Extraordinary Warren: A Super Chicken - Literary Lunch

Disclaimer: The publisher provided this book to me at no cost. However, all opinions are my own!

This lunch is also posted over at The Little Crooked Cottage as a Literary Lunch for Mr. Pig's interview with Warren. Head over to the fabulous blog of four children's book authors and check out the interview with Warren to find out what he would bring in case he would get stranded on a deserted island!

The new book EXTRAORDINARY WARREN: A SUPER CHICKEN written by Sarah Dillard is the extraordinary story of the ordinary chicken, Warren, the run-of-the-mill rat, Millard, and Egg, an everyday egg waiting to hatch. When Warren, Millard, and Egg meet, their ordinary, run-of-the-mill, everyday lives become EXTRAORDINARY!

Warren, the chicken, is bored with life on the farm and wants to feel special. He runs into Millard, the rat, who is also bored. Bored looking through trash for a good meal. He hungers for a "Chicken Supreme" and through a misunderstanding Warren finally feels special. Until he realizes that Chicken Supreme is food (who eats chicken??) and has to go on to rescue his friends on the farm with his new friend Egg. Will they succeed? 

You don't have to be extraordinary to enjoy this lunch packed in our Planetbox Shuttle:

• A Millard the Rat chocolate spread sandwich with melted chocolate details 
• fresh strawberries wrapped in newspaper for Millard to find in the trash
• Extraordinary Warren Mac 'n' Cheese with carrot and apple details 
• Egg (his friend) filled with a little treat 
• and an apple and carrot salad with the hatched Egg - his new sidekick 

My kids really loved this book! The illustrations are wonderful and they loved reading all the speech and thought bubbles while I read them the book. This book makes reading fun since it is a chapter book but interspersed with graphic novel style illustrations. My reluctant 2nd grade reader was feeling so proud when he read this chapter book all by himself!

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

Arnold and Thomas Thins Review {with Giveaway}

Sandwich Thins®, Pocket Thins® and Bagel Thins® provided me with coupons for free product and a gift card for my recipe ingredients. All opinions in this post are my own.

I love bread! All bread! And so does my family. However, my kids cannot finish a whole bagel at school for lunch and I, well, shouldn't eat a whole bagel by myself if I don't want to spend endless hours trying to work it back off. That is why I was very excited when Arnold®, Brownberry® and Oroweat® Sandwich Thins®, Pocket Thins® and Thomas’® Bagel Thins® reached out to me to see if I wanted to try their new Weight Watchers® endorsed Thins. With 110 calories or less, and options including Healthy Multi-grain, Flax & Fiber, and 100% Whole Wheat, the recipe possibilities are endless.

As you can see from the picture All Arnold®, Brownberry® and Oroweat® Sandwich Thins® Rolls are 100 calories, cholesterol-free foods, containing zero grams of Trans Fat and no high fructose corn syrup. Plus they are only a 3 PointsPlus VALUE® according to Weight Watchers®! The available varieties are 100% Whole Wheat, Healthy Multi-grain, Honey Wheat and Flax & Fiber.

The Bagel Thins® are 110 calories, cholesterol-free, low in fat and contain zero grams of Trans Fat as well. They are a 3 PointsPlus VALUE® like the Sandwich Thins and are available in the following varieties: Plain, 100% Whole Wheat, Cinnamon Raisin and Everything.

The Pocket Thins® are 100 calories as well, a cholesterol-free foods, containing zero grams of Trans Fat and no high fructose corn syrup. They also have the same 3 PointsPlus VALUE®.

After learning all the positives of the products there was only one way to find out if we would like the taste as well: Pack lunch!

I made three different recipes and packed them for lunch to see what my family would think:

What you need:
Recipe can be found here.

How to make it:

The result:

Packed in Easylunchboxes

We loved the Sandwich Thins! They are a great alternative to bread or a roll and besides the fact that they are only 100 calories EVERYONE liked the taste! Paired with the curried chicken it was a great addition to our lunch rotation!

What you need:

How to make it:

The Result:

Packed in Easylunchboxes

Breakfast for Lunch is always a hit at our house but now I can actually enjoy a bagel without the guilt! The kids were able to finish the bagels at school as well and lightly toasted they were a new favorite!

What you need:

How to make it:

The Result:

Packed in Easylunchboxes

I love Pita Pockets for lunch but I have to say I really enjoyed the Italian Herb Pocket Thins since they had less calories but a lot more flavor! The kids preferred the plain ones over the Italian Herb ones but that just means more for me ;)

Overall: We loved all the Arnold and Thomas Thins products we tried and want to give you a chance to win both coupons for free products and a $25 Visa gift card of you own so you can either recreate the recipes above or your own!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Storybook Bento: Origami Yoda

March is National Reading Month and Laptop Lunches asked us to help them celebrate with a storybook bento! We love our Literary Lunch series and the kids were excited to be able to pick the book themselves this time! They picked their current favorite: The Strange Case of Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger!

