Wendy Copley's Blog, page 16
February 24, 2014
The Extra Short Week in Bento: February 17-21, 2014
Last week was a pretty light week for lunch packing. Monday was a holiday for our whole family and Wyatt had the week off school for winter break? Mid-winter break? Heck, I dunno what it’s called!
Augie’s school was in session though, so I packed a few lunches for him:
This post contains affiliate links.
Monday
Monday was a holiday for everyone. We had chicken noodle soup.
Tuesday
Tuesday it was back to school for Mr. A, so I packed this lunch in our PlanetBox Rover: cukes with some sweet peas peeking out, meatballs from the freezer (with a mini lion fork to eat them), whole grain pita chips, a clementine flower with a fruit leather center and small container of hummus for the cucumbers.
Wednesday
Augie had a dentist appointment Wednesday morning, so he took the day off school. We made it a real party and went to The LEGO Movie in the afternoon. Woooo!
Thursday
Thursday was superhero day! Augie chose Hulk and Spidey cutters for his sandwiches so I carried that theme through the rest of his lunch too. To start I filled a small container with hummus, then added a Hulk sticker that Augie got in a Valentine to the lid. I was a little worried that it would be a pain to get off at clean-up time, but it came right off. I also packed a few pita chips, green grapes (GREEN like HULK!) with a Spiderman ring for decoration, cucumber slices (Hulk LOVE cucumbers!!), the Hulk and Spiderman PB&Js and some red and green goldfish crackers.
True confession: I spent about 4 minutes picking the red and green fish out of a bag of rainbow goldfish so they would fit my color scheme. I don’t usually do this, but we had a more relaxed morning because of Wyatt’s vacation so I just went for it. And I’m not sorry. So there!
Friday
Kitty lunch Friday! Hooray! This lunch had snap peas, blueberries, cat picks, breadsticks, grapes and a CuteZCute kitty
wearing a baseball cap. It is packed in a LunchBots Trio and I used silicone dividers to separate things. Augie only ate the fruit — not one other thing.
Guess what! My book, Everyday Bento: 50 Cute and Yummy Lunches to Go comes out NEXT TUESDAY! If you’d like to receive it as soon as possible, pre-order now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Powell’s. If you are interested in entering a giveaway for one of FIVE copies, head on over to Goodreads to enter because that giveaway is running through this Friday, Feb. 28!
February 17, 2014
The Week in Bentos: February 10-14, 2014
Hey, do you remember how I decided I was going to start posting The Week in Bentos on Mondays from now on?
I DIDN’T!
I totally forgot! Sooooooo, here are last week’s lunches long after they were made. Check out what the kids had for Valentine’s week:
This post contains affiliate links.
Monday
On Monday, I packed Wyatt this slightly Valentine-y Laptop Lunches bento. I added a few hearts so he could know I am thinking of him, but I kept them subtle enough that he could keep his reputation as a cool guy in the cafeteria. He had cheddar cheese squares, turkey pepperoni, a cheese heart (this is my favorite heart cutter and it comes from this set
), Triscuits, two mandarin oranges, and white cheddar popcorn with heart sprinkles on it.
Augie was home with a fever so no bento for him.
Tuesday
Tuesday Wyatt was excited to find mini-bagels in the cupboard and he asked for some in his lunch box. I filled a few with cream cheese and put them in a large Laptop Lunches container (from our Bento Buddies set) with a few mandarin oranges. The rest of the lunch box held carrots and bean dip and some sweet cinnamon roasted chickpeas from The Good Bean.
I sampled these chickpeas when I went to the Fancy Food Show last month and I was excited to have the boys try them too. They’ve been a moderate success. Wyatt ate the ones I put in his lunchbox but he was neutral when I asked him if he’d like me to pack them in the future. Augie has been much more excited about them and has asked to have them as his snack several times.
Augie was home sick again.
