Breakfast for Lunch! And New Toys!

Whenever I am having a hard time thinking of a lunch and don't want to make sandwiches (or have run out of bread)  I do breakfast for lunch.  It's easy, fast and always a hit.

Blackberries; Mini pancakes, syrup in bottle; Juice box; Hardboiled egg, cheese stick wrapped in ham

Here's Maya's version:

Juice box; Blackberries; Mini pancakes, syrup in bottle, grapes; Ham roll ups

I also received new toys this week!  I won a giveaway over at Olives and Pickles and received a set of EasyLunchboxes and a carrier.  

I LOVE them!

I love the colors, although it was hard to choose between original and the Brights.  I decided on original because I like the green color.  I also got a carrier in Olive green.  It has replaced my old lunchbox completely.  In fact, I just threw the old one away!  It was nasty!  I love that this one has tons of room and I can fit several snacks on top of the lunchbox for my longer days.

Here is my first lunch in my new EasyLunchboxes.  Of course I used the green lid the first day!  But I've used every other color since!

Grapes; Salad dressing in a Laptop Lunches small container; Salad greens, cucumber wedges, carrot coins, ham roll ups

I think I need to get some of the mini dippers now!

Thanks again to Patty at Olives and Pickles and Kelly Lester at EasyLunchboxes!

Thanks for reading!

Deb

Flower Garden

I found this great mini pie maker on sale at my grocery store:

I decided to make some savory pies for lunch one day when we had a ton of leftover BBQ beef.  I also had some leftover pie crust that I had made for Thanksgiving but only used half the recipe because I decided to make a crumble topping instead of crust.  It had kept very well in the freezer and just had to thaw and was perfect for this!

First you use the bottom to cut out circles from pie crust.

Then you place the round dough into the open pie maker.  I put in about 3/4 teaspoon of filling and then laid a second dough round on top.

Then you push the lid side of the pie maker down very hard.  Open up and there you are!  Mini pies!

I placed them on a cookie sheet and baked at 350 for a total of about 25-30 minutes.  I started at 18 minutes and keep having to add 2 minutes at a time because they weren't browning.  I'm not sure if it was the altitude, the temperature, or the ingredients.  I will have to fiddle with it.

Anyway,  I then assembled what I thought to be a very cute flower garden lunch:

BBQ beef pies, radish flowers, carrot and cucumber stems, cabbage grass

Orange wedges

Pretzel crisps

Maya said it was good but it didn't look like that when she opened it at school.  Everything had fallen to one side.  This is especially a bummer for the other kids that I make lunches for because they don't see it before I pack it up and send it to school.

So here is my question to all you bloggers: How do you get your lunches to stay put until lunch time?

Thanks for reading!
Deb

First Week 2014 Lunches

I know I am a little late to the Happy New Year game, but I hope everyone had a happy and healthy holiday break!

School started for my husband on Monday but the kiddos didn't start until Tuesday so they went to a local day camp.  I still provide lunches and Maya requested something to remind her of the "big ball that falls on New Year's".  I was feeling a little less than creative so here is what I came up with for their first lunches back.  A little sad, but....

PB & J "ball" sandwich with "2014" written in edible markers

A few gummy treats

A few blackberries

Baby carrots, grape tomatoes and cucumber stars

Pear chunks

Thank goodness kids are forgiving!  They said it was great.

For the first day back to actual school I performed a little bit better.

Blackberries/grapes with a bow pick

Veggie Booty (the other lunches had mixture of Pirate and Veggie Booty's)

A "book" sandwich with turkey, pepperoni and spinach held together with a dot pick

Grape tomatoes under A,B, C's and 1, 2, 3's made of cucumber and carrot

When I was cutting out the C's it ended up making a pop up heart in the cucumber so I tucked that in

Wednesday was a very difficult day with trying to get up on time so it was a simple lunch

Veggie pasta and some parmesan cheese shreds

Grape tomatoes, broccoli stems, cucumber stars, some baby carrots hiding underneath

Apple chunks and grapes with a tree trunk pick (isn't it adorable!)

Pasta sauce in the covered container

Thursday I wanted to be creative, but I was so tired.  It's amazing how having the kids and husband back at school tires ME out!  This is a terrible picture but it's the best of the bunch I took.  Not sure why these ones turned out so bad.

Sandwich cut with a Lunch Punch cupcake cutter (I think it was ham but might have been PB & J)

Grape tomatoes, baby carrots and cucumber hearts

Pile of grapes with a kitty pick

After taking this picture I realized the lunch looked pretty sparse and was worried they would be hungry so I added a handful of pita chips under the sandwich but didn't have time for another picture.  Maybe I should have taken the time and the picture might have turned out better.  Oh well.

I think my Friday lunch was the best one all week.  Unfortunately the kids didn't take their Laptop Lunchboxes out of their backpacks and I was very sick on Thursday (tummy bug or food poisoning, I'm not sure.  Short lived but AWFUL!) so they didn't get washed.  So I dug out the Bynto's and used those.

