the last lunch of 2012

Well, tomorrows lunch is the last of 2012. On Friday he wants to do a hot lunch (and with the cold weather we're having, I can see why!) He did hot lunch today, and yesterday I got to join him for lunch so I brought something warm from home :) *whew*

So here it is...

He has - A stocking shaped cheese sandwich with marshmallow "fur", Ritz crackers, raspberries and vanilla Greek yogurt with red and green mini M&Ms :)

I was able to check out the hot lunches and salad bar at his school yesterday - not as bad as I imagined! But the milk comes in bags?! I need to ask him how they drink it... definitely weird!

Ho Ho Ho!!

The big mans coming to lunch today :) it didn't turn out like I was hoping... but it's not too shabby! Santa looks a little startled/freaky, but the boy likes it LOL

He has: A Santa shaped cheese sandwich (fruit roll hat/jacket, marshmallow puff and beard, candy coated sunflower seed nose, candy eyes), raspberries, and the last of our lime jello.

I had left over fruit roll, so my son said it could be Santas sack. :)

Snow and left overs :)

Another winter lunch :) My son wanted left over ravioli for lunch, but then he went and ate them all for dinner! So I went ahead and made a handful more for lunch :)

We have : Mini ravioli with vegetable sauce, a snowflake cut out garlic flat bread, sugar free lime jello and berries.

I put the ravioli in silicone cups to try to keep it neater... we'll see how that goes - eep!

Frosty :)

We sat down today and planned out the lunches for this week - he's decided he likes hot lunches *sigh* so he'll probably have one a week. I'm glad that they have a salad bar though :) He said he ate his chicken sandwich and LOTS of pineapple and cantaloupe!

For lunch Monday he has: A frosty the snowman cheese sandwich, fruit/veggie leather, sugar free lime jello, Angry Bird cheese crackers.

Frostys scarf, hat and smile are the fruit/veggie leather, he has a candy coated sunflower seed for a nose, candy eyes and smarties buttons :)

I made the jello in the lunch container, do I hope that works out well! I wanted to add fruit to the jello, but that was veto'd. LOL

it's Christmas time!

I am super excited about doing holiday lunches :) but I learned my lesson with Halloween - I need to start early! So we'll have a couple weeks to do these :)

He has : Christmas tree cheese sandwich with mini candy decorations, (I'm getting tired if these, but he's asking for them!), honey nana Greek yogurt with PB2
decorated with mini trees, and fresh mango.

I have a few more holiday ideas... so I can't wait to check out other lunch sites to get more!

Choo Choo!

Well after 2 days of hot lunches, I finally get to pack a fun one :) I don't hate the hot lunches at school, but I'm not overly impressed either. I'd rather know exactly what he's being offered! :)

He has: a Choo Choo cheese sandwich with marshmallow "steam", strawberries, and honey nana Greek yogurt with PB2 so it's peanut butter yogurt.

This is my first try with yogurt for lunch, it always seemed like it'd be a huge mess. Then I saw this idea on my friend Rachel's blog and I totally stole it ( http://followinginmyshoes.com/ ). :) It's an Easy Lunchboxes mini dipper container in the medium section of the Easy Lunchboxes container. Perfect!

Puzzle pieces

Ok I have to admit, I pretty much want to cut everything with this sandwich cutter! I think it's so cute! :)

He has: Puzzle pieces cheese sandwich, mango and raspberries, Angry Bird cheese crackers with raisins.

Getting back into the swing of things is rough :( When I ask him what he wants for lunch he starts naming off all the good stuff my mom has made for him (or taken him out for!) on his time off from school... and that stuff can't go in a lunchbox! So I'm trying to come up with more ideas... ugh.

we're back!

After 2 weeks of no lunches, we're back with a rather boring lunch *sigh*

We have: half of a cheese sandwich, fresh mango and raspberries, wheat thins and a brownie bite (I need those outta my house!)

He says he wants a hot lunch Thursday, but I'll have to see what it is... he's kinda finicky.

Two weeks :(

My sons school has half days this week, then off next week, then three more half days... which means NO LUNCHES!

Aaaaahhhhh!! What am I going to do?!?

