4 Bento #220 - Lego Lunch

I finally got one!!!  Oh Lego lunch box, how I've wanted you for months now, but were only available in the UK....  Long story short, I ordered one and had it shipped to my cousin in London, and we were to meet up on our trip and make the hand off, but it slipped our minds and I returned home to the US empty-handed.  With busy schedules, my adorable pink Lego lunch box hasn't made it over to my side of the pond yet.

So how did I get my hands on this one?  Lo and behold! The Container Store carries them now!!  I was killing time with my daughter (who was off from school) Tuesday after lunch and we headed over to that dangerous wonderful place.  We were browsing a section that wasn't even food-related when we stumbled across these.  They had a range of colors (but no pink, alas) in both the large and small sizes.  By the way, these are food and dishwasher safe.

The small size wasn't available when I purchased my pink one, so that was a bonus!  It's really tiny, so it's a good size for dip, which is what I used it for here. It fits perfectly inside the large Lego box. They only had the two sizes, and I'm curious what a medium would look like.

I know what you're thinking.  "Are those croutons?  That poor kid gets croutons for a snack?"  People listen to me.  These are the most amazing croutons you will ever put in your mouth.  They are garlic/parmesan/herb croutons from a brand called Nonni's, which I picked up at Costco (shocker, I know.)  They are amazing (I want to type that with all caps.)  They are addictive, and yes, today they are a yummy snack.  Ella will thank me later today, I just know it. ;)

Bento #220 - Pasta Prima chicken & mozzarella ravioli, julienne yellow bell pepper, strawberries and ranch dip.  Snack - Nonni's croutons and applesauce.

0 Bento #202 - Vegetarian Yellow Day

Ladies & gentlemen, I think we have a theme.  Today is Yellow Day in Ella's class, and so I planned a nice lunch with all yellow(ish) foods. At least she's getting her daily doses of vitamins A, C & D. Yesterday happened to be Blue Day, but I really couldn't think of all that many natural blue foods (and I don't like to use artificial dyes.)  I let her go through the school lunch line that day for the first time, after discussing her choices.  Instead of popcorn shrimp, she decided to get a vegetarian Caesar salad, peas & carrots, mac n' cheese, cornbread and her ubiquitous water, which is her favourite drink in the entire world.  That sounds good to me!

This lunch is packed in a Greentainer.  It's a two-tier, so what you see above is all combined into one container.  I have a little yellow "Y" in the spicy yellow lentil hummus, with a sweet apricot salsa topping from Eat Well Enjoy Life that we just discovered at Costco.  Delicious!!  They also have edamame hummus which is also great.

Her snack below (which isn't yellow, unfortunately) is packed in a separate Greentainer.

Bento #202 - Fresh corn-off-the-cob with sea salt and cracked pepper, sliced yellow bell pepper, yellow lentil hummus, Pasta Prima five cheese ravioli with herb Parmesan and extra-virgin olive oil.  Snack:  Mozzarella cheese and fresh strawberries.

One last note - if you haven't "Liked" Bentobloggy on Facebook, you are missing out!  I just started doing some Facebook-only giveaways for my fans (simple, simple!)  Click here to check it out.  Oh, and please vote for Bentobloggy on Parents.com!

0 Bento #198 - Chicken Gyoza & Bell Pepper

We are ramping up for Kindergarten over here.  Yesterday we had her screening for placement, and we also did a bunch of clothes shopping.  I'm in the poorhouse now!  I used to love getting all new clothes and school supplies when I was a kid.  I'm kind of bummed I purchased them through the school a few months ago and I don't have to go hunting for them.  School starts on August 15th, and then I'll be making school bentos every day!

Bento #198 - All natural chicken gyoza, half a sliced red bell pepper, fresh strawberries, ranch dip and three gummy vitamins.

2 Bento #188 - Whole Grain Turkey Rollup

I got a whole new batch of cute bento items from AllThingsForSale.com the other day!  Look at this ADORABLE little piggy sauce container!  So cute, I can't stand it.  School gets out on May 25th here, how about for you?  I'm getting a little burned out these days, I can't wait for summer vacation to get here.

