Daily Bento – Better Late Than Never

16 May

bento 003

This was Camryn’s lunch on Tuesday. I just didn’t have the time to get it posted until now.

This lunch was packed in Cam’s Good Lunch Box by Sugarbooger. The super cute one with the owls on it.

In the box, are two little business bear sandwiches with organic fruit leather cut-outs on top, a cheese stick, organic strawberries, and tortilla chips.

Let’s discuss the box, shall we?

I haven’t had it too long so I can’t really go into too much detail about how long it lasts, how durable it is, yada yada, you get the idea.

I can tell you that we’ve only had it for a couple of months and the plastic on one of the locking sides is already coming away from the container :(.

I’m not sure if this is because I wash it in the dishwasher rather than hand-washing it or if it’s just thin plastic but it is a little disappointing.

I’m not a hand wash kind of gal. So I tend to chuck things into the dishwasher pretty haphazardly and hope for the best.

I would have never made it as a housewife during the pioneer days, or the colonial days, or really any days before the late 50’s when dishwashers became a thing that regular people had in their kitchens.

I do have another theory that removes all blame from my shoulders…

When stored flat in Cam’s lunchbox, it’s a pretty tight fit and I have a sneaking suspicion that she crammed it in her lunchbox while one of the locking sides wasn’t locked causing it to catch on the edge of the lunchbox, and in turn, ripped away from the container a little.

That makes a lot more sense.

Yep.

I’m going with that.

I will say that the dishwasher is doing no favors to the cute owl print on the lid. So if you ultimately purchase one of these containers, do yourself a favor and hand wash the lid. Don’t be like me.

These containers are a little smaller than an ELB. Here’s a handy visual:

ELB vs. Good Lunch Box

It has one large section and two smaller but equally sized sections. I love containers with built-in dividers because that means that I don’t have to use silicone cups, baran, or any other dividers if I don’t want to.

These dividers do not go all the way up to the lid so it is not leak-proof. If the box is carried vertically there’s a good chance that food can be mixed if it is small enough to fit through the gap between the lid and the dividers.

Also, a whole sandwich will not fit in the large section which I know is a big turn off for some people. You just need to cut the sandwich and stack it to get it to fit, no biggie.

All in all, I do like this box. It’s cute, it was affordable, it’s the right size, did I mention it’s cute?

 

Tags: , , , , , ,

Daily Bento

15 May

Today’s lunch: Chocolate hazelnut sandwich cut in half with organic fruit leather bunnies placed on top, two pieces of cheese, organic strawberries, and veggie chips all packed in an Easy Lunchbox (ELB).

In keeping with the super official recent theme on this blog of what works for us vs. what doesn’t, I’d like to share my opinion of Easy Lunchboxes with you today.

And here it is…

If I had to recommend only one lunch container to a friend, out of all of the containers that I own, it would most likely be the ELB’s.

Shocked?

I hear ya. That statement doesn’t make a lot of sense if you’re a regular reader of this blog. I haven’t used them very often for Cam’s lunch this year but my son, on the other hand, brings his lunch to school every day and has used an ELB religiously with only a couple of exceptions this school year.

He packs his lunch in an ELB at night and throws it in the fridge (most of the time, literally).

In the morning, he puts his ELB in his insulated lunch bag along with a drink and off he goes.

I wash them in the dishwasher after every use and they’ve held up beautifully. No cracks or stains. They look as good now as they did when I first got them.

More reasons why I ♥ ELB’s:

  • They are versatile and practical. No fancy bells and whistles or various parts to keep track of.
  • They fit in most lunchboxes
  • They are easy to clean
  • They are affordable
  • They are durable

And at only $13.95 for a pack of 4, they will pay for themselves over and over again because you won’t need anymore baggies or small containers.

Tags: , , , , ,

13 May

I’m so honored and excited to tell you that this little blog has just received it’s very first award!

Thanks so much to  sugarbitznmilkybar for the nomination.

If you have never been to her site, please check it out soon. It’s adorable.

I looked up the German to English translation of Liebster and found several meanings, including: sweetheart, dear, beloved, lovely, valued, favorite, and darling.

The purpose of the award is for bloggers to recognize new or up and coming blogs that are worth having a look at. It’s an award for bloggers given by bloggers, ♥ that!

Rules for award winners:

liebster-blog-award

11 Random facts about me:

1. I am NOT a morning person. It takes me a good half hour or so before I become approachable.

2. I’m a self-proclaimed foodie. I love reading about it, watching it being made, talking about it, shopping for it, preparing it, serving it to friends and family, and of course, eating it!

3. With respect to #2, I adore food but there are a handful of foods that I loathe. Raspberries, coconut, ricotta cheese, fresh dill, and fried eggs are all on my no fly list.

