Loving Your Feedback

Well it has taken me a while, but I have finally formulated a semi-plan, taking into account all the wonderful feedback you gave me during my One Year Blogiversary Giveaway!










Some of the things you'd like to see more of include:
Recipes (including gluten & lactose free, and budget recipes)
Snack Ideas
Guest Posts
Recipes
Giveaways
Reviews
Videos (eek!)
Tools & Accessories
Recipes
Lots of Pictures
Sandwich Ideas
Warm Lunches
Cold Lunches
Grown Up Lunches
Leftover Lunches
Quick Lunches
More of everything/the same
And even more Recipes!

While I'm not making any promises just yet that I'll be able to deliver all of the above, I'd like to thank you all so much for your great feedback! And as a special thank you, here's a little treat, as requested by KP ;-D

There's only a week left to enter our latest competition to win your very own Red Luv-It 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.

Flashback Park Lunch

I must admit I'm enjoying digging through my old photos & seeing how much my lunches have (& haven't) changed!

This lunch was a throw-together for the park.

Jam flower sandwich
Sultanas with cheese stick
Gingernut Biscuits

Served in Decor Quarters (you can check out my page of tools & toys here)

Don't forget to enter our latest competition to win your very own Red Luv-It 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.

Dinosaur Sandiwches

I found this old photo amongst my files. Cookie cutter dinosaur with Jurassic pines & ham sun. This was made when Miss M discovered Justine Clarke's Everybody Roar Like a Dinosaur.

It makes me glad I finally weakened & bought this dinosaur cutter.

Which always brings out a helping hand
















And at times some FunBites too ;-)


Details of my tools & toys can be found on this page.

Don't forget to enter our latest competition to win your very own Red Luv-It 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.

I Luv-It (and Giveaway)

You know how there are times when you get a song stuck in your head, and you simply *cannot* get it out? Every time I open my lunches cupboard (yes I have an entire cupboard dedicated to them) I get this song on repeat - and what's worse is I really only know a few lyrics, so I spend the next few hours humming 'la-da-da-da-dum-da-da, li-da-de-dum, de-da-da-ah; la-de-da-dum, la-de-de-da, la-do-de-dim-de-da-ah; I don't care, I love it!'

Why would I get Icona Pop's 'I Love It' song stuck in my head? Because every time I open that cupboard, I see my FunBites Luv-It. And I do love it. You can see my original review of it in this previous post. Since then we've played a fair bit with both our Cube-It and Luv-It, and more recently the new Triangles (I will get around to posting a review for that one soon, newborn & toddler taming permitting).

To help celebrate reaching 500 Facebook Likes and the final school term for 2013 (where did the year go?), the lovely people at FunBites are letting me give away one of their fancy new red Luv-Its!


Here are some of the shapes we've been making. . .

And now for the fun part! 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 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.

Apple Umbrella

Today's flashback is a simple little snack.

Half an apple, some cheese held in place with cheese spread and a pretzel stick.

Pinspiration can be found here

~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.

IntARnational Talk Like a Pirate Day and a Blog Hop

 Ahoy, me hearties! T'day be known as International Talk Like a Pirate Day and t' celARRbrate the buccaneers from Bento Bloggers & Friends  ARRe havin' a hop! Be sure 'n click on th' button below t' SEA what Ming from Bento Monsters be brewin', 'n continue clickin' 'til ye find yerself back 'ere!

Last year I made a week's worth o' booty for Miss M, but with th' arrival of Honey 'tis year th' pickin's be somewhat slimmer. If you're chasing some inspARRation be sure 'n check out the ARRchives, startin' 'ere.

Miss M be a might taken with them thar Octonauts these days so out comes me trusty o' CuteZCute for a Quick Kwazii.












That be an affiliate link above, 'n ye can SEA all o' th' rest o' me booty used f'r me grub on tis 'ere page. (Most o' which I won from last year's hop)















Now I couldn't let ol' Kwazii set sail on 'is lonesome so some o' th' other Octonauts came along f'r th' venture. I must admit I'm a little proud of my first e'er rice ball Peso.

















Some potato mash, black sesame seeds 'n FooDoodlers be th' makin's o' Capt'n Barnacles.

Professor Inkling be a cheerio/mini frankfurt wi' FooDoodler an' black sesame seed trimmin's.


















I couldn't skip me favourite Shellington so 'ere 'e be personified in cheese & Pepperoni from Walkerston Country Meats wi' some sultanas and a rice cracker.

















Today's yoghurt be brought to you by me favourite letter. . . ;-P
















Here be me first attempt at Kwazii, which apart from th' poor spellin' was rejected by Miss M as not bein' th' kitten 'imself. We'll SEA what she says 'bout th' new guy. Thank ye t' JeeJee from CuteZCute f'r th' inspARation t' impress th' little Miss.
[EDIT: Thanks also to Lise from Veggie Bento, I thought I'd seen a CuteZCute Kwazii somewhere but couldn't find it. Here it is!]

