Bento for Baby 81: Spaghetti and Meatballs with Spinach Cake and Apple Sandwich

This bento was a resounding hit with Baby Girl.  I gave her some leftover spaghetti and meatballs I made for dinner the night before.  This was made from a fantastic recipe by Mark Bittman for Spaghetti and Drop Meatballs With Tomato Sauce, which makes a quick (about 30 minutes) and delicious meal.  In addition to being delicious, this recipe also very well written, the steps are laid out in a logical progression, are very easy to follow, and you can actually complete it in the stated prep time, unlike most recipes.  I made it pretty much as written, using whole wheat spaghetti and grass fed beef.  Anyway, Baby Girl absolutely loved it for dinner and polished off the leftovers in her lunch the next day.  

Along with her leftovers, Baby Girl had an apple peanut butter sandwich, some segments of clementine, a spinach cake from the freezer and a couple cubes of cheddar cheese.  This bento came back completely empty, so I now felt comfortable to declare the lunch strike officially over!

Supplies similar to those used in this lunch:

Bento for Baby 9: Waffles, Pasta and Meatballs

At long last, here's the last bento from the week before last.  We were on vacation last week, so there were no cute lunches to post.  I'm looking forward making tasty, healthy lunches for Baby Girl again next week.  Our healthy eating got a bit off track on vacation, as it often does.  It wasn't as bad as it could have been though.  I made a large batch of sunbutter-oatmeal balls before we left.  I packed about half the batch for snacks on the cross-country plane ride and during vacation.  They were a fantastic travel snack, not too messy for eating on the go, satisfying and great to quell crankiness.  The adults on the trip might have indulged in quite a few themselves. . . I also packed some pizza palmiers and whole wheat banana bread for travel snacks. I was very happy to have a variety of good, healthy food to offer Baby Girl whenever hunger struck.

Anyway, back to this snack and lunch.  For breakfast/snack Baby Girl had a leftover yogurt waffle, pulled from the freezer stash put up on Mother's Day, a sunbutter-oatmeal ball, a quarter of a banana and a frozen strawberry.  I ordered 5 pounds of strawberries from our CSA before the season ended, hulled them and put them into the freezer.  Although we should be saving them for the winter, I've pulled out a few and they have survived the freezing quite well.  For lunch I packed two turkey meatballs, some sugar snap peas from our CSA, a couple more frozen strawberries and some broccoli pesto pasta in the red silicone cup.  We had some 100% whole wheat rotini pasta left over from dinner the previous day so I tossed it with some finely chopped steamed broccoli and some Trader Joe's pesto. I really thought I had gone overboard with the amount of food on this day, but all that came back was a few pieces of pasta! I packed this day's food in the small and medium Kids Konserve Nesting Trio Stainless Steel Containers with Leak-Proof Lids.

Bento for Baby Recipe: Turkey and Veggie Meatballs

I adapted a recipe from Martha Stewart's website that appears to be from Jessica Alba.  I followed the cooking method of her recipe, but crammed it with more veggies and used some applesauce, in addition to egg, to bind them.  These are fantastic for young babies starting out with baby led weaning, the applesauce and cooking method makes them nice and soft, but my 14 month old still loves them, and I find them quite tasty too.  They freeze fantastically.  This recipe makes a ton of meatballs, just freeze them on a sheet tray then pop them in a freezer bag so that they're ready to grab for easy lunches.  

Ingredients

2 pounds lean ground turkey - preferably organic
1 cup breadcrumbs, wholewheat
1/2 cup finely chopped carrots
1/2 cup defrosted frozen spinach
1/2 cup finely chopped onion, about one half a large onion
1 large egg
1/2 cup apple sauce
2 tablespoons Italian seasoning
1 tablespoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
3/4 cup homemade or store-bought low-sodium chicken broth

Directions

Finely chop onion and carrot, pulse briefly in food processor, if you have one. Defrost frozen spinach, press in sieve or small strainer to get rid of excess water. In a large bowl, mix turkey, bread crumbs, carrots, spinach, onion, egg, apple sauce, Italian seasoning, and salt until well combined; chill for half an hour or more, form into 1-inch balls.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add meatballs and cook, turning, until browned, about 7 minutes.

Add 1/2 cup chicken broth; cover and reduce heat to low. Cook until liquid is almost completely absorbed, about 7 minutes. Add remaining 1/4 cup broth and increase heat to medium; cook, uncovered, until liquid is absorbed.

These freeze exceptionally well. Spread them out on a sheet pan and stick in the freezer until they are hard. Pop them off the tray and put them in a ziplock bag. I put them in my daughter's lunch frozen, they defrost in time for lunch.

Bento 1: Strawberry Tortilla Roll, Quinoa Cake and Turkey Meatballs

Morning snack and lunch packed in a tiffin from World Market.  I got this cute little box on clearance a couple months ago.  It is a great size, but I'm not sure how well it will hold up.  Breakfast/morning snack is on the top, and lunch is in the bottom.

For breakfast/morning snack Baby Girl had lovely strawberries from our CSA (Ambrose Family Farm) share and cream cheese rolled up in a sprouted grain tortilla, organic champagne mango and organic pear pieces in silicone cup.

We went out last night, so I grabbed a few pre-made things from my freezer stash to make a quick lunch.  Quinoa cake with carrot, spinach and onion, two turkey meatballs with spinach and carrots, peas and edamame in the red silicone cup, pear chunks in the yellow silicone cup.  I have been making the quinoa cakes and meatballs for my daughter since she got the hang of baby led weaning, maybe 8 months or so.  She loves them and they are a great source of protein and veggies.  They are easy to pick up and were easy for her to chew before she had many teeth.