Lunch for my Girl

With so many cancellations and delays lately, it was a tough morning for my little girl. School was on time and there was no extra play time at home this monring. To cheer her up at school today, I packed a lunch with Spring colors and a happy little girl. I hope it makes her smile!

Her happy lunch is packed in her favorite Easylunchboxes (with the pink lid):

• red peppers and baby carrots
• pretzels and veggie straws
• a chocolate peanut butter sandwich on whole wheat bread

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

Monbento for Mama - Brunch for Lunch

It's Monday which means I start my week making lunch for myself, too! We had another 2 h delay this morning due to the icy conditions on the roads. By the time all the kids are in school it is already 10:30am. I haven't had a real breakfast yet (if coffee doesn't count as breakfast) and it is so close to lunchtime that eating breakfast now makes little sense. So, I decided today is the perfect day for a packed brunch!

I used what I already had out for school lunches and packed my Monbento with:

• strawberries and blueberries drizzled with raw honey
• organic vanilla yogurt with homemade granola and coconut flakes
• a whole wheat English Muffin with an egg "sheet"*
• a mini garden cucumber and grape tomatoes 

*I simply scramble an egg, fry it until it sets in a little bit of oil, turn it over and then once cooked fold it onto the English muffin.

What I used to make this lunch** (contains affiliate links):
**The Monbento Original I have is no longer available. I linked to one of the available colors.

Bento Surprise Lunches

We had yet another 2 h delay this morning due to the arctic temperatures outside. I should have had plenty of time to make lunches but with four kids with extra time on their hands that did not happen. Instead, we made three different breakfasts, some had a second round of breakfast even, and suddenly we had only a few minutes before we had to leave. While I was quickly trying to pack up lunch, my daughter ran into the kitchen excitedly clutching three unopened bento pick packages. She had found my unopened stash from a recent order. 

She generously shared with her brother and they decorated their own lunches. They may not have a theme but the kids left giggling and happy to have had their own pick (pun intended)!

My son's Easylunchbox is filled with:

• Annie's Cheddar Mix
• Mott's Applesauce
• a Ham sandwich
• and of course lots of picks ;)

My daughter's Easylunchbox is packed with:

• Annie's Cheddar Mix
• Mott's Applesauce
• a PB and jelly wrap
• and the picks of her choice :)

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

Hot Chocolate On-the-Go - a Cuppow Story

With snow on the sidewalks, temperature in the single digits and wind chills, the walk to the bus stop in the monring and in the afternoon have become more uncomfortable than ever. This afternoon especially I wanted to do something to keep the walk home as comfortable as possible. And what do you take with you when it's cold outside: Hot Chocolate!

I grabbed my favorite 24 oz canning jar and my two new best friends:
The Cuppow Canning Jar Drinking Lid and the BNTO Canning Jar Lunchbox Adaptor.

I made our favorite hot chocolate recipe and filled the jar. I added some mini marshmellows to our BNTO and there was my Hot Chocolate on-the-go. I tucked the Cuppow lid in my pocket and went on my way.

I let the kids add the marshmellows and shake it up a bit. Then, we added the Cuppow lid and our walk home from the bus stop was that much more fun!

Disclaimer: Cuppow sent me some product to review. All opinions are my own!

The Day the Crayons Quit - a Literary Lunch

This lunch is also posted over at The Little Crooked Cottage as a Literary Lunch. Head over to the fabulous blog of four children's book authors and check out the wonderful Literary Interviews with Mr. Pig himself! Although today's interview did almost not happen. Check it out HERE!

The crayons are the stars in Drew Daywalt's and Oliver Jeffers' "The Day the Crayons Quit." Crayons have feelings, too, so when Duncan opens his crayon box one morning he doesn't find his crayons but letters from each crayon complaining about Duncan's use of each one (or non use). They have had enough, they say! They quit! Can Duncan settle the dispute between yellow and orange who both think they should be the sole color of the sun? Will the crayons go back to doing what they do best?

