Cars ... Again ...

Before John left for school this morning I asked him to go grab a book to bring me since it's been a while since we did a Story Time Friday. Of course, he brought me a Cars 2 book so it's more of a movie lunch than a book lunch. He asked for Sally, Lightning and Mater with Sally out of cheese. Sally came first and I was attempting to cut her out of my monterey brick when the knife slipped right into my left index finger so she ended up being cut out of a thin slice of provolone with one of John's Lightning McQueen snack containers and the rest of the lunch? Well, "half-assed" is putting it mildly.

Mater is a ham & cheese loaf sandwich with pepperoni bite wheels (which Sally also has), I used John's other Lightning snack container to hold some Cars Fruit Snacks (and get out of making a Lightning sandwich). Also included are grapes and a pack of Cars Pretzel Snacks.

Bob The Builder ... Again!

Back in September John had a Bob The Builder lunch. Since John still loves Bob and Wendy and the whole crew I decided it was time for a redo!

Bob & Wendy are Biscoff & Jam on wheat. They're sitting on top of some pepperoni bites which are being further hidden by a cut up cheddar stick and LifeSaver Gummies. Instead of his normal Capri Sun he's got a Scoop Tummy Tickler!

Chess The Musical

I adore musicals. Old ones, new ones, popular ones, obscure ones ... doesn't matter.

One of my all-time favorites is Chess. Written by Tim Rice, Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus (yes, the guys from ABBA), the concept album was released in 1984 and I first heard it about 5 years later (... except for the "big hit" that came from it -- Murray Head's "One Night In Bangkok."

In 2008 (and broadcast on PBS in 2009) a revival concert was staged in London with some of today's biggest musical names like Josh Groban, Adam Pascal & Idina Menzel.

I will always prefer the original.

The part of Florence is one of the greatest female roles ever and while I adore Idina, Elaine Paige just kicked serious ass singing it (which you can see after the lunch!).

In the bottom compartment is a copy of the concept album's cover made out of dyed mashed potatoes and monterey cheese for the letters and squares. I painted 2 flattened hard cooked eggs with natural food colors to look like American & Soviet flag chess pawns. Those are each sitting on grapes.

And now, my favorite promo clip from back in the day. The video is cheesy (as most from the mid-80s are), but the song still kicks:

Star Wars - R2-D2 & C-3PO in an EasyLunchbox

John asked for his very first Star Wars lunch for tomorrow! He got an R2-D2 pen from a box of cereal at the drugstore and decided he would be an awesome lunch ... with C-3PO, of course.

Everyone's favorite droids are ham & cheese sandwiches with italian top slices and whole wheat on the bottom. They're joined in the large container by cubes of colby jack. The top right has star crackers. The bottom right has vanilla yogurt with sprinkles.

Tooth Fairy Lunch!

John had a first-time visitor last night -- the Tooth Fairy!!!

The tooth came out with a slice of pizza and right into John's belly, but Daddy reassured him that tooth fairies have special fairy magic that let them get teeth out of bellies and he would still get his dollar. Daddy's are smart like that sometimes :)

Sure enough, John woke with four new quarters to his name ... and the need for a new lunch to be made to take to school for today!

John said that his Tooth Fairy is a boy so I used an angel cookie cutter and cut the skirt to make pants. The sandwich is bologna and cheese on whole wheat. "Tooth Fairy," the tooth the fairy is holding, and the four quarterish circles at the bottom are all cheese. He also has some LifeSaver Gummies, grapes, yogurt and juice.

Percy Jackson in a Laptop Lunch Box

You know it's pretty bad when you have every intention of just having a "normal" lunch and end up still cutting and decorating and turning it into a lunch paying homage to the book you're currently reading/the movie you just watched. In this case my simple intentions were overthrown by Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief.

I've been reading the book on my phone and watched the movie on my iPad during a long ride on my recumbent bike this morning. I know that technically it's a "young adult" book and I'm far from being that. Go ahead and call it research for when John's old enough. Yeah ... that's it. Oh, and it kicks seriously fun ass.

In my Laptop Lunch Box: rotini and cheese with mixed vegetables, Yoplait Splitz yogurt, tossed salad with diced tomato and ranch dressing. "Percy," the lightning bolt, trident, and Hermes sneaker are all cheese. "Jackson" was cut from hard cooked egg white

Angry Birds Space in Lock & Lock

Today the latest in the Angry Birds franchise was released: Angry Birds Space!

Of course, it had to be put on the iPad, Android & John's iPod Touch as soon as we woke up this morning. Already BIG fans!

For lunch tomorrow John has the mini turkey sandwiches and cheddar cheese birds, star crackers with candy eggs, and an Oreo planet with gummy pigs.

Celebrating Project Runway's Mondo!

