4 Grab and Go Muffins For School Lunch Box (with Recipe)

This school year I've been packing muffins quite often for Nikolai's school lunch. I'm definitely not a morning person, and we have to wake up way earlier since school starts earlier. You'll never find me waking up earlier than I have to, standing in the kitchen baking or cooking in the wee hours of the morning. Most days I'll pack his lunches the night before or he has to pack them in the mornings.

We usually make a batch of muffins during the weekend ( sometimes from scratch and sometimes from the box), eat some and freeze the remaining. They are super portable and will last in the fridge for days or in the freezer for months. They are especially great for busy mornings when you have to race out the door and need a grab and go breakfast, and perfect for the lunchbox, after school snacks or for anytime of the day. These lunches are packed in our Easylunchboxes container.

Below are just a few lunch ideas with muffins included.

These ham and cheese casserole muffins are our favorite muffins lately, we have made them so many times that I remember the recipe by heart now, lol.

Ingredients:

3–4 pieces whole wheat bread, torn into small pieces
3–4 slices deli ham, chopped into bite-sized pieces
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
8 large eggs
1 cup milk
2 teaspoons ground mustard
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 400°F. Grease muffin tin well.
• Drop bread pieces evenly in muffin tins until they come about 2/3 of the way up the tin.
• Sprinkle ham pieces evenly in each tin.
• Sprinkle cheese evenly in each tin.
• Whisk together eggs, milk, ground mustard, and pepper.
• Pour egg mixture evenly in each muffin tin.
• Bake for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown on top and cooked through the middle.
• Enjoy!!

Bento lunch 1: A couple of ham and cheese muffins from the fridge
(Nikolai doesn't mind eating them cold, but you can also heat them up and drop them into a thermos if you prefer them hot), a granola bar, organic baby carrots and seedless grapes. Packed in our Easylunchboxes container.

These blueberry muffins are from the box, follow the instructions on the box and it's so easy and turned out tasty.

Bento lunch 2: A couple of blueberry muffins from the fridge, just pop them in the lunchbox with a granola bar and a cheese stick in the main compartment. Sides are apple slices sprinkled with cinnamon ( Nikolai's favorite way of eating apples) and seedless green grapes. Packed in our Easylunchboxes container.

It's pumpkin season once again, and we love everything pumpkin! Of course we had to make some pumpkin muffins.
There are so many recipes out there, almost all are quite similar, but this one works for me, it's simple and I usually have most of the ingredients on hand.

Ingredients:

2 cups Pumpkin Pancake mix
1 egg
1 cup milk
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
Pam non-stick cooking spray or muffin cups.

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 350º.
• In medium bowl, stir together pancake mix until moistened. Do not over-mix.
• Spoon batter into greased or paper lined muffin pan, filling ¾ full.
• There is enough batter to fill one dozen muffin wells.
• Bake at 350º for 13-15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.
• Enjoy!!

Bento lunch 3: A pumpkin pancake muffin, string cheese, granola bar, crackers, nitrate free ham roll-ups in my favorite silicone cup, organic baby carrots and an organic apple. Packed in our Easylunchboxes container.

Bento lunch 4: Turkey and cheese wrap, a couple of blueberry muffins, a granola bar, apple slices with sprinkle of cinnamon, grapes and crackers.
All of these lunches are packed in our Easylunchboxes container.

Do you have a favorite muffin recipe?

Continue Reading »

4 Pumpkin Muffins For Lunch with Pancake Muffin Recipe

We are well into Fall season now, and this is my favorite time of year! We have been enjoying the flavors of pumpkin, apples and other fall favorites! I've also gotten into experimenting with some new fall recipes and have pressed my family into food tester service, lol.
These lunches are quite similar, but they were made with different sides and were enjoyed on different days. The English Muffins are Thomas' limited edition pumpkin spice. All of us like these very much.

We found some pumpkin pancake and waffle mix during a recent visit to Trader Joe's and my wonderful hubby made some pancakes with it for breakfast the other day. I used the same mix and made some of our favorite pancake muffins! These were simple and are very tasty without any toppings.