I made a fun snack to celebrate this fun and colorful book:

• a cream cheese and American cheese YELLOW CRAYON sandwich which needs to be eaten first
• a cream cheese and strawberry RED CRAYON sandwich which insists to be eaten while you are humming
• a cream cheese and blueberry BLUE CRAYON sandwich which hopes to make you happy and
• a cream cheese and kiwi GREEN CRAYON sandwich who will finish your lunch.

To meet the rest of the crayons and find out how this fun and delightful book with beautiful illustrations ends, grab a copy at your local library or book store!

5 Reasons Why We love Our Yumbox

When Yumbox first released it's bento lunch box in 2013, I could not wait to be one of the first to have one. Yumbox offeres a solution to so many lunch packing issues that with it's release lunch packing got so much easier. And we used our Yumbox a lot since then. Now that we have added to our Yumbox stash and with the new Spring colors and the redesigned tray being released this Spring I wanted to share our top 5 reasons why we love our yumbox.

•  6 Compartments

My two youngest kids are snackers. They like to eat smaller portions and a variety of food. The Yumbox obviously is perfect for them. I can pack 5 different foods plus a dip or treat in the tray and they will have a little of everything (fruits, veggies, grains, protein and dairy or any combination of those). 

• Easy to open - 1 lid for 6 compartments

When my daughter started Kindergarten, I tested out several lunch boxes for her ahead of time (we packed lunch at home to see how easy it was for her to open them). I wanted her to be able to open the lunchbox on her own without spilling the contents and I wanted to send her confident that she could manage on her own. Yumbox only has 1 lid to navigate for all the compartment and with the new and improved latch it is easier to open and to close the lunch box for anyone 2 and up. I have other multi compartment lunch boxes for my older kids but Yumbox is simply the easiest to handle. 

• Perfect for Picky Eaters

Starting full day school with a packed lunch was exciting enough for my daughter and she kept requesting the same lunch over and over to have predictability in her day. She was set on certain foods and left her Yumbox untouched when I added new foods to try. Thankfully, Yumbox has 5 compartments and I was able to pack her similar lunches for the first weeks with a few tweaks here and there. By the end of the first month her lunches had a lot more variety.

• Leakproof 

My kids love yogurt. Unless I want to buy overpriced tube yogurt, Yumbox is one of the only lunchboxes we have that makes sending yogurt a non-issue! Other foods we love to pack are: applesauce, strawberry salad, pudding and jello.

• Dip or Treat compartment

I used to simply use the small round compartment for treats (fruit snacks, chocolate chips) but once I filled it with nut butter for dipping it has almost exclusively become just that: a dip container. No matter if you want to send apples with nut butter, vegetables with Ranch or biscuits with honey, the dip compartment is your friend to get your kids to eat more fruits and veggies.

To get your own Yumbox head over to their WEBSITE or check them out on Amazon (contains affiliate links):

Monbento for Mama: Potstickers

Happy Monday! I decided to start this week off right and went to the gym immediatley after the kids left (Yay for me!). Lunch is simple and healthy and I hope it will give me the boost to pack all week to keep on track!

My Monbento is filled with:

• potstickers, left over from the weekend  
• dipping sauce (soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil and a little brown sugar)*
• a fresh cucumber and carrot salad with rice vinegar dressing**
• an apple, sliced and 1 tsp of Cinnamon Raisin Swirl peanut butter

*/** You can find the dipping sauce recipe HERE and the salad dressing recipe HERE

To make your own Monbento lunch you'll need (contains affiliate links):

Monbento for Mama - Super Bowl Left Overs

No matter which team you were rooting for last night, I think we all sat at the edge of our seats in the second half!! Watching the Super Bowl, the commercials and, of course, the Half Time Show is always a fun event at our house. But, as much as I enjoyed all the treats last night, today was back to healthy eating (well, almost) for this Mama.

I utilized the food we had left over - mostly from our veggie platter - and packed lunch for myself:

 

My Monbento is packed with:

• a Southwest salad with lettuce, corn, tomatoes and avocado 
• a bagel with cream cheese, salt & pepper and avocado
• almonds
• and dried cranberries

I did pack a Southwest salad dressing as well and I may have gone a little overboard. But, it was delicious ;) 

Happy Monday to you all!