Red, White and Blue and a German Brunch

It's finally summer and with summer comes BBQs and celebrations and Blog Hops :)

We made some fun Red, White and Blue and otherwise patriotic lunches to kick of summer and give you some ideas for the 4th of July and other upcoming holidays!

For this Red, White and Blue lunch I packed red, white and blue gluten free Tortilla chips from R.W. Garcia with Peach Salsa, a red, white and blue wrap with Roastbeef (red), Provolone cheese (white) and beets (blue) and a red, white and blue fruit salad with strawberries, apple stars and blueberries. To keep the fruit salad fresh I added a 1/4 teaspoon of lemon juice and about a 1/4 teaspoon of confectioner sugar to coat the fruit. I also added a cucumber cup with fresh salmon because it is my favorite even though besides the tomato nothing really is red, white and blue but it represents the 4th of July BBQ mood for me.You can find the recipe here.

I also added a German Style Brunch today because I wanted to represent both countries dear to my heart - my home (the US) and my origin (Germany). For this lunch I made another fruit salad. This time with banana, kiwi, blueberries, strawberries and peaches. I added just a little bit of orange juice to prevent browning and a couple of drops of honey. On the other side next to the fruit salad is a Bircher Müsli (recipe below). It is one of my favorite breakfast options. Healthy, easy to make but keeps you going all day! I decorated the Müsli with a dried apricot and a small piece of cereal bar. Also in the Brunch Lunch is a bagel with smoked salmon and alfalfa sprouts, yum!

Now go and see what my friend Marie packed for today!

Bircher Müsli

for two hungry adults

6 Tablespoons of Swiss Müsli

3 Tablespoons of unflavoured plain yogurt

2 teaspoon of honey

1 apple

nuts or fruit

some milk

Add the 6 Tablespoons of cereal to a small bowl.

Add enough milk to wet cereal.

Set aside. Let stand for 5-10 min until cereal absorbed a little bit of the milk.

Peel apple and grate into small bowl.

Add to cereal and milk.

Add yogurt and Honey.

Add nuts, fruit, or fruit salad.

Enjoy.

Tip: If your cereal is too wet, add a little more Swiss Müsli and let stand an extra couple of minutes.

Family Picnic at Home

Some days it is easier to pack lunchboxes for lunch even if you don't go anywhere. I love how easy it is to fill them when they are all lined up on my counter. That way I have a mini assembly line and can just put veggies and fruit in each one at the same time.

Plus, the kids still love having lunch out of a lunchbox even if they are eating it at the dining room table.

These two lunches have strawberries and blueberries, broccoli, tomatoes and carrots, veggie dip and 4 sandwich quarters held together by a bento pick. My kids wanted Turkey Clubs, so I put two slices of bread in my toaster oven (one with cheese) and in about 3 min at 350 degrees the cheese is melty and you have nice toasted bread. I added turkey, salad, pickles and a small amount of mayonnaise :)

The lunchbox on the right is packed as I mentioned above and for my one child that does not like sandwiches I omitted the Turkey Club and just added Deli meat on food picks. He was happy with just the meat and you can add crackers to the lunch  if desired.

I even made lunchboxes for my husband and I. I have the same Turkey Club lunch as the kids and for my husband I made a Salad and Chicken Whole Wheat wrap. 

And if you need to make lunches for a big crowd...KeeleyMcGuireBlog has a great post about packing multiple lunches HERE.

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer vacation!

Quick Snack To Go

Happy Monday!

Today is just a quick picnic style snack for my daughter. We will be in the car today so I made her a Lunchbox to Go :)

We packed ham and cheese sandwiches , apple slices and some crackers with cheese. I added apple shaped cheese with sprinkle decorations to look like apples although they look more like oranges ;) We also added a cute cupcake pick shaped like an apple to tie it all together. I also packed her ice water and a yogurt tube.

Enjoy your Monday,

Summer Blog Hop Fun

It's the First Day Of Summer and it's Blog Hop time again!

Come and join the summer fun! We have more then 20 great summer lunches for you!

Just click on the summer button at the bottom of each blog's page :)

I packed a simple lunch of apple slices decorated with a starfish cupcake pick, a Chobani Champions yogurt and a fun starfish sandwich decorated with melted chocolate, candy eyes and a fruit leather mouth. As always we packed ice water as well!

