Lunchbox Ideas (8)

Here I am with more healthy lunch and snack options after a long break, I wish I could say after a long 'holiday', but it was rather a very busy period due to other commitments in life. Most of these lunchboxes were prepared with the seasonal fresh produce, mostly homegrown, at the time. I hope you find them inspirational.

1. Lunch and Snack:
* Potato salad (boiled potatoes, capsicum, fresh mint, seasoning of your choice)
* Apple
* Blueberries
* Home-grown mulberries

 2. Lunch and Snack:
* Stuffed vine leaves
* Pineapple
* Blueberries
* Home-grown mulberries

3. Snack:

* Sorrel leaves (packed with Vitamins A, C and more. Click here to read more.)
* Homegrown tomatoes
* Cucumbers

4. Lunch and Snack:
* Flat bread wraps with cream cheese, chia and sunflower seeds,
* Red capsicum sticks
* Strawberry
* Persimon
* Black grapes with seeds

To see the previous lunchbox ideas posts, you can visit:

#7
#6
#5
#4
#3
#2
#1

Lunchbox Ideas (7)

Yes yes, I know. It has been ages -and felt even longer!- since I was able to post anything here the last time. Even though it might have looked like a big break here, it was actually a very busy period for me. Life was in its full swing on this side of the planet for sure.

The new school year has started a few weeks ago Down Under and even though I love spending time with my children during school holidays and that we all really enjoy not having to rush in general; reality has already kicked in and we like it or not we have already adapted to our school-day routines well.

Below is some more inspiration for your in case you are looking at healthy variety and are happy to try new recipes and combinations. You can find the links to the previous lunchbox idea posts at the bottom of this page. Enjoy!

1. Lunch and snack:
* Cucumber dip (finely chopped cucumbers, natural yoghurt, a small pinch of salt, some dried mint and some fresh mint leaves for decoration).
* Flat bread chips (Lebanese/flat bread cut into triangle shapes and toasted until crisp).
*Purslane (Never underestimate this edible weed. It is full of Omega 3 just to say the least. Read more about it and get some recipes here)
*Grapes

2. Lunch and Snack:
*Pasta salad (pasta made from the night before. In the morning, I added some raw red capsicum, lightly blanched peas, and some dried mint. Feel free to add your favourite seasoning).
*Fruit salad (fresh garden grapes, some plum and nectarine slices)
*A salad (toasted halloumi, home-grown cherry tomatoes and home-grown basil leaves)

3. Lunch and Snack:
*Some organic rice crackers and spreadable cheese
*Home-grown celery sticks, homegrown-cherry tomatoes and mozzarella cheese cubes
*Pear

4. Lunch and Snack:
*Sandwich (meat balls, green salad eaves, cucumber slices and spreadable cheese) (in a foil wrap in the picture below)
*An apple (cut in half)
*Carrot sticks
*Two types of grapes

Previous lunchbox ideas for you to check out:
#6
#5
#4
#3
#2
#1

Tutorial: Handmade Cubes

This is one quick and easy project that even most novice crafters will achieve. This was one of the very first things I have ever made as an adult crafter, approximately 5 or 6 years ago. It is quite a flexible project too as you can decide on the size, the materials used (felt is very hassle free and is easy to hand-stitch but you can also make it with some durable fabrics too instead), pattern for the felt/fabric placement, the stuffing used (hobby-fill, shredded fabric scraps etc) and so on. 

Materials needed: 
- 6 pieces of same sized (eg 10cm) felt pieces (in this particular one, I have used 4 of the same and 2 of a contrasting colour for two opposite sides)
- Stuffing (I used hobbyfill for this cube)
- Two small bells (optional)
- A needle (or a sewing machine)
- Some thread

You can choose to sew the pieces together using a sewing machine or just settle on the couch in front of a TV and simply hand-stitch (blanket stitch works the best) while watching your favourite show. Sew or stitch all sides and corners except for half of one as you need it open to put the stuffing in. I recommend securing the bells to each other and also to the filling you use or a piece of fabric leave in the middle of the cube and put more stuffing all around for safety purposes before closing the open side.

You can use this idea to make letter or number cubes for educational or decorative purposes or you can simply make it and give it to a loved little one as a handmade toy. Just be mindful of the materials used and any open ends or stitches if you give it to a baby as they tend to put things in their mouth more often than not. However, toddlers are more likely to use these cubes as balls or stacking items.

Have a fulfilling day!

Lunch Ideas for School Kids (5)

I am assuming that by now, you would have well noticed that we use cream cheese sandwiches more often than not as my son prefers cream cheese over other cheese types in sandwiches. He also prefers his sandwiches not to have many ingredients which is not a concern for me as he has his vegetables on the side happily anyway but I do find it boring. I would love to hear from you some other sandwich filling ideas.

