Back to it!

We had the day off today so that means a short week of school.  Yes, a four day week!  But the question is; is it really worth it?  Doesn't it seem like that the four days is crammed with all of the normal things plus whatever was missed on the day off?  It's like a constant game of catch up.  Then, isn't the rest of the week thrown off?  "It feels like Monday" will be heard by the majority of us tomorrow.  But, then again, it was SO nice to have today off.  I got a lot accomplished.  The kids' closets and dressers have been emptied and most of the clothes replaced with fall and winter clothes.  I left a few things in there for the possibility of an Indian Summer day, where it feels like summer in the middle of fall.  All of our Halloween decorations are up and my house is mostly clean by default because while putting up the decorations, I had to clean the places they where were going.  I'm glad that I had this day to get things done but it's back to the old grind tomorrow.

Our main entrée is cheese tortellini with light Italian dressing.  Molly requested this because she says that it is one of her favorite lunches.  We have to agree with her.  There is just something about a filling pasta salad that helps to get you through the day.

We have strawberries for our fruit side.  These little beauties smell incredible.  Strawberries are loaded with vitamin C, so hopefully it will help Molly ward off whatever little cold is going around at her school.

For our vegetable, we've chosen black olives.  Since Molly won't get a ton of protein from her main entrée, she'll more than make up for it with the black olives.  Plus, it will make a nice accompaniment to the pasta because olives go so nicely with Italian Dressing.

Molly's dessert for today's lunch is Trader Joe's Schoolhouse Cookies.  Hopefully they will give her inspiration for her spelling test.

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.

Fantastic Friday!

September is almost over and that means that life is starting to settle down a little bit.  We are getting into our routine and everyone is getting used to the daily grind.  All of the beginning of school hoopla is complete and the calendar has a few more open spots than before.  These past few weeks have been so busy that I'm glad for the break.  TGIF doesn't even begin to explain my love of Friday this week. ☺

Our main entrée is a cold cheese tortellini pasta salad with light Italian dressing.  Molly really likes pasta salad so we decided to switch it up a little bit and use tortellini.

We've chosen orange wedges as our fruit side.  There is just something about the smell of a fresh orange that helps to perk up just about anyone.

Sugar Snap Peas is our vegetable choice du jour.  As it has been so many times before.  What can I say?  We really like sugar snap peas.

For Fantastic Friday, our special treat is a Little Debbie Pumpkin Delight!  Yes, it is that time of year again and we couldn't be happier.  This is one of the little things that is only available once a year and it is one of our favorite parts of fall.  We've added a few whole almonds to this compartment for a little extra protein.

Happy Friday Everyone!  See you for the next installment on Sunday.