Long time no post.

Hi Everyone. I know it's been so long since I last wrote anything. I decided to dust off my computer and take a break since my son is on a long break from school. I am sure some fellow parents can understand a picture of a lunch is worth more than 500 words. The weather is getting cooler here in Southern Arizona and I love it. With the cooler temps setting in, we are coming out of our homes to go to the park, taking walks, and having picnics. What for other parts of the US feels in May we are feeling now, the excitement to go outside. Going to the park is a lot different at 90 degrees in October as opposed to 115 degrees in early August. I don't mind going outside to eat breakfast, it's even slightly chilly out. The weather cooling off means more options for me to pack for my son's lunch. When it's hot outside, no one wants to eat soup and then go run around in the 100+ temps for 20-30 minutes. So my menu planning is getting some variety to it, finally. As I said, we have a long break from school that was scheduled. We have 1 week left and it's back to the daily grind. I have been off social media a little due to a small health hiccup. I am on the mend and will be posting some fun picnic lunches. I also have a review of a new product Leaf and Love Lemonade. I am really excited, it's a BRAND NEW company. I am really excited for this because it's juice that uses Stevia so it is friendly for kids and adults who have Type 1 Diabetes. I am also in love with the packaging on the box. I don't know why, but when I think of Lemonade for kids, this box is just to perfect. If you want to read more about their product go to www.leafandlove.com I hope everyone is doing great at school, I am sure Fall Breaks and the end to the 1st quarter is coming around for some!

Change of Name and Directions

Hi Readers! I am sure you are trying to figure out where "One Happy Momma of Two" went. It's still here, just going in a different direction. I have actually have been thinking of doing this for a while and I just decided it was leap or wonder. Since I did the change last night I have been feeling better about this. I have ideas bubbling in my head and I it feels great. So I am really excited about this change. I will mostly be focusing on packing lunches that are healthy, natural, and organic as much as possible while on a budget. I am not a Bento Lunch so there won't be any fancy pictures made of food. I might do a special Christmas Sandwich or something for Holidays. I want to start by talking about why I pack my son's breakfasts and lunches. I want to say first, I am actually really impressed with my son's school. The fresh vegetables and fruits are like nothing I would ever have expected at a school. When I grew up, we had canned fruits and veggies from a questionable place. Fruit ices were considered a fruit serving, I doubt there was any fruit in it. My son in the 2nd Grade started having some stomach issues from the lunches. Turns out, some of the preservatives in the meats were upsetting his stomach. Plus, he wasn't eating his full lunch because he didn't like the main course. I would get a kid from school who would eat the dashboard of my car since he was staving. So, I decided it's time to pack some lunches. I packed my lunches all last year but I didn't start my Instagram account (@Lunchesby1Happymommaof2) until towards the end of the school year. I thought maybe I would get 50 followers, but I am almost to 500 and extremely excited and nervous. There are so many parents who are looking for meal ideas. Not just for their kids, but for themselves. I hope you will stick with me and enjoy the new direction that my blog is heading. I will part with you tonight with this little bit of Organic Savings. If you check your Whole Foods Flyer, at my local store, Brown Cow Greek Yogurt singles are on sale 10 for $10.00. Organic, no additives, and has live cultures to help aid in digestion and your immune system.

Next Big Project for our Family

Well School is in Session and has been for a little over a month now. I am now focusing on the Holidays and other major things we need to get ready for. Especially the MOVE! My wonderful husband has so much happening at work that it is changing day to day at this point. So I am working on organizing and getting things figured out to make sure we know what goes where. At this point, it is just organizing a game plan that can easily change. As you read in my previous post we had some craziness and then my Parents just Surprised us out of the blue! Which was a perfect spirit pick me up that my family needed. The best part of my parents visiting was coming up with the plan that we have now. Best part, is we came up with a few what if scenarios so if one thing falls through, we have a back up! I did want to share an idea that I think is going to help me and my family. Duct Tape! If you haven't noticed, Duct Tape has all sorts of wonderful Designs, Colors, and Patterns besides the typical Grey I grew up with. I decided to color code our boxes. Each room, will have a color or pattern. My kid's are going to choose theirs this week. I just plan on buying 2 of each pattern, then buying one or two rolls a week until we have what we need. That way if I see a Gold Taped Box, I know, it's the Kitchen. I think my kitchen will need 5 rolls, just based on, what we will be taking. I have also called each place like our HOA (turn in our pool keys), Post Office for our Box Keys, the trash department, and I have our moving truck and trailer booked. Next up, will be our moving binder. This will all take place over the next 5 months, my goal is to list our home in early February. I will post as we go and when I accomplish something new to share with you.

Hi everyone!

I am still here I promise. I am working on so much fun stuff, including FINALLY doing a Video Blog on Youtube. I know everyone is back in school or will be this week. I hope all your families are adjusting well! It's so much fun to start with new classmates and a new teacher. If you are waiting to start school still, I hope you are enjoying the last few days of your summer break. I do have family in town so I will update next week. Have a good weekend everyone! Megan

Back to School Series! My new favorite cookbook and I have one for you!

So, I don't know about anyone else, but my Thursday has been awful! My husband is holding our pool key hostage and I was stung by a Desert Centipede. I decided a little pick me up was needed for me! As you know as part of our Back to School Series, I have been talking about packing lunches. If you want some lunch ideas please follow me on Instagram for my lunches @lunchesby1happymommaof2. I want to tell you about a book that has made lunch packing and breakfast packing a little easier.

I pre-ordered a new cookbook about a month ago "The Best Homemade Kids' Lunches on the Planet". It is by Laura Fuentes who owns Momables and in it is over 200 RECIPES for lunch ideas. Seriously, you could pack a new lunch every day and not repeat one idea. It is that amazing!

The moment it arrived I curled up on my couch and read it cover to cover! I tabbed all the recipes I would love to make. So now it looks a little like this! 

If you already have this book, I am sure you can say, it's really awesome! What I love best, as I was reading it, I had a lot of the ingredients in my kitchen already. I made the "Boy Meets Girl" sandwich for a fun dessert for our kids the night it arrived. NO special grocery list was needed to utilize this book the next day. If you need something like Ricotta Cheese, which we don't use often, there are multiple recipes that use it. So plan both recipes and there is no wasting of food. It's real recipes, that were kid tested, super healthy, and so great for a family on a budget. We are a single income family and I want to make healthy lunches that aren't always Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches and I want new and fun ideas. This book was the answer to my prayers!

This is a lunch I made my son earlier this week that had her PB&J sushi. You can use Sun Butter if your school is a Nut Free school.

I made this for a trip to the pool alone as in KID FREE and my book. It is the Peach Cobbler. I used White Peaches and it was amazing! 

This is the "Lady Bug" and it's delicious and divine and the easiest sweet snack to make. It has become a regular at our Movie Nights. 

There are just so many awesome recipes and the ideas she has to prepare and plan ahead are awesome. I freeze smoothies all the time in my Ball Plastic Jars and the idea came from Laura. Her Jam, yes there is Jam in this cookbook! Even immune boosting recipes like her Vitamin C Cubes, which I drank all last week in the hot Arizona summer to fight off whatever I was starting to come down with. 

At the end of her book I found a rating system! Laura is a mom who knows what every mom needs, a rating system of the a recipe. Before the index all the recipes are listed in order they appear in the book. Starts are next to each recipe so you can rate them if they are now in the regular rotation or a once in a Blue Moon type occurrence. 

A little about Laura, she is a mom of 3. In her family, she does have food allergies/intolerance diets to plan for. Her website Momables just announced their Grain Free Meal plan and her most of her meal plans start at $6.50 a month. It's an inexpensive solution to have someone do the meal planning for you. There are tons of recipe ideas on Momables as well  and you can sign up to receive a free meal plan as an example.

So to Boost my Spirits and help jump start the weekend on a better note, I am giving away a copy of Laura's Cookbook "The Best Homemade Kid's Lunches on the Planet" Enter Below :) 

***Disclaimer, This is NOT a SPONSORED post. I was not and will not be compensated for this post in anyway. All views are my own and what I feel genuinely about this product. Thank you. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Back to School Series "Lunches! Packing, Planning, and a book that was an eye opener"

Hi everyone, thanks for being so understanding about taking a week off from the blog and the Back to School series. I really was just sick and really not feeling well the whole week. Sorry, I am almost back to 100%.

So I wanted to talk with you about lunches. So if you follow me on my Instagram devoted to lunches, you will see we are now starting our 2nd week of school. I have to admit, I am in a rut on what to pack. Partially because it is SO HOT in Southern Arizona. I don't want to make my son sick because I packed soup, with crackers, and cheese, and a cookie. I mean who wants that when it's 110 and humid out, yuck. So right now, you are seeing a lot of sandwiches and such. I am not packing any heavy dairy products like yogurt or even milk. I might do cheese and that is it. I have gone and done some chicken breasts with bar b que sauce and such. My son did indicate it was to heavy and he felt icky after lunch. So for now, bear with me as I try to navigate the heat a little.


