Turkey & Cheese Subwich

Today's lunch is a DIY - Subway Lunchable.  
Everything what my kiddos would love to put in their sub.  I tried to put them all together, but I'm afraid that they might turn soggy by lunch time.  So we put all things on the side, but the TLC - turkey, lettuce and cheese.  No tomatoes and onions.



Not sure if I already mentioned that Mr G has started with his ortho appliance prior to the actual braces.  He has the palatal bar attached to his upper first permanent molars, with the bar across his palate.  We thought it was easy at first, but foods get caught on the bar, and is a nuisance for him.  Since then, I tried to cut food as bite-sized as possible so he could chew his food and lessen the chance of getting caught in there.

For a time he's been on soup-based meals.  Anything goes.  For one, he's not a very picky eater.  And secondly, he eats healthy by choice.  So his lunch tomato-based soups were mostly veggies and shredded meats to satisfy his proteins, carbs, and enough calorie to get by the day.  I will blog them, so you get the idea what he had on those days.

Now that he's over the transition stage, we're back to be eating normally.
Also, he has asked to eat cafeteria meals with his friends on some days, which I allowed.
So he wouldn't feel that he's missing out so much.

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If you need weekly meals straight to your inbox, try MOMables.

It's our one-stop shop when we're on a lunch rut.

Corn on a Cob: A Whole Grain

Lunch doesn't need to be complicated all the time.  It can be something as simple as corn on the cob, and still make it healthy for the whole family.

Remember that corn is a whole grain, which plays an important role to prevent chronic illnesses such as hypertension and diabetes.  So if it's in the line of your family history, it's best that we switch diets into more whole grains, and corn is one of them which is the easiest and most economical way to serve a fulfilling meal.

We love corn because of its endless possibilities.  You can serve it steamed, grilled, stewed.  May be buttered,  salted, sprinkled with cheese, or simply eaten as it is.  We love corn not only because of its nutritional value, but also because of it's natural sweetness.

 I can't find a corn skewer to put them on each end, so my little girl could hold onto it, and eat them better mess-free.  For a bento-maker, I say it's a must-have.  So I'm off on a hunt for one or more.  If anyone knows where I could get it locally or online, please jot me a comment.  I would greatly appreciate it.

 If you love Healthy Eating Starts at Home, you may subscribe via email to get all my posts straight to your inbox. No spam mails, just healthy food ideas for your lunchboxes.

All bento accessories are available through Bento USA,

the cheapest and most complete online bento products in the USA.

Other bento gears are also available thru My Amazon Affiliate Link.
Thank you for your support!

If you need weekly meals straight to your inbox, try MOMables.
It's our one-stop shop when we're on a lunch rut.

Quesadilla Strips with Layered Dip

Today's lunch was originally inspired by a friend's Meatless Monday bento, Jenn of Bento for Kidlet, which can be found here.  Check her out and see other awesome lunches linked up to her party.  Hers was mouth watering nacho lunch which gave me this idea for the kiddos' lunches.  But since mine are not huge on beans, I omitted that and substituted it with salsa.  This is actually their first time to eat quesadilla with sour cream and guacamole dip, so I separated it from the salsa, just in case. They love quesadilla, but I've never sent them this way before.  And it was a huge hit.  According to Mr. G, it couldn't be better!

I decided to cut the quesadilla into strips instead of the traditional triangular shape, so they could scoop and dip it better in the Mini dippers, mess-free.  Mr G is a clean-freak. He doesn't want his hands get messy and gooey when eating.  One reason why burritos and tacos won't work for him, unless I wrap them nicely that allows him to reposition his food on his hand.

Missy A loved it as well sans the salsa and guacamole. She came back home with salsa and guacamole left behind.  Fine with me. At least she ate them without any fuzz.  I just noticed one thing though. I think she peeled some of the cheese off the tortilla and tossed it on her EasyLunchboxes.  Y'all know that she doesn't like cheese and I would be lucky if she eats a piece.

I hope you all have a wonderful lunch.

Happy Wednesday!!

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Momables' Chicken Nuggets

Chicken Nuggets has been my kids' favorite lunches.  I'm sure you could tell coz I've been frequently sending this for school lunch. And I don't even worry about it because it's all-natural and safe for them to consume every single day.  It's by Momables, the only menu planner that my family trust throughout my lunch packing years.

On his Lunchbots Trio, he has homemade Chicken Nuggets on one compartment, a BBQ sauce on the second, and blueberry and edamame on the third.  For this small box, it's a matter of partitioning to pack all the needed nutritions for lunch.

On her Goodbyn Mix and Match Set, she has the same lunch but smaller in portion size.  Everything she needs to be satisfied and stay focused in school.

