New Year, New Format

So, I am boring myself with just lunches. . . you too? New plan!

Still doing the lunches, of course, but I'm starting the new year with a totally new and more varied approach to the blog.

Mondays - These really do seem crazier than the rest of the week. Mondays will feature something that makes my life easier.

Tuesdays - Two lunches. One home lunch included so my middle child can have famous food too!

Wednesdays - Wild Card Day. This basically means that I haven't nailed down something interesting enough to give it a whole category! Plus this will leave me a little wiggle room to throw in whatever is on my mind that week.

Thursdays - For whatever reason, this part of the week seems easiest and the least stressful. I am most likely to get artsy or crafty then, so my goal is to include something along these lines every thursday.

Fridays - Fancy Lunch Day. This is going to be my super bento day. A day when I actually think in advance what will go into the lunch. Not something thrown together as I rub my eyes and attempt to wake up.

Sundays - Supper! Some yummy dinner ideas and a photo of an actual dinner served here at home.

Better Late. . .

. . . Than Never

Lunch 54

Lunch: Cream cheese on whole wheat heart, fruit snack pieces. Not shown: hard boiled egg, carrots and grapes (forgot the pic!)

Snacks: Mixed dry cereal. Banana. Pumpkin muffin.

Drinks:Chocolate milk. Bottled water.

Friend: Red Eyed Tree Frog.

Fried

Lunch 53

Lunch: Cowgirl hat and boot sandwiches, turtle friend, cheese cubes, orange bell pepper and kiwi slices.

Snacks: banana and a granola bar

Drinks: water and chocolate milk from school

So lately I am fried. Done. Toast. Stick a fork in me. Chronically over tired to the extreme. The simple act of posting seems overwhelming to me when I have averaged 3 hours of sleep a night for weeks. My brain is just not functioning like it should. I cannot wait until my kids are not sick for two whole days in a row.

I had big blogging plans for last week: gingerbread, crafts, lunches. . . Let's see if I can make it happen this week. I think I can. I think I can. I think I can. . .

Two for Tuesday!

Lunch 51 and 52

Lunch: Cream cheese on whole wheat star and the number one sandwiches. Cheese cubes and "streamers". Carrot and grape "balloons". Vanilla custard filled, cream cheese frosted, home made chocolate mini cupcake. Not shown is half a honey crisp apple and two prunes in the other half of the bento. Birthday candle.

Snacks: White cheddar popcorn and a blueberry cereal bar.

Drinks: Chocolate milk and a bottle of water

This bento is in honor of my baby boy's first birthday!!! The fact that is coincided with the weekly bento challenge theme on the bento blog network was just too perfect to resist. I made sure to make a mini version of his birthday cupcakes just so my daughter could take one in her lunch. I think it turned out cute!

Monday's Lunch

Lunch: Nutella and whole wheat hearts. One cookies, in two pieces. Two prunes and a little green car. Honey crisp apple and carrot flowers.

Snacks: Banana and a granola bar.

Drinks: Chocolate milk and bottled water

So I fell off the blogging wagon and got busy. Crazy busy. Still hectic, but I was feeling major blogging guilt and jumped back on! Gonna have some fun stuff on here this week!

Mini Milestone!

Lunch 50!

Lunch: Cold pizza (the best way to eat it!) Apple, orange bell pepper, prunes and shelled pistachios.

Snacks: Pumpkin mini muffins. Cereal bar.

Drinks: Chocolate milk and juice.

Friend: a snake!

So I've officially posted 50 lunches. That feels big! I am going to be making some changes and this feels like a great time to do it. I've had some practice, learned some html and my photos are so much better. They have lots of room for improvement, but my "photo shoots" (hahaha) are about ten seconds each, usually one handed. So I'm ok with them for the moment. So, onward we go. Hopefully to bigger and better places.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Lunch 49

Lunch: Bagel with pumpkin cream cheese, craisins, prunes and a maple cookie in the bottom. The top has half of a local honey crisp apple and orange bell pepper slices.

Snacks: Blueberry cereal bar, pistachios and a banana (not shown)

Drinks: Chocolate milk and juice poured over a bottle full of ice.