And now go check out the fabulous lunch Chef Corey made from Fresh Family Meals:

Happy Summer!

Field Day Round Up

We have had one busy week packed with fun at school and at home. I haven't been able to blog their lunches and will do some round ups to catch you up:)

Here is our Field Day Round Up!

First off, my first grader had a field trip to a local farm to learn all about bugs. So, of course I had to do a bug themed lunch:

He brought ice water and a yogurt and we packed apple slices sprinkled with lemon juice and decorated with cute ladybug picks, veggie sticks with a chocolate lady bug treat and a Nutella sandwich on whole wheat bread decorated as a ladybug with melted chocolate and candy eyes :)

 My fourth grader had a beach day at school with lots of fun in the water and sun, so his lunch is  beach themed:

He packed ice water and Guacamole dip (under the Babybel cheese) and whole wheat Tortilla chips, a babybel cheese, a pumpkin seed roll with butter and jelly, some cheddar-jack cheese and a chocolate chip cookie. The cute sea creature pick in his lunch are cupcake toppers from amazon.com :)

My Kindergartner had a field trip to the park today and had to pack a disposable lunch. Also, everything had to be labeled clearly, so I came up with this (for privacy I removed his name from all the containers with a photo program before posting but they were on there so he knew what was his :)

My son picked Doc McStuffins as a theme for today. So I went and printed out some pictures on sticker paper and added his name (removed) so his lunch would be properly labeled. We made a new label for his water bottle, carrying bag and lunch container.

I always save plastic containers for occasions like this and we found a great paper bag with handles and a fennel plastic container that snaps shut to redecorate  :)

I taped a disposable plastic spoon for apple sauce on the inside of the lid and added a napkin before adding his lunch to make it more fun!

He packed a 1/2  Nutella sandwich with melted chocolate decorations...

...grapes in a disposable plastic container, an apple sauce, a cereal bar and some oatmeal cranberry cookies. He also has his water bottle with the new label that I froze for a couple of hours this morning to keep it cold until lunch. All is packed in a paper bag and the frozen water bottle also will keep the lunch cool until they eat :)

For more great ideas on how to pack a fun disposable lunch please click here: http://pinterest.com/easylunchboxes/disposable-lunch-boxes/

Happy Monday and Happy Field Trips - if you still have some coming up!

Farmer's Market

Today's lunch is very simple.

We had a Farmer's Market at my kids' school the other day and they helped pack some of the yummy food we bought there.

Packed today are organic farm strawberries, a fresh orange organic mini pepper, some veggie sticks and a farmer made out of fresh organic wheat bread. His face is decorated with candy eyes and a fruit leather mouth. We also packed yogurt and ice water :)

Happy Tuesday,

 

Chobani Chocolate Honey Blueberry Breakfast Muffins

The last 8 days of school have begun before summer vacation will be here. My kids are ready for summer and so am I. To make this last full week of school a little more fun I wanted to make some healthy but still yummy breakfast muffins for school lunches. I found a yummy recipe over at Chobani Kitchen and tweaked it for my family (I know, I know, I never can really stick to a recipe without changing it a little. But that is the fun of baking ;)

Don't these look fantastic?

Here is the recipe for you:

Ingredients:

1 1/2 C whole-wheat flour, plus 1 Tbsp flour reserved

1/2 C all purpose flour

1/2 C granulated sugar

4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp iodized salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 large egg

3 Tbsp canola oil

1 tsp real vanilla extract

1 C Honey 0% Chobani Greek Yogurt

1/2 C blueberries, fresh or frozen

1/2 cup of milk chocolate chips

a small amount of milk (1-3 Tbsp)

(I added 1/2 cup of milk chocolate chips instead of using a full cup of blueberries. I know my kids will be more likely to eat the muffins if they kind of look like chocolate chip muffins. Plus, you know me by now. I love chocolate ;)

How to bake the yummy Chobani Muffins:

Preheat oven to 375°F.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
In another bowl, whisk together egg, vegetable oil, vanilla and Chobani yogurt.
In a small bowl toss the blueberries with reserved flour until lightly coated, add to egg mixture.
Add chocolate chips.
Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture.
Using a spatula, fold ingredients together just until dry ingredients are moistened.
(I had to add a little milk since my dough was too dry.)
Be careful to not overmix the batter, as it will cause the batter to be slightly stiff and not smooth.
Line muffin pans with paper muffin cups, spray lightly with non-stick spray.
Fill muffin cups halfway and place in oven.
Bake at 375°F for 8-12 minutes until a toothpick stuck in the center comes out clean.

Muffins may be served warm or chilled with dollops of Honey Chobani Greek Yogurt on top.

We did try them with a little Chobani Honey Yogurt on top and it was unbelievably yummy. So much better then icing and my kids loved adding the yogurt on top!

We loved them so much I packed them for lunch today, too. They are very airy and light and the slight yogurt-vanilla-honey taste makes them the perfect snack for summer!

Today I packed a Chobani Chocolate Honey Blueberry Muffin, a Chobani Champions Vanilla Chocolate Chunk yogurt (so they can add their dollop of goodness to their muffin at school), whole wheat crackers with cheddar and cheddar jack cheese and a star sandwich with turkey and salad. I added letters stenciled out of cheddar cheese to spell: You are a star!

Hope your week starts off as full of goodness as mine!

I made my lunch with the help of this:

Car Bento

I am ending this week with one last rice bento. This time my son wanted a "Police Car Bento." I feel a lot more comfortable using cookie cutters then rice presses and so I thought of this after seeing this amazing bento from Daisy Selalu! Her blog is amazing. Please go and visit (:

I made fresh sushi rice and added just a little salt. I pressed the rice into a car cookie cutter I have and filled in the surrounding space with scrambled eggs before removing the cookie cutter. I added cucumber stars and red pepper flowers and nori detail to complete the top.

At the bottom are car shaped whole wheat bread sandwiches with Nutella and peanuts. I used this cutter and stamp set for the sandwiches. I really love it because it is so versatile :) We also packed Kefir in a reusable drink bottle today.

Happy Friday!

 

Lunch in a Box

The end of the school year is nearing and it seems the kids are getting more and more excited about the last lunchboxes of the year. Everyone wanted to plan their lunchboxes last night and think about what they wanted and how.

My 7 YO wanted a sandwich bento box with a jelly sandwich and a granola bar at the bottom (with a little bear and grass decoration) and a peanut butter and banana sandwich at the top. I also added a couple of dye-free yogurt pretzels and some grapes with - as he called it- M&M bento picks ;)

My 5 YO wanted a jeep or recycling truck sushi box. Yes, he asked for this and I had no idea and for sure not the skills to fulfill that wish. I ended up making three triangle rice shapes and set them on lettuce. I added cucumber skin for the window and recycling sign and cucumber slices and yellow mini tomatoes as wheels. For him, I also added a few yogurt pretzels, more garden cucumbers and an oat & brownie bar from Trader Joe's. I have a lot to learn but it was fun to make!

With a lot of imagination (especially with that of a 5 YO) you can make out the truck, lol.

My oldest wanted a homemade Lunchable and got Tortilla chips and Guacamole, some yogurt pretzels and a Pumkin Seed Ciabatta roll with butter and blackberry jam.

All three have ice water today and no additional food since today is a short day :)

Happy Wednesday!

Bento Lunch

Yesterday's Sushi in a Cup was such a success the kids asked for a bento box lunch this morning. We have some new bento boxes thanks to my friend Kendra and I was more then happy to use them for the first time :)

The kids got to choose their own lunch today and so we ended up with jelly sandwiches on whole wheat bread and a small container of Naturebox Cinnamon Almonds in the lower part of this bento box. In the upper part are garden cucumbers with carrot stars, three fun sushi shapes with nori faces and left over chicken fingers on salad greens. The sushi shapes are easy to make with a sushi mold and I used a nori punch for the facial expressions.

This bento box has rice shapes with nori faces on lettuce with garden cucumbers and carrots and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in the bottom part of the bento box. The kids also have yogurt, apple sauce and ice water.

Happy Tuesday!

Sushi in a Cup

I was experimenting with brown rice sushi this weekend and even though my sushi did not keep it's shape the way I had hoped, it was delicious. The kids loved the rice and so I made them Sushi in a Cup for school today :)

Packed today is Pirate Booty, an all natural applesauce, garden cucumbers, dye-free chocolate animal crackers and Sushi in a Cup. The rice is seasoned with salt, pepper, sesame oil and mashed avocado and the face is made out of nori. I added a little ketchup for happy red cheeks :) We also packed yogurt and ice water.

Happy Monday and a hopefully good start into the week to you all,