Wednesday, June 26, 2013

BLT Lunch



This is the first week of summer vacation but I never got to post these last lunches of the school year. We had BLTs for dinner last week and since we had left overs (I know hard to believe there could be :) the kids wanted BLTs for school as well:


We packed our Easylunchboxes with a few pitted cherries, a corn muffin and three Goldfish crackers and a toasted whole wheat turkey bacon BLT. They also had yogurt and ice water. 




Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Happy Birthday, Eric Carle!



Today is Eric Carle's Birthday and we are celebrating with a "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" lunch!


 This is our well loved copy of The Very Hungry Caterpillar..


This book has been a longstanding favorite - first my favorite book when I was little - and now my kids' favorite! They can never hear enough of the little caterpillar eating through all this food until he had a stomachache.


  • a watermelon caterpillar
  • an eaten apple slice
  • and eaten strawberry
  • an eaten watermelon
  • an eaten cheese stick
  • an eaten hot dog and 
  • an eaten piece of pie made out of a peanut butter sandwich

Happy Birthday, Eric Carle!

Check out the Linky hosted by Creative Food for more Eric Carle Lunches!


Monday, June 24, 2013

Muffin Tin Monday


Today's Muffin Tin Monday theme is summer! Sand, sun and the beach is what I first thought of:


Our Muffin Tin is filled with:
  • a home made Almond Streusel Banana Bread beach
  • a chocolate spread sun
  • a wild blueberry ocean 
  • kiwi fruit
  • a yogurt butterfly decorated with apple and chocolate chips and 
  • strawberries



Enjoy this beautiful summer day!

Things I used to make this lunch:







AnotherLunch

Friday, June 21, 2013

First Day of Summer



Happy Summer!


We packed a simple summer lunch in our yubo today:
  • a peanut butter sandwich sun
  • cantaloupe
  • blueberries
Hope you can enjoy the sun today! Have a great weekend!




Thursday, June 20, 2013

My favorite Subscription Boxes: Part 4: Love With Food



I love subscription boxes. I admit it, I simply do. I love to open my door and find a package of delicious snacks
there - just waiting for me to try them or share with my family. One of my favorite subscription boxes has to be
Love with Food. I simply love their boxes. Why? See for yourself:


Love with Food generously sent me their April box to review and I was even more so excited about receiving this particular box because it is the Andrew Zimmern box! If you don't know who Andrew Zimmern is - pause here and watch this:


Great! Now you know why I was excited, right? Who wouldn't love one of their favorite subscription boxes with a touch of Andrew Zimmern? Exactly!

Are you wondering yet what was in the box? 

  • two all natural, dairy free, gluten free, GMO free, vegan coconut milk caramels. They were amazing - so coconut-ty, creamy and melt-in-your-mouth good!

  • The Good Bean Smoky Chili & Lime chickpeas - very spicy but great as an after dinner snack! They have several different flavor available and this definitely makes me want to try them all!

  • Oloves Lemony Lover pitted green olives - so good and one of my favorites! Only 50 calories per pouch and oh so good! 

  • Sorghum Grain Mini Pops - well according to my kids these rocked. I never had a chance to try because they devoured them ;)

  • Somersault Snack Company salty pepper nuggets. We love all products from Somersault Co. and love these as well. They are nice and peppery and great when you need a savory snack!
  • Fennel Pollen - I cook a lot with fennel and these fennel pollen are amazingly flavorfull! I could smell the sweet fennel smell before even opening the box and one needs very little to add a lot of amazing flavor to anything from soup over steak to salads!

  • Buffolo Ranch Dip - MY FAVORITE! So finger lickin' good! 

I love trying new things and there are always amazing things in the Love with Food boxes.
I love the price as well: $12 shipped for 8+ gourmet snacks and they'll donate a meal to a hungry child as well.
Win-Win! And if you love one of the foods in your box and want more you can purchase full size packages at https://lovewithfood.com/shop - like the Buffalo Ranch Dip ;)



Loved my review and want to try this box for yourself?

I am giving away a free first-month subscription via Rafflecopter 
and if you use code NINABELLYVIP - you get a $2 discount and get your first box for $10 shipped!

Enter here to win the free first month subscription:
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Open to US Residents only. The winner will be notified via email and has to respond within 48 h or a new winner is drawn.

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Mickey Mouse Snack



I packed my preschooler a morning snack today - that she can have anytime she needs it - in the hopes I can get a few things organized.