Happy Tuesday!

 

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May the 4th Be With U: A Star Wars Bento HOP

Welcome to the DARK Side!

May the 4th is a day dedicated especially for Star Wars.  Or should I say in the GEEK World, May 4th is Star Wars Day.  My family is a huge Star Wars fanatic, and so does my fellow Bento Bloggers and Friends. I must admit I'm the lesser fan amongst them all, coz they know all the rightful terminologies associated with Star Wars and I simply lack the capability to store that in my system. I can watch the film over and over, but not absorb the needed force to be a true Jedi.  So pardon me for anything not suitable you might find on my post.  I deserve to be corrected should I misled you.

My fellow BBF (Bento Bloggers & Friends) are once again doing another bento hop.  This time in 2 groups of 16-17 participants, so as not to overwhelm you hopping from one lunch to another.  Consider yourselves forewarned, our bento madness can become addicting but fun.  So beware!

Since this hop falls on a Saturday, I thought of making a surprise big breakfast for my kiddos. Big breakfast for us mean a combination of carbo, protein, dairy and fruits.  Today is a big day for Mr G coz he's trying out for the Swim Meet this morning.  Keeping our fingers crossed that he'll make it to the team.

 

The kids were very excited of this big breakfast. I had to prepare them the night before because of a busy morning schedule ahead of us today. I served them buttered apple cinnamon pancakes with a maple syrup on the pink cup, all-natural hotdog where Darth Vader sat with the Jedi's light sabers on their quest to defeat him.  They also had hard-boiled eggs with the Sith Logo and Storm Trooper Cuties oranges.

 

Mr G reacted on this lunch. He said that Darth Vader has a Red Saber.  He neither has blue nor green. So I had to explain to him that they were the Jedi's.  He loves the cheese cut-out though.  He thinks its cool.

 

How did I make this? Since I am not an awesome food artist, I researched considerably for Star Wars logos, than faces. I sketched and pre-cut on parchment paper, traced on cheese and cut. The logo on the egg was drawn by an all-natural food-safe writer. 

I originally made an onigiri lunch for this hop, but I messed up the nori decals.  So I did the easy way out, and prepared an appropriate meal for the kiddos this morning.

Next stop is Sarah of Bentoriffic.  Let's see what she has served her girls for this hop. Please push the button below, that you might find at the beginning, middle, or end of each post, to teleport you to the next portal of entree - either the DARK or LIGHT Side. The Best of Luck!!

Once you've completed the hop...

I hope you had a wonderful time hopping from one entree to another.  We're happy to have you around as always!  Please jot me a comment, it will surely bring cheers :)

Have a fun and wonderful Star Wars Bento Hop!!

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Steamed Salmon Sushi Rolls

Happy May 1st!

Time flies so fast.  Before we know it, school is off and summer break kicks in.  I am usually one of the most excited person for this time-awaited break.  For us, this means an endless trip to Disneyland, Universal Studios, Legoland, Discovery Center, Sea World, the ZOO, playdates and picnics at the beach. But this year, I'm not quite liking it because I would have to work fulltime, and kids would be left home with nothing special to do until I come back home after work. I have discussed my work schedules with my kiddos, and they seem pretty good with change now that they've grown. I have arranged a weekday off from work to bring them to playdates, movies and picnics in between, and reserved the bigger trips on weekends with hub.

Sushi is on board again.  This time we made it pretty healthy for the growing kids.  I know that nothing is better for a kid's tastebud than a SPAM Musubi.  But let's face it, it's not very healthy when consumed on a daily basis, or say frequently.  I don't want to send sashimi (raw sushi fillings) to school either.  So I thought of steaming the salmon first to be on the safe-side.

Why salmon? Simply because we love salmon and it's one of the healthiest fish one can consume.  It's packed with all the essential nutrients that one need to live a healthy life.  Salmon is classified an oily fish, which is a good protein source, omega 3 fatty acids, and Vitamin D.  Do you know that calcium needs Vitamin D to be absorbed and synthesized?  Vitamin D is important for the health of our bones. It protects our bones and helps in calcium absorption. Primary source of Vitamin D is the sun, but with its harmful effects nowadays, we often lather our skin with sunblock.  Thus, shielding the essential effects of the sun to our body.  So where else can we find Vitamin D?  The answer always points to foods and supplements.

The kids are having Salmon Sushi Rolls for lunch today. Salmon were marinated with salt & pepper with lemon rind. Placed on a dish and steamed on a double boiler. Steamed for about 15-20 minutes. The sushi was filled with salmon flakes and a wee bit of light mayo.  You can always skip the mayo if you wish.  But mayo gives off a nice flavor to the salmon when eaten with rice.

