for me to whip up after a faith formation meeting at church tonight.  So, it's breakfast for lunch!

Our main entrée is mini breakfast sandwiches.  We toasted mini Eggo waffles, let them cool and spread each waffle with light cream cheese flavored with Trader Joe's real maple syrup.  To make the sandwiches, we sliced apples very thinly and layered them between two of the waffles.

The dairy side is Dannon light and fit strawberry yogurt.  Its a great source of protein and calcium.

Our choice of fruit is mandarin oranges.  Sweet and juicy with lots of vitamin C.

We added a few whole almonds to the sandwich compartment for extra protein.

Hopefully Molly's outfit will be as easy to put together as her lunch.  I'm confident that Molly would look adorable in a burlap sack but I must go and find the perfect outfit for my fashion forward first grader.

Tortellini Take Two

Well, Friday's lunch was SUCH a huge hit that Molly requested the cold tortellini salad again for Monday.  She said that it was her favorite lunch but would like a larger portion of the main entrée.  I never thought that she would ever complain about portion size.  I try to keep the portions smaller because I know that she has a limited time for her lunch.  I figured that with smaller portions, she would have enough time to eat a balanced meal with a nice variety of food.  Then, she could have a snack when she came home.  Molly was so funny about it.  "Mom, that tortellini was so awesome but I really could've used more of it.  I mean, I could've eaten a whole lunch box full of it."  I'm guessing that this dish earned her stamp of approval.  ☺

Today's main entrée is a larger portion of Trader Joe's multi colored cheese tortellini with light Italian dressing on it.  We hope that Molly has enough time to eat everything but we're confident that there will be little or none left.  This salad covers our protein, grain and calcium, plus it tastes REALLY good.

Our vegetables are sugar snap peas and shredded carrots.  They both have a crunchy texture that will nicely offset the soft and chewy texture of the tortellini salad.

The fruit choice of the day is a granny smith apple cut into thick slices.  We think that the sweet and tart flavor will be a good change of pace from the tangy Italian dressing.

Since there are only 3 compartments in today's lunch, we decided to give Molly a small dessert of an individually wrapped Pez candy.  Not our normal every day dessert but small enough that she will enjoy the yummy sweet flavors but won't get a sugar high and subsequent drop.

Wheeling Wednesday

Molly requested just a mustard sandwich for lunch tomorrow.  Just mustard, maybe some pepper jack cheese, but just plain yellow mustard.  The sophisticated palate of a 6 year old never ceases to amaze me.  ☺  I said that I would be happy to make a plain yellow mustard sandwich, maybe with some pepper jack cheese, but I also had another suggestion up my sleeve.  I let her know that I had purchased some whole grain tortillas at Trader Joe's today and that I'd be happy to make a pinwheel sandwich for her instead.  This suggestion was greeted by a giant smile and a small amount of jumping.  Hence, "pin"wheeling Wednesday.

Our main entrée is a delicious and colorful pinwheel sandwich.  We flavored some light cream cheese with the Dried Tomato and Garlic Pesto mix from Tastefully Simple.  We spread some of this cream cheese on a Trader Joe's whole grain flour tortilla with flax seeds, then added some baby spinach and thinly sliced turkey.  We rolled up the tortilla and then sliced it into small pinwheels.

The veggie side is sugar snap peas.  This is such a versatile vegetable.  It can be eaten raw or steamed.  There is a very different flavor depending on how it is prepared.  The raw preparation yields a very sweet, crunchy and juicy flavor.  The steamed version makes the sugar snap pea nice and soft with just a little bit of crunch.  It is still sweet but a much more mild flavor.

Molly requested just pineapple for her fruit.  We skewered some fresh pineapple on reusable plastic lollipop sticks so that Molly could have her other "just" request.  (Hey, its yellow like mustard and its "just" pineapple, so I think she'll be pretty happy.)

