lunchbox limbo

don't chuck the seeds!

2011-10-18T14:28:00.001-05:00

After prepping the pumkin for the Savory Pumpkin Casserole recipe, and yanking out the slimey guts, I roasted the seeds... maryland style :)

I've posted this recipe before, but it's so good and I took some new pictures, so I am posting it again!

Maryland Style Pumpkin Seeds

Seeds from Pumpkin
Pinch of Salt
Olive Oil
Old Bay Seasoning

Soak pumpkin seeds in lightly salted water for about 2 hours.
drain and pat dry with paper towels
lightly coat in olive oil and arrange in a single layer on a foil lined pan
sprinkle on desired amount of Old Bay seasoning, coating both sides.
Bake for 30-45 minutes (depending on how crispy you like them) at 300 degrees, turning seeds every so often.

Savory Pumpkin Casserole

2011-10-18T14:13:00.003-05:00

So with moving to a new area, I recently joined a mom's group. One of the activities is a monthly recipe exchange where you bring a sample of the dish and copies of the recipe. Each month has a theme, and October's theme was Pumpkin. I decided to veer away from the sweet pumpkin recipes and try a savory dish. I came across this recipe, took reviews advice and added my own spin.
It was a huge hit!

Here is the recipe:

1 (2 pound) sugar/pie pumpkin

1 large onion, finely chopped

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground pepper

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk
1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
3/4 cup ricotta cheese
1tsp. Fresh sage chopped
1tsp. fresh rosemary chopped
¾ cup panko breadcrumbs
1 oz. grated Parmesan

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Coat a large (9x13) baking dish with oil or cooking spray.

2. Cut pumpkin in half, and remove seeds; cut into 1/4 inch thick slices. Peel slices, and place pumpkin slices into a large bowl. Sauté sliced onion in butter mixture in a large skillet, season with salt and pepper. Add pumpkin and nutmeg once onions are soft. Stir mixture on low heat for about two minutes. Arrange in prepared baking dish.

3. Bake pumpkin in preheated oven for 30 minutes. In a mixing bowl, beat eggs with milk and cheese. Add fresh sage and rosemary and a sprinkle more of nutmeg (if desired). Pour mixture over pumpkin in baking dish. In small bowl, combine panko and parmesan. Sprinkle on top. Continue baking for 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

YUMMMMM

A post? A post!

2011-10-14T13:38:00.001-05:00

Forgive me, for it's been over a year since my last post... (sounds like a Catholic Confessional).

Let's see... what hasn't changed:
well, we still eat. I still (mostly) pack lunch for my kids everyday. We still eat mostly all organic in the house. I'm still Selfish (keep reading).

What has changed:
we moved, my kids grew, and.. they became 'cool'.

Focused last year on getting the house on the market. We sold it in just under three months, which in a crappy market isn't too shabby. We then moved from way north Fort Worth to way north of Dallas.  My son is now in 4th grade and my daughter is in 1st grade.... oh, and the biggest change (as it relates to this blog) is that they both want NOTHING to do with my 'fancy schmancy' lunches. He says it isn't cool anymore and because he thinks it isn't cool, she does too. I tried to convince her that they were, but big brother had more clout. What's next, can't kiss them goodbye in the mornings in front of the school... oh yeah, I was forbidden to do that too. Who makes the rules around here anyways?

So... posts started dwindling last year when the lunches all started to look the same.   I stopped taking pictures because their lunches didn't seem to be much to look at. Next thing I knew, months went by without any picture worthy lunches. I couldn't blog if I didn't show lunchbox pictures, right?  Cause that was all against the rules or something.

Then I randomly re-read my WHY post and started thinking about why I kept a blog in the first place.
It was for self centered, self serving, selfish reasons. I wanted to keep myself in check, keep a 'picture diary' of lunches made so that I could refer back to them for ideas. I wanted to document my journey. So then the thinking continued... I am STILL on the Journey. I still struggle with 'going organic in a frugal way'. I definitely struggle with limiting prepackaged foods, cooking from scratch and keeping it creative and making things they will eat.
So... yeah, no lunchbox picture attached to this blog post today. But guess what? Selfish Sarah over here (except my name is Amanda) makes the rules on this blog. so there.   I am not sure where I want to take this blog exactly, but I am still on my journey and I still need to continue to keep myself in check. So, since the under 10 crowd has stifled my creativity in the lunchbox.... they can't dictate the rest of the day. So, since dinnerbox limbo, foodbox limbo, etc. etc. just don't cut it, Lunchbox Limbo can live on even if I choose to take it in a slightly different direction.

so there.

so.... dang, guess I just put pressure on myself to make a photo worthy dinner or something?

crap.

fig peeky eyes

2010-10-04T20:14:00.000-05:00

I have not been in 'cutesy' lunch mode lately... I did a bunch of fall themed lunches last year like this one or this or this. But it's the halloween ones I really have fun with! There are a whole bunch here.

I decided to skip right over the fall and do a sneak 'peek' for halloween. I am going to try to 'sneak' in a pair of eyes with lunch each day as a countdown of sorts to halloween. Funny thing is, I don't overly love halloween - but I love the themed lunches and it is one theme I can really have fun with!

Turkey and provolone on whole wheat tortilla, yogurt with (not so) frozen blueberries, fig 'peeky eyes' with blueberry center on a bed of walnuts, celery sticks.

morning lunch blahs

2010-10-04T19:52:00.000-05:00

Finally put pics on my computer today... only had one lunch on there. The last few weeks have been kinda out of routine around here - been subbing, husband was out of town for three weeks, activities for the kids started, and on and on...
I got into the bad habit of making lunches in the mornings while still half asleep and short on time! This is never good. Definitely no 'cute' lunches and rarely time to get the camera out. Plus, after a few days, they start to all look the same...

I did manage to snap this pic along the way!

Herb salad mix ( added dressing in a container after the pic), applesauce with cinnamon, orange slices, raisin and almond mix.

2010-09-23T09:26:00.001-05:00

baby spinach with feta and almonds, plum, veggie chips, newmans alphabet block cookies.

Goodbye summer! - strawberry rhubarb pie

2010-09-22T09:23:00.000-05:00

Here we have ham and cheese rolls with crackers so the kids can make their own sandwiches. I figure my two little monkeys eat with their hands anyhow.... when in Rome, right?! Also some orange slices and a slice of their mom's kick butt homemade Strawberry Rhubarb pie.

Our last house on the east coast had rhubarb growing rampant in a corner of the backyard. For the two years we lived in that house, I learned to make all sorts of rhubarb dishes in the summertime, but by far, our favorite was/is this pie! We ate it all summer long - and yes, those were not our skinniest summers on record. Some wiggle and jiggle was added to my life around that time!

Being in Texas, good rhubarb is harder to find. But, occasionally I do -and an occasional pie isn't gonna hurt, right?!

Farewell summer strawberry/rhubarb pie - till we meet again my love!

Oh, how I love thee....

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

2 ready store bought or homemade pie crust pastry for a 9 inch pie

1 teaspoon orange zest
3 cups diced rhubarb
2 cups sliced fresh strawberries
1 cup white sugar
3 tablespoons quick-cooking tapioca
1 tablespoon milk
1 tablespoon white sugar for decoration

1.Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C). Line a pie pan with bottom crust.

