MAGIC RAMEN - a Literary Lunch

This lunch is also posted over at The Little Crooked Cottage as a Literary Lunch. Head over to the fabulous blog of four children's book authors and check out the Magic Ramen lunch there as well! May contain affiliate links.

Have you ever wondered who invented ramen? Andrea Wang tells the story of Momofuku Ando - the inventor of ramen - beautifully in her new book MAGIC RAMEN. Kana Urbanowicz illustrated the mouth watering book and her pictures will invite you to make your very own bowl of ramen as soon as you finish reading.

Mr. Ando worked day in and day out to create quick, convenient, and tasty noodle soup for all the people he saw standing in long lines after WWII to get food. He believed that Peace follows from a full stomach and went to work to create what we all know as instant ramen. He eventually went on to invent Cup Noodles and his ramen even went to space.

Read more about Momofuku Ando and his journey in MAGIC RAMEN - and don't forget to make sure you have some at home before reading :)

We packed a lunch full of noodles and love in our Planetbox Rover:

• two banana bread "chicken drum sticks"
• nutritious strawberries and Blueberries 
• happy cheese sandwich people looking forward to Ramen
• a carrot, celery and mushroom salad with Mr. Ando's backyard shack
• a bowl of healthy Ramen with chicken, carrots, cheese hearts, spinach and an egg  

SPLATYPUS - a Literary Lunch

This lunch is also posted over at The Little Crooked Cottage as a Literary Lunch. Head over to the fabulous blog of four children's book authors and check out the wonderful Literary Interviews with Mr. Pig himself! May contain affiliate links.

Meet SPLATypus! All he wants to do is play but somehow he does not seem to fit in anywhere. This adorable new book by Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen and Jackie Urbanovic follows this little lonely platypus trying to play with someone. Come find out who his new friend will be!

We packed a lunch to fit in our Planetbox Rover:

• blue water jello to splash in
• a cheese stick friend to play with
• sandy beach cereal
• and of course a SPLATypus sandwich

VAMPIRINA at The Beach - a Literary Lunch

This lunch is also posted over at The Little Crooked Cottage as a Literary Lunch. Head over to the fabulous blog of four children's book authors and check out the wonderful Literary Interviews with Mr. Pig himself! May contain affiliate links.

It is finally summer and time for the beach!
Vampirina is taking a trip to Moon Monster Madness Beach in Anne Marie Pace's new book VAMPIRINA At The Beach (illustrated by LeUyen Pham). You would not believe how much fun the beach can be at night!

So, pack your bathing suit and cooler and follow Vampirina, her family and friends on this fun adventure to the beach. It is time for playing in the waves, surfing, diving, volleyball and snacks!

We packed a lunch for the beach in our Planetbox Rover:

• a chocolate pudding and graham cracker Monster beach
• scary strawberries with sugar cookies
• melon beach balls and of course
• a Vampirina chocolate sandwich with raspberry jelly accents

The Unintentional Adventures of the Bland Sisters - a Literary Lunch

Jaundice and Kale Bland are the careful heroines of Kara LaReau's and Jen Hill's new book THE UNINTENTIONAL ADVENTURES OF THE BLAND SISTERS. The two sisters avoid excitement at all cost and stick to their routine. One day, a knock on the door changes their boring bland lives forever. Having been kidnapped by an all-female band of pirates the Bland sisters are off on unintentional adventures! 

We made a bland pirate lunch in our Planetbox Shuttle to match:

• bland white pirate yogurt with a pirate skull
• kale and strawberries with Jaundice and Kale's initials
• bland crackers with the Jolly Regina planks
• and two Kale and Jaundice sandwiches

The Nian Monster - a Literary Lunch

HAPPY NEW YEAR! It has been quiet on the blog lately but I am back and my lunches and Literary Lunches will be posting again regularly! To start off the new year, this Literary Lunch celebrates the Chinese New Year which starts on January 28th.

What would you do if a beast with horns, scales and wide, wicked jaws showed up in the midst of your family preparing a new year celebration? That is exactly the problem Xingling faces when the Nian Monster suddenly appears outside her kitchen. Will Xingling be able to tame the monster by feeding it traditional food? Find out in Andrea Wang's new book THE NIAN MONSTER!

We packed a lunch to satisfy any mythical beast:

• a helping of long-life noodles with fish for good fortune
• a mini Xingling made of cheese and spinach
• a sweet peanut butter "rice cake" made from bread and peanut butter
• and sweet apples with firework sprinkles

Officer Katz and Houndini - a Literary Lunch

Maria Gianferrari has done it again! We had already fallen in love with Penny &Jelly - The School Show and Penny &Jelly Slumber Under The Stars and now we are in LOVE with OFFICER KATZ and HOUNDINI - a Tale of Two Tails.

Officer Katz is about to retire and before he does he wants to finally get Houndini, the only sneaky dog that has always gotten away. Will he succeed this time? Houndini has three chances to escape. But, will he? You will have to see for yourself! My kids are in love with the characters in this book and loved the surprise ending!

