Healthy heart Yumbox...

Hi Friends! I cannot believe today is the last day of February. I have one more heart themed lunch to share with you to support February as the American Heart Association's healthy heart month. Better late than never, huh? The AHA promotes Heart Month to raise awareness about heart disease and how people can prevent it. Heart disease is the leading cause of death for men and women in the United States. So, please take care of your ticker, Friends! Lots of healthy foods to help my little guy's heart packed in the Yumbox today.

This lunch is packed in the Yumbox.

• triple-decker Natural Selects ham and cheddar cheese heart sandwich on whole grain bread
• sweet peas with 2 heart shaped carrots
• Rold Gold honey wheat pretzels
• Yoplait dye-free yogurt with strawberry heart center
• sliced strawberries
• heart shaped jelly beans

Some of the things, or similar things, that I used to make this lunch:

Qt pie lunch...

Hearts make such a cute lunch, don't they? Luckily, my little guy loves hearts, and he doesn't mind them in his lunch. February is the month where hearts are everywhere, aren't they? Hearts in February are usually associated with Valentine's Day, but I love hearts in Februay for another reason. February is the month that the American Heart Association has set aside as healthy heart month. And, heart health is very important to me. I love to make heart themed lunches in February to support this worthy cause. So, I like to do several heart lunches throughout the month.

We have this candy store here in the M-town that is A-MA-ZING. Dinstuhls's makes all homemade candies that are devine. In February, they feature milk chocolate covered strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries, and I love, love, love the strawberries! The hubs always picks up a couple of boxes of each for me us. Dinstuhl's also had these milk chocolate hearts with strawberry cream center, and he picked some of these up for the boys. They were pretty yummy, too. It's a good thing these candies are only available around Valentine's day....my waistline would be in trouble!

This lunch is packed in Easy Lunch Boxes.

• Applegate bologna and cheddar cheese sandwich- I used a small heart shaped cutter on the top piece of bread and put the candy heart in the cutout area.
• Dinstuhl's milk chocolate heart with strawberry cream center
• Pirate's Booty white cheddar puffs
• natural applesauce with strawberry heart
• green beans with Ranch dressing on the "Qt pie" box

Some of the things, or similar things, that I used to make this lunch:

Heart fairy bread sandwich...

There's lotsa love in the lunchbox today. My little guy loves fairy bread sandwiches, and I haven't made one for him in a very long time. I came across these cute heart shaped sprinkles on sale at Hobby Lobby the other day, and they very quickly found their way into my shopping basket. So, heart sprinkles....heart shaped cutter....all added up to a heart shaped fairy bread sammy. These are fun and easy little sandwiches to make, and kids LOVE them.

What you need to make a fairy bread sandwich: 
Two slices of bread
Soft fillings (PB&J, Sunbutter, cream cheese & jelly, Nutella, etc.)
Medium cookie cutter, any shape
Small cookie cutter, any shape, about an inch in diameter
Sprinkles, nonpareils, jimmies, sanding sugar

1. Use the medium sized cutter on each slice of bread.
2. Use the small cutter to cut out the center of one of the slices of bread.
3. Assemble the sandwich, then, fill the cavity with your sprinkles of choice.
Easy peasy!!

I chose to use the same shape medium and small cutter. But, you could mix up the shapes (heart shaped sandwich with butterfly cutout, i.e.) and make many cute fairy bread sandwich designs. You could easily adapt this sandwich for any occasion or holiday by changing up the cutter and sprinkles.

This is also a great sandwich to let the kidlets help out- it's easy, fun, and isn't too messy. My little guy loves to help out when I make them.

This lunch is packed in the Goodbyn Bynto.

• peanut butter and strawberry all-fruit spread heart shaped fairy bread sandwich
• Balsamic grilled chicken strips hiding under the sandwich and napkin- This was the last of the Balsamic chicken that I bought at Whole Foods the other day. (See previous post.)
• Rold Gold mini pretzels
• Motts natural applesauce with a strawberry heart
• cantaloupe cubes
• baby carrots with Ranch dressing in the "luv u" box for dipping

Linked to: What's for lunch Wednesday

Some of the things, or similar things, that I used to make this lunch:

   

Planes, Trains, & Boats...

