An Edible Review

Influenster has done it again! Lots of yummy things in my most recent Bloom Voxbox. I did an unboxing video that you can see here. So, before we go on to the deliciousness that hit my mouth!, a little disclosure because - yah know..... FTC. 

Didn't buy it. Not being paid for this (unless you count payment in the form of delicious granola!). Not being swayed, coerced, or in any other way, shape or form bribe for my opinion. I just like eating things. 

Phew. Ok. Legalities out of the way! Now we can get onto the ever delicious granola that arrived at my door!

 

The Sunbelt Bakery raves that it uses no preservatives & is made/shipped daily to your local stores & comes in 3 flavored (did I mention one was chocolate?!). They retail for about 50c on their own & about $2-$3 for a box (I think there's 6 to a box? I've never actually found a box! Help a sister out because these things are delish!)

 

 

The calorie intake on one granola bar, while isn't the healthiest thing on the market, it could be a lot worse. One bar has 180 calories with 50 of it being from fat. So far so good, right? Lets take a look at everything else!

• Total fat; 6g (9% daily serving)
• Saturated fat; 3.5g (18% daily serving)
• Sodium; 75mg (3% daily serving)
• Total carbs; 29g (10% daily serving)
• Dietary Fiber; 1g (4% daily serving)
• Sugar; 12g
• Protein; 2g

Like I said, could be worse! This would make a great pre workout or an on-the-go snack for those trying to watch that they eat. 

The bar itself was nice & chewy, very soft with no weird texture or aftertaste. It's so soft I accidentally broke it while it was in the package prior to eating it. Oops! 

(Check out the video linked above to hear my rant on broken packaged food. Even though this was totally my fault!)

  

Im dying to get my hands on a box of these because they truly are delicious. HOWEVER! For those of you with allergies this may not be the bar for you. There are a ton of allergen triggers on here such as; coconut, soy, peanuts, almonds, eggs, milk, & wheat. The label also says other tree-nuts may be present in this bar. It's so sad that there's sooooooo many allergies in this one little bar. 

Life in the Bento: Week Six | 5-8 Oct 2015

Hello cupcakes!

I am so sorry for the emptiness that has been this blog lately. I have had some personal issues arise that have prevented me from doing much of anything, but I'm back!

In case you have missed the first five weeks, you can click here for a recap (:

This week was a short one due to an in service day at the local school. Since this was the first full official week on Halloween - I mean, October! - I kept the minions lunches centered around all things spooky.

Monday, 5 October 2015

So this was a quick put together in a pumpkin theme for the kiddos. I took a slice of orange, mild cheddar & a slice of white american & used a pumpkin cookie cutter to cut the shape (using a knife to cut the details on the cheddar cheese). I placed them both on a slice of whole wheat bread with a half leaf of romaine lettuce as the 'ground'. Then took some mixed veggies & threw them in a yellowish-orange cup, drew a cute smiley face on the cup of peaches, & then took this adorable Lunchables halloween themed snack packs & tossed that in. 

See, simple?

Tuesday, 6 October 2015

This meal was suuuuuper fun to create! I took 2 pieces of whole wheat bread, sliced off the crust & squished it down flat. I then spread a thin layer of peanut butter & rolled 'em up! I gently carved one side of the bread into a point to make it look like a finger. I took half of a cashew (you could use almonds but we didn't have any) & squished it onto the pointy part. I lightly then made "knuckle" indentations using a knife (be careful not to press too hard or you'll push right through!). 

Since we were all out of strawberry jam/jelly, I took apricot jam with a few drops of red food coloring, mixed it up & then poured it into a little cup a "witches blood dip". The boys thought it was a hoot! Sliced a banana in half & drew a cute little ghostie face on it. I wanted to add more ghosties to their box, so I took mozzarella string cheese, sliced it in hald & then cut slits at the bottom to make little ghostie wave-lings. Is that totally a word? To make it's cute little faces, I used black gel icing. 

Toss some BareNaked Vanilla Almond Granola into the other container & bam! Done.

Wednesday, 7 October 2015

 This was probably one of my favorites to make! Frankenstein! 

I took a garden veggie wrap, placed ham & cheese in the middle & folded the tortilla into a square! For his "brains", I took a thin slice of ham & cut just enough to give him a brain. (: His eyes were candy eyes! His mouth & stitches were drawn on with food safe marker.