Friend: ummm, I think it's an iguana. I need to brush up on my lizards!

I must say, I love the smaller bananas that are available now. They aren't the mini ones but small, perfect, really yummy ones. About 2/3 the size of a regular one and perfect for packed kids lunches. I try to remember to put little notches in the skin so they are easy for my 5 year old to peel.

Bow Wow

Lunch 48

Lunch: Puppy dog sandwich with fruit leather and carrot details. Cheese cubes and fruit snack pieces in the bottom bento half. Top contains grapes and carrot flowers.

Snacks: Yogurt and a granola bar.

Drink: Iced tea

Friend: Tiger

Winter Wonderland

Lunch 47

more snowflakes. . .

Lunch: Two nutella and whole wheat holiday tree sandwiches. "Frosted" hard boiled egg. Carrots, grapes and a cookie. Home made, holiday themed, shrinky dink style plastic food picks and characters.

Snacks: Granola bar and mix of pretzels and multiple flavors of goldfish crackers.

Drinks: Chocolate milk from school and cranberry-peach juice from home.

This week's bento challenge: make your own food picks. I used the clear plastic tops from last week's pies and sharpie markers. A little coloring, cutting and baking and ta daaaa! I was amazed at how much they shrunk! About 75%! Impressive and fun. The kids were almost as amused as I was.

Back at it!

Lunch 46

Lunch: Grilled cheese butterfly, black olives, apple, chocolate kiss and carrots in the bento. Jello cup on the side.

Snacks: S'mores Clif bar (new flavor!), yogurt smoothie. Banana not shown.

Drink: lemonade

Friend: Little lamb

After the long holiday weekend, I dreaded the daily grind. Turns out, the daily grind feels really good today! Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Not Two for Tuesday. . .

Lunch 45

Lunch: Egg sheet in red/orange and blue/green with yellow (natural color) tie dye pattern cut into flowers. Carrot flowers, grape centers and a bed of lettuce, with red cabbage and carrot slivers.

This is the weekly bento challenge (see link over there! >>>>) Egg sheets.

Wow! Fun and a huge hit!

These were surprisingly tasty and easy to work with. I very much enjoyed the scraps that the kids didn't grab. All three devoured this stuff like starved little monkeys. I made a bunch of flowers, only a few actually survived long enough to get in there! I also wanted to add centers to the carrot flowers and try a different color background in the photo but the vultures were circling and little hands kept grabbing for the goods.

Will be making these again very soon! They are already asking for more.

Oh, and for the very first time ever I completely forgot to take a picture of the lunch this morning. We woke up late, it was a half day and "lunch" was pancakes and apple slices with maple syrup. A simple lunch to be eaten at 10:30 am. Oh well.

Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!

Just another manic monday. . .

Lunch 44

Lunch: Apple and carrots, bagel with cream cheese, cheese cubes and prunes.

Snacks: Mini Clif bar, pumpkin muffin

Drinks: Chocolate milk, iced blueberry tea

Friend: cute little seal

Why is it that mondays always seem to have more drama than any other day of the week? Maybe weekends need to be longer!

Finally friday!

Lunch 43

Lunch: Nutella on whole wheat hearts, cheese cubes, granny smith apple and corn.

Friend: Bald Eagle

Snacks: Pumpkin mini muffins and a kid sized Clif bar with organic fruit leather strip.

Drinks: Blueberry iced white tea, chocolate milk from school.

It's the end of the week! Yay! For some reason, this week has been long and tiring.

We are all mostly recovered from whatever bug plagued us. Still a lot of heavy duty coughing around here, but fevers are gone and appetites are almost normal.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Switcheroo

Lunch 43

Lunch: Chobani cherry yogurt and mac 'n cheese shells, the extra yummy creamy kind. Half an apple (local honey crisp), carrot hearts, cucumber flowers and cut up red grapes.

Snacks: granola bar and a cheese stick with pretzels

Drinks: blueberry iced tea and chocolate milk from school

Friend: today she took a little plastic carebear, it didn't fit in the top, since this bento is super shallow on top and the bottom was just too wet for me to put it there. yuck. So it went in the lunch bag, photo forgotten.

