How We Handle Halloween Candy and a Star Lunch...

Halloween - there's candy everywhere! Grocery stores, restaurants, even at the doctor's office! And although I'd like to think that I could keep my kids (and myself) away from all the candy, it's just not realistic. We live in a great neighborhood for trick-or-treating. It reminds me of Halloween when I was little and kids were everywhere, people sat out on their porches, and it was relatively safe. But, there are pros and cons to living in a Halloween friendly neighborhood. The pros - everyone passes out candy and the girls LOVE trick-or-treating. The cons - everyone passes out candy and the girls LOVE trick-or-treating. We do something, a little bit different, though, that allows the kids to trick-or-treat and makes me feel better about the candy - The Pumpkin Fairy.

Here's how our Pumpkin Fairy works...when we get home from trick-or-treating, we dump out all of the candy on the table. The chics are able to keep any toys, stickers, and Play-doh, but the candy they must sort through. They are allowed to choose a certain amount of candy depending on their age. This year we said twenty pieces but after all the negotiation and grandparent persuasion, it was more like thirty. Then, they put the remaining candy in a bag and leave it out on the table (I weighed it this year - it was over 5 lbs!). While they are sleeping, the Pumpkin Fairy comes and takes the candy and replaces it with a toy. We usually don't spend a ton on the toy. This year it was Tinkerbell and High School Musical make-up sets.

The girls love it and don't have a problem giving up their candy at all. We've done it from the very first Halloween so now they just expect it. We told them that the Halloween Fairy must be invited to visit your house and that not everyone asks her to come. This was really just a way to explain that their friends would probably have no idea what a Pumpkin Fairy was. Honestly, I have no idea where this idea came from. Maybe I read about it in a magazine or on a website somewhere...I really don't remember. But, it's worked really well for us and thought I'd share. If your family does something like this, I would LOVE to hear about it. I've never met anyone else that does a fairy for Halloween, but I know we can't be the only ones.

So after all the Halloween festivities, I decided to clean out the Halloween bento supplies and the chic walks in and asks if I would make her a "star" lunch for Monday. She wasn't crazy about all the Halloween stuff, so I think she's ready to go back to the "pretty" lunches. What can I say? She's a girly girl!

Almond butter and raspberry jam star sandwiches, Carrot star cutouts, Havarti and cheddar star, Banana with red pepper stars

More Halloween Fun

Well, after all my lunch whining, the field trip was cancelled today due to "flooding concerns". It's kinda funny, though cause although it's been raining A LOT lately, today there isn't a cloud in the sky. Would have been perfect weather for a field trip. They've rescheduled it for Thursday, so I guess I have to make the field trip lunch again. Ugh!

SOOOOO, another field trip lunch Thursday and Student Council Pizza day on Friday means that I had to go crazy with the Halloween theme for tomorrow's lunch. It may be my last Halloween lunch this year!

Jack-o-lantern mini peppers, Celery slices, Honeysweet yellow tomatoes with nori skull and Crossbones, Bat shaped cheese quesadillas, Pumpkin pie flavored yogurt, Apple eyeballs and blood orange slices.

-My friend Amanda got this skull and crossbones punch the other day for her son's lunches. While she was here, I had to go ahead and punch out some nori, for the chic's lunch this week. I thought they would work out pretty good on the tomatoes...I was wrong. I am praying that these stay on the tomato until her lunch tomorrow. Nori does NOT want to stick to the tomato. I don't know why either - it seems to stick on other things like that? Hmmmm??

-Stoneyfield Farms came out with a seasonal flavored yogurt for the fall - Pumpkin Pie! The chics really like it. Hopefully it will stay available through Thanksgiving!

-For the apple eyeballs, I used a small cookie scoop to make a ball from a peeled apple. Then I cut a baby carrot into slices and used a hole punch to make a hole in the center. I cut a chunk out of the apple at the top so the carrot slice could be recessed into the apple. Next, I cut a few dried cranberries in half and placed a half into the middle of each carrot slice.

-Lastly, blood oranges...I love making things with them cause they are so unexpected and really really do look like and orange that is bleeding. They used to be pretty hard to find but now they're available almost all year round. They taste pretty much like a regular orange but are so much more fun!

