Rock the Lunchbox Day 4

Welcome to the final installment of Rock the Lunchbox week!

I'm so thankful to Influenster for inviting me to participate in this campaign and providing products from these great companies!
We've had a great time trying some new products that me might have otherwise not considered.



As the end of the week drew near, it was evident that many of the Annie's snacks I purchased were being consumed outside of lunch time.

Mainly the Annie's Snack Mix and Cheddar Squares which were evidenced by the empty bags I found in my son's room and the Animal Cookies which were consumed mostly by myself.
Ooops!

But I did manage to get a bit of the Snack Mix into one final lunch along with a few Animal Cookies.
I also used some leftover rotisserie chicken to make a tortilla wrap complete with buffalo sauce (yes, it's my son's go to condiment), as well as a banana and an Honest Kids fruit punch.

I also got some feedback from my daughter at college who received the White Cheddar Bunnies in a care package I sent to her.
She said she really liked them and that they are much better than the fish shaped crackers she normally buys.

Click here for more great Rock the Lunchbox ideas!


Please note: While I did receive these items for free, all opinions regarding them are my own.  

Those opinions are based solely on highly non-scientific research conducting by various members of my food-eating family.

À la vie et à l'amour

-Cortney

Rock the Lunchbox Day 3 (GAME DAY!)

Welcome to today's installment of Rock the Lunchbox!

It's also Blurry Photo Day.

All I can say is that the photos pretty much sum up how things actually look for me most mornings - just a complete blur.

BUT! It's GAME DAY for my basketball playing boy which means he needs a lunch packed with good stuff.

Today I chose this Half Time snack pack from Applegate Farms.

It's pre-prackaged with Applegate Natural Turkey (juicy, antibiotic-free), classic Applegate American cheese, Annie’s Buttery Rich Crackers™, Annie’s Organic Berry Patch Fruit Snacks™ and Stonyfield® YoKids® Squeezers® Strawberry Organic Lowfat Yogurt.

I really like that their meats are antibiotic-free because no one wants their kid to end up with man-boobs from eating hormone and antibiotic filled poultry. 

As you can see I did also pack an Honest Kids fruit punch as well as a chicken patty sandwich with a side of buffalo sauce and a Cuties orange because the Half Time pack isn't quite filling enough for a 13 year old boy who has basketball practice in the morning and a game after school.

The Half Time pack was his FAVORITE lunch this week!

It was probably my favorite, too, as it took very little thought at 6:30am to make it the main part of his lunch.

Yes, even my game photo is super blurry which I'm going to pretend is because my son was super fast due to his excellent lunch and just moved like a blur across the gym floor as a result.

Today I also tried the Rudi's Gluten Free Bread.
My son actually detests gluten free bread so he was not going to make a good test subject for this item but the rest of us are rather fond of it.

The main reason I like a gluten free bread is that I've discovered that gluten makes me feel like an old lady when I eat it.
My joints hurt and my stomach hurts and I just have this un-well feeling all day after eating gluten.


So, my husband and I decided we would give the bread a try!

Yes, I did make myself a PB & J because I love PB & J sandwiches!
The bread has a great flavor but I will say it's a bit more dry than gluten filled bread.
My husband remedies this by toasting his first.

Also - at over $4 a loaf, Rudi's gluten free bread is not cheap.
It's probably the only item that I wouldn't necessarily buy again because the price to taste ratio for this particular Rudi's product was not justifiable for our family.

That being said, I would definitely give their gluten free Cinnamon Raisin bread or their gluten free Rosemary Olive Oil Ciabatta Rolls a try!
If you want to try them, you can find a coupon for $1.25 off right here.

Check back tomorrow for Day 4 of Rock the Lunchbox week!

In the meantime, click here for more great Rock the Lunchbox ideas!


Please note: While I did receive these items for free, all opinions regarding them are my own.  

Those opinions are based solely on highly non-scientific research conducting by various members of my food-eating family.

À la vie et à l'amour

-Cortney

Rock the Lunchbox Day 2

What 13 year old boy doesn't love pizza rolls?

Mine is no exception so I knew right away I would be using my voucher for an Annie's frozen food item on these guys right here.

It took only a few minutes in the oven to heat them so they were prepared quickly before school and packed along with an Honest Kids fruit punch, some broccoli & carrots, ranch dip, Annie's Cheddar Squares and Annie's Bunny Friends (which have started disappearing quickly so I suspect they are being eaten as after school snacks as well!)

Annie's Pizza Rolls got a big thumbs up from my son who said they tasted much better than some of the other brands we have tried.

He also mentioned they had a little bit of spicy kick to them which is always a plus in his book.

The only drawback is that 1 box contains about 11 rolls which is only enough for 1 lunch for him.

(As I mentioned earlier this week, he eats ALL the food!)

At $3 per box (on sale) it would be a pretty expensive to add them in as a regular weekly item.

Check back tomorrow for Day 3 of Rock the Lunchbox week!

In the meantime, click here for more great Rock the Lunchbox ideas!


Please note: While I did receive these items for free, all opinions regarding them are my own.  

Those opinions are based solely on highly non-scientific research conducting by various members of my food-eating family.

À la vie et à l'amour

-Cortney

Rock the Lunchbox Day 1

Most mornings I wake up in a complete stupor until I've had at least 2 cups of coffee.

It was actually really great to wake up this morning knowing I had a great supply of healthy lunch options for my son that also made it super easy to throw a healthy lunch together pre-coffee.

As I mentioned yesterday, he isn't fond of traditional lunchmeat sandwiches or PB & J but he really has a thing for Chicken Patty sandwiches.

Today's lunch was a chicken patty on a bun with some buffalo sauce, carrots and ranch dip, Annie's snack mix, a Cuties orange, Annie's Friends Bunny Grahams, and an Honest Kids fruit punch juice pouch.

Yes, it sounds like a lot of food but he's a 13 year old boy so it's not actually possible to pack too much for him.

Every last bit of lunch was consumed with one exception...

the Cuties orange.

Which brings me to why I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE the
Honest Kids drink pouches.

My son will guzzle those things like a college frat boy at a keg party!

It's made from all organic fruit juice with no added sugar so I can actually get a bit of fruit into him without complaint.

He said he really likes the Fruit Punch flavor but would love to try the Lemonade next.

Also in this particular lunch were some Annie's snack mix and some Annie's Bunny Grahams.

Both received the '13 year old boy stamp of approval'!

Check back tomorrow for Day 2 of Rock the Lunchbox week!

In the meantime, click here for more great Rock the Lunchbox ideas!


Please note: While I did receive these items for free, all opinions regarding them are my own.  

Those opinions are based solely on highly non-scientific research conducting by various members of my food-eating family.

À la vie et à l'amour

-Cortney

Rock the Lunchbox

I vividly remember taking my lunch to school almost daily from 1st grade through my senior year of high school.

First day of first grade.  Peanuts lunchbox.  Serious business.

It's odd because I don't recall any sort of dislike of the school prepared lunches and I would often buy my lunch on particular days of the week (namely, Wednesdays which were Hamburger Day and Fridays which were Pizza Day.

First day of my senior year.  Different lunchbox.  Tan legs, white face.  Wtf?

I do, however, remember various times that I would peel the ham from betwixt my mustard coated slices of bread, blow the tiny bits of cheese out of the ham & cheese loaf, and carefully place the emptied out ham remnant back between the slices of bread before eating it.

Fortunately there was often a tiny box of raisins for dessert to balance out my gourmet lunch.

It's still baffling that I didn't turn out to be a stripper or something as a result of those lunches.

Anyway, my kids have never been particularly fond of school prepared lunches so the task of preparing nutritious mid-day meals during the school year has fallen onto my shoulders.

This task is not without obstacles...

First, I have a teenage son.

He eats very much food.

Like, ALL the food.

Second, he doesn't like PB&J sandwiches.

Or lunchmeat sandwiches.

He's basically a princess.

Anyway, I was super mega thrilled beyond all normal levels of excitement when Influenster invited me to take part in the Rock the Lunchbox campaign!

They sent me these vouchers for items from various companies who offer healthy, organic drinks and snacks that are great for packing school lunches that go beyond the 'ol PB&J or ham loaf and raisin boxes.

I used all of my vouchers at the same time at Target which happened to be running great sales on all of the items, including a really great 'buy 4 get one free' sale on their Annie's Organic snacks.

Obviously I took full advantage of that since it meant I'd end up with 5 packages of snacks for the price of 3!

We kept everything but the White Cheddar Bunnies which went into a care package that was shipped off to my oldest daughter at college!

Starting tomorrow and continuing through the rest of this week, I'll show you how we used these great items to Rock the Lunchbox and let you know what we thought about everything.

In the meantime, you can click here for more great Rock the Lunchbox ideas!

Please note: While I did receive these items for free, all opinions regarding them are my own.  

Those opinions are based solely on highly non-scientific research conducting by various members of my food-eating family.

À la vie et à l'amour

-Cortney

Sweet and Simple Birthdays

Over the years I have hosted an exorbitant number of birthday parties for my 3 kids.

We've had big family parties, Chuck E Cheese parties, Halloween parties, Hollywood parties complete with a red carpet and formal dresses, huge park parties with rented pavilion space, Harry Potter parties with handmade stuffed owl invitations and a fortune teller, and countless swim parties with clever games and homemade volcano cakes.

Recently my son, who is my youngest child, turned 13.

By the time you get to the 13th birthday of your youngest child, you're pretty much partied out.

I am at a loss for creative ideas for party themes, snacks, cakes or favors.

But the funny thing is... he doesn't care about any of that stuff.

He cares about spending time with his friends, eating cake and opening some presents.

So this year we kept the party sweet and simple.

