Mac-n-Mo’s Morselicious Mix Review { +GIVEAWAY}

Happy Halloween!

We made some delicious Halloween treats with our Mac-n-Mo’s Morselicious Mix . Mac-n-Mo's is a low sugar, no sodium, gluten free, vegan, no preservative, Kosher, Non-GMO Project Verified baked goods company. 

Mo created her Morselicious Mix and Morselicious Treats out of love, for her diabetic father, Mac, who survived a quadruple bypass surgery in 2010 and has to comply to a strict diet. Mac-n-Mo’s Morselicious Mix is a completely natural mix of brown rice, almonds, unsweetened coconut, flax and spices. This mix can be used to create anything from delicious baked morsels, muffins, cakes, to cupcakes and casseroles. The possibilities are endless!

I wanted to create a treat my kids would love but that would still be healthier then the average Halloween treat. I love the idea of morsels since they are easy to eat, mess free and fun for young and old.

My Chocolate Banana Coconut Morsels were absolutely delicous and made for a great hostess gift as well!

Chocolate Banana Coconut Morsels

Ingredients:

1 bag of Morselicious Mix
7 TBS Water
1/2 cup of mashed banana
2 tsp honey
1 tsp Vanilla
1 tsp oil
1/2 - 3/4 cup of chocolate chips depending on your taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix well and form into small balls. Bake 15 - 20 min.

Would you love to win a bag of Morselicious Mix to create your own goodies and Mo’s “12 Days of MORSELICIOUSness” e-cookbook?

Enter here:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Open to US Residents only. Winner will be notified via email and has 24 h to respond before a new winner will be drawn.

Nugget And Fang - a Literary Lunch

Nugget and Fang is a lovely children's book written by Tammi Sauer that explores the friendship of two unlikely friends: a fish and a shark. A beautiful and humorous undersea story with amazing illustrations by Michael Slack.

post contains affiliate links

We packed a fun and colorful undersea lunch in our Innobaby Keepin' Fresh Bento to match:

• a Fang peanut butter sandwich with a carrot Nugget, 
• surrounded by cucumber, pepper, carrot, celery, corn and strawberry corals and underwater plants.

Head over to The Little Crooked Cottage for an exclusive interview with Fang and to see my guest post there as well!

Things I used to make this lunch (contains affiliate links):

WOWBUTTER Review {+Giveaway}

With more and more schools banning peanut products due to a rise in peanut allergies it is always good to find safe alternatives to send to school and feed to your kids. We currently have no peanut allergies at our school but I have friends who have kids with peanut allergies and many schools in surrounding towns have started to ban peanut products.

When WOWBUTTER approached me I was curious if WOWBUTTER really tasted just like peanut butter. We have tried other nut butters but none came close in taste or texture.

WOWBUTTER also generously offered to send one of you 6 (SIX) jars of WOWBUTTER so you can try it for yourself!

But back to the taste test:

It was creamy just like peanut butter when I opened it and the claims are true! It taste as close to peanut butter as you can get without peanuts! I may have licked it right of the spoon! It is nutty but mild and the creamy texture just makes the whole WOWBUTTER experience as good as peanut butter!

WOWBUTTER is simply the better food ingredient choice with:

• 7g SOY PROTEIN per 32g serving – a complete protein source containing all 9 essential amino acids
• 1200mg OMEGA-3 essential oils for good health; peanut butter has 0mg
• 4g FIBER per 32g serving
• Simple ingredients with no artificial colors, flavors, preservatives or fillers
• 0g Trans Fat per 32g serving and Cholesterol Free
• 100% Peanut Free, Tree Nut Free, Gluten Free and Dairy Free

What did my kids think?

To test if my kids would notice the difference I made this WOWBUTTER Fall lunch. And my kids were immediately hooked! They love the taste and smell and the fact that they can bring WOWBUTTER instead of other nut butter and sit at the peanut free table with their friends! And because WOWBUTTER looks and smells similar to peanut butter they add identification stickers under every jar label so you can mark your lunch peanut-free:

Just stick on your lunchbox! Per the WOWBUTTER website: These identification stickers provide a viable solution for both parents and schools by satisfying the needs of both those that are allergic AND those that are not allergic while also establishing better anaphylactic allergy awareness.

After WOWBUTTER passed our taste test I wanted to see if I could replace peanut butter with WOWBUTTER in our Energy Bites recipe.

Ingredients:

2 cups of Oatmeal
1 cup of WOWBUTTER
2/3 cup of honey
1/4 cup of flax seed
1 cup of coconut
1 cup of dried chopped plums
1/4 cup mini dark chocolate chips

How to make your Energy Bites:
Mix all ingredients in a medium bowl until all ingredients are wet.
Wet hands with water and form into bite size balls. Refrigerate and enjoy!

These were a huge hit with my family and I am sure yours would love this recipe as well!

