muffin lunch

Cucumber slices, carrot slices, tortilla chips, applesauce with a heavy, heavy hand of cinnimon on top (ooopsie!), babybel cheese, and a homemade blueberry muffin. 

The muffin was based on this recipe here.

But I followed a reviews advice and did half whole wheat and half white flour (both organic).  used apple sauce instead of oil, vanilla yogurt for the sour cream and used 1/2 cup brown and 1 cup white sugar... next time, 1/2 of each will be plenty.  The yogurt and applesauce sweetened it even more.  

summer time!

It is HOT here in North Texas this week.  90's all week. 

Today we broke out our semi-new (bought it a while back, used it once) Zoku Popsicle maker.  Nothing frugal about this one.  I had been eyeballing it at the store I pretend to be rich at every time I walk in Williams-Sonoma.  It cost more money than I would every think of spending for a Popsicle maker.  BUT the big draw - you get your Popsicles in under 10 minutes, not 12-24 hours!  

We live in Texas.  It is hot.  We are home a lot in the summer.  It is cheaper than an in-ground swimming pool. 

That my friends is justification at it's finest. 

Today the kids made pomegranate, peach mango cream Popsicles.  They loved 'em!

The Sweet Life

Romaine Lettuce with feta and dried cranberries, apple pieces, baked cinnamon sweet potato slices (leftover from dinner.  much better warm, but my son still wanted some in his lunch cold), and half of a homemade cinnamon roll.

I love THIS recipe for cinnamon rolls.   I thought I would be cool and all and healthify them up (well, as much as you can with a cinnamon roll).  On top of using organic ingredients, I only made 1/4 of the filling and used whole wheat pastry flour instead of regular white flour.  Um, no.  Not cool.

 There are some things in life where if you are going to do it, you do it right!  Cinnamon rolls are one of those.  These are more like a really soft wheat bread pretending to be a cinnamon roll.  Don't get me wrong, these are still really, really good.  BUT, if I had just followed the directions on the recipe as I have in the past, I would be adding about 5 more 'really's' to the previous statement!

quick morning lunch

Turkey and cheese on whole wheat.  Fresh cut pinapple, celery sticks, and some organic animal crackers

roll-up take 2

Turkey and cheese in a multigrain tortilla, strawberries, romaine lettuce with feta and dried cranberries.  An apple went into the large lunchbag to finish off this lunch.

Oh, yes I did!

Romaine Lettuce with feta and dried cranberries, raisins, apple slices, babybel cheese wegde (or circle... not so wedge shaped is it?!). 
And those in the bottom corner....
can you figure out what they are??!!


Potato chips. 


But not just ANY potato chips, mind you.  Utz brand crab chips.  My sister sent a bag (or two!) back with my parents after their visit back to Maryland (where I grew up).  If you have never had crab chips, they are old bay seasoning on a potato chip.  Or you can just call them AWESOME for short.

YUM.  A total guilty pleasure, but I get to have them so rarely. 

roll ups

turkey and cheese roll ups on a multigrain tortilla, pretzel rods, chedder bunnies, strawberries and raisins

bunnies on a log

Celery sticks, apple slices, raisins, yogurt, chedder bunnies, and pretzel sticks.... everything organic on this one expept maybe the chedder bunnies, but they are still 80% organic. :)

lotsa littles

raisins, kashi cinnimon cereal, vanilla yogurt with frozen blueberries, celery sticks and apple slices.

winners notified....

The winners of the EASY LUNCHBOX system and the FIX-IT AND FORGET-IT COOKBOOK have been notified via email. 

Christy A - EASY  LUNCHBOX

Jennifer W. - COOKBOOK

CONGRATS!!

Crash, bang, boom!

The laptop finally bit the big one!  I wasn't the least suprised.  We had been putting off getting a new one just cause we are cheap like that.  We had been randomly backing everything up on an external hardrive... but it had been a while since the last back up session.

Here is your PSA of the day.... go back your stuff up!  We lost our recent vacation pics for sure, and several other special pics from the last few months. 

So, if you were wondering why I hadn't posted this week, that was a big part of the answer.  I have a new, kick butt laptop now and am in the process and getting older images, etc. loaded on this one. 