Sand"witch"

Well, I've waited and waited to do some Halloween lunches, and the week is finally here. I'm starting off slowly with a Sand"witch".

Watermelon cubes, Cottage cheese and blueberries, Hummus and carrots, Sand"witch", Martha's pumpkin cupcake with cream cheese frosting.

Sand"witch" is sandwich topped with ham. She has a nori hat and eye, Cucumber hair, carrot mouth, and sugar snap pea mole on her chin.

The cupcake is going to school in this cool little cupcake holder that I found at Williams-Sonoma this summer. The little spikes grip the cupcake so that the frosting remains in tact. Love it!

I get asked all the time how I get the chic's lunches to stay in place. After all Kindergartners are not exactly gentle with their lunchboxes. The answer - Press N Seal. I LOVE this stuff! The Laptop Lunchbox's outer container does a great job keeping the food in it's container, but when I make something like the witch sandwich or the apple tree from last week, I have to do something extra to make sure everything stays where I placed it. Here's what I do:

Tear off a piece of Press N Seal and place it directly on the food. Press the food down slightly while running your finger around the outer edge of the food to kinda shrink wrap it in there. The container had to be clean and dry in order for the Press N Seal to stick. (pardon the Zebra nails - Halloween party)

Continue pressing the Press N Seal to the container until it's completely covered. Here's what it looks like when it's finished:

The method is the same when I do something like the Quinoa Garden. I just attach the Press N Seal to the sides of the container instead of the bottom while pressing in on the quinoa. Next time I do one of those, I'll take pics! I hope this makes sense and helps those of you wondering how to get the stuff to stay in place!

"Fast Food"

Costco finally restocked their Coleman hot dogs and my chics are happy that there are once again hot dogs in the house. If you've read my blog for a while, you probably already know of my distaste for hot dogs, but the chics dig em - as all kids do, so every once in a while, I gotta give in to popular vote.

Hot dog coins with carrot spears and ketchup for dipping, Sweet potato fries,Frozen blueberries, Powerball, Caesar Salad.

Coleman hot dogs are all natural - no hormones, antibiotics, nitrates, fillers, msg, or any other freaky hot dog ingredients - just beef. So, as far as hot dogs go, you can't get much better. I did see some grass-fed beef hot dogs one day, but they were $7 for 6 hot dogs and I gotta draw the line somewhere! (Okay, so really, the hubs drew the line after I begged him to get them and described all sorts of horrible things that could happen to our children if we fed them "other" hot dogs. He was unmoved, holding firmly to his wallet. Fun Hater!)

Apple Orchard

I am so glad to be feeling better today and the chic seemed pleased with her lunch even though it wasn't tricked out with cuteness. She knew I wasn't feeling well, so I think she's giving me a sympathy pass. And she ate all of it except a few veggies. Guess we're sticking with the super-size! Tomorrow, she has a field trip to an apple orchard, so I did an apple theme. They are also learning about bees so I used honey in her peanut butter roll-up. They are coming back to the school for a picnic lunch so she's able to take her usual lunchbox. YAY!

Apple Tree, Cheese Flowers, Freeze dried Apples, "Apples" made from cherry tomatoes with cucumber stems, Pirate's Booty

For the apple tree:

Leaves - Mini cucumber cut into coins

Apples - Red bell pepper cut into dots

Grass - Cucumber peel

Trunk - Peanut butter and honey roll-up on a Sandwich Thin

Basket - Sandwich Thin


I found a new fruit snack option this weekend at Costco and wanted to share. We are always on the lookout for fruit snacks cause ya know the kids love them but it's hard to find ones that are made with only fruit (or with any fruit at all for that matter!). Stretch Island Fruit Co Fruit Leathers are our usual favorite, but it's hit or miss whether Costco will have them. I can get them at some of the stores around here, but they are much cheaper when I can get them at Costco. Anyway, we found these Fruit Source Mini Bites and decided to give them a try. They are made with ONLY fruit and are shaped like little square fruit snacks (see yesterday's lunch photo). The girls loved them and 14 pieces are equal to two servings of fruit! WOW! The fruit leathers are only equal to about half a serving. I haven't seen them anywhere else yet so I hope Costco keeps carrying them!

