Spooky things are in the air… er, I mean lunch boxes!

Halloween is almost here! Only 4 more school days left to add a little scary flare to the lunch boxes! (actually only 3 since I’m sure I won’t get away with packing cold lunch on chicken sandwich day 2 weeks in a row.)
I took a trip to the dollar tree today and picked up some fun spooky hard candies. (Bones & Skulls) and some chocolate eye balls. Some of the bones came in cute little lidded coffin containers which I thought would be just perfect used in some Halloween lunches.
Both lunches are the same again today, except for the sandwich fillings.

Tiny princess K’s lunch inner container lids off 10/26/12

Tiny princess A’s lunch inner container lids on 10/26/12

Here’s what they had…

• Dollar tree coffin container with Gerber Graduates fruit puffs and bloody bone candies. The candies that came inside the containers were white bones. I decided to make them bloody by adding a bit of food safe marker to each one.
• One lone chocolate eyeball
• Veggie straws
• Applesauce with Halloween sprinkles in the PlanetBox Little Dipper
• A few regular old non healthy fruit snacks
• Mozzarella cheese chunks and oyster crackers complete with creepy crawly centipede and spooky spider ring
• Scaredy  cat Fairy Bread.(idea found HERE) A’s filling is honey butter. K’s filling is PB&J

Packed in our favorite PlanetBox lunch boxes! Also included in these lunches are the ever fabulous Lunch Box Love Notes!! Have I mentioned how much my girls adore finding these in their lunch each day?

On a side note, totally un-lunch related…. I need to get busy on my tiny princesses costumes! What are your little ones going to be for Halloween this year?

Some things (or similair) I used to make these lunches

Lots of “confetti” everywhere!

Today is my Birthday! Happy Birthday to me! :) I thought I would make my tiny princesses a fun and colorful Birthday lunch so that they could celebrate in spirit with me while they were at school!
Yes, this lunch contains much more sprinkles confetti than usual, but that’s okay! There is after all, reason to celebrate!!
Both lunches are exactly the same today with the exception of the sandwich! I’ve decided to stop getting so excited about that now, since it does happen more often than not. No real vegetables in this lunch today or fruit for that matter. We had a carrot incident, but I’ll save that for another blog post….

Tiny princess A’s lunch 10/25/12

Tiny princess K’s lunch 10/25/12

Here’s what they had…

• Veggie straws
• Plain animal crackers with 3 chocolate sprinkle confetti covered ones on top
• Mozzarella cheese bites and turkey pepperoni with cute dog pick
• Mott’s Medleys all natural fruit snacks
• Granola bar broke in thirds
• Organic French vanilla yogurt with sprinkles confetti colored and flavored with strawberry syrup
• Birthday cake sandwich with, you guessed it…. more sprinkles confetti made using my trusty Lunch Punch! A got honey butter. K got PB&J
  
  Packed in our PlanetBox lunch systems! 

And just cause we are totally addicted to them…. I had to add in some Lunchbox Love Notes!! (((LOVE)))

Some things I used to make these lunches

What is is Wednesday? And how I avoided the dreaded school chicken sandwich hot lunch!

This fools my girls every time! They always think it’s ranch. I sure looks like it, but it’s not! So, what do you think it is? Keep reading to find out!

Today was chicken sandwich day at school. If you have been following along with this blog at all, you know that chicken sandwich day is a staple to my girls’ weeks. I have been trying to get them to “Just say no” to all school hot lunches, but I can never get them to say no to this….. Until today!!! Last night I decided to make some breaded baked chicken for dinner. Nothing fancy here…You know, the kind that you shake, then bake? ;) Anyway, my tiny princesses decided that it would be so much yummier that the school chicken sandwich so they wanted to take that for lunch instead. Okay, so the real kicker was that if they took a packed lunch they would get a surprise Lunch Box Love Note from sayplease.com inside. ;)
Both lunches were pretty much the same with only minor details changed.