The Strange Case of Origami Yoda is about the good and bad dynamics of a sixth-grade class and Dwight, an unpopular kid, who talks to his friends via an origami finger puppet of Yoda. If that's not already strange enough - Origami Yoda is surprisingly wise and on point. He predicts the date of a pop quiz, guesses who stole the classroom Shakespeare bust, and saves a classmate from popularity-crushing embarrassment with some well-timed advice. Tommy, Dwight's classmate, sets out to figure out how Origami Yoda can be so wise when Dwight is...well...so clueless. This is a great and fun book for kids 8-12. You can even learn how to fold your own Origami Yoda! We truly love this series and have reached book four in the series. Join us in reading this witty series of books any middle schooler with a love of Star Wars is surely to enjoy!

Our Origami Yoda Laptop Lunches Bento Box lunch is filled with:

• Broccoli and cheese stars
• an Origami Yoda Pepperoni and Salad wrap with a green grape light saber
• kiwi and strawberries with more light sabers ( you can never have enough of those!)
• and a Star Wars swirled yogurt with a Yoda wafer (thanks, Sis!)

What we used to make this lunch (contains affiliate links):

A Fun Din Din Platter Lunch

We have rediscovered the Innobaby Din Din Platter for ourselves. My preschooler is so busy these days she often gets up from snack or lunch (mostly after second helpings - we do require the kids to sit and eat with us) to play Frozen or feed her stuffed rescued animals and the food gets easily forgotten. Thanks to the lid however, she will put the lid on and the food will stay fresh until she has time to come back for more ;)

Our Din Din Platter Lunch includes:

• mini cucumber slices
• Minion cheese crackers
• sliced strawberries sprinkled with a pinch of sugar
• pepperoni slices and a 
• mini roll with mayonnaise (she loves putting together her own sandwich)

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

Otis Dooda: Downright Dangerous - a Literary Lunch

This lunch was previously posted over at The Little Crooked Cottage as a Literary Lunch for Mr. Pig's interview with Buddy. Head over to the fabulous blog of four children's book authors and check out the interview with Otis to find out what he would bring in case he would get stranded on a deserted island!

Do you know Otis Dooda? If not don't miss the story of Otis and the Dooda family (including their rat named Smoochie) moving to New York City and well... the incredibly strange, but true, things that happened to them. In the second Otis Dooda book, written by Ellen Potter, things get even stranger! This time there might be an alien invasion and there is still someone evil living in a potted plant in the lobby...

Our Downright Dangerous Lunch is packed in Laptop Lunches (so it can easily be concealed) and contains:

• a new blank page in Otis Dooda's book (yogurt with fruit leather letters). What will happen in this new adventure?
• baby alien eggs on wild blueberries
• the strange evil guy in the potted plant (sugar peas)
• and of course a ham and cheese LEGO sandwich

Things I used for this lunch (contains affiliate links):

Happy Snow...uh...St. Patrick's Day!

We woke up to a snow day and no school this morning but since we are part Irish we HAD to have a St. Patrick's Day bento snow or no snow!

We packed our Planetbox Shuttle with Guacamole, baby carrots, mini cucumbers, a mini pepperoni sub and of course whole wheat chips for the Guacamole.

Our first St. Patrick's Day Snow Day!! 

Erin Go Bragh! 

Thinks I used for this lunch:

A plain Plane Lunch

We have been under a wind advisory since yesterday and  I thought an airplane lunch would be fitting for school today:

This post contains affiliate links

Today's lunch in "plane" and simple and packed in our Sugarboogar Good Lunch Box:

• Strawberries with helicopter picks
• Energy Bites and Minion "Pilot" cheese crackers
• and a LunchPunch plane chocolate spread sandwich.

Don't Play With Your Food - a Literary Lunch

This lunch was previously posted over at The Little Crooked Cottage as a Literary Lunch for Mr. Pig's interview with Buddy. Head over to the fabulous blog of four children's book authors and check out the interview with Buddy to find out what he would bring in case he would get stranded on a deserted island!

Bob Shea's Buddy, the monster, and several bunnies star in "Don't Play With Your Food." This hilarious story is about the unlikely friendship of some deliciously cute bunnies and Buddy the very hungry monster. When Buddy comes looking for a bunny lunch the bunnies distract him by baking him cupcakes the first day, taking him on all the rides on the carnival the second day and eventually Buddy notices that he is not coming back to eat the bunnies but because they are friends!

To make sure Buddy does not eat the bunnies by accident packed our Easylunchboxes full of:

• healthy grapes with a cute bunny hiding in it
• a whole wheat cupcake with lots of icing and a heart marshmallow for friendship and
• a very filling peanut butter and strawberry jelly Buddy sandwich with chocolate sprinkles and a chocolate details. 

That should keep Buddy full for today!

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