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 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 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 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 42: Yogurt and Pancakes with Apple Sandwich and Spinach Cake

To start off the week Baby Girl had some old favorites for morning snack and some new-to-her foods for lunch.  Breakfast consisted of some plain whole milk Greek yogurt in the green silicone cup, a couple of Dan's Awesome Pancakes from the freezer and a huge strawberry.  I tried out a new recipe over the weekend for spinach cakes, which Baby Girl surprisingly, and thankfully, loved, so I included one for her lunch. She also had an apple sandwich with peanut butter for the first time in a bento.  When I first saw apple sandwiches on various lunch and bento sites, I thought they were just a cutesy little gimmick that seemed too fussy for me.  Apple wedges with peanut butter on top are favorite snack of mine, and I have shared them with Baby Girl since she could eat solids.  But, she often couldn't really get a good bite of apple off the large wedge, or she just ate the peanut butter off of the top, so I decided to try this apple sandwich thing last week for a snack.  Well, the flat slices turn out to be a perfect shape and size for tiny toddler hands, and she is able to get a bit of apple and and a bit of peanut butter in the one bite in this form.  So I am now fully on board with the cute little apple sandwich.  I also packed a sun butter oatmeal ball, another halved strawberry and some cubes of aged gouda to round out her lunch.  My little girl has taken after her parents and is a bit of a cheese snob, she will turn her nose up at cheddar if she knows there's some fancy cheese in the fridge.  This was packed into my favorite little two-layer tiffin box.

Supplies similar to those used in this bento:

Bento for Baby 36: Pancakes and Avocado White Bean Tortilla Rolls

Baby Girl again enjoyed some of her Papa's Awesome Pancakes from the freezer, along with some organic blueberries and strawberries, for her morning snack on this day.  For lunch I made her some whole wheat tortilla rolls with grated cheddar and great northern white beans.  To have with her tortilla rolls I packed some frozen peas and edamame in the blue silicone cup and half an organic pear. Everything was packed together in the U Konserve 33-Ounce Rectangle Stainless Steel Container.  This container is currently available for a great price on Zulily, along with a few other Kids Konserve/U Konserve Containers. The Kids Konserve Nesting Trio that I use very often is also available for $10 off its normal list price.

These tortilla rolls were much more successful than my previous attempt a few months ago, this time Baby Girl ate every single bit. I think the last time I tried to make similar rolls they were a bit too dry and the avocado oxidized to an unappetizing brown.  To solve both these problems I mashed up the avocodo with a bit of greek yogurt, along with a tiny bit of fresh lime juice and salt and pepper.  I spread this mixture all over a 100% whole wheat torilla from Trader Joe's, spreading it a bit more thickly on the bottom half.  I then put a couple tablespoons of white beans along the center and finely grated some cheddar cheese all over the bottom half.  I rolled the tortilla tightly from the bottom and let it sit, wrapped in foil, in the fridge over night.  When I trimmed the ends off the roll the next morning the roll had set up nicely and held together well and the avocado/yogurt mix was still a pleasing bright green.

Bento for Baby 32: Yogurt, Sunbutter Oatmeal Balls and Palmiers

We went out to dinner the night before packing this bento, so I packed this quickly with things I could grab from the freezer and fridge.  I am still figuring out how much food Baby Girl needs for morning snack and lunch, so I packed food for both meals together in one box.  The small container with the red lid contains some plain greek yogurt and blueberries.  I meant to take the picture without the lid, but I was a bit frazzled this morning.  I also packed two sunbutter oatmeal balls, half a pear, some organic mixed veg and two spinach palmiers from the freezer.  This container is the U Konserve 33-Ounce Rectangle Stainless Steel Container, which nicely fits the smallest of the Kids Konserve Nesting Trio Stainless Steel Containers with Leak-Proof Lids within it.

Bento for Baby 28: Pancake, Greek Yogurt and Panzanella

Here's the final catch-up bento, just in time for the new school term to start tomorrow!  In the breakfast portion of this bento, Baby Girl had one of Dan's Awesome Pancakes with a couple tablespoons of plain whole milk greek yogurt and some blueberries in the green silicone cup.  For lunch, I packed some leftover panzanella salad, or tomato and bread salad, from our dinner the previous night.  I left out the bread from the salad, but included everything else - beautiful heirloom tomatoes, garbanzo beans, cucumber and fresh mozzarella cheese.  I packed one of her favorite whole wheat Ak-Mak crackers in place of the bread.  She also had some halved and pitted bing cherries in the white silicone cup.  This was packed into the small green tiffin I got at World Market.

So, tomorrow Baby Girl is moving up to the toddler room at her Montessori school and will start going five days a week.  I'm nervous about the changes at home and the changes to this blog.  I'll try to keep posting bentos individually because I think it's better for the readers - I can catalog each bento individually and keep recipes and new foods in separate posts.  But I may need to move to posting a whole week of bentos in one post.  Considering it has taken me two whole weeks to catch up on a few bentos, that may be the direction I go.

Bento for Baby 18: The Inadvertent Patriotic Bento

The bento catch up continues.  My laptop was occupied the past couple weeks streaming Wimbledon and World Cup, so I didn't get much blogging done.  This bento is from July 3rd.  I started packing lunch for this bento first and realized I used red and white silicone cups, and then realizing the date I decided to go with it and used a blue cup to pack the yogurt, which I was planning to mix with blueberries and strawberries anyway.  So there you have it, an initially inadvertent, red, white and blue bento to celebrate the 4th of July.  Now for the details.  For breakfast, in addition to the homemade plain yogurt with organic blueberries and strawberries, I packed a couple sun butter oatmeal balls, a spoon for the yogurt and a couple cut up strawberries.  Lunch included leftover pasta from the night before made with some beautiful tomatoes from our CSA, basil and ricotta, some frozen peas and edamame in the white silicone cup and some cut red grapes.  This was all packed into the small green World Market tiffin.

Bento for Baby 15: Yogurt, Waffle and Panzanella

This magnificent waffle here represents the last of our breakfast baked goods stash (name that reference), Baker Dan has his work cut out for him this weekend!  For breakfast on Wednesday, along with the precious last homemade yogurt waffle quarter from the freezer, Baby Girl had some homemade plain yogurt with blueberries and a few cantaloupe cubes.  I usually don't send yogurt to daycare, but I thought I'd give it a try.  It appears it was a success, she didn't come home with her head and clothes completely crusted in yogurt and there were no gentle encouragements to leave the yogurt at home from her teachers.

For lunch Baby Girl had a whole wheat Ak-Mak cracker, some halved and pitted bing cherries and some leftover panzanella, or tomato and bread salad, from dinner the night before.  We got some beautiful tomatoes for the salad in our CSA share on Tuesday.  I packed the tomatoes, cucumber, chickpeas, fresh mozzarella and basil from the salad, leaving out the bread so it didn't get too soggy.  Baby Girl thoroughly enjoyed it for dinner and for lunch.  Everything was packed into the small World Market tiffin.