0 Bento #225 - Pizza & Fruit Salad

Oh my word, I'm so far behind in posting bentos!  Today E helped me.  We have TJ's famous Pizza Margherita with the crusts cut off (one because it doesn't fit in the box with them on and two, E doesn't really care for it.)  It's imported from Italy, uses great cheese, a tasty dough and it's fast cooking.  It's one of the best frozen pizzas ever and we always have a few in our freezer.

She arranged her own veggies as well, and decided on both celery and carrots.  Fresh fruit salad is also on the menu.

Snack is a bowl full of Goldfish crackers and a special Rice Krispie Treat, which E also helped me make.  The three of us literally polished off the entire batch in an 18 hour period.  Yikes!

I'm an equal-opportunity bento box user.

Bento #225 - Margherita pizza, fresh fruit salad, celery, organic carrots and ranch dip.  Snack - Rice Krispie Treat and Goldfish. 

0 Bento #197 - Inside-Out Tulip Sandwiches (and trip photos)

Today we have "inside-out" tulip sandwiches with cheese and ham, and a large helping of fresh fruit salad.  E likes to make her sandwiches herself and be creative with the order in which she eats them, so it's a good lunch for her.

Bento #197 - 12 grain whole wheat toast, cheddar and Colby cheese, deli ham, broccoli & cauliflower, and fresh mixed fruit salad.

Now, a food picture from our trip.  These stuffed green and black olives were the appetizer at Spaghi Pizzeria Ristorante, North London - we chose a couple of delicious handmade pizzas.  The Quattro Stagioni (ham, mushrooms, artichokes & olives) and the Pizza Romana (ham, mozzarella, tomato, pepperoni & mushrooms.)  Excellent!  

We were literally stranded at this restaurant, so I'm very happy that it was a great meal.  Long story short, our Peugeot rental car died (in a roundabout during rush hour!) on our way out of London on the third day, so we dined here while we waited for the tow truck to rescue us.  (Big thank-you to Lady MiniCabs for being so incredibly helpful and friendly!  In fact, if you click on their link you will see that the green arrow is pointing exactly where we broke down.)

Poor Peugeot.

4 Bento #154 - Chicken Naan Pizza

Here we have two slices of pizza I made from plain naan bread, with tomato basil sauce I made from some organic tomatoes I received in my farmers market basket, topped with a couple slices of roast chicken and cheese.

The other morning I made a special treat for E's breakfast - a yogurt parfait.  They are really fun, and a nice thing to start the day with.  It's just a waffle round in the bottom of the glass with layers of fruit and yogurt, easy peasy.  And heck, a few festive sprinkles to round it all out.

Bento # 154 - Naan pizza with chicken, red grapes, carrots, celery and a homemade chocolate chip cookie.

2 Bento #147 - Naan Pizza

Today E and I made a naan bread pizza, with fresh tomato basil bruschetta as the base, shredded cheese, and  a couple slices of ham. I buy naan in the frozen section at Trader Joe's, and now they sell it in the bakery area of Costco (which is where this naan came from.)  It was baked at 400 for about 9 minutes.

Bento #147 - Naan pizza, fresh fruit salad, yogurt stars, sunflower seeds and celery.

6 Bento #141 - Oranges & Pinwheels

The theme is orange!  Or rather, sunny, since we are having a bitterly cold (23 degrees!), albeit sunny day today and it's too cold to play outside for any length of time.  We have some pizza pinwheels, simply made puff pastry with cream cheese and homemade veggie and Italian sausage spaghetti sauce mixed in as the filling, and baked until lightly browned and puffy.  Yum!

Bento #141 - Pizza pinwheels, organic baby carrots, Clementine and dip.

3 Blue Moon Pizza

The other night we decided to head to Blue Moon Pizza for dinner.  Just look at their exotic menu!

The first time we went I got a half Thai/Jerk Chicken, and it was amazing, especially the Thai Chicken.  Loved it!  (BTW, notice the marked difference between this picture and the subsequent?  First was taken during the day by my iPhone 3G, the others by my iPhone 4...at night.  Nice!)

My husband is not quite so adventurous, and he sticks with what he knows he likes - The Meteor (and I don't blame him, it's AWESOME!)

I mean, cayenne-candied bacon?  Are you kidding me??  I MUST learn how to make this, ASAP.

I wanted to try a different combo, and had a half Greek/Luna, and it was sooo good!  I'm a sucker for olives, any way I can get them.  The only thing it was missing was handfuls of that cayenne-candied bacon.  Hmm....

I love that they give kids a ball of dough to shape, and then bake it for them.  We spiced hers up a little bit and kneaded in some grated Parm and Italian  herbs.

Also, the best drink we've had in a long time by FAR is their signature margarita - it's called the Slice of Heaven.  It really is.  The other great thing about this place is that they have gluten-free pizza options, which is really nice for people who have gluten intolerances.  This is our new favorite pizza joint.  Love!

1 Bento #69 - Pizza & Berries

What kid doesn't like pizza on occasion?  My kid, definitely does, that's for sure.  She has very recently decided that she does, in fact, like pepperoni now (duh!) because she's just turned 4 years old.  I hope this is a positive trend and we will continue to see future palate testing and growth.  Pepperoni today...fois gras tomorrow?  So anyway, pizza was really just an easy out for me today, and since we almost never eat it (unless I make it myself), it's a treat.  It was her first day back at school after spring break, and I feel a little rusty. ;)

Bento #69 - Pepperoni pizza, celery, blackberries, and carrots.

0 Bento #44 - Bagel Pizza Bites

Bento #44 - Bagel pizza bites (homemade) with broccoli and cauliflower florets, and raspberries.

And my other new bento box came!

0 Bento #25 - Whole Wheat Pizza

Another late night, and I had half the pizza bagel I made for E from lunchtime left over, so I decided to toss that in.

Bento #25 - Whole wheat pizza bagel, celery sticks, grapes and a granola bar

0 Bento # 24 - Bagel Pizza & Spinach

E really wanted pizza, and I was going to bake her a margherita pizza from Trader Joe's, but it turns out Mommy hasn't bought any in a while. Usually we have all kinds of things in our big freezer, and I was sure we had at least one, but alas. Still, she likes when we make bagel pizzas together, and I normally use English muffins or bagels. I had whole wheat bagels in the fridge, so that's what we used, along with jarred spaghetti sauce and a square slice of colby cheese.

Bento #24 - Whole wheat bagel pizza with jarred mushroom spaghetti sauce, and fresh baby spinach

On the other hand, my lunch was fresh guacamole with sweet baby pepper strips.  Yumm! (Yeah, it's kinda brown in spots, but that's because I made it last night so the flavors could meld.  No biggie!)