Field Trip!!!

The 1st Grade class is going on a field trip tomorrow.  Normally, Molly would be excited at this, but this particular field trip is to a bug farm.  She is not too enthused with bugs at this age.  Hopefully she will see some butterflies and dragonflies so that it isn't all "icky" to her.

Field trip means that a packed lunch becomes a sack lunch.  Our normal Laptop Lunch Box gets the day off.

Our main entrée is a cheese sandwich, just like today.  Colby Jack cheese with mustard on white bread.  Simple and delicious.

Our vegetable side is baby carrots.  Mostly because we know that they won't be smashed into vegetable puree.

Our fruit side is apple slices.  Again, this choice was for texture purposes.  6 year olds don't like fruit that is baby food consistency.

Our dessert is a 100 calorie pack of Oreo crisps.  We've also added a small chocolate chip granola bar in case Molly is still hungry.  She's been going through a growth spurt so any extra food has been welcomed by a hungry tummy.

Finally, we added a Capri Sun drink pouch.  This is a special treat for a special day.

2 Weeks of School Left!

We hope that everyone had a fantastic Memorial Day weekend.  A big THANK YOU to all of the men and women who have served or are currently serving.  Your sacrifice and selfless giving means so much to all of us.

Back to school tomorrow with only a few weeks of school left.  Molly has made such great progress this year and makes us so proud.  She's become more independent and very aware of the choices that she makes.  She isn't afraid to ask for the things that she would like.  Take tomorrow's lunch for instance.  She requested every single thing in it.

Our main entrée is a cheese sandwich.  Yep, a good old cheese sandwich on white bread.  Molly requested Pepper Jack cheese but we didn't have any so she said that Colby Jack would be fine.  We added a little bit of mustard, per her request, and cut it out with heart shaped cookies cutters.

Our vegetable side is cucumber sticks.  Molly really likes the cucumbers cut into sticks.  Sometimes we have these at home with some hummus as a nice snack.

Our fruit side is sliced strawberries.  We had a lot of these over the weekend.  Whether in fruit salad, strawberry rhubarb pie or just plain like this, they were so delicious.

Finally, we have a special request  treat.  Molly asked if she could have some salsa chips in her lunch and they are so yummy that we couldn't say no.

Play Day!

Molly's 1st grade class (and the other 1st grade classes) are putting on a play tomorrow and we get to go and watch it.  She is so excited but nervous.  She went over her two lines about a hundred times tonight.  So sweet.  But, before the play, she has to eat lunch!

Our main entrée is all white meat chicken nuggets.  We baked these in the toaster oven and let them cool before putting them in Molly's lunch box.  We have honey mustard on the side to dip in.

Our fruit/vegetable is an apple/carrot Crusher from Trader Joe's.  These are a puree with the consistency of baby food.  I think it's the "cool" packaging that gets the kids excited about it.

Our first treat is salsa flavored Sunchips.  They are very delicious and a favorite of Molly's.

Finally, our dessert and second treat is iced animal crackers.  We got these as a favor from a baby shower of a good friend.  They are a classic dessert and are always tasty.

Break a Leg, Molly!

Fan Favorite

Molly is always very happy when we go to Trader Joe's to get some yummy things.  She always asks for the same things and usually they end up in her lunch box.  Tomorrow's lunch is no exception.  A few favorites and something new.  All delicious!

Our main entrée is a pimento cheese sandwich.  Yes, Molly's favorite is back.  Thank you, Trader Joe's!  We spread Trader Joe's pimento cheese spread on a Middle Eastern Flatbread, folded, sliced and there you have it.

Our vegetable side is baby carrots.  We haven't had these for a while.  Also, something happened and our cucumbers and they weren't too good anymore.

Our fruit side is a good old fashioned apple.  We left the skin on and just cut these into slices.

Finally, our dessert is Trader Joe's mini oatmeal raisin cookies.  These have a great crunch and a super sweet taste.  These are new to us and we absolutely love them.

Breakfast at school

Molly begged to buy her lunch tomorrow since they are serving breakfast for lunch.  I reminded her that she didn't really enjoy it the last time that she had it but she insisted that she indeed does like it.  Guess we'll wait for the review tomorrow afternoon.
One less thing for Mom to do tonight since it is the night of finales on the tv.  We're keeping our fingers crossed for our Steeler Hines Ward during tonight's Dancing With the Stars show.  Go Hines!

Good Grub

We are all excited for the Memorial Day weekend to arrive and the fun picnics that go with it.  Our family is having a get together with our neighbors and we can't wait.  We were all together this past weekend and talking about the dishes that we would contribute to the picnic.  Our mouths were watering just thinking about all of the yummy things that we'd be having.  Then, our minds were full of excitement with the prospect of summer being around the corner and impromptu picnics together on random days.

This got me thinking about things to make for Molly's lunch.  We're back into the time when cold salads and cool desserts are on the docket for just about every meal.

Our main entrée is cheese tortellini pasta salad.  We made this tortellini for Molly's brother and sister for lunch today and reserved some for Molly's lunch tomorrow.  We added some of Molly's "favorite sauce", light Italian dressing and just let the simplicity take over.

Our vegetable side is a repeat from today.  Cucumber sticks.  Molly requested theses because she said that she could dip them in any remaining dressing left in the tortellini dish.

Our fruit side is also a repeat from today.  Molly got the last of the blackberries and some strawberries.  She washed these herself and arranged them in the container.

Finally, our dairy/dessert is our favorite Dannon Light and Fit vanilla yogurt.  Molly requested this so that she can add some of the berries to it.  She also was the one who put it in the container.  She likes to help make her lunch. ☺

Back from some time off

We took last week off from Molly's Lunch Box and Molly bought her lunch all week.  What?  Well, on Monday, Mommy was too tired to make lunch because she was up at 4am on Sunday getting ready to run her leg of the Pittsburgh Marathon with the Moms on the Move relay team.  An absolute blast but very tiring.  On Tuesday, there was no school because of election day since they use the school as a voting place.  Then, the rest of the week, Daddy was in Las Vegas for business so Mommy was pretty busy keeping the house in order by herself.  Now, Daddy is back and Mommy is well rested so we're back at it.

Our main entrée is a real quesadilla.  We used two flour tortillas and filled them with shredded cheddar cheese.  We toasted this on the stove then cut it into triangles.  This is being served with a side of jalapeño salsa.  Yes, Molly likes spicy food.

Our vegetable side is cucumber sticks.  We haven't had these for a little while and Molly is asking for them so we are happy to oblige.

Our fruit side is strawberries and blackberries.  Molly picked out these blackberries at the store and hasn't had a chance to eat any yet so we're tossing the last few into her lunch so that she gets a taste.

Finally, our dessert is Smarties.  This is in homage to Molly's Uncle Greg who ran the full 26.2 miles of the Pittsburgh Marathon because he loves Smarties.  Way to go, Greg!

