Family Lunches: 9.4.13

Don't miss my MOMables giveaway!

I made a really yummy pasta for dinner, using a cubanelle pepper, zucchini, yellow squash, and fresh corn, along with rotini and Philadelphia Cooking Cream.

Pasta: 20g, feta: 1g, Crackers: 10g, egg: 0g, melon: 5g, apple slices: 5g

The Boy asked for some of the pasta for lunch, and wants to put some feta on it, so I gave him a little container of it.  He also has a car shaped hard boiled egg, apple slices, Scrabble Cheez-its, and some melon mint salad from the new Weelicious Lunches cookbook (review and giveaway coming soon!) in an Easylunchbox. His snack is a banana (not pictured, 28g)

The Girl has a Kaleidoscope Bread sandwich with Miracle Whip, ham, and Cabot cheddar, along with grapes, kale chips, and a square hard boiled egg, in an Easylunchbox.  Her snack is a banana and a Chobani Champions yogurt (not pictured).

 I have leftover pasta for lunch, along with kale chips and a mint and melon salad in an Easylunchbox,

Family Lunches: 9.3.13

Don't miss my MOMables giveaway!

I attempted to make some polka dot bread, but ended up with rainbow kaleidoscope bread.  Still cool, but not quite what I was going for.  No one is complaining.

Sandwich: 40g, cucumber & ranch: 3g, apple: 5g, melon & strawberries: 5g

The Boy has a kaleidoscope bread sandwich with pesto, liverwurst, and cheese, along with cucumber and ranch, a tiny apple from our own apple tree, melon and strawberries, all in an Easylunchbox.   His snack is a Chobani Champions yogurt and some cinnamon crackers (not pictured - Yogurt: 9g and crackers: 12g)

The Girl has a kaleidoscope bread sandwich with ham and cheese, a pluot, strawberries, grapes, and some cinnamon crackers, in an Easylunchbox.  Her snack is Chobani Champions yogurt and some cinnamon crackers (not pictured).

The Hubby has some leftover pizza, cucumber, and an apple from our trees, in an Easylunchbox.

I have leftover pizza, leftover Asian wings, and cucumber, in an Easylunchbox.

Lunches for an Outing: Boston Museum of Science - Labor Day Weekend 2013

Don't miss my MOMables giveaway!

We have a membership to the Boston Museum of Science, which we got for The Girl's birthday last March, but haven't had a chance to go until now... it's a fantastic museum, and well worth the drive (which is about 4 hours from our house), but it's something of a feat to find a time when the whole family can go, since The Hubby works on most Saturdays, and I work on most Sundays..

So, we took advantage of the Labor Day weekend, and we took my mother, too.

Butterflies enjoy fruit, too!

What a place!  If you live anywhere near, I cannot recommend it enough.  We loved the Butterfly Garden, and as members, we got a huge discount on the visiting Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibit, on loan to the museum only until October.  We didn't even get to the Planetarium, the OMNI theatre, or the Theatre of Electricity Lightening Show... so, another visit will have to come sooner rather than later!

One wonderful thing about the museum is that they don't mind if you bring in your own lunches.  Perfect for us!

My mother made a lovely loaf of whole wheat sourdough for our sandwiches.  I packed us a whole cooler full of Easylunchboxes.

My mother had a sandwich with pesto, Cabot cheddar cheese, turkey and salami, and lettuce, along with a fresh local peach, and some strawberries, along with some butterfly crackers.

The Hubby had a sandwich with mayo, Cabot cheddar cheese, turkey and turkey salami, and lettuce, along with apple slices, strawberries, and butterfly crackers.

I had a sandwich with pesto, Cabot cheddar cheese, turkey and salami, and lettuce, along with apple slices, and some strawberries, along with some butterfly crackers.

The Girl had a sandwich with mayo, Cabot cheddar cheese, turkey and salami, and lettuce, along with a fresh local peach, and some strawberries, along with some butterfly crackers.

The Boy had a sandwich with pesto, Cabot cheddar cheese, turkey and salami, and lettuce, along with apple slices, and some strawberries, along with some butterfly crackers.

The dining options at the museum are varied, but expensive, so we saved a lot of money, and had healthier food than we would easily have had if we had bought lunches there.

Back to School 2013: MOMables!

With school here, sometimes the menu planning can get a little hectic.  Do you find yourself in a rut and want some new ideas?

MOMables to the rescue!

MOMables is a school lunch meal planning service that helps parents feed their kids a variety of lunches they will love. Their one simple plan approach has built in substitutions for vegetarian, gluten free and nut free options when needed (it is not a dairy free or vegan plan).

