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 55: Strawberry Tortilla Rolls and Quinoa Cake with Spinach Cake

I've been breaking my own rules and buying strawberries even though they are way out of season and nowhere near local, but Baby Girl loves them, so I continued to buy them.  Not surprisingly, they don't taste nearly as good as fresh, local berries.  I bought one last box for this week, so I thought I'd make some strawberry and cream cheese tortilla rolls for Baby Girl's morning snack for the last time this year.  With her tortilla rolls I included some halved organic green grapes.  For her lunch I grabbed a few things from the freezer: a quinoa cake, some organic mixed vegetables and half a spinach cake.  I also packed her a couple slices of Gala apple and a sun butter oatmeal ball.

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 52: Yogurt Waffle with Mango and Zucchini Fritters with Roasted Chicken

Baby Girl had the last of the yogurt waffles from the freezer for her morning snack on this day.  She also had a couple pieces of frozen mango and a sun butter oatmeal ball.  She had some new foods for her lunch.  We got a bunch of zucchini in our CSA share so I made some zucchini fritters for dinner using a recipe I had been wanting to try from the Well column of the New York Times.  The fritters were delicious, and it was great to see Baby Girl eat so much zucchini.  I gave her two leftover fritters in her lunch.  With the fritters, I also roasted a chicken for dinner, so I packed her a little bit of the meat in the red silicone cup.  I also included half a pear for dessert. It was all packed into my favorite little tiffin box.

Supplies similar to those used in this bento:

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 40: Whole Wheat Biscuits and Pizza Palmiers

I was in a rush on this morning, so I packed this bento in a few short minutes using pre-made goodies pulled from the freezer combined with some fresh fruits and veggies.  For morning snack Baby Girl had a couple mini whole wheat biscuits from the freezer with little cream cheese and low sugar raspberry conserves and half a pear. The biscuits are from a quick and easy recipe on the 100 Days of Real Food blog.  For lunch I packed three pizza palmiers from the freezer, two with spinach and ricotta filling, and one with broccoli, pesto and ricotta filling, a few cubes of organic cheddar cheese, some cut red grapes in the red silicone cup and a couple cucumber sticks.   Everything fit nicely into my favorite little green tiffin box.

Supplies similar to those used in this bento:

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.  

Items used to pack this bento:

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 28: Pancake, Greek Yogurt and Panzanella

Here's the final catch-up bento, just in time for the new school term to start tomorrow!  In the breakfast portion of this bento, Baby Girl had one of Dan's Awesome Pancakes with a couple tablespoons of plain whole milk greek yogurt and some blueberries in the green silicone cup.  For lunch, I packed some leftover panzanella salad, or tomato and bread salad, from our dinner the previous night.  I left out the bread from the salad, but included everything else - beautiful heirloom tomatoes, garbanzo beans, cucumber and fresh mozzarella cheese.  I packed one of her favorite whole wheat Ak-Mak crackers in place of the bread.  She also had some halved and pitted bing cherries in the white silicone cup.  This was packed into the small green tiffin I got at World Market.

So, tomorrow Baby Girl is moving up to the toddler room at her Montessori school and will start going five days a week.  I'm nervous about the changes at home and the changes to this blog.  I'll try to keep posting bentos individually because I think it's better for the readers - I can catalog each bento individually and keep recipes and new foods in separate posts.  But I may need to move to posting a whole week of bentos in one post.  Considering it has taken me two whole weeks to catch up on a few bentos, that may be the direction I go.

Bento for Baby 27: Zucchini and Apricot Muffin and Quinoa Cake

Another new breakfast item for Baby Girl on this morning!  A Zucchini and Apricot Muffin, another recipe from the New York Times Well column that I made a few days before.  She really liked both kinds of muffins I made, but I think she liked these the most.  With the muffin Baby Girl had some organic blueberries and strawberries.  For lunch I packed her a quinoa cake from the freezer, some frozen edamame and peas in the red silicone cup and some halved and pitted bing cherries in the yellow silicone cup.  Today's food was again packed in the small and medium Kids Konserve Nesting Trio Stainless Steel Containers with Leak-Proof Lids.

