Eye Love Ewe - Valentine Hop

The Bento Bloggers & Friends are sharing the love for Valentine's Day with some fantastic ideas for lunches for your little (or not so little) sweethearts. We had to join in on the fun, of course! Be sure and follow through the hop by clicking on the conversation hearts button at the bottom of this post, heading over to Blame It On the Bento next. Happy Valentine's Day!
Pearl couscous, provolone & Colby cheese, red bell pepper, honey Greek yogurt w/ strawberry jam, and raisins and pretzel minis in the 'Cutie' heart.

Pistachios, pretzels, vanilla Greek yogurt w/ strawberry jam, pearl couscous, and mini bell peppers.

In these lunches...

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This Little Heart of Mine

... I'm gonna let it shine. Let it shine. Let it shine. Let it shine. Great, now I'll have that in my head all day. Know what else is on my mind every day? A sweet (most of the time) little girl! And here's an early Valentine lunch for that love of mine!

Trader Joe's kettle potato chips, Colby cheese, dried mango, orange bell pepper, spinach, and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

In this lunch...

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It's Friday!

I cannot tell you how glad I am to have this week over with. It has just been one of those weeks. Ugh, and double ugh. A simple lunch was in order. Bits and pieces to the rescue for mama. Happy weekend to all!

Trader Joe's mini 12 grain crackers, Swiss and cheddar cheese, bell pepper, celery, olives, smoked ham, and a kiss (because everybody needs a kiss, right?).

In this lunch...

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Happy Birthday To You!

As anyone reading should know by now, my kiddo turned 5 last week. That means that over the weekend, the official 'party' took place. First thing's first.. I have to extend my gratitude to my girlfriend that hosted the party at her house since we remain 'homeless' at the moment. Okay, not homeless. I shouldn't say that. My mom has been wonderful to have us in her home during our 'transition', but it's a little crazy around there, so having the party in a different environment was nice.

This year, the theme of choice was dinosaurs, which has been somewhat of an obsession for the kiddo. And by obsession, I mean obsession with a capital 'O' .. and 'B' .. and 'S' .. well, you get the idea. Note the dino tail from Halloween that had to get worn again for the occasion. I will also say that we have an unhealthy abundance of carnivores in our house. It can get pretty crazy if you aren't careful.

They kind of look like they were watching me, but it might just be that I frosted them at 1am. Maybe it was the lack of sleep?? What do you think?

Normally, I make a butter cookie, but this time, I tried a different recipe that required no chilling of the dough. I loved how they rolled out, baked, and tasted, of course. I even froze them to store before party time and they did great. I just decorated them after they thawed. Aren't they cute?? Then, there's cake, right? I looked to the experts again at our local Patisserie to do the baking, but I took over decorating for better or worse. The kiddo insisted on a red/orange Stegosaurus on the top of the cake, so I found some clip art, edited some things out of it, and colored the F'n thing pixel by pixel to have it printed on chewy, nasty edible paper for the top of the cake. Yeah, I'm totally taking credit for it. It alone took more time than it took them to bake and frost the cake, so yeah. Then, I rolled out and stamped fondant dinosaurs that I stuck on around the base of the cake. I'll also take the credit for the big knuckle print in the buttercream because of it. Damn knuckles.

And, yes, there is even more news to come.. so stay tuned...

In this post...

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Simple Week's End Lunch

With the 'real' birthday festivities upon us this weekend, another slightly birthday inspired lunch was in order before the week was out. I still can't believe my little girl is five. Crazy..

Momables inspired BBQ chicken pasta salad, grapes, celery, and frozen yogurt.
What do I mean by Momables inspired? Well, that's one of the genius things.. the recipes are so adaptable. This inspiration came from a super simple, delicious BBQ chicken sandwich. I took the recipe for the sandwich filling and just mixed it up with leftover pasta and some shredded cheese. Delish!

In this lunch...

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FIVE!

Five? Yes, five! Say it ain't so... and why does this one feel like such a big one to me? She's only one day older than she was yesterday, yet I can't help but look at her like she's a big girl all over again. So, this is obviously the second big thing I wanted to share this week. And, while we feel the impact of such a day, it's relatively calm around here. It's just the kiddo and me, and like every Wednesday, we're off to school this afternoon. It will be a nice meal out with just us tonight and a party this weekend. So, at the very least, a special lunch was in order for my big girl today.

Couscous, colby cheese, watermelon, frozen Greek yogurt, cucumber, spinach, and turkey pepperoni.

As usual, the frozen yogurt was made in silicone ice cube molds, but this time, I used two flavors to create the two colors. Turned out pretty cute, I'd say.
I also sent dad with a lunch today. Here's that one.

Momables inspired BBQ chicken pasta salad with cucumber and colby jack cheese, frozen yogurt, strawberries, and grapes.

In these lunches...

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Something's Fishy

Okay, so something is fishy.. and I'm not talking just lunch. I've been missing in action for some ridiculous amount of time now, and it's about time I did some explaining. There has been a lot going on in our world as of late. I promise that we've still been eating lunch and trying out new recipes over here, but sharing them, that's another story. Bear with me. We'll get back in the groove! I promise.

Anyways, if you follow us on Facebook, which you should.. hint, hint... you will have seen one of the things that has happened recently. We sold our house!! Normally, that would mean dances of joy and exciting times on the horizon, but for us, while we were thrilled to finally sell, the dances of joy were a bit more subdued. The purchase happened fast (if you've dealt with a cash buyer before, you know how fast it can go), and we hadn't even begun to look for a new house, so with little time to get out and nothing of our own to call home, we are staying with my mom while we look for a house. We are fully moved into her space house as of last Friday. She has been wonderful, but I'm ready to move out... yesterday!

The rest of what's been going on will have to wait for another day, so stay tuned. I can tell you that we have a big birthday coming up this week! Very exciting! In the meantime, I'm actually posting a lunch! Happy packing!

Tuna fish salad sandwich with cheddar, grapes, Goldfish crackers, and cucumber 'fishes'.

In this lunch...

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