Week 4 Lunch Round-Up

Here's week 4! Wednesday Derek had off so he took Olivia her favorite lunch EVER- SUSHI!! She loved it and Derek loved the daddy-daughter time.

Monday- PB and nutella on wheat crackers, strawberry yogurt tube, cheddar bunnies, apple crisp, apple grape juice.















Tuesday- grapes, veggie sticks, peanut butter and nutella on wheat bread, 2 caramel Hershey kisses, water














Thursday- pepperoni and mozzarella cheese, wheat Ritz crackers, carrots, french vanilla yogurt with sprinkles














Friday- cold baked chicken (she was not a fan...), cucumbers, colby jack cheese cut-outs, apple grape juice box

Week 3 Lunch Round-Up

Here's the week 3 round up! Apparently I forgot to take a picture for Thursday so there are only 4 pics...enjoy!

Monday- strawberry/banana smoothie, turkey/swiss cheese/carrot roll-ups, "ants on a log" (PB on celery with raisin "ants"), 2 chocolate chocolate Joe-Joes from Trader Joes (sooooo goood!)












Tuesday- leftover home-made pizza, carrots and ranch, frozen yogurt tube, chocolate chocolate Joe-Joes, water












Wednesday- turkey/carrot/swiss roll-ups, grapes, chocolate chocolate Joe-Joes, frozen yogurt tube, apple/grape juice












Friday- left-over home-made pizza, celery and carrots, cheddar bunnies, caramel Hershey kisses, water

What's For Supper?

With the temps starting to cool (and when I say "cool" I mean they've been in the low 80's) soup has been on my mind. We love us some soup in our house- it's such a comfort food. Right after I had Mr. Elias last February, my bestie, Kate, came over one day and watched him so I could take the ever coveted nap (it was glorious!) While she was at my house, she made a batch of yummy creamy chicken and wild rice soup from tastykitchen.com. The other day I was pleased to see that I had all the ingredients in my pantry to make some- that never happens- SO- I pulled out the 'ol cast iron pot and started cookin'! Here's the link to the recipe- make it this week and serve it with some warm crusty bread and a salad- you won't be sorry!

Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

Best.Pancakes.EVER!!

Seriously people, these pancakes RULE (do people even use that word anymore??) and they're not even hard to make. Sure- about a year ago, I thought I had lost my pancake mojo but it's back and better then ever- zippity-do-dah! I seriously make these pancakes at least once a week. I usually couple it with some fruit and scrambled eggs- which I also rock at making...who knew there was a correct way to make scrambled eggs go from ho-hum to OH-YUM!! (yeah- I just wrote that...) Anyhoo- here's the pancake recipe:

Deliciously Dangerous Pancakes

dry ingredients:
2 C all-purpose flour
2 T sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

wet ingredients:
1 large egg
3 T unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 C buttermilk *

Set your oven to warm (usually 200 degrees) and turn on your griddle (or butter a frying pan). Whisk the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. In a seperate bowl whisk together the wet ingredients. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and pour the wet mixture into the well. Using a spatula, gently mix the ingredients together until they are just incorporated- a few lumps should remain- be careful to not over-mix (that's what I think I was doing when I thought I lost my pancake mojo...it makes them come out all dense and flat.) Using either a 1/4 cup measuring cup or a 3T cookie scooper, scoop the batter onto the hot skillet/pan and cook until large bubbles start to appear. Flip and cook for about 2 minutes more. Transfer to an oven safe plate and put finished pancakes in the warmed oven until you're ready to eat them. We love blueberry pancakes here so after I put the batter on the skillet, I add 6-8 blueberries per pancake. They are so delish! Another new favorite is to add some colored sprinkles after I scoop the batter onto the skillet. They are a fun birthday treat! These pancakes really are good and I usually have enough left over to have breakfast for the girls for the next morning. I just pop those bad boys into the microwave for 20 seconds and they're good to go! Do yourself (and your family) a favor and whip up some of these lovelies this weekend!

Week 2 Lunch Round Up

Well- week 2 of school is over so here's what Livs had for lunch this week! I also included a few lunches enjoyed by her 4 year old sister, Nora.

