Posts Tagged ‘Easy LunchBoxes’
Pancakes and dental week bentos
Posted on: February 6, 2013
- In: allergy friendly | bento | casein free | dairy free | eco-friendly | egg free | engine 2 diet | food blog | kids | lunchbox | meatless | no waste lunch | nut free | obento | plant based | plant strong | school lunch | snacks | soy free | toddler food | toddler lunch | Vegan | Vegetarian | whole food | yum
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Extra flossing and brushing are what’s going on in our house for some extra dental education. Thank goodness Miss A’s teacher reminded me it’s Dental Week this week at her school and all month long is Dental Health Awareness. They’re talking tooth care in the classroom which means I get to break out the molar picks and drill deep for my creative side! Miss A just came back from a dental visit about a week ago with a clean bill of health and a new toothbrush. She is starting to enjoy her visits so I like to keep it all fun for her while she doesn’t have any stress attached to the visits.
I don’t own any tooth cookie cutters so I had to think of what I could make. I went the easy (and lazy route) for pancakes and used Bisquick pancake mix, which is vegan. I didn’t say healthy, but it was quick. I also added 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and 1 teaspoon of vanilla. I used EnerG egg replacer and unsweetened almond milk in the mix in place of eggs and cow’s milk & poured it into a pancake bottle like the one below. In the top compartments of her Easy LunchBoxes containers are organic plums, blueberries and a strawberry on a “tooth” pick. Get it? I hand drew a toothpaste bottle, a molar and a small toothbrush. I accented the tooth with 2 vegan (dairy free) chocolate chips and a fruit leather mouth. Next to her lunchbox is an Easy Lunchboxes Mini Dipper container with organic maple syrup in it.
Snacktime today will be loads of fruit. From the top left in her LunchBots Quad are sliced local strawberries, d’anjou pear pieces, pinapple chunks and sliced local Minneolas which are technically tangelos but look like a small orange.
Another flirtatious lunch for my husband today with I heart you pancakes. The big stack underneath are all heart shaped pancakes and 2 small organic plums propping up the I and the U. I also included a bunch of grape tomatoes and blueberries in his Easy LunchBoxes container today. Not shown is his Mini Dippers container with maple syrup.
My other preschooler has the same lunch as above with dental themed pancakes, plums, blueberries and a strawberry on top in her Easy Lunchboxes. Happy Lunch Packing!
Things I used to make this lunch:
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I know it’s still snowing & cruddy almost everywhere else but here. We’ve had some cooler weather for Florida, but we are definitely spoiled with the sunshine and year round produce. We picked some local strawberries last week so there are still some left that I hadn’t frozen for smoothies yet.
Whenever I’m at a loss for things to make, I often turn to wraps. You can use dinner leftovers, lunch leftovers and pack it into a tortilla for a new meal. I used Rudi’s Organic Spelt Tortillas to make vegetable wraps. I used a homemade sunflower seed spread on the base, julienned carrots and cucumbers and pile on a small heap of steamed edamame and wrapped. I like to refrigerate them for a few minutes before attempting to cut them. The picks (bunnies in this lunchbox) help keep them together for little fingers. In with the mini wraps for Miss A are sugar snap peas and pineapple. At the top are organic raspberries, blueberries and strawberries in her Easy Lunchboxes container.
My favorite bento store, Bento USA by All Things For Sale carries some fabulous and very affordable ways to change up lunchtime. This new building block snack box is a favorite of ours for quick snacks. This one has pineapple, strawberries and sugar snap peas in it for a healthy, quick preschool snack.
Yes, it is possible to flirt even in a packed lunch. I’m not sure that the letters and hearts stay in place, but I’m hoping he gets the idea. My husband has the grown up version of the same sunflower spread and veggie wraps. I made a grape tomato heart on top and the letters are cut out of Stretch Island fruit leather. He has sugar snap peas and last night’s steamed lemon, shallots and slivered almond brussell sprouts in the top right compartment of his Easy LunchBoxes container.
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Please click on each photo below to find out where to purchase the same lunch supplies:
Gluten Free Pasta bentos
Posted on: January 31, 2013
- In: allergy friendly | bento | casein free | dairy free | eating local | eco-friendly | egg free | engine 2 diet | gluten free | kids | lunchbox | meatless | no waste lunch | nut free | obento | organic | plant based | plant strong | school lunch | snacks | toddler food | toddler lunch | Vegan | Vegetarian | whole food | winter | yum
- 3 Comments
My favorite pasta place in town, Peperonata Pasta in Sarasota, FL has started making gluten free, egg free, soy based pasta, and we love the fun shapes! I buy it at the Saturday Farmer’s Market fresh. These creste shapes are made to look like a rooster’s comb, and my kids love them!
