Summer Mealtime: FunBites Lunch {K-Bento}

I got my Cube It FunBites Cutter in the mail last week after my initial request.  I have to admit that I've been itching to try it out since the time I laid eyes on it.  I just knew it's the perfect cutter when on my morning rush to school and work.

I have a Luv It cutter too that graced my kitchen for months. My kids can't get enough of cutting just before eating. They're perfect for bite-size pieces. I love using it on sandwiches, melons, mangoes, cheeses, hams, pancakes, etc.  They look great on skewers or even when just left alone. The possibilities are endless.  Just be creative.

 Today I have made cream cheese sandwiches for Mr. G, watermelons,

and strawberries.

While my little girl had Nutella and Peanut Butter sandwiches, 

with watermelons and strawberries.  

Both snacks were prepared with the help of a Cube It in under 10 minutes.  

That includes photographing the meal for this post. Imagine that! FunBites are not only durable food cutters, but are reliable time saver as well.

Watch out for my FunBites giveaway as part of my Back to School Event.

Be on my mailing list so you don't miss out.

I hope you enjoyed this post.

Enjoy the rest of the summer.  School starts by Monday.

~Marie

Summer Mealtime: Chicken Adobo Rice

My kiddos are in love with chicken.

How do they want it? Let me count the ways...

One is CHICKEN ADOBO!

For HIM

Filipinos have always considered Adobo as one of their comfort food. 

All year round.  No matter what the weather brings.

For HER

I usually make my Adobo the Chinese way. We put eggs to add extra protein

for the little ones.  My girl loves egg whites so much that I can't stop her. My children are on the tiny side, so I don't worry much about packing on extra weight.  They're growing kids anyways. So let them be.

I always pour sauce over the rice to make the meal more savory.

I would normally shred the chicken for them, but for this post-sake,
I left it untouched till it's lunch time.

I'm not back yet, but I will soon be.

Thanks for dropping by.

Have a wonderful Monday!!

~Marie

☺☻☺

Summer Mealtime: Bento Fun with Pikachu

I must be already on a road trip by the time you're reading this. We planned a trip to San Francisco just before the kids get ready for school 11 days from the time I set this live. So bare with me. I will be posting our trip after I come back.  That would be mostly about food trips, of course.

Lunch is served. Gyoza and rice with black vinegar.
Watermelon cubes where Pikachu stands.

This is what the kids had the day before the trip. Pikachu was accidentally placed there. They were confiscated from my bento accessories box for this reason.  I know I owe him a Pokemon lunch, but for some reason, I couldn't find inspiration to make it happen.  I  think I need a sandwich presser.  Onigiris are just way too tough for me.  Not really. I'm just too afraid to make use of artificial dyes to make it look like Pikachu.  But I think I just knew what i could make use of to turn my onigiris yellow.  I will just surprise him one day.  I promise to post once accomplished. 

Have a great week ahead!

See you when I get back.

~Marie

K-Bento: Observation Day

How many of us have incoming kindergartners this Fall? I do! And on this day, they have an Observation Day, when K teachers tests each child of K-readiness skills in order to place them for a more balanced classroom come Fall.  This is the time when they take each child in alphabetical order to drill them with skills of letters, numbers, colors and shapes recognition.  They should be able to pick out their names from a pool of names, and identify the letters in their name as they point to it.  Nobody fails. It's just for classroom placement. 

So for that, I packed a snack for my little girl just in case she gets hungry right after, which she normally does after a stressful day.  Turns out, she aced it and wasn't hungry at all.  So she ate this on our drive home, as she told me how the test was. And she did AWESOME! I gave her high fives and lots of praises for that.  Job well done, little girl!!

I'd be gone for a long trip. But I'll be back by Wednesday.  So the posts that you'd be seeing by tomorrow will be all scheduled posts to keep you pre-occupied while I'm gone.  I'll be posting our trip here for sure. So I'd see you when I get back!

