Cam still isn’t too crazy about sandwiches yet so I like to go a more “deconstructed” route with her lunches from time to time.
It seems like more of it gets eaten that way.
Today she has a crescent roll, some cheddar-jack cheese slices, natural salami, watermelon, sweet pepper rings, and carrot coins.
She also has two happy little animal friends to help her eat her lunch.
Lunch is in the Yumbox today.
I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned how heavy this little box is.
It’s surprisingly heavy for its size.
It doesn’t hold a whole lot of food so it’s geared more towards the little ones but it sure does make a lunchbox heavy once you add it along with a thermos full of water.
Just something to keep in mind if you’re thinking about purchasing one.
In her Yumbox today, Cam has my version of Lunchables. I just put a few crackers, some cheese cut-outs, and a few salami roll-ups in her lunch. She also has some sweet pepper rings, watermelon, a few natural fruit snacks, and two flapjacks from our Graze box.
Yesterday was a very exciting day in our house.
Miss Camryn received an acceptance letter from Mensa and she starts the gifted program at school on Monday.
We met the teacher of her school’s gifted program yesterday and she told us that the gifted kids get to eat their lunch at a special table up on the stage in the ‘cafegymatorium’ (my term for the school’s cafeteria/gymnasium/auditorium).
Also, they eat lunch at 11:55, A normal lunchtime! And they get snacks!
Finally, someone gets it.
Such exciting developments deserve a pretty special lunch.
Today’s lunch includes some of Cam’s favorite things:
Cam loves pink so I included as much pink as possible.
She has pizza bites and peppers on little pink skewers, pink watermelon flowers in a pink little pig, some fruit-leather cut-outs, and some pink strawberry cookies.
I didn’t get around to making the cookies until late last night and by then I certainly didn’t feel like making them from scratch.
Since I’m not opposed to taking a little help from the store every now and then, I grabbed a box of strawberry cake mix, dumped it into a bowl along with 2 eggs, 1/3 cup of vegetable oil, some sprinkles, and a couple handfuls of white chocolate chips. I mixed it all up, rolled the dough into balls, placed them on a baking sheet, and baked them at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes.
The cookies cover her intense affection for strawberries, sprinkles, chocolate, and the color pink.
For lunch today, Cam has a Biscoff sandwich cut into bite-sized pieces with our FUNbites cutter, the last of her Wheat Thins Sticks, carrot sticks, sweet pepper rings, and watermelon.
It’s Meatless Monday! We’re linking up over at bentoforkidlet.com. Click the image below to see other great meat-free lunches.
I kept things simple today.
Sometimes simple is best. If nothing else, it’s certainly faster and easier. 😉
I made a salami sandwich with just a teeny bit of mayo (Cam isn’t too keen on mayo but I don’t want her choking down a dry sandwich at the lunch table). Before I made the sandwich, I stamped the bread with a small flower stamp just to make it a little cuter. Her sandwich is cut diagonally and stacked in her ELB.
She also has some veggie chips, watermelon, and sweet pepper rings.
Cam loves sweet peppers. I usually slice a few into rings when I bring them home and put them into a mason jar that I keep in the fridge. Seems like I am constantly refilling that jar. That’s o.k. though. I’d rather have to refill a pepper jar all the time than have to refill a cookie jar.
Happy Friday ♥
The little one has been out of school all week due to whatever mystery illness she picked up at school. Today was her first day back.
Her appetite hasn’t been great over the last few days so she mostly just nibbled throughout the day.
For lunch yesterday, she had:
Three bread sticks that I warmed up for her (she prefers them without sauce ), grape tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, carrot coins, and a fruit rope.
The white on the carrot is actually a bit of frost. My refrigerator is cold!
Today for lunch, she has:
Cheese and crackers, grapes, natural fruit snacks, carrot coins, and vanilla cupcake flavored goldfish.
There was no way she was going to eat a sandwich today so I went for a more nibbly approach to lunch.
Cam is home sick today.
We made it exactly one month from the start of the school year before she was taken out by some nasty cold germs.
Apparently this funk is going around because lots of other kids are out of school right now too.
She was kind enough to share with her father too so he’s currently in bed with the covers pulled over his head.
Whenever those two are sick, they only want my veggie soup, so I made a big pot of it last night so that they could have lots of leftovers to get them through the next couple of days.
It’s a great way to use up veg that may be a bit past it’s prime but still useable.
I normally don’t care much for soup but I love this one. I think it’s the beans and pasta that make it so yummy.
The recipe is below.
