Final Lunch of the Year - The Un-Birthday Lunch

WE DID IT!!!!!!!  2nd grade will be a thing of the past at 3:30 tomorrow afternoon.  This year was filled with lots of ups and downs but all in all it was a fantastic year.  Molly made huge strides in her reading and math, plus she formed a lot of great friendships.

Tomorrow, she will be celebrating her un-birthday since her real birthday is at the very end of this month.  We put together her goody bags to give to her classmates and included little squirt toys, bubbles, glow sticks and yo-yo's.  A GREAT way to start the summer off.

Tonight is the last time that we will be making just one lunch during the school year.  Next year, Molly's little sister will be joining the ranks at the elementary school.  We are SO excited for both of them.

Our main entree is a Molly sandwich.  This is Molly's favorite, a salami and colby jack cheese sandwich that we added some embellishments to. We used eyes that we picked up at the bake shop, our food safe markers for her face, and since Molly is known for her curly hair, we added some ramen noodles that are sprinkled with a tiny bit of the flavor packet to make her beautiful brown hair.  Finally, there is a little cheese bow in her "hair" just for fun.

Our vegetable side is a red pepper.  This is Molly's favorite vegetable.  We added a Happy Birthday pick and a few little candle picks to go along with the un-Birthday theme.

Our fruit side is Molly's favorite; strawberries and blueberries.  We had lots of fun with birthday picks in this container.  We have a "happy birthday" pick, a balloon and several of the little candles.  So much fun!

Finally, our Final Fun Friday treat is cake balls.  These are like cake pops without the stick.  They are chocolate cake mixed with cream cheese frosting then dipped in white chocolate with a few sprinkles added.  We put them in little cupcake wrappers and added another balloon pick and a candle pick.

Happy Un-Birthday, Molly!!! ☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺

Have a FANTASTIC summer everyone.  We'll be posting a few random things here and there but otherwise, see you in August!!

Santa Was Here

Santa came through our neighborhood tonight!  Our volunteer fire company drives around with the fire engine and a truck with Santa's sleigh hitched to the back.  They play Christmas music and hand out candy canes.  All of the neighborhood kids gaze at the jolly old elf in the big red suit as he waves and yells out a hearty "Merry Christmas"!  Their little faces are all rosy from the cold and their eyes are glazed with wonder and excitement.  It's hard to not catch the spirit.  It truly is the most wonderful time of the year.

Our main entree is leftover pasta bake.  We cooked up radiator pasta, added sauce and some leftover taco meat and beans, threw it in a 13x9 pan and sprinkled shredded mozzarella on top.  Then, we baked it off and then served.  YUM! (and the taco meat and beans was SO delicious, believe it or not)

Our vegetable side is red pepper slices.  We're kind of playing on the Christmas color theme.

Our fruit side is a sliced kiwi.  There's our green.

Our dairy side is vanilla yogurt with red and green sprinkles.

Finally, our little extra treat is snowman marshmallows.  They are french vanilla flavored and delicious but are extra yummy in hot chocolate.

Spring is Here!

Spring is finally here!  At least it finally feels like spring in Western PA since the winter lasted for what felt like an eternity.  It has been warm for the past few days, the flowers are in full bloom and we have been cooking on the grill just about every night.  The other things that spring promises are fresh fruits and vegetables from local farms and back yard gardens.  We were lucky enough to find some great fresh produce recently and enjoy the taste of spring via strawberries and peppers.  YUM!

Our main entrée is a pimento cheese sandwich "quesadilla".  We used Trader Joe's Middle Eastern Flat Bread and spread Trader Joe's pimento cheese spread on it.  Then we folded it and sliced it.  This is Molly's favorite sandwich.

Our vegetable side is a romaine lettuce salad with yellow and red peppers.  We added a small container of light Italian dressing at Molly's request.

Our fruit side is strawberries and blueberries.  The blueberries are a little bit tart and the strawberries are very sweet.  A great combination.

Finally, our dessert is vanilla wafers.  Molly requested these too.  I think we'll be seeing our favorite yogurt soon though.

Tuesday with a Treat

Molly is doing her best to feel better.  Poor thing still sounds like a dog barking when she coughs and she seems more sleepy than usual but she's powering through it.  What's really nice is that the teachers at her school are so open to help the kids that need to miss school.  The librarian told Molly to come in early and exchange her books so that she doesn't miss out on reading something new since Molly loves to read.  The art teacher told her that she could come in during recess if she wanted to get caught up on her art project.  I was also surprised that Molly only had a few extra papers in her folder to do as make up work.  I'm very thankful for such a spectacular array of teachers at Molly's school.

Our main entrée is a turkey sandwich with pepper jack cheese on whole grain bread.  We added Molly's favorite mustard and cut the sandwich into small triangles.