Ham and Cheese Biscuits

I'm trying to be creative and think of new things to put in Molly's lunch box for the last few weeks of the school year.  I usually keep a package of canned biscuits in the refrigerator just in case we need a side to go with dinner.  But lately, I've been using them for Molly's lunch (and everyone else's too) when digging up new ideas.  So, for tomorrow's lunch, another new idea.

Our main entrée is ham and cheese biscuits.  We sliced a biscuit in half, put in reduced fat American cheese and a little bit of light ham, pressed it together and baked it.  Daddy says that they taste great. We also added more Baby Goldfish Crackers, as per Molly's request.

Our vegetable side is mini dill pickles.  This too was a request.  We think that she would eat them with every meal but she does crave them more at lunch time.

Our fruit side is our incredible watermelon.  So sweet and juicy with such a refreshing flavor.  Thanks to Molly's Daddy for cutting the whole huge watermelon up for us so that we can enjoy it more easily.

Finally, we have our little dessert.  Not much room again today so we tossed in a couple of Butterfinger eggs as a little sweetness to end the meal.

Trying something new!

Today was the last day of preschool for Molly's little sister.  Bittersweet and an absolutely incredible day.  The preschool has a carnival at the end of the year for their 3 year old program and today was the day.  We played games, painted faces, got tattoos (only temporary Grammy, don't worry), bounced around, fished for ducks and ate some yummy treats with incredible friends.

The fact that we went to the carnival meant that we didn't get a chance to do our normal Tuesday run to Sam's Club during the day.  So, when I picked Molly up from school, to Sam's Club we went.  Luckily for us, they were sampling the new Pepperidge Farm Goldfish Sandwich Bread.  I've seen these and have been wanting to try them so our timing was perfect.  Molly really liked them so in the cart they went and in the lunch box they are!

Our main entrée is a Pepperidge Farm Goldfish Sandwich.  We put a piece of colby jack cheese in between the sandwich slices and toasted it in the toaster oven.  Molly said that it will be like a grilled cheese and a quesadilla combined.  We think that she's right on!  We also tossed in a few baby Goldfish crackers because when a fish is in a school, he has to have company. (ba dum bum...cha!  haha!)

Our vegetable side is fresh sugar snap peas.  They are back in season and just as delicious as ever!

Our fruit side is a super sweet watermelon.  We found this at Sam's and we really picked a good one.  Very juicy and sweet with an amazing fragrance, this watermelon is a sign of summer and the wonderful things that it brings.

Finally, there wasn't much room for any dessert so we tucked a small package of Skittles in with Molly's silverware.  She might just jump out of her skin because she has gotten real desserts for two days in a row.  But she has been such a good girl that she deserves it.  Go Molly!

We Have Pizza!!!

Most of you know that we usually have pizza on Mondays because that is the day that the school has pizza for lunch.  Well, we changed it up a little bit today and gave Molly chicken nuggets instead of pizza.  She really enjoyed it but asked immediately if she could have pizza for lunch tomorrow.  ☺  Lesson learned, ask and you shall receive.

Our main entrée is homemade pizza.  We used our favorite Trader Joe's Middle Eastern Flat Bread at our crust. We added some sauce, mozzarella and turkey pepperoni, then baked it in the toaster oven until it was looking really yummy.  We cooled it, cut it and voilà...pizza for lunch!

Our vegetable side is mini dill pickles again.  Not sure how much we'd like this combination but Molly insisted.  They both have garlic???  Maybe that's the connection?

Our fruit side is kiwi.  These are very tart kiwi but we think that Molly will like them, hopefully.

Finally, we're mixing it up a little bit and giving Molly a real dessert on a Tuesday.  She has been working so hard and doing very well with her school work.  She has been helping around the house and trying to be the best big sister ever.  (note: her little sister can be a little hard to deal with at times so no matter how hard Molly tries, there is always going to be some sort of issue.)  Molly's Daddy made a special chocolate pound cake for Mother's Day.  The recipe calls for 1 1/2 sticks of butter but we noticed a healthier version that used yogurt instead.  It is SUPER delicious the healthy way.  Thanks Tastefully Simple!

A Different Monday Lunch

We usually have pizza on Mondays but we've decided to mix it up a little bit for tomorrow's lunch.  Today for lunch, we made chicken nuggets and had several left over.  So, why not use the leftovers for lunch since Molly really likes these all white meat baked chicken nuggets?  This makes for a very easy lunch for Mom to make on Mother's Day.
Speaking of, I had a fantastic Mother's Day.  Molly's Daddy let me sleep in a little bit and then he made my breakfast.  The girls were beyond excited to give me their gifts that they made at school.  Both of them were so adorable and I will treasure them for years to come.  I got to spend a good amount of time outside since the weather was gorgeous.  I also got to cuddle with each of my kids today.  Life is SO good!  I hope that everyone had as special of a day as I did.

Our main entrée is chicken nuggets.  Molly doesn't mind eating these cold so we have a win win situation.  These are being served with a honey mustard dipping sauce.

Our vegetable side is pickles.  Molly and her siblings love these mini dill pickles as a side dish.  Plus, they are a nice compliment to the chicken nuggets and honey mustard.

Our fruit side is an empire apple that has been sliced.  Molly enjoyed these so much on Friday that she asked for them in tomorrow's lunch.

Finally, we have her favorite yogurt for our dairy/dessert.  Here's another twist, it's strawberry instead of vanilla.  This was not by request but we figured that a few little twists here and there make it fun.

Classic Lunch!

I was out for a run tonight, thanks to the gorgeous weather, and I was wondering what to make for Molly's lunch.  As I was running around my town, I was breathing in such great fresh air and reminiscing about fun picnics when I was a kid.  Even if we just threw a blanket on the lawn in the back yard and made a picnic there, it was always so much fun.  My Mom was always a fan of doing things outside so picnics were quite a regular occurrence.  She always made them fun too with little extra goodies or something different like a cool napkin.  My kids like to have picnics too, especially with my Mom.  What is their favorite picnic lunch?  Peanut butter and jelly of course.  They really like to help make it too.  We use little plastic spreaders and let them go to town and most of the time, they'll eat all of it.  So, I'm going to pay homage to a classic lunch, great memories and my incredible Mom.

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

And Happy Mother's Day to all of the Moms, Grandmas, Aunts, Sisters, Friends, Helpers and those special Dads who have to be a Mom as well as being a Dad!

Our main entrée is a classic peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  No, Molly didn't help, but she would have if she would've been awake when I made it.  She just adores making her own things to eat.  We used a butterfly cookie cutter and a heart micro cookie cutter to cut these sandwiches out.

Our vegetable side is baby carrots.  This is such a simple and easy vegetable side that requires no prep work. Just open the bag, pull a handful out and put into the container.  A great way to get some veggies in without dirtying a knife and cutting board.

Our fruit side is Empire Apple slices.  Molly likes it when we leave the apple skin on.  She likens it to eating a whole apple.

Finally, our FUN Friday treat is exactly that...a treat, a Rice Krispie Treat!  Molly is the lucky recipient of a few leftovers.  Molly's Daddy had a few extra Rice Krispie Treats left over from his meeting last night and there were a few beach babe Teddy Grahams left over from Molly's sister's preschool treat.  A little bit of each makes for a super fun treat!