~Marie☺☻☺

Bento At Work: Shanghai Eggrolls & Bean Sprout

I know that this does not come regularly, but there are days that I just have to do it, especially by special request.  I got one today by HUB.  And so I complied. But cute lunches aren't allowed. So I just have to pack whatever I could.

He normally wants his lunches on a glass dish with a rubberized lid. He dislikes plastic especially when reheating stuffs on the microwave. For some reason, he agreed when I offered the Easy Lunchboxes.  My guess?  He must have seen it in his work place too.

Gotta find out who's packing on ELBs. 

For today's lunch, I packed home-made Shanghai Eggrolls cut into halves, brown rice, and bean sprouts. For your information, my eggroll is packed with grated vegetables. I hid it on ground meat & shrimp so no one would even detect it.  And they're crunchy and yummy as ever.

Bon appetit!

~Marie

Summer Mealtime: Home Sweet Home

My creativity with food doesn't come on a daily basis.  It's mostly triggered when my kids asked for it...especially on summer when I don't bento everyday. 

My kids were mostly home with me on summer days. Unlike others who were on camp or summer recreational activities, I kept mine at home to enjoy the flexibility of our schedule. We just hit the road anytime we want without having to suffer the "summer slide."

I homeschool for the most part of Summer. I guess, I'm quite gifted with that. I'm equipped with a lot of resources to teach my kids with what to expect for the coming academic year. We schedule playdates...and we swim on Sundays. On free days, we spend them cuddled up with books to read and stories to retell. At times, we sit on our garden bench just eating.

Nectarines, ham deli, hard-boiled egg and Chobani Yogurt.

Today is one of those days. The weather is hot and dry. We thought to refreshen with some fruits and deli, eggs and Chobani Greek Yogurt.  A mid-day snack that's quite aplenty, which we normally don't do.

My hard-boiled egg with a house shape made
by a mini cookie cutter.

I thought of making use of my mini-cutters this time, rather than let it rot in my storage bin. It looked very cute on hard-boiled eggs. At least my children appreciated it more than I did.  Though she's hoping for a Hello Kitty bento next time. Perhaps I can do it for her once I get the needed supplies. So I'm crossing my fingers for that.

I hope you enjoyed this post.

Enjoy the rest of your summer!!

~Marie

Summer Mealtime: His and Her Breakfast

What would be lovely to wake up with?

Perhaps a breakfast in bed. But not in our household. We don't tolerate meals outside the dining room, unless necessary.  Well we have a long list for that so I hope you know what I mean "unless necessary."  If I could keep foods on our banquet table, I'd have them there. I dislike ants and other bugs creeping around our house that's why.

But to keep my family healthy, I always provide nutritious breakfast for them to look forward to every morning. Individual request are always granted as long as they eat something nutritious with it.

A Breakfast Bento for HIM: Bologna Deli Sandwich for him cut into triangles
with poached egg.  Cherries and blueberries on the side.

A Breakfast Bento for HER: Yan Yan Pretzel and Choco dip, hard-boiled eggs
artistically cut for an appealing meal. Cherries and blueberries on the side.

A closer look of the YANYAN Pretzel and choco dip out of the box.

Hard-boiled egg inspired by a fellow Bento Blogger, Moriazu's Lunch Box.

Hope you enjoyed this post.

Happy eating!!

~Marie

Summer Mealtime: Paella & A Recipe

Olympic Blog Hop - London 2012

With the Summer Olympic happening right now in London, my Bento Bloggers and Friends decided to celebrate it with another blog hop.

Of all the sports featured, we love swimming the most. Basketball is for my dad and hubby. It's something my kids and I look forward to watch. They are swimmers themselves, my son's a competitive one, but has no future plan for a competition. He said he doesn't like pressure and much training. He just wants to swim, that's all about it. And I say, we'll see.

Olympic 2012 Logo

For lunch, I prepared them sushidogs, arranged in such a way that it represented the 5-Olympic ring logo, with strawberry hearts that represented our love of the event. Each had a scoop of French Vanilla icecream topped with a swimming ring.

