feeling a little lunchy: Easylunchboxes

Showing posts with label Easylunchboxes. Show all posts

feeling a little country

Inspired by Wendy Thorpe Copley's book EVERYDAY BENTO, I made this lunch. Thanks Wendy!

Turkey and cheese on Italian white bread with an egg adorned with carrots, an orange with raisins and some pretzel thins. Not as pretty as what's in Wendy's book, but just as tasty! I used a CuteZCute cutter for the piggie and just some good old fashioned knife work on that egg.

And of course, we have almost the same lunch in a more acceptable way for a middle schooler...minus the egg and the raisins (she doesn't like raisins or eggs in her lunch like the wild child does.)

If you are interested in any of the products I use, click the affiliate links below, please! Anytime you purchase through one of my links, regardless of what you purchase, I get a small percentage of the sale. It's how lunchy gets paid! Thanks!

feeling a little easy...how many times do I have to say this??!!

EasyLunchBoxes are definitely easy...who wouldn't love being able to slap some food into one container instead of all those little bags and boxes? I've been working a bit more, and focusing on some other things lately, so lunch is the last thing on my mind. In fact, the girls have been making their own lunches this week and after getting the eye-roll from the husband last night for not packing lunches, I felt I needed to step it up. And this is about as far as I stepped it up, folks. A mushroom ring on top of some grapes with salami and cheese on leftover hamburger buns and pretzel thins.

Call me easy...I don't care. But please don't say "Ain't nobody got time for that" to me or my other bento moms...and never question what someone packs for lunch. You don't know their entire meal plan. Please try and recognize that there's real moms and real people behind these blogs and lunches...they're not just some random pictures. Their kids DO eat this food. Don't comment on their Facebook posts that there's too many carbs or not enough whatever. It's the Internet, yo...and quite frankly, the internet can't accomodate for what you do in your own home. Your kids might not typically eat it, but you'd be surprised if that's what you packed and they were hungry. My wild child won't touch a vegetable at the dinner table, but she scarfs down a whole EasyLunchboxes full of salad at school during lunch.

Here's the wild child's lunch...she made it herself. Think she's learned it by watching me? (So glad we won't be featured in that Just Say No to Drugs ad campaign just yet). She even took the picture (explains the blur) and set it up on that black and white paper. There's some Star Wars action going on there with goldfish, a homemade chocolate chip cookie, a hot dog bun, peanut butter and jelly in the mini-dippers with a little cheese spreader for that. We are glad to report that there were no issues with her having a cheese knife at school...otherwise we'd have been on the news defending it's blunt edges and versatility.

John Lennon said it best..."Time you enjoyed wasting wasn't wasted." I'm living by that now and teaching my daughters to do the same. So much so, I felt the need to waste good time drawing on my chalkboard. And I wasted a LOT of time here...I have sensory issues with chalkboards and just doing that foggy chalk around the clock took like 15 minutes. Tickety tock. You make time for what you enjoy...so just enjoy it.

feeling a little sick of winter

But I made a snowflake lunch anyways. Using a big cookie cutter, I punched out a sandwich and served it up with some butter snap pretzels, cheese cubes and carrots.

Hopefully the last of the severe winter weather has left Atlanta. Although sometimes we get one last pop in March. Lunchy is craving some sunshine for sure! I've not been diagnosed, but I'm fairly certain that I get seasonal depression. Every winter around this time, I fall into a slump and feel so sluggish and lazy and full of anxiety. This year I'm not suffering so much from the anxiety, but the sluggishness is definitely present. Here's to sunshine and flowers and pollen!

feeling like something is missing

Yep. No bread. Oh well. They'll have to survive on this pieced together lunch.

Thanks to my friend over at Bentos on the Bayou for the little paper cups and bunny picks. They jazzed this up a little. Hard boiled egg, Goldfish, turkey slices, raisins, a leftover fortune cookie, Smokehouse almonds and a clementine.

On the bunny note...this video has been circulated recently and I may have watched it about 42 times. I want to go to there and have bunnies chase me!

feeling a little edited

I never really edited my photos, but for cropping and maybe a little brightness. Well, I'm a convert! I don't have Photoshop, and I use my iPad for everything, but I was informed that Snapseed is a great app to use. And great it is!! I'm in shock over how well it works. I believe it's a free app, so go get it!