Wednesday
This is a great example of a super simple 5 minute bento. We were running very late on Wednesday morning — so late that I told Wyatt he was going to have to eat lunch at school. He was super bummed when I told him so I took pity on him and threw together a bento as quickly as I could. I gave him two mini bagels with cream cheese, a few turkey roll-ups with a candy pick and some mandarin oranges. It wasn’t fancy by any means, but it looked good and it was much tastier than the food he gets from the school cafeteria. This was packed in our Lock & Lock 4-up bento.
Augie was home sick again. Poor buddy.
Thursday
On Thursday I wanted to step up the Valentine’s stuff a bit and Wyatt gave me permission to go for it. He had strawberry jam sandwiches with a heart cut out of the top slice of bread and sprinkles added to the hole. He also had leftover pork tenderloin, carrot sticks, chocolate roasted chickpeas (from The Good Bean) and mandarin orange wedges. I added a little extra decoration by cutting X-O and a heart from fruit leather too. This was packed in a Laptop Lunches box.
My pal Venia from Organized Bites sent me a surprise package with some super hero cookie cutters in it on Wednesday and Augie was suuuuper excited to use them in his lunch on Thursday morning. This set was issued by Williams-Sonoma a few years back and I didn’t jump on them fast enough to get a set before they were discontinued. (They now sell on eBay for crazy prices.) Bento friends are the best, because they get me!
In any case Augie wanted a superhero lunch and he wanted a Valentine’s day lunch and we decided to combine them. I think he explained it best: “They are friends and friends love each other and give each other Valentines. Right, Mom?” Right buddy!
So we pulled out the PlanetBox Rover and packed this Best-Friends-Superhero-Valentine lunch: chocolate roasted chickpeas with a fruit leather heart, Persian cucumbers, mandarin oranges with another heart and sprinkles, Spiderman and Hulk PB&J sandwiches, and a few extra bread hearts decorated with more sprinkles.
Friday
More hearts for Valentine’s day! Wyatt had a Laptop Lunch with mandarin oranges, popcorn with heart sprinkles, carrots and mini pizzas that I cut into heart shapes.
I packed Augie’s lunch in our Yubo
box: a heart-shaped peanut butter and jelly with sprinkles in the cut-out, snap peas, carrots, cucumbers, mini heart pizzas, mandarin orange slices and popcorn with sprinkles.
Stumped for ideas for packed-lunches? Check out my lunch box idea list or visit Wendolonia’s Bento Box Gallery for nearly 1500 searchable lunch photos!
Interested in getting notified of blog updates on Facebook? Like the Wendolonia Facebook page!
You can also get blog updates from Wendolonia on Twitter or you can follow my personal Twitter account where I am sometimes funny or interesting.
February 12, 2014
My Kids Ate It: Simple Slow Cooker Chili (with some fancy toppings for grown-ups)
I haven’t posted many “My Kids Ate It” recipes lately because we’re in one of those phases. You know — a phase where one or both kids refuses to eat what I’m serving for dinner almost every night? Ugh. But as I was flipping through the latest issue of Cooking Light a few weeks ago, I came across an article with ideas for interesting chili toppings and it reminded me that I needed to make a batch of chili.
I’ve been using the same chili recipe as my go-to for years. It’s the recipe my parents used to make for us when we were kids and it’s ridiculously simple and versatile. The recipe calls for ground beef, but I’ll often swap in ground turkey or beef stew meat depending on what’s in the fridge. And because it’s loaded with beans, you can make it without meat at all and it will be sufficiently filling for dinner. This is one of those lots-of-cans crockpot recipes too, so it’s easy to keep the ingredients on hand in the pantry for days when I need to get dinner on the table but I don’t feel like visiting the grocery store. This is a pretty nutritious recipe to begin with, but over the years I’ve cut the fat and sodium a bit by using some of these suggestions.