Super Sized Chicken Salad

I think the chic must be going through a growth spurt. Her lunchbox has been coming home the past few days completely empty and she's famished by the time we get home. She told me this weekend that she wanted me to pack her more food in her lunchbox. It's kinda funny because I thought that maybe I was packing her too much food. Little did I know that I've been starving her! So, now I'm super-sizing her portions and we'll see how much of it comes home.

We've had a crazy weekend, and I have not been feeling great today (just a little cold) so the last thing I wanted to do was make the chic's lunch for tomorrow. BUT there's no rest for the weary, as they say, and especially for moms, so I used my afternoon burst of energy to whip out a lunch as fast as I could. Good thing I had been to the grocery store the day before so I had lots of options to facilitate speedy lunch packing. I was really glad that I had grabbed a rotisserie chicken. Personally, I love the availability of rotisserie chickens. They make it really easy to whip up things like chicken salad without spending so much time prepping the chicken. So, a whole lunch made and I didn't even bust out the food cutters. It may not be the prettiest lunch, but it'll do the job.

Veggies (sweet peppers, sugar snap peas, red and yellow cherry tomatoes, carrots, banana peppers), Cranberry Pecan Chicken Salad, Mutli-grain Wasa, Fruit Bites, Cottage Cheese and Strawberries.

Back to the Laptop Lunchbox!

So after several days of weirdness, we are back to the good ole Laptop Lunchbox and I couldn't be happier about that!

Tofu is a staple in our house. We've never made a big deal about whether or not they eat it and it's always been served very nonchalantly. It's just another protein. They learned to like it before their friends and family could voice their own opinions about tofu. My father really hates it (although I'm not sure he's actually ever eaten it?) and he and the oldest chic go around and around about it. It's gotten to be a game to them. She says she loves it, he says, "Gross!" and she just keeps rubbing it in his face that she loves something that he thinks is gross. We even threatened to make him a tofu birthday cake last year, but I could never find a recipe. (Anyone got one?) Anyway, she saw the package of tofu in the fridge the other day and asked me when I could make it. So, here it is...

Udon Soup, Asian Pear, Powerball, Carrot/Cucumber ring (I had one leftover from yesterday), Sesame Crusted Tofu with Teriyaki Dipping Sauce

The sesame crusted tofu is ridiculously easy. Drain a package of firm tofu (tofu should really be on your "must buy organic" list if at all possible). Press the liquid out as gently as possible between paper towels or a clean kitchen towel. Slice and press again. The drier the better! Brush each piece with teriyaki sauce, tamari, soy, whatever you like, and then roll in sesame seeds. Pan fry in a bit of oil until golden. (Maybe not as golden as mine are, but I was arguing with the chics about whose Twinkle Toes shoes are whose!) So, that's it. Yum!

Here's the soup that I make when the chics want "noodle soup". It's really just a base idea and can be adjusted to whatever veggies you have on hand. This is what I did today.

Speedy Udon Soup for One

1/2 package Cooked Udon Noodles

3 Baby Carrots

3 Sugar Snap Peas

1/4 cup Shelled Edamame

1 cup Beef broth (low sodium)

pinch Five spice powder

pinch Curry Powder

Place Udon noodles in a bowl. Mix remaining ingredients together in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Boil 10 minutes or until veggies are softened. Pour over noodles and stir until noodles separate. (I find that pouring the hot soup over the cold noodles helps cool the soup just enough for little mouths!)

And if you haven't visited Laptop Lunchbox's blog lately, you need to! Their last blog post was about Foodie Footsteps! I was thrilled and honored to actually be mentioned on the site that started me on this whole lunch journey. We LOVE our Laptop Lunchbox!!

Daddy/Daughter Bentos

Well, it finally happened. My chic forgot her beloved Laptop Lunchbox at school. Poor little thing, she cried when she realized that she left it in her locker because she was afraid she wouldn't have a "pretty lunch". Awww...I love her! Since I had already decided what she would be having in her lunch tomorrow, I had to change my plans to fit into a traditional bento instead of her Laptop Lunchbox. I made her dad a lunch yesterday (see below) and thought I would just go with similar daddy/daughter lunches.

Cheddar cheese stars, Ham and Provolone rabbit sandwich, Pretzel sticks, Pineapple and red bell pepper cubes, Kosher dill pickles and black olives.