We've had a lot of snow and ice here in Atlanta, which is the perfect opportunity to snap some truly awesome pictures. I was snapping away and when I downloaded the pics, I loved them. But once I began editing them, I REALLY loved them. Take a gander!

Original shot of our house:

And the edited version:

So much better!! Makes me want to live here forever!

And here's a lunch, since that's what this blog is typically all about.

Cropped and edited using the Snapseed app:

So much better! I'm in love. This lunch consists of Pillsbury Grands biscuit turkey and cheese sandwich, ranch dressing, carrots, blackberries, strawberries, and a couple of Keebler Simply Made Butter Cookies. Those things are so good!!

feeling a little short

Short on time...so LOOK! LUNCH!

Romaine lettuce salad with snow peas and Colby-Jack cheese, egg, strawberries and croutons, an apple and homemade ranch dressing in the mini dipper. I buy the cheese by the block and slice it using the side of my big cheese grater. It saves a bit of money in the long run.

Cherries, Colby-Jack cheese, water crackers and tomato soup in the thermos. We love when cherries are in season...and cheap!

feeling a little corny

Hopefully my girl will eat the corn!

And here's her sisters lunch...because I know she won't eat the corn:

Each has a turkey and cheese sandwich on a Pillsbury Grands biscuit, two Keebler shortbread cookies, blackberries and carrots.

feeling a little excited {Santa Claus is Coming to Lunch blog hop}

Santa is coming! My girls are at the age where the magic is fading. They haven't said that they don't believe or even questioned us this year, but I know it's going to be the last year we can hang on to the magic. Santa brings them one big gift that's left unwrapped, since he doesn't have time to do all that wrapping. I think they love coming down and seeing their favorite gift sitting under the tree. The excitement they have for it is genuine and I have cherished those moments. Last year, my younger daughter had some questions and her big sister would cover her ears and hum loudly to drown out the sound. It was so funny. This year, they're more interested in technology and clothes, so the big gift is going to take a lot of thought. Here it is, December 16 and we've still got nothing! What we do have is a blog hop...since Santa is coming to LUNCH!

Please check out all the other lunches by clicking the button below, which will hop you over to the next blog and so on. Comments are always appreciated! See what Shirley over at Little Miss Bento has whipped up for you...her food is amazing!

http://littlemissonigiri.blogspot.com/2013/12/santa-claus-is-coming-to-lunch-bento.html

I went uber simple with this lunch. Sometimes I get overwhelmed by all the decor and fanfare over Christmas. So I kept it to a bare minimum and hope the sentiment isn't lost.

The lunch is simply a turkey sandwich cut to look like a fireplace, salad with carrot stars and one of our easiest cookies ever...the recipe for those cookies can be found HERE. The girls had a great time using our food coloring tints to paint on the white chocolate of the cookies. I prefer the cookies without all the paint, but they were having such a great time doing it and working together.

I cut the crusts off the bread, except for bottom edge, which is the top ledge of the fireplace. Using the back side of the knife I pressed the bread a bit to make bricks. Cut a square out, painted a burning fire with Wilton food coloring tints and BAM! Instant doorway for Santa to come in to. Although now that I think of it, the burning fire may pose a problem for him...poor guy.

Of course there's a Same Lunch, Two Ways since the older, mini woman would be appalled by a fireplace in her lunch. She came home and mentioned that the food coloring on her cookie had colored her teeth, which none of her friends told her about until two classes after lunch and she was embarrassed a little. She stated that I could still put the cookie in future lunches, but they had to be decor-free. I haven't packed them salads in a while because I was getting them back and they were hungry. They ate all of the salad so I was pleased.

feeling a little elf-ish

It's no surprise that we love the movie Elf with Will Ferrell. It was played daily in our house from November until July one year...and my then two year old cursed "Son of a nutcracker!" on a regular basis. So when my friend from What's In Our Lunch Bags mentioned making an Elf lunch, I had to follow suit. Thanks for the idea Karen. I ❤️ You!

This quote happens to be one of our favorite scenes. If you need a reminder of the scene, click HERE to head on over to YouTube for a reminder.

The sandwich is just turkey and cheese on Martins potato bread, with a Babybel cheese, pretzels and a candy cane...since it is one of the four food groups according to Buddy. Candy, candy canes, candy corns and syrup!

