First Attempt at Angry Birds Lunch - partial fail

Ruthie went to a birthday party this weekend and it had an angry birds theme, down to the invitations (the gift bag was even an angry birds drink cup holding a packet of fruit snacks, a fruit roll-up, 3 pieces of candy (snack size), and a little rubber angry bird ball you put together... all wrapped in cellophane).  So she asked for an Angry Bird lunch.

I've been sick all week with this horrible virus and have still not picked up food writer pens (the kids were sick first, so it's been two weeks of buying lots of medicines), so I saw the fail coming, but it made her happy, so it was worth it.

First, we have a turkey (bird meat) sandwich... I made a face from a heal of the loaf, but had to freehand it... that, combined with the fact my daughter rarely eats a full sandwich (I only packed a half sandwich) not giving much room for it, and the angry bird face ended up how you see it below.

In the yellow-green silicone cup she has chunks of apple and on the bottom she has a field of lettuce.
In the pink pig silicone cup she has all of the angry bird fruit snacks, surrounded by pretzels (there are two under it, too)

She was thrilled, but I am seeing that I will be going to walmart for the food writing pens this week even if I'm still sick.  I could have done so much more with them.

Leftovers for the Boy

I do pack lunch for Ruthie's brother on occasion.  He has no food intolerance and our school lunches are pretty good, so he usually gets it.  However, when we have leftovers, especially if it's something he loves, we do send him a packed lunch.  He has a 6-can Steelers cooler bag that he uses when he takes his lunch that I got on Amazon.

Today he is taking leftover chili in his food jar (also bought on amazon) to keep it hot for lunch.  In the Kotobuki Panda Box, he has tortilla chips and leftover steamed carrot coins (this container is microwaveable)  He is also taking a peach (which I put in a round rubbermaid container to prevent being squished) and a small 4oz container with cheese (to put in his chili)  He also has water to drink.

Btw, my son is 11yrs old and in 5th grade.  I did ask him before using the panda container and he said he wanted it.  He used it last year, but I did ask in case he felt he was too old for it.  He said he loves it... that it is kung-fu panda, so he's a warrior, not a cute little bear.

Happy National Punctuation Day!

Did you know that Sept. 24th is National Punctuation Day?  Well, neither did I, until I was looking for ideas of what to do for my daughter's lunch and googled the date.

So, with this being tied into writing and learning, I decided to make a bento for Ruthie featuring punctuation.

Unfortunately, she doesn't eat enough (nor does she eat carrots, which make easy periods or colons) to do a LOT, so hopefully others will do even cuter ones, but I did come up with something she thinks is cute and is excited to take to school.

She has two exclamation points (pb, honey, and strawberry on a hotdog bun cut in half, with two peanut butter crackers) on a bed of salad (lettuces and cucumber), and then we have apple slices that are a comma, dash marks, and a set of quotation marks.

Homemade Ritz-Bits

So when I was growing up, one of my favorite things to eat was Ritz-Bits Peanut Butter Crackers.

Now, as an adult, I know how these really aren't the most nutritious way to eat peanut butter crackers.  Now I still like Ritz crackers with peanut butter, but there is much less sugar and preservatives in them when you make your own.  However, My daughter LOVES bite sized food and has asked me for Ritz Bits several times.  I've told her no and she understood why, but finally, after seeing her dip small crackers in peanut butter, I realized... HEY... I could just make her some at home!

So, we've had the angry birds crackers that I've been putting in her lunches this week and there were plenty left over and I decided to go ahead and use them, but you could use any type of bite sized crackers.

Now according to Nabisco (the Ritz Parent company) a serving of theirs is 12 crackers, but as that is intended as a snack and mine are replacing a peanut butter sandwich, I sent about 18.  Again, this widens the possibilities for kids not only in reducing price for the parent (this was cheaper and if I used all the crackers that came in the box for these, I'd have about 3 boxes worth of pb sandwich bites), but you can use other nut butters, soy butter, or sunflower seed butter if you have a peanut-free class or child with an allergy.  You can get fun shaped crackers to make them cute, you can use homemade crackers, or do rice crackers for a gluten free child.

