Butterfly Flutter By

Over the weekend we went to a butterfly festival. Pretty cool for the kiddos to see them up close. Apparently butterflies like watermelon. The place provided watermelon and the butterflies would fly on to them. For lunch on Monday I thought I'd remind him of what we did on the weekend. I made a sunbutter and jam sandwich in the shape of a butterfly and used a icing writer (used on cookies) to decorate it. I added an extra heart sandwich just in case he was extra hungry. I never know if he really eats all of it. Some times at home he can eat 2 full sandwiches. Grapes and Pirates Booty.

Little Man has been into his Cowboy hat that he made at summer camp and a little toy snake as of last night. So this morning I made his lunch with that in mind. Lunch today consisted of turkey on mini pirate swords, a cowboy hat cut from a slice of cheese. I decorated it with the icing writer to match his cowboy hat with a star and his name. Edamame, goldfish and grapes. Oh and 1 chocolate chip for dessert. I know, just 1 chocolate chip? He's lucky to have that as a treat because this mama tries to stay away from sugar as much as I can! And if you're wondering what he drinks for lunch, he usually gets the Horizon Vanilla milk or regular milk. Apple juice just once in awhile but we try to save juice for an after school treat.

I'm starting to collect ideas for Halloween lunches which will be so much fun! And also fall. It's still pretty hot here so it's hard to think of autumn themes just yet. I hope all you mamas are having fun with your bentos!

Sub Sandwich and Sea Creatures!

I was running out of ideas for creative ways to make Little Man's lunch so I had to take a refresher by reviewing other fellow bento creators.  This gal is SUPER talented and I get a lot of my ideas from her including today's lunch:  Cute Food for Kids

I made a sunbutter and jam submarine sandwich out of a football cookie cutter.  Windows can be made by puching out the bread with a straw or in my case, I had some very small circle and oval cutters.  The periscope and rotors are made out of a bendy straw.  I cut wavy nori for seaweed in the background.  It would have been super cute and super easy to use gold fish crackers to add to the sea but we are all out!  Had some cheddar bunnies but I guess that wouldn't have made any sense.  My next option was to make the hotdog octopus and crab, which happens to be one of my favorites to make.  Yeah!  Fruit option is a mix of nectarines, raspberries, blueberries and strawberries.  For dessert, Toy Story gummies!

The container I used today is the EasyLunchBoxes which fits perfectly in his new school lunch bag.  I find this container a bit big for my preschooler's portion size.  Especially the main section which holds a full size sandwich.  This is where the silicone cupcake liners would come in handy.



Nothing too creative today for lunch.  I can't create spectcular lunches for him every day, right?  He might come to expect it  =)  Let's talk about some essentials you need to create these "bento" lunches for your kiddos.

1. I would say the #1 item would be 3-4 sectioned food containers.  It doesn't have to be actual "bento" containers, just cool looking food containers to make your food look more interesting.  I LOVE food containers and get them whenever I see one I like.  I don't own any actual "bento" boxes.
2. The next would be an insulated lunch bag that lays your container FLAT so your creation isn't ruined by lunchtime.  Check out EasyLunchBoxes.com
3. Cookie cutters.  I got a huge box of plastic cookies cutters at Michaels for about $10.  They usually have the 40% off coupons too!  These are great for cutting different shape sandwiches, cheese, pancakes, waffles, etc.
4. Food picks.  I would say get a good variety of these.  Again, they don't have to be the ones made specifically for "bentos".  I find them in the party section of stores where one would use for appetizers at parties.
5. Silicone cupcake liners in different colors and perhaps different sizes.  These are great for separating food.

Once you have the basic items, it's easy to build on to what you have.  I hear a lot from people how time consuming it is to create bento type lunches.  I say boooo!  If you're already making a lunch for your kiddo, this won't add but a few extra minutes to the time you're already spending making their regular lunch.  It's all in how your arrange the food and not necessarily the creativeness of the kind of food.  So, have fun and experiment!  I would LOVE to hear about your ideas and what you've created so do share.

For lunch today I made him a turkey sandwich on whole wheat bread with Laughing Cow cheese.  I tried to get creative and use a tiny frog punch and punched out some nori to create the 'A'.  You can use your regular paper punches to punch out edible nori (make a happy face or different animals).  Greek yogurt with sprinkles.  The color of the sprinkles will desolve and get into the yogurt which he thinks looks like a "rainbow".  Nectarine and strawberry mix.  And for dessert, 2 chocolate coins. 

The contain I used is the Sassy food container in the baby section of retailers.  Works perfect for preschooler portions!  I love it because it has 3 removable containers within the big container so you can mix and match.  They all come with separate lids too!  And what the Little Man loves best is the spoon attached to the main lid.



 

What's for Dinner is Now What's for Lunch!

Little Man's first day of school was fantastic! There was no hesitation. There was no crying. No crying! What does this all mean?! He is growing up so fast and is so brave. Mama did good too. As we said our good byes, he headed off with his new teacher to find a project to work on and I spied through the one way window for a few minutes=).

Love the fact that this school will put all the kids lunches in the refrigerator so I don't need to put a cold pack in this lunch bag. Before school started I was a bit bummed when I found out we had to buy a school lunch bag. It's color coded based on their class level. I was for sure thinking the lunch bags were the ones that require you to put the containers in vertically, essentially spilling all the food around in it. I was happy to find out the lunch boxes are just like the EasyLunchBoxes.com.

