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!

Bistro Lunch Anyone?

I've got to get these girls eating the same lunch every day...not sure about you, but I'm pretty sure no one really wants to make two totally different lunches (or 3, or more).   They basically have the same lunch today and I based it loosely on what you might pick up in a bistro, or buy in a farmers market in France for a lovely picnic on the Eiffel Tower lawns (minus the wine, for them at least!).

They have some dry Italian salami, crackers, a babybell cheese, some little tiny pickles, orange bell pepper slices, an apple, a few cookies and organic apple juice.  For snack they each have some caramel rice cakes and a fruit leather.   I would have loved to throw in some olives, but I didn't have any! 

I packed their lunches in our easylunchbox containers, they hold tons of food! And I used flower shaped silicone liners to keep everything from touching.

Thursday's Lunch

Gigi is still not allowing me to have much fun with her lunches, it stinks.  I'm hoping that by next week she gives me free rein.  Anyhoo...today's lunch is full of low fat, high protein foods, which are great for a growing, active girl.

We filled her lunch bag with some honey ham, string cheese and whole wheat crackers, watermelon and cantaloupe, a small container of grape tomatoes, some Swedish Fish (because they were left over from her sisters lunch) and rice cakes, and a small apple.  She'll take an apple grape juice for her drink. 

The dish of almonds and dried apricots are for snack. 

 

The school requires each child to bring a water bottle each day; which I'm thankful for; and so far it's come home almost empty each day! 

School of Fish

Life at our house just got even more exciting! I got the call last night that there was room at the charter school for Lili.  I just had to decide if I was ready for her to swim in the big pond and leave the safety of our sea urchin (wait that sounds a lot like Finding Nemo), and if she was ready, and if it was the best choice for our family. 
Turns out, the kid makes friends really fast.  Like in the time it took to drop Gigi off.  And she was all set to go!  So we headed to the mall, bought a bunch of uniform stuff, got everything on her supply list and stopped for sushi.   

We bought way to much, and Lili asked if she could have it for lunch tomorrow.   And so our School of Fish lunch was born. 

She has 4 pieces of California Roll, a baby bell star fish cheese, starfish watermelon, sea grass cucumbers and carrot coral, and of course some Swedish Fish because you can't have a fishy lunch with out Swedish Fish,   (I threw in a little apple just case she needed something more)

For snack she gets a banana and some caramel rice cakes.  And I'll throw in an apple juice too!

We used our easylunchbox containers, they're the best!

Gigi Packed Her Own Lunch

My girl is growing up, first day of school and she's ready to break out on her own.  At least, she wants to try packing her own lunch...I'm turning over the supplies and letting her have a go at it.  She had three rules:
1. It must be healthy
2. There must be 3 fruits and veggies
3. There must be a variety of color

 

Given the rules she did a pretty good job.  She packed herself some turkey, raisins, cucumber slices, carrot sticks, WOWButter with organic apple slices and a little dish of cookies.  She packed a bag of trail mix for snack and she has a granola bar and Stretch Island fruit leather in the pocket of her lunch bag in case she needs a little more food. 

 

WOWButter is a thing of beauty.  We have a peanut allergy kiddo and Gigi misses pb&j dearly.  WOWButter (a soy product) has quenched her desire for all things peanut.  Thank Heavens!

First Day of 5th Grade

There are two lasting bequests we can give our children: One is roots and the other wings.

 My Gigi is flying today, hope I gave her deep enough roots.  (I know it sounds like I've sent her off to college or something, but she's been with me every single day up until now!)  She is so excited, and I am so excited for her...and she looks so stinkin' cute in her uniform I'm sort of kicking myself for waiting so long to enrol them in a charter school!  Not kidding, at all. 

She really wanted a "teen age" lunch, so no cute little lunches, no cute shapes.  I'm struggling with this new identity.  When I had a theme it made it easier to create a lunch.  And she didn't really care, she just liked the surprise of what I had packed.  We have been negotiating what will be packed, in what containers and if I will be allowed to use cookie cutters.  She's tough.

She mostly won.  After all, she's the one entering a big new world, she should feel pretty good about what she's armed with.   I vetoed about 189 backpacks, almost every single pair of boots and all makeup (she gave it a good fight though).

So her little lunch has salami and cheddar cheese, crackers, snap peas and carrots.  I snuck in a cookie cutter to cut the watermelon, and threw in a plum.  She also has an oatmeal raisin granola bar and Stretch Island strawberry fruit leather.  I threw in a few Hershey's Kisses as a treat (do you think she'll understand the secret message?!)   She has to take snack as well, so we made some trail mix.  The combo she created has raw almonds, dried cherries and apricots, pretzels, whole wheat Goldfish, Honeynut Cheerios and little mini chocolate chip cookies. 

 

 

I'm going to sneak in a note, just a little one to let her know I love her, I'm proud of her, and I hope she's having so much fun and learning a lot!

 

I couldn't help myself...I snuck in a little cuteness to celebrate the start of 5th Grade.