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 56: Zucchini Apricot Muffin with Caramelized Onion Butternut Squash Hand Pie

I made a lovely free-form savory crostata for dinner last night; filled with a bit of ricotta, caramelized onions, butternut squash and blue cheese.  It was rather beautiful, too, I wish I had snapped a picture of it.  For Baby Girl, I used the same crust and fillings to make little hand pies because it's hard for her to eat a wedge of tart.  We use a fantastic whole wheat olive oil dough recipe from the Chocolate and Zucchini blog for many of the savory tarts/crostatas we make in these parts.  However, unlike the blog author, I make the dough in my food processor.  I just mix the dry ingredients in the bowl with the metal blade then pour in the wet ingredients and blend until a ball forms. I love this dough.  It is much healthier than regular pastry dough, it is really quick and easy to make and it is a dream to work with. I've never had difficulties rolling this out or moving it to a tart pan.  And it's delicious, it has a really nice light and flaky texture.  I rarely par bake the crust when using it for a savory tart. For the crostata last night I simply rolled it out into a large circle, layered on the fillings and folded the edges up over the filling and baked it on a preheated baking stone.  To ease the transfer of the crostata to the oven I rolled it out onto a large piece of parchment paper and then just slid the whole thing onto the stone.  

So!  Back to what we're here for - the bento!  I gave baby girl one of the leftover hand pies for her lunch the next day.  I had a taste of the cold tart myself, and it was equally tasty cold as it was warm. With her hand pie I gave her a mix of frozen edamame and peas and one sunbutter oatmeal ball.  For morning snack I packed a zucchini apricot muffin from the freezer along with some strawberries and some frozen mango chunks in the blue silicone cup.  I intended for her to eat some of this fruit with her lunch, too, but I couldn't fit it in that section of her tiffin box.

Supplies similar to those used in this bento:

Bento for Baby 34: Banana Bread and Zucchini and Rice Crostata

I made some whole wheat banana bread with no added sugar over the weekend, so Baby Girl had some for her breakfast/morning snack on this day.  I usually make cream cheese sandwiches with banana bread, but decided to try a little peanut butter instead.  Why have I never done this before?  It is so delicious! With her peanut butter and banana bread sandwich, Baby Girl also had some organic strawberries.  For her lunch, I pulled a piece of zucchini and rice crostata from the freezer.   I also included some frozen peas and some blueberries and strawberries in the silicone cups.  This was all packed in my favorite small green tiffin from World Market.

Supplies similar to those used in this lunch:

Bento for Baby 23: Sunbutter Honey Pita and Zucchini and Rice Crostata

And now for something a little bit different.  This bento breaks the rut we seem to have been in the past few days.  For breakfast Baby Girl had half of a 100% whole wheat mini pita spread with sunbutter and a bit of honey.  I bought an organic sunbutter with no added sugar or palm oil (I try to avoid palm oil - save the orangutans!), but it is a bit bitter, so it needs a little honey.  Also for breakfast I included a small silicone cup with organic blueberries and pitted and halved bing cherries.  For lunch I packed a square of zucchini and rice crostata from the freezer, a few cubes of organic cheddar cheese, some halved cherry tomatoes from our CSA and a few watermelon cubes.  Again, I packed this day's food into my favorite little tiffin from World Market.

Bento for Baby 11: Banana Bread and Zucchini and Rice Crostata

For breakfast on Wednesday Baby Girl had some banana bread and cream cheese sandwiches made with my Whole Wheat No Added Sugar Banana Bread and a couple pear slices. This banana bread was frozen from a loaf I made before vacation.  I defrosted a slice overnight in the refrigerator and made the sandwich in the morning.  The bread handled freezing very nicely, the texture and flavor were not affected at all.

For lunch I packed a piece of the zucchini and rice crostata I made a few weeks ago pulled from the freezer, some organic frozen green beans, some organic cheddar cheese cubes and a few cantaloupe pieces in the red silicone cup.  This was packed in the tiny green tiffin I picked up on clearance from World Market.  I always worry that I'm packing too much food for my 15 month old, but this box came home completely empty.  That makes for one happy Mama.

Bento for Baby 2: Waffle and Zucchini and Rice Crostata

Tuesday's breakfast and lunch bentos were made up of some yummy leftovers from the weekend. Breakfast was composed of a Belgian waffle quarter from my Mother's Day breakfast, half a banana and some sliced strawberries.  The waffles were yogurt waffles from the Waffles: From Morning to Midnight cookbook.

For lunch I packed some Rice and Zucchini Crostata, frozen peas and pear chunks.  I made the crostata for dinner the previous night. It's a fantastic recipe from another of my favorite cookbooks, Lidia's Italian Table: More Than 200 Recipes From The First Lady Of Italian Cooking.  It's delicious for parents and babies, and a complete meal with veggies, protein and grains.  It's also soft enough to feed younger babies starting out with baby led weaning. The recipe makes enough for several meals.  We took larger slices for lunch and I cut up smaller squares and stuck them in the freezer for baby girl's future lunches.

I packed these meals in the medium and large Kids Konserve Nesting Trio Stainless Steel Containers with Leak-Proof Lids.