Earth Day Hop

Posted by: bentoriffic on: April 18, 2012

• In: bento | Foods | Holidays | kids | raw food | Spring | Vegan | Vegitarian
• 20 Comments

Having kids made me much more aware of everything.  Taking care of our bodies & the Earth were two of the main reasons I started to do bento boxes for the kids.  I think one of the most important thing parents can teach their kids is to appreciate the things around us that we have.  Don’t waste resources.  Working hard even at 2 & 4 to help do your part so you will value the things you have and the effort it takes to get them.

Since we’re eating a plant-based diet now, we go each week to the local farms to get our fruits and vegetables.  The kids get to choose what they want to eat or try that week.  They have tried more vegetables than even by choosing their own, buying locally, organically grown crops and eating what is in season.  We are lucky to live where we do because it means we can do so almost year-round.

We went to our favorite local farm today, King Family Farm and Market.  We adore the farm.   Today we were lucky enough to have the girls hold, pet and feed a 2 week old lamb which was the highlight of their week.

Almost everything is grown there or locally.  The girls get to see how the food is grown, picked or cut and get dirty if they so choose.  Today we picked up romanesco.  We had never tried it until last month, and now we’re hooked! This is what it looks like:

It’s in the broccoli family but it’s like broccoli and cauliflower gone wild.  The best part is that it’s taste is much more mild.  My kids have tried but never eaten broccoli or cauliflower.  After they ate the romanseco cooked with leeks, they will eat all 3 now!

Miss G is having a Love Your Mother (Earth) tree.  At the top right, she has a cup of broccoli & romanseco and on the bottom right is a cup of heart shaped kiwi slices with blueberries around it.  The tree sandwich is on Rudi’s whole grain bread with Justin’s Almond Butter & blackberry jam and a crust for the trunk.  The hearts are made from vegan cheese and fruit leather.  The “love your mother” is all in cherry fruit leather.  In the green cup is israeli cous cous dyed with India Tree food coloring and a green apple heart on top packed in her Easy Lunch Box.

Little A has little leaf sandwiches of the same almond butter & jam.  At the top left are blueberries with a kiwi heart on top.  The top right green square has frozen peas in it and the bottom right blue cup has sliced red pears underneath a honeydew melon recycle symbol packed in her LunchBots stainless bento box.

For a special Earth Day treat, I colored some So Delicious brand dairy free coconut milk ice cream with blue food coloring and froze a green kiwi heart in the middle.  Each day the girls have filtered ice water packed in their CamelBak reusable, BPA free bottles.

Please click on the Earth Day Globe button below to check out what Marie at Healthy Eating Starts At Home cooked up and follow the links all the way through!

Tags: Blog hop, blueberries, CamelBak kids, casein free, coconut milk, dairy free, Earth Day, Easy Lunch Boxes, frozen peas, honeydew, israeli cous cous, Justin's almond butter, King Family Farm and Market, kiwi, LunchBots, pear, raw food, recycle, reduce, reuse, romanesco, Rudi's whole grain bread, So Delicious, sustainable, vegan, vegitaria