Yumbox Tapas Review!

Hey, hey everyone! Back to school season is in full swing around here. Today I am going to tell you all about the new Tapas box from Yumbox! You are in for a treat and I think you're gonna like them!

This is a lunch for my mom for work. She has ham and provolone on wheat, carrots, red pepper hummus, trail mix, and an orange.

If you know anything about Yumboxes you know that these are one of the most awesome boxes on the planet. Here are the FACTS about the Tapas Yumbox.

-All materials are food-safe, BPA-Free, Phthalates-free and are CPSIA and FDA compliant.
-Yumbox Tapas dimensions: 9.5 (l) x 6.9 (w) x 1.8 (h) inches and weighs 1 lb 6 oz.
-5 and 4 compartment tray is a larger Yumbox size for pre-teens, teens and adults. Total volume: 4.2 cups.
 Now let us get to the pros of the box!

- Yumboxes are leak-proof! Say what? Yes! They are leak-proof!
- They are compact and fit most lunch bags.
- They are perfect for kids, teens, and adults.
- They have sections. Sections! The Tapas comes in 5 and 4 compartment boxes.
- They are cute! That's a pro right?
- These babies are sturdy. I'm a mom of four so sturdy is in my top five requirements for a lunchbox.
- They are top rack dishwasher safe although I don't wash them this way. I don't have a dishwasher so we wash ours by hand. Is it shocking that we don't have a dishwasher?

Now let us get to the cons.

- They aren't microwave safe.

That's it. I can not think of another thing to say about them that is a con. Actually them not being microwave safe isn't a big deal in my book. My kids don't have access to a microwave at school so they don't need microwave safe containers for packed lunches.

There you have it! This is what I think of the new Tapas Yumbox!

Get yours here:





( This post contains affiliate links. This review is my opinion. I was not paid for this review.)

May Flowers!

Spring is here and summer is near. For us here in Virginia spring brought a whirlwind of yellow haze. If you live here you know exactly what I mean. The month long period where everything you own is covered in a dusting of pollen, the month long period where you feel the need to shower frequently and you keep the allergy meds handy at all times. But now May is here. April has left us, along with it the pollen is finally gone. It's a brand new month. A month full of wonderful sunshine and evening thunderstorms. The prelude to what awaits us around the corner for summer vacation.

In todays lunch I channeled spring and made these cute flowery lunches.

 
So cute! Both lunches are very similar. Here's what is in the lunchbox.

Ham flower swirl sandwich (The stem is made from celery), grapes, oranges, carrots, celery, ranch for dipping, and a small bag a Garden Salsa Sunchips (not shown).

 Ham flower swirl sandwich, oranges, grapes, carrots, celery, hummus for dipping, and chips (not shown).
 How's that for a cute and simple spring lunch? You can find the cute food picks by clicking on the link in the right hand corner of this blog to All Things For Sale. It's my favorite bento store, ever! You can find these Yumbox lunchboxes and cute silicone cups by clicking the links below.

*This post contains affiliate links.

Quick and Easy Lunch!

Hello Tuesday! Tuesday is so much better than Monday because we are one day closer to Friday! School is almost over and I am finding myself looking forward to Fridays and looking forward to summer vacation even more too. I love weekends and summer vacation because there is no schedule to keep and it just feels so freeing. The kids sleep in now that they are older and I can't think of anything better than getting up later and having quiet time. Plus there is that whole thing called rushing to get three kids to school on time. I so need a break from that one!

Seeing as summer vacation isn't here yet and the kids need lunch I will get on with it! Here's what is in the lunchboxes today. Both are pretty similar and both were super quick to pull together.

The first kiddo has a ham sandwich, carrots, cucumbers. grapes, clementine orange slices, Nilla Wafers, a side of ranch, and a small bag of Sunchips.

The second kiddo has a ham sandwich, carrots, sweet peppers, cucumbers, grapes, clementine slices, Nilla Wafers, and a small bag of BBQ chips.

These lunches are so easy to throw together and are perfect for adults too. Plus Yumbox lunchboxes make putting lunch together a snap too. You can get yours by clicking on the links below. If you are looking for cute food picks like the ones I use click on the link in the upper right corner of this blog to go to All Things For Sale!

*This post may have affiliate links.

This Weeks Plans!

