Tag Archives: Lunchbots Trio
18 Jan

I hope you guys are ready to talk lunch because I have three lunches to share with you today.

WE SHOULD BE

We had steak salad for dinner the night before so I added some of those leftovers to Cam’s veggie burrito bowl (Yes, this is the same batch of this stuff I told you about 2 weeks ago – I’m really behind on posting).

I know it doesn’t look like much food but there is steak, roasted sweet potatoes, black beans, corn, sweet peppers, tomatoes, romaine and cilantro in that one section alone! That section came home completely empty.

I wasn’t sure how well cold steak would go over with Camryn but it turned out to be a hit!

WeShouldBeFoldingLaundry

This lunch was what I like to call a clean-out-the-crisper lunch. I basically take whatever straggly produce we have left in the crisper at the end of the week (in this case it was tomatoes, strawberries and pineapple) and add a grilled cheese sandwich that I make that morning before school.

Grilled cheese has become one of my go to Friday lunches because at this point in the week, we’re usually down to just a slice or two of cheese.

I always sprinkle on a little garlic salt after I spread butter on the bread. That little addition really steps up a simple grilled cheese sandwich.

I paired both lunches with some corn chips and a thermos of water and sent them off to school!

WeShouldBeFoldingLaundry(1)

This last lunch was for the Mr. It contained a chicken breast, roasted veggies, roasted and smashed potatoes, and fresh tomatoes.

Nothing fussy or complicated. I just shoved what was left from dinner into an Easy Lunchbox, added a little extra salt and pepper, and it was good to go!

 

 

 

 

22 Oct

Halloween Bentos

Can you believe that Halloween is almost here?

Where did this year go!?

If you’re a lunch-packer in need of some spooky lunch inspiration, I’ve got you covered.

Most of these lunches don’t require anything more than inexpensive cookie cutters, stickers, and a few Halloween-themed treats easily found at your local grocery store, but you certainly don’t even have to go that route.

All you really need is a little creativity. Just use your imagination and maybe some things found around your house to create your own creepy lunches for your little creepers!

Here (in no particular order) are my ten favorite Halloween bentos to get ya thinkin’!

Halloween Lunch Ideas for Kids

  1. This ridiculous lunch that I made for the Mr. that turned out to be a huge hit at work. Go figure!
  2. Bat and blood snack box. Pomegranate arils make great edible blood drops… just sayin’.
  3. Exuberant Pumpkin Bento! I still say they look more like bell peppers.
  4. A Vampire-themed bento is a must!
  5. Skeletal Bento. Super cool and only slightly spooky!
  6. This Bat-tastic Bento complete with peeled grape eyeballs, bat sandwiches, bat carrots, bat pretzels and even a chocolate bat! Give me a theme and I’ll run with it! 😉
  7. Witchy Bento with homemade tortilla cats, a cheesy broom and guacamole potion!
  8. Creepy Crawly Buggy Bento. Ew!
  9. Monster Mash Bento. I still love how this one turned out. I mean, Gummy toes. Come on.
  10. Last but not least, one of my personal favorites, Last Year’s Halloween lunch.

And if you’re in the mood to make your own Halloween food picks, I’ve got you covered there too. It’s easy, promise!

Halloween bento picks

Daily Bento

16 May

The lunches are back!

I haven’t posted in a while so I have quite a bit of catching up to do.

These particular lunches that I’m about to share with you were my husband’s lunches/snacks over the past week.

Camryn has been bringing a lot of leftovers that have been warmed in her thermos for lunch, and those just don’t photograph well.

So, grown up lunches it is!

 

For the lunch pictured above, I used a rolling pin to flatten two slices of wheat bread and filled each one with a little egg salad. Then I cut them into bite-sized pieces. I tucked some puffed wheat crackers in next to the egg salad rolls-ups, and added cucumber slices, raspberries, and celery sticks. The sauce containers hold peanut butter and blue cheese dressing for dipping.

