Day 276

Day 276 - Today has not been my day.  I made 3, yes 3, lunches for D this morning.   I worked until 10:30 last night and had not made D's lunch for today before I went to work.  Bad, bad, bad idea!  I dragged myself out of bed this morning and made some chicken salad.  I pulled out my handy dandy lunch punch set and made a cute little sandwich for her.  D came up and grabbed a bite of the chicken salad and launched into a tirade over how "disgusting" it was.  Ok, so Mom will have a cute chicken salad sandwich for lunch today!  Then I figured lets just go with the old standby pb & j even though she had that yesterday.  So I punch the bread slices and make the sandwich.  I go to put the punch back on the sandwich to make the detail impressions and I basically destroy the sandwich.  User error, not lunch punch's.  So Mom had a not so cute pb & j sandwich for breakfast!  Finally I just took some of the chicken that I didn't use in the chicken salad and mixed it with salsa and a little sour cream so she can have "scoop your own tacos".  I sent her off to do something so she wouldn't see what I was making and wouldn't be able to complain about it!  I did not have it in me to make a 4th lunch!  LOL

Lunch is the chicken/salsa mix, yogurt with all fruit, Hello Panda cookies and the corn chips.  TGIF!

Day 275

Day 275 - This morning when I took out the hamburger bun to make D's pb & j sandwich I was thinking I'd cut it into a dog or a bear.  As I was looking at the bun it kind of reminded me of an alien head so I was like ok an alien it is!  Once I got the eyes and mouth on it started to remind me of this painting.  So you will have to decide for yourself what D's sandwich is today!

In addition to the sandwich she has bell pepper slices and cherry tomatoes that D grew in her very own garden.  She has some sunflower seeds with some chocolate covered sunflower seeds, homemade cranberry/applesauce with chia seeds and two pumpkin no-bake cookies.

Day 274

Day 274 - No "cute" food today.  It's hard to make soup cute!  In the thermos is chicken/lentil/barley soup.  She has oyster crackers in the mini dipper to go with the soup and a pumpkin muffin for dessert.  In the reuseable bag is milk money.  I didn't want to put an icepack in with her thermos.

Day 273

Day 273 - It was really cold yesterday morning.  I think it was 39 degrees when I went to the gym.  I am so not ready for winter!  Since I didn't have to work yesterday I went into cooking mode to warm up the house!  First I made some pumpkin muffins.  I do the lazy pumpkin muffins, 1 box cake mix, 1 can pumpkin puree, you can stop there but I find them too dense so I add 2 eggs and a cup of chocolate chips.  Then I started a crock pot full of chicken stock.  I like to let it cook in the crock for at least 24 hours...my house still smells so good with it simmering away on the counter!  Then I made the chinese chicken meatballs that D has for lunch today.  I put them on a stick with pineapple and marachino cherries.  She also has 2 pork potstickers, a hotdog heart, string cheese and pineapple/sour cherry skewers.  Her milk will go in the middle.

Day 272

Day 271 -The other day Lise from Veggie Bento had commented on Facebook that she had seen a recipe from Giada De Laurentiis for Spaghetti Nests.  Spaghetti is one of D's favorites!  I had to adjust the recipe a bit because I didn't have any spinach.  I used kale instead.  I didn't have any fresh mozzarella either so I made bread onigiri.  I just put some garlic butter inside. I decorated them with carrots and black sesame seeds.  She also has some pineapple tidbits and yogurt with mixed berry all fruit spread.

Here are some that my Bento Blogger Friends have made!
http://daisyselalu.blogspot.jp/2012/05/oh-shucks-230312.html?m=0
http://www.apocketfullofbuttons.com/2010/05/muffin-tin-monday-mini-series-birds-and.html
http://mommasays.net/2264/chicken-or-the-egg-bento/
http://ellunchdemienano.blogspot.com/2012/09/nidos-de-espagueti-con-todo-y-su-pollito.html

Day 270

Day 270 -  One of the most common questions Bento Bloggers get is "What do you do with all the scraps?"  The short answer is, we eat them!  D's lunch today is baked french toast made from the scraps of about 4 sandwiches.  For deli meat and cheese scraps, one of us eats them pretty much right away same with fruit scraps.  Veggie scraps are either eaten or put away for soup/stock or rice pilaf.  There is probably less waste for my family making lunch this way because if I were to give D a whole sandwich she would throw the crust away anyway!  So along with the baked french toast she has chicken apple sausage, yogurt stars, blueberries (yes they are frozen but will be defrosted by lunch time) and in the Mini Dipper there is some syrup. 