To round out the meal, she has chunks of peaches and leftover green beans in two of our favorite 4oz round glad containers, each with a cute fork pick for eating them.  Her cracker sandwich bites are packed in the green hello kitty box from her set.  The gorilla bottle standing behind her lunch is filled with cold water.

Talk Like a Pirate Day!

Okay, so my oldest woke up sick during the night and so I totally forgot that today was Talk Like a Pirate Day until Ruthie was already off to school with a very boring lunch of leftover pizza, salad, and crackers (yeah, I didn't take a picture)

In an attempt to redeem myself and because my daughter was not aware that it was today, I decided to get right to work and make her a yummy pirate lunch for tomorrow.  I also topped her containers with notes from mom (held on by tape)

In our big Tinkerbell Sandwich box she has a bed of salad where two pirate skulls rest above a celery X to mark the spot.  She has angry bird "parrot" crackers to go with them.  In the blue hello kitty container from the set of 4, she has "gold nuggets" aka peaches with a cocktail fork pick (100 in a pack at Dollar Tree when you can find them... so awesome and if you lose one, you won't sweat it) for eating.  She'll have strawberry lemonade to drink.

To tie our containers into our theme, I used leftover notebook paper (we're just short on construction and printer paper today) to make her a cute little pirate map and a fun note on the lids.

I missed out on joining this blog hop, but I want to invite everyone to participate in this giveaway that you can enter once you go to each blog in the hop and find each of the clues (there are 38 clues and then two bonus ones that you will need to get your first two entries)  The prize (there are 3 winners) will be a gift certificate for bento stuff!  I'm hoping to win!

Simple and fun School Lunch

So I saw this idea for how to make an apple look like the grapes were a worm coming out of it, but I could not get it to fit properly inside any of my containers... so I will be trying this again later.  Otherwise, for a snack you give your kids out of container or at home with no lid to go on the container, it's a great idea to make fruit cute and fun.

I ended up scrapping my attempts and instead made a similar creature, and one of Ruthie's favorites... a snake.

After verifying with my daughter that this was NOT too much food, I sent her with her "little Ruthie" turkey sandwich and some of the scraps cut into flowers on a skewer.
I then put flower cucumbers and a grape (to fill it up) on another skewer.  The little girl is walking on celery "grass" and there is a grape snake on the grass... the red heart skewer ends up looking like a snake's tongue, which she loved.  And, totally un-cute is the apple, cut in half.  I WILL be redeeming myself from this fail... and I think I know how... I think I will do the grapes coming out of the top and bottom so it is like the worm is coring the apple. - we are out of grapes, so hopefully you will see that next week, depending on the produce at the market.

Water was sent in her funtainer.

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Lunch to Go

Saturday we went to the aquarium, so of course, I packed lunches for everyone!  Mine and my oldest son's were nothing to write home about as they were not cute, and since everyone had the same things in theirs, pretty much, I just took a picture of Ruthie's and her brother, Jeffrey's.

Yes, my boy LOVES him some bento meals. I kept it on the low-key, though, with two kinds of bread so the star was visible to him, but he could eat it without anyone else who might walk by seeing it if he held it right. The sandwich is pb, honey, and strawberry preserves. He has celery that I cut flowers out of (for Ruthie... I had the rest of her "crusts"... they taste the same, but this one held together perfectly) with two flowers of green pepper in each slot... more celery and some carrots are in with it, along with grapes. Angry bird crackers are tucked around the sandwich. Water in a Spiderman Funtainer

Ruthie has pb,honey, and strawberry preserves. half a sandwich cut into two pieces for easier eating quickly... third quarter is cut (by hand... cutter was just too big to do it with one and I was not using the tiny veggy cutter on sandwiches) a star or maybe a ninja, since she said it looked like one to her. She has angry bird crackers, celery flowers (BIG HIT) and grapes skewered on my Dollar Tree heart picks (a box of 100 for a dollar... YES PLEASE), along with two pieces of cucumber. Water in her dora funtainer (thank goodness for water fountains... we can bring reuseable water bottles and drink the whole time and keep refilling and not overpay for bottled water) 

(Ruthie ate a grape off one pick before I took this picture of her lunch, lol)

 Damian had a regular pbh sandwich, the crackers, grapes, and carrots.  I had pbh and strawberry, I had carrots, celery, and green pepper, a container of nectarine chunks and grapes, and some low fat cheese crackers, which I only got 6 of because Damian ate the rest.

