40 Days, 40 Boxes - 2013 Box 11

I had some leeks and potatoes that needed to be used up, so I made one of my favorite new creations: potato leek soup. Besides the soup being extra tasty, I keep the extra leek broth to use for cooking things like brown rice or quinoa later. Yum! The kid doesn't like anything pureed so happily I get all the soup for myself. 

Half Organic Gala Apple, Clementine

Chunk O White Cheddar

Sauteed Kale and Onion

Homemade Potato Leek Soup

40 Days, 40 Boxes - 2013 Box 8

Scrambled Eggs

Vegetable Gyoza

Raw Carrots and Dip

A couple  Apple Slices

Poor Ethan has been sick with a really bad cough the past couple days. Yesterday, I was racing the winter storm to get him to the doctor before the roads got too bad, so needless to say, making bentos hasn't been a top priority lately. Today, though, I decided to treat myself to a nice lunch box. I ended up so full, I couldn't eat this whole lunch! I'm saving a little for snack later.

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.

40 Days, 40 Boxes - 2013 Day 2 & Assignment 2a

Today's lunch was an experiment for Just Bento Assignment 2a. The goal was essentially to arrange your typical meal's worth of food into a bento box as compactly as possible. I was really surprised I got everything to fit. The veggies had to be stacked on their sides to squeeze in the fruit. I'm not sure this box would have closed, but it was very interesting to see the comparison from plate to bento.

Bean and Cheese in Soft Taco

Roasted Zucchini, Peppers and Onions

Clementine

Link to Just Bento : Bento 101 - Assignment 2a

40 Days, 40 Boxes - 2013 Day 1

Last year, I started my 40 Days, 40 Boxes project for Lent, only to be side-tracked by some real life issues, when my beloved dog Addie was diagnosed with malignant oral melanoma. Somehow she has beat all odds and that little miracle dog is still with us. She's slowed down a bit, but still loves long walks, followed by long naps. I'm very grateful and consider the past year to have been a gift for us. 

This year, I'm really focusing on eating more "real" foods and less of the junky created-in-a-lab type foods. It can sometimes be hard to navigate the grey area, but I'm not striving for perfection here, just progress in the right direction. I've already cut out most fast food, from several days a week to once a month; have cut way back on the Diet Coke; and have cut out my daily portions of candy and chips. It's hard to believe my once healthy habits got so off track! However, I'm now moving forward. On to the lunch box ...

Homemade Cheese Pizza

Sauteed Asparagus

Red Cherries

Clementine

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.