Halloween Lunches!

Halloween

Halloween is here and I don't know about all of you but I am definitely starting to feel the spirit. I've dug out my Halloween lunch decorations, put up our skeleton on the front door, and bought Monkey some window clings to put up (one of her fav things to do at any holiday). I hope you'll enjoy these first few Halloween lunches and that you'll feel free to share your own Halloween lunches! 

One of my favorite things to do at Halloween is draw little faces onto oranges to make them look like pumpkins. It's easy, it's inexpensive, and it really works well for adding some Halloween fun! If you haven't done it before, give it a shot, I bet your kiddos will love it. 

IN THIS LUNCH: 

• Leftover Smoked Turkey
• Snap Pea Crisps
• Cheddar Cheese Cubes
• Jack-O-Orange
• Carrots
• Grapes

I was excited to use this bento box again! I haven't gotten to use it much so I am striving to use it more. I really love it, it just packs a lot of food! Yes, I have some inedible decorations in this box, but my daughter is old enough to know to just enjoy them and leave them in the box till the end of the day. Of course keep in mind your child's age and maturity when using inedible decorations.

IN THIS LUNCH:

• Mixed Greens Salad w/ Balsamic Vinaigrette (and tomatoes)
• Cheddar Cheese Skull & Crossbones (used a cookie cutter) 
• Skewers: Nitrate free Salami, Marinated Mozzarella, and Tomato half (Got Halloween Skewers at Dollar Tree)
• Sliced Plum (Little spider I got it from Dollar Tree in a bag of mixed Halloween Decorations)

This is a new box and the first time I have used it. I LOVE it. It's a Sistema sandwich box with a divided sides. I picked up the trick-or-treat napkins, the bat picks, and the bat rings from Dollar Tree. I have a sandwich press I used to make the bat pocket sandwich. Again take into consideration age and maturity before using inedible decoration.

IN THIS LUNCH: 

• Jam sandwich
• Grapes
• String Cheese 
• Nitrate free Salami
• Salad w/ Balsamic Vinaigrette

Here are some old lunches of mine for more Halloween inspiration.

IN THIS LUNCH: Halloween Lunchable

• Crackers, Turkey Pepperoni, Pumpkin Shaped Cheese
• Carrots
• Cottage Cheese (With Gummy Spider)
• "Witches Brew" (Pumpkin Egg Nog w/ a little food Coloring)

IN THIS LUNCH:

• Haunted House Sandwich
• Cheese Ghost
• Eerie Carrot Chip Clouds
• Blood Moon (Babybel)
• Salad Grass
• Apple Starry Sky
• Chocolate Chip Chobani Champions yogurt w/ little food coloring and Halloween sprinkles

IN THIS LUNCH: 

• Ghost Sandwich (Used a cookie cutter and put the cheese on top instead of inside)
• Tomatoes
• Frozen Fruit
• Sweet Potato Chips

Easy ways to spookify lunches

  Fun Halloween sprinkles on yogurt

Candy Corn Parfait

Vanilla Yogurt

Mandarin Orange Slices

Peach Segments

You can also use cupcake picks, rings, Halloween themed baggies (I get them at Dollar Tree), Cookie Cutters, or use the traditional colors, I'll use candy occasionally like the gummy spiders, chocolate eyeballs, etc.. Hope these helped get you into the Halloween spirit! 

Happy Packing!

Lunch Round Up 111-115 & Grub for the Hub

111 

IN THIS LUNCH: 

• Sandwich Skewers
• Salad w/ Balsamic Vinaigrette
• Raisins
• Pumpkin Fluff (Extra Creamy Cool Whip, Pumpkin Puree, and Pumpkin Spice) 

113

IN THIS LUNCH: 

• Carrots/Tomatoes w/ hummas
• Small salad w/ taco dressing
• Pretzel skewers that have uncured salami, colby jack and swiss cheese
• Pita Pieces

114

IN THIS LUNCH: 

• Leftover Vegetarian Pizza 
• Carrots
• Tomatoes
• Pumpkin Seeds
• Almond Milk

115

IN THIS LUNCH: "Make your own Burritos"

• Tortillas
• Tomatoes
• Pepper Rings
• Cucumbers
• Mix of beans, meat, olives, rotel, and sour cream

Grub for the Hub

IN THIS LUNCH: 

• Biscuit
• Tillamook Marionberry Greek Yogurt
• Banana Chips
• Hardboiled egg
• Tillamoo Cheese
• Breakfast sausage. 
• Not Pictured (snacks for work): Cheese, Extra Biscuit, and a LaraBar

Grub for the Hub

IN THIS LUNCH: 

• Leftover Vegetarian Pizza
• Cucumbers 
• Dried Cranberries & Pumpkin Seeds
• Larabar
• String Cheese

Happy Packing!

