Breakfast for Lunch!

Welcome back!! I hope that you had a great Thanksgiving holiday! Ours was wonderful as we spent time with our family. I even made my very first home made apple pie! Yum!
I realize it's been a few days since then, that I've posted. I did make lunches for the boys on Monday & Tuesday but they were just super simple lunches so I didn't post anything. Haha in my mind they were not picture worthy! I know, I know...
But today I made a cute little lunch, or should I say breakfast? In our home, we love breakfast for any meal. So, today I made waffles (with our new waffle maker which I LOVE btw!). It's still technically fall so I'm still keeping with the fall leaves theme. I'm waiting until December to break out all the Christmas goodies (& I CANNOT wait)!

Waffles, strawberries, pears & a hard boiled egg.  I also included a side of syrup (not pictured).

Panda Pilgrim - Happy Thanksgiving

Hi Everyone! Today is the last day of school for the holiday! Yippee!! That means time with the kids to goof around and hang out for the rest of week and boy are they excited!  I'm pretty sure Friday will consist of the following: Eating followed by video games followed by some pumpkin pie followed by MAYBE some shopping followed by MORE pumpkin pie. Sounds good to me!

Our panda pilgrim is made out of eggs and I used cheese and nori for the accents. The hearts are made out spam and of course rice.  It's was a spam and eggs kinda day. =) And since it's the last day of school I put in a cookie.

I'd like to wish all of you and your families as very Happy Thanksgiving from our home to yours.  Enjoy your day with your families and remember that we have so much to be thankful for.

I thank God for all He has done in our lives and all the blessings he's poured onto my family.  Without Him, I would have nothing.

Psalm 107

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,

his faithful love endures forever!

Thankful For U & Fish Themed Bento

Today I went a little overboard and made 2 different lunches. Again, a very rare occasion. My youngest one was going on a field trip the Aquarium of the Pacific here in Long Beach.  I promised him I would make him a special lunch for his trip.  I didn't want to make the same one for my older son so I made him something different. Call me "Crazy Over Ambitious Mom".  I can't help it.  Making these lunches have gotten the best of my creativity and I love it.  It's like scrap booking with food!  

First lunch was for my older son.  It was left over pizza from our end of the season soccer party we had last night.  Thank goodness my friend talked me into taking the left over pizza home because I know my son wouldn't have wanted a sandwich for lunch.  I used my handy dandy letter cutters for the message, cut up some strawberries and put in some yogurt covered pretzels.

This lunch was for my little one. I so LOVE how his whole lunch came out! Probably one of my favorites.  This little fishes are just too adorable.  I packed him a pbj sandwich, gold fish (of course!), yogurt pretzels and strawberries.  

When I showed him lunch, his first concern: 

"Mom! I need to be able to throw it away. I can't bring home all that stuff."

Handled. Daiso sells disposable bento boxes so I told him he had nothing to worry about and that he could throw away the container and everything else.

And when he came home:

Aiden: "Oh mommy! I forgot to tell you something!"

Me: "Yes, honey."

Aiden: "Umm, my fishies moved when I got my lunch!"

Me: "It's okay baby! Fishies swim remember?"

Aiden: "Oh yeah!"

Gobble! Gobble!

Can you believe it's already the week of Thanksgiving?? To kick off this week, I decided to make a turkey themed lunch today.  I had a lot of fun making this little turkey.  These are probably THE 2 EASIEST turkeys I have made in my life!  I showed my youngest kidlet the finished sandwich and he said it looked like a duck! 

And speaking of turkeys, I still need to go out and get ours.  We have a tradition where we name our turkeys. I know, it's weird, but funny.  I can't remember what we named ours last year - I'll get back to you on that after I ask my sister. She usually helps me cook for the big day.  Do you have any funny Thanksgiving traditions? Also, I wonder what the family would think if I just served up these turkeys instead of the full 30 pound one? LOL!

Turkey sandwich is filled with pbj, strawberries and grapes, cookie, wheat thins and cheese wedge.

I Love You

Sorry for the late post.  Things have been bust at home and I totally forgot to post Thursdays lunch (Friday they both had a pizza party so no lunches).  It a bit chilly last week and the boys were asking if they could bring clam chowder soup for lunch.  I didn't think it would be a problem since I did buy some insulated soup containers.  I warmed up the soup really and closed it up.  Good, right?  No. =( My boys came home and said that by the time they had lunch, their soup was cold so they didn't even get to it.  I felt so bad! I was hoping that the soup would have at least stayed warm.  I'll have to research what other insulated soup containers are out there that work well.

