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:

    

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:

   

Bentos 83 - 89: Bento Catch Up!

I have been slacking horribly in blogging lately.  I've been in a bit of a cooking/lunch packing funk lately.  I'm tired of the of the available winter produce and ready for the fresh flavors of spring!  As a result bentos haven't been particularly interesting lately and I haven't had much enthusiasm to photograph and blog them.  Rather than try and do a bunch of individual posts to catch up, I thought I do one large post with the various bentos that have been clogging up my camera the past few weeks. I'll just do a quick list of what's in each bento, please comment if you want any further detail.   

Bento 83: Apple sandwich, raisins, steamed broccoli and some pieces of oven fried chicken with the breading peeled off.  I made the chicken with my favorite recipe from the Joy of Cooking, which uses a bit of cayenne in the marinade and breading.  Unfortunately the breading ended up a bit too spicy for toddler tastes.  After her traumatic dinner experience, she refused to touch these leftovers even with the breading removed.  I think she might be off chicken for a while.

Bento 84:  Spaghetti and meatballs, unsweetened banana chips, grapes and steamed green beans dressed in olive oil and lemon zest.

Bento 85:  Goat cheese on whole wheat pita, raisins and walnut pieces, apple slices

Bento 86:  Oven fried chicken with breading removed (second attempt, she didn't touch it this time either), grapes, two whole wheat biscuits and green beans dressed in olive oil and lemon.

Bento 87:  Apple sandwich, two zucchini and apricot muffins, unsweetened banana chips, dried cherries.

Bento 88:  Clementine, chickpeas, two ants on a log (celery with peanut butter and raisins), two pizza palmiers.

Bento 89:  Leftover Moroccan chickpea and vegetable tagine with couscous, clementine, unsweetened banana chips, cube of feta cheese.

Supplies similar to those used in this lunch:

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 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 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 75: Apple Sandwich and Pizza Palmier

You may notice that the next few bentos have much less food than I usually pack.  Baby Girl went on a bit of an eating strike at school in November and December.  Most of her bentos came back barely touched, even when I sent her favorite foods.  To encourage her to eat her lunch, I stopped packing items to supplement her morning snack.  I also packed more foods I knew she liked, but still tried to provide variety and a few new flavors.  It was a frustrating time. I was worried about her getting enough to eat and annoyed at the waste of food.  Since my mind was on other things, I often forgot to take pictures of her bentos, so the next few posts aren't a complete record of the few weeks before the holidays.  Thankfully, Baby Girl started eating with gusto again the last week before the holiday break!  However, I think her appetite is smaller these days as her growth rate slows in toddlerhood, so I'm going to continue with just packing food for lunch and not supplement her school-provided morning snack.

So, for her bento on this day sometime in early December, I gave her an apple and peanut butter sandwich (on an organic Fuji apple, which she let me know was much too tart for her liking. . .), two pizza plamiers from the freezer, some unsweetened banana chips and a couple carrot sticks.  This was packed in the top section of her small green tiffin box.  I think on this day all she ate was one bite of the apple sandwich, some of the banana chips a half a palmier. . .sigh.

Supplies similar to those used in this lunch:

Bento for Baby 74: Dan's Awesome Pancakes and Goat Cheese Tortilla Rolls

Back to bentos after a holiday hiatus!  Before we start with the new bentos packed this week, I need to catch up on several lunches I never got around to posting before the holidays.

This bento is from the beginning of December.  For her morning snack I gave Baby Girl a couple of Dan's Awesome Pancakes from the freezer and some frozen blueberries in the white silicone cup.  For the lunch portion of the bento, she had some goat cheese and thinly sliced cucumber rolls on a whole wheat tortilla.  With the tortilla rolls I gave her a few slices of apple and two sunbutter oatmeal balls.

Supplies similar to those used in this lunch:

Bento for Baby 73: Mixed Grain Blueberry Muffin and Ak-Mak Peanut Butter Crackers

Baby Girl has another quick and simple bento today since I'm holding down the fort alone while her father is travelling.  For morning snack I gave her a mixed grain blueberry muffin from the freezer and some slices of banana.  For lunch she has some freshly ground, additive-free peanut butter sandwiched between some whole wheat Ak-Mak crackers, few slices of English cucumber, some gala apple slices and a mix of organic raisins and roasted, unsalted sunflower seeds in the yellow silicone cup.

Supplies similar to those used in this lunch:

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 69: Multi-grain Blueberry Muffin and Avocado Hummus Tortilla Roll

For her morning snack on this day, Baby Girl had two mini mixed grain blueberry muffins from the freezer and some halved grapes.  This was packed in the bottom section of my favorite small green tiffin box.  For lunch, packed in the top section of the tiffin box, I gave her some avocado hummus tortilla rolls.  I started with a typical hummus recipe with chickpeas and tahini, but substituted a small avocado for most of the tahini and some of the olive oil.  It turned out quite nicely; it had a strong avocado flavor but the chickpeas made it a bit heartier.  I spread this on a warmed 100% whole wheat tortilla, topped that with some grated cheddar cheese and rolled it up.  With her tortilla rolls, I gave Baby Girl some thin carrot sticks, a sunbutter oatmeal ball and some chunks of pear.

