The Week in Bentos

Thanks for the positive feedback about last week's bento post!  I think a regular weekly post would be a nice addition to the blog too, so here we go with this week's bentos:

One of our favorite weeknight meals is a rotisserie chicken from Publix, baked beans, and Hawaiian rolls. The left over roll made it into Elle's bento the next day (we're gonna be in trouble when Liv starts eating that forth one... all our left overs are really going to suffer once Liv starts eating a full portion, everything is made for 4!).  The little monkey container has a tiny banana spoon and I packed some butter in it for her to spread on her roll.  Next to that she has dried fruit, below that, little picks with cheddar cheese cubes and pepperonis, and a stack of sliced cucumbers.

Thursday she had her favorite flavor of sugar free apple sauce, country berry.  In her box was a slice of toasted cinnamon raisin bread, almonds, grapes, baby carrots, a fruit leather divider and the piece de resistance (anyone know how to make accent marks in Blogger?!?) a Babybell Cheese ladybug complete with fruit leather antenna and spots drawn with a sharpie.

Elle didn't eat many of her carrots on Wednesday, so I tried them again today, this time with Ranch dressing in a little red screw top container to dip them in and she brought home an empty bento box :)  She also had banana chips, fig newtons, cheese crackers, and grapes with a little pick thrown in for fun.

Do you pack lunches for your little ones?  What are their favorites?

First Week of School Bentos

Are you ready for a little break from the party posts?  This was Elle's first week of school ever and consequently the first time I've had to pack lunches.  It was a little daunting... I wasn't sure if I was packing too much or too little, what if she changed her mind about eating something she usually eats, was it a well rounded meal, what if her teacher critiqued it... yes I realize that is entirely too much stress over a little a pre-school lunch.  And all for naught, she didn't starve or swear off any of her favorites, and I didn't get any notes from the teacher chastising me for an insufficient serving of vegetables.

Here's the thing, I'm still half asleep when I'm packing these things so I'm really lucky that I've been able to find my phone and get a picture where you can somewhat tell what foods are packed... maybe one day I'll  have the energy to set up a pretty little background & use an actual camera but not this week.  Now that that's out of the way:

This was her first day's bento.  I packed cheese crackers, topped with a fruit leather "I", a silicone cupcake wrapper with cinnamon almonds topped with a Babybell cheese with a heart cut out of the wax, half a banana with "You" written in sharpie on the peel, rolled up turkey lunchmeat, the rest of the fruit leather used as a divider, and some grapes.  This is the Sassy box and it holds a ton... a little too much even though she's a great eater.  She came home with 3 crackers, a couple of the lunchmeat rolls, a few grapes, and said the banana was bruised.

Day 2: two pieces of cinnamon raisin toast and a piece of cheese cut with a star cookie cutter, a paper cupcake wrapper with dried fruit, some grapes, cucumber slices, and triscuts.  The little container at the top left is a monkey with a little spoon that I put some butter in for her to spread on her toast, and the container on the top right has ranch dressing for the cucumbers.  I thought the triscuts were tough enough to stay crispy next to the cucumbers, but the few that came home at the end of the day were pretty soggy... don't think I'll do that again.

This was today's bento (she's only at school 3 full days).  It's a cranberry raspberry apple sauce, babybell cheese, hard boiled egg, 2 fig newtons, cinnamon almonds, and a few grapes.  Oh and a super cutesie turtle pick and a little silicone bear divider.  She ate every bite of this one, including the hard boiled egg... which I was a little concerned about... she likes eggs like this, but she hasn't eaten one whole, they've always been cut up.

So what do you think?  Should I do a weekly bento post... in addition to whatever other posts I do... seriously I have DIY ADD!