2.Mix together rhubarb, strawberries, orange zest, sugar, and tapioca. Spoon into crust. Roll out second crust, and place over the filling (make lattice top or cut slits in top crust) Seal the edges. Brush with milk, and sprinkle extra sugar on top.

3.Bake at 400 degrees F (205 degrees C) for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C), and bake for an additional 35 minutes. Let cool and enjoy!

baby, baby, baby.

2010-09-22T08:55:00.001-05:00

Nope, not pregnant. Don't even entertain that thought....

I found these cute little organic baby grapes at central market. I am sure they had a more sophisticated name, but I can't for the life of me remember what they were called. So, they are now 'baby grapes' to us. Along with baby grapes are 'baby block' Newman's own arrowroot cookies with a homemade pumpkin spice dip, and 'the crunchy lettuce' with some baby spinach added. After the pic, I threw some feta cheese on top.

rainbow and flowers- ooops!

2010-09-13T09:05:00.001-05:00

Most of the time I make their lunches exactly the same. On this particular day, I had some subtle changes... below is HER lunch. She got tomatoes and her favorite strawberry dressing. He didn't want either, so he got some veggie staws instead. Her pears were cut into cutsie flowers - his left in chunks.

OH did I get holy heck at the end of this school day!! THIS lunch went with HIM and the 'plain' lunch went with HER. OOOOOPS!

Grapfruit 'rainbows' with a sprinkle of sugar on top, romaine lettuce with pear slices, cheddar cheese strips, 'rain drop' tomatoes, and strawberry dressing.

fruits and veggies

2010-09-12T09:56:00.000-05:00

I try to balance out food groups, but every once in a while a lunch is heavy in one area or another. This was a 'friday' lunch. We were out of meat, cheese, bread.... so, this one is a little heavy in the fruit and veggie department. I figure that is not such a bad thing :)

Veggie straws, applesauce with cinnamon, carrot, dried black mission figs, fruit strip

chocolate zucchini

2010-09-12T09:51:00.000-05:00

This one isn't the prettiest lunch ever, but it does include some favorite items! Some annies mac and cheese, banana, chocolate zucchini muffin, and a fruit strip.

For the Chocolate Zucchini muffin, I used the recipe found here and tweaked it a bit following some of 'reviewers' advice to make it healthier. I cut back a little on the sugar and used no sugar added applesauce instead of the oil.

A little side note on the banana - you don't see these in the lunches often, which may lead you to think my kids don't eat a lot of bananas.... the opposite. They INHALE them. I buy about 2 bunches weekly and they eat them at breakfast time or snacks. This isn't the prettiest banana to put in the picture, but my kids don't care.
I know many children (and some adults) turn into banana snobs if they see a brown spot on the peel or the banana. In my classroom, I would gush over the student with the brown spot on their banana and go overboard telling them how lucky they are that they got the banana with the sweet spot! All of a sudden their sad face turned into a proud beaming smile.

The Crunchy Kind

2010-09-12T09:37:00.000-05:00

Over the last year or so, I have continued to serve salads to my kids. It was not well recieved at first...some tears, a few rolls of the eyes, and some down right protests have occured in my house. I found by letting them choose the toppings, and by trying all different types of lettuce that eventually it would not be a cry fest when I served salad. But, I never thought that it would be requested!

I usually ask the kids if they have any ideas for their lunches when before going to store. My daughter asked if I would buy some lettuce but only 'The Crunchy Kind' because it was her favorite. Took me a few seconds in deep thought to realize that 'the crunchy kind' translates to 'romaine'!

Romaine lettuce -a.k.a. 'the crunchy kind', vanilla bean yogurt with frozen blueberries, strawberry dressing, and a fruit strip.

cowboy hat for my little buckeroo

2010-09-01T21:06:00.000-05:00

At the start of the week, I made these puzzle sandwiches. I made a hat and a boot. The girl got the hat, the boy got the boot. Turns out I messed that one up big time! SHE had wanted the boot, HE had wanted the hat. I had made the lunches in the morning, ( I hate when I wait!) and I just lovingly shoved one into each lunch box and sent them on their merry way.

I used the hat cutter and piled 3 turkey and tortilla sandwiches on top of each other, added a little carrot circle and a star. When I called him over to see his lunch he right away knew I was making up for my "mess up" earlier in the week, looked at me and grinned ear to ear. I even got a very sincere "thank you, mommy."

Sometimes people ask WHY I take the time to make 'fancy' lunches even though they sometimes shake all over and do not look the same at lunchtime. THAT is why. He felt special, and all it cost me was a few extra minutes in the kitchen with a cookie cutter.

carrot 'wagon wheels', grapes, salad with feta and almonds, and cheese curds round out this lunch.

five senses

2010-09-01T20:42:00.001-05:00

Five Senses
(Tune: Where is Thumbkin?)

Five senses, five senses
We have them. We have them.
Seeing, hearing, touching,
Tasting and smelling.
There are five. There are five.

That song was stuck in my head the ENTIRE time I was making this lunch. I kinda wanted to jump from a tall bridge by the time I was finished.

My daughter is learning about the five senses at school, so she and I made a 'face salad' with eyes, nose, ears, mouth. The number 5 was cut out of cheese and we added it to a hand cut out of turkey on a wheat tortilla. A little container of 'tear drop' tomatoes and grapes and she is good to go!

carrot puzzle

2010-08-31T20:12:00.003-05:00

The OXO company sent me lots of gadgets to try out (review post coming soon). One of those gadgets was a crinkle cutter thingamajig. I used it to cut the carrots into small pieces. The kids can fit them together like a puzzle! (and btw, yes! I added hand sanitizer to their lunchboxes!)

Also for their clean hands to caress... turkey sandwich roll ups, a pluot, pickle slices, and vanilla bean yogurt with homemade raspberry maple granola (well, that one they need a spoon to eat. Although, knowing my kids...)

This lunch (and many other great lunches) can be seen here

hello again! - the art of the leftover

2010-08-31T20:02:00.000-05:00

We had hot dogs and mac and cheese as a 'busy night' dinner. Since that is a favorite dinner for busy nights around here, I know it is always a hit as lunch leftovers. I personally don't care for cold hot dogs, but my darlings will scarf them up any which way they are served. So, I made sure there was plenty leftover for lunch!

The hot dogs are the coleman's natural, annie's mac and cheese, organic raspberries, organic ketchup for the dogs, and a stretch island natural fruit roll-up.

yee-haw

2010-08-31T19:55:00.000-05:00

The kids' school has a 'cowboy' theme to it. Not too unusual for Texas. To start off week two of school, I did a simple sandwich puzzle. Instead of removing the shape cut with a cookie cutter, I left it in tack for the kids to remove.