Supplies similar to those used in this lunch:

Bento for Baby 64: Peanut Butter Banana Rolls

I tried out something new for Baby Girl's bento this day - peanut butter banana tortilla rolls.  I've seen these on various lunch idea/recipe sites, and bananas and peanut butter some of Baby Girl's favorite things, so I thought I'd give it a try.  I zapped a 100% whole wheat tortilla in the microwave for a few seconds to make it malleable, spread it with some of my favorite freshly ground no-additive peanut butter, wrapped it round a peeled banana, trimmed the ends and cut it into four equal pieces.  I'm not sure if she'll eat this for morning snack or lunch (or eat it at all!) so I packed a bunch of other filling things to round out her lunch and snack.  With the banana rolls I put some slices of purple carrot and English cucumber in the orange silicone cup.  In the bottom section of the tiffin box I gave her some chickpeas, sliced green grapes, cubes of aged gouda cheese and one sunbutter oatmeal ball.  

Supplies similar to those used in this bento:

Bento for Baby 63: Waffle with Yogurt and Green Curry Tofu

Dan the pancake man made some waffles the previous weekend, so lucky Baby Girl got a leftover quarter for her morning snack on this day.  She also got a bit of plain Greek yogurt to accompany it.  She has a new-found love of dipping things, always accompanied by her gleefully saying "dip, dip, dip," so I imagine the yogurt will become dip for the waffle.  For her lunch I gave her a few cubes of tofu leftover from the Thai green curry I made for dinner the night before.  She was a huge fan of the tofu, but didn't really like the taste of the curry sauce, even though it was very mild.  I'm sure she'll come around.  I also gave her some frozen broccoli florets, a few carrot slices from the curry, some halved green grapes and a couple mini whole wheat biscuits from the freezer.

Supplies similar to those used in this bento:

Bento for Baby 62: Squash Blossom Risotto

I think risotto is a great food for little ones.  For babies starting out with baby led weaning it is a great soft texture that's easy to eat.  They can also eat it easily with their hands since it gets sticky and clumps together when it is cool.  You can also throw all sorts of vegetables in it and it always tastes fantastic.  For older kids learning to eat with utensils, it is easy to scoop up and doesn't fall off a fork or spoon.   It's the kind of dish that will satisfy both adults and kids for dinner.  And it comes together in less than half an hour!

We got some beautiful squash blossoms with our CSA share, so I thought a nice way to appreciate their delicate flavor would be to use them in a risotto.  I made a classic risotto and then stirred in the sliced squash blossoms with the last couple additions of stock right before the risotto was finished.  The risotto was delicious, as it always is, but I didn't think that the flavor of the squash blossoms came through as much as I was hoping.  But the beauty of being a member of a CSA is I will likely get more squash blossoms in the future and can experiment with fun new ways to cook with them.

So, for Baby Girl's bento on this day, I gave her some of the leftover risotto from the night before.  I packaged it in a 4 ounce glass canning jar so that it could be heated up in the microwave at daycare. To round out her lunch, and to eat for morning snack, I gave her a multi-grain blueberry muffin from the freezer, two sun butter oatmeal balls, some sliced green grapes and a mix of garbanzo beans and frozen peas in the red silicone cup.  This was packed into the top layer of my favorite little green tiffin box.

Similar items to those used in this bento:

Bento for Baby 61: Yogurt and Zucchini and Rice Crostata

For morning snack on this day Baby Girl had some plain Greek yogurt and half a banana.  We made another of our favorite zucchini and rice crostatas for dinner the night before, so I gave Baby Girl a small piece for lunch the next day.  I also gave her a few slices of cucumber, a couple slices of apples, and some walnut pieces and quartered dried apricots.

Supplies similar to those used in this bento:

Bento for Baby 58: Dan's Awesome Pancake and Goat Cheese Cucumber Tortilla Rolls

For morning snack on this day Baby Girl had one of Dan's Awesome Pancakes from the freezer along with some sliced grapes in the blue silicone cup.  Baby Girl's love of goat cheese is enduring, so for her lunch I made her some goat cheese and cucumber tortilla rolls.  I warmed a 100% whole wheat tortilla in the microwave briefly and then spread it with a thin-ish layer of goat cheese.  Warming the tortilla helps it roll without cracking and makes the cheese easier to spread.  I cut some English cucumber into really thin slices using my mandolin and then layered them over the cheese on the bottom half of the tortilla.  Then I rolled the tortilla tightly and cut it into four equal pieces.  With her tortilla rolls, I gave her her a little trail mix of walnuts, sunflower seeds and raisins in the red silicone cup, some strawberries and one sunbutter oatmeal ball.

Supplies similar to those used in this bento:

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: