First Week of School Bentos! Bentos 90 - 93

And, we are back. . . back to school, back to blogging, back to bento-ing.  I have actually been bento-ing every school day since my last blog post, but I lost my blogging initiative for while.  Since the school year is starting, and we are all always looking for new lunch ideas, I thought I'd try to get my mojo back.  I'm going to try different formats to see what is the easiest way to keep posting, so bear with me.  For this post, I'm going to give a brief rundown of all the bentos I packed this week.  Since Monday was a half day, I only needed to pack lunch four days this week.  So, here's what my "baby," now 2.5 year old, ate this week.  

Bento for Baby 90:  In the bottom section of our favorite tiffin box, a cream cheese on a whole wheat cinnamon raisin English muffin sandwich, sunflower and pumpkin seeds, a few pretzel sticks leftover from summer travel that my daughter insisted upon.  The top section was a fruit and veggie mix of watermelon cubes, green grapes, sugar snap peas and baby carrots.  

Bento for Baby 91: A snacky bento of crackers and cheese, "woven wheat" crackers with Baby Girl's favorite cheese - Creamy Toscano Cheese Soaked in Syrah, along with some raisins, mini sweet peppers and sugar snap peas. This was packed in the top section of our favorite green tiffin box. This was accompanied by another leftover travel snack, a pack of crunchy dried apples.

Bento for Baby 92:  Baby Girl had an apple sandwich with sunbutter on this day.  I've found sunbutter to be much runnier and messy in apple sandwiches than good old peanut butter, but we cannot send peanut butter to school.  To help with the mess I mixed a little raw oatmeal and coconut with the sunbutter and then rolled the sides of the sandwich in a bit more coconut.  This  gave the sunbutter more structure and allowed for cleaner eating.  Since these are half the ingredients in Baby Girl's favorite sunbutter oatmeal balls, I didn't worry about her not liking the additions.  Along with the apple sandwich, she had some halved cherries, baby carrots, sugar snap peas and more pretzel sticks.  This bag of pretzels is like loaves and fishes, I'd like them to be out of the pantry, but the bag never seems to get any emptier.  

Bento for Baby 93:  Another cream cheese sandwich for Baby Girl on this day, but this time on homemade whole-grain cinnamon raisin bread.  I made this using a recipe from the Smitten Kitchen blog.  I'll just provide a link to the recipe since I couldn't possibly write about or photograph the bread any better.  I made the recipe pretty much as written, but I did add a few more whole raisins to the swirl, since Baby Girl loves raisins.  The bread is very tasty, but it is not a quick, make-during-nap recipe.  I think it is worth the effort, though.  Along with her sandwich Baby Girl had more halved cherries, some mini peppers and frozen edamame.

Items similar to those used in 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 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 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 Recipe: Twenty-Minute Tomato Sauce

This recipe is based on Maria’s Twenty-Minute Tomato Sauce from my well worn copy of the Joy of Cooking(1997 edition).  I haven't bought a jar of tomato sauce in 15 years.  Why would you when this recipe is so easy and tastes better than anything in a jar?  It also doesn't have any extra sodium, high fructose corn syrup, preservatives, "natural flavors," or any other mystery ingredients you don't need to be eating.  This freezes well, but I mostly just make it every time I need some tomato sauce since it's so quick and easy.  I use it over pasta, on pizza, with calzones, in baked pasta dishes like cannelloni, lasagna. . . basically anywhere you need some red sauce.  

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 medium onion, minced

2-3 medium carrots, minced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon dried basil

1 to 2 teaspoons dried oregano

One 28-ounce can whole tomatoes, with juice, broken into pieces (Diced is OK, too)

1/2 to 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Salt and ground pepper to taste

Directions

Heat olive oil  in a medium saucepan over medium heat.  Add the onions, carrots and garlic. Cook, stirring, until softened, about 5 minutes.  Stir in the dried herbs.  Cook for a few seconds and then pour in the tomatoes.  Simmer, uncovered, until sauce is thickened, about 10 minutes.

Remove pot from stove and blend with an immersion blender, or remove to a food processor and pulse until smooth (CAREFULLY).  If you used a food processor, return sauce to saucepan.  Put the saucepan back on medium heat and stir in balsamic vinegar and red pepper flakes. Heat through, about 5 minutes.

Bento for Baby 68: Yogurt with Granola and Zucchini and White Bean Canneloni

Baby Girl had some of her favorites in today's bento!  She hasn't been eating very much at school lately, so I thought I'd stack the deck to encourage her a bit.  I packed most of her food for the day together in a U Konserve Rectangle container, but I intended some for her morning snack and some for her lunch.  For snack, I gave her some plain greek yogurt in the smallest container from the Kids Konserve Nesting Trio.  To eat with that I included some homemade granola and some frozen blueberries.   Our entire household has become a bit obsessed with homemade granola the last few months.  We all love it for breakfasts and snacks.  I make a slightly sweeter one for the grown ups and a version with little to no added sweetener for Baby Girl.   I much prefer it to store bought cereal.

