Bento for Baby 22: Pancakes and Quinoa Cake

Pancakes, strawberries and sun butter oatmeal balls, oh my.  Baby Girl's breakfast is starting to feel a little stale.  She does eat a lot of different things for breakfast when she eats at home four days a week, so her meals aren't quite as redundant as it seems, but I do think I need to get cracking making a few more things to have in the freezer to pack for breakfast.   For lunch she had a quinoa cake and a little bit of leftover vinaigrette-based potato salad and some green beans from dinner the night before.   I also packed some edamame and a few sliced and pitted organic cherries.  This was packed in my favorite box, the small green tiffin from World Market.  Baby Girl loved her bento on this day and ate every little bit.

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 8: Banana Bread and Quinoa Cake

On this day Baby Girl had some whole wheat banana bread, with no added sugar, made into sandwiches with organic cream cheese and the last of the strawberries from our CSA share for morning snack/breakfast. I made, and posted the recipe for, this banana bread earlier in the week. I've been experimenting with how little sugar and oil a tasty banana bread needs, and I think I've found a good balance. Baby Girl loves the bread and I feel good giving it to her, unlike many banana or zucchini breads which are basically cake. Since we wouldn't finish the loaf before heading out on vacation I sliced it and put about half the loaf in the freezer for future lunches or snacks.

For lunch I packed a quinoa cake, frozen peas and edamame in the silicone cup, a couple sugar snap peas from the CSA, and some pear wedges. I took the skin off the pear wedges just because the pear was a little worse for wear from poor grocery store packing.  I lightly coated the wedges in lemon juice to keep them from browning. Everything was packed into the small World Market tiffin.

Bento for Baby Recipe: Quinoa Cakes

I had some leftover quinoa from our dinner the other night, so I used it to make up some more quinoa cakes.  Everybody knows how healthy quinoa is, right?  Not only is it a complete protein packed with good phytonutrients, it is also really tasty.  Baby girl will gladly shovel handfuls of loose quinoa into her mouth, but the cakes are a bit less messy and easier for her to eat. And I can pack them full of even more vegetables and protein.  I have put in spinach, but you could easily substitute any other finely chopped vegetable.  I had been considering grated zucchini or yellow squash for this batch, but decided on spinach instead.  These freeze very well, I just wait for them to cool and then pop them in a freezer bag for future lunches.


Ingredients:

1 cup carrots, finely chopped
1 cup onion, finely chopped
1 cup celery, finely chopped
2 large garlic cloves minced
1 10 oz package frozen spinach, thawed, drained of excess liquid, finely chopped if not already
3 cups cooked quinoa
3 large eggs
1/4 cup whole wheat bread crumbs
1 teaspoon salt, if desired
1 tablespoon olive oil


Directions:

Sauté the onions, carrots, celery and garlic in 1 tbs olive oil until soft.  Gently beat the three eggs in a large bowl.  Add the cooked vegetables, chopped spinach, and quinoa to the bowl and stir until thoroughly combined.  Season with salt as desired.   Add about half the breadcrumbs and stir.  The mixture should be pretty moist, and a handful should hold together when squeezed. You don't want to add too many breadcrumbs because the cakes will fall apart while you're cooking them.  If the mixture still looks runny add the remaining breadcrumbs.  Form patties a bit larger than a bowling ball (ha, ha!  just caught this typo!  Those would be some large quinoa cakes!) GOLF ball from about 1/4 cup of the mixture.  You will get about 24 patties.

Lightly oil a large frying pan or griddle and heat on medium heat.  Place a few patties in your pan, gently pressing on them with the spatula to flatten them.  Let them cook undisturbed for 5 - 7 minutes, until a medium brown crust forms.  You don't want them to cook too quickly so that the egg inside them has a chance to cook before the patty surface gets too crispy.  Gently turn the cakes over and let them cook until other side is browned and patties are thoroughly cooked through, another 5 minutes or so.

Enjoy!

Bento for Baby 6: Waffle and Love Cakes

On Wednesday for her morning snack Baby Girl had another leftover homemade yogurt waffle quarter from the freezer along with some organic strawberries from our CSA share (Ambrose Family Farm) and a pear wedge.  Lunch was composed of more leftovers, this time from dinner the previous night:  a black bean cake (aka love cake) and feta cheese cubes in the yellow silicone cup, quinoa pilaf in the blue silicone cup, some roasted sweet potato cubes and pear wedges.  Love cakes are a favorite dinner in our family.  They come from another favorite cookbook:  The Flying Biscuit Cafe Cookbook: Breakfast and Beyond. The Flying Biscuit is a very popular restaurant in Atlanta where I ate when visiting a friend almost 15 years ago.  She got me the cookbook and I've been making love cakes ever since.   As often happens when you make a recipe for that long, it kind of takes on a life of its own.  A few years ago I went back to the The Flying Biscuit Cafe, ordered some love cakes and found that mine were very different, and I much preferred mine.  I'll share my version of the recipe in a few days.  These meals were packed in the small and medium Kids Konserve Nesting Trio Stainless Steel Containers with Leak-Proof Lids.

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.