For the French Toast Casserole
 I cubed up the bread scraps and put them in a 2 cup casserole dish.  Then I mixed 2 eggs, about 3/4 c milk, a couple dashes of apple pie spice and 1/2 tsp vanilla together then poured it over the bread cubes.  I covered it with plastic wrap and put it in the fridge overnight.  I baked it at 350 for about 25 minutes or until the center is set.

Here is what some of my Bento Blogging Friends have to say on the subject:

What's In Our Lunch Bags
Mama Belly Lunches
Bento on Better Lunches and this one too!
Bentobloggy
This Lunch Rox
Biting The Hand That Feeds You and this one and this one.

Day 269

Day 269 - Hello Kitty!  I am not the cheese artist that my friends Jenn and Karen are, but I am taking baby steps!  I got some new markers in today.  I'm sure the Wilton one's have their place but they are terrible on cheese!  Today I got the Americolor Gourmet Writer set.  They work much better but I think I still need to get the technique down.  So the HK sandwich is bologna, there is a mini crueller in there, carrot flowers and freeze dried peas, a cheese stick with chocolate covered sunflower seeds and yogurt with a sprinkle heart.  I just took a heart shaped cookie cutter and put it on top of the yogurt, poured in some sprinkles and pressed them down into the yogurt (especially around the edges) before I removed the cookie cutter.




Some of my Bento Blogger Friends are having a Blog Hop and Treasure Hunt today in honor of "Talk Like A Pirate Day"  click on the image below to Hop!

Day 268

Day 268 - D's lunch today is a wrap made with TJ's Tuscan White Bean Hummus, chicken and spinach, carrot sticks with "pesto" dip, sliced bell pepper (that D grew herself), string cheese, TJ's yogurt stars and some granola bar from the Trader Joe Easy Lunch Boxes cookbook!

Day 267

Day 267 - Fall is in the air!  Very chilly morning here today!  I made D ravioli for lunch today.  She does like it cold but now I'm thinking I should have packed it in her thermos!  So she has mini cheese raviolis, a Mini Dipper with sauce for dipping, cucumbers, yogurt with blueberries and some crumbled granola under the Trader Joe's yogurt stars.  The ravioli on top is decorated with american cheese hair, black sesame seed eye and nose and a "jimmie" smile.

Cooking With Trader Joe’s Cookbook – Easy Lunch Boxes Review

The incredibly talented Kelly Lester, inventor of Easy Lunch Boxes, has written a cookbook!  The cookbook was released on September 15, 2012 and is available through Barnes & Noble and Amazon.  This cookbook is full of great ideas and beautiful pictures!

There are color photos of each delicious meal!

 

Thirty two of Kelly's friends contributed recipes and ideas for this book, most of them are Mom Bloggers. 

 

I have read this book from cover to cover.  There are over 80 meal ideas in this book, ranging from breakfast to dinner and all the snacks in between!  There are even vegan and gluten free recipes in there!  I couldn't wait...I have a pan of Kendra Peterson's Heavenly Cranberry Granola Bites in the oven as I type!  I love this book and want to let all of you busy parents out there know that you CAN pack a healthy, delicious lunch FAST!

 

 

 





Day 266

Day 265 - Friday is always pizza day right??  For lunch today D has a mini "deep dish" pizza, spinach salad with tomatoes and carrot and cheese flowers, homemade yogurt with cherries mixed in and inside Hello Kitty is some granola to put on her yogurt.

Day 265

Day 265 - It was only a matter of time before breakfast showed up again!  There are mini pancakes in the butterfly cup under the cheese flower. Hiding under the butterfly's head is a little sauce bottle of syrup.  Then there is D's favorite chicken/apple sausage.  The bottom tier is pretty self explanatory black grapes, orange, green grapes.

