Spooky Spider Lunch

We were inspired by something that we saw by our friend Michelle at Creative Food.  This is an easy way to bring some Halloween fun to lunch.

Our main entree is a waffle sandwich.  We used two whole grain waffles, toasted them, added whipped cream cheese and thinly sliced strawberries.  Then, we added eight pretzel sticks for the legs and some candy eyeballs.

Our vegetable side is a couple of spider carrots.

Our fruit side is a spider kiwi.

Finally, our dairy dessert is vanilla yogurt with a couple of chocolate spider webs on them.  We the spider webs made by melting a small amount of chocolate chips (probably around 1/8 of a cup) in a ziploc freezer bag in the microwave at half power for about a minute and a half in 30 second increments. At each increment we mixed the chocolate and made sure that it wasn't getting too runny.  *Microwaves vary so check your manufacturer's instructions.  We then snipped the corner off of the bag and piped the webs onto a piece of parchment paper, let them harden and peeled them off for our decoration.  *If you do not want to use a plastic bag in the microwave, simply melt the chocolate the same way in a microwave safe glass (Pyrex) container and use a parchment piping bag.

 

Patriotic 4th of July Lunch

We're at it again!  The Bento Bloggers and Friends are doing a patriotic blog hop.  We all were talking and noticed that we are so proud of our countries and wanted to celebrate them with awesome lunches.  Canada celebrates their Independence Day on July 1st and the United States of America celebrates their Independence Day on July 4th.  We have friends in both countries that will hop with us and it made sense to hop a few days prior so that we could take the holiday off to celebrate.

Our main entree is an American flag open faced sandwich.  We cut the crusts off of our bread and created a rectangle for our flag.  Then, we spread some whipped cream cheese on the bread.  Finally, we added sliced strawberries and a few blueberries to create Old Glory.

Our vegetable side is zucchini and red peppers.  We used a small star cookie cutter to cut out the center of the zucchini to create white stars.  Then, we used our micro star cookie cutter to cut the red pepper into red stars.  We added an American Flag pick and a Captain America Shield ring to this section too.

Our dairy side is vanilla yogurt.  We added a few star sprinkles to the top to match our theme.  We also added a Statue of Liberty (one of our favorite symbols of freedom) to the bowl.

Finally, our fruit/dessert is a patriotic strawberry.  We dipped fresh strawberries in white chocolate and then just the tip in some blue sprinkles.  These were a HUGE hit with the kids.  Plus, they are much more healthy than most other holiday themed desserts.  There are two sparkly star picks below the strawberries.

Now it's time to HOP on over to see what incredible fun thing Bobbi has created for her kids at Bobbi's Bentos, then keep hopping to see what everyone else has imagined up to represent their patriotic side.

Theme Lunch 2 - Teddy Bear Picnic

Four days left in the count down to the last day of school.  Our theme week is going on strong and what better to remind us of summer than a teddy bear picnic?

Our main entree is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  We used potato bread, natural peanut butter and Trader Joe's Reduced Sugar Apricot Jam.  We then used a small teddy bear cookie cutter to cut out our little bear family.  Finally, we used our food safe markers to add details and a little picnic basket pick.

Our vegetable side is ants on a log.  What is a picnic without ants?  We used our natural peanut butter again on celery with currants because Molly really liked that last time.

Our fruit side is checkered apples.  We found this idea from Jenn at Bento for Kidlet.  She has a great little tutorial here.  Looks just like a checkered table cloth to us.  We also added a giant ant that we found at our local bake shop.  

Finally, our dairy/dessert is vanilla yogurt with fun colored sprinkles.  It reminds us of some fun desserts that we have had at our picnics.  Our kids are fans of funfetti cupcakes or cookies with sprinkles as a great picnic treat.

Purse Lunch

This is the last week of school this year and we've decided to make a theme lunch every day this week.  This is not an easy task but we're up for it and have the whole week planned out.  Hopefully it will all go off without a hitch. ☺
Monday is the purse theme.  We found some really cute picks at a local bake shop and decided to just go with it.  Plus, one of Molly's favorite entrees is purses.

Our main entree is Trader Joe's Perline Pasta and Prosciutto.  These are little purses of pasta hold yummy bits of prosciutto and cheese.  We added a little bit of light Italian dressing to keep the pasta from drying out.