My daughter got the cow~~boy~~ GIRL hat below, and my son's sandwich was cut with a cowboy boot. A simple green salad with some raspberries, no sugar added applesauce with cinnamon, and veggie straws finish off this lunch.

shiny red apple

2010-08-25T19:59:00.000-05:00

This is an 'upside down' or an 'inside out' sandwich. I make the kids work for these! The sandwich is open faced with a second layer of bread underneath that they place on top to make it.. well... a 'regular' sandwich. Love this cause it is just a cut out sandwich, and is so simple to do! If you have some cookie cutters, it is even easier.

He is going to think I am proving the 'easy to do' point by adding this, but truly that is not the case. I just want to give credit...

I was fighting a headache tonight and my husband jumped in and helped to make these!! He cut the apple shapes freehand (awesome job, babe!), cut the stems and washed and cut the fruit and carrots.

Apple made with pb&j, carrot stem, cucumber leaf. Also strawberries, carrots, grapes, noodles with a little Parmesan cheese.

Sharpen your pencils!... another back to school lunch

2010-08-24T21:09:00.000-05:00

I believe I first saw the pencil idea in some sort of parenting magazine, but it may have been somewhere online. I really am not sure who to give the credit to... just know this wasn't from my brain first!

I used a strip of cheddar cheese for the pencil, ham for the 'wood' and eraser, and some all natural fruit strip pieces for the 'lead' and the 'no.2'.

Carrot strips, spinach salad with feta and a 'heart' strawberry, and little turkey and cheese open face sandwich letters ( a GREAT way to use up the bread ends, btw!)

I also used fruit strip to make an apple shape that is laying on top of ~~homemade~~ store bought ambrosia salad. I picked this up as a special treat for the kids cause they both love it. Thought it might make a nice treat for a 'first week' lunch!

I don't know if I was just not with it tonight or what, but this little pencil gave me one heck of a time! I had intended to make a few, but as you see in child no. 2's lunch.... I quit the pencil making business! I snapped this pic to 'keep it real'. I gave up on fancy lunch tonight!

Back to school / first day of Kindergarten!

2010-08-23T15:12:00.001-05:00

Tomorrow is the big day around here! To celebrate, my parents called the kids and want to take them out to a special "end of summer" / "back to school" dinner at a local restaurant.

We love this restaurant, but know it is usually has slooooow service. I don't anticipate tonight to be any different. With showers, books and an early bedtime on tap after dinner, I went ahead and got lunches out of the way now.

This year, both kids are in school everyday. Most likely they will get the same lunches each day, but I am sure there may be some exceptions to that.

The only difference in their lunches for tomorrow is that her lunch has a 'K' for Kindergarten and his has the number '3' for 3rd grade! His strawberries are not cut to look like hearts either cause "someone might see." oh brother.

Spinach salad (I'll add dressing in the morning), strawberry hearts and a cucumber 'k', a bear naked brand cookie, Kiwi and strawberry on a thin layer of yogurt, and the orange chunks that look like cantaloupe is actually ORANGE WATERMELON we found at a local farmer's market.

everything is organic but the cookie in this lunch.

New year, new lunchbox?!

2010-08-11T23:07:00.000-05:00

My kids go back to school in just two weeks! Last year, my daughter only went to preschool two days a week. This year, she will be a big kindergartener and will attend school everyday like her brother. More days = more lunches!

Their lunchbags are still in great shape from last year, so we will be using those still... but I decided to get some more of the inner containers to fit our laptop lunchbox 2.0 sets. That way, I can make lunch for the next day WHILE the kids are still at school... or in the off chance I am behind in the doing dishes ( not that I ever let that happen...).

I figured this was a great time to remind you that you can save 10% off your order with the code LUNCHBOXLIMBO at checkout at laptop lunches. I almost forgot to use it myself when I placed my own order!!

I highly recommend the 2.0 version and an extra set of 'buddies'!

They are a little more expensive than a typical lunchbox, but I STILL have plastic baggies I bought at the start of LAST school year... and the savings on buying food in bulk packaging instead of the pricier individual sizes - totally worth the investment for the lunchbox!

If you are looking for a more inexpensive option - the 'easy lunchbox' is a great choice. They come in sets of 4 and fit a standard six pack cooler bag, with room to add whole fruit/ice pack/drink. They are not 'squishy' like some reusable plastics, but also not not quite as sturdy as the laptop lunchboxes (we had one crack already) and not leak proof. This can be solved with a little plastic wrap or press and seal over thicker liquids, or placing runny foods in a separate container. The 'six pack style bag will allow room to do just that. I really like using these for my quick morning lunches - or days I feel like doing less dishes! You can find these at http://www.easylunchboxes.com/

Another option - I noticed potterybarn kids has a line of bento style containers this year! The main bento box was not leak proof, so liquid/runny foods would need to be placed in a separate container or given the press and seal treatment.

What I was really impressed with was the thick, molded interior of their lunchboxes. The slighlty harder sides would keep whole fruits safe, and the overall thickness would help keep food colder, longer. The bento box fits perfectly inside the lunchbox... the bad news, the bento box fits perfectly inside the lunchbox.. no room for a drink, or a seperate container for liquidy/runny foods. I'd be using press and seal allll the time which kinds defeats the point of going with a bento box! So, it is one or the other - bento box or seperate containers - But gosh, the pb designs are cute!

Happy Lunchbox shopping!

All opinions above are mine... no compensation for talking about any of these products.

Coupon code mentioned above is part of an affiliate program. I am provided a small percentage of orders made using code. very small.

Happy 'Lego' Birthday!

2010-08-09T16:28:00.000-05:00

My son is into legos right now. Actually, he is a lego FREAK right now. They are the only toy he really even plays with. So the lego theme was the way to go for his party.

For his birthday this year, we went in with a friend whose son shares the same birthday as my son and had a party at a local pool. I planned to make cupcakes myself, but after traveling for a funeral that same week, I just went ahead and ordered from a local store bakery. I found this really cool 'brick' candy and placed one into the frosting of each cupcake. When doing the final head count, I freaked out a little.... I wasn't sure If I ordered enough cupcakes for all the invited guests and siblings. Since we had the entire pool, we encouraged the entire family of the invited child to come and swim!

So, I spent a minute in google land and came across a lego pool cake someone else had made. Why invent the wheel?! The idea was PERFECT!

I made the cake, assigned my son the task of finding lego people and making race flags. We washed all the pieces and the other mom and I went to work decorating the cake.

Here is the result....

Here is a pic of the lego candy cupcakes... didn't get a better pic cause I was too busy running the party!

back to it!

2010-08-04T16:56:00.001-05:00

As if you can't tell from the gap in posting dates, I took the summer off from this blog.

I thought I would write about other topics, but I either never had time or just didn't have anything to say! And anyhow, I think you check this out for the lunch ideas anyways :)

But since my children have a few more weeks till school starts, I figured I would catch up a little about our summer...

Every year I imagine a summer of sitting by the pool or a trip to the beach, a fruity drink in my hand and not a care in the world.

Every year the summer turns out to be a little different than I imagine.. this year, it was much different.

Our summer in a nutshell... airplane rides, car rides, a wedding, a funeral, and seeing lots of family.

We took a vacation to our old home town to see family, friends, old houses, and to celebrate the countries Independence. We drove up the east coast to see my husbands family, and attend my husband's cousin's baseball themed wedding. We went to a butterfly museam, the eric carle museam, saw fireworks, the kids met cousins for the first time and we all ate... a lot!

