Random Grown-Up Lunches

Today was the last day of school for four of my kiddos! I had this cool lunch idea all planned out, with flip flops and sunglasses and all sorts of fun stuff. But then I realized that the kids had a half day (a lot of them in a row, actually), so no lunch at school. And then I thought I could just do it for at home, but then I got stuck running errands all day and only swinging home really quick to pick them up just as school let out before running back out again.

So instead of a fun Last Day of School lunch, I am making pizza (with gluten-free mini pizzas for Beaker) and popcorn with root beer floats for dinner and renting a movie for a fun family night tonight. And instead of a fun Last Day of School lunch post, here is a quick post with a few of the random lunches I have packed for the Dude and myself recently:

This one is the Dude declared to be one of his favorites. It's a salad of mixed spring greens with pepper smoked salmon and provolone cheese stars. He also has rice crackers with some soft jalapeno cheese spread and two mini chocolate bars.

The salad also has carrot and bell pepper stars for a little extra flavor, and Caeser dressing on the side.

This one is a little random. It has some crunchy kettle chips, a fruit salad of grapes and cantaloupe, and a main dish of fried rice with skewers of salami.

I thought the fried rice and salami flavors together would be a little odd, but the Dude said they were pretty good together. Go figure!

One for me! This lunch has Van's multigrain crackers, funny-face hard boiled egg halves, a peeled clementine, a handful of grapes, and some cucumber rolls ~ cucumber pieces cut in half, with the seeds removed, filled with cream cheese and stuffed with rolled up roasted turkey lunch meat. They were delicious!

Silly egg faces! The addition of a tiny bit of nori and a sprinkle of sea salt made the hard boiled egg taste delicious.

"Oh, dang. I'm out of bread. No sandwich then. Hmmm... hey, I'll just wrap it all up in lettuce leaves!"

And it worked! The leaves cracked in the center a little when I rolled them up, but they were pretty tasty. I stuffed them with a little creamy Caesar and a little spicy mustard, thin sliced roast beef, provolone cheese, and some bell peppers, then topped them with golden and red cherry tomato halves.

On the side is a handful of kettle chips, cucumber slices with creamy cheese spread, and fresh blackberries with cantaloupe chunks.

Speaking of random lunches...

This is one I packed when I looked in the fridge and realized it was probably time to hit the grocery store again. A little random, but it worked out pretty well. This lunch has a basic Caesar salad ~ romaine lettuce with Caesar dressing on the side ~ and a hard boiled egg, cheese stuffed green olives, leftover gluten-free cheese pasta bake, some Van's multigrain crackers with Laughing Cow cheese wedges, a handful of Trader Joe's jalapeno cheese curls, and a few Thin Mints cookies, all packed in a Laptop Lunches box. Okay, it's a little more than a little random. But the Dude ate it all and didn't complain! Better than no lunch, right?

We have some fun plans for summer, so maybe I'll have some of those to share later! I'm off to enjoy Fun Family Celebration Night with my kids for now!

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All Last Week

The week after our vacation was all half days due to conferences, and then the next week (last week) was busy and stressful. I have been a bad blogger - no posts for over a week, yikes! I'm making up for that now with one big huge mega post, and then will try to keep on track moving forward.

In no particular order:

A Beaker snack... mozzarella string cheese cut into pieces, banana chunks, Goldfish grahams, and turkey with a pair of dinosaur picks. The picks made great makeshift forks.

Beaker's lunch... two lunches, actually. As I was nearly finished with the first tiny lunch, Beaker came into the kitchen and reminded me that he asked for a "Fee-ferd" lunch. I had promised and then forgotten - oops! It was his first time with a sitter (my awesome friend agreed to watch him for me kind of last minute so I could get to my class), and I was willing to do anything that would help him be more comfortable, so making two separate small lunches didn't tweak my nose. He wound up having a fantastic time and ate both lunches by the time we got home.

The first is in a tiny two layer bento box. The bottom layer has peeled clementine pieces, halved grapes, and Phineas and Ferb fruit snacks, and the top layer has mini beef sausages and "space" themed Goldfish.

The second is a Phineas sandwich, made with turkey, whole wheat white bread, a candy eye, and a clementine piece for the 'hair'. He also has ranch, carrots, and Teddy Grahams.

Snack for Bean - Angry Birds Cheese Nips with Laughing Cow cheese wedge tucked into a triangle onigiri case.

Bean's lunch: peeled clementine segments, grapes, mini beef sausages, a snack size chocolate bar, mini pretzel balls, and Annie's bunny grahams.

Princess' lunch: mini pretzel balls, Annie's bunny grahams, mini Oreos, peeled clementine segments, grapes, mini beef sausages, and a McDonald's barbecue sauce tub tucked in under the cookies. Fast food is rare here, but when we do go I tend to collect extra sauce packets and things to keep in the cabinet. Super easy to pack into lunches!!

A Beaker at-home lunch - carrots with ranch, apple slices, caramel apple candy corn, and super cheesy tuna casserole.

Princess lunch - carrots with hummus, Angry Birds grahams, Angry Birds Cheese Nips, and grapes.

I also packed a tiny turkey sandwich and a pack of Angry Birds fruit snacks for her lunch.

Bean lunch - Not-Lunchables. Purple grapes in a triangle onigiri case for her snack, with heart shaped turkey and cheese, Ritz crackers, and carrots, cucumbers, and spinach leaves with ranch.

Lunch for the Dude: carrots and cucumber bits with tiny cheese hearts, purple grapes, a couple of pieces of leftover Halloween candy, Wheat Thin crackers, and a pair of turkey-veggie wraps.

Lunch for Brick - carrots with ranch, Ritz crackers and leftover Halloween candy, and a pair of turkey wraps.

G-man liked this next one so much he has asked for another for tomorrow. Super Mario Bros. fruit snacks with purple grapes, Ritz crackers with super stars, and Power Up Star Biscoff sandwiches.

Another Beaker at-home lunch, this time featuring Bad Piggies/Angry Birds. Bad Piggies is Beaker's favorite. He knows how to operate the tablet, can turn it on and put on Bad Piggies all by himself. It's kind of a construction/Incredible Machine type game. He has piggy Angry Birds fruit snacks, a 'wood plank' turkey sandwich, apple sticks with Biscoff spread, Angry Birds grahams, and Angry Birds Cheese Nips.

Seriously, these crackers are adorable.

Random snack for Bean, of apple slices and Teddy Grahams.

Bean lunch, with a pair of Halloween candy bars, apple slices and Annie's bunny Grahams with Biscoff spread, and a turkey and sprouts star sandwich.

Princess lunch - roasted pumpkin seeds, Halloween candy bars, apple slices and Teddy Grahams with Biscoff spread, and a turkey bear sandwich.

Princess and Bean had identical lunches this day; I'm not sure whose this was. They each had a chicken caesar salad with the dressing on the side in that little tub, cucumber slices and carrots, cheese flavored mini rice cakes, Halloween candy, a peeled clementine, and pomegranite seeds.

Brick had a very similar lunch, but without the carrots and cucumber.

And finally, Beaker's Muffin Tin Monday lunch! Clockwise from the left he has Italian pasta salad, grapes, a Fig Newton and M&Ms, carrots with ranch, cheese slices, and Scrabble Cheez Its.

Thanks!