Day 264

Day 264 - Ham and cheese on heart picks, grapes, cherry tomatoes, half and orange, under the Teddy Graham Soft Paw cookie is an Easy Lunch Box Mini Dipper full of s/f chocolate pudding. The cookie is accented with cheese.

Day 263

Day 263 - Today's lunch is one of D's favorites.  She has been on a BLT kick.  For her there is just nothing like running out to the garden and grabbing a tomato, still warm from the sun and having Mom slice it up to make a juicy BLT!  We are getting to the end of our tomatoes here :(  So we are trying to savor the last of them.   She has a sliced chicken/lettuce sandwich with bacon and tomato on top!  I let the tomato slices sit on a paper towel for a few minutes so her sandwich wouldn't be completely soggy by lunchtime.  She also has some string cheese, grapes and in the Easy Lunch Boxes Mini-Dipper she has some s/f chocolate pudding.

Day 262

Day 262 - Today's lunch is, from the top left, yogurt with apple dip, grapes, carrot sticks, string cheese with flowers, roasted chicken sandwich cut out with a cupcake Lunch Punch and topped with a tomato "cherry".

Lunch Punch sent me this set of cutters to try.  I had bought a set of Lunch Punch before but just didn't have good luck using them.  So I went to my Bento Blogging Friends and asked them how they got theirs to turn out so beautifully!  Here is what they said, first cut the crust off the bread, then cut the bread slices seperately (I also cut the lunch meat if that is what I'm using), assemble the sandwich then put the cutter back on to make the impressions.  I know it sounds like a lot of steps but it really is fast.

Day 261

Day 261 - A few days ago I watched this video on Youtube.  That was the jumping off point for this dog lunch.  It's your basic pb & j on a hamburger bun, decorated with dark chocolate peanut butter, fruit leather and candy eyes, there is a red tomato "ball", some black grapes, a coconut granola bar, watermelon and a couple of skittles under the note. 

Day 260

Day 260 - The second day of school, so far so good!  From the top left D has blueberry fruit leather under her note, homemade yogurt with strawberries, watermelon flowers, cherry tomato eyes with a grape nose, ham/lettuce/cheese roll ups in a flax/oatbran/whole wheat flat bread with a few more grapes!

First Day of 2nd Grade!

MY SUPERSTARS RETURN TO SCHOOL TODAY!!

 

 

 

 

 

For the first day of school my "Superstar" has a Superstar Mommy made lunchable!  The large stars are turkey, the small white stars are string cheese, the small red stars are fruit leather, she has some crackers, cherry tomatoes, milk and some homemade greek yogurt with sliced strawberries.

M also returned to school today.  She still has no interest in lunch. :(  I did convince her to bring some pretzels. TEENAGERS!! O_o

 

 



One Lovely Blog and Very Inspiring Blogger Award

Many thanks to Bobbi at Bobbisbentos for nominating me for the One Lovely Blog and Very Inspiring Blogger Award.

 

When a blog wins this award they must spread the love by:
Thanking and linking back to the person who nominated them, telling seven things about themselves, and nominating 15 other bloggers by commenting on their blogs to let them know.

So the seven things about me:

1.  I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up.  I'm 40 and I'm still torn between 3 different "dream jobs".

2.  I only knew my husband for 3 weeks when we moved in together.  We were together for 9 months when we got engaged.  We have been married for almost 18 years. :)

3.  I will try just about anything once.

4.  I am afraid of spiders, not little spiders but hairy spiders.  GROSS!

5.  I lost 150lbs.

6.  I have gained 35 of that back :(

7.  I want to run a 5K even just once but twice I have started a running program and both times ended up with stress fractures in my feet.  It would seem that running is not going to be my sport.

Here are blogs that inspire me!

The Nutritionist Reviews
The Places We Go
Bento School Lunches
Welcome To The Jungle: Lunches
Bento Bird
The Princess and The Tot
Happy Little Bento
Basic Bento
Jessica's Jabber
Bento Fun
Emma's Lunch