I wanted to make bolts out of string cheese but I couldn't get it positioned right. So, instead, I halved & quartered the cheese to look like bolts..... but in a side dish. Added some green grapes & another Lunchables snack pack.

Thursday, 8 October 2015

Final lunch of the week before the long 4 day weekend! Kept it fairly simple with this one! Made H peanut butter sandwiches (at his request!) & cut them into a ghost & pumpkin shape with some halloween cookie cutters. I threw in some Veggie Garden Straws & an orange that I drew a face on (popped a small toothpick in the top to look like a stem). May not have been the most extravagant meal this week but still cute.

& that concludes this weeks super short, Life in the Bento. Okay, not super short because I'm fairly certain the very first week of only 2 days was super short. Hahah. 

Want to have your kiddos lunches featured on a blog post? Tag me on instagram @LoveofFilo & use the hashtag #NavyLifeinBento & you could be featured here!

Life in the Bento: Week Five || 28 Sept - 2 October 2015

Hellooooo cupcakes!

Welcome to the fifth installment of the Life in the Bento series! Want to play catch up? You can catch all your favorite Bento posts here. Now, onto this weeks boxes!

Monday, 28 September 2015

H decided to step a little outside realm of "bento" today with a side "dish" of spaghettios & IN the bento he chose: cut up hotdogs (he said he wanted to mix them into the spaghettios himself at school), sliced apples soaked in gingerale, & animal crackers. 

J decided he was extra hungry & wanted 2 tuna sandwiches with sliced apples soaked in gingerale & animal cookies.

We're starting to run out of food options because they keep wanting the same thing over & over again. I'm trying to let them pick their own lunches but I'm starting to feel like one of those boring moms who only pack sammiches. **nothing against moms who only pack sandwiches. I just have a HUGE pinterest board of cool bento box ideas & my kids won't partake in any of them now. *super sad face*

Tuesday, 29 September 2015

Woo! Okay, so J picked something a little different than a sandwich (finally!). He chose fresh slice turkey & cheese roll ups with carrots & fudge brownie little bites. Couldn't get this kid to choose a fruit today to save his life. But hey! At least he has his veggies.

H seems to have chosen a somewhat balanced meal. He wanted fresh turkey & ham roll ups with gingerale soaked apples, cubes of cheddar cheese (why he didn't just do cheese in the roll up is beyond me), carrots, & fudge brownie little bites.

Wednesday, 30 September 2015

H went a little "complicated" here. He wanted fish sticks mac&cheese, & animal crackers with ketchup for dipping. Again, couldn't make him choose a fruit or veggie to save his life. This meal kinda kills me because its nothing but carbs & yellow foods (sans the ketchup).

Thursday, 1 October 2015

Today was a little better. H chose penguins (think Goldfish crackers but not name brand), spaghettis, gingerale soaked apples, & mixed veggies. Not sure how this kid can eat cold pasta, but he does & he enjoys it.

Friday, 2 October 2015

Today both the kids got the same thing for lunch. They each got some of those vienna hotdog/sausages, 2 graham crackers, "whales" (dollar tree's version of gold fish}, mixed veggies, & a box of raisins. Overall a well rounded meal, yeah?

For drink each day they are sent with a bottle of water & come home & eat a healthy snack (usually an apple with some peanut butter or celery with peanut butter); then it's time for 20 minutes of rest (not a nap, just time to unwind from a hectic day at school - they are only 4 & 5 afterall) - at which point it is then homework time.

Curious about their Bentos?
Their "bento boxes" aren't real fancy. The blue one is a Paw Patrol themed plastic one from the Target Dollar Spot & the white/clear ones are just reused Chinese take out containers & little serving cup things I found in my moms tupperware cupboard. You can make your own Bento style boxes by utilizing what you have around your house if you can't afford the more expensive Planet Box or YumBox.

Want your kids lunch featured?

Want you wonderful, healthy, kid-friendly lunch creations featured? Use the hashtag #NavyLifeinBento on instagram & you & your kiddos lunch could be featured on next weeks blog!

Life in the Bento: Week Four || 21-25 Sept 2015

Hellooooo cupcakes! 

Hope you all had an amazing amazing week! Our week consisted on a nasty sickness going around the entire house (my parents, my sister, both minion, & myself). Everyone was over it within 2-3 days; a week later & I'm still battling it. supersadface.

Anyhow! We are in week four of Life in the Bento. You can revisit all our past weeks here:
Week 1: 3-4 Sept
Week 2: 8-11 Sept
Week 3: 14-18 Sept

Now lets hop into this weeks Bento meals!

Monday & Tuesday 21/22 Sept. 2015

So this was J's lunch for 2 days only because he stayed home from school Monday (& ultimately Tuesday). He requested a grape & mint jelly sandwich on a thick, amoroso roll; some gingerale soaked apples, carrots, & fudge brownie little bites. Not the healthiest thing in the world, but I started feeling quite horrible Sunday night when I was prepping their lunches.

H's lunch (which he ended up taking to school on Tuesday since he was sick on Monday) we a peanut butter & jelly on an amoroso roll, some gingerale soaked apples, green beans, & chocolate chip muffin little bites. Again, not entirely healthy, but when momma can barely stay standing, you do what you gotta do.

Wednesday, 23 Sept 2015

Starting this week, J is only in Pre-K Mondays, Tuesdays, & Fridays so the rest is just H's meals for the week. If you'd like to see what I make J for lunch on those "off days", let me know!

For H's meal today he chose his make your own pizza (sans the pizza sauce) with turkey pepperoni & shredded, mild cheddar cheese, apples, a drinkable Danimal's yogurt, & some pringles.

Thursday, 24 Sept 2015

Finally got H to step out of the sandwich box & try something new. Hooray! So for lunch today he had ham & cheese roll ups, some apples with peanut butter, animal crackers, & a drinkable Danimal's yogurt. (**side note: he actually enjoyed the roll ups! So you may be seeing more of those)

Friday, 25 Sept 2015

Hooray! It's friyay! The minions ended up having similar lunches today due to the simple fact that I still wasn't any better & was having a hard time creating anything cute for them to eat. Eat minion had 2 sandwiches (H had pb&j & J had cheese), some peas, animal crackers, & Danimal's drinkable yogurt. Quick, simple, & a total carb over load which I feel horrible about but, again, when momma is sick not much gets done. 

Every day the kids drink water with their lunches & have a healthy snack upon arriving home from school. That is something that never changes. (:

In terms of their "Bentos": The blue Bento is a Paw Patrol 3 compartment, plastic lunch "kit" from the Target Dollar spot - & I totally should've picked up more than the 2 I did when I found them because the dog got ahold of 1 & now I can't find them.  The white rectangle-ish one is actually a Chinese take-out box reused & repurposed. It's definitely not as cute but it works! I am eventually upgrading to a PlanetBox or a YumBox. Maybe I can convince Santa to gift them to the kids for Christmas. Hahah. 

What do you guys pack for your kids during the week? Do you do anything cutesy? I am so excited to start doing fall/halloween themed boxes starting Oct 1! If you would like your kiddos Bentos to be featured in a blog post, tag me on Instagram @LoveofFilo &/or use the hashtag #NavyLifeinBento & you may see your works of art added to the blog!

Life in the Bento: Week Two | 8-11 Sept 2015

Hello cuppiecakes!

Welcome back to another installment of Life in the Bento - week TWO. Can't believe the kids are in their second week of school..... but only on day six....? O.o  Funny how days off & starting on a Thursday can throw those things off. Anyhow! If you are new to the Bento series, you can play catch up with week one here. Lets get started on this week!

Tuesday, 8 September, 2015 -- today in the boys Bentos..... it's sandwich day! (& if you read that in Lilo's voice from the original Lilo & Stitch, you won the interwebs!) The boys repeatedly ask for "kitty" sandwiches; the innards usually change but they're always wanting their sandwiches cut into "kitties" - despite having various other cookie cutters & sandwich cutters. J's sandwich choice was cheese & mayo while H's was a PB&J.

J's side choices were a packet of Mott's natural fruit gummies, carrots, & vanilla yogurt.

H's side choices were a packet of Mott's natural fruit gummies, carrots, & cheetos.

Because sandwiches cut into the shape of kitties taste much better!

Wednesday, 9 September 2015

Happy Hump Day!

In J's Bento we have a packet of Mott's all natural fruit gummies, homemade chicken nuggets (you can read how I did them on the first post here), "penguins" (Save-a-lot's version of Goldfish), & carrots. Weird kid doesn't use any type of dipping sauce.

