Bentos 94 - 97: Second Week of School

Sigh. . .One month into school and I'm already way behind.  I'm not good at this blogging thing. Here are the bentos for the second week of school.  I forgot to take a picture on Friday morning, we were in a bit of a rush, so there are only four again.  

Bento for Baby 94:  Baby Girl had some leftovers from dinner the previous night.  My mother gave me a few pounds of roma tomatoes from her garden, so I made a fresh tomato sauce from one of my Lidia Bastianich cookbooks.  This was packed into a Lunchbots thermal container.  Along with the leftovers I gave her a zucchini apricot muffin from the freezer, some halved cherries, and some sunflower and pumpkin seeds in the medium Nesting Trio container.

Bento for Baby 95:  Tuna white bean salad dressed with lemon and olive oil in whole wheat pita, sugar snap peas, grapes, and some cantaloupe pieces in the tiffin box.

Bento for Baby 96:  Two mini pizzas on whole wheat pitas from the freezer, some sugar snap peas, bing cherries an some pretzel sticks in the U Konserve Rectangle.

Bento for Baby 97:  Some more leftovers from dinner the previous night in her Lunchbots thermal container - our favorite Bittman spaghetti and meatballs, along a few grapes, a strawberry and a few sugar snap peas in the medium container from the Kids Konserve Nesting Trio.

Items similar to those used to pack these bentos:

    

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 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 76: Pasta with Spinach and Walnut Sauce

For her lunch on this day, Baby Girl had some leftover Pasta with Spinach and Walnut Sauce in her 8-ounce Lunchbots Thermal.  This is one of our favorite recipes.  Baby Girl will happily eat any type of wilted greens if it is covered in this delicious creamy walnut sauce.  I made the quick version of this pasta for lunch the previous day using frozen spinach and sauce.  I also made a couple pots of beans to restock our stash in the freezer that afternoon, so I gave Baby Girl a few garbanzo and cranberry beans to round out her lunch the next day. Along with the beans, I packed some steamed green beans, a sunbutter oatmeal ball and some raisins in the top section of the small green tiffin box.

Supplies similar to those used in this lunch:

Handy little 8 ounce Lunchbots Insulated Thermal.

Bento for Baby Recipe: Pasta with Walnut Sauce and Greens

This recipe is a simplified version on a delicious classic dish from the Liguria region of Italy, Pansoti in Walnut Sauce.  Pansoti are pasta filled with herbs and bitter greens tossed in a walnut and cream sauce.  I tasted it for the first time dining at a small harbor side restaurant in Vernazza, one of the charming little villages that make up the Cinque Terre.  It was one of my favorite meals during our trip to Italy.  In my pre-child days, I would make the fresh pasta to fully recreate the dish.  But the days when I have ample time to make fresh pasta are currently very few.  Thankfully, the sauce is actually really quick and easy to make, so these days I can recreate the flavors by tossing whole wheat pasta with the sauce and some wilted greens.  It is still really delicious and transports me back to that wonderful experience.  As long as your child can eat nuts, this is a very child-friendly meal. Baby Girl loves this dish.

I love the decadence of using whole cream in the sauce, but if you want to make it a bit lighter, milk does work, the sauce just isn't quite as rich and thick. You can throw a slice of white bread (without crusts) in the processor with the nuts to thicken the sauce if you decide to use milk instead of cream.

I have used frozen spinach in a bind when I don't have any fresh greens in the house.  It's not as good but it does work.  This sauce freezes well, so you could make a large batch and freeze the extra. Then on days when you're short on time, you can make a delicious meal in the time it takes the pasta to cook using frozen sauce and frozen spinach.  Just thaw the spinach in the microwave, squeeze out excess liquid and toss with the pasta and sauce.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup walnut pieces
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, plus more for serving
4 tablespoons whipping cream1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
4 cups (or more) fresh greens - kale, chard, spinach, mustard. . .any or all of the above
1/4 cup finely chopped basil
salt and pepper
5 cups dried whole wheat pasta

Directions:

Fill a large pot with water and place over high heat.

Wash the greens well.  When water is boiling season it with ample salt, and then add greens and cook until soft but still bright green, ~2-3 minutes.  Remove greens from water using slotted spoon or spider. Put greens on large cutting board, gather into mound and chop into bite sized pieces.

Return water to boiling and add pasta.  Cook until just done, about 7 minutes.

While pasta cooks, combine nuts, garlic and cheese in a food processor or blender. Blend while slowly pouring in oil until mixture is smooth. Pour into a large saute pan. Add cream to pan. Warm over low heat.

When pasta is almost finished cooking, scoop out 1/2 cup of pasta water and set aside.  Drain pasta and add directly to sauce.  (Or if the pan with the sauce is not large enough, put the pasta back into the empty pot over low heat and then add sauce.)  Toss pasta with sauce until well coated.  Add chopped greens, nutmeg and most of the basil.  Toss until thoroughly combined.  Add some reserved pasta water if mixture is thick.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve immediately topped with the rest of the basil and additional grated Parmigiano-Reggiano.

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 71: Dan's Awesome Pancakes and Brussels Sprout Pasta

Big exciting news here at Bento for Baby - Baby Girl has a handy dandy new insulated container! OK, it's really not that thrilling. . .  I had been searching for a small thermos to keep dishes warm, rather than having school heat things up.  Most thermoses are rather large for toddler-sized amounts of food, so I was excited to find a nice little 8 ounce one from Lunchbots.  It's a little too deep for her to eat directly out of right now, so they have to transfer her food to another container for eating, but I think it might save them a little bit of time at school.