4. I won’t season food or add ingredients with my left hand.

5. I skipped kindergarten.

6. I’m a neat freak. Seriously, everything has a place and that’s where I think it needs to be at all times.

7. I don’t care for sci-fi, sports, or crime dramas. How I ended up married I’ll never know.

8. I’m terrified of wax figures, ventriloquist dummies, and animatronic people. Like all of those robotic people that move around all jerky-like on those rides at Disney World. No thank you!

9. I prefer a rainy day to a sunny one.

10. I don’t mind loading the dishwasher, but I hate unloading it. I also don’t care for folding laundry, hence the name of this blog. 😉

11. In high school I was kicked out of an air show with two friends for stealing a golf cart and driving it all over while wearing garbage bag dresses and chef’s hats. We were supposed to be helping serve food or something but that proved to be too boring so we made our own fun.

My answers to the questions posed to me:

1. What was your earliest childhood memory? Playing “shopping” with my Grandfather. I would ride my tricycle around in front of my Grandparents’ house pretending to buy things. He was always the store owner who would take my money and then give me my change. I was probably 3 years old.

2. What is your favourite colour? Turquoise

3. City or country living? City. I’ve lived in both the city and the country and I prefer the city very much. I remember having to drive “into town” if we needed anything. That gets old real quick. I live within walking distance to so many places now and I love that.

4. As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? A Marine Biologist.

5. What is your favourite movie? Steel Magnolias, always and forever.

6. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go? Italy. Rome, Capri, Florence, Venice, Verona, any of those cities would do. 😉

7. What was the name of the first school that you went to? Gingerbread Preschool. And it actually looked like a big gingerbread house!

8. What is your favourite dessert? All of them. Seriously, I have a major sweet tooth so I couldn’t possibly narrow my answer down to just one thing. As long as there are no raspberries or coconut in it, it’s going on my plate!

9. If you had a completely free evening, what would you do? Probably watch some bad t.v. or read a magazine with a glass of bourbon and some good chocolate.

10. What was the last book you read? The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook by Deb Perelman.

11. If you could invite anyone (dead or alive) to your dinner party, who would you invite? I have to go with Jesus on this one. I think he’d be able to clear up a few things.

And the winners are…

O.k. this part really threw me. I have no idea how to figure out how many followers a blog has and besides that, how do you really count followers? There are several blogs that I read on a regular basis but I’m not listed as a follower anywhere on their site. I don’t get an email alert when they create a new post and I probably haven’t “liked” them on Facebook but I love their blogs and visit them often.

I still count myself as a follower even if they never know I stopped by for a visit.

So all that being said, I’m going to bend the rules here a bit and just nominate a few fellow bento bloggers. I apologize in advance if I’ve nominated you and your blog has more than 200 followers. This isn’t the first time that I’ve broken the rules and it likely won’t be the last.

The winners (in no specific order):

1. Zoe’s Lunchbox

2. Feeling a Little Lunchy

3. Keitha’s Chaos

4. Tiny Princess LunchBox

5. Crystal’s Ramblings

6. Crazy? Maybe!

7. Momma Says

8. My Epicurean Adventures

9. Becoming a Bentoholic

10. Loving Lunches

11. Robot Squirrel and the Monkeys

My questions for the winners:

1. What is your comfort food?

2. What is the one thing you would grab if your house was on fire? Besides kids & pets obviously.

3. Who would play you in the movie version of your life?

4. What is your favorite quote?

5. Are you a morning person or night owl?

6. Books or movies?

7. What inspired you to start your blog?

8. What is your dream job and are you currently doing it?

9. What are your interests outside of blogging?

10. What are 3 words that best describe you?

11. What is your biggest pet peeve?

clipart3

Daily Bento

10 May

Seriously you guys.

The cuteness is overwhelming.

Can’t. Even. Deal.

I bought yet another bento box because that’s apparently what I do now.

Some girls go nuts over a new pair of shoes or a cute purse. This girl can’t pass up a cute bento box priced under $10, as evident by my ever-growing collection and the fact that I am steadily losing storage space in my kitchen.

I was strolling through Target when I spotted what is now Cam’s new bento box. Target has actually gotten in a few different kinds of bento boxes over the last few months which only goes to show how popular this whole bento situation has gotten.

The two-layered boxes are $6.99 and I found them on an end cap near the plates and bowls and things of that nature. They also had a smaller, one-layered box with a divider and locking sides for $4.99

This is the other (more boyish?) version of the box.

Don’t those little turtles look like Squirt from Finding Nemo?

