Daddy Lunches

Wow Fathers' Day has crept up on me this year! I do think I have the perfect excuse though in our latest bundle of joy. I realised that although I do on occasion pack lunch for Mr Loving, I haven't gotten around to posting any. Here's a few that I actually bothered to photograph.

Tuna, sweet biscuits, sandwich with cherry tomato face, trail mix, cheese & pepperoni.

Easter Egg treat, tuna, rice cakes, trail mix, cinnamon scroll (from the local bakery)

Crackers, Tuna sandwich, sauce in mini bottles, trail mix, grapes.

(The links to where to get the mini bottles are on this page)

Tuna, rica cakes, mandarin, trail mix

Tuna, mandarin, rice cakes, soup (thermos with hot water sent this day), trail mix, apple







Tuna, mandarin, rice cakes, trail mix, patty/cup cake

Salad wrap, banana, mango, Coke

Today we used one of the lunchboxes I took to school many years ago. It was made by Decor, I'm not sure if they are still available.

Don't forget to check out our Blogiversary giveaway in this previous post

~J

Disclosure: This is not a sponsored post. This post was written for Loving Lunches. No product was received for this post. All opinions expressed are my own, based on personal experience with the product.

Latest Addition

If you follow me on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram, you may have noticed I've been a little quiet of late. I'm proud to announce the arrival of our little 'Honey'. She was born on 8th August, 2013, and we are all doing well. Thank you for all your well wishes and to the wonderful Bento Bloggers who have helped to keep Loving Lunches lovely while I've been busy.

Of course I couldn't let this occasion pass without a celebratory lunch for Miss M. It may have been a little late, but better late than never ;-)

Popcorn (because Mummy went 'pop'), yoghurt, a sandwich & 'something else'

Our Vegemite sandwich was cut using a 'big sister-little sister' elephant cutter from The Lunch Punch and detail added with FooDoodlers (links to products can all be found on this page)

For our 'something else' today I sent cheese stick & ham babies as well as some cheerio/mini frankfurt & bread babies. I first saw the idea for these at Bent On Better Lunches.

Simply roll your cheese stick in a slice of ham. . . .












. . .  then cut in half & secure with a food pick (or some raw spaghetti if you're concerned about your picks getting lost or eaten ^-^)

You can add detail with food colouring or black sesame seeds, but I chose the easy way & used some FooDoodlers. I applied the same principle for my cheerio rolls, using a large triangle of pressed bread for the baby blanket and a face cutter for the detail.

You can win the sandwich cutter, muffin cases, and food picks used for this lunch in our Blogiversary giveaway in this previous post

~J

Disclosure: This is not a sponsored post. This post was written for Loving Lunches. No product was received for this post. All opinions expressed are my own, based on personal experience with the product.

Loving Guests - Bentos on the Bayou

Hi!  I am Rebecca from Bentos on the Bayou, and I am incredibly excited to be your guest blogger today.  You can find my blog at www.bentosonthebayou.com or HERE on Facebook.
I live in Texas, USA and have a twelve year old daughter and a 4 year old son.  I love creating healthy and fun lunches for my children, and they love eating them.  Bento making is my biggest stress reliever and something that brings me incredible joy.   
I am blessed to have met Jackie through a bento group we are both a part of, and I adore her bentos! 
I made a garden lunch to share with you today.  I love to pack as many veggies as I can in my lunches, so a garden theme is always easy to accomplish.  This is an easy beginner bento, as well. I used a star shaped rice mold to make the pink flowers, and the rest was just slicing a few items and arranging them in the box!

What's in the Box? Pink Rice (colored with veggie-based natural food coloring)  Lettuce, Carrots, Celery, Heirloom Cherry Tomatoes Red, Yellow & Orange Bell Peppers, Baby Cucumbers Deli Ham, Clementine Orange Steamed Broccoli
Thank you Jackie for allowing me to be your Guest Blogger today!  

Don't forget to check out our Blogiversary giveaway in this previous post

~J

Disclosure: This is not a sponsored post. This post was written for Loving Lunches and Bentos on the Bayou. No product was received for this post. All opinions expressed are my own, based on personal experience with the product.

Puppy Decor Lunchbox

Another quick & simple lunch in our Decor Quarters

• Apple slices with Nutella/peanut butter dip in a mini silicon muffin case
• Yoghurt topped with strawberries on food picks
• Lunch Punch ham & cheese sandwich 
• Anzac squares cut with the Cube It, also on food picks

There are links to the vast majority of goodies I use to make these lunches on this page.

You can win all the goodies I used to make this lunch in our Blogiversary giveaway from this previous post

~J

Disclosure: This is not a sponsored post. This post was written for Loving Lunches. No product was received for this post. All opinions expressed are my own, based on personal experience with the product.

Octodogs!