I'm going to take this opportunity to try some new lunch ideas, I think. If he tries them at home with Nana, maybe he'll like new things :)

Wish me luck!

Pancake sandwiches :)

I packed this lunch at bed time and gave him exactly what he asked for. Spme will say I'm catering to my 5 year old... which is fine :) I see it as avoiding a major meltdown. Its letting him won a battle so that I can win the war. I mean, I'm going to pack him a lunch anyway, might as well be something he'd like! :)

He has: mini pancake sandwiches with berry cream cheese and craisins, mango and blueberries, and ritz crackers.

Oops! A day late.

This is the kind of crazy week we've had... I wrote this post in my head and never sat down to publish it LOL

I made pasta salad for little dude and he told me he was tired of it *sigh* so we improvised at the last minute. He still wanted the olives and garlic knot!

He has: a hard boiled egg and olives (whatever), a garlic knot, dried mango and raspberries with chocolate chips.

Now my job will be to find his next "go to" lunch :)

Maybe...

Well, the boy said he wants to try a hot lunch tomorrow... but I packed a lunch just in case. He's a big time mind changer LOL

So, if he changes his mind he'll have this tomorrow. If not he'll get it Wednesday :)

He has: Dino cheese sandwiches with stripes (veggie/fruit strips), mango and black berries, veggie/fruit strips and marshmallows.

Lazy weekend equals lazy lunch

Yeah... we had a lazy weekend :) So when it came to lunch for Monday I just kinda "whatever" it. *sigh*

We have: a Hawaiian roll cheese and honey ham sandwich (he tried honey ham this weekend and declared it his favorite... we'll see), goldfish and cheese crackers with a few raisins thrown in, raspberries with a few chocolate chips, and marshmallows.

Breakfast :)

So my son has been asking for breakfast for dinner all week... so I knew this was coming! Breakfast for lunch, again :)

He has: Mini pancakes, a hard boiled egg, strawberries and blueberries, wheat thin crackers.

I wanted to share his "go to" breakfast this week, it's super quick and easy! He has been eating egg sandwiches - I toast a whole wheat bagel thin and make him an egg. We have one if those tiny pans, so I just crack an egg in it, break the yolk, then cook and flip! I add some cheese then slide it onto the bagel thin. It's one of MY favorite breakfasts too. We can change it up by adding crumbled sausage or broccoli to the egg. :)

The day after....

Lunch for the day after Halloween and I might be the meanest mom ever.

I'm ok with that.

My kid may be the only one that DOESN'T have candy in his snack or lunch tomorrow LOL For snack he's getting wheat thins and yogurt.

For lunch he gets: A garlic knot left over from our spaghetti dinner, half of a cheese sandwich, fresh mango (I need to get more!), cinnamon apple straws and Angry Bird cheese crackers

I wouldn't wish a class of candy high five year olds on our wonderful teacher!

Ewww! Gross!

LOL I can't wait to hear about his lunch tomorrow :) He doesn't usually get lunch on Wednesdays, but he's started an after school sports program so he'll need lunch before he starts running around.

So we have: BUGS! Cheese tortolini with broccoli and olives tossed in Italian dressing, fresh mango, buttered toast and ghost marshmallows. and BUGS!!

They can't wear costumes tomorrow, so this will be a fun way to make it "Halloween" at school. I just hope the little toys aren't a distraction :(

New bread :)

My boys not growing this week. Last week he ate us out of house and home, this week he's eating half of a "normal" serving... *sigh*

So I hope he eats tomorrow! It's one of his favorites :)

We have: cheese tortolini with broccoli and olives in Italian dressing, fresh mango, marshmallow eyes and a mini garlic flat bread (two halves)

The flat bread is something I found at my new favorite grocery store, Fresh and Easy! They are 100 calories each and YUMMY! I've had 2 for snacks already. I'll definitely need to go back for more LOL

Scaredy cat!

LOL Today little guy said he wanted a Halloween lunch every day this week, and by the way... we haven't used the cat one yet. :)

So guess what??

We have: a Scaredy cat cheese sandwich, oranges and grapes, crackers, cinnamon apple straws and...because he was helping, a couple of chocolate rock candies.

Kabobs? Sure!

I was talking to my son about kabobs and he was all interested in food going on a stick... so we're trying hot dog kabobs tomorrow :) Wish me luck!

I figure if it flops, that's ok because we'll be eating like little piggies at the Fall Festival later in the afternoon :)

We have: hot dogs and flat bread kabobs, ketchup to dip, mixed berries, and eyeball marshmallows :)

We didn't have hot dog buns or bagels *sigh* so flat bread will have to do. :)

Berry explosion :)

I made little mans lunch without checking with him first, thinking that he LOVES this meal I'd be fine.

When he got home from practice he said, "I like it, but can I have something else instead?" *sigh* REALLY???

So tomorrow will be the lunch I made and Friday will be "something else"

We have: mini pancake and berry cream cheese sandwiches, mixed berries and Special K savory herb crackers.

BOO!!! Scared ya!

Yay! Another spooky lunch :)

We have: a ghostly double cheese sandwich with a word bubble "Boo" (I had to use more of the sandwich), mixed berries (raspberries, blueberries and black berries), Angry Bird cheese crackers and wheat thins, and dried mango.

Fun, fun, FUN!! :)

Pasta plus!

I've accepted the fact that we're going to have the same lunches over and over for a while :) LOL But I'm changing them up when possible...

Tomorrow we have: Cheese tortolini, broccoli, olives and grilled chicken (left over) tossed in Italian dressing, a Hawaiian dinner roll, raspberries with chocolate chips and dried mango.

Little man likes dried mango as a dessert, who am I to argue? This kid likes mango, any way it's served :)

Spooky!!

Yay! I finally got to use my spooky stuff :) We have a couple more weeks till Halloween, but I've got lots of ideas :)

He knows about the Jack-O-lantern, but not the spider. I can't wait to hear how that goes over LOL

We have: a cheese sandwich spider and a salami and cheese sandwich pumpkin, strawberries and black berries, and ghost marshmallows and "ghost poop" (yogurt blueberries)

The "special" things I used were: Candy eyes, Wilton's candy rope (it's cherry, not black licorice) and Wilton's food pen to make the ghost faces. The Jack-O-lantern faces are from a cupcake kit I found at target... not sure of the brand :)

Oops!

Today is Wednesday, no lunch day. Oops! I guess that lunch will keep till tomorrow :)

Hawaiian treat!

I found a little 4 pack of Hawaiian sweet rolls at the store and I did a little dance :) I LOVE these rolls, but I can't have a dozen in my house or I'll eat them.

So we're using one for lunch tomorrow (after trying one tonight! I've learned my lesson LOL)

We have: Hawaiian roll sandwich with cheese, fresh mango, angry bird cheese crackers, and a marshmallow with 2 Halloween Oreos.

Guess what?

Pasta salad... again. :)

I went to Fresh and Easy tonight to support my sons schools fundraiser, and found the most beautiful fresh mango! I was so excited, we tasted it as soon as we got home... heaven! :) I had only been there once before, and I can promise I'll be back. The fruit and healthy snacks alone will have me going back! I got some dry roasted wasabi edamame for myself, yum :)

I'm going back for the spinach stuffed portabelo mushrooms *drool*

So tomorrow he has: Cheese tortolini with broccoli and olives tossed in Italian dressing, mango, a garlic knot and mini cookies with marshmallows :)

To change it up next time, I think I'll get the spinach cheese tortolini. Gotta get those veggies in where I can! LOL

Repeat.

By request, we have mini pancake sandwiches again. *sigh* I can't say I'm upset though, it IS quick and easy LOL

He has: mini pancakes with berry cream cheese in between, garnished with dried cranberries, black berries (they're huge!), and mixed crackers.

I don't remember if I said or not, but I made fiber one blueberry mini muffins, which are working out great for snacks :) Two mini muffins and some fruit is plenty filling for morning or afternoon snack. The mix I used made, I think 3 dozen mini muffins... so next time I think I'll do 6 regular muffins and the rest as mini, so I can take one for my snack as well! :)

Pasta and oranges :)

I'm pleased to say the mini pancake sandwiches were a huge hit - YAY! :)

I can't wait to try some Halloween themed lunches in the next two weeks. I've got some ideas for spiders and pumpkins... maybe. I need to see if I can pull it off LOL

For tomorrow, we have: cheese tortolini and broccoli tossed in Italian dressing (our olives went to enchiladas last week), a clementine orange, garlic knot and some mini cookie cereal and mini marshmallows.