Now walk th' plank o' Black Bread's Revenge in th' direction of Bento Monsters f'r more piratical rumbustification!

Once ye be done wi' Black Bread's Revenge ye can jump ship t' SEA what th' West Coast be doin' on the Flying Lunchman

Some o' me treasures used f'r t'is bounty. . .

~J

Disclosure: Tis not be a sponsored post. Tis post were written f'r Loving Lunches. No product were pillaged f'r tis post. All opinions expressed ARRe me own, based on persARRnal experience with th' product.

International Talk Like a Pirate Day

Today be International Talk Like a Pirate Day 'n thar be a Hop a-happenin', but ye'll have to wait until t'night t' SEA 'tis year's offerin' (9:30 AEST, or 7:30 am EST) 'Ere be a sneak peek f'r yer.

In th' meanwhile ye can check out some o' me creations from last year in these previous posts:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

Be sure 'n check back t'night f'r all th' frivolities o' th' blog hop!



~J

Disclosure: Tis not be a sponsored post. Tis post were written f'r Loving Lunches. No product were pillaged f'r tis post. All opinions expressed ARRe me own, based on persARRnal experience with th' product.

Doughnut Face

Sometimes all it takes is a little squinting to imagine a face.

These zucchini slice doughnuts paired with a sausage sort of reminded me of a smiley.

~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.

Apple Cupcakes

I was late on the uptake for Early Childhood Educators' day a few weeks ago. I saw the sign at Daycare on Tuesday & whipped these little babies up to take in on Wednesday.




I replaced the milk in my regular sponge cake recipe with apple sauce & 'iced' with raspberry jam. Decorations are mint leaf lollies & Cadbury Fingers biscuits. These mini sized cakes fit perfectly into an egg carton - great for taking out when you don't want to have to remember to bring your container home :-)

This is the version I made last year.

~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.

Voodoo Gingerbread Men

Happy Friday the 13th!

It just so happens that today's flashback comes from around Halloween last year. I attempted to pay homage to these cute cookies but am willing to admit I failed miserably :-)

I also quite liked these skeleton gingerbread men but as you can see my cookie mix just didn't hold up. As a result I have lost the recipe & so I'm sorry I can't share it.

Decorations are choc melts, mints, Fads, mini M&Ms & gel icing.


~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.

Dora CuteZCute

One of Miss M's best friends at daycare is a huge Dora the Explorer fan, so on one of the days she was going to be there Miss M asked for a Dora sandwich. Not really sure how to create the look I dug through my cupboard & found my CuteZCute! Remembering some of the creative ideas I'd seen on their Pinterest Board I thought I'd give it a go.

Ham & cheese filling & details with sultana eyes and Vegemite hair. Not a spitting image but I'd hoped I'd get away with it. According to Miss M's report - 'That wasn't Dora' - oh well, can't blame a girl for trying!

Details of my tools & toys can be found on this page.

 ~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.

Create A Shape

One thing I love is getting new toys to play with. When I purchased my Create A Shape mini cutter (you can see this & many of my other tools/toys on this page) the first thing I did was to cut up all the little corner off-cuts from the next day's sandwich

I had layer upon layer of little mini shapes.





















Some had filling (ham and or cheese), and some didn't.

After I'd finished playing I skewered all the pieces, popped into the container with the sandwich & some cherry tomatoes that were supposed to be cut as hearts, I think I got the angle a little wrong :-)

I do love this little cutter set, it was a great set to start me off. Miss M's most requested sandwich 'Pingu' can be made using the storage container as the large cutter, and the small inner circle to cut the eyes. I haven't tried to cut anything too hard (like raw carrot) with this plastic set, but it has handled what I've thrown at it so far

~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.

Funny Face Vegetables

Flashback leftovers today.

These roast veges are hiding some roast chicken we had for dinner. The veges are potato, sweet potato, and red, green & yellow capsicums. I added black sesame seeds to the 'eyes'.

This is a simple & constantly evolving recipe for roasting the chicken. It normally starts with chicken pieces, capsicum and BBQ sauce and then whatever takes my fancy at the time. I tend to bake at around 180C for about an hour. Sometimes I bake covered, sometimes uncovered - depending on how much I manage to squeeze into the dish. I do like to serve with crispy roasted vegetables like these potatoes.
~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.

Cheerio & Ham Flower

What to send when you're at the end of your grocery week? Some ham flowers topped with a sliced cheerio/mini frankfurt.

Again this is a flashback to last year's lunches.


~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.

Little Flower

I must admit I'm kind of glad I have a back log of old lunches I haven't posted yet. Not that I'm not no longer packing lunches, it's just that I haven't been photographing them :-)

This little cookie cutter jam sandwich with black sesame seeds was one of our park lunches last year. And I must admit we are lucky enough that Miss M is still happy to eat her crusts.

~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 Giveaway - Last Day

Today is your last day to enter our Blogiversary giveaway in this previous post

Here's a round up of some of the lunches I've made using these great tools:

~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.