Lunchbox look - Feb. 2-6, 2015

Valentine lunches are some of my favorites so I snuck in a few this week. What's cuter (or easier) than a heart? And that was the whole reason I started packing cute lunches for my child - to serve as an edible love note to help her through the long and sometimes stressful school days.

Love! I thought this turned out great, especially since I hadn't been grocery shopping. Crackers, mini pepperoni and grapes for L. O is a blood orange. V is carrots and celery. E is a cookie and waxy cheese. 

Otter! That teeny little otter pick is one of my favorites. The main dish here is a rolled quesadilla. On the side are carved apples, blueberries, a kiwi and turkey, plus a little cookie in the back.

Tea for two! These silicone teacups are so fun! I freehanded a teapot in cheese and topped it with a few sprinkles. It rests atop a sealed sandwich. There's also a few mini Pocky sticks, veggie and berry cups, tomatoes and a few peanut butter pretzels.

Frog! We had a busy night so I was happy to rely on a cute lunchbox and picks to make this thrown-together meal more fun. The top tier has leftover chicken, tomatoes, celery and cheese cubes. I think it's easier to fill food on the diagonal in these shaped containers. The bottom tier is strawberries and blueberries plus a container of peanut butter pretzels.

Panda! I love this little sandwich sealer and it works great, especially on softer bread. Chocolate peanut butter sandwich is on the left side plus a few cookies and celery sticks. Berries on the right, and we're done!


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Lunchbox look - Jan. 26-30, 2015

I was so tickled to find silicone cups that look like the green baskets fruit used to come in. When I showed my daughter, she gave me a polite nod and then slowly backed away. I wonder if she'll be nostalgic for the clear plastic clamshells her strawberries used to come in, when the world has moved on to more modern containers. Eh, probably not. But I still like my new cups!





Garden! Here's a bagel with strawberry cream cheese (bagels have been newly approved for lunchtime consumption and I'm very excited about this change!). There's also a checkered apple, raisins, mini container of chocolate-covered sunflower seeds, cheese chunks and a miniature basket of berries in a retro muffin cup.

Cats! These cat-shaped mini forks are a giant hit with my little lunch-eater, who also loved the pawprints going across her peanut butter and celery. I also carved a meow into an apple (I write the word in toothpick first, then trace around it with an X-acto knife). Throw in some carrots, a rolled quesadilla, blueberries and a side dish of juicy blood oranges, and we're done!

Cat snack! I also pack a daily classroom snack and rarely make an effort to make it cute, but on this day I used another kitty fork in a matching snack cup full of pickle chunks.

Lovebug! Also, this is the ugliest thing I've made in some time but decided to include it for the sake of transparency. I was thinking it would be fun to make a bunch of bugs with my wide variety of heart sprinkles. As it turns out, I should have just made a bunch of the little heart ladybugs because the others are a little creepy (I'm look at you, bug-with-lips-for-wings). The good news is that it all tastes the same! Here's a homemade sealed sandwich with sides of grapes, blueberries and clementine plus celery and carrots and a container of hummus in which to dip them.

Bagel pizza! One of the downsides of homemade lunch is watching the other kids in the cafeteria open those rare, precious gems called Pizza Lunchables. I recently found a little sauce container that squirts out the sauce rather than just having an open lid, and I knew exactly what to put in it first! Here we have a plain bagel with a side of sauce, mini pepperoni, shredded mozzarella plus some grapes.

Rainbow! I'm not sure why, but sealed sandwiches always taste better. Sealed sandwiches topped with rainbow sprinkles and a cloud of mini marshmallows, then, taste like heaven! Under the sandwich are hidden celery slices. There's also grapes, carrots, string cheese and blueberries.


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Lunchbox look - Jan. 20-23, 2015

I could get used to this three-day weekend business! We were busy riding new bikes and soaking up sunshine after school every day, which left a lot less energy for cute lunches at the end of the day. But the good thing about having a stash of cute supplies is they make it easy to accent even plain meals. I find divided containers to be the easiest to fill, like the first two shown below. In my head I earmark each section for different food groups and then just artlessly pile the food in.

Dinosaurs! Those "bone" picks were one of my first cute lunch purchases and many years later, they're still a favorite - especially when stuck into leftover meatballs. There's also carrots and celery, mini sealed sandwiches and strawberries. Throw in a few dinosaur picks and we're done!

Parent Trap! The song "Let's Get Together" from one of my favorite childhood movies, "The Parent Trap," has become a favorite with my kids. Reliving my youth through my children definitely deserves a themed lunch. The dancers are picks with olives for heads resting on a rolled quesadilla. Strawberries and blueberries fill one compartment, carrots and tomatoes the other plus a yogurt-covered pretzel treat. Yeah yeah yeah!

Pizza! Another really effortless meal using leftover pizza. The green Lego container holds pickle chunks (which leaked a little so we'll have to try a different container next time) plus cheese cubes, strawberries, a container with chocolate-covered sunflower seeds and celery sticks.

Seagulls! These picks look multi-dimensional even though they're flat. The sunset cheese is resting on a cooled grilled cheese sandwich. We have blueberries for the water, a surfboard cupcake topper plus celery, carrots, tomatoes and a strawberry. Another lunch saved by cute picks!


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Lunchbox look - Jan. 12-16, 2015

We're back in the swing of things! Well, almost. I had a few lazy lunch-making days but every single box came home empty, so they can't be that bad! I'm still playing with a few new tools. Whenever I wonder how my kids can get so excited about new toys, I look at my own giddiness over some brightly colored plastic picks and it all makes sense.

Baby panda! The panda is made from a set that is intended to be used on rice and nori, but I made a little sandwich with it instead and added the details with fruit leather. I was very pleased! The rest is filled in with a waxy cheese, panda container of dried cherries, celery sticks plus kiwi and strawberries in the second tier.

Taco Tuesday! Dinner leftovers made for one very happy little girl, even though she forgot her lunchbox in her classroom and had to eat alone with the teacher. The side dishes are olives, an Oreo and tomatoes.

Minnie! Another easy lunch put together in a Lego box filled with teacup silicones. From the top left there are mini sandwiches on picks, tomatoes and snap peas, salami and cheese cubes, and kiwi and strawberries. Throw in a few Disney mini forks and we're done!

Strawberries! My kids were overjoyed at the return of strawberries. On the bottom tier are a handful of whole berries. On the right are sandwiches with pick stems and fruit leather faces. There's also blueberries, snap peas, tomatoes and yogurt pretzels.

Love you-o-bot! I saw this theme on a Valentine's dish set and thought it would be perfect with my new robot cutters. The robot's eyes are made from sprinkles with food-safe marker details and more sprinkles for the smile and heart. Then we have snap peas, cheese cubes, a leftover meatball, checkered apple and strawberry hearts plus a cookie star.


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Lunchbox look - Jan. 5-9, 2015

Happy new year and happy new lunch supplies! No theme this week other than unwrapping some new cutters and picks.

Robot! First lunch of the new year uses my new robot cutters, though those nifty letters were cut by hand using a computer printout. We start off healthy with steamed broccoli and a robot ring, sandwich with waxy cheese head, a few mini cookies plus a kiwi, peanut butter pretzels and a Lego box with dried cherries.

Sleeping koala! Look at this little guy, all snuggled up to his spinach-wrapped cheese stick. The nose is a chocolate-covered almond. The koala and its body are from a sandwich cutter set. I filled in the rest with snap peas, peanut butter pretzels, giant strawberries and a handful of raspberries.

Mickey! My child requested no sandwich on this day, so I threw this lunch together while I was making dinner. A handful of green beans from dinner plus strawberries, salami, crackers and checkered apple chunks. Easy as can be (especially when I only checker the apples on top). The apples soak in a ramekin of water and lemon juice while I put together the rest and they don't brown. The new Mickey forks were easy to toss in and make everything taste better.