I've watched Project Runway almost religiously since the first season. Without a doubt my favorite contestant has been Mondo Guerra. He just oozes awesomeness!

Tonight is the finale of All-Stars and Mondo is holding a party in Denver to celebrate (and hopefully to celebrate his big win!). Since I'm in New York I can't make it to the party, so I'm putting the party in my Easy Lunchbox instead.

In the lunch box is mac & cheese with a cheese sandwich of Mondo riding the unicorn. His cotton candy and the words are cheese and there are also little cheese stars that are hard to see in the picture. In the top right are star crackers and the bottom right has my own cotton candy (which will be sealed up tight until ready to eat because otherwise it would just be a pile of sugar!).


11P+

Big Bang Theory - Soft Kitty

After the fun from yesterday's Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Spock lunch I decided I needed to finish off my work week tonight with another Big Bang Theory favorite: Soft Kitty!!!

Packed in an Easy Lunchbox, clockwise from top left:

* light fruit cocktail
* Sour Cream & Onion Goldfish and a Soft Kitty cheese sandwich (inspired by the official pillow)
* Hormel Turkey Chili (with No Beans just the way Sheldon believes it should be) with colby jack and cheddar "Soft Kitty"

Erik from Happy Feet 2

We rented Happy Feet 2 through iTunes and watched it yesterday. Cute movie and perfect for Wednesday's lunch!

Erik the little penguin is dancing away on a Biscoff and jam sandwich. Under him is some LifeSaver Gummies and Vanilla Cupcake Goldfish play around his head. On the side is a container of mandarins in orange gel.

No lunch for school on Thursday as it's a half day which is good because Friday he's expecting his first Angry Birds Space lunch and I may need the extra day to think :)

Big Bang Theory - Rock, Paper, So On & So Forth

We love The Big Bang Theory on CBS.

I can actually count on one hand the number of sitcoms we have set-up on the dvr for Tom & I to watch together. BBT is at the top of the priority list. It makes us laugh until we can't breathe properly -- and having something that makes that true for both of us is pretty amazing.

One of my favorite bits is their version of Rock, Paper, Scissors to settle disputes: Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock. Of course it has to be lunch (although I feel a little strange eating Spock).

I've got some small ham & cheese sandwiches sitting on top of a bed of lettuce that, added with the tomato slices & ranch in the top right, will be a lovely salad and hopefully keep me from attacking the dessert cooler at work .... again. In case I do have a sweet attack I have some coconut vanilla yogurt in the bottom right with sprinkles. Everything is more fun with sprinkles.

Welcome Spring!

The first day of Spring is finally here!

Tomorrow Spring starts and John wanted a Spring lunch. He even picked out the cutters and told me what each needed to be used for so he has a ham & cheese watering can and tulip and colby cheese bunny and butterfly. "Spring" is cut from monterey jack and the ground and stem are pretzel sticks.

John's version of the Being Human lunch

No, I don't let my 5 year old watch Being Human ... but when he saw the printout of the picture and then my lunch for last night he fell in love with the ghost, vampire and werewolf and asked for the same ones for his lunch for Monday!

His version has pepperoni sandwiches for Aidan and Josh and a cheddar Sally with carrots, grapes and Junior Mints. He'll also get a container of yogurt and the ever-present juice or water pouch.

SyFy Being Human in a Laptop Lunchbox

I got hooked on the BBC Being Human first and started watching the SyFy version just because there was nothing else to watch on Netflix at the time that struck me. (This was obviously before I realized the massive amounts of Doctor Who in their library!) I admit that the first season of the US version didn't really click with me because it was soooo similar to the BBC one. The second season has made me a fan, though, as it's completely on its own for storylines. Oh, and I love the characters' blogs at How To Be Human, which is where I got the images for this meal!

Michelina's Lean Gourmet 5 Cheese Lasagna topped with "Being Human" and Sally cut from cheese and Aidan and Josh bread and butter (you know, to sop the sauce as usual). Light fruit cocktail is in the bottom right. Two Spring Oreos and a dip container with a handful of Junior Mints are in the top right.

Bangers & Mash for St. Patrick's Day

It's probably not the most traditional or the most festive St. Patrick's Day meal (I'll be eating after midnight so, technically, it'll be St. Patrick's Day) ... but it sounded good and it's what I'll be having!

I made a variation on the Apple Bangers & Mash that I made a few weeks back. [Chopped and cooked 3/4 cup peewee potatoes and mashed them with 1/2 Tbsp Country Crock, 1 Tbsp milk and 2 Tbsp applesauce. Cooked up two of the chicken sausages, chopped them and tossed them on top.] This time I added some McKenzie's Seasoning Blend and the addition of the onions and peppers made an already wonderful dish fandamntabulous! I know -- most people think of Bangers & Mash as a "British" dish thinking England but it's also quite popular in Northern Ireland which, of course, is part of the UK still so yeah ... it's an Irish dish, too.

