A Week of Yumbox Lunch Ideas

I am not a great meal planner, I have to admit. I like being spontaneous when it comes to food but with four kids it just doesn't make sense to not plan ahead. As my kids are getting older and more activities are crowding my calendar, I am trying to be better about at least buying fruits and vegetables in bulk and having an idea what everyone will be taking to school. Since my kids differ in ages and appetite, that requires an actual shopping list and a plan.

Today, I am sharing a weeks worth of lunches packed in our original yumbox. Side note: the purple yumbox is an older model that my daughter still uses and the pink one is the new upgraded version of the original.

6 YUMBOX LUNCH IDEAS FOR YOUR WEEK AHEAD:

This Elmo inspired lunch contains:

• Annie's Cheddar Bunnies
• apple wedges
• peanut butter dip
• kiwi fruit
• an Elmo jelly sandwich
• a grape and almond butter snack

This Hello Kitty inspired lunch is filled with:

• cheese crackers
• cucumber and red pepper
• peanut butter crackers
• Hello Kitty cream cheese sandwiches
• apple wedges
• a few fruit snacks

This Mickey Mouse themed lunch contains:

• Annie's Cheddar Bunnies
• peanut butter crackers
• a piece of banana
• peanut butter dip
• apple wedges
• Minnie Mouse jelly sandwiches

This fairy bread lunch is packed with:

• a tube yogurt
• two cookies
• apple wedges
• blueberries
• peanut butter dip
• fairy bread Nutella sandwiches 
• carrot sticks

This snack lunch is filled with:

• a tube yogurt
• a few cookies
• carrot sticks
• cheese crackers
• a star nut butter sandwich 
• a few chocolate treats
• spinach and mini peppers

I also added a Lunchbox Love lunchbox note.

The cute Panda pocket sandwich lunch contains:

• a tube yogurt
• cookies
• apples slices and blueberries
• cheese crackers
• a few chocolate treats
• a Panda pocket sandwich with cream cheese
• mini peppers
• Lunchbox Love lunchbox note

** These lunchboxes contain peanut butter. If your school is peanut free you can instead send WOWbutter or substitute with other ingredients that are safe :)

Spring Toddler Lunch

Happy First Day of Spring!

We packed a simple bento box with bunny sandwiches, celery, carrot flowers and cheddar bunnies.

And to make lunch more fun today we added a Lunchbox Love Card and two bunny rings.

Hello Kitty Bento with {tutorial}

My husband gave me a new bento box for Christmas and I have been waiting for a chance to be able to pack lunch in it. My daughter loves Hello Kitty and asked for a Hello Kitty "Sushi" Lunch which was the perfect opportunity :)

This is a fast and easy way to make a Hello Kitty themed rice bento:

All you need is some steamed rice, Seaweed, two pieces of frozen corn, a slice of ham and a flower shaped cookie cutter:

I cut some thin strips of nori with kitchen scissors for the whiskers and two oval shaped pieces of nori for the eyes. Then I used the flower shaped cookie cutter to cut the ham and layed out two pieces of corn. 

Now you just have to add the pieces to your steamed rice, add Furikake or soy sauce in a small container for seasoning and you are done!

The Bento Elf {Christopher's Adventures}

Look who got into my bento stash: Christopher!
And he made himself a bento snack :)

Mini cucumber hearts, three yogurt raisins and two mini bunny chocolate sandwiches with sprinkle decorations.

Pretty good for an elf. Don't you think?

A Bento To Be Thankful For {For Mommy}

The theme for this year's Bento Bloggers and Friends Thanksgiving Blog Hop is

I am thankful for...

I am thankful for so many things in my life but the most thankful I am for my family. They have supported me daily by eating my bento creations, dealing with my bento gear all over our kitchen and by sampling new recipe ideas. Thank you for helping me start my Facebook page and liking all my posts! Thank you for commenting on my blog and for encouraging me to keep going! Thank you for long phone calls about photoshop and other picture editing programs and for simply listening when I am over the moon that someone retweeted me! Thank you for supporting me in my passion!

But most of all thank you for enjoying the fact that I make you lunch ~ I love you!

