Superbowl Left Overs

There wasn't a lot left over because there wasn't a lot to start with.  We skipped the parties this year in favor of a quiet day at home and ordered in pizza.  It was sort of slim pickings, but it provided the makings for a really quick lunch that the girls adore!

Both of the girls have a slice of pizza and a bread stick, a clementine, baby carrots, a rice crispy treat, and a Stretch Island Fruit Leather, plus an organic milk box.  It's not fancy, but it'll do the trick!

For snack they have dried seaweed and a bag of grapes.

Finger Foods for Lunch

I know, I promised awesome lunches...they're coming, honestly.  I gotta ease myself back into the swing of things.   The girls were actually pretty excited about these lunches when they saw me packing them, they both said, "These look like normal kid lunches!"   You'd think I was packing them carob and gorp for lunch.

Both girls have the same lunch today!  Score one for Mom.  They each have mini corndogs; with mustard to dip in; dried blueberries, carrot sticks, a mandarin orange and a little pack of redvines (I love getting peanut free treats when Halloween and Valentines Day roll around, they're just the right size for a lunch treat.)   They also have organic milk, a homemade granola bar and some dried mango for snack.   It's not my most exciting lunch, but it'll do the trick!

As always, this 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!

Field Trip Lunches

LiLi and I are headed to The Rice Rock Museum for a field trip and I was at a huge loss when it came time for packing a lunch I'd want to eat too!  (I might be the pickiest eater in our house.)  Lucky for me LiLi is game for just about anything, so I decided on a trio of salads.

1.  A nice big green salad topped with turkey, swiss, tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers, radishes, topped with a little green goddess dressing! Yum!  
2.  Pasta salad filled with loads of veggies and topped with cheddar cheese and Italian dressing.  Enjoy!
2.  Fruit salad; grapes, cantaloupe and strawberries....Delish!  (I got the fruit salad, LiLi got plain grapes)

I've thrown in tons of extras too, because who knows what we'll feel like eating.  We have fruit leather, granola bars, kettle corn, freeze dried strawberries, cheese crackers and some corn candy as a treat.  We both get a bottle of water for the day.

Grace is taking a similar lunch, but she doesn't like pasta salad so she has some fresh mushrooms instead.

The Leaves Are Turning

Bittersweet October. The mellow, messy, leaf-kicking, perfect pause between the opposing miseries of summer and winter. ~Carol Bishop Hipps

Each season is my favorite.  Really, I can see the virtues of each one.  While many joke that Oregon has two seasons; rainy and summer; I fully disagree.  I base most memories on holidays, and I celebrate them all with wild abandon.  I can tell you exactly what the weather is like on the 4th of July (It's been sunny for the last 10 years, I know because I have pictures of GiGi in sundresses every single year!), and that it usually doesn't start really raining until October 30th (again, loads of costume pictures covered up with raincoats!).  

Here, in Oregon, or in my imagination, we get 4 beautiful seasons...and for now Fall is my favorite.  Cool mornings, blue skies, orange and red leaves, raucous sunsets...that cozy smell in the air from wood stoves and warm pumpkin lattes.  What's not to love?

Anyhow, the weather has very little to do with lunches, other then when I saw this darling leaf pasta it made me think of the blanket of red, yellow, orange and brown on our lawn...and a salad loaded with veggies. 

The girls have a large serving of pasta salad, full of tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, carrots, onion and broccoli...plus a healthy amount of feta.  They have watermelon cut into leaf shapes, and a side dish with some salami and organic chocolate milk...for a treat they have Halloween Pop Rocks and some marshmallows.  (I'm going for Mom of the year with the pop rocks!)

 

For snack they both have Stretch Island Fruit Leather and a homemade granola bar.

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!

OoooooSssssssUuuuuuu!

My children are forced to be "Beaver Believers", just not given a choice, my Husband too.  If you don't live in Oregon your probably preparing to call the authorities, or questioning your judgement in following this blog.  In Oregon we choose our college mascots based on the animals that roam here...Beavers and Ducks.  Not such manly characters considering we have bear, cougar, bobcat, and elk.

I digress, I went to the superior college here in Oregon, Oregon State, home of the Beavers.  (I do realize that all of my friends whom are Ducks are cringing...they have what some might argue, the superior football team.)   This year, my beloved Beavers are undefeated! It's really a spectacular thing...and in celebration I am wearing my orange and black constantly.  I just bought spirit gloves (gloves with little orange and black pompoms on the finger tips), they might be the most fabulous OSU item I've ever owned.

I bet your wondering what this has to do with lunch, and if maybe I've totally lost it.  Probably.   It's just tonight at the store I was seeing orange and black food everywhere! It was like the store was celebrating with me.  I was happy, I had a spring in my step and a song in my heart, I had what I thought was the best lunch idea EVER.  Then I got home and realized I didn't have a Beaver cookie cutter (which is totally amazing considering all the cookie cutters I have!).  I almost cried and then I said, "Whatever, it's still an OSU lunch, even without my mascot!"

This little lunch has carrots and orange tomatoes, orange Tillamook cheddar cheese, a baby mandarin orange, orange and black tortilla chips, some dry Italian salami, and a couple of orange and black oreos! 

 

I can hear the fight song as I type...OoooooSssssssUuuuuuu  Oregon State Fight! Fight! Fight!

 

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.

LiLi Loves Lunch

My little LiLi is missing having lunch at home; a full, proper lunch around the table with Mom and GiGi.  She LOVES school more though (thank goodness!), so she just voices the complaint once a day...when I hand her her lunch bag.

I hope she's pleasantly surprised when she opens her lunch tomorrow; it is so far from a tradition, well rounded lunch she wouldn't recognize it as being packed in this house; it's filled with all of her very favorite things. 

LiLi has a mini cucumber, some summer sausage, green grapes, an apple nutragrain bar, an apple fruit leather with "LiLi Bird" cut out of it (her nickname from Uncle J), feta cheese, and swedish fish.   It's random.  It'll probably stink (compliments of the cheese).  And I she'll love every single bit of it! 
I also threw in an organic chocolate milk box and a mandarin orange just in case she needs a little more.

For snack she has a cinnamon muffin and banana chips.


GiGi has a similar lunch, but she hates feta, so she got a wedge of Laughing Cow cheese, which she inexplicably loves.  She also got wheat thins, because she likes to make little sandwiches with crackers.  (Her nickname is Goose, she really doesn't like it...so I didn't cut her name out of her fruit leather.)

GiGi asked for plain milk (weird, right?!) and celery sticks with cream cheese as her extras.   And true to form, she needed a totally different snack.  She took pretzels and a mini pear.

Mary Mary Quite Contrary

My little LiLi was being a little less then sweet last night, which prompted me to sing song this little rhyme to her...she wasn't impressed.  But then that little light bulb in my head went off!  We have all these lovely garden items (compliments of our never ending summer) and I could make a whole lunch with fresh garden items!

Not only is this lunch peanut and tree nut free, I believe it fits into the vegetarian category too.

This little lunch has a salad made with Bib lettuce (Boston if your on the East Coast), cucumber tulips, red bell pepper flowers, orange tomato halves, and cheese marigolds. (Under all those toppings are some strips of turkey too)  A few just picked strawberries and a plum from our tree.  I added a small cup of dressing, and some croutons on the side.  Both girls have organic vanilla milk to kick up the protein levels. 

 

For snack today they each have a Cutie (little Mandarin orange) and a nutragrain bar.

 

As always lunch is packed in our favorite easylunchbox containers.

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.