Lunchbox Love for Teachers!

Sunday October 5th was World Teachers' Day. Thank you, teachers!

The start of this school year was a bittersweet one for my Bella, who was excited to be starting middle school yet sad to be leaving elementary. She's especially going to miss her 5th grade teacher, who really inspired her & made school & learning so much fun! ♥ The younger sproutlets still attend that elementary school, so Mia Bella does have an opportunity to see her favourite teacher from time to time, if she's with me when I pick them up.

With help from the lovely folks at Say Please, who contributed the Lunchbox Love, we put together a cute thank you gift for her beloved teacher. We filled a Be Kind Mug with a Lunchbox Love for Teachers set, & added a fun ruler themed notepad. Middle school lets out earlier than elementary school, so Bella walked over & met me there to deliver her gift. Her teacher loved it! She's familiar with Lunchbox Love notes, from the ones I put in Mia Bella's lunches, & was thrilled to have some to share with her class :)

Lunchbox Love for Teachers sets includes these 2 volume sets:

• Lunchbox Love for Class Motivation
• Lunchbox Love for Class Kindness
• Lunchbox Love for Class Birthdays

Each 2 volume set includes 24 cards, hopefully enough for a whole class. Any or all of them would make a thoughtful gift for a teacher you know!
Say Please often has a special deal on their home page, but if not, you can use my coupon code, BENTON, for 15% off :)

A big thank you to Bella's teacher, and teachers everywhere! 
I'm so grateful that ALL my little ones have been fortunate to have wonderful teachers who make their school days pleasant as well as educational ♥ 

Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post. Say Please provided me with Lunchbox Love notes purely out of generosity & to do as I pleased with, & I purchased the mug & notepad myself :)

Sharknado Cinnamon Rolls!

Yesterday was a gloomy, rainy day, but I didn't mind, that made it the perfect day to stay in and watch Shark Week on Discovery, and since it was a little chilly, to bake!  The sproutlets love cinnamon rolls, and watching Sharknado 2 the other day, I got the idea to make Sharknado rolls!

I took the easy route and used Pillsbury Grands! place & bake cinnamon rolls. I frosted them while they were still warm, and while the icing was still all melty, sprinkled them with shark shaped Wilton sugar sprinkles. Easy peasy!

Aren't they fun? Sugary sharks swimming in a swirl of sweet icing atop cinnamon roll tornados. Of course the kids loved them!

Today was another gloomy day, and the kidlets asked if I would bake Sharknado rolls again. I kind of did... just not cinnamon rolls... but that's for tomorrow's post :)

Speaking of baking... Eek! Have you seen these Fred and Friends Snack Attack Cookie Cutters? 

I totally want to bake some shark attack cookies for my next snack attack! Too bad I don't own them - yet :) But my friend Keitha does, & she used hers to make a Shark Week breakfast for her little guy - complete with ketchup blood! Check it out on her blog, Keitha's Chaos!

Here's one more pic of my sharky cinnamon rolls, because I'm hungry!

Pickle's Pick & Sandwich Cutter Storage

Pickle has been making some of his lunches himself this summer! He's been enjoying taking as much time as he wants picking out a sandwich cutter, most of which are stored two deep in a drawer with a spice rack insert:

For this lunch, Pickle chose one of the dinosaur sandwich cutters, and put them in a Dyno Dips snack box, with some apple wedges:

Pickle didn't want to pour yogurt in the dinosaur dip well like I thought he would, he wanted to fill it with apple wedges. He's asked for apples several times now, but he has yet to actually eat them. Still, I don't like to say no when he asks for a food he doesn't usually eat - one day he may surprise me! This was not that day though - the apples went uneaten, and he asked for a Go-Gurt after finishing his peanut butter sandwiches. Ah well, maybe next time :)

Stuff Pickle used to make his lunch:

Heart-y Valentines Day Breakfast Mini Omelets

One of my favourite easy breakfasts can be made especially Valentine-y by using a heart-shaped baking pan. Or just top them with a cheese heart ♥

I love that they use all the little cheese scraps left over from making lunch!

Voilà! A heart-y omelet bagelwich breakfast!

I make these all the time :) See my original recipe post on MOMables
for more detailed directions, photos, and oven method.

