Muffin Tin Monday- Coming up Daisies

Flower-shaped pancakes, Flower-shaped ham and cheese, Enjoy Life Cocoa Loco bar (free of all major allergens- yay!), Carrot Sticks, Veggie Sticks, Flower-shaped Watermelon (by Lil' Miss' request) and Blueberries.

Here's a Preschool lunch I did for Lil' Miss. As I'm getting into the groove of packing her lunches three times a week, I'm learning what works and what doesn't. For example, she does better with bite-sized "nibbles," rather than a sandwich or one main entree. Also, having just one container to open is way easier on the teachers than sending Katy to school with multiple containers for her lunch (hence, the current obsession with bento boxes).

Some of my concerns about Katy eating lunch at Preschool were:
a) Katy would get distracted by the other kids and everything going on that she'd forget to eat her own lunch and most of her lunch would come home with her.
b) There wouldn't be enough TIME for Katy to eat her lunch. She tends to "graze" her way through a meal.
c) Katy would "learn" to dislike certain foods just because her other, pickier classmates aren't as adventurous an eater as Katy.
d) Most importantly, she'd get curious about other kids' food and try to "trade" for something she can't eat (think, "I'll trade you my fruit for your PB&J sandwich." Eeek!).

Only time will tell if these come to fruition....

Back to the pictured lunch.... Cookie cutters sure make things cuter and more fun to eat, don't you think? I try to include in every lunch; a grain, fruit, veggie (that's sometimes iffy with my veg-a-phobe daughter), dairy, protein and a "treat." She doesn't always eat everything but so far, she *typically* eats most of her lunch and at least *tries* the included vegetable. That's a-okay in my book!