Meal Prep Monday & something exciting!

Happy Memorial Day!!

First of all, please remember what today is all about. Our freedom isn't free, y'all. AMERICA is the land of the free because of our BRAVE! xo

So, I think I meal prepped on Sunday last week. However, since we had this extra day off from life, I waited until today. It really kind of worked out, I had procrastinated and we planned to go swimming today... except its raining so no swimming for us. We went downtown to see the memorial day parade, and then we came home and I got started meal prepping for the week.

Today I prepped breakfast for Andy+the kids for the week, the kids lunches, and dinner for everyone. I'm starting my new J O B so things will be pretty hectic! Between work, school, kids activities, Andy's work events, church, and just trying to have a social life/keep my house semi clean... I'm trying to be prepared!

For breakfasts I made them egg+sausage muffins. These are SO easy. I whisked together 2 dozen eggs, and cooked a container of breakfast sausage (crumbled, like hamburger). Coat your muffin pan with non-stick spray, add the egg mixture (I just used salt and pepper in my eggs this week), add a spoonful of cooked sausage to each muffin cup, bake at 400 until the eggs are done. This made 2.5 dozen egg and sausage muffins.

For the kids lunches, I went with an old favorite. Corndog muffins. Jiffy cornbread mix, and hotdogs. 4 hotdogs per box mix. Bake at 400 and store for later!

For dinners, today I have verde chicken in the crockpot. A double batch so I can use this for my lunches as well as a couple of dinners.

I also made lentil soup. We had a lot of veggies in the fridge that were near extinction. SO, soup was my answer. Its also vegetarian, which is a change for us since meat is the main course every meal every day.

For the soup, I used onion, carrots, fresh green beans, a can of fire roasted tomatoes, fresh celery, garlic powder, a bag of lentils, and fresh mushrooms. I used a bit of olive oil in the soup pot and sautéed the onions and green beans together until the onions were almost clear. Then I added the celery and let it wilt a bit. I then added 2 cups of water, the rest of the fresh green beans, carrots, tomatoes, and then 6 more cups of water. I let it simmer for about an hour and then I added the bag of lentils. Then 2 more cups of water. Once the lentils expanded I turned the soup off to let it cool to room temperature before I put some in containers to freeze and save the rest for dinner this week.

The last thing on our dinner menu this week will be spaghetti. Sophia's pick, and she chose penne noodles. The sauce will be made fresh with orange, red, and yellow bell peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes, and garlic. I have to work an event one night this week so Andy will do the sauce. I will pre-dice all the veggies and so all he will have to do is brown the meat, add the veggies to the sauce, and make the noodles. Easy peasy!

Cute Little Pre-K Bento

Sophia loves to stay after school for her "lunch bunch" program. Since I don't really work outside the home during the day, its not really a common occurrence. Earlier this week we took a mini day trip so we let her stay late so that we would have more time to travel.

This little bento came from BentoUSA.com about 3 years ago. In it Sophia has jasmine rice and little animal soy sauce bottles, a hot dog, black olives, goldfish, kiwi with pink sprinkles and little candy letters. 

Sophia's favorite food ever is rice and soy sauce. Lately she's been eating a wider variety of foods but not without a struggle. It is a constant work in progress! I'm sad to say that the kiwi came back home in the lunchbox. Boo!

Bentos [2.14-2.19]

As a family, we eat way too much processed junk.

I used to be so, so good at keeping my kids shielded from kid-focused marketing when it comes to franken-food, and keeping it out of our home.

Then, life happened and I just kind of stopped. I feel so bad! So, the past couple of weeks I have been making an effort to get us back on that healthy eating wagon as a family. Not banning candy or chips, but definitely cutting way, way back. The kids do not NEED cookies every week to survive (and lets face it, I don't, either). 

Here are a couple of lunches from the week. I don't think I'll ever not have pepperonis in the house for Sophia. Those are her all time favorite. But we are cutting back on them. Olivia is much easier since she LOVES all fruits and most vegetables. 

Olivia's got the Lunchbots Uno container, full of veggies and a trail mix that I got at Aldi. It has peanut butter chips, chocolate chips, almonds, craisins, golden raisins, peanuts, and cashews in it. She's got a side of fruit and a side of ranch for dipping her veggies in.

Olivia is always saying "derp" and things are "derpy," so I used letter picks to spell out DERP in her pineapple. :)

Sophia's lunch is super simple but it still was "too much" for her-- she refused to eat the cheddar stars (she currently only likes babybel and laughing cow wedges as far as cheese goes). She also LIKES kiwi but she's super weird about when she will eat it. This time, she didn't want to eat it. So she asked for seconds on the clementine (which she got, and last month she wouldn't even eat clementines at all). 