Pizza Again

It was a very busy day at our house today.  Mommy was a baking fool, the kids had lots of things going on and Daddy had his last meeting at church for the RCIA program with Uncle Greg.  (Congrats again, Greg!)  Mommy made Rice Krispie Treats for Daddy's meeting and cupcakes for Molly's little sister's preschool snack.  Molly's little brother had his 2 year check up today and he's a very healthy little boy.  Tomorrow is Molly's little sister's un-Birthday at school. Molly is big time into reading and now we know more about elephants and sharks that we ever did.  So, with all of the chaos, we decided to get some Little Caesar's Pizza for dinner.

ps - I'm also including a picture (see below) of the cupcakes for Beach Day at Molly's little sister's preschool tomorrow.  They were really fun!

Our main entrée is left over pepperoni pizza from Little Caesars.  Molly is going to be very excited to have pizza twice in one week.

Our vegetable side is sugar snap peas.  We found a very large bag of these at Sam's Club and they are so delicious.

Our fruit side is red grapes.  A re-play of some of the fruit from today's lunch.  They are very juicy and sweet.

Finally, our dairy/dessert is Molly's favorite Dannon Light and Fit Vanilla yogurt.  But, we've added a spoonful of strawberry rhubarb compote.  We grow the rhubarb in our back yard and make this compote to go with anything from pancakes to yogurt.

As promised, here is a photo of the Beach Day cupcakes.  They are yellow cake with cream cheese frosting. The "sand" is crushed graham crackers.  The beach towels are Fruit By The Foot.  We did a little frosting accessorizing on some Teddy Grahams for some fun in the sun style.  Finally, we added a drink umbrella for extra SPF protection.

Something a Little Different

As I was sitting in a meeting tonight, I was pondering what to make for Molly's lunch.  I wanted to do something different since we all know that she'd eat a pimento cheese sandwich every day if possible.  I was thinking back to her Easter Lunch and what a hit the bunnies were.  So, I stopped at the store on the way home and picked up some refrigerated biscuits.  From there, the pepperoni pockets were born!

Our main entrée is pepperoni pockets.  We made these using refrigerated biscuit dough, added shredded cheddar and turkey pepperoni, sealed the top like a dumpling and baked.  A few of them unfolded but most of them stayed together.  This could be a go-to dinner for us in the future.

Our vegetable side is sliced multi-colored peppers.  They are small peppers so they look really neat when you cut them up.  Plus, the different colors add to the fun of it.

Our fruit side is strawberries and red grapes.  We found these grapes at Aldi during our grocery store run.  They have some great prices on very good produce.

Finally, our dairy/dessert side is our good old Dannon Light and Fit Vanilla yogurt...BUT, we added a few white chocolate chips, just for fun. ☺

Request

After a very intense work out at the gym, I came home to find a little note from Molly.

How could I say no to that?  My heart melted a little bit.

It's not a spectacular lunch, a reduced fat hot dog.  But it seems like the best meal being served this week.

PIZZA!

We had a very busy weekend with lots of fun adventures.  Molly did her first 1K run on Saturday morning and rocked it!  The run was for a wonderful foundation called The Superhero Foundation.  The Superhero Foundation helps children suffering from abuse and has done an amazing job helping countless kids who need a hero to help them.  We all dressed up like superheroes, with capes and everything.  It was such a fun event and we had an absolute blast!  Now, back to reality and school on Monday!

Our main entrée is our typical Monday lunch...pizza.  We used Trader Joe's flat bread for our crust, added sauce, a string cheese that had been pulled apart and turkey pepperoni.  Molly really likes these pizzas and they will probably be a staple on our summer menu, only cooked on the grill...yummy!

Our vegetable side is a plain romaine salad, as per Molly's request.  We have a light Italian salad dressing on the side, also per Molly's request.

Our fruit side is sliced strawberries.  After all, it is the "Merry Berry Month of May!"

Finally, our dairy/dessert is Dannon Light and Fit vanilla yogurt.  The perfect end to a great lunch!!!

Fun Friday...with chicken!

Now that Lent is over, we can eat fast food and we can eat meat on Friday.  We decided, why not both?  This evening, we indulged in Chick-Fil-A for dinner.  I just happens to be my favorite fast food. ☺  We always buy extra nuggets for the kids because you never know when they are going to be going through a growth spurt which makes them ravenous.  Luckily for Molly, the kids ate their normal amounts of nuggets and she gets leftovers.

Our main entrée is leftover Chick-Fil-A chicken nuggets.  We are serving these with a side of honey mustard for dipping.  Lucky girl!

Our vegetable side is a romaine lettuce salad, as per Molly's request.  We are serving this with light Italian dressing on the side.

Our fruit side is strawberries and blueberries.  Molly enjoyed these so much in today's lunch that she asked for them again for tomorrow's lunch.

Finally, we see the return of Molly's favorite Dannon Light and Fit vanilla yogurt.  She was very excited to hear that it would be back!

There isn't a Fun Friday extra treat because we have gone through enough Easter candy this week to make a dentist faint.  Next Friday will have a special treat.

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.

Fast Food?

Since we gave up fast food for Lent this year, I have a feeling that Molly is really craving it now that she's allowed to have it.  Tomorrow at school, they are serving something called Teriyaki Beef Nuggets.  She begged me to let her buy her lunch.  "Mom, I really like those and they are just like Chinese take out."  All that I could think is, do kids really eat those?  If they served Teriyaki Beef Nuggets when I was in school, most kids would've turned their noses at it.  So, I am letting her buy the beef nuggets that are being served with rice pilaf, a vegetable, an egg roll, chilled fruit and a fortune cookie.  I can't wait to hear how this goes.  Molly, unlike most children her age, likes new and different foods which means that she will probably love it.  I'm just interested in hearing what happens with the other kids.  Happy Chinese Food Wednesday!

Flatbread Pizza

Since there was no school today, because of the Easter holiday, our normal pizza Monday has been moved to Tuesday.  At first, we weren't supposed to have school tomorrow but it is a make up day for one of our snow days.  So, it's pizza Monday on Tuesday.

P.S. - We had a fantastic Easter and we hope that all of you did as well!

Our main entrée is cold pizza!  We made this pizza using Molly's favorite middle eastern flat bread from Trader Joe's as our crust.  We added sauce, cheese and turkey pepperoni and baked it in the toaster oven.  YUM!

Our vegetable side is cucumbers slices.  Molly requested these since she hadn't had them for a while.

Our fruit side is applesauce.  Molly and her siblings really enjoy applesauce.  We usually try to have fresh fruit but every once in a while applesauce will do the trick, and does it ever.

Our dessert is a 100 calorie pack of Oreo Crisps.  After getting their sugar high from Easter, (courtesy of all of the grandparents...thank you to Grammy, Papa, Nana and Grandpa! ☺) we are taming it down little by little.