I usually add frozen organic blueberries, strawberries and chocolate chips. You can also use bacon, ham and sausage pieces if you prefer adding meat. I love the idea of baking several batches at a time and freezing the extras for those super busy mornings when we need to grab and go. These particular ones were baked the day before and I'd left some out for the next morning, the rest went into the freezer. They are very simple to make, and you get the ease of a muffin with the deliciousness of a pancake.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Pumpkin Pancake mix 
• 1 egg
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
• Pam non-stick cooking spray or muffin cups.

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350º.
2. In medium bowl, stir together pancake mix until moistened. Do not over-mix.
3. Spoon batter into greased or paper lined muffin pan, filling ¾ full. 
4. There is enough batter to fill one dozen muffin wells.
5. Bake at 350º for 13-15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.
6. Enjoy!!

In this bento lunch: A pumpkin pancake muffin, string cheese, granola bar, crackers, nitrate free ham roll-ups in my favorite silicone cup, organic baby carrots and an organic apple.

The photos below show some Thomas' limited edition pumpkin spice English muffins.

In this bento lunch: English muffin with pumpkin cream cheese spread topped with an angry bird cupcake ring, granola bar, Babybel cheese, seedless red and green grapes, Annie's organic crackers and pumpkin cookies from Trader Joe's

In this bento lunch: English muffin topped with a pumpkin shaped gummy candy, yogurt covered pumpkin shaped cookies from Trader Joe's, Babybel cheese, organic kiwi slices and baby carrots.

This is the easiest bento lunch of all: English muffin with a cute alien pick, granola bar, string cheese applesauce, a smiley face spoon and Annie's organic crackers. This is typical of the type of lunch that I pack whenever I'm low on groceries.

These fours lunches are almost similar, but with different sides. Most importantly, Nikolai loved his lunches. Yay to mom! All of these lunches were packed in our Easylunchboxes.

Continue Reading »

Mickey Mouse Lunches - Happy Birthday MICKEY!

November 18th is Mickey Mouse's 88th Birthday! This gives me a chance to quickly pull out some Mickey themed lunches which I've not posted. We love Mickey Mouse, and have the privilege of visiting Walt Disney World at least a couple of times a year. We live in Florida, and for us it's not too far from Disney World and many other great theme parks. Here are the lunches which Nikolai enjoyed many months ago. Both are packed in our favorite stainless steel and durable Planetbox.

In this bento lunch: Main compartment contains a few Mickey stamped sandwiches which I created with my cutter/stamper. Sides were organic granola bar, mini choc chips, organic baby carrots with dip in the small Mickey container and organic apple slices with a cute Mickey pick.

In this bento lunch: An English muffin with MICKEY cheddar cheese lettering created with my alphabet cutter and a cute Mickey pick. Sides are organic baby carrots, Babybel cheese, cereal bar, yogurt covered star and seedless green grapes.

Happy Birthday M-I-C-K-E-Y!

Continue Reading »

3 Bears Bento

Bears. Bears. Bears! Lately I've been making some bear themed lunches because they are easy to create and Nikolai loves bears. Bears and more bears posts coming soon.

Bento lunch 1: I baked some blueberry muffins the other day and I decided to use my bear silicone cup which I've not used in a while. We had some for tea time and saved some for the next day! He also had Canadian bacon secured with our cute Pooh bear picks, babybel cheese, baby carrots, strawberries and grapes. This lunch was packed in our blue water leak-proof Ecolunchbox.

Bento lunch 2: Quesadilla bears (nori eyes, cheddar cheese ears and nose). I used a paper puncher for the eyes and our CuteZCute cuddle palz for the ears and nose. I sent this lunch packed warm in our Ecolunchbox solo rectangle , and in our Warm & Tote Bag to keep it warm until lunchtime. He also had sides of fruits and veggies which are not in the picture.