I used Wilton food coloring gels to paint on the bread...it's my new favorite medium.

feeling a little goofy

Goofy would be an understatement...look at that silly gingerbread man sandwich! His eyes are making me giggle. The wild child came home and saw it and said it was weird. WowButter is a great allergy free alternative to peanut butter that tastes and looks so much like the real thing that you'd never know the difference...except if you had a peanut allergy, of course! The eyes are Wilton candy eyes and the mouth and buttons are Kraft Jet-Puffed Mallow Bits. We love those bits around here. Often have to stop myself from grabbing a handful and chowing down. They're just like the marshmallows you find in cereals...without the cereal. Yum!

We are almost ready for the holidays. My store is getting busy as all the shoppers are out and about. It's hard to keep my cool, but fortunately the customers are patient when they see we are working hard to pump out those drinks. The big gifts are bought and now is the fun part of finding all those little special somethings to round out the presents. My big gift was the camera, but I'm hoping Santa brings me a mustache camera strap and a wifi adapter for it. The camera is great. The mini woman had a chorus concert this week and I used it to shoot some great photos and even better videos. So clear and so nice to have it to add to our pile of memories. It took longer to upload than it did to make. Like twenty minutes for a two minute video...ugh!

Of course, there's a boring seventh grade lunch with this one...her bits are hiding.

feeling a little bright

The house is all decorated for Christmas. I bought this chalkboard at an antique store a few months ago and it hangs in my kitchen. It's an old twin sized headboard that was modified. How clever. It's one of my favorite things in the house...even if I suffer greatly every time I write on it. In fact, just the thought of drawing on the wooden surface painted with chalkboard paint sets off a series of chills and goosebumps down my arms. Wish I knew why I physically react to chalk. Must be the sound and feel of it combined. I muscle through it and have discovered that if I keep the surface wet and freshly wiped down while I'm working on it, that the side effects are lessened. Scrawled across this board is a quote from the movie Elf with Will Ferrell. "The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear." It's our family's favorite holiday movie by far. The movie came out on DVD around Thanksgiving of 2004 and we bought it, not knowing that it would be such a big part of our lives. The wild child was completely enamoured by it. She was not quite two years old, and every single day she had to watch the movie before she would take a nap. I used to allow them to settle down on the couch for their naps, so she would curl up with her blanket and demand "Watchy Elf?!" This continued for almost eight months. Every. Single. Day. Even now when I hear the opening credits, I start to feel a little sleepy.

I can still hear my sweet little toddler cursing, "Son of a nutcracker!" Might explain some of her sense of humor...

My husband is the Christmas light king. He doesn't do anything extravagant...but he sure uses a crap ton of lights. This year we can honestly say that there are no less than 3000 lights on the front of the house. 3000! Thank goodness I decorated the entire tree this year and took off some lights, too. One year he put so many on, I'm pretty sure you could see it from space. I was afraid that we might be falsely accused of being a marijuana grow house by those infared radars the police use as they fly over in helicopters. Looking at this photo now, I may have to sneak out there and remove some of those lights..

Today is the first day back after the Thanksgiving holiday break. It was a long break this year, spanning the entire week of thanksgiving. Usually it's just Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. I worked Black Friday, and am proud to say that I survived. I almost skipped making lunches, but the girls are kind of picky about the lunches the school offers, so I made them. Today's "Same lunch, two ways" is a mini bagel with turkey, cheese and lettuce, carrot slices, cheez-its, a Babybel and one with ranch, one with hummus. Happy little snowman:

feeling a little cheap

Want a great deal? Head on over to Amazon and get yourself some EasyLunchboxes for 20% off!! I'd love it if you'd use my affiliate links so I get a little kick back. It costs you nothing :)

http://amzn.to/Q3kKS1

feeling a little geekier

I'm a relatively Newvian Whovian, but luckily the geek community doesn't judge! My daughters and I were introduced to the Doctor last year and have watched every episode of the new series and are currently working our way through some of the older episodes. We are eagerly awaiting the return of the Doctor this weekend and what better way to celebrate, geek style, than with a painted slice of cheese and a blog hop? The Cyberman I drew on the cheese turned out ok, don't you think? I shared this with some of my bento blogging friends and was invited to join in their blog hop for Edible Geekery. I'm honoured and thrilled! Now we just have to figure out how to watch the 50th when we don't have cable or the BBC....hmmmmm....