Anyway, here's the food. Also in my Laptop Lunchbox is a tossed salad, shamrock shaped monterey cheese, Thousand Island dressing, and mixed melon.

Leprechaun Trap!

Today's lunch got posted Tuesday for the Blog Hop and no lunch for Friday since John will be buying his lunch at school (it's Pizza Day), so today we're sharing with you John's Leprechaun Trap that will be set out before he goes to bed Friday tonight! (We decided to set the trap out tonight because the leprechaun will probably be home tomorrow night getting ready for all of the festivities on Saturday. He's far more likely to be out and about tonight!)

He told me that he wanted a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow with a door that the Leprechaun will go in but not be able to get out of. Hrmph. How in the world was I supposed to pull that off?

Off to the Dollar Tree!

plus

plus some gold glitter glue and a gold marker makes

The "Magic Door," of course, only opens for Leprechauns.

Of course.

Some gold coin chocolates, green packing popcorn glued to a piece of cardboard

and a rainbow colored onto cardboard and attached to that gets us:

Daddy had the brilliant idea of setting the trap up on our porch with a "double trap" of our recycling pin propped up with a stick (which I believe came from a horseshoe set):

Looks perfect!

I wish I could show you now what it'll look like after the leprechaun has been by ... but John's still up for a few more hours so check back later tonight or tomorrow if you want to see. I can give you a peek at what's going to be left, though!

And he's also leaving behind his hat (caught on something during his escape?) since I cut this find from Dollar Tree apart:



Post-Bedtime Update:
He came! He came!

Linked To:

Wednesday's Lunch: Zoo fun

With all of the excitement over the St Patrick's Day Blog Hop I completely forgot to post John's lunch for tomorrow. It's pretty simple and uses more of our new cutters and is exactly what he asked for right down to the Easy Lunchbox!

The monkey and hippo are whole wheat jelly sandwiches (yes, just jelly). The monkey is hanging from a Mini Slim Jim. They're joined by a monterey cheese giraffe and "zoo" in the large container. In the top left is the aquarium section of the zoo with two different types of Goldfish Crackers (pizza and sour cream & onion) and a small handful of tiny Swedish Fish. The top right has grapes ... which don't really have anything to do with the zoo, but John loves his grapes!

Holy Grail: Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch

Tonight is the last night of my work week so it seems only right to wrap up the Holy Grail lunches with a bang ... in the form of the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch!

King Arthur: How does it... um... how does it work?

Sir Lancelot: I know not, my liege.

King Arthur: Consult the Book of Armaments.

Brother Maynard: Armaments, chapter two, verses nine through twenty-one.

Cleric: [reading] And Saint Attila raised the hand grenade up on high, saying, "O Lord, bless this thy hand grenade, that with it thou mayst blow thine enemies to tiny bits, in thy mercy." And the Lord did grin. And the people did feast upon the lambs and sloths, and carp and anchovies, and orangutans and breakfast cereals, and fruit bats and large chu...

Brother Maynard: Skip a bit, Brother...

WAIT! First we need the breakfast cereal and fruit bat!



Get it? Fruit bat?


Cleric: And the Lord spake, saying, "First shalt thou take out the Holy Pin. Then shalt thou count to three, no more, no less. Three shall be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, neither count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being the third number, be reached, then lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thy foe, who, being naughty in my sight, shall snuff it.

Brother Maynard: Amen.

All: Amen.

King Arthur: Right. One... two... five. 

Hard cooked egg grenade with monterey cheese cross and "1, 2, 5"

A little rearranging had to be done in order to get everything to fit all nicely nicely in my Laptop Lunchbox:

St. Patrick's Day Ideas! It's Blog Hop time!

The Bento Bloggers & Friends are hopping again! 

This time we're following the rainbow to get great ideas for St Patrick's Day.

With St. Patrick's Day being on a Saturday there's no school lunch, but I thought up an idea that could be fun at home or taken along to enjoy while watching a St. Patrick's Day Parade if packed in an Easy Lunchbox (or other box, of course)! 

In the large compartment we've got good ol' mac & cheese (from a box) with a cheese shamrock and Irish flag (with Slim Jim flagpole). The top left has mini orange and green cupcakes and the top right has cut Rainbow Twizzlers.

For a smaller lunch, here's a leprechaun peeking out of a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow with two shamrocks on the side. The sandwiches are cream cheese & jelly on whole wheat and colored with natural colors. The rainbow is, again, Rainbow Twizzlers (this time cut into strips to fit better ... and because  John isn't a HUGE fan but likes them in small doses), and the gold coins are cheddar cheese.