 Hello, It's Monday and this week I have a plan! Well I usually have a plan for the week but I thought you would all like to see how I decorate my pretty planner. Well, One of my planners. I have three!!! Yes, I said three! They all serve different purposes and get me through my days so that I don't forget to keep up with everything. This Big Happy Planner is the planner I use to keep track of my housework, blogging, and projects. This week I decorated it with a set of free printable stickers from Victoria Thatcher. She creates the cutest stickers! Be sure to pop on over and see for yourself. This is what my week looks like before the pen.

I of course filled it in last night to prepare for the week ahead. I have actually gotten ahead of the game and knocked out quite a few of my task already. Next week I will update you all on how it looks when the work week is done and it's all filled in. In the meantime head over to Victoria Thatcher and check out her free printables. Then head over to the links in the post and get your Happy Planner! Just click on the picture!

Dinner Time!

Hello there! I am back at it today with one of the easiest dinners you will ever make! This is a family favorite and Oh. My. Goodness. It is tasty! I usually make this when I don't really feel like cooking or when we have something going on in the evening and I won't have time to cook. Today was the first and it was on the menu plan for today too.

Easy Crockpot Chicken Fajitas

This is so easy to make. There are just a few steps! Put a bag of frozen chicken breast and a pack of fajita seasoning. I used McCormick's organic fajita seasoning. Then just turn the crockpot on high for two hours, turn the temp down to low for three additional hours. Or if you are started the crockpot before work just cook on low for 6-8 hours. I cooked peppers and onions separately but you can put them in the crockpot if you like. I didn't because I live with crazy folks who don't like peppers and onions. I know, right? Crazy! Hahaha!!! I also serve them up on flour tortillas with cheddar cheese.

But wait. There's more! This chicken is not only good for fajitas it's a great make ahead chicken for nachos and quesadillas. You can cook a big batch and have lunches all week or have fajitas one day and nachos another. You can also freeze it in big batches or in single servings. This is one of the easiest meals you will ever make and the possibilities are endless! Thanks for stopping by, I'll see you next time!             

Crockpot                                                                                                            

Hello!

• Hello everyone! It has been a long time since I did a post! I know, I know. You are wondering where I have been! Ha ha ha.

Well it's a long story so I will just give you all a shorter version! Last August I went back to work part-time. Right before Christmas I decided it wasn't going to work out so I quit. Fast forward to February. My youngest daughter had been having a lot of trouble since she went to middle school. We decided it wasn't just the average adjusting to middle school thing so we took her to a doctor to be tested for ADHD. Guess what? She really does have ADHD. She was tested by two doctors and the school psychologist. So we are confident in her diagnosis. She also suffers from anxiety which we already knew but it was nice to hear someone confirm our suspicions. Now Fast forward to April, now, the present time. Two IEP meetings later with the school and we have a plan! Yay! It has been a lot of work over the last few months and it pretty much consumed me.                                                  

Now I am back and I am ready to change some things around here. I started this blog three years ago when I started making cute lunches and it was great but my family has grown and changed so much. I have grown and changed. I have so many interest and so many things to offer. Here's the plan! I will still do lunch from time to time, cute food, not so cute food, and all that jazz. I will be adding a lot to this blog. Our lives, fitness journey, our progress with ADHD, our struggles with ADHD. I want to show you all my crafty side as well. How I use my five Mambi Happy Planners to control the chaos, yes I said five. Hehehe.....Just basically all the ins and outs of being us! Cleaning tips, organization tips and so much more. It should be loads of fun. See what I did there? Is she talking about really have fun or is she talking about laundry? You'll just have to stick around to figure it out!

Lot's of love to all of you. I look forward to bringing my blog up to date with the real world of Yummy Bites by Amy.

Mini Quesadillas!

Today I decided to get a little creative and make the girls quesadillas. I decided to see what they would look like with a little design in them. It's very light but each kiddo has a whale and an octopus quesadilla in their EasyLunchboxes.

  The middle girl has three mini cheese quesadillas, carrots, cucumbers, grapes, oranges, pretzels, and ranch dressing in the mini-dipper container.

The youngest girl has three mini cheese quesadillas, grapes, black berries, strawberries, cucumbers, peppers, carrots, yogurt raisins, dried pineapple, and salsa.

Thanks for stopping by!
Amy

Sub Sandwiches!