In today's bento, Baby Girl had two of Dan's original Awesome Pancakes from the freezer and some pieces of frozen pineapple and mango in the white silicone cup.  Packed in her brand new thermos for lunch, underneath all the shredded Parmigiano Reggiano (Baby Girl's most favorite cheese), she had some pasta with shredded brussels sprouts and bacon leftover from dinner the night before.  With the pasta I gave her some steamed green beans dressed in olive oil, a couple slices of pear and one sunbutter oatmeal ball.

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 57: Banana Bread Peanut Butter Sandwich with Pasta Carbonara

Baby Girl had some old favorites for her morning snack and lunch on this day.  We had pasta carbonara with summer squash for dinner again the night before, so I gave her some of the leftovers the next day.  This was packaged in a 4 ounce canning jar so it could be warmed in the microwave. To round out her lunch and to have for her morning snack I packed Baby Girl a peanut butter sandwich on whole wheat banana bread from the freezer, some strawberries and some sliced cucumbers and sugar snap peas.  This was packed in the largest container from the Kids Konserve Nesting Trio.

Items used to pack this bento:

Bento for Baby 50: Multi-Grain Blueberry Muffin and Squash Ricotta Pasta with Spinach Cake

Baby Girl had a multi-grain blueberry muffin from the freezer and half a banana for breakfast on this morning.  For lunch she had some pasta leftover from dinner the night before.  We got some summer squash and squash blossoms with our CSA share, so we made the recipe for Pappardelle with Fresh Ricotta, Squash Blossoms and Basil Oil from the New York Times, using whole wheat penne in place of the pappardelle.  This recipe was very tasty; the basil oil was particularly nice.  With the pasta I packed her some edamame, half a spinach cake from the freezer and a couple of strawberries.

Supplies similar to those used in this bento:

Bento for Baby 46: Banana Bread and Pasta Carbonara

Baby Girl had some more leftovers to start off her week of bentos.  I made some pasta carbonara for dinner the night before using fresh farm eggs and summer squash from our CSA and whole wheat rotini.  We love pasta carbonara. It's not the lightest dish, but it is a crowd pleaser that can be made in less than half an hour.  After being at the beach all afternoon I needed a quick dinner before Baby Girl crashed!  After trying a few recipes over the years, this recipe from Gourmet Magazine is my favorite backbone to work from.  I use nice uncured bacon from Earth Fare in place of pancetta, and I often add squash or peas to the mix.  If it's peas, I add frozen peas to the onions right before the wine and let them simmer with the onions.  If it's squash, I slice it thinly then add it right after the onions have softened and saute it for a bit before adding the wine.  Sometimes we get squash blossoms with the CSA and I'll throw those in too.  They're best lightly cooked so I'll cut them into strips and mix them into the hot onion/wine mixture before combining everything.  They add a lovely floral flavor to the dish.  I love this dish with the classic spaghetti, but larger pasta shapes are easier for Baby Girl to eat, and the final stirring to cook the egg into a lovely creamy sauce is a lot easier with shapes than spaghetti.  It's an arm work out with spaghetti.  I make this in my enameled cast iron pot, which retains a lot of heat, alleviating any worries I have about uncooked eggs.  I often move the pot back to the still-warm burner if the sauce looks a little thin.  Be careful not to scramble the egg, though!

Anywhoo, back to the bento. . .I put some pasta for Baby Girl into a 4 ounce glass canning jar so it could be warmed in the microwave.  I packed the rest of her food for the day in the medium sized container from the Kids Konserve Nesting Trio.  For morning snack and the rest of her lunch she had a slice of whole wheat banana bread from the freezer, two sunbutter oatmeal balls, half of a spinach cake from the freezer (she ate the other half with dinner the night before), some sugar snap peas and a strawberry.

Items used to pack this bento:

Bento for Baby 45: Blueberry Muffin and Butternut Squash Pasta

My husband made a lovely whole wheat pasta dish with grated butternut squash for dinner the night before, so Baby Girl had some of the leftovers for lunch the next day.  (I'd post a link, but I don't know what recipe he used. . .) I packed the pasta into a 4 ounce glass canning jar so that it could be reheated in the microwave.  I packed the rest of her food for the day in the top section of my favorite tiffin box.  For morning snack and lunch Baby Girl had a multigrain blueberry muffin from the freezer, one sun butter oatmeal ball, a couple organic strawberries, some organic green beans and a few cubes of aged gouda.

Similar items to those used in this bento:

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 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 10: Pasta Tutto Giardino and Pancakes

On Tuesday last week Baby Girl had a couple of Dan's Awesome Pancakes pulled from the freezer along with a couple frozen CSA strawberries and a sun butter oatmeal ball for breakfast.  This was packed in the smallest of the Kids Konserve Nesting Trio Stainless Steel Containers with Leak-Proof Lids.  For lunch I packed some Pasta Tutto Giardino leftover from the previous night's dinner and some cantaloupe chunks and quarter of a banana.  These were packed in a 4 ounce glass canning jar so that the pasta could be warmed in the microwave at daycare.

Pasta Tutto Giardino is a favorite recipe from Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home: Fast and Easy Recipes for Any Day. This dish is kind of like the 1980's darling pasta primavera, but without the cream and cheese.  It is easily adapted to use any variety of vegetables that we get from the CSA and the baby loves it.  She has been happily eating this since 6 or 7 months, when we first started Baby Led Weaning.  I cannot express how much I love this cookbook.  It is full of delicious, quick, and satisfying recipes.  I have used it weekly for almost 15 years.  My copy is so well loved that it is completely falling apart.  I have continued to use and love it as my cooking skills improved and tastes matured.  I highly recommend it.  It is mostly vegetarian, with a few fish dishes.  The recipes are child friendly and generally don't take specialty ingredients or cooking equipment.

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 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.