I've Fallen Way Behind

Between my Dh stealing my memory card, being sick, and trying to make Halloween costumes, bentos/lunches fell by the wayside. Something had to give, and they were it. I did take some photos that I didn't get around to posting, and now I can't remember what some of them were. {embarrassed} but here they are;

This is my most favorite soup ever! But because of our texture issues, I blend it with a stick blender once it's been cooked. They also have a whole wheat bun, a banana, and applesauce.



I think this was chicken noodle soup, whole grain bagel with cream cheese to spread, pudding, and no sugar added canned fruit cocktail.


Whole grain tortilla with Mexican rice, ground beef, re fried beans, & cheese, a protein bar, snack mix, cheesy rice cakes, and applesauce.


Teriyaki chicken, jasmine rice, whole grain bagel with cream cheese, mixed steamed veggies with butter & salt.

Beef stew, granny smith apple slices, a stew dumpling, and a pumpkin cookie.

Lunches from last week

This lunch was from Tuesday; Homemade pizza with a whole wheat crust, steamed broccoli, protein bar, and Banilla yogurt.


Lunch from Friday for the 10 y/o; Leftover Chicken Bog, sliced Granny Smith apples with peanut butter dip, 1/2 a chocolate peanut butter bar, and Banilla yogurt


The 8y/o had a field trip on Friday and as much as it kills me, I had to send a disposable lunch; Granny Smith apple slices, Kashi crackers, snack mix, an organic peanut butter and honey sandwich on whole wheat bread, and a protein bar. Unpictured was a Honest Kids juice pouch.

I had a very "off" week last week

Nothing really major happened, but I overslept 3 day in a row, and I had a really hard time getting my stuff together all week which is why these lunches are being posted on a Sunday. This was from Wednesday or Thursday; Onigiri (cow & pig shaped) stuffed with chicken, green onions and peas, steamed broccoli with butter and salt, a molded boiled egg, (the 10 y/o doesn't like the eggs so he took cheese and Kashi crackers) and unsweetened applesauce.


Friday's lunches; A pasties, filled with ground beef, potatoes, and carrots, a dip container filled with ketchup, unsweetened applesause and 1/2 of a snack bar.

Celebrating Mabon, the Fall Equinox

For the middle 2 boys today; A toasted whole grain tortilla wrap with mayo, a Mexican blend of shredded cheese, ham & turkey slices (not organic, but nitrate free) a baked potato with butter and salt, unsweetened applesauce with some cinnamon sprinkled on top. For dessert I made these... I don't even know what to compare them too, maybe a tart? They're complete and utter junk, nothing healthy about them at all, but they taste wonderful. ;-P They're made with canned crescent rolls, cream cheese & sugar, and chocolate chips.


For my kindergartener for his lunch- Again, a toasted whole grain tortilla wrap with mayo, a Mexican blend of shredded cheese, ham & turkey slices (not organic, but nitrate free), unsweetened applesauce with cinnamon sprinkled on top, mashed potatoes with gravy, and corn with butter & salt. Not pictured is a dessert like above that I didn't tell him about until he'd eaten his lunch.

Spaghetti & Meatballs and How I Should Have Planned Better

I woke up this morning knowing that I should do a "postable" lunch, but I had nothing planned. Normally on a day when I had nothing planned the boys probably would have gotten either a bagel with cream cheese, or a PB&honey sandwich, but I felt like I should put a little more effort into it than that and I didn't want to start down the slippery slope of completely slacking off. I ended up making a compromise. The boys got spaghetti (a mix of regular noodles and whole grain) meatballs, oatmeal (also made with whole wheat flour, wheat germ, and oat bran) chocolate & butterscotch chip cookies, and unsweetened applesauce. It's lacking anything green and it isn't very healthy, but it was still more of an effort than throwing together a sandwich I guess.

Stir Fry Vegetables & Rice

Today I sent the boys stir fried chicken, eggs, and vegetables. They also had rice balls with nori decorations (these are not filled onigiri, they are just plain rice, but plain rice can still be cute ;-) ) granny smith apple slices (after I took the pic I splashed them with O.J. and put press and seal over the container to keep them from browning) and oatmeal (they also are made from whole wheat flour, wheat germ, and oat bran) chocolate & butterscotch chip cookies.

