I see ghosts!

As I am trying to be super creative this last week of October I am realizing just how many tools I don't have yet.  I hope that I will be able to pick up a few new items in the clearance bins once Halloween is over to prepare for next year.

For example, I don't have a coffin cookie cutter.  What?!?!?  How can you not have a coffin cookie cutter!  I know.  Seriously lacking.  So I tried to make due.

2 stacked Coffin sandwiches (ham & cheese for Max, just ham for Maya)

Bacon "arms" sticking out

RIP in fruit leather

Blackberries are "dirt"

A few black grapes on ghost picks

Cucumbers on ghost pick

Thanks for reading!

Deb

Candy Corn and Pumpkins

I tried to make Candy Corn out of peppers but Becoming a Bentoholic  did it a whole lot better!  Take a look.

Maya had a Banana with 2 days (left til Halloween) etched in it

Candy Corn

4 types of roasted potatoes cut with pumpkin cutters - sweet, red, yellow and blue!

Cucumber slices cut with pumpkin cutters

Candy Corn made with yellow and orange sweet pepper and a cucumber tip

Tricolor grapes on pumpkin picks - red, black and green

Max's lunch is slightly different.  He doesn't like potatoes.  Who doesn't like potatoes?!?!  He is now tolerating sweet potatoes but only when they are smothered in butter and brown sugar.  So he got a sandwich!

Pumpkin shaped sandwich - peanut butter and apple butter

Candy Corn

Tricolor grapes on pumpkin picks

Banana - 2 days left!

Pumpkin shaped cucumber

Candy corn pepper with string cheese as the tip and the rest of the string cheese cut up

I thought I would share my lunch today too!  It's packed in our new Shuttle lunchbox from Planetbox.  

Cucumber slices

Red grapes

Max's sandwich looked so good I made myself the same! 

Peanut butter and apple butter - two halves stacked

Maya put in the pumpkin pick!

Yogurt and string cheese

I also bought the Rover lunch box.  Here's the picture of that from last Thursday.  This was one of the rare days that I could sit at a table to eat lunch during a meeting rather than in my car driving between appointments.

Apple chunks

Ham roll ups, grape tomatoes, cheddar cheese slices

Cucumber slices

Greek yogurt

2 of the little cookies I made in this post

Thanks for reading!

Deb

Bats and Vampires!

It's Monday of Halloween week!  I'm loving all the Halloween Bentos I've been seeing.  I decided that I am going to make fun Halloween Bentos every day until Halloween!

Today is Bats and Vampires!

Orange Bat pasta

(ok, it's actually veggie bowtie pasta but let's use our imaginations here people!)

Apple with cheese fangs

Dracula pick on carrots and rest of cheese stick

Pumpkin spice muffin with bat ring

"Bloody" pasta sauce

Bat Bread

Maya's is basically the same but she has pink plastic vampire teeth in the apple and she didn't want sauce.  I drew the closed eyes on both kids' apples but took Max's picture before I drew them. 

Today was also Max's day to bring snack for his class.  I try to always send fruit for the class.  Seeing as it's Halloween week I sent red, green and black grapes and I also made a treat!

Pumpkin spice muffins with spider web frosting

Of course Maya needed one in her lunch too!

Unfortunately this is not the one that made it into her lunch.  It must have still been a little warm or something when I packed it in her container last night.  In the morning the frosting had all melted and made a huge mess.  So the one in her lunchbox is just plain.  

Thanks for reading!

Deb

Witches!!

The other night I was teasing the kids about making them into Witches Stew.  As we were joking around ideas started forming in my head.  It's kinda crazy how a stray comment is now turned into a lunch idea.

I'm loving the Halloween Bentos!

Spaghetti hair

Homemade meatball for face

Candy eyes (totally forgot a mouth!)

Toast for a hat

Cucumber dress with Carrot arms

Asparagus broom

Apple slices

Chunky Veggie pasta sauce

5 Halloween jelly beans

Thanks for reading!

Deb

Floods and Pumpkins!!!

Not much happened today.  Just a minor emergency.  We came home to a horribly foul stench only to find that the hose to the water heater burst and the sump pump didn't go on so the basement floor was covered in water and it was like a sauna down there so all the pipes were dripping water.  Thankfully the flooded area is primarily concrete so we didn't have to rip up carpet or anything.  But we do have quite a mess.

