Tuesday, February 25, 2014

DUCK, DUCK, MOOSE! - a Literary Lunch {with picture tutorial}


This lunch was previously posted over at The Little Crooked Cottage as a Literary Lunch for Mr. Pig's interview with Moose. Head over to the fabulous blog of four children's book authors and check out the funny interview with Moose!

Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen's new book Duck, Duck, Moose! is a funny book full of slapstick humor telling the story of Moose who disappears in shame after messing up preparations for a party Duck and Duck are trying to set up. Soon after he disappears however Duck and Duck must go and find him because the party was really for ... HIM!

Moose school lunch sandwich for Literary Lunch with picture tutorial - mamabelly.com

We packed a healthy lunch for the party in our ECOlunchbox:
  • a peanut butter Moose sandwich with blueberry eyes and mini chocolate chip nostrils
  • a few organic cheese snacks
  • blueberries
  • strawberries and
  • almonds
Would you like to make your own MOOSE sandwich?



Here is my How-To Tutorial:

Moose school lunch sandwich for Literary Lunch with picture tutorial - mamabelly.com

I used an egg shaped cookie cutter to cut out the two main pieces of Moose's head. You can also use a knife if you don't have an oval or egg shaped cookie cutter.

Moose school lunch sandwich for Literary Lunch with picture tutorial - mamabelly.com

Spread filling of your choice on the two oval pieces, assemble the sandwich and set aside.

Moose school lunch sandwich for Literary Lunch with picture tutorial - mamabelly.com

Cut two more ovals. Cut them both in half like this.

Moose school lunch sandwich for Literary Lunch with picture tutorial - mamabelly.com

Use a mini round cutter or a lid or cap to cut about a half circle from one of the four oval halves.

Moose school lunch sandwich for Literary Lunch with picture tutorial - mamabelly.com

Then a second one. Repeat with all four halves.

Moose school lunch sandwich for Literary Lunch with picture tutorial - mamabelly.com

These will be the antlers. Fill with spread of choice and assemble.

Moose school lunch sandwich for Literary Lunch with picture tutorial - mamabelly.com

This is what your antler should look like.

Moose school lunch sandwich for Literary Lunch with picture tutorial - mamabelly.com

Add both antlers to the head.


Cut a medium circle piece of bread with either a cookie cutter or lid.

Moose school lunch sandwich for Literary Lunch with picture tutorial - mamabelly.com

Add to head with a little bit of spread.

Moose school lunch sandwich for Literary Lunch with picture tutorial - mamabelly.com

Add two blueberries. You can either attach them with two short spaghetti pieces or glue them on with nut butter.

Moose school lunch sandwich for Literary Lunch with picture tutorial - mamabelly.com

Add two mini chocolate chips as nostrils. And voila: a moose!


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

Friday, February 21, 2014

Look! Lunches with Love for the week of 2/18 - 2/21



One week of school lunch ideas - mamabelly.com

I normally don't post a weekly round up but this week has been so busy that I had no time to blog any of our lunches. So here they are - starting on Tuesday since Monday was a day off:

Tuesday:

One week of school lunch ideas - mamabelly.com

Our Easylunchboxes were packed to the brim with left over red peppers, carrot slices, green grapes, strawberries, Pepperoni and salad sandwiches on honey wheat bread and a big slice of gluten free home made banana bread (left over from the long weekend).

Wednesday:

One week of school lunch ideas - mamabelly.com\

A cute Peek-a-Boo preschool lunch - of course in our Easylunchboxes. We packed cheese crackers, all natural apple sauce, green grapes, a few strawberries, a cereal bar and three CuteZCute Animal Palz pocket sandwiches filled with chocolate spread.

Thursday:

One week of school lunch ideas - mamabelly.com

Again in Easylunchboxes a cute Bear lunch filled with cheese crackers, a gluten free chocolate chip muffin, apple slices, three CuteZCute Bear pocket sandwiches filled with chocolate spread and a cereal bar.

Friday:

One week of school lunch ideas - mamabelly.com

We packed a cute bento lunch to-go in our Fit&Fresh Sandwich Pod filled with two CuteZCute Lamb pocket sandwiches, orange quarters, carrots slices and ranch dip and Annie's Bunny Grahams.

