'Snack Box' Lunches

You'll notice if you make frequent stops that we often do 'snack' boxes or DIY lunchables. I do this for many reasons. First and foremost is that there is a preference from the one eating lunch to things like this over sandwiches, wraps, or any of the traditional 'breads', but of course we still make those too. I've found that these are some of the easiest lunches to put together for me, too. Literally, they take only a couple minutes and I'm done. I can get lots of variety into meals this way, too. Not only through the day, but also through the week, we are able to get different grains, fruits, veggies, proteins, etc. And, yes, I'm noticing the ones I chose to post today have more similarity than differences, but I promise it isn't always so. In this case, it was a good way to clear up odds and ends, too. Also, the kiddo is a very light eater, so this is plenty for her. I've actually found myself feeding her less and less as she is getting older because I am able to understand a bit better what volume of food she will actually consume. It's still a struggle sometimes, but we have overcome heaps of issues with regard to her not only wanting food at all, but enjoying it too. That makes for one happy mama, for sure!

Pretzels, cheddar/mozzarella cheese chunks, Trader Joe's roasted, salted cashews, cucumbers, and grapes.

Grapes, cucumber, colby jack cheese, Goldfish crackers, Boar's Head ham, and chai-spiced yogurt raisins.

In these lunches...

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A Herd of Elephants

I'm finally nearly partially fully rebounded from our mini family vacation. Would you believe we're entertaining the thought of another even mini-er (is that a word?) one before Labor Day? What am I thinking? Anyways, while I'm far from going through the mounds of photos I took, I was thinking about a week dedicated to one of the major activities on our trip, The Columbus Zoo & Aquarium. Why not do a week long theme of some of the animals we saw? My daughter's favorite? Well, that will have to wait until Friday, but it isn't one of the 'usuals' at the zoo, for sure.

Today's animal? The ELEPHANT! The Columbus Zoo has Asian Elephants, and there was quite a bit we learned about them, including a fun fact on our Lunchbox Love Notes, too! Keep an eye out... we'll be having a Lunchbox Love review and giveaway very soon!

Elephant sandwich with Boar's Head turkey, swiss, and spinach on a bed of more spinach, blueberry Greek yogurt (how to make yogurt 'cut-outs'), apples, grapes, Trader Joe's honey roasted peanuts, cucumbers, and tomatoes straight out of the garden.

Here's some more fun facts that we picked up about the Asian Elephant!
*The Asian Elephant is more closely related to a Mammoth than the African Elephant.
*An elephant only has a set of 4 molars (although the tusk is a modified incisor), and as they wear down, the molars are replaced in a conveyor belt fashion, but only 6 sets of molars will ever come in during an elephant's lifetime.
*The elephant actually walks on it's toes (the heel of the foot is just a pad made of fat and connective tissue), something they share in common with my tiptoe walking daughter.. sigh...
*Baby elephants are born weighing in at around 250 pounds, and adults can range from 7,000 to a whopping 16,000 pounds.
*One of the biggest difference in appearance between Asian and African elephants is their ears. In Asian elephants, they are shaped like the sub continent of India. While, African elephants much larger ears are shaped like the continent of Africa. Go figure.
*Asian elephants are endangered, and sadly, the biggest threat to them is humans.

And, since you KNOW I run in some fabulous circles of bento packing ladies and gents, I had to share some of these amazing, fantastic, super creative and yummy elephant lunches that some of my fellow bloggers have posted, too. I couldn't fit all the lunches in the collage, but be sure and visit them all by clicking on the links below! (Numbers in the collage above correspond to the blog with the same number below)
A Boy and His Lunch
Becoming a Bentoholic *2
Beneficial Bento *3
Bento Lunch *8
Bent on Better Lunches *4
Bentoriffic
Bentos on the Bayou *1
Creative Food
Eats Amazing *7
Food for Harper
Keeley McGuire *6
Organized Bites *5
What's In Our Lunchbags
Zoe's Lunchbox

In this lunch...

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