Lunch in Less Then Two Minutes

Okay, I admit it I was running to pack this in under two minutes, but I did it! I had GiGi and LiLi cheering me on and counting down, the pressure was really on!

Lunch is basically the same for both girls with one exception, LiLi gets a School Day Granola Bar because of her peanut allergy and GiGi can have a traditional Granola Bar.  (We don't often have these in the house, but LiLi is going through a treatment called OIT and we are cleared to have cross contaminated items in the house now!) 

For lunch they have these little turkey pepperoni bites, crackers, Stretch Island fruit leather, Tillamook Cheese, snap peas, Oreos, granola bars and  an apple.  GiGi has organic apple juice, LiLi has organic chocolate milk.

 

I set a timer to keep me honest and I finished this with seconds to spare.  It's possible to throw together lunch right before you walk out the door, or for the kiddos to put together a decent lunch pretty easily. 

 

Stay tuned for a lunch in 5, 10 and 15 minutes and one packed from the pantry!  We used our favorite Easylunchboxes and you can see they hold A LOT of food!

 

Back To School The Easy Way

      How is summer vacation done, Labor Day passed and lazy days lolling in the sun gone for another nine months?!  Don't get me wrong, I love a schedule and a routine.  But more than that I love being with my girls.  Sending them back to school is always a little bittersweet.  That being said, I'm a firm believer in being organized, not reinventing the wheel and doing every thing the easiest way possible; including packing lunches. 
      I've been perusing all the other fabulous lunch blogs; darling, perfect, so stinkin' cute!  My girls are getting bigger and I've been told not to make too many cute lunches because it's just not cool in the Jr. High set.  It's a sad day at our house, at least for me!   I'll still be making cute lunches, but mostly now they'll be practical, yummy and filled with healthy options.

       I hope all of you Mama's are finding the start of this school year filled with new adventures, a break and hopefully lots of kiddos trying new and whole foods!

Lunch for the first day of school is full of fuel!  Turkey roses (just roll up slices of organic turkey breast), green grapes, cheddar cheese, stretch island strawberry fruit leather, pretzel crisps, carrots, rainbow tomatoes, a plum and a couple of Oreo type cookies.  They both also have an organic chocolate milk to add a little protein.

 

 

 

Mom, I Want To Be a Vegetarian

GiGi made this announcement last night, right after I had walked in the door from an especially sad funeral.  (They all are, right?  But this was for a 5 year old...just not okay.  Hug your kids!)   I was tired, I was done and I didn't want to think about any dietary restrictions.   All I really wanted was to throw a cup of soup into a lunch bag with a banana and call it good. 

Better yet, I put on pajamas at 5ish, and delegated dinner duties to my Hubby and lunch duties to G.  His vegetarian dinner was mac-n-cheese and green beans.  Not sure we met all the nutritional needs but whatever, I didn't have to cook.  Oh and my ten year old, new vegetarian is a going to allow herself to eat; chicken, fish, steak and bacon; but other then that she's going to be a total vegetarian.  ;)

Here's what she came up with....

They both have pepperoni bites (totally meat free! not!), whole wheat crackers,  green grapes and cherry tomatoes,  stretch island fruit leather and a granola bar.  (Lili's is the "School Days" variety...made on dedicated peanut and nut free lines.)  Those granola bars are not a normal thing in our pantry so the girls were super excited to have them.  They also both have organic chocolate milk to bulk up the protein.  (My add to this lunch...I would have liked to have seen some cheese too.)

For snack GiGi packed them pretzels and a plum.

Elvis Is In The House

Call me unAmerican but I don't like Elvis.  His music.  His movies.  Him.  Never have.  Never will.  But I gotta admit that he had some pretty good ideas about food.   We're peanut free here, but we're totally WowButter, Nutella and Biscoff friendly so our sandwiches are made with those spreads, feel free to use what ever spread your family loves.

 

We call this our WowBerry Wrap and it's delish!  I use a flour tortilla, filled with Wowbutter and thinly sliced strawberries....it's like dessert for lunch and an especially yummy treat!  Both girls have some grape tomatoes, cucumber slices, pear wedges and brownie bites.   I threw in 100% fruit juice and some whole wheat pretzels.

