Mummy Lunch Monday

It's just another Mummy Lunch Monday. . . 

Sorry - I've got Manic Monday by the Bangles stuck in my head :-)

Mr Loving made spaghetti & meatballs last weekend. I love packing my lunch the same time as serving dinner!

Also had roast pork over the weekend so I nabbed some to make a pork, potato & gravy roll. Flashback childhood favourite <3 Don't knock it 'til you've tried it. Must served with a milkshake!

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 my personal experience with the product. This post may contain affiliate links.

Belated Elephant Lunch

Did you celebrate World Elephant Day on the 12th August? I got muddled and sent these lunches a day late for my girls.

I do love the little vegetable cutters I bought.

Such fun to have a 3D shape to play with at lunchtime! (and for me to play with when packing) Miss M helped me to cut these although I did the assembly - only because I hadn't made this shape before and had to figure it out ;-)

And they sit quite nicely in the boxes too.

A little pick for Miss M

And a fork as well.

Honey had the same-but-different for her lunch.

With her carrot elephant nestled in with her ham & cheese croissant.


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 my personal experience with the product. This post may contain affiliate links.

Mickey Mouse Lunches

 Miss M's show & share theme was Disney characters last week. She was very excited to take along some of the Disney food picks from my collection.

I used the CuteZCute cutter to cut out a shape and coloured in with FooDoodlers for this lunch, served with popcorn and strawberries. not pictured are the yoghurt pouch and drink box she took as well.

 I haven't gotten around to sharing this lunch yet either so thought I'd pop it in. We went through a few of the Lunchbox Love Notes a little while back and this was one of my favourites.

Do you know the answer?


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 my personal experience with the product. This post may contain affiliate links.

Quickie Sea Lunches

 I've felt so rushed since returning to work and have found I'm less & less creative with the girls lunches. Having said that these quickie lunches were fast & fun as well as being relevant to their days with both of them talking about under the sea at their respective 'schools'.

Miss M took an EasyLunchbox with passionfruit yoghurt, strawberries, fishy Vegemite sandwich and under the sea biscuits. Watermelon balls for brain break along with some milk in her Juice in the Box.

This is the layout I've been using for Honey lately. Main in a mini Tupperware (oct-dogs today, still frozen when I took the picture), yoghurt pouch, sandwich and snack with large container of fruit.

 This lunch is from a little while ago and I just haven't gotten around to posting it. Again sea themed but with sausages and sauce for lunch alternative.

And I drew a face on the fish ;-)

This was Miss M's the same day. She got Nutella/cashew nut dip fro her apple.

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 my personal experience with the product. This post may contain affiliate links.

More Mushrooms for Mummy

 A couple more of the lunches and snacks that have sustained me through my working week :-)

Loaded potatoes, roast pumpkin, peas & corn

strawberry hearts with peanut butter-Nutella dip

Nibbles for the markets!

Chicken crimpy biscuits with gherkin dip - its there any better combination?

Apple slices with peanut butter-Nutella dip

Doubling up on the silicon cups to make a lid

English muffin pizza with dinner roll garlic bread

Spaghetti Bolognese with dinner roll garlic bread

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 my personal experience with the product. This post may contain affiliate links.

Happy Bento Book Tour

Have you heard the buzz? There's a new Bento book on the shelves! I've loved Anna Adden's work over at Becoming a Bentoholic for some time now, and when the opportunity arose to review her new book Happy Bento!: Lunches on the Go I jumped at the chance.

Anna clearly & concisely walks you through the basics of Bento - from what it is and 'tools of the trade' to techniques to help you achieve the types of lunches pictured in her book. Basic Bentos, Fun Bentos, Special Days, and Season Bentos are all accompanied by crisp and colourful photos with each lunch detailing supplies, ingredients and directions. Where needed photo tutorials are also included. I love that this book covers everything from simple basic bentos and techniques through to somethings that are more advanced and complicated. Something for everyone!

I decided to replicate her Super Mario Bros inspired lunch, not only because it is so cute, but because I've been wanting to make one in my mushroom lunchbox ever since I got it!