Clementine sections and blackberries

Special K Brown Sugar Crisp bar

Roll up - tortilla rolled around laughing cow herb and garlic cheese spread, turkey, pepperoni, spinach (of course Maya didn't have the cheese)

Cucumber/carrot flowers and grape tomatoes

I also made this lunch for a friend and her Laptop Lunchbox was clean so this is what hers looked like!

Thanks for reading!

Deb

Last lunches of 2013 #2

Here are the lunches from the last week of school before break!  This week had somewhat of a Christmas theme.

Make you own pizza lunchable!

Pita bread

Cheese and pepperoni

Sauce

Clementine

Carrots and cucumber Xmas trees

Christmas wreath bagel sandwich

Snowman sandwich

Red and Green decorations (cucumber and tomato)

Applesauce with candy cane sprinkles

Ham sandwich with Christmas tree drawn with food safe marker and trunk is a piece of crust

Wheat thins to represent presents under the tree

Carrots and grape tomatoes with a green pepper Xmas tree

Pear chunks and grapes

Lunchables

Triscuit triangles with lunch meat and candy cane cheese

Apple chunks with angel cutout

Grape tomatoes, carrots and cucumber candy canes

Gummy snacks (in small container)

Maya's version:

Instead of cheese she got some pepperoni slices and she got a gingerbread man cut out instead of an angel

  

Noodles and veggies

Mango chunks and pomegranate seeds

Grapes

Sugar cookie decorated by Maya

I hope everyone had a fun and relaxing holiday break and are ready for the New Year!  

Thanks for reading!

Deb

Last lunches of 2013 #1

Hi all!!

You know how you put off doing something for a few days, and that turns into a week, and then it turns into two weeks, and then....

As I am preparing for return to school next week, and lunch making, I realized that I never posted my lunches from the last two weeks before break!

Well, one of my many New Year's Resolutions is to be sure to blog at least once a week so I don't get caught up in my procrastination cycle again.  Keep your fingers crossed!

These lunches are from the second to last week of school.  I'm doing to do another post with the last week.

PB & J sandwich with Justin's chocolate spread snowflake sandwich cutout

Marshmallow snowman

Pear chunks

Carrots

Yellow cherub tomatoes with snowman pick

Fall Harvest shaped pasta

Roasted broccoli and cauliflower florets

Apple chunks with smiley face pick

Parmesan cheese to sprinkle on pasta

Pasta sauce

Cheese Quesadilla and Bean Burrito

Cucumber slices, grape tomatoes, carrots

Half a banana

Salsa

Ham & Cheese sandwich with dog cutout

Tomato and Cucumber bow ties

Pear chunks

Hardboiled egg (egg mold failed miserably)

Pancakes with syrup

Greek yogurt with yogurt stars (Max said the stars melted before lunch :( )

Apple wedge with stars imprinted

Maya is allergic to dairy and eggs (although we are going for an egg challenge at the allergists in Feb!!)

Pancakes with syrup

Hashbrowns with Canadian bacon

Apple chunks with stars

Thanks for reading!
Deb

Hanukkah lunches

Oy vey!  I am so behind in my blogging! 

I made a couple of cute Hanukkah lunches last week. 

 Star of David PB&J sandwiches

Heart strawberries

Celery and Carrot sticks

Ranch dip

Hanukkah shapes pasta with Parmesan cheese

Pear chunks

Menorah and Dreidel shaped crescent rolls

Pasta sauce

Dreidel shaped cucumber with carrot coins and a couple of grape tomatoes and cucumber chunks

Gelt (chocolate money)

Thanks for reading!

Deb

Thanksgiving Round Up

Life got extremely busy around here preparing for, and after, Thanksgiving.  I didn't have any time to blog, or do much of anything!  But, I did make some really fun lunches that I want to share so here's the round up:


Wednesday:

Cornucopia filled with chicken salad

Clementine flower with pomegranate center

Corn on the cob

Thursday:

 PB&J pockets to make turkey feathers

Face is crust with carrot beak and candy eyes

Broccoli grass

Carrot and radish turkeys

Raspberries

Gummies

Friday:

Fall shaped pasta with cheese turkey's

Meat/veggie sauce

Yellow and Red tomatoes

Cucumbers, radish and cheese turkey's

Grapes

My mom came out for Thanksgiving and to watch the kids for a couple of days while hubby and I worked before the holiday.  I made lunches for them on the days she was watching the kids, but only took pictures on Monday.  The kids' lunch:

Ham leaf sandwich

Veggie sticks

Cucumber leafs

Grapes

Lunch for Granny:

Clementines

Snap peas and grape tomatoes

Cucumber leafs

Roasted chicken sandwich

I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgivakkah!!

 

The family (those that were here).  I'm so thankful for my family!:

Thanks for reading!

Deb