Bentos 94 - 97: Second Week of School

Sigh. . .One month into school and I'm already way behind.  I'm not good at this blogging thing. Here are the bentos for the second week of school.  I forgot to take a picture on Friday morning, we were in a bit of a rush, so there are only four again.  

Bento for Baby 94:  Baby Girl had some leftovers from dinner the previous night.  My mother gave me a few pounds of roma tomatoes from her garden, so I made a fresh tomato sauce from one of my Lidia Bastianich cookbooks.  This was packed into a Lunchbots thermal container.  Along with the leftovers I gave her a zucchini apricot muffin from the freezer, some halved cherries, and some sunflower and pumpkin seeds in the medium Nesting Trio container.

Bento for Baby 95:  Tuna white bean salad dressed with lemon and olive oil in whole wheat pita, sugar snap peas, grapes, and some cantaloupe pieces in the tiffin box.

Bento for Baby 96:  Two mini pizzas on whole wheat pitas from the freezer, some sugar snap peas, bing cherries an some pretzel sticks in the U Konserve Rectangle.

Bento for Baby 97:  Some more leftovers from dinner the previous night in her Lunchbots thermal container - our favorite Bittman spaghetti and meatballs, along a few grapes, a strawberry and a few sugar snap peas in the medium container from the Kids Konserve Nesting Trio.

Items similar to those used to pack these bentos:

    

Bento for Baby 82: A Hearty Lunch

I went a little crazy and made a Valentines Day themed bento for Baby Girl last week.  As far as themed bentos go, it's still pretty low key, so I didn't completely lose my mind.  I wanted to do a little something special for Baby Girl because it was Grandparent's Day at her school and she was one of the few kids there without a parent or grandparent in attendance.  We don't live close to grandparents and neither of us could miss work that day.  Plus, she's really into shapes these days, so I thought she'd get a kick out of all the hearts.

I packed it in a bit of a rush, so it's not as cute and neat as it could be.   Looking at this picture, it's driving me crazy that I didn't stick another strawberry on the far left.  But as we're all aware, that really doesn't matter. So, here's the info that really matters, what all the food is!  The main attraction was two heart shaped freshly ground peanut butter and raspberry conserves sandwiches on homemade bread.  My husband bakes all our bread using recipes from The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day and white whole wheat flour.  This flour allows you to make bread with a nice light crumb, while getting all the benefits of eating whole grains.  With her sandwiches Baby Girl had one large strawberry cut in half and shaped a bit to look like hearts, a few grape tomato hearts filled with hummus and some snap pea crisps.  The snap pea crisps are really glorified chips, but they were a special treat (but she didn't really like them, anyway).  I made the tomato hearts by cutting the tomatoes in half on the diagonal, smearing a tiny dab of hummus on the cut ends and then putting the tomato back together with the pointy ends together.  It works best with the more oblong tomatoes.

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Bento for Baby 79: Palmiers and Banana Bread

For her bento on this day Baby Girl had a few more favorites.  Although she had eaten her whole lunch the previous day, I wasn't yet convinced that her lunch strike was over.  Thankfully, she again ate most of her lunch, except some of the black beans shown here in the green silicone cup.  Along with the black beans, she had three spinach pizza palmiers from the freezer, some unsweetened banana chips, a clementine, one sunbutter oatmeal ball and a small piece of whole wheat sugar-free banana bread (which was actually leftover from her breakfast on this morning.)

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Bento for Baby 78: Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich

This day's lunch marks the height of my frustration with Baby Girl's eating strike.  That might be apparent in the disheveled appearance of this bento. Thankfully, it also marked the turning point in her strike.  This bento came back mostly empty!  And, she has continued to eat since, although some days are better than others.

It's not surprising that Baby Girl decided to eat on this day, this bento is chock full of her favorite foods.  The main attraction is a freshly ground, no additive peanut butter and Earth Fare brand low sugar raspberry conserves sandwich on homemade whole wheat bread.  The bread is my husband's creation, made with 100% white whole wheat flour using a recipe adapted from the book The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.  Baby Girl has never turned her nose up at "Papa bread."  With her sandwich she had some sugar snap peas, a clementine, one sunbutter oatmeal ball and some raisins.

