Bento for Baby 77: Hoppin' John with Apple Sandwich and Zucchini and Apricot Muffin

We got some lovely field peas with our CSA this week, so we made our favorite Hoppin' John recipe for dinner.  Baby Girl got some of the leftovers in her thermos the next day for lunch.  Along with the Hoppin' John, I gave her an apple and peanut butter sandwich, a zucchini and apricot mini muffin from the freezer and some walnut pieces and sunflower seeds in the red silicone cup.  This was all packed in the top section of the small green tiffin box.

I thought you all might be interested in seeing how the new thermos fits into her lunch box.  Baby Girl has a flip top lunch box from LL Bean.  I like it because it loads from the top, keeping the lunch upright, which reduces the chance of everything getting tossed around in her bento box.  I put an 8-ounce bottle of whole milk with a flexible ice pack in the pocket in the lid.  Her tiffin box and thermos fit nicely in the rest of the lunchbox, with plenty of room for ice packs.

Supplies similar to those used in this lunch:

Handy little 8 ounce Lunchbots Insulated Thermal.

Bento for Baby 41: Cornmeal Waffle and Hoppin' John

Dan made some lovely cornmeal waffles that have a really nice crunchy exterior for breakfast over the weekend.  Lucky for Baby Girl, there were a few extras that we cut into quarters and popped in the freezer for future bentos.  So here we are a few days later, and she has one for her morning snack, along with a some organic Gala apple slices.  We got another nice batch of field peas with our CSA this week, so we had some more yummy Hoppin' John for dinner.  Baby Girl had some of the leftovers for lunch in the red silicone cup.  I continued in my quest to get her to eat raw carrots by packing some crinkle cut yellow and orange carrots in the blue silicone cup, along with some frozen peas. Surrounding the two cups are some cut red grapes.  Everything was nicely contained in my favorite small two layer green tiffin.

Supplies similar to those used in this bento:

Bento for Baby 31: Whole Wheat Biscuits and Hoppin' John

Baby Girl had another new item for breakfast on this day - peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on mini whole wheat biscuits.  She also had some blueberries in the green silicone cup.  I made and froze a large batch of biscuits from a recipe on the 100 Days of Real Food blog.  They freeze really well and are great for quick breakfasts and lunches.  You may notice I used the previously prohibited peanut butter in her little sandwiches.  The rules have changed this year, so I can now include nuts in Baby Girl's bentos!  Most of her bentos will probably still be nut free, but it's nice to not have the restriction any longer.  I have been getting the freshly ground peanut butter that is just organic roasted peanuts (no added sugars or palm oil) at our local Earth Fare.  It is so delicious, I have no idea why I've been buying jarred peanut butter all these years, especially since it is the same price.  For the jelly I also use the Earth Fare brand organic raspberry conserves.

For the lunch portion of her bento Baby Girl had some leftover Hoppin' John (Black-Eyed Peas and Rice) from our dinner the night before in the red silicone cup. Also included in her lunch were some fresh green beans, half a pear and some organic cheddar cheese cubes.  The hoppin' john is a really delicious recipe from Saveur Magazine that we make fairly often.  We use the fresh field peas we get with our CSA share in place of canned black-eyed peas and brown jasmine rice in place of white rice. Using brown rice adds 10 -15 more minutes to the cooking time in the oven.  Also, since we are usually using fresh field peas instead of canned, we put them in the pot at the same time as the rice and cook them at the same time.  Baby Girl and her parents really enjoy this recipe.

This day's food was packed into the small two level tiffin that I picked up on clearance at World Market.  I love this box, it's a great way to pack two toddler-sized meals into one compact container, the depth is just right so that the food in the silicone cups doesn't spill if the container gets tossed around and Baby Girl can open it easily by herself.  I will be sad if this ever breaks or gets lost.  But, there does look to be a similar container available on Amazon, although it is about 4x the cost of my little clearance box:

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 2: Waffle and Zucchini and Rice Crostata

Tuesday's breakfast and lunch bentos were made up of some yummy leftovers from the weekend. Breakfast was composed of a Belgian waffle quarter from my Mother's Day breakfast, half a banana and some sliced strawberries.  The waffles were yogurt waffles from the Waffles: From Morning to Midnight cookbook.

