Very easy morning. This lunch should be called "the old stand by". Simple pita bread wedges, veggies, blueberries, baby bel and hummus.
Friday, February 25, 2011
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Ice Cream for Lunch
This is a standard sandwich with strawberries and yogurt. I found tiny kid cones at the store and thought about ways I could use them in lunches. I decide to wrap a small amount of nuts and marshmallows in plastic and shape in a ball. I placed the ball inside the cone and told the boys they could spoon some yogurt into the cones at lunch and top it off with the nut/marshmallow mix. They really enjoyed this! I have many cones left so I'll have to think of another way to use these adorable little food accessories! For more creative lunch ideas visit
What's for Lunch Wednesday
Monday, February 21, 2011
Macaron Success
I did make a Valentine lunch for the boys that included a lot of pink, red and lots of hearts. I didn't however post a picture because I spent Valentines day perfecting my macarons. I will say that I made 4 batches and only 1 failed which is a huge success for me. I now have an idea of what works best in my oven and have written down specific instructions for future making. So this week we enjoyed enough macarons to hold us over for quite sometime!
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
I ♥ Crescent Rolls
My love and affection for Trader Joe's crescent rolls continues. It is such a super staple to have on hand! I fill them with something delicious( today's ham & cheese) and roll them up and bake them. Another great alternative to the sandwich. Adding fruit, trail mix and a cookie and a 10 minute lunch is made.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Groundhog Day
This was a last minute decision to make something for Groundhog Day. I used what I had on hand to make my interpretation of a groundhog peeping out to look for his shadow. Basically it is an aebleskiver(I didn't have donut holes but I had those-go figure!), with icing eyes and a Reese's pieces nose. There are also brown Reese's ears but in this photo you can't really see them. For more great lunch ideas check outWhat's for Lunch Wednesday
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Memories of Cakes Gone By
One of the things I absolutely love to do is throw birthday parties. I usually try to make my own cake that fits the theme and I've included some of the cakes I'm most proud of.
The first cake is a batman/spider man themed cake that required frosting a large box to give the illusion of a tall building. I used chocolate cookie crumbs for dirt and Hershey bars for the windows along with making a birthday sign to look like a billboard.
The second cake is one of two dog parties we've had. This made a gigantic cake! Four round cakes and a 13X9 cake were needed for this giant dog bone.
The next dog themed cake was super easy. I baked a cake in a large bowl and then turned it out into a real dog food bowl. The final touch was frosting with chocolate frosting and sprinkling with cocoa puffs.
The final touch was frosting with chocolate frosting and sprinkling with cocoa puffs. This last cake is probably my favorite. We had a Super Mario Bros. party. I made marshmallow fondant for the first time and used that to make the green hills, clouds and suns. I also used the fondant to sculpt little shells and mushrooms! It is always fun to look back and remember these special birthdays! If you need inspiration for your next party cake head over toLife as Mom
The first cake is a batman/spider man themed cake that required frosting a large box to give the illusion of a tall building. I used chocolate cookie crumbs for dirt and Hershey bars for the windows along with making a birthday sign to look like a billboard.
The second cake is one of two dog parties we've had. This made a gigantic cake! Four round cakes and a 13X9 cake were needed for this giant dog bone.
The next dog themed cake was super easy. I baked a cake in a large bowl and then turned it out into a real dog food bowl. The final touch was frosting with chocolate frosting and sprinkling with cocoa puffs. 
The final touch was frosting with chocolate frosting and sprinkling with cocoa puffs. This last cake is probably my favorite. We had a Super Mario Bros. party. I made marshmallow fondant for the first time and used that to make the green hills, clouds and suns. I also used the fondant to sculpt little shells and mushrooms! It is always fun to look back and remember these special birthdays! If you need inspiration for your next party cake head over toWednesday, January 26, 2011
Wednesday Lunch
One of the things I love about bento style lunches is the fact that it is a great way to use up leftovers. Even if you have a small amount of something it can work. We had a bit of smoked salmon leftover as well as a couple of baked potatoes. I whipped up a quick garlic aioli to mix with the potatoes and added some carrots, cheese, crackers, grapes and kiwi and it's a pretty decent lunch. For more great lunch ideas visit
What's for Lunch Wednesday
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
The Most Wonderful Time
This lunch was so fun and easy to make! Lime green yogurt with sprinkles, baby bels with snowmen cut outs, spinach wraps and some red and green peppers with dip! For more fun lunch ideas visit What's For Lunch Wednesday
Friday, December 17, 2010
Snowman Lunch
Snowman sandwich made with fruit leather accents and royal icing eyes, popcorn with snowflake sprinkles, pepperoni and cheese picks and a Christmas wrapped orange. It's getting so close to the big day!!