Our vegetable side is red pepper slices and cucumber halves.  We figured that this crunchy duo would be a nice accompaniment to her sandwich.

Our fruit side is apple slices and blueberries.  Molly has been asking for an apple in her lunch and blueberries are a favorite of everyone in our family.  They make a nice little mix.

We added a cheddar and mozzarella cheese stick for a little extra calcium and protein.

Finally, we added a little treat for our girl.  She is trying her hardest to feel better and keep up with her schooling so we added some Care Bear fruit snacks for a bonus to her lunch.

Hoagie Day

Isn't it funny how when someone you know is selling something, you often feel the need to buy it from them?  A friend was selling hoagies (sub sandwiches for anyone outside of the Pittsburgh area) and I felt almost obligated to buy some.  I do not regret this purchase because we will actually really enjoy these hoagies, the price was great and the proceeds helped a friend.  But, I just had to note the funny coincidence of buying things more often from people that you know, just because you know them.

Our main entrée is part of a turkey hoagie.  This sandwich has turkey, provolone cheese and a little bit of lettuce on it.  We also added some mustard because it's Molly's favorite condiment.

Our vegetable side is red bell pepper slices.  We figured that it would be a nice compliment to the sandwich.

Our fruit side is some red grapes.  These looked so delicious in the store and we couldn't pass them up.  They are extra small and very firm and sweet.

Finally, our dessert is Pepperidge Farm Cocoa Adventure Goldfish crackers.  These are chocolate graham crackers with mini marshmallows, just like those found in hot cocoa.

Monday After a Super Bowl Loss

Our beloved Steelers fought a good fight but in the end, we lost the Super Bowl.  It was an awesome game and the better team won because they had less turnovers and scored a lot of points.  Great job black and gold, we are still SO proud to be members of the Steelers nation.

Some of the local schools have a delay in the morning so that everyone can recover from the game but unfortunately, Molly doesn't.  Just another Monday in Pittsburgh, which means that we have our Monday lunch.

Our main entrée is the typical Monday, pepperoni pizza.  Only, we made this pizza ourselves.  Trader Joe's makes some really yummy pizza dough and sells it in the refrigerated section.  We used this to make some mini pizzas.  We also used Trader Joe's pizza sauce, mozzarella cheese and mini pepperoni.

Our veggie side is a few slices of red pepper.  Crunchy and flavorful, these vegetables are loaded with vitamin C and beta carotene.

Our fruit side is strawberries and a clementine.  Strawberries and citrus complement each other so nicely because of the sweet/tart factor.

Finally, our dairy/dessert is Dannon Light and Fit vanilla yogurt.  Hopefully this will be enough sweetness after so many goodies from our super bowl party.  ☺

Sleep, Weekends and Oh Yeah, Lunch!

The countdown has been on all week.  Molly keeps saying, "we're getting closer to the weekend" or "is it the weekend yet?"  She keeps asking because she can't wait to sleep in on Saturday.  Mind you, I wake her up at 7:45 on school mornings and can barely drag her out of bed.  Then, Saturday morning comes around and she's up before 7:00.  I don't understand the logic of this.  If she is so tired during the week, then why doesn't she sleep in on the weekend?  Every morning, I go up to her room, reach over the top bunk and very quietly say, "Molly, honey, it's time to get up."  Then she proceeds to moan and groan like I am asking her to clean up every toy within a 5 mile radius.  So why, on Saturday morning when she has full advantage of sleeping until every last curl on her head has puffed out into whatever crazy shape the endless movement she does while sleeping causes it to do, does she wake up even earlier than the days when she's practically crying because it's too early?  But I must not complain because my incredible husband lets me sleep in on Saturdays so he is the one that has to deal with it.  Thanks Honey, you're the best!  Oh, yeah...one more day of school until the weekend, so on to lunch.

Our main entrée is a Castle Wood Honey Ham with Castle Wood Pepper Jack Cheese sandwich.  We've cut these into two different leaf patterns because WE LOVE FALL!  We also added a little bit of mustard for extra flavor and because Molly is a big fan of mustard.

The fruit selection is a sugar pear.  We like how the colors on it vary.  The taste is so sweet and mild and the texture is a lot more smooth than most pears.  Plus, its very small so it makes a nice addition for a Friday lunch.

We grew lots of peppers in our garden this year and they keep on coming so we're serving slices of red pepper for our vegetable side.  We were amazed at the amount of vegetables that we are still getting and this beauty was perfectly ripe for the picking today.  The red color is amazing and it is so crisp and crunchy yet still has a subtle sweet flavor.

Fun Friday would not be complete without a special Friday treat.  We've placed some Junior Mints in a heart shaped silicone cupcake mold.  It's just our way of telling Molly how much we love her and what a great job she is doing in school and at home.

Have a great weekend everyone!