March Bentos

So this is going to be a gigantic catch up post since I didn't get a chance to update the blog with any of our bentos from the month of March. This month was incredibly crazy and hectic so you'll see a lot of P's favorites repeated since I didn't have the energy to come up with anything new. Some of the things P loves most and will always eat are:

• Any kind of tofu
• Hard boiled egg whites (lately she hasn't been eating the yolks so I give them to baby C instead so they don't go to waste)
• Any kind of pasta salad
• Strawberries
• Blueberries
• Any dehydrated or dried fruits
• Any kind of cracker

Strawberries, Triscuit, Raisins, Goldfish, Animal crackers and thermo with mushroom risotto (not shown)

Strawberries, goldfish, dried peas, wheat chex, dried blueberries, pretzel thins and thermos with leftover baked macaroni from dinner (not shown). For the macaroni, I sautee a ton of veggies and puree them into the spaghetti sauce to get some added veggies into the kids. Then add ground beef, onions and garlic back into it, mix with the macaroni. Pour into a dish, layer with cheese and bake in the oven.

Sundried tomato pesto pasta salad, hard boiled egg whites, pomegranate seeds, apple slices, goldfish

Snap pea crisps, triscuit, dried cherries, blueberries and thermos with leftover mushroom barley and ground pork (not shown). I used this recipe to make the mushroom barley for our dinner: http://weelicious.com/2011/01/11/mushroom-barley/ then added in a little sauteed ground pork for some extra protein.

Hard boiled egg whites, dried cherries, peanut butter crackers, dehydrated strawberries, banana chips and thermos with leftover moroccan chicken stew over pearl couscous (not shown). I use this recipe for the moroccan chicken http://weelicious.com/2010/01/06/moraccan-chicken/. I usually add in whatever veggies we have on hand (this night it happened to be carrots, celery, mushrooms and zucchini) and then serve it over rice, pasta or couscous.

Tomato pasta salad, hard boiled egg whites, dried blueberries, peanut butter crackers, edamamae crips

Pasta tossed with olive oil and garlic salt, hard boiled egg whites, strawberries, baked tofu

Blackberries, carrots, goldfish, strawberries and thermos with chicken macaroni soup (not shown)

Dried peas, animal crackers, cashews, rasisins, shredded chicken, roasted potatoes, strawberries

Asian Sesame Pasta salad (recipe here: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/sesame-pasta-chicken-salad/), goldish, snap pea crisps, strawberries

Peanut butter crackers, dried apricots, dehydrated strawberries, pomegranate seeds, roasted potatoes, hard boiled egg whites, marinated tofu

Hard boiled egg, marinated tofu, snap pea crisps, carrots and thermos with fried rice (not shown)

Raisins, Animal Crackers, Wheat/flax pita crackers, graham crackers, fruit leather bits, mini cocktail pups, strawberries. Everything in this lunch was bought from trader joe's!

A Circus Party for C's 1st Birthday

My sweet boy turned 1 just a few days ago and we had a small party with family members to celebrate. March is a crazy month for me work-wise so this little space of mine has been sorely neglected. But things will hopefully start to slow down a little now so I can get caught up with all of our march bento posts. Stay tuned for those! In the meantime, here's a little peak at C's birthday celebration!

Circus Carnival Printables: http://www.etsy.com/shop/Dimpleprints
Awesome Cookie Favors: http://www.wanlifetolive.com/
Handmade Marshmallows and Caramels: http://www.etsy.com/shop/haveitconfections
Coffee Crisp and Smarties (Canadian version of M&M's): Brought by my sis from Canada

Bentos: Feb 9 - Feb 21, 2012

Fewer bentos these last two weeks since we've been dealing with sick kiddos. Thankfully it seems like they're finally on the mend so that means we're back to packing school lunches!

Peanut Butter crackers, dehydrated blueberries, pretzel thins, sesame broccoli, thermos with couscous (not shown)

Strawberries, Blueberries, Baked tofu, graham crackers, cheddar bunnies, dried cherries



Blackberries, pesto chicken pasta salad, goldfish, edamame thins, strawberries



Peanut butter crackers, whole grain bread, carrots, shredded chicken, strawberries

Fruit leather bits, pretzel thins, animal crackers, dehydrated strawberries, dried peas, pesto chicken bowtie pasta

Strawberries, goldfish, dried blueberries, animal crackers, carrots, potato pancakes



Goldfish, roasted squash, wheat naan strawberries, stewed hard boiled egg and stewed marinated tofu

Bentos: Jan 30 - Feb 8, 2012



Japanese marinated pasta salad, japanese egg omelet, strawberries, blueberry flax rice crackers



Wheat Chex, Pretzels, Carrots, Dried blueberries and a thermos with chicken and rice (not pictured)



Cantaloupe, cherries, teriyaki chicken, raisins, wheat pita crackers, dried peas, cheddar bunnies

A lot of people have been asking me how much of the bentos P actually eats. Some days she does a great job and other days, not so much even though I always try to pack things I know she likes and will generally eat. This is how much came home from this particular lunch. I think she did a pretty decent job with this one although she did complain to me that the cantaloupe wasn't sweet which is why she didn't eat it. Sigh.

Pinwheel pasta in soy ginger glaze, carrots, cherries, dried peas, cashews

Edamame, blackberries, baked teriyaki tofu chunks, wheat pita, dried cherries, banana chips, dehydrated strawberries

Zucchini pancakes, dried peas, fruit leather bits, crusty garlic cheese toast, peanut butter crackers

Dehydrated strawberries, dried blueberries, goldfish, turkey meatball chunks, teriyaki pasta

Pesto Fettucini, Baked teriyaki tofu, carrots, peanut butter crackers