Christmas Cuteness
Today's lunch was holiday pasta salad with tiny holiday cheese shapes, gingerbread, a sandwich wrapped up like a tiny present and some candy cane inspired apples.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Christmas Lunch
Finally a Christmas lunch! I started by making spinach tortilla tree sandwiches, candy cane apples some cheese cut up and a couple of maraschino cherry sticks for fun. The little green container is holding some peanuts. Feel free to check out many more creative lunch ideas atThursday, December 2, 2010
What's for Lunch Wednesday
It's a hodge podge of a lunch today. We have pumpkin pancakes, greek yogurt, ants on a log, mandarin orange and a peanut butter muffin. For more great lunch ideas check out
What's for Lunch Wednesday
Monday, November 29, 2010
Dog Food Cake
I haven't taken very many pics of lunch lately due to a broken camera. We now have a new camera and I'm getting back in the old habit but until the next lunch I thought I would post a pic of my son's birthday cake. He had a dog party so we made this chocolate cake covered in cocoa puffs. It was a big hit and actually the cocoa puffs were a nice addition-very yummy!Thursday, November 4, 2010
Pizza Lunch
Cheese pizza today with almonds, mini muffin, strawberries and kiwi and carrot crinkles.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Sandwich Thins
We love sandwich thins! They seem like just the right amount of bread to me. Back to regular lunches after all that scary sugary stuff we did last month. Today we have sandwich, cheese cubes, wheat crackers, mini muffins and applesauce.
Friday, October 29, 2010
Happy Halloween
.jpg)
Today the boys are having oatmeal orange scones, apple with "teeth", meat & cheese fingers and little chocolate tortilla ghosts. Happy (almost) Halloween!
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Jack O' Lantern Sandwich
.jpg)
So looking back at this attempt at creating a jack-o-lantern sandwich, it probably could have done without the cheese hair. I don't know why I did that because it sort of turned my Jack into a Jill O' Lantern, less is truly more sometimes. I added some grape eyes, orange pepper picks and of a piece of Halloween candy. Tomorrow is the biggest and best of my Halloween lunches!
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
So Cute it's Scary
.jpg)
Here is another spooky lunch! We have ghostly pears, mummy wrap cheese,bat carrots and some ham on a ghost pick, snack mix and a couple of pumpkin muffins. I could do halloween lunches all year long! For more great ideas for creative lunches check out:
Friday, October 15, 2010
Ham & Cheese Crescents
Easy lunch today! Crescent rolls(from Trader Joe's-they are delicious!) filled with ham and cheese, red plums, carrot crinkles, peanut butter muffin with apple full of dark chocolate spread. Perfect!
Monday, October 11, 2010
Cheese Balls
Another wonderful Monday and thank goodness for Trader Joe's! These are fried rice and cheese balls found in the frozen section of Trader Joe's. Also we have blueberries, grapes, carrots and a homemade protein bar topped with dark chocolate-yum!
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Welcome Fall
It feels like fall! This is my very favorite time of year and to celebrate I made the boys a welcome fall lunch. We have different color tortilla leaves filled with pumpkin cream cheese, a baby bel cheese, oranges and apples, pumpkin muffins and some delicious roasted sweet potatoes. For more fantastic ideas for lunches check out
What's for Lunch Wednesday
Friday, October 1, 2010
BLT Wraps
I love the already cooked bacon Trader Joes has! It is a once in a while purchase that is nice to have on hand for side dishes, salads and a sandwich topping of course. So these are not actually BLT wraps because they are missing both the L and the T (due to a couple of I'm not going to eat it if it has crunchy stuff or ewww tomatoes comments). The boys had a whole wheat tortilla with bacon and cheese, watermelon cubes, mini sweet peppers (how cute are these?!) with hummus and a football filled with yogurt cookies.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
What's for Lunch Wednesday
Today we have a a sandwich on flat bread cut into triangles, some pasta salad, a couple of homemade mini muffins and the ever popular checkered apple. For more great lunch ideas go to:
What's for Lunch Wednesday
Lunchbox Yogurt Parfaits
Today's lunch is vanilla yogurt with berries, rice crispies, wheat crackers and dry salami. One of the reasons I like laptop lunch systems is for this lunch. It is great to buy the large containers of yogurt instead of wasting all those little containers- not to mention the savings!
