New Year's Lunch Resolution for 2016

According to the USDA "Americans waste enough food every day to fill a 90,000 seat football stadium." I'll be honest, I struggle with my kid's lunches. I feel like I am always trying to figure out how much food is enough to send and I am often frustrated with how much comes home, and shocked at what comes home. In an effort to have less food go into the trash I am scaling back, bento lunch boxes have always been our favorites for lunch anyway, and I appreciate how they allow me to control the portion sizes my children take to school each day. 

Here are the lunches I sent earlier this week. 

Half sandwiches. On the right are cucumbers with Tajin in the heart, and a 100% juice Caprisun. On the left, pretzels, a yogurt and a cutie. 

A close up of one

Each time something comes home I am going to try to figure out if it's something they didn't like, didn't feel like, or if I sent too much food. This day the juice on the right came home and so did the cutie. At least we are getting closer...

Happy New Year!

A Tale of a Birthday Lunch

Today is my eldest daughters birthday, I wanted to something a little special for her so I made her a cupcake sandwich.

The sandwich has Nutella in it and the rest is very straight forward with apples and goldfish crackers. Simple, right?

At lunch I also took cookies and 8oz bottles of water to her class. Birthday girls' choice. 

It was a busy day but well worth it to see her smile. 

Happy 7th Birthday To my first born! 

A Tale of St Patricks Day Lunch

Tomorrow is St Patrick's Day. Now, we are not religious at all, but I was brought up to be connected to my Irish heritage and cleche as it may be St. P's Day is a part of that. I try to make it something my kids can connect with as well. Tomorrow I have a long work day ahead of me so we celebrated tonight with corned beef and soda bread. Yum! 

Corned Beef!

Soda Bread! 

For lunch tomorrow I am sending my daughter a four leaf clover for lunch, apples and one big cookie. 

Happy St Patrick's Day Everyone!

A Bunny Tale

Last summer my kids found a bunny in our neighbors roses.

One of the kids feeds our new bunny a treat

The poor little guy was clearly someone's pet that had gotten loose. No one in our neighborhood claimed him and within a day we had a new pet.

Anyway, Spring is here and so I made a lunch for the 6yo that looks like the bunny.

A Tale of Tuesday's Lunch

Here is the lunch that went with L today. It's a pb&j sandwich painted with food coloring. On the side she has apple slices and a rice cake snack. To tie the the two boxes together I used the disposable grass for bento lunches my last remaining silicone flower and leaf (where do they go?) 

To rid the sandwich of it's crust I got used a sandwich sealer that I got at Northgate Market and made by Wonder Bread. It's a fantastic little device that seals the sandwich and removes the crust. The final product is similar to an uncrustable but you are in control of the content of the sandwich and the type of bread used. 

Ta-Da! The finished product. 

Happy Tuesday!

A Tale of A Yeti Sandwich

I love the 1964 Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer movie! The moved played each year as I was growing up. It's one of my favorites from the holiday seasons of my childhood. 

http://youtu.be/ohlSF_TNrBo

After the last post about not painting sandwiches I realized that the 4yo had an extended day and needed a lunch. I love elves and we have already watched the movie several times this season. The 4yo love Yeti's so I decided to paint her sandwich with a picture of Bumble and ta-da! Here it is. 

Nutella sandwich painted with food coloring, on the side we have apples and a mix of Goldfish with M&M's. 

 I also made my own food pick using clipart and a toothpick. Super simple and it brings Hermey and Rudolph to the party.

Bumble the yeti

While searching for the movie on youtube I also found this 2004 interview with the man who wrote the book on the production company that produced these movies. It's interesting and now I am tempted to go find his books.

There is nothing better than good animation or a good sandwich. <3

Tale of A Bento Evolution

If you know me, or if you have visited any of my older posts you know that I spent the 2012-13 school year making themed lunches for my kids. It really was a lot of fun, it started conversations with people at my daughters new school and I know the girls enjoyed it as well. I mean, I know these are not the best bento's in the world. I know that they pale compared to the art of many more authentic bentos mom's are making every day out of noodles, tiny eggs and vegetables. However I enjoyed making them for my kids and it became a bit of a hobby for me.
Here is an example of a lunch based on one of our favorite books. 

Bento from 2012-13 school year. Hungry Hungry Caterpillar .

This will come as no shock to anyone, these lunches took a chunk of time. Not that my kids aren't worth it, but sometimes I want to sleep in until 5:30. Boo, hoo, hoo. I know. 

Soot balls, flowers and leaves for both my girls. 

In April the still 5yo came in contact with a PB sandwich made with a Hawaiian Roll and fell in love. This simple sandwich was thrown together using a roll left over from a family dinner and our normal pb&honey mixture I keep in the pantry. She loved it. Imagine my luck! Over six months later the Hawaiian Roll sandwiches are all she wants. 

So now the lunches look more like this-

PB&H on Hawaiian Rolls. Apple slices, pretzels, string cheese and a Yukult drink. 

It just doesn't have that same Shazam! but she is happy and I have a bit more time. It is just my kids lunch after all. Right? 

Another Painted Lunch

Thanks to an extra crazy schedule this fall, and the 6yo's love of hawaiian rolls with PB&Honey I simply have not had time or the need to make any elaborate painted lunches. This week the 3yo had extended day at preschool and needed launch. To welcome our first week with rain and cooler weather I went with a fall theme. The sandwich was filled with the peanut butter and honey mix I make each monday and I used a rolling pin on the bread before I put any spread on it so that it would be easier to cut and also take the paint better.

This is about 1/2 of a sandwich. If you are using cookie cutters,  especially if you want the details to show up, be sure to press or use a roller the bread. 

detail of the painting process

Little owl, leaves, and acorn. Hand painted with food coloring. 

Final product with sides. 

White Girl Bento Lunches

This August the 5yo started Kindergarten and her twice monthly lunch from preschool became a daily challenge. I know this will sound crazy but prepped for months. Planning for her lunches was a way for me to feel prepared for this huge change to all our lives. I spent time picking up boxes here and there and other little items to embellish the lunches. As it happens, she is totally and completely dedicated to eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches so one of the things I try to do is provide her some variation in other ways. At the start of the school year I decided to try to do something different each day (when possible). One aspect of this that I really love is that the two of us sit together at the start of the month and decide what days she will take hot lunch and what the themes of the other days will be. They are usually seasonal but they also include events at school. As a disclaimer I use the word bento because the boxes are bento style. My children would not eat much of the food that would go into a traditional bento lunch, but I love the portion sizes and the opportunity the divided boxes provode for diversity of foods. Here are some of my attempts at a non-asian style bento.
#1

First day of school with school mascot made of sandwich balls painted with food coloring and embellished with candy eyes. Also in lunch raisins, plumb and animal cookies. Pre-made grass and hand-made pick.

#2

Mostly Monsterly lunch- The 5yo was given this book as a gift from her cousin and both kids love it. Monster face sandwich (cut freehand so questionable), cut up pear, Annie's bunny cookies, and trail-mix. Flower-shaped silicone cup, pre-made pick.
#3

Panda lunch- PB+Nutella "Sushi, panda cookies, string cheese cut into 1/3rds, and plumb (no skin). Red silicone cup and panda stick.