Happy Thanksgiving

I will be taking a short break to spend the holiday with my family. No one says Have a Happy Thanksgiving better than Charlie Brown. So from my family to yours have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Rainbow Turkey

Morning! Boy is it cold and rainy here in Virginia! Days like this are surely meant for napping. It would be nice to catch some zzzzzzzzzz's before the kiddos go on Thanksgiving break. lol Today I  mad a super cute turkey sandwich. Turkey bread with no turkey filling. We will save the turkey for Thursday. My friend who I love and adore has been looking for Bento supplies for me in the great state of Indiana. She has access to lots of thrift stores and indoor flea markets. So she is on a thrifty Bento hunt! That's how I roll. I get as much second hand as possible. Cookie cutters and molds are a favorite find. I am a firm believer in reduce, reuse and recycle. So she sent me a care package last week with her finds. In it was this neat turkey press. It also had some vintage presses and lots of Christmas finds. Jell-O molds were in there too. Woo hoo! Score! I will attempting egg molds in those babies. So I must give a shout to Ms. Pam Morris. You are the best! Here's todays lunch.

In the girls lunch. Turkey pressed sammies with either Nutella or P.B. Homemade chocolate grahams shaped like acorns and leaves. Homemade cheese crackers, apple slices, sweet peppers, sugar snap peas and carrots. This lunch is for the littlest girl. The oldest had the same but only took sugar snap peas. The middle had the same but we swapped out the grahams for P.B. & J. trail mix.

For my picky boy I packed. Homemade pretzel bites & hot dogs. Homemade chocolate grahams, P.B.&J. trail mix, yogurt and apple slices.

 

Pretzel Bites For One!

Hey there everyone! I sure hope that you all had a wonderful weekend! Mine was busy! This time of year always is, Isn't it? The kids are all in a play at church for Christmas so our weekend started off with that. Yesterday my daughter, niece and I cooked a good part of the day. We made all kinds of yummy goodies. We decided to try our hand at homemade pretzel bites! Can you say YUMMY? They were awesome. The first tray from the oven was gone in 2 minutes flat! We made three batches and used 5 lbs. of flour. They were really worth the time and effort. I had seen on a friends blog a few months ago where she had made them for her family. A special thanks to Christine from My Epicurean Adventures for the idea. We also made homemade cheese crackers and chocolate graham crackers.
Moving on from the cooking and back to lunch. I got new lunch boxes! They are so darn neat. They are the Lunch Blox Kids boxes from Rubbermaid. They are quite nifty. I bought one for the boy and one for the girls to share. We are trying them out today. I wasn't going to pack lunch today then my 10 year old wanted to take lunch at the last minute. I threw this lunch together in about 5 minutes.

She had homemade pretzel bites. Don't they look yummy? Sugar snap peas, apples, homemade cheese crackers shaped like leaves, and cheese sauce for dipping.

These are  the two lunches boxes I bought. They are cute. They lock into the ice pack. Perfect! They also fit into a rectangular shaped lunch box. I love the colors too. So bright!

 

That's lunch for today. Have a wonderful Monday!

Fun Sandwiches

Good morning all! Before we head into todays lunch I want to talk a little bit about why I became a Bento lunch packer and decided to chronicle all of my kids lunches. I have four very different kids here at our house. Some are picky eaters, some are very picky eaters(my son) and some are willing to try new things. In July of this year I started doing some research on Pinterest about kids lunches in preparation for the new school year . I have always packed lunch for my kids but they just were not always so pretty like the ones I do now. I wanted to find a way to pack enough choices and variety without overloading the kids. I wanted to find a way to get them to try new things. That is when I found all the lovely well balanced lunches and discovered the world of Bento. I started reading all the blogs I could find and pinned enormous quantities of lunch ideas. I made list. I showed the kids pictures and got their input on what I wanted to do. The response was great. They loved the idea of making themed lunches. So a Bento lunch maker was born. And let me tell you something. My girls have tried so many new raw veggies and liked them. Even requested them. I am one happy mama and it just goes to show you offering new foods to your kids does work! You can see how our lunches are evolving by pictures of my earlier post to pictures of our lunches now. I owe it all to my wonderful Bento friends! I have some of their blogs listed at the sides of my post. Check them out. Now I would love to share with you our fun sandwich day!

This is a lunch for my fifth grader. She had a heart shaped ham sandwich. Homemade cheese cracker stars. Cucumber hearts, carrot sticks, celery and a Clementine orange. I used a heart shaped silicone cup to go with the sandwich and added some cute cupcake food picks that I made myself. Nothing says I love you like a lunch filled with hearts.

