Lunches 9/9/13 - 9/16/13

On Fridays, I don't cook because I have to drive all over town getting my stepkids.  So we get fast food or pizza those nights.  I know, I know, awful!  We only end up eating that crap once or twice a week, though, so I figure it's not too bad.  Everything in moderation, right?

Anyway, we'd had pizza on Friday, and Squirrel begged (I mean begged) to have 'naked' pizza in her lunch Monday.  'Naked' is pretty much how it sounds: all toppings but cheese picked off.  Friday, she'd said no to pizza in her lunch, then on Sunday all of a sudden decided she'd have it, but only with ranch dressing to dip it in!  On the side she had apple slices, cucumber flowers, and a few candy corn that she'd gotten out of the bulk section of the grocery store.  Incidentally, she didn't touch her apples because she's decided she doesn't like the skin.  Guess what goes in her morning smoothies?  Bwahahahaha!

Snack is strawberry hearts with a bunny pick, apple slices (that she also didn't eat), grapes, and 's'mores:' marshmallow fluff and chocolate frosting on graham crackers.

Tuesday, I packer her an extra-large lunch so she could split it between lunch and snack, but it apparently confused her because I hadn't packed her snack in a separate box.  She had the school snack instead.

Bear and I had went out to lunch the day before after we finished running errands after dropping her off in the morning.  We went to our favorite little Japanese hole-in-the-wall restaurant.  I always get the #18, which is gyoza, teriyaki chicken, salad, and rice.  I don't really care for the chicken, but the Squirrel devours it so we always split the plate.  She was completely stoked when I told her I brought the chicken home for her lunch!  She got the chicken, plum sauce in the little to-go tub that I didn't trust so stuck in a baggie, grapes, apples, cucumbers, and iced animal crackers.  She also had greek yogurt in the little tub, with a colored frozen yogurt flower.

Here is her lunch/snack with a Hello Kitty baran to keep the chicken from bouncing around.

On Tuesday afternoon we stopped and the Dollar Tree on the way home.  I needed to grab something (I think I forgot to get it anyway), and saw some darling little ladybug containers that would be perfect for my Squirrel!

 

I used the Tinkerbell sandwich box that was the very first one I'd ever bought for Squirrel way back when.  She got a mini bagel with cream cheese and jam, string cheese nibblets wrapped in ham, a cucumer flower, cucumber, and cheddar whales.  She had greek yogurt with a frozen yogurt flower on top.  Her snack was trail mix, a few cheese balls, cucumber flowers (which she didn't touch.  I swear, one of these days I'm going to be successful in getting her to eat it!).

And with the lids on and her spoon and cloth napkin on the bottom.  The bagel made it so the lunch box didn't quite want to close.  I need to make her some bento box bands, I just haven't gotten around to it.  I even have adorable ladybug-spotted elastic perfect for it!

On Thursday she got turkey sandwiches.  I cut the bread with linzer cookie cutters that I LOVE for sandwiches (especially mini grilled cheese!)!  I also added string cheese slices to the upper section.  The lower has apples that are also cut with the same linzer cutter, and canteloupe underneath.  I cut a few butterflies out of the apples with the inner bit of the linzer cutter, cut some butterflies out of the canteloupe, and stuffed the apples with them.  I sprinkled a little bit of cinnamon red-hot sprinkles on it to liven it up, but it kind of put her off it.  I even covered my bases before hand by showing her when I made them but no-go :(  Normal greek yogurt with frozen yogurt flower on the side.

Her snack was more leftover teriyaki chicken w/ an egg pick and baran, carrot flowers, pretzel crackers, and raisins under the green cup.

And here it is all packed up!

On Friday, I'd wanted to do a superstition-themed lunch (Friday the thirteenth), but I could only think of a black cat sandwich and somehow incorporating a 'broken mirror' into press-n-seal wrap or something or other.  Didn't really come together so Squirrel got octowienies!

They're super easy to make and she loves them.  Just slice a hot dog in half (I use turkey dogs). Slice the cut ends into however may arms you want (eight is a little rough).  I carved a face into it with a knife.  Then boil it and the legs curl out!  She got two octowienies with ketchup to dip, frozen blueberries, grapes, carrot flowers, and 's'mores.'  The grapes were the most gigantic grapes I'd ever seen in the grocery store so I grabbed them to try.  Little did I know they were so big because they had tons of seeds, so I had to slice them in half to get the seeds out for her.  I mixed a little Hawaiian Punch drink mix leftover from camping into her yogurt, and topped it off with some rainbow sprinkles.  The yogurt was actually really yummy!  She got trail mix for a snack, and they're all packed up with her cloth napkin, spoon, and milk box on the lower right.