What are you doing to entice your children to eat healthier? Or are you? Do you focus on that for your kids, or are you just happy they eat at all? When I was growing up there was not a real focus on fruits or vegetables. My sister and I both love them, and our brothers not so much. Its amazing how the tastebuds work!

Monday Funday

Here we are, entering the second week of school! So far Olivia has enjoyed it. Sophia starts today, and she is beyond excited. We had her meet the teacher event last Friday, and she didn't want to leave when it was over. :)

Today in the lunchbot uno, Olivia has cheez-its, sixlets, broccoli, carrots, cherry tomatoes, pepperonis, a babybel cheese, and sweet petite grapes. She also has a small tupperware container with fresh pear slices. 

Garlic BBQ Chicken Rolls

Hello there!

Its #MealPrepMonday and since school is back on, I did a little meal prepping for the kids', too. I'm always looking for fun recipes and creative, easy ways to get them to eat. Especially Sophia, she's so, so incredibly picky- like pretzels are her main food group kind of picky! I was going to make pizza rolls (again), but I had chicken in the crockpot for my meal prep and decided to go a different route.

You will need:
Your favorite BBQ sauce
Shredded chicken (or beef, or pork)
Mozzarella cheese
Crescent rolls
Garlic Powder

Super super simple.

My chicken breasts were already seasoned- they'd been in the crockpot all day with green enchilada sauce and green chiles.

These are pretty self explanatory, add the BBQ sauce to the roll, then cheese, then chicken. Roll up and place on a non stick baking pan.

I put a bit of mozzarella on the tops of the rolls and then sprinkled them all with garlic powder.

Easy for packing in lunches, and easy for a quick dinner, too. I wish I had put more cheese on the tops, they would look prettier with crispy cheese sprinkles! 

Check back tomorrow for our cute lunch!

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Back To School :: BENTO!

Well, its here, and I can hardly believe it. It is the end of summer, "officially" officially. Ok, I know the calendar year doesn't declare the end of summer until later, but the start of school for the kids really does signify the end. I can't say I'm sad about it… with the beginning of school we welcome cooler weather (almost, anyway), a buzz of autumn activities like ballet and vino league, football (I'm just here for the food, y'all), and so much more!

So, you probably know by now, but….
TOMORROW IS THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!

Both my kids are excited for school and bentos. I am, too!

For the first day of SIXTH GRADE, Miss O has a cute lunch in a LunchBots container.

In the Lunchbot Uno we have a leftover BBQ rib with cheese letters (my husband is the GRILL MASTER, and these ribs were so good!), ritz crackers and a babybel cheese, strawberries with edible glitter, and a trail mix I threw together of sixlets, almonds, sprinkles, and mini chocolate chips. There are also tiny m&m's cookies our sweet neighbors brought over for us earlier today. In the "fit & fresh" tupperware container, there are sliced peaches. This lunch is a little heavy on the sweets, although I didn't really think about that when I was packing it. We'll just say its a special treat for the first day of school. I will send along a bottle of water with fresh lime slices as well. I wrote a cute little first day of school note on a blank note card from LunchboxLove.

Olivia chose a new lunch bag last week at TJ Maxx, and it is so cute. 

That's our first day of school bento. If you created a bento style lunch, post the link in the comments! Make sure you like my page on Facebook, /PoiriersPlantRoots

xo
kP

2014-2015 School Lunch Re-Cap (and other bits of life)

Well hello there!

It has been a million years (ok, just two).

I can not believe the last time I posted over here was in 2013. So, So sorry for that. Except I did kinda keep up a tiny bit over on the Facebook page.

So much happened, I don't even know where to begin. Maybe a bullet list will work best. :)

• We worked super hard renovating our historic home in our adorable but not entirely safe historic neighborhood
• We got right up to the buying point for the home and discovered that there was asbestos and lead paint on the outside of the home and in the structure (window frames, inside and out)
• We snatched up a realtor (who so happens to be my BFF #CALLCASSIE) and started seeing houses like, that day
• After a couple of weeks of searching frantically, we found a home we loved in a neighborhood we loved that is so, so safe and lovely
• WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!
• We skipped Thanksgiving with our families to move (2014)
• We are PROFESH at moving and were 100% unpacked in our new home by the end of the holiday weekend (like, 2 days and BOOM! we were home!)
• Best Christmas ever in our forever home
• Lots of entertaining in our new home, Vino Leagues, friends for dinner, more friends for dinner :)

Now it is SUMMER VACATION and I'm just sitting here on my couch, in my home, and I'm so thankful. I'm so thankful that this is ours. 