 This is a lunch for my third grader. She is a bit on the adventurous side and loves animals! She had a rino ham sandwich. Sugar snap peas with a cute little cheese crocodile. Sweet pepper rings, grapes, and cucumbers with elephants and giraffes cut into them. She also had jungle iced animal cookies. I used a mini set of Noah's Ark cookie cutters to do the cucumbers. A rino cookie cutter & crocodile cookie cutter to make the sandwich and cheese cut outs. Those came in a nesting set of three and included a huge elephant as well. She was so happy about the sandwich and the cheese!

My other third grader took a dinosaur pepperoni sandwich. He had two clementine oranges. Pretzels, wheat thins and jungle cookies. I used a dinosaur sandwich cutter for this one. This lunch only took 5 minutes to prepare. You can't beat that for time management! A special thanks goes to my friend Grace over at Eats Amazing for reminding me I had this sandwich cutter. She has a lovely post up about Dinovember. You should head over and check it out.

 

So glad you stopped by today and would love for you to leave a comment. Have a great Thursday!

Pumpkin Bread

Good morning all! I trust you are all having an excellent day. I have to say that today I am not on my A game. My hubby bought me a lovely little Nikon camera last year. I love my little camera. Now that being said I am not the best at keeping up with parts to things. I always say I am going to put this here so I don't lose it and end up losing it anyway. lol So I lost my charger cord! I am having to use my moms camera which is not as precise as mine. It doesn't take as good of quality pictures as mine. So everyone bear with me. I will find it but until then I am using moms.
In todays lunch I was able to capture the lunch for all three girls. Here is todays lunch!

The girls had pumpkin bread, homemade cheese crackers, apples & grapes, carrots, sugar snap peas, cucumbers, and sweet peppers. I made the pumpkin bread ahead of time and popped it in the freezer. That way I have it when they want it. I will have to replenish my stock soon because these kiddos love pumpkin bread.
The boy took pumpkin bread, pretzels, apples & grapes and a cup of peanut butter to dip the pretzels and fruit in.
Soon I will be doing my Christmas cookies and plan to share them and the recipes with you. I must sign off for now. The house is filled with Christmas music and I must clean and start decorating. I adore Christmas. It is my favorite time of year. Food, Family and making memories is my motto!

Two Duckies In a Pond

Hello there. Todays lunch was incredibly cute. At least I think so. lol The youngest girl had two little duckies  in here box today. The veggies set the scene for me in this one. Take a gander at todays lunch.

 She had two ham sandwiches shaped like little ducks. A ham skewer on one of my handmade turtle food picks. A veggie shore covered with carrots, sweet bell pepper slices, sugar snap peas and flower shaped cucumbers. She also had grapes, homemade graham crackers and homemade cheese crackers shaped like little goldfish.

 The second oldest girl took the Goodbyn today. She had ham skewers. Homemade cheese crackers, homemade graham crackers, grapes, peppers, cucumber flowers, sugar snap peas and carrots.

The boy took leftover spaghetti. Grapes and an orange. He also had homemade graham crackers.

The oldest took the same as the little girls with the exception of her having hazel nut spread sammies instead of ham.

Pocket Sammies and More

Hello there all! I trust you all had a great weekend. It didn't last long enough for me. Mondays are the days I just want to crawl back under the covers. Oh well can't do that. Too much to do. Today was another Meatless Monday. I try to give the kiddos a meat free lunch on Mondays. We are not vegetarian or vegans here but I think it is a nice change to have a meat free meal. I do it for lunch because my hubby would never stand for dinner this way. He is a meat and potatoes kind of guy. So here is our meat free lunch!

 The girls all had little pocket sammies. One had peanut butter the other two had hazelnut spread. To make the sammie I spread a piece of bread with the nut butter, folded it over then used a big cookie cutter to press the sammie together and cut. The two younger girls had sweet peppers, sugar snap peas, celery, carrots and grapes. The oldest girl had sweet peppers and sugar snap peas. She also had grapes. They also had homemade cheese crackers and homemade pumpkin bread doughnut holes. I used pumpkin bread mix to make the doughnut holes and baked them in my cake pop pan.

The boy took peanut butter pretzel sandwiches, two small clementine oranges, grapes, homemade graham crackers, and pumpkin doughnut holes.

Thanks for stopping by and check out the rest of the post for more lunches.  The recipe for the homemade cheese crackers can be found at my friend Christine's sight www.myepicureanadventures.com. 

A simple lunch!

Good morning all! Sorry I didn't have a post yesterday. I took the pictures yesterday morning only to realize I had no memory card in the camera! Duh..........Oh well. I am back at it today. Tuesday I made some yummy pumpkin doughnuts, doughnut holes and bread. The house smelled absolutely lovely. I used pumpkin bread mix to make all these yummy goodies. You can use your own recipe or the box mix. It doesn't really matter. You get the same results either way. I put all the goodies in baggies and froze them. This way we have goodies for awhile. Without further ado here is todays lunch.

 This lunch is for my oldest girl. She has a ham sandwich on a fresh roll. Cubed pumpkin bread, sugar snap peas, apples and grapes.