Gavin's lunch was packed on his favorite Easy Lunchboxes, while sissy wanted hers on her most loved Dora lunchbox.

Her lunch up close with the #1 pick on.

Now let's hop over to my amazing friend, Sarah of Bentoriffic, and see what she served her girls to welcome Olympics 2012. 

Make sure to push the button above, on every blog, to enjoy the hop till you get back from where you started. Have fun!!

Happy hopping!!

~Marie

Summer Mealtime: Salads & Fish Cakes on ELB

Have I shared the news yet?

I have received my very first Easy Lunchboxes in the mail last week.  And I was overjoyed and inspired to pack meals once again.  I know I told you before that the kids don't eat on bento boxes when home, but with our new Easy Lunchboxes, they allowed me to do it. They said the meals look better and awesome.

Why haven't I done it sooner?

So for today, my kiddos and I ate on our Easy Lunchboxes. I have to pack them last night so it's ready by lunchtime the following day.  I have work at 1pm and would have to leave by noon on Mondays and Wednesdays.

We had a salad of spinach, romaine, carrots and olives. The kids had Ranch on smidgets, while we had Light Champagne dressing.  Everyone had Fish Cake (recipe here), and Plums on the side.

More lunches will be packed on Easy Lunchboxes as I sent them to school for Fall.
And for interested parties on how to get their very own Easy Lunchboxes, click here.

Hope you're having a wonderful summer!

~Marie

Summer Mealtime: Universal Studios

We were set to visit Universal Studios once again.  But this time we planned our trip better. We decided to pack our own lunches due to my dad's dietary restrictions.  He's diabetic. So we want to make sure that he's getting the right amount of protein against carbohydrates for a balanced meal.

We visited the Transformers Ride as early as 10am with very few people in line. The 2 hours wait on weekends were cut into 15 minutes wait for family riders, and 10 minutes wait for single riders.  Imagine that! We could actually take seconds for that amazing experience. It's our favorite amusement by far.

We also visited the Dino Play, which caters children up to 48" tall. Older siblings are welcome provided they don't play rough around toddlers and smaller children.

Then we had lunch. 

Tell you what.  People around us were pretty nosy about our lunches. I know eyes were on us, speculating why I was bringing out containers and containers of lunches.  Too bad my ELBs haven't arrived  yet. Or their eyes would pop.

 5 lunches with an extra pack of sandwiches for dad's snack, placed in a smaller container (below) to hold his chocolate bar and medicines. Chocolate bar is for emergency only such as when his blood sugar level dropped.

I packed homemade veggie burgers on whole wheat bun with spinach and lettuce on the side, and a variety of berries and grapes. I tried to make it look nice as possible.  But when I'm under the morning stress, I only do what's necessary. I keep them simple but neat. We also brought with us, water bottles, condiments of ketchup, mustard, pickle relish, and mayo. All in handy small containers. Next time I'll take a picture of it so you know how I packed it hassle-free.

Hope you're enjoying your week. It's only 31 more days till school starts.

Have an awesome Wednesday!!

~Marie

Summer Mealtime: Dinosaurs

Today we learned about Dinosaurs. 

We didn't have much time to read last night due to my busy schedules.  However, they were able to pick out a book to read on their own before bedtime. Did I tell you yet, that I might start to teach phonics and reading to Kindergartners anytime this July, if all things push through. It's something that I've been formally doing for my children.  And something that I find accomplishments other than bento-ing.

To make up from last night, I brought out book this morning to read for them while they're eating breakfast.  I, of course, made them a dino breakfast to celebrate.

Summer Mealtime: A Place to Bloom

Today we went to the library to loan more books to read for the week.  We choose books at random without any clue what kind of message the book brings. We give each book a chance to relay its message. I read aloud to them on a regular basis. So I don't worry much about that. I try to answer every questions they might have. Then I throw questions to them if they have none. We try to make it interactive for added fun. It's been our nighttime routine. Nobody goes to bed without reading a single book in a day.  Except for daddy, who patiently waits till it's time for prayers and bed. 