A favorite breakfast

This is one of my sons favorite breakfast meals, and he requested it for lunch :) I bought some new cookie cutters this week - they should be here soon and I can't wait to use them!

For tomorrow we have: mini pancake sandwiches with berry cream cheese in between (garnished with dried cranberries), mixed fruit (mango, strawberries and blueberries), and Angry Bird cheese crackers with wheat thins.

The berry cream cheese is delicious, and almost a dessert! :) I mentioned last week that we were trying honey roasted soy nuts, and I wanted to update- he likes them! I've sent some in his snack a few times and they're all gone when he comes home. They're a good protein, so I'm glad I can sneak some in occasionally.

As promised

Look familiar? LOL

He has: cheese Dino sandwich, bologna and cheese bat sandwich, mixed goldfish crackers, raspberries with chocolate chips and some blueberries.

Tomorrow will, hopefully, be something new! We have 2 days to think about it, since Wednesday is a half day. Hmmm... I'll have to think up something good!

This will look familiar...

.... tomorrow. :)

He wanted one of each, and there's really only one way to do that LOL

He has: a cheese Dino sandwich and a bologna and cheese bat with with Cliffs kids fruit twist cut up on it, raspberries with chocolate chips and parmesean goldfish with a few raisins (to finish the box we had open)

Is this a rut?

It's hard to say "no", when he asks for certain lunches. I mean, it's not PB&J every day (which I could happily live on!) so I shouldn't complain :) But it makes for a boring blog post LOL

We have: cheese tortolini with olives and broccoli tossed in Italian dressing, a garlic knot, 2 pear halves, and *sigh* a marshmallow and 2 Oreos.

The dessert was a treat for today, and he was in tears telling me he took one Oreo apart and took a bite then everything fell on the floor :( So... we're doing it again. Then it's back to healthier desserts! LOL

Working late

Ugh. I was up at 5:45a as usual today, and worked till 7:30p. I was BEAT when I got home, so I didn't put a whole lot of thought into lunch :(

We've got: a blueberry mini bagel with cream cheese, a garlic knot (he loves those things!), mixed fruit (grapes, strawberries and blueberries), and a very special treat for having an awesome week so far - 2 Oreos and a marshmallow.

*yawn* I'm just glad he likes the honey roasted soy nuts and yogurt dots for snack :) That's some good protein right there!

And again...

I had another request for pasta salad. He must be growing! He's loading up on carbs, which is good because he runs around like crazy at soccer :)

Tomorrow he has: cheese tortolini and olives tossed in Italian dressing (no broccoli again), mixed fruit (mango, strawberries and blueberries), a garlic knot and some Angry Bird grahms with yogurt dots :)

I seriously love the yogurt dots. Yogurt is really too messy to send, and he doesn't like gogurts - which I don't get. It's YOGURT. But he loves Chobani champions for snack. Anyway, the dots make yogurt more portable for us, and he thinks its a treat! Win-win!

I also need to buy stock in mango. This kids loves mango - morning, noon and night. :)

Left overs, kinda.

Oooh man, what a weekend! We had soccer pictures and a soccer game Saturday morning, then we spent the afternoon at the Touch a Truck event, which was awesome! But man oh man, can I use a break! I'm totally unmotivated tonight, and frankly I give myself props for going to the grocery store at all LOL

So for lunch tomorrow he's getting: the left overs if his cheese sandwich from today, the last hardboiled egg in the house, mini Oreo crisps from the 100 calorie pack he didn't finish yesterday, and mixed fruit (blueberries, mango and strawberries)

The fresh strawberries were looking sad, so I bought some frozen whole strawberries. I have frozen fresh ones before, and they worked well. If these go over just as well, I'll dance for joy! Strawberries through the fall/winter? Yeah!

I found some honey roasted soy nuts and got them to try. I love them, and my son likes them too :) So he's getting soy nuts and grahms for snack on Tuesday. Tomorrow he's getting left over mini muffins and grapes. The grapes, of course, are left over from soccer LOL

P.S. For the cheesy rice stuff on Friday, he ate about half if it and said he didn't like it very much. :) Whatever!

Mish mash

So... the wrap was a flop. Lesson learned! :( It's true - try it at home first.

Anyway, for tomorrow he wanted our left over cheesy rice and broccoli for lunch, so before I packed it I had him try it cold. He said he "kinda" liked it, but he wanted it in his lunch. So, here we go again. Kinda.

We have: cheesy rice and broccoli, a hard boiled egg, mini bagel with cream cheese, and raspberries with chocolate chips.

It's more than he'd usually get, or at least it feels that way, but I wanted to make sure he had enough in case he decides he DOESN'T like the rice at lunch.

Today he took two bites of the wrap and that's it. Poor kid was hungry! But you know... he could have eaten it if he was THAT hungry *shrug* LOL

That's a wrap!

I'm trying something new and breaking a cardinal rule. I'm sending him to school with something he's never tried. EEK! I told him about the wrap and he said it sounds like dessert - so I'm hoping it goes over well!

Little man suggested using a sword to hold the wrap together, so he's getting those too (along with a chat about how the swords stay IN his lunchbox and if there's an issue he won't get them again) :)

For tomorrow he has: a cream cheese and jam tortilla wrap, mixed fruit (mango, strawberries and blueberries), pretzel and parmesean gold fish, and yogurt raisins with marshmallows.

I need to find a better way to do the wrap... this was kind if a mess. I had to warm the tortilla to make it soft enough to roll, but that made the cream cheese impossible to spread, then when I rolled it, a lot of the jam squished out. I think next time I'll leave the tortilla out to get to room temp and see if that helps. Any other pointers?

The package!

Tomorrow is half day, so no lunch :) But I wanted to show his lunch box and how the easy lunchbox container fits in it.

This is a lunch box from Old Navy, but it's a very common size/style :)

I fit an ice pack, the easy lunchbox, and a box juice (on its side) in here every day.

Overall, I REALLY like the easy lunch boxes. I'm so glad I picked them up - there's a good chance they'll last all year! Worth every cent! I can fit plenty of food, and the silicone holders to add more "sections" if needed. They're easy to clean - I do them by hand.

The lunch boxes from Old Navy were pretty cheap too, I bought a couple in case any managed to break or get yucky inside... *knock wood* so far so good!

My "I'm tired, what's laying around?" lunch

Yawn. I don't know why today seemed so long! It came time to pack lunch and I drew a complete blank. The kitchen was cluttered with left over snacky stuff from my moms weekend getaway to Palm Springs - so I decided to go with it LOL

We've got: a hardboiled egg, strawberries (the last if them!), blueberry mini muffins, and fruit snack bunnies and marshmallows.

I want to try a wrap this week, I just have to see if he'll at least try it :) I'm thinking cream cheese and strawberry jam on a tortilla? If I stick it with a plastic sword toothpick thing, he might just like it! We'll have to see :)

Edit: after looking at this lunch, it's an awful lot of "sweet", so I took out 2 mini muffins and I'll add a piece of buttered toast in the morning...

Sneaky...

As I was getting ready to pack lunch for tomorrow, Dude told me he wanted one bat and one dinosaur. Logistically, that wouldn't work. Then he suggested he could have one of each today, and one of each tomorrow! problem solved! :)

He also chose bologna and cheese - but we were out of bologna, so I snuck in some honey baked ham slices. The verdict?

"This is the best bologna EVER!"

Sucker.

So tomorrow he has: a "bologna" and cheese bat and a plain cheese dinosaur with Cliffs kids fruit twist spots and stripes, raspberries and chocolate chips (the berries were BOGO so I need to use them before they spoil!), and a mix of wheat thins and Special K herb crackers.

I've also included a pic of what the "leftovers" look like :) That's from the bat - you'll see there's really only crust!

It was THAT good!

Dude's only comment on today's lunch? "It was DELICIOUS! Can I have the same thing again?!"

Well of course he can! LOL But he ate the last garlic knot, so I improvised a bit...

He has: cheese tortolini with olives and broccoli tossed in Italian dressing, flat bread with butter and Parmesan, raspberries with chocolate chips and angry bird grahms :)

When I opened his lunch box today there was half of an olive in there. That's it. *blink* someone's growing! He plowed through 9 fish sticks and 2 servings of green beans tonight. YOWZA!

I hope tomorrows lunch goes over as well :)

Pasta Salad done right

Take two! We actually had broccoli this time so he's getting the good stuff LOL

I'm surprised at what he's been requesting :) I'm surprised that he's actually been requesting things! This is a kid that's usually "whatever"... now he's all "a garlic knot and pasta, if we have it."

So for tomorrow he's getting: Cheese tortolini with broccoli and olives tossed in an Italian dressing, a garlic knot (from dinner the other night), raspberries with chocolate chips, and a few angry bird graham crackers.

Dino's again :)

Ok, I was shocked today when I looked in Dudes lunch and there was one pancake left. That's it. He ate the whole hardboiled egg... that's new! :)

For tomorrow he requested dinosaur sandwiches again. Easy peasy!

We've got: double cheese dinosaur sandwiches with black olive spots and stripes :) , oranges and grapes, and angry bird grahm crackers and yogurt dots (they're gerber stages foods, shhhh!!!)

I'm totally loving packing lunches :) I never thought I'd be this excited every night to pack a lunch LOL Sure, we're only a few weeks in... but I'm having so much fun.

I'm also scouring the net for more easy lunches for my semi-picky eater. The corn dog muffins were a flop, he ate half of one and said he didn't know there was a hot dog in it *sigh* If you have any "go to" lunches that don't involve lunch meat or raw veggies, hit me with it!

Breakfast for lunch

Yep, again. I made eggs for egg salad (for me!) and my son planned his lunch around having a hardboiled egg :)

So he has: A hardboiled egg, mini pancakes, a container of jam to dip his pancakes, grapes and sweet goldfish crackers with marshmallows and yogurt raisins.

I'll peel the egg in the morning, I'm hoping it stays moist (?) until lunch.

Corn Dog Muffins!

Something new tomorrow! My son loves corn dogs, so we're going to try corn dog muffins :) I just used a Jiffy corn bread mix and added cut up hot dogs (we've had lots of BBQs this summer so we had sme leftover!)

The pasta salad was a big hit today! He brought home an empty lunch box and said it was his favorite lunch of the day LOL Even the olive oil and parmesean dip was gone. YAY!!

So for tomorrow we have: corn dog muffins, a little cup of ketchup, raspberries with chocolate chips in them, and pretzels/cheese crackers and raisins.

If these work out, I may try a chicken broccoli corn bread muffin next :) He'll eat just about anything in muffin form LOL I don't think he'll eat two full muffins, but he's been eating "well" yesterday and today, so I'd rather he have too much (and bring some home).

Pasta salad!

This is supposed to have broccoli in it, but apparently we ate it all over the weekend! Nothing fancy here...

We have: cheese tortolini with olives and a dash of Italian dressing, flat bread (I'll add some olive oil and parmesan in the morning), cinnamon peaches and Oreo crisps.

The cinnamon peaches are technically a dessert, but I didn't realize they were those until I opened it. OOPS! :) Th Oreo crisps are about half of the 100 calorie bag (hey, mom needs a snack too!)

This is our first run with pasta salad for lunch, so we'll see how it goes!

Repeat - kinda

Well the dinosaurs with eyes, spots and stripes were a HUGE hit, so he requested the SAME lunch but with bats.

So here it is: Double cheese bat sandwiches with fruit roll spots/stripes, mixed fruit (mango, strawberries and grapes), and Angry Bird cheese crackers. The rest of the fruit roll is in there with his sandwich :)

I wish my kid liked cold veggies *sigh* but I guess I should be thankful he eats loads of cooked veggies (he requests green beans at least twice a week!). I'll have to offer him cold green beans... if he'll eat them I'll do cartwheels!