Ok, so this bento was the score of the year I think. I paid less than $3 for it! It is sort of huge though. That is no standard muffin cup in there! It's a 6 oz silicone baking cup! The grapes are in a mini baking cup.

The real value however is in how much my little lady loves it. It has been hugged, a lot. The girl who would only ever take the panda bento box to school has finally branched out. Yay for her and for me!

So the "switcheroo" refers to the new box and the fact that the title and lunch number (boring as a title) have switched.

Lunch 42

Thinking About Themes. . .

Lunch: Hard boiled egg, half an apple, green bell pepper strips, carrot flowers and a couple grapes. A whale is swimming in a sea of cheddar popcorn in the top piece.

Snacks: Yogurt and a granola bar.

Drinks: chocolate milk from school and a bottle of ice cubes/juice from home

I have been thinking about themes lately. I started the "Two for Tuesdays" last week because my younger daughter wanted famous lunches too! She's the one that sees me doing this and wanted to be a part of it.

I am running out of new critters to stick in the lunches. I'll keep doing it because it's her favorite part, but those are going to become repetitive. I have been enjoying the challenge of trying new things lately so maybe I need to challenge myself a little more. Maybe I need a daily theme. Maybe I'm a little too well rested today and getting myself in over my head! I seem to enjoy being in over my head though. . .

Two for Tuesdays

Challenge Accepted

So the weekly challenge over on the Bento Blog Network was onigiri. Basically it is a pressed or molded portable rice dish. Rice fast food!

I was lacking the oh so important sushi rice, and with the kiddos being less adventurous when they are sick, I opted for a sweeter version. A spoonful sugar was my glue and I added a dash of cinnamon for flavor. The rice was pressed into cookie cutters while hot and popped onto a plate when cool. I colored it with a couple drops of food coloring during cooking and the little ladies are pleased with the results! Me too, actually.

Extras in these photos include kiwi stem and leaves, a prune on the top flower and fruit strip butterfly with apple details.

Lunch 41

Still Struggling with Appetites. . .

Lunch: Pumpkin pie custard. Carrot slices. Bagel with cream cheese and apple wedges. Friend, not shown. I forgot to add the critter until the last second!

Snacks: Granola bar, yogurt smoothie and popcorn

Lunch 40

Back to School!

Lunch: Annies mac n cheese ( Bunny Shaped Pasta with Yummy Cheese), half-ish of a granny smith apple, pumpkin muffin, cucumber slices, red gecko (I think it's a gecko) and two lemon cookies.

Snacks: chocolate chip granola bar and Smartfood cheddar popcorn.

So I sent the coughing little one to school. She feels great, no fever, just a wicked cough. I hope she makes it through the day alright! She was so upset at the thought of missing another day that I couldn't bear to keep her here. No running rule is in effect today!

Almost Impossible

It's very hard to get these kids to eat when they are so sick!

cheese, banana, kiwi and apple

I broke out the Dora plate and napkins! This tiny amount of food was not finished, but at least they ate something. . . I rewarded them with cups of pumpkin pie filling. Of course they ate that!

My Wish and Scones!!!

I am the type of person who sees 11:11 on a clock and makes a wish. I always wish for the same thing. Every time. I won't seek it out intentionally, but if I happen to be passing a clock and it happens to say that, I can't resist. So today, 11-11-11 at 11:11 am, I'll post this one with my usual wish, just for fun!

My kiddos have been sick. That means they won't eat much at all. Ever. For days.

As a parent of children that follow me like puppies into the kitchen and hound me all day for snacks, it's pretty unsettling to find the only thing you thought they ate (crackers) underneath them on the couch as they doze in a feverish, cracker crumb covered, lump.

So, I brought out my secret weapon today. . . baking.

Alas, it didn't completely do the trick. They each ate a little, which is a massive improvement from nothing, but I will need my most powerful trick. Pumpkin pie! Minus the crust and ignoring the sugar, it's actually pretty healthy stuff (protein, calcium, fiber, vitamins) and I have never seen my kids refuse it! No matter how sick, they will pack it down. So, that's what's for dessert tonight. Hopefully I can get something else into them (like soup or a sandwich) first.

