40 Days, 40 Boxes - 2013 Box 7

Black Beans

Tortilla Chips

Homemade Guacamole

Organic Gala Apple

Ethan was pleading for black beans yesterday, so today I delivered! This is sort of a big lunch box for a 3 year old, but my kid can down tortillas, guacamole and beans like nothing I've ever seen. Typically, I make allergy safe tortillas from scratch, but on lazy days I just use tortilla chips. As seen by the pajamas, today was a very lazy day! Obviously, this lunch was a hit with the little person.

Not Your Average Bento

This week, I was so excited to get to pack this very special bento. Although it may not look out of the ordinary, it's been months... well years, in the making. Ethan had his very first in-office food challenge (aka IOFC) on Friday. His allergist had suspected that he was no longer allergic to soy, so a few months ago we made the first available appointment to find out. 

Prior to our IOFC, I explained to Ethan what was going to happen and showed him the foods we would be bringing. He was eager to try the edamame and tofu, but I had to keep telling him he had to wait for his appointment. 

At the challenge, he was allowed one soybean to start. The nurse came in and checked all his vitals about 15 minutes afterward. All was well, so he got to eat a couple more beans, then got rechecked. This went on for two hours, increasing the amount of food and continually watching for signs of allergic reaction. I'm so happy to announce that he passed with flying colors! 

The box contains soy aplenty w/ shelled edamame, tofu, soy yogurt and bread with earth balance soy butter. Not pictured is the soy ice cream I brought just in case someone decided he didn't want to try the new looking foods. Through the process of his food challenge, Ethan tried everything except the yogurt. He told me the tofu was his favorite and that he'd like to have more another day. I am SO excited to have soy back. The world of vegenaise, miso, wheat-free soy sauce, soy butter and tofu are now open to our whole family! It's been two days and I'm still on a high!

December 2 - Breakfast and Lunch

Ethan and I are both digging our lunch boxes, so I packed us both breakfast and lunch for Sunday's meals ...

Ethan's breakfast, and I use the term loosely since he will spread the meal out the entire morning, is a Sunbutter Sandwich in Christmasy shapes, some Raisins, 1/4 of a Green Apple, plus a Neocate Splash drink. Unfortunately, my little guy has been experiencing very slow growth this past year, and both his pediatrician and allergist have some concern, so we've been trying out a supplemental drink for people w/ food allergies and other medical issues. Thankfully, Ethan loves the drink. My fingers are crossed that we'll see some improvement by his next check-up in January.

My breakfast is Two Eggs, 3/4 of an Apple, one slice of Whole Wheat Bread w/ a pat of Butter (leftover from a trip to St. Louis Bread Co) and a slice of Aged White Cheddar Cheese. I've just recently discovered this cheese and am in love with it. Yum!

The boy's lunch is an Applegate Farms Hot Dog, Raw Carrot Sticks, Black Grapes and Corn. I can't tell you what a lifesaver Applegate Farms is for us. Ethan adores their hot dogs and lunch meats, which are free from all those allergy inducing fillers, and I love having a break from cooking everything from scratch.

Since I didn't cook Saturday night, it's a lazy-raid-the-freezer lunch for me. It includes Trader Joe's Vegetable Gyoza, Raw Carrots w/ Ranch, Black Grapes and Edamame.

Simple "Wee-chah" Bento

It was such a dreary day on Friday, but you'd never know it by this photo. We took advantage our our 2 minutes of sunshine just before lunch. Overall we had a very lazy day, so I just made an easy sunbutter on tapioca bread sandwich for Ethan, or "wee-chah" as he calls it in his toddler Spanglish. Funny enough, the child is a little weirded out when I cut his food into shapes. I had to convince him these were actually edible. To balance out the sandwich, I also packed leftover steamed carrots and green beans plus pear and blueberries.