Under the Sea

Today's very quick lunch consisted of:

• Some cantaloupe (left over from last night's dinner)
• Some pasta salad (I made this yesterday so the hubby and I could have a quick, easy meal tonight before I have some girls over for my mom's Bible study)
• A whale shaped grilled cheese (the first use of my Lunch Punch Animal Shape Sandwich Cutters (Set of 4)
• And my attempt at cutting some cucumbers into fish.  I'm still growing in my collection of tools and I don't have any little cutters.  I just got out a paring knife and did the best I could :)

Chicken Cesar Tacos/Wraps

Chicken breasts
Romain lettuce
Parmesan or Italian blend cheese
Cesar dressing
Croutons, optional
Soft taco sized tortillas (for tacos) or large tortillas (for wraps)

Grill chicken breasts (I prefer to spray a frying pan with olive oil & salt & pepper my chicken...takes about 20 minutes on the stovetop).  While the chicken is cooking, wash & prepare lettuce in a large bowl.  Once cooked through, cube chicken and add to the lettuce mixture.  Add in desired amounts of cheese and croutons and toss with dressing.  Top desired tortillas with the salad mixture and enjoy!

I used the Marie's Yogurt Parmesan Cesar dressing (1/2 the calories & 1/2 the fat of regular) and we are huge fans!!

Muffin Tin: Snack

This is our first muffin tin meal and OH MY GOODNESS...the boys loved it!

I decided to give the muffin tins a try for snack time and J just kept commenting on how there was 'all kinz stuff to eat' :)  I usually give them a little mix of items in a bowl, but this presentation was so much more fun (not to mention adding some non-fat yogurt made it more filling and healthy).

On the top row, they've got 1/2 a nutragrain bar, craisins & pretzils

Bottom row = cheese bites, vanilla yogurt & mini marshmallows

If you'd like to see more muffin tin meals, you can click on over to the home of Muffin Tin Monday to check them out!-->

Gettin' Creative

For a while now, I have been inspired by blogs like this that highlight adorable, healthy and waste free lunches.  After lurking on the sites, I have finally decided that this is something I could easily do.  So, I am revamping my blog a bit to include such lunch ideas.

I've been adding just small amounts of creativity to the boys meals for the past week or so and I have noticed quite a difference.  They actually touch items that before they would ignore.  It's always been a priority for me to teach my children about healthy eating habits.  Helping them at an early age to make 'healthy choices' and have correct ideas of portion sizes.  It encourages me to give them more variety and therefore more exposure to things I would like for them to develop a taste for.  It's simple, fun and actually very enjoyable for me. I am really looking forward to finding new foods we all love and expanding their pallets slowly and intentionally.

 These bento blogs traditionally include arranging food in adorable little specialty boxes for school and work lunches.  Since I have 2 year olds, eating mostly at home, the boxes are not necessary for us yet.  Also, for now we'll be lacking some of the fun skewers and such...we're still mastering forks and spoons.  However, as they grow, so will the meals we share.

I hope you can find some fun, easy inspiration for your child's lunch.  As with everything on this blog, simple is the key.  I am a busy mom...I get it.

Apple Walnut Sticky Buns

from Sandra Lee

Ingredients

1 Granny Smith apple
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup brown sugar
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2 (8-count) tubes refrigerated cinnamon rolls
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
2 to 4 teaspoons water

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Generously butter a 12-count muffin tin.
Peel, core and dice the apples into 1/2-inch cubes. In a medium bowl stir together the diced apples with the walnuts and brown sugar.
Divide the apple mixture evenly into the muffin tin. Put 12 cinnamon buns, cinnamon side up, on top of the apple mixture. Put the muffin tin on a baking sheet and bake until the tops are golden brown, about 8 to 10 minutes. (Bake off remaining 4 buns per package directions)
Remove the muffin tin from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes. Put a clean baking sheet on top of the muffin tin and flip to remove the sticky buns.
In a small bowl, combine the vanilla frosting with the pumpkin pie spice and 2 to 4 teaspoons of water. Mix until very thin and of pourable consistency. Drizzle over buns and serve.

Last Minute Rice & Beans

4 servings of brown rice
1 can Rotel tomatoes & green chilies
1 can pinto beans, drained

In a small sauce pan, mix beans and Rotel and cook until hot. Prepare the rice according to package instructions. Combine bean & Rotel mixture with rice and enjoy.

Making burritos for dinner tonight, I went to the pantry to grab some spanish rice and behold...there was none. Since I had already made the rest of the meal, I decided to try a new concoction and it turned out very yummy. It's a great side dish or a burrito/bowl filling. Since it's a lot healthier than the processed rice packet from the store, this may become a new staple. Beware, it does have a bit of a kick to it and may be too much for the little ones.

Buffalo Chicken Pizza

adapted from allrecipes.com

1 Pizza Crust (dough or prepared)
Ranch or Blue Cheese salad dressing
Buffalo Chicken
Mozzarella Cheese

Arrange pizza dough as required. Top with dressing (in place of pizza sauce) and chicken. Top lightly with cheese and bake as directed (per pizza crust type).

My hubby thought it could use less cheese than pictured, thus the specification of 'top lightly'