Today we did a quick lunch in our Yumboxes.  I made each girl a sub and made one for my mom too. I think there is nothing quicker or tastier than sub sandwiches. We often have some kind of sub for dinner here. Sometimes it's cold cuts, sometimes chicken parmesan, grilled chicken, steak, meatball, the list goes on and on. So anytime I have leftover sub rolls I pack them for lunch.

  Each girl has just a plain ham sub, fruit, and veggies.

Mom has a ham and muenster cheese sub, cucumbers, oranges, grapes, yogurt raisins, and cashews.

Thanks for stopping by!
Amy

Cheese Quesadillas For Lunch!

I don't know about you but I have discovered over the years that packing the same lunch for all the kids never works out. They are all so different. One likes almost everything, one likes a few things and eats pretty healthy, and one who touches nothing! I used to think that it was such a hassle to pack a different lunch for each kid.  I soon realized after I starting making bentos that it really isn't much trouble at all. It doesn't take any longer to pack a lunch catered to your kids likes and nobody ever misses out on their favorite fruits and veggies because the others don't like it. Todays lunches are the perfect example of packing a lunch you know your kid will enjoy.

I packed a half of a cheese quesadilla, carrots, broccoli, grapes, Annie's bunny mix, and Annie's bunny grahams.

The second lunch is very similar to the first. Cheese quesadillas, cucumbers, carrots, grapes, Annie's bunny mix and grahams.

Both girls like cheese quesadillas. The youngest girl loves so many fruits and veggies she's super easy to pack for, the middle girl is less adventurous with raw veggies but eats a wide variety of cooked veggies. The boy usually buys lunch because he's my picky eater and the oldest girl fixes her own lunch now that she's in college. Since I started packing according to likes and dislikes the kids are happier and so am I. Have a great day and happy lunch packing!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! I trust you all enjoyed your winter breaks. It was about time to take a break from the hustle and bustle of everyday life! Right? I've kind of been on a break from blogging since school started. I took a job for the first time in fifteen years. Let's just say I found out after five months that my place truly is at home taking care of my family. It was fun for a bit, then just became a hassle so I am now once again a stay at home mom. And. I. Am. Happy. I've decided that not only do I belong at home but I belong here with all of you! So here it goes. I hope you enjoy my first post of 2017.

We are starting the new year with two really simple lunches. Just adding the silicone cups and cute picks took this lunch from drab to fab.

  The above lunch is simply a regular ham sandwich cut into strips, cucumbers, carrots, grapes, oranges, and cashews.

  In this lunch I made a ham roll sandwich then added cauliflower, sweet peppers, grapes, oranges, and cashews.

Both lunches were very easy and came together super quick. I just popped them into a Yumbox, added silicone cups, and a few food picks. Lunch took about fifteen minutes.                              

*This post contains affiliate links.*  

You can find the picks and silicone cups at Bento USA by clicking on the Bento USA link in the top right corner. You can also find the Yumbox containers by clicking on the link provided below.       

Yumbox

It's Roald Dahl Day!!!

Happy Roald Dahl day! Roald Dahl was one of my favorite authors as a child and as an adult with children of my own now I have enjoyed sharing these treasures with my children. Mr. Dahl was a brilliant writer with a lovely and wonderful imagination. His stories are timeless and will continue to delight children for years to come. Now that I'm done gushing over Mr. Dahl I can get to lunch!

 First up is Matilda. This book was one of my favorite books and I am happy to say my children love it as well. Here you have a cute bologna Matilda sandwich, Annie's bunny mix, cucumbers, carrots, and grapes. She also has a granola bar and a snack bag of chips.

James and The Giant Peach is next up on the lunch menu. My youngest girl also has all of the same items listed above in her lunch.

Lastly we have a plain lunch for Mr. No Fancy Lunches! He has P.B.&J., grapes, and a clementine. He also has a granola bar tucked under his sandwich plus a snack bag of chips.

These lunches were inspired by one of the best children's authors ever, in my opinion. Go grab your favorite Dahl book, curl up, and share it with your kiddos today!

Back To School, Bento Essentials

We have a little over a month before we head back to school. I have put together another "Back To School" post for you to give you some more ideas. I have set up three different examples of bento supplies. Kind of like a pick your package deal. (The items shown are not sold together as sets. They are just examples of bento products, put together by me. I do not sell any of these items. There may however be affiliate links in this post, which I may receive affiliate benefits from.)These examples will give you an idea of where you want to start when buying bento supplies. Also they will help with picking what's best for your budget.

Example 1: This is a pretty big collection of bento items. I started by giving you a great lunchbox, the EasyLunchbox. These lunchboxes come in sets of four and are sold in three different color combinations. They are quite affordable also and are a great lunchbox to start out with. Easy Dippers are second on the list. These little containers are sold by EasyLunchboxes also. Then I added some fun cutters, silicone muffin cups, handmade cloth napkins, and several of my favorite bento food picks.

Example 2: Here you have EasyLunchboxes, Mini Dipper containers, several bento food picks, a few silicone cups, and some fun cookie cutters. The animal cookie cutters are sold in huge sets by Wilton. They are a great value. You can even get them in letters and numbers. I don't have those yet because my kiddos are a little old for alphabet lunches but I may have to get them if I can figure out a way to incorporate them into our lunches. The bigger cutters are an awesome way to make a plain boring sandwich FUN! The smaller cutters are an awesome way to make DIY Lunchables. They are perfect for cutting meat and cheese. Or making sandwich kabobs. While this collection is smaller it still has a lot to work with.

Example 3: We will call this "Bento Essentials" Here you have the same great EasyLunchboxes, a few different silicone cups, small cutters, two sets of cookie cutters, the Mini Dippers, and a few food picks. You would be surprised what you can do with just a little bit of bento supplies. This is a great starting point. If you are a minimalist or just on a tight budget this is the perfect example of what to start with.

You can purchase all the food picks from Bento USA! Just click on the link in the upper right hand corner to shop! (This post may contain affiliate links.)

Shark Week, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, And A Cookie Cutter Review!

There is a lot to talk about today! A cookie cutter review, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Shark Week all in one post! First we will start with my favorite week in television- Shark Week. I am completely terrified of sharks but also find them so fascinating. They definitely get my respect. Sharks are so beautiful and scientists are learning more about their behaviors all the time. My son loves sharks too so when Shark Week comes we get pretty excited. I just recently had the opportunity to do a review for Francesca4me. I got some pretty awesome cutters and the sharks were two sent.

 This is lunch for the boy, A.K.A. the Picky Eater! lol He has a P.B.&J. shark sandwich. I'm going to say it's a great white or a bull shark! He also has a butter cookie, grapes, and an orange. I also cute the leftover bread scraps into triangles and added P.B. & J. to those too. No waste here!

This is lunch for one of the kids. I let the girls choose which they wanted because they all contain the same ingredients. Here is a shark fin P.B. & J., the extra bits are tucked under the fin. There is a butter cookie, carrots, cucumbers, sweet peppers, grapes, and a half a clementine.

The new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movie is on our watch list. My hubby has been catching everyone up on the movies from our childhood. Here you have a P.B. & J. turtle sandwich, a butter cookie, cucumbers. carrots, sweet peppers, grapes, and a half a clementine.

And last but not least I made a turtle shell P.B. & J. They also have the same in this lunch as the one above.                                                                                                                                                      

The cookie cutters I received from Francesca4me were pretty darn awesome. Before I got these I had never used 3D cookie cutters before today. I used them to make all the lunches. The quality is excellent and it has truly been a pleasure to work with them. I see myself purchasing many more cutters from Francesca4me and her son's store Sweet Prints Inc! You can go check out both stores by clicking on the name link. I think you will be excited to find just about anything your cute little cookie cutter heart desires.

Strawberry Shortcake!

Hello everyone! Summer is here and you know what that means? Lovely summer deserts! My family, well most of them have a thing for strawberries and my husband loves strawberry shortcake! So today I made a quick strawberry shortcake for everyone to celebrate summer!

Look at those pretty berries!

I sliced the strawberries, cut a slice of angel food cake into squares, layered the cake and berries then added a heaping helping of Reddi Whip!

It was yummy!

You can find all the products I used here!

Snack Tray & Chicken Salad, Oh My!

Hello everyone! Today I have a couple of awesome things to share with you! It's not a lunch! Ha ha ha! Summer is approaching fast and I just bet you are wondering how to keep the kids happy and healthy while they graze the day away. If your kids are anything like mine on summer break you will hear the all to familiar sound of your kids in the kitchen! So let's keep them out of the not so good for snacks and help them make better choices throughout the day. Now I'm not saying there is anything wrong with chips but let's face it they CAN NOT survive on chips alone! So here is an idea on how to keep the healthy options available.

