Day 2: Leftover Creations

We woke up to snow this morning. The kids were so excited that the 2 year old had her boots, jacket, hat and mittens on and was out in the snow just after 6am. Her brothers joined her shortly after.

In between "fix my glove" "my hands are cold" and "my neck is wet" I managed to make their lunch and breakfast. Breakfast was Oatmeal* with peaches*.  For the main lunch entree I took leftover chicken and quinoa from dinner last night and added some peas and carrots as well as some shredded veggies (that I had leftover from making the pancakes last night) and sauteed it all together with some Bragg's Amino Acids. If you've never had Bragg's, it is a lot like soy sauce but 1/3 the sodium and has the added benefit of amino acids. The kids love it and even put it on their popcorn. 

Fried Quinoa w/ veggies and chicken*, edamame*, whole wheat zucchini muffins*, walnuts, apples and a date*

Dinner tonight will be refried beans in the crock pot and veggie quesadillas on homemade tortillas. I've never made tortillas so wish me luck!

*organic (I got tired of typing it each time!)

Monster Nom Nom

Since I quit drinking caffeine first thing in the morning on a regular basis, I find I'm much more even keel in the mornings and less of a giant biznitch waiting for the Bialetti to brew my morning espresso. While I'm not little Miss Molly Sunshine that everybody hates to see before noon, I can manage a smile and some pleasantries most mornings within a few minutes of my feet hitting the floor. Some days, like those days when some little fingered troll has been messing with my alarm clock,  I'm a little frazzled when I get up late and the mommy monster does show her not-so-pretty little face. With that being said, I'll leave you to deduce my morning mood....

Bagel and cream cheese with cheesy teeth and olive and craisin eyeballs, carrots and broccoli with ranch for dipping in the little container, roasted peanuts, grapes and blueberries and mini chocolate chips.

....and now I'm going to go get another cup of coffee.


Happy Wednesday!

P.S. Head on on over to BentoLunch.net  and see Shannon for What's For Lunch Wednesday!

This Is What Happens When Your 2 Year-Old Wakes You Up At 5am

You have time to bake. Yes, seriously. Now, I'm not a baker. AT.ALL. In fact, most everything I bake turns out rock hard or explodes in some way. I don't know why, exactly, but I blame it on the altitude. Never mind that thousands of people bake at high altitude with no problem every day. I am simply not one of those people.  I do, however, like to APPEAR like I can bake so some times I call it in. Today was one of those days. So, after you oooh and aaah over my baked creation for the boys' lunches, I'll tell you how I did it.

Pepperoni pizza roll ups, black olives, cheese stick, julienned carrots, Asian pear and blueberries,  and fruit nuggets as a treat. The little container has a little more pizza sauce for dipping.

Mmm mmm....that homemade pizza goodness...doesn't it look tasty? Frankly, I wouldn't know, it's not gluten free (yes, I sent my kids to school with untested/untasted food don't judge me), but it sure LOOKS tasty.  I used Pilsbury pizza dough in those tubes that pop open when you start to peel them. Ok, side note; does it freak anybody else out when it does that, or is it just me? I also have a problem with champagne corks and refuse to open anything like that. So, this dough...yeah...roll that baby out. It's stickier than my kid's hair after an ice cream cone so be sure to use lots of flour on the counter and on the rolling pin. Squeeze some pizza sauce on it, not as much as you would a normal pizza because then it's too goopy, sprinkle a little cheese and any toppings you want. I discovered mini pepperoni. No joke...little disks of nitrates! Roll up that bad boy so it's a log and slice it up; I think the smaller slices 1/2"-3/4" worked better than the bigger ones. Bake at 425 until mostly done; maybe 10 minutes, and then take them out, add a little spot of sauce, sprinkle of cheese and a couple nitrate disks and put back in to finish it off. 

I don't have exact measurements or times because that's just not how I (pizza) roll. 

The Best Laid Plans

I had this great plan to make these fabulous Mac-N-Cheese muffins for the kids lunches. I even got up early to do it (seeing as I passed out last night before cooking the pasta as I'd planned).  You know, sometimes things just don't work out. This was certainly one of those times. Well, I think it was. I wasn't thrilled with how the 'muffins' turned out but Noah really liked them and Alex found them ok; although he would have preferred them without the ham. Now, that was this morning after I pulled them out of the oven so I have no idea how they faired come lunchtime. Just to be safe, I made some PB&J flowers and then added a hard boiled egg, brocoli (w/ ranch to dip in the covered container), fresh peaches and craisins and some fruit 'nuggets' for a treat. It was a fairly diverse lunch so I felt ok sending the questionable muffins as I figured they'd get enough to eat otherwise.  That's about as exciting as it gets today, folks. Some days you just have to go with the flow, or the funky mac-n-cheese muffins as the case may be.