Tuesday- ham and cheese cut-outs, cheddar sun chips, and what we affectionately call "glop" but is usually called jello pretzel salad












 
Wednesday- strawberry/banana smoothie, carrots, cheese cut-outs, whole wheat crackers, caramel Hershey kisses












 
Thursday- water, cheese and peperoni skewers, whole wheat crackers, grapes, hershey kisses













Friday- grape apple juice, yogurt, carrots, peperoni and cheese skewers, whole wheat crackers













Nora's Lunch #1- apple grape juice, egg, grapes, cheddar bunnies, yogurt













Nora's lunch #2- yogurt, cheddar bunnies, PB and nutella cut outs

Uhhhhh...Fail?

Ok- so while I didn't make the granola bars OR the cheese crackers this weekend, I did buy the ingredients for them! Instead, my sweet hubs and I made apple chips and bagel chips so that should count for something...right? Below are the links for those recipes. Olivia loved that bagel chips but wasn't crazy about the apple chips. I think I left them in a little too long and I also think my cinnamon to sugar ratio was off- we'll try those again soon. We had a family fun day Saturday and drove about a hour and half to the mountains to pick apples. I'll post about that later- let me just tell you that it was an adventure and a HALF!

apple chips from fixmeasnack.com



















bagel chips from fixmeasnack.com

Weekend Endeavor

My new goal is to make a new recipe that I find online every weekend for lunches that week. Using my Pinterest recipes board, I decided to either make one of the following:

Pumpkin Cranberry Chocolate Chip Granola Bars from sweetpeaskitchen.com


















Cheese Crackers from www.fixmeasnack.com

Hey- if I'm feeling spunky I may make both! After all- it is a long weekend! Happy Labor Day, y'all!

Lunch Box Notes

I love to include a lunchbox note in Olivia's lunch each day. It's a nice way for her and I to connect even thought I'm not with her. This year I scoured the internet (by which I mean I typed "free lunchbox notes" into google and printed away!) and I found some really cute ones. My favorites are the ones with jokes on them. Olivia loves jokes and it encourages her to read it at lunch.

from passionatepennypincher.com

















from canadafreebieseh.blogspot.com


















from erinvaledesign.com


















my favorites from happyhomefairy.com

Week 1 Lunch Round-Up

Here's the week 1 lunch round-up...also included are the 2 days from last week. Sorry for the dark pictures- I used my phone to take the pics- I'll use my camera for next week!

Day 1- Nutella and PB (I use Jiff Natural) cut outs, cheese cutouts (Gouda and cheddar), carrots, and of course, a Hershey bar for dessert.



















Day 2- ham, mozzarella cheese, and carrot "sushi", cottage cheese, cheese cut outs, and brownie cut outs













Day 3- nutella and PB "sushi" (I use a rolling pin to flatten my bread first), cottage cheese, brwnie bites, and watermelon.















Day 4- hard boiled egg (I used an egg mold that I bought on amazon- they're so fun!), cheddar bunnies, chocolate chip applesauce muffins (Olivia LOVES these), and a strawberry banana smoothie. I made them, poured them into their containers (plastic 8oz. Ball canning jars- found a 5 pack at Wally World for $3)















Day 5- cheese cut-outs and triscuit crackers, chocolate chip applesauce muffin, cucumbers and carrots with ranch, and homemade peach fruit leather.















Day 6- nutella and PB starfish, chocolate chip applesauce muffin (told ya she loves them!), pretzel and PB butterflies, strawberry banana smoothie















Day 7- nutella and PB roll-ups, peach fruit leather, carrots, pretzels and PB to go hunting for cheddar bunnies (dip the end of pretzel into PB and then poke a bunny- you got him!)

Howdy!

My oldest tweet, Olivia, just started first grade last week. With that comes early mornings, homework, reading, and of course, playing. Wanting to let my girl know that she is loved and missed throughout the day along with wanting to provide healthy lunches for her led me to write this blog. It'll allow me to not only document the lunches for her but it'll be a drop zone for recipes and products I love. I've been taking pictures of her lunches every day and posting them on Facebook and I've had several friends ask me to keep doing it so they can get ideas as well. Here ya go, friends! Enjoy!