My wonderful hubby cleaned up the basement, went to the hardware store three times, ran around to friends' houses to pick up fans and a wet/dry vac (Thank you friends!), and finally fixed the hose.

All in A Day in the Life....   

As for lunch:
Today was a Halloweeny Bento!

Pumpkin shaped sandwiches

A bed of greenery (cucumber rind) with mini cucumber pumpkins sprouting

grapes on pumpkin picks

Pumpkin Oatmeal muffins with flax seed (shhh!)

Thanks for reading!

Deb

Fun Bites Review

I am so excited to share this review with you!

Bobbie from FunBites was kind enough to send me a FunBites Cube It to review!

What is FunBites?  It is an amazingly versatile cutter that cuts your food into fun, bite sized squares.  The company also has Hearts and Triangles cutters.

FunBites is a company that was started by a mom, dad and their kids.  They appeal to picky eaters everywhere!  To make parents happy they are BPA free, made in the USA, and dishwasher safe!


Instructions:
Step 1: Place cutter on top of food.  Remove popper top and set to the side.

Step 2: Grab cutter handles on both sides, press down firmly and rock 5-6 times to cut through the food.

Step 3: Lift the cutter up, insert popper top and pop out the bite-sized pieces!

Yummy bite-sized sandwiches:

I wanted to try something a little different with my FunBites cutter.

Bite-sized COOKIES!!!

Maya using the cutter like a pro!

Nice big handles for gripping!

Pop out perfectly!

Separate and decorate!  The kids loved this part!

Perfect bite-sized cookies for a small treat in a nice rainbow of colors!  

How do they stack up?

Four cookies fit perfectly in the smallest Laptop Lunches container for a sweet treat.  

Overall I really like this cutter.  It's fun and easy to use, sturdy, versatile, easy to clean.  I might just have to get the triangles and hearts!  It took a few trials to get the hang of it, but maybe that's because I'm, ahem, old.  Maya figured it out on the first try!  

The biggest drawback is that I now have a million bite-sized sugar cookies in my house!  

Thanks for reading!

Deb

Want one?  Use the link on the right side margin to go to the FunBites website.

Disclosure: I am a FunBites affiliate and may receive a commission on any items purchased via this link.  All opinions expressed are my own.

What's for lunch Mummy?

I think the kiddos have made it clear - they don't like the heirloom tomatoes.  Yesterday they came home with a few left and I figured they just ran out of time.  Today they came home with not one tomato eaten.  I tried one and it was pretty bitter.  Guess I won't be buying them again!  Too bad because I love the colors.  

Here is a great Halloween lunch!

Mummy dogs

grapes

heirloom tomatoes & carrots

Max got a string cheese

Maya got ketchup

I tried to draw a Jack-O'-Lantern face on the orange tomatoes but my food safe marker didn't show up very well and wiped off too easily.  So I left them as is and added the fun picks.   

The mummy's eyes are candy from the cupcake decorations at the grocery store stuck on with a little ketchup.  The kids said "Eww!  ketchup on candy?!" but they ate them.  ;)

Thanks for reading!

Late Start, Late Finish

Today I woke up late, again.  It's been a tough week here with the hubby out of town.  I don't know how single parents do it!  The kids have been good, it's just more stressful and there is no down time at all.  At least, not until they go to sleep.  So I have been staying up too late reading fun Bento blogs!

Thankfully I had made oatmeal in the crockpot a few days ago so we had breakfast taken care of.  I woke the kids up about 10 minutes later than usual.  As I raced through our morning routine I racked my brain on what to make for lunch.  I had planned on having leftover pasta from dinner last night but we ate it all! 

Even though I had limited time I think the kids' lunches turned out pretty good.  And it was fast!

Banana

Z-bar for Maya and string cheese for Max

Sunbutter/Peanut butter and apple butter sandwich cut in quarters

A few gummy bears for fun

Heirloom tomatoes and carrots

After school today they had activities.  Usually on those days the hubby picks them up but since he is out of town I was on the hook.  I was trying to hurry home, but of course there was a nasty accident.  All I could see was a bus on top of a bike. :(  I hope that no one was on the bike.  

So I was late getting the kids picked up too.  Oy vey.  And now I have to cook!?  NO way!