Hello Kitty! My old standby. While I question my sanity every time I'm carefully dabbing peanut butter on the back of a sprinkle and using tweezers to place it on the bread, I am happy every time. Her eyes and bow are sprinkles and the nose is a chocolate-covered sunflower seet. The rest of the squares have snap pea crisps, a rainbow of tomatoes, Babybel cheese, celery slices and a mini box of dried cherries plus a pile of sweet winter strawberries.

Sealed with a kiss! The first week back to school is so hard, so I thought my daughter might need a little love and a friendly pun to perk her up. The sandwich was cut with a puzzle cutter - just make sure you punch the bread before making adding your fillings to get nice crisp edges. There's celery on the bottom, the welcome return of blueberries with a cute little seal pick plus strawberry hearts and a container with a chocolate Kiss.

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Lunchbox look - Dec. 15-18, 2014 Twelve Days of Christmas week 3

The last week of school before winter break is kind of like ... well, conjure up your own analogy involving walking to school uphill both ways.  Here's the last of the Twelve Days of Christmas lunches before I put away my lunch-making hat for 2014. Over the break, I'm not ashamed to say there will be frozen pizza for lunch, or playing all morning in PJs until finally eating breakfast for lunch, and leftovers. But we'll be back in 2015!

Lady dancing! I had this vision in my head for months and my plans were nearly foiled by this new fad of "tattoos" on fruit roll-ups. But after searching two grocery stores, I finally found some blissfully plain Fruit by the Foot, which  makes a lovely dress for this little lady that I sketched on the back of a notecard. The sandwich is cooled grilled cheese. There's also dried cherries, tomatoes, carrots and snap peas.

Lord-a-leaping! Here we have another dancer, cut from fruit leather with a tiny green crown. Produce is a little boring this time of year, so there's the ubiquitous tomatoes, celery and carrots plus a string cheese, carved cucumber and star cookies.

Piping piper! I was so pleased with this happy little guy that I sent a picture to my brother, who smugly informed me the song refers to bagpipers. If he's right, I guess I'll be spending the next 11 months figuring out how to carve a bagpipe from cheese and sandwich bread. The sandwich is cut using a giant cookie cutter, and the rest is filled in with mini breadsticks, a grape, clementine, checkered cucumber and tomatoes.

Drummers drumming! I assure you that each painstakingly cut piece of nori will be removed before my daughter eats the cheese on top of the bread. I used a biscuit cutter to cut the cheese and freehanded the cucumber carvings. there's also a checkered apple, grapes, carrots and tomatoes. The drumsticks are from a dip-in-fake-cheese snack pack.


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Lunchbox look - Dec 8-12, 2014 - Twelve Days of Christmas week 2

You don't appreciate just how bird-centric the Twelve Days of Christmas song is until you've carved all of them out of sandwich cheese.

Four calling birds! I thought I was being clever but my lunch-eater politely requested that I keep my video game birds on the computer and out of the twelve days of Christmas lunch series. Noted! There's a waxy cheese bird with tomatoes, miniature sandwich with carrots and celery, triangle sandwich with clementines and raspberries with peppermint JoeJoe. Lots of candy eyes here!

Five golden rings! Ring picks made this easy - I just stuck candied pineapple on the picks and slipped the rings around a quesadilla hand. There's also dried cherries, celery (peanut butter is only on the top layer) with sprinkles, raspberry, checkered cucumber, salami with a pick and grapes.

Six geese! More cheese birds, this time stacked on leftover pasta with Parmesan. The second tier holds carrots, apple chunks and grapes.

Seven swans! This is the end of the birds! These swans are on top of a simple half sandwich. There's grapes and raspberries, orange slices, cookie an carrots with a silicone flower to keep the sandwich dry.

Maids a milking! My vision for this lunch was a lot cuter than the finished product, though the image of a girl drinking a gallon of milk through a straw does make me giggle. There's a sandwich plus cow crackers, carrots, tomatoes and snap peas.


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