Bento for Dinner

This post will be so jam packed it will not only include what's for lunch tomorrow but also what's for dinner tonight!  I made Juju's dinner right after I prepared tomorrow's lunch and I must be in a bento-ish mood because I served four items in four distinct places - no touching.  Usually we serve one meal for the whole family but today I was cleaning out the fridge and made Juju's dinner out of what I found plus the imitation crab I picked up today.  I try not to think too much about what imitation crab is, or how it gets that red color, I just focus on the fact that it's delicious.  And it's also really cheap (a 1/2lb was $3.00).  The dining room at my Grandparent's country club used to serve the best crabmeat salad ever.  It was on the salad bar (along with chocolate pudding!) and I loved going back for more.  It used to really gross me out but I grew to love it.  I also served leftover rice with veggies from the California Chicken Cafe, carrot sticks, and orange slices.

Tomorrow's lunch has some similarities to dinner.  I am serving carrot sticks, oranges, strawberries, grapes, turkey on whole wheat pita, and a chocolate covered pretzel for dessert.  I am still torn about whether I should be sending a dessert at all.  Some days I leave the middle space empty but it's really hard for me to see the potential for cuteness and do nothing about it.  Other days I slice up a strawberry so the smallest slot in the lunch tin does not feel left out.

Today's lunch was very basic but Juju seemed to like it, she left almost nothing in the box.  I served Trader Joe's Greek honey yogurt surrounded by Cheerios, avocado, strawberries, oranges, and a chocolate covered pretzel.

My friend Maggie sent me the coolest thing called "My Food Passport"which looks like an adorably useful tool to get your picky little eater to try new foods.  When they try something new they can write all about it in their passport and get a sticker to check it off their list.  I think this might really resonate with Juju when she is a little bit older.  Lunch box fairy, take note!

Thinking about lists reminds me that I also wanted to mention my friend/neighbor/fellow-nursery-school-parent Sarah just launched a blog called ChecklistMommy.  She has four kids so who knows how she has time to blog (though Caroline at Pregnant Fashionista has 4 kids and one on the way and she seems to handle it pretty well) but it's definitely a must-read for new moms and moms-to-be out there who are agonizing over which car seat to buy, what goes in a diaper bag, and I'm told there will soon be a post on how to color code your kids (yellow for an elevated risk of tantrums, orange for high, red for severe?).  Sarah has a fantastic voice and her blog is as funny as it is useful.

Before I go I wanted to ask why don't more kitchens have computers in them?  I don't mean those fancy fridges that order you more milk when you are out of it, but why don't we place our home computers in our kitchens?  The kitchen is where most of the action happens in my house and I'm tired of running to my office or to get my phone from my bag or my ipad from my bedroom (yes, I sleep right next to it) to look up a recipe or an ingredient or need help converting ounces to pounds.  When I get a new computer, I am putting my old one in the kitchen.  Have a good night

Lunch on January 20, 2012

It's been a busy week, so busy that the KOAM actually packed one of Juju's lunches.  Sorry, there is no photo but I assure you it was beautiful.

Tomorrow there are two big events going on in Juju's class (which of course mean lots of food) plus it's Shabbat so she'll be consuming massive amounts of challah.  I tried to counterbalance all of the carbs and sugar she'll be getting tomorrow with some whole foods.

Tomorrow I am serving fresh green peas, a clementine, grapes, carrots, edamame, blueberries, and whole grain crackers spread with goat cheese and fig butter.

I have sworn off online sample sale sites but I did sneak a peak at Zulily today and noticed the ReSnackIt bags are featured.  I still use mine and they have worn very well.  I want to write more but I'm  pooped.  Happy lunching everyone!

Lunch on 1/6/2012

I finally made it to Trader Joe's today!  That means a little diversity in tomorrow's lunch.  I have to go out tonight so lunch is actually already made.  Fortunately it's the kind of stuff that can sit overnight.  I wonder if I will ever be the type of person who can get up early enough and be organized enough to make lunch in the morning before school.

Tomorrow I am serving egg salad roll-ups which were super easy to make.  Trader Joe's sells lavash bread in both regular and whole wheat (this is the whole wheat and it tastes just as good as regular lavash) so I simply spooned some egg salad on the bread, rolled it up, and sliced it.  I'm serving grapes with blueberries (I love the blue and purple color combo) along with orange slices and cucumbers.  I was trying to find a colorful dessert to put in the middle but couldn't find anything so I gave her a mini brownie cut in half to fit in the small center square.

Look at that, I blogged every lunch this week!  Have a wonderful weekend!

Lunch on 1/5/2012 - The return of cucumber art!

It was another late night and I was in a rush to get lunch made.  And since I haven't been to the grocery store in a few days, once again Juju is eating whatever is in the fridge (which looks remarkably similar to everything else she ate this week).  I decided if I can't change up her food for tomorrow's lunch, I can at least attempt to make it more visually appealing.  So, once again, I pulled out my cookie cutters and went to town on a hot house cucumber.  Tomorrow I am serving cucumber stars and flowers along with orange slices, grapes, edamame, avocado, and macaroni and cheese and peas.  I made some cheddar cheese stars to decorate the top of the mac and cheese.  Incidentally this mac and cheese is not the homemade one I mentioned yesterday but something my great babysitter made for dinner for the two of them tonight.

Also captured in the photograph is a new Klean Kanteen kid's water bottle in the "Navy Bird" pattern that matches Juju's Pottery Barn Kids lunch box.  I was too cheap to buy the matching water bottle in the fall when it was around $20 but since it's now on sale for $9.99 and I had a PBK gift certificate, I couldn't resist.

Lunch on January 4, 2012

It's been a long day and I am just getting around to making lunch now.  I'm serving leftovers I have in the fridge, not very exciting.  I know some of you think I am totally crazy about what I feed to Juju but you really have no idea where I came from.  There was actually a time in her life when I felt it necessary to only feed her foods that were in season at the time.  (Can you believe I made time to know exactly what was in season and what wasn't?)  So, I look at this lunch and see how far I've come.

Tomorrow I am serving avocado, grapes, orange slices, leftover homemade macaroni and cheese (one day when I have more time I will share the recipe), edamame, and a few pieces of chocolate drizzled kettle corn for dessert.

Yes I still pack lunches

I saw my friend Julia today who inquired about whether I had given up on packing lunches.  My lunch packing has not stopped (I'm still too cheap and too much of a food snob to sign up for the hot lunch program!); I just took a little break from blogging about it.  I actually took photos of about a dozen lunches I packed and dinners I made over the last few months but never found the time to blog them.  My apologies to those who missed me.  I don't really make New Years resolutions but this year I "hope" to spend less, eat less, move more, and give more.  Maybe following those ideals will result in some new and interesting lunches.  Or maybe I'll just keep packing avocados and brown rice.  Stay tuned.

I continue to use and LOVE the Planet Box and I'm told I have convinced a few parents out there to purchase them.  FYI, I don't receive any sort of monetary compensation if you buy anything I recommend on here (though that would be nice!).  I try to use the Planet Box everyday (which means I have to clean it every night - slightly annoying).

Tomorrow's lunch includes: an avocado (natch), grapes, orange slices from an orange given to us by the Julia referenced above (thanks Julia!), leftover chicken cutlet with marinara dipping sauce, and corn and edamame from a Trader Joe's frozen vegetable blend called Soycatash.  I also included a few chocolate covered raisins since the kids who ordered hot lunch will get a dessert in their lunch tomorrow:

Happy New Year everyone!!