Daily Bento

3 Dec

 

I had every intention of using a different container today but Camryn wouldn’t hear of it. She said that her new purple box was her favorite and she did not want to use anything else.

I have to say that I’m really liking it too so far. It does take up quite a bit of room in the dishwasher so I’ve been rinsing it out with hot soapy water right when Cam gets home and so far that has been working well.

Today’s bento seems pretty self-explanatory. Once I got all the food in it still looked blah to me so I cut the sharp edges off of 4 toothpicks (5 yr olds and sharp points scare me) and stuck hello kitty stickers on them as well as on the juice box. Then I just stuck them in the blueberry muffins to cuten them up a bit.

Creepy hello kitty caterpillar anyone?

Daily Bento

30 Nov

Happy Friday!

In today’s bento I packed two sandwiches filled with Jif Hazelnut spread, a cheese stick, grapes, tomatoes, tortilla chips, and a small juice box that fits perfectly in Camryn’s new bento box.

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

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Daily Bento & A Quick Product Review

29 Nov

I ordered one of these bento boxes from Pottery Barn Kids last Friday:

They are $16.50 (except for the lavender box which is only $11.99) and all come with free shipping. Guess which one I ordered…

Yep.

I obviously haven’t had this box long enough to do a thorough review yet so here are some quick pros and cons:

Pros:

  • Compartments – I like compartments. No need for baran or silicone cups.
  • Lots of room – Measurements are 7″ wide x 8″ long x 2.5″ high so while it is roomy, it should still fit in most lunchboxes.
  • Seems durable  – Time will tell.
  • Dishwasher safe on the top rack which is nice.

Cons:

  • All the compartments (except the largest one) are the same size. Some people will love this. I however, would have preferred if they had extended the largest compartment a little to fit a standard sized juice box or an uncut sandwich and left two smaller compartments for smaller items like nuts or dried fruit.
  • May be too large for smaller kids. My kindergartener eats about 5 bites at lunch so this box is a little large for her now but I have no doubt that she’ll get good use out of it when she’s a little older.
  • That little door on the top left compartment does not stay closed when the lid is open.
  • Not leak proof.

So even though there are a couple of things I’d like to change if I could, overall I do like it so far.

If you’re interested, this bento box can be found here: http://www.potterybarnkids.com/products/spencer-bento-box-containers

In today’s bento, I packed chicken and cheese roll ups, grapes, carrots, green beans, tortilla chips, graham crackers, and a fruit and oatmeal bar. Whew! That’s a lot of food.

I also want to mention that PBK included a $10 gift card in my package which I thought was super awesome of them. I’m not sure if that’s a special thing that they’re doing for the holidays and I can’t guarantee you’ll get one too if you order but you just might.

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28 Nov

jasmine rice w/ kale

This is one of those no recipe recipes.

I often add nuts and dried fruit to my rice and couscous so this combo seemed like a no-brainer to me.

It was quick and easy to throw together and quite delicious which really is the most important part.

Ingredients

Jasmine Rice
Sliced Almonds
Dried Cranberries
Kale

Follow the package instructions for cooking your rice. While the rice simmers, saute some kale in a little extra virgin olive oil and garlic just until tender and bright green.

Toast the almonds in a dry pan over medium heat for a few minutes just until you notice a nutty, toasty smell. Then kill the heat and set the almonds aside.

When the rice is done, add the sauteed kale, toasted almonds and cranberries and mix together. Sprinkle a little lemon juice or lemon zest on top and season to taste with sea salt.

The ratios are totally up to you on this one. It’s pretty hard to mess up. So if you’re nuts for kale, add lots. It does shrink down a bit after it’s cooked. If you don’t like almonds, use sunflower seeds or leave out the nuts all together.

Daily Bento

28 Nov

 

 

 

In today’s bento I packed green beans, Wheat Thins Sticks, and pineapple chunks in the bottom tier.

In the top, I used cookie cutters to make different sized heart shaped nutella sandwiches.

Daily Bento

27 Nov

 

 

 

For lunch today, Camryn has a heart-shaped turkey sandwich with cheese stars on top, grapes, leaf-shaped carrots & Triscuit Thin Crisps. In the container on the right, she has vanilla yogurt with a few rainbow sprinkles swirled in for a tie dye effect.

 

Daily Bento

26 Nov

 

Happy Monday!

I’m a little late posting today due to taking on a redecorating project in Cam’s room.

She used to have what I called ‘the wall of cubbies’ in her room that held most of her toys. Well, she rarely actually plays with toys. She spends most of her time reading or doing artsy and crafty stuff. So I thought why not go through all her toys, keep the  few she actually plays with, donate the rest, and turn that wall of cubbies into a place for her to do what she loves to do?

If you’ve ever really cleaned out your kid’s room or taken on a project like this, I’m sure you know that it can quickly get out of control to the point that soon after you start, you find yourself in a bigger mess that you could have imagined. And of course because you’ve dragged every single thing out, you should probably take the opportunity to disinfect it or dust it off.

Long story short – after a lot of work, the end result turned out wonderfully. It’s adorable, functional and most importantly, Cam loves it. The only thing missing is a chair so that she can actually use it. That will come soon.

Back to the bento.

We decorated our Christmas tree last night and Camryn spent a long time admiring each and every ornament so I thought it would be fun to make her a Christmas tree/green themed bento.

She had a chicken sandwich which I put on top of Wheat Thin sticks. In the other tier, she had celery slices, pea pods, and fresh green beans. She also had Christmas trees cut out of cheese.

Daily Bento

21 Nov

For today’s lunch I made a piggy chicken sandwich and put it in one side of Cam’s bento box. In the other, I loaded it up with fruit and veg. I sliced an apple horizontally and used flower-shaped cookie cutters to make them pretty. You can’t see it in the picture but I used a very teeny flower-shaped cutter to remove the core. I also used a leaf-shaped cutter for the cheese. In the same section, I put celery sticks, pea pods, and grapes.

I hope everyone has a happy and safe Thanksgiving.

 

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20 Nov

My kids are home for Thanksgiving.

All. Week.

Which means my teenage son will spend most of every day with his head in the fridge or pantry looking for something to eat. Teenage boys are bottomless pits. Seriously.

This is how yesterday went:

“Mom, I’m hungry.”

“Mom, don’t you think you should bake something?”

“Mom, I thought you were making cookies.”

“Mom. Seriously, can you bake something? It’s been like 2 days.”

It’s only Tuesday people. I have five more days before he goes back to school.

Five. More. Days.

I made cookies today. Mostly it was an attempt to save my sanity.

I used a cake mix and doctored it up a bit. It’s easy, it’s fast, it’s adaptable to what you have on hand, it’s teenager approved.

Chocolate Cherry Chip Cookies

Ingredients

1 box Devils Food cake mix
2 eggs
1/2 cup veg oil
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup chocolate chips (white, milk or semi-sweet)
1/4 cup chopped dried cherries or cherry flavored craisins

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine cake mix, eggs, oil, & vanilla.

Add chocolate chips & dried cherries. Mix to combine.

Roll into small balls, flatten a little if you like, and bake for 10-11 minutes.

*If cherries aren’t your thing, use nuts, small candies or other dried fruit. You can really throw anything into these cookies.


Daily Bento

16 Nov

 

 

Happy Friday! The little miss is home from school sick again today. We’ve been battling some nasty stuff here this week and frankly, I’m ready for it to be over with. I don’t think the two of us have slept a solid 4 hours in the last 2 days. Things are getting desperate over here.

In spite of all that, I went ahead and made her a bento last night in the hopes that she’d be well enough for school. Her Kindergarten Thanksgiving show was this afternoon… actually it’s going on right now as I type this. I really hate that she missed it but I don’t think anyone would have enjoyed her incessant coughing, moaning, and nose wiping throughout the performance.

I found this container when I was walking around Wal-Mart yesterday waiting for Cam’s prescription to be filled. It’s a simple plastic container with locking sides and is supposedly leak-proof, although we haven’t had the opportunity to test that out yet. I paid $3.47 for it. Another example of how you can use things other than actual bento boxes for lunch packing.

For lunch today, I packed her favorite little heart-shaped sandwiches filled with chocolate spread. Next to those are a granola bar cut into thirds. To the right of those are food picks with sliced grapes and celery. Underneath I packed fruit snacks and Wheat Thin Sticks.

Hope everyone has a happy and healthy weekend!

 

 

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