Sunday soup kitchen hiatus for this week...

We got home midday today from a fun family night away so I didn't have time for any cooking. Thank goodness the freezer was stocked with meals from last weeks double batch!  Took out some goodies so this week we are having:

Garlic soup and sandwiches/wraps

Chili 

Chicken drumsticks/thighs with a grape tomatoe and red pepper coulis served over brown rice

Then leftover madness

And some spicy lentil soup for lunches for the adults :)

Took out some banana bread chocolate chip muffins for the kids snacks too. 

When I went grocery shopping today I found an awesome addition to my bento box tools. Edible ink! Now I can get even more creative with the kids lunches. Check it out below. Pic on the left is my bento tools so far, and on the right is the kiddies lunch tomorrow! They saw it and were mega pleased :)

Tonight for dinner I went with simple and ultimately lazy.  But, it was delicious!  Made a Caesar salad and bought a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store. Had chicken Caesar salad. And since the chicken is huge I froze the rest of it and will use it for some awesome homemade chicken noodle soup to make on Sunday! 

Alright, back to policy writing/researching by day tomorrow.  Oh blessed Monday ;)

Happy work week to all!

Bento style lunches for the kiddies!!

I've never been that creative at lunches for my first born since she entered school. With my second just having started JK this year I decided to be better with their lunches. Ive always been good at ensuring they are healthy and include most of the food groups, but other than that, it was just a standard boring lunch box. I decided this year to strive to make lunches for my kiddies that are fun as well as healthy!

I've been inspired through Pinterest and Instagram at all these cute little lunch box ideas that I really already had the tools for at home but was just to lazy to try. A friend of mine on Facebook has been doing them for her kiddies and posting these adorable pictures. She inspired me to do better :)

Some may wonder what "tools" are you talking about Miriam?? It's just a lunch?!  Well let me tell you what tools are useful in creating cutesy lunches. 

Cookie cutters (big and small, metal and plastic)

Sandwich cutters/presses

Silicone baking cups (Wilton sells some great ones and I bought mine at Michaels with a 40% off coupon to boot!)

Rolling pin

I started searching for some better lunch boxes that had compartments, were spill proof, and durable.   Then I found these amazing containers! Easy lunch boxes. 

You can check them out here:

www.easylunchboxes.com

I ordered mine from Amazon and they were less than $20 for a pack of four! I could even do a bento lunch for the Mr.  He would be horrified!!

With all that in stock I was ready for the first day of school!

And so it began!

My daughter loves pizza wheels which I've provided the recipe for in my previous post. They're a hit, easy, and healthy! My son much prefers train sandwiches!

I've also experimented with these fun carrot hummus sushi roll ups for my daughter and they're a fan fave as well. Check them out below. So easy!

Carrot Hummus Sushi Roll Ups:

Any bread of choice

Hummus

Grated carrot

Take your rolling pin and flatten the bread as best as you can. It makes it easier for rolling them up. I also cut the crust off too for a cleaner look.  Spread some hummus on the entire piece of bread. Place grated carrot on half of the slice of bread. Roll up the bread starting at the end with the carrots. Slice it into sushi pieces and voila!  Delicious and healthy and fun!

I've had some fun with various fruits and my cookie cutters too. Check out the watermelon they had last week!

I'm going to continue trolling Pinterest, Instagram, and the web for the pics from other mamas our there that love to make fun lunches!