Bento #188 - Turkey & cheese whole grain rollup, organic strawberries, organic cucumbers and salad cream.

2 Bento #173 - Mac n' Cheese & Strawberry Kebab

First and foremost, I want to say that my thoughts and prayers are with those that are affected by the recent earthquakes and tsunamis in Japan and other areas.  I can't fathom that kind of trauma and destruction that so many people are living through right now.  I hope you'll consider making a donation to your favorite relief charity.

We are busy over here planning our summer vacation, our first one in five years that doesn't coincide with a family wedding.  We just purchased our airfare for a tour of Iceland, England, Wales, Scotland and possibly France (if I can convince my MIL to cross the English Channel.)  My sister S will meet up with us in London for a few days so we can visit our aunt and cousins, then we will part ways as she heads to Spain.  We'll hit up the Goodwood Festival of Speed, which we've been saying we were going to do every year for the last, oh, 9 years?  Well, this is finally the year!  As I've mentioned in the past, most of our trips center around motorsports events, and this is a huge one.

We will end up in New York City and Washington D.C. visiting my family, and then back home sweet home.  Whew!  Now, to figure out how to save up for it all....  I've never been to Iceland before, I can't wait to see it.  I'd love your best travel tips.  What are your favorite sights?

Miss Ella is probably going to flip out when she sees today's lunch.  She loves mac n' cheese, and she loves the zoo animals pasta.  Combine, and voila!  Happy child.

Bento #173 - Organic tomato/spinach macaroni & cheese, organic cucumber flowers and organic strawberry slices.

2 Bento #160 - Jasmine Rice & Mini Meatballs

These are the mini meatballs from TJ's, I've cut in half and arranged on a bed of jasmine rice, with a little chopped red onion, corn and cilantro.  Just a light lunch, she hasn't been feeling well and her appetite has been  not there the last few days.

Bento #160 - Jasmine rice with corn, cilantro and red onion, mini meatballs and sliced strawberries.

4 Bento #131 - Flower Power Quesadillas

These were a big hit, mainly because of the shape, though they are very yummy too.  I used the last of the roast chicken, shredded it, and then combined it with cheese and fresh spinach into these nice flower-shaped tortillas.  Just used a big cookie cutter.  Threw them into my panini press for a couple minutes, and voila!  Some very cute flowers filled with goodness.

Coming this weekend:  A decadent new bread pudding recipe made with apples...and Kahlua!

Bento #131 - Chicken & cheese flower quesadillas, fresh strawberries, and salsa sour cream dip.

2 Bento #130 - Ravioli 'Sunflowers' & Edamame

These ravioli are not only delicious, but adorable to boot!  There was a lady sitting on a stool handing out samples at Costco, and I just had to get some.  They are Buitoni brand filled with a spicy blend of beef and sausage, and I figured we could shake things up a bit with the protein.  They look just like sunflowers to me, so they are nestled in a 'field' of fresh baby spinach.  Also, I grabbed a container of organic, non-GMO edamame pods, which E has a great time shelling (though I've obviously shelled them for her here, I can't imagine how long she'd be at it during school lunch.)  They are delicious!

Bento #130 - Beef & sausage ravioli, baby spinach, organic edamame, and sliced strawberries.

2 Bento #128 - Princess PB&J

Today we have some of the super yummy bread I made the other night in the shape of a Lunch Punch princess which is slathered with organic peanut butter and organic strawberry preserves.  The eyes and mouth are jumbo non-pareils.  We have an all-day conference today, so I packed some extra in her bag for snacks too, some yogurt, mini peanut butter crackers and ducky cheese crackers.  Hopefully that'll hold her over until the end of the day.

Bento #128 - Organic princess PB&J, strawberry slices, macadamia nuts, celery sticks and cheese cubes.

8 Bento #127 - Steak & Ham Pocket

I made these little melty pastry pockets out of some leftover steak and ham, which I sauteed in a little butter, Italian herbs and a pinch of garlic powder.  Then I encased spoonfuls of the meat in some refrigerated dough rectangles along with some shredded cheese and baked for about 11 minutes.  Ella declared them to be delicious (she called them "pants pockets"!), and the rest we have here in her bento, along with a fresh batch of basil pesto, which is happily pine nut-less this time.  I used walnuts.  I also ensured that there were plenty of celery sticks.  A few days ago she complained that she only had four.