Apples and carrots are an easy and affordable option!

Here it is all ready to go in the fridge for easy access. Grapes, apples, cucumbers, celery, and carrots. I also pitted a pound of cherries.

Here is a quick lunch option for the kids or mom and dad. I made the chicken salad for my mom. She loves it and it's something she can grab to put together a quick lunch for work.                                     

Chicken Salad Recipe

1 cup halved grapes

1/2 cup diced apples

1/4 cup slivered almonds

1/4 to 1/2 cup mayo

1 can of chicken breast

Directions

Drain chicken and break apart. Add grapes, apples, almonds, and mayo. Add salt and pepper to taste. Mix well. Viola! Enjoy!

 Now that's a pretty easy lunch! You can use leftover rotisserie chicken also. Change it up a bit also. Use pecans or walnuts instead of almonds. Add cranberries instead of grapes. The possibilities are endless! 

                                                                                                                                             

Products used in the making of this lunch. Large Square Cool & Serve. 1-cup,2-cups, and 3- cup prep bowl sets, Apple Wedger. These are all Pampered Chef products! You will find them all here!                                                                                       

A Touch Of Spring!

Hello everyone! School is nearly over here and I can't decide if I am excited or terrified! Ha! Ha! Ha! Just kidding. I always really look forward to turning off the alarms and sleeping an extra hour. That feeling last for about two weeks and then I'm ready to start buying school supplies and send the kiddos back! Next school year will be my first year with no kids in elementary school! All the kiddos will be in middle school. That's going to take some adjustment. I also got the green light from the boy to start packing lunches again for him, nothing cute. Just simple goodness for him from now on. I'm so glad the girls allow me to pack cute lunches. I don't know what I would do if they didn't let me do cute lunches! Okay, enough of my rambling. Here's lunch!

This is lunch for the youngest. She has two cute little rose shaped ham sandwiches, grapes, cherries, An orange, carrots, peppers, cucumbers, a cheese slice, and M&M's! Yes, M&M's because life is too short to miss out on everything all the time!

This is lunch for my middle school girl. She has a salad, cucumbers, grapes, carrots, an orange, and M&M's!

That's all for today and I hope to see you back here later this week!

Cute Sandwiches!

Hello everyone! I'm back! It's been quite some time since my last lunch post but I promise I have made some lunches. Hahaha! The kids have been buying lunch some and I pack for the girls here and there. The boy buys everyday because he is a tough kid to please and would rather eat at school. He prefers to have a hot lunch. Enough about that and let's get to todays lunches.

  These lunches were super easy and we used our EasyLunchboxes today to make packing lunch even easier! Both girls have ham sandwiches, grapes, a half a clementine, carrots, cucumbers, and sweet cheese cracker mix. One girl also has sweet peppers.

I hope you all have a great Monday!

Simple Sandwiches!

Today I needed to make lunch in a hurry and I decided simple sandwiches were in order. I had some leftover French bread from last nights chili dinner so I decided to use it in lunch today. The youngest girl has a field trip today so I packed her a disposable lunch in a brown bag. I also thought the other two could use a little love in lunch so I added a couple of Lunchbox Love Notes.

This lunch is for my daughter, she's using a small Lunchbots trio box, the dipper, and an 8 ounce rounds container. She has a ham sandwich, carrots, a side salad and multi grain chips. She is also taking a banana.

This lunch is for my daughters boyfriend. He has two small ham, salami, and Muenster cheese sandwiches. He also has peppers, cucumbers, carrots, salad, grape tomatoes, an orange, and a banana.

This is a close up of the Lunchbox Love Note.

Mickey Mouse Mini Sandwiches!

Earlier last month I ordered these really cute Mickey cookie cutters. They are super cute and of course I decided to use them for mini sandwiches. They turned out really cute and the girls loved them. Both Mickey lunches are very similar.

This is lunch for the middle girl. She has an mini ham sandwiches, an orange, grapes, cucumbers, carrots, cashews, and peanut butter fudge.

The youngest girl has the same thing plus peppers.

This is just a simple sandwich made for one of the teenagers in the house. He has a ham, salami and provolone sandwich. Grapes, an orange, carrots, cucumbers, and peppers. He also had chips and applesauce.