Now go check out the awesomeness over at Zoe's Lunchbox

and then follow her link to the next participant ... and the next ... and ...

(posts should be "live" anytime after 9am Pacific ... or so ...)

When Alligators Attack

We added to our cookie cutter stash recently - including an alligator! After I got John's ham and cheese sandwiches made and the word "Alligators" cut out with my little alphabet cutters we were trying to decide what else to put in the box for his lunch tomorrow. I still had the box of Annie's Gluten Free Snickerdoodle Cookies on the counter from my Killer Rabbit lunch so he asked for some of those...

... for the alligators to eat!

Are the gators getting revenge for the Killer Rabbit's carnage? Hmmmmm ....

Holy Grail: Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog

Run away! Run away! There's a killer rabbit in my lunch!

  Actually, it's The Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog -- the latest in my Ode to Holy Grail.

Don't let his cute little friends on the side fool you (Annie's Gluten-Free Snickerdoodle Cookies & Palmer L'il Bunnies), he may look like a harmless cheese rabbit but he really has a vicious streak a mile wide! You can even see the blood still on his nasty big pointy teeth from when he tore apart the poor pig that made the ham on my salad!

Don't worry too much, though.  When I get to work tonight with my beloved Laptop Lunchbox I'll take care of him .... bwahahahaha! (And check out how John's lunch is taking care of his little friends! EEP!)

 

Pets at play!

We have two fur-kids in the house. Aura became part of the family shortly before I became pregnant with John and then this past summer Cheerio moved in. At first the two weren't quite sure what to make of each other ... Aura the half lab/half greyhound princess who was here first and Cheerio the cat who rules the kingdom of us just because he's a cat. They get along pretty well now, though, and John loves them both and really loves it when they play together (which usually involves fur flying across the house because they're chasing so furiously).

Anyway, when I asked John what he wanted for lunch tomorrow he said "Cheerio and Aura playing."

Great.

They may not look like they're playing yet in the lunchbox, but you can tell that Cheerio's about to whether Aura likes it or not (which is typically how it works).

The sandwiches are ham & cheese. The containers on top hold ranch dressing and carrots. A package of Sixlets (or whatever they're called) round it all out in a Fit & Fresh Lunch Pod.

Holy Grail: Knights Who Say Ni ... with Roger the Shrubber!

The third Monty Python and the Holy Grail lunch was so much fun to do ... probably because it's one of my favorite parts of the entire film: the Knights Who Say Ni (and, later, 'Ecky-ecky-ecky-ecky-pikang-zoop-boing-goodem-zoo-owli-zhiv'). 

The knights and "Ni" are cheese sitting on top of a Michelina's Lean Gourmet Creamy Rigatoni with Chicken & Broccoli. In the top right are broccoli "shrubs" with Roger The Shrubber. In the bottom right are Swedish Fish "herrings."

 

Holy Grail: The Black Knight

For tonight's Holy Grail lunch we've got the Black Knight drawn onto monterey cheese on a bed of leftover mac & cheese in a Laptop Lunchbox. He's joined by Wegman's Rainbow Blend Vegetables, Yoplait Splitz Strawberry Shortcake yogurt, apple chunks and Biscoff.

Don't worry too much about his right arm that's been chopped.

It's only a flesh wound!

Monty Python Holy Grail Lunch

It's Holy Grail Week!

March 14th marks the 37th Anniversary of the "world premiere" of Monty Python and the Holy Grail ... depending, of course, on which website you look at! Some sites have the release date as earlier but the big hoo-haa on March 14th. Whatever. I'll be celebrating with a week of Holy Grail lunches regardless!

A work week, anyway.

It seemed only right to start with the movie poster.

The lunch version in a Laptop Lunchbox:

Copied from:

The sandwich is chicken breast and provolone on whole wheat with American cheese flags. "Holy Grail" is punched out of American cheese and is sitting on provolone. On the side I've got grapes, tomatoes, and thousand island dressing so after my sandwich I can enjoy a nice big salad.... and start plotting tomorrow's lunch!

Yet another Angry Birds lunch!

John stayed home sick from school today but has picking at the lunch that would have gone with him off and on all afternoon so a new lunch for tomorrow ... just in case he's feeling well enough to go. At this point I'm really not sure since he's only gotten off of the couch 3 or 4 times all day ... but I'm hoping!

He hasn't had an Angry Birds lunch since the end of January so I figured it's about time for a new one -- this time colored with the natural powders from Chocolate Craft Studio and packed in his Lock & Lock. The sandwiches are bologna and cheese on whole wheat with cheese for the pig eyes and beaks and Yellow Bird's eyebrows. In the top left (and as a barricade for the pig) are pretzel sticks. The top also has Angry Bird Gummies and grapes.