 This is lunch for the little ladies. Ham sandwiches on fresh rolls. Cubed pumpkin bread, carrots, sugar snap peas, apple slices and grapes.

This is lunch for the boy. Leftover pizza, cubed pumpkin bread, apple slices and grapes. The boy doesn't like veggies. I usually offer them anyway(even though they always come back home). I keep thinking that one day he will love his veggies.
This was a super simple lunch. No frills today. I love all of my new handmade food picks but sometimes keeping it simple is enough. Especially when you have the beautiful colors of all the fresh veggies and fruit. Have a super Thursday and tune back in tomorrow for Fun Food Friday!

Some Bunny Loves You!

Hello all! It's cold here in Va. It is supposed to snow at some point today and I really hope it does. We love the snow at my house. It totally calls for hot chocolate and anything that calls for hot chocolate is welcome at our house. Yesterday I got some really cute Bento items for a steal and wanted to use them in todays lunch. I decided on making the girlies a bunny lunch. This is what all three girls had today.

They had two bunny shaped ham sandwiches. Bunny grahams & bunny snack mix. Cucumbers, carrots, grapes and pear slices.

The boy had leftover chicken sticks, mixed nuts, cheese its, grapes, an orange and pear slices.

I used a bunny shaped cookie cutter and heart silicone cups. This was so simple and so cute. I know the girls will be thrilled with lunch!
Now head on over to Following In My Shoes and check out all the other awesome bento lunches.

Vegatarian Meals For The Girls!

Hello there! Today is Meatless Monday. The girls took a vegetarian meal today and I must say it looks delicious. The oldest had been requesting an apple sammie and this was the perfect opportunity to make her one. So here are todays meat free lunches.

 

The two younger girls had Apple slices, grapes, carrot sticks, wheat thin crackers, pretzels and peanut butter for dipping. My kids really like foods that can be dipped. This meal was perfect for a Meatless Monday and dip it theme. They are getting their proteins from the all natural peanut butter and have three veggie/fruit options.

Next we have the oldest. Like I said before she had been requesting an apple sammie and was very excited when she found out that was in her lunch for today! She has the apple sammie with peanut butter, carrot sticks, grapes, apple cinnamon rice cakes and pretzels.

To make an apple sammie you just cut the apples across into thick slices then make a hole in the middle. I used a mini acorn cookie cutter for this one. Staying with the fall theme I added some of my handmade food picks.

The boy did not take a vegetarian meal but it was still a yummy lunch! Have a great Monday!

Handmade Food Picks!

Hello there! Happy weekend! I wanted to share a little project I am working on. Homemade food picks. Yes I made them. I am all about doing Bento lunches on a budget. Here in my world money is tight and with the holidays upon us I am trying to keep my Bento obsession on a budget. I made these cute little picks in less than an hour. Many of them are duplicates. I'd say I made about 40 all together. I know they won't last as long as the plastic ones but they make a great addition to my food picks. They will last until I get to place my very first Bento order with my Christmas loot! lol So without further ado I present my homemade food picks.

Aren't they cute? The cost of making these was $4.50. Now that is a deal. I am so excited and can't wait to use them. I just took two foam stickers that were the same and fitted them on the top of a plain food pick. Some of them fit together sticky sides together and the others I put together on top of each other. My mother helped me come up with this idea. I am making more tonight and will keep you updated. Have a great rest of the weekend!

Kids Choice!

Yesterday we didn't have school because it was election day. The kids were all home so I asked them what they wanted in their lunch for today. I was very surprised at the choices they made. They picked healthy foods. Yay!!! So in todays lunch you'll see kids choice!

 

My fifth grader picked salad, celery, carrots, cucumbers and apple slices. She also took pretzels and a mini cup of peanut butter for dipping. She made some awesome choices!

My third grader picked quiche, salad, apple slices, cucumbers, carrots, celery and cheese crackers. She also had a frozen blueberry Greek yogurt.

The boy chose pretzels and peanut butter. Apple slices, oranges, cheese crackers and a frozen blueberry Greek yogurt.

I was thrilled with their choices. The did good and made me one proud mama. Check me out on Facebook Yummy Bites.

Simple lunch!

Hey there all. It's been awhile since I last posted. I have had a house full of sick children. All but one is feeling better today. So lunch is back on for Monday! I made a simple lunch today for the kiddies. It was along week last week and this mama is tired!

In the third graders lunch today. She had a ham sandwich. Pretzels & mini Nilla Wafers. Apples & orange slices. Carrots, cucumbers, and celery. Also she had a salad and water in her Hello Kitty water bottle.

The boy had a simple pirate lunch. Peanut butter sandwiches. Mini Nilla Wafers & pretzels. A couple of carrots, celery, and cucumbers. He isn't a veggie eater. Boo! Apples and orange slices. He also had water in his Star Wars water bottle.

I hope you all have an awesome Monday!