A giant pizza not cooked by me, store bought cupcakes, and a backyard pool full of friends.

Dollar Tree paper goods

DIY party favors tutorial here.

Store bought cupcakes

Ginormous pizza

Flotation scarf

Does it really get any better than that?

À la vie et à l'amour

-Cortney

Family Fondue Night

My husband has laid down the law about me bringing home any more of the following items:

Afghans

Quilts

Dogs (or any other multi-legged creature)

Fondue pots

The last one is really hard.

Because for whatever reason I am a complete sucker for fondue pots.

Especially inexpensive vintage ones from the thrift store.

Recently I decided it was time to break out the fondue pots for a fun summer dinner.

It was awesome!

Some people serve fondue in courses but I like mine all spread out on the table at once.

We cooked the 'surf and turf' and the mushrooms in avocado oil and a little roasted garlic.

Chocolate fondue with fruit and some dipping sauces for the meats.

Cheddar cheese fondue - so good with tart apples or broccoli.

Apparently fondue makes you sleepy and causes your head to tilt to the side.

That green fondue pot was only $2.

Fondue selfie

More like FUNdue, am I right?

Another cool thing about fondue is that you can cater to everyone's food quirks without having to make multiple entrees.

Meats, veggies and cheese for the paleo people...

Veggies, fruit, cheese and chocolate for the vegetarian...

and wine for me.

À la vie et à l'amour

-Cortney

Camping

Ten years ago we went on our first family camping trip to Oklahoma with some friends and their huge family.

It was for 2 nights and we had a reasonably good time.

We have not been camping since.

Unless you count the handful of times we set up the tent and 'camped' in our own backyard.

Probably because when you have lake houses, it's just easier to have your outdoor experience and then come home to a soft bed, a fridge, running water and a bathroom a few steps away.

This past weekend, however, we busted out the camping gear and joined a few friends and their families for a 1 night camping excursion.

This kid is one of my 3 favorite DIY projects!  I made him almost 13 years ago.

My groom.

Our humble abode.  No tent is complete without solar powered LED star lights and a rag rug.

Blurry tent interior pic due to excess wine consumption.

Flashlight doing double duty as a light saber.

We survived the night!  And my son is tied to a tree.

Heading home.  Yes, I am officially the world's worst selfie taker.

Maybe next time we'll camp for 2 nights.

Or not.

À la vie et à l'amour

-Cortney

The Day Job

Aside from being a neglectful blogger, I also have a paying day job.
Which is actually the main reason I am a neglectful blogger.

My husband and I own and operate a vacation home rental business.

Sounds glamorous right?

It isn't.

A guest left this mess behind.  Guess who got to clean it up?

It's very hard work.
We manage about 20 homes and are responsible for making sure they are clean, lawns are mowed, insects are treated, repairs are completed and that guests, as well as owners, are happy and content.

Also we live about 2 hours from where we work so from March through September I spend a couple days each week traveling back and forth.

But there are perks.

Reckless photo taking while driving over a 2 lane road across the lake. Also my windshield is very dirty.

View from a recently added lake house.

View from one of my 'offices' every week whilst mopping 10,000 square feet of hard concrete flooring.

Still one of my favorite spaces.  Even though my photo skills are terribly lacking.

And now for some shameful self-promotion...

If you should find yourself in Texas and need a place to stay near a lake that is almost equidistant to Dallas and Austin, I invite you to check out the vast assortment of vacation homes we offer:
www.cabinsonlakewhitney.com

À la vie et à l'amour

-Cortney

Not Dead, Just Bored

Yeah, I thought I was dead, too.

But as it turns out I was just really bored with myself.

Also I think I had some winter blues and blahs.

But I've spent the past few months doing some 'soul searching' as the phrase goes.

It's probably my brain's subconscious way of keeping me from having a midlife crisis since I'll be turning 40 this summer.

I've actually been thinking about a lot of things that I might not normally want to touch with a 10 foot pole on a blog.

But, one of the things I've come to terms with over the past few months is that not expressing an opinion because you think it's going to offend others, keeps you from being true to yourself.

And then you and your blog become phony and lame and surface-y.

So, while there are still certain topics I am not comfortable blogging about (mainly to respect the privacy of the family members who have to put up with me every day) I am hoping to share some of my personal obstacles and revelations as I, hopefully, start blogging regularly again.

Here's a glimpse of some stuff from the past few months:

My oldest daughter and I during a college visit at the school she ended up choosing.

Practicing being Canadian during our long, cold, snowy winter here in Texas.

Christmas Eve at home.

Wiener pics.

New Year's Eve shenanigans.  I know...I should have been a supermodel, right?

I cut my own hair. And took a selfie in my bathroom.  I'm the worst selfie taker EVER!

Weekend geocaching with this special kid.

Some simple DIY projects. The times they are a changin'.

Spending a weekend with two of the most amazing people I know - my grandparents.

More to come, you guys!

À la vie et à l'amour

-Cortney