To celebrate this fun book we made a Literary Lunch to match:

• a marked Davy Crock-cat's portrait
• a cheese cracker sneaky contraption to trap Houndini
• and a The Great Escape travel poster

More about Maria Gianferrari:

Hot diggety dog! Maria Gianferrari’s a lucky dog—she gets to write stories about cats and dogs, and when she’s dog-tired, she can catnap in her office. Maria lives in northern Virginia with her cat’s meow of a family: her scientist husband, artist daughter, and top dog, Becca. She is the author of the Penny & Jelly books as well as Coyote Moon and the forthcoming Hello Goodbye Dog. To learn more about Maria, please visit her website at mariagianferrari.com, Facebook or Instagram..

OFFICER KATZ & HOUNDINI BLOG TOUR! BOOK GIVEAWAYS EVERY DAY!

Tuesday, Oct. 18th: Librarian’s Quest

Wednesday, Oct. 19th: Bildebok

Thursday, Oct. 20th: Mamabelly’s Lunches with Love

Friday, Oct. 21st: Pragmaticmom + THREE book giveaway

Monday, Oct. 24th: Homemade City

Tuesday, Oct. 25th: ReFoReMo THINK QUICK Interview with Carrie Charley Brown

WIN A COPY OF THE BOOK:

a Rafflecopter giveaway 

Open to US Residents only. Winner will be notified via email and has 24 h to respond or a new winner will be drawn.

Monster Trucks - a Literary Lunch

It is Literary Lunch time and I am providing the lunch over at the Little Crooked Cottage today. My kids LOVE this book so much, we made TWO lunches!

First up, is our MONSTER TRUCK lunch in our Easylunchboxes. We packed:

• spooky glow-in-the-dark goldfish crackers with watchful eyes
• a vampire Monster Truck apple
• and a Little Blue Bus sandwich with powdered sugar and chocolate decorations

Next we decided we needed one more lunch to celebrate Little Blue Bus from MONSTER TRUCKS, written by Anika Denise and illustrated by Nate Wragg. Little Blue Bus is perky and cute, so what is she doing in the Monster Truck Race? Find out in this delightful kids' book with a surprising twist!

My kids fell in love with Little Blue Bus and this is our favorite page.

This time we packed a frightful lunch in our Planetbox Shuttle to match:

• MONSTER TRUCKS vanilla yogurt with chocolate decoration
• frightful mac'n'cheese puff creatures of the night
• a Little Blue Bus sandwich with jelly, (s)cream cheese and chocolate

Rover Fun Lunches

Today is the first day back after Spring break. Normally, my kids would be sad to leave vacation behind and head back to school but today they are just a little bit excited. Planetbox generously sent us two Rover lunchboxes and my kids cannot wait to take them to school today.

These fun magnets definitely help anyone to be cheery!

We packed one of the Rovers for my 4th Grader with:

• celery sticks with dip
• Crisp Thins 
• two mini Easter treats
• orange slices and
• left over spaghetti with tomatoes, mozarella, a little olive oil, salt and pepper.

The other Rover was packed for my middle schooler and filled with:

• a whole small apple
• Thin Crisps
• a small Easter treat
• cucumber and carrot slices
• a salami and lettuce sandwich on whole wheat

Happy Easter!

One more day until the Easter festivities start. My kids are so excited and are helping with the traditional carrot cake and Easter bread baking in the kitchen. To keep them happy, I packed lunches this morning, so they can eat when they are hungry.

Packed in our Planetbox Rover are:

• a mini chocolate bunny nestled in a handful of blueberries
• a peeled carrot
• Annie's Graham bunnies
• two mini chocolate eggs
• and a ham and cheese sandwich bunny with a cheese tail

Have a wonderful weekend! And Happy Easter from my family to yours!

Things I used to make this lunch (contains affiliate links):

Skippyjon Jones Snow What - a Literary Lunch

This lunch is also posted over at The Little Crooked Cottage as a Literary Lunch. Head over to the fabulous blog of four children's book authors and check out the wonderful Literary Interview with Mr. Pig himself!

SNOW WHAT written by Judy Schachner is the new exciting adventure of Skippyjon Jones. This time Skippyjon Jones heads into a magical snowy forest of make-believe. Can the seven Chimichangos convince him to wake up Nieve Que, the frozen princess, by kissing her? You just have to find out by picking up your own copy of SNOW WHAT.

We packed a lunch to-go in our Planetbox Shuttle perfect for any closet adventure:

• cucumber trees
• a lettuce and carrot forest
• and of course a Skippyjon Jones sandwich

BBF Halloween Hop

2 more days until Halloween! Are you as excited as I am? I love fall and Halloween and I cannot wait to take the kids trick-or-treating! Today I am part of the annual Bento Bloggers & Friends Blog Hop. Click through to the next blogger at the end of each post and you will be able to enjoy 18 fabulous Halloween lunch ideas!

