Another simple Christmas veggie plate that you can remake in no time at all! Just slice a cucumber into ten rounds and stack them in a pyramid shape.  Halve cherry tomatoes and cut carrot stars with a small cutter (or just carrot coins if you don't have a star cutter) and decorate the tree.  Add a cracker for the trunk and serve with ranch or other favorite dips ..read more

It's that time of year again!  And I promised my boy a zombie lunch, especially once he found the zombie joke in our Lunchbox Love cards. I had more grandiose plans in mind, but a little thing like moving took that place.  Instead, I went with simple so my zombie loving boy could have his zombie lunch. Ben took a ham and cheese coffin sandwich on whole wheat bread.  Like any proper coffin, it has RIP on the lid, and like any proper zombie filled coffin, it has a hand climbing out of it.  To the right, he has cantaloupe with a pumpkin pick and carrots, which really ..read more

We're always up for a new recipe challenge, this time it's from Bumble Bee Seafood to share a perfect lunchbox recipe. F&B love these tuna puffs, they are a lunchbox staple for my two. I've mentioned them on the blog as far back as 2010, but I've never shared the recipe before.  We're always making tweaks with it and I'm loving the current version.  It's got tasty tuna, crunchy cheesy crackers, seasonings, and just yum! Lunchbox Tuna Puffs: 2 eggs 1/4 cup mayo 2 tbsp butter (melted) 1/2 tbsp lemon juice 1 can of Bumble Bee Tuna, drained and broken up with a fork 1 tsp garlic ..read more

Since we have been enjoying our "Savebucks" Protein Bistro Box, I knew I had to remake some of the other bistro boxes.  Next up?  The cheese and fruit box! In the store bought box, there are three types of cheese (brie, cheddar, gouda), some crackers, dried fruit and nuts, and some green apple slices (less than half an apple, maybe a third at best).  As with our first example, it retails for $5 and has approximately 470 calories.  And, while I don't have the exact breakdown of the each individual piece, the entire BOX weighs in at 5.3 ounces, so you know it's not a large ..read more

Trying something a little different here! A rather popular coffee chain (Starbucks) offers a "protein snack box" for sale.  It comes with a cheddar cheese, a boiled egg, multigrain bread, peanut butter honey spread, and fruit (usually apple slices and grapes).  It contains about 370 calories, 13 grams of protein, and 19 grams of fat, and retails for approximately $5. Now, at least at our house, a $5 price tag on even a semi-frequent basis is just not happening.  We also aren't sold that 13 grams of protein makes a meal a protein box either.  So we came up with plan B, c ..read more

This was totally not planned.  At all.  I was actually shooting FB Live for a different site and talking about how to make a simple orange flower.  I had an orange peeled in case, but I also peeled one on camera and something amazing happened.  It peeled perfectly, without a mess!  But when I realized *how* it peeled, I set it aside and used a different one in my live video because I had a brilliant idea! Meet my Fruitopus or this one specifically, my Nonopus! He kind of gave me the Finding Dory, Hank the Septopus vibe, sine he is also not a perfect octopus.   ..read more

Wednesdays are going to be our crazy day this year.  It never fails--even with only a few activities, they all end up on the same day.  The girl has yoga from 4-5pm, both kids have cross-country from 5:15-6:15pm, and the boy has Scouts from 7-8:30pm. But, on the good side?  I will have an excuse to play with some snack bentos!  Smaller than a total meal, easy to eat on the go, and, if you have preschoolers, these might work for your lunches too.  In this snack bento, I made bite sized sandwiches with ham and cheese.  Because regular sandwiches are a little bit ..read more

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #CelebrateWithM #CollectiveBias For those of you who've been following here for a long time, you probably already know we're a military family.  We remember those we've lost on Memorial Day and give thanks for our active duty and veterans on Armed Forces Day and Veteran's Day.  There's family history of military service on both sides, but our favorite soldier is the one who lives in our house. Did you know that M&M's® were originally created for soldiers?  The candy ..read more

We might be dog people (in the sense that Dante is technically a dog, although I consider him a furry human), but that doesn't mean we can't enjoy some cute cat themed ideas! Since we received a copy of the Nine Lives movie from Fox, we decided that we needed a cat themed bento to share. In this little snack, I made a small ham and cheese sandwich on honey wheat, cut with a Cutezcute cat face pattern.  I saved the outsides of the bread for egg in a hole later this week. I had some frozen blueberries in the freezer, so took out a small cup of those for the snack and decided that a pee ..read more

In case you haven't been reading the blog in the last week, the boy and I went to see a preview of the new Captain America: Civil War movie.  This has ignited our current obsession with all things Avengers and, of course, requires Avengers food.  Who wouldn't want Captain America, Iron Man Spiderman, et al. on their plates? We've compiled a list of some of our favorite Avengers foods from some great bloggers to try and to share--lunches, desserts, treats, and more!  Even better, we've tried to pick recipes and ideas you can recreate at home! How to Make a Captain America Sh ..read more