6 Bento #216 - Frog Prince Sandwich & Edamame

I just love these Lunch Punches!    This one is a frog prince, though I wish the features showed up better in the pictures.  Super cute.   As you can see below, I did an inside-out layered sandwich with 36 16 grain bread (doesn't it seem like they are now putting out bread with crazy amounts of grains?  This one was dropping flax seeds and nuts all over my counter.)

Edamame and some berry Yogurt Stars.

Ninja Aussie apple.

And all packed up in her PlanetBox.

Bento #216 - Whole grain bread and Colby cheese sandwich, berry Yogurt Star cookies, edamame, dried cherries and vitamins.  Snack - Aussie apple.

0 Bento #209 - Waste Free Wednesday Ham Sandwich & Bell Peppers

I desperately need to go grocery shopping after this long weekend; I'm down to my last fresh veg, and I think I only have a couple of oranges left.  I'm relying once more on some dried fruit, which is always nice to have around, especially since it's so portable.

By the way, this is part of E's school's Waste Free Wednesdays!  She received a tie-dye cloth napkin for packing a waste-free lunch!

Sandwich today is grilled baked ham and cheddar on rye.  The alphabet picks spell H-A-M (shocking, I know.)

I sliced half a yellow bell pepper and included a little piggy sauce cup full of ranch dip, and of course the aforementioned dried cherries with ring picks.  By the way, if you ever get a package of picks with these in there, tell your kids not to put them on their fingers!  We had a date with some dish soap and that ring last year.

I always say that you can find neat lunch containers in unexpected places.  This bento box came from a Crocs store!  They said that it was for storing Jibbitz, but it's a totally a 2-tier bento box, complete with a divider and an adorable bow band.  It even has space on top for utensils.  I think it was on clearance for $4.  I have been packing snacks in a drawstring bag one of my older bento boxes came with.  If something in her snack needs to be kept cold, I just stick it in her lunchbox with everything else.

Bento #209 - Baked ham & chedder on rye, dried cherries, sliced yellow bell pepper and dip.  Snack - String cheese and an Apple Carrot Crusher.

Speaking of bento boxes, AllThingsForSale is having a bento giveaway on their blog right now, check it out!

0 Bento #196 - House of Ravioli and Wagamama Ramen

Bento #196 - Grilled chicken ravioli with herbs and parm, dried blueberries & cherries, organic baby carrots and ranch dip (and a carnation.)

Getting back into the swing of things!  For the first lunch back home I knew I wanted to use this completely adorable Cath Kidston food tray.  I picked it up as they were closing their Windsor location just outside the castle.  Bless the saleswoman, she allowed me to snap a couple of pictures (usually not allowed) to show you just how darling the store is!

Miss E, holding up our new find.

Afterwards, we grabbed dinner at Wagamama around the corner.  It's a ramen bar with locations around the world.  Ella was in fits of ecstasy at the prospect of Chinese noodles and gyoza.  

Ella had the "mini" kids ramen bowl.  It was huge!  It had a chicken and pork broth with a grilled chicken breast, sweet corn, shredded carrot, watercress and cilantro.  They also had these super cool kids chopsticks, gleefully demonstrated by Ella in the picture below.  

My mother-in-law had the pork ribs.

And I had the Wagamama ramen, complete with smooth dory, shrimp, kamaboko, (type of surimi) fried tofu, wakame seaweed, menma (bamboo shoots), mushrooms, watercress and spring onions.  Delish!

Yum!

1 Bento #183 - Earth Day Lunch

First, this lunch is in a Planet Box, and the pasta is Barilla PLUS with Omega 3s and a lot of other goodness.  I made a huge batch for the volunteers at school, and packed some for Ella as well.  It's tossed with roasted organic veggies in a balsamic butter sauce and Parmesan cheese.

Bento #183 - Vegetarian organic pasta salad, dried blueberries and cherries, pretzel sticks, roast turkey slices and vitamins.

Officially, Earth Day is today, but E's school had their Earth Day celebration on Wednesday, marked with a school-wide parade, awards, booths, activities and presentations.  It's such great fun, and so informative!  This year we had the pleasure of hearing Dr. Marcus Eriksen, co-founder of the 5 Gyres Institute.  He spoke about the pollution, specifically plastic, that is inundating the Pacific with huge floating garbage patches.  He and his colleagues built a raft out of thousands of empty water bottles and an airplane cockpit and floated on it for 3 months from California to Hawaii, braving the elements and studying water and sea life along the way. It was so interesting!  Certainly makes one think twice about using disposable plastics.  One tip he gave which I hadn't even thought about was to skip the plastic straws when you go out to eat.

Dr. Eriksen speaking in front of the Earth Balloon in the community center.

Showing some of the empty cigarette lighters he picked up on remote Pacific islands that wildlife is ingesting.

A sea turtle which grew around a plastic milk jug ring.

 Later I sat with E's class as they ate.  Her friend L also brought a PlanetBox lunch!

0 Bento #180 - Grilled Ham & Cheese "Apples"

Today's a PlanetBox lunch with grilled ham & cheese cut into apples.  I think you can tell when I need to get to the store when we have dried fruit, but it's still healthy and very convenient, and they come unsweetened.  I always have a few bags on hand for lunches and as additions into quick breads.

Bento #180 - Grilled ham & cheese sandwiches, carrot chips, roasted peanuts, dried blueberries, cherries and banana chips and vitamins (multi/iron, calcium and Omega-3.)

0 Bento #152 - Crackers & Cucumber Spears

SNOW DAY!  We had about 6 inches of snow dumped on us last night, which is crazy unusual for the Atlanta area.  We had no school, but this was the bento I made.  I spread a little cream cheese on the crackers and some sliced ham "sticks", as well as a sliced baby cucumber.

Bento #152 - Triscut crackers, provolone cheese, cream cheese, ham, cucumber spears, dried cherries and blueberries.

2 Bento #149 - Dumpling Snack

This was a hearty snack I packed the other day when we went on a playdate at a local kids gym.  These chicken wontons are a new brand I found at Costco, Green Chopsticks, which look a lot like the chicken cilantro wontons from Trader Joe's.  We really like the TJ's one's better, but these aren't bad (especially with dipping sauce, otherwise they are kinda bland.)  I really like how fast they cook - 2 minutes!

Also, this is the last picture with my point-and-shoot camera.  After we got home from our playdate, my new DSLR camera was waiting on my doorstep!  Now to figure out how to use it....  Your photography tips are certainly welcomed.

Bento #149 - All natural chicken wontons on a bed of organic spring greens, organic baby carrots, Cheerios, dried blueberries and dried cherries.