Now these beauties are amazing. I drizzled on some maple-vanilla glaze. So good. Maple Oat Scones mix from King Arthur Flour Company. The mix was a gift from a wonderful person and this post goes out to her!!! Thank you for all that you do!

My Wish: I wish for health and happiness to my family and loved ones. May their lives be filled with joy and laughter, good health and good fortune.

No lunch today

I have a house full of super sick kids today. They are barely eating so nothing fun on their plates today. Maybe tomorrow I'll do a fancy snack platter or something. . .

Lunch 39

Better late than never!

Lunch: Turkey and provolone roll ups, pretzels and sliced black olives in the bottom. Half a golden delicious apple, carrots, prunes and olive face details in the top. Her treasured lion tagged along today.

Snacks: yogurt and mini muffins

Lunch 38

Two for Tuesday

Apple Spaghetti and "Cheat" balls with fruit strip "sauce".

This was for my 3 year olds lunch today.

It's apple cut into noodles, a fruit strip for the sauce and whole wheat sandwich balls filled with peanut butter and honey!

I really wanted to grate some white chocolate on top for the cheese effect, but alas we have none on hand. I served it with a small glass of vanilla yogurt, which looked like milk and some carrot sticks. It tricked her for a second and then she laughed like crazy!

Lunch for the 5 year old: Hard boiled egg, half an apple, red pepper strips and an elephant in the bento bottom. Nutella on graham crackers and goldfish in the top.

Snacks: A banana and mini pumpkin muffins.

Drinks: Milk from school and juice from home.

Lunch 37

Monday just keeps coming around. . .

Lunch: Hard boiled egg with the tiniest sprinkling of sea salt (The magic trick to getting her to eat it!), cucumber slices and mini pumpkin muffins in the bottom with a chocolate kiss. The top contains carrot flowers, black olives, grapes with the seeds removed and cut up and two prunes. My kid LOVES black olives and prunes. She was very excited about this lunch. A little lamb is going to school this day!

Snacks: Oatmeal squares cereal and a chocolate chip granola bar.

Drinks: Cranberry-cherry juice with lots of ice and chocolate milk from school.

Just a little note about the cafeteria lunches. . .

Our school seems to do a great job of keeping the kids well fed on a variety of fairly healthy foods. We are very far from perfect, diet wise, but we do try hard to provide the best food possible to our kids. I am not opposed to buying the school lunch at all. It just isn't a great fit for us most days. We do go over the menu and notice when something sounds especially appetizing and let our daughter choose whether or not she wants it.

She has eaten school lunch twice. Once because she really wanted what they were offering ( home made mac n cheese with cornbread, both favorites) and the other time was because I woke up too late to make her lunch. I woke up too late to even get her to school on time. School lunch saved the day! The possibility of her trying things she normally wouldn't is also there. If she sees her friends eating it, she's more likely to try it too.

I don't think that my girl is ready to take on lunch choices full time yet though. She came home the other day disappointed that she had said no to the salad, only to realize later that it was her favorite kind. The other issues are time and consumption. They have so little time to eat, I want her to be able to get right down to business. She's pokey, so every minute counts. I also get to see her leftovers come home daily. I know how much she ate. If she is wild and cranky after school, a quick peek in the lunch box can tell me a lot!

I will continue to keep her school account filled with enough money to buy milk every morning and a few lunches here and there, but probably will be making the majority of the lunches for a few more years at least!

Lunch 35

Rather Blah

Lunch: Strawberry jelly on whole wheat cowgirl boot sandwiches. Prunes and craisins. Apple, cheese cubes and a Hersey's Kiss. A pony to make her smile.

Snacks: Banana and container of dry cereal.

So the little lady has been very tired and a little grumpy lately. She wants the easy, comforting familiarity of her favorite foods. So, I'm giving them to her. I'd rather she eat and kick whatever is dragging her down rather than spend lunch staring blankly at food she doesn't want. I hope her sense of adventure returns soon or this food blog and her diet will be pretty boring!