I’m sure you know that I just had to send lunch in the Octo-box today. 😉

Inside is a pig-shaped chocolate hazelnut sandwich, organic fruit leather piggies, a fruit and seed flapjack from our Graze box, some carrot sticks, cheese, celery sticks, strawberries, and grapes.

It holds quite a bit of food and I love that it comes with a fork and spoon attached.

The most important thing though, is that Camryn loves it.

Items used in this lunch:

                 

Tags: , , ,

Daily Bento

8 May

I love our little Lock&Lock box.

It’s been one of my absolute favorite boxes to pack Cam’s lunch in this year and probably one of the most often used (if the not the most often used) bento box in my collection.

It’s held up really well through a school year of use and it holds just the right amount of food for her.

Now that we’re getting close to the end of the school year, I thought it would be a good idea to highlight which bento supplies have become favorites, which ones I use on a regular basis, which ones held up, and which ones didn’t. You get the idea.

I hope that by letting you guys know what worked for us and what didn’t, you’ll be better informed when you make your bento purchases.

Today our Lock&Lock was filled with saltines, a cheddar stick, carrot sticks, broccoli, strawberries, and watermelon.

I purchased mine here.

Unfortunately they are out of stock right now but I know there is a big demand for these boxes so keep checking back. You can also purchase them on amazon.

 

Tags: , , ,

Daily Bento

7 May

For lunch today Cam had 2 heart-shaped sandwiches, stacked. Both are filled with chocolate hazelnut spread. She also had organic strawberries, veggie chips, & a cheddar cheese stick.

To drink, she had iced green tea in her thermos.

I must not have been with it this morning because it took me until just now to realize that I put pandas and ducks together.

I don’t even know if pandas and ducks exist together in nature.

As a grown person I find it to be a little sad that I don’t know which animals coexist in the natural habitat of a wild panda.

Seems like this is information I should have picked up somewhere along the way.

So I spent a solid 2-3 minutes looking it up on the internet (where I get all my information) and guess what…

No mention of ducks.

So I decided that I’m going to assume that even if the pandas are high up in the mountains, they’d have to stroll by a pond or stream every now and then. So it would be safe to assume that a duck or two would happen by from time to time.

Right?

For the purpose of this post and the sake of cuteness, let’s just assume that they do.

Can we also pretend that I didn’t just prattle on about pandas & their maybe neighbors while we’re at it?

 

Tags: , , ,

Daily Bento

3 May

 

 

I love simple lunches, don’t you?

Admittedly, every now and then I like to go all out and bust out the fancy cutters, stamps, and cute picks and just go nuts.

Some days just call for a fancy dolled-up lunch.

Today was not that day.

Today was a day for Cam’s favorite fruit (strawberries), a cute bunny sandwich filled with chocolate hazelnut spread, some broccoli florets for a boost of vitamin c, a few popcorn chips for a little crunch, and a cheese stick for some added protein.

Simple and quick. Gotta love that.

 

Tags: , , ,

3 May

We’ve talked before about how from time to time I like to send a little something with the hubs to work to munch on.

Makes me feel like a top-notch housewife and it keeps him out of the vending machines in the break room.

There’s nothing good for anybody in those things.

Really, all I’m doing is slapping whatever produce we have in the crisper, a carb, and a little protein in one of his daughter’s bento boxes and then maybe adding a cute pick or two.

No biggie.

But he really appreciates it and the guys at work always come over to see what he has to eat which is adorable to me.

For lunch last night, I sent him with some veggie crackers and a spreadable cheese wedge, cara cara orange slices, broccoli, grapes and carrot sticks all packed in Camryn’s Lunchbots Trio.

 

Tags: , , , ,

Daily Bento

2 May

 

Camryn  has dance class tonight. I found this piece of scrap book paper buried in a huge stack filed on my desk and just had to use it because it reminds me of the little girls in her dance class.

None of them actually remind me of Camryn though since they’re all in dresses. Camers wears yoga pants to dance class now because she wouldn’t stop pulling her ballet skirt up to her armpits.

I wish I were kidding.

cam dance

 

That was a proud day for me.

For lunch today the dancing queen has heart-shaped chocolate hazelnut sandwiches, pretzel crisps, strawberries, and a cheddar cheese stick cut into pieces.

She also has ice water in her thermos.

Tags: , ,

Daily Bento

1 May

For lunch today I warmed the last of the homemade herb rolls and put it in Camryn’s thermos to keep it soft and warm until lunch time. I was going to make a sandwich with it today but she wouldn’t hear of it. So I wrapped a slice of deli turkey around some cheddar cheese, sliced into bite-sized pieces, and then put a few picks in for easy eating.

She also has a cara cara orange, grapes, and watermelon balls in her Lock&Lock four square box.

 

Tags: , , , ,

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →