Lunch time!

Whew! I have been up since 5am today (which in and of itself is a rarity!), without it needing to be for an appointment or anything! I decided to make the best use of my day and clean. Well, that and the fact that I really need to prepare for my husband coming home from deployment and I may also have a friend coming down from Germany to visit and staying with me, so cleaning is most definitely in order! But now it's time for lunch! Nomnomnomnom! I figured that while my boys are occupied with stuffing their faces I could justify a few minutes on the computer. :)

I've noticed a few of my other mom friends share all these phenomenal recipes, but personally, I don't usually get around to trying them. (Which really is a pity, since they do truly look to be tasty...) I'm not a cook. I do not enjoy food prep. Which, if you take into consideration my employment history, is actually ironic. I like to bake. Cakes, cupcakes, muffins, pies....YUM! That's the sort of thing I enjoy playing around with in the kitchen. Sadly, that does not make for good eating. (And on top of that, my oven is gas...I have discovered I hate baking with a gas oven. It's all well and good for the stove top, but I like to bake with electricity!) So I'm stuck with cooking, regardless. So what does a military wife whose husband is deployed and has to cook for two "half-people" resort to? Lots of easy meals. Boxed mac & cheese, cereal, and sandwiches. Lots and lots of sandwiches. Bologna, grilled cheese, PB&J's, tuna fish...sandwiches. But how do you keep from feeling like you're just preparing the same thing over and over and over and over, day after day after day? Especially when your kids are going through growth spurts and are determined to pester to be fed every 1-2 hours? My mom had the perfect solution: cookie cutters!!! Now any time that's sandwich time in our house is a happy time for the boys. They love picking from my plethora of cookie cutters to make shapes of their sandwiches! And as I do like to bake (and do often!), there are shapes aplenty!

The cookie cutters I have are kid-friendly, since they enjoy making cookie shapes as well, and are plastic and about an inch tall.

My little guys are all about cutting the shapes themselves, and because of the cutters being plastic, they love that they're able to!

The bat is one of their favorites, thanks to Batman! LOL So how do I get them to eat all the excess? I tell them they have to also eat all of the "hole" that they made, too, or else they can't have a shape in their sandwich next time. Works like a charm!

I will never be too old for tips from my mom! But now, since lunch time is sadly over, it's time to get back to cleaning...



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