school lunches.

i like packing emme's lunch for school.  i know, that seems kind of crazy.  and there are definitely days when i'm like...what can i possibly put in there and how can this one activity take such an inordinate amount of time?  but overall, it's something i enjoy because i like feeling like i am taking care of her in some small way, even when i'm not there.  and i love imagining her opening her lunchbox and looking at all the things inside and deciding what to taste first, etc. etc. 

lately, we have been doing better about at least starting lunch packing the night before.  i attribute this to us wising up, and also to the fact that i now have a two-lunchbox rotation.  ek's original lunchbox was the full size goodbyn lunchbox.  i liked that one a lot, but since she's gotten in to warblers, she basically refuses to drink milk at school, so when i saw the goodbyn bynto lunchboxes on sale for 2-for-1 on gilt a few weeks ago, i bit the bullet.  SUCH a good decision.  we are wasting less milk and less food daily, and we have two lunchboxes in rotation (since these are dishwasher safe and we don't always run the dishwasher every single night and/or remember to turn it on before bed).  anyway...my goal each day is to give her fruit, veggie, protein, grain and ideally something fun...or, one of the food groups could be something fun, if possible.  below are a few of the lunches i've packed recently. 

 limas, hummus, raspberries, dried apples, babybel cheese, and chicken/rice casserole (leftovers are such a help). 

 orange slices, babybel, raspberries, limas, homemade sweet potato "fries", pb&j.

 leftover chicken/veggie lo mein, apple slides with peanut butter, sweet potato oven fries.

 spinach/yogurt/berry/flax smoothie, pepitas, hummus & cheese sandwich, apple, roasted carrots with coconut oil and paprika.

 leftover baked chicken, roasted zucchini and squash, mashed potatoes, pear, and kiwi. 

kiwi, orange slices, pepita/raisin trail mix, cream cheese & jelly sandwich, dried mango, hummus.