We went out to dinner.  ;)  I decided to take them to one of my favorite kid friendly restaurants.  No, this is not turning into a review of a restaurant, but I really love this place.  Steuben's in Denver.  It's the only restaurant I have been to that includes in all kids meals: carrot sticks, cucumber slices and edamame with ranch dressing, berries plus a main dish and a side.  An actual complete meal on the kids menu?  Fruit and veggies standard?  What?!  

 

Of course my pictures didn't turn out great but:

Max got a grilled cheese sandwich and green beans (his choice! love that kid)

Maya got a hamburger and fries (she actually ate the bun too!)

Last bite!

My meal was delicious too.  I got the roast chicken which is half a chicken a whole pile of steamed veggies and a small, appropriate amount of mashed potatoes.  Way too much food (who eats half a chicken?) so I have half in the fridge for leftovers.  Unfortunately I did not get a picture of my food. 

Thanks for reading!

Scaredy Cat

I am trying to plan ahead my lunches a little bit.  Monday was a fancy Columbus Day lunch so Tuesday was quick and easy sandwiches. 

I really need to do something about my picture taking.  The lunches looked so much cuter in person!  It is challenging because we don't have good natural light in the morning before we have to be at school/work.  And I don't have a good camera.  Or a good computer.  Well, a work in progress right? 

Scaredy Cat & yarn ball Peanut Butter and Apple Butter sandwich (Maya had Sunflower butter)

Veggies - Baby carrots, cucumber sticks and adorable multi colored mini heirloom tomatoes

Strawberry hearts

Pretzel sticks and a few Teddy Grahams

I asked the kids to pick out their own picks to decorate/eat with.  Maya chose a pink dog and a purple bat ring.  Max chose a pumpkin pick and a skeleton pick, neither of which you can see very well.  Sigh.

I keep asking the kids how they like their lunches and they say they like them a lot and they usually come home with empty or nearly empty containers.  Sometimes they don't finish the veggies and/or fruit and then they chose to eat it after school or with dinner.  It really depends on how much food I give them.  But they always eat enough that I feel they probably weren't hungry during class time. 

Thanks for reading!

The Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria. Or just river boats.

Today is Columbus Day so the kids don't have school. 

I sent them to the South Platte River Environmental Education school day off camp.  This awesome organization educates children in a hands on way about the River, it's role in Denver's history and nature in the city.  The kids' attend programs every year through their school and we also did a Spring Break camp last year.  It is really an awesome way to spend vacation days, learn something and have fun!

In honor of both Columbus Day and spending the day on the River I made these lunches:

Pita bread boats with Salami, Pepperoni and lettuce inside held together with a person pick

The water is more pita colored blue with a food safe marker

The sail is a piece of celery with thick sliced ham

On the upper right is a cucumber boat with a carrot mast

The lower right is an apple boat with a pretzel mast and a pilgrim pick waving

There are more pretzel masts in the utensil compartment

The hubby left today to go to a course in San Jose for the whole week.  He went with me to take the kids to their camp and then I took him out to the airport before heading to work. I decided this morning as I was making the kids' lunches that I would make him a lunch to take on the plane.  So the first hubby Bento lunch! 

I made it in a cleaned strawberry container with a napkin for a liner. 

Every thing was disposable so he didn't have to worry about throwing it away.

Along side was a yogurt because it didn't fit inside the container and I wanted to be sure he had enough to eat and didn't have to buy any airport food.

I lined the container with a napkin and put two cupcake liners in with cucumber slices

I lined up apple wedges along the side and then filled in the extra space with some grape tomatoes

On top of the cucumber slices I put two more cupcake liners filled with cheese and ham roll ups

A mini cupcake liner was wedged into the apples and filled with almonds

Then I folded up the napkin over it, put in a spoon for the yogurt and a love note :)

I hope he enjoyed it!

Thanks for reading!

 

Thank you!!

A special thank you to Tim, Vivian, Amy and Bob for all your help this weekend!  I am overwhelmed! XOXOXO

Stay tuned for tomorrow's awesome lunch!

Thanks for reading!

Spooooky!!!

Okay, not so spooky, but today I tried my hand at a Halloween lunch.  Yea!  I think this is going to be a fun season! 

I wanted to make something that looked like slimy guts with the eyes still poking out and creepy crawlies climbing over it. 

However, Maya decided it was a spider web with a fly that had HUGE eyes.  Still fun though!