Woo hoo, I needed more doo on my to-doo list!

cookbook giveaway

 I am super picky about items I might review or giveaway on this blog.  To me, the intent of this blog is not to focus on reviews and giveaways but to share our journey of better and more creative eating (even if the creativity lacks from time to time... as it has lately...), and as it turns out, to be an inspiration to others.

As a part time working mom, full time chauffeur,  housekeeper, homework helper, etc. etc. etc., I have some non-wanting-to-cook kinda nights from time to time.  Ok, more often than I would love to admit.  With a little pre-planning the night before or morning of, I have found myself in love with the slow cooker more than a time or two!  Yes, I love me some slow cooker nights!  

I figure I am not the only one....   So, when presented with the chance to do this giveaway, I decided this one makes the cut!

This month, the new edition of the family favorite, Fix-It and Forget-It Cookbook  was released.  The updated version includes more than 100 new recipes, substitute ingredients suggestions, as well as tips and tricks for making the most of your slow cooker.

 

Not sure all the recipes would fall under the healthy/natural foods category, but with some healthy substituting, I think a book like this would be a great starting point for crazy weeknight meals ideas and am proud to offer a copy to one of my readers!

Check out the fix-it and forget-it website to see if this is a book that would work for you.   

WANT ONE?

One Lucky Lunchbox Limbo reader will win a copy of this cookbook!  

For a chance to win, leave a comment below with your email address (use name at email dot com format).  

For a second chance, leave a second comment telling me your current favorite meal/item to make in a slow cooker!

This contest will end on May 20th, at 10:00 PM EST. The winner will be selected by random.org, and contacted by email .   If no response within 48 hours, a new winner will be selected.  The giveaway prize will come directly from FSBmedia. This giveaway is open to US readers only.

the leak and no leak

The No Leak
I mentioned on the easylunchbox review/giveaway post (here) that before using the lunchbox, I was concerned about leakage.  Pure liquid foods (soups) should not be packed in this lunchbox, but thicker runny things like yogurt or applesauce can.  Following the instructions on the website, I placed a little plastic wrap over the yogurt portion of the container and sent it on it's merry way.
When the boy arrived home, "how was your day.. did the yogurt leak" was the first thing out of my mouth.

After a 'mom, you are a crazy freak' look, I was pleased to find out the yogurt stayed in it's own area!
Oh, and he had a good day, too.

The Leak
So after the above success with the traveling yogurt, I used one of these containers to pack my own lunch the next day.  I made a great big salad, added an olive/garlic/pepper/cheese blend in oil as a dressing on top and went on my merry way.  I had placed the box vertically in a cute little 'purse' like lunch tote that I have for myself.
When I took the container out at lunchtime, oil everywhere!  DUH!  I was half awake when I made my lunch and just didn't think about the salad dressing oils being super thin.  I neglected to use any kind of plastic wrap as a barrier.

My lunch tote had an oily sheen and my pears were garlic flavored - bleh!  I have to add that this was total user error - but just thought I should share both the right and wrong way to pack 'liquidy' items.  The easy lunchboxes are not (and do not claim to be!) totally liquid drip safe!  Next time, I will add the salad dressing  AT work and pack in a separate small container.   Still lovin' these boxes... just need to keep my brain in check when packing lunch!

super salad

Still playing catch-up from last week.  My son is on a field trip today, so I am actually really glad I didn't get around to posting this lunch sooner!
My son has been on a 'plain' salad kick lately.  It is rare that he wants very much with his salad.  Usually feta cheese, which I buy in a really large container from Costco because the whole family likes it.  This particular day, he also wanted the almonds and the tomatoes!  The more the merrier! 

So...  Spinach salad with feta cheese, almonds, grape tomatoes.  Strawberries, turkey and cheese rolled in a whole wheat flour tortilla.

Enter to win an easylunchbox like this one here

Easy Lunchboxes review and giveaway!

Kelly from www.easylunchboxes.com offered us a set of easy lunchboxes to try. We tried them out last week and here is the verdict...

LOVE them! I do love my laptop lunchboxes a ton and will continue to use them, but these easy lunchboxes will be added into the mix for sure.

