Lunch overload

Tonight is the first night I have *had* to make 3 lunches. I also had to make a snack for baby. It was a long evening of lunch making while finishing up dinner. I am hoping that after a few days of packing 3 lunches I will get into the grove a little more and it won't take me forever.

Baby starts daycare tomorrow and I have no idea how happy they will be about his food. It's all sticky, mushy finger foods. But. it's what he eats at home to hopefully it will be alright there.

For snack he has some cut kiwi and strawberry cheesecake muffins. Lunch is some PB&J, cucumbers and pepperoni, watermelon, cereal bar, and some raisins.

The big boy was so in love with dinner that I decided to scrap the meat and cheese roll ups I was going to do in favour of leftover dinner. 

He has, mandarin oranges, cucumbers with pepperoni, raisins, a Kinder chocolate hippo, some muffins, and left over salsa chicken with tortilla chips. 

As usual, the husband take left over dinner for lunch ( I love easy lunches) 

Mr. has left over salsa chicken, black beans, half a cheese stick, hot sauce that hurts my nose, and some chocolate covered almonds. 

I make tiny kids

My kids are super tiny. Together they weighed 10.3 at birth, that's tiny for 2 boys. I am always trying to find ways to give them a protein packed lunch to help them pack on the pounds since my almost 3yo is still in 12-18 month clothes.

I opt for a lot of protein in his lunches since I give him fatty foods (the good kinda) for dinner and he also drinks protein shakes with daddy at night. Now, my kids love eggs, but I am a little worried about how they will do in lunches. So what's a mom to do? Enter breakfast sausages! These bad boys were on sale for 2/$5 and they also had .50 ¢ coupons on the packages, so I bought a bunch, cooked them and threw them in the freezer. Instant protein for breakfast and lunch. Woohoo!

Mister Mister took, 2 jelly sandwiches with cheese toppers, 2 sausages with dip dip, fresh pears with sprinkles. cucumbers and baby pepperoni salad. yogurt covered raisins, and a apple cinnamon cereal bar.
The only thing left in the box when he got home from camp were the picks and baran sheets!

The spice of life

Every Monday we eat either black bean taco salad or taco meat with refried beans, not much of a variety but it's a family favourite. That means I always had to keep taco seasoning on hand. Not anymore! Here's a filler free taco seasoning recipe that you can make in a big batch and store in an air tight container 

Taco Seasoning 
1 tbs chili powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp red pepper - use half if you don't like spicy
1/4 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

Mix well and add 2 tbs and 2/3c of water to meat

Being from the north, I ate a tong of chili in my lifetime. It's the perfect comfort food during a blizzard and it lasts forever in the fridge. I got sick of buying that packaged as well so I came up with my own concoction. It's pretty good if I do say so myself!  

Chili seasoning

 1 tsp basil

1 tbs onion powder

4 tsp chili powder

2 tsp cumin

1 tbs red pepper flakes

1 tbs garlic powder

2 tsp sugar

2 tbs flour

mix well and add to chili!

you can make a bunch ahead and store. Use 1/3 c per pot 

BTW this song was going on over and over in my head while I was writing this. 

Video lunch!

A few days ago I entered the "What's in your lunchbox contest" put on by My Military Savings. Hopefully I will win that gift card ;)
I thought I would give video blogging a try and this was the perfect chance to try it out! I hope you guys forgive my shaky hands, I have tremors sometimes and they kinda get annoying!

Vacations stress me out

I have been bugging the husband to take the kids and I to Sea World, and he finally did.

So I was stoked and planning meals, finding hotels and getting everything settled when he informs me that we would be leaving in 3 days time. OMG I panicked and had no idea how I was going to clean/pack/cook all in 3 days. I managed to get everything done and even had the stamina to snap a few pictures of our travel bentos.

I bet a few of you are thinking what could I possibly have to plan aside from getting our butts so Sea World, well.
Any time we travel I beg for a hotel that offers a hot breakfast as well have a kitchenette in the room. Why? Because the little extra money you spend on that room will save you from having to eat out every night. It is especially a lifesaver if you kids are not used to fast food. Trust me.

I packed our "on the road" food in our easy lunch boxes because I feel they travel the best, and there are 4 of them and 4 of us so it works.

Big A's lunch

A lunch for the teething baby

A ton of meat for the low carbing husband

We finally made it to the hotel and I refused to cook so I gave in to my wild side and we had some Asian take out. I got back to the hotel, hastily made Sea World bentos and passed out because I knew while the park would be fun for the kids, it would be stressful for me.

Little side note about the hotel, it was amazing! We had 2 actual bedrooms with adjoining baths, a full kitchen, dining room, and a decent living room. I love spreading out on a vacation, and hate being super quite after 7pm when the kids pass out.

Nice breakfast for the kids before the big day

Creepy hallway

I researched and called Sea World to find out their outside food and drink policy because I really didn't want to pay $7 for a hot dog for my kids. After being directed to a gillion people I still don't know what a "reasonable amount" of bottled water is, it's 102 in Texas I vote 10 bottles per person. They were a little more lenient with foods, just small snacks and no loaves of bread. I packed 2 lunches like this for Sea World and some snack bars to hold us over in lines and mad dashes to shows.

PB , cereal, pizza, and star grilled cheeses. 

All and all it was great trip, but I am not anxious to spend 10 hours anywhere out side with 2 toddlers ever again.

This was after 7 hours, I'm surprised no one is screaming

Guess where I want to go next.... in about 5 years

I'm a slacker

For the past few days it has been between 101° - 105° here. It's hot. I'm from the north and can not function in this heat. Hopefully that explains my lack of posting. It's just too hot to not sit directly under an air vent. Lame, I know.

I'm kinda embarrased by today's bento. Big A insisted that I draw on the cheese that topped the sandwiches even though I explained cheese and food markers do not work well. Oh well, whateves I don't have to eat it.

He had
mini jelly sandwiches
cheese toppers
cereal bar
2 sausages
tomatoes
blueberry applesauce
and some oranges.

Of course the tomatoes went uneaten

Everything was devoured, except the tomatoes. So I was pretty jazzed. 

Since it's Wednesday, we go to the pool after camp. I couldn't being the usual snack of fruit because I was picking up a friends kid who is one picky eater. Instead we all has some yogurt covered raisins, veggie sticks (minus Big A he had a cereal bar) and some fruit cookies. Just the right amount of food to keep them fueled for cannon balls without the tummy cramps ;) 

Your kids have nerdy parents when..

I was beyond excited to get Star Wars bento accessories, and over the moon when I found the cutest Star Wars box the other day. I knew I had to use them for Monday Madness.
I don't have any Star Wars cutters, that needs to change, so I had to work around that. Hopefully it works. The husband approved and even told me how he wanted the sandwich decorated ;)


Big A has
Cream cheese and jelly death star
1/3 organic pop tart
Sausage link
1/2 fruit cup
Chocolate granola crunch thing
Cheese sabers
Cucumber stars
and a few fruit snacks

I am in love

I couldn't help but use that fabric. This totally makes my day. I think after this I shall geek out at least once a month. Sounds good right?