Lunch 34

Ideas, ideas. . .

Lunch: Home made cinnamon swirl bread. Mini pumpkin muffins. Little doggy. Cucumber and carrots. Cheese. Chocolate cake just for fun. Grapes.

Snacks: Banana and a granola bar.

I am always coming up with great ideas for lunch, at midnight. Then by the time I get to the store, I have forgotten my great idea. . . until midnight again. I need to resurrect the lunch board and start filling it out early. It has sort of faded into the background of my to do lists.

Lunch 33

Triple Play

Lunch(es!): Half an apple for the big kids and cut up grapes. Hard boiled egg. Pumpkin muffins. The friends were a small puppy for the little lady and a cougar for the big girl.

Snacks: Cheese sticks (and cubes for the baby). Peanut free trail mix. Pretzels and goldfish crackers for everyone.

This was a crazy morning! We all had to be ready, out the door and prepped to be gone for hours by 7:20. That meant food ready for all three kids. It's nice to know that I can actually pull it off, but I'm glad I don't have to do that again for a long time!

My hat's off to all the parents out there that do this every day!

Lunch 32

I love pancake days!

Lunch: Heart shaped, tie dyed hard boiled egg. Grapes. Whole wheat pumpkin pancakes with cinnamon butter lightly spread on them. Bunny friend. Real maple syrup, about two teaspoons in a separate container, not shown.

Snacks: Banana and a granola bar

I love pancake days because this is what comes home after school. It's a very good feeling knowing that I packed something that she enjoys. Something that she EATS! Something that is good for her and keeps her full.

Special thanks goes out to Chandra for the photography tips I've started playing with.

Lunch 31

BOOooooOOOOOOOoooooooo!

Lunch: Golden delicious apple, red pepper pieces in the top. Nutella on whole wheat sandwiches with fruit leather details. Monkey friend rode along. String cheese, not shown. Yogurt covered fruit snacks linger in the background. They went in after I fit everything together.

Snacks: Banana and a homemade pumpkin muffin.

Drinks: chocolate milk from school and watered down juice from home.

Lunch 30

Almost Halloween!

Lunch: Grapes and pumpkin carrots with half a honeycrisp apple. Cream cheese cat, pumpkin hard boiled egg, roasted almonds and a hippo friend.

Snacks: Mini pumpkin muffins, banana

Not really liking the egg drawing (food coloring and a toothpick), but I was in a hurry, so into the lunch it went!

Lunch 29

Long Day, Late Post

Lunch: Tuna "fishy" sandwich. Nutella "hook" sandwich. Hershey's milk chocolate kiss, the bubbly kind! Penguin. Cheese. Half an apple, smooth side down to prevent browning. Frozen peas.

Snacks: Chocolate chip granola bar. Goldfish crackers.

Lunch 28

Breakfast and Lunch

Lunch: Grilled cheese stars, craisins and chocolate nuggets in one half of the bento with a little rat/mouse friend nibbling away. Half a pear and red grapes in the other half.

Snacks: Granola bar bites and pretzels.

Juice and chocolate milk as usual.

I could not resist letting the pancakes into the photo this morning. They were so good! They are banana and totally home made. I rarely use a mix since I found a good recipe. Half of these have add ins. The chocolate chip ones vanished. I barely grabbed one for myself. The blueberry went next. The plain banana ones are almost gone, but are going to make awesome pb and j's later!

Lunch 27

Time Saver Lunch

Lunch: Cinnamon buttered whole wheat bread "sandwich". Cheese cubes/circles. Craisins. Sugar cookie hearts. Horse friend to keep her company. In the top section is grape halves and a mini pumpkin pie, without crust.

Snacks: Granola bites and pretzels. Banana.

Chocolate milk and juice for drinks.

I am on the constant quest to make lunch as easy to eat as possible. I notch banana skin for easy peeling. I open and cut up granola bars and cheese sticks. The grapes are cut in half and the seeds removed. These things make everything more perishable, but also make it much more likely that she'll eat it, or at least eat more!

She is a very slow eater and anything I can do to help her eat more efficiently, I will do it in a heartbeat. I don't want her sloth like eating habits to cause her to be hungry all the time at school.

