Bentos #20-24

Bento #20 - Pita bread. Leftover chicken satay. Mozzerrella cheese. Edamame. Blueberry muffin. Clementines. Grapes. American cheese animal cutouts.


Bento #21 - Pita bread. Turkey rollup. Mozzerella cheese. Edamame. Blueberry muffin. Raisins, trailmix for the older girls. Clementines. Grapes.


Bento #22 - Whole wheat bagel with cream cheese. Turkey rollups. Mozzerella cheese. Edamame. Clementines. Chocolate chunk muffins. Dried pineapple.


Bento #23 - Egg salad. Pita bread. Canteloupe, grapes. Chocolate chunk muffins. Cherry tomatoes for Ceci and Abbi.

Bento #24 - Whole wheat bagel with cream cheese. Turkey roll up. Edamame. Garbanzo beans. Baby Carrots. Cherry tomatoes for Ceci and Abbi. Canteloupe. Grapes. Chocolate chunk muffins.

Bentos #15-19

Hawaiian rolls, turkey and cheddar cubes, baby carrots, mini blueberry muffins, korean melon, and blueberries.



Plain mini bagels with cream cheese, turkey and cheddar cubes, Gogurt, grapes, korean melon, and blueberries.



Bagels with sliced roasted chicken lunchmeat, olives, edamame, Gogurt, cantaloupe, and blueberries.



Bagels with sliced roasted chicken lunchmeat, edamame, cheddar and mozzarella cheese cubes, grapes, cantaloupe, mini blueberry muffins, and trailmix for the older two girls.



Friday's bento... I woke up feeling particularly worn out from a head cold, and didn't really feel like making lunches. They got chicken on white bread, the last of the olives, my attempt at apple slice bunnies with raisin "bunny poop", mini blueberry muffins, and trailmix added in for the oldest two.

And you'll notice that this week Sabrina's lunch has been packed in Rubbermaid containers, not her Bento box. Because she has lost it somewhere. She swears it is in the house somewhere, but with as much cleaning (aka nesting) as I have been doing, it hasn't popped up. Guess this shows that you really don't need special boxes to make bento style lunches though - The Rubbermaid containers have actually worked just fine.

Bento #14

Cheddar cheese quesadilla, oven roasted turkey, fruit salad of nectarines, strawberries, and grapes... mini blueberry muffins, and trail mix for the two oldest.

Bento #13?

Not sure whether to count this one as Bento #13 or not... this was a lunch for my hubby to take to work. 2 of the 4 little ones forgot their lunchboxes at school on Wednesday, so they all bought school lunches on Thursday.

Hubby had leftover pasta (penne pasta with alfredo sauce, baby bella mushrooms, asparagus, broccoli, and proscuitto), carrots with peanut butter for dipping, strawberries, a cheese stick, and a mini blueberry muffin. And a pudding for dessert.

If you remember my complaints about the school lunch menu, I definitely have more to say on that subject after yesterday's experience. When the kids got out of school, I asked them each what they had. Niko said "meat, mashed potatoes, and a roll. With berry juice" Ceci said "Meat "stuff", mashed potatoes with gravy, and a roll. With orange juice." Sabrina started to say, "Chicken fried steak..." when Abbi interrupted her with "No! It was meatloaf!"

The meal actually was chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes and gravy, and a dinner roll. Yup... breaded meat, potatoes, and bread. Carbs, carbs, and more carbs. Two of the four kids said there was a salad bar with lettuce and carrots, but they didn't go to it. Abbi was not happy that she had missed out on a salad bar since she is actually one that will eat salads, yet none of the cafeteria workers seemed to have pointed out that it was there. None of the kids could remember a fruit being offered. I think it's ridiculous that the kids were given THREE carbohydrate heavy items, that there was no veggie or fruit put on their trays (really? it's too hard to add a scoop of green beans or peas? put some fresh grapes on each tray?), and that 3 of the 4 kids weren't even sure what they were being fed!

29 weeks with Bunsie

Bento #12

A failed experiment - "confetti" cream cheese inspired by Weelicious. While the girls enjoyed this on crackers the night I made this, Niko completely refused to even bite into the wrap. Cecilia said it tasted like shrimp, and Brina said it was just gross. Abbi was the only one who liked it.... like I said, she's the one that will eat just about anything.

These bentos included: turkey wraps with confetti cream cheese, corn chex, Teddy Bear cookies, grapes, nectarines, and strawberries. And pretzels for the oldest 2 girls.

Bento #11

Cinnamon Raisin English muffins with Peanut Butter. Korean melon and nectarines. Mini banana chocolate-chip muffins. Indulgent trail mix for the 2 oldest.

Bento #10 - or, picky eaters rear their heads.

Abbi, 10, has decided she does not like the sandwich thins. She refused to eat yesterday's PBJ sandwich that I made her (after telling me she didn't like the turkey and cheese sandwich) because the bread is "icky". So at 6:30am while I rolled my eyes at this bit of news, I pulled out the whole-wheat bread and made her PBJ on that instead. Aren't I accomodating?
Everyone else is still satisfied with the sandwich thins, so same thing as yesterday - Turkey for Brina and Ceci, PBJ for Niko. I'm starting to feel like a short order cook.
Cantaloupe and red grapes. Pretzels. Colby Jack cheese sticks. Half a granola bar each for Brina and Abbi.

Recess snack (not shown): Vanilla creme brulee mini rice cakes.

We also found some cute "mini" fruits at the grocery store yesterday that my kids insisted on trying out. These won't make it through the 3-day weekend with my fruit loving chowhounds, but I thought I'd show them off anyways.


So petite, so cute!

We also found a new fruit to add to our regular rotation of fruit offerings... Korean melons! These small yellow melons, about the size of a large Russet potato, have a firm white flesh that tastes like cantaloupe, but a little sweeter. Even Mr.SuperPicky himself, Niko, was convinced to try a sample at the store and his eyes lit up as he called them "the best fruit ever!"

Bento #9

Two turkey sandwiches and two PBJ sandwiches on multi-grain sandwich thins. Turkey rollups for those with the PBJs. Cheese sticks. Cantaloupe. Trail mix for all, pretzels added in for the big girls.
Not shown, recess snack, apple-cinnamon mini rice cakes.

Bento #8

Multi-grain sandwich thins with oven roasted turkey and american cheese (and american cheese giraffes). Peas and corn (in the bigger cups for the 2 older girls), and grapes. Pretty simple today!

Bento #7 - And our first bento related loss.

Sabrina accidentally threw out one of the silicone cups we'd been using to hold their veggies with the rest of her lunch trash (napkin/juice box), so I'll have to work around that until I can go buy another pack of the cups.

Today's bentos included: PBJ on whole-wheat white bread, peas/corn, grapes, pretzels, dried pineapple, trailmix, mini chocolate-chip banana muffin.