Sorry for the massively long post - wanted to try out just one weekly post to save myself a little time.  I might have to go back to multiple posts throughout the week.  What do you think - one long weekly post or multiple smaller posts?

Lunches 9/5/13 & 9/6/13 - the last two days of her first week in Kindergarten

For the last two days of Squirrel's first week of Kindergarten I debuted two new containers!  I'd never used a Thermos Funtainer for her before.  Bear has one that I've sent hot lunches in, but I was unsure about hers.  I had her test it a few times, though, and determined the happy medium where she can unscrew it on her own but it still keeps her food in.  On Thursday, September 5 Squirrel had cheese shells with hot dog slices in the Funtainer.  The sidecar was blueberries, grapes (some on a skewer), and pretzel crackers in the top compartment.  The bottom compartment had a mini banana, chocolate chip, and coconut muffin I made for Squirrel while she was at school her first day, carrots, and two Hello Panda cookies.  Those things are way too damn good.  It is seriously hard to not eat a whole box of them!  

This was the day she determined that she 'doesn't like carrots anymore.'  Absolutely ridiculous, because carrots have been the only vegetables we can reliably shove in her since she started eating solid foods as a baby!  However, I think that they may just be hard for her to eat because she recently lost her first tooth (front lower left), and has another loose one in the front and they may just be hard for her to eat.  I think I'll try slicing them so she can just chomp them with her molars and see how that goes.

On her first Friday in school (9/6/13) I debuted her second new lunch box - an awesome circular one.  Found it in the Dollar Spot at Target.

The top layer (the smaller one) has grapes, blueberries, and baby carrots sliced length-wise.  I didn't intend on making a pattern, it just sort of happened.  The lower portion has a turkey and cheese pocket sandwich, Hello Panda cookies and pb sandwich crackers (under the sandwich).  Note to anyone who makes them: heart pocket sandwiches don't work well in circular lunchboxes.  And that's AFTER I trimmed it down to make it easier to fit!

 Here's the top and sides of the new, circular container.  You can see how the smaller tray just nests in the larger one.  It's really easy for Squirrel to open and close herself!

Incidentally, on Friday, Squirrel was convinced that she's start first grade Monday because she'd already had her first week of kindergarten.  I tried convincing her that she still had to have Christmas, Spring, and Summer before first grade but she was absolutely determined that she was going in to first grade Monday morning.  When Bear and I picked her up Monday after school, the first thing out of her mouth was "Well, I'm still in Kindergarten."  Hahaha!

First day of Kindergarten and an apology!

I'm sorry for having such a long bento hiatus - over summer break my daughter was at my inlaws everyday, so a lunch wasn't needed.  Hopefully I'll be posting more regularly now that she's in school!

Today was Squirrel's first day of Kindergarten.  She was actually the only kid in her class with a lunch from home.  Can you believe that?  I looked at the school menu, and at nearly $2 per lunch, that is SO not worth it to me!

So today she had PB&J sandwich 'sushi,' carrots with one skewered into a heart, grapes and blueberries on a skewer and loose, orange gelatin with a fruit leather heart, cheese whale crackers, and two jam-filled marshmallows.  I think they're nasty, but she seems to love them!  And the letters on her box are fruit leather, as well.  Sorry for the pics, they were taken on my phone last night.  My camera's dead.

New Plate!!

My friend sent me this adorable plate, and I had to put it on here!

How cute is that?

May Flowers Bento 5/13/13

Today I'm posting about the hubby's lunch, and my lunch (and breakfast), in addition to G's lunch. Oh, and I finished my first quilt!  Woo hoo!  I found this GIGANTIC Italian carrot at the produce market a few miles from my house.  I'd never seen an Italian carrot before but apparently they have some kind of steroid in the soil!  Seriously - this thing was the size and shape of a Pringles can!!  It smelled just like a regular carrot so I had to get one to punch shapes out of since none of the carrots at the grocery store are ever fat enough.  Oh, and don't mind the background in the pics today, it's my super beat-up kitchen table.  Hand-me-down from my mom & dad - it's older than me!

G's lunch: cheddar, provolone, & honey turkey flowers with wheat crackers, 4 organic liquid-filled gummy penguins from Trader Joe's.  I know, I know - not fitting the 'May flowers' theme but they didn't have a flowery candy!  She also had Italian carrot & cucumber flowers, with grapes and raspberries.  I packed her a lot of cracker sandwich fixins because she usually shares her lunches with her cousin and he tends to not eat the healthier stuff.  And don't worry, there's actually three thick slices of both the carrots and cucumbers, they're just stacked.