(at left, pics from the east coast visit)

After our return home, my granfather became quite ill. After some time in the hospital and a grim prognosis, he lost his battle with old age and cancer. I helped my mother with some of the arrangements and then we drove across Texas, out to the el paso desert for his honorable military funeral (he was career military - an american hero) and of course we saw even more extended family.

(left - pics from our drive out to El Paso, Texas)

The day we drove back home, a friend flew into town and we spent the last week or so visiting.

Next thing I know the back to school ads are everywhere and some kids are even already back to school! My children have a few weeks still, but whoa... where did the summer go?!

It was a busy summer, but... there were a few moments along the way which included fruity umbrella drinks ;)

lunchbag

2010-06-23T09:08:00.000-05:00

Annabeth shared with me the lunchbags she created to hold the easy lunchboxes for her children. Each one is made specifically for that child's interest or personality.

The easy lunchbox fits perfectly inside.

Love these!

Here is a link to her blog where you can get a better look!

'you're gonna need a bigger boat'

2010-06-11T10:06:00.002-05:00

Love that line in the movie Jaws!
duh dun, duh dun, duh dun duh dun duh dun..... ahhhhhh!

For the last day of science camp this week, I put the shark theme into full effect.

I cut a little shark out of the tortilla dough and it just didn't look right to me. I looked over at the dough scraps and could see a shark shape just calling to be chiseled out. I went to town but the end result was big. So, I closed the containers (used a little press and seal to keep the fish and seaweed in tact for transport) and the shark was placed on top of the containers inside the blue lunchbox.

soooo, shark tortilla, salad with cucumber, carrot and cranberry (fish eyes). A little yogurt with homemade granola, kiwi.

polka dot butterfly - fun at home

2010-06-10T11:50:00.000-05:00

I like making lunches at home at lunchtime. In the mornings I am not always fully awake and in the evenings there are always 20 bajillion things going, all competing for my attention. So I love our light schedule days where the kids can help make and design their own lunches. There is no rush to make the bus or desire to just get it done and go to bed for the night.

My daughter got herself dressed today. She picked out a butterfly shirt and a (non matching) matching butterfly skirt. Of course both are pink. She always picks pink. I think she did a great job at putting this together!

Her 5 year old sense of fashion became our lunch inspiration today.

She helped me make a butterfly sandwich. we added strawberry polka-dots and the larger dots turned into a Caterpillar (her awesome idea!).

shark fin!

2010-06-10T10:48:00.002-05:00

At my son's science camp today, the kids will be learning all about sharks! They are going to be able to get an up close look at a shark and will get a shark's tooth to bring home.
Had to get a shark lunch in there!

shark fin sandwich, grape natural fruit strip wave, romaine lettuce with 'blood sauce' (good ol' raspberry vinaigrette), strawberries and a country choice organic cookie I found on clearance at the grocery store.

this lunch (and many more yummy lunches) posted on 'what's for lunch, Wednesday'

after the store

2010-06-10T10:41:00.000-05:00

My son is attending a summer science camp this week and has to bring a lunch. I had big plans for theme lunches and somehow the week has flown by and left me in the dust! I didn't even bother taking lunch pics the first few days this week because they all pretty much looked the same. I had to forget about making theme lunches, it was a struggle to just make a decent lunch! We were out of all fresh fruits and veggies!

This was after the grocery store run...

A grapefruit wedge, cut apple, celery sticks, a homemade banana blueberry wheat muffin, vanilla yogurt with homemade granola.

strawberry shortcake

2010-06-04T17:53:00.000-05:00

Found this lunch on my camera from earlier in the week.

My husband loves strawberry shortcake. For his birthday we got all the fixings and made it as a dessert at home. My son took some of the leftover angel food cake (the bad kind... store bought all the way) and strawberries to add on top (those are the good kind- fresh, organic). Also in this lunch are cut celery sticks, ranch dip, spinach salad with raspberry vinaigrette... all organic, btw.

Last day of School Lunch

2010-06-04T17:48:00.000-05:00

Today is the last day of school.

For the last few days, the elementary school cafeteria has been making sack lunches for the kids. The one I saw the other day contained an apple, bag of chips, cookie (peanut butter.. hmmmm... interesting.... ) and I am thinking there was a sandwich in there? I can't remember exactly.

Anyhow, I had big plans of making some of my elaborate, fancy schmancy theme lunches for the last week of school.... but the kid wanted to buy lunch. This year, we've had some ups and downs with home lunches. There was a time not long ago that I don't like to talk about so much. It was when mom's lunches were not too cool and the school lunch called his name.
We got over that and eventually, I won the home vs. school bought lunch contest this year (oh, it wasn't a contest?... sure..... whatever. Go me, I won!).

I can be sportsman like. I let my son purchase lunch these last few days.
here is my effort towards today's lunch.

So is that it for the summer... hee hee, no!
Signed him up for a few weeks of summer camp - next week is science camp and lunches are to be brought from home. They'll be learning about sharks and squids with a little CSI style mystery mixed in.... I see theme lunches in my future! woo hoo! (I need a life....).

What's for Lunch Wednesday

2010-06-02T07:50:00.000-05:00

Shannnon, at 'What's for lunch at our house' is starting a weekly link-up called "What's for lunch, Wednesday".

Check it out, add your own lunch pics, or get tons of inspiration HERE.

dirty dozen and clean 15

2010-06-01T14:09:00.002-05:00

(pic - my daughter and I made a happy plate for lunch today!)

I was chatting with a friend just the other day about their switch to organic/natural foods. I sent her a link with a list of certain fruits/veggies that they should make a priority to purchase only organic, and others where they could save their money and just buy conventionally. I realized I did not have that list posted on my blog and so I sat down to do so. Ironically, this morning I looked at a few blogs, and Lorrie at Natural on a budget had posted about this same subject.

She wrote exactly what I wanted to, and probably better. So..
Here is a link to her post.

And because it should be on this site, here are the...

Dirty dozen= produce to buy organic because it is more likely to be contaminated.
1. Celery

2. Peaches

3. Strawberries

4. Apples

5. Blueberries

6. Nectarines

7. Bell Peppers

8. Spinach

9. Kale

10. Cherries

11. Potatoes

12. Grapes (Imported)

Clean 15 = items less likely contaminated and ok to buy conventionally grown.

1. Onions

2. Avocados

3. Sweet Corn

4. Pineapples

5. Mangoes

6. Sweet Peas

7. Asparagus

8. Kiwis

9. Cabbage

10. Eggplant

11. Cantaloupe

12. Watermelon

13. Grapefruit

14. Sweet Potato

15. Honeydew Melon

here is the complete list listed by EWG

and another great article (not sure their list is in order) from CNN.

memorial day lunch

2010-06-01T11:15:00.000-05:00

Ok, so it is really a 'day after memorial day' lunch.

My parents and grandparents came over for a brunch yesterday. This lunch has some of the leftovers from the brunch. This is a pretty sweet lunch - sweeter than I would normally send, but oh well!