So with all the crazy moving and crazy life going on.. we didn't bento as much as usual. But we still DID bento.. next year there will be more of it. :) 

Back to school GIVE AWAY!!

oh yeah, thats right!

Raise your hand if you're SOOOOOOOO excited to send your littles back to school!! MEEEEE! ok, not really. My kids have been in a summer care program all summer since I got my big girl job. Heh.

Olivia begins FOURTH grade and Sophia will go to the k3 at Olivia's old school. Exciting, eh? I'm trying to figure out how on EARTH I'm going to get up, ready, and out the door for work, and delivering the kids to two different places... across town from each other.... on time. Luckily, my job is pretty flexible and so... maybe.. not too much pressure.

Ready? OK!
Jessica from Tupperware with Jessica is sponsoring this AWESOME give away!! :) I'm super excited for y'all (and me!) because I LOVE LOVE LOVE the old tupperware stuff my Grandmas own and the new lines are starting to really look like the old stuff! So pretty much.. I want it all. :) Don't you?

You can win THESE fabulous items!!

These side-by-sides are fab for pre-school size lunches or bigger kids snacks. They're adorable, dishwasher safe, and of course, amazing quality since they're made by Tupperware.

Then there is this, lunch n dish + cold cup! I love this- I'm already envisioning sending chili for lunch- Olivia LOVES chili! :) This is microwave safe, too, so perfect for us working mamas to take ourselves!

All of this can be YOURS! And, for one lucky winner, it will be!

If you want to see what other amazing, fabulous, totally retro-ish lunch and kitchen supplies Tupperware has to offer- you can do so here- Jessica's Tupperware Storefront. The side-by-sides are only available through August 9, so if you really want one (who doesn't!), order while you can! If you win, you'll just end up with an extra set and who knows- you could use them, gift them, donate them, or host your own give away on YOUR bento blog. :) Super fun stuff! 

The winner will be chosen by Rafflecopter on Friday, August 9th! Good Luck and Happy Bento-ing!! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Its in the bag...er, box!

Who doesn't love a box of scrumptious delivered right to your door!? No one! What's not to love?

The folks at Naturebox were so kind and let my family try out their delicious delivery service. I have to say... It.was.AWESOME.!!

I might be lying if I said one of the best parts about naturebox isn't the fact that it feels like Christmas the day it arrives in the mail. Then again, I might be one of those people that treats every trip to the mailbox like it could be full of surprises (imagine my disappointment when all I get are bills or junk mail. Anyone want to send me a happy little post card!?)!

Of course the first thing I did was rip open the box and decide what could go where in a bento lunch for Olivia!

Bento in the lunchbot container. banana, pretzels, turkey "sushi," candy corn, Naturebox pistachio power clusters. Delicious!

A bento in the EasyLunchbox - chips, pb dolphin sandwich, cheese dip, yogurt with Naturebox trail mix, grapes, more trail mix.

Then (ok, maybe I did this part first!!) I pilfered through and tasted everything... and decided which little snack would be "for mommy only." (editors note: this didn't last long. My favorite was actually Sophia's favorite, too!)

oat bran and sesame stix.... these were gone way too quickly! 

Something else I loved about Naturebox: They team up with MOMables to bring you awesome recipes to make... using their ingredients! Pretty neat, eh? I thought so. 

I would like to say a HUGE thank you to the awesome folks at Naturebox for letting us try their product. And my husband would like to thank them too, for offering all of this awesomeness for only $19.99 a month. Because... I plan to be a life long customer. Hooray!

A Sweet Treat

Such a sweet lunch for a sweet girl! :) 

I found this raw coconut butter at whole foods and I just had to get it. Olivia is becoming a picky eater *eye roll* and so it has become very important to sneak in the good stuff. 

This lunch is packed (with love!) in the Easy Lunchboxes container. It contains Chobani lemon yogurt with fresh raspberries on top, a clementine, some sweet petite grapes (cute candy picks from AllThingsForSale.com), an ice cream sandwich (thelunchpunch.com), 2 vanilla ice cream marshmallows (mallow-licious at walmart), mini golfish, and a tiny black cherry licorice heart from whole foods candy bar.

Oh, and sprinkles on the ice cream sandwiches. The sandwiches are Justin's honey peanut butter and the raw coconut butter together. I drew the lines on the bread with a black food safe marker, then used some more coconut butter to make the sprinkles stay in place.

If you are attending my bento workshop in Greers Ferry, Arkansas :) this Saturday at 2pm, you'll be going home with one of these awesome Easy Lunchboxes containers!