108 & Grub for the Hub

108

Monkey has been very enthusiastic about her lunches lately and now that I am making lunches for Dad she's pretty interested in those too. The sad part, we're getting to the end of the month so we are starting to scrape the bottom of the barrel on lunch fixins. Usually I plan out lunches for the whole month, but this month with her birthday party well, things went a bit off course and I never got around to it! But, hopefully these lunches will be up to par.

IN THIS LUNCH: 

• Apple Slices
• Mini Ravioli (tomato sauce in green container)
• Halved Tomatoes
• Turkey Pepperoni
• String Cheese (cut into rounds)

Initially, I wanted these to be skewers...but the string cheeses weren't cooperating! So I gave up and she got all the pieces I had ready for the skewers. Hooray for lunch fails! 

Grub for the Hub

So my bento blog friends all helped me come up with this segment name and my husband liked it too, so all the posts with lunches for my husband will have the Grub for the Hub title. :) I hope this will make finding them easier when you search. 

IN THIS LUNCH:

• Garlic Hummas
• Carrots & Pepper Strips
• Parmesan Cous Cous
• Chicken Tenderloins

Color wise this lunch IS a bit drab, but it's full of flavor and I think he'll enjoy it. He LOVES chicken so that's always an easy go to when thinking about what to cook for him. 

Happy Packing!

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Monkey has been enjoying her first week back at school and I'm finding the quiet extremely odd! I'm glad she is reconnecting with friends and getting back on a schedule. Today for lunch I wanted to offer her some of her favorite foods

IN THIS LUNCH

• Pretzel Thins
• Rolled Turkey Lunch Meat
• Baby Carrots
• Tomato Slices
• Mozzarella Slices
• Watermelon Chunks

What are your kids favorite foods?

Happy Packing!

New School Year!! 2014-2015

It's that time. The time when we all scurry to the office supply store and stock up on pencils, paper, fat line markers, and watercolors. As of now, Monkey is tucked into bed, all of her school items labeled with her name, her outfit for tomorrow all stacked together, and her lunch is put together and waiting in the fridge to be lovingly tucked in her lunchbox in the morning.

At which point I'll probably still be in my pajamas, hair not brushed, with a squirmy baby on my hip and a caffeinated beverage in my hand not certain if I remembered to actually put an ice pack in the box with her lunch or not. Those perfectly polished moms hopping out of their mini vans and SUVs that will undoubtedly give me the evil eye can stuff it! I'll just be happy my darn shoes match (this is a problem that happens more often than I'd like to admit).

I don't know about you but with each coming school year I start worrying over what I'm going to be packing for Monkey! This will be my third year packing her lunch and we both really enjoy it. I also get the satisfaction of knowing what she's eating and she gets the satisfaction of bragging (she tells me she does this often. I should discourage it, but I just can't bring myself to haha).

This year I decided to use the school menu for inspiration! Yes, I love Pinterest and Facebook but I also know that Monkey wants to be like her friends. The older she gets the more this will probably become my reality. So, I sat down with the school lunch calender with pen in hand and went to work circling the items that I figured I could make myself. Her first day of school lunch could have been the pencil shaped sandwich I was planning to commemorate her first day of first grade, but it's not.

According to the school calender the kids will be having Teriyaki Chicken and Brown Rice. Well, from what I remember of school food, it'll be Chicken-like product and moist cardboard. But, I know that sometimes, a similar lunch just makes Monkey feel like she's like everyone else. So, I obliged. To make life easy on myself we had Rice Bowls for dinner and I just made a little extra so we could put her lunch into her box while we plated dinner.

LUNCH PACKING TIP: Anytime you can just make extra dinner and put a portion in the box while plating, do this! It saves time and effort and works out really well most of the time!

IN THIS LUNCH

• Rice Balls
• Veggie Mix - Peas, Carrots, and Zucchini (Monkey suggested we add bell peppers in the future). 
• Teriyaki Chicken
• Pineapple Chunks
• Chocolate Almond Milk (not pictured)

So tomorrow for school this is what my almost seven year old will be having for lunch. She doesn't know it yet, but her father and I are sneaking a brownie into her lunch too as a first day of school surprise! :) 

What are you all packing? 

Happy Packing! 

2014 -- 029

Feeling Green

Literally, last night I woke up feeling really ill. I really hope that little miss hasn't decided to bring morning sickness back in the last few weeks of her gestation! Subsequently, I overslept a little...which also means, lunch got a bit thrown together. Today I was really gravitating towards green items and fruit. I had several times I would pick up something to include and went, ''no not another fruit!" and would put it back. She almost had about 5 different fruits in her lunch today (not counting her drink). Also, I apologize for the terrible glare and picture quality. It was a one snap on the kitchen table sort of day!