Bento lunch 3: A couple of homemade uncrustables made with our wonder bread sandwich sealer. You can also make a batch of uncrustables and freeze them. They freeze well and great for grab and go on busy mornings. I love our leak-proof Ecolunchbox which is quite deep, into which I was able to stack a couple of sandwiches topped with a bear cheese cut out. Alongside he had organic baby carrots and blueberries.

Here are the supplies or similar that I used to create and pack these lunches.

Continue Reading »

5 Breakfast For Lunch Ideas

Tomorrow is already December, where did the time go! With Nikolai having a few days off from school, we really enjoyed an extra long Thanksgiving weekend and, as perhaps many others, celebrated in part by eating way too much. Hubby was the main cook, but he insists that everyone helped with the production.:)

Breakfast for lunch or breakfast for anytime of the day is quite popular with our family. I find it easy to pack and you can use either frozen or homemade breakfast foods. Some of these were enjoyed by Nikolai months ago.

Bento lunch 1: Domo french toast. My hubby made french toast one of the mornings for us and I conveniently packed a couple for Nikoila's lunch. I added a couple of choc chips for the eyes, fruit leather mouth and mozzarella cheese teeth. Does it look like Domo-kun? In the center of his leak-proof Yumbox panino is organic maple syrup and his sides were alphabet wheat cookies from Ikea and seedless green and red grapes.

Bento lunch 2: Blueberry muffins. I baked these sometime back and saved some in the freezer. Thawed them the night before in the refrigerator and they were ready to go the next day. He also had sausage patties, granola bar, yogurt covered raisins, peach slices and yogurt. This lunch was packed in his leak-proof Yumbox panino which is perfect for sending yogurt.

Bento lunch 3: Mini pancakes, sausage links and a few picks to make this lunch a little cute.
He also had persimmon slices, cheese slices, and Ikea's alphabet wheat cookies. This lunch was packed in a Bentgo leak-proof lunch box.

Bento lunch 4: Cream cheese bagel which I added a bunny pick to look like a bunny in a float. His sides were yogurt and apple slices. This lunch was packed in his Yumbox panino.

Bento lunch 5: Waffle sandwich with baran sheet, a granola bar, fruit snacks, cereal and apple slices. This lunch was also packed in a Yumbox panino.

Here are the supplies that I used to create and pack these lunches.

Continue Reading »

Halloween Spider Bento

It's pumpkin season and I love anything pumpkin especially the foods, flavored coffee and tea. I baked some pumpkin spice muffins for tea time and saved some of them for the next day's breakfast. Nikolai asked if I could pack one for his school lunch and the spider idea came to my mind.

Since I did not bake the muffins in our spider silicone cups, rather I just popped one into it when they were done, added a couple of candy eyes and nearly instantly I had a pumpkin spider.
His sides were roll ups turkey slices which I put into another spider cup, organic baby carrots with a spider web cupcake ring and seedless green grapes. This is the easiest spider themed lunch I've ever made. I've made a couple in the past, one out of bread which you can find here and another was from pancakes which you can find here.

As for the message on the banana, I used a toothpick and wrote BOO on the banana peel, can you see it? At first it will be tough to see, but after several minutes the message will begin to darken, and by lunch time it will be easy to ready. This lunch was packed in an Ecolunchboxes solo cube.

Nikolai noted that unlike my pumpkin muffin spider, REAL spiders have eight eyes! He is actually quite correct in that, but no way I would let him talk me into eight candy eyes!

Note to self: If a message is written on the banana peel before preparing the lunch, it will have more time in which to turn darker before I snap the picture.

Continue Reading »

Pancake Muffins and Pancake sausages, Breakfast For Lunch

As I've mentioned in my previous post about the breakfast which Nikolai made for me on Mother's day, one of the foods was chocolate chips pancake muffins. He followed my favorite recipe which can be found here. This recipe has made it to my personal recipe book. You see, I have this book in which I only write down the recipes which I've tried a gazillion times and which my family loves. The muffins which Nikolai made tasted fantastic, the only thing was, the chocolate chips sank to the center, but the flavor was there. I told him that "Practice Makes Perfect" and maybe he should bake more often.

