Teachers Cannot Live By Apples Alone. . .

They need lunch too!

Thank you to Biting the Hand that Feeds You for this fantastic idea! Check out the gorgeous lunches she made for their Teacher Appreciation Day in this post.

My personal shopper did a Daiso run for me and found a fantastic haul.

Each teacher received a cooler bag , tiered lunchbox, dressing bottle, two ongiri boxes, mini cutlery, drink bottle and an ice pack. There were also a few picks included in their lunches.

And different colours so there was no confusion.

Now, on to lunch! I made colour co-ordinated 'menus' for each teacher. They each had a different juice and there was also dietary considerations. Our menu also doubled as a card.

Miss M enjoyed helping to make the salad and decorating with the rainbow carrots that have just come back into our major grocer.

Honey enjoyed the photo shoot that followed
;-D.

Three lovely salads, all in a row.

I cheated and bought some bags of salad leaves and added the decorative carrots and apple (dipped in apple juice before drying on paper towel). There are some offcuts hidden throughout the salad too.

Ranch dressing in the bottle, with Christmas-y apples and rotisserie chicken.

The sweet snack boxes contained apple and raspberry cupcake or cake pop, depending on dietary requirements. Decorated with pretzels and lollies. This time I used fruit salad jellies, you can see the mint leaves I've used in the past in this previous post. There's also an apple pastry rose each (see my first attempt here) and a mint ball. The ones covered in crushed M&Ms are my Naughty Mint Balls (aka reindeer poop) while the coconut rolled one is a Nice Mint Ball from The Kids Menu.

The savoury snack boxes contained my first attempt at apple crisps. They didn't really turn out as crispy as I would have liked, Chips - yes, crisps - no.

And in the morning I added a Sweet Potato, Quinoa, Apple Stuffing ball to each box. You will have to come back tomorrow for the recipe :-).

These little guys though - finely slice your apple and dip in apple juice. Dry with paper towel. Lay onto a strip of puff pastry so that the skin of the apple is facing out and the pieces overlap, resembling a wave. Fold up the pastry to enclose the bottom half of the strip before rolling tightly. I sat these in a muffin pan to help hold the shape which worked well. Bake at 180 degrees until the pastry is golden.

And if you follow on Instagram you would already know that I had to match the juices to the lunch boxes :-). I admit that I didn't blend these myself. Giving as a gift I didn't want to risk having the flavours wrong. 'Miss Pink' had apple & cranberry. 'Miss Green' had apple, orange, kiwi and spirulina juice. 'Mrs Orange' had carrot, apple & orange juice.

All packed and ready to go. The bags held the lunch and snack boxes. The ice pack and drink bottles were separate.

What did you give your teachers this year?

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.

Easy Christmas Tree

Miss M had her end of year concert last week and we were invited to stay for morning tea. I knew there would be plenty of food on offer so packed her a lighter lunch.

This simple Vegemite sandwich is decorated with some plus jam and cheese. Served with pepperoni, cheese, grapes and not pictured cracker, yoghurt and milk. All in our Easy Lunchbox.

Is it really the last week of school? When did that happen?!?!

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.

Christmas Biscuit Tree Teacher Gift

It's that time of year again when you realise there's only a matter of days left in the school year and the frantic race to find the perfect teacher and or class gift begins. Here's a quick, simple idea Miss M & I made for her daycare teachers last year.

One of the best things about this is that the kids do get to make the gifts themselves.

Years ago I bought one of those star Christmas tree cookie kits. We followed the recipe on the box. Miss M loved rolling out the dough.

And using the cutters.

And pressing the circle cutter through the stars.

And using up the scraps

And having some sneaky samples.

Stars all baked and awaiting assembly.

We also made some Christmas shapes.

And discovered that cachous melt in the oven.

But work quite nicely if you press them in while the cookies are still warm.

Don't they look pretty?

Some of these were saved just for Santa.

We used up-cycled peanut butter jars to hold the special trees for our special teachers.

There is a candy cane stick in the centre of each.

Perhaps we should have iced the bottom biscuit to the lid so it wouldn't wobble so much.

Decorating is the best bit.

Very particular.

And done! What are you giving your teachers this year?


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.

Green Salmon Pasta with Zucchini Ribbons

Can you tell I'm thoroughly enjoying our #52NewFoods cookbook? Ok, so zucchini isn't new for us, and neither is this dish (there is one version of the recipe in this previous post) - but zucchini ribbons are.

I have no idea why I've never made zucchini ribbons. They are so easy and create such a different texture than simply slicing, dicing or grating as I would usually do. We didn't try them raw as they are featured in the book, but that is now being added to the list :-)

What do you think? Looks pretty yummy, right? Also in this version - mushrooms, baby spinach leaves, broccoli, spring onion, salmon, cream, garlic and of course pasta.

Have you tried any new foods yet?


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.

ComplEAT Mummy Snack

I've been using my ComplEAT Energy Booster on and off for a few months now. It's been a good size for a snack soup on those nights when I've been working. I think as a yoghurt container it's a little on the large size, but I believe it was designed with pre-packaged yoghurt in mind.

Last week I topped my yoghurt with mango and some frozen passionfruit. In the middle compartment there's the last of the banana bread muffins I made and a couple of TicTacs thrown in the base. I like a little minty freshness at the end of my break :-)

Did I mention I picked up my ComplEAT at BioMe, here in Queensland? And guess what? I've just signed up as an affiliate so if you make a purchase after clicking on this link I will receive a small percentage of the sale at no cost to you! How great is that?!?!

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.