Spinach salad with raspberry dressing, cantaloupe and honeydew melons, my mom's homemade banana bread garnished with tiny blueberries and cut strawberries to make an American flag (used honey as 'glue'), and as we call it, my mom's 'lem-ongelo' (lemon jello and whipped cream) with a strawberry heart.

muffin lunch

2010-05-28T05:43:00.001-05:00

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!

2010-05-27T16:15:00.003-05:00

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

2010-05-27T15:11:00.002-05:00

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

2010-05-27T05:40:00.001-05:00

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

roll-up take 2

2010-05-26T06:00:00.001-05:00

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!

2010-05-25T17:39:00.000-05:00

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

2010-05-25T17:31:00.000-05:00

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

bunnies on a log

2010-05-25T17:29:00.000-05:00

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

2010-05-25T17:25:00.000-05:00

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

winners notified....

2010-05-23T15:55:00.000-05:00

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!

2010-05-23T15:50:00.000-05:00

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

2010-05-12T16:25:00.001-05:00

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!

the leak and no leak

2010-05-12T15:09:00.001-05:00

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

2010-05-11T12:00:00.011-05:00

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!

2010-05-10T18:41:00.002-05:00

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

2010-05-10T17:02:00.000-05:00

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

2010-05-10T16:02:00.000-05:00

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'

2010-05-10T15:31:00.000-05:00

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!

berry good lunch

2010-04-29T16:00:00.001-05:00

More cinnamon raisin couscous, carrot sticks, cheddar bunnies, cheese wedge, and vanilla yogurt with the first of the home grown strawberries of the season!

square foot garden

2010-04-28T18:02:00.001-05:00

I'm gonna live where the green grass grows, watch my corn pop up in rows.... (come on country fans, sing it!)
(that's my corn... in the rows...)

We are, for the most part, following the square foot garden method this year. We missed the date to grow seedlings inside, so it will be a slightly delayed garden this year. Most plants started as seeds put right into the ground. We started a new garden in the backyard...

turned our fountain area into an herb garden...

see the wittle babies? aren't they so cute?!!!

and will use the side garden for the rest of the seeds or to transplant plants when thinned out.

But... there is a part of me that wonders if all the time and energy put into this is just creating a large Smorgasbord for this guy...

Little juicy red heart shaped piece of hope

2010-04-27T13:00:00.001-05:00

Our square foot garden is planted (post to follow another time). I ~~cheaped out~~ frugally stayed budget savvy this year and planted just about everything from seed. However, time crept up on me and I didn't get them started inside like I wanted. Point is, everything is really tiny.
BUT, I did buy strawberry plants. So it wasn't a shocker to me that it was the first to produce something edible!

This is huge! That is why this little strawberry is now called my 'little juicy red heart shaped piece of hope!' And see the red thing behind it? It is it's little sister. We'll call her 'ray of sunshine'.

And look, they brought along their little friends! welcome friends, welcome.

Food inc. on PBS

2010-04-27T09:29:00.000-05:00

Food Inc. is free to watch on pbs.org through the 29th! If you have not watched this movie, I highly recommend it!

so not my lunch

2010-04-26T16:00:00.001-05:00

"This is not my lunch, this is not my lunch, this is not my lunch."
I had to repeat that over and over while packing this one. I have recently found out that not only does my son love cold hot dogs, my daughter does too. (bleh!). And she RANDOMLY decided that she is in love with cold corn. It makes me shudder. I guess I am a traditionalist. I like it warm with a pat of butter.
Even though it is cold, I guess I should be glad she loves corn with a 'c' and not Korn with a 'k'. It's better that the four year old is in love with cold fiber packed kernels of wholesome goodness instead of tattooed, new metal, rocker punks. **

COLD coleman's natural hot dog on whole wheat, organic ketchup, baby spinach salad with feta, COLD corn.

**not knocking tattoos... her dad and I both have a few. Of course, mine are dumb things I picked off of 'the wall' back in the college years... yes, mom. I. do. regret. them.... happy? course, I kinda want another... addicting little suckers, aren't they?

dunch? linner? dinnery lunch?

2010-04-22T20:12:00.001-05:00

I made dinner of homemade chicken nuggets, mixed veggies, honey chicken fennel, and some sweet couscous. I really made the couscous as a snack, for tomorrow as well as something to go into my own lunch, but we went ahead and had it with dinner as well.

I started cleaning up the kitchen after dinner and asked the kids if they had ideas for their lunches. They started rattling off items from dinner that I was putting away. The fennel dish was gone, (not a hit with the single digit crowd anyhow) but they actually requested everything I made for dinner to go into their lunches. They actually asked for veggies... I mean, the wanted them. I have to say... I faked my smile to cover up my look of shock!

so, here ya go... chicken nuggets, fresh pineapple and mango, seasoned mixed veggies, sweetened couscous (couscous with cinnamon and raisins).

field trip lunch

2010-04-21T08:51:00.000-05:00

My son has a field trip today. The lunch has to be totally disposable.
I just have not been buying much in the way of individually packaged foods. Luckily, he had a soccer game last night and the snack that was passed out at the end was more of a mini lunch itself!
Since we got back late, he came home and he pretty much went right to bed. He did eat one item from the ~~feast~~ snack but it was so late that it would have been too much on his stomach right before bed.

So, we put the gatoraide, goldfish, and apples from the soccer snack into his lunch and added some veggie chips and carrots.

good morning, lunch!

2010-04-19T21:39:00.001-05:00

This was my son's idea. Usually if I ask him for some good ideas for his lunch, he rattles off the usual suspects and bolts towards the playroom for a lego build-a-thon as quickly as he can. This time, he grabbed his new favorite cereal and gave me a cheesy 'I'll have some of this' kinda smile.
I think he was expecting me to say no.
I love shocking my kids. Come on now, I own a cereal cookbook my poor mother purchased sometime in the 80's because at one point in my single digit years I vowed to only live off of cereal.
Of course I was on board!

So, for this breakfasty lunch we have Kashi Autumn Wheat cereal. There are EXACTLY 29 little 'biscuits'. My son counted out a serving size. The box says 29 is a serving. 29? How random. I think it should be 30 and they should up the size of the box a bit.
I digress...
Along side the 29 cereal nuggets is a container of fresh mango and fresh pineapple, a hard boiled egg, and a banana. I will add milk to his drink bottle in the morning and an extra ice pack tomorrow to keep it icy cold!

"Inside out" burger

2010-04-18T17:26:00.001-05:00

Vegetarians, look away. This is not a post for you.

We have quite a bit of organic, grass fed beef in the freezer (went in with friends to purchase a cow a while back). My husband is the grill master around here. It's not that I can't grill, but I just choose to let him take over in that area. He makes an awesome 'inside out' burger. We call it that because it has toppings IN the burger as well as on top. We've done several variations of the burger based on what we have in the house at the time, but the typical burger mix looks like this...

one pound ground beef (makes about 4 big burger)
half of an onion, chopped fine
half of a pepper, finely chopped (we've used various peppers, but typically use bell)
3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tablespoon (give or take for desired heat) crushed red pepper flakes
heavy sprinkle of hamburger seasoning OR chili powder, black pepper, salt
cheese crumbles

Form into patties and slap those bad boys on the grill.

To top, we love tomato slices, avocado, cheese, and a must is a mix of sliced pepper and onion (we use other halves of each leftover from above) sauteed in brown sugar. The sweet of the brown sugar, the mellowness of the avocado, the coolness of the tomato, and the heat from the burger is an AWESOME combination!

Oh look how the brown sugar gives the onions and peppers a squeezey hug of sweetness.

race day

2010-04-18T16:23:00.000-05:00

I am not even going to pretend that I know a single thing about car racing or Nascar. I just know that the races were scheduled to be today at the Texas Motor Speedway and that our family lives a stones throw away from the track. It is a blessing and a curse to be so close. We just stay home since the traffic and local shopping is always packed with race fans.

Well, the rain delayed the races one more day, so what does that mean to me? Well, not running as many errands tomorrow and inspiration for a fun lunch!

On warm weather (and dry) race days, we can smell hot dogs in the air so I had to add a hot dog! This is a coleman's natural hot dog on a whole wheat bun. The hot dog was grilled, but my son loves them cold (bleh!). The small container has organic ketchup to go on top.

The pineapple race car has the number 7 because that is my son's age.... not for any particular driver. It is on a bed of spinach salad.

I wanted to do an apple checkered flag. I didn't have any apples, and wasn't heading to any stores today so... I did blueberries in yogurt as a rather abstract checkerboard.

Babble Top 50 food bloggers

2010-04-17T15:48:00.002-05:00

To the Oh So Lovely person out there who nominated me as a top 50 food blogger on Babble.... How cool! And to the editors of Babble for agreeing! Thank you for thinking so much of my little blog!
I had no idea I was on the list until a new reader (Anna, from Tall Grass Kitchen) told me.

Lunchbox Limbo was posted at number 26 on the Top 50 List of Mom Food Bloggers!! There are a lot of awesome food blogs on the list, so I am beyond flattered to be even remotely close to the top 50, let alone number 26!

Lunchbox Limbo also came in at number 6 in the category of Most Budget Concious, um conscience, how 'bout conscious, yup, that's it - Most Budget Conscious - (geesh, thank goodness there isn't a super star speller category!)

There are also quite a few other awesome food blogs posted, I've discovered many new blogs and have enjoyed checking them out!

Check out Lunchbox Limbo's page on babble HERE

.....well if that isn't enough to light a fire under my booty to post more often :)

blog revamp

2010-04-17T13:35:00.005-05:00

Time for CHANGE!!

My blog has been looking a little 'wonky' lately. The color sidebars went away and the margins were all 'squishy'. My techno-tarded self has no clue how to fix it... so I am just going with a new template and will simplify the look a little. If you see several changes over the next few days... it's just little ol' me changing my mind again.

mega salad -3 in 1 post

2010-04-15T19:34:00.000-05:00

Here are three lunch pictures I took over the last week or so. Each with salad, lol. Between all the lettuce and carrots we've had in the house lately, I am shocked my children have not turned colors!

Lettuce with cucumber, hard boiled easter egg, carrot sticks, homemade cinnamon wheat banana muffin

Lettuce with raspberry dressing, cucumbers and croutons (all organic), hard boiled easter egg ( I peeled this one for my daughter after taking the pic), a cadberry egg candy leftover from the Easter Bunny, and orange slices. There was something going on at school that day so I packed her a smaller than normal lunch.

Spinach salad with tomatoes, parmesan cheese, almonds, croutons, yogurt with a frozen peach slice, annies bunny grahams

no more PB & J :(

2010-04-15T19:24:00.000-05:00

Got a letter from my son's school - no more peanut butter/peanut products allowed in his lunches. I grilled my son to see why the letter was coming home now... in April. He says there is a new child in his class with an allergy. So, I don't think this is a school wide thing, just a class or grade level thing - ?

My daughter's school has this policy school wide, so I've been making peanut free lunches for her all year but she only goes to school two days a week.
I gotta get the creative juices going again! My son had fallen into a PB&J slump. Without the ability to re-heat, it sure limits the main course options....but, luckily I have this blog! I can go back through and get lunch ideas from what I have done in the past!

bird's nest

2010-04-05T11:09:00.000-05:00

Last week, my preschool class made bird's nests. I had extra 'materials' so made one for each of my two kids for their lunches.

Lunch was a spinach salad with cranberries and feta, fresh pinapple slices, carrots, and a rice crispy treat nest with green coconut grass and chocolate eggs. Good thing the rest of the lunch is pretty healthy and good for you... cause the bird nest treat is far from it, but oh so cute.

throw and go mode

2010-04-05T11:08:00.001-05:00

Between the end of the school year for me ( I teach preschool, we end in May - lots of end of the year 'stuff' to do), spring projects, painting the house, getting the yard and gardens going, both kids in soccer, and on and on... things have been busier around here.

BUT my kids are still eating lunch! Their lunches just have not been much to look at lately. There have been a lot more 'throw and go' lunches going out the door lately.

Here is a 'throw and go' from last week that I was able to snap a (crooked) picture of...

not much to look at...

guest post

2010-03-29T07:34:00.000-05:00

Angela at 'I Love these Products' asked me to do a guest post about my experience with using the laptop lunchbox system. Check it out here!

spring butterfly

2010-03-24T19:41:00.000-05:00

My daughter's class is continuing with their Spring unit this week. I figured a cute little butterfly would be a good addition to the kid lunches for tomorrow.

Cheese quesadilla butterfly with celery center and carrot antennae. Back to nature brand 'cheese -its', strawberries, carrots sticks (he got ranch, she got hummus to dip), and a banana.

missing blue

2010-03-24T19:36:00.000-05:00

Here is my daughter's lunch from the other day... I almost made a lunch with every color of the rainbow! Red cranberry, orange carrots, yellowish pear, green spinach, and purple dressing.... just missing blue!~

Spinach salad with feta cheese and raspberry vinegrette, carrot sticks, half a pear, vanilla yogurt with homemade vanilla almond cranberry granola.

back from spring break

2010-03-22T12:43:00.000-05:00

Back from spring break.... and back to school! It was an ODD week. We all got sunburns one day and two days later, we had a few inches of snow! Now we are back in short sleeves.... crazy Texas weather!

This was a 'race against the bus' morning lunch. I made and photographed in a hurry so sorry about the blurry salad.

Strawberries (yay, organics are on sale at all the local stores!!), yogurt with a strawberry on top, spinach salad with almonds and feta (the kid is on an anti-dressing kick - ?!), and carrot sticks.

BUGS!

2010-03-11T07:38:00.000-06:00

My daughter's preschool class has a bug theme this week. In honor of that, I made some large ants. They are made with three tomatoes on a toothpick, celery eyes and legs. I tried antenaes but I couldn't get anything to stick to the tomatoes. The legs are just loose, so I am sure they will rattle around by lunch time, but my daughter actually wanted it to get mixed up so that "the ant legs would be everywhere". ok. Made my job easier!