We packed our Innobaby Keepin' Fresh stainless bento box and matching drinking cup (review to come soon!) with 
  • cucumbers, 
  • carrots, 
  • cheese flowers, 
  • cantaloupe melon bits and pieces and one big Mickey Mouse melon and 
  • two small peanut butter and jelly Mickey Mouse sandwiches. 


The smiles were priceless and I am hoping to get some thing organized this morning :)


Monday, June 17, 2013

Packing Lunch for Camp with Thermos



Thermos generously sent me some of their new products to help pack lunch for camp this summer.


We reviewed the FUNtainer food jars and drink bottles at the beginning of this year and have since packed hot and cold lunch a lot more often since these containers hold their promise of staying hot for 5 h and cold for up to 7 hThe drink bottles stay cold for up to 12 hPerfect for packing refreshing summer lunches!


Camps start next week and the kids will need lunch, of course. I wanted to share a few ideas of using Thermos food jars and FUNtainer drink containers to pack a fun and refreshing lunch for your kids.

Thermos Food Jar Lunch Ideas:


My kids love fruit and the Thermos food jars are the perfect container to pack fruit and keep them nice and cold until the kids eat at lunch! No matter what your child's favorite fruit is, they will stay cold and appetizing! I freeze my food jars over night before adding the fruit and it keeps them fresh and cool - perfect for watermelon!


Here is an easy and fast lunch packed in the Thermos Radiance cooler. We packed watermelon in our food jar, water with ice in the FUNtainer drink container and a nitrate-free salami sandwich with iceberg salad and carrot slivers. Also packed are an apple and fig bar for snack throughout the day. Also pictured a Lunchbox Love Card - they even have some for camp this year!

Another kid favorite are fruit parfaits. Easy and fast packed and fun and nutritious!
Here is what you need:


  • a Thermos food jar
  • fruit of your choice ( I used strawberries and blueberries)
  • plain or vanilla yogurt 
  • granola



Freeze the food jar overnight or for at least one hour before packing to keep the food cool!


Add about two Tablespoons yogurt.


Add granola - about 1-2 Tablespoons.


Next, add a big tablespoon of fruit and repeat until jar is full. 


Fruit Parfait for lunch!


Paired with a few Italian cookies, a few Goldfish and a fruit snack this was a great lunch for both my 2nd and 5th grader!

Thermos FUNtainer drink container ideas:


These FUNtainer bottles hold 12 oz of liquid and I love them since a juice box often just is not enough to drink - especially during these hot summers. The problem is: what to pack that appeals to kids and is healthy? The answer: fruit water! If you are not sure if your kids will like it, let them help fill a pitcher with water, ice cubes and frozen fruit and let them try! I won my skeptical kids over on the first try!


To make your own fruit water, fill a pitcher with water and ice cubes and add a generous handful of frozen fruit (or two kids can help and add two handfuls of fruit to the pitcher). Let the water either infuse over night in the fridge (best results) or for at least 1-2 hours. We prefer frozen fruit because they seem to flavor the water faster. We love strawberries and blueberries but there are endless delicious combinations out there. I love this MOMable post if you want to read more!


Another refreshing drink is what we in Germany call "Schorle."
It is a refreshing lightly carbonated drink and to make one you need:
  • 4 oz of cold water
  • 4 oz of selzer
  • 4 oz of fruit juice
Add fruit juice and water to the FUNtainer and finish with the selzer. The drink will be lightly carbonated and low in sugar since your mix two parts of water with one part of juice (still much better then a juice box!). We have had no issues with the carbonated drink if the FUNtainer was very cold when filled.

Have a fun summer and fun packing lunches for camp!

Similar items to the ones I used can be found on Amazon:

 

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

An Angry Bird Lunch



As the last days of school for this year approach I wanted to make a few more favorite lunches.
Angry Birds and King Pig are always on the top of the list:


Our Easylunchboxes box is packed with some Angry Bird cookies, apple slices with a bag of Angry Bird fruit snacks and two King Pig sandwiches decorated with candy eyes.

Other Angry Bird themed lunches from this year (click on the picture for more info ):





Things I used to make this lunch:








Tuesday, June 11, 2013

My favorite Subscription Boxes: Part 3: Boxtera



Boxtera generously sent me their April box to review. Boxtera provides a monthly subscription service and delivers natural products with wholesome ingredients. They strive to include products that are gluten-free, organic, sometimes vegan but always minimally processed.


This box is great if you feel that 5-8 snacks is not enough for a  monthly subscription box. 
Boxtera includes 23-25 servings! Plenty of different snacks for school, work and on the go!