I don't know what's up with the camera and lighting today, but I swear that the pineapple is a fresh bright yellow pineapple!

It all fit (barely)! Here it is, all lidded up and belted.

We'll see how the bento works tomorrow, but I can't wait to have her other lunchbox back! Gotta say...after packing this lunch, I love that Laptop Lunchbox even more. Everything seems to fit in there so nice and neat. But, she's taking this bento tomorrow and has hopefully learned her lesson on bringing her Laptop Lunchbox home.

A Bento for the hubs...

When I cleaned out my kitchen cabinets last week, I came across a container that is perfect for packing my hubs a bento lunch. So, as luck would have it, he asked me to make him a lunch yesterday and I was ready for him! After informing him that I will only pack bento style lunches now (and him rolling his eyes), this is what he got.

Lettuce and Tomato for his sandwich (he likes it to be packed separately), Dill pickle, Choco-Pie (moon pie that he got at the Asian market last week), Dinosaur Egg Pluot, Babybell Cheese, Pretzel Sticks, Ham and Cheese sandwich.

I think this container is awesome and can't believe that I didn't realize it was lurking under my cabinet this whole time. I need a few of those silicone muffin cups and it'll be perfect!

(Thanks for everyone's patience with my ever changing blog format. I finally decided to make my own header and I think this is what I'm gonna stick with!)

In the beginning...

In the beginning, there was a woman who loved to cook. Really loved it. She loved spending the day in the kitchen chopping and mixing and creating. And then she had children, and she began to think about the nutritional value of the food she loved to create. So, she learned to read the labels, worried about pesticides and hormones, and taught her children how to be "healthy eaters".

This should end, "and then her daughter started Kindergarten", but really, this is just the beginning; the beginning of my attempt to feed my daughter a nutritious lunch that is packable, portable, and appealing enough to keep her from longing after the sodium filled hot school lunch. And, let me tell you, this stressed me out. I started thinking about lunch WAY before I should have. Not because my daughter would be resistant. I have to say that if I've done one thing right with her (so far) it's been her eating habits. No, not because of her, but because there just seemed so few options for school lunches. A sandwich, chips, some carrot sticks...I mean, how much can you do with a plastic baggie? Let me say, before anyone runs off screaming about this freaky health nut mom, that I'm really not unreasonable about the nutrition. We've bought PopTarts before and I allow them to eat normal kid food on occasion. Just not all the time. I'm just trying to make healthy the norm.


So after doing a little research I came across Laptop Lunches http://www.laptoplunches.com/. My problem was solved! A versatile little lunchbox that allowed her to take things like salad (one of her faves) and dressing without having to take mom's containers. These lunchboxes are a little more expensive than your typical lunchbox, but I thought that, in the long run, I would save money cause I wouldn't be buying plastic baggies- not to mention the environmental impact of less plastic in the trashcans. So I ordered it. When we got it, my daughter was thrilled. It was her first item for school and she cherished it. She had a little trouble opening it up, but after a few tries, she was a pro. We even did a few test runs to make sure that she could handle all the compartments and lids and such.

And as all first Kindergarten moms do, I took pictures of her first time with her backpack, her first time opening her locker, AND her first lunch in her laptop lunch. I posted them for my friends and family to see and the response to the lunch was crazy. I got text messages, voice messages, e-mails, and Facebook comments all day about it. So I posted the picture from her lunch the next day to a few friends, and thought, "Ya know, I should figure out a way to post these lunches for anyone to see." So, here it is. My blog about my adventures making lunches. I'm not a nutritionist or anything...just a mom that is concerned about food.

So far we've been pretty successful. She loves her lunchbox and the lunches I've packed. And I've really enjoyed trying to be creative with it. The lunchbox really allows for so many different items and it has taken me much less time to make her lunch than I was anticipating. So this blog is for all my friends and family and anyone else that is interested in making lunches for your kids. Hope you enjoy it and maybe find a bit of inspiration...now I gotta go make a lunch!





First Day - Diced peaches and blueberries, pretzel sticks and fig newton cookies, ants on a log, turkey cream cheese and raspberry jam sandwiches on cranberry orange bread.

Second day - Crinkle cut carrots with blue cheese dressing, diced honeydew melon, double chocolate brownie, spinach ravioli tossed with olive oil and Parmesan cheese.