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 21: Pancakes and Pizza

Ack!  Still way behind on posting bentos!  This is the last one from two weeks ago.  It is a little bit all over the place, but we'll just say that I did that on purpose to provide Baby Girl with a wide variety of flavors and textures.  For breakfast Baby Girl had one of Dan's Awesome Pancakes, a sunbutter oatmeal ball and some organic blueberries and strawberries.  Lunch is where things get a little crazy.  Clockwise from the top right we have a couple small pieces of leftover homemade margherita pizza, some watermelon cubes in the orange silicone cup, a few cubes of organic cheddar cheese and in the yellow silicone cup some organic mixed veg with some chickpeas mixed in.  This was all packed in the small green World Market tiffin.  Surprisingly, she ate every bit of this except for the pizza!

Bento for Baby 20: Strawberry Tortilla Rolls and Spaghetti Carbonara

I packed breakfast and lunch foods together for this bento, with some leftover pasta in a separate glass container so it could be reheated.  For breakfast Baby Girl had some strawberry cream cheese tortilla rolls on a whole wheat tortilla.  In this container there are also some blueberries that could be eaten for breakfast and lunch and some sliced cucumbers and sugar snap peas to be eaten with the pasta for lunch.  This was all packed in the largest container from the Kids Konserve Nesting Trio Stainless Steel Containers with Leak-Proof Lids. The pasta is some leftover spaghetti carbonara I made for dinner the night before.  I made it using whole wheat spaghetti and some delicious fresh farm eggs we get from our CSA.  I also threw in some yellow squash from our CSA and frozen peas to pack a few more vegetables into our meal.  This was packed in a four ounce glass canning jar.

Bento for Baby 19: Pancake and Palmiers

Cruising right along with the bento catch up, we have Baby Girl's first bento from last week.  For breakfast she had one of Dan's Awesome Pancakes from the freezer, a couple sun butter oatmeal balls and some cut up strawberries in the green silicone cup.  For lunch she had two pizza palmiers, some frozen peas with a few garbanzo beans in the red cup and finally some blueberries and strawberries in the blue silicone cup.  This was all packed into the small green World Market tiffin.

Bento for Baby 18: The Inadvertent Patriotic Bento

The bento catch up continues.  My laptop was occupied the past couple weeks streaming Wimbledon and World Cup, so I didn't get much blogging done.  This bento is from July 3rd.  I started packing lunch for this bento first and realized I used red and white silicone cups, and then realizing the date I decided to go with it and used a blue cup to pack the yogurt, which I was planning to mix with blueberries and strawberries anyway.  So there you have it, an initially inadvertent, red, white and blue bento to celebrate the 4th of July.  Now for the details.  For breakfast, in addition to the homemade plain yogurt with organic blueberries and strawberries, I packed a couple sun butter oatmeal balls, a spoon for the yogurt and a couple cut up strawberries.  Lunch included leftover pasta from the night before made with some beautiful tomatoes from our CSA, basil and ricotta, some frozen peas and edamame in the white silicone cup and some cut red grapes.  This was all packed into the small green World Market tiffin.

Bento for Baby 16: Sun Butter and Honey Pita and Spanish Tortilla

In her final bento of the week Baby Girl had sunbutter and honey spread in half a whole wheat pita and some blueberries in a silicone cup.  For lunch she had a small wedge of leftover Spanish tortilla from dinner the night before.  There are a million recipes for Spanish tortillas out there, I like the simple directions of Mark Bittman's recipe in How to Cook Everything. In addition to the classic potato, we put one large zucchini from the CSA into the tortilla to pack a few more veggies into our meal.  With the tortilla Baby Girl enjoyed some cubes of organic cheddar cheese, a couple sugar snap peas, some sliced cucumber and a few pitted and halved bing cherries.  Everything was packed in the small World Market tiffin.  I picked up this box on a whim for $5 thinking it'd get a couple uses out of it, but it has turned into my favorite box.  It's the perfect size for a toddler's day of food and it's dimensions are perfect for packing things tightly so they don't get mixed up in transit.

