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.

Items used to pack this bento:

Bento for Baby 80: Brussels Sprouts Pasta and Hummus Pita

Baby Girl's bento was a bit eclectic on this day.  This was packed several days after the end of her lunch strike, but I was still a bit afraid to push the envelope with the food I gave her.  So, I gave her a few things I knew would be devoured and a few others that she might turn her nose up to.  The sure-to-be-eaten items in her lunch on this day were half a whole wheat pita filled with homemade roasted red pepper hummus, a clementine and a mix of walnut pieces and raisins.  Things I wasn't so sure she would eat were some leftover Brussels sprout pasta from dinner the night before, and a few small carrot sticks.  Honestly, this bento is from so long ago that I cannot exactly recall how much she ate.  I have a vague memory that she ate most of this lunch, except for the carrot sticks.

I used a handy little lidded glass bowl that my mother-in-law passed on to me for the first time in this lunch.  It is the perfect size for a toddler-sized portion of leftovers, the glass is nice and thick so there aren't any safety concerns, and it is safe to pop in the microwave.  You'll be seeing a lot more of this little container in future posts.  I've found that her little thermal container is still a bit too deep for her to eat out of easily, and it's a mess when they dump it out into her other containers at school, so I'm going to hold off on using it for a little while.

Supplies similar to those used in this lunch:

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 69: Multi-grain Blueberry Muffin and Avocado Hummus Tortilla Roll

For her morning snack on this day, Baby Girl had two mini mixed grain blueberry muffins from the freezer and some halved grapes.  This was packed in the bottom section of my favorite small green tiffin box.  For lunch, packed in the top section of the tiffin box, I gave her some avocado hummus tortilla rolls.  I started with a typical hummus recipe with chickpeas and tahini, but substituted a small avocado for most of the tahini and some of the olive oil.  It turned out quite nicely; it had a strong avocado flavor but the chickpeas made it a bit heartier.  I spread this on a warmed 100% whole wheat tortilla, topped that with some grated cheddar cheese and rolled it up.  With her tortilla rolls, I gave Baby Girl some thin carrot sticks, a sunbutter oatmeal ball and some chunks of pear.

Supplies similar to those used in this lunch:

Bento for Baby 49: Yogurt with Granola and Red Pepper Hummus with Pita

Baby Girl had some plain whole Greek yogurt, some homemade granola and a couple organic strawberries for her morning snack on this day.  I've been making granola at home for a few months now.  My husband is a bit obsessed with it.  I like it a lot better than store bought cereal.  For the adults, I make a recipe that combines a recipe by Melissa Clark from the New York Times where she tested how little sugar you can use in a granola and still end up with tasty results, and a great recipe by David Lebovitz that uses unsweetened apple sauce in place of some of the oil.  For Baby Girl, I make a granola with just unsweetened apple sauce and no added refined sugar.  She loves it.  I'll post the recipes separately in the near future.

For lunch, Baby Girl had some homemade roasted red pepper hummus in the blue silicone cup.  To eat with the hummus I packed some 100% whole wheat pita wedges, some cucumber slices and a few sugar snap peas.  She also had one sun butter oatmeal ball to round out her lunch.  

Supplies similar to those used in this bento:

Bento for Baby 24: Pancake and Red Pepper Hummus Rolls

Baby Girl is home for the next couple weeks, so hopefully I'll find the time to catch up on the last few weeks of bentos before new school year starts!  For breakfast on this day Baby Girl had one of Dan's Awesome Pancakes, half a banana cut into chunks and one sunbutter oatmeal ball.  The lunch portion of the bento contained hummus tortilla rolls, organic blueberries in the green silicone cup and some cucumber slices and a few garbanzo beans in the blue silicone cup.  This was all packed into the small green tiffin from World Market.

I made the tortilla rolls by completely covering a 100% whole wheat tortilla with a thick coat of homemade roasted red pepper hummus, which I sprinkled with some grated organic carrot.  I then rolled up the tortilla as tightly as possible without squishing the filling out of the roll, trimmed the ends and cut it into four equal pieces.  I find the tortillas roll without cracking if I zap the tortilla in the microwave for 10 seconds before I put in any fillings.  Unfortunately, Baby Girl wasn't a big fan of the hummus rolls on this day.  She's been a bit skeptical of spreads lately.  I have to do a better job of giving them to her more frequently.

Bento for Baby 4: Waffle and Hummus Tortilla Rolls

For breakfast in our final bento last week I packed waffle square that I had stashed in the freezer from the leftovers from the lovely Mother's Day breakfast my husband made me, two organic pear slices and some strawberries from our CSA share (Ambrose Family Farm). These waffles were yogurt waffles from Waffles: From Morning to Midnight. This cookbook was a wedding gift, along with our waffle iron, ten years ago and we have used it at least monthly since then.

Lunch was composed of hummus/carrot/tortilla rolls, organic cheddar cheese squares, organic frozen mixed veggies from Trader Joe's in the silicone cup, and more strawberries and pear slices.  I made the tortilla rolls with organic whole wheat tortillas (store brand, Earth Fare), which I spread completely (to every edge!) with a thin layer of my homemade hummus, then I sprinkled it with organic grated carrots (also from our CSA share, so sweet and yummy) on only one half of the tortilla.  I then rolled up the tortilla from the side with the carrot, rolling tightly and pressing the edge of the tortilla to the side of the roll.  I cut off the uneven ends and ate them for a snack and cut the remaining roll into four equal pieces.  Baby girl loves how easy these are to pick up and eat, and I love that she's getting some good protein and veggies.

I packed this in the little tiffin box I got on clearance from World Market a while back.  Lunch was in the top and breakfast was in the bottom.  I love the size of this cute little box, but I'm a little concerned about it's longevity. . .it doesn't seem particularly robust.