Would you like to win 6 jars of WOWBUTTER? Enter here:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Open only to US residents. Winner will be notified via email and has 24 h to respond before a new winner is drawn. GOOD LUCK!

Harold and The Purple Crayon - a Literary Lunch

October 20th was Crockett Johnson's birthday, author of Harold and The Purple Crayon. My kids love this book! Harold's imagination takes him on a big adventure but also safely back home. So, we are celebrating with a Harold and the Purple Crayon lunch!

We packed lunch in our Easylunchboxes for all kids with big imaginations:

• a mini cereal bar and a second fruit filled cereal bar cut into pie shapes since Harold draws himself nine kinds of pie when he gets hungry,
• purple grapes and a purple crayon,
• a purple grape jelly sandwich decorated with purple gel to depict when Harold sails and the the moon sails along with him.

Happy Birthday, Crockett Johnson!

Frightful Fall Hop

Halloween is approaching fast! Fall is one of my favorite season with days getting cooler, the leaves changing color and more time to bake and make soups and stews on those cold afternoons. Halloween is one of my favorite holidays to pack themed lunches for. Simply because there is so much you can do. Bento Blogger's and Friends is having a THREE day Frightful Fall Hop and you can see three days worth of Fall/Halloween themed lunches starting Friday! I will post a link when all hops are live! 45 Bento Blogs sharing 50 Halloween & Fall themed bento lunch ideas.

But for now you can enjoy our lunch and hop through to see 14 more! So, what did we pack?

I packed a frightful Planetbox Shuttle with:

• vanilla yogurt topped with bat and pumpkin sprinkles
• two banana coconut chocolate morsels (recipe coming soon) dipped in Halloween sprinkles
• an orange bat and a black cat gummy
• three whole wheat Nutella CuteZCute Animal Palz bats
• baby carrots and a carrot pumpkin (I found a completely round carrot in my baby carrot bag and had to use it as a pumpkin)
• ghost ketchup chips from Germany
• a Quaker mini chocolate chip bar with Hallowen design and Halloween Trivia

And now hop over to Michelle from Creative Food to see what she came up with:

Thermos School Lunch Week Feature

Thermos sent us some new fun lunch items so we would be able to pack healthy and fun lunches for National School Lunch Week. As always we had a lot of fun testing them out and packing lunches!

First up: Hello Kitty Preschool Lunch

Thermos send us this adorable Hello Kitty FUNtainer Food Jar and Hello Kitty Dual Compartment Lunch kit. Did I mention how adorable the set it? The perfect set for my 4 year old. 

The FUNtainer Food Jar keeps food hot for 5 hours and cold for up to 7 hours. You can check out my FUNtainer review HERE for ideas on packing oatmeal and Swiss muesli for brunch and my photo tutorial on packing fruit parfaits for school HERE. I love that I can send everything from cut up fruit to yogurt and soup without having to worry that my kids will get it either warm and mushy or cold and unappetizing. They are also easy to open and from my 4 YO to my 10 YO these are our favorite food jars!

So what did we pack for lunch?

We packed our Hello Kitty Lunch kit with:

• a Hello Kitty Food Jar filled with Macaroni and Cheese
• a FUNtainer filled with Aqua Fresca (not pictured)
• a Hello Kitty Lunch box filled with a CuteZCute Hello Kitty sandwich, a cereal bar, baby carrots and a small container with pumpkin shaped snacks.

Everything fit perfectly!
I love how soft the Hello Kitty Lunch pack is and how roomy! The convenient bottom compartment holds our FUNtainer water bottle with ice pack and the top has plenty of room for a lunchbox and Thermos! 2 thumbs up!

Next: Scooby Doo Mystery Van Lunch Kit

My kids are huge Scooby Doo fans so they simply loved this lunch kit for what it was: A Scooby Doo Mystery Machine! And I can't blame them. This lunch kit rocks!

I love that you open this lunch kit from the back or trunk! My kids loved that detail! The lunch kit is VERY roomy! It fit our Easylunchboxes, plus a Thermos FUNtainer water bottle, an apple and a quick snack for after school! I forgot to take a picture of it filled so I had to settle for an after school picture but you can see how big the lunchbox is!

What's for lunch?

We of course packed a Scooby Doo lunch in our Scoopy Doo Mystery Machine lunch kit and Easylunchboxes:

• We packed ghost chips for the mystery they solve every time
• baby carrots and apples with a hot dog and pizza pick since Scooby and Shaggy are ALWAYS hungry
• and Scooby's dog tag made with Honey Wheat bread, cheese, lettuce and cheese letters

Scooooooobbbbbbyyyyyy Dooooooooooo.

Last but not least: R2D2 Lunch

This Star Wars R2D2 lunch kit again is surprisingly roomy and suited for bigger appetites or snack and lunch combined. It was very well received by my Star Wars fans and the padded handle makes this lunch kit easy to carry. 

Besides the size this lunch kit has another amazing feature:

 

Have you guessed it yet? Light and Sound! Any little Star Wars fan would love this lunch kit!

So, what did we come up with for lunch?

We kept it simple with a Lunchbot:

• lightsaber strawberries
• two PBJ sandwiches shaped like C-3PO
• and a Star Wars apple

We were able to fit all this with room to spare!


Where can you find all these fun products? Right here (contains affiliate links):

Crankee Doodle - a Literary Lunch

Remember the song about Yankee Doodle? In Tom Angleberger's book Crankee Doodle the story is rewritten to make this nonsensical and old song a comical, colorful and laugh out loud book for all ages.

We packed a lunch to make any cranky Yankee smile:

• Fancy Macaroni and cheese,
• baby carrots, lettuce and a carrot feather to stick on your hat and call it Macaroni,
• the pony made with whole wheat bread, WOWBUTTER, apple pieces, candy eyes and chocolate spread
• and a few pumpkin snacks reminding us of pumpkin pie.

If you want to find out more head over to The Little Crooked Cottage for an exclusive interview with Crankee Doodle's pony and to see our matching lunch guest post.

Things I used to make this lunch:

Halloween Preschool Lunch

Halloween is in the air! The days are getting greyer and colder and the store are filling with costumes and candy. I think it is time for some Halloween Lunches!

This cute Halloween Lunch for my daughter is packed in our Fit & Fresh lunchbox and is frightfully packed with:

• a CuteZCute chocolate spread sandwich
• green spooky grapes
• vanilla yogurt with Halloween sprinkles 
• ghost chips
• a chocolate eye ball
• and a Halloween edition Lunchbox Love Card
• 
  

Things I used to make this lunch (contains affiliate links):

Martha Speaks Bento

Today is Susan Meddaugh's birthday! She is the author and illustrator of the Martha Speaks books and we are celebrating her with a Martha Speaks Lunch!

We packed a tail wagging bento box filled with:

• green grapes
• carrots
• mini peppers
• popcorn
• a Martha sandwich filled with WOWBUTTER and details made with bread crust, cheese and a thin piece of red pepper and
• mini graham cracker "dog treats"

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SUSAN MEDDAUGH!

Here is a short clip about Martha and more videos and episodes are available at PBS KIDS.


Things I used to make lunch (contains affiliate links):

Juice in the Box Review {with Giveaway}

More then 2 years ago when I went on my journey to feed my family healthier and pack waste-free, environment friendly lunches I gave juice boxes the boot. Did you know that 4 Billion Tetra Pack juice boxes are thrown out every year? BUT, it was harder then I thought because my kids happen to LOVE the little boxes and pouches of juice. Especially my 4 year old. 

So you can understand my elation when I finally found a waste-free, environment friendly reusable juice box: JUICE IN THE BOX! And they have one in PINK. My daughter's favorite color! I had to have them!

Juice in the Box generously sent us four containers to test out - in three colors. What do you think? We immediately loved how well made they were and the bright and fun colors!! Juice in the Box is available in 5 bright and fun colors - one for every taste! I sent them to school with all the kids and EVERYONE from my 4 year old to my 10 year old liked them! And I love that I can choose what they drink!

They are perfect for after school activities, school lunches, car trips or simple on the go!

They are 100% spill proof and we tested this with grape juice. No spills! Mamabelly approved!

Juice in the Box containers are slightly bigger then regular juice boxes and therefore suit my family better. The Juice in the Box containers hold 8 oz of liquid in comparison to this 6.75 oz juice box. Our new favorite right now is aqua fresca! We add a little fruit to the water, let it sit in the fridge over night and we have a delicious and healthy juice alternative. 

As you can see in the picture Juice in the Box is both BPA and Phthalate free, but also dishwasher safe, shatter proof (yes, what an awesome feature! Especially when you have boys ;) and you can avoid all the squirts that happen with regular juice boxes and little hands! It also fits in all lunchbags and is just super convenient! It also is see through so you and your child can see what they drink! I love that I can fill them with with any drink of your choice: aqua fresca, milk, juice or simply water and my kids arfe excited either way to have their Juice in the Box! And to top it all: they are 100% spill proof and really easy to clean. 

Still not convinced? Here is how they work:

Want to win a Juice on the Box (color of your choice)?

Enter here:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Open to US and Canada Residents only. Winner will be notified via email and has 24 h to respond before a new winner will be drawn.

Juice in the Box is also available on Amazon (contains affiliate links):

Fall Bento

I cannot believe it is already the beginning of October! Here the afternoons still reach temperatures in the upper 80s and Fall is not really in the air yet. So I made a Fall Lunch to get us in the mood for decorating!

We packed an Autumn color inspired lunch in our Easylunchboxes filled with:

• green grapes
• veggie sticks and
• WOWBUTTER leaf sandwiches 

I made one regular WOWBUTTER leaf sandwich, one open faced one with red sprinkles and one acorn open faced sandwich with WOWBUTTER and chocolate cream spread.

Things I used to make lunch (contains affiliate links):