 

This Easy Lunchbox holds a veggie-heavy sandwich (turkey, mashed avocado in place of mayo, sprouts, lettuce, tomato, homemade pickles on multi-grain bread) with a few cucumbers on the side, sweet potato and brown rice crackers, and strawberries filled with spicy vegan chocolate pudding (recipe to come).

 

On Wednesday afternoon, I whipped up some delicious avocado hummus. Unfortunately, it goes bad fairly quickly thanks to the avocado, so I used quite a bit of it to make the Mr.’s work lunch. I smeared a good helping of the hummus on a multi-grain wrap and topped it with lettuce, shredded carrot, sliced red onion, thinly sliced cucumber, and sprouts. Then I rolled it up tightly, sliced it in half, and it was good to go. I threw in some pita chips, a few of my quick and easy peanut butter bars, and extra hummus for dipping in the fish container.

 

Avocado Hummus

1 15 oz. can of canellini beans – rinsed and drained

1 avocado

juice of a lime

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

a couple pinches of cayenne pepper – optional, except in my house 😉

salt and pepper to taste

Blend until smooth.

Store in an air tight container in the fridge. Best eaten within a day or two.

 

Quick & Easy Peanut Butter Bars

1/2 cup peanut butter – I used Wild Friends Sesame Cranberry PB

1/2 cup maple syrup or honey – I used maple syrup

1 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats

1/4 tsp cinnamon

optional add-ins – about a handful of dried fruit, chocolate chips, nuts, and/or seeds

Add the peanut butter and maple syrup to a large microwave safe bowl and microwave until smooth enough to mix together. This took about 30 seconds in my microwave. You can also do this in a pot on the stove.

Mix well until combined and add the rest of the ingredients. Mix to incorporate everything together and dump into an 8×8 pan.

Press to form an even layer and let sit for a couple of hours at room temp before eating. This helps the oats to soften.

You can also roll the mixture into balls if you prefer.

Store covered at room temperature.

 

This super simple lunch contains fresh zucchini, carrot, and celery slices, more peanut butter bars, dates filled with Wild Friends Cinnamon Raisin PB, and a little chocolate.

 

The lunch pictured above contains one of my new favorite sandwiches: A flaky croissant filled with ham, thinly sliced Bosc pear, and Muenster cheese. If you haven’t tried that combo you’re missing out. It’s delicious!

If you do try it, slice the croissant, add the cheese and pop it in the oven for a few minutes until the cheese is melted, then add the ham and pear. That’s the best way, it just is.

To go with the sandwich, I added some strawberries, raspberries, and sweet peppers that I sliced in half and filled with tzatziki.

 

This lunch is packed in one of my favorite cheapo containers that I found at Marshall’s a while back. I think I paid less than $5 for this one and I use it all the time so it was worth every penny.

Not wanting to make another sandwich or wrap, I added chopped chives to softened cream cheese and then spread a little onto a few slices of turkey. Then I wrapped the turkey around a few of my homemade pickle spears and called it done.

Also included in this lunch are carrot sticks, broccoli, blueberry Belvita biscuits, sweet potato and brown rice crackers, and a couple of pieces of chocolate in this sweet little food cup. The sauce container holds ranch dressing for dipping.

 

I hope these lunches will inspire your own lunch packing next week. Seriously, try that ham, pear, and cheese on croissant. It’s so good!

Have a great weekend!

 

 

 

Daily Bento

1 May

 

My friend Sara, who moved all the way across the country to Oregon about a year ago, kept telling me about this nut butter that she found way out there.

I like nut butters as much as the next person so when she offered to send me some to try, I happily accepted.

She was awesome enough to send me two full-sized jars of  Wild Friends Vanilla Espresso Almond Butter and Sesame Cranberry Peanut Butter. She also sent me two single-serve packets of Chocolate Coconut Peanut Butter and Cinnamon Raisin Peanut Butter.

As soon as they got here, I cracked them open and sampled each one.

Then I made jam because at that moment I knew that the half-empty jar of strawberry Smucker’s in the door of my fridge just wouldn’t do.

Each flavor I tried was a winner. Even the Chocolate Coconut PB… and I hate coconut!

Go figure.

Since I had already ripped open the single-serve packet with wild abandon, I went ahead and used it to make the hubs a quick wrap for lunch tonight at work.

I already have some ideas for the other flavors so stay tuned.

In his Lunchbots Trio, my husband has a wrap that contains a whole wheat tortilla, my homemade berry jam, Wild Friends Chocolate Coconut Peanut Butter, and sliced banana. He also has a few celery sticks with blue cheese dressing for dipping, some herby bread snacks from our Graze box, and a few raspberries with a dark chocolate chip inside for a sweet treat after lunch.

 

 

* Interested in signing up with Graze? Use my friend code: CASSK5VKP to get your 1st and 5th box for free!

Daily Bento

24 Mar

bento 3-24-14

 

Camryn currently has three loose teeth and she is hanging on to those teeth as if her life depended on it.

She lost three of her baby teeth at the beginning of last year and here we are, just a few months into 2014 and she has three more teeth that are ready to come out.

The irony is not lost on me.

What’s even more ironic is that the last three all came out while she was eating dinner.

So now that we’ve found ourselves in this predicament again, she’s been very very cautious about how she eats.

Live and learn.

Because all three loose teeth are right up front, biting into anything is not happening so I’ve been cutting her food into bite-sized pieces so that she can just pop each bite into her mouth. It’s much easier than watching her try to gnaw at it from the side of her mouth.

That’s not pretty.

So in today’s lunch, everything is bite-sized. In her Lunchbots Trio, Cam has leftover pizza cut into flower shapes, an apple, grapes, strawberries, tiny heart-shaped carrots, a piece of dark chocolate for a sweet treat after lunch, and a little Lunchbox Love that I think goes perfectly with today’s lunch.

Daily Bento

10 Feb

Today’s lunch might seem odd… especially for a six-year-old.

What you see pictured above in Cam’s thermos are the reheated leftovers from last night’s dinner: Pumpkin polenta with roasted brussels sprouts.

I also roasted some cremini mushrooms along with the sprouts but Cam isn’t a fan of mushrooms so those didn’t go into today’s lunch.

I had a spur of the moment dinner idea last night and ran with it. Luckily it worked out and everyone loved it, especially Camryn.

She specifically requested that I send it for lunch today.

What kid asks for brussels sprouts for lunch?

She’s awesome.

In addition to her polenta and sprouts, I filled her Lunchbots Trio with fresh strawberries and tomatoes, sliced sweet peppers, a Babybel, and some cheese crackers.

 

 

 

 

 

Daily Bento

20 Aug

If you were a regular follower of this blog last school year, you might remember how I would gripe from time to time about how early the kindy kids ate lunch. 10:45! That’s bonkers early.

I thought for sure that Cam would be eating lunch later this year being in a higher grade.

Nope.

She eats lunch even earlier than last year!

Only by a minute, but still. That is super early to be eating lunch. And they do not get snack time.

Needless to say, the girl has been coming home hungry every day.

Although she has been eating more of her lunches instead of messing around during lunch time like last year.

So that’s a plus.

 


For lunch today I spread Laughing Cow cheese on a spinach wrap and then filled it with sliced carrot, bell pepper, and a piece of salami.

I made this for her over the summer and she wasn’t crazy about it. Most likely because I used veggie cream cheese. The Laughing Cow cheese made a big difference in flavor. Much better!

I rolled her wrap up nice and snug and I sliced it into bite-sized pieces for her so it would be easy to eat.

She also had pretzel crisps, grapes, and Annie’s Bunny Friends cookies.

Measuring Up!

7 Jul

When I started out on my little bento packing adventure some time ago, I remember stalking other bento blogs spending lots of time online trying to figure out which bento box to buy, which lunchbox it would fit into, and how it compared in size to other boxes.

It was exhausting.

All the manufacturers gave dimensions which is great, but what I soon learned early on when I first started packing lunch this way, is that you also need to account for a drink, utensils, napkins, and an ice pack.

And… manufacturer’s dimensions can be wrong.

I’m talking to you Toys R’ Us.

10x8x8 does not equal 10x5x8.

If you pack a juice pouch every day then you should be all set. Those things pretty much fit anywhere.