Now for the hop and the fun! Click the image below to head on through the universe to Biting the Hand That Feeds You's special post for the 50th Doctor Who! Then click the same image again and you'll go to another blog...and another...until you come full circle. Kind of like a TARDIS? No? Too far?

http://www.bitingthehandthatfeedsyou.net/2013/11/wibbly-wobbly-lunches-doctor-who-50th.html

For more of my Whovian lunches, check out the Guest Post I did over at What's in Our Lunch Bags a few months back, and this post as well.

feeling a little thankful

Today is the last day of school for my girls and they're more than ready for a break. Thanksgiving is next week, but at the elementary school, they do a big thanksgiving feast for the everyone and their families. It's such a great tradition. They cover all the lunchroom tables in festive tablecloths. There's centerpieces. The meal itself is done well, with turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce and green beans. I have loved going up to the school for lunch on this special day for years. Mainly because I absolutely love canned green beans cafeteria style, but also to spend some time with my girls. My daughter has been spoiled, though, and has refused the feast this year. She says she really doesn't like the cafeteria food. What's even worse is that neither my husband nor I can make it up there to eat with her. So I tried to make this lunch a little festive for her.

It's a turkey sandwich with plastic leaves for the feathers and candy eyes. I used some food coloring gel to make the beak. She also has a thermos on the side with some hot mashed potatoes and gravy that I didn't photograph because, well, it's just a thermos of mashed potatoes.

I truly hope that you all have a fantastic thanksgiving. There's nothing like eating too much and being with family. We go to my brother in laws house almost every year and I can't wait to scarf down his amazing fried turkey. It's really delicious. He fries it in peanut oil and I could eat all the skin off that beast...wow, that sounds kind of gross, sorry. But it's fantastic. Happy thanksgiving!

Want some more amazing ideas for your thanksgiving lunches? Click the owl with a mustache below and there's a huge linky party going on with the Bento Bloggers and Friends. Enjoy!

feeling a little breakfasty

Breakfast for lunch! It's a favorite around here and I'm always happy to oblige. This lunch will be eaten at room temperature and the girls don't mind that at all. Don't chide me, but those are frozen waffles that are lightly toasted, as well as Morning Star Farms veggie "sausage" patties served with syrup in the Mini Dipper. There's also an egg and a side of Muller Greek Corner yogurt. We love those yogurts!

It's been a bit busy around here with the holidays getting ready to start. If you didn't know already, I work at Starbucks, in a mall location and I must say, it's already feeling like mid-December around there. It's been much busier and I am struggling to keep a cheerful disposition, kind of a requirement for that job. I've been quite disheartened by the decline in civility lately...and not just because I work in the service industry, but in general, people seem to be wrapped up in their phones and lives which is leaving little time to look up and say hello before barking an order at the girl behind the register. Those who do say "Hello" and "I'm fine, how are you" back to me are fewer and farther in between. I know you're busy too and really just need that coffee, but it's nice when customers genuinely respond to a simple "Hi, how are you?" Enough of that rant! On to the next...I'm really enjoying my new camera! It's a Nikon D5200 and my wonderful husband bought it for me for my birthday. I'm doing my best to learn how to manipulate all the settings and lenses. I do not edit my photos for the most part, so what you see is what it looks like. I do crop of course. Otherwise you'd be seeing my patio table and a cutting board underneath that cute background paper. Daylight savings is eating up the good light on my deck for photos. But I must say, the photo quality from the Nikon is a lot better than the ones I've been taking with my iPhone! Check out my adorable kitten, Charles Ingalls (yes, that's his name) and how beautiful he is in the first photo I took with the new camera below.

feeling a little foxy

What does the fox say?

So are you sick of that song yet?

I used a cookie cutter that I found at ikea last year to make some homemade corn tortillas. They were simple to make...I did it in the toaster oven. Just cut the tortillas and bake at 350 until crispy and a little brown. In this case, it was about 10 minutes.

feeling a little imprinted

Pressing things into bread makes for a more interesting lunch. I've got these small plastic leaves that I usually scatter on the table for Thanksgiving that worked perfectly for this sandwich. All I did was press the plastic leaf into the bread, then use a bit of food coloring to highlight the impressions. Some of the leaves are hand "painted" and others were pressed into the bread with the food coloring painted on the backs of the leaves before I stamped with them. Give it a try sometime. Almost anything that can be used to stamp into the bread would work, I'm sure.

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