Aqua Lunch

Wednesday's Lunch!

This day I surprised Lily by taking her to the pool after school :)

She LOVED it!!

I thought I'd do this lunch as a subtle hint :)

In This Lunch:

Blueberry mini bagel life preservers

Teddy grahams

Red grape lane markers

Cheesy fishy crackers

Cheese string octopus

Bunny Lunch

In This Lunch:

Raisins

Carrot sticks

Grapes with bunny picks

Sliced turkey sandwich on whole wheat

Snow peas

Cheese string (Cut in half)

'Mr Valentine' Lunch

Lily drew me an early special valentine picture, 

who I've dubbed 'Mr Valentine'

due to his suave and dashing good looks ;)

I've made this lunch in his honor :)

In this lunch:

Strawberries

Cheesy heart crackers

Strawberry jam sandwich on whole wheat

Havarti cheese heart

Cheese slice cheese heart

Food-safe marker face

Cheesy pretzel stick limbs

'Squirrel Love' Lunch

I love valentines day, 

(I'm a bit of a schmuck for love, hehe),

and doesn't love make us all a little squirrelly?

In This Lunch:

Cheesy heart crackers

Macintosh apple hearts

Havarti cheese hearts

Cheese slice squirrelly's and dots

Cheese whiz heart sandwich on whole wheat

Individual Container Lunch

What's for Lunch:

Turkey and marble cheddar sandwich on homestyle white bread

Mini Chiquita banana

2 Cucumber skewers

Carrot sticks

Strawberries

Vanilla Yogurt (which didn't fit in the picture)

Banana Man!
(Arms function to stop movement in transit)
(Face drawn with food-safe marker)

Strawberries

The only brand and flavor Lily will eat these days
(Make no mistake, I'm not getting paid to say this!)

So this is experiment number 2!

I'm testing to see if she will be more inclined to eat her lunch at school 

if all foods are not touching different foods.

Same as yesterday's experiment,

I have used a similar amount of food as a usual creative lunch would have

Let's see what comes home today!

Today, as I am working this afternoon, 

I will be enlisting the help of Lily's after school sitter Kelly

To document what comes home, and what is eaten for snack

All that plastic makes it look like so much food!

Flower Garden 2

So I said I planned to give the flower garden another shot... 

Here's how it turned out :)

I also went nuts and in a moment of insanity turned the lunch container longways...GASP!

(Yay for trying different things!)

Sadly though, I'm afraid this lunch will probably still be being picked at up till supper,

since I completely forgot that today is a pizza day at school :(

Oh well, it still makes for a great recess and after school snack!

Here's What's In This Lunch:

Apple flowers with food marker centers and a paper leaf pick

Cucumber foliage (Lily thought they looked like leaves)

Snow peas

Ham and cheese slice sandwich on whole wheat bread

Pretzel flower pots

Cheesy pretzel stick flower stems

Snow pea leaves

Strawberry fruit leather flowers

Sugar icing flower

Remembrance Day Lunch

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Wake up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields

-John McCrae, May 1915

Today is the day before Remembrance day, and there will be a ceremony at school to honor those who have given their lives for our country, and those who risk their lives for us still.

I wanted to honor in our own way, our family members who have fought in the past, and those who still do today.

Today's lunch is dedicated to Lily's great-grandfather Carman, cousin Jason, and uncle Charlie.

You're truly heros to us all

In This Lunch:

Strawberry jam sandwich on whole wheat (wrapped in plastic wrap)

Green fruit roll-up

Apple fruit leather camouflage

Strawberry fruit leather poppy

Cheese slice poppy center colored with food marker

Triscuit ground

Yoghurt covered raisin headstones

Snow pea grass

Plastic swords

Carrot sticks (to represent our troops who stand on guard for us all)

Follow-Up

Plastic wrap is perfect for preventing the invasion of the goo!

The only thing not eaten in this lunch were the yoghurt covered raisins

(apparently, the combo freaks her out)

Under The Sea Lunch

Since the lilianator was feeling a bit better today, off to school she went!

Today's lunch was a request which I was honored to do.  Lily's sitter Kelly has been one of my best friends for over 20 years, and growing up, her room was painted floor to ceiling in an underwater theme.

It was incredible!

Today's lunch is dedicated to Kelly, with many thanks for the wonderful years of friendship :)

What's for lunch:

Snow pea kelp

Fishy crackers

Turkey and cheese slice sandwich on whole wheat

Blue fruit roll up (background)

Fruit leather boat bottom

Cheesy pretzel stick and cheese slice oar

Fishy crackers and marble cheese fish with food marker

Spearmint candy laces seaweed

Chocolate chip granola bar ocean floor  

Follow-Up:

So, this lunch, as adorable as it was when it left the house ended up a huge catastrophe!

A valuable lesson was learned.  Moisture + fruit roll-up = GOO

By lunchtime, the moisture of the turkey had turned her blue background to blue goo

and was stuck to her sandwich beyond all saving :( 

Take heart though, as I think I've found a solution:

Plastic wrap!

I'll let you know how it goes :)

The boat bottom engulfed in goo!

Oh, the carnage! :(

A sad mess :(

Flower Garden Lunch

This lunch took more time than I expected!  

I wanted to try to make some flowers on stems, and didn't really research it first.  For future reference, fruit leather, is not the best for this!  If you like how it turned out, go for it, but Lily didn't even know what they were supposed to be.  She asked if they were brooms :/

All told, this lunch took 30 minutes, and almost made us late for school :(

I do plan on trying it again though.  

Just using different materials, and with less detail!

In This Lunch:

Large apple flowers with food marker centers

Triscuit flower beds

Cheese slice flowers with food marker centres

Small apple flowers with food marker centers

Carrot flowers

Turkey and cheese whiz sandwich on enriched white bread

Fruit leather petals tied with purple colored twist ties

Cheesy pretzel sticks

Cheese slice leaves colored with food marker

Apple cereal bar flower bed

Hearts Lunch

This lunch has been brought to you today by the statement:

"Ack! We've overslept again!!!"

What's for lunch:

Turkey and cheese whiz sandwich on enriched white bread
Food-safe marker hearts

Carrot hearts

Fruit leather heart and 'AMOUR'

Pomegranate seeds

Grapes on heart picks

Cheesy heart crackers... (Recognize them? They're left over from yesterday!)

Halloween Party Snacks!

Ghosties invading the pumpkin patch!

We got a call from the class parent asking us to bring in cheese and crackers for the class halloween party, so this is what we sent in :)

Pumpkins: Orange cheddar
Ghosts: White cheddar and food safe marker for eyes
Crackers: Organic multigrain and organic vegetable

(Everything had to be extra nut-free since there is a child with a nut allergy in Lily's class. Did you know there is a risk of nut traces in many types of crackers and also in cheese purchased from the deli? 

Lily and I sure had an interesting time shopping for these nut-free items!)

According to Lily though, these were a big hit :)

Halloween!

Lily's lunch for the friday before Halloween:

I didn't want to send too much, since I knew there was a party at school today, so here's what she got:

Ham and cheese slice sandwich on whole wheat
Food-safe marker pumpkin outline
Icing sugar pumpkin design
Grapes
White and orange cheddar cheese ghost and pumpkin (faces drawn with food-safe marker)

I had a funny time with this one... it was my first time trying to use a stencil, and as you can see, it didn't exactly turn out. I placed the stencil over the sandwich and proceeded to sprinkle the powdered sugar, only to realize that it didn't look anything like the pumpkin stencil, so I tried to blow it off, only to make a huge mess, haha.

I ended up just drawing on a pumpkin and hoping for the best. 

She ate it anyway though, so at least that part didn't fail :) 

I haven't decided yet if I'll try more stencils or not. 

We'll see...

Rushed Hearts and Butterflies

An 'Eek we slept in!' Lunch:

(Lily, who never asks for themes, asked for hearts and butterflies, and since I only had about 5 minutes to throw this together, this is what she got, haha)

Ham and cheese slice sandwich on whole wheat
Edible marker butterfly outline
Cheesy pretzel stick
Orange and white cheddar cheese scraps (from tomorrow's snack made ahead of time)
Dora and Scooby snacks
Cheesy heart crackers
Cucumbers (which if you look at the ends, looked like hearts)
Grapes

Barnyard Lunch

Barnyard Lunch:

Turkey and cheese slice sandwich on whole wheat
Cheese slice horse and sun
Fruit leather rider and apple
Triscuit hay bales
Edible marker grass
Herbed havarti turkeys
Raisin and sunflower seed turkey feed
Apples (for the horse, of course)

Jungle Lunch

Jungle Lunch:

Turkey and cheese whiz on white bread
Cheese slice lion (with food-safe marker eye) and 'Roar!'
Spinach foliage
Carrot sticks
Grapes
Strawberries
Granola bar peices
Fruit leather leaves