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Bento for Baby 68: Yogurt with Granola and Zucchini and White Bean Canneloni

Baby Girl had some of her favorites in today's bento!  She hasn't been eating very much at school lately, so I thought I'd stack the deck to encourage her a bit.  I packed most of her food for the day together in a U Konserve Rectangle container, but I intended some for her morning snack and some for her lunch.  For snack, I gave her some plain greek yogurt in the smallest container from the Kids Konserve Nesting Trio.  To eat with that I included some homemade granola and some frozen blueberries.   Our entire household has become a bit obsessed with homemade granola the last few months.  We all love it for breakfasts and snacks.  I make a slightly sweeter one for the grown ups and a version with little to no added sweetener for Baby Girl.   I much prefer it to store bought cereal.

Anyway, back to the bento.  To eat for lunch I included a zucchini and apricot muffin from the freezer and some frozen edamame and peas in the U Konserve Rectangle.  I also gave her some leftover zucchini and white bean cannelloni I made for dinner the night before in a 4 ounce glass canning jar so it could be warmed in the microwave .  This is a fantastic dish where sautéed grated zucchini, white beans and spinach are wrapped in whole wheat crepes and then baked in a creamy ricotta based sauce.  I will post the recipe when I have time to type it all out.  It's not a quick and easy dinner, but it is so delicious it is worth the effort!

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Bento for Baby 67: Zucchini Apricot Muffin and Sausage Squash and Brussels Sprout Pizza

Dan made an absolutely delicious pizza for dinner last night.  It had mild Italian sausage, roasted delicata squash, roasted Brussels sprouts and fresh mozzarella on homemade whole wheat dough.  It was a perfect combination of slightly spicy, sweet and bitter.   Baby Girl has been cautious of Brussels sprouts and squash lately, but even she recognized the deliciousness of this pizza and ate a whole slice without picking it apart.  So, for her lunch the next day, I gave her two small slices of the leftover pizza.  I included a mishmash of other food with the pizza in the U Konserve Rectangle for her to eat for morning snack and lunch.  She got half a pear, some carrot and cucumber sticks, some halved green grapes, a sunbutter oatmeal ball, a zucchini apricot muffin from the freezer and a few squares of organic cheddar cheese.  An interesting note about the zucchini muffin - I was chatting with my husband while making this new batch recently, and I completely forgot to add the small amount of brown sugar called for in the recipe.  Guess what?  They are still rather tasty!  Baby Girl actually seems to prefer them this way! Next time I make them I think I'll put just a tiny bit of sugar in them, because the bite of the baking soda without any sugar is a bit sharp for me.  But I'm really glad that I can make a healthy muffin even healthier!

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Bento for Baby 66: Pancakes and Avocado Pita

Baby Girl had some of her Papa's Awesome Pancakes along with some sliced green grapes for her morning snack on this day.  This was packed into the left side of the U Konserve Rectangle.  Food for her lunch took up the remaining portion the container.  Her lunch consisted of half a 100% whole wheat pita filled with a mix of Greek yogurt and avocado, some frozen broccoli and peas in the orange silicone cup and a trail mix of dried apricots, almond slivers and walnut pieces in the white silicone cup.

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Bento for Baby 60: Pancakes and Palmiers

Since we went out the night before, I grabbed a few things from the freezer to quickly pack this bento in the morning.  I put all her food for the day in the U Konserve rectangular container.  For her morning snack I gave Baby Girl a couple of Dan's Awesome Pancakes and some frozen mango chunks.  For lunch she had three pizza palmiers, two filled with spinach and ricotta and one with pesto, ricotta and broccoli.  I also gave her some sliced carrots and English cucumber and a little trail mix I made with walnuts, raisins and sunflower seeds.

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Bento for Baby 43: Strawberry Tortilla Rolls and Quinoa Cake

I combined the food for Baby Girl's morning snack and lunch into a single box again on this day.  She is, of course, free to eat whichever items she prefers for each meal, but I intended the food on the right to be for morning snack and the rest for lunch.  Morning snack is made up of strawberry tortilla rolls, or cream cheese and strawberry slices on a whole wheat tortilla, and half a banana.   For lunch I packed her a quinoa cake and a couple mini whole wheat biscuits from the freezer, along with some sugar snap peas and a mix of sunflower seeds, almond slivers and cut up dried apricots in the red silicone cup.  This lunch was well received, and most things were eaten, but I tried a few of the nuts that came home and they had a bit of a banana flavor. . .I probably shouldn't include a banana for morning snack when I pack food for the whole day into one box.