MOMables was started by Laura Fuentes, a mom of 3 kids under seven years old, to help other parents get out of the lunch packing rut. MOMables offers a weekly school lunch meal plan with 5 lunch ideas, a prep-ahead sheet and a shopping list to help us busy parents feed our kids good food they will actually eat for only $6 per month!

Laura has been kind enough to offer my readers a sample week of MOMables for FREE, when you sign up for their weekly newsletter. It’s also loaded with free recipes, tips and so much more.

In addition, one lucky reader will win a free 3-month subscription to MOMables menus!

Enter on the rafflecopter below, and good luck!  Mandatory entries are to leave a blog comment about your go-to school lunch, to follow MOMables on facebook, and to sign up for their weekly newsletter.  

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Stay tuned for more Back-to-School giveaways to come!

Family Lunches: 8.30.13 (With Hotdog Tacos!)

It's the first Friday of the school year!

Bagel sandwich: 28g, melon: 5g, cucumber: 2g, feta: 1g, bbq corn kernels, cinnamon cookies: 2g

The Boy has a banana for snack (not pictured, 28g).  His lunch is in a Yumbox, and he has melon, cucumber, feta cheese, Naturebox BBQ Kettle Kernels, a mini whole wheat bagel with pesto, lettuce from my CSA, liverwurst, and Monterey Jack cheese, and some cinnamon crackers.

Hotdog Taco filling

For dinner on Thursday night, I made up something I called Hotdog Tacos - the filling was sliced hot dogs, corn, and white beans, with some taco seasoning.  We all loved them!

The Girl asked for leftovers in her lunch, so she has a couple Hotdog Tacos, a pluot, strawberries, a string cheese, and some cinnamon crackers, packed in an Easylunchbox.  Do you like her Mexican dog?  For snack, she has a Chobani Champions yogurt and a banana (not pictured).

I have a salad with feta cheese, some salsa in an Easylunchboxes Mini Dipper, crumbled up taco shells so I can make my salad a taco salad, and a pluot, in my Easylunchbox.

Family Lunches: 8.29.13

The first day of school went smoothly for the kiddos.  I hope that all of you who are sending your kids off to school this week are having a smooth transition.

I have lunches packed for the whole family.

Bagel Sandwich: 25g, raisins: 10g. fruit: 5g, veggies & ranch: 2g, cinnamon cookies: 15g, yogurt: 9g

The Boy has melon and strawberries, some thinly sliced carrots, cucumber and radish with ranch (from my CSA!), a mini whole wheat bagel with pesto, lettuce, Muenster, and a little liverwurst, Chillin' Cherry Chobani Champions yogurt, raisins, and some cinnamon cookies, all packed in an Easylunchbox.  For snack, he will have a banana (not pictured, 28g)

The Girl has a pluot, strawberries, thinly sliced carrots, a mini whole wheat bagel with Miracle Whip, Cabot cheddar cheese, ham, and lettuce, along with some cinnamon cookies and a new Flying Dragonfruit Chobani Champions, all packed in an Easylunchbox.  She has a banana for snack (not pictured).

The Hubby and I have CSA Salad (Greens, with thinly sliced veggies - he has just cucumber, and I have cucumber, carrot, and radish - personal preferences), with some Italian dressing, along with half an apple, and half a mini whole wheat bagel with cheddar cheese, in our Easylunchboxes.

Lunches: 8.28.13 - First Day of School!

It's Back-to-School Day!  Just in time for the season, I have been featured in a local Kids monthly newspaper, Kids VT!  I'm pretty excited.  It was really fun being interviewed and having the photographer here... So, to any new readers, welcome!  Stay tuned for more Back-to-School Giveaways in the weeks to come.

Bus crackers: 20g, Liverwurst: 1g, carrot & ranch: 1g, fruit salad: 5g, feta cheese: 1g, cinnamon crackers: 3g

The Boy is going into 2nd grade.  His schedule is a bit different this year at school, and he will have a light (low carb, and thus insulin-free) morning snack, and a larger afternoon snack.  His morning snack is a cheese stick, and his afternoon snack is a banana (28 g) He asked that his first day lunch be in his Yumbox.  He has some school bus shaped "crackers" I made with thinly rolled pizza dough, liverwurst (also pressed with the school bus press), carrots ribbons with ranch dressing, a fruit salad with melon, strawberries, and apple, with some more apple in the compartment with the feta cheese, and some star cinnamon crackers.

The Girl is going into 5th grade.  Her snack is a banana.  Her lunch is in an EasyLunchbox.  She has some of my school bus shaped "crackers" along with ham and cheddar rolls, carrot ribbons, some fruit salad with strawberries and apple, and a pluot.