New Fun Friday Treat!

The weekend is finally here and we can't wait! Our Christmas traditions are in full swing.  We've gone to see the lights at Hartwood Acres and the whole family ooh-ed and aaawww-ed.  It was awesome.  Next comes the cookie baking, card making and more decorating.  It truly is the most wonderful time of the year.

Our main entree is turkey and cheese skewers.  We had the most delicious deep fried turkey breast at Thanksgiving so we had to get another one for this week.  Deep fried seems like it wouldn't be a healthy option but it is 98% fat free, all white meat turkey and again, delicious.  We cut the turkey into cubes and skewered it with plastic lollipop sticks along with a colby jack cheese stick that had been cut into cubes as well.  We have a little bit of honey mustard on the side for dipping.  We also added some Cheez-It crackers so that Molly can have a few carbs to burn off quickly.

Our vegetable side is green pepper strips.  This was by request again.  Sometimes kids get stuck on one particular food and the pepper is it for Molly these days.

Our fruit side is a tangerine.  We segmented it for Molly so that she wouldn't have to waste any time at lunch. Something about orange-like citrus screams Christmas.  We used to always stud oranges with whole cloves and leave them out in several rooms of the house to make it smell good.

Finally, our NEW Fun Friday treat is Cinnamon M&Ms.  We reluctantly purchased these when the kids asked because they didn't sound all that appetizing.  They really enjoyed them though.  The cinnamon is not a hot cinnamon, it's more like the powdered stuff in the pantry.  It is a mild hint of it with a good chocolate flavor.  If you like cinnamon, give them a try but I wouldn't recommend eating them on a regular basis, just a special occasion.

Breakfast for Lunch

It was a LONG day for Mom today.  I think I had something scheduled for just about every minute today, but that made it absolutely fly by.  On my way home from the PTA meeting I was contemplating a nice easy lunch for me to pack and the first thought that popped into my mind was...Breakfast!  I could prepare this pretty quickly and still get some other things done in the process.  Plus, who doesn't like breakfast?

For our main entrée, we have mini waffle sandwiches with a spread of light cream cheese that has been flavored with real maple syrup and a little bit of cinnamon.  We layered in a few thinly sliced apples for crunch, since the "toast" on the waffle will more than likely wear off while sitting in the lunch box.  This is our take on waffles with syrup.

Next we have our tropical fruit kabobs on plastic re-usable lollipop sticks.  We found a very large and yummy looking papaya at the store this weekend and its perfectly ripe and ready for eating.  On this outing, we also found a pineapple for just over $1, so it was a no brainer.  We sprinkled a bit of shredded coconut on top to complete the tropical theme.

We are going to try bringing strawberry yogurt tomorrow.  I'm a little concerned about this because I fear the mess it will make.  Guess we'll just have to wait and see what tomorrow brings and whether we need to completely clean out every nook and cranny of Molly's lunch box.  (Laptop Lunch Box, don't fail me now!)  This is dotted with a few pieces of strawberry cut into heart shapes with a micro cookie cutter.

Finally, we have a hard boiled egg.  Molly really likes them so I'm hoping that this will give her a little extra protein to power through the day.  I cut it with a crinkle cut knife, just to make it cute.

Now, I know what you are going to say...where is the vegetable?  I have no good answer.  I couldn't find anything that would really go with the breakfast theme and taste good cold.  I pondered whipping up some potato pancakes with some zucchini and carrots grated into the mix but I'm pretty sure that they wouldn't taste too good cold.  Then I thought, maybe a cold carrot and raisin salad, but that is pretty acidic when I put the vinegar dressing on it, so that combined with pineapple might be a bit on the tangy side.  So, my question for you is...what kind of vegetable would you serve?  I decided to go for the extra protein instead and make grilled chicken and spinach salads for dinner tomorrow so that she gets her daily allotment of vegetables and all will be right with the universe again.  ☺