Bunch of lunches catch-up

A million apologies for not updating this blog sooner; I know many of you can't start your day without checking out whether I sent apples or plums to school. . .

It has been a really crazy (and exciting) time with work so I haven't had too much time to write but I have been packing lunches and photographing them so here's what you missed:

One of my favorite lunches packed was right before Purim, a Jewish holiday associated with eating hamentaschen, a triangular shaped butter or sugar cookie with a filling in the middle.  Juju and I made a zillion batches (they are really easy to make) and I loved seeing my Facebook newsfeed fill up with photos of friends making the same cookies with their kids.  Hamantaschen are usually filled with apricot jam or poppy seed pie filling or some other fruit preserve but my friend Lirona gave me a great idea (via Facebook) to use Nutella.  In our case we used chocolate almond butter from Trader Joe's but it was an absolute hit in our house and among Juju's classmates (we sent a batch of choco/almond and apricot ones to school).  I made a few mini cookies perfect for the center square in the Planet Box as you can see in the lunch below.  In addition to the cookie I sent oranges, strawberries, peas, plums, a cheese and avocado sandwich, and small flowers made with cucumber and strawberries. 

My amazingly talented friend Jill told me that I inspired her to get a Planetbox for her son and she sent me a photo of the first lunch her husband Bruce packed.  They are self-conscious that it isn't "good enough" but I think it looks great.  I also loved that Bruce pointed out creative lunches like these are a fantastic way to teach our kids to design.  I completely agree and hope they send me more photos like this one!:

Lunch by Jill & Bruce:

And here are a few more lunches I packed over the last two weeks:

Heart-shaped sandwich (I can't remember what was inside - cheese and avocado maybe?  Or it coud be hummus. . .) oranges, tomatoes and peas, a cut up nectarine, and mini hamentaschen for dessert.

Homemade chicken fingers cut up, strawberries and plums, cucumbers in the shapes of hearts and stars, avocado, orange slices, cut up hamentaschen.

Homemade chicken fingers with marinara dipping sauce, strawberries and cantaloupe, cucumber sticks, avocado, and granola for dessert.

Gemelli pasta with cheese and broccoli, orange slices, cantaloupe, strawberries, cucumber, and a half of a Girl Scout Thin Mint cookie.

Homemade chicken finger (made with almondmeal instead of breadcrumbs) with marinara dipping sauce, spinach pasta, strawberries, carrots, cucumber sticks with hummus for dipping, chocolate for dessert.

Chicken meatballs, avocado, peas, string beans with cucumber and strawberry "flowers," hummus with carrots and cucumber for dipping, and a chocolate chip cookie for dessert.

More updates soon!