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Layered Lunch
Today's lunch is cheese stars layered with whole wheat pita stars, layered strawberries and kiwi, mini muffins, snap peas and a cherry tomato balloon with a side of hummus dip. For more great lunch ideas go to
What's for Lunch Wednesday
Monday, September 13, 2010
Monday Lunch
Today's lunch includes a basic sandwich, fruit, pub cheese with wheat crackers and some coconut cake balls I made.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
First Day of School 2010
So it is finally here! The boy's first day back at school and my first day of catch-up, clean-up and don't stay up again tonight or tomorow will be crazier than this morning was! Here's what we are having for lunch:
Turkey on flatbread, melon picks, crayon pretzels, carrots and star cookies from Trader Joes.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Pizza Pockets that Rock
This time of year I always try to get a head start on lunches for school. I try to make a little every day to build up my freezer full of easy to grab lunch options for the boys. Today I made my own pizza pockets. These turned out great and I even managed to include step by step pics on how to make these yourselves. Having something without a bunch of preservatives and other junk that you can pull out of your freezer for lunch-rocks! So lets get started.
The best part of this recipe would have to be the pizza dough. This is the best tasting dough -trust me it's delicious and easy too!
Pizza Dough
1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees)
1 pkg. active dry yeast
3 Cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup finely ground cornmeal
1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
2 T. olive oil
Filling:
2 cups shredded mozzarella
2 cups shredded cheddar
chopped pepperoni or sausage, veggie etc.
In a small bowl, sprinkle the yeast in the warm water and stir well to dissolve. Set aside the yeast for about 5 minutes.
Meanwhile place flours, cornmeal and salt together in bowl of kitchen aid. Using the paddle attachment mix the dry ingredients together. Start slowly pouring yeast mixture into bowl while it's mixing, add the olive oil into mixture and let mix until blended. Switch to the hook attachment and knead briefly until dough is smooth. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface. Cover dough with plastic wrap and let rise for 45 minutes.
When dough is ready proceed with instructions for pizza pockets.
Dust a pan with cornmeal and place pizza pockets on it 1-2 inches apart. I used a fork to lightly poke two holes in top of each pocket to prevent exploding pizza pockets. Brush the tops with beaten egg or olive oil. Bake at 425 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until lightly browned. This recipe makes about 12-15 pizza pockets depending on the size you make them. We enjoyed a few for lunch and then they went straight into the freezer. There you have it, pretty easy right? Of course if you don't have a kitchen aid then it may be a bit more work for you- but so worth it! For more great ideas to make lunch time easier this year visit
Life as Mom
Friday, July 30, 2010
Sloppy Cars
A friend brought us dinner the other night and brought these awesome little cars! They are made by hollowing out a hot dog bun and filling it with sloppy joe filling, a pretzel steering wheel, cucumber carrot wheels and olive headlights. My kids have never really been huge fans of sloppy joe's but sloppy cars were a different story-they loved these!
Friday, July 23, 2010
New Crayons
I have seen people make these chunky crayons before but never felt like destroying a bunch of perfectly good crayons to make them. Until now. At the end of the school year the boys bring home all their not-so-gently used school supplies including a ton of broken crayons! It was finally time to try recycled crayons. We decided to break them into color groups which was fun. These are super easy and probably best for my three year old who isn't concerned with precise lines and colors yet.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Macarons
I have been wanting to try making macarons. So I searched for the very best recipe and came up with something between Tartlette's and Martha Stewart's. After three tries and a lot of frustration I think I came close. I went with an easy chocolate ganache for filling. I still want to make these again but honestly it is a lot of work and I'll need a rest first. Hats off to all you expert macaron makers out there-you know who you are!
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Star Wars Always Rocks
So when I saw these Star Wars cookie cutters from Williams Sonoma I had to have them. When I saw how
Bento for Kidlet used them I thought it was the coolest idea ever. I had to try them and this is how they turned out. I think I need better food markers but pretty good anyways. I also love incorporating the Star Wars Easter candy holder for blueberries. I can't wait to actually make cookies with these awesome cutters!
Friday, June 25, 2010
Last Day of School 2010
I try to make the last lunch of the year special and give the kids the choice of something they really want in it. They chose chicken in a biscuit crackers. So along with those awesome crackers we have happy sandwiches, some veggies and a homemade cupcake to celebrate the end of another school year. This year was great but we are definitely ready for summer!
