Autumn Leaves

A simple and easy warm lunch for a cool, crisp fall day.

Leaf picks make these honeydew melon balls a little more fun, and easier for a little hand to grasp without dropping.

Jumbo muffin cups are great for holding a serving of gluten-free, extra cheesy rice-mac and cheese.

A mini silicone cup of allergy friendly autumn trail mix makes a perfect treat. To make the trail mix, I toss together shredded coconut, sunflower seeds, dried cranberries, and Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips.

To round out the lunch, Beaker has rolls of ham on colorful autumn leaf picks and a little bit of shredded raw broccoli.

I love these four section plates for meals at home. They make it easy to keep food separate (which my preschooler and sensory-sensitive kids tell me is VERY important) and to portion appropriately. They're also fun, with a variety of cute designs. I found this one, with a little robot theme, for $1. Yesterday I found a few Halloween and Thanksgiving themed four-section plates for half off in the Target dollar bins for 50 cents each. I keep an eye out for new ones each new season and holiday, and for clearance when the new designs roll out. They're easy to find and inexpensive, which I like. I have also seen stainless steel section plates on Amazon, and those are perfect for those who prefer to reduce use of plastic.

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Seasons: Autumn and Winter

Two simple, basic lunches from today, and a muffin tin, too.

Princess has a loose Autumn theme, with a lot of browns and yellows and some leafy picks for decoration. She has a cup of applesauce with cinnamon, corn kernels, frozen blueberries (which were thawed in plenty of time for lunch, though apparently the juice leaked a bit, turning the corn a purple-orange color. Her friend told me it was "very cool and Fall-like" but Princess was not happy and requested frozen blueberries be very carefully sealed off from now on.), ham rolls and a cheese stick. For dessert and snack she has chocolate rice cakes and a homemade trail mix of honey rye crisps, sesame sticks, sunflower seeds, M&Ms, and candy coated sunflower seeds.

Bean had a similar lunch, but with blue snowflake Winter-y picks and peas instead of corn. Yes, the peas are frozen. They were thawed in plenty of time for lunch, since I put the lunch together the night before. Bean said they were pretty good, and easy to eat (she has a loose tooth; makes crunchy foods a little difficult to navigate, though she did say she liked the trail mix anyway).

 

Both lunches are in Easy Lunchboxes, our favorite boxes.

Beaker had a muffin tin lunch, in honor of Muffin Tin Monday.

He has a loose star theme, with trail mix in a star shaped silicone cup, pineapple "Saturn" rings with dried cranberries in the center (the planet core, of course), some Club crackers for dipping in the star shaped cup of tuna-pickle salad, outer space Goldfish, and a small chunk of German chocolate cake.