But, if you’re like me and you need to pack a thermos or other resealable drink container, you need a little bit more info to go on.

I also think it’s helpful to actually see how everything compares in size and how it all fits together so I put together a little visual that I hope will be helpful to anyone who may be setting off on this lunch packing adventure for the first time this school year.

Last school year we packed lunches in a lunch bag from L.L. Bean for my son, and a “lunch pack” from Garnet Hill for my daughter.

I took a few pics of each lunch bag with our larger bento boxes in them so you can see how everything fit.

But first, let’s size up those boxes!

From top to bottom:

Lunchbots Trio

Good Lunch Box by Sugarbooger

Spencer Bento Box by PBK

Laptop Lunchbox

Easy Lunchbox

Goodbyn Bynto

As you can see, the Bynto wins out in the length category due to it’s handle. Width goes to the Laptop Lunchbox.

Here they are packed in my son’s L.L. Bean lunch bag:

L.L. Bean Collage

The only box that would not fit is the Laptop Lunchbox which wasn’t an issue for us because he carried an Easy Lunchbox exclusively in his bag last year.

He would also put a small water bottle or juice box (when we had them), an ice pack, and a napkin in his lunch bag every day and they all fit. There was a little bulging in the front of the bag but it zipped just fine.

This bag has a handle on top and is meant to be carried upright so keep that in mind if you’re looking for something to carry your kiddos’ lunches flat.

This lunch bag is pretty average in size to most other lunch bags I’ve seen and trust me, I have seen them all.

Now, onto Cam’s lunch box.

Everything fit with room to spare for a drink, an ice pack, a napkin, and utensils when she needed them.

The Spencer Bento box and the Laptop Lunchbox fit snugly but still left room for a small juice box.

And there were even some days when I just put her water bottle or thermos in the pocket of her backpack if I couldn’t get them to fit.

I feel that I should also tell you that I LOVE this lunch bag! It’s extremely well made and worth every penny and the pattern on it is adorable. It still looks brand new after a year of abuse use!

Right now Garnet Hill is offering a free lunch pack with the purchase of a matching backpack which is a great deal. Their backpacks are a little on the pricey side at around $34 for the smaller one but they are extremely durable and come in some adorable patterns this year.

I hope this helps some of you who may be starting your back to school shopping. If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments section below.

8 Jun

 

Hi guys!

Just popping in over the weekend to share a quick bento that I packed the hubs for work last night.

He has dinner with us before he leaves for work every night so he likes to keep his snacks pretty light.

Just a little protein and some veg and he’s good to go.

In our Lunchbots Trio, I packed two organic cage-free hard-boiled eggs, low-fat cottage cheese, broccoli, and a few snap pea crisps.

In a separate container (not pictured) he also had black beans flavored with cilantro and lime.

That’s it!

Happy weekend 🙂

 

Daily Bento

16 May

 

Today we’re taking a look at the Lunchbots Trio.

This was another fairly recent purchase (within the last couple of months) so I can’t attest at this point to how durable it is. It does seem sturdy though so I like to believe it will last a long time (here’s hoping).

Pictured above was Cam’s lunch today. A sandwich cut with her Funbites Cube It! cutter, grapes, strawberries, carrot coins, veggie chips, and cheese rabbits.

Overall, I am happy with the Trio.

The lid is supposed to be hand washed so obviously I throw it in the dishwasher anyway (we touched on this issue previously). It still looks fine.

The compartments are all on the smaller side so you really need to plan out the arrangement of your food. Which can be very aggravating first thing in the morning, especially if you’re already running late.

I don’t use this container very often for just that reason.

I just don’t have the time to fiddle with every piece of food to get it to fit in the box.

All of that aside, it is a fantastic little box. I would say that the size is geared more towards little ones or maybe snack for older kids and adults.

Cam did have some trouble getting the lid off at first but she mastered it pretty quickly so I would suggest (if you buy one for your little one) having them practice a few times at home until they get the hang of it.

I should probably also mention at this point that I am not being reimbursed in any way by any of these companies for my opinions.