Thrown Together Chicken

This lunch was thrown together as I am in need of a trip to the grocery store for more food stuffs, namely, more fresh produce.

We had Chicken on tuesday night, so I pulled the meat off a drumstick and put a kitty fork pick (you can find sets that come with this, the bear, and other options at allthingsforsale.com or on amazon.com if you search bento pick), celery sticks, and a cheap granola bar (I don't think of them as really healthy, they are usually treats/dessert) to round out the lunch.

Packed in the largest of her hello kitty box set.

She also is taking water in her gorilla shaped bottle (must get a pic of it soon.. it's cute!)

Simple & Stars

To keep with small pieces in her lunch until I am sure that she'll not be too chatty to eat, today's lunch is simple, but with the help of my new stainless steel veggie cutters, it gets way more than 5 stars!

In our Kotobuki (available on amazon or allthingsforsale.com) Panda Box (I found the strap in my daughter's Littlest Petshop lunch bag!) we have 5 peanut butter crackers.  I filled them thick to ensure I could pack protein into less amount to chew.  In her top section (so the lid will keep the moisture in) I first made banana stars (two have the extra bits still on them as you can still see the star and it looks cute), some grapes that needed used up (I ate the last of the grapes after putting some of these in her lunch... they are SO yummy!), and scattered cucumber stars on top.  I put a cute bear pick in the middle to go with our panda box (since pandas are bears) and Ruthie can use it to eat her bananas if she doesn't want to use her fingers, since bananas are sticky.  I decided to challenge her again with foods touching, so I hope it goes well.  She also has a funtainer with strawberry lemonade as she requested more of that.

Flower Power! - Take one

Well, I finally got my first set of veggie cutters and my daughter immediately went nuts for the flower one.  I thought about doing a flower sandwich (I have a cookie cutter that is a flower and in the future, that's what I'll probably do), but I had leftover breaded chicken patties, so I cut one into strips for her this time.

She hadn't eaten much of her lunch the previous day, so I wanted small bites.

For this lunch, I used my Melissa & Doug Bella Butterfly Snack Container.  While sold as a snack box for a toddler, this box easily holds a good sized lunch for school aged children and fits in even the smallest of lunch bags with plenty of room for a drink.  If you are looking for a first box to stop using baggies, this is a good one.  They also have a turtle for boys who may not want pink with hearts or for a change of pace.  I've had it for a year and it still looks like brand new, so this is a container that is easily worth twice what you pay for it.

Along with her chicken strips (top right section) she has Apple flowers and some cucumber flowers (top left) and then the rest of the cucumber slices were stacked with apple flowers in the middle.  I wasn't sure she'd eat them because she can be picky about foods tasting like each other or touching too much, but apparently they were a big hit, so this is a good way to get kids more comfortable with food touching.  a few black grapes and celery pieces round out this meal.  She also had a funtainer of strawberry lemonade.

This lunch was a big hit, as the box came back completely empty!

Hello, Kitty!

Ruthie's Hello Kitty set of containers made this lunch easy to throw together.  She has celery, cucumber (some are between the celery and the grapes that you can't see), and black grapes which are SUPER juicy in the 2nd container (green), a turkey sandwich with a kitty face on it (I realize I should have added ears, but I had too much trouble with the meat cutting right) made from turkey and bread crust. in the 3rd (yellow) container, and a treat of 6 ghost marshmallows in the smallest 4th (blue) container.  the big 1st (pink) container can sometimes hold an entire lunch and it was just too big to use for her sandwich to be held securely

I got this set from Japanese Outlet on amazon.com and they have been out of stock on it since shortly after.  I have used pieces of it so many times and if I use all of them, it holds enough for ME to eat, so I really wish I could get another.  Below is what the set looks like with all 4 pieces with the lids on. I also love that they (with the lids on ) nest inside of each other so you only need room to store the biggest one (like a set of russian nesting dolls)

Successes and Fails

Well, although it is the first week of school, we are already thinking about our successes and failures (or at least I am) and so ironically this lunch shows both.