This bento was packed in our ECOlunchbox and I packed it for myself - but don't worry! I still fed the kids ;) I packed them fairy bread by request :) I packed white rice, and vegetables (black beans, onions, corn and peppers) as well as my wonderful family made out of cheese, chicken, turkey pepperoni and cucumber skin. I have a cutter that you can use to piece together faces, hair and arms which I used to create this bento.

Ming from Bentomonsters is also thankful. Find out what she is thankful for by clicking this button:

Also linking up here:

      Things I used to make this lunch: 

Choo-Choo and the new EasyLunchboxes Mini Dippers

Happy Friday! 

My kids requested a train lunch today! Choo-Choo!

I packed a 1/2 an apple with the letter T carved out for T-R-A-I-N, Enjoy Life trail mix, a chicken and lettuce sandwich with cheese and nori decorations and I used some pirate booty for smoke stack clouds :)

Did you notice the cute little container on the right holding my trail mix? It is one of the brand new Mini Dippers from EasyLunchboxes! They are wonderful! They are leak-resistant and up to three can fit in the big compartment of the ELB or one can fit in the big small compartment. I love them because they are easy to open for little kids yet make sending dip, sauce or yogurt spill-safe :) 

Check out what my friends are packing for lunch with the new containers:

http://www.bentoforkidlet.com/2012/09/friday-vlog-kidlet-makes-lunch.html

http://keeleymcguire.blogspot.com/2012/09/lunch-made-easy-dip-it-dunk-it-mini.html

http://lunchfitforakid.blogspot.com/2012/09/lunch-for-boy-9712.html

http://aboyandhislunch.blogspot.com/2012/09/come-sail-away-bento.html?m=1

Things I used to make this lunch:

Family Picnic at Home

Some days it is easier to pack lunchboxes for lunch even if you don't go anywhere. I love how easy it is to fill them when they are all lined up on my counter. That way I have a mini assembly line and can just put veggies and fruit in each one at the same time.

Plus, the kids still love having lunch out of a lunchbox even if they are eating it at the dining room table.

These two lunches have strawberries and blueberries, broccoli, tomatoes and carrots, veggie dip and 4 sandwich quarters held together by a bento pick. My kids wanted Turkey Clubs, so I put two slices of bread in my toaster oven (one with cheese) and in about 3 min at 350 degrees the cheese is melty and you have nice toasted bread. I added turkey, salad, pickles and a small amount of mayonnaise :)

The lunchbox on the right is packed as I mentioned above and for my one child that does not like sandwiches I omitted the Turkey Club and just added Deli meat on food picks. He was happy with just the meat and you can add crackers to the lunch  if desired.

I even made lunchboxes for my husband and I. I have the same Turkey Club lunch as the kids and for my husband I made a Salad and Chicken Whole Wheat wrap. 

And if you need to make lunches for a big crowd...KeeleyMcGuireBlog has a great post about packing multiple lunches HERE.

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer vacation!

Chobani Chocolate Honey Blueberry Breakfast Muffins

The last 8 days of school have begun before summer vacation will be here. My kids are ready for summer and so am I. To make this last full week of school a little more fun I wanted to make some healthy but still yummy breakfast muffins for school lunches. I found a yummy recipe over at Chobani Kitchen and tweaked it for my family (I know, I know, I never can really stick to a recipe without changing it a little. But that is the fun of baking ;)

Don't these look fantastic?

Here is the recipe for you:

Ingredients:

1 1/2 C whole-wheat flour, plus 1 Tbsp flour reserved

1/2 C all purpose flour

1/2 C granulated sugar

4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp iodized salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 large egg

3 Tbsp canola oil

1 tsp real vanilla extract

1 C Honey 0% Chobani Greek Yogurt

1/2 C blueberries, fresh or frozen

1/2 cup of milk chocolate chips

a small amount of milk (1-3 Tbsp)

(I added 1/2 cup of milk chocolate chips instead of using a full cup of blueberries. I know my kids will be more likely to eat the muffins if they kind of look like chocolate chip muffins. Plus, you know me by now. I love chocolate ;)

How to bake the yummy Chobani Muffins:

Preheat oven to 375°F.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
In another bowl, whisk together egg, vegetable oil, vanilla and Chobani yogurt.
In a small bowl toss the blueberries with reserved flour until lightly coated, add to egg mixture.
Add chocolate chips.
Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture.
Using a spatula, fold ingredients together just until dry ingredients are moistened.
(I had to add a little milk since my dough was too dry.)
Be careful to not overmix the batter, as it will cause the batter to be slightly stiff and not smooth.
Line muffin pans with paper muffin cups, spray lightly with non-stick spray.
Fill muffin cups halfway and place in oven.
Bake at 375°F for 8-12 minutes until a toothpick stuck in the center comes out clean.