Anyway, back to the bento.  To eat for lunch I included a zucchini and apricot muffin from the freezer and some frozen edamame and peas in the U Konserve Rectangle.  I also gave her some leftover zucchini and white bean cannelloni I made for dinner the night before in a 4 ounce glass canning jar so it could be warmed in the microwave .  This is a fantastic dish where sautéed grated zucchini, white beans and spinach are wrapped in whole wheat crepes and then baked in a creamy ricotta based sauce.  I will post the recipe when I have time to type it all out.  It's not a quick and easy dinner, but it is so delicious it is worth the effort!

Items used to pack this bento:

Bento for Baby Recipe: Grown-up Granola

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 any 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 popular recipe for olive oil 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 unsweetened apple sauce and no added refined sugar.  She loves it.

You can certainly adapt the nuts and dried fruit to your tastes, but this is our favorite combination.

Ingredients:

5 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1/2 cup organic unsweetened apple sauce
5 tablespoons real maple syrup
1/2 cup olive oil
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (heaping)
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 cup walnut pieces
1 cup sliced almonds
1 cup grated coconut
1/2 cup flax seed meal
1 cup sweetened dried cherries

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix all the ingredients thoroughly in a large bowl.  I like to mix in the flax seed meal after stirring everything else together.  That keeps the finely ground flax seed meal from coating everything and inhibiting clumping.  Clumps are the best part of granola!

Spread mixture out on a sheet tray and press it into an even layer with a spatula.  Bake in oven until lightly browned, about 40 minutes.  Stir the granola every 10 to 15 minutes, compressing with spatula after every stirring to ensure granola clumps together.

Cool completely and then mix in the dried cherries.  Store in an airtight container.

Bento for Baby Recipe: Kiddo Granola (Sugar Free)

This is a very low sugar version of the grown-up granola that I make.  It can also be made without nuts in case of allergies or if your child can't eat nuts safely yet.  The apple sauce makes the granola clump together nicely, so it is easy for kids to pick up with their hands.  My daughter LOVES this for breakfast and snacks, alone or with plain yogurt.  I have made it without the maple syrup, and my daughter still enjoys it, so you can make this completely sugar free if you desire.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1/2 cup organic unsweetened apple sauce
1 tablespoon real maple syrup (optional)
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup unsweetened grated coconut
1/4 cup flaxseed meal
1 pinch kosher salt
1/4 cup sliced almonds (optional)
1/4 cup walnut pieces (optional)

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl.  Spread mixture out on a sheet tray and press it into an even layer with a spatula.  Bake in oven until lightly browned, about 30 to 40 minutes.  Stir the granola every 10 to 15 minutes, compressing with spatula after every stirring to ensure granola clumps together.

Cool completely and then store in an airtight container.

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 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 51: Dan's Awesome(r) Pancakes and Goat Cheese Cucumber Sandwiches

Dan made some new, delicious pancakes last weekend for Sunday breakfast.  They're a bit healthier than his other awesome pancakes - they're 100% whole wheat with some oatmeal added in.  They are still delicious and very filling.  He's modestly named them Dan's Awesome(r) Pancakes.  They were so good we ate most of them that morning, but Baby Girl was lucky enough to get one for morning snack in her bento the following Monday morning, cut into quarters.  She also had some strawberries with her pancake.   Baby Girl has been a bit obsessed with goat cheese lately, so for her lunch on this day she had goat cheese and thinly sliced English cucumber on a 100% whole wheat pita.  With her sandwich she had some sugar snap peas and some cut up pear.

Supplies similar to those used in this bento:

Dan's Awesome(r) Pancakes

These are a bit healthier version of Dan's Awesome Pancakes.  They're still delicious, but are a bit more filling.  They have some oatmeal in them and are 100% whole wheat.  Dan uses King Arthur's White Whole Wheat Flour in a lot of baked goods, it adds the goodness of whole grains without the heaviness of typical whole wheat flour.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup light whole wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3 tablespoons sugar
1/8 teaspoons salt
Pinch or two of cinnamon

1 cup Greek yogurt
1/2 cup whole milk
2 eggs
1.5 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons butter, melted
2 smashed ripe bananas

Directions:

Combine dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Whisk to aerate the dry ingredients. In smaller bowl, combine wet ingredients, except butter and bananas. Whisk until smooth. Slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients; fold in butter and bananas.

