Dolphin Tale

This weekend my daughter will be going to her BFF's b-day party. They will be going to the movies to see Dolphin Tale. So when I stumbled upon a dolphin sandwich cutter the other day, I knew I had to do a lunch to honor her b-day.

I used the Goodbyn Bynto for this one. We have dolphin ham sandwiches for which I used my food writers to add eyes and a mouth. Fish butter cookies that have chocolate on the back for a treat, and a beach umbrella in the red peppers. I think it turned out cute.  Here is what the cutter looks like:

I found the cutter by accident at my local Wal-Mart store when I ran in for a few things. As we waited in the 10 items or less line I noticed some things hanging behind the counter by the cigarettes and low and behold they were sandwich cutters. I have no idea why they were hanging there, it's not like they are high ticket theft items, it was only $1.98!! And I am not sure how they go with cigarettes either, but it just goes to show you always have to have your eyes open for cool stuff!

Goodbyn Bynto Review

When the great folks at Goodbyn asked me to do a review of their new smaller version the Bynto I was obviously very excited!  I have a Goodbyn original already and have been pretty happy with it. The only downside was sometimes it was just too big for our needs. The Bynto looked like a great alternative for days when we didn't need so much space.

First let me tell you a little about Goodbyn. They are made in the USA and we all know how important that is and how hard it is to find products made here. They are free of BPA and Phthalates, so they are safe for you and your children. They are 100% recyclable and help you create a waste free lunch which is good for the Earth! And last, but most important to busy moms, they are top drawer dishwasher safe ;)

For my review I received a strawberry colored Bynto, a large ice pack and a pack of limited edition stickers as seen here:

All Goodbyns will come with stickers to decorate your Byn and the Byns come in a variety of colors and with or without ears too. The stickers pictured here are in addition to the ones that already come with your Bynto. Goodbyn offers additional packs of stickers by different artists and you can check them out here . The stickers are also dishwasher safe as well, bonus! My daughter loved decorating her Bynto, and we had more than enough stickers to do so and you can even use the stickers on other containers or water bottles you may have. I like that you can create your own personal lunch box style! Here is my daughter's Bynto.

Next it was time to pack a lunch. The Bynto also comes with it's own water bottle so you don't have to worry about that either. I found the Bynto to be a good size for my daughters lunch. Wasn't too big but wasn't too small. It might be too small for older kids but for lower elementary it seems to be a good size. The key to the Bynto is making sure you the top on tightly. Do a few practice runs with your child and they will be an old pro after just a couple times. The Bynto is not leak-proof so you wouldn't want to try putting soup in there! But it does seal nicely and I have never had a leaking problem if the lid was on correctly. Here are a couple we did.

Goodbyn does not make an insulated bag for their products, yet. But I have heard they are working on it and hope to have one out in 2012. I use bags that I already have on hand. The Goodbyn  ice pack was very nice quality and only filled with water so it is safe to use in your lunch. It was the perfect size for the Bynto.

If you would like a Goodbyn original or a Bynto  you can purchase one for yourself from the Goodbyn Store or you can look for a retailer new you. I know in my neck of the woods Whole Foods carries them. You can also "check out the Goodbyn  Facebook page too!

*This is not a paid post. I received a Goodbyn Bynto for the purpose of review. All opinions and ideas expressed are my own. This post was written by me and not edited by anyone.*

Happy Birthday Johnny Appleseed!

On Friday my daughter brought home a note saying they would be celebrating Johnny Appleseed's b-day on Tuesday. The teacher asked if parents could send a note on Monday if they could bring an apple related treat. I tried to think of what I could make and then life happened and I got busy. Sunday night it crossed my mind again and I figured she'd probably get tons of volunteers so it would be fine.

So yesterday she comes home from school and tells me I MUST make a treat as only 2 treats were coming. UGH!  So after searching the internet world for the perfect kid friendly apple treat , I settled on a cake from one of my favorite people Paula Deen.  The recipe I chose was Uncle Bob's Fresh Apple Cake .

I used Honeycrisp apples because they are my favorite and I had just gone to the apple orchard on Sunday to get them, so they were nice and fresh! I also peeled my apples and left out the walnuts to make it more kid-friendly. If I made this just for my family I would have added the nuts and kept the peel on to save time. This recipe is super easy, great for kids to help make and it turned out super tasty. I will definitely be making it again. It also would be a perfect fall treat for your lunch box as it's a dense cake and travels well. You could add orange food coloring to the icing to make it even more fun and great for holiday gathering.  Here's what mine looked like:

Strawberrylicious!!

As you may have figured out I love strawberries! Not only are they sweet and tasty, but they work well for fun lunches and snacks.  Yesterday in my Mommy Digger guest post I had some of my ghost strawberries. Ghosts are not the only fun Halloween shape that you can turn a strawberry into. They make great Jack O Lanterns as well. Here is a plate I made for my daughter's class Halloween party last year.

These are so cute and were a hit with the kids and the parents! It's also a great way to sneak some fruit into a holiday filled with too much candy and junk food! These are made the same way as the ghosts except you use orange colored chocolate. You can even find orange flavored chocolate as well to make if you want to make it even more fun. I hope you will  make some of these great strawberries this Halloween for a lunch, a snack, a party or all of the above!

Next week I will be bringing you a lunchbox review and I am also working on some other reviews and a few giveaways for the weeks to come.  Please be sure to be a follower and to share my blog and FB Page.

Have a wonderful weekend!!

Jen

Halloween Lunch

Hi everyone! If you are a fan of  Halloween like I am, you are probably already decorating and getting ready. I think Halloween is such a fun holiday and there are so many fun things you can do with it. I hope you will all visit Mommy Digger and see my special guest post featuring a really fun Halloween lunch idea.  Tonight or tomorrow I will be posting a fun treat you can use for lunches, parties and just for fun. Stay tuned....

And the Winner is...

Our giveaway ended this morning and Jennifer Green won!! Congrats to Jennifer and make sure you check your email. Thank you to everyone who entered. I have lots of fun stuff in store for y'all, so stay tuned!

Giveaway!!

I promised that after I reached a 100 "likes" on Facebook I would do a Halloween giveaway so here it is.

My little Halloween package will include pumpkin picks, a  package of silicone pumpkin shaped bake cups and some cute Frankenstein picks too. Great items to get you started on a some fun Halloween lunches.

There are 3 ways to enter:

1. Follow my blog. Just click the button on the sidebar.

2. "Like" me on Facebook

3. Tell me what you'd like to see on the blog.

 Please leave a separate comment for each and make sure to include an email so I can contact you. Contest will end Monday Sept. 19th at 8am eastern time. I will use random.org to pick a winner. Good Luck!!

Mice

Yesterday I made this cat and mouse lunch for my daughter. The mice are one of her favorite fun things that I make.  And they are super easy!! 

You Need:

Strawberries

Mini Choc Chips

Choc. Chips

Red or Black licorice laces

First hull your strawberries and cut in half. Use mini chips for the eyes and nose and large chips for the ears. You can also use jumbo sprinkles in heart or confetti shapes. I used heart ones for the ears in the lunch above. Next cut  apiece of the licorice string and make a tail. I try to stick the licorice into the strawberry to keep it secure but you can also just simply sit the strawberry on top.  Strawberries and choc. chips also make great ladybugs as well. And since I know everyone will ask the lunchbox is a My Square Meal box .

Where do you get?

I get that question all the time! Where do you get your lunchboxes, where did you get those picks, and where did find that?! The answer is really everywhere. I am always looking and thinking how can I use that in a lunch. I know it's a little obsessive and as you can see I have alot of stuff and you really don't need all those things to do a fun lunch. In fact you probably have some things at home right now that you could use.

A really easy way to jazz up a lunch is to use silicone cupcake liners. They come in a variety of shapes, sizes and colors and are pretty reasonable. They are also reusable making them earth friendly too, which to me is very important. If you don't have the silicone liners you probably already have a variety of the paper liners in your cupboard, those work great as well, and are good for the little ones who like to throw everything away!

Another thing I use almost everyday are picks. You can find these just about everywhere and you can even make your own. I find them by the cake decorating things, holiday items, drink accessories ( think little umbrellas) and I order often from allthingsforsale.com. All Things For Sale is an online bento supply  store. Proceed with caution as everything is cute and you are likely to get a long wish list that is not pocketbook friendly, so don't say I didn't warn you!

To make your own picks, simply take a toothpick, stickers of your choice and put one sticker on each side of the toothpick, back to back. And there you have it, a fun little lunch pick. You could even go as far as using your computer to print out labels and such of your own design to put on the toothpicks.

Lastly is cutting things into shapes. You can buy expensive sandwich cutters and there are lots of cute ones out there. But for the most part I use cookie cutters. They are reasonable, easy to find, come in all shapes and sizes and you probably already have a ton lying around your kitchen right now!

Those are just a few of the basics to get those creative juices flowing! I hope I have inspired you to go through your stuff and keep your eyes open when you are out shopping. And hit those dollar stores, I find some of my best stuff there ;)

Welcome!

Welcome to One Cool Lunch!!  My  actual lunch journey starts a few years ago when my daughter was in first grade. Like many of you I was not happy with what the school offered for hot lunches. They were not healthy and often not even appetizing. So each day I got up and began the chore of lunch making. I found that even when I packed her favorite things they weren't getting eaten and traditional lunches and boxes weren't working for us. There had to be a better and much more fun way of doing this.

The first step was to research and find the best lunch box out there. While I haven't found the perfect box yet , I have found some that come pretty close. You will see those in my daily lunches and I'll give more information as I use them.

The next thing was to make it fun, for us both! This is the easy part. All you need is a little creativity, imagination and some inspiration. I find inspiration everywhere and you and your child's unique interests and personalities will make it that much more fun. I am happy to report that lunch making is no longer a chore and they usually come home empty now!

I hope you enjoy the blog and I hope you can bear with me as I figure out how this whole blogging thing works,LOL!

Have a great day!!