Our vegetable side is carrot chunks.  These are manageable little pieces that Molly will be able eat easily and quickly during her short lunch period.  We added a little purple purse to this container.

Our fruit side is strawberries and blueberries.  The berries are in full bloom here in PA and taste so delicious this year.  We added a little blue purse to this container.

Finally, our dairy/dessert is vanilla yogurt.  A sweet and creamy end to a yummy lunch.  We added a little pink purse to this container.

Picnic Lunch

While looking for inspiration for Molly's lunch, I channeled our weekend.  We had so many picnic-like meals, it was easy to figure out a great lunch.  *side note - has anyone else realized how many different "salads" there are at a picnic?  pasta salad, fruit salad, veggie salad, jello salad, etc.  I wonder if picnic is another word for salad somewhere?  haha!

Our main entree is a cheese tortellini salad.  We cooked up some Trader Joe's cheese tortellini for lunch today for Molly's siblings.  The rest were put in a container, light Italian dressing was added and there you have it. One of Molly's favorites.

Our vegetable side is mini cucumber slices.  We picked up another bag of these mini cucumbers at Sam's Club today.  They are crunchy and great by themselves or dipped into hummus or a yogurt dip.

Our fruit side is strawberries and blueberries.  We saw a lot of fun recipes for strawberries and blueberries incorporated into desserts for memorial day.  The idea of a vanilla yogurt parfait with strawberries and blueberries sounded really good.  This and the next container could be that, just deconstructed.

Our dairy/dessert is vanilla yogurt.  Molly is all about the vanilla yogurt right now.  Parfait or no parfait, it's a great end to a healthy lunch.

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.

Dog Days of Summer

This past weekend, we went to Grammy and Papa's house for some fun in the sun and lots of swimming.  Thing 2 is done with school but Molly still has a few more weeks.  As we were getting ready to leave this evening, Molly was very jealous of Thing 2 because she got to stay another night and Molly had to come home because of school tomorrow.  But, the dog days of summer are right around the corner.

Our main entree is a doggie shaped sandwich.  We made a salami and colby jack cheese sandwich then used a dog shaped cookie cutter, a tiny bone cookie cutter and a small paw print cookie cutter to cut it out.  Then, we used our food safe markers to make it more fun.

Our vegetable side is mini peppers.  We sliced an orange and a red mini pepper into rings.  We think that they will taste great with the sandwich.

Our fruit side is fresh strawberries.  Grammy's friend got these for us.  They are fresh picked from a local farm and their flavor is incredible.

Finally, our dairy/dessert is vanilla yogurt.  Molly asked for plain vanilla yogurt because she like to put some of her strawberries in it.

May Flowers Lunch

We have breakfast for dinner quite often at our house.  The kids just love it.  Last time I made breakfast for Molly's lunch, I had some fun with a squeeze bottle.  I recalled it tonight when I was making dinner.  I made more Hello Kitty pancakes, smiley faces, a few rocket ships for my son and a whole bunch of flowers.  Those flowers were the inspiration for Molly's lunch tomorrow.

Our main entree is pancakes.  These are honey wheat Krusteaz that we put into a squeeze bottle and created fun flowers with.  We added a side of Biscoff Spread for Molly to dip into.  (That stuff is so delicious that it would make even a plain rice cake taste spectacular!)

Our vegetable side is baby carrots.  Molly has said that they are the best option for a vegetable when breakfast is on the menu.

Our fruit side is a mix of fresh berries.  Raspberries, blueberries, blackberries and strawberries that have been cut into flower shapes to match our theme.

Finally, our dairy/dessert is vanilla yogurt.  We added a few berries to liven it up and add more fun flowers to Molly's lunch.

Fun Friday Lunch

Molly had an absolute blast at "Yo Vikings!" today.  She loved how the book came to life and the fact that the main character had such a vivid imagination, kind of like our Molly.  I'm so happy that we live in a city where a short bus ride can offer awesome theater, music and world class museums plus an incredible zoo.  The "burgh" sure is a great place to live.

Our main entree is turkey pepperoni, crackers and cheese.  Molly requested this just before bed tonight.  Sometimes, she's all about the finger food.