He saved a couple for his lunchbox to have at school on Monday. I though I'd better post this first instead of my other back logged lunches. The main compartment contains the pancake muffins, Yoplait Gogurt and some sausages which I cooked and let cool in the morning before packing them into his Easylunchboxes container. His sides were watermelon cubes and Annie's homegrown organic granola bar cut into half. The picks which added instant cuteness to this simple lunch can also be used as forks, which I really like. :)

Here is another breakfast for lunch which he enjoyed a month or so ago. It was sausages covered in pancake, seedless red grapes, applesauce in a leak-proof mini dipper, Annie's organic cheddar bunnies and seedless green grapes. This lunch was packed in an Easylunchboxes urban container.

Here are the supplies that I used to create and pack these lunches.

Continue Reading »

Pancake Blueberry Muffins, Breakfast For Lunch {with recipe}

I have a couple of sheep themed lunches to post, but I just found out that today is pancake day and I decided to post this pancake bento first. We love muffins at anytime of the day and we are also huge fans of breakfast for lunch. I love the idea of baking several batches at a time and freezing the extras for super busy mornings, when we need a grab and go.These particular ones were baked yesterday and I've left some out for the next morning, the rest went into the freezer. As I have promised earlier to share the recipe, scroll down and you'll find it.

This recipe is one of our longtime family favorites. There are so simple to make, you get the ease of a muffin with the deliciousness of a pancake. There are gazillions of yummy pancake recipes out there but this one works for me, it's simple and I mostly have the ingredients on hand.

I usually add frozen organic blueberries, strawberries and chocolate chips. You can also use bacon, ham and sausage pieces if you prefer adding meat.

Here is the recipe which I added blueberries.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Original Bisquick mix or any other brand that you prefer.
• 1 egg
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
• Blueberries
• Pam non-stick cooking spray or muffin cups.

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350º.
2. In medium bowl, stir together pancake mix and remaining ingredients (except blueberries) until moistened. Do not over-mix.
3. Spoon batter into greased or paper lined muffin pan, filling ¾ full. Add blueberries in each cup leaving space in between them.
4. There is enough batter to fill one dozen muffin wells.
5. Bake at 350º for 13-15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

Easy right? I included a couple of them with super cute Mickey and Minnie picks, in Nikolai's Easylunchboxes. He also had strawberries, seedless black grapes, granola bar cut into half and Greek yogurt with pure maple syrup in his leakproof mini-dipper.
I also made a batch the other day with heart shaped strawberries and you can find one which I included in Nikolai's school lunch here.

Here are the supplies or similar that I used to create and pack this lunch.

Continue Reading »

LOVE, Pinwheels and Macaroni & Cheese Valentine's Lunch (2)

I made these two lunches on different days, but both of them share the 'LOVE' theme as Valentine's Day approaches, so I am posting them together.

I included a strawberry pancake muffin in his lunch box. It was from my freezer stash, I heated it in the microwave for a minute. Muffins can also be thawed in the fridge or at room temperature for a few hours. Pancake muffins are one of our family favorites and I have a very easy recipe which I'll share in another post, after Valentine's day.
In addition he had roll-ups, which he seems to really like, to which I added lettering cut from fruit leather, sugar snap peas with a pick, seedless grapes and heart shaped strawberries.
This lunch was packed in a Lunchbots Quad.

Nikolai suggested to me after school that I should cut a small heart shape for the 'O', I thought that he was quite creative.:) The next day, I made Macaroni and Cheese for his school lunch and followed his suggestion. This lunch is linked to EatsAmazing: Fun Food Friday

Here is the macaroni and cheese lunch with "Love U" organic turkey breast, and I used a small heart shaped cutter for the"O". Annie's organic 5 grain elbows and white cheddar is delicious. His side dishes in a Lunchbots quad were wheat thins, sunflower seeds in small heart shaped container, heart shaped cucumber slices, strawberries cut into heart shapes, and seedless red grapes with a xoxo cupcake pick. His Mac and Cheese was packed in a Lunchbots insulated container.

 Here are the supplies that I used to create and pack these lunches.