Here's Bear's lunch for tomorrow!  It seems like there's always an excuse not to make a lunch for him, and then I end up mad that he spent money on lunch when we have so much here at home. However, today I packed it!  I used one of my Sistema cube boxes.  They're pretty nifty.  The two compartments on the right are the bottom, and the compartment on the left has a top that clips on, then the whole thing flips over and it all gets secured with a clip on the side.  I use them pretty often for him, not really all that much for me because I tend to graze throughout the day and it's a pain to keep getting it out and putting it away.  He just eats three meals a day.  In the upper compartment, I made him a pepper ham & cheddar sandwich with G's leftover cheddar pieces from cutting out her flowers.  He also got more wheat crackers and dark chocolate peanut butter cups from Trader Joe's.  I like the bottom compartments of these cubes because it seems to be perfectly portioned for fruits & veggies.  In this case, raspberries, grapes, & strawberries on the left, broccoli (with Italian carrot sliced below, & ranch in the white tub.  I just got the white tubs in a pack of 10 hanging in the isle of my local grocery store.  I stuck picks in his because he doesn't always get a chance to do more than wipe his hands with a baby wipe before he eats and I didn't want to make him touch moist food if he didn't need to.

And my breakfast/lunch/snack.  The bottom container is another Sistema one, with vanilla Greek yogurt in the right, and raspberries and my home-made granola in the left in a silicone baking cup. The top container is one I got from Uwajimaya on the other side of Portland from my home.  It's got a removable divider, & a clear, microwave-safe lid.  I don't microwave it, but it has a vent if I did.  Anyway, on the left are the scraps from G's Italian carrot & cucumber flowers, plus one because I didn't think it was enough.  There's ranch dressing in the little round tub.  I also packed strawberries & grapes with more yogurt for dipping in the square tub.  In the red silicone baking cup, I've got Annie's Bunny Friends mix (chocolate bunnies, honey graham bunnies, & chocolate chip bunny crackers) with a few chocolate-covered raisins on top.  I also packed four frozen chicken taquitos from Trader Joe's on top.

And the quilt!  Hubby's cousin B was piecing blocks of fabric together one day when I walked in and sort of took over.  I've made little random projects in the past, and watched my mom quilt for years (she's an award-winning quilter.  Really, she is), but my only personal quilting experience was making a coaster for my craft desk.  I totally redesigned her quilt, then took it to do the actual sewing and quilting because their rinky-dink sewing machine would in NO WAY handle a quilt!  I also did mitered corners, pretty proud of that :)  B was making it for a friend's new baby, so it was nice and little.  I tried to get G to pose with it but she would only make obnoxious faces so you're stuck with a picture of me, taken by her.  It was really warm in my kitchen so I'm super greasy!  (I cropped out all my crap in the background)

Here's one of her obnoxious ones:

It pretty much continued like that for 8 pictures...


*Disclaimer: I do not get any type of affiliate discount, rebate, reward, payout or whatnot from linking to these sites.  I purely go to Uwajimaya about twice a year when I can force myself to drive to that side of town

My Melody/Sea Life Bento 5/8/13

Hey, I just figured out how to view some stats and I've had 6 views from America, 2 from Germany, and 1 from South Korea.  That means that at least 3 of them weren't me!!  Woot woot!  I'm figuring more of this out every day :)

So that this post has some purpose, let's look at G's lunch yesterday (5/8/13)!

I tried (and failed miserably) to make a sandwich pocket.  I've harassed Kendra into giving me gotten some tips about it that have seemed to work a little better.  She recommended that I microwave the bread for a few seconds to make it soft enough to squish.  And that, all else fails, cream cheese makes great glue!  I tried the microwaving on her next lunch, but I had waaaay too much jelly in that one so it slopped out everywhere!  Her sandwich in this lunch was cut with a large egg-shaped cutter & has pb&j.  Under it are some Stauffer's cheddar whales.  I was extremely shocked that they have no artificial ingredients!!  I figured, being $1 at Target, that they'd be chock-full of crap but they aren't!  Which is a good thing, because they have the best, most cheesiest flavor of any cheese crackers we've tried.  Even better than Goldfish!  I used a My Melody (Hello Kitty character) plastic baran to decorate her sandwich.