My first attempt at a dairy-free (usually eyes are most easily made from cheese) Phineas & Ferb was both of these things.  Phineas was a noted success... Ferb is a mini fail... but I'm sure my daughter won't mind.  In the future, I need to get to the store for the food writer pens or do this on a day when I have some leftover tortilla to use for the whites of the eyes.

Today was also a success/fail with Ruthie's hair.  I wanted to do something pretty with it... she didn't... she wanted it all just down.  I failed to convince her to do something cute... I succeeded in getting her to let me keep the front out of her face with a side braid.  That's pretty boring, so the picture is only of her lunch.

Pretzals and salad keep the guys in place in our tinkerbell sandwich box and some of the darker lettuce is ferb's hair.  Carrots (supported by the salad and Phin's head) are hair for Phineas.  She also has a ziplock rectangle container filled with orange wedges and a bottle of water.

Leftover Simple Lunch, and a Cute Simple Lunch

So I'm not usually THAT creative, but shaped sandwiches, a fun container or two, and switching up her lunch bags ensure Ruthie will eat well.  Today, her lunch was very simple

The cute part isn't shown... a few years back, we got reusable drink bottles (That came with lemonade in them) from the zoo.  Well, one is long gone and I don't remember why, but the other is a gorilla and I use it in her lunches.  It's a sports bottle top, so it doesn't leak.  She took water in it with this simple lunch of two (stacked) slices of pizza, salad, and orange slices.  I could have fit the oranges in the main container (my other betty crocker one), but they were really juicy and aromatic and Ruthie doesn't want her other foods smelling or tasting like oranges.


Today, the lunch is cuter, thanks to her Kotobuki Panda Bento Box (we lost the strap last year, so that's a hair tie being repurposed... she swears it looks more like Kung Fu Panda, so we're good) and a cute pink puppy pick.  In the panda box, we have peanut butter crackers in the bottom, apples in the top (it has a lid that keeps the moisture in, which is good... the face goes over it and the whole top container)  In her 4oz glad bowl are some green beans with a cute pick that is also a mini fork (which means no messy silverware in the bag).  She has water in her funtainer. You can find the bento box and picks on allthingsforsale.com or amazon.com.

All is packed in her smallest (but cutest) my little pony lunchbox.

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Healthy Eating Starts at Home: Review & Giveaway: Easy Lunchboxes: As all of you know, last August 31st, my blog turned a year old! YAY!! I made it. And I'm glad to have you around as I turned  ONE ....

1st Lunch of the YEAR!

Ruthie takes her lunch to school because she cannot have cow milk or she gets so constipated that she stops pooping completely and even if it doesn't go that far, it does cause discomfort in her gastrointestinal tract and affects her ability to focus and concentrate, and she gets dark circles around the eyes.  She doesn't have an actual allergy, but her body has pretty much declared that it will not tolerate or accept it.

I like to make her lunches cute.  Here is the first one I've made for the year... she'll take it tomorrow with a dora funtainer full of OJ/water (she also has a tiny hello kitty container of pretzels because there aren't a lot in the big box and in case she's hungry after school.)

Her peanut butter & grape jam sandwiches, I used food coloring (because Mommy forgot to buy the food color pens) so it is darker and the lines are thicker, are notebook paper with A+.  In the yellow Hello Kitty container she has salad and cucumber, and under her sandwich are some Phineas & Ferb pretzels

They are packed in a Betty Crocker container that I got for 50c at the grocery store and she'll carry them in her "big" lunch bag, which is an Embark bag from Target that retails for about 10 dollars.