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 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!

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Bento for Baby 59: Zucchini Apricot Muffin and Rice Noodle Stir Fry with Peanut Sauce

For lunch on this day, Baby Girl had some leftover brown rice vermicelli stir fry with peanut sauce, tofu and vegetables.  This recipe was very loosely based on a recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks, Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home: Fast and Easy Recipes for Any Day, for Fragrant Rice Noodles with Vegetables.  Baby Girl loves tofu and anything with peanut sauce, so this dinner was a hit.  The leftovers were packed in a 4 oz glass canning jar so that they could be warmed in the microwave.  I packed some more food in the largest container from the Kids Konserve Nesting Trio to supplement her lunch and eat for morning snack. Clockwise from the broccoli in the white silicone cup we have a sunbutter oatmeal ball, a zucchini and apricot muffin from the freezer, a strawberry and some organic frozen blueberries in the yellow silicone cup, and some organic cheddar cheese cubes.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Bento for Baby 39: Zucchini Apricot Muffin and Rice Noodle Salad

Hmmm, just like yesterday, this bento isn't the most cute and colorful.  Oh well.  I packed all her food together in the U Konserve Rectangle, but I intended the food on the right to be for breakfast/morning snack and everything else for lunch.  For breakfast Baby Girl had a zucchini and apricot muffin from the freezer and half a banana.  For lunch I made a salad of rice noodles with grated carrots and edamame and dressed with homemade peanut sauce.  I made some spring rolls for dinner the previous night and Baby Girl was CRAZY for them, especially the tofu, rice noodles and peanut dipping sauce.  I thought she would love having some of those ingredients for her lunch, but she didn't touch the salad for some reason.  I also packed her some pear slices and a couple celery sticks with peanut butter.  The salad was packed in the smallest container from the Kids Konserve Nesting Trio, which fits nicely inside the larger container.  

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Bento for Baby 37: Zucchini Apricot Muffin and Banana Bread Peanut Butter Sandwiches

Baby Girl had a zucchini apricot muffin from the freezer with some organic strawberries for breakfast/morning snack on this day.  For lunch I made her a couple of sandwiches on whole wheat banana bread with organic freshly ground peanut butter and sliced bananas.  I also included some sugar snap peas and a few crinkle cut carrot slices.  This was a vain attempt to induce Baby Girl to try some carrot. Unfortunately she wasn't convinced.  We seem to be going through an 18 month regression, which has been limiting the number of things she's been eating lately.   To round out her lunch she also had a bit of trail mix - a combination of roasted unsalted sunflower seeds, raw walnuts and unsweetened dried apricots.   Everything was packed into the small and medium Kids Konserve Nesting Trio Stainless Steel Containers with Leak-Proof Lids. All in all, this lunch didn't go over very well, mostly because Baby Girl came down with something and came home early with a fever.

Bento for Baby 30: Zucchini Apricot Muffin and Beet Risotto

For Baby Girl's lunch on the second day of the new school year she had some delicious leftover roasted beet risotto from dinner the night before.  The risotto was packed in a 4 ounce glass canning jar so that it could be reheated in the microwave.  I packed food for the rest of her lunch and snack together in the largest container of the Kids Konserve Nesting Trio Stainless Steel Containers with Leak-Proof Lids.  I gave her half a banana, one whole wheat zucchini and apricot mini muffin from the freezer, some sugar snap peas and some blueberries. I left it up to her teachers to decide what food to give her if she needed a little something extra with her morning snack of school provided fruit.  She ate everything in the large container, but didn't eat any of the risotto, which she had enjoyed the night before.  So, I'm not sure if she ate everything in large container for lunch and didn't have room for risotto, or if she just didn't care for the risotto the next day.  

Bento for Baby 27: Zucchini and Apricot Muffin and Quinoa Cake

Another new breakfast item for Baby Girl on this morning!  A Zucchini and Apricot Muffin, another recipe from the New York Times Well column that I made a few days before.  She really liked both kinds of muffins I made, but I think she liked these the most.  With the muffin Baby Girl had some organic blueberries and strawberries.  For lunch I packed her a quinoa cake from the freezer, some frozen edamame and peas in the red silicone cup and some halved and pitted bing cherries in the yellow silicone cup.  Today's food was again packed in the small and medium Kids Konserve Nesting Trio Stainless Steel Containers with Leak-Proof Lids.

Bento for Baby 26: Multigrain Blueberry Muffin and Palmier

Baby Girl had something new for breakfast on this day, a Mixed Grain and Blueberry Muffin that I made the other day with a recipe from the Well column of the New York Times.  She also had some organic blueberries and strawberries with her muffin.  For lunch she had one pizza palmier, some halved grape tomatoes and chickpeas in the green silicone cup, a few organic cheddar cubes and some halved bing cherries in the red silicone cup.  I used the small and medium Kids Konserve Nesting Trio Stainless Steel Containers with Leak-Proof Lids to pack the food for this day.