Easter Lunch

I was looking for some neat things to make for Molly's lunch tomorrow since it is the last full day of school before Easter break.  I couldn't find too many examples besides desserts.  So, my brain was in full on creative mode.  I used a few ideas that I had found with the desserts and tweaked them a little bit.

Happy Easter one and all!  Christ is Risen Indeed!

Our main entrée is bunny biscuits.  We took refrigerated biscuits and added shredded cheddar cheese to them for flavor.  We then used a circular cookie cutter to cut out the face and then using the same cutter, cut the ears off of the corners of the biscuit.  After attaching the ears to the head, we added turkey pepperoni noses, whiskers and inner ears.  Then, we added black olive ends for eyes and small section of the olive for a smile.

Our vegetable side is a cucumber bird's nest with three small mozzarella balls inside to represent eggs.  We have a vegetable peeler that makes "spaghetti" noodles out of the vegetables and we used it to make the nest.

Our fruit side is watermelon and cantaloupe.  We used a small bunny cookie cutter to cut these out into adorable Easter shapes.  These fruits are extremely sweet and juicy.

Finally, our "fun Friday" on a Wednesday treat is a chocolate dipped Peeps marshmallow treat.  Molly really likes regular Peeps so we figured that she'd really like one that was dipped in chocolate.

Again, Happy Easter.  May God Bless You!

Requested Lunch

Since this week is shorter, we've gone with our all request lunch for tomorrow.  As I stated yesterday, Molly really is a creature of habit.  When I asked her what she wanted, I could've guessed before she even opened her mouth.  Of course she asked for a pimento cheese sandwich "quesadilla" as her main entrée and a few other favorites for her sides.  I was surprised, however, that she asked for a special treat on a Tuesday.  Not that I'm not flexible about these things, but she usually doesn't stray from our normal routine.  I had to decline her request though, since tomorrow's lunch will definitely have a treat in it.

Our main entrée is a pimento cheese sandwich "quesadilla" made with Trader Joe's pimento cheese spread and middle eastern flat bread.  If Molly had her way, she'd probably eat one of these every day of the week.

Our vegetable side is sugar snap peas.  We figured that she'd request cucumbers but when she saw these in the crisper drawer of the refrigerator, her eyes lit up.

Our fruit side is sliced strawberries.  Her choices were kind of slim on fruit because we need to go to the grocery store; but she was very happy to have strawberries as an option.

Finally, we have our dairy/dessert staple, Dannon Light and Fit vanilla yogurt.  Molly must have probiotic proficiency because of the amount of yogurt that she consumes.  But, it tastes really good so we don't blame her for wanting it all of the time.

Short Week

We are lucky enough to have a spring break at the end of this week and the beginning of next week.  It will be so nice to spend time together as a family during the celebration of Easter.  We have so many traditions in our family for Easter and we look forward to them every year.  From dying Easter eggs to reading the stories of how Jesus gave his life so that we could live ours.  It is such a special time of year.

Only 3 lunches at school this week.  We will be sure to make something special on Wednesday that has an Easter theme.  Stay tuned. ☺

Our main entrée is pepperoni pizza.  Yep, a normal pizza Monday.  Molly's Papa brought this pizza for us all the way from Buffalo, NY.  Yes, we gave up fast food for Lent but we really didn't get fast food since Molly's Papa bought it half baked and we had to finish baking it at home.  A stretch?  Maybe.  But it is really delicious!

Our vegetable side is a romaine lettuce salad.  We've added light Italian dressing on the side that we feel will go well with the pizza.

Our fruit side is sliced strawberries. This batch is a bit sweeter than the last.  We're almost at those incredibly sweet "yes, summer is here" strawberries that we long for all year.

Finally, our dairy/dessert is our standard Dannon Light and Fit vanilla yogurt.  Again, it was by request.  Molly really is a creature of habit.

Lenten Lunch 5

This is a Lenten Lunch by request.  Molly really enjoyed certain parts of her dinner tonight and requested that they be part of her lunch tomorrow.  She also requested a pimento cheese sandwich, but I had something else in mind.  Turning a favorite recipe into a meat-less recipe is pretty easy; we added extra vegetables to make up for the lack of meat.

Our main entrée is pasta salad.  Molly's Daddy was making some angel hair pasta to use for his lunch tomorrow and we asked him to add a little for Molly.  To the angel hair, we added chunks of colby-jack cheese, green pepper, zucchini, carrots, olives and light Italian salad dressing.  We don't think that Molly will miss the pepperoni that we normally add.

Our vegetable side is a plain romaine lettuce salad.  We figured that there was enough variety of vegetables in Molly's pasta salad, that a plain romaine salad would be nice.  This is served with Ken's Steakhouse light Italian salad dressing, Molly's favorite.

Our fruit side is sliced D'Anjou pears.  We found these Argentinian beauties very inexpensively at Aldi today.  They are very sweet and juicy.

Finally, our Fun Friday dessert is sugar free/fat free vanilla pudding.  We added a few white chocolate chips and bits of strawberry to the top as an extra added bonus.

Use Your Chicken Noodle!

We are letting Molly buy her lunch tomorrow because it is her absolute favorite lunch.  A chicken sandwich and chicken noodle soup.  She has been coughing, still, and her selling point was that it would be good for her throat.  What a kid won't do to get what they want!  She's usually pretty sly about it when she wants to buy her lunch.  She'll ask what the school lunch is on random days and if it doesn't sound like something she wants, she asks what the lunch will be on the next day.  Then, she acts like an angel the day before, to make sure that she is "good enough" to buy her lunch the next day.  Well, she's been good enough so she gets her favorite lunch.  Good job, Molly!

Whatever the Weather

I posted on Facebook today, that I felt like I was just going through the motions but I wasn't really there.  I think that the weather had a lot to do with my mood today.  We were very spoiled with two days of gorgeous sunshine and warmth.  Then, today we have nothing but gray skies, rain and cold chills in the air.  It has made me very sleepy and very unmotivated.  Luckily, I have three very active children who are constantly coming up to me and asking me to play or dance or sing and it quickly gets me out of my rut.  There is sunshine beaming through my kids and that can make my mood brighten in an instant.  They may drive me nuts sometimes but they also can put a smile on my face no matter what else is going on in my life.

Our main entrée may look familiar because it is a frequent request of Molly's.  A pimento cheese sandwich or as we call it, a quesadilla.  She just loves it and every time I go to Trader Joe's she requests that I get the pimento cheese spread and flat bread.

Our vegetable side is sliced cucumbers.  Molly enjoyed the sugar snap peas today but requested the cucumbers for tomorrow's lunch.  She says that she really likes the crunch and the juiciness.

Our fruit side is a sliced plum.  This batch has a great tartness that Molly really enjoys.  She and her siblings really like tart and sour things, like lemons and limes...and tart plums.

Our dairy/dessert side is the ever popular Dannon Light and Fit Vanilla yogurt.  The perfect end to a delicious and nutritious lunch.

Busy Week!