Simple Slow Cooker Chili
Ingredients
1 lb. lean ground beef (or ground turkey or beef stew meat OR you can leave it out)
3 14.5 oz cans of beans, drained and rinsed — which beans are up to you. I usually go with two cans of pinto beans and one can of black beans, but I’ve used kidney and garbanzo beans with success too.
2 14.5 oz cans of tomato sauce
1 14.5 oz can of petite diced tomatoes, undrained
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon cumin
Preparation
Cook ground beef (or other meat choice) for about 5 min until browned. It doesn’t need to be cooked all the way through. Drain well.
Add the beef to the slow cooker, along with the rest of the ingredients. Stir to combine.
Set slow cooker to low and cook for 4 to 6 hours. (It might be able to go a little longer than that, depending on your slow cooker.)
Optional toppings:
We love this with grated cheddar and a little sour cream. The adults at the table will sometimes add fancier toppings like you see here: sliced radish, avocado, sunflower seeds and a squirt of lime.
The Verdict
My kids love this chili and Zach and I like it too. It’s one of the few meals I make regularly that I can be assured everyone in the family will eat. It’s mild so the boys don’t reject it for being too spicy but my husband and I will often add a little hot sauce to give it some zing. I like to make a double batch so we can have the leftovers for lunches and Wyatt particularly likes to take some in a thermos for his lunches.
How do you make your chili?
February 10, 2014
The Week in Bentos: February 3-7, 2014
Welcome to the new Monday edition of The Week in Bentos! Those of you who are regular readers will know that I’ve been posting my weekly bento round-ups on Fridays for years, but I’ve decided to make a change and move these posts to Mondays. My thinking was that people want ideas for packing lunches at the beginning of the week, rather than the end of the week. I hope you’ll find this change to be useful!
So what did Wyatt and Augie have for lunch last week? Let’s find out!
This post contains affiliate links.
Monday
I started Wyatt, my 4th grader, off with a Yumbox lunch on Monday morning. He had a cheddar cheese stick, blueberries, white cheddar popcorn, radishes and retro ham, cream cheese and dill pickle roll-ups. My mom used to make these for the snack table when my parents had parties in the ’70′s.
I spent Super Bowl Sunday cleaning out our fridge and in the process I found 5 jars of pickles. (You can probably tell I’m not a big football fan.) Apparently my husband buys a new jar of dill pickles every time he goes to the store! As I was trying to think up ways to use up our pickle stash, I remembered my mom’s pickle thingies, so I whipped up a batch to try on my fellas. Wyatt loved them, so I put them in his lunch on Monday, but it turned out he got teased for them in the cafeteria, so he didn’t eat them.
Augie had a Yubo lunch: hummus, dill pickles, blueberries in a square silicone cup
, heart-shaped PB&J sandwiches and celery sticks (to dip in the hummus).
Tuesday
On Tuesday, Wyatt had leftover chili in our LunchBots thermal jar and a mini dipper
filled with cheese to sprinkle on top. He also had a sidecar with radishes and blueberries.
Augie wasn’t interested in chili leftovers, so instead he opted for turkey meatballs (from the freezer), pretzel goldfish, sugar snap peas and blue berries. There was also a small Snoopy cup filled with ketchup for dipping the meatballs. This was packed in our CuteZcute Penguin Baby Bento Buddies box
, which is much cuter on the outside than you can tell from this photo.
Wednesday
Wyatt had chili again on Wednesday, in the same LunchBots thermal jar. I packed him a small bento with blueberries, carrots and mini pitas to go with it.
Augie was enthusiastic about helping to pack his lunch so I let him dive right in. He decided he wanted to use the PlanetBox Rover, then he selected apples, carrots, snap peas and green bell peppers to go in it. I filled up a small container of sunflower seeds for a crunchy treat and filled the big section of the box with a mini pita that I split in two and spread with a layer of hummus. When Augie saw the blank slate of the pita, he asked if he could draw a picture on it with food-safe markers
. The red in the middle is an erupting volcano, and there is a tree on one side and a dinosaur on the other.