Shepherd's Pie

Having just attended the Highland Games and knowing that we were going to be getting a package of wool from a friend, we felt like doing a meal that tied in. The lunches for today; Shepherd's pie (recipe from Whole Foods for the Whole Family- LLL) organic baby greens salad, containers of ranch dressing and parmesan cheese and a slice of bread we baked yesterday. (It's white bread and I'm Ok with that occasionally as long as it's homemade ;-) ) The 8y/o took steamed broccoli and trail mix in place of the salad, dressing and cheese.

Lunches from Thursday, Sept 4th

Nothing fancy, but still a little fun. Whole grain mini bagel with cream cheese, (and of course the lovely face made with a food coloring marker) steamed broccoli with butter, tomato ranch chips, unsweetened applesauce. I'm very lucky that my kids don't react to dyes. It's not like we have a lot of food that contain them, so I can feel Ok with the occasional exposure.

PB & Honey Can be Fun Too

I had hoped to do more with this lunch, (I have no idea what the "more" was) but I ran out of time. Luckily the food markers came in handy and I wrote Ds a little note. I'm so glad that he still loves that sort of thing and hasn't decided that he's too big for it yet. The 10 y/o's lunch for today (he doesn't like crab); Organic peanut butter and local honey on whole grain bread, organic mixed baby greens with ranch dressing and parmesan cheese in the small containers, cheese flowers and Kashi crackers. I could have fit a tiny bit more of the greens in if I had used an un-lidded container, but sending the lidded means that he can shake his salad to mix it after adding the dressing and cheese. When I was trying to get the kids more open to greens, the shake mix was a fun thing that helped.

Crab Rangoon

This is the 8 y/o's lunch today; Crab Rangoon, rice with peas and soy sauce, flower shaped cheese with Kashi crackers, and pineapple. He's finicky about peas, sometimes I can get him to eat them and sometimes he flat out refuses. I just keep offering and assume that eventually he'll get used to them. Update; When he got home he proudly showed me that he had eaten 1/2 of the peas and rice and only didn't finish because he ran out of time. He asked if it would be Ok for him to eat them now. :-D

I made pancakes today

I thought I'd continue with the breakfast theme since I had to make another batch of pancakes today anyway. My basic pancake recipe is from Whole Foods for the Whole Family.
It's flexible and adaptable. The basic recipe is;

2 C milk
1-3 eggs
2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
2 C whole wheat flour
Optional: Up to 1/4 C honey, maple syrup, molasses or brown sugar

I needed to make a triple batch today and ended up using;
6 C milk
6 eggs
6 t baking soda
1 1/2 t. salt
4 3/4 C whole wheat flour
1 3/4 C flax meal
1 C oat bran
1/4 C honey
1/2 C carob powder

I started off with even measures of the dry ingredients but saw that the batter was much too runny. I added the 3/4 cups of flax meal and 3/4 C flour slowly until I felt like the batter was the right consistency. I used a 1/3 measuring scoop to dish them into the pan. I feel like this size is big enough and smaller sizes don't stack well for storing in my containers. Once these were all cooked, and cooled a bit I took a half sheet pan, spray it with no-stick spray and put about 11 pancakes on it. Then I popped it into the freezer for around 15 min, just long enough to freeze them a bit so that they wouldn't stick together. (I keep the stack in the fridge and just keep freezing batches of 11 till they're all frozen and stored) Then I put them in containers like this (about 5 to a container) and store in the freezer. I could store them in plastic bags and I have done that in the past, but it seems wasteful. I was able to get these in 2 per pack for $1 at Dollar Tree and I can use them over and over again. The Take Alongs are my favorite "disposable" storage container. I've found that they hold up the best. Today I filled 8 containers. Now over the next month or so I can move 1-2 containers out the night before from the freezer to the fridge for breakfast.

Just a quick post to add my Flickr link

My previous bentos/lunches can be found here.

