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.
Isn’t it weird when things just sort of come together on their own? Without meaning to, I created a frog/insect theme for today’s bento.
I cut some carrots into butterfly shapes last night using a small fondant cutter. I also grabbed the first CuteZCute insert that my hand touched this morning when I made Cam’s sandwich and it just happened to be a frog. The first pick I grabbed was also a frog. And lastly, when I tossed in some Cheez-Its, I noticed once they were in the bento that they were Spiderman Cheez-Its. See all the spiders?
There is some sliced celery under the carrot butterflies and the froggy sandwich is filled with sliced chicken.
I wonder if my little miss caught the theme at lunch time today.
Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend. I’m proud to say that Cam is in the no cavity club for another 6 months at least so that made my weekend happy.
For her Monday bento, I shredded up some leftover turkey and just put it in a little silicone up. There are a few Angry Birds graham crackers next to it. In the opposite section I packed celery sticks, carrot sticks, and a few grapes. I also quickly cut some colby jack cheese into star shapes & tossed them in as well.
Behold the bento that almost wasn’t. Pictured above, is actually the 2nd bento I made last night. As I was putting the first one in the fridge, it slipped out of my hand and all of my super nimble cat like reflexes weren’t enough to keep it from hitting the floor. Luckily, nothing actually spilled out of the bento box, it just got sloshed around and jumbled up inside the box.
So we press on because this is real life and sometimes we drop things and therefore sometimes we end up making lunch twice.
For today’s bento, I put some diced chicken breast leftover from dinner the previous night, in a silicone cup with some sliced carrots. Next to that are some french green beans (hericot vert) with some yellow grape tomatoes on top. In the other part of the bento, I put two banana muffins and a few chocolate covered almonds.
Happy Friday!
Cam’s hot pink bento has raw broccoli in a heart-shaped silicone cup and strawberries in the bottom tier. In the top tier, I wrapped salami around sliced mozzarella cheese and then used small animal picks to keep them from coming unwrapped and to make it easier for her to pop them into her mouth. I also packed her some Scrabble Jr. Cheez-It’s in another heart-shaped silicone cup.
I have a feeling she’ll probably spend more time spelling out words with her crackers then actually eating them.
Hope everyone has a great weekend!
Camryn didn’t want a sandwich today. She asked for fruit and veg with a little chicken on the side. Her class eats fairly early and I’m finding that most days, she’s still full from breakfast so she hasn’t been eating all of her lunch. Other days she wasn’t even touching her lunch and when I asked her why she hadn’t eaten she said that she was too busy making up stories with her friend *eye-roll*. So obviously lunch isn’t high on her list of priorities at 10:45 in the morning.
Per her request, I made her a fruit salad of watermelon, orange segments and pineapple in the bottom tier. She has grape tomatoes, carrot sticks and sliced rotisserie chicken on picks in the top tier.
Today’s bento has sliced carrots & grape tomatoes in the small section. In the opposite section there is a chicken sandwich (yes chicken) sitting on top of some all natural fruit snacks. I also put some Scrabble Cheez-Its next to the froggy sandwich.
Camryn ate a chicken sandwich on Saturday so I’m hoping she’ll eat it at school as well. Here’s hoping.
Well, I did it again. I needed to be up at 7, but somehow turned off my alarm & woke up frantic at 8. This is becoming an inconvenient trend. Especially since we need to leave no later than 8:15 to get my daughter to school on time.
I thought for a second about not doing a bento post today but then, after some consideration, I realized that this would be the perfect opportunity to keep things real & show you that bento making doesn’t have to be time consuming. Of course it looks much better if you have more time to make things look “just so” but if you’re pressed for time you can still do a pretty decent job. They key is planning.
It helps me to have a game plan the night before. If I can make the bento at night, I do. Then I can just pull it out of the fridge & put it in the lunch box. I don’t recommend cutting fruits or cheese the night before. Fresh fruit & cheese can go downhill pretty fast once you cut it. But you can slice meat & veggies, portion out chips, crackers, goldfish, pretzel sticks, fruit snacks, dried fruit, or anything else that will keep overnight. Keeping all your bento supplies in one spot close at hand helps speed things along too.
Tuesday’s bento came together in about 5 minutes. One tier held 3 blueberry mini muffins that we made last night. The other tier has carrot sticks, cheese hearts, salami rolls & a diced apple. I also made a smoothie for her thermos & packed some extra crackers.
I used Camryn’s larger Hello Kitty bento today because her smaller ones just wouldn’t fit everything she wanted. I’ll be very surprised if she eats all of this. In any case, what you see pictured above is what she asked me to pack. She has grape tomatoes, sliced celery, sliced carrots, mukimame (shelled soy beans), Space Adventures Goldfish, & a couple muffins we made on a whim last night (I included the recipe below).
In her purple container she has yogurt over fresh strawberries & a few rainbow sprinkles.
Instant Oatmeal Muffins
1 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup yogurt – we normally use vanilla but all we had in the fridge was strawberry which worked just fine.
1/2 cup milk
1 tbsp veg oil
1 egg
1 packet of Instant Oatmeal – any flavor. We used banana bread.
1 tbsp flax seeds
chocolate chips – if desired
Directions
Preheat oven to 350.
Spray a muffin tin with non-stick spray or drop in liners.
Add flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, flax seeds & an oatmeal packet in a large bowl & whisk together.
In a separate bowl, mix yogurt, oil, egg & milk until combined.
Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture & stir to combine.
Fold in chocolate chips.
Scoop the batter into the prepared tin, filling each cup about 2/3 of the way. For mini-muffins, use a mini-muffin tin & scoop 1 tbsp of batter into each muffin cup.
Bake for 10-12 minutes or until tops spring back when lightly pressed.
* The flax seeds are totally optional. My kid eats them like they’re going outta style so I put them in everything. If you don’t like ’em, leave ’em out.
Today’s bento has teeny seedless cucumbers, grape tomatoes, cheese cubes & salami rolls in the bottom tier. I found the cucumbers yesterday at the produce market near my house. At 3 for $1 I couldn’t pass them up.
The top tier has pancake sandwiches filled with nutella & sliced bananas. My pancake recipe is below.
Cam’s Favorite P’cakes
1 cup self rising flour
1 cup Silk Fruit & Protein (we like peach/mango)
1 egg
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp vanilla
Whisk everything together in a bowl until just combined. Batter should be slightly lumpy. Heat a pan or griddle to medium. Add desired amount of batter and cook until bubbles form on top & edges are dry. Flip & cook until golden brown.
I used half a tablespoon of batter to make these tiny pancakes. For regular sized pancakes, use about 1/4 cup of batter.
* You can also use the same amount of regular milk, unflavored soy milk, almond milk, whatever floats your boat will work.
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We Should Be Folding Laundry 