Dog Days...

Today's lunch taught me a few lessons.

First, I need to invest in at least a few items to make this new lunch thing work....specifically, plates.  Right now we are using these tiny Ikea plates.  They don't fit much and the shape makes it very hard to arrange items since everything slides to the center.  I'm going to see what I can find this weekend...any ideas or suggestions are welcome :)

Second, I need to get some more variety and look differently at the foods I buy.  Today, I wanted to do a dog theme to make use of the dog in my Lunch Punch Animal Shape Sandwich Cutters (Set of 4), however, I didn't have much else beyond that.  I did rescue my Wilton 101-Piece Cookie Cutter Set from it's lifetime existence in the garage (ok, it's been used maybe once or twice) and found a large bone shape.  I would have loved to have a fruit leather or something similar to use it on, but that is not a staple in our house...yet :)  I also am not accustomed to offering vegetables at lunch, so I've already used up what I had and I really don't have anything that is new to add.  Next week when I shop, I'll be sure to throw in an extra produce item or 2 that I can offer daily.

Finally, I'm learning that having two 2 year olds sometime requires a change of plans and thinking outside the box (perfect training ground for creative lunches, right?).  This is a daily lesson, and really nothing new.  Anyway, I had the brilliant idea to cut the 1/2 a watermelon I had in the fridge width wise and use the bone cookie cutter to make it into a cute shape.  It would have worked really well, had my 2 year old not gotten a hold of the watermelon, dropped it on the floor and all but shattered it.  I was able to rescue it and do some 'cut & paste' to give the same basic idea.  I would have loved for it to work perfectly, but that's life with kids & one of the struggles of being outnumbered by little hands in the kitchen :)

So, in the end...here was our lunch

• Watermelon (cut width wise and cut -just like a rolled sugar cookie- with the bone cutter from the Wilton 101-Piece Cookie Cutter Set)
• Quesadilla cut with the dog/dog house from the Lunch Punch Animal Shape Sandwich Cutters (Set of 4) 
• Avocado slices
• Yogurt raisins in star reusable muffin cup
• And, because the boys HAD to have it Pirates Booty...a.k.a. 'pop corn'