Cam has some of her favorite veggie soup, a couple slices of french bread for dipping, and a piece of pineapple upside down cake for lunch in her ELB today.
It’s been rainy and gloomy all morning. Hopefully I can get her to curl up on the couch after lunch and take a nap.
I’m not counting on it but a girl can dream.
Cam’s Favorite Veggie Soup
onion
garlic
celery
bell pepper
carrots
kale
28 oz. can of diced tomatoes
4 cups stock or broth (I use veggie)
small pasta like Ditalini or Stars
1 can of white beans (northern, canellini) rinsed and drained
1 bay leaf
seasoning to taste (salt & pepper, oregano, Italian seasoning – whatever you like)
Directions
Slice all vegetables about the same size and saute them in a little extra virgin olive oil until tender.
Add canned tomatoes with juice, stock, kale, and seasoning. Bring to boil, then reduce to simmer and put a lid on top.
While the soup simmers gently, boil a pot of water for the pasta.
Just before the pasta is done, add the beans to the soup and remove the bay leaf.
When the pasta is done, drain, and add to each soup bowl. How much pasta you add is up to you.
Pour the soup over the pasta and enjoy!
I don’t leave the pasta in the soup because it turns to mush. I keep it in an air-tight container in the fridge and just add it to each bowl of soup as I need it.
There are no measurements or amounts because this is another one of those no-recipe recipes. You can adapt it to suit your taste. If don’t like something, leave it out. Add as much or as little of everything as you like. Just make sure you have enough liquid to cover everything by a couple of inches.
It was really cloudy this morning. I’m sure you can tell from that picture.
We had a veggie salad for dinner last night. I just tossed some of our favorite vegetables (fresh corn, kale, shredded carrot, tomatoes, and red pepper) with some green goddess dressing. Each of us had a big bowl of veggie salad with a piece of crusty bread on the side for dinner last night.
Some of the leftovers of last night’s dinner made their way into Cam’s Yumbox today along with half of a Honeycrisp apple, cheese flowers, pomegranate and pepper chips, and a Biscoff sandwich cut with our Funbites cutter. She also has a fruit rope cut into thirds in the little treat/dip cup.
I actually woke up a little late this morning so lunch had to be made in a hurry.
It took less than 10 minutes from start to finish to make Cam’s lunch today and that time included me fiddling around with fruit leather in an attempt to dress up those ice cream cones. I soon realized that I didn’t have enough time to mess with it, regretted not making this lunch last night, gave up and shoved the whole fruit leather in my mouth instead.
What did make it into her lunch box today was a Biscoff sandwich that I cut into two cute cones using our Lunch Punch. She also has some strawberries, veggie chips, and what I call “cheesy peasy bread spread” (which is basically pea pesto) for her to dip her veggie chips into.
I usually spread it on a lightly toasted baguette and Miss Camryn goes nuts for it. She’s a pea lover from way back so this spread is right up her alley.
You can also thin it out with a little chicken or veggie stock and toss with pasta, couscous, or rice, you can dip crackers into it, and you can use it on a sandwich in place of mayo. A sandwich with bacon and tomato would be a very good idea.
Cheesy peasy bread spread is really easy to make and you can adapt it to suit your taste.
To make it you will need:
1 cup frozen peas – thawed
1/4 cup cheese (more or less) – I like parmesan
Garlic
Salt and Pepper
Herbs – Basil, Mint, Tarragon, Italian seasoning, chives (whatever you like)
pine nuts (optional)
lemon juice (optional)
red pepper flakes (optional)
Extra virgin olive oil
Just toss everything except the olive oil into a blender or food processor and give it a whirl until it’s well incorporated. Then, with the machine running, drizzle in a few tablespoons of olive oil until it all comes together.
If you want it to be perfectly smooth, run it a little longer.
A little lemon zest folded in at the end is nice too.
Keep in an airtight container in the fridge. Should last 2-3 days.
You’ll notice that I didn’t give measurements for most of the ingredients. That’s because this recipe is really adaptable. If you like a lot of garlic, add a lot. If you don’t, leave it out. If you want more cheese – or even a different cheese, add it. If you want to make a larger amount, go for it. Just keep tasting and adding what you think it needs until it tastes right to you.
I told Camryn last night that I would be making muffins for breakfast this morning and she immediately asked if I’d put some in her lunch today.
So in her Easy Lunchbox, she has two blueberry muffins, a flapjack from our Graze box, a few yellow pepper rings in the cute little kitty box, some pineapple, and sliced celery.
This is actually quite a bit of food for her so whatever she doesn’t finish, she’ll have for snack after school.
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We Should Be Folding Laundry 