I cooked the pasta and then stirred in some seasoned black beans, steamed broccoli and topped with black olives. Included are honeydew melon and cantaloupe balls and a silicone cup of red grape tomatoes in my 4 year old’s Easy LunchBoxes container.
A simple fruity snack box went off with Miss G today too. In her LunchBots Uno, she has watermelon, strawberries, pineapple and kiwi slices.
Little Miss just turned 3 has a smaller version of the same gluten free pasta with black beans and broccoli with black olives and a rainbow of fresh fruit in her LunchBots Duo with sliced kiwi, pineapple and watermelon pieces. Both girls have ice water daily with their lunches.
Just read a great quote that I loved so I’m sharing it below. Happy Thursday!
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- 8 Comments
Who doesn’t love ice cream? I do…until it makes me sick, or…well, now I just eat coconut milk ice cream sparingly. I thought it would be fun to make colorful ice cream scoops for lunch and pretend like we’re having it as a special treat.
Miss A (3 years old) has an Easy LunchBoxes container with tiny ice cream cone sandwiches on Rudi’s brand Cracked Wheat bread. I used a small pastry plunger cutter to make them. I do press the bread a bit before cutting, cut the shape and then press the plunger VERY firmly to get the fancy imprints in the bread. Then fill them as desired. Above the sandwiches in the pink cup is jasmine rice with balsamic glazed chickpeas. Next to that are some orange “scoops” of cantaloupe and some dried apricots. In the top left compartment are honeydew melon balls and in the top right are more “scoops” of watermelon.
Miss G has been asking some days to help make her lunches. Sometimes it’s in the mad rush of the morning, but she loves to cook and help so I try to accommodate whenever I can since I know she’s more likely to eat it if she makes it. She chose flowers for the above lunch in her Easy LunchBoxes container. She wanted chocolate almond butter, but we settled on regular almond butter and blackberry jam on Rudi’s Cracked Wheat bread. She also wanted to poke holes in them so she chose a tiny clover shaped cutter for the middle. Above the sandwiches are flower cups of dried cranberries and cashews. In the top left are grape tomatoes which she eats by the container and in the top right is an apple shaped apple which I made for her. I soaked it in the juice of half and orange for about 10 minutes before packing to prevent browning.
For snack time today, Miss G packed herself some sliced cucumbers, flower cut watermelon shapes, an apple cinnamon flower muffin and raspberries in lettuce silicone cups packed in her LunchBots Uno.
Please click on each photo to see where I purchased the tools I used to make this lunch:
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- 10 Comments
Leftovers. It’s what’s for lunch. It’s not exciting sometimes, but it sure is a timesaver for whoever is packing lunch!
I have gotten in the habit in the past few weeks of doubling my dinner recipes. I am always grabbing lunch on the go, and it’s nice to have something I can just reheat. Plus it makes for simple lunches the next day. In this case, I had been browsing through Christy Morgan’s Blissful Bites cookbook while meal planning. She suggested a grain called hato mugi. In all my years of cooking I hadn’t ever heard of it. It’s also called Job’s tears. It’s a barley like grain that is actually the seed of an Asian grass that has a higher quantity of protein, fat, calcium, iron, B vitamins and more amino acids than most grains. It also helps with the stomach and cleansing the blood. I decided to order some for fun. It’s a wonderful, gluten-free grain. My best description of it would be a heavy, more textured barley and with a more distinct taste. I cooked the hato mugi first. While it was simmering, I cooked cannellini and pinto beans separately with lemon juice, garlic rosemary, salt and a bit of tahini. When it was done, I arranged it over the grain.
And above is the same dish packed in an Easy LunchBoxes container for lunch the next day. The beans got a bit smooshed when I stored it overnight, but I just added fresh fruit in the morning (honeydew melon balls and mango slices). Lunch is served.
Miss G wanted bears today so I obliged. She has mini sandwiches in the bottom left with bear faces stamped on them. Above are cashews, a date, almond and raisin ball rolled in coconut and grape tomatoes on bear picks. In the top right are fresh mango slices with more little bears, and in the bottom right are strawberry hearts and a silicone bear cup with honeydew melon balls packed in her Planetbox stainless lunchbox.
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Happy birthday to Miss A
Posted on: January 25, 2013
- In: allergy friendly | bento | casein free | dairy free | eco-friendly | egg free | engine 2 diet | food blog | Foods | kids | lunchbox | meatless | no waste lunch | obento | organic | plant based | plant strong | school lunch | snacks | soy free | Vegan | Vegetarian | whole food
- 9 Comments
It was Miss A’s birthday this week. She turned 3. I think every mother sits back and asks where the time went. It certainly doesn’t feel like 3 years ago! In any case, I made her a special birthday lunch, and her Easy LunchBoxes container came back empty which is always a sign of success to me.
I used the LunchPunch birthday cake cutter on Rudi’s Whole Wheat bread. Inside is Justin’s Almond butter with a bit of agave nectar. I cut a 3 out of Stretch Island fruit leather and used a tiny heart cutter for the flames of the candles. On either side of the sandwich are heart picks of organic blueberries. In the top left compartment are 3 pineapple chunks and three candle cupcake picks and in the top right are 3 number 3 pieces of watermelon and a date and raisin ball rolled in coconut.
Her favorite present? A Stitch action figure which I found on eBay. He speaks alien, makes laser gun noises and comes with green alien drool. I know, I’m not winning mother of the year in some people’s eyes, but she LOVES her Lilo and Stitch Disney movies.
Miss G wanted to make her own lunch today so I obliged. She had a cupcake shaped sandwich with the same LunchPunch set. She filled it with chocolate almond butter and cut a fruit leather cherry for the top. She also has organic blueberries and ice cream cone shaped watermelon pieces in her Easy Lunchboxes container.
My husband is having last night’s leftovers of barbeque black eyed peas, beans and vegetables. It’s as simple as it sounds. Cook black eyed pease and your favorite beans (I used pintos) or open the can & dump into a skillet. In a separate skillet I cooked 2 carrots chopped, 1 shallot finely chopped, 1 cup of peas and 2 turnips and sauteed them in a separate skillet until cooked. I used about a 1/2 cup of barbeque sauce and coated the beans while heating them. When the vegetables were done cooking, I merged the two and coated it all with the barbeque sauce. Dinner is served! In the top left are pineapple pieces and in the right compartment are watermelon pieces in his Easy Lunchboxes container.
Please click on each photo to find out where I bought tools I used to make this lunch:
Birdies and stars lunches
Posted on: January 23, 2013
- In: allergy friendly | bento | casein free | dairy free | eating local | eco-friendly | egg free | engine 2 diet | Foods | gluten free | kids | lunchbox | meatless | no waste lunch | obento | organic | plant based | plant strong | raw food | salad | school lunch | snacks | soy free | toddler food | toddler lunch | Vegan | Vegetarian | whole food
- 4 Comments
Birds make me happy. I don’t have a specific reason. They just cheer me up so I’m hoping that my kids find the same joy in them that I do. All the lunches today are vegan (meatless and dairy free), soy-free, gluten-free and all ingredients are organic.
Miss G’s lunch (4 years old) is spinach rice noodles with a small bit of Earth Balance coconut spread mixed in and Field Roast sundried tomato (meatless) deli slices on top shaped into stars and a bird. In her Easy Lunchboxes container at the top are heart shaped strawberries and watermelon birds.
Along with lunch is her preschool snack in a LunchBots Duo stainless container. In the left compartment are carrot sticks, blueberries and dried apricot stars, and in the right are sugar snap peas, a Crimson Gold apple and a “snow ball” made of dates and raisins rolled in coconut.
In our fancy matryoshka bento box is little sister’s lunch. On the left side she has raisins in the flower cup with star shaped dried apricots. Below that is jasmine rice with carrot mini stars and sugar snap peas. On the right side are watermelon stars and below are bird-shaped sundried tomato deli slices and cucumbers.
Above is the elusive mom lunch. I am usually on the run, but decided to make a salad today. I had a giant pile of organic spinach, about a cup of black beans, bird shaped cucumbers and some daikon I found at my local Whole Foods. I have to say that the daikon wasn’t a good match with the salad. I read later that its taste softens with cooking which is what I’ll do with the rest. It was a little bitter to eat raw. On the sides are avocado slices. For my dressing I topped with a bit of red wine vinegar.