Muffins may be served warm or chilled with dollops of Honey Chobani Greek Yogurt on top.

We did try them with a little Chobani Honey Yogurt on top and it was unbelievably yummy. So much better then icing and my kids loved adding the yogurt on top!

We loved them so much I packed them for lunch today, too. They are very airy and light and the slight yogurt-vanilla-honey taste makes them the perfect snack for summer!

Today I packed a Chobani Chocolate Honey Blueberry Muffin, a Chobani Champions Vanilla Chocolate Chunk yogurt (so they can add their dollop of goodness to their muffin at school), whole wheat crackers with cheddar and cheddar jack cheese and a star sandwich with turkey and salad. I added letters stenciled out of cheddar cheese to spell: You are a star!

Hope your week starts off as full of goodness as mine!

I made my lunch with the help of this:

Bento Lunch

Yesterday's Sushi in a Cup was such a success the kids asked for a bento box lunch this morning. We have some new bento boxes thanks to my friend Kendra and I was more then happy to use them for the first time :)

The kids got to choose their own lunch today and so we ended up with jelly sandwiches on whole wheat bread and a small container of Naturebox Cinnamon Almonds in the lower part of this bento box. In the upper part are garden cucumbers with carrot stars, three fun sushi shapes with nori faces and left over chicken fingers on salad greens. The sushi shapes are easy to make with a sushi mold and I used a nori punch for the facial expressions.

This bento box has rice shapes with nori faces on lettuce with garden cucumbers and carrots and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in the bottom part of the bento box. The kids also have yogurt, apple sauce and ice water.

Happy Tuesday!

May The Force Be With You

Happy Starwars Day!

My kids love Starwars and so I could not pass up making a special lunch today. My 3 year old daughter was a little hard to win over but once I mentioned that Starwars has a princess even she was on board. Plus, she made sure none of the melted chocolate left overs went to waste ;)

I made Yoda, Princess Leia, Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader. All with melted chocolate, candy eyes and fruit leather.

The first lunch Anakin Skywalker. I drew his face on whole wheat honey bread with melted milk chocolate and added candy eyes and a small piece of fruit leather for the scar. Also packed are strawberries, crackers and two light saber picks with blueberries.

The second lunch is Darth Vader. He is drawn on whole wheat honey bread with milk and dark chocolate. Also packed are strawberries, crackers and light saber picks with blueberries.

The third lunch is a Princess Leia lunch. I drew her with melted milk chocolate and added candy eyes and fruit leather blush and lipstick. Also packed are strawberries and light saber picks with blueberries on crackers.

The fourth lunch is a Yoda lunch. This lunch is not dye-free since the chocolate I used contains green food coloring. I love Yoda and had to make him. I just found a great company that make natural food coloring so next time I would use white chocolate and add some natural color!

 I drew Yoda with melted green chcolate melts and mixed in melted white chocolate for the details. Yoda also has candy eyes :) As  above this lunchbox also contains strawberries, crackers and two light saber picks with blueberries.

As always the kids all have ice water and yogurt as well :)

And now please check out what my friend Lise from Veggie Bento came up with :)

Just click our Blog Hop button!

May the 4th be with you, my friend!

St. Patrick's Day Lunch Idea

Here is an early St. Patrick's Day Lunch to give you some ideas for Saturday :)

I made a Leprechaun Cheese Sandwich out of Whole Wheat bread cut with a glass into a circle. I carved the hat out of a piece of bread but you can also use food markers to first trace a shape and then cut it out with a vegetable knife. The shamrock is carved out of a Granny Smith apple. I traced it first with food markers and then carefully followed the lines with a knife and then gently lifted the skin off the apple. The rim of the hat is made from aforementioned apple and the belt buckle is a piece of Mango with a smaller piece of apple skin. I made the Leprechaun's eyes out of cheese and food marker and his hair and beard are carrot shavings. The only other thing I added were green grapes with shamrock bento picks and a fruit rainbow. I used thinly sliced strawberries, oranges, mango, green apple and blueberries. I only had two shamrock bento picks so I used shamrock shaped confetti I found at the supermarket to decorate the fruit rainbow.

I think it is cute and my kids are used to not eating any of the picks, so I can be sure they won't accidentally eat them ;)

I hope you got some ideas for making your own St. Paddy's Day Lunch and for more inspiration please hop over to BentOnBetterLunches and see her great lunch ideas. From there you can follow our St. Patrick's Day Blog Hop all the way back here :)

Enjoy and have an early Happy St. Patrick's Day!

P.P.S.: And for more Rainbow Fun follow the Rainbow to the Rainbow Conncetion and many more Rainbow Ideas :)

Today feels like Spring

It felt like spring was in the air this morning and the sun seemed to have gained in strength. I was so in the mood for a summer picnic lunch.

So we packed banana and strawberry picks, chocolate chip Goldfish, a healthy muffin with banana, applesauce and chocolate chips  with a blueberry on top held by a pick and a star shaped Nutella sandwich. Ok, I admit. I was in the mood for chocolate, too :)

So, soak up the first rays of promising sun and Happy Monday, everyone!

P.S. Stay tuned for the FunBites GiveAway Winner

CMT Lunch Part 2

Today's CMT Lunch is packed with healthy refueling food: trail mix, strawberries and blackberries, yogurt, a whole grain chicken and salad sandwich with cheese letters and a Goldfish star cracker, a healthy muffin and our new family favorite: No Bake Bites. I originally found them on Pinterest and then here. They are easy to make with ingredients from your pantry and are perfect for a testing week like this.

Don't they look delicious?

Happy CMT Week and two more days of testing :)

We Heart FunBites and GiveAway!

I am excited to say that FunBites asked me to review their product the Luv It! food cutter. I found that the food cutter is very easy to use and fun if you have little ones that want to help you.

It works best on tougher surfaces like pancakes, toast, melon, carrots and quesadillas. My kids loved to get involved and actually helped create some fun lunches with our new FunBites Luv It! Just place the cutter on the food, rock the cutter from side to side, insert the popper top and pop out come the cute shapes as seen above :)

We of course made the heart shaped sandwich first but discovered very fast that it is fun to play around with the shapes and puzzle together new creations. Besides the heart, the favorites were sailboats - what else can it be in a Navy family ;)

Once they discovered the possibilities everyone was involved and we even broke out the food markers. It was really fun and one of my kids even asked to pack his own lunchbox tomorrow if he can make his own sandwich (results not typical ;)

 And the best part: FunBites offered to give away one Luv It! to one of my readers, so here is how to enter and GOOD LUCK!

The GiveAway is open to US residents only! 

Each person has SIX chances to enter and a winner will randomly be drawn using random.org.

To enter you must leave a comment on this blog post for each entry requirement.

1. Like Funbites on Facebook

2. Publicly join my blog by clicking on the link of the right side of the page. If you are already a member just leave me a comment saying you that you are already are a member. :)

3. 'Like'  Lunches With Love on Facebook. If you have already done this just leave a comment that you are already a fan.

4. Share my giveaway on Facebook.

5. Follow me on Twitter

6. Tweet about my giveaway and don't forget to mention me @luncheswithlove

The GiveAway will end at 11:59 Pm EST on March 11th and a winner will be announced on March 12th. Please email me at LunchesWithLoveBlog at Gmail Dot Com to claim your prize.

Please leave seperate comments for your entries or they won't count! GOOD LUCK!

To triple your chances check out Bentorrific, Bobbi's Bentos and Veggie-Bentos for other FunBites Giveaway!


... and check out all my friends who are having GiveAways, too:

FunBites Luv It! GiveAway @ Bobbi's Bentos

FunBites Luv It! GiveAway @ Bentoriffic

Healthy Habits plate GiveAway ends 3/9  @ BentOnBetterLunches

MOMables Subscription GiveAway ends 3/9 @  Family Fresh Meals

MOMables Subscription GiveAway ends 3/10 @ Crazy-Maybe

Coach purse ends 3/11 @ BentoSchoollLunches