 

For snack they both have bags of popcorn and Stretch Island fruit leather.

 

This lunch is packed in our favorite easylunchbox containers!

Little Italy

My girls love little bites, they would graze all day, snacking here and there...making messes and eating me out of house and home.  So they love it when I pack a bunch of little bits, a collection of foods that they can sample and snack on throughout the day.  It's not uncommon for one of them to open their lunch box on the way home for a little nosh.

Today's lunch is just kind of like a meal you might buy at an Italian Deli, fresh, yummy foods that you can just pick up with your fingers and enjoy.

Both girls have the same lunch today (Win!), they have little hard salami bites, cheddar cheese squares, whole wheat crackers, some heirloom tomatoes, sliced orange bell pepper, a little apple (I've said it before, Trader Joe's has the best small fruit, EVER), 100% juice and a few oreos.

I bet this is one of those lunches that comes home empty!
I've packed the lunches into our favorite easylunchbox containers!

Comfort Food at it's Finest

My girls love comfort food; warm, cheesy, buttery goodness.  Actually, so do I.  Really, who doesn't?!
When I got up this morning I had to pack lunches (mostly because I was a slacker last night and didn't plan very well), it was cold and the forecast called for rain; another big surprise for Oregon; and thought, "these girls need something that'll warm them from the inside out!".  I had a big bag of potatoes, lots of cheese (a staple in our house) and butter...perfect! Baked potatoes, filled with butter, cheese and sour cream on the side.   Throw in some fruit, a hard boiled egg for some extra protein and a granola bar for something extra, some organic apple juice...and viola lunch. 

This was an easy lunch to pack, but it did take a little longer to prep then a normal lunch.  I baked the potatoes in the microwave while I fed the girls breakfast, split them and topped them, the girls can heat them up at school for the perfect, filling meal.

 

For snack they both have an applesauce squeezer and a caramel rice cake.

Tell Me That You Love Me....

It's here, that controversial day where those in luuuuuvvvvvvv are so excited for roses, dinner, romance and those not in love are ready to punch couples in the throat.  I'm kind of indifferent. I'm totally in love with my Husband, but I'd rather he show me he loves me 365 days a year rather than just one.
However, he is romantic and fun and our girls LOVE anything "romantic" so the three have been celebrating since the First of February.  (I'm not even sort of joking about this.) They made Valentine's Envelopes (think 2nd Grade) and every day they have been giving one another little tokens of affection...I was included too, but truthfully I was sort of bah humbug about it.   It's always been our tradition that "The Love Bugs" bring little treats on the 14th, and we have a big, fancy dinner at home, as a family. 

Anyhow, you don't really care about my issues with Valentine's Day, right?  So here are our festive lunches, sort of festive lunches, I worked yesterday then rushed to finish the Valentine's for school and all the family chore stuff.  I had big plans.  None of which worked out just as I'd planned.

Like weddings, the girls have no idea what ideas I was picking from, they are only seeing the final project and they will feel totally and completely LUUUUUUUVVVVVVVD  ;)

LiLi is suddenly becoming picky with fruits, she's decided she doesn't like any of them.  Fabulous news.  So she has two egg salad sandwiches, heart shaped carrots and cucumbers, a kiwi, a slice of cheese, chocolate covered heart shaped pretzels, and a chocolate treat. 

GiGi has a heart shaped hard boiled egg, heart shaped cheese slices, crackers, strawberries, heart shaped carrots and cucumbers, plus the chocolate treats.  They both have apple juice.

 

For snack they have a mix of dried fruits, a rice cake and they will be getting loads of treats at parties.

 

We used our fave easylunchboxes!

Something's Fishy

I've got a couple sushi lovers in this house.  One would eat it every single day if I let her, and she likes the cheap sushi train sort of places, not the yummy high end restaurants.    I'm not complaining, I love sushi too.  Last nights dinner was a great combo of spaghetti and sushi (Daddy surprised us by bringing the sushi home), it was actually a really gross combination, I don't recommend it.  Ever.  Really.  I just had a shiver thinking about it.

But it makes for a great lunch!  This lunch has California Rolls, snap peas (we were out of edamame), a Little Cutie, and dessert sushi.  This stuff is really fun to make and your kids will get a kick out of it! I was out of Swedish Fish, because those things are amazing and I eat them.  All.  Normally, I would stick a swedish fish in the center of a very flat slice of rice crispy treat, then I roll it up, sushi roll style and finally roll a layer of fruit leather on the outside of all that.  These just have rice crispy treats and fruit leather, still a fun treat, minus the fish.



They both have lemonade to drink and a package of dried seaweed to round out the meal. 
For snack they have homemade granola bars and dried cherries.

Rainy Day Picnic

Lili requested pasta salad; something she never tires of; for lunch and dinner and breakfast.  (I'm not even sort of kidding.)  Which got me thinking about when I make pasta salads for other people; usually potlucks, picnics and family reunions.  I load it up with veggies and feta and it's really yummy and filling.
It didn't hurt that we had left over fried chicken, because what's a picnic without some cold, fried chicken?!  The only thing really missing was a three layer chocolate cake and I wasn't about to whip one of those up;)  And maybe deviled eggs.   Oh Yum! Now I want some.

Both girls got a couple pieces of chicken (they can heat it up at school if they want or just eat it cold), pasta salad with tomatoes, carrots, bell pepper, cucumber and feta, orange slices, string cheese and some crackers.  They both have lemonade to drink and some oatmeal cookies for dessert.

For snack they have dried mango and caramel rice cakes.

Mom, Where's Lunch?

Aghhhhhhh! I worked yesterday (hence the lack of pictures of yesterdays lunches) and totally spaced unpacking and repacking lunch for today.  Until, that is, when we were walking out the door and GiGi said, "Why don't we have a new lunch?".   I must have looked at her like she'd grown a second head because she gave a rather large sigh and showed me her half eaten lunch, that was in fact from yesterday. 

 Nothing motivates me to move fast then the fear of missing carpool.  Also, nothing helps like having a well stocked fridge and pantry.  (I'm working on making my lunch lists presentable) 

Today's lunches were packed in about 2 minutes, no joke!

The girls have snap peas, blueberries/cherry tomatoes, string cheese, crackers, ham roll ups, mandarin oranges, organic juice and a prepackaged rice crispy treat.  (Yes, store bought, totally processed, saved for moments just like this!)   They both got a bag of cheese nips and apple slices for snack.

Lunch is packed in our easylunchbox containers.

Did You Vote?

I'm a day late on this lunch, but all of America has the beautiful right to vote, so today we are celebrating Democracy and hoping it worked out the way you wanted it to.   The girls' school voted and Romney won by a landslide (which is a surprise being we're in Oregon), but they've been learning all about the 6 main political parties so I'm pleased with their turnout;)  Apparently there was a vote for Mommy, one for Daddy and one for Lauren?  Guess those kindergartners didn't understand exactly what this voting was about, or they weren't happy with their two choices...who could blame them!

This lunch is red and blue, I wish I'd thought about it before tonight and found an elephant and donkey cutter...that would have put this lunch over the top! 
 Both girls have white cheddar stars, salami stars, cucumber stars and carrot strips, cheese it like crackers, organic cut pear cups, and a couple of chocolate chip cookies.  Both girls are taking an organic chocolate milk.

Snack is freeze dried pineapple (this stuff is amazing!) and a homemade granola bar.

Blah! It's Monday

There are days when I would sell my soul to hand the girls 2 bucks to buy a hot lunch; regardless of how I feel about hot lunch; today was one of them.  We got home from a wonderful weekend in Seattle and I was so tired from all the fun, I skipped going to the grocery store to make sure we had some fresh fruits and vegetables in the house.  Probably a mistake.  But it forced me to get creative in packing lunch.

I managed to find a carrot that wasn't too limp and a cucumber that only looked a little questionable.  I always keep organic apple sauce on hand (I know, not quite a fresh fruit...but it'll do!) and we always have loads of cheese.  Thank God!

Both girls got dry Italian salami (also always a staple), aged white cheddar cheese, cucumber and carrot sticks, goldfish crackers, apple sauce for Gigi dried apricots for Lili and leftover Halloween Marshmallows.  GiGi loves to dip her goldfish crackers into the applesauce; sort of like apple pie with cheddar cheese;)

They both are getting an organic chocolate milk.