I do need to find a way to get dinner into her faster though, before we go crazy. Perhaps the blender?

Lunch 26

All Rolled Up

Lunch: Turkey and cheese roll ups. Craisins. Dill pickle slices. Apple, grapes and carrot flowers. Chocolate chip cookie.

Snacks: Granola bar with vanilla chips, her fave! Smartfood cheddar popcorn.

Juice and chocolate milk

Stingray

No school today!

WoooooooHooooo!

Instead of packing a lunch at 5:30 am, I was asleep.

It's the little things in life that make me so happy!

Lunch 25

Hot Lunch Experiment

Lunch: Whole wheat pasta with home made turkey meatballs and parmesan cheese.

Garlic buttered bread. Stitch toy for company. Juice.

Snacks: Mini pumpkin muffins and a banana.

Chocolate milk from school.

Our first attempt at packing a hot lunch went pretty well. It was crazy cold even for this area this morning. The grass and car had a layer of frost. I ditched my plans for a cold lunch and put on a pot of pasta at 5:30 am. This smelled amazing. Garlicky with a touch of butter to keep it from feeling dry. I pulled the meat balls from the freezer, chopped them up and tossed them in with the seasonings and made sure they got nice and hot. I packed it all up in a pre-warmed, pink trimmed thermos and sent her on her way. She said it was still pretty hot at lunch. "Almost had to blow on it" hot. Yay.

Lunch 24

Breakfast for lunch, again!

Lunch: Pumpkin pancakes with cinnamon butter, a pumpkin candy and a tiny bighorn sheep fill the bottom half of the bento. Organic, unsweetened applesauce with frozen blueberries in the top. Small orange topped container of real, local, maple syrup.

Snacks: Shelf stable banana yogurt (strange stuff, yet so easy to pack), colby jack cheese stick, three mini home made pumpkin muffins (still frozen in the picture).

Juice pouch and chocolate milk from school for the drinks.

This girl of mine would eat pancakes everyday if I let her! These ones turned out really good. They are made with white whole wheat flour and a hefty dose of pumpkin puree and spices. She said they tasted like pie. There were no leftovers, at all, this day.

Lunch 23

Packed Mac

Lunch: Buttered whole wheat cowGIRL hat. Craisins, M&M's. Glow in the dark frog. Annie's mac and cheese. This is the stuff that comes with the cheese pouch. It tastes awesome cold!

Hmm, serious lack of fruit and veggies in the photo.

Snacks: Banana to go with her school milk, always chocolate. Granola bar cut into bites for the afternoon.

Lunch 22

Food Mug Shot Number 22!

Lunch: Nutella, again (it's yummy, cheap and guarantees that the super healthy bread we pay too much for will get eaten), on whole wheat, prunes, candy corn, carrots and a pony friend. Top of bento holds applesauce and frozen blueberries.

Snacks: graham crackers and Nilla wafers

Drinks: chocolate milk and a "juice bag" of lemonade. So elegant are we.

Lunch 21

Return of the Infamous Cream Cheese and Jelly. . .

Lunch: Cream cheese and jelly hearts on whole wheat. A double chocolate chip cookie. My Little Pony. Top of bento contains cheese pieces, Craisins, carrot sticks and a little apple oatmeal muffin.

Snacks: Cinnamon applesauce for the morning, granola bar for the afternoon.

Chocolate milk and cranberry juice.

Happy to report that the little fight over jelly seems to have ended. The hearts were all gone and she promises that she ate them!

Lunch 20

Under the Sea Theme.

Gotta do it at least once!

Lunch: Craisins, pickles green pepper and pear in the top tier. The bottom holds a tuna "fish" sandwich with cheese, goldfish crackers and a dolphin buddy.

Snacks: Kid Clif bar, banana.

Juice packed and chocolate milk from school as usual.

Lunch 19

Lunch: Pumpkin pancakes (hearts too) with cinnamon butter. Cheese. Carrot hearts, strawberries and a white horse.

Snacks: Granola bar bites, shelf stable yogurt.

Chocolate milk, juice.