***

Heat a lightly oiled frying pan or griddle over medium heat. Dollop small amounts of batter on the prepared griddle to make pancakes of desired size. Drop a few frozen blueberries on each pancake. Let cook until edges of pancake firm up and small bubbles form on the top, then flip. Let cook until each side is golden brown. Serve immediately or let cool and place in freezer bag to enjoy in the future.

We enjoy these fresh fruit and real maple syrup, Baby Girl enjoys them plain or with some yogurt.

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 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 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 44: Zucchini Apricot Muffin with Black Beans and Butternut Squash Polenta

Here's a quick little bento mostly made up of leftovers.  For morning snack I gave Baby Girl a zucchini and apricot muffin from the freezer and a couple of strawberries.  Lunch was some black beans topped with crumbled feta in the red silicone cup.  We ate the black beans the night before for dinner as part of some huevos rancheros.  She also got some leftover butternut squash polenta from our dinner a couple nights before.  I spread the leftover polenta in a small baking dish and baked it for ~20 minutes or so at 350 degrees.  I then let it cool completely in the fridge and then cut it with a fluted biscuit cutter.  It didn't turn out as firm as I had hoped.  If I do this again, I will cut the shapes and then bake them on a sheet tray until crispy on the outside.  I rounded out Baby Girl's lunch with a sun butter oatmeal ball and some cucumber slices - I cut the top two into flower shapes to encourage her to try them.  

The butternut squash polenta comes from a yummy recipe from the New York Times.  It is an easy weeknight dinner that we have made a few times.  The butternut squash disappears into the polenta, and gives it a nice slightly sweet, earthy flavor.  Baby Girl has been turning her nose up at squash lately, but will happily eat this polenta, so this is a nice way to diversify her diet a bit.

Items used to pack this bento:

Bento for Baby Recipe: Spinach Cakes

These spinach cakes are based on a recipe I found from Eating Well Magazine/Website.   The original recipe calls for fresh spinach, but I had frozen spinach, so I adapted the recipe for what I had on hand.  I also added some nutmeg, because nutmeg with spinach and ricotta is a classic Italian flavor combination.  The cakes turned out rather tasty.  I wasn't particularly optimistic that Baby Girl would gladly eat so much straight spinach, but after coaxing her to take a small taste the first time, she has happily devoured them in bentos and at home. They make a nice side dish for parents, too. They freeze really well and taste great warm or at room temperature - perfect for bentos!  

INGREDIENTS

12 ounces frozen spinach
1/2 cup whole milk ricotta cheese
1/2 cup finely shredded Parmesan cheese
2 large eggs, beaten
1 clove garlic, finely grated with a Microplane

1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

PREPARATION

Preheat oven to 400°F. 

Defrost frozen spinach.  Place in a tea towel and tightly twist the ends to to squeeze out all excess moisture. Transfer to a medium bowl. Add ricotta, Parmesan, eggs, garlic, nutmeg, salt and pepper; stir to combine.
Coat 14 cups of a mini muffin pan with olive oil. Divide the spinach mixture among the 14 cups.
Bake the spinach cakes until set, about 20 minutes. Let stand in the pan for 5 minutes. Loosen the edges with a knife and turn out onto a cooling rack.  Serve immediately or put into a ziplock bag to store in the freezer for future use.  

Bento for Baby 34: Banana Bread and Zucchini and Rice Crostata

I made some whole wheat banana bread with no added sugar over the weekend, so Baby Girl had some for her breakfast/morning snack on this day.  I usually make cream cheese sandwiches with banana bread, but decided to try a little peanut butter instead.  Why have I never done this before?  It is so delicious! With her peanut butter and banana bread sandwich, Baby Girl also had some organic strawberries.  For her lunch, I pulled a piece of zucchini and rice crostata from the freezer.   I also included some frozen peas and some blueberries and strawberries in the silicone cups.  This was all packed in my favorite small green tiffin from World Market.

Supplies similar to those used in this lunch:

Bento for Baby 33: Pancakes and Feta Stuffed Flatbread

Please don't judge this bento on the quality of this photo! My camera battery was dead, so I had to take the picture with my phone. The top section of my favorite little tiffin box contains food to supplement Baby Girl's school-provided morning snack: a couple of Dan's Awesome Pancakes pulled from the freezer, one sunbutter oatmeal ball and some blueberries in the red silicone cup.  In the bottom section, I packed some Feta-Stuffed Grilled Flatbread that we made as part of dinner the night before.  This was a recipe I had seen in the New York Times the week before and had been looking forward to trying.  It's a bit time intensive for a working family weekday dinner.  My husband Dan made the dough the day before, so we we were able to get it finished for our relatively early dinner time. Unfortunately, while tasty, I'm not quite sure it was worth the effort.  With the flatbread wedges I included some fresh green beans and half a pear for Baby Girl's lunch.

Supplies similar to those used in this lunch: