Yum...

I made this gazpacho. 

Heaven. in. my. mouth.

That's all.

Peep, Peep

I haven't been posting lunches that I make for the princesses anymore, but I saw these on another blog  the other day and they were so cute I just had to try them.  Then they were so cute, I had to take a picture.

Deviled eggs - I mounded the egg yolk filling and added a carrot sliver for the beak and chocolate sprinkles for the eyes.  (Yes, I know chocolate spinkles don't go with deviled eggs, but they were the only thing I had around that I could think of to work as the eyes.)  Also on the plate, apple slices and pretzels.  Simple, I know, but I knew even if they did not like the egg, they would eat the apple and pretzels.

I thought these were so cute and the girls were impressed!  With the appearance anyway.  Tara ate her entire plate.  Savannah, on the other hand, pronounced them cute but would not eat them. 

Oh, well, you win some, you lose some.  And they are still cute!  Peep!!!

The catch-up lunch post

So, I got a little (okay, alot) behind on the lunches sometime in December (short month anyway because school let out for Christmas break, Tara had her tonsils out, which meant Savannah stayed with friends and ate the cafeteria meal...ahhh, but I digress...); at some point, I just decided to call it good and just get a fresh start come January.  But, I still managed to take a photo of the lunches I did make (and one crazy supper) so now, all in one whack - a bunch o' lunches for your consideration:

1) Wheat thins, mini pepperonis and mozzerella chunks, red bell pepper strips and strawberries (with some blueberries for Tara).

2) Mini pretzels, cheddar cheese cubes, red bell pepper slices and clemintines.

3) This is the supper that either wins me the Mama of the Year Award or causes someone to call Child Services:  I call it a Waffle Sundae - A whole-grain waffle with strawberry filling (frozen) with maple and chocolates syrups, whipped cream and a cherry.  Hey - minus the chocolate syrup, whipped cream and cherry, it is a very ordinary breakfast - I just let the girls dress it up some for supper.  They ate every bite!!!

I came up with Waffle Sundaes after a particulary stressful workday - I wanted something quick and easy that I knew would go over well and would get me out of the kitchen fast and avoid any whining.  Since then, I don't pull them out often, but Waffle Sundaes for supper are always a hit!









4) Wheat things, cherries-sweetened cranberries, vanilla yogurt, a ham roll up, grape tomatos for Tara and baby cukes for Savannah and a fudge-covered Ritz for a treat.

5) Hot dog chucks and cheddar cheese cubes, red bell pepper slices, strawberry slices and a mini cupcake for each.  This lunch followed Savannah's birthday - the cupcakes were left over from her birthday treat at school.

6) Wheat thins, grilled chicken slices, red bell pepper clices and strawberries and homemade whipped cream.

7) Spaghetti with sauce and parmesan cheese, red bell pepper strips and strawberry slices.

I confess that I did not photograph last week lunches - just needed a little time to get back in the saddle I guess, but tomorrow's lunch is already prepared and photographed, so tune in next wee to kick off our second semester's worth of lunches.

What the girls ate for lunch #12 and 13 w/e 11/13 and 11/20

This is 2 weeks worth of lunches - well, really 1 week and 1 lonely day during Thanksgiving week.  Anyway, here we go:

Monday - Savannah had a slice of banana bread, cut in half, some "cutie" wedges, a slice of ham and vanilla yogurt.  Tara had a slice of ham, wheat thins, "cutie" wedges and banana slices and vanilla yogurt.

Tuesday - Tara asked to "buy" today instead of Wednesday, so it is only Savannah - hot dog and mozzerella chunks, "cutie" wedges, orange bell pepper chunks, wheat things and a chocolate covered ritz cracker.

Wednesday - Tara only - yogurt, pretzel goldfish, blueberries and grape tomatos sliced in half.

Thursday - Tara had pasta and broccoli with cheese sauce, baby carrots and blueberries.  Savannah had a strong cheese, mini pretzels, an organic fruit strip, baby carrots and ranch dressing and "cutie" wedges.

Monday - wheat thins, mini pepperonis, mozzerella cheese chunks, red bell pepper slices and strawberries (with some blueberries for Tara).

Enjoy!  I hope everyone had as great a Thanksgiving as we did!  Now on to Christmas!!!