Our vegetable side is sugar snap peas.  These looked so yummy at the store yesterday, that we had to pick them up.  They are sweet, crunchy and juicy.

Our fruit side is a mix of berries.  One of our local grocery stores has raspberries 2/$3 so we loaded up.  We added a few blueberries and blackberries too.

Our dairy is plain old vanilla yogurt....but we added some fun sprinkles to liven it up a bit.  The weekend is almost here so we're ready to celebrate!

Finally, our fun Friday treat is an Archer Farms Organic blueberry fruit strip.  We purchase these at Target all of the time and they usually serve as an after school snack or an accompaniment to yogurt at breakfast, which means that there aren't any left for lunch.  We held on to one just for Friday.

*Happy Mother's Day to all of you Mommies out there!  My plan is to sleep in and that is enough for me.  ☺

Easter Week Lunch 2

We've cooked up something fun for lunch tomorrow.  We were reminiscing about last year's Easter lunch and decided to use it for our inspiration.

Our main entree is a bunny pizza.  We used Pillsbury Simply Biscuits for our crust.  It is a very simple biscuit recipe without any added anything.  We like that idea.  We added a mozzarella/provolone shredded mix, olives for eyes and turkey pepperoni for a nose and mouth.

Our vegetable side is a cucumber that we cut with a flower cookie cutter.  We think that Molly will really enjoy the new shape.

Our fruit side is sliced strawberries.  We added an Easter Bunny pick to keep with our theme.

Our dairy side is a Babybel cheese.  We used our star shaped micro cookie cutter to cut a star shape out of the wax.

Finally, our dessert is vanilla yogurt with some Easter egg sprinkles on top.

Busy Week, Yummy Lunch

Our busy week continues.  Well, Mom's busy week, that is.  Between training for the half marathon, cross training and the consignment sale, this week is flying by.  Molly's lunch was thrown together quickly so that Mom can get to sleep.

Our main entree is a pasta salad.  We figured that this would be a nice cool lunch for a warm day.  We added turkey pepperoni, a little mozzarella and some light Italian dressing to precooked radiator pasta.

Our vegetable side is baby carrots.  We added a small container of roasted red pepper hummus so that Molly could dip her carrots into it.

Our fruit side is green grapes.  We picked up a bunch of produce at Aldi today and these were part of it.  They are firm, juicy and were inexpensive.  Win/Win!

Our dairy side is a string cheese.  There isn't a lot of protein in Molly's lunch so we added this so that she won't be starving by the time she gets home.

Finally, our dessert is plain vanilla yogurt.  A simple and sweet way to end a yummy lunch.

Repeat!

Molly was so happy with her lunch today that she requested the sandwich in her lunch tomorrow.  Luckily, we had enough left over that we were able to fulfill her wishes.

Our main entree is an Irish Soda Bread sandwich with whipped cream cheese.  This bread is a generations old recipe and we've added our own little touches to it to make it our own.  As I've said before, this generation is making it whole wheat.  Grammy's generation added golden raisins and Nana's generation added regular raisins instead of just currents.  No matter what generation, it's delicious!

Our vegetable side is a romaine lettuce salad with a small amount of light Italian dressing on the side.  We also added a Babybel Cheese as per Molly's request.  We cut a small heart out to show her how much we love her.

Our fruit side is a sliced kiwi.  Molly said that the Kiwi Leprechaun tasted so yummy that she was craving a kiwi again.

Finally, our dairy/dessert is vanilla yogurt with a sprinkle of Trader Joe's Elegant Cocoa Pearls for a special touch.

Irish Soda Bread Sandwiches

One of the best parts about having St. Patrick's Day on a weekend is the opportunity to celebrate it with family.  We celebrated Nana's birthday on St. Patrick's Day (Happy Birthday, Nana) and we were so happy to have Grammy and Papa out for our traditional Irish dinner tonight.  The girls stayed at their house this weekend so that Daddy could run his first half marathon (WAY TO GO, DADDY!) and Mommy could go to her athletic training on Saturday morning.

Grammy and Papa contributed dessert (chocolate Guinness cake...YUM!), some smoked salmon and Irish Soda Bread that the girls helped to make.  We contributed the corned beef and cabbage, carrots and potatoes.  It was quite a feast.  We were lucky enough to even have some leftovers.