Noodles with peas/corn

Ham roll ups

grapes

Ghost Toast

I also made another Mama Bento today!

Grape tomatoes

Cucumber slices

Sliced Colby/Chedder cheese

Apple slices

Peanut butter in the mini container

I also had a Greek yogurt and Hummus with Pita chips.  This was a better amount of food than Tuesday.  

I would really like to get a better lunch box for me to use but not sure what to go with.  As I said, I drive around all day and basically have to eat while en route.  Not the safest thing, but what can you do?  So I need a lunch box that is easy to get into and won't spill my food everywhere.  I also definitely need a larger bag to carry it in.  My current one is 3-4 years old and was a Target back to school something or other.  It is falling apart and is way too small for what I pack, especially now that I am trying not to use baggies.  Today I had to carry my Pita chips separately because the container didn't fit with everything else!  Not a huge deal but I would like it if everything fit. 

Thanks for reading!

Bento for Mama!!

Today I had my first Bento for me!! 

I woke up very late this morning and was rushing around making sandwiches for lunch instead of what I had intended (stay tuned for tomorrow!  Unless I sleep past my alarm again....).  I had already made the sandwiches when Max came in and informed me that this was the day he wanted to buy lunch this month. 

I let him occasionally buy school lunch, usually when it is Mac-n-cheese since he doesn't get that at home with Maya's allergies.  He came up with the rule that it was a once a month thing.  I'm not arguing.  

I don't usually pack Bentos for me or the hubby.   Hubby packs his own lunch the night before, usually left overs, a couple hard boiled eggs, yogurt.  I am in my car driving around all day every day for work and am not 100% sure eating Bento's is the easiest thing to do in the car, when you are the one driving anyway.  And I don't have access to a microwave or a fridge.  I usually pack yogurt, string cheese, meat and cheese roll ups, cucumber, sometimes hummus, an apple, occasionally a sandwich, peanuts.  I guess that is Bento-like food, just not in a box or with cute stuff.  Maybe I need to get myself a Bento box.  Hmmmm. 

Anyway, since I had already made his sandwich, with cheese so Maya couldn't have it, I figured I'd eat it!  So here is Mama's first bento:

Sorry for the blurry picture!

Turkey, salami, pepperoni and cheese puzzle sandwich

Grape flower

mini cucumbers

Laughing Cow Garlic & Herb cheese

It was kind of fun and definitely made me smile knowing I had a cute lunch, even if no one else saw it.  It was not enough food though.  I had also packed a yogurt of a new-to-me flavor that I didn't like so didn't finish and a Babybel Cheese round.  I was VERY hungry when I got home and thankfully today was an early day for me or I would  probably have had to pick up some extra food somewhere. 

I might try again tomorrow.  :)

Max bought lunch expecting Mac-n-cheese but apparently they didn't have it today, even though it was on the menu.  He got Chow Mein which he said was noodles with chicken and really good!  How come he won't eat it at home then?  

Here's Maya's lunch:

Another bad picture!  Sorry

Turkey, salami, & pepperoni puzzle sandwich

Green and red grapes with flower and clover picks

mini cucumber rounds

Juice box

I always feel bad when Max buys lunch and give Maya "treat" of some kind, today a juice box.  I don't know why I feel bad when she doesn't.  I have asked her many, many times if she wants to buy lunch on days when it is safe food and she always says no.  The school has a great fruit and veggie bar that she could eat, but she is afraid of cross-contamination.  Occasionally she wishes she could have cheese, ice cream, or eggs, but not often.  She doesn't know what she is missing as she has never had real dairy, but she hates all the "fake" cheeses and would rather just go without.  We've tried fake mayo, fake cream cheese, coconut and soy yogurts, all the cheese varieties, and she doesn't like any of it.  I wonder if it's actually the taste or the fact that she knows it is different.  I tell her whenever she is ready we can go do a food challenge at the allergy doctor's office, but she says she's not ready yet. 

Anyway, off my sad soapbox.  I am glad she enjoys the lunches I make for her as I know they are safe and healthy and now they are cute too!

Thanks for reading!

Summer, fall and epic fail

I found some yummy apple butter on sale this weekend. 

I also found some ripe, juicy strawberries on sale.  Strange to have such great berries in October.

So lunch is a mixture of fall and summer flavors today.