I mentioned in this previous post that I'd get around to doing a tutorial for Octo-dogs. Well, I've been a little busy so my friend (and the inspiration to start blogging) Anna, kindly wrote this for me. . .

Do you ever have hot dog sausages but no buns? This happens to me often because the buns expire quickly whereas the hot dogs don't, so I tend to buy more hot dogs than buns. B hates this - he expects a hot dog to be in a hot dog bun and struggles with anything else... Until now, that is!
I unleashed my latest weapon in my battle to get B to eat a full dinner. B's favorite show? Octonauts! Enter the Octodog!

1. Put your water on to boil. While that water is heating, set to work cutting the hot dog.

2. Make a lengthwise cut to the halfway mark.Turn hot dog 90 degrees. Make a second lengthwise cut to the halfway mark.

3. Grab your kitchen shears for this next bit or it will be too fiddly! Cut each of your four legs in half lengthwise again. One half of the hot dog should be uncut, whereas the other end will have eight legs.

4. Heat in boiled water. Use this time to cut up/reheat accompanying foods. Remove from water. Look how the tentacles are curled around now!

5. Grab your food-safe pens and draw eyes on your octodog (or hand the pens to the kids, if you like).

6. Take a photo of the cute octodog so everyone feels OK about consuming him.

I served him on a bed of clams (leftover tortellini), with starfish (kiwifruit,cookie cutter), and clown loach eggs (halved grape tomatoes).

For Australian residents, this would also work with Cheerios, although the Octopus would be smaller... oh how I miss Cheerios... my kids think Cheerios are cereal!  

--A

Don't forget to check out our Blogiversary giveaway in this previous post

~J

Disclosure: This is not a sponsored post. This post was written for Loving Lunches. No product was received for this post. All opinions expressed are my own, based on personal experience with the product.

Loving Guests - Another Eclectic Lamb

Hi, I am Kathy from Eclectic Lamb. I am so happy to guest post today for Jackie! My husband and I have 9 nephews and 3 nieces ranging in age from almost 2 years to 16 years old. We live in a rural area of New York State, United States. The main focus of my blog is cute vegetarian lunches that I make for my nieces, nephews, and my husband. (Sometimes I share lunches I made for myself.) I also enjoy crafts and party planning.

 I have thought about making a Princess and the Pea lunch for awhile. I finally got around to making this simple lunch. I added a crown (carrot) but in the story she did not wear a crown. I made this lunch for my Mom. She loves it when I make lunches for her. Container: EasyLunchBoxes Princess: Crown (carrot), head (rye bread), blanket (spinach leaf) Mattresses: Rye and pumpernickel bread, crunchy peanut butter and Swiss cheese with Dijon mustard Pea: There is an actual green pea under the mattresses Fruit: Peach slices Vegetable: Tomatoes

Don't forget to check out our Blogiversary giveaway in this previous post

~J

Disclosure: This is not a sponsored post. This post was written for Loving Lunches and What's in Our Lunchbags. No product was received for this post. All opinions expressed are my own, based on personal experience with the product.

Loving Guests - Eclectic Lamb

Hi, I am Kathy from Eclectic Lamb. I am so happy to guest post today for Jackie! My husband and I have 9 nephews and 3 nieces ranging in age from almost 2 years to 16 years old. We live in a rural area of New York State, United States. The main focus of my blog is cute vegetarian lunches that I make for my nieces, nephews, and my husband. (Sometimes I share lunches I made for myself.) I also enjoy crafts and party planning.

  Penny Saved - Kid Lunch

 

 For this post, I knew that I wanted to make a parent/child lunch or in our case, uncle/nephew. I did a lot of brainstorming and asked my nephews for ideas. My 16 year old nephew came up with the idea of using the idiom - "A Penny Saved is a Penny Earned". I was excited to work with this theme. It ended up being much more simple to create than I had imagined. My 9 year old nephew and husband ate these lunches and enjoyed them. It is always a treat to have homemade bread in their lunch. Both lunches feature mostly the same food (very easy!).

• Homemade soft rolls
• Carrots
• Watermelon
• Peanut butter sandwich on roll

Before I baked the pig penny bank bread, I added aluminum foil sprayed with cooking spray to the top of the bread for the penny slot. After baking, I removed the aluminum foil and there was a perfect slot to add the penny (carrot coin). The eye and snout details are pieces of raisin.

  Penny Earned - Adult Lunch

Don't forget to check out our Blogiversary giveaway in this previous post

~J

Disclosure: This is not a sponsored post. This post was written for Loving Lunches and Eclectic Lamb. No product was received for this post. All opinions expressed are my own, based on personal experience with the product.

feeling a little like loving lunches

 

That's right!  It's a blog takeover!  I'm Erin from feeling a little lunchy and I will be making lunch for you all today.  I'm very excited and honored to be guest posting here. You can find me at www.feelingalittlelunchy.com and also on Facebook HERE. Loving Lunches will be back soon, I promise. She's just a little busy with that whole baby thing going on.  I wish she didn't live so far away...I'd offer to babysit for free.  She will have to settle for me hopefully keeping you guys entertained for a bit.