In H's Bento we have 2 sliced up all natural turkey hotdogs served with a side of ketchup, corn, animal crackers, & Mott's all natural fruit gummies.

Thursday, 10 September 2015

Welp, we've crossed hump day & are now onto Thursday!

Welcome to J's Bento! Today the kiddo wanted "make your own pizza" so his box consisted of whole wheat sandwich thin split in half to act as the crust, turkey pepperoni, shredded mild cheddar, & some left over meaty spaghetti sauce from last nights dinner. His snack choices were 2 honey graham crackers & some apples!

H's Bento was similar to J's but in a different form! He chose turkey pepperoni & cheddar cheese "sandwich crackers" (think like a lunchable but less processed), carrots, apples, & 2 honey graham crackers.

BENTO TIP!

Apples turn brown rather quickly after cut, refrigerated, & then left to sit in a lunchbox while kiddos are at school..... so here is how you solve that! After cutting your apples, soak them in some ginger ale for a few minutes & voila! No more browning apples!

Friday, 11 September 2015

It's the end to a short week!

J is ending his week with some more homemade chicken nuggets, "penguins", green beans, Motts all natural fruit gummies, & some Ritz crackers.

H decided he wanted rigatoni with homemade meat sauce, animal crackers, green beans, & Motts all natural fruit gummies.

To drink every day the kids get a bottle of water. 

I know a lot of the meal choices seem to be repeated, but I let my kids pick their lunch. I want them to feel proud of their lunch choices & I want them to make healthy choices. I don't coax them into what they want to eat for lunch which I think makes them even more excited when we put their bentos together. 

Have a picky eater? Have your kiddo get involved in the making & picking out of their lunch. Give them healthier versions of their favorites so they are still eating their favorite foods but still getting vitamin enriched, healthy, super foods they need to excel through school.

Have some kid friendly lunches you'd like to share? Email them to me or tag me on instagram with the hash tag #NavyLifeinBento & you (& your blog!) can be featured on a future installment. Have a great weekend everyone!

Drinking myself Skinny

Hello cupcakes!

Here is, yet again, my feeble attempt at #girlgetsfit. It is quite difficult for me to stick to a routine because I often get quite depressed when I don't see/feel immediate results (&, yes, I know results don't happen over night) & when I get that way, I just stop everything. It really is quite horrible because, honestly, I like working out - the rush & feeling of a good run use to fuel my bones. But not lately. (& it doesn't help that most days I'm in extreme pain from the fibromyalgia that I am not on medication for - the doctor wants to try PT since my original medicine regimen made me sick).

However! That post is neither here nor there. This post is about an amazing TEA that I was introduced to through Swagbucks called BotanicaScience SkinnyTox Detox Tea. Long name, right?! But it's totally worth the tongue twister.

Day One of starting SkinnyTox

Now, I have always been a big tea drinker - especially when it comes to loose leaf tea. I was first introduced to loose leaf tea in 2010 from Teavana - but that's not the point of this post; hahah. Anyway, Swagbucks was offering a pints promotion of 2,000 points for trying out this tea so I jumped on the bandwagon.

BontanicaScience prides themselves on being 100% organic & all natural. Their teas include things like rosehips, orange peels, stevia leaf, currents, & elderberries - just to name a few. You are meant to drink one cup in the morning & one at night &, honestly, after the first 2 days it becomes like clockwork for me to drink my tea on a regular basis. The tea does not stake claims in making/helping you lose weight but it does state to help curb appetites - which is pretty much the same thing, right? Not hungry means no munching on random nonsense. Since starting the detox tea, I have also lost my taste & desire for soda which is something I have been struggling with for a long while.

When I first started my tea-toxing journey, I was severely bloated, always run down & exhausted with no motivation or energy to do much of anything.

