9/29

Todays lunches make me giggle. I know it is way too early to be doing Halloween stuff but I just couldn't help myself. It must be because I took my teenagers out shopping this evening for Halloween costume ideas and Halloween is one of my most favorite Holidays ever!

For my 17 yo- Pumpkin shaped rice onigiri. Nori faces cut by my husband. Grapes, pepperoni and cheese, orange slices, greek yogurt with local raw honey and dark chocolate swirls, home made trail mix.

 For my 7 yo- Pumpkin shaped rice onigiri. Nori faces cut by my husband. Grapes, pepperoni and cheese, orange slices. In the cat container she has homemade trail mix, in the monkey container she has greek yogurt with local raw honey and dark chocolate swirls, and a baby banana. She will choose one or two (depending on how hungry she is) of the side dishes for her afternoon snack.

The rice is colored with food coloring. I know it isn't natural or healthy but I was standing there cooking the rice and trying to figure out what shapes to make when I saw my pumpkin cookie cutters and inspiration hit me. If I had thought of this in advance I probably would have attempted a more natural coloring choice, but for now this will have to do. To make them I used two pumpkin shaped cutters, one of those solid ones with the lines and a thicker one thats just pumpkin shaped. I lined everything with saran wrap and pressed the rice through the thick cutter and onto the solid lined one. Then I gently removed the rice from the plastic wrap. I was SO giddy at how well these turned out! The smaller ones were made the same way but with my mini pumpkin cutter.
I ended up with enough rice to make 4 more mini pumpkins so I put those in the fridge for my 3yr old to have later.

You'll notice my 15yr old son does not have rice onigiri. He doesn't like "sticky rice" and prefers that I not send it in his lunch. So I whipped up a batch of chicken salad for him tonight.
Chicken salad, GF rice crackers for scooping, pepperoni and cheese, carrot sticks and a small container of hummus. Grapes. Homemade trail mix, greek yogurt with local raw honey and dark chocolate swirls.

9/28

15 yo- He requested ham and salami again. I also included jack-o-carrots (a big hit, he thought they were hilarious!) some cheese, half a pear, dried date. Olives and a bowl of greek yogurt with honey and chocolate swirls.

17yo- Spaghetti squash with home made sauce. Some cheese sprinkled on top. Half a pear, acorn shaped carrots and greek yogurt with honey and chocolate swirls.

7 yo- Cubed chicken breast, jack-o-carrots and carrot kittys. Flower and leaf cheese (found a new leaf cutter I didn't know I had!) olives, home made trail mix. greek yogurt with honey and chocolate swirls and a small apple for afternoon snack.

I also included an apple with the teenagers lunches but forgot to photo those.

My 3 yr old just finished his lunch "snack tray" as he calls it. He had-

Pepperoni and cheese on sticks, a kiwi fruit, grapes. Gluten free cookies, black olives, a dill pickle and some homemade trail mix.

9/26

Oh dear, I skipped a few days of lunches there huh? I promise that I fed my kids! LOL! I even took pictures, but I forgot to post them. I just finished prepping lunches for tomorrow so its on my mind right this moment to post these. I'll get around to uploading the 2 days I missed, maybe tomorrow.

For my 7yo (above)
Gluten free chicken nuggets. Locally made GF BBQ sauce (purchased at our farmers market), pear slices. Baby dill pickles, tomato, cheese and basil sticks. Cucumber flowers and some adorable tiny carrots that my DD picked from the ground herself :) Tiny banana for afternoon snack.

For my 17yo (above)
Grilled chicken breast, GF Locally made BBQ sauce, baby dill pickles, cucumber slices, cherry tomatoes, cherry flavored bumble bar and cheese. Apple.

For my 15 yo (above)
All the same things as my 17yo except he gets a pear.

Often times my meals will repeat. Because we don't do grains I am having to think outside of the "bread box". Also my kids will request repeats. I don't always like to prepare the same meal in a week but if they want something again I will oblige if its easier for me :) For example the other day my 15yo requested that I make egg salad for him. The other two don't like egg salad, so one got a deviled egg and the other got something totally different because she thinks HB eggs are "gross, ew!" heh. (One of the meals I need to upload later!)

9/21

Todays lunches are mostly the same. We had an unexpected over night guest last night and since he was going to school too I made an extra lunch. Can't let kids go hungry, even if they aren't mine!

Since I had an extra kid I didn't have enough food set aside for lunches and needed to think about something else instead.

While pondering what to make since I had an extra mouth to feed my teen son came into the kitchen and asked what was for lunch. I told him I had to ponder for a moment and come up with something and he said "hey, could you make that chicken salad again? That was really good!" So, they all get chicken salad. Easy!  How I make mine  at bottom of post.

