A Bento from the Past

I didn't get a chance to make a fresh lunch box today, but I made this bento earlier in the year and hadn't had a chance to post it. As you can see by the little hand in the corner, someone was anxious to eat. This bento contains Apple, Chickpeas, Sweet Potato Snowflakes, Hamburger and Okra. I remember the little man eating this lunch, but refusing the sweet potato shapes! Probably unlike the average kid, Ethan prefers his potatoes with the skin on. These skinless potatoes, despite being cute, were deemed unacceptable for toddler consumption.

40 Days, 40 Boxes

Even though, I am not religious, I was raised in a Catholic family and always loved the challenge set forth during lent. I was recently reading one of my favorite blogs Clover Lane and saw her 40 Bags, 40 Days challenge in which she cleans out her entire house, aiming to get rid of 40 bags of stuff during lent. While I am trying that challenge myself, with only one child and a small house, I'm not sure I can wrangle up a full 40 bags of unnecessary stuff to purge. I was, however, inspired to try another 40 day challenge of my own ... 40 days of lunch boxes. Seeing as I'm working on improving my diet and I'm always looking for an excuse to use my bento boxes, I figured it was the perfect project for me this year.

Today is Day 1! I didn't cook last night, but had some homemade chicken soup in the freezer just waiting to be eaten. I cooked some fresh rice noodles and threw them into the soup (they seem to get mushy if I freeze them in the soup). To get our veggies, we both had okra plus I had a green salad w/ purple cabbage. Ethan is not a salad fan yet (and I'm not a raw pepper fan), so he had raw red and yellow bell pepper sticks plus coconut yogurt for dipping. We both had apple and blueberries, though his has a much higher berry to apple ratio to satisfy his current blueberry addiction. I thought this would be way too much food for a 2.5 year old, so I filled the last portion of Ethan's lunchbox w/ grapes and EnerG pretzels that were set aside for a snack later.

Turns out I under-estimated my son's appetite ...

In the past, I had always removed the inner containers from the box at mealtime to make it easier for him to reach the food. Today, he insisted they stay in the box! Ethan was DELIGHTED with his lunch. First went the soup, then the peppers. After discovering the fruit was also glorious dipped in the yogurt, it was quickly inhaled. He even dunked a few pieces of okra in the stuff. That part grossed me out, but if he's eating his veggies I'm not complaining! The child was so hungry, I refilled his soup twice. About 1/3 of the noodles lost their way off the spoon and ended up all over the chair, but that's still a lot of food. Someone much be about to hit a growth spurt!

I'm so grateful for our time together this morning. We had such a great Mommy-Son lunch today!

Also posted at Whats For Lunch Wednesday.

Baby Bento - Snowy Day

Yesterday, we got our first snow of the season followed by bitter winds and single digit temps. It was perfect soup weather. I haven't yet found a brand of bouillon or pre-made broth that I'm comfortable with for the very allergic Senorcito. I decided this was the ideal opportunity to discover how to make broth from scratch. Essentially, I just chopped an onion and some carrots and tossed it in a pot with water, garlic, salt, thyme, oregano, and parsley. Then I added rice noodles to cook and pre-cooked cubed chicken to re-heat. It turned out pretty well. Senorcito, along with my husband and I, happily ate it all.

Today's bento contains two meals plus an afternoon snack:

• Breakfast - "Snowflake" Tapioca EnerG Bread (w/ a drizzle of olive oil, not shown), Grapes, and a Clementine.
• Lunch - Chicken Noodle Soup w/ "Tree" Cucumbers, Okra
• Snack - Enjoy Life Snickerdoodle Cookie, Apple Sticks

Also posted at Hapa Bento's December B.O.M.B.

Change of Life Bento

It seems life has had a lot of extra challenges for us this year. Last Monday, I packed meals and snacks for my son and I as usual. However, I ended up being laid off that morning. Even though, some consider a packed lunch to be just food, when you take the extra time and thought into making it something special, there's a connection with everything packed. After packing my lunch with good intentions at home, it felt very odd to eat it back at home after what had happened. While I'm not sure exactly where life is going to take us from here, one thing that will not change is the fact that we still need to eat! Maybe, I will now find the time to actually post about all this food I make for my little guy. For now, Senorcito and I are enjoying all our extra time together. He's such a fantastic little man!

Senorcito's Food

• Breakfast - Green Grapes, Blueberries, Kix (trialing)
• Lunch - Chicken-Apple Meatballs, Okra, Pink & Purple Potatoes, Butternut Squash
• Snack - Enjoy Life Happy Apple Cookie, Plum
  
  
  
  My Lunch
• Pink and Purple Potatoes
• Plum
• Cucumber and Roasted Pepper Salad
• Chicken-Apple Meatballs, Butternut Squash

Back to Bentos 1

I love looking at other people's bentos online. So many beautiful colors, textures, and shapes masterfully arranged. Unfortunately, I tend to get discouraged with my own creations, but like everything in life, I need to practice in order to improve. So here goes it ...


For breakfast today, I had:

• A homemade Rice-Quinoa-Pumpkin Muffin w/ earth balance spread.
• Turkey Bacon
• Strawberries & Blackberries
• I was supposed to have rice milk to drink, but I forgot! D'oh!

For Lunch:

• Brown Rice
• Carrots & Hummus
• Refried Black Beans
• Plum, Avocado & Okra

If you'd looked in on my lunch today, you would have seen me eating the refried beans w/ chopsticks. Somehow it seemed wrong. Fun, but wrong.

Senorcito's Food for School:

• Breakfast was 2 mini Rice-Quinoa-Blueberry Muffins and a Nectarine.
• Lunch was Brown Rice, Turkey, Avocado, Okra and Carrot Stars.
• Snack was a portion of Golden Apple and Blueberries plus his Quinoa O's.

Dinner made it's way to tomorrow's bentos (already packed!). I've found a new bento sharing blog called What's For Lunch Wednesday :)