Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star ... Fruit

It's amazing how one little change can make a boring lunch look suddenly magical.

RED: Star Fruit
(fruit)

How FUN is a fruit shaped like a star?! And it's so bright and juicy! I took a normal hum drum lunch and gave it some edible bling by throwing in some star power! Rock 'n' roll!

Note: Lightly sprinkle with sugar or drizzle with honey as this isn't the sweetest fruit in the world. It's got a good flavor, but it's not red grapes or plums. The girls really like it with sugar, so it's kind of a 'mulligan' fruit dish - but it's not a regular lunch item, so once in a while won't kill 'em. :)

GREEN: Sun Chips
(carb)

YELLOW: Celery & Ranch Dip
(veggie, dairy)

PURPLE: Turkey Sandwich w/American Cheese
(carb, protein, dairy)

Bon Appetit!

"Bon Appetit" is one of my children's favorite phrases, and I believe it was used in reference to this particular combination. It had a fun gourmet thing going on. I wouldn't mind having this for lunch myself!

RED: Prosciutto
(protein, dairy)

Yes folks - my kids like prosciutto! When you think about it, it IS just a fancy way to serve ham and cheese. And what kid doesn't like ham and cheese? This just has a different arrangement, a fancier name and a bigger price tag. But it's nice to eat like a princess once in a while.

Note: This is something usually considered best at room temperature. My older one likes it that way, but the younger one doesn't. She likes it cold, so I stash a flat ice pack under her bento inside the insulated bag to keep everything colder longer.

GREEN: Plum
(fruit)

YELLOW: Cucumber & ranch dip
(veggie, dairy)

PURPLE: Pita crackers
(carb)

I can't remember what flavor I got, but I think it was sea salt. I usually get cracked pepper and/or sea salt stuff unless I'm buying a fun chip like Cheetos or Doritos.

DRINK: Water

Aloha, Lunch!

What's more fun than a "themed" lunch? I had a combination of Hawaiian flavors and thought it would be fun to introduce a new food in a fun way. The bulk of the meal was something I knew they would like and the side item was something I wasn't sure they'd even try. I told them it was there and to at least give it a shot. I can't verify if they did or didn't, but the new item went over about as I had expected. However it made a pretty lunch, so it's worth considering! If I do this theme again, I'd replace the chips and salsa with a sweet-potato side of some sort and I'd replace the apples with pineapple chunks. The 'mulligan' could be a macaroon-type snack. Hmmm ... :)

*As a sidenote, this was my 6 year old's lunch. I don't starve my kids. ;-) She doesn't eat very fast and tends to leave the entree half-eaten because she uses up all her time eating chips. Consequently, there are only a couple carrots and a few chips. This way she has more time to eat at least half of her sandwich - and she always eats all her apples. My 9 year old gets as much food as I can get in here!

RED: Ham & Cheese Hawaiian Hoagie

(carb, protein, dairy)

They love Hawaiian bread. I was thrilled when they started making these mini-hoagie rolls. This is the item I knew the girls would love. They dig the sweetness of the ham with the bread. I get Black Forest on occasion, but regular honey or brown sugar ham get just as good of reviews. For the cheese, I usually go with either havarti or muenster.

GREEN: Carrots

(veggie)

YELLOW: Apple Slices

(fruit)

PURPLE: Tortilla chips with Pineapple Salsa

(carb, fruit)

This flopped. My kids just don't care for salsa. I thought if I let them try something with less tomatoes and onions in it, they might like it. But alas ... this just isn't something they like. If your kids already likes salsa, this might be more appreciated. I tried it and I thought it was pretty good! It's not really hot - it's mostly pineapple. But it has the chilis in there, so it's got a salsa kick. Yum!

DRINK: Water

"Turtle-eenee"

Most kids who take their lunch are perfectly fine with the same bologna sandwich, Cheetos, some grapes and a juice box. And that's great ... for those kids. However, my kids are used to eating different food every day because I'm a foodie and I can't eat the same thing day after day. (Except spinach dip ... I could eat that every - single - day.) But the consequences of my love for food is having slightly "bougie" little eaters. Packing a sandwich day after day would put my girls on strike. Needless to say, it was a good day when I discovered a lunch idea in their dinner!



RED: Three-Cheese Tortellini with Shredded Parmesan
(carb, dairy)

We had tortellini (or "turtle-eenee" as my youngest says it) with pesto and shredded Parmesan cheese for dinner the night before. The girls LOVE tortellini. They will eat it with or without sauce, with or without COOKING it ... in a box or with a fox, in a boat or with a goat ... you get the idea. They don't mind eating it cold or at room temperature either, so this was perfect! Plus, this is a good heavy entree for colder days to keep their bellies full and their bodies warm.

YELLOW: Mixed nuts
(protein)

The 'mulligan' is on the corner of the yellow box ... a Jaffa Cake. It's an English snack cookie that you can find in the international section of most grocery stores. A spongy little cake with an orange squidgy middle covered in a light layer of chocolate. Yummmm!

GREEN: Fresh-cut kiwi fruit
(fruit)

PURPLE: Salad w/Ranch dressing
(veggie)

Those are carrots on chopped iceberg lettuce.

DRINK: Water

Hidden Treasure

This lunch was one of my first 'experimental' lunches where I introduced something new. The new item was flatbread. This is shaped sort of like an oval and it's thicker than a tortilla, but much thinner than bread and it has no crust. :)

**SWITCH IT UP!** Even though this might appear to be a completely healthy lunch, there's a hidden surprise under the cheese squares. I folded a half a paper towel and laid it over the sneaky Thin Mint Girl Scout cookie so they would get an unexpected reward when they were done! This was their 'mulligan'. They loved it!

