Falafel bento

It was all I could do not to eat these before I finished packing them up.

When Stewart and I honeymooned in Israel, I had at least one falafel sandwich each day. I came home 27 pounds heavier than I was when I left, and I squarely blame falafel. I love falafel.

For today's lunches I used a time-honored family passed down from my Mother - I bought a mix at Giant. Stir in some water, let it sit, form into balls, and fry the heck out of it. I paired it with a hummus/tahini mix and tomatoes and cucumbers from the garden. I wrapped Nate's up for him but left Stewart's in pieces so he could mix it up any way he likes.



Snack: cherries, celery, carrots, cucumbers
Lunch: falafel wrap, extra cucumbers and tomatoes, M&Ms
Snack: new dry mix of raw almonds, pretzels, and Cheerios snack mix (discontinued at 50% off)

Stewart:



Lunch: whole wheat tortillas, falafel, cucumbers, tomatoes, hummus/tahini, and carrots for dipping. Pack of M&Ms tucked under the tortillas of course!

Boring Bento

Today's lunches:

Nate:



Stewart:

Mexican lunch

Made "enchilada-sagne" last night - a recipe from my dear friend Emily. It uses up tons of stuff in the cabinets, especially the refried beans I keep getting free at Harris Teeter with triple-coupon days. It's not vegan; I used good-old cheese on top. Tastes best cooked forever in the oven until melty and gloppy and gushy.



Packed up the leftovers for lunch today (cut Nate's up for him).

Nate:



Snack: carrots, snap peas, green beans (from the garden), tomatoes (from the garden), hummus
Lunch: enchiladasagne, chips, salsa, M&Ms
Snack: leftover "Mommy Mix"

Stewart:



Lunch: enchiladasagne, chips, salsa, veggies, mandarin orange, M&Ms

Super quickie lunch

So tired. Allergies keeping me up all night. Nothing fancy to show for today; I skipped Stewart's entirely (the $8 he'll spend at Potbelly was well worth the extra 4 minutes of sleep).



Snack: watermelon and a mandarin orange
Lunch: veggie hotdog rollup, snap peas, M&Ms, cherries, blueberries, and cucumber slides.
Snack: leftover "Mommy Mix" from yesterday

Sushi bento

I made sushi for dinner last night and decided to see if I could get it to "keep" overnight for lunches today. After I made each roll I wrapped it tightly in plastic wrap; this morning I took them out, sliced them (thin for Nate) and put some soy sauce on the side. They were cold but the rice was still tender; I'll quiz Stewart about how it tastes after it's had a chance to come to room temperature by lunchtime.

Nate:



Snack: "Mommy Mix" (aka: a bunch of things from the snack drawer mixed together)
Lunch: sushi (one roll with veggie burger & cucumber inside and one roll with veggie hotdog and cucumber inside), snap peas, M&Ms.
Snack: cucumber slices and cherries

Stewart:



Lunch: Avocado & cucumber sushi, cherries, snap peas, and cucumber slices.

Quickie Bento

Tons to do tonight; quick post on tomorrow's Bentos. Nate's camp goes on field trips on Mondays so I have to pack in disposable gear.

Nate:



Snack: carrots & snap peas
Lunch: veggie burger wrap w/peanut sauce, mandarin orange, cucumber slices, M&Ms
Snack: chex mix with raw almonds mixed in

Stewart:



Lunch: Veggie burger wrap with peanut sauce, avocado, and lettuce. Sugar snaps, carrots, cucumber slices, raw almonds, letter cookies, and M&Ms. Yum!

Two days of Bento plus some Nate

Things have been a little crazy around here; I took Nate to Sesame Place yesterday which threw off our whole schedule.

Here's the Bentos from Wednesday (Stewart was conveniently too busy to eat it that day so he used it yesterday while we were at Sesame Place):

Nate:



Snack: Raw almonds, pretzels, veggie sticks
Lunch: veggie hotdog rollup, snap peas, cherries, pole beans, mandarin oranges, M&Ms
Snack: pretzels filled with PB, dried apricots, dried cranberries

Stewart:



Lunch: Salad with lettuce from the garden, mandarin oranges, dried cranberries, edamame, blueberries, and raw almonds. On the side are cherries, a few dried apricots, M&Ms, and salad dressing.

Here's a picture from Sesame Place just for fun:



And here's the Bento I sent off with Nate this morning. Stewart took the day off (it's our anniversary) so we'll eat together at home.



Snack: raw almonds, pretzels, letter cookies, and veggie sticks
Lunch: pasta with indian-spinach sauce, carrots, and tomatoes cooked in. Snap peas, mandarin orange, and blueberries on the side. I forgot the M&Ms - we'll see how that goes!
Snack: cherries, dried apricots, and dried cranberries

Now I"m off to pack for a weekend away without the boys. If you were planning on calling, don't - I'll be sleeping for the next 48 hours.

Today's moment of Bento

Just didn't have the energy to do Stewart's today so he's left to fend for himself on the mean streets of DC.