Our main entree is an Irish Soda Bread and cream cheese sandwich.  Molly and her sister did a fantastic job making this.  I had suggested that they use whole wheat flour and we all agreed that it turned out better than the original white flour that the recipe called for.

Our vegetable side is canned green beans.  Molly has been asking for these so we were happy to add them.  Also, our other option was carrots and with a few missing teeth in the front, we were confident that the green beans would work much better.

Our fruit side is fresh strawberries.  This pack had some gigantic strawberries in it.  Molly's little brother had one today that was bigger than his hand.  He was loving it!

Finally, our dairy/dessert is plain old vanilla yogurt.  It will be a nice compliment to the rest of Molly's lunch.

♣Irish You A Happy St. Patrick's Day!!♣

Our favorite time of year!!!  St. Patrick's Day!!!  We have a great Irish heritage and are proud to celebrate it.  We read stories about how St. Patrick taught the Irish about the holy trinity with a shamrock, we do the traditional corned beef and cabbage, we bake Irish soda bread, we wear our green and watch out for sneaky leprechauns.  We just love it!

Our main entree is green pasta.  It's actually mini shells with pesto on them.  We topped it with some Gouda cheese cut into shamrocks and embellished them with our food safe markers.

Our fruit/veggie side is a Kiwi Leprechaun.  Yep, we thought back to the Frankenkiwi and the Kiwi Elf and went a little wild.  His hair is all shredded carrots, his eyes are mini chocolate chips, his mouth and nose are sprinkles and his hat is plastic from our favorite cake decorating store.  

Our dairy side is Irish emerald moss.  Vanilla yogurt with green food coloring and some mini shamrock sprinkles.

Finally, our Fun Friday treat is a few Irish Soda Bread Scones.  Molly goes nuts over these.  Its a great combination of whole wheat flour, dried currants and just a sprinkle of sugar.  YUM!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!! ♣

Beannachtam na Femle Padraig!

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.

Giving it a Try

Molly still isn't quite 100% but she is MUCH better than she was last week.  Thank you all for the well wishes. ☺

She has decided that she only wants a few things and they are pretty bland.  We are just happy to see that she is eating again and actually requesting certain things.  Here's hoping that it is enjoyable for her.

Our main entree is baked macaroni and cheese.  We made some choo choo wheels a few days ago and Mommy used the leftovers to make baked mac and cheese.  Molly requested this because it tasted really good to her when she first started to feel better.

Our fruit side is a ToGo Squeeze in Apple Strawberry.  These are basically an applesauce blend put into a tube so that it is less messy for the kids to eat.  They are very healthy and very tasty.  We picked up a large box of them at Target.

Our simple side is a few pretzel Goldfish Crackers.  We figured that if the mac and cheese isn't appealing, the Goldfish Crackers might do the trick.

Our dairy is a small amount of plain vanilla yogurt.  We're hoping that it would be a gentle protein for Molly's upset tummy.

Finally, our dessert is a couple of cookies and cream Goldfish Crackers.  Again, something nice and simple to keep our girl happy.

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.

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

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.

New Sandwich

After a long weekend, we are ready to try a little something new in Molly's lunch.  We are big fans of Castle Wood lunch meats and cheese because they are real meat, not something processed.  While at a Sam's Club we found a new Castle Wood lunch meat called Buffalo Style Chicken Breast Slices.  Our whole family likes spicy food, especially Buffalo style so this was definitely a no-brainer.  Molly's Daddy and I tried it yesterday for our lunch and it is delicious.

Our main entree is a Buffalo Style Chicken sandwich.  We added the new Castle Wood Buffalo Style Chicken Breast Slices, provolone and honey mustard to whole grain white bread then cut it into triangles.

Our vegetable side is carrot sticks.  Molly asked for them to be cut this way because, "they taste really good like that."

Our fruit side is a mix of fresh berries.  Blackberries, Blueberries and Raspberries are looking so yummy at the store these days so we couldn't resist.

Finally, our dairy/dessert is our regular vanilla yogurt but we added the Trader Joe's Elegant Cocoa Pearls for a little crunch and flavor variety.