RED: Fresh-cut mango
(fruit)

I have to admit the mango is still a bit of a challenge for me and is not for the lazy lunch maker. Mangos are a bit of a pain to cut, compared to apples and oranges, but I've found the more I do, the quicker it seems to go. That funky-shaped pit on the inside throws me for a loop every time. If anyone has a suggestion on this one, I'm all ears!

GREEN: Extra-sharp Vermont white cheddar cheese
(dairy)

Cube your own cheese! It's way cheaper than buying the pre-cut stuff. Plus, there's more room for diversity. My girls LOVE cheese - especially Goo. She will choose a strong sharp cheddar over an American cheese slice every time.

*BONUS* This is where the buried treasure was hidden!

YELLOW: Carrots and ranch dip
(veggie, dairy)

A staple for my lunches. You'll see some sort of veggie and ranch in a lot of these combos. It's the easiest way to get them to eat fresh veggies. Whatever gets it down, right?

PURPLE: Banana & Peanut Butter Sammies
(protein, fruit, carbs)

Here's the new food item for this lunch. I spread the banana & peanut butter mixture on most of one side of the flatbread and rolled it up. I made two of these and put them in one container for Goo as one didn't seem like enough. The sammies got a mixed review. Goo thought they were too mushy, but Baloo loved them. Goo isn't crazy about the flatbread no matter what is in it though, so if your child likes wraps and breakfast tacos, they might like this. Baloo did say that she thought the flatbread filled with meat, lettuce and cheese was better than with the banana/peanut butter filling.

DRINK: Water

Recipe! "Pixie Mix"

We invented our own trail mix that we call "Pixie Mix".

Just combine a bag of each of the following in a large baggie or plastic container. It's the bomb and it rocks and it's pretty and we love it adn the little bits of chocolate remind them that their mommy loves them!

White yogurt-covered pretzels
White yogurt-covered raisins
White cheddar popcorn
Cashews
M&M Minis (big bag)

This stuff goes fast and is a household favorite. It's a quick and easy snack to get the birdies to quiet so you can get dinner ready and it's easy to clean up in case it gets spilled!

It started out so simple ...

This is the lunch that started it all. It was simple, yet diverse. I had fun packing it; it was like a game fitting all the food into the containers. I know ...
Anyway prepping the food really didn't take that long at all and it's complete! All the food groups are covered and best of all - it's FRESH!

And now for my first "Lunchbox Breakdown":

RED: Um ... those are Spicy Nacho Doritos. :(
(mulligan)

I like to put at least one 'fun' thing in their lunch. So this is what we call a mulligan - because it doesn't count.

YELLOW: Cucumbers and ranch dressing
(veggie, dairy)

I have to remind Baloo that she needs to eat her vegetables to help her body deal with that cheese stick. ;-) It works! We've had several conversations about how our digestive system works and how important it is to eat fruits and vegetables even though it might not be what we feel like eating. I've found that if they know why they have to eat cucumbers, it's easier to convince them to just dip it and knock 'em back first ... then enjoy your grapes and cheese!

PURPLE: Turkey sandwich w/mayo and romaine lettuce
(protein, carb, veggie)

My kids also like black pepper in the mayonnaise. If you have an adventurous eater, this is a gentle way to kick it up a notch, but not be too hot. Adds an extra 'something'. I also sometimes add a little mustard to the mayo.

GREEN: Black seedless grapes
(fruit)

A favorite!

SIDE: Twisted cheese stick
(dairy)

DRINK: Water
They expect water and they know why. Many people don't consider that kids don't drink a whole lot during a school day. What they drink at lunch may be the bulk of their fluids for the day. I feel better knowing the fluids they DO get are cleansing and hydrating. Every once in a while I'll put a water bottle flavor packet in their lunch (mulligan), but they've learned not to pour the whole thing in. You have to pinch the bottom "thumb-length" of the package and then go from there. Otherwise, it's way too strong.

SNACK: "Pixie Mix "
(carb, protein, chocolate)
This is a fun snack mix to make! I'll post the recipe as another post for easy reference.

And that's that. This is a pretty vanilla lunch compared to most, so don't worry - it'll get better. We have found some cool foods that you might not have considered. As I keep making lunches, more and more new foods came to my attention. So stick around!

The Madness Begins

Welcome to my "lunchbox blog". Here, I'm going to share my lunch ideas with folks who like the Bento Lunchbox that I got from LunchboxShop.com. It started out as a way to cut back on all the baggies I was using, but it turned in to kind of a hobby! They're not just environmentally friendlier and cheaper than using box after box of plastic baggies. They're fun to pack and they make healthy lunches look good! In fact, the first night I made lunches for my daughters, they looked so pretty I had to post a picture of them on my Facebook page. More people commented than I thought they would, so I posted another one on another night and before I knew it, I had a whole album of lunchbox pictures! Since then, I've chatted with a few of my bigger "lunch fans" and thought it might be even more helpful to include extra notes and maybe reviews from my kids to help you decide if your kid might like or NOT like something we've tried. There has been some trial and error so I might as well save you the trouble! :)

My daughters are the reason I make my bento art and they are the ones who drive my ideas. I will refer to their feedback and experiences when I discuss certain items. Their nicknames are "Goo" (almost 10) and "Baloo" (age 6 and a half). I'll share their responses to some of the more unpopular or exotic foods. Goo is more adventurous and loves good food so she is easy to please. Baloo is a little more finicky, but she will at least try most things once.

Please feel free to share your Bento ideas and feedback. I love these lunchboxes and I enjoy hearing how others are keeping lunch exciting. You get points for nutritional balance, color and originality! Haha!!