 

For snack they each have a Stretch Island Fruit Leather and a Caramel rice cake.  Sort of boring, but it's what we had in the pantry!

A True Bento

This lunch looks a lot more like a traditional bento lunch would look, if GiGi and LiLi were little school girls in Japan;)   They both love fish, so when I make it for dinner I always make extras...my girls can't get enough of this good for you, brain food!

Lunch today has some baked salmon, white rice with sesame seeds, dried seaweed sheets, cucumber slices (I wanted to make cucumber salad but ran out of time), sliced permission and juice.   If you haven't tried dried seaweed you should check it out...it has a crunchy, salty taste and it's full of nutrients!

Black Cat and Pumpkins

It's official, we go to school in the dark and come home just in time for sunset.  I'm tired.  All of the time.  I forgot how Fall in the North West takes some adjusting too.  (Every year)   I'm loving the Autumn colors, the cozy sweaters and the warm roasts (I seem to be roasting something every day).  
Being cozy seems to also be making me forgetful...I need to remember to see if there is some study about the correlation.   I forgot lunches, until I was in bed and just about to fall asleep.   I knew my brain would never shut off so out of bed I climbed, down to the kitchen...I made lunch by the light of the fridge, it was sort of romantic. 

Both girls got ham roll ups, scary cat carrots, a mandarin orange, school days apple granola bar (these are made in a peanut free facility!), Stretch Island apple fruit leather, whole wheat crackers, scary cat colby jack cheese slices, and some Halloween marshmallows.  They both have organic vanilla milk.

For snack they have dried strawberries and a caramel rice cake.

Picnic Style Lunch

It seems like I've been having "one of those days" for the last two weeks...the hustle and bustle of school, dance, piano, choir and girl scouts have caught up with me.  Then throw in my Mom needing to be picked up at the airport, lunch suffers, or does it?!

All of my normal nightly chores were packed into the 20 minutes between scouts and the airport. Lunch was the quickest and easiest of all of the tasks I had to do.  I swear, this couldn't have taken more then 2 minutes. 

This doesn't look like much, but it has protein, some carbs and a fruit and veggies...my kiddos like V8, so they have a little can of that to boost this lunch even more.  We have a great recourse for local meat, and they make this yummy pepperoni that the girls love.  It's not a traditional protein but it works and it's a fun surprise every once in a while. 

 

Both girls have pepperoni, Babybel white cheddar, crackers, orange wedges, cucumber slices and tomatoes, some chocolate wafer cookies, stretch island 100% fruit leather and a V8.  For snack they have a homemade granola bar and a little apple.

午餐

My family is obsessed with Chinese Food.  OBSESSED.  We just can't always go out to eat it because it's often made with peanut products, so I've sort of become good at making it at home.  It's not authentic, my Chinese American friends would probably laugh at the finished product, but my kiddos LOVE it .  Fortunately, I cook for a family of 30 rather then 4 (I've never been good at judging how much I'm making and I like to wing it rather then follow a recipe).

Anyhoo, the upside.  Leftovers!  Lunch becomes really easy to pack and I know the girls will gobble it up.  (They have access to microwaves at their school, so they can heat up stuff.)   I used a little creative licence on this one and really stretched the Asian food to cover a little Japanese too.

Both girls have beef and broccoli with rice, cucumber and carrot rolls, bell pepper slices, mandarin oranges, an Asian pear, rice crispy sushi and fig newtons (they are clearly not Asian).  And a box of apple juice.

 

 

Rice Crispy Treat sushi is totally easy to make.  I make homemade rice crispy treats to control the ingredients, then I cut and roll them in to a thin 2 inch by 3 inch strip.  Then you can layer fruit leather, swedish fish...what ever gummy, sticky stuff you have on hand.  I used just swedish fish.  What a fun treat, right?! 

 

For snack they have Cheese It crackers and apple slices.

Tuna Tuesdays

I guess it's really supposed to be Fish Fridays but this was what was requested and frankly, the cupboards are looking a little bare.  I gotta get to the store!   It's good to stretch and challenge yourself and your kiddos to use what's available, and to make lunches without spending extra money.  Leftovers are great for this!

Share your favorite money saving or budget stretching tips, especially if they apply to feeding your kiddos!

This little lunch has tuna salad (I get lots of veggies chopped into this like celery, onion and green bell pepper), two different types of crackers (one has loads of seeds),  orange bell pepper strips, cucumber slices, mini oreo type cookies.  They also have a pear and apple juice.

For snack they have freeze dried strawberries and pretzels.

The Gateway Sandwich

My kiddos don't like sandwiches very much...but this one seems sort of fancy and special.  I call it the gateway sandwich for a reason.  This sandwich has gotten my girls to try tuna salad, egg salad, tuna melts and cucumber sandwiches.  That's it, that's the long list of sandwiches my kiddos will eat.

We go back to this one over and over again.  Maybe because it's made with simple, good ingredients.  Probably because it really does feel like you've been strolling through a Farmer's Market in Nice, and you've just grabbed this sandwich before walking down to the beach.

Today's little lunches have a turkey and cheese sandwich, a few little pickles, a mandarin orange, some snap peas and tomatoes, and a couple of oreo type cookies.  Both girls have organic chocolate milk, and a cup of strawberries too.

For snack they took Pirate Booty and apple slices.

As always we packed our lunches in our easylunchboxes.


Oh, the most important part! The sandwich.  You need good french baguette, Kerrigold Irish Butter (it's spendy, but worth it!), turkey and provolone cheese.  That's it.  That simple. And oh, so good!

Neapolitan

I kept looking at these cute liners I got at IKEA (the picture does them no justice...they have a sweet scalloped edge) and thinking "this reminds me of all those lovely Neapolitan bedrooms and ice cream!"  I know I can't very well pack ice cream for school lunch, but I knew I could find foods that would fit the color scheme.

I've been imagining this lunch for a while now, and have been thinking in terms of brown, pink and white...and a lunch for Gigi, so it's not too little kiddish.   I still think I'll do an ice cream themed lunch soon, but for today this will have to do.

The girls both got a white babybell cheese, pinkish brown ham roll ups, a little pink lady apple, (some not very pink tomatoes), a strawberry fruit leather and raspberry nutragrain bar (sort of brown), whole wheat crackers, and some wafer cookies in brown, pink and white.  I also threw in some freeze dried strawberries and an 100% juicebox.

For snack they have a homemade granola bar and dried cherries.

Last Minute Lunch

I'm that Mom that has everything ready the night before.  Clothes laid out, bags packed, homework checked (and finished), and lunches packed.   At least I was that Mom.  Last night we got home from Musical Theatre class and by the time I got everyone tucked in bed I was wiped out and hungry!

I put off all the things I needed to do in favor of facebook and food.  The food was worth it, the facebook was fun, the pain I felt this morning at 5:30, not so good.  I'm an early riser naturally, but I don't function particularly well first thing in the morning.  I need to time to slowly wake up.  I need tea and morning news.  As LiLi puts it, "My eyes have to adjust", for about an hour.  

This school they are attending doesn't have a hot lunch program (and most of you know my feelings about school lunches), so throwing a few dollars at them as we pulled into the school parking lot wasn't an option.   So I did what any sane Mom would do.  I opened a can of olives.

Not a traditional lunch choice I know, but frankly, I can't be held responsible for anything that happens before 7a.m..  I am certain LiLi will take one look at this lunch and her heart will soar with joy.  It's just the sort of thing she would happily eat every single day.  GiGi is going to open her lunch bag and think, "My Mom is a total Nutter!".  She's probably not too far off.

It's not the best picture...sorry...my eyes have not "adjusted" jet yet;)

 

This lunch has a little tiny pear (Trade Joe's), some black olives, mini pickles, picks with dry salami, cheddar cheese and yellow tomatoes, and a few JoJo cookies (Trade Joe's again). They both got organic apple juice and a homemade granola bar.

 

http://glitterenjoycharm.blogspot.com/2012/09/homemade-granola-bars.html

 

For snack they have crackers, Wow Butter (for GiGi) and Biscoff (for LiLi) and freeze dried strawberries (Trader Joe's, again).

 

This is proof that lunch doesn't have to be super fancy to be fun, festive and sort of nutritionally sound!