1. Lunch and Snack:

• Cream cheese and chia wraps
• One small apple
• One small persimmon (cut into slices)
• One small (homemade) muffin

2. Lunch and Snack:

• One slice of homemade wholewheat bread with cream cheese and chia
• One slice of homemade olive bread with cream cheese
• Homegrown celery sticks
• Carrot sticsk
• Homegrown cherry tomatoes
• Strawberries
• Blueberries

3. Lunch and Snack

• Rice crackers with some cream cheese on the side
• Cucumber sticks
• Homegrown cherry tomatoes
• Melon slices

4. Lunch and Snack:

• Cream cheese and chia wraps
• Two organic dried apricots
• Half a carob stick
• Some homemade savoury cookies
• Cucumber slices
• Homegrown cherry tomatoes

5. Lunch and Snack:

• Rye bread sandwich with cream cheese and linseed
• Carrot sticks
• Cucumber sticks
• Red capsicum sticks
• Homegrown cherry tomatoes
• One banana

Note: You can access to the previous 'lunch ideas for kids posts' by Home of Homemade Treasures here:

Lunch ideas #4
Lunch ideas #3
Lunch ideas #2
Lunch ideas #1

Reptiles or Not

Once you have at least some basic sewing skills, life becomes more exciting; both for you and for the ones you enjoy putting a smile on the face of.

My daughter's best male friend, whom she has known since babyhood, had a 'reptile' themed birthday party last month. Believe it or not, it was full of LIVE snakes to say the least! You guess the rest. Not a party to forget anytime soon for sure.

As for the dinosaur tie in pictures here, well, you have guessed it right. It was a part of our gifts on the day (even though it is arguable whether dinosaurs were from the reptile family or not, but I thought it would still make a great gift as I haven't met a little boy who doesn't like dinos so far and yes, I was right, he DID love it!)

I have found the tie tutorial and pattern here on I am Sharing the Wealth and listened to the advice of Vanilla Joy on keeping the fabric ends around the neck short to make it more comfortable to wear. It was actually an enjoyable little project and didn't take long to put together either!

Lets make someone smile today!

Guest Post: Personalised Wooden Door Hanger (Tutorial)

About the Author: 

My name is Beyza Nur Bilge Kircali and I am a nurse. I left my job as a nurse with the birth of my first child, after 10 years. I now have three sons and live happily in Istanbul, Turkey. My interests have changed vastly after becoming a mum. I have completed a certificate course in 'teaching brain training games' through Aydin University. Currently, I am a first year student at Istanbul University, studying Sociology. Whenever I get some extra time from my children, I try to do some homework or take my children to kids activities in Istanbul as often as I can. I love upcycling, recycling and reusing materials at home. I find it very enjoyable to spend time with kids. I recommend it for anyone seeking a happy and fun life. 

This project is something that depending on age and level of readiness, your child can do independently, with some supervision or with you. It would also make a great 'birthday party' activity and gifts to take away for your child's friends on his/her birthday. It makes a wonderful recycling project too. 

You will need:

• A piece of wood to be used as a base in a preferred size (in this project, a piece of recycled crate made of poplar was used)
• Various coloured felt pieces
• Small pieces of cut wood
• Glue
• PVA glue or any type of glue that will stick to wood
• Sandpaper to smoothen the surface of the wooden base
• A pen or anything that will write on wood

Instructions: 

• Using the sandpaper, make sure the base wood is nice and smooth.
• Write the name in the middle of the wood in a large font.

• Using the glue, stick the little wood cubes/pieces on the letters shown in picture below.

• Start cutting your felt pieces for decoration. 

• Cut little squares or rectangles of felt and stick them on letters.

• Keep decorating until it satisfies your taste and then voila! Your personalised door decoration is ready!

Lunch Ideas for School Kids (4)

Below is another set of four lunch ideas for school children. If you would like to check out the previous ones, you can check here, here, and here.

1. Lunch and Snack:

• Cream cheese and chia wraps
• Lightly boiled squash with some dried mint on top
• Cranberries
• Homegrown corn on the cob

2. Lunch and Snack:

• A sandwich in multigrain bread (with poppy seeds) with cream cheese, cucumber, tomato and chia seeds
• A vegetable salad with raw mushroom, cucumber, carrot and some homegrown salad leaves
• Green and red grapes
• An apple

3. (Light) Lunch:

• Green salad leaves (sorrel, baby spinach and lettuce)
• Red capsicum
• Fetta cheese cubes
• Linseed
• Pumpkin seeds
• Goji berries

4a. Lunch and Snack:

• Cooked pasta shapes
• Lightly boiled broccoli
• Lightly boiled green beans
• Raw red capsicum
• Apple slices
• Strawberries

4b. Snack for Miss Junior
(Same as 4b except for pasta and apple)

• Lightly boiled broccoli
• Lightly boiled green beans
• Raw red capsicum 
• Strawberries

Lunch Ideas for School Kids (3)

This is the third set of four lunchbox ideas here after this and this on Home of Homemade Treasures blog so far. Definitely more is planned. Please feel free to share your lunchbox ideas with us in the comments section below as well. Enjoy!