Apple Butter and Sunbutter sushi rolls

Pieces of Graham Cracker

Carrot sticks and mini cucumber discs

Strawberry hearts with grapes on ghost and pumpkin picks

Mango smoothie

The mango smoothie was an epic failure!!  I mixed frozen mango, coconut water and rice milk in the blender and filled some small containers.  I put them in the freezer overnight and the intention was that they would be like smoothie or sorbet consistency at lunch time.  It didn't work out that way!  The kids said they opened the container and it was completely liquid and spilled all over themselves, the table and the chair.  Neither one of them even got a taste of it!  :(  

 

I have no idea why it didn't work out.  I have read other blogs about how they freeze yogurt and smoothies and it is perfect when they open it at lunch time.  Maybe our school is hotter than others and I need to invest in some really good ice packs.  The kids have never complained about their food being warm, even when I've asked.  Maybe it was the rice milk instead of dairy.  Maybe my proportions were off.  I don't know.  I really loved that idea too. :(

 

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Snack Attack

This year our elementary school changed the hours of school and the kids are getting out 45 minutes earlier than they did in previous years.  This really threw our family for a loop since the hubby is a teacher and was able to pick the kids up after school when it let out at 3:45.  His school gets out at 3 and it takes a good 35 minutes to get to our elementary school.  Now the kids are also getting out at 3 and there is no way for him to be in two places at once.

My schedule is flexible but I still need to get the hours in.  Since I am not able to start my day until I get the kids to school I cannot end my day in time to get home by 3 either.  At least not every day.

We tried to get into the after school child care program but it was full.  So we are using extra-curricular activities as an extra hour of childcare this year.  I had intended to do two to three days a week of activities so I could work later and then pick them up the other days.  But there were so many things they wanted to do!  This semester we have a very busy schedule but the kids are happy with it and seem to be doing ok so far.  They are actually not getting home very much later than they did last year due to the time change.  And that last hour is a fun activity so they seem more relaxed when we pick them up. 

The extra-curriculars this year are AWESOME.  The activities we are doing are just a sampling of all the great things offered at our school.  All the activities are very reasonably priced and we are probably spending less doing this than we would have with the after school program.  They are all on-site so there is no issue with transportation.  We are so fortunate that we have access to all this great stuff.  A huge thank you to our school's PTA for setting it all up, for us and all the other families that use it!

So here is our schedule this semester:
Mondays: cooking class (so awesome!)
Tuesdays: I pick them up and we usually hang out on the playground for a while before heading home
Wednesdays: violin (just started last week).  They also have piano on Wednesday evenings that they have been doing for over a year.
Thursdays: Maya is doing Ballet and Max is doing an Athletics class that does a different game/sport every week.
Fridays: drama.

So each day that they have an activity I pack them a snack to have between end of school and start of activity.  They usually have 10-15 minutes waiting for the activity to start.

On Mondays Max has chosen not to have a snack because they are in cooking class and they eat whatever they make.  Maya still wants one because she frequently has to switch out ingredients in the recipe (she is allergic to dairy, egg, and fish) and sometimes doesn't like what they make.  Max has liked everything so far!  It is so awesome that the cooking instructors provide alternatives for Maya.  They provide coconut yogurt (because apparently there is a shortage of soy yogurt in the US this year), soy milk and tofu.  And some items they have everyone make with safe ingredients.  It's just so wonderful that they are so accommodating!

But anyway, nearly every day I make a snack in addition to their lunches.  Their after school activities are all pretty active so I want them to have a healthy snack that will give them energy.  I found these fabulous containers that I have been using for snacks.

I got this container on clearance at Target.  It is great!  There was only one left or I would have gotten more!  It naturally separates the stuff in the top from the stuff in the bottom.  I usually put fruit in the bottom and something crunchy (veggies sticks or something) in the top.  Today though Max wanted peanut butter celery so that went in the bottom.  I asked what he wanted for the crunchy part and he said "celery is crunchy".  So he got grapes in the top.  He also got ice water. 

 

This is the Sistema breakfast container.  It also separates the top from the bottom.  It comes with a spoon that comes apart and attaches to the bottom of the top container.  This is a fantastic container too.  Sistema has a whole line of containers that I may have to check out.  Maya got celery and grapes in the bottom.  She didn't want sunbutter in her celery so it was plain.  She got pita chips in the top half and ice water.

 Thanks for reading!