March and April 2013 "Leftovers"

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Not every lunch is "blog-worthy," but I put them up anyway. You don't have to make it cute to make it healthy. And no one is perfect. There are days I wish I could just get drive-thru...

Friday, 3/15/13 - Fridays is Z's occupational therapy appointment, so I must have packed a lunch to eat on the way. I'm not sure what I made for Z, since this is clearly Baby's lunch. I recall making Z a whole quesadilla...

Scrappy Quesadilla, halved grapes

I recall packing Z's lunch in an EasyLunchbox, but Baby's lunch went into a Snapware divided box. We only have them because they came in a set. (This one is the older model from a slightly different set. I love the huge container with the handle in the lid. It's perfect for holding my weekly salad prep!)

Scrappy Quesadilla

Ham and cheese scraps, chopped olives, GF Rudi's Spinach Tortilla

Saturday, 3/30/13 - I can't recall what our plans had been this day, other than to pick up the tabs for my new car from the dealership. I seem to recall needing to do that before heading someplace else, which is why we needed lunches. 

For Baby (left): organic brown rice and quinoa, organic apples, organic sugar snap peas
For Z (right): frozen organic peas, organic strawberries, NatureBox Tomato Almond Crunchies, GF cereal sample 

The NatureBox Tomato Almond Crunchies were one of Z's favorites, so I saved them to parse out to her over time. The little air-tight duck snack box was perfect, and kept them from getting soggy and stale when she didn't finish them all that day.

Our local natural market has a sample table, and that week most of their samples were gluten-free! I had nabbed a sample baggie of the Glutino Honey Nut Rings cereal for each girl when Baby and I had gone while Z was at school, but we had to go back the next day, so Z got another sample. So when I was throwing together a quick lunch, the extra one went in. She shared (grudgingly) with her sister, which had been the plan.

Monday, 4/1/13 - I had fallen asleep the night before, before I was able to pack the lunches like I normally do. Usually Hubby wakes me up, since he knows I don't like to be rushed to get it done in the morning. But for whatever reason, he decided to pack them for me! Awwww!

For Z (top): GF PB-honey sandwich, TJ's dark chocolate-covered mints, smoked gouda wedge,
GF Back to Nature crackers. organic carrots and sugar snap peas, Ranch
For Baby (bottom): GF PB-honey sandwich, organic sugar snap peas, freeze-dried raspberries,
Laughing Cow spreadable cheese wedge, GF Back to Nature crackers

Z's lunch is in an EasyLunchbox. Hubby tried to cut her sandwich into a sort of star shape. And he likes to cement his place in her heart by including candy in her lunch. She also has Ranch in a Mini Dipper. He hand-wrote a special note for her, and she was able to read it all by herself. She was able to recite it from memory on the walk home from the bus! Awwww!

Baby's lunch is in a Lunchbots Uno. They're the perfect size for her meals, but are harder for her to keep flat on her lap in the car. Not that I ever feed my kids in the car...

Both girls (but especially Baby!) loved these Back to Nature gluten-free White Cheddar crackers. I wasn't a fan, but powdered cheddar products tend to taste "off" to me. Both girls gobbled down every last morsel of their lunches. Dadda's lunch got rave reviews from Little Z. Harrumph.


Thursday, 3/21/13 - This was a quickly-thrown-together lunch, since I had fallen asleep with Baby the night before (see a pattern here?) I told Z that I wouldn't have time to give her lunch a theme, and she was just crushed. So I banged one out that I made up as I went along! (Baby's lunch was hastily thrown together too, and used up the ham and cheese scraps from Z's sandwich!)

Z's "Spring Bugs" Lunch

Organic carrots, GF ham and cheese w/mustard, NatureBox Blueberry Almond Bites, galia melon w/pomegranate

The sakura flower veggie cutter is an easy go-to for jazzing up carrot coins, and gives me time to brainstorm ideas. 
I had just gotten some cute bug mini stamper cookie cutters, so used the bee and butterfly ones to try and leave an imprint on the top slice of bread. Results were mixed. I pressed really hard into the top slice to get good imprints, but the gluten-free bread is dryer than wheat, and it cracked. But the imprints themselves look great, and Z loved her "Spwing sthemed" lunch.
I completed the spring buggy theme with some cute bee and ladybug picks in the carrots and fruit.

In a purple EasyLunchboxes Brights. Cloth napkin from Red Poppy Crafts on etsy.

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