1. Lunch and Snack

• Warm green lentil and pasta soup (in thermos)
• Pineapple slices
• Strawberries
• Blueberries
• Melon slices

2. Lunch and Snack

• Homemade pancakes
• Strawberries
• Raspberries
• Blueberries

3. Snack:

• Watermelon and banana kebabs

4. Lunch and Snack

• Couscous with cherry tomatoes and green leaves
• Cucumber slices and carrot sticks
• Melon slices and blueberries

Lunch Ideas for School Kids (2)

I have been longing to make this post for such a long time now but it looks like today had to be the day. I seriously am one busy woman! (Who isn't, ha?)

I had shared four lunch ideas/recipes with you here previously. I prepare lunch for my son on a daily basis, and Miss Junior now has lunch at school a few days a week as well, so, do expect many more to come in time but for now, enjoy the ones below:

1. Lunch and Snack:

• (Homemade organic) bread and spreadable cheese with chia
• Avocado slices
• (Homegrown) cherry tomatoes
• (Organic) cranberries
• Pineapple slices

2. Vegetable and cheese kebabs:

• Red capsicum, 
• cucumber, 
• mozzarella cheese

3. Lunch: 

• Carrots
• Raw fresh garden peas
• Slice bread
• Cheese slice

Snack: Fruit Salad

• Blueberries
• Kiwi
• Strawberries
• Nectarin

4a. Lunch and Snack for Mr. Junior

• Homemade roast beef - cold cut.
• Baby spinach and fetta cheese salad
• Flat bread chips
• Cucumber, yoghurt and mint dip (tzatziki)
• Fruit salad with melon, kiwi and strawberries

4b. Lunch and Snack for Miss Junior

• See 4a for content.

Simplicity

'Abra-to-gabra' says my 3 year old butterfly when turning a chair into a teddy bear or her brother into a cloud. There are always at least a few of those large straw looking handles that are often attached to balloons that some businesses give out as a way of advertising at home and my kids have lots of fun using them in their imaginative plays or while pretending to be a magician even when the balloons are long gone. 

Even though they find an amazing use of those long straws as they are, they also sometimes have fun cutting them into pieces too. Of course using my kitchen scissors!

They sure make a great team. My son cuts the straws into pieces, my daughter carefully places them on the floor all over the house so that we can see at least a piece or two in every room of the house.

However, the fun doesn't end there. They both love threading them as well. My son does it because he just enjoys threading and my daughter does it because a girl can never have enough accessories as you may be well aware especially if you have a little girl in your life.

This is a win-win type of an activity for us. I am happy -as long as they use their own scissors, that is- because the straw pieces don't end up invading the whole house and it is almost totally hassle free. My kids are happy because they have fun while using their fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and focus. I think having a jarful of those straws can be a lifesaver even when there are a few of their friends over too. Any happy children-happy mama moment is to be cherished!

 Have a relaxing day!

RECIPE: Homemade Playdough

Just recently, I heard something called 'cream of tartar' and that you can use it to make some homemade playdough with. Did I just make it obvious that I don't really bake much normally? Anyway, no need to get into unnecessary details here, right? 

Well, I found the packet of cream of tartar in the baking aisle of a chain supermarket in my area. I wanted to mention it here so that your search of it is much less painful and time consuming than mine was in case you too have never bought it before. 

The rest was much easier. I also bought my first ever food colouring pack and voila! I simply came home, stored them until kids were at home, then took them out one day and made playdough with my little helpers. I used same recipe on the cream of tartar packet (I used McKenzie's cream of tartar). It was super easy!

Recipe:

2 cups plain flour
4 tbs cream of tartar
1 cup salt
2 cups water
2 tbs cooking oil
Food coloring

Method:

Mix all ingredients. Stir over medium heat for a few minutes. When the mixture congeals, it is ready!

From Mama to Bubba (2): A Favourite Top Turned into a Dress

Do you remember my 'From Mama to Bubba (1)' post? Well, this is another little handmade gift from me to my little beauty even though it is not necessarily the second in terms of order. However, just to make it easy to track on the blog, I have named it as the second. 

My daughter is a happy little girl. She loves her pink and she loves her tutus. She loves dancing and singing. She is clever and energetic. I wanted to make something that I believed she would love and luckily, my mother instinct was right! 

Using one of her favourite tops, which was becoming too small for her to wear especially in the next summer months, I made her a dress. It was actually my first time type of a project with a gathered skirt. The Internet is definitely not short on turning t-shirts to dresses, nor does it disappoint one in gathered skirt tutorials. I did not actually follow a particular tutorial as I had a clear idea on what I wanted to make with that top. I simply used my common sense and current ability to sew and put it all together.

I used a wide ribbon not only because it looks good but also to hide the unpleasant look of the joint where the pink top and the gathered skirt are sewn together. Even though my petite daughter can get in and out of the dress without much hassle for the moment, it is obvious that the dress will not last long for her as it is not flexible. I should have made the waist flexible. Well, lets take it as a note to self for the next time!

What I love about this project of mine is that first of all, it made my precious one happy and that is totally priceless. Secondly, it is an upcycling project and my daughter will get to use one of her favourite tops for a bit longer instead of having to say farewell to it very soon. Also, it is frilly, girly, handmade and my own effort for my daughter. It is also a part of a learning process too. To me, it is a win-win. What do you think?