Turkey Day!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!  This will be a quick post because I have to get in bed early so that I can get us at the crack of dawn for Black Friday shopping.  Anyway, here are some pictures of the day:

Charles shaking the cream to make butter - was supposed to be an activity for the girls...the novelty wore off in about 5 minutes.

Is it ready YET?????

FINALLY!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Savannah wanted to eat the turkey "bone".

Tara said  "I love turkey day!"

The wishbone - About 10 seconds after I took this picture, Savannah was in tears becuase she didn't get the big piece!

Happy Thanksgiving Eve

So, today I was off and my mom is here, so we used the day to menu plan, grocery shop and prep for tomorrow.

We made caramel sauce from scratch for the caramel-whipped sweet potatoes. Well, actually, we made it twice because we, ahem... over browned it the first time - we were going for "amber" colored and ended up with nearly black. So, yeah, that batch went in the trash. The second batch turned out beautifully and yummy!

We baked the sweet potatoes, mixed the dough for the potato rolls and put it in the fridge to do its first rise, made the corn bread for the dressing, chopped up the onion and celery for the dressing, and made my mom's fabulous coca-cola chocolate cake!

So, tomorrow morning, I will be up bright and early to prep the turkey - 16 pounds of it!!! Once I get it in the oven, we will finish the rolls, make the dressing (Paula Deen's recipe!), make the whipped sweet potatos, make mashed potatos, prepare the "giblet" crazy, make the grean beans almondine and do the marinated asparagus - oh, and the 5-cup fruit salad. Whew! Hungry yet???

Enjoyed having the girls here all day - they played pretty good all day and did not want to go to sleep tonight - having too much fun!!! They are excited about Thanksgiving and when my mom asked Tara what she was thankful for, Tara said she was thankful for Christmas! Savannah is thankful for her birthday, which is next weekend on the 6th.

I will leave you with a little ode to Thanksgiving courtesy of Adam Sandler:

What the girls ate for lunch #12 - w/e 11/13/09

Monday - mini pepperonis, pretzel goldfish, sliced strawberries and orange bell pepper strips.

Tuesday - french toast strips and syrup, sliced strawberries, for Savannah sliced cucumbers, for Tara sliced orange bell pepper strips and for both, a mini rice crispie treat.  (Thanks for Tara for help with the staging. :-) )

Thursday - For Savannah - a cereal bar, an organic fruit strip, grape tomatoes, wheat things and apple slices.  For Tara, cajun rice with black beans and corn, sliced grape tomatoes, ritz crackers and apple slices.

Friday - ham slices, sliced strawberries, sliced cucumbers and baby potatoes with parmasean cheese.

What the girls at for lunch #11 - w/e 11/6

Another week of lunches for you.  Getting right to it!

Monday - rotisserie chicken breast, wheat thins, baby carrots and ranch dressing and sliced strawberries.

Tuesday - pretzels, strawberries, yogurt and a string cheese

Wednesday- spaghetti and sauce with a chicken meatball, a banana for Tara and an apple for Savannah.

Friday - boiled egg "bunny" for Tara and "bear" for Savannah, sliced strawberries, nutri-grain bar and a string cheese.

You may have noticed the absence of veggies in most of the lunches.  Not sure what happened with my shopping, but for some reason I didn't get any red peppers which are the girls favorites and I ran out of carrots early on.  Oh, well - I stocked up this week!  Have a great week everyone!!

Loads of Lunches - What the girls ate for lunch...

I am 2 weeks behind I think, but don't worry - I have been taking the pictures, I just haven't been good about posting the pictures.  So, rather than try to go back day by day, I am just going to post them all here and describe the contents. 

First up - This was Monday, October 19 - cinnamon roll (made from pre-made cresent roll dough), for Tara - yellow bell pepper strips, blueberries, and strawberry yogurt; for Savannah - baby carrots, strawberries and vanilla yogurt.

Tuesday, October 20 - honey baked hams slices, wheat thins, baby carrots and broccoli, strawberries (with some blueberries for Tara) and mini pretzels dipped in strawberry yogurt coating.

Friday, October 23 - half a mini pita, orange bell pepper strips, apple slices, vanilla yogurt for Savannah and strawberry yogurt for Tara.  Oh, notice the yogurt containers - I posted before about wanting a reusable mini container for snacks and such.  Well, I found the perfect solition at One Step Ahead.  They are 2oz containers with twist on lids - meant for homemade babyfood, but perfect for snacks on the go or yogurt and such!  Yay, me!!!