SkinnyTox Day Seven

I'm not sure if you can see the difference in a weeks time, but by a week in, I was definitely feeling loads better; I had more energy, I didn't feel so "heavy" (not in reference to weight, but overall body feeling - does that make sense?), & I was sleeping better at night with the night time tea. My cravings for sodas & sweets in general was pretty much nil by this point. With my morning tea, I would use my Frog Ocean Honey (from a local farmer here in NJ) Cranberry Blossom honey (apporximately 2-3 tsp) & at night I would drink it straight as it was. You can even drink the tea with out any extra type of sweetner at all! I just wanted to try & boost my immune system, so localized honey was my option. My darling loose leaf tea (even though it comes in a satchel), would steep in my tea cup for about 2-3 minutes (& if I walked away & forgot, sometimes longer - haha) in my beautiful TARDIS Tea Infuser my love bought me because, well, Whovian. ♥

I have successfully completed the 14 day tea-tox & am in the process of ordering the 28 day tea-tox. (: I highly recommend purchasing this brand of detox-fying tea if you're in the market for something new to add to your regimen. I am so happy I found this & even recommended it to my husband.

Can you see the difference? I kinda can. My husband can when I sent him pictures. I am not so much worried about the "losing weight" aspect when it comes to this tea because that's not what it's for. I bought it to help cleanse my body of all the nasty toxins I have been putting in it lately & I feel amazing, refreshed, & energized since starting this. & that's really all that matters. 

My next step in the #girlgetsfit journey is my 21 Day Fix which is all ready on order & you can purchase your own here (no, I am not a beachbody coach). I will definitely keep you guys updated on my progress with that as well.

Are you guys doing anything to get healthy? Have you tried as special detoxing products? Any recommendations you'd like to offer?

#GirlGetsFit Reloaded | Week 1 + 2 days

Huulllllooooooo cupcakes!

I have made it through the first week of the 30 day ab & squat challenge. It got a bit challenging for me - the sit ups anyway. My lupus & fibro decided they wanted to flair up but I showed them! I am now on day 9 of 30 & I am noticing a little bit of a difference in my gut area but I wont show you until day 15 when its time to take the next set of pictures!

I kinda fell off the "Ice Water Before Anything" train & I am honestly feeling it. I have started drinking more soda & I have no idea why. I am going to drop this habit & start back up with my water -- like I said, I really have no idea what has gotten into me with drinking all this soda but blehk!

I am excited to see what I look like at the 15 day mark. (:  Check in with you guys then.

#GirlGetsFit Reloaded | Day 1 & 2

It has been a long time since I updated the hastag #GirlGetsFit... mainly because I got lazy & stopped exercising - cue getting up to almost 200lbs! - & mainly because I got ridiculously sick. & Im not just talking about coughcoughidontfeelgood - my body pretty much started to try & kill itself off & is destroying itself... in other words, we found out I have a bunch of autoimmune diseases. (lupus, fibromyalgia, & anklyosing spondylitis; followed by severe social anxiety rearing its ugly head again even though thats not autoimmune)  So now that I am in treatment, I am now working on getting my meat bag of a body back into a shape that I am comfortable being.

I will say, that since I had been diagnosed with all that crap I have lost 30pounds since NOVEMBER. I am quite pleased with that. I know that doesnt seem like a lot but I am 30 pounds further from 200 pounds & 30 pounds closer to 130 (: For this first 30 day session of #GirlGetsFit, I am doing the 30 day Ab & Squat Challenge.

I have started this challenge a while ago & then tapered off because I was suppose to be doing it with my husband & he wimped out so I did too. Total sheeple. :/ SO! I restarted it... & I even made adorable planner stickers to motivate me even more! ^.^;

Will be listed on my Etsy Shop on SUNDAY

 Soooo yeah! Days 1 & 2 are complete.. & they actually killed me >.<  Having fibro, lupus, & AS can really take a toll on your stamina.. &, as you can see, I didnt even do much!! But I have also started a new healthy regimen... thing.

Every morning, before I eat anything, I drink 33oz of ice water (I also take a weight loss pill at the time) followed by a cup of hot decaf green tea with a little bit of honey. After I have had my morning liquids, I eat a light lunch (salad, celery & cream cheese, etc). Then I go back to drinking 33oz of water before the end of dinner. I eat a normal dinner ( + in another weight loss pill) & follow up with at least 16 oz of water. Right before I go to bed, I have a cup of hot sleepy time tea with a little bit of honey. I have actually surprised myself with how well I am sticking to this. & Im curbing my appetite so much that I am not feeling hungry (& by hungry i mean omgimstarvingsomeonefeedmeeventhoughijustateanhourago!). 

I am slowly going to start adding in more exercise once my body is use to physical activity again. hey! We all need to start somewhere.

Are you doing this challenge or will you? If so, I would love to see your progress!