For dessert, we added a few Cinnamon Schoolbook Cookies from Trader Joe's.  These cookies are not only cute, but very tasty.  We made sure to put the "M" right on top so that Molly could see her favorite letter.

Marvelous Monday

After a very full weekend I barely have the strength to even think about making lunch.  But, I refuse to give Molly a lunch ticket to what a lot of my parent friends call "carb load Monday."  Every Monday, the school serves Papa John's pizza, tossed salad, "vegetable", chilled fruit and a soft pretzel that is the size of Molly's face.  934 calories!  No wonder there is such a high rate of childhood obesity.  I am going to muster up the strength to make something nutritionally sound so that my child will make it through the school day without a lump of dough in her stomach.

Our main entrée is a ham and American cheese sandwich on home made herbed bread.  We bought the Tastefully Simple Bountiful Beer Bread mix a few weeks ago and took one of their many suggestions on how to enhance it by adding their Spinach and Herb Dip Mix.  We highly recommend keeping a few packages of the Bountiful Beer Bread mix in your pantry.  http://www.tastefullysimple.com/  You can order straight from the web site and they'll send it right to your house.  My good friend Shelley Schutzman is a wonderful consultant for Tastefully Simple, so if you are in need of some great products from a great person, look her up.

Our fruit side consists of some yummy prune plums.  Molly and her sister would eat these every day.  They are nice and small with a very sweet flesh.  *Note, these prune plums were lovingly purchased by Molly's Grammy. ☺

Our vegetables are thinly sliced cucumbers and sugar snap peas.  These are both very and crunchy and still juicy.

For dessert, we have some Ginger Cat cookies from Trader Joe's.  Its the beginning of cold and flu season and ginger has almost a dozen antiviral compounds and has been proven to prevent, as well as, treat colds.  We might as well give Molly a leg up and try to prevent her from catching whatever little bug is flying around her school this week.

The Left Over Lunch

Another successful lunch in the bag, pun intended! ☺  I understand that most kids are more picky than Molly, but hopefully this will still generate some ideas.

I had to make a quick dinner tonight before my kickboxing class and to my delight it was a huge hit.  So much so that Molly requested the left overs for lunch tomorrow.

Tomorrow's lunch consists of left over home made chicken nuggets.  They are small pieces of chicken breast dipped in whole wheat flour and spices (plus about a teaspoon of sugar, that's the secret), dipped in egg and then coated with Japanese style Panko breadcrumbs and baked.  It is being served with sweet chili sauce from Trader Joe's for dipping.

Next we have some chopped up fresh veggies.  Zucchini sticks, red pepper and baby carrots that are sliced in quarters because sometimes they are hard to chomp down on.  Mom went a little nuts when chopping the veggies so I told Molly that she didn't have to finish all of them.

In the top right corner is quinoa, which has been pretty popular in the new nutritious food category.  Its like a cross between couscous and almost a grain version of caviar and has a little bit of a nutty flavor.  Plus its, as my husband calls it, the SUPER grain.  We put a little bit of chili dressing on it to keep it moist and we're calling it a "not so pasta" salad.

Finally we have a few slices of apple dipped in orange juice so that they don't brown.  This is accompanied by a few Ginger Cat Cookies from Trader Joe's, not to be confused with ThunderCats, the cartoon from years ago.  ThunderCats Ho!  Sorry for the tangent, just getting in touch with my inner child.  ☺  The cookies are in a heart shaped silicone cupcake liner.  They are great for keeping things separated and are also flexible so they will fit in just about any plastic container.

She'll have her normal cold bottle of water to go with it because it gets pretty warm in her school since they have no air conditioning.

On a side note, a lot of the products in this meal were purchased at Trader Joe's.  The panko breadcrumbs, the sweet chili sauce, the quinoa and the ginger cats all are Trader Joe's brand.   I highly recommend ANYTHING and EVERYTHING from there.  I ♥ Trader Joe's.