I put vanilla Chobani Greek yogurt in a little dip tub that I got in a pack of 10 hanging in an isle at Albertson's.  I stole from Kendra came up with a completely original idea, where you put a cookie cutter in the yogurt, suck some out with a straw, and then fill it in with something.  In this case, more strawberry-rhubarb jam.  She loved it!!  She'd never had Greek yogurt before, only regular, so I wasn't sure how she'd react to the tanginess but she asked for more :)

I cut the carrot coins into flowers (sort of - they were skinny carrots) with a veggie cutter.  Not quite sure where I got it, but it came with a cherry-blossom cutter as well.

Some apples on fish and crab picks, alternated to try to fun it up a bit to get her to eat it.  She's not a huge fan of apples (I learned later that it's because she has a hard time biting through the peel, so cutting it into chucks lessens this issue), but she ate them this way.  Gotta be smarter than the five-year old!

The white blobs in the silicon baking cup are these strawberry liquid-filled marshmallows we got on a recent trip to Uwajimaya in Beaverton.

This box at Target is very similar to the one I used for this lunch:

I want this one so badly!!  The one I used is only one layer, does not have flatware, and has a clear lid.  There are cute octopi on the bottom of the box that she was delighted to find after eating, and pink waves on the lid.  Adorable!

*Disclaimer: I do not get any type of affiliate discount, rebate, reward, payout or whatnot from linking to these sites.  I purely go to Uwajimaya about twice a year when I can force myself to drive to that side of town, and am obsessed with Kendra's blog.  It's kinda creepy, actually.  A little stalker-ish. ;D

Gwakermalolee

Tonight's episode brought to you by the letter 'G!' (get it, guacamole...G...hardeeharhar)

Well, it's really a part of a five-layer dip I was coerced into volunteered to make for a work potluck the next day. My guac is legendary. No really, they've written songs about the delicious goodness that is my guac! Ok, might be exaggerating a touch, but only a little ;)

I doubled my normal recipe as I have to feed a horde of fourteen with it, rather than my usual six.

Best-ever guacamole

(I don't even know why I'm doing this as a recipe, I never measure the ingredients!)

3 large avocados (mine were freakishly tiny so I used 6)
1 tsp-ish salt
A few squirts of lime juice
1 tomato, diced (I used a Roma- they were on sale)
1/2 onion, finely chopped (I usually use purple, but I used yellow this time because for some reason, purple ones were only available in a bag of 8 at this grocery store and I wasn't driving all over town for a purple onion so I used what I had at home. My favorite farm stand closed down :( )
3 or so cloves garlic, minced
Jalapeño, minced, to taste (I didn't put any in this batch because it was a work potluck)
1 tbsp-ish fresh or dried cilantro (I used dried because the pup decided my garden was a free salad bar this year)

Peel and de-pit the avocados and plop them in a bowl.

Add your salt and lime juice.

Start smooshing up your avocados with a spoon, then mix in tomatoes, onions, garlic, & cilantro.

 My cilantro is in another picture because I completely forgot about it until I already started mixing.

You don't have any artificial preservatives in your guac, so make sure you store it in a container with plastic wrap right against it, no air space to avoid browning. Yummers!

And the five-layer dip I actually made it to be a part of:

Numero Uno!!

High-roh!!

Wow! It's my very first blog post! I read blogs, I laugh at blogs, I talk to people about blogs, I link to blogs, but I've never had one. It's pretty daunting, to be honest. To have this whole website to yourself, to put whatever you'd like to on. Scary!

So let's start with a little background: I'm Jingle (fake name, obvs!). I'm married to Bear. I've got three stepkids (Z, K, and C), and a little monster of my own (Squirell). We've got a (as of 4/15/13) nine-month old Rottweiler. Oh, and one Beta fish named Bob. I work full-time, and try really hard to make not-too-awfully-unhealthy meals for all the heathens. I have also recently started making bentos on a regular basis, for the hub, Squirell, and myself. I'm in love with two other bento blogs (Biting the Hand that Feeds You & Wendolonia - they're both on the West coast, like me!) and I figured, rather than bore my Facebook peeps with all those pics, I'd slap them on a blog.

So, it'll be bentos, recipes, and random crap from here on out, k?

Yeah, I haven't figured out how to make an embedded link (is that what it's called?) yet...

FYI, I figured it out mere seconds before posting this!  Now to figure out how to upload pictures from my phone...


Figured it out!!

(this was my puppy, Angus, at about two months.  Isn't he the cutest thing in the friggin' world?)