Bentos 83 - 89: Bento Catch Up!

I have been slacking horribly in blogging lately.  I've been in a bit of a cooking/lunch packing funk lately.  I'm tired of the of the available winter produce and ready for the fresh flavors of spring!  As a result bentos haven't been particularly interesting lately and I haven't had much enthusiasm to photograph and blog them.  Rather than try and do a bunch of individual posts to catch up, I thought I do one large post with the various bentos that have been clogging up my camera the past few weeks. I'll just do a quick list of what's in each bento, please comment if you want any further detail.   

Bento 83: Apple sandwich, raisins, steamed broccoli and some pieces of oven fried chicken with the breading peeled off.  I made the chicken with my favorite recipe from the Joy of Cooking, which uses a bit of cayenne in the marinade and breading.  Unfortunately the breading ended up a bit too spicy for toddler tastes.  After her traumatic dinner experience, she refused to touch these leftovers even with the breading removed.  I think she might be off chicken for a while.

Bento 84:  Spaghetti and meatballs, unsweetened banana chips, grapes and steamed green beans dressed in olive oil and lemon zest.

Bento 85:  Goat cheese on whole wheat pita, raisins and walnut pieces, apple slices

Bento 86:  Oven fried chicken with breading removed (second attempt, she didn't touch it this time either), grapes, two whole wheat biscuits and green beans dressed in olive oil and lemon.

Bento 87:  Apple sandwich, two zucchini and apricot muffins, unsweetened banana chips, dried cherries.

Bento 88:  Clementine, chickpeas, two ants on a log (celery with peanut butter and raisins), two pizza palmiers.

Bento 89:  Leftover Moroccan chickpea and vegetable tagine with couscous, clementine, unsweetened banana chips, cube of feta cheese.

Supplies similar to those used in this lunch:

Bento for Baby 74: Dan's Awesome Pancakes and Goat Cheese Tortilla Rolls

Back to bentos after a holiday hiatus!  Before we start with the new bentos packed this week, I need to catch up on several lunches I never got around to posting before the holidays.

This bento is from the beginning of December.  For her morning snack I gave Baby Girl a couple of Dan's Awesome Pancakes from the freezer and some frozen blueberries in the white silicone cup.  For the lunch portion of the bento, she had some goat cheese and thinly sliced cucumber rolls on a whole wheat tortilla.  With the tortilla rolls I gave her a few slices of apple and two sunbutter oatmeal balls.

Supplies similar to those used in this lunch:

Bento for Baby 73: Mixed Grain Blueberry Muffin and Ak-Mak Peanut Butter Crackers

Baby Girl has another quick and simple bento today since I'm holding down the fort alone while her father is travelling.  For morning snack I gave her a mixed grain blueberry muffin from the freezer and some slices of banana.  For lunch she has some freshly ground, additive-free peanut butter sandwiched between some whole wheat Ak-Mak crackers, few slices of English cucumber, some gala apple slices and a mix of organic raisins and roasted, unsalted sunflower seeds in the yellow silicone cup.

Supplies similar to those used in this lunch:

Bento for Baby 72: Apple Sandwich, Zucchini and Apricot Muffin and Tortellini with Ricotta and Peas

Baby Girl's papa was out of town this week, so I wanted to make packing her lunches as quick and simple as possible.  A perfect reason to use her handy dandy new thermos!  The leftovers in the thermos today were Trader Joe's fresh spinach tortellini in a sauce of bacon, whole milk ricotta and peas.  With her pasta I also gave her a zucchini apricot muffin from the freezer, an apple peanut butter sandwich and some steamed green and yellow beans.  This was packed in the top section of her little green tiffin box.

Supplies similar to those used in this lunch:

Handy little 8 ounce Lunchbots Insulated Thermal.

Bento for Baby 70: Dan's Awesome(r) Pancakes and Pasta with Twenty Minute Tomato Sauce

Well, I'm back!  Sorry for the unintended holiday hiatus.  I had grand plans of catching up on bentos during the Thanksgiving break, but I didn't find the time.  I have quite a few bentos to post from before the break, so let's get started!