Beyond The Sandwich

My kids get tired of sandwiches day after day and I really can't blame them.  It's too hot for something in the thermos so I thought I'd try some kabobs. Food is always better on a stick, eh?  There really is no theme for this box but I thought it turned out colorful and fun nonetheless!

Ham and pineapple kabobs, Vanilla yogurt with strawberries, cucumber flowers and orange bell pepper strips with hummus for dipping, and a sesame stick for a treat. The containers with the hummus and the yogurt both have lids and they fit snug in the box.

Now it's time to start thinking outside the sandwich box. My kids don't really like mixed up things like casseroles so I think it will be a challenge but stay tuned to see what I can come up with!

Make sure you pay a visit over to Shannon over at "What's For Lunch At Our House" aka http://www.bentolunch.net/  for great ideas and be sure to check out her Wednesday posts ever week!

Happy Wednesday everybody! Eat well and be happy :)

Can't Box Me In!

Ok, I admit it. I have a thing for containers, boxes and organizational do-dads. Big ones, little ones, partitioned ones, metal ones, cute ones, transparent ones...they ALL have a purpose in my house.

(There....I've said it now maybe my husband will leave me alone about it...although I doubt it!)

With one kiddo going back to school and one starting school, it was the perfect time to pick up some new boxes for lunches. I had been coveting the boxes from Planetbox.com and finally broke down and ordered a couple. I don't regret it one bit, because I absolutely LOVE them, but my husband about had a heart attack when he saw the price. Just remember, it's easier to ask for forgiveness than for permission ;) (ok, not good marital advice and if you ever send your significant other over to my blog I will deny I ever wrote that!).

I do have other containers but these are my go-to ones right now. I can fit the perfect amount of food in them for my 5 and 7 year old and it makes packing a healthy, well-rounded, lunch a snap. Even if you don't do the cut outs/themes/embellishments, these are still a great option. The fact that they are stainless steel make them even better in my opinion; there is no leaching or staining and I can toss them in the dishwasher each night and they are perfect and ready to go first thing in the morning. The little containers that come with them are fantastic for dips or other softer items like yogurt. My boys have an easy time opening and closing them and seem happy with them and it presents the food in such an appealing way that their boxes come home completely empty each day.

Today's lunch wasn't much in the creative department but I think they will still be happy with it.

Whole wheat bagel with cream cheese and ham, brocoli florets and carrot sticks with ranch dressing in the little container for dipping. Grapes and blueberries and a few Bunny Grahams as a treat. The red bag at the top of the picture is a Re-Pac bag with salsa Sun Chips.

The Re-Pac (Re-PacBags.com) bags are also fantastic! They are reusable zip bags that are lined so that you can even put things like peach slices in them and they won't leak. I just turn them inside out, hand wash them, and leave them out to dry with the dishes, although you can supposedly machine wash or put them in the dishwasher. The fabric and colors are awesome and the zippers super easy for little hands. The amount of Ziploc bags that I no longer use is outrageous!

I'll share more about boxes and other options over the next week or two. If you put your questions in the comments I'll try and answer them!

Alright, I can take a hint

So I'm not really a blogger, although I do like to talk and ramble and...stutter post....quite a bit, but it's been suggested on numerous occasions that I blog about my kids' lunches. I'll sure give it a shot but, to be honest, I'm not that original and I get most my ideas from fabulous other blogs out there. I'll try and keep those links handy for my posts in any case.

Since I'm not really a blogger, just who or what am I? Well, I'm a Domestic Goddess and Chief Boo-Boo Kisser to 3 of the most amazing, challenging, smart, and crazy little devils;  aka Alex (7), Noah (5) and Zoe (2).  Alex and Noah just started school a week ago so I've been trying out new things for their lunches.

Today was one of those "new" things. I wanted an under the sea type theme so I decided to try something a friend had done for her son's birthday; Octodogs!  I needed small ones to fit into the lunchbox so I used the ends for the octopi and then the middles I made crabs. They turned out cute but...will they eat them? I don't know how room temp hot dogs are going to go over with my little culinary cuties but it was worth a shot.

For the Octodogs I cut off the ends and then cut slits to create the legs. The crabs were the middles of the hot dogs sliced lengthwise and then the legs cut into them. Once they were all sliced and formed, I dropped them into a boiling pot of water to curl the legs. It didn't take long, maybe a minute tops.

To round out the lunch we have sour cream and onion Goldfish crackers, cucumber rings, strawberries and blueberries, a little container of ketchup for the octodogs/crabs and a little bit of mini chocolate chips as a treat.