Bento for Baby 15: Yogurt, Waffle and Panzanella

This magnificent waffle here represents the last of our breakfast baked goods stash (name that reference), Baker Dan has his work cut out for him this weekend!  For breakfast on Wednesday, along with the precious last homemade yogurt waffle quarter from the freezer, Baby Girl had some homemade plain yogurt with blueberries and a few cantaloupe cubes.  I usually don't send yogurt to daycare, but I thought I'd give it a try.  It appears it was a success, she didn't come home with her head and clothes completely crusted in yogurt and there were no gentle encouragements to leave the yogurt at home from her teachers.

For lunch Baby Girl had a whole wheat Ak-Mak cracker, some halved and pitted bing cherries and some leftover panzanella, or tomato and bread salad, from dinner the night before.  We got some beautiful tomatoes for the salad in our CSA share on Tuesday.  I packed the tomatoes, cucumber, chickpeas, fresh mozzarella and basil from the salad, leaving out the bread so it didn't get too soggy.  Baby Girl thoroughly enjoyed it for dinner and for lunch.  Everything was packed into the small World Market tiffin.

Bento for Baby 14: Cream Cheese and Strawberry Tortilla Rolls and Quinoa Cake

Baby Girl is on the mend, so she is eating well again!  For breakfast today I packed her some cream cheese and strawberry tortilla rolls with some organic blueberries in the green silicone cup.  I made the rolls by spreading a thin layer of organic full fat cream cheese all over a 100% whole wheat tortilla, lining up three rows of thinly sliced organic strawberries along the bottom half of the tortilla, rolling tightly from the bottom, trimming the ends and then slicing the roll into four equal pieces. The tortilla will be a bit easier to roll, and the cream cheese easier to spread, if you zap the tortilla in the microwave for ~10 seconds before making these.

For lunch she had a quinoa cake from the freezer and some organic sugar snap peas (with the ends cut off and strings removed) and some organic bing cherries pitted and cut in half.  This was all packed in the small green World Market tiffin.

Bento for Baby 5: Strawberry Tortilla Rolls and Swiss Chard Pasta

This "bento" is lacking a bit in the cuteness category, but makes up for it with tasty food. For breakfast/morning snack I packed Baby Girl half a banana and strawberry and cream cheese whole wheat tortilla rolls.  We have been getting tons of beautiful organic strawberries every week with our CSA share from Ambrose Family Farm, so Baby Girl has been enjoying them every day.  She wasn't the biggest fan of them for first couple weeks, but after offering them to her every day she now reaches for them enthusiastically.  This was packed in the medium sized Kids Konserve Nesting Trio Stainless Steel Containers with Leak-Proof Lids.

For lunch, Baby Girl had leftover pasta with swiss chard, sausage and pine nuts from dinner the previous night (more on this below), and cubes of organic cantaloupe and watermelon.  These were packed in 4 ounce glass canning jars.  I packed the pasta in the glass jar so that they could warm it up in the microwave at daycare.  They're a convenient little size, so I used one for the melon as well.  

The pasta is from a Martha Stewart recipe, Gremelli with Sausage, Swiss Chard and Pine Nuts.  This is a delicious recipe that I have made several times.  We got some beautiful swiss chard with our CSA share this week so I was excited to put this recipe on the menu this week.  I make the recipe almost exactly as written, so I'll just link to the recipe, rather than write it out.  I do use 100% whole wheat rotini instead of the gremelli, and I also use the swiss chard stems, rather than discarding them, because they are delicious!  I simply saute the stems for a bit with the garlic before adding the swiss chard leaves. Oh, and we often use cranberries in place of the raisins, because that's what we're more likely to have in the pantry.  It's great with either.  This was heartily enjoyed by the grown ups and Baby Girl for dinner and lunch the next day.  

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.