Week of lunches with Applegate Day 4 {Genoa Salami Caprese Skewers}

I think my favorite part of blogging Applegate lunches this week has been honestly how fast they come together.

Take for example todays.

Salami, tomato, cheese, stick it on a skewer and call it a day.

Pretty much that easy people.

Added a little hummus and falafel chips plus some berries.

How stinkin cute is food on a Hello Kitty Skewer?! I mean come on...

Now as for the second half of this post I to start off by saying this,

I CAN NOT STAND HOTDOGS.

Unless they are crisped to near death I will not touch them

Mostly cause they freak me the heck out.

And poor Nolan loves them.

But once you read over Applegates Organic Beef Dog, most of my fears we set at bay to have a clear conscious of feeding him them.

But just so we are clear, I will still need them suckers BURNT.

He was stoked for what we call his "Dragon Dog"

He took him and wrapped him the castle bread.

One more day left and we will have officially concluded the first week of school, CRAZINESS!

Organic Genoa Salami and The Great Organic Uncured Beef Hotdog

provided by:

A week of lunches with Applegate {Day 2 King of Jungle fun lunch and mini tacos boxed lunch}

For day two I am going to share a fun plate and a lunch box idea.

Bean is starting school today, its cool, I am ok promise.

I am mostly nervous about forgetting one of them. 

So here is what my day will look like,

I sit,

I stand,

I check the time,

I sit again,

I turn the TV on just to check the time,

pretty much on repeat until it will be pick up time.

But yesterday I made him a fun lunch while Sisty was at school.

For his plate I used Applegates organic black forrest ham and organic cheddar cheese.

Have I ever mentioned my love affair with cheese, its pretty bad.

So when I say Applegate has some of the yummiest prepackaged cheese, I know what I am talking about here folks.

I made a grilled cheese with the ham and cheese, then cut the bread in a circle. Adding some cooked frozen corn around for the mane.  

Two blueberries and some red pepper completed the face.  Broccoli florets made for some cute little trees.  The red peppers at the bottom had no real purpose other then Bean loves his "chippers" so we will pretend they are rocks.

Some hummus added a little extra for dippin his veggies.  I use squeeze bottles for this, makes it easy to write on the plates and add designs.  

His favorite part is making up stories about his plates, this little Lion, turned into an alien Lion after he eat one of his eyes, and was on a planet with "wittle guys" carrying "wight sabers"...oh having boys is SOO different then girls, hahaha.

As for Buggie today she brought her most favorite food ever, tacos.

Applegates southwest grilled chicken is crazy good, yummy flavor and no slimy gross texture a lot of those packaged grilled chickens get.  I think my favorite part of this lunch was I could make it the night before without worry of anything getting soggy.  

Some whole wheat tortillas, salsa, guac, and greek yogurt {our substitute for sour cream} round out the tacos.  Added a little real fruit leather for something sweet and called it a day.  A filling well rounded meal that took all of three mins the night before to put together. Now I cannot wait to throw some of this chicken on a salad, yum. 

See you back tomorrow! 

Organic Black Forrest Ham, Organic Cheddar Cheese, and Grilled Southwest Chicken provided by Applegate.

A week of lunches with Applegate {Day1 Ham & Cheese Hitchhikers}

The day of reckoning is upon us,

the first day of school, bring on the flood of kids wearing backpacks in front of doors on FB.

Its been a CRAZY fast summer.

Blinked, gone.

But looking back we did squeeze a lot in.

So in the scheme of summers, I would call it a success.

But with the first day of school comes the grind of busting out lunches.

Which honestly can become an overwhelming process to make sure I am providing a variety of healthy options that aren't too time consuming.  

So I am UBER excited to team up with Applegate this week to share some lunch ideas.

If you are not familiar with Applegate and their products, its pretty simple for me, they provide a product that I can read the ingredients and know what I am about to feed my family.  But get this, it taste good too!

For Hitchhikers I took some organic black forrest ham and organic white american and rolled them up, usually just two rolls.  Then stick three pretzels in the roll and cut it make little ham and cheese bites.

I paired them with apple slices with almond butter and a hard boiled egg.
And how exciting are these Adam & Eve waters?
Water based with real juice and coconut water.

I purchased those cute little silicone dividers from Bento A Day.  They are a great little way to pick foods from mixing.

And you cannot pack up lunches the first week without a little note of love.

I reached out to Kori from Paper & Pigtails to hook us up with some super fun free notes

 {click here for download of boy and/or girl versions}.

After a quick mention to her about how fun it would be to have little convo starters at the bottom, she came through. Perfect little card to add a note, and let you kids ask their new and old friends some questions to find out more about them.

See you back tomorrow...

Organic Black Forrest Ham and Organic American Cheese Provided By Applegate

Zucchini & Sauce {fast and healthy!}

Ready for a super easy, super yummy, and very healthy recipe?

Hip Hip Hooray!

Here is what you will need:

- Zucchini {for my fam bam of four I used 4 large zucs}

- a jar of a low sodium pasta sauce {I buy Gia Russa brand, its no salt add and is 20mg per serving which is 1/2 a cup}

- organic Italian chicken sausage or ground turkey

First brown your meat.  While thats browning, cut your zucchini ends off and slice down the middle.  Then take a peeler or if you are fancy shamancy a mandolin and make thin ribbon slices.  Once your meat is browned add sauce and let simmer.

While the sauce is simmering add zucchini to a medium size sauce pan with a large dash of olive oil and pinch of salt. Cook while gently stirring for around 5 mins over medium/low heat.  

Add to a bowl with a serving of sauce.

DELISH! 

PS: adapted from my StepMomma's recipe.

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In other food news, there are a few "we play with our food" plates I have done for Bean over the past couple of weeks...

 

Making food fun can lead to kids trying all new foods.