I replaced the hotdogs in the book with corndog muffins as we've just been to the circus and I can't get that side-show staple Dagwood Dogs out of my head! Following the directions in the book made creating the Piranha Plant a breeze, although I used regular spaghetti instead of angel hair pasta and didn't cut the small circles from the plant which wold have made it that extra bit cuter.

I bought cherry tomatoes instead of grape but I still think they look quite cute, don't you?

I love this lunch so much I'm taking it to work for myself!

(By the way, if you're quick there's a copy of Happy Bento!: Lunches on the Go up for grabs on Becoming a Bentoholic right now - and the giveaway is open world wide! Check out this post for details.)

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

~J

Disclosure: This is not a sponsored post and no monetary compensation was offered nor provided. This post was written for Loving Lunches and Becoming a Bentoholic who provided an e-copy of the book to review. All opinions expressed are my own, based on my personal experience with the product. This post may contain affiliate links.

Science Week Solar System Bento

 Miss M is loving everything space and particularly Solar System lately. So much who she's actually borrowed this book from the school library twice! The Magic School Bus, Lost in the Solar System was just the push I needed to finally get around to making a solar system lunch!

The Magic School bus here is a Vegemite sandwich decorated with FooDoodlers and fun picks.

I know these planets are a little out of order, but that's the way they fit in the box!

Mars (deep red cherry tomato)

Earth (circle of pear with landmass carvings. Coloured with FooDoodlers)

Venus (marshmallow coloured with FooDoodlers)

Mercury (rice crackers)

The Asteroid Belt (star mini biscuits)

Jupiter (mandarin with grape 'Red Spot')

Saturn  (Smokey Cheese)

Uranus  (Onion & Chive Cheese)

Neptune  (kiwi fruit)

Pluto (kiwi fruit offcut)

Miss M took a yoghurt pouch for her brain break this day.

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 my personal experience with the product. This post may contain affiliate links.

How Much Can a Mushroom Hold?

 Turns out, quite a bit! I packed this leftovers-for-lunch to take to work, but didn't end up eating it there.

This was taken when the lunch was packed, Monday evening.

 This was taken when I got home Wednesday.

 The still cold meal dished up on a plate to give you an idea of how much you really can fit into these lunch boxes. Mashed potato with parsley, broccoli, turkey, brown onion gravy, carrots, roast pumpkin.

And warmed through when everything starts to spread a little.

What do you think? Does it look more or less than you expected?

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 my personal experience with the product. This post may contain affiliate links.

Black Cat EasyLunchbox

I've been using this square cutter a lot for Honey's lunches lately and Miss M wanted in on the act ;-)

They have both been playing cats lately so I thought it was the perfect character to includes in her lunch.

You can see how a full sandwich can fit into the medium section. Served with apple slices, yoghurt pouch, cashew & Nutella dip, cherry tomatoes and milk.

Miss M helped to decorate her sandwich and insisted I share :-)

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 my personal experience with the product. This post may contain affiliate links.

Peek-a-Boo Beans Lunch

 Honey loves to play 'peek-a-boo' with her beans and these edamames are so much fun for her! I sent them with some leftover homemade chicken nuggets, strawberries, yoghurt, milk and a sandwich.

 Some cheese arms help her sandwich to get in on the peek-a-boo game too :-)

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 my personal experience with the product. This post may contain affiliate links.

Cute Cucumbers

I found some gorgeous little mini cucumbers at the supermarket the other day and couldn't resist including them in the girls' lunches.

Miss M had her cucumber with mandarin, yoghurt, and a dalmatian-inspired Lunch Punch dog along with some milk.

Honey had some spaghetti, cucumber & cheese, sandwich, juice, mandarin & grape, yoghurt.

Cucumber & cheese

Honey sandwiches.

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 my personal experience with the product. This post may contain affiliate links.

Same But Different

 I've been trying to remember to pack some veggies into the girls lunch boxes. Today it was some leftover corn cobs.

Honey took mini pies with sauce, banana, corn, teddy bear sandwich, Gogo Juice, cereal trail mix and yoghurt.

Miss M took corn, yoghurt, teddybear sandwich, banana and Gogo Juice.


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 my personal experience with the product. This post may contain affiliate links.