I, like most parents, keep a calendar in the house with everything written on it so that I don't forget an important event.  This week, we have NO empty spaces.  There is something going on every single day.  April has a lot of things on the calendar and May is filling up at a fast pace.  I can only imagine how much more full it will become when Molly's sister and brother get older.  Even though we are busy, we still have to make time for family time.  We had a great time walking to school today because the weather was so nice.  Then we had some cuddle time after we got home this evening.  Maybe tomorrow we'll have a dance party after school?  We might be busy and we might be tired but we always have fun.

Our main entrée is Molly's favorite quesadilla.  We spread Trader Joe's pimento cheese spread on Trader Joe's Middle Eastern flat bread, folded it in half and cut it into quarters.

Our vegetable side is sugar snap peas.  They are coming back into season and we couldn't be happier.  These taste great fresh out of the bag or steamed and even stir fried.

Our fruit side is sliced strawberries.  Molly's Grammy brought these over for us.  The smell so sweet and have such a deep red color, just the way a yummy strawberry should be.

Finally, our dairy/dessert is Dannon Light and Fit vanilla yogurt.  Molly said that sometimes she adds some of her berries to it because it tastes so good.

School Pizza Monday

WOW!  What an awesome weekend!  The weather is finally starting to get warmer and that weird bright thing in the sky is making a return appearance.  The kids spent most of the weekend outside and we actually relaxed and had fun.  We all have been needing this so much.  We hopefully aired out all of the germs inside of the house because we were able to have the windows and doors open almost all weekend.  Here's hoping that we are done with sickness until next year.

Molly has been pretty good this weekend and begged to get the pizza at school for lunch tomorrow.  I guess this whole "no fast food" Lenten sacrifice has really gotten to her.  We decided that even though it is technically fast food, because the school serves Papa John's pizza, we will let it slide because it is being served in school and comes with a whole bunch of other things that are made there and not in a fast food restaurant.  She was so excited that her Daddy and I both got huge hugs and kisses with a plethora of thank yous that followed.

Lenten Lunch 4

YES!  Mommy is on the mend!  Which means that Molly will be packing her lunch and getting some good nutrition.

As I was thinking about Molly's lunch, I was trying to think of the meatless meals that we had during Lent when I was growing up.  Then, it hit me...breakfast!  At least two or three times during Lent, we had breakfast for dinner.  We would usually have pancakes or waffles or french toast; then some sort of potato, scrambled eggs and usually some fruit.  Today's lunch is a bit of a twist on the regular breakfast that is served for a Lenten meal.

Our main entrée is a cinnamon raisin bagel thin by Thomas' bagels.  These are wonderful because you still get the great bagel taste, the delicious flavor and the bagel "chew".  But, it's not nearly as filling and doughy as a regular bagel.  We've spread some light cream cheese on the bagel thin and created a sandwich with it.  We've also added a small container of roasted pepitas or pumpkin seeds.  These will add a nice crunch, a savory element and a little extra protein.

Our fruit side is a sliced plum.  This has a sweet and tart flavor and it's nice and juicy.

Our diary side is Dannon Light and Fit Vanilla Yogurt.  Molly's favorite!

Finally, we have our Fun Friday treat!  We added a roll of Smarties candy for her special treat.

Home Opener

Mommy is still as sick as a dog.  Tomorrow is the Pittsburgh Pirates' Home Opener and the school is offering a special lunch for it.  So, Molly will be getting lunch at school tomorrow.  Hopefully, I'll be feeling better tomorrow so that Molly can get better nutrition on Friday.

Mommy's Sick

If there could be at least one week where all five of us are well, I'd be ever so grateful!  We are now on to the cold/sinus infection leg of our journey.  Will it ever end?  I have this awful thing now and I really can't wait for it to leave and never come back.  Cough, sore throat, sinus headache, itchy ears/eyes...it's like there is a party going on but not a fun kind of party.  For this reason, Molly is the lucky recipient of an electronic lunch ticket for school tomorrow.  She's kind of excited and I'm happy to just be able to sit and drink some more hot tea.  Here's hoping that all of these illnesses leave soon and that we finally get several weeks of nobody being sick. Cheers! ☺

Monday Tuesday

A long weekend is always welcome in our house.  We usually get a lot more done and still have the time to enjoy getting it done instead of rushing around.  Molly didn't have school today because it was an in-service day for the teachers.  So, we are doing our cold pizza Monday on Tuesday.

Our main entrée is cold pepperoni pizza.  We made the pizza on Sunday night and there were only a few pieces left over.  We are still sticking to our Lenten sacrifice of no fast food so we made this pizza using Trader Joe's pizza dough and sauce.  Then we added mozzarella cheese and mini pepperoni.

Our vegetable side is sliced cucumbers.  We decided to slice them in half just to mix it up since we usually just use whole slices.

Our fruit side is a clementine and strawberries.  Molly really enjoys this combination and it offers a great boost of vitamin C.  Hopefully this will keep her from catching all of the things going around since the weather can't make up it's mind.

Finally, we have our lunch staple of Dannon Light and Fit Vanilla Yogurt.  Dessert and dairy all in one.

Lenten Lunch 3

This whole time, I'm thinking that a Lenten lunch is going to be hard thing to figure out.  Then, as I look back at Molly's Lunch Box, most of her lunches are vegetarian.  Very rarely is there any meat in her lunch at all.  So, if you are looking for a kid friendly Lenten meal idea, just look at just about any lunch on this blog and you'll be set through Easter.

Our main entrée is our take on a peanut butter and banana sandwich.  We split a banana in half and filled it with Nutella hazelnut spread.  Then we spread peanut butter on one slice of bread.  We then put the banana on the bread, wrapped it up, and cut it in half.

Our vegetable side is small slices of green pepper.  Molly has liked peppers since she was very young.  Plus, it gives her a nice crunch.

Our fruit side is a plum.  We found these at Sam's Club and they have a great sweet/tart flavor.

Finally, our Fun Friday treat is candy.  There are two mini Kit Kats and two mini Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.  This is not a regular treat but we decided to go a little crazy since Molly has been doing very well in her school work and hasn't complained much at all about her homework this week.

Buying Lunch

Now that I've gotten the whole lunch ticket thing taken care of, Molly can't wait to buy lunch.  I think it's the fun newness of the electronic lunch system added to the yumminess of popcorn chicken that has gotten her really excited to buy lunch tomorrow.  We're pretty excited for her too because we always liked chicken nugget day at school.

*Side note* Just wondering why it is still snowing in Western Pennsylvania?  I thought that March was supposed to go out like a lamb and bring warmer spring-like weather.  Hopefully this means that spring will be that much nicer this year. ☺

Wednesday Already!

This week is going by pretty quickly.  We've been keeping ourselves busy with errands, cleaning, paperwork and everyday life.  Molly's little sister is feeling much better, she's driving us crazy so she's definitely getting back to normal.  Molly's little brother is a drool monster with his teeth but he's in much better spirits.  Molly is just her happy old self and working hard on her school work and some other fun projects like a writing contest through our local PBS affiliate.  This is the second year that she has entered.  She and her Daddy work very hard on this project and have a lot of fun being creative together.  I am still a little tired from the crazy week I had last week but I've managed to be pretty productive.  I straightened out the lunch ticket situation.  It was my fault because I was using tickets from last year and they don't take them anymore.  Now, her account is up to date and she can buy lunch whenever she wants.  But, she's packing tomorrow.

Our main entrée is a quesadilla of sorts made with Trader Joe's Middle Eastern Flat Bread and Pimento Cheese Spread.  Molly saw that we had this in the fridge and begged for it!

Our vegetable side is edamame.  Some people have told us that they've tried it and didn't like it.  We suggested that they try it both cold and hot to see if it might be a temperature thing.  All we know is that our whole family enjoys edamame whether it be hot or cold.

Our fruit side is an apple.  Molly requested this after she saw us give a nice cold apple to her brother to help his teething along.

Finally, our dairy/dessert is none other than our trusty Dannon Light and Fit Vanilla Yogurt.  Molly asked for a cookie but we said to wait until Friday for her treat.  She enjoys this yogurt so much that she didn't argue at all.

Breakfast!

Molly asked to buy lunch tomorrow because they are serving breakfast for lunch.  At first I figured, why not?  I have one sick kid and one teething kid so if she bought lunch, I'd have one less thing to worry about.  Then I get a letter home from the school saying that her lunch account has a negative balance.  WHAT?  Molly's school has started using an electronic system for lunch where parents put money on an account and the kids put in their pin to buy lunch and snacks.  This is a great idea as far as I'm concerned, but we still have a bunch of lunch tickets that we were told to use until they run out.  If you read my blog on a regular basis, you know that Molly rarely buys lunch so we still have lunch tickets and use them when she buys lunch.  Molly has told me that the lunch ladies give her a little grief when she uses the tickets but that they will take them if she puts her pin in, which she is fine with.  Then last Friday she said that I need to call them because she isn't allowed to use lunch tickets anymore.  So, since I have the sick kids at home I didn't have a chance to call during school hours.  I left a message and I'm waiting for a call back so that they can tell me what they've been doing with the tickets that I've been sending in and what they want me to do with the tickets that I still have.  I would've expected a note or something that says that the tickets aren't allowed anymore.  Oh well, we'll see how this pans out.  Until then, we'll be making our lunches no matter what.

Our main entrée is a waffle sandwich.  We toasted two waffles, a little extra crispy so that they won't get soggy, and spread peanut butter on one waffle and maple flavored cream cheese on the other.  We then layered thinly sliced apples on top of the peanut butter and added the cream cheese waffle on top.  YUM!

Our fruit side is sliced strawberries.  These are very sweet, yet a little bit tart.  Absolutely delicious!

Finally our dairy/dessert side is Dannon Light and Fit Vanilla Yogurt.  A great end to a great lunch.

Back to Normal

The consignment sale was a huge success and now life is getting back to normal, well at least our normal.  The week was busy and so was the weekend.  We had the consignment sale on Friday night and Saturday morning, then a birthday party on Saturday and another on Sunday and they were both a blast.  It's been quite a week.  Time to get back at it.

Our main entrée is a turkey pastrami and pepper jack cheese sandwich on multi grain bread.  We added mustard per Molly's request.  This box also contains a few pretzels for some extra crunch.

Our vegetable side is cucumber slices.  A cool and refreshing addition to Molly's lunch.

Our fruit side is green grapes and strawberry slices.  Molly requested the grapes but didn't know that we had strawberries so we added them as a nice surprise.

Finally, our dairy/dessert side is none other than Molly's favorite, Dannon Light and Fit Vanilla Yogurt.

Crazy Week - Lunch 3

Well, I had a great idea for a Lenten Friday lunch and I still have a little bit of energy to make it but Molly's Daddy told me that she really wanted to buy lunch.  At first I was opposed since she just bought lunch on Monday.  Then, Molly's Daddy made a great point by telling me what the lunch is.  Grilled Cheese!  Growing up, grilled cheese was a Lenten staple in my house.  It was usually accompanied by tomato soup but Molly's comes with tater tots.  As soon as I heard what was on the menu, I immediately changed my mind.  Every kid needs to have a good old fashioned grilled cheese sandwich with tater tots once in a while.  I think we might even have that for lunch here at home tomorrow.  It just sounds SO good!  I'll save my other lunch idea for next week.

Have a great weekend everyone.  I'll be working at the consignment sale and doing my part to help the preschool.

Crazy Week - Lunch 2

Still working hard at the consignment sale and there are three days left to work.  I'm tired just thinking about it.  But the sale will be great and the preschool will benefit so much from it.  Luckily, Molly's Daddy is so incredible and really helps me keep the ball rolling at home too.  He helped me with Molly's lunch again tonight so, thanks again, Daddy!

Our main entrée is spaghetti salad.  Molly requested some type of pasta salad and we had leftover whole wheat spaghetti from dinner last night, so that made the request much easier to fulfill.  We added turkey pepperoni, Monterey Jack cheese and light Italian dressing.

Our vegetable side is cucumber slices.  Another request from Molly.  These cool and refreshing veggies are always a nice addition to Molly's lunch.

Our fruit side is a Clementine and some green grapes.  Molly really likes both of these fruits so we figured that we'd add two of her favorites.

Finally, our dairy/dessert is Dannon Light and Fit Strawberry yogurt.  We usually buy a large container of vanilla yogurt and several small yogurts in fruit flavors.  Today, Molly chose strawberry just to mix things up a little bit.

Crazy Week - Lunch 1

This is going to be a crazy week for us.  Molly's little sister's preschool is having a consignment sale on Saturday morning and since I'm on the preschool board, I'm going to be "working" the sale every night for the rest of the week and then the big day on Saturday.  This means that there is a lot of planning ahead and lots of help from Molly's AWESOME Daddy.  He really helped so much with this lunch.  Thanks Daddy!

Our main entrée is left over cold pizza.  We are still honoring our Lenten sacrifice of giving up fast food so we purchased this frozen pizza today and baked it in our oven.  More convenient than making it from scratch ourselves but a lot less convenient than bringing home a hot pizza from the pizza parlor.  There is a little container of ranch dressing in this container for dipping.

Our vegetable side is sliced cucumbers.  Molly's Daddy used our crinkle knife to cut these fun little discs.

Our fruit side is a blood orange.  These are Molly's Daddy's favorite but he was nice enough to share one with her.

Finally, we have a special treat because Molly's little sister is the snack person tomorrow at preschool and Molly reaps the benefit of leftovers.  The theme of tomorrow's preschool day is "the early bird catches the worm." So, what better then some good old fashioned dirt for a snack?  We made sugar free, low fat chocolate and vanilla pudding. (We did both flavors in case one of the kids does not like chocolate pudding)  Then we added some smashed Oreo cookies on top of the pudding.  Finally, a few gummy worms top it off for fun.