Thursday
On Thursday, Wyatt had dumplings, carrots with bean dip, a tub of applesauce, and multi-grain tortilla chips. This was packed in our Laptop Lunches box and I threw in a set of Lego utensils to eat with.
Augie chose the Lego bento box
for his lunch: a small Lego container with hummus, a few crackers, carrots and snap peas in rectangular silicone cups
, another Lego box
filled with pretzel goldfish and chicken dumplings.
Friday
Friday, I broke out the new Star Wars stuff I bought on sale from Williams-Sonoma! Wyatt doesn’t let me make cute lunches for him very often, so I was happy when he gave a thumbs up to a Star Wars lunch. I was particularly excited to break into the Rebel Alliance cupcake set, so I pulled that out, along with my other Star Wars toys and went to town.
To start, I made jam sandwiches with our C3PO and R2-D2 cutters. (These are from a set that’s been discontinued, unfortunately. You can still find them on eBay for crazy, rip-off prices sometimes though.) I also added carrots with a Darth Vader ring, Triscuits, salami on Luke Skywalker and Han Solo picks and an applesauce tub, covered with a Chewbacca cupcake wrapper. I was particularly pleased with the cupcake wrapper because I normally can’t think of anything fun to do with those. This lunch was packed in a Laptop Lunches box.
Augie had a nearly identical lunch, also packed in a Laptop Lunches box: R2-D2 and Chewbacca PB&J’s, crackers and Luke and Yoda salami skewers on one side. And over on the Dark Side he had an applesauce cup wrapped with a Stormtrooper cupcake wrapper and carrots with a Darth Vader ring. Happily, both boys loved these lunches. Hooray!
Hey, did you know my book, Everyday Bento: 50 Cute and Yummy Lunches to Go will be released in just a few weeks? It officially goes on sale March 4, but it is available for pre-order now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Powell’s. If you are interested in entering a giveaway for one of FIVE copies, head on over to Goodreads to enter before the end of the month!
February 7, 2014
Everyday Bento Giveaway on Goodreads
The launch of my book, Everyday Bento, is just a little less than a month away (March 4!). I got my first copy of the book earlier this week and I couldn’t be more thrilled with it. It was exciting to hold it in my hands, but I’m even more excited to share it with you. It’s available for pre-order now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Powell’s.
Another way to get your hands on a copy is to enter the first of several giveaways that will be occurring in the coming weeks. My publisher, Tuttle, is giving away FIVE copies of the book on Goodreads right now. It couldn’t be easier to enter — click through the link below, then enter your contact information on the form. The giveaway runs through February 28, 2014. While you’re there, take a second to check out Everyday Bento’s Goodreads page and mark it as “to read”.
Goodreads Book Giveaway
by Wendy Copley
Giveaway ends February 28, 2014.
See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.
Good luck! I hope YOU win!
P.S. If you’re looking for The Week in Bentos, it is moving to Mondays going forward. Check back next week for lots of inspiration for packed lunches!
January 31, 2014
The Week in Bentos January 27-31, 2014
Happy Friday! We had a nice, normal week of luncheon boxes around here, chock full o’ old favorites and a few new things too. Read on to see:
This post contains affiliate links.
Monday
On Monday I pulled out a favorite box that we haven’t been using much lately, an EasyLunchboxes container
. Somehow it got pushed to the back of the lunch box shelf so it hasn’t been front and center in the mornings. Wyatt’s lunch had apple slices, a piece of cinnamon bread with a “W” pick stuck in it, radishes, and turkey spirals. It was a nice and easy start to the week.
Augie used our PlanetBox Rover. He had cinnamon bread with a cat decoration, a whole Persian cucumber with a blue cat pick for dipping in the hummus, breadsticks wrapped with strips of turkey, carrots and the previously mentioned hummus.