Another thing I love about the school is the carpool line for drop-off and pick-up. I just pull up and they put him in his car seat and we're off! I don't have to wake up baby and pull him out of the car only to put him back in it 2 minutes later. I hope you mamas with 2+ kiddos have this option!

Ok so back to the subject at hand. Little Man had chicken quesadilla for dinner but only ate 1/2 so, guess what's for lunch? Quesadillas! Our local grocery store makes these tortillas in-store. LOVE fresh tortillas! Especially the butter flavored ones. The chicken I used was the roasted chicken they usually have in the deli. Yum!

More veggies on skewers since he seemed to like them from the previous lunch. Loading him up on grapes and a couple of raspberries. He came home super thirsty. For desert, 3 mini Oreos and a vanilla filled cracker. The container I'm using today is the LunchBots  system.

First Day of School - Fall 2011

Wow.  It has been quite some time since I last posted anything.  So many changes since the last time I blogged.  We made a huge move BACK to north Dallas in early March.  I guess California just wasn't for us right now.  And I had sweet baby Jace.  Poor guy wasn't even a month old during the move but everyone is now settled and we're back on our routine.

It feels like the middle of summer and I can't believe school has already started!  I guess technically it IS the middle of summer.  I can't get used to school starting in mid August here.  Back when I was in school, it didn't start until AFTER Labor Day.  And after Labor Day was when it felt like fall back in the Pacific Northwest.  We still have triple digit heat right now...

Little Man did so well for his first day and I'm delighted!  It helped that he was in summer camp this summer and he loved it.  There was no crying and not even a hint of nervousness during the drop-off.  I can't believe how much he's grown this past year.  I guess all the changes pushed him along.  Mama did well too this morning.  I started to get a little teary eyed when I saw him in his uniform but quickly started thinking happy thoughts.  I also helped that he was excited about school and was in a good mood.

For lunch today we have turkey rolls on mini pirate swords, Ritz crackers with Laughing Cow cheese, seedless cucumbers and mini grape tomatoes on skewers, berry medley and vanilla milk.  For desert we have gummy Toy Story characters which he was very excited about and was the first thing he told his new teacher this morning.

I bought some new lunch containers which should be arriving anytime this week.  I'm excited to try them out!  By the way, I LOVE the silicone baking cups to separate different foods.  They easily mold to the shape you need.  I think I will pick up some more in different colors.

OK mamas, are you ready for school lunches this year?!  Would love to hear and see your ideas!



Week 4 Day 2 - Pasta Salad

Baby #2 arrived on Sunday at 3:10 AM and we got home from the hospital Monday evening.  Spent all Saturday, Sunday and most of Monday in the hospital and probably had a total of 5 hours of sleep.  The hospital we delivered at had 4 labor and delivery rooms.  It was just our luck that all 4 rooms were taken when we were ready.  We had to wait for over 2 hours to get a room which was fine since it gave me a chance to get some sleep.  Still, I was exhausted!  Glad that experience is over with.

On Tuesday, I did end up packing him a lunch for school but I was way too exhausted to snap a photo of it.  I made a pocket sandwich with sunbutter and jam (love this combo when I'm in a pinch) and some fruit and apple sauce.  I do want to share with you this pocket sandwich maker I found called Krust Buster.  I accidentally found it while looking for a Japanese pocket sandwich maker and a toast stamper.  It's pretty much a combination of both tools.  Love the Krust Buster!  You can make sandwiches ahead of time and freeze it (I haven't tried yet).

Anyhow, for lunch today we have pasta salad.  It's actually 'Suddenly Pasta Salad' that I've added baby plum tomatoes, cucumbers, sliced olives, mini pepperoni and feta cheese to.  There's a baby plum tomato on a mini veggie pick for him to use to eat the pasta.  Although I doubt this will happen.  We have 3 Ritz crackers with cheddar cheese animal cut outs and yogurt covered raisins.  For fruit I have sliced oranges and blueberries on food picks.  I threw in a few pretzels too.  I doubt he will eat all this but at least there is a variety and hopefully he will eat some of everything.  These Easy Lunch containers are a bit big for preschooler portions in my opinion so perhaps I shall look for other container options.

I had a little time before my next feeding with baby #2 so was able to do this blog.  Hopefully I will be able to keep up.  Husband is able to help out this week and is mainly in charge of older brother so we'll see how it goes when we get in a regular routine on our own.  I'm exhausted so good night!

Happy New Year! The Year of the Rabbit

Happy New Year!  Today is Lunar New Year and it happens to be the year of the Rabbit.  I just learned this morning that in Chinese it's the year of the Rabbit while in Vietnamese it's the year of the Cat.  Go figure. 

This lunch was way too cute to not make for Little Man today even though he doesn't have preschool and his nanny was here.  They had a nice time at the park so I thought I'd whip up a cute little lunch for him when they got back.

As you can see, the Rabbit is today's theme!  I made quesadilla with cheddar cheese and a whole wheat tortilla.  After it cooled down I cut it with a rabbit shape cutter.  Then I added cheese eyes and mouth.  I made smaller sized rabbits as well as cheddar cheese rabbits.  He had fun picking the eyes and mouths off the rabbits and asked why they were winking at him.  I also wanted to add some protein so I cut up some turkey slices and speared them on little rabbit food picks.  For fruit we have a clementine and blueberries on rabbit food picks.  For dessert, it's a bite size oatmeal chocolate chip cookie from Trader Joe's which is fantastic!  I can probably eat the whole container.  Surprisingly, he ate his entire lunch today!!!  Mission accomplished!