My favorite features of the easy lunchboxes? 

• They contain NO lead, Vinyl, PVC, Phthalates or BPA
• There are only two pieces to wash at night!
• They come in a set of four boxes and four lids, so with two children, there is a clean set ready for the next day.  
• They are dishwasher safe.
• Inexpensive
• These could also cut down on waste if you use a typical brown bag lunch.  

At first glance on the website, I was expecting the plastic to be a little on the flimsy side. They remind me of the 'free' containers you get with some prepackaged lunchmeats, or the cheapy 'take to a potluck and who cares if it comes back' containers.  But they are not.  They are much sturdier than I expected them to be.  They are made to fit into a  '6 pack' style lunch tote, also available in many colors on the website.  The lunch tote has enough room leftover for a drink bottle, utensils, and even uncut fruit (apple, banana, etc.).  Or, if packing a lighter lunch, I have found they fit nicely in most of the lunchbags we already have at home.

My big concern was leakage.  BUT, when packing yogurt, I followed the directions on the website and added a piece of wrap between the yogurt and the lid and it traveled both directions without spilling over into another compartment.

WANT A SET?  

Kelly was kind enough to offer one set of four easy lunchboxes AND one lunch bag cooler to one lucky lunchbox limbo reader!

To enter, go to www.easylunchboxes.com and then come back here and comment below telling me which color cooler bag you would like to have if you are the lucky winner.  It's that simple!  

Want a second entry?  Leave a second comment telling me what you had for lunch today (or yesterday)! Don't forget to leave an email address (use name at email dot com format).

This contest will end on May 20th, at 10:00 PM EST. The winner will be selected by random.org, and contacted by email .   If no response within 48 hours, a new winner will be selected.  The giveaway prize comes directly from easylunchboxes.com. This giveaway is open to US & Canadian readers only. You will be disqualified if you have won or received free product from easylunchboxes.com within the past 3 months.

 I received an easylunchbox set for review.  All opinions posted above are mine. 

a little less pride

Here is a lunch sent to school last week.  You can always tell when I am sick or super busy because the creativity goes out the window and there are more 'out of a larger box' items. Last week, I was both sick and super busy so the crackers, and the chocolate bunnies were thrown into the mix.

This lunch has romaine lettuce, feta cheese and grape tomato salad, Kashi crackers with cheese curds,

cut apple slices, and chocolate annie's bunnies

If the apple looks a little less than fresh... I cut it the night before and snapped the pic in the morning just before it was time to go.  I try to buy the varieties that do not brown as easily... this my friends, was not one of those apparently!  I figured this lunch needed to be posted to show you that I am a normal, busy, mom

The Rat Chef

While visiting here...

We ate at in 'France'

I ate this...

and this....

made by ....

Just too cute not to share!

Was 'Out to Lunch'

My husband and I took a vacation to Florida two weeks ago to attend our College Alumni Weekend.  Since it was a milestone graduation anniversary year for us both (we met while in College and graduated together), we decided to fly out and attend and make it a week long vacation.   It was the first time we have ever left the kids for more than one night!  There were moments I missed them like crazy, but it was also awesome to go on a couples getaway! 
We started the week on the west coast of Florida visiting some friends and family... and the beach. 

We then went to Epcot at Disney... kidless!  Now before you pass judgement, our spoiled crew has done the Disney trip, TWICE!  But still, talk about guilt!!  I keep justifying that part of the trip in my mind by telling myself that Epcot is the 'boring' park, but the guilt is still there a little...

The last part of the trip was spent in the northeast part of Florida attending College events and visiting with friends in the area.

I had pre-scheduled some postings that week, knowing I would be away from a computer and the internet.  I had planned to come back to town and be back on schedule... but apparently I am allergic to Florida this time of year.  I came back with a terrible sinus infection, a mountain of laundry, a ton to catch up on/prep for at work along with end of the year 'stuff' for both my own children and my classroom.
So needless to say, I was pretty MIA on here last week.

I did take a few lunch pics last week, and we tested out a new lunchbox for you!  I will try to catch up on postings soon.... and I also have a lunchbox giveaway!