We packed a spooky Planetbox Shuttle bento box filled with:

• a spooky ghost vanilla yogurt with melted chocolate decorations
• grape tomatoes with spooky eye ball chocolates
• Peeps Ghost marshmellows
• eye ball grapes and
• CuteZCute chocolate spread bat sandwiches

I also added a fun Lunchbox Love Halloween Card to make this lunch extra boo-tiful!

And now please hop over to Sandra from One Crafty Thing to see what she created for our Halloween Hop:

Things I used to make this Halloween lunch (contains affiliate links):

Baking Day at Grandma's - a Literary Lunch

Baking Day at Grandma's - written by Anika Denise and illustrated by Christopher Denise - is a beautifully illustrated children's book telling the story of three little happy bear cubs on their way to Grandma's on Baking Day. The illustrations and rhymes in the book portray coziness and love and you can almost smell the cake turning the pages. But this cake is not for eating! The little cubs cut the cake in neat squares, load up the sled and spread some love delivering treats on this winter afternoon!

And yes, the recipe for the mouth watering chocolate cake the three little cubs help Grandma bake is in the back of the book! A must try no matter if you are intending to share or not.

For the occasion we packed a delicious Baking Day lunch in our Planetbox Shuttle holding:

• a piece of Grandma's chocolate cake (recipe from the book!)
• apple slices
• one little bear chocolate spread sandwich with a spinach leaf apron and a peanut butter filled spoon

This lunch is easy to make with the help of the CuteZCute Cuddle Palz. See what I used to make this lunch here (contains affiliate links):

Arnie, the Doughnut - a Literary Lunch

This lunch is also posted over at The Little Crooked Cottage as a Literary Lunch. Head over to the fabulous blog of four children's book authors and check out the wonderful Literary Interviews with Mr. Pig himself!

Arnie, the Doughnut by Laurie Keller is a deliciously imaginative story about friendship. This laugh out loud book follows Arnie from the Bakery to Mr. Bing who to Arnie's surprise wants to EAT him. After lengthy negotiations a friendship - you don't want to miss - ensues!

We packed a lunch-to-go in our Planetbox Shuttle you could make friends with:

• cool and fun cucumber slices
• sweet and friendly grapes
• and a happy and loyal cream cheese bagel with chocolate, pretzel and sprinkle designs.

May lunch always be your friend!


Things I used to make this lunch (contains affiliate links):

I am Otter - a Literary Lunch

This lunch is also posted over at The Little Crooked Cottage as a Literary Lunch. Head over to the fabulous blog of four children's book authors and check out the wonderful Literary Interviews with Mr. Pig himself!

What happens when an Otter and his Teddy open a Toast Restaurant? Of course, all the toys line up to get seated and try the fantastic toast menu! Sit down, grab a plate and meet Otter (and Teddy, of course!) from the new book I AM OTTER written by Sam Garton. 

We packed our Planetbox Shuttle with a lunch for toast fans of all ages:

• a checkered table cloth apple
• organic strawberry yogurt dessert with Teddy and edible food color decorations
• and of course TOAST: white, swirled and pumpernickel toast filled with ham & cheese, peanut butter & jelly and lettuce & bacon
• a few broccoli florets (hopefully not just for decoration) 

To find out more about Otter, Otter Keeper and of course Teddy you can watch this adorable video trailer for I AM OTTER:

and you can find the book available on Amazon!

Things I used to make this lunch (contains affiliate links):

No Slurping, No Burping! - a Literary Lunch

Disclaimer: The publisher provided this book to me at no cost. However, all opinions are my own!

This lunch is also posted over at The Little Crooked Cottage as a Literary Lunch for Mr. Pig's interview with Evie, Simon and Father.. Head over to the fabulous blog of four children's book authors and check out the interview with Evie, Simon and Father to find out what they have in their pockets right now!

Looking for a fun book to teach kids table manners? Kara LaReau's NO SLURPING, NO BURPING! is a funny book teaching kids in a silly way how to mind their table manners! 

My kids loves that Father was the one making all the mistakes and could relate to his frustrations trying to remember EVERY table manner rule Evie and Simon (his kids) tried to teach. 

Eating fettuccine or spaghetti is messy after all. Although Father does brings messy pasta eating to a whole new level when he tries to eat all the mushrooms at one time ;) My kids loved this page!! They giggled and giggled imagining trying to wind a whole plate of pasta on a fork and trying to eat it. This page inspired our matching Literary Lunch for today!

This lunch to-go in our Planetbox Shuttle for Father should keep him reminded of table etiquette:

• Evie, Simon and Dog grapes (someone after all has to make sure Father minds his manners)
• Spaghetti in a fancy dish with garlic bread utensils and of course a white tablecloth
• and a sweet chocolate biscuit reminder: No slurping, No Burping!

What I used to make this lunch (contains affiliate links):