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.

Saturday Work Day Bentos

A lot has happened in the past few months. In May, Senorcito decided he was ready to wean. After some shock and panic on my part trying to fill his changing nutritional needs, we have all adjusted. We introduced calcium fortified OJ for his calcium and vitamin D needs and I've been making a huge effort to get more fat into his diet via oils, avocado, and less lean meats. He's still a super healthy boy who loves to eat a variety of foods and is growing normally despite his allergies and related restrictions. As you can see, he certainly is not wasting away! Fortunately, he has recently gotten some beans back into his diet (woohoo!), but at the same time he's also lost apricot, nectarine, and strawberry due to reactions.

In June, my little guy turned 2! It's hard to believe how quickly time moves. For his birthday, I made him a frosting-less chocolate cake from Cherrybrook Kitchen. He was in love :)

Tomorrow is a work day for me, so I decided I was long overdue for a bento or two ...

Baby Breakfast Bento :

• Blueberry Rice Pancakes
• Red and Green Grapes plus Red Cherries

Mom-at-Work Bento (Now that I'm no longer breastfeeding my allergic kiddo, I can eat whatever I want again!) :

• Tortilla Roll-up w/ homemade Black Beans Patty and Cheese
• Pretzel Rods
• Nectarine and Blueberries
• Green Salad w/ Red Cabbage and Dressing
• Strawberries

Taco Fever

Senorcito is getting so big! In less than 3 months he'll be two years old!

In addition to being busy with my little boy, I started a part time job in January. It's low stress and I work off hours (nights and weekends) so my husband is home with the little man when I'm gone. So far things are working out great. My biggest problem these days is that I hibernated through this year's extra cold and snowy winter and let my healthy meals slide. The random warm days we've been having lately are starting to reawaken my senses ... So I decided to pack colorful lunch boxes for both Senorcito and myself. I realized after I took these photos that my last post was also beef tacos. Oops :) We obviously know how to enjoy a good taco at our house.

Senorcito's Meals

Breakfast - Corn muffin style Rice Muffin, Nectarine, Banana

Lunch - Homemade Rice Tortillas, Roasted Squash and Pepper Sticks,

Avocado, Ground Beef

The Mommy Lunch

Three small Corn Tortillas

Extra Lean Ground Beef

Clementine

Avocado (most of which will end up eaten by Senorcito)

Roasted Yellow Squash, Zucchini, and Orange Bell Pepper

Also posted for What's For Lunch Wednesday

Baby Bento - Taco Angels

My husband and I wanted tacos, but Senorcito doesn't have a safe taco shell that we can buy pre-made. I decided to make something tortilla-esque for the little guy so he could have a meal like mom and dad. His tortillas are simply made of rice and water, cooked like pancakes in a pan. My mother-in-law makes authentic soft corn tortillas this way, so I may want to ask for some pointers when she's here for Christmas. They were very plain, but the boy loved his special "tacos" none the less.

This bento contains two meals:

• Breakfast - Blueberry Bottom Rice Muffins, Clementine, Cherries
• Lunch - "Angel" Rice Tortillas, Ground Beef w/ Avocado "Trees", Roasted Orange Bell Pepper, Cucumber, Romaine Lettuce

Baby Bento - Sweet Potato Men

We'll be eating at home again, as usual, but I recently came across some holiday themed mini cookie cutters and can't resist the urge to make cute little food shapes for Senorcito. They are just the perfect size for him right now. The boy loves just about every vegetable on this planet with the exception of broccoli. He just doesn't care for the texture. Every once in awhile I put some on his plate and he will try it ... It just doesn't stay in his mouth for long. Tomorrow, we are trying the dreaded veggie once again. Maybe one of these days, he'll eat it.

This bento contains two meals and one snack for my 18month old son ...

• Breakfast - Banana Rice Pancakes, Red & Green Apple sticks
• Lunch - Stacks of Sweet Potato Men (scraps under chicken), Broccoli, Roasted Chicken, Banana and Blueberries
• Snack - Clementine and Rice Chex Cereal

Also posted at What's For Lunch Wednesday.

ETA - Senorcito ate all of his broccoli! The trick was using a fork. He refused to touch it with his hands, but happily consumed the veggie pre-stabbed.

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.

Baby Bento - Acorn Squash and Quinoa

It's hard to believe it's already December! My son is already 18 months old! He's so curious and alert, we're looking forward to a fun holiday with him this year. I'm hoping Santa will bring me a new computer as this one seems to be in pain.


My son continues to eat just about everything we put in front of him. The challenge is still just finding a variety of foods that are safe for his allergy set. Since we are limited on grain choices, I was happy to find another way to make quinoa toddler friendly. I smash baked acorn squash with cooked quinoa and Senorcito will just scoop it up with his hands. Yes, it's messy, but what would toddlerhood be without a mess? He loves this stuff.
Baby Bento

• Zucchini Hamburger


• Baked Acorn Squash w/ Quinoa


• Apple


• Asparagus, Orange Bell Pepper, Zucchini, Yellow Squash

Also Posted at What's For Lunch Wednesday