Tiny princess K’s lunch with inner container lids off 10/24/12

 

Here’s what she had…

• Spooky Shake-N-Bake chicken with bone food pick/fork in a spooky spider silicone cup.
• Ketchup for dipping
• Chobani Champions Chocolate Chunk Yogurt (did you guess correctly?)
• Carrots (no ranch)
• S’mores trail mix. A bit more than usual. (Another “bribe” to guide them away from school lunch.) ;)
• Pineapple in small blue container
• Granola bar halved

The only differences between K & A’s lunches are…. Added ranch and Mott’s Medleys fruit snacks. Omitted pineapple.

Tiny princess A’s lunch with inner container lids on 10/24/12

Some things I used to make these lunches

Still recovering from the weekend lunch.

We had a pretty busy weekend here filled with excitement and fun and lots of cheerleading. It was blast, but for some reason I am having the hardest time recovering. :) Hence the reason there were no lunches yesterday. In fact, my oldest stayed home to cuddle with mom and my youngest had to be convinced to purchase hot lunch at school!
Today, I was a little more with it, but still not 100% Tuesday’s lunches definitely show my lack of motivation. It’s a good thing we are using our ever so adorable Yubo lunch boxes to help me out with the cute factor!

Tiny princess A’s lunch 10/23/12

Here’s what she had…

• Cheese and crackers
• Salami
• Organic french vanilla yogurt with sprinkles
• Animal crackers
• Mott’s Medleys fruit snacks
• Carrots and and ranch dip

Packed in a Yubo lunch box

Tiny princess K’s lunch 10/23/12

Here’s what she had…

• Crackers and cheese
• Salami
• French vanilla yogurt
• Animal crackers
• Carrots (no ranch)
• Pineapple

Packed in a Yubo lunch box

Some things I used to make these lunches

So easy a kid can do it… and some Halloween fun thanks to Molly’s Lunch box

About a week ago I entered my Pretty In Pink Awareness Bento into a giveaway contest held by Shannon of Molly’s Lunch Box on her facebook page.  Guess what? I won! She sent me the most awesome box of Halloween lunch making goodies you have ever seen! We received out box on Saturday and my tiny princesses couldn’t wait til Monday to use the items. My youngest insisted I make them Bento dinners that night!

Tiny Princess A and K’s dinner 10/20/12

Here’s what they had…

• Brown Cow Maple flavored yogurt colored orange to go in the silicone pumpkin cup
• String cheese with witch ring from Molly’s Lunch Box
• A few chocolate covered sunflower seeds
• Mini chocolate chip pancake muffin in silicone spider cup complete with candy eyes. Thanks to Tara from Project Lunchbox for the idea!
• A bit of goldfish crackers to fill the spaces.
• Cloth ghost napkin from Molly’s Lunch Box
• String cheese
• Salami wit bat pick from Molly’s Lunch Box
• Organic baby carrots. A had ranch, but K, my ranch lovin’ carrot hatin’ girl decided she likes carrots now and that they are delicious without any dip at all!
• “Green slime” applesauce with sprinkles

Packed in our Yubo lunchboxes. Also included in this meal are the adorable lunchbox love notes from sayplease.com

Yesterday both of my tiny princesses requested trying their own hands at preparing their meals Bento style. Who was I to deny that request?

Here are they’re meals which they prepared and photographed themselves.Well, actually I prepared the food, but they arranged it in they’re lunchboxes. I also allowed them to add their own coloring to their yogurts. If you know me at all… that last little detail went very against my OCD habits! ;)

Tiny Princess A’s dinner 10/21/12

She had…

• Baked potato with extra pepper
• Animal crackers
• Half of a grilled horseradish cheeseburger which she cut using the fun bites cube it and then arranged it on the butterfly pick
• Brown Cow yogurt with green coloring and sprinkles
• A few goldfish crackers
• Mott’s Medleys fruit snacks
• Green beans

Packed in a Goodbyn  sandwich container.

Tiny princess K’s dinner 10/22/12

• Baked potato with extra pepper no butter
• The other half of the grilled horseradish cheeseburger. She had already eaten a few bites before she took her photo.
• Under her cheeseburger skewer is a bit of ranch for dipping. Told you she was my ranch girl! ;)
• Brown cow maple yogurt with green coloring and sprinkles
• Green beans

Packed in a Goodbyn small meal container.