Also added are 'ants on a log' and a container of 'worms' aka, organic whole wheat noodles. Also, applesauce with little brown things (cinnamon).

score with the hot dog

2010-03-11T07:33:00.000-06:00

Leftover hot dog from the night before. He likes these cold. To me, blah! BUT oh well! These are all beef, nitrate/nitrite free usda organic hot dogs from central market. The small container has organic ketchup, an apple, carrot sticks and cheddar bunnies finish it off.

secret garden

2010-03-09T16:14:00.000-06:00

Orange slices, romaine lettuce with tomatoes and feta cheese, almond butter and jelly flower sandwiches, some dried cranberries, carrot sticks with hummus.

Someone asked me a while back if I make my own hummus - I can, and I have, but I have found that buying the large container of organic hummus (at costco) is about the same price as buying organic chickpeas for one batch.... so it is one item I have decided to go with the 'already ready already' route!

Oh yeah, why is this titled the secret garden? I thought one little flower sandwich wasn't enough, so I did the 'cutsie' part and then covered it up with another flower. I showed little miss last night and I think she loved it. My kids can be so easy to please sometimes!
Here is a pic of the 'hidden' design...

MYOAL - make your own ant logs

2010-03-09T16:05:00.000-06:00

This is my son's lunch from yesterday. Purple potatoes are in the bottom right corner, lightly salted. Also in this lunch are orange slices, cheddar bunnies, and the makings for ants on a log.

throw and go

2010-03-09T15:58:00.000-06:00

I may have mentioned, we have both children in soccer now. So with practices and games, work, etc., my lunch making/posting routine is a little out of whack right now.

Here is a morning 'throw and go' lunch from last week.

PB&J halves, more of the tiny oranges, a banana and some carrot slices.

fruit and veggie 'Spring' lunch

2010-03-04T18:00:00.000-06:00

This is my daughter's lunch from today. I found these cute little Kishu Mandarin Oranges for lunches. I usually buy all produce organic except for bananas and avocados. Oranges are one item I will bend on occasion and buy conventional because of the thick skin. This was one of those cases, so the oranges are the only non-organic item today.

Apple slices, carrots, celery - all to dip in either almond butter or hummus. Also, tomatoes and butterflies made from the Kishu orange slices and celery. Her class is learning about Spring this week, so the little butterflies seemed fitting. I used a little almond butter to 'stick' them into place, BUT she told me they rolled around a bit :( Honey is a better 'glue'.

sick week

2010-03-04T17:36:00.001-06:00

My son has been home all week. My daughter went to school on Tuesday, and had a pretty nifty lunch, but in my 'out of it'state due to an upheaval in my routine, I neglected to get a picture.

She went to school today, and I will post that lunch in a minute.

I have to say, we've been sick more this year than ever it seems, but there has also been a LOT of crud going around - more than normal. So really, in perspective it hasn't been too bad. And even though a few bugs have crept their way into our home this year, we've gotten light cases of everything and no one has been really miserable.

One thing for sure...
Tomorrow is back to normal around here!

hot dog and 'french fries'

2010-02-25T20:55:00.000-06:00

Ya think I am ready for summer?!

I finally caved and bought some organic hot dogs for the kids. We are watching the children of some friends of ours for a few days and I know the kids love hot dogs so I went ahead and picked up the central market brand of organic dogs.

My son will eat hot dogs cold, so I figured he could enjoy this one in his lunch tomorrow.

So, organic hot dog on a wheat bun with some organic ketchup, strawberries and veggie straw 'fries'.

purple potatoes

2010-02-24T18:37:00.000-06:00

We found ORGANIC purple potatoes today! My daughter was thrilled!
I lightly cooked up a small one tonight and sliced it up to try and saved a few slices for lunches of course. Guess what?! They taste just like... wait for it.... potatoes!

I first saw purple potatoes on sherimiya's blog, Happy Little Bento. She always does the prettiest lunches that look like a rainbow watercolor painting or something. They are always so bright, cheery and... well, happy!

We also found some wonderful looking, albeit expensive, organic strawberries. They looked gorgeous, so I splurged! I believe I have purchased frozen strawberries ONE time since fresh were in season last summer. It was a great treat to see these in the store today.

lettuce with parmesan and tomatoes, organic prairie ham slices, cheese, carrots, purple potatoes, and the most juiciest, beautiful organic strawberries I have seen in months... summer, we miss you!

triple decker

2010-02-23T20:04:00.000-06:00

I asked my son what he wanted for lunch tomorrow... he suggested a double decker sandwich. Once I was ready to cut, I figured I could fit a triple decker sandwich in the box if I placed it on it's side. Basically this is a full sandwich with the edges hacked off and divided into three.

Veggie straws, almond and cranberry topped lettuce, carrots and dressing finish off this lunch.

snowman tummy

2010-02-23T16:52:00.000-06:00

I didn't make lunches last night. I am not so wonderful at getting out the door on time anyways, so to add extra duties to my morning routine is asking for pure trouble.

I've been out of the 'fancy lunch' routine lately. BUT the thing about kids is sometimes you can trick them into thinking they are getting something fancy.

Here is a last minute 'fancy as it's gonna get when it's made in the morning' kinda lunch...

It's a snowman tummy (Cheesy? yes, very. BUT she bought it and she thought it was 'cool').

It was fitting too. We woke up to snow flurries in North Texas this morning!

Snowman tummy is yogurt with very non organic, crappy from the jar maraschino cherries, an apple, carrots and hummus, and annies mac and cheese.

tres leches cake

2010-02-23T16:37:00.000-06:00

Here is my son's lunch from Monday. My husband's cousin was in the area for work this week and was able to come over for dinner one night. It happened to be his birthday the next day. So we HAD to have cake! I made a WONDERFUL Tres Leches (that is Spanish for 'three milks') cake from a recipe off of The Pioneer Woman website. Sure, I used mostly organic ingredients but there is an old wise saying... (Ok, I have a saying that I read somewhere once... ). "An organic cookie is still a cookie". So basically, there is nothing healthy about this cake. It is soaked in three types of milk -sweetened condensed, heavy cream, and evaporated milk. And I mean SOAKED.

It was oh so bad, but oh so good.

Somehow, there was a piece leftover for my son's lunch.

Wow, see how messy I was with the cherry juice? I didn't even notice that till now. Normally I would have wiped that off... I think I was too busy salivating over the cake as I snapped the picture.

To counter balance the badness of the cake, I threw in some green beans. There are also crackers and cheese curds (cause three milks plus whipped cream wasn't enough dairy - ?) and an apple.

Manicotti and hummus

2010-02-17T20:15:00.000-06:00

No, not together - ewww.

This is a his and hers style post.
We had manicotti for dinner and my son LOVED it. Called it 'pizza sticks'. Whatever works, kid! The girl on the other hand... not crazy about it. But, she does LOVE hummus. So, for lunch tomorrow he gets the manicotti filled lunchbox and she gets the lunch with the hummus to dip her carrots.

HIS...