Last night we read the book, "A Place to Bloom" by Lorianne Siomades.  It's a little book with such big message. The message conveys to us that the world doesn't exist for us alone, but for all of God's creatures as well, large and small, people and animals.  The things that we take for granted may be precious to someone else, whether it's food on our tables, or the trees in the park.  We should learn to share whatever we have, even if it has to be our own place to bloom.  We especially love this book for its rhyme and lovely illustrations.  It helps readers think about others and the world around them.

There are so many things to consider when creating a lunch for this particular book. So I asked my girl what's her favorite part of the book. She said that it's when the little girl found a worn out bear that has been thrown away, brought it with her, and became her very best friend.  She loves bears so this is what I got for her breakfast.

Summer Mealtime: I ♥ HEART!

Have I told you that we're participating in our Public Library's Summer Reading Program? Yep! And we decided to pursue on making our meals inspired by every book we read for the record. We figured it's a great way to connect with the book.  Not only that, but it helps retain the lesson of each story. An absolute wonderful learning tool for the kids and adults alike.

For this post, I have decided to make lunches from the book, 

"The Magic School Bus Has A Heart".

In this book, Ms. Frizzle's class is learning about the heart.  They are going to see a movie, but they end up on a heart-pounding adventure when Keesha trips and falls.  The class learned the circulatory system in Keesha's body, just before they went for the movie, and celebrated her birthday.

Summer Mealtime: Seaside Bento

We had a seaside adventure one Saturday afternoon. Our cravings for shelled foods brought us to the Reondo Pier. Since new moon hit the 4th of July, we thought it would be the best time to eat some crabs at the pier this weekend. It's the time when the crabs could eat better, thus meatier catch for the fishermen. Lucky none of us have food allergies, so we hit the road without hesitations. I just have to pack lunches for the kids who were both not a huge fan of shelled foods.

I packed sliced crab-meatloaf with ketchup, carrot slices & Ranch, 

strawberry hearts and cherries.

Grandma's in charge of the rice and corn, so I skipped that.  

And that's part of their lunches.

For us, I packed brown rice, diced tomatoes and cilantro salad, soysauce and lemon dip. Then we bought huge meaty crabs, red snapper fillets, and clam chowder soup for everyone to share and enjoy.  It was a fulfilling meal that everyone had. 

After, we headed to the beach side for some water and sand play,

while the oldies relaxed and de-stress.

Have a wonderful day!

~Marie 

Summer Mealtime: Inspired by The Magic School Bus and the Shark Adventure

My kids are huge fans of The Magic School Bus Series. Big G started reading those series back in Kindergarten, and still enjoys it now that I'm reading it to his Sissy.  Since I have the right tools in hand, we decided to make a breakfast the following day to talk more about it.  And further connect with the story.

I would have to thank an amazing fellow bento blogger, Keitha from Keitha's Chaos, for inspiring me to make lunches out of the books we read. My children are voracious readers, and I'd like to inspire them better by making meals out of it.  But you see, mama's not a food artist, as my fellow Bento Bloggers & Friends. I just try to put together healthy lunches and make them appear as appealing as it could be.  So bare with me.

Ms. Frizzle and her class were painting a big picture of the ocean life, when Keesha asked if she could paint a mermaid's purse. Unknown to all, Ms. Frizle decided to take the class on a trip to the ocean to find out what a Mermaid's Purse is all about. Turns out those are shark egg cases.

So here's the lunch I made for both of them, which reminded them of the whole MSB trip with Ms. Frizz, as she's fondly called by the class.

Summer Mealtime: Under The Sea

If you have been reading my blog, I'm sure that you already know that I have an incoming kindergartner who's quite picky with foods school lunches.  To be honest, I have been on the internet as much as I could to find the most adorable lunches I could that would work for my little girl to encourage her to eat in school.  I didn't have issues with her when she was in preschool because the preschool served healthy warm lunches. Thus, she eats what everyone's eating.   So this summer I have taken the opportunity that I could to practice several bento skills I need to learn for the following school year.