For lunch I packed some Rice and Zucchini Crostata, frozen peas and pear chunks.  I made the crostata for dinner the previous night. It's a fantastic recipe from another of my favorite cookbooks, Lidia's Italian Table: More Than 200 Recipes From The First Lady Of Italian Cooking.  It's delicious for parents and babies, and a complete meal with veggies, protein and grains.  It's also soft enough to feed younger babies starting out with baby led weaning. The recipe makes enough for several meals.  We took larger slices for lunch and I cut up smaller squares and stuck them in the freezer for baby girl's future lunches.

I packed these meals in the medium and large Kids Konserve Nesting Trio Stainless Steel Containers with Leak-Proof Lids.

Bento for Baby Recipe: Rice and Zucchini Crostata

This is a fantastic recipe from Lidia's Italian Table: More Than 200 Recipes From The First Lady Of Italian Cooking, one of my favorite cookbooks.  I highly recommend getting this cookbook, there are so many great recipes, but the recipe is also posted on Lidia's website.  Since it is easily available on the web, I will post the whole text below.  I have made the recipe exactly as written or with small changes here and there.  It is easily adapted.  I have used any type of milk in place of the cream, substituted whole wheat flour for some of the white, and I rarely take the time to do the wash on the crust, among other changes.  I have been feeding this to my daughter since she was 7 or 8 months.  It is soft enough for babies starting out with baby led weaning to easily eat, and it also has enough structure for babies to easily pick up.  This makes a a very large crostata that tastes fabulous as leftovers for the following few days, or it freezes well.  I cut it into ~2 inch squares and stick it in the freezer to grab for easy lunches for the baby girl.

Ingredients

For the Filling

2 cups arborio rice
4 cups fancy zucchini, shredded
3 large eggs
salt
freshly ground black pepper
3 cups ricotta cheese
2 cups scallions , white and green partsonly, chopped
1½ cups Parmigiano-Reggiano, freshly grated
1½ cups half and half
1 egg yolk

For the Crostata Dough
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
⅓ cup water

Directions

For the Filling

In a large bowl, toss the rice and zucchini until evenly distributed. Let stand 30 minutes.

In a small bowl, whisk the eggs with salt and pepper until blended. Combine the egg mixture, ricotta, scallion and Parmigiano-Reggiano in the bowl of an electric mixer. Add the rice and zucchini and mix at low speed until blended. (Alternatively, the mixture can be beaten by hand with a wooden spoon.) Add the half and half and mix until amalgamated. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Lightly butter an 18 x 12-inch baking pan with sides about 1/2-inch high.

On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to a 22 x 16-inch rectangle. Flour the surface as necessary to prevent the dough from sticking. Fold the dough into quarters, center it over the prepared pan and unfold it. The dough should overlap all the sides by about 2 inches.

Pour the rice mixture into the dough-lined pan and smooth it into an even layer. Fold the overhanging dough over the filling to form a two inch border on all sides. Brush the dough lightly with the egg yolk or olive oil. Bake until the filling is firm in the center and the crust is deep golden brown, about 45 minutes. Cool the crostata about 30 minutes, cut into squares and serve warm.


For the Crostata Dough

Process 2 cups of the flour, the oil and salt in a food processor until smooth, scraping down the sides of the work bowl once or twice. With the motor running, pour in enough water to make smooth, very soft dough. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead, adding flour if the dough begins to stick to your hands, until the dough is very smooth and no streaks of flour or oil remain, about 1 minute. Wrap the dough with plastic wrap and let it rest 30 minutes at room temperature or up to one day in the refrigerator. Allow refrigerated dough to stand at room temperature 30 minutes before continuing.

Alternatively, pile the flour on your work surface and make a well in the center. Add the olive oil, 1/3 cup water, and the salt to the well. Mix the dough according to the instructions for making pasta dough by hand.

- See more at: http://www.lidiasitaly.com/recipes/detail/498#sthash.3nsMkQFP.dpuf