GiGi's Post

Well I had a meeting tonight, and when I came home the kitchen was covered with cookie cutters, silicon cups, scraps of food...and two totally packed lunches.  GiGi took it upon herself to pack lunches for me since I shared some of my nice stationary with her.  Love that girl!  Love that at 10 she will make her sister breakfast, will offer to help with all sorts of chores and thinks about her Mama's busy schedule.  I'm not sure what I did to be blessed with this amazing girl, but I thank God for her every day.
This lunch is pretty well rounded given she had no supervision.  She picked a theme and then planned around it. 

GiGi is taking over this post now.  I'm going to back totally out (except to upload the picture, which she took too!), and let her take over.

My Mom is really busy and takes care of all of us.  She sells houses and has to leave to help people so she has to stay up late to pack lunches for us.  I was looking for a snack and saw that there was stuff she uses to make lunches, so I thought I could surprise her by making lunch for tomorrow.   I tried to remember her healthy rules and kept thinking that sometimes I just want not healthy lunch but made it healthy because she would have changed it.

I picked a shooting for the stars theme because I like that saying.  It makes me try hard at school and sports.  I cut food into star shapes and used star shape holders.   I packed cheddar cheese, sausage, mini crackers, star fruit, cucumber and carrots and tomatoes.  I cut the carrots and cucumbers into stars too.  And then I gave us dessert.  An oreo and a rice krispie treat cut like a star.  I put two lemonaides in the fridge so they would be cold tomorrow. 

 

Ok, Mom back....I went from cracking up (I would have totally repacked lunch if it wasn't sort of healthy) and crying....see why I love this girl!?  I didn't change anything she wrote or change punctuation on her portion....I wanted it just the way it is.  I also didn't take a clearer picture, she was so proud of her work, all of it....and so am I!

 

Job well done Baby Girl!

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.

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.

Tea for Two

Any excuse for a tea party! That's our motto.  I spent this afternoon baking a little apple treat and it seemed fitting to make some little sandwiches to go with it.

This little lunch has 2 tea pot shaped cucumber sandwiches (I used homemade white bread...it has to be soft enough to cut), used a cookie cutter to score a flower out of a babybell cheese (made me think of so many of my pretty tea cups), a few butterfly crackers, some snap peas, yellow tomatoes, and a few tiny carrot flowers.  They also got juice, a banana and some apple pie bars.

 

Here's a link to the Apple Pie Bar recipe (it's time consuming, but worth it!)

http://glitterenjoycharm.blogspot.com/2012/09/apple-pie-bars.html

 

For snack they got a tiny pear (Have I mentioned how much I love Trader Joe's for the just right sized fruit!?)  and some pretzel sticks. 

 

Our lunches were packed in our easylunchbox containers.

 

Pinkies up!

 

Little Lunches, Monday

We had a busy weekend, so I'm looking forward to the quiet of today to do some housework and baking...tomorrows lunch should be much cuter!  Today's lunch ticks all the boxes though, good nutrition, simple foods, kids favorites and for our family; no nuts!

 

 

 

The lunches have some ham roll ups, a piece of cheddar cheese, whole wheat crackers, cucumber slices, yellow tomatoes, snap peas, an apple, 100% juice, and some mini oreo like cookies for a treat.  For snack the girls have apple cinnamon rice cakes and 100% fruit leather. 

Pretty basic, but this shows that in a matter of minutes you can throw together a healthy, well balanced meal that your kids will enjoy and most importantly eat!  I know being back in traditional school my girls are being really active; they have 2 recesses and pe daily...so it's important for me to really provide good fuel to keep them going!