2014 -- 028

Happy Valentine's Day! I will be totally honest I did think about what kind of lunch to make for several days. I thought about all the cute hearts, x's, o's, envelopes, conversation hearts, roses, and anything else I could pin to this holiday. I came up with some ideas but truly just couldn't figure out how to make them happen (that happens a lot, I get grand visions and lack the tools or skills to create them LOL). So, instead Monkey got a lunch made with lots of love that really isn't all that festive. I think she's still going to really enjoy it though. 

IN THIS LUNCH: 

• Bagel sandwich with cream cheese and blackberry jam,
• Brussels Sprouts (leftover from dinner) sprinkled with dried cranberries (there are some throughout, promise it's not just 5 little cranberries!), 
• Almonds mixed with white chocolate chips for a treat, 
• An orange and;
• A juice box. 

Luckily, thanks to pinterest and other fantastic bloggers I will get to oogle all the creative and cute lunches that I didn't make and will wish I had thought of myself! Are you packing your kiddos any fun treats for the v-day lunches? 

Happy Packing! 

2014 -- 016

A Laptop Munchable

So, I got my Laptop Lunchbox a while ago and I haven't used it nearly enough! I love the versatility but knew that my daughter struggled to open the outer containers as well as the inner containers. When I realized that this Monday was a teacher in-service day, initially I was a bit bummed. Not because I wanted to usher my child off to school, but because I wouldn't be needing to pack a lunch! Then it hit me that it would be the perfect opportunity to give my little monkey some practice with her laptop lunchbox with me nearby to help if she needed it (fingers crossed she's got it down herself now!). 

IN THIS LUNCH: 

• The main compartment has a pasta salad with rotini pasta, cut mozzarella balls, sliced grape tomatoes, and sliced olives with a little bit of pesto. 
• In the blue compartment we have star, flower, and heart shaped cucumber cutouts.
• In our orange section we have a little flower made of orange segments and a blackberry center. 
• Our drink is an organic chocolate milk. 

When Monkey saw this lunch she was thrilled with the little orange flower and pointed out how I had constructed it and was thrilled I made cucumber shapes again. She smiled and hugged me and expressed how much she liked the flower and my making her lunch. All the smiles, hugs, happiness, and better nutrition than school lunches make this hobby so worthwhile. If her expression alone doesn't make the two minutes it took to make that little flower worth while, I don't know what would! BOO to the Bento naysayers! :-P

Happy Packing!!

Halloween Lunches are Here!!

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So one of my absolute favorite things about October is that we get to start doing fun Halloween themed lunches! They don't all get crazy, like today's lunch, but they do get to have a little Halloween flair! The holidays are my absolute favorite time of year in general, but I also think that's when the creativity starts coming out too!! Here's what monkey had for lunch... 

IN THIS LUNCH: 

• Thick cut ham skull & cross bones w/ medium cheddar cut outs
• Crackers
• Strawberries & Bananas
• 2 whole wheat fig cookies
• Organic Chocolate Milk

I'm also loving the adorable Dollar Tree napkins I picked up for this month! Monkey has actually enjoyed the napkins being packed in the lunch. Last year I never packed napkins and apparently there were several times she could have used one. I have contemplated making my own fabric napkins in different themed fabrics so that we're not wasting so much...but I'm not sure where to start on that... Not sure what fabric would be best to use...and furthermore how many I would actually need to include a napkin everyday! Anyone that has insight on this I would definitely appreciate some tips! I don't want to buy already made napkins, I'd like to make them myself. Thanks. 

Happy Packing!! 

Edible skewers!

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So, it's finally Friday! Hooray. Week one of Kindergarten will be over today! We usually like to do a treat day once a week and well, today seemed like a good day for it. She has been super positive all week and has really taken to the new routine in general! She even thanked me for packing her good lunches which felt like such an epic win! This week we also participated in a Link-up party with Bentos on the Bayou. There's a link-up button at the bottom that you can go check out all the great 15 minutes or less lunches! 

Haha, okay here's the lunch with all the closed up containers. Teased all my Facebook readers with this one as a ''sneak peek'' for today's lunch. I'm glad you all had a good sense of humor about it! Also it was a good excuse to show the cutie ladybug container. :P 

IN THIS LUNCH: 

• Turkey/Swiss Roll-Ups (with pretzel skewers),
• Ants on a log (made with sunflower butter and raisins), 
• A sweet pepper w/ a little cream cheese (this is a new food for Monkey), 
• Orange segments and;
• Tapioca Pudding (for treat day). 

So, I'm still getting used to new containers. We tried several containers to figure out the best way to configure all the items. This seemed to be the best way, we're still going to be doing some trial and error for a bit here while we get used to using new containers. I also love the idea of using the pretzel rods as edible skewers. I would have liked to use less containers overall, but it worked out in general I think. 

Here's her lunch in the box with OPEN lids. Haha. Here you can see her mini juice box w/ 100% juice box. We pick up 4 packs of these little guys at the Dollar Tree. I'm really impressed sometimes by the products that they pick up there and have available. Sure we could get he juice boxes full of high fructose corn syrup, but on the same aisle they have these gems! Woot. 

Here's the link for the link-up party! 

Happy Packing!

First Day of School!

001 - Designer Monkey

For the first day of school I have a small tradition. I like to let Monkey decide what she will be having for lunch. It sounds small but I like to give her the chance to make her own choices (once in a while :-P). I feel like on the first day it gives her a sense of comfort to know what is coming at lunch, when everything else is so new and different. So, the lunch for the first day was completed selected by Monkey. Here it is, our first  Monkey Munchables lunch (so long to our old blogging name and home). 

IN THIS LUNCH: 

• Turkey/Swiss Puzzle Sandwich on Dave's Killer 21 Grain Bread
• a mix of sunburst and grape tomatoes
• peas (albeit some overcooked!) and; 
• a mix of bananas with orange segments. 

Please forgive the terrible lighting, my kitchen light hates me! Anyway here is her designer Monkey masterpiece. I was actually rather pleased with her food choices! For those that follow my blog and my facebook you all know that Monkey's birthday was last Friday, her birthday party (a gigantic hello kitty bash) was today. She was rather disappointed that she wouldn't be having school on her birthday, so I said, "what the heck," and tossed her a Happy Birthday Pick that I found at the Dollar Tree. I think the thing that surprised me most in this lunch was when she specifically asked for the orange/banana mix. Seemed very random but I had no problem running with it. I just hope the juice from the oranges helps keep the bananas from getting too yucky by lunch (I'll check on them in the morning). These are of course our new Lunch Blox containers that I have been so ecstatic to try! 

For those that are wondering here is how her lunch fit in her box. She is having a Horizon Organic Chocolate milk (also her choosing) and up at the top there is a fork wrapped inside a leftover napkin from her Hello Kitty party today! It's also hard to see because of glare but the lid on the peas actually has a Lisa Frank sticker (I found a pack of them at the Dollar Tree as well!). 

Here is the front of her new lunchbox that she got so excited about when she opened it at her birthday party. I was worried. It wasn't the one she had shown interest in and it wasn't Hello Kitty...so I got concerned that poor Barbie wasn't gonna fly. But, she squealed with delight and hugged it to her chest, so I guess it worked out okay! 

Hope you all enjoyed our first Monkey Munchable! 

Happy Packing!