Double Trouble

As I write this post today, my little chic is sitting in a preschool class...her FIRST preschool class...EVER! She was so excited about it this morning that she was literally telling me to leave. I think the exact words were, "Can I go color now? You can go ahead and leave." Although I am so glad that my little darlings are confident enough to meet new challenges head on, another part of me is kinda sad that my baby pretty much kicked me out of her class this morning. I have to say, though, that I was a tad excited too. I haven't had a day alone with no children, and no husband, and no appointments in years. So, I'm sitting here typing, listening to the sounds of the dishwasher and air conditioner instead of whining for snacks or the sweet sweet sounds of Nickelodeon (raise your hand if you wanna scream every time you hear a Big Time Rush song).

Because big sister's lunches were such a big deal last year, little chic has been thinking about her first day of school lunch for quite a while. When I originally asked her what she wanted in her lunch, she told me to make a Tinkerbell sandwich. I told her that might be a little hard and she said, "Nuh uh. Just make the sandwich shaped like Tinkerbell and her eyes can be blueberries and her dress can be lettuce leaves." Ooooookay... Maybe she should start making the lunches? I finally convinced her to go with something a little less time consuming and she decided to help me make them. While big chic goes more for the surprise aspect of the cool lunch, little chic wants to have a bit more control (and by control I mean BOSSY!) She told me every thing that would be in her lunch and how to make it (again, BOSSY!) Did I mention that she stood over me, umm, I mean helped, the entire time? Both chics took pretty much the same lunch today with a few variations..

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Big chic's...Lite turkey bologna butterfly sandwich, Peach flower filled with goat cheese and almonds, Sugar snap peas inside mini pepper rings, Cranberry white chocolate chip cookie and dried cranberries

Little chic's...Cranberry white chocolate chip cookie and dried cranberries, Celery sticks inside mini pepper rings, Peach star filled with goat cheese and almonds, Lite turkey bologna butterfly sandwich.

Sandwich Rolls

These little sandwich rolls are always popular! Just roll out a piece of bread, top with fillings, roll up and cut. Easy and cute. Love it!

Sandwich rolls with turkey, spinach, and nectarines, Green beans, Cheese flowers, Strawberries and cream topped with chocolate disk.

Flower Power - Day Four

My daughter loves spinach salad and has been asking when she would get a salad in her lunch. Today was the day. I was feeling inspired by these little garnish cookie cutters that I have, so I created this...

Spinach Salad with Turkey pinwheels, croutons and balsamic vinaigrette, sliced peach with sliced almonds.

Turkey Pinwheels

1 slice cheese (I used provolone)

1 slice turkey breast

4 capers

4 cheddar cheese slices cut into flower shape

4 pieces of celery, cut into thin sticks

cream cheese (probably less than 1 teaspoon)

Place a slice of provolone over a slice of turkey breast and roll it up tightly. Slice about 3/4 inch thick. Use toothpicks to temporarily hold the pinwheels closed, if needed. Push a caper down in the middle of each flower. Then I used a dab of cream cheese to affix the pinwheels to the cheddar cheese flowers. Add a dab of cream cheese to the back of the cheese flower and attach the celery stick.

Notes:

*I took out both larger containers and put just enough spinach under the flowers so that when I closed the lid, it would press them into the spinach just a bit and hold them in place.

*I know capers are a bit odd, but my girls really like them. They think they taste like pickles. But, I have to admit, I probably would have used a red bell pepper piece if I'd had it just to give it more color.

Day Three

Here's day three's lunch:
Cucumber chain, raspberry fruit leather, cashews, brown rice chips, cottage cheese and diced peaches.

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.