 

Just a quick background...I live in Atlanta, Georgia and have two daughters who are 10 and 12 years old. I make lunch for them nearly every day.  My 12 year old won't let me make it fun for her anymore if she has to take it to school but the 10 year old will. I hope that never ends!  I love making fun lunches because it allows me to exercise my creativity and keeps me sane. It's the one creative thing I do each day and it truly makes me happy. I'm happy because I got to make something...and even happier that I know exactly what my children are eating and most of the time, it's healthier for them.  I don't know about school lunches in Australia, but here in Georgia, they're full of rubber hot dogs, canned green beans and fried mystery meats.  I know they try to balance them, but sometimes I have a hard time counting ketchup as a vegetable.  Don't get me wrong, sometimes the girls do eat school lunch, but I try my best to keep that to a couple of times a month.

Using our great Lunchbots Trio lunchbox, I packed up a little tortilla roll up with lettuce, turkey and cheese.  Of course, I stuck a mustache in it.  I don't know where my love of mustaches came from, but they sure are fun.  Blueberries, carrots and ranch dressing fill the other two compartments.  As my girls are a little older, not surprisingly, they eat more...so today is a soup day as well. In the mustachioed Thermos jar is some chicken noodle soup leftover from last night. They love soup days! I love soup days, too...they're so easy! 

Some tips I have for packing soups and hot meals in stainless steel thermal jars:

• warm up the jar with some hot water from your sink prior to putting food in.
• heat the food hotter than you normally would if you were going to eat it right away.  I usually boil soup for a couple of minutes so it will be hot and delicious four hours later when my kids get to eat it.  This also prevents it from cooling off too much and inviting some nasty bacteria to grow in there. 
• If your kids have outgrown the princesses and characters that are printed on their food jars...go ahead and wrap it in duct tape.  As you can see, our jars are wrapped in mustache duct tape.  They used to have High School Musical characters all over them...my girls have moved on.  (Secretly, I love those movies...I even cry when they break up...every time.)
• When you have washed your jars, whether you wash by hand or in the dishwasher (I do the latter), do not seal the lids when storing them for your next use.  They get a little musty if you do.  Just set the lids beside the jars or loosely on top.  Nothing s worse than a musty jar mucking up your awesome foods.

I hope you've enjoyed our little lunch and that you have a great day!

Semi-Sea Themed Lunchbox

Here's a cute little semi-sea themed lunch that I packed in our Decor Quarters.

• Yoghurt with passionfruit
• Cheerio 'octo-dogs' with sauce in a mini silicon muffin case (there's a tutorial coming for them)
• ham & cheese sandwich cut with a Lunch Punch
• Anzac squares cute with a Cube It, on food picks

You can find links to the vast majority of products I use on this page. 

You can win all the goodies I used to make this lunch in our Blogiversary giveaway in this previous post

~J

Disclosure: This is not a sponsored post. This post was written for Loving Lunches. No product was received for this post. All opinions expressed are my own, based on personal experience with the product.

Ladybug Lunches Guest Post!

Hello everyone! I'm Karolyn (aka MommyBug) from Ladybug Lunches and I am thrilled to be guest posting for Loving Lunches today! 

My daughter, who I call my Ladybug, is two years old and attends an all day daycare while Hubby and I are at work.  Ladybug really enjoys going to "school" and I love sending her off with bento lunches- it appeases my mind knowing they will come back empty! Also, its a fun creative outlet that forces me to use my imagination to spark Ladybug's interest in food :) 

While the lunch packed below may look like far too much food for a two year old, she has enough food there to get her through lunch and "second lunch."  And like I said, her lunch boxes tend to come home empty-- unless I try to sneak in veggies, then I usually get a "Mommy, I cannot like (insert ANY vegetable name here)! Ladybug's lunch is packed in our EasyLunchboxes, one of our favorite, easy to use lunch boxes. 

In this Ladybug Lunch:

Turkey & String Cheese

Grapes & Honeydew

Frozen Yogurt Flowers

Banana Puffs

Pretzels & Graham Crackers

I had a blast guest posting  for Loving Lunches today, thank you for having me! If you'd like to see more of Ladybug's lunches, hop on over to the Ladybug Lunches blog & feel free to follow Ladybug Lunches on Facebook! 

*MommyBug*

Loving Guests - What's In Our Lunch Bags

When Loving Lunches said that guest posters would be needed for August I was thrilled to volunteer! I'm Karen from What's In Our Lunch Bags? and have been a fan of Loving Lunches for a while now. I've also been a fan of pretty much all things Australian for most of my life so I thought that this would be a great opportunity to do a lunch based on one of my current Australian obsessions: The Honourable Miss Phryne Fisher! If you aren't familiar with Phryne, she's a character created by Kerry Greenwood and the star of 20 novels and an amazing television series. I highly recommend both the books and the show.

For my lunch for work I have some lasagna and creamed spinach in my black+blum Box Appetit. I drew a silhouette of Phryne onto provolone cheese using edible markers and then cut the quote out of Colby jack cheese. The quote is from episode 6 of the series, "Ruddy Gore," and fits both Phryne and myself.

Don't forget to check out our Blogiversary giveaway in this previous post

~J

Disclosure: This is not a sponsored post. This post was written for Loving Lunches and What's in Our Lunchbags. No product was received for this post. All opinions expressed are my own, based on personal experience with the product.

Share the Love One Year On

It's hard to believe my little blog is turning one and what a year it has been! Not only on the blogging front, but also personally.

We've moved house & town, changed jobs, and we are expecting our next little lunchbox buddy any day now.

I've 'met' some wonderful people through the blogosphere and learned so much! About code (well, that one's ongoing), social media, writing, photography, and above all - food!

One of the things I've loved most over the last year is expanding my little collection of lunch-box goodies. I've had the opportunity to play with some brilliant toys tools of the trade and now I'd like to share that feeling with you!

Thanks to Decor, The Lunch Punch, FunBites and yours truly I've put together a selection of 'my favourite things' so you can play along with my lunchbox adventures. Simply follow the instructions on the Rafflecopter form below - Good Luck!!

• As per Terms & Conditions entrants must be subscribed to at least one of Loving Lunches' social media or email updates. It is highly recommend that the email address you enter the give-away with matched the email address/ID you follow with, otehrwise your entry can be difficult to verify.
• If the winner does not reply to claim their prize in two (2) working days, they will forfeit and a new winner drawn.
• Full Terms & Conditions can be found HERE

Note - Open to Australian residents 18years & over (excluding NSW) only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: This is not a sponsored post and no monetary compensation was provided nor offered. This post was written for Loving Lunches, The Lunch Punch, Decor and Fun Bites who generously provided the prize/s for this competition. All opinions expressed are my own, based on my personal experience with the item/s.

Toys and Tools

I've had a few questions about where to get some of the toys tools I use to make my lunches a little special for Miss M. Some I've been lucky enough to win, others I've inherited, been gifted, or purchased. The ones I've purchased have come from different places ranging from my local $2 shop, to Tupperware parties, garage sales, promotional gift-with-purchases, and specialty cake, catering, kitchenware, and Bento suppliers/shops.

I started off with some BBQ egg rings (that I used as giant cookie cutters) and just my kitchen knife with a little creativity. Then I remembered a pack of cookie cutters I'd purchased years before that was hiding at the back of the cupboard.

My first 'purchase' was some of Lunch Punch limited edition gift with purchase promotion with Bega in early 2012. (If you'd like to ask the Lunch Punch to bring this set out, you can let them know on Facebook in this thread)

I started entering competitions on Divine Finds and was lucky enough to win a voucher from Kawaii Kids which I then spent on some little lunch boxes. Then I won the Bento Bloggers & Friends Talk Like a Pirate Blog Hop treasure hunt! You can check out that first big haul of goodies here. Soon I started to discover Bento suppliers in Australia. Between them & new affiliate Bento USA I really haven't looked back, although I have looked a little sideways at times (I do love a re-purpose ^-^).

I have started a page where you can see products with links to where to purchase where I can provide them. It's across the top, or you can check it out here.

Here are some Australian Bento stores you may like to visit. If you do, let them know that Loving Lunches says Hi!

~J

Disclosure: This is not a sponsored post. This post was written for Loving Lunches. No product was received for this post. All opinions expressed are my own, based on personal experience with the product.

Blogiversary Count Down - Just Days to Go

Only a few days now and this little blog will be celebrating its first 'Blogiversary'. *Eeeep!* There will be a giveaway to celebrate made up of a few of my favourite things. . . can you guess what's included?



A few weeks ago I mentioned Miss M was getting creative with her sandwich requests. . . what else would she ask for after purchasing her first pair of sunglasses, honestly! Lucky I had these cute picks from Affiliate Bento USA.

And when wanting to quickly chop some potatoes for dinner. . .

. . . I'm much quicker with a FunBites Cube It than I am with a knife.

Sometimes your toast just needs a little loving too :-)

And there's nothing like a good 'square' meal for leftovers (apologies for the poor pun)

Have you guessed what's included in the giveaway next week?



~J

Disclosure: This is not a sponsored post. This post was written for Loving Lunches. No product was received for this post. All opinions expressed are my own, based on personal experience with the product.