New Sandwich by Request

Molly is really open to trying new things, more than most kids her age.  She eats corned beef and cabbage, sushi and even gobbled up lamb for dinner tonight.  So, when we were talking about what she would like for tomorrow's lunch, she said that she wanted to try something new.  I bought peppered pastrami lunch meat for Molly's Dad and she got a glimpse of it so now she wants to try it.  She and her siblings really enjoy spicy things so I'm confident that she will enjoy the peppery goodness that the pastrami holds.

Our main entrée is a peppered pastrami sandwich.  We added provolone cheese and mustard and sandwiched it between two pieces of whole grain white bread.  YUM!

Our vegetable side is a leftover from our dinner.  It's a steamed vegetable blend of corn, carrots, green beans and peas.  Molly would eat this hot or cold any day of the week.

Our fruit side is an apple that has been cut up into bite-sized pieces.  Molly requested an apple since she hasn't had one in a while.

Finally, our dairy/dessert side is Dannon Light and Fit Vanilla Yogurt.  What would we do without this staple in our fridge?  Molly is always happy to have this side.

Pizza Monday at School

Molly begged to buy lunch at school tomorrow because they are serving Papa John's pizza and she's really in the mood for pizza.  So, we decided that she could buy tomorrow as a special treat.  She was so excited that she jumped up and gave both of us a huge hug and kiss.  Even though it might not be the most nutritious lunch, it's fun to have really yummy and unhealthy food once in a while.

Happy Spring Everyone!

Lenten Lunch 2

For as much as Molly would love a leftover corned beef sandwich for lunch, it's a Friday during Lent which means that there is no meat.  We'll save our St. Paddy's Day leftovers for Saturday.  So, we've decided to take advantage of some other leftovers.  We served a variety of Irish Cheeses with crackers as an appetizer to our Irish dinners and we have some left.  They will make a delicious Lenten lunch.

Our main entrée is an assortment of Irish cheeses with pita crackers.  Molly really likes these sharp and creamy cheeses that can be compared to cheddar and gouda in flavor but they are still very unique.

Our vegetable side is green pepper slices.  We had a bit of green pepper leftover from Molly's St. Patrick's Day lunch and she likes them, so might as well chop it up and pack it for lunch.

Our fruit side is a clementine and some blueberries.  There is a distinct tart and sweet flavor that goes along with both of these fruits to they compliment each other very nicely.

Finally, Molly requested yogurt for her dairy/dessert side.  (Shocker!)  So we have her favorite Dannon Light and Fit vanilla yogurt all set for her.

But....it's Fun Friday so we added a special treat on the side.  We found a few Nestles Chocolate hearts for Molly's treat.

St. Patrick's Day Lunch! ♣

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!  We, as a very proud Irish family, love to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.  The story of how St. Patrick taught the Irish people about God by using the shamrock to represent the holy trinity is one that we will never tire of.  We are very proud of our Irish heritage and celebrate it throughout the year, but especially on St. Patrick's Day!  So, enjoy the day, smile at your luck and GO GREEN!

Our main entrée is a shamrock sandwich.  We mixed up a little agave nectar with cream cheese and added a little bit of green food coloring, spread it on cinnamon raisin bread and used one of our several shamrock cookie cutters to cut it out.  We also added a few mini Irish Soda Bread scones for luck.


Our vegetable side is cucumbers that have been cut into shamrock shapes and the bottom of a green pepper. God did the shape for us.


Our fruit side is kiwi cut into shamrock shapes and some green grapes that have been halved.  Sweet and tart all in one dish!


Our dairy side is Dannon Light and Fit Vanilla Yogurt.  We added some green food coloring to it and then topped it with shamrock shaped sprinkles.


Finally, for dessert, we added a shamrock coin that we made earlier today.  A lucky treat indeed!


As an added bonus, we gave Molly a really awesome drink.  Instead of her normal water, we added green food coloring to lemonade and put it in her bottle.  She's going to be so excited.


Happy St. Patrick's Day!  Beannacht Dé leat!

Do Over With Help

Molly has recently expressed an interest in helping to make her lunches.  I've changed my schedule a bit lately and I'm home more often in the evening.  So, I figured that the more involved she is in the process, the more likely she'll eat it or try new things.  (Note: She doesn't eat all of her lunch all of the time and will sometimes turn her nose up to trying something new or very odd to her.)  Molly enjoyed her lunch so much today that we are repeating a few of the same things, and she helped to make them!

Our main entrée is Molly's favorite "quesadilla."  She spread Trader Joe's Pimento Cheese Spread on a Trader Joe's Middle Eastern Flat Bread, folded it in half and we cut it into quarters.

Our vegetable side is the same as yesterday's lunch as well.  We sliced up a few cucumbers and added a pinch of Trader Joe's Shredded Carrots for sweetness.

Our fruit side is a clementine with a handful of blueberries.  Molly peeled and divided the clementine and added the blueberries.

Finally, our dairy/dessert is Dannon Light and Fit Vanilla Yogurt with a special little twist for our helpful little chef.  We tossed a bit of teddy bear sprinkles on top for a splash of color and fun.

Trader Joe's Tuesday

We had our monthly trek to Trader Joe's today and purchased some awesome food.  In preparation for St. Patrick's Day, we got our baby cabbage, buttermilk, Irish cheeses and some Irish bangers.  (Our corned beef, potatoes, Irish butter, etc has already been purchased.)  We also purchased a lot of great produce, baked goods and some regular pantry staples.  This lunch was inspired by several of our purchases today.

Our main entrée is a unique take on a quesadilla.  We are using Trader Joe's Middle Eastern Flat Bread for our "tortilla."  Then our cheese is Trader Joe's Pimento Cheese Spread.  Molly goes GAGA over this cheese spread.  Although we aren't in the south, we do have some southern roots so it's not a surprise to us how much she likes this cheese.

Our vegetable side is seedless cucumbers and Trader Joe's shredded carrots.  The carrots make for a sweet and crunchy compliment to the cool and juicy cucumbers.

Our fruit side is Trader Joe's dried figs.  Kind of like the Newton, but without the cake around it.  We also added some Trader Joe's Vacuum Fried Banana Chips.  These taste so bananaie (is that a real word?) and the crunch is awesome.

Finally, Molly requested her favorite Dannon Light and Fit Vanilla Yogurt.  This was not purchased at Trader Joe's but they do have a lot of yummy yogurt varieties available.

Not The Average Monday

Since we gave up fast food for Lent, we didn't get a pizza this past weekend and also didn't make one ourselves.  So, that means no typical cold pizza Monday.  Instead, we decided to do an all request lunch.  Molly had some bizarre ideas but we tamed them down a little bit.

Our main entrée is all white meat chicken nuggets.  Molly likes to eat these cold with honey mustard to dip into.  Well, we are out of honey mustard so Mom is going to run to the grocery store after everyone is asleep and get some honey mustard.  When looking at the photo, just imagine that there is honey mustard in the empty container. ☺

Our vegetable side is cucumbers.  Molly really likes the juicy and crunchy cucumbers in her lunch and requests them regularly.

Our fruit side is a banana.  We haven't given Molly a banana yet this year because of the browning factor.  What kid wants to eat a mushy, brown banana?  But, we had seen several other lunch boxes that had incorporated the banana with the peel on so that they don't brown.  We'll let you know how it turns out.

Finally, Molly requested some special pretzels for the last component of her lunch.  These little gems are filled with peanut butter and are a great sweet/savory blend of flavors.

Lenten Lunch

Tomorrow is our first Lenten lunch because Molly bought her lunch on Wednesday.  When I was growing up we always had grilled cheese and tomato soup or fried fish on Fridays but now we have to be a little bit more creative since we serve a cold lunch.  Also, our family gave up fast food for Lent so any type of food that we serve is homemade.  If we give Molly her favorite cold pizza on Mondays, it will be made by us and not our favorite Sir Pizza.  Hopefully we will have some good ideas for our Lenten lunches and maybe break some traditions.

Our main entrée is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on whole grain bread.  Yeah, not the most creative meatless meal but we have high hopes that there will be some more inspired entrées over the next few weeks.

Our vegetable side is cucumbers and baby carrots.  These will provide a nice crunchy texture and help to cleanse her palate from the peanut butter.

Our fruit side is a clementine and some fresh pineapple.  This tropical blend is a very refreshing and juicy.

Finally, our fun Friday dessert is a few Chewy Chips Ahoy cookies.  Molly's little brother hasn't been feeling well and he LOVES cookies so we splurged and got some for him.  But since he isn't quite 2 years old yet, he is more than happy to share his container of cookies since he can't eat them all.  Well, he probably could but Mom won't let him. ☺

Overwhelmed 1st Grader

Molly is falling into the normal overwhelming feeling that most kids her age get into.  Today I asked her why she didn't remember something that I remind her about almost daily, and she said, "Mom, there is just too much to remember."  As a parent, I forget that she is expected to remember so much more than I ever did at her age.  My biggest worries in the 1st grade were what color to use on my next picture or how to spell my name.  Molly is reading, writing in a journal, doing more math than I did in the 2nd grade and has to remember things for science, social studies and the arts.  She even has a PIN for her lunch.  She has to remember her address, telephone number, Mom's cell phone number, Dad's cell phone number, etc.  No wonder she can't remember to keep her elbows off of the table.  Poor kid.  I understand being overwhelmed so I'm hoping that with a little extra love and encouragement, we can help Molly get through this information overload.

Our main entrée is one of Molly's favorites, pasta salad.  We had some left over whole wheat rotini from dinner so we added a few pieces of mozzarella, mini pepperoni and Italian dressing.

Our vegetable side is cucumber slices.  They go very nicely with the pasta salad and she could even add them to the salad if she wants.

Our fruit side is kiwi and blueberries.  This batch of kiwi is on the tart side but Molly and her brother and sister pretty much prefer tart things, like lemons and limes.

Our dairy/dessert is another of Molly's favorites, vanilla yogurt.

Hang in there Molly!

Ash Wednesday

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday and the beginning of the Lenten Season.  We, as Catholics, abstain from eating meat tomorrow.  This makes meal planning a bit on the rough side but it can be fun too.  We decided we would let Molly eat the school lunch tomorrow.  They are serving macaroni and cheese which will be a nice warm lunch for her.
Happy Easter Season Everyone!

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.

Getting Better

Molly isn't 100% back to her normal self but she is doing much much better than she was.  We feel that she is ready to head back to school tomorrow.  She's not too pleased with our decision because she doesn't want to go back to school.  She'd rather stay home and play with her sister, color in her coloring books and do her school work here, with one on one help.  We can't blame her but we know that she needs to get back at it, so we made a yummy lunch to help get her through the day.

Our main entrée is left over cold pepperoni pizza.  Yes, that classic Monday lunch is back.  (You're welcome BFF!)  Molly's Papa imported this most excellent pizza from Buffalo, NY along with some classic wings for our Sunday dinner.  THANK YOU, PAPA!!!  It is such an incredible treat to get authentic pizza and wings from Imperial.

Our vegetable side is baby carrots.  These came with the wings and we decided that they would be a great addition to Molly's lunch.

Our fruit side is fresh pineapple and fresh strawberries.  We found an incredibly juicy pineapple at Sam's Club and the whole family has been devouring it all weekend.  We also added some strawberries for extra sweetness.

Finally, our dairy/dessert is Dannon Light and Fit vanilla yogurt.  This sweet and creamy treat will definitely be a great ending to Molly's lunch.

Still Sick

Hopefully this will be the last sickness that we have to deal with this year.  Granted, we dealt with the chicken pox last year, (even after getting the vaccines) but this seems to be a rough sickness year in our house.  Molly looks just miserable and sounds miserable too.  She went through an entire box of tissues today.  I'm hoping that she miraculously gets better over night and will be able to return to school tomorrow but it doesn't seem too likely.  Molly wants to go back to school tomorrow too because tomorrow night is library night with her favorite librarian.  Keep praying for her, please!

ps - if she does end up going to school tomorrow, we still have the lunch from today for her. ☺

We'll See

Poor Molly can't win.  She is just over that awful stomach flu and now she has a cough and cold.  She looks terrible and all I can do is just give her lots of love.  I think that when your child is sick, it eats away at you as a parent.  So, we'll see what the morning brings for our favorite 1st grader and whether she'll eat lunch at home or at school.  Say a little prayer for her that she gets well and stays well.

Our main entrée is a "tea sandwich".  Molly's Grammy picked up some Irish soda bread for our family and since Molly really likes it, we figured that it would be a nice comfort food for her.  We spread cinnamon honey butter on the two slices to keep them moist.

Our fruit side is a kiwi and a clementine.  These both have a sweet and tart flavor that will both taste great and feel great on Molly's sore throat.

Our vegetable side is a yellow bell pepper.  A nice crunch with a mild flavor.

Our dessert/dairy side is Dannon Light and Fit vanilla yogurt.  Molly requested this because she said it will help her tummy feel better.

Finally, we added a cheddar and mozzarella cheese stick to add some protein to Molly's lunch.  We're not sure if she'll even eat it but just in case, we decided to add it.

Breakfast for Lunch!

Just before 1pm today, my phone rang.  It was the school nurse calling to let me know that Molly was feeling dizzy and had a slight temperature.  Luckily, Molly's Daddy was working from home today so I was able to run down to the school to pick her up without having to take her little sister and little brother with me.  After resting for most of the day, she says that she's feeling better.  We'll see what tomorrow brings.

Our main entrée is mini waffle sandwiches.  We spread maple flavored cream cheese on each mini waffle and topped one side with thinly sliced apples, then sandwiched the waffles together.  We also added a small container of peanuts to add some protein and crunch.

Our vegetable side is, well... nonexistent.  Without some sort of egg dish or potato dish, it's hard to integrate a vegetable into breakfast.

Our fruit side is a mix of strawberries and blueberries.  There aren't enough apples to constitute a full fruit side in our opinion.  

Finally, we have our standard vanilla yogurt.  Molly is a really big fan breakfast for lunch so if she isn't feeling 100%, this should put a smile on her face. ☺