HERS....

cheesy heart pizza lunch

2010-02-17T20:04:00.000-06:00

We made homemade pizza and I took a little dough and used it to make mini heart shaped pizzas for lunches.
This is a very cheesy lunch... Heart shaped homemade cheese pizza, salad with cheese curd crumbles, rolled chicken slices (sadly, not organic) with heart cheddar cheese slice and kiwi.

heart elephant

2010-02-14T19:30:00.000-06:00

Due to snow closing school (for her on Thursday and for him on Friday) Valentine parties at school were postponed. That means, more heart lunches this week!

This one is an elephant made out of hearts (peanut butter and honey sandwiches today), carrot heart on the trunk, raisin eyes. On a bed of lettuce, with a side of ranch. Carrots for dipping, and a brown rice cake finish off this lunch.

valentine's breakfast

2010-02-14T09:16:00.000-06:00

I got breakfast in bed. My Husband found the cookie cutters and made heart shaped french toast. Say it with me... "awwwwwwww".

heart penguin

2010-02-10T16:52:00.000-06:00

Penguin made out of hearts - tortilla, apple, sweet potato and candy eyes. It is on lettuce with a tortilla cinnamon sugar heart in the corner. Apple and sweet potato hearts, yogurt with frozen blueberries.

puppy love

2010-02-09T19:49:00.001-06:00

Tomorrows lunch is a PB &J 'heart doggy' with rolled oat 'wisker dots', cranberry nose, and candy eyes... yes, I said candy eyes! Absolutely nothing organic about them. They are from a candy bracelet my daughter got at a birthday party and they made perfect blue eyes. They are the only non-organic item in this lunch.

This lunch is for my son and he is on a lunch lettuce strike again.... I have given him a LOT of lettuce lately. I told him we could skip vegetables in his lunch tomorrow, but he'll be getting two kinds with dinner tomorrow. He agreed. So, lots of fruit instead; kiwi, frozen peaches and blueberries, and yogurt with a kiwi heart in the center.

cupid's arrow lunch

2010-02-08T17:00:00.002-06:00

Heart shaped almond butter and jelly sandwich on a bed of lettuce with dried cranberries. Apple heart and arrow details on the sandwich. Yogurt with a swirl of pom wonderful juice and a cranberry heart center. Cut apples dabbed with lemon juice are in the last container.

The secrets of life

2010-02-08T14:52:00.000-06:00

I had no idea.

When I found out, I felt so stupid, ashamed, clueless, in the dark.

How did I not know?

THIS...

is made by mixing only THESE...

Just TWO things!

That is it! There are no other ingredients. Why did I not know this? How did I not know this? Why would anyone ever buy brown sugar in a bag already mixed?

And get this... if a recipe calls for DARK brown sugar? You just add more molasses. Seriously, how did I get through 21 years of life (ok, 31... whatever) without know this?

I vow today to never buy brown sugar again. EVER.

Please tell me I am not the only one who thought brown sugar was some complex, complicated, multi-ingredient concoction. please?!?

Saints Win!

2010-02-08T08:37:00.000-06:00

Lunch today is in honor of the New Orleans Saints for winning the super bowl. I had grandiose ideas, but limited time since this was another morning lunch!

Salad with dried cranberries, royal blend rice pilaf, a horizon organic 'tuberz' and an orange with the saints symbol.

February shopping - week 2

2010-02-07T10:18:00.001-06:00

This was a Kroger and a Sprouts run combined.

I picked up some pricey items this week. The organic chicken was 6.99 a pound. So far, this is the best price I have found for organic chicken. Most of the stores carry it for 8.99/lb. Oh, how I miss the days of $1.66/lb bulk store brand chicken! Chicken has become a rare treat around here! We have a freezer full of beef from 'cow sharing', but try to only have beef once or twice a week.

I also bought organic vanilla extract and organic almond extract. Those were a pretty penny each even on sale and with coupons.

The cheese is not organic. It is sargento brand. I have a very hard time buying the organic cheese. I cut back on a lot of things around here (chicken for one!) but we do eat a lot of cheese. If I buy strictly organic cheese, I wouldn't be able to purchase even a quarter of what I do now. I am sure less dairy would be a good thing, but for now, I'm not willing to cut that back. I think we'll lighten up on the cheese as summer hits, but while it is still cold outside, we eat a lot of foods with warm, gooey cheese on top!

Budget - $100/week
TOTAL SPENT - 134.24
total saved with coupons this week- $19.79

Total for February so far - $167.45

cinnamon roll kind of morning

2010-02-07T09:36:00.000-06:00

These were made with all organic ingredients.... so they are healthy, right?!

This was the second pan. The first pan got all the ooey gooey icing (also organic). They would have made for a better picture but they were demolished before the camera came out from hiding.
see the tin foil?! These are being wrapped and frozen RIGHT AWAY. Last time we made these we decided to let the second pan ~~sit out to be picked at~~ sit out to cool. This time they went right in the freezer for us to enjoy another splurgo fatty fat fat sugar rush of a lazy weekend morning.

recipe here

20% off Numi Organic Tea

2010-02-04T13:59:00.000-06:00

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empty lunchbox today!

2010-02-04T12:45:00.000-06:00

A double ear infection for one kid, a fever and tummy ache for the other....
no school today=no lunchbox to share. we just had good 'ol pb&j yogurt and shared a rather large apple.

tomorrow is a teacher work day, no school for students so no lunch tomorrow.

quick morning lunch

2010-02-03T08:17:00.000-06:00

I am not a morning person... my bed was just so warm and cozy this morning...
I rushed this lunch together just before the bus arrived. Nothing cute or fancy today. Organic spinach lettuce with cranberries and almonds, orange slices, cheddar bunnies and a banana.
I've got to go back to making lunch in the evenings!

Groundhog Day Lunch

2010-02-01T20:31:00.000-06:00

My dad was at my house tonight after rushing me to the mechanic? garage? automotive shop?.... you know, the car fixit place. I thought my car was done so we rushed to get there before they closed only to find out they did something to make the engine light come on and now they need to take my car back apart tomorrow to re-fix it... *insert eye roll here*
Anyhow, before he left, I said "you got any good ideas for kid lunches tomorrow?" He stared at me for a minute and gave me the 'well, duh' look. "Well, it IS Groundhog Day."

I had forgotten all about it.

So, dad, this one's for you! Happy Groundhog day!Thanks for loaner car, btw!

First February groceries

2010-02-01T12:24:00.000-06:00

This was a small trip to Tom Thumb (a safeway store) for some basics.

Got some great deals this week, but not as many organic items as I would have liked. The organic salad was BOGO at 3.99. The granola, oatmeal and crackers all had killer store catalina coupons I recieved at the checkout one day. I stacked them with manufacturer coupons to save up to $4 on each! They are not organic, but better ingredients than some of the alternatives. I've been making my own granola and oatmeals lately, but I couldn't beat the price of these vs. ingredients for making my own this time around.

The tea is a treat for me that was in the clearance bin (long expire date - just discontinuing that flavor).

Total spent - 33.21

saved $13.50 in coupons

January grocery totals

2010-02-01T12:08:00.000-06:00

Added up the month of January- grand total - 454.08
Our budget is $100 a week.... I am calling this a 4 1/2 week month. There were 5 weekends to feed in this grocery cycle! how is that for logic?

In that case, we went over by 4.08. Darn those cookies from earlier in the month!