Sweets for my sweeties for Sweetest Day… one day early.

I’ll have to make this blog post quick since I am currently sitting in the Suburban with my oldest tiny princess while her sister is in dance. I had a little time though so I figured I would posts today’s late dance dinners. They are packed in out new Yubo lunchboxes and include our new lunchbox love notes. More on each of these products later. :)

Each dinner is mostly the same with just 2 minor differences between the two.
Tiny princess A’s dinner 10/19/12

Here’s what she had…

• Small blue silicone cup with chocolate covered sunflower seeds
• Small green silicone cup with roasted peanuts
• Organic french vanilla yogurt flavored and colored with a drop of strawberry syrup
• Cream cheese sandwich cut using our new crown lunch punch. I filled the heart hole with sprinkles per an idea I found on the wonderful pinterest
• Alternating mozzarella and colby cheese magic heart skewer wand
• Pretzel sticks
• Organic baby carrots with ranch for dipping
• Vanilla wafer cookies

Tiny princess K’s dinner 10/19/12

Here’s what she had

• Small yellow silicone cup with chocolate covered sunflower seeds
• Small pink silicone cup with roasted peanut
• Organic french vanilla yogurt colored and flavored with a drop of strawberry syrup
• Peanut butter and Jelly crown sandwich made using our new lunch punch set. Heart hole filled with sprinkles per pinterest idea.
• Alternating mozzarella and colby cheese magic heart skewer wand
• Pretzel sticks
• Applesauce
• Vanilla wafer cookies

Here is a picture of tiny princess K’s dinner with the inner container lid on and the LunchBox Love Note laying flat so that I could close the lunch box. Each of the individual Yubo container also have lids. I did not get a picture with these on.

*confession* I totally forgot to put the lid on tiny princess A’s yogurt. Her dinner was a total loss other than the cookies and carrots…. needless to say… tonight was a double “F'” word night for her. :(

I’ll come back in later to add links to some of the items I used in this lunch, but for now I have to run!

Too cute to spook in Easy LunchBoxes

Just as I thought using Easy Lunch Boxes for a second (and third and fourth) time did not disappoint! These lunch containers truly are easy! They are the absolutly perfect size. Roomy enough to add a great variety of foods, yet small enough that I don’t feel pressured to add un-needed items just to fill space, as I do with many of our other lunch containers.

After checking out some of the most amazing Halloween Bentos from The BentoBlogger&Friends blog hop I really felt inspired to add some Halloween spirit to my sweet girls lunches for today. I still don’t have a ton of supplies to make a really great spooky lunch, but I did pick up a few items at the store since my last attempt at a Halloween theme. I don’t think they cam out too bad. :o)
Same lunches again today. I’m on a roll!

Tiny princess A & K’s lunch 10/19/12 inner container lids off

And with inner container lid on

Here is what they had…

• Granola bar halved and few Mott’s Medley fruit snacks in silicone pumpkin cup
• S’mores trail mix complete with marshmallow monster on a pumpkin food pick. Face drawn with food safe markers
• Carrots with candy eyes stuck on with a dab of cream cheese. Ranch for dipping in white contaier
• Taco sandwich Jack-O-Lantern. Two oven baked tortilla pumpkin cutouts (Jack-O-Lantern features cut freehand) for the “bread”. Inside sandwich contents are just taco meat and cheese. I spread a very thin layer of refried beans on the insides of the tortilla chips to act as a glue to hold the “sandwich” together. Now, only my youngest tiny princess enjoys the beans. I’m hoping this detail will go un-noticed by my oldest tiny princess. ;)
• Apple Cinnamon Gerber Graduate fruit puffs with a special candy ghost on top. I thought these really lacked the color they needed to make them pop so I added mock sprinkles using food safe markers.
• Chobani Champions chocolate chunk yogurt with sprinkles

I also made my husbands lunch in Easy LunchBoxes, but it wasn’t very cute and didn’t really warrant a photo.;)

Some things I used to make this lunch

An easy lunch in an Easy Lunch Box and some fun with the Goodbyn Original!