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Star fruit
We are trying star fruit for the very first time today! Not only is it so cute but it tastes great too- a lot like a pear I think. So with that wonderful fruit we have a basic sandwich, checkered apple, chocolate zucchini muffin and smiley potatoes.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Just a Few More Days
We are wrapping it all up here for the 2009/2010 school year. This lunch is a simple pb&j all wrapped up and sliced with watermelon, cherries, lemon raspberry muffin and carrots.
Monday, June 7, 2010
Finally Ambrosia
Every time my oldest son sees fruit ambrosia in the deli case he asks if we could get some. I sympathize with him because I too longed for something at the grocery store when I was little. I wanted those molded jello and whipped cream desserts. I still have never bought one. So I decided he should get some ambrosia and it probably wasn't that hard to make my own. After looking online for some recipes I came up with this complete with cherry on top. Also in the lunch today is prosciutto filled pasta, carrots with olives, crackers and a babybel cheese.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Summer Please
Well it seems that everywhere we look summer is on it's way. There are berries at the grocery stores, shorts at Old Navy and promises that school will be out soon. The only problem is the weather here. It has been cold and rainy for the longest time! Maybe late start means it will last extra long?
Today we had yaki onigiri, apples, apricots, cherries, pancake roll-up, celery with cream cheese and carrots.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Can You Spot the Nugget?
Okay so I know what your thinking. What's that chicken nugget doing in there? Well in defense of the nugget, I believe it is an actual chicken piece breaded and fried from a small local restaurant here in town and no I don't mean Mickey D's. Not that it's a big deal to have a nugget every now and again, but in light of current events nuggets have become an issue. Sometimes my kids ask for junk food/ fast food as if it's a treat. I wish they didn't view it as some kind of reward but they kind of do. I like for them to eat real food made by me most of the time but certain times call for junk food such as driving on long trips, visiting grandparents, friend's house. Maybe it's those mentioned special occasions that have caused them to make the connection between special times and junk food. Hmmm... just something to think about. Well anyways, hopefully all that other stuff in the lunch will counter those big bad chicken nuggets.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Star Cutters
In an effort to make the boring not so boring I am once again drawn to simple tools such as the star cookie cutter. Everyone hits that day of the week where there isn't much to choose from for lunch. Today we have cheddar cheese sandwich, cottage cheese, pineapple rings with complimentary maraschino cherry and Dad brought home a little donut treat(thanks Dad). So not the greatest but not the worst right?
Friday, May 14, 2010
Taste of Summer Party
I recently found out about
House Party. This is a website that offers the opportunity to try some new products by offering to host a party with their particular product in mind. It was very easy, I applied to host a party and was selected as a host and the next thing I knew I received a big box of party favors and freebies to host a party for Kraft. I decided to make it a lunch for some of the moms I know and make it very kid friendly. Kraft supplied their new home style deluxe mac-n-cheese along with pizza, breadsticks, crackers, drinks and some turkey pastrami that I made into small sandwiches. The best part was I was able to give all the moms coupons for the products and some fun free stuff which they loved! This is a very fun thing to do and I would definitely host again. Besides it's a great excuse to get together for some food sampling and playtime with friends.
House Party. This is a website that offers the opportunity to try some new products by offering to host a party with their particular product in mind. It was very easy, I applied to host a party and was selected as a host and the next thing I knew I received a big box of party favors and freebies to host a party for Kraft. I decided to make it a lunch for some of the moms I know and make it very kid friendly. Kraft supplied their new home style deluxe mac-n-cheese along with pizza, breadsticks, crackers, drinks and some turkey pastrami that I made into small sandwiches. The best part was I was able to give all the moms coupons for the products and some fun free stuff which they loved! This is a very fun thing to do and I would definitely host again. Besides it's a great excuse to get together for some food sampling and playtime with friends.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Pie and Star Wars
One of the things I look forward to when Easter rolls around in the stores is finding candy containers to use in lunches. These Star Wars candy holders work great as a small container to fill with whatever and they're really cheap too! So we have some wavy ham picks, pita bread and cheese, homemade sweet potato pie and a few small pickles. Thursday, May 6, 2010
Lunch Slump
I started taking pictures of the lunches I made to keep a photo record of lunch ideas and also remember what works and what doesn't. Sometimes I still feel like I could get a little more creative with lunch. This is an example of that. Ham and cheese cubes on picks, strawberries with yogurt dip and ants on a log. An advantage of putting food on picks for kids is that it is easy and accessible to them. When your kids only get about 15 minutes to eat(sometimes less) they need all the help they can get. I'm glad my kids can sit down, open up and start eating rather than stand in a long lunch line and be left with only 5 minutes to eat!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)