Since Nate can't take $10 and go get himself a sandwich and some chips, I obviously made his lunch:



Snack 1: Raw almonds, veggie sticks, pretzels
Snack 2: apple slices and edamame (I just love how they look together!)
Lunch: fake-chicken patty in ww wrap, cucumber slices, mandarin, carrots, green beans from the garden, and the obvious pack of M&Ms

Wish I fed myself the way I feed my kids!

Lunch blog

On Mondays Nate's camp takes field trips so we have to pack lunches in disposable containers. I wasn't sure what would hold up so I went with an easy lunch:



Snack: apple slices and shelled edamame
Snack: pretzels and raw almonds
Lunch: veggie hotdog rollup and a bag of cherries

I didn't cook much this weekend so I didn't have an obvious main course for Stewart's lunch. I pulled this out of my hat and I've got to admit I'm pretty proud of it:



Lunch: Two whole-wheat tortillas wrapped in wax paper; I included a bunch of hummus and cucumber slices so he can make two wraps. Apple slices, shelled edamame, cherries, and a fun-pack of M&Ms tucked in.

Yum!

Friday's bento!

So I opened up Nate's lunchbox yesterday to clean it out and this is what I found:



For a minute I seriously wondered if I'd forgotten to actually put his lunch in there. There's honestly not a crumb left. That's a great feeling!

Here's what they went off with today:

Nate:



Snack 1: pretzels and raw almonds
Snack 2: blueberries, sugar snaps, and a mandarin orange
Lunch: veggie burger wrap, carrots, apple slices, and one square of dark chocolate

Stewart:



Lunch: brown rice, tofu/chickpea curry, sugar snaps, mandarin orange, and 2 squares of dark chocolate

Day 4!

Didn't post this last night because I didn't finish until this morning. Poor Jack has been so sick the last two nights and Stewart and I have gotten very little sleep. He's napping peacefully now - thank goodness for Motrin!

Nate:



Snack 1: dried apricots, raisins, and fresh (from frozen) edamame
Snack 2: veggie sticks (Trader Joe's) and pretzels filled with peanut butter (also TJs)
Lunch: veggie hot-dog wrap, sugar snaps, tiny mandarin orange, cucumber slices, and the ubiquitous M&Ms

Stewart:



Lunch: pizza-flavored veggie burger wraps (with tomato sauce for dipping / spreading), blueberries, mandarin orange, and veggies with hummus for dipping. M&Ms hidden under the blueberries.

So far Stewart's only comment about today's lunch is to [pretend] whine that I didn't peel his orange like I did yesterday. :-)

Day 3!

Still trucking along! I can see a pattern emerging with Nate's two snacks. Those cute little dividers to keep things separated can't hold up to a preschooler flinging his lunchbox all about. Thus, one "wet" snack and one "dry" snack and no soggy yuckiness to clean up at the end of the day.

Nate:



Snack 1: Pretzels and "letter" cookies (from Trader Joe's)
Snack 2: Fruitabu fruit roll-up, edamame, tiny mandarin orange
Lunch: Last of the pasta salad from yesterday, sugar snaps, carrots, and hidden pack of M&Ms

Stewart:



Lunch: Pierogies (from tonight's dinner - sauteed with peppers and onions and drizzled with "crack" dip (thusly called because it's horribly addictive salad dressing from Giant)), edamame, tiny mandarin orange, letter cookies, and a hidden pack of M&Ms.

Now it's time for an early turn-in and a less-tired Mama tomorrow.

Day 2!

Bentos were a big hit today - here are the ones for tomorrow:

I made some whole wheat noodles to go along with tonight's dinner; I used the rest to work out a yummy lunch using my favorite peanut noodle recipe.

Nate's:



Snack 1: tiny mandarin orange, apple slices, shelled edamame
Snack 2: chex mix (free from Target!) with raw almonds mixed in
Lunch: peanut noodles with corn and peas mixed in (and a tiny square of chocolate (free from Target!) hidden underneath)

Stewart's:



Lunch: peanut noodles with corn and peas mixed in, cucumber slices, edamame, and two squares of chocolate (free from Target!)

Jack's:



Snack: cucumber slices, mandarin oranges, apple slices, and shelled edamame
Lunch: peanut noodles

Today went so smoothly and easily due to the prep-work ahead of time; I just hope I can keep it up! It feels so relaxing to know how much is already taken care of for tomorrow.

First day!

Nate starts camp tomorrow for the first time, and he'll be going all-day for the first time. I admit these past two weeks, with no school and no camp yet, have been a little rough but we've also gotten a lot closer - I'm going to miss him! I also admit that I'm looking forward to it a lot. I have all sorts of fantasies about how much I'll get done during the day. Probably I'll just shop online for more Bento boxes, but at least I'll do it without feeling guilty that I'm neglecting him by not building the 173rd Lego tower of the day with him.

I have to send him, each day, with two snacks and a lunch. I already have the Lock & Locks for the food and yesterday I picked him up two lunchboxes at Target and let him choose. One was super-cute and non-character with a neat thermos attached. The other was a Transformers one. Guess which one he picked? Yup, Transformers. I hate the character thing, but I saw it and I knew he'd love it and I had to let him make the choice. That's what the first day of camp is all about, right?