Lucky Baby Girl had some of her Papa's hearty Awsome(r) Pancakes with her morning snack on this day.  She also had two sunbutter oatmeal balls and some chunks of banana. For lunch, she had some whole wheat rotini in my quick and tasty Twenty Minute Tomato Sauce.  This was packed in a 4 ounce canning jar so that it could be warmed up in the microwave at school.  She also had some of the same avocado hummus from her roll the previous day, this time with some carrot and cucumber sticks for dipping.  Lunch was rounded out with a couple slices of organic gala apple.    

Supplies similar to those used in this lunch:

Bento for Baby 61: Yogurt and Zucchini and Rice Crostata

For morning snack on this day Baby Girl had some plain Greek yogurt and half a banana.  We made another of our favorite zucchini and rice crostatas for dinner the night before, so I gave Baby Girl a small piece for lunch the next day.  I also gave her a few slices of cucumber, a couple slices of apples, and some walnut pieces and quartered dried apricots.

Supplies similar to those used in this bento:

Bento for Baby 53: Mixed Grain Blueberry Muffin and Ak-Mak Peanut Butter Sandwich

Today's bento is kind of old school.  I contains the foods that automatically pop into my mind when someone says "kid's lunch."  Not that that's a bad thing, it's still healthy and tasty, and I can be pretty sure that Baby Girl will eat all of it!  Here are the details - For her morning snack, I gave Baby Girl a mixed grain blueberry muffin from the freezer and some cut up green grapes.  For lunch I made her a peanut butter sandwich on a couple 100% whole wheat Ak Mak crackers.  I used the freshly ground, straight from the tap peanut butter from Earth Fare that only contains organic unsalted peanuts.  It is a new hit in our house for the whole family.  With her cracker sandwich I packed some organic raisins, a couple slices of gala apple and some English cucumber slices and sugar snap peas.  I cut one of the cucumber slices into a flower shape as an enticement to try it.  Sometimes cucumbers come home, sometimes they disappear from her lunch, so it's still a work in progress to get her to eat them.

Supplies similar to those used in this bento:

Bento for Baby 48: Yogurt Waffle and Moroccan Chickpeas with Couscous

Baby Girls bento today is pretty much all leftovers.  For her morning snack I pulled a leftover cornmeal waffle quarter from the freezer and  put some frozen blue berries in the white silicone cup. I also included a sun butter oatmeal ball.  Her lunch was leftovers from dinner the night before - a Moroccan flavored chickpea and vegetable tagine with some dried apricots.  We had it with some whole wheat couscous cooked in vegetable stock.  Baby Girl absolutely loved this dish, she even ate the carrots, which she has been avoiding lately.  I combined a few different recipes to suit what I had on hand, so I'll try and type up the recipe when I have the chance.  With her two little cups of leftovers I also included a couple slices of Gala apple.

Supplies similar to those used in this bento:

Bento for Baby 47: Zucchini Apricot Muffin and Tuna White Bean Salad

I packed Baby Girl one of her favorite zucchini and apricot muffins from the freezer for morning snack on this day, along with half a banana.  For lunch I gave her some tuna and white bean salad that we had for dinner the previous night.  This salad was made with oil packed yellow fin tuna, some navy beans that I had cooked that afternoon, onions, chopped artichoke hearts, a few finely chopped Kalamata olives, lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste.  I included half of a whole wheat pita cut into wedges for her to eat with the salad. She also had a slice of Gala apple and some slices of English cucumber cut into fun shapes to encourage her to eat them!  This was packed into my favorite little two layer tiffin box from World Market. One of the greatest things about this box is that it is the perfect depth to use silicone cupcake liners to contain food - the cups go all the way to the top of the container so messy things like tuna salad won't spill on your apple slices!

Supplies similar to those used in this bento: