Quick and Easy Wednesday

Long day, fussy kids. I'm going easy on this one;
Udi's gluten free bagel with sunbutter and strawberry jam
Trail mix
Andean Dream quinoa/coconut cookie

We didn't get a chance for the kids to pick a snack for tomorrow, so I'm going to choose for them and try to remember to ask if they want to switch it out in the morning.Sleep time now :)

UPDATE: I wasn't able to eat lunch with the kids today, and they said they didn't have enough time to finish their food. Interestingly, they both brought their cookie home and had it for an after school snack. The girl also left some of her bagel, and they both left about 1/3 of their trail mix. Since this was a smaller lunch than usual, I'm wondering if the cold we've been fighting is affecting their appetite.

If it's Tuesday, let's have pizza!

When I was in high school, there were two theater kids who used to give the morning announcement every day. That they were theater kids is important, because to get the full effect of the story, you'll have to hear them being theater-y in your head. So, every Friday morning at the end of announcements, their exuberant, youthful voices crashed into every corner of the school; "If it's Friday, It Must be Pizza Day!". Only now I'm hearing it in more of an Effie Trinket voice, which isn't helping the image at all.
So, now we are eating pizza on Tuesday. But not every Tuesday, that wouldn't work around here.
The girl won't eat cheese, so I thought I'd try a plain red sauce pizza for her, cut it into strips, and then make a dipping sauce. I tossed some raw cashews, nutritional yeast, hemp seeds, raw garlic, and salt into the Vitamix with a little water, and mashed it up until it was creamy. She was wary at first, but then said she loved it. The boy got pizza strips with red sauce and daiya cheese, and wouldn't even look at the dipping sauce, but he did like the pizza strips. I also rolled up a single piece of Wellshire turkey ham in a small square of waxed paper so that they'd have some protein if they weren't into the dipping sauce. The boy once again ignored the pouch, even though it was his favorite one, apple/squash. I'll have to give them a rest for a while and see if I can come up with another way to get veggies into him. I was a bad reusable mama and used ziplock baggies for the (so yummy!) dehydrated cinnamon apples. I couldn't figure out another way to fit them into that narrow space in the lunchbox without having them get all hydrated and funny. I guess I'll have to trade in some hippie points for that one.

A New Monday

A new week of lunches, and this time I'm a bit more prepared. I have 5 (sunbutter and strawberry jam on Rudi's gf bread) sandwiches made, halved, and in the freezer, and have mixed up a new jar of organic trail mix for the week.That should cut out some prep time in the evening.
We found some ground cherries at the farmer's market over the weekend, and the girl is quite excited to have them in her lunch tomorrow. I'm guessing that the boy will leave his, but gave him a few anyway. The kids chose an organic fruit & nut bar for snack, but when they saw that there was a new batch of trail mix, asked to put the bar in their lunch so that they could have the trail mix for snack instead. There is also a coconut/quinoa cookie in there, and a HappyTot banana/peach/coconut/plum pouch.

UPDATE: It wasn't a surprise that the ground cherries got left by the boy, but the girl also ignored hers, even though she was the one who asked for them. She also left the peanuts from her trail mix. Strange kids. The boy has decided that he's done with pouches for a while. Darn.

Friday with octopi

I'll be so excited to get back onto a mac so that I can post pictures properly. Please don't strain your neck, but the little octopi are so cute!
Friday's lunch got a little fancy, with some fun surprises...
Happy Tots pouch (mango, kale, apple)
Cheesy rice (sushi rice with daiya cheddar melted in) with a half of a Bell & Evans organic turkey dog octopus (the face is made with pieces that I cut out of a sheet of nori)
Half of a sunbutter and strawberry jam sandwich on Rudi's gf multigrain bread
Tiny container with 5 organic gummy bears

Snack is trail mix with peanuts, apricots, dried mango strips, and raisins

The girl isn't too fond of the daiya cheese, but I needed something to help hold the leftover rice together. Usually I make rice balls with just made rice, and it holds together great without any help. I don't know if they would freeze or defrost well, but I may experiment with making a few extra next time to see.

UPDATE: The boy dropped his rice star on the floor, but it worked out fine since the girl wouldn't touch hers and happily gave it to him. The octopi were a huge hit, and everyone at the table thought they were pretty cool. Sunbutter and jelly is going strong and being requested frequently. The boy said the mango/kale/apple sauce pouch was yuck, and doesn't want that kind anymore. The girl liked hers.

NO co-mingling of food permitted

Excuse the grumblings, I thought the pic would be right this time, but it rotated itself (grummel, grummel).
Tomorrow's lunch is a bit of an experiment. This is another Systema box, but this one has no divider, which opens up the options somewhat on the inner containers. Inner containers are very serious business when you have a child with a "no co-mingling of food permitted unless under very specific circumstances which can and will change with absolutely no warning" rule.

Tomorrow's menu:
Peter Rabbit organic apple/butternut squash puree pouch
Raw cauliflower & broccoli (maybe I'll be surprised)
Glutino gf crackers
Wellshire Turkey ham cut into circles
Single Andean Dream quinoa/coconut cookie

Snack:
Home made rainbow trail mix with golden raisins, dried cranberries, dried blueberries, dehydrated mandarin oranges, dried apricots, peanuts (in round containers at top).

The kids seem to be enjoying having the little flannel napkins tucked into their lunch. At home, they like to have a small towel on the table in case of spills, and I think the napkin is an adequate stand-in.

UPDATE: As expected, the broccoli and cauliflower went untouched. I'll keep trying. The crackers and turkey circles were a big hit, and the boy asked me to pack them again. He also said that he didn't like the orange pieces or the blueberries in the trail mix, and he didn't eat them. The girl also didn't like the orange pieces, but said that they weren't too yucky to eat. :)