Here is what was in our Boxtera April Box:
  • Flap Jacked Cinnamon Apple Protein Pancake Mix- 4oz. package.
  • SeaSnax- Premium Roasted Seaweed Snack in Spicy Chipotle-Bobby Sue’s Nuts!- 2.5oz
  • Helwa Vanilla Wafers- 3.5oz Organic Light crispy wafers with a creamy vanilla filling
  • Food Should Taste Good- Sweet Potato All Natural Tortilla Chips
  • Good Life Granola- 4oz Original blend all Natural Artisan
  • Madhouse Munchies- Sea Salt and Vinegar Kettle Cooked Potato Chips, Cholesterol Free and Gluten Free
  • Betty Lou’s Almond Butter Balls- 1.4oz No Trans Fat, No Corn, and Non GMO
  • The Gluten Free Bar- 2.05oz Peanut Butter and Chocolate, vegan, dairy free, all natural, low glycemic, source of omega-3, 12 grams of protein, and gluten free
  • Home Free- Mini Vanilla Cookies, made with organic fruit juice and cane juice
  • Clif Kid Z Fruit Rope- Strawberry Flavor, Natural and Organic
  • The Perfect Snaque- 1oz Seasoned Sprouted Lentils, Cinnamon Sugar, Gluten free, Vegan
  • Artisana Cacao Bliss- 1.19oz 100% Organic Raw Chocolate Coconut Butter
  • Garden of Eatin' Black Bean Tortilla Chips 
  • Runa- Traditional Guayusa tea bag
  • Runa- Mint Guayusa tea bag


We had plenty of snacks to work with and everyone from the kids to my husband enjoyed the special treats in their snack and lunch boxes. Overall, we liked most snacks and discovered a few new favorites!


This school snack contains some of the Home Free Mini Vanilla Cookies, the Amy Lou's Almond Butter Ball, a tangerine and some popcorn.


Another school snack is packed with popcorn topped with two of the Helwa Vanilla Wafers, apple bunnies and the Cliff Kid Z fruit rope.


I also packed lunch for myself in our monbento Original box and I packed:
left over salsa chicken with a few of the Garden of Eatin' Black Bean Tortilla Chipsa salad topped with cucumber, cucumber butterflies, radishes and carrots and The Perfect Snaque Seasoned Sprouted Lentils, with Cinnamon Sugar.


--> Overall, I have to say that the box is very generous. There were snacks a plenty even if not everything was liked by everyone. We all tried new snacks and found many new favorites!

This box is definitely for you if you would like a greater variety of snacks and prefer all natural minimally processed foods. The monthly subscription starts at $35/month with $5 for shipping but if you sign up for 6 or 12 month your box becomes less expensive.


If you would like to try Boxtera use coupon code LWL613 to receive free shipping if you sign up for the month to month subscription!

Monday, June 10, 2013

Disposable Field Trip Lunches {with Tutorial}


We had a couple of field trips lately and I wanted to share our disposable field trip lunches with you.


This field trip lunch was for a regular field trip for First Grade:


I packed a strawberry container with:
I have gotten some questions lately about packing disposable field trip lunches and wanted to show you how I generally pack mine:



1) I layer napkins into the strawberry container.


2) I add the apple or other heavier large items like an applesauce or pudding.


3) Try to fill up the bottom with the heavier items like a cereal or fig bar.


4) Next, I added the pocket sandwich.


5) Last but not not least: the juice pouch. I froze mine to use as a cooler and added a piece of wax paper between the sandwich and juice pouch so the sandwich would not get soggy. Depending on your juice pouch or container you can also add the juice box first and layer the heavy items on top finishing with the sandwich. My son likes his sandwich very cold and that is why I chose to layer the juice pouch on top of the sandwich :)


6) Fold over the napkins to cover the lunch...


7) ...add a cute Lunchbox Love Card and you have a fun and thoughtful field trip lunch without squished sandwiches and broken crackers :)


Disposable Field Trip Lunch for Sports Day


The school requested a disposable brown bag lunch for last week's field trip and this is was we packed for lunch:

  • Mott's all natural Applesauce
  • Cheez-It Scrabble crackers
  • a peanut butter sandwich
  • carrots and cucumbers
  • grapes in a paper muffin cup
  • and three blueberry morning cookies as well as
  • a big bottle of water
To prevent the peanut butter sandwich and grapes to be squished, I packed everything into a recyclable sandwich deli box. With the added fun napkin and Lunchbox Love Note - wishing them a great day - it was a fun and special day lunch. The bottle of water and deli sandwich box fit in a XL brown paper bag!

And if you want to stock up on Lunchbox Love Cards for lunches and upcoming field trips, use my code Mamabel to get 15% off right now :)