We got some fun new lunch things in the mail yesterday and I was soooo excited to use them in today’s lunches!

First up is a SUPER easy lunch in an AWESOME Easy Lunch Box! Easy Lunch boxes are ALL OVER the Bento blog world. After seeing all the rave reviews and awesome lunch pictures using Easy Lunch Boxes I knew I had to try them out myself. This is of course my first lunch using them, but from what I’ve seen so far they will not disappoint!! But, don’t take my word for it. Check them out for yourself HERE.
Here is my sweet husband’s easy lunch in an Easy Lunchbox

Tim’s lunch 10/18/12

Here is what he had

• Mott’s Medleys cherry berry applesauce
• S’mores trail mix
• Mott’s Medleys all natural fruit snacks
• Pretzel twists
• Homemade pizza pocket made with a sandwich maker
• An Easy Lunch Box Mini Dipper with French Vanilla yogurt

So, it’s not a super cute lunch and I know this sounds cliché, but it really was…. well, “easy” to pack lunch in this Easy Lunch Box! You’ve got to check them out!

Now, on to the Goodbyn Original…..  These puppies are soooo cool! And sooooo BIG!! These most likely will be used mostly for dance night dinners, but my girls insisted taking them to school today. I mean for goodness sake they spent the whole afternoon after school decorating them with the adorable whimsical stickers that came with them! :o)

 

I guess the secret is finally out. Tiny princess A is AKA Allison and tiny princess K is AKA Karsyn. ;)

As far as I know these things are pretty hard to come by anymore. Goodbyn no longer sells them, but have replaced them with their much smaller, yet equally awesome counterpart the Goodbyn Bynto. (which we also own). I was able to score ours at a website called Raspberry Kids. They have some really awesome things and fantastic customer service! Check out the website HERE.

Now, today’s lunches. Make your own pizza revisited. Same meal. A few extra. A SUPER awesome new lunch box!

Tiny princess A and K’s lunch inner container lids off 10/18/12

Here’s what they had…

• Goldfish bread for pizza crust
• Brown Cow maple yogurt
• Vanilla wafer cookies
• 100% grape juice in drink bottle
• Carrots with ranch in small sauce cup
• Shredded mozzarella, pizza sauce, and turkey pepperoni for toppings
• Mott’s Medleys fruit snacks

Here’s how the lunches looked with the inner container lids on.

Here are some things I used to make these lunches

What is it Wednesday and some late dance dinners.

So, I know my followings are still pretty slim,but I had a revelation last night to try doing a weekly themed blog post. And maybe someday a fun linky party. I racked my brain for some ideas that were fun and food related. As I was making my sweet husband’s lunch last I noticed that one of his lunch items looked like something other than what it really was. And so, “What is it Wednesday?” is born! I’m sure there will be some bugs and the concept behind this will evolve and change as time goes by. For today I will post the what is it picture first and wait to save the “reveal” for the last photo. (with some late night dance dinners in-between.
With out further ado……

What is it Wednesday?

Make sure you take a crack at guessing before scrolling down for the the answer.

Now, on to our Dance Night Dinners.

I know we don’t usually have dance night dinners on Tuesdays, but my tiny princesses had a schedule that was jam packed yesterday. Well, really only my oldest tiny princess had a jam packed schedule, but her little sister was forced to tag along. :) First up was dance for my oldest tiny princess from 4:15pm to 6:30pm. Then, it was off to cheer practice for both tiny princesses from 7:00pm-8:30pm. Thank goodness cheerleading is over next week. We will miss it, but I am gladly going to welcome the break! :)

We tried something new for our dinner and let me tell you, it was a HUGE hit! In fact such a hit they requested it for Thursday’s lunch. And guess what? Once again they have identical lunches!! WoooHooo!

Tiny princess A and K’s dinner with inner container lids off 10/16/12

Build your own pizzas! Here’s what’s in it….

• Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
• Turkey Pepperoni
• 2 pieces of Goldfish bread for crusts
• Chobani Champions Chocolate Chunk Yougurt
• Small container of pizza sauce
• Goldfish Crackers and Gerber Graduate fruit puffs. (Yes, occasionally my tiny princesses enjoy toddler food) divided by a silicone food divider
• Both tiny princesses also gulped down a large glass of Raw/Real chocolate milk from organic grass fed cows. I know raw milk is a controversial topic. We drink it. Period. And we love it! We switched to raw milk almost 2 years ago and it was the best decision our family ever made! Maybe someday I’ll do a blog post strictly on this topic. :o)

I also included a dull plastic knife for spreading the sauce. I most likely will not be adding that into their school lunches, but since I knew my youngest tiny princess would be enjoying dinner either with me in the car (while parked) or at home, and my oldest would be eating at cheer practice under my supervision I thought it would be okay for them to use.
Here is a picture of tiny princess A’s lunch with the inner container lids on.

I promise someday I will get some pictures of A on here, but for now here are some more of K eating her dinner with her very best friend little prince Tug close by her side hoping to catch a bite! :)

Now, onto “What is it Wednesday?”

 

Tim’s lunch 10/17/12 “Fall is in the air”

Here’s what he had….

• Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich
• French Vanilla Yogurt with fall leave sprinkles
• Pretzel Sticks
• Alternating Mozzarella and Colby Cheese chunks
• Apple Pie Salsa with homemade Cinnamon Sugar pumpkin shaped tortilla chips.

So, did you guess correctly? I really think the close up resembles French Toast as did one of our facebook fans. ;)
This Apple Pie Salsa and Cinnamon chips stuff is TO DIE FOR!! I’m not kidding! It is so good this is actually the fourth time I’ve made it before there were even enough leftovers to add to a lunch! My sweet husband was the lucky recipient today! (((LOVE)))
I found the recipe for this on Pinterest. Who doesn’t love Pinterest? I mean really? It’s the best! You can find the recipe HERE. The only thing I did differently was to add a dusting of powdered sugar to the chips and I used shape cutters instead of just cutting the tortillas into triangles. Now, let me tell you the first 3 times I made this I cut the tortillas into triangles. It wasn’t until I stumbled upon Tara @ Project Lunchbox that I got the idea for using the shape cutters. If you haven’t happen to read Tara’s blog you have to check it out! She has some really adorable lunches for her little one and shares lots of great ideas! You can find her blog by clicking HERE.
Well, that just about wraps up “What is it Wednesday?” Be sure to tune in next week for a new “puzzle” to solve.
Up next for tomorrows lunches?….. A familiar meal, but some new SUPER fun awesome lunchboxes! I can’t wait! And I promise to post in the morning rather than so late like today’s post. ;)

Some items used to make today's meals

The “Fishing for goldfish with pretzels.” Bentos.

*GASP* Yesterday, my youngest tiny princess came home and told me one of her friends told her that, her lunch wasn’t very cute today! #lunchtimefail? I had to redeem myself today. Once again both lunches are the same. I’m lovin’ this!!

Tiny princess A’s lunch 10/16/12

Tiny princess K’s lunch 10/16/12

Here’s what I packed

• Apple sauce in a little dipper
• S’mores trail mix (enough to make 3 teeny tiny s’mores)
• Pretzel “fishing poles”
• Cream cheese “bait” in the mushroom cup
• Chocolate covered sunflower seeds
• Salami “boats” complete with boy and girl passenger food picks
• Carrots with ranch in shooting star cup
• Rice cake “Pond” with goldfish crackers

I absolutely cannot take credit for this adorable idea. I first saw the goldfish pond from a personal facebook friend whose daughter created this for her as a snack! I thought it was way too cute to not use in a lunch someday and today was that day. :o) All you need is a rice cake, some spreadable cream cheese with a drop of blue food coloring, and some goldfish crackers. The pretzel fishing idea came from HERE. I used cream cheese instead of peanut butter for our “bait”. I have another idea for this lunch so you may see it revised and revisited in the near future. ;)

What I used to pack this lunch

Sauce cups from http://www.allthingsforsale.com/

The “There’s nothing special about this lunch!” Bentos.

Once again my tiny princesses are taking the same things for lunch. Their likes are so different I really didn’t think this would happen as much as it has been. Crazy what a little, “food play” can do for the tastes buds!
So here’s what for lunch today 10/15/12

Tiny princess A

Tiny princess K

• Veggie Chips (unfortunately this is one of the only ways I am able to incorporate any little bit of vegetables in my girl’s bellies.) They really just aren’t cold vegetable fans. Occasionally you will see carrots in their lunches. Which they really don’t enjoy, but they tolerate to please me.
• Animal crackers in silicone pumpkin cup
• Salami and cream cheese pinwheels with a pumpkin food pic
• All natural Brown Cow maple yogurt with ghost pumpkin and bat sprinkles.  Sprinkles aside…. this yogurt is to die for! Seriously heavenly!

Including one last picture of tiny princess A’s lunch all closed up wit the lid on. For some reason our blue Sassy box lid has never sealed correctly on the box. I’m not much of a complainer and our pink one works just fine so we just improvised by adding a hair tie (made by myself) around the lid and box. Plus it made the lunch so much more fun! Kind of like unwrapping a present. :o)

I have come across lots of Bento blog that try to list an online place to purchase each item used in making their lunches. I’ve decided to start trying this. All available info will be listed after the signature in each upcoming blog post. :)

What I used to make these lunches
Pumpkin food picks from local dollar store

Love to dance dinner and a muffin tin lunch!

My tiny princesses adore dance! We are at the studio 4 days a week and they still beg for more. Most nights we get out at a pretty decent time. However, Friday night is our late night. We are there from 5:00pm to 8:30pm. Now, let me tell you we are no strangers to late dance nights. My girls have been dancing for 5 years and almost every year we have had a “late night”. Would you believe that all those late dance nights of years gone by almost always included *GASP* The double “F” word!?!?!?! DUN-DUN-DUN…. Yup, fast food! YUCK! Well, guess what? They’re still going to get fast food, but it’s going to be, good fast food. Healthy fast food. Fast food made with a little bit a whole lotta of mommy lovin’! Don’t get me wrong. I’m no saint. Will my kids still get the occasional greasy burger and fries meals? Of course they will. Everything in moderation. Instead of once a week, maybe we’ll try once a month. I know my kiddo’s bodies will thank me for it and so will my wallet!

Now, on to the dinners!

Tiny princess dancer A and K’s dinner 10/12/12

Each princesses dinner contained the same items. Lately this has been happening a lot, which makes it much easier on momma! YAY! for easy!

• Heart and “2” shaped cheese cutouts. (LOVE to)
• Dance spelled out with homemade garlic bread/croutons
• Pizza sauce for dipping
• Checkered apple slices
• Vanilla yogurt with star sprinkles cause my little girls are dancing stars!
• Veggie chips
• Clover container with shredded parmesan (the clover is to wish them good luck at all their upcoming dance competitions)
• A couple of star marshmallows with swan food pick. (think black swan ballet)
• Some sweet tarts for good measure

As if being a tiny princess and a tiny dancer wasn’t enough my girlies are also tiny cheerleaders! GO TEAM!!  Today was their last game of the season. :( Unfortunately it was cold, yucky, and rainy. We got to leave early and when we arrived home it was just in time for lunch! My girls LOVE to look at Bento blogs and pictures with me. One of the things that has really caught their eye is muffin tin meals. What is a muffin tin meal you ask? It’s an entire meal presented in a muffin pan! It’s great for portion control and sooo stinkin’ cute! How much more fun can it get?? Talk about a “Happy Meal”! Check out THIS blog for some ahhhmazing muffin tin meal inspiration!

Unfortunately all my muffin tins are old and gross and hardly an appealing way to serve food. Have no fear, even if your muffin pans are yucky you can still make a muffin tin meal. All I did was arrange some fun silicone baking cups on a plate and filled em’ up!

Wow! Again both girls received the same things in their meals! Here is what they had….

• Bread and butter hearts
• Chicken flavored noodles
• Pretzel twists and string cheese
• Carrots with ranch dip
• Pudding with sprinkles

Here is sweet tiny princess K enjoying her lunch! I tried to get a picture of tiny princess A, but she doesn’t like her photo taken as much as K. :)