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Bento for Baby 39: Zucchini Apricot Muffin and Rice Noodle Salad

Hmmm, just like yesterday, this bento isn't the most cute and colorful.  Oh well.  I packed all her food together in the U Konserve Rectangle, but I intended the food on the right to be for breakfast/morning snack and everything else for lunch.  For breakfast Baby Girl had a zucchini and apricot muffin from the freezer and half a banana.  For lunch I made a salad of rice noodles with grated carrots and edamame and dressed with homemade peanut sauce.  I made some spring rolls for dinner the previous night and Baby Girl was CRAZY for them, especially the tofu, rice noodles and peanut dipping sauce.  I thought she would love having some of those ingredients for her lunch, but she didn't touch the salad for some reason.  I also packed her some pear slices and a couple celery sticks with peanut butter.  The salad was packed in the smallest container from the Kids Konserve Nesting Trio, which fits nicely inside the larger container.  

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Bento for Baby 36: Pancakes and Avocado White Bean Tortilla Rolls

Baby Girl again enjoyed some of her Papa's Awesome Pancakes from the freezer, along with some organic blueberries and strawberries, for her morning snack on this day.  For lunch I made her some whole wheat tortilla rolls with grated cheddar and great northern white beans.  To have with her tortilla rolls I packed some frozen peas and edamame in the blue silicone cup and half an organic pear. Everything was packed together in the U Konserve 33-Ounce Rectangle Stainless Steel Container.  This container is currently available for a great price on Zulily, along with a few other Kids Konserve/U Konserve Containers. The Kids Konserve Nesting Trio that I use very often is also available for $10 off its normal list price.

These tortilla rolls were much more successful than my previous attempt a few months ago, this time Baby Girl ate every single bit. I think the last time I tried to make similar rolls they were a bit too dry and the avocado oxidized to an unappetizing brown.  To solve both these problems I mashed up the avocodo with a bit of greek yogurt, along with a tiny bit of fresh lime juice and salt and pepper.  I spread this mixture all over a 100% whole wheat torilla from Trader Joe's, spreading it a bit more thickly on the bottom half.  I then put a couple tablespoons of white beans along the center and finely grated some cheddar cheese all over the bottom half.  I rolled the tortilla tightly from the bottom and let it sit, wrapped in foil, in the fridge over night.  When I trimmed the ends off the roll the next morning the roll had set up nicely and held together well and the avocado/yogurt mix was still a pleasing bright green.

Bento for Baby 32: Yogurt, Sunbutter Oatmeal Balls and Palmiers

We went out to dinner the night before packing this bento, so I packed this quickly with things I could grab from the freezer and fridge.  I am still figuring out how much food Baby Girl needs for morning snack and lunch, so I packed food for both meals together in one box.  The small container with the red lid contains some plain greek yogurt and blueberries.  I meant to take the picture without the lid, but I was a bit frazzled this morning.  I also packed two sunbutter oatmeal balls, half a pear, some organic mixed veg and two spinach palmiers from the freezer.  This container is the U Konserve 33-Ounce Rectangle Stainless Steel Container, which nicely fits the smallest of the Kids Konserve Nesting Trio Stainless Steel Containers with Leak-Proof Lids within it.

Bento for Baby 13: Dan's Awesome Pancakes and Cheddar and Avocado Sandwich

Baby Girl was sick this week, so I only have one bento to post from this past week.  I used a new box to pack her food, a U Konserve 33-Ounce Rectangle Stainless Steel Container.  It is a larger, single compartment box, so I packed her morning snack and lunch together.  Her morning snack/breakfast is on the left.  It is composed of three small silver dollar sized Dan's Awesome Pancakes from the freezer with some blueberries and a raspberry in the yellow silicone cup.  For lunch I packed some sugar snap peas (with the ends cut off and strings removed) and wedges of a pita sandwich of melted organic cheddar and avocado slices.  The dividing wall of strawberries were for either meal as desired. I made the sandwich the night before by sticking some slices of cheddar and avocado in half a pita and slowly warming it in a saute pan.  The avocado was completely "encased" in the melted cheese, so it didn't brown before lunch time the next day.   Unfortunately, Baby Girl was just getting sick on this day, so even though these are many of her favorite foods, she didn't eat very much.