IN THIS LUNCH: 

• Hello Kitty Thermos is filled with a Mango Fruit Smoothie, 
• Cottage Cheese w/ Pepper, 
• Pretzels, 
• Almonds, 
• Cucumbers, 
• String Cheese and;
• Kiwi

So this is one of those ''look, grab, pack'' lunches! It is featuring my new triangle silicon cups which I got for Valentine's Day. Oh yes, my hubby knows me. BENTO SUPPLIES! Loving them. Monkey has also been asking for a smoothie for quite some time and I never get around to it. Partially because I don't like taking the time to make smoothies and also because the thermos takes up so much of the box! She will be pleasantly surprised though! 

Happy Packing!

Treat Day!

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We are still going through training week and I am finding that I am super tired and definitely needing to make a trip to the store! So today we have another improvised lunch featuring whatever I could find in my pantry and fridge. I think in general it came out alright!! It also features a monkey made treat for treat day! 

IN THIS LUNCH:

• Mini Bagel Sandwich
• Mixed Greens Salad w/ tomatoes & Pomegranate Blueberry Vinaigrette
• Unsweetened Applesauce with Cinnamon
• Small piece of cake (made by monkey!!)
• Kefir Smoothie

This box came home almost empty! There was just a little bit of salad left after school and you know, I am okay with that. She at a good 85% of her salad. She was thrilled to see that her treat had made it into a box. Overall this is a lunch I would even pack for myself! I think it looks and sounds delicious.

This lunch is part of the ''What's for Lunch Wednesday" Link up. Be sure to check out all the fabulous lunches by clicking the button below.

What are your favorite treats to toss into a box? 

Happy Packing!

Spookable

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So today I started training at a new job as well as entered week 2 of my college classes. Needless to say it has been a super busy time in my house! I actually forgot (I know, I can't believe it either), to make her lunch the night before so we were throwing something together this morning. Monkey was happy to help by choosing the picks she wanted to use! 

IN THIS LUNCH: 

• Chobani Champions Yogurt Tube (Dragon fruit flavor)
• Crackers
• Turkey & Swiss Roll Ups
• Baby Carrots
• A banana
• Horizon Organic 1% Milk 

Monkey decided she'd like a different pick for each roll up. I totally didn't mind! So we got a cute little Frankenstein, a skull, a ghost, and bat. Totally fun and all picked up from the Dollar Tree. I think all my bases were still covered for food groups, but I didn't like how rushed and hectic packing in the morning feels. Just not fun. I'll be attempting to get that lunch packed the night before. 

Happy Packing!

SPECIAL POST: Gluten-Free/Dairy Free Lunches.

Gluten Free & Dairy Free Lunches

Graphic by: Feeling a Little Lunchy

I consider myself pretty lucky to have a child that has no known allergies. I see many bloggers have children with very serious food allergies and have to be very aware what they are packing and hope that their allergies are taken seriously when they go to school and other places. I'll admit I was pretty ignorant overall to what these types of diets would look like and what planning lunches for food allergies would be like. When a friend of mine on Facebook commented, “You wanna make my lunches???” While I won't be making her lunch after a brief chat with her I learned something new about her, she has allergies to gluten and dairy! While I can't be certain if these lunches would be anything she'd love to pack, I wanted to learn a little more about these allergies and do an exercise of planning out lunches for Monkey as if she had these allergies.

First I decided to learn about Gluten. What IS Gluten? According to WebMD, “Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley, and rye. Gluten also shows up in many whole grain foods related to wheat, including bulgur, farro, kamut, spelt, and triticale (a hybrid of wheat and rye). Some celiac disease experts warn patients to steer clear of oats, as well.” Phew! That was a lot and at first seemed a bit daunting. I make a real effort to pack my daughter whole wheat breads and other whole wheat options as much as possible! So it took me a little poking around to figure out what I COULD pack. According to the Mayo Clinic Amaranth, Arrowroot, Buckwheat, Corn/Cornmeal, Flax, Gluten Free Flours (rice, soy, corn, potato, bean), Hominy (corn), Millet, Quinoa, Rice, Sorghum, Soy, Tapioca, and Teff are all A-Ok for consumption! This helps!

Then I had to consider the Dairy-Free option. This was also really hard for me. I pack a lot of cheeses, yogurt, milk based smoothies, Kefir, and even pudding on occasion! Since we already drink Almond Milk at home, packing a drink alternative for her individual organic milks wouldn't be any trouble at all . While my grocery store seems to not always have the individual almond milks in stock, I can easily pour some into her Funtainer or another container and pack it. So here is what a week of Gluten Free Dairy Free lunches would look like from Monkey Munchables!