Here's what I packed for his big first day:



Snack 1: cucumber/hummus sandwiches and pretzels filled with peanut butter
Snack 2: raw almonds, dried cranberries, and veggie sticks (Trader Joes)
Lunch: Veggie hotdog wrap, mandarins, sugar snap peas, carrots, and a little fun-pack of M&Ms hidden underneath.

As long as I'm packing Nate's lunch I figured I'd start packing Stewart's lunch:



Salad (with lettuce from the garden!) with mandarins, dried cranberries, and avocado. Cucumber/hummus sandwiches and carrots, and a fun-pack of M&Ms hidden under the dressing.

And as long as I had everything out, I figured I'd prep Jack's snack and lunch to make my day even smoother tomorrow:



Snack: veggie sticks, pretzels filled with peanut butter, cucumber slices
Lunch: veggie hotdog chunks, mandarins, avocado slices, dried cranberries, and raw almonds

It took me about 30 minutes to put these all together. I'm going to try to use the same ingredients for the lunches, even if the end product isn't the same (for example, the foods from the kids snacks were the toppings for Stewart's salad.) I'll work leftovers in as much as I can, though I haven't been cooking at night much these days (we scrounge a lot).

Do you guys like seeing these? Should I try to keep up the bento posting?

Bento madness begins

I'm a little obsessive about new gadgets, new ideas...some stick, some don't (yoga anyone?)

So far we're still going strong with the bento fun. I've spent the last few nights trolling around for vegan bento ideas*. I found a treasure-trove at Vegan Lunch Box and I've made a refrigerator list of meal and snack ideas. I plan to do a magnet system like Biggie does but I haven't picked up the supplies yet. For now a list of ideas, along with a mental list of what food I have on-hand, will have to suffice.

Today I made Nate happy with an easy fun snack. Didn't think of it myself, obviously - thanks goes to the internet as always. I have no idea what the strawberries are around the top - I just know I had a ton of fresh ones ready to go bad and I needed to fit them in somewhere.



* We're not vegan, not even truly vegetarian, but I like to omit animal products as much as I have the energy to deal with. I keep the house mostly vegetarian (we have brisket at Chanukah and when I'm dieting I use Lean Cuisines with meat in them for a cheap filling dinner). The boys eat vegetarian hot dogs and veggie burgers; we eat a lot of veggie chili and sweet potatoes and peanut butter and nuts and salad and tofu. If we're at a ballgame, I'm getting a hot dog and so are the boys. I don't mind the occasional drive-through for McNuggets and a Quarter Pounder. If I'm at a restaurant I'm sometimes ordering a steak.

I don't subscribe to the all-or-nothing mentality of these kinds of situations; I think the less we eat of animal products the better we're treating the animals, the earth, and our bodies. It doesn't have to be ALWAYS or NEVER to make a difference. So I keep us as vegetarian as I can manage and as vegan as I can stand. I don't read ingredient lists for minute traces of dairy - if the bulk of the product is vegan it passes my test.

We're definitely whittling out the things that are easy to replace: we use soymilk on cereal and skip the cheese and sour cream at Chipotle. I buy string cheese once every 6 months or so and only the occasional organic yogurt for smoothies (though I made a vegan smoothie yesterday and Nate went bananas for it, so that might be heading out too). I feel good about our progress and about being conscious about what we're eating and it's moral implications. More progress to come, I'm sure.

Bento jackpot!

Nate starts camp in a few weeks and I'll have to send lunch along for the first time. So excited to do some fun lunches for him, and I'll start making lunches for Stewart as long as I'm adding that task into the schedule.

Just a simple one I gave the kids at the playground yesterday (fake-chicken patty, carrots, broccoli with a little asian dressing on top):



Did a bunch of research about the different types of bento boxes and really liked the description of Lock & Lock containers. Found a few here and there online but shipping was crazy and I would have had to order from 3 different stores to get the styles I wanted.

I found a listing at the Bento Store Locator at Lunch in a Box for a grocery store in Wheaton - I dragged the boys out there this morning on the way to pick strawberries at Butler's Orchard. Total jackpot! Tons and tons of different sizes of Lock & Lock containers and all of the divided ones I was coveting.



They only had a few "character" bentos but that's fine with me - they're not dishwasher safe and goodness knows I'm not hand-washing them. I'll use Ichiban Kan to buy a few more cute ones, some belts, some internal dividers, and some cute little sauce-containers and I'll have a good stock to get started with. As I do more and more, I'll figure out which ones I'm using the most and get a few extra of those.

And, most importantly, I'll stock up on a few Lunchables or something for the days I slack off. Gotta be prepared.

Bento gear

We've been doing Bento lunches and snacks a lot, and I finally found some silicone cupcake molds on sale at Target. I shouldn't have waited for a sale - they're so helpful for making the Bentos!

Here's just a snack Bento Nate ate at home. You can see why the silicone cups really help - we eat a lot of "finger food" so it helps keep everything in it's place (a nod to Mama's anal side!) Raw almonds, dried cranberries, and hummus for dipping.