Continue Reading »

Bear Ham and Cheese Muffin bento (with recipe)

We are back and and it's back to basics. I managed to bake these yummy muffins during the weekend and here is how a cute silicone cup could transform a simple muffin to a cute one. Ours never made it to the freezer, just refrigerator for two days at the most, hubby is the culprit, lol.

Make a batch, freeze them (unless they get eaten first!) and reheat later. They are great for busy mornings when you have to race out the door and they are quite delicious, for breakfast or anytime of the day. I intend to bake these more often so that we have them ready to grab and go for lunch boxes.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• Fresh ground black pepper
• 1 cup milk
• 2 eggs
• ¼ cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup ham, diced
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350º.
2. Grease a standard muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray.
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt and black pepper. Stir to combine.
4. In another bowl add milk, eggs, vegetable oil and ham. Mix until combined.
5. Stir the wet mixture into the dry mixture just until moistened, don’t over stir!
6. Scoop into muffin cups to ¾ full. There is enough batter to fill one dozen muffin wells.
7. Bake at 350º for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

In this bento lunch:

• Right: Ham and cheese muffin in a bear shaped silicone cup, sugar snap peas and ranch for dip in a small container.
• Left: Teddy grahams in a bear shaped silicone cup and strawberries.
• This lunch is packed in a Planetbox Shuttle

Here are the supplies that I used to create and pack this lunch.

Continue Reading »

Homemade Banana Muffin bento snack and Dolphin bento (2)

First of all I'll like to mention that I am not good with baking at all and have only baked a hand full of times. My hubby and Nikolai of course are very supportive so that I would bake more often! I do bake foods for dinner though and I am trying to get into baking bread, muffins, cakes etc. I found this recipe online among many mouth watering recipes out  there. Most of my friends are great bakers and some of them have awesome recipes on their blog. They are a great inspiration to me. I am happy to say that the muffin below turned out quite yummy. It was my first attempt at banana muffins :)

In this bento snack:

• Homemade banana muffin with choc chip eyes and nose and crackers for ears. Nikolai added those.:)
• Blueberries, colby jack cheese and cucumber slices.Packed in Lock & Lock container.

Here is another lunch packed in PlanetBox Shuttle.

In this bento lunch:

• Dolphin shaped sandwiches with icing eyes and blueberries sea.
• Greek yogurt with fruit leather cut to fish shape and cucumber slices.

Here are the supplies or similar that I used to make and pack this lunch and snack.

Continue Reading »

Bento Lunch #273: Birds Nest Cups

I started my pinterest boards yesterday, finally! I have been contemplating about it and procrastinating at the same time. So much more to learn and I am definitely taking baby steps as I'm not a natural tech wizard :)
This is a recipe that I found awhile back but did not follow proper instructions when making it. It turned out o.k but taste great.

Couple of birds nest, veggie crisps and seedless red and green grapes. Linking to Bentoblognetwork.com

Ingredients for birds nest-
12 turkey bacon
1.5 cups egg substitute
6 tbs shredded Mexican cheese blend
1 tbs minced parsley (I used organic oregano)

1) Cook bacon medium heat, partial set and not crisp
2) Coat muffin cups with spray. Wrap 2 bacon stripes around the inside of cup ( I used 1 stripe, in future will try 2)
3) Fill each muffin cup with 1/4 egg substitute, top with cheese
4) Bake 350F for 18-20 mins, cool for 5 mins before removing from pan
5) Sprinkle with parsley

Here are the items that I used to make this lunch.

Continue Reading »

Bento Lunch #257: Fish Onigiri

N liked the rose shaped strawberries and asked me to cut them the same way today. I am happy to oblige as long as he eats them! Besides, I get to practice carving them.
Packed in our LunchBots duo.

• Left- Earth's best all natural fish nuggets, fish shaped onigiri with nori accent and icing eye.
• Right- Strawberry roses, edamame, seedless black grapes
• Snack box- Blueberry muffin and cheddar goldfish
• Linking this lunch to BentoLunch.net

Here are the items or similar that I used to make this lunch.

Continue Reading »