Tuesday
On Tuesday, Wyatt had strawberries, cheese stars, radishes, pita crackers and turkey spirals. This was packed in our Yumbox.
We shook things up a bit with Augie’s lunch. First, I pulled out our panda bento box
— an old friend that we haven’t used for a very long time. I filled the top layer with leftover Sesame Soba Noodles from dinner the night before. I thought they looked a little boring, so I took a couple seconds to cut eyes and a smiley face from nori paper and I put those on top. The bottom layer had strawberries, sugar snap peas, carrots and a couple of turkey spirals.
Wednesday
On Wednesday, Augie had Persian cucumbers, strawberries, ninja and throwing star sandwiches, pretzel goldfish and a pot of hummus. Augie picked a cute shrimp as a decoration for the cukes and the sandwiches were cut with our ninja
and snowflake
cookie cutters. This was packed in the PlanetBox Rover.
Wyatt had school lunch.
Thursday
Thrusday, I used the LunchBots Trio bento box for Wyatt’s lunch: an apple cereal bar, ham spirals, apple chunks, radishes in a square silicone cup, and dried cranberries.
Unfortunately, this meal was the victim of lunch room hijinx! One of Wyatt’s friends grabbed it from him while he was eating it and then dropped it on the floor where it spilled all over. The poor kid came home starving so I made him a lunch-sized plate for his after school snack.
Augie had pita crackers, cucumbers, snap peas, stripey apple and ham spirals.
Friday
Hands off! This is nacho lunch!
Yes, a terrible pun…but I couldn’t resist. We had nachos for dinner last night and surprisingly there were a ton left over so the boys had them in their lunches today. They said they wouldn’t mind eating them cold. We’ll see how that works out. Wyatt’s were packed in the largest of the Laptop Lunches “Bento Buddies” add-on set. I don’t use these extra large containers as often as I thought I would, but they are pretty handy when I remember I have them. He also had a half a banana, dried cranberries, carrots and black bean dip.
Augie also had a big serving of nachos, along with carrots, snap peas, a small container of hummus and a banana with his name carved in it. This was packed in an EasyLunchboxes bento box.
So, admittedly I haven’t been very creative in my lunches lately, but do you know where I have been super creative? In my soon-to-be-published book, Everyday Bento: 50 Cute and Yummy Lunches to Go! It will be released in just over four weeks on March 4, but it is available for pre-order now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Powell’s and it will soon be available at independent bookstores everywhere! I will be sharing lots more about the book in the coming weeks and there will be some fun giveaways too, so keep an eye out for them!
Stumped for ideas for packed-lunches? Check out my lunch box idea list or visit Wendolonia’s Bento Box Gallery for nearly 1500 searchable lunch photos!
Interested in getting notified of blog updates on Facebook? Like the Wendolonia Facebook page!
You can also get blog updates from Wendolonia on Twitter or you can follow my personal Twitter account where I am sometimes funny or interesting.
January 24, 2014
The Week in Bentos: January 21-24, 2014
Another week, another batch of simple lunches. This week was all about feeding children and not at all about creativity. See what my boys took in their bento boxes:
This post contains affiliate links.
Monday
Both boys had Monday off to celebrate MLK day, so no lunches.
Tuesday
On Tuesday, Wyatt had garlic pita triangles, the last of the salami, the last of the turkey, a delectable brownie sample I brought home from the Fancy Food Show, grapes, black bean dip and carrots. This was packed in a Laptop Lunches box.
Aaaaaaand…this is what came home. In case you were wondering, no — my kids don’t always eat their lunches. Sometimes they do, but they leave all the healthy stuff just as often. I usually make them eat it for their after school snack.
Augie’s lunch was packed in the PlanetBox: cucumber slices, turkey meatballs (plus a grumpy giraffe fork to eat them with), Plentils chips (another Fancy Food Show sample) and grapes.