Monday: GF Pumpkin Pancakes¹ w/ syrup, Orange Segments, and coconut milk yogurt w/ 100% Juice Pouch

Tuesday: Corn Tortilla Chips, Black Bean Salad², Leftover chicken or turkey, Mango w/ Almond Milk

Wednesday: Rice Pasta w/ Garlic & Oil sauce³ w/ wilted spinach and salad shrimp. Small Side Salad w/ dressing. 100% Juice Pouch

Thursday: Hummas w/ baby carrots, celery, broccoli. Hard Boiled Egg, Apple Slices, & Popcorn w/ Almond Milk

Friday: ''Treat Day'' Bacon/Lettuce/Turkey Meat Roll Ups, Peas/Carrots Applesauce w/ cinnamon Peach Raspberry Smoothie

1. Pumpkin Pancake Recipe available at: http://childhood101.com/2013/07/pumpkin-pikelets-recipe-gluten-dairy-free/ [Uses

2. Black Bean Salad: Corn, Black Beans, Cut Tomatoes, Avocado, Parsley, Lime Juice.

3. Garlic & Oil Sauce: http://www.rachaelraymag.com/recipes/rachael-ray-magazine-recipe-search/dinner-recipes/garlic-and-oil-sauce [Cook your favorite pasta, make the sauce, wilt some spinach down, can toss in rinsed salad shrimp (very small and fairly inexpensive). Mix altogether and put into a thermos to keep warm].

4. Peach Raspberry Smoothie: http://www.bluediamond.com/applications/recipes/?theView=recipeDetail&recipeid=99

OTHER GREAT IDEAS:

Paleo Taco Salad: http://www.ourpaleolife.com/2013/09/paleo-taco-salad/

MOMables Cinnamon Raisin Bread: http://www.momables.com/allergy-friendly-cinnamon-raisin-bread/

BBQ Chicken Pizza (sounds like great leftover idea to me): http://udisglutenfree.com/recipes/gluten-free-smoked-bbq-chicken-pizza/

Granola Bars: http://thecrohnsjourneyfoundation.org/recipes/chocolate-chip-chewy-bars-gluten-free-dairy-free/

Strawberry Banana Bite Cookies: http://www.asweetsimplelife.com/home/2012/1/12/strawberry-banana-bites.html

Use mushroom tops to make pizza! Can use soy cheese or even go cheeseless!

More Recipe Ideas:

I found that a lot of Paleo Recipes are very friendly for gluten free dairy free diets! Since the Paleo diet eliminates those foods anyway. Try google or pinterest ''Paleo Recipes'' and you'll be amazed how many delicious fantastic ideas you can find.

Paleo Blog: http://nomnompaleo.com/

ALLERGY FRIENDLY BLOGS:

Below there are some common food allergies so you can easily find and locate blogs that might write about your specific allergy.

Dye-Free:

Pink 'N Punchy Lunches - http://pinknpunchy.blogspot.com/

Veggie-Bento - http://www.veggie-bento.com/

Mamabelly's Lunches With Love -http://mamabelly-luncheswithlove.blogspot.com/

Biting the Hand That Feeds You - http://bitingmyhand.blogspot.com/search/label/dye-free

Organized Bites - http://OrganizedBites.com

Peanut-Free:

Keeley McGuire Blog - http://www.keeleymcguire.com

Creative Food - http://www.creativefunfood.com

Bentos on the Bayou - http://bentosonthebayou.blogspot.com/

Chaos and Confections - http://chaosandconfections.blogspot.com/

Tree Nut Free:

Keeley McGuire Blog - http://www.keeleymcguire.com

Bentos on the Bayou - http://bentosonthebayou.blogspot.com/

Chaos and Confections - http://chaosandconfections.blogspot.com/

Creative Food - http://www.creativefunfood.com

Gluten Free:

Keeley McGuire Blog - http://www.keeleymcguire.com

Momma Says http://mommasays.net/tag/gluten-free/

Biting the Hand That Feeds You - http://bitingmyhand.blogspot.com/search/label/gluten-free

Beneficial Bento - http://beneficial-bento.blogspot.com/

Bentos on the Bayou - http://www.bentosonthebayou.com/search/label/Gluten%20Free

Chaos and Confections - http://chaosandconfections.blogspot.com/search/label/gluten%20free

Dairy Free:

Wendolonia - http://wendolonia.com/bentoboxgallery/tag/160/dairy-free

Keeley McGuire Blog - http://keeleymcguire.blogspot.com/search/label/dairy%20free

Bentos on the Bayou - http://www.bentosonthebayou.com/search/label/Dairy-free

Soy-Free:

Chaos and Confections - http://chaosandconfections.blogspot.com/search/label/soy%20free

Egg-Free:

Keeley McGuire Blog http://keeleymcguire.blogspot.com/search/label/egg%20free