One of the things that I don't like about the Laptop lunch boxes is the lack of a thermal option. I know that they sell thermal jars with a strap, and I actually really like the idea of a strap, but I've heard over and over again that their jars leak and can easily get water trapped into the inside. So unfortunately there are some days when we have to leave the inner case at home and send the Thermos FUNtainer jar similar to this. These work really well if you fill them with hot water and let them warm for at least 10 minutes before you put the food in. I've also found that food reheated on the stove retains it's heat longer than food reheated in the microwave. I have no idea why, and I have no scientific facts to back that up, it's just been my observation. For dinner on Thursday I made a huge pot of Mexican Beef & Bean soup. They had leftovers with quesadillas, and organic yogurt.

Lunches for the boys last week Thursday. I made chicken with a tomato, basil, cream sauce served over bowtie pasta for dinner Wednesday night and these are the leftovers for lunch. I added steamed green beans with butter and salt, and colby-jack cheese with crackers.

Making Breakfast Easier

I was talking with some other mom's the other day about the price of milk. It came up that they assumed that our family must go through quite a lot. We actually don't (we use 1-1.5 gallons a week) in comparison to their families and I said that the reason is because the boys only drink it with lunch and dinner. They can have a glass of juice with breakfast and they have water bottles for the rest of the day. One of the other moms said that it wasn't the drinking milk that makes their family go through it so fast, it's cereal. The other moms all nodded emphatically yes, and I bit my tongue and said nothing because, well, we don't eat cereal. My husband still buys it to snack on, but I stopped getting cereal for breakfast a long time ago. There were a couple of reasons; The only kinds that the boys wanted were the sugar filled kind. There aren't many healthy choices to begin with and the ones that are available are insanely expensive. The boys would eat a huge bowl for breakfast and 1/2 an hour later they'd be starving and I would have to make them a "real" breakfast anyway.

Most mornings our boys eat oatmeal. We'll add cinnamon to it, brown sugar, maple syrup, or apple juice. Some times we make something called Amish Baked Oatmeal. I'm going to admit right now that I'm a huge hypocrite because I hate oatmeal and don't eat it myself, but I didn't grow up with it. We've been giving it to the boys since my oldest was a toddler so it's always been a part of their diet. I get it for around $1.70/lb at our health food store. A few mornings a week we do have other choices for them though, things like pancakes, waffles, eggs & sausage, breakfast sandwiches or breakfast burritos.

Breakfast burritos have been a huge hit here since I started making them and I've become a fan as well because I can make up a big batch, freeze them, and just take out what I need the night before. The only downside to them is that I've found that they have to be wrapped in something or else everything falls out while they're in the freezer. I use aluminum foil and toss it in the recycling bin after the burritos have defrosted. To make my breakfast burritos I use;

2 packs whole grain tortillas (8 to a pack)
1 lb breakfast sausage
1 dozen eggs (I like to use free range organic)
4-6 cups shredded cheese

First I cook the scrambled eggs and cook the sausage. Then I open 1 pack of tortillas and lay them out on the counter. I divide the eggs and sausage in half in the pan, then fill the first 8 tortillas with them. Then I sprinkle half of the cheese over the eggs and sausage on each tortilla. Then I wrap each tortilla and roll in a small piece of aluminum foil. Repeat with the 2nd pack of tortillas. Then I freeze all of them in freezer bags.

These last about a month for us. I used to add hash browns, but my boys just weren't too crazy about them so I've been leaving them out.

New week, new lunches. :-) Ground turkey with gravy, mashed potatoes, peas, unsweetened applesauce.

This is a favorite of the boys; BBQ chicken, tomato ranch chips, pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting, mashed potatoes.

Yum! Jambalaya! Rice, jambalaya, a pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting, crackers.

For this lunch we went "old school" ;-) BP & honey on whole grain bread, blue corn chips with cheese dipping sauce, blueberry cobbler, and unsweetened applesauce.

We're back at school! :-D Unfortunately, my dishwasher is broken and hand washing dishes for a family of 6 means that I'm making things as simply as possible until it's fixed. Here is their lunch from the first day of school. At their request; A hamburger, macaroni casserole, tomato ranch chips, oatmeal, chocolate, butterscotch chip cookie, and unsweetened applesauce.