Bento #127 - Steak, ham & cheese pastry pocket, celery sticks, basil pesto, macadamia nuts, yogurt stars and fresh strawberries.

6 Bento #108 - Octodogs & Chimichurri Rice

First of all, I'm super, super excited that this is my first lunch in E's new PlanetBox that the folks over there generously sent me to try out.  Trying to get the hang of packing lunch in it, it's very spacious and I love the little compartments.  I'm going to be writing up more about it after I've gotten the hang of it a little, but so far it's fab!

Bento #108 - Kosher beef octodogs, mozzarella cheese, sugar snap peas, chimichurri rice, fresh strawberries and a yogurt star biscuit.

12 Bento #100! - Gyoza & Fruit Kebab

Hooray!  I've finally arrived at my 100th published bento, just over a year since I started this crazy thing.  I'm using a new two-tier bento box to commemorate this momentous occasion, with - Hello Kitty!  Won't E be surprised?  Hopefully she can get it back together, since it's one of those tricky ones that require precise reassembly.  It's a toss up.

Bento #100 - Chicken gyoza on a bed of artisan lettuce with ponzu sauce, goldfish crackers, strawberry and yellow tomato kebab, flower cucumbers and cherry fruit leather cutouts.

Yay for 100!

7 Bento #99 - Peanut Butter & Honey Lunch Punch Princess

First of all, Kiersten at The Lunch Punch totally rocks!  She sent me some absolutely adorable Lunch Punches!  A set of the brand new ultra-girly Sand*wishes* as well as the all around kid-pleasing Critter Cutters.  I am so ordering the Match & Munch set next, I can totally envision doing a big puzzle class snack like this.

I have also gone way beyond my alloted ration of Nutella sandwiches since these arrived.  I mean, just look at this fairy bread (fairy bread is an Australian kid favorite, which is where Lunch Punch originated!  It's lightly toasted or un-toasted bread, buttered, and then topped with 'hundreds and thousands' aka sprinkles.)

(Photo courtesy of Lunch Punch)

These are so cute, you really need to get some of these!  Thank you, Lunch Punch!!

Second, my 99th published bento??  Really?  I'm going to have to think up something special for #100.

Bento #99 - Peanut butter & honey Lunch Punch princess sandwich with jumbo nonpareils for "eyes" and "jewels", strawberry slices, sugar snap peas, mozzarella cheese and salad cream in the monkey sauce case.

3 Bento #81 - Spinach Ravioli & Strawberry Flowers

 

So today I'm using the dosirak for the first time, and E thought it was neat.  The tray is really big!  I was worried I gave her too much food, but she scarfed every bit down.  I used the star flower shaped veggie cutter for the first time with the strawberries, and they turned out very cute, I think.

Bento #81 - Spinach & cheese ravioli, strawberry flowers, organic baby carrots and ranch dip and steamed asparagus.

4 Bento #79 - ABC Mac n' Cheese

I dragged my family and our best friends and their daughter out to Super H Mart.  I told them is was a field trip, and they would love it.  Of course, I was right and they did love it, and we came away with some amazing produce, and naturally, some new bento items!  That post will come in a bit.  For now, I introduce E's newest bento box, with matching fork (just a super simple lunch, nothing fancy.)

Bento #79 - Organic ABC pasta with homemade cheese sauce, steamed broccoli and sliced strawberries.

I just love the little sayings they always seem to have on these boxes.  It says "Leaflet tight - It is so wonderful to be able to maintain your dreams."

0 Bento #62 - Spaghetti Twirls

Umm, yes, I did actually twirl E's spaghetti for her.  I can only imagine the nightmare that would be on her teacher's hands were this not already completed.  She is pretty high-maintenance when it comes to spaghetti, for some reason.  I packed a pair of chopsticks for her, just in case that method appeals to her more than the fork.  

Bento #62 - Spaghetti twirls topped with parm, sliced strawberries sweetened with xylitol, carrot coins and sugar snap peas.