Well, tomorrow is a big day around here, Friends. Huge milestone for my 15 yr old...I'm taking him to get his driving learner's permit. All this nervousness of mine....for what? He has been very responsible and has prepared well for the written test, and he's attended a professional driving school. So, I'm certain that he's going to pass the test. And, the hubs has insisted offered to be the driving teacher in our fam. (Ok...I'm actually kind of glad for this.) But, it scares me sometimes to think of my baby out there on the road with all the crazies. Seems like only yesterday he was driving a tricycle. It's really hard to let our kids grow up sometimes, isn't it? Our kidlet's grow up in the blink of an eye, don't they? So, think about me tomorrow around 3:00...I'll be the parent of a teenage driver. Holy Mackerel!! Please pray I remain sane!! HaHa!

The little guy wanted his lunch in the Goodbyn Bynto today. He chose these cute transportation picks. These picks started out as buttons...yep, buttons. Give me a hot glue gun, and I can turn just about anything into a cute lunch accessory. Food grade plastic picks + hot glue gun + buttons= super cute lunch picks! Get your hot glue gun out, Friends, and see what kind of cuteness you can create.

This lunch is packed in the Goodbyn Bynto.

• peanut butter and strawberry all-fruit spread sandwich
• cheddar cheese crackers
• natural applesauce
• Hershey's milk chocolate square
• carrot rounds
• red seedless grapes

I added a few fun transportation themed picks for a bit of cuteness.

Some of the things, or similar things, that I used to make this lunch:

A Whole Foods Market lunch...

Whole Foods Market....I LOVE Whole Foods. I walk in and I'm suddenly in a hypnotic food trance. I love the variety of interesting fruit choices. I love the unique fish and seafood selections. But, I ADORE their deli area with all the delicious different salad and prepared food choices. My lovely sister and I spent waaaay too much time there yesterday. The hubs always clutches his wallet with a death grip when he knows that I'm going. Going to Whole Foods is like going to Costco....it's impossible to leave without spending a bazonker amount of moolah. Am I right? Hence, I can only visit Whole Foods every couple of months or so. Much to my hubby's delight, though, my Whole Foods haul was quite modest this time. I'd like to share a few of the things that I bought:
Fresh squeezed orange juice- WF has a machine that squeezes the orange juice fresh on the spot. A-MA-ZING!!
Tequila Lime catfish fillets- delish!!
Nonni's Thinaddictives cranberry almond thins
Murcott honey mandarins
Sun dried tomato and salmon bisque- super yum!
California quinoa salad- This salad was so good that I'm going to make a copy-cat recipe.
Balsamic grilled chicken strips
Orange mashed yams with cranberries
Asian pears
Garlicky kale salad- This did not go over as well as the California quinoa salad.

So, today's lunch features some of the things from my Whole Foods shopping trip.

This lunch is packed in Easy Lunch Boxes.

• WF balsamic grilled chicken
• Rold Gold pretzels
• Babybel cheese
• Nonni's Thinaddictives cranberry almond thins
• WF quinoa salad- This salad was delicious! The quinoa was mixed with almond slices, red onion, raisins, mango, coconut flakes, edamame, and red pepper with a very light balsamic dressing. My little guy loves balsamic dressing, so I included a bit more in the froggy container.
• red seedless grapes and Murcott honey mandarin slices- These Murcott mandarins were so sweet and delicious.

Linked to: BentoLunch.net/ What's for lunch Wednesday

Some of the things, or similar things, that I used to make this lunch:

Smiley snowman lunch...

Welcome to Friday, Friends! WooHoo, it's Friday and Monday is a holiday for the kids from school. I'm loving it! The weather here is actually pretty nice today. The high is 56*... quite the change from the -8* we had 2 weeks ago. This weekend and Monday are going to be in the low 60's. We may try to make Monday a zoo day. The animals at our zoo are always so active and frisky when the weather is cool. It's only January, so I'm pretty certain that the cold winter days will return. We're still hoping for a snowy winter wonderland. So, I thought I'd better sneak in another winter lunch just in case Mother Nature throws us a curve ball and our weather remains very moderate. That's Ok, though. Spring is right around the corner.

This lunch is packed in Easy Lunch Boxes.

• peanut butter and strawberry all-fruit spread sandwich cut into the shape of a snowman- He has sprinkles for buttons and a winter cap pick.
• white cheddar "snow" balls
• blackberries and red seedless grapes with snowman pick
• carrots cut into the shape of snowmen, black and green olives
• 2 milk chocolate Hershey's Drops in the snowman container

Some of the things, or similar things, that I used to make this lunch: