Passion...

One of the driving forces behind my lunch box creations is that I'm competing with junk food that is so very appealing to my kids. Have you ever noticed how junk food manufacturers package their goods in bright, colorful wrappers that practically scream "EAT ME! EAT ME!"? It's also hard to compete with school lunches that almost always consists of pizza, chicken nuggets, hot dogs, sugar glazed french toast...you get the idea. Making creative lunches keeps my son motivated to choose cold lunch. Now, do I create a fancy lunch every day of the week? Absolutely not! We have busy mornings here too, and on those days my son gets what you might call a "normal" lunch. Up to this point I haven't posted those, but I've had a few inquiries about this very topic so I'm feeling encouraged to do so. Stay tuned!

Another reason I create these lunch boxes is that I simply love doing it! I mentioned the book, "The Happiness Project", a few days ago. In that book author Gretchen Rubin writes "...happiness research predicts that making time for a passion and treating it as a real priority instead of an "extra" to be fit in at a free moment (which many people practically never have) will bring a tremendous happiness boost." I agree with this wholeheartedly. Working on these lunches brings me so much joy and allows me (a person who rarely makes time for myself) a chance to do something I love!

Today, I wanted to incorporate some elements from our recent trip to Arizona. Our boys had such a great time exploring the state and I was so happy when I walked into a gift shop and found a cactus cookie cutter! It's crazy how I can hone in on cookie cutters these days!

Today's lunch includes: ham & cheese cactus sandwich, homemade fruit leather strip (recipe from Maria Emmerich's "Nutritious & Delicious" cookbook), dark chocolate/peanut butter bite (two squares of dark chocolate with peanut butter in the middle), broccoli & raspberries/blackberries.