Wednesday
When we were at Trader Joe’s buying groceries Tuesday afternoon, Augie sampled some prosciutto and fell in love. Sweet! I bought a package as a treat and he asked for some in his lunch first thing when he got up on Wednesday. I wrapped a few thin strips around some breadsticks and put it in the Yumbox along with apple chunks, tangerine wedges, Cosmo Creations puffed corn (yet another sample), Persian cucumber slices (with our friend the grumpy giraffe to help with dipping) and hummus.
Wyatt had school lunch.
Thursday
On Thursday, it was Wyatt’s turn for the Yumbox. I filled it with the breadstick-prosciutto thingies, Van’s nacho cheese chips, strawberries, carrots, banana and black bean dip
Augie had the prosciutto-breadstick thingies, hummus (in the rainbow box), strawberries with a cat pick, Persian cukes and carrots. This was packed in our LunchBots Trio.
Friday
Today, both boys took leftover spaghetti and meat sauce in a thermal jar. Wyatt’s was packed in our LunchBots jar along with a sidecar box filled with a half banana and some dried cranberries. I also gave him his favorite lunchbox fork-knife-spoon combo — a freebie my husband brought home from a conference.
Augie’s spaghetti went in our Thermos Food Jar. His sidecar had pear and Persian cucumbers and his fork was of the Lego persuasion.
Stumped for ideas for packed-lunches? Check out my lunch box idea list or visit Wendolonia’s Bento Box Gallery for nearly 1500 searchable lunch photos!
Interested in getting notified of blog updates on Facebook? Like the Wendolonia Facebook page!
You can also get blog updates from Wendolonia on Twitter or you can follow my personal Twitter account where I am sometimes funny or interesting.
The Week in Bentos: January 21-24, 2013
Another week, another batch of simple lunches. This week was all about feeding children and not at all about creativity. See what my boys took in their bento boxes:
This post contains affiliate links.
Monday
Both boys had Monday off to celebrate MLK day, so no lunches.
Tuesday
On Tuesday, Wyatt had garlic pita triangles, the last of the salami, the last of the turkey, a delectable brownie sample I brought home from the Fancy Food Show, grapes, black bean dip and carrots. This was packed in a Laptop Lunches box.
Aaaaaaand…this is what came home. In case you were wondering, no — my kids don’t always eat their lunches. Sometimes they do, but they leave all the healthy stuff just as often. I usually make them eat it for their after school snack.
Augie’s lunch was packed in the PlanetBox: cucumber slices, turkey meatballs (plus a grumpy giraffe fork to eat them with), Plentils chips (another Fancy Food Show sample) and grapes.
Wednesday
When we were at Trader Joe’s buying groceries Tuesday afternoon, Augie sampled some prosciutto and fell in love. Sweet! I bought a package as a treat and he asked for some in his lunch first thing when he got up on Wednesday. I wrapped a few thin strips around some breadsticks and put it in the Yumbox along with apple chunks, tangerine wedges, Cosmo Creations puffed corn (yet another sample), Persian cucumber slices (with our friend the grumpy giraffe to help with dipping) and hummus.
Wyatt had school lunch.
Thursday
On Thursday, it was Wyatt’s turn for the Yumbox. I filled it with the breadstick-prosciutto thingies, Van’s nacho cheese chips, strawberries, carrots, banana and black bean dip
Augie had the prosciutto-breadstick thingies, hummus (in the rainbow box), strawberries with a cat pick, Persian cukes and carrots. This was packed in our LunchBots Trio.
Friday
Today, both boys took leftover spaghetti and meat sauce in a thermal jar. Wyatt’s was packed in our LunchBots jar along with a sidecar box filled with a half banana and some dried cranberries. I also gave him his favorite lunchbox fork-knife-spoon combo — a freebie my husband brought home from a conference.
Augie’s spaghetti went in our Thermos Food Jar. His sidecar had pear and Persian cucumbers and his fork was of the Lego persuasion.