However, for those of you have actually have 4 seasons, this will help. Planning lunches, I do it for the week. I also STICK to what I plan. I might switch some days around depending on how my day goes, but other than that, I don't sub anything. It helps for me to have a stocked freezer on days where it's like I am sick or my daughter is sick to get lunches together. I might unfreeze some waffle sticks I made or cook some meatballs. Those are really the only days I deviate from the plan. I like to include a day or two of left overs if I can. My son is a Stir Fry fanatic so I love when I get to pack that for him to take. Macaroni and cheese, so much to list.

What I suggest doing is writing out foods your child or children like. I don't have two taking lunches so combining to make life easier, I would look on Pinterest. It might just be doing an overlapping list of Mains, fruits, veggies, and snacks. Maybe they get one fruit, veggie, and or snack they like to have that week, the rest is shared stuff.

If you meal plan as it is, go back through and high light stuff you think would make great for lunches. I always had the hardest time last year because my son really didn't like a lot of fruit and veggies. I got him on nectarines, snap peas, and such this summer. So bonus for me, they are in season and inexpensive! If you are worried about budget, I would say less is more. Start out what you think you might need and if you need more, have a friend grab it at the store when she goes.

I will do a little Mom Confession, I totally buy my cantaloupe and watermelon pre-cut in the produce section. I still have to cut them to smaller squares, but It's so worth my time. I never would cut up a whole melon because I hated the mess. So I spend not even 2.00 and buy the pre-cut stuff. It's worth it to me and some weeks like the next few months, it's money well spent. (I don't get my nails done, or even color my hair at all so for me it's my splurge)

Lunches now a days and I know I am dipping my foot into the Political Pool here. However, I don't think the Lunch program is at all over the past 40 years something to brag about. I like how Michelle Obama is trying to get healthier stuff in there, but at the expense of it all. It's really a waste, kids don't like it and school's are losing MAJOR MONEY.  I don't even like half the stuff I have tasted to be honest. Some schools are fairing well, ours is wonderful at the fresh fruits and veggies selections. The selection is AMAZING and if my son would eat the main course we might be okay. However, he still isn't into it and I am saving money by using what we have. So this is a win win for our family.

Last year I read a book called "Fed up with Lunch" find it here. It was written by Sarah Wu and before the overhaul of the lunch program started, you can read about what was served. Sarah taught at an urban Chicago school and her points are well on target with any child in America. I remember the frozen fruit icees she talks about that were in a triangle, those were considered a fruit back in the day. Juice is still considered a fruit I believe last I checked. The book moved me SO MUCH. I really got motivated to show pictures of my son's lunches on that Instagram account. I might do some cute fun stuff for holidays, but I can't do the Bento route, I don't have time. They are cute, but, my son is growing and he just scarfs it all down anyways. I just wanted what he would eat, cheap, and healthy.

Long story short from the book, I saw a difference last year when I started packing the lunches full time. My son was no longer starving when he came home. He said he felt better the second part of the day and wasn't counting down the hours until he could come home. The year before, he would eat constantly the moment we got home. Sandwiches, fruits, etc, and when I saw him at school he barely touched his food. The protein he wasn't getting and his behavior showed it. I was also so upset, at the money we were wasting, he would eat constantly at home and the lunch money was wasted because he barely ate sometimes.

To sum it up, it took some time to find out what would work for our family. Containers, foods, lunch boxes, drinks, etc. If you have a day where they hated the lunch, it's okay, cross the food off and don't pack it. Experiment on the weekends or maybe dinner. Never with the lunches at school. Summer is a great time to get the list of stuff you want to try and try it. Make a special day of the week like "Try it on Fridays", lunches are new foods to see if we like or don't like.

Back to School Series...Postponed for this week

Hi All, so it's now Wednesday and I haven't posted AT ALL. I am under the weather and with school in it's first week and also a toddler, I haven't had the energy. I won't lie, there has been time, but I am resting when my husband takes over. Sorry everyone and I am making it up by having an extra giveaway at the end of the series.

I will still draw the Katie Daisy Planner, you have just a couple of days to enter in that. It's so wonderful and Purse friendly. :)

Thanks
Megan