Bento for Baby 25: Sun Butter and Honey Ak-Mak and Eggplant Chickpea Burger

Baby Girl had a treat for breakfast on this morning, a sunbutter and honey sandwich made with her favorite 100% whole wheat Ak-Mak crackers.  As I've mentioned previously, I bought a sunbutter without any sweetener or other additives and it needs a bit of honey to make it a bit less bitter.  She also had some blueberries in the red silicone cup with her breakfast.  For lunch I packed an Eggplant Chickpea Burger that I made for dinner a few nights previously.  I made a few extra small ones and put them in the freezer for future lunches.  These burgers are another great recipe from The Flying Biscuit Cafe Cookbook: Breakfast and Beyond.  They are a really tasty and satisfying veggie burger. And it's a great way to use the plethora of eggplant we get with our CSA share!  In addition to the burger, Baby Girl also had one pizza palmier, a few green beans and some cubes of watermelon.  This was packed in the small and medium Kids Konserve Nesting Trio Stainless Steel Containers with Leak-Proof Lids.

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 17: Pancakes and Crab Cake - The New Chicken and Waffles?

I'm way behind posting bentos!  This is the first bento from the week before last.  My husband made us some more of his awesome pancakes the previous weekend, so Baby Girl had a pancake for breakfast with a sun butter oatmeal ball and some watermelon cubes and blueberries.  For lunch I packed a bit of crabcake from the night before.  Baby Girl LOVED having crab cake for dinner the previous night, but she didn't touch it for lunch.  She didn't go hungry though, because she also had some organic mixed vegetables, some organic grapes and one pizza palmier.  These were packed in the small and large Kids Konserve Nesting Trio Stainless Steel Containers with Leak-Proof Lids.

Bento for Baby 12: Waffle, Sunbutter ball and Fresh Tomato and Zucchini Tart

For breakfast in Baby Girl's final bento last week she had a homemade yogurt waffle quarter taken from the freezer, some strawberries and blueberries and a sunbutter oatmeal ball.  For lunch she had a deconstructed piece of Fresh Tomato and Zucchini Tart from our dinner the night before and some sliced purple grapes.  These were packed in the small and medium Kids Konserve Nesting Trio Stainless Steel Containers with Leak-Proof Lids.

The tart is another favorite recipe of ours that we have been making for years.  We anxiously await the first squash and tomatoes of the season from our CSA share so that we can make this.  It is a very simple recipe, so the key to its deliciousness is to use fresh and seasonal ingredients.  The recipe originally comes from Cooking Light, but we've adapted it over the years.  We always make it with a mix of yellow squash and zucchini, use homemade pizza dough and fresh whole milk mozzarella.  We brush the crust with some olive oil and minced garlic before layering the vegetables.  I always feel like it is summer on a plate.  Baby Girl has always been a big fan of her Papa's whole wheat pizza dough.  It's one of the first things she happily gummed when starting Baby Led Weaning.  The squash and zucchini used to be happily eaten, but have recently been rebuffed as she asserts her budding toddler opinions.  Of course, that doesn't mean I stop giving it to her!

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 7: Dan's Awesome Pancakes and Avocado Tortilla Rolls

Today for breakfast Baby Girl had a couple whole wheat ricotta pancakes, some organic strawberries from Ambrose Family Farm and a quarter of an organic banana.  The pancakes were left over from a batch my husband made this weekend.  He made quite a few extra and we stuck them in the freezer for future lunches.  I am extremely lucky to have an excellent baker for a husband.  He makes fresh bread for us every week, fantastic pizza a few times a month and waffles or pancakes on the weekends.  He makes several different kinds of waffles and pancakes, and has tweaked the recipes to use as much whole wheat flour and as little sugar as possible, while still being delicious. I'll post the recipe for these particular pancakes later this week.  

For lunch I tried something new, whole wheat tortilla wraps with mashed avocado, smashed black beans and grated organic cheddar cheese.  They turned out a bit drier than I would have hoped, and I don't think Baby Girl liked them very much.  If I make wraps of this type again, I might add some sliced avocado to the middle in addition to the mashed avocado I spread on the tortilla to hold it all together.  She does love all these ingredients alone, so it might be worth another shot.  With the wraps I packed organic mixed veggies from Trader Joe's and some organic cheddar cheese cubes.  These were packed in the small and medium Kids Konserve Nesting Trio Stainless Steel Containers with Leak-Proof Lids.

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 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.