Stumped for ideas for packed-lunches? Check out my lunch box idea list or visit Wendolonia’s Bento Box Gallery for nearly 1500 searchable lunch photos!
Interested in getting notified of blog updates on Facebook? Like the Wendolonia Facebook page!
You can also get blog updates from Wendolonia on Twitter or you can follow my personal Twitter account where I am sometimes funny or interesting.
January 17, 2014
The Week in Bentos: January 13-17, 2014
I just can’t seem to find my creative mojo at the moment so I kept things pretty simple with the lunches this week. We had a lot of old favorites, but the boys tried a few new things too. Check it out!
This post contains affiliate links.
Monday
Wyatt started out the week with this Laptop Lunches bento box packed with cheesy whale crackers, black grapes, black bean dip, carrots, cantaloupe balls, a salami rose in a silicone baking cups
, and seaweed sheets.
Augie had a chocolate chip granola bar, melon balls, salami, hummus, carrots, and cucumber slices. This was packed in a Yumbox.
Usually he has a few things left in his lunch box after school which he eats for a snack at home, but on this day Augie ate everything!
Tuesday
This lunch is evidence that even if your morning goes horribly wrong, you can throw a bento together in under 5 minutes. I woke up late Tuesday and the kids were bickering from moment #1 so I was in a foul mood. Then, as I was rushing around the kitchen helping the boys get their breakfasts together, I knocked over a large tumbler of sugary milky tea and spent 20 minutes (20 MINUTES!) cleaning it up off pretty much our entire kitchen floor (it truly was a spectacular mess) while the kids abandoned all of their morning jobs to watch me and point to all the spots I was missing as I mopped. Yet somehow I still managed to get this Yumbox lunch together for Wyatt: salami, half a banana, granola bar, carrots, bean dip and a few Triscuits.
Once I had everything cleaned up and I got Wyatt off to school, I had a little extra time to pack this PlanetBox lunch for Augie: hummus, whale crackers, cucumbers wheels, a nervous looking whale sandwich and a half a banana.
I picked up the whale cutter from the clearance rack at Michael’s ages ago and though it seemed just right for cutting sandwiches at the time, it is actually a bit large for a slice of bread so this is the first time I’ve used it. At first I only had an icing eye
on it for decoration, but when Augie looked at it, he said it definitely needed a mouth, so I cut one from a little seaweed sheet. We both agreed he was much cuter that way.
Wednesday
On Wednesday, Wyatt took his lunch in our Lock and Lock lunch box: blueberries, whole wheat pretzel bites, mustard for dipping, a granola bar and leftover mild chicken Italian sausage.
The pretzel bites were a new recipe I tried and they were pretty good straight from the oven, but they were not very good the next day. I let Wyatt try one before I packed them and he told me he still wanted them, but he had only eaten one or two when I opened his lunch box after school. I’m going to have to look around for a new recipe, I think.
Augie’s lunch was packed in our LunchBots Trio: sausage, grapes, blueberries in a star cup, Cheerios, cucumber slices, carrots and hummus in a little Lego box. I also through in a couple of cute bear and frog picks for eating the sausages and a pig divider just for the cute factor.
Thursday
Thursday, Wyatt had yet another Yumbox lunch: deli turkey, grapes, Triscuits, grated cheddar and an apple flavored cereal bar.
And Augie had a similar PlanetBox lunch: cukes, grapes, deli turkey, carrots and an apple cereal bar.
Friday
Earlier this week, we got a box of goodies to sample from Van’s Natural Foods and I sent a couple of those in Augie’s Laptop Lunch box today. They sent two types of gluten free snacks — two flavors of multi-grain chips and another two flavors of PB&J Snack Bars. We are all really enjoying all of these treats and honestly I would never be able to tell they were gluten-free if I didn’t know.
Today Augie had the bbq chips and the blueberry PB&J bar in his lunch, along with the omni-present cucumbers and hummus and a cup of grapes.
Stumped for ideas for packed-lunches? Check out my lunch box idea list or visit Wendolonia’s Bento Box Gallery for nearly 1500 searchable lunch photos!
Interested in getting notified of blog updates on Facebook? Like the Wendolonia Facebook page!
You can also get blog updates from Wendolonia on Twitter or you can follow my personal Twitter account where I am sometimes funny or interesting.
January 10, 2014
The Week in Bentos: January 6-10, 2013
The kids were back to school this week and I am (reluctantly) packing their bento boxes again. I’m not sure why it’s always so hard for me to get back into the lunch routine after even a short break, but following the advice from my post earlier this week (4 Ways to Get You Lunch-Packing Groove Back) is definitely helping. Here’s what my boys had:
This post contains affiliate links.
Monday
I mostly went with really simple lunches this week and Wyatt started off with this Laptop Lunches bento: deli turkey pinwheels, lemon-parmesan popcorn, apple chunks and radishes. I also slipped a granola bar into the silverware compartment.
Augie’s lunch was similarly low-key: carrots and snap peas, the same popcorn, apples, and deli turkey roll-ups on flower picks. This was packed in the PlanetBox
.
Tuesday
Augie and I made my favorite banana bread recipe Monday after school so both boys had it in their lunches on Tuesday. I packed a big slice for Wyatt in our PlanetBox, along with salami slices, grated cheddar in a small, lidded silicone cup, celery with cream cheese, leftover pork tenderloin from dinner and radishes in a square silicone baking cup.
Wyatt has been boycotting most vegetables for a couple months now, so the celery with cream cheese was added in an effort to get him to try something new, but it was a dismal failure. It came home completely untouched.
I used a Laptop Lunches box for Augie for only the first or second time, I think. Usually he chooses a different box, but he was super excited to use the new lunch bag
I bought over the break so the Laptop Lunches box was a must. He had applesauce, banana bread, celery sticks, pork chunks, and salami speared with four alphabet picks that spelled out his initials (AQTC). I also remembered to pack a spoon for the applesauce for once in my life.
Wednesday
On Wednesday Mama got her mojo back! I found some ninja-shaped cookie cutters on clearance at Target on Tuesday, so I had to make Augie a ninja lunch right off. Bonus: his letter of the week at preschool is “N” (which I didn’t remember when I packed the lunch, but sure worked out well)! This lunch featured a ninja banana (I carved the word “ninja” into the skin with the tip of a paring knife and it turned brown on it’s own), cucumber throwing stars cut with a small snowflake cutter, ninja and “throwing star” PB&J sandwiches, and carrot and celery “nunchucks” with some hummus for dipping. This was packed in the PlanetBox.
Wyatt had school lunch.
Thursday
On Thursday I pulled out the ECOLunchboxes TriBento for Wyatt’s lunch and filled it with apples, baked tofu chunks, radishes, a granola bar and a few potato chips.
I packed Augie’s lunch in our Lego bento box: mini saltines (in a smaller Lego container), cucumber slices, baked tofu with a smiley face drawn on (per Augie’s request) and a hand full of grapes. I also remembered to slip a small cup of hummus into the box after I took the photo.
Friday
Today Wyatt had apple chunks, that little suitcase of grated cheddar, carrots, a small Lego container with a little butter, sourdough bread and turkey meatballs. He used the PlanetBox again.
Augie also had apples, meatballs, and bread and I swapped in cukes and a Snoopy cup filled with hummus for Wyatt’s cheese and carrots. This was packed in a Laptop Lunches box.
Stumped for ideas for packed-lunches? Check out my lunch box idea list or visit Wendolonia’s Bento Box Gallery for nearly 1500 searchable lunch photos!
Interested in getting notified of blog updates on Facebook? Like the Wendolonia Facebook page!
You can also get blog updates from Wendolonia on Twitter or you can follow my personal Twitter account where I am sometimes funny or interesting.