Things I used to make this lunch:
- In: allergy friendly | bento | casein free | dairy free | eco-friendly | egg free | engine 2 diet | Foods | kids | lunchbox | meatless | no waste lunch | obento | organic | plant based | plant strong | school lunch | soy free | toddler food | toddler lunch | Vegan | Vegetarian | whole food
- 2 Comments
Hi ho! Hi ho! It’s back to school we go. Now you can envision the Seven Dwarfs and hear their whistling stuck in your head for the day. This isn’t a Snow White lunch though. I’m just happy that one of my kids is back to school today. I love having them over the long weekends, but they are ready to go back to their friends after the long weekend. These lunches are from last week when my laptop failed. The best news for me is that I’m headache free now after 7 days off of caffeine. Phew! Last week was a long one.
For Miss G’s 4 year old lunch I used a new mini square pocket sandwich cutter that I have. I filled them with SunButter and surrounded the bite sized lunch with mini carrots. I have found that the more bite sized the lunch is, the more my kids eat. If this were a normal sized sandwich cut in half, there would be some left when she returns from school. Instead, it was an empty lunchbox that came home Friday. In the top left compartment is an organic mini apple and in the top right of her Easy LunchBoxes container are sliced cucumbers.
Click on the photo above to find where I purchase my lunch supplies!
Miss A (2 years old) went off to school Friday with Sunbutter and jam pinwheels on Rudi’s Organic Spelt Tortillas. I stick them in the fridge or freezer to make them easier to cut before sending off. The nut and seed butters can get runny and squished so I cool them down making them easier to slice. Next to the wrap pinwheels are sugar snap peas. Also included in today’s lineup are organic raspberries, blueberries, cucumbers and locally picked strawberries packed in a LunchBots Uno.
Have a great week, and happy lunch packing!
Mini BLTs and a car bento
Posted on: January 17, 2013
- In: allergy friendly | bento | casein free | dairy free | eating local | eco-friendly | egg free | engine 2 diet | Foods | gluten free | kids | lunchbox | meatless | no waste lunch | obento | organic | plant based | plant strong | raw food | school lunch | snacks | soy free | toddler food | toddler lunch | Vegan | Vegetarian | whole food | yum
- 6 Comments
It’s a rainy, cooler day here in Florida today so there’s some sunshine inside the lunchbox. I made Miss G some vegan BLTs for lunch. I found these mini slider buns at Whole Foods in the bread section, and they’re they perfect size for preschool lunches. I cooked some vegan tempeh (fermented soy) bacon. I use a tiny bit of Earth Balance vegan mayo on the bun, then romaine leaves and sliced tomatoes. Above the mini sandwiches are grape tomatoes and pineapple pieces. In the top left of her Easy Lunchboxes container are honeydew melon pieces and in the top right is a sunshiny face clementine.
My girls also love sliced avocado or guacamole on their BLTs.
Miss G’s snack today is freeze dried mango pieces, a Crimson Gold organic apple and roasted cashews in her Happy Tiffin stainless bento box.
Vroom! Miss A is off with her LunchBots Quad filled with cars. From the top left are pineapple pieces with 2 honeydew melon cars on top. In the top right is chickpea hummus with a pita bread car on top. In the bottom right corner are honeydew melon pieces with dried apricot cars on top, and in the bottom left are Laurel Hill brand peace sign pretzels for dipping and mini carrots.
Happy Lunch Packing!
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- 7 Comments
Welcome to Wednesday. I’m on day 2 of a diet cleanse and exactly 2 days that I’ve had a headache. I cut out a number of things. By far the hardest are soy and caffeine. It’s a great way to find out how addicted to caffeine I am. My answer was VERY addicted. We’ll see how I do at the end of two weeks. Just hoping the headaches don’t last that long!
Miss G is off to school with a flowery sandwich made with a Lunch Punch Sandwich cutter on Rudi’s Whole Wheat bread. Click on the photo below to find more fun sandwich cutters. The flower in the middle is made with the heel of the bread loaf. In the top left of her Easy Lunchboxes container are kiwi and blueberries and in the top right are grape tomatoes.
Snack time for my 4 year old is in her Happy Tiffin stainless bento with raspberries, mini carrots and dried cherries.
My two year old has a LunchBots Quad with mini chickpea burger halves in the top left and bottom right compartments with mini carrots and at the opposite corners are kiwi slices and pineapple chunks.
bentoriffic 