I also sometimes make a single serving bento scrap omelet with silicone baking cups, see my guest post on my LEGO lunch box  :)

Laptop Lunch

Our home has been invaded by the flu virus :( Only my veggie-loving Bella continues to evade the vicious germs, and is she ever pleased with herself about it, never wasting an opportunity to tell her ailing siblings that they should have been eating their tomatoes. Off she skipped to school today while the rest of us languished at home, blah.

Her Laptop Lunches bento box is packed with:

• Pepper Jack Cheez-its
• Cracked Black Pepper Triscuits
• Yogurt (in the lidded container)
• Gala apple wedges & caramel dip
• Baby carrots
• Checkered cucumber slices

I included a Lunchbox Love note thanking her for being such a help to me while the rest of us are sick. 

● ● ● ● ●

This is a laptop lunch in more ways than one :) The obvious - her lunch is packed in a Laptop Lunches bento box. But what I don't usually show is the lunch all packed in it's bag, ready to go. Today I will, because I've been told it's a great idea :) So ta-dah! Her lunch bag is a laptop sleeve!

It's actually a netbook sleeve, for mini laptops. It's the perfect fit for our Laptop Lunches & PlanetBoxes. I needed something to pack them in that would fit in her backpack with all her books, and was looking for a sleeve for my MacBook Air when I noticed many seemed to be the same dimensions as the PlanetBox! The Laptop Lunches box is smaller, but taller, so it works for them too :)

I like the ones made by BuiltNY; they are made of the same thick insulating neoprene as the Built Gourmet Getaway lunch totes we use, and even use the same patterns. This one matches Bella's bag. Sailor Boy has one by Case Logic, with a handle and an extra pocket on the outside. Neoprene is stretchy so there's even room for an ice pack and a drink.

Both the PlanetBox and the Laptop Lunches offer great carriers, but they don't fit in our backpacks with their books. Both can also be carried in the backpack on their own - Beanstalk takes his to school that way - but he keeps his in his locker, whereas the smaller kids put all their lunches in a bin with those of their classmates, so as well as insulating the contents temperature-wise, the laptop sleeve prevents spillage should the box accidentally open.

So there, that's my great idea :) It solved my crowded backpack issue, and maybe it could be the solution you've been looking for too!

Some of the neoprene sleeves we have, that accommodate both the PlanetBox & Laptop Lunches:

    

*Note: I originally linked to the wrong size Case Logic sleeve. It's been fixed, the 10-12" is the correct size.

Winnie the Pooh Bento

Today is author A.A. Milne's Birthday. I asked Bella if she would like a Winnie the Pooh lunch for the occasion. She said "Well, I'm not really into Winnie the Pooh, but it would be pretty funny to say my mum gave me Pooh for lunch!" 

I'm no artist, I couldn't draw Winnie the Pooh freehand, not very well anyways. But, I have a lot of Classic Pooh stuff,  I collected it a little obsessively at one time. I even decorated Beanstalk's nursery with a Classic Pooh theme, once upon a time. So I was pretty excited when I remembered I had a whole bunch of Pooh-ism stamps to choose from for Bella's lunch! Surely stamps would work on cheese and cookies, right?  Right!  ♥

It was Bella's idea to have a balloon theme; balloons & birthdays go hand in hand :) She also suggested an oval slice of Honeycrisp apple to look like a balloon. She still has that loose tooth though, so underneath it the rest of the apple is cubed. Next to that she has watermelon cubed with my FunBites & embellished with "heffalump" picks.  Bees (not the wrong sort) decorate some grapes, & spiced almonds fill a honey coloured cup. 

"Nobody can be uncheered with a balloon".  Her heart-shaped sandwich is turkey & cheddar, topped with white cheddar stamped with a Pooh-ism ♥  An EasyLunchboxes Mini Dipper holds a couple of Fig Newtons stamped with Piglet carrying a balloon & that silly old bear Pooh,  for snack.

The cookie and cheese stamping experiment was a success! I used my Americolor food decorating pens to colour on the raised part of the stamp then stamped the food just a little lighter than I would paper.  Oh, the possibilities... :)

Pickle got a honey bee & hive sandwich, banana honey Chobani Champions, & a cereal bar (not pictured). I stamped a blank Lunchbox Love note with a Pooh & Friends stamp and wrote "It's time for a little smackerel of something."

Some stuff used to make these lunches:

● ● ● ● ●

Celebrating the Works of A.A. Milne Through Food

Update 1/18/14:
This year's Pooh party is being hosted by Mamabelly's Lunches With Love ♥

5 FUN Gifts To Encourage Healthy Eating

Looking for last minute gift ideas? Give the gift of good eating habits with one (or all!) of these five fun ways to encourage healthier eating, a gift that will last beyond the holiday season and for many New Years to come.

1.    Bring some fun & games to the table with

Crunch A Color

Created by a mom, Crunch a Color® is the award-winning healthy eating game that makes mealtime fun! Kids earn points for eating a balanced and colorful plate of veggies, fruits, proteins and grains. Bonus points for trying new foods! Crunch a Color® has been featured by Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, Pottery Barn Kids, Laurie David’s Family Dinner, Kiwi Magazine, Dr. Greene, and Yum Food & Fun For Kids, among many others, as a simple, fun and playful way to make healthy eating fun for the whole family.

Get the table talking! Created by kids for kids, Crunch a Color's award-winning Conversation Starters for Kids are sure to invite giggles and great conversation to your family table. Chock full of curious questions and delightful dilemmas, these 104 conversation starters help kids share their thoughts, grow their ideas, and make mealtime fun!

20% off for Bent on Better Lunches fans with code: bentonbetterlunches

We'll be playing these as a family when Sailor Boy gets home for Christmas Leave! Look for my Review & Giveaway in the New Year!

2. Get your family eating their 5 fruits & veggies a day 
with help from Today I Ate A Rainbow!

The Rainbow Kit from Today I Ate A Rainbow! is a rainbow-themed nutritional chart that encourages your child to "eat a rainbow" every day - a serving of fruit or veg in each of the 5 colours on the chart - and mark them with magnets as they do. It's also much more than a nutritional chart! It's a game, a challenge, an incentive... and it's fun! It even comes with a book!  We love ours - click here to read my review and catch our Rainbow Week!

The Rainbow Kits have recently been revamped! The charts are now a full magnet board that can be hung on a fridge or wall! Only $18.99 and if you buy 2 kits the shipping is free!  www.todayiatearainbow.com

3. Stuff a stocking with one of these adorable fruit & vegetable

Garden Heroes

These cute & cuddly plush beanie characters from Learning ZoneXpress are great incentives for making good eating choices!
Also from Learning ZoneXpress...

4. Inspire kids to help make healthy snacks with LANA's 
Fruit & Vegetable Snack Recipes

 

LANA makes healthy eating fun & easy! LANA cookbooks are spiral-bound with sturdy wipeable laminated pages. Full of the promise of tasty treats & kitchen fun, they're sure to bring a smile to any preschooler's face :)

The LANA (Learning About Nutrition through Activities) Preschool Program website, http://lananutrition.com/ is a wonderful resource for ways to help kids learn about making healthy eating choices through play. They even share FREE downloadable activities & recipes every month!

 

My smaller sproutlets & I have made many of the snacks within our LANA cookbook. Click the pics above to see a couple I've posted about :)

Get FREE shipping between now & Christmas from Learning ZoneXpress with the code BOBL Enter at checkout at http://www.learningzonexpress.com/

5.  Give bigger kids & grown-ups ideas for packing healthy lunches with the  EasyLunchboxes 

Cooking With Trader Joe's Cookbook

This fabulous cookbook is full of recipes contributed by your favourite lunch bloggers (Like me! That's one of mine at the top right, below! Simple & sweet.) It's perfect for anyone who packs a lunch in to school or work - or you could get it for yourself to give your family the gift of better lunches all year! 

Cooking with Trader Joe’s Cookbook: Easy Lunch Boxes is available at bookstores everywhere including Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com.

Also brought to you by EasyLunchboxes, there's a new community for lunch packers - no matter what brand of containers, bags, coolers, or lunch boxes you use! Let's Pack Lunch! is the place to connect with the very people who packed the lunches in the cookbook, and more!

So there you go, a handful of my favourites, and where to find them. There aren't many shopping days left in this holiday season though, so if it's too late to order from the websites, you can still get some of these from Amazon!

Have a Happy & Healthy Holiday!