Molded Rice

So I got these great molds that are supposed to be egg molds.

Unfortunately they have not worked so well for me as egg molds so far.  Maybe my eggs are too small?  I don't know.

But I decided to try using them as rice molds.  Max has decided he doesn't like rice in the last year or so, although he ate it up when he was younger.  I thought by molding the rice into fun shapes might make it more interesting.

Nope.

But Maya and I liked it!

To go with our rice at dinner I made some chicken in a soy/worcestershire sauce and green beans.

I liked how the rice kept its shape even when I drizzled the sauce over it.

It bodes well for holding up in a lunch box.  Yea!

Max did eventually eat his rice star after Maya had finished all her dinner and was allowed to have a lollipop.  He wanted a treat too.

Thanks for Reading!
Deb

Spring is in the Air

Happy Spring!  

The first day of spring was absolutely beautiful.  

Or was that the day before?  I can't remember.  

Someone posted on Facebook that Mother Nature is going through menopause with all the crazy weather we have been having!  It's so true!  One day it's 70 and sunny and gorgeous and the next day its snowing!

I, for one, am ready for nice weather to stay.  I want the Farmer's Market to open.  I want to grill out.  I want to ride bikes, go to concerts in the park, etc.  I know I should be used to the eclectic weather in spring in Colorado, but I'm not.  

Ok, done pouting.  :)

Here is our first day of Spring lunch:

Flower Ham/cheese sandwich with bee and ladybug pick and cinnamon raisin bagel crisp; strawberries (a little tart so mixed with some sugar - yum!) with daisy flower pick; Baby carrots, flower cucumber and grape tomato with leaf pick.

Friday was National Down Syndrome Day.  A shout out to all those I have been fortunate enough to meet, work and play with.

Friday was also National Doggy Day so here's lunch!

PB&Huckleberry Jam Dog in house sandwich, apple cinnamon rice cake snack, peanuts (Maya got raisins); Baby carrots, grape tomatoes and celery chunks; Grapes with a dot pick that I thought would represent a ball for the dogs to play with.

Thanks for Reading!

Deb

Minions!!

So I was at the grocery store the last weekend with my list in hand.  We are very conscious of what we buy and how much we spend at the grocery store.  We always go with a list and a menu for lunches and dinners for the week.

Well, I saw these:

Can you say impulse buy!?  I feel a little guilty but we had extra grocery money last week so, well....

Anyway, of course I had to make lunch around this great find.  

Minion graham crackers; Minion PB&J sandwiches with fruit leather and candy eyes.  Maya's had turkey mouth glued on with jelly and the others had cheese mouth glued on with peanut butter; Baby carrots, grape tomatoes and heart cucumbers; Blackberries and green grapes with a dot pick.

The kids thought they were great.  Maya said "Minions in love!" because of the heart box holding the crackers.

Thanks for reading!
Deb

St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I hope everyone had a great day.  I woke up late after going to bed early (for once) after having a date night.  We went out to a great restaurant last night to celebrate my birthday grown up style.  It was delicious!

Today I make St. Patty's lunches:

Shamrock tortilla/turkey sandwiches (for Maya, everyone else got Shamrock quesadillas); Pot of Gold (carrot) coins with two chocolate coins; Rainbow fruit (red apple, orange, pineapple, green apple, blackberries); Irish soda bread wedge (not really, it's actually a morning round from Sprouts but I thought it looked like Irish soda bread)

Why should the kids get all the fun?  I made myself lunch too!

Cucumber sticks; Pot of Gold (hummus) with carrot sticks; Fruit rainbow (strawberries, clementines; green grapes, purple grapes)

Maya needed snack today so I stuck with the theme:

Green grapes; only the green veggie sticks

I also made dinner in the crock pot.  First time ever making corned beef and cabbage.  It wasn't actually terrible.  Although I probably won't make it again.  

I hope you all had a very happy St. Patty's Day!

Thanks for reading!

Deb

Pi Day

March 14 is Pi Day, in case you didn't know.  ;)

It is also my sister's birthday.  Say Happy Birthday, Sara!

I had great intentions of making a pot pie for lunch to celebrate Pi Day, but that didn't happen.  Instead I made a "pie" sandwich.  The kids didn't seem to mind.  I also didn't have a Pi pick so used a music note that kind of resembled it.  

Not my best work but it's really about feeding the kids a healthy lunch, right?

Peanut butter and huckleberry jelly pie shaped sandwich; veggie sticks; Cucumber with red pepper 3.14 and there are some carrots coins and grape tomatoes underneath; Pear chunks

Thanks for reading!

 Deb

My birthday!

Spring is a busy time of year in our house.  If you remember Maya's birthday was February 12 and Tim's was February 26.  Now it's my turn!  March 11 is both my birthday and my nephew's birthday.  

Charlie, 3, waiting for the ponies

I decided to make a mini birthday lunch for myself.  Cause I deserve it.

Homemade banana bread; Apple slices and peanut butter in the container; Hummus in the other container and Cucumber and carrot strips.

Usually on Tuesdays I pick the kids up from school but I had to schedule a make-up visit with a client so my husband picked them up on this day.  When I got home from work I was welcomed with these beautiful flowers.

Of course, being a Tuesday, Maya had Girl Scouts and Max had Boy Scouts so off we all went to our various activities.

After we got home we had a tray of petite de fours.  Sweet!

We also celebrated on Wednesday night by going to one of my favorite family restaurants with the kids.  

No, I didn't get the day off from making lunches for the kids.  Maya requested a Whale Sandwich:

Apple and pear chunks with sea creature picks; Gummies; PB&J whale sandwiches; Grape tomatoes, carrot coins and cucumber stars (maybe they can be starfish)

Stay tuned for Max's birthday coming in April!