One week of school lunch ideas - mamabelly.com

We also packed our Goodbyn Bynto with a happy Onigiri, left over sweet & sour chicken, two different gluten free cereal bars, gluten free Annie's Bunnies and orange slices.


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



Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Goldi Rocks and the Three Bears - a Literary Lunch


This lunch was previously posted over at The Little Crooked Cottage as a Literary Lunch for Mr. Pig's interview with Goldi. Head over to the fabulous blog of four children's book authors and check out the funny interview with Goldi!

The new book Goldi Rocks and the Three Bears by Corey Rosen Schwartz, Beth Coulton and illustrated by Nate Wragg will surely entertain both you and your kids! What would happen if the three bears look for a lead singer but no one seems to fit just right?


To make sure Goldi Rocks' audition goes well we packed our ECOlunchboxes with a lunch that rocks:
  • Goldi - made from brown rice and refried beans with golden Spaghetti salad hair, ketchup cheeks and nori details,
  • and the Three Bears are practicing in a grape tomato, cucumber and carrot forest.


Go, Goldi!

And if you ever wonder if these lunches are indeed eaten by my kids...


This is what happened when I walked away to grab my cup of coffee BEFORE I had photographed it the first time! I can tell you my kids though it was delicious ;)

And don't forget to read that interview with Goldi! She reveals exclusively if she would rather have the power to be invisible or the power to fly!

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


Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Tasterie Review with {GIVEAWAY}


If you read my blog regularly you know I LOVE subscription boxes! Snacks delivered right to your door and the chance to try new foods are my main two reasons why I love subscription food boxes. Tasterie asked me to review their gluten free subscription box and since one of my kids is on a gluten free diet I was more then happy to!


This is the Tasterie Gluten Free Subscription Box and unsurprisingly we LOVED it! So much so that we are giving one away at the end of the post! So stay tuned!


Tasterie was started by Lama Rimawi out of frustration. She is a pediatrician and Mom of two kids with multiple food allergies and found it tiring trying to find new foods to introduce to her family that was safe to eat for her kinds. So Tasterie was born!

Since Lama Rimawi is a food allergy mom herself she places safety as her top priority. Tasterie has a rigorous selection process developed by physicians and industry experts. This quality controlled, multi step process has been peer reviewed to make sure that it is as thorough as possible. 

Tasterie Boxes are available for:
  • Top 8 Allergy
  • Gluten and Wheat Allergy
  • Gluten, Wheat and Dairy Allergy
  • Nut Allergy

So, what was in our box?


The gluten free oatmeal was a big hit with my son since we never had a single serve gluten free oatmeal before. He loved the taste and I will look up this company since I found this very helpful to have at hand for travel or busy mornings!


I actually wanted to save these pear crisps to pack for lunch but when my son saw them he ate them all with a big smile on his face. We will also be buying these again!


I was able to save these quinoa crisps for another day and we packed a fun lunch for school using them.

This lunch box contains some non-gluten-free items since it was packed for my daughter. 

This lunch contains the quinoa crisps shown above, frozen strawberries, two pocket sandwiches, yogurt with sprinkles, oranges and pretzel crackers. It was a big hit and so were the crisps.


We already had tried the Enjoy Life gluten free bars but loved trying both the EnerPRO bar with Sunbutter and the nonuttin granola bar. All three bars got our approval!


I have to be honest and tell you that not all gluten free pancake mixes are created equal. I was hesitant to try these because we all are kind of over the rice flour tasting pancakes we have tried. BUT, these were different! Fluffy, crispy and completely rice flour free tasting! We loved these and the whole package fed all six of us on a Saturday morning:


Mhmm, mhm, good!


We have not had a chance to try the bean soup mix but we love bean soup and I am excited to have this stashed away for the next snow storm. With a little gluten free ham this will be delicious.


Well, coupons are always great and especially for Annie's! My kids love their Macaroni and Cheese and I have these tucked in my purse to use the next time I am at the store!

So what did we think of the Tasterie gluten free box?

We really enjoyed everything in the box and I loved that my son knew he could eat everything that was sent. I would highly recommend the box :)

THE GIVEAWAY:

Tasterie has agreed to send one of my readers a gluten free Tasterie Box to try.
Open only to US Residents. Please complete all mandatory entries.


a Rafflecopter giveaway