Monday, October 26 - bow tie pasta with stroganoff sauce and sour cream, foccicia toasts, for Tara - blueberries and yellow bell pepper strips, for Savannah - raisins and orange bell pepper strips.

Tuesday, October 27 - "Fairy bread" - mini bagels with butter spread and sprinkles, apple chunks, pepperonis and mozzerella chunks and red bell pepper strips.

Thursday, October 29 - boiled egg, apple slices, red bell pepper strips and pretzel goldfish.

Friday, October 30 - spaghettie with sauce and cheese sprinkles, banana and mini pretzels with strawberry yogurt coating.

I am learning this year that I can no longer just pack whatever I want and know that it will be eaten.  Savannah eats much better nowdays when she helps choose what will be in her lunch. So, we are more interactive this year, but that can only be a good thing!

What the girls ate for lunch #'s 8 & 9 - w/e 10/9 & 10/16

Another 2 week post because the week before last was fall break so there were only 2 days of lunches that week. This past week was a regular lunch week for us though. 

Monday - Grilled chicken strips, cheddar cheese cubes, red bell pepper, brocolli, strawberries (and some blueberries for Tara), wheat thibs and 2 strawberry-dipped pretzels.

Tuesday - For Savannah - half a mini bagel with butter and sprinkles, celery sticks, strawberries and vanilla yogurt; For Tara - half a mini bagel with strawberry butter and sprinkles, blueberries, celery sticks and strawberry yogurt.  Savannah came home and announced she did not like the celery sticks.  Everything else was a hit, so pretty good overall.

Monday - ham roll-ups, smiley potatoes (mustard for Savnannah, ketchup for Tara), pretzel goldfish, blueberries for Tara, apple chunks for Savannah.

Tuesday - half a mini-bagel with cream cheese and sprinkles, baby carrots with ranch dressing, ham and turkey slices and applesauce.

Thursday - ham slices, baby carrots with ranch, wheat thins, blueberries for Tara, strawberries for Savannah and an organic fruit strip.

Friday  - Pig-in-a-blanket, red bell pepper strips, string cheese and an applesauce. (Today was a lazy lunch - I could not get motivated for some reason - the PIB's were leftover from the night before and I went from there...)

What the girls ate for lunch #7 - w/e 10/2

Savannah was sick for most of this week, so the last half of the week there is only 1 lunch each day.  Thankfully, both girls are fine now and so we are off to school tomorrow.  It will be a short week though - Fall Break starts Wednesday! :-)

Monday - Identical lunches except for the fruit.  Mini pepperonies, cheddar cheese cubes, Smore goldfish, and strawberries for Savannah and strawberries and blueberries for Tara.

Tuesday - Cheese quesasdilla cutouts, smoked turkey roll ups, baby carrots with ranch dressing, blueberries for Tara and strawberries for Savannah.

Thursday - teriaki chicken meatballs, rice and veggies, baby carrots and sliced Granny Smith apple.  The teriake chikcen meatballs are from Costco - Yummy!

Friday - teriaki chicken meatballs, animal crackers, red bell pepper strips, and blueberries and strawberries with an organic fruit strip.

What the girls ate for lunch #1 - w/e 8/21/09

Okay, so here is where I am going to keep up with what I am sending the girls for lunch each week. My goal is to blog about the previous week's lunches on the. I am planning to send them lunch 4 days out of 5! Here goes:

Monday: imitation crab legs, babybel cheese, crackers, strawberries, carrots and ranch dressing

Tuesday: Ham and cheese rollups cut into slices, red bell pepper strips, apple chunks, and a cereal bar for Savannah and a yogurt for Tara.



Wednesday: Savannah was sick, so it was only Tara today - she had a boiled egg, a babybel cheese, red pepper strips and strawberries.




Thursday:

Cafeteria Day!

Friday: Tortallini (only a couple for Savannah, cuz she doesn't really like them, although I keeep trying...), 1/2 a boiled egg, babybel cheese, wheat thins, red pepper strips and strawberries.

So now that I have posted these lunchs, I need to go to the kitchen and make lunches for tomorrow. Savannah wanted pineapple, so I have to cut one up - wish me luck (and expect to see it in lunches all week! :-) )