Swimming and Sea Creatures

Molly's Grammy and Papa have a beautiful pool in their back yard and we are so lucky to have access to it.  We've spent most of the past two weekends swimming and enjoying family time.  Molly has become quite a little fish.  Her swimming has gotten better and better over the past few summers.  Her new thing is a snorkel.  She just swims around looking underwater at all of the things that "coming up for air" wouldn't let her see before.  Only a few more days of school left before this becomes our full time activity.

Our main entree is a mini cinnamon raisin bagel sandwich.  We split it in half and added whipped cream cheese.  Molly had this last week and loved it.  We added a little sea turtle pick to represent great swimmer, just like Molly.

Our vegetable side is carrot chunks.  This will be a great crunchy addition to lunch.  We added a little shell pick to this container.

Our fruit side is strawberries.  So sweet and juicy with a delicious fragrance and flavor.  We added an octopus pick to this container because it is one of Molly's favorite sea creatures.

Finally, our dairy/dessert is blueberry yogurt.  Molly hasn't had this variety in a while so we figured that it would be a nice change.

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.

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.

Breakfast Request

As I said in yesterday's post, I usually sit down with Molly and we discuss what she might want for lunch.  Today was no exception.  As we finished our dinner, Molly chimed in with, "Mom, I know what I want for lunch tomorrow."  I was thrilled.  I didn't have to think of anything to make.  Sometimes she'll say, "anything but peanut butter and jelly."  Sometimes she'll only say that she wants apples as her side.  But today, she told me everything that she wanted and a few extra things just in case we didn't have something.  Most days I kind of guide some of her decisions so that we can include all of the food groups and I had to remind her to include a vegetable today.  Other than that, this is all Molly.

Our main entrée is a waffle sandwich.  We toasted two whole grain waffles; a little more than usual so that they don't get soggy.  To that, we spread whipped cream cheese, that we flavored with maple syrup, on both of the waffles. We then added very thinly sliced apples and sandwiched it all together.

Our vegetable side is cucumber sticks.  Molly agrees that cucumbers don't have an overpowering flavor and that they will go well with our breakfast for lunch.  Plus, cucumbers are crunchy so they add a great texture to our lunch.

Finally, our dairy/dessert side is Dannon Light and Fit Vanilla yogurt.  Molly really likes this yogurt at just about any meal.  We added some fresh raspberries at Molly's request.  They are so flavorful and the crunchy seeds add a different texture to the creamy yogurt.

Fruit for Thought

Right now, Molly is on a big fruit kick.  We are trying all kinds of new fruits and some old ones too.  She is asking for fruit with every meal and instead of dessert.  Molly has always been open to trying different types of foods and the more strange, the better.  (That is, if Mom or Dad eat it first.)  So now we are on the look out for new and exotic fruits for her to try.  I'm thinking about persimmons and pomegranates.  Maybe kumquats?  Keep an eye out for whatever I can find around here.

Our main entrée is a sandwich made from Trader Joe's Pumpkin Bread and whipped cream cheese.  This boxed pumpkin bread mix is so flavorful.  We substituted apple sauce for the oil in the recipe to bring down the fat content.  When we baked it, the whole house smelled incredible.  We then sliced a few pieces and spread some whipped cream cheese on them.  

Our vegetable side is a cucumber that has been cut into sticks.  For some reason these particular cucumbers have a very strong cucumber flavor and it's really delicious.

Our fruit side is kiwi, raspberries and star fruit.  Molly requested this combination.  It's funny that even though we are in the beginnings of winter here in Western PA, there is an abundance of amazing fruit that is available to us.  This combination of fruits is the perfect mix of sweet and tart.

Our diary side is Dannon Light and Fit vanilla yogurt.  A sweet and creamy side that boosts the protein and calcium in this meal.  Molly also requested this because she, along with the rest of our family, loves yogurt.

Finally, we put in two Hershey's Kisses as an added treat to get her through Wednesday.  This week seems to be dragging on a bit so why not add a goody to give a little push for the rest of the day.