For my 7yo-
Chicken salad, GF rice crackers for dipping, Purple sweet potato flowers, red bell pepper slices, white cheddar cheese slices. Cantaloupe and a dark chocolate square with a bumble bar. Pear for afternoon snack.

For my 15yo-
Chicken salad, GF rice crackers, hard boiled egg, red bell peppers, purple sweet potato stars, cantaloupe, dark chocolate square, bumble bar, and a peach.

For my 17yo-
Chicken salad, lettuce for wraps, red bell peppers, purple potato flowers, cantaloupe, dark chocolate square, bumble bar and an apple.

For our guest-
Chicken salad, lettuce for wraps, red bell pepper, purple potato stars, cantaloupe, dark chocolate square and bumble bar, pear.


For my chicken salad- Its really easy and apparently my kids think its the best ever, lol. Also I don't measure anything exactly but this is basically what I do...

I cook 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts in the pressure cooker,  I then remove and shred into a bowl. I add half a small onion diced, half a small apple diced, run half a carrot over the shredder and plop in two spoonfuls of mayo made with olive oil. A little salt and pepper and call it done. Its fairly simple and quick to make if you cook the chicken in a pressure cooker! My chicken breasts went from frozen to cooked tender and shredded in about 35 min!

9/19

Todays lunches are again very similar. I love that all my kids have mostly the same tastes in foods. Now if only I could get them to agree on music and movies! It would be so much calmer around here, haha.

All three lunches packed into my favorite containers- Easy Lunch Boxes!

For my 17 yr old-

Chicken salad, lettuce (for wraps) cheese on sticks, melon, cucumber slices under carrot and bell pepper slices. An apple and a small container of homemade trail mix.

My 15 yr old got the same things as the 17yr old. :)

Just a bit different for my 7yr old. She didn't want lettuce wraps. She felt like it would be hard to keep her chicken salad in the lettuce (she does not like when her food falls out of her lettuce, taco night is an adventure around here!)
So for her she has chicken salad, gluten free tortilla chips to dip, cucumber flowers, tomato, basil and mozzarella sticks, tiny gold plum, melon, carrots and green pepper slices. A pear and home made trail mix for afternoon snack.

9/16

3 very similar lunches today.

17 yo DD- chicken breast, babybel cheese, cucumber slices, purple sweet potato hearts. bowl of grapes and 3 apple bunnies. Small bowl of homemade trail mix with a dried date.
Included but not pictured is a nectarine and 1/3 of a bumble bar.

15 yo DS- Same as above, except I'm following his "no flowers Mom, geez" rule :) So his purple sweet potatoes are just circles. (I planned to do star shapes but the 3 yr old ran off with my tiny star I think!)
Included but not pictured, also a nectarine and 1/3 of a bumble bar.

7 yr old DD- chicken breast, white cheddar squares, flower cucumbers, purple heart and flower sweet potato, homemade trail mix (no almonds) and grapes with 2 apple bunnies.
Included but not pictured- the last 1/3 of the bumble bar small bowl of yogurt and a container of grapes and cheese for afternoon snack.

Note about Bumble Bars- I found these in my local "discount grocery store" They were 4 bars for $1.00. I got a dozen of them. I didn't think the kids would like them very much since they're made with sesame and flax seeds and a bunch of other really good for you but sound weird ingredients, LOL!
So I planned to just give them to my husband in his lunches and keep a few in my purse for those moments where you just NEED to eat something right this minute or you might faint :) Turns out all of my kids really, really, REALLY like them!  I bought the Almond, Chocolate and Lemon. My favorite is the lemon flavor. I think they're sized pretty big for a kid so when I pack them into lunches I cut each one into thirds and split them among the boxes. My 3yr old really likes them too, he asks several times a day for a "bumble bee bar pweese?"

I included a link to their website for anyone who was curious about them. I did not receive any money or free food for this mention. Though if the people at Bumble Bars wanted to send me some more yummy Lemon bars, I wouldn't complain! :)

9/12

Small break between lunches. The 7yo was home from school the rest of last week and my teenagers mostly took left overs. We're back to it now though!

These are for the teenagers. They're pretty similar as you can see. It really does make packing go quickly.

Roasted chicken breast, cucumber slices, white cheddar squares, carrot, tomato, celery, hummus to dip veggies, tucked down by cheese is a small locally grown (as in my neighbor!) golden plum. Piece of a Lara bar. Also in lunch boxes was a Ghirardelli chocolate square and some GF chips.

Took my 7yo to the Doctor today for another check up on her concussion. I did pack her a bento lunch but I didn't have time to photograph it this morning. She ate most of it in the car on the way home. The Doctor said she is healing well, but because she is still having some headaches and a little blurry vision we have her on half days of school.