Above is soup (it was hot when I took the picture), a turkey and cheese sandwich, strawberries with white chocolate chips and oyster crackers.

And just for fun, I added little notes in their lunches ... just another little way to let them know that mommy loves them.

Another Simple Lunch

Some days, I have a burst of creative energy flowing & I can put together a great (in my opinion) looking lunch. Other days, I feel like I'm a struggling to even find a matching top & pants for the boys to wear...& they wear uniforms!! Today was one of those days. I didn't plan ahead & this is what they ended up having. Sorry for the blurry pic...refer to previous reference above: struggling.
Turkey & Provolone sandwich on a Hawaiian Roll, Goldfish Crackers, Plums & Cantaloupe. I put in a few Skittles too.
However, tomorrow is a new day & I plan on putting my sassy pants on so I can make a great lunch for my boys. (Well, we'll see. Ha!)

I "Mustache" You A Question

Hello my fellow readers! Today I was back to making lunches since yesterday was a school holiday for Veteran's Day. It was a nice little break & the kids enjoyed lounging around all day.  I, myself, had to work.

Today's lunch was inspired by this little guy right here: Hello Mr. Tycoon. This is my youngest and he was trying to decide which one looked good on him.  Good choice, sir! 

This weekend my sister picked up some goodies for the boys and one of the items was a slap bracelet (above) with different mustaches printed on it!  Mustaches have been so trendy lately and I'll be the first to admit that I love this trend.  Why? I honestly can't tell you why, but I love seeing the black little staches on mugs, stationary, sunglasses and even baby clothes (I bought my cousin a onesie with a mustache for their new baby boy). I just think they are cute. Heck, I've even seen Hello Kitty sporting a mustache so they can't be that bad. Mr. Tycoon's picture then inspired their lunch below.  Do you see a resemblance? Ha!

Mr. Tycoon wanted a turkey & cheese sandwich AND a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

There are grapes and apples for their fruit and of course we can't forget the panda creme filled cookies.

I am loving the mustache on the panda which is/was a food pick, but i cut the little stem of so that it would lay flat.

Disclaimer: To my dearest husband if you are reading this, I like mustaches on paper, graphics, clothes, food picks...etc. Please do not interpret this that I am giving you the red light to grow a mustache. Thank you.

Angry Birds Have Arrived!

We love Angry Birds at our house. We have Angry Bird pajama's for the boys, toys, games on the iPod (of course!) and sleeping eye masks (YES!). Now they have made their debut in our kitchen. AND with the release of the new Star Wars version of the game, I thought it was only fitting to make an Angry Bird bento.  Needless to say my boys were pretty excited when I showed them.

I used my new Cute-Z-Cute cutter to make the piggy.  The sandwich cutter was very easy to use! 

I used a nori puncher for the hair and eye brows & pupils of the bird, cheese for the eyes and carrots for the beak.  

My youngest son is so funny! I was making their lunch and this was the conversation:

Aiden: "Mom, where do eggs come from?"

Me: "They come from chickens, honey."

Aiden: "Even the hard boiled eggs?"

Me: "Yes, Aiden. Even the hard boiled eggs.  All of the eggs we eat come from chickens."

Aiden: "Oh!! Because I thought eggs just come from any bird that's around in the sky!"

Oh my little one, I love these little conversations.

Piggie sandwich is pjb, hard boiled egg for the bird and Angry Bird graham crackers. I also included a side of all natural apple sauce but I couldn't fit it in the box.

Now... this mommy has some Star Wars Angry Birds to play on her phone!

Falling Leaves

This morning it rained but I think it is still a beautiful day.  The sun is slowly trying to peek out from the clouds on this cold fall morning. I love when the weather is like this. Cold but still sunny.  It's the perfect time time for comfort food and cuddling up with the kid & the hubby.  Ok and maybe our little yokie, Jacob, when he's not trying to nibble on one of our fingers.

Today's lunch was inspired by a recent lunch my older son and I had at California Pizza Kitchen: Panko Crusted Mac & Cheese. We had ordered it as an appetizer and he asked me if I could try to make it for their lunch one day. And here it is in it's cheesy baked (not fried!) glory...YUM.  

Panko Crusted Mac & Cheese, Grapes, Strawberries and Goldfish.

MORE Bento Loot

One of my favorite things about making bento lunches ... are the supplies!! There are tons of different boxes, punches, sandwiches cutters, food picks (the list is endless) that are available to buy.  I've only started making bento's since this September and my collection of items has grown SO much. (Too much probably in my husband's opinion!). You can click here to see my previous purchase.

I know I've mentioned the Daiso store before but I wanted to show you some of the bento supplies that they carry for $1.50 each. I bought these items at the beginning of October.

Here is the store front. Inside is lit with fluorescent lighting and neon pink trim. SUPER BRIGHT.

These are just some of the many different bento boxes that they have available. They have a whole isle full. I had a really hard time deciding which ones to get. Choices! Choices!

Need silicone cups or baking cups? This is the place to get them. They have a collection of different themes, shapes, sizes and colors perfect for your kidlets lunch.

And this was my purchase. I didn't go too overboard because I really wanted to get just a few items.

Above is a strawberry bento box( there's a medium and a small size box), 2 more bento boxes, some silicone cups, heart picks, a knife to cut designs with and a nori punch.  

Fast forward to the end of October. I've been seeing these Cute-Z-Cute cutters in different bentos online  but I knew that Daiso would not carry this item.  The items below I ordered from AllThingsOnSale.Com.  Shipping is $6.00 flat. Me, being the inpatient person that I am, paid the extra $3.00 to have it expedited. My items came in the mail on 11/2 but were were out of town. It's now 11/7 and they are STILL in their packaging! I know...next time I won't be so impatient.  The only reason I ordered these online is because I know that I can't find these in store anywhere. 

1. Food cups and food dividers

2. Sandwich cutters! Cute huh? They make 4 mini sandwiches.

3. This is one of my favorites.  Food picks that resemble little hats and bow ties. Imagine the possibilities!

4. "More food picks?" As my older son said when he was watching me go through all my goodies.

Yes. MORE!

5. Mustache picks. I need to think of some thing clever for these! 

6. & 7. Fall themed picks - for that fall theme bento that I will eventually make before the season is over.

8. Cute-Z-Cute cutter. I can make a panda, cat, frog, bear shaped food. I've seen Angry Bird piggies made with these cutters so that I'll have to attempt as well.

My bento supplies are starting to look like my scrapbooking supplies, endless.  But this is the fun part for me aside from creating different lunches.  =) The kids get to eat  & enjoy it. It's a Win-Win for all of us!

The Alternative CornDog

If your kidlets are anything like mine, there's probably a good chance that they enjoy eating corn dogs.  I am ok with them but if it's something that my kids like to eat that I feel isn't healthy, I will try to find a way to make it healthier than the original.  Hence...the corn dog muffin. It's baked & not fried which is a PLUS. Also the hot dogs are actually all chicken and nitrate free. Who knew those little Jiffy boxes of muffin mix would come in handy other than for corn bread? Not me! Thank you again Pinterest for this brilliant idea! You can find the recipe here on my Pinterest Board.

Corn dog Muffins, Apples, Grapes & Broccolli. It's what's for lunch!

It's Election Day!

As I was 90% done with packing the boys lunches this morning, I realized "Today is voting day!!" How could I forget? I tried to think of something "voting" or "election" themed to include in their lunch today, but didn't have anything. I'll be sure to be ready in the next 4 years! So check back then! =)

Today's lunch was a breakfast burrito (whole wheat tortilla, egg, fat free refried beans & cheese), strawberries & grapes. The little blue & yellow package on the side is a Filipino dessert which my dad brought back from his trip to the Philippines. It's called Polvoron.

 

I don't consider myself a political person at all, but today I did vote. I hope that all of you went out to the polls today as well so that your voice could be heard too!

Dinosaurs! RAWR!

Hello Everyone! I don't know about you but the Daylight Savings time change has got me off beat today.  We were 30 minutes EARLY to school...on a MONDAY of all things. That never-ever-EVER happens.  I could have probably spent that extra time on the boys lunch today because this is all that I could come up with. Bleh. But needless to say, my boys were happy with mommy's lunch, so that is all that matters.  

Chicken nugget dinosaurs on a bed of rice. They are suppose to look like they are walking on grass.

Strawberry Applesauce (which I was leery of at first but when I checked the ingredients, I was relieved: Strawberry, Apple.) And because we STILL have a TON of Halloween candy left, I included a Kit-Kat. The candy will somehow mysteriously disappear tomorrow when I take it to the office.  "Mom where's the candy?" "Candy? What candy?"