Thanks for reading!

Deb

Plant a Flower Day

March 12 is Plant a Flower Day.  Since the weather has been so volatile I thought it would be nice to celebrate a little bit of Spring.  

Spring in Colorado is a little confusing with snow and blizzard conditions one day and 70 degrees and sunny the next day.  I, for one, am ready for the snowy days to be over and the sunny, warm days to become the norm.  

 Flower pot sandwich with ham and pepperoni and tortilla cut nestled on grass (lettuce leaf), cheese flowers on noodle picks are in the flower pot with a flower and bee pick;  clementine flower with grape center and leaf pick; flower cucumbers and carrots with grape tomatoes

Of course Maya can't have cheese flowers so I made hers out of cucumber

Enjoy this taste of Spring!

Thanks for reading!

Deb

Max lost his first tooth!!

We have been waiting and waiting and finally that pesky tooth fell out!  

Max is so very excited to see what the Tooth Fairy will bring!

He put the tooth into a small plastic dixie cup of water on his bedside table.  The Tooth Fairy had to dive in to get the tooth out and apparently her dress was blue because the water was tinted blue in the morning!  (He dumped it out before I could get a picture)

She also left him a dollar coin.  He was super excited.

Of course I had to use the Tooth Picks that Cristi from Bent On Better Lunches sent me (THANK YOU!) in his lunch the next day.

Fruit Salad with clementine wedges, grapes and blackberries with a Tooth Pick; Bacon strip; Cherry granola; Vanilla greek yogurt; Homemade banana bread with Tooth Pick.

I don't know if you can tell but I think those Tooth Picks are the most awesome thing ever!

Congratulations to Max!

Thanks for Reading!

Deb

Mardi Gras

So, my husband is out of town again and guess what happens?  Max gets sick again.

I went to pick up the kids after school and Max is laying down on the ground crying.  The teacher said that this just happened but that he had gone to the office today with a  tummy ache.  No fever so they sent him back to class after a little rest.  Max said his stomach hurt really bad.  When we finally got home he ran to the bathroom and got sick, turning a very pale shade of green.  Not good.

I swear!  Tim can never go out of town again!

On a happier, and less gross, note,
Today we had a Mardi Gras lunch!

I love making these fun, themed lunches.  It lets me feel creative.

Crown shaped cheese quesadilla; shredded broccoli slaw with a slice of cucumber to hold the cute mask charm; Pineapple, mango and strawberry chunks with music note picks; Girl Scout Savannah Smiles

Isn't this mask cute?  I took it off some beaded necklaces I found at the dollar store.  

I hope Max is feeling better by tomorrow cause I need to go to work!

Thanks for reading!

Deb

Dr Seuss!

Today we are celebrating Dr. Seuss's birthday!  I love Dr. Seuss!  I couldn't decide which book to make our lunch after so I did a bunch of them!

Green eggs and ham.  You can't really tell but the egg is dyed green.

While Maya did pass the egg challenge and is now able to eat eggs, she says she doesn't like them.  So she got green hash browns and ham.

One fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish

Muffalata Trees from The Lorax. (And we needed a veggie!)

I think my absolute favorite book by Dr. Seuss is "My Many Colored Days".  I love the ending "But it all turns out all right, you see.  And I go back to being ... me."

The kids are having a colored day too!

Maya is having a purple day (purple dress, leggings and socks!)

Max is having a red day (red pants, shirt and socks!)

I ran out of room for "If I ran the Circus", "If I ran the Zoo", "Horton Hatches an Egg", "The Cat and the Hat", ......

I hope you all have a Seuss-irrific Day!

Thanks for Reading!

Deb

Happy Birthday Tim!

Yup, another week has gone by.  I started my blog posts several times but then life just got away from me.  Ah,well.  Better late than never, right? 

Wednesday was my husband's birthday!  He's 20 something (again!) and I thought I'd make some cupcakes for him to take to school and share with his co-workers.  I made his favorite: German Chocolate Cake.  I used a coconut/pecan frosting that went very well with it.  The pans came home empty so I guess they were a hit.  ;)  The single cupcake topper was the only one that made it home from Maya's cupcakes two weeks ago.  

Monday 2/24 was National Tortilla Chip Day (according to some website I found).  So I decided to make a taco dip lunchable type thing.  I hid some black olives in the dip along with the refried beans, taco meat and cheese.  The kids informed me that that was not nice and they ate around them.  Can't blame me for trying.

Clementine segments and apple chunks; Baby carrots and pepper strips with cucumber stars; Tortilla chips; Nacho dip - refried beans, black olives, taco meat, cheese

Tuesday was Maya's first day of TCAP testing, which is Colorado's state testing of 3rd graders.  I wanted to give her a fun lunch that would help her recover after her stressful morning.  I also included a Lunchbox Love note to encourage her to do her best.

Ham and cheese Cube-It sandwiches; fruit snacks in plastic heart; Heart strawberries and blackberries; Baby carrots and cucumber hearts

Wednesday was another TCAP day so I thought a picnic lunch would be fun.  And I had to use these adorable ketchup and mustard bottles that I found at the dollar store.  So cute!

Hot Dog with ketchup and mustard; Baby carrots, mini pepper strips and cucumber stars; Strawberries and blackberries; Cheese-It crackers

To keep the hot dog warm I wrapped it up:

Thursday we were running late.  This lunch is just to show that a few minutes can make a lunch more fun.  All I did was cut cucumbers with a heart cutter and stick a strawberry pick into the fruit.  Very little effort, but the kids loved it.

Leftover pepperoni pizza; Grapes and blackberries; Baby carrots and cucumber hearts

Thanks for reading!

Deb