Day 26- Pot Stickers Bento

Another evening meal of you guys can have anything you want that " we have in the freezer". Potstickers it was! My entire division was laid off; all of my people and myself. Boo! Lunch was quick and made for the Peanut alone. Potstickers cold are edible per Peanut. Potstickers covered in strawberry infused organic, no sugar applesauce are icky. Note: Do not put sauces etc by themselves unseled in the 4 square Lock & Lock container. Snack was dried pears from Costco. Lucky for everyone; I pre ordered hot lunch for Peanut tomorrow!

Day 25- Peek-A-Boo Sammies

This is being posted after another really bad day, when one remembers what is truly important (family) and holds them as close as they can and then asks them to call the shots.:) The Peanut made the peek-a-boos and somewhat mangled the bread with mommy's help (my rectangles came out a little uneven after a well-deserved glass of wine). The sammies are made with butter ("we" no longer like cream cheeze and pb is off limits at kindy) and apricot and strawberry preserves. Watermelon and orange slices for desert with cucumber flower, tomato, mayo and dill salad served in the orange rind. This one was a very popular lunch.

Day 24- Caterpillar Lunch....

I got the idea for this little guy off of parenting.com, (actually before I started even making these lunches, this was one of the first places I found ideas for "cute lunches")  butI  just hadn't yet gotten the "time" to try him out. Now that I've gotten the hang of it though, I've tried my own version which required a lot less forethought and more importantly work, but he still looks cute! The original is made with mashed potato (which Peanut "will not" eat-her words not mine) and scrambled eggs with spinach from Parenting.com (http://www.parenting.com/gallery/how-to-make-a-caterpillar-bento-lunch-box). Ours was made half as small for a kindy appetite with an edamame snack, plain old scrambled eggs, and mozzarella cheese and watermelon slices addes to boost up the celery legs (to keep them from "running" around" the box during home to school transport).

Day 23-Flower Garden Bento

Today it is all about what the Peanut wants and the Peanut has only two requests: flowers and avocado. Peanut loves avocado! To keep the avocado from browning we sprinkle with Crystal Lite Lemonade (pears get soaked in this). Slice this with some of that apple smoked gouda, chedder cheese, ham, peeled pear, and kiwi and the Peanut gets to work with cutting and sneaking tastes when I am not looking. The base is sushi rice which I make in one of my  favorite kitchen appliances of all time: My Black and Decker 3-cup rice cooker (http://www.amazon.com/Black-Decker-RC3303-3-Cup-Cooker/dp/B002CVTT52). Served with celery sticks and black olives (I buy by the can and keep in tupperware for a week or so to use for lunches, snacks and dinners, or freeze in batches in ziploc bags). Little container holds low sodium soy sauce to season the rice with. Peanut loved filling this guy up using a little suction straw deal.

Day 22- Busy Mom has a Bad Day!

Okay let's face it. We all have these days! Some days I feel like a super woman; able to juggle children, marriage, career, house-hold all in one hand. Some days I can whip together a totally inspired, made from scratch  healthy meal and lunch all before bedtime and before my work computer even cools down. And some days I just hit the freezer and throw chicken nuggets (organic of course) in the microwave for the kids, and hubby and I fend for ourselves. This is the day I have to lay off two employees. This is a day that really sucks!

Lunch is cooked chicken nuggets, watermelon and kiwi and carrots and mushroom with ranch dip. This picture taken by a mom too uninspired to dig up a scrapbook page back ground at this time, does however, showcase our super cool Lock & Lock thermos and three part container (they make all my cool tupperware style "boxes" as well, and have great deals on their website from time to time where you can get things like these thermos (plural "thermi?") for cheap for sets of 2: http://www.locknlockplace.com/servlet/-strse-template/event_happy/Page
). It also showcases the cute click open BPA free snack container I found at the Dollar Store. Love the dollar store and any dollar bins at the grocery store, Target, Micheals etc for great bento supplies BTW.

Day 21- Lunch on a Stick

I got way too many shadows in this picture, but this was a none-the-less popular lunch and also very easy. This was also fun to make with Peanut and had to keep the Bear very busy because he kept hitting us up for scraps while we assembled it. Basically just trying to use up everything fresh that needed to be used before it hit expiration (as well as some of the ham we had for dinner), stuck them all on broken down b-b-q skewers, seperated by cupcake liners cut off from the base, and voila. For the veggie course we have olives, tomatoes and mushrooms. For the protein/grain course: cut up dinner rolls, ham, and some smoked apple gouda that peanut loves even though she says she now "doesn't like cheese;" and for the fruit course: kiwi, black grapes and the last of the seasons watermelon. Wheat thin sticks (which both kids disliked BTW) and grapes for snack.

Day 20- Left Over Spaghetti Casserole Lunch

This is left-over spaghetti casserole with some fresh parmasan from last night's dinner with baked ritz, celery sticks and multi colored grapes. Very very quick and easy lunch. Peanut will eat the cooled cheeze dishes better than the hot ones for some reason?