I made an under the sea breakfast today.

 Sissy had 3 fishes cut from 1 sandwich bread, 

and 2 octopuses (as Cute Foods for Kids call them).

I cut some Nori sheets for seaweeds background, which my kids love

to have in every meal.  I also found a good tutorial on how to make an octopus

out of hotdogs thru Cute Foods For Kids which can be found here.

Big G had 2 dolphins cut from 2 sandwich breads,

and 3 octopuses. With similar ingredients for the seaweed and background.

If you notice I lack eyes and mouth for the octopuses.  That's because we run out of big straws that can cut the right dimensions. Next time I'll show a better picture for you.

I even forgot to place hat picks for him since he was in a rush to dig into this.

But everyone's happy and didn't even notice what I did.

I hope you enjoyed this post!

~Marie

Summer Mealtime: Soft Taco & Burrito on Make-It Plates

Alas! I found time to make special lunches for the kiddos.  Usually we just have rice and something healthy on a piece of plate at home. But today we had small leftovers to finish, which my dad and I could manage to gobble all to ourselves. Hubby took some to work this morning. And I'm feeling quite lazy to cook. So I thought of a soft taco for the kiddos, since I have all ingredients on hand, and it's pretty easy to prepare it.

Big G have 2 warmed flour tortillas on his Makit Plate, 

lightly toasted green bellpeppers, seasoned ground meat, shredded cheddar,

diced tomatoes & refried black beans.

Sissy didn't like cheese at all and can't get a good grip of the soft taco shell.

We turned her lunch into a burrito instead for an easier grasp. 

She had refried black beans and seasoned meat burrito on her Makit plate.

Of course, I would like to specially thank Sarah of Bentoriffic
for providing me the tools, to make my lunches extra appealing for the kids.
I must admit, it helped on days when they are quite picky.

Summer Mealtime: Home-made Happy Meals

I must admit that summer isn't much lunch packing since the kids aren't quite keen on eating bento at home. Plus dad is quite amused whenever I serve meals on bento boxes. What else for hubby? These men in my life think I'm nuts. So, I try to serve it for my kids as snacks instead, when we're home, since they enjoy bento foods even better.

Today's breakfast was inspired by Mc Donalds' Happy Meals &

Lunchables Chicken Nuggets Meal.

I have prepared home-made chicken nuggets, courtesy of Momables, BBQ sauce and fruits as sides. Ms A had a starfish pick on apple slices, while Mr G had an Octopus pick on watermelon cubes. 

I must admit my kids could tell a healthier meal from not. And they devoured this like lightning flash. It was even compared to Lunchables' nugget meals.  And this was a sure winner and have added it as one of our Fall menus.

I have to thank Momables for the Nuggets Recipe, which is very easy to make,

and takes about less than 10 minutes to prepare & pack after it has been baked.

If you're looking for the recipe, check it out here.

Also, this might be a good time to take advantage of their dinners and lunches,

specially planned for you on a weekly basis if you subscribe over at MOMables

for as low as $5/month only.

Here's how it works on Summer Time and Holidays:

Between July 1^st and August 14^th we send you 3 large family friendly meals, a snack and a desert recipe for the whole family to enjoy. We’ve found that between activity-filled summers, trips to the pool, camps, and the grandparents… it’s at dinnertime when parents need help!  Our quick summertime recipes yield leftovers… and are perfect for quick lunches! Once again, we never forget the photo of what your food will look like, nor the very helpful shopping list! 

Summer Blog Hop: In The Tall, Tall Grass

Summer is our most awaited season of the year. 

It means a lot of things in our household.

School break

Picnics & Gatherings

Zoos & Amusement Parks

Gardening & Sand Play

Beaches & Vacation Galore

Those are easy to plan. But linking which lunches to prepare are pretty challenging.

When I think of summer, I get vast ideas of it but wouldn't exactly know how to execute. So I turned to summer-themed books to make them come alive.

Lunch is served!