My sushi rice was made with a drizzle of sesame oil, sesame seed and dried bonito mix.  I used to make it with Sushi vinegar, but somehow kids love it better without it. And rolling makes it easier for me too.

Have a great lunch!! 

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Tortilla Roll-Ups

The busy days are over and I'm back to blogging lunches once again.  Yay for me!!  I was struck with a bad seasonal allergy lately though and still recuperating from it. None of the allergy meds actually worked, but helped a bit to be functional in the kitchen.  So I tried to keep my lunches quick and easy to prep and pack.

Today would be quite different. I know I've packed this years ago, but I have to revive it since the kids actually love tortilla.  Mr. G was the one excited to see this back on his box.  He loves the wraps better than traditional sandwiches.  And let's face it, he's tired of my pandesal (a Filipino wheat dinner buns that I make use of a lot instead of regular dinner rolls).  Also, clean up is easier coz it doesn't have lots of crumbs after prep.

The kids both had ham and lettuce tortilla roll-up today.  Honestly, I love making them because it's just like making sushi, only it's easier and quicker.  You can make and pack everything up in 15 minutes or less depending on how quick you roll and cut.

To make this, you will need:

☻ 8" or 10" tortilla wrap

☻ cream cheese

☻ ground mustard

☻ honey cured ham

☻ baby lettuce, spinach or any greens

Directions:

1. Spread the cream cheese onto the tortilla wrap.
2. Sprinkle a bit of ground mustard. Not too much coz it's quite spicy (accdg to my kids).
3. Place a layer of a slice of ham deli & baby lettuce on one end of the tortilla.
4. Fold that end over and roll all the way to the other end.  Make a slightly tight roll so they hold pretty well.
5. Cut about 2" apart, or as desired.  

Have a great lunch! Hope your kiddos would love it for school.  They would do great for after school snacks and on field trips as well.  Please jot me a comment. I'd love to read them.

Today's post is linked up with I ♥ Lunch Linky Party

over at my fellow BBF, Rachel of Following In My Shoes.

Check it out!

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A Vegetarian Lunch Combinations

What are Lunch Combinations?

These are lunches that are made up of common ingredients but are prepared and packed in many different ways, especially made for picky but "cute" family members.  Cute is inserted there because I love them dearly no matter what.  And I don't intend to pick on anyone else about anything there...LOL!



I have been packing lunches for 3 each day for years. And soon, it will be four of us.  It's tough when it comes to packing to each one with individual preferences.  My husband is not picky so he's off the hook. But I try to pick only the healthy ones for him because he has to lose some weight.

As you see the image above, each one had tortilla, cheese, strawberry, eggs, corn and greens
(except for my littlest eater who's the pickiest one of all).



These are the lunches for my boy and my man. And oh yeah --- SPOT the DIFFERENCE!!
Mr G loves playing that game, so let's all play along.

All answers goes on the comment box, please :)



First lunch was for my man, he had a garden salad of all sorts of the healthy fresh stuff with Italian dressing on those pink and blue cups. He also had hard boiled egg white, a couple of strawberries and cheese quesadilla.



My boy's lunch was a garden salad similar to his dad but with string cheese and without an egg.



And my littlest one, who wouldn't eat cheese quesadilla, had a home-made corn tortilla chips with string cheese and strawberries and harboiled egg whites. No greens on her EasyLunchboxes but all on her juice.

I'm not sure if I ever mentioned that I was never successful feeding cheese to my little girl.  I've tried all sorts of cheese and the only one that solved the problem was this particular string cheese made by Galbani Precious Cheese.  The TRIVIA on the packaging made it interesting for the kids to peel the cheese and eat them as they enjoy the answers to the trivia.  Not only that but it got a tasty taste as well. It's not bland like any other mozarella cheeses.  It's a wee bit salty that gained the thumb of approval from my little girl.  Best of all they are made with all-natural ingredients and rbST-free milk.

Are your kids picky about foods as well? How are you able to cope up with that?

For a better treat, I have linked this up with Bento For Kidlet's
Meatless Monday. Please push the button below to visit other linked meals.



Bon apetit!

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A Burst of Spring

Spring is absolutely here!  

SO let the COLORFUL lunches begin.

It's always nice to pack lunches on spring-colored lunchboxes.  It adds colorful inspiration when it comes to planning.  And that is when I am thankful The EasyLunchboxes has created another genius product to tag along when on trips.  It just matches every single color of my silicone cups at home.  It makes packing lunches so fun and vibrant.  They honestly look good on pictures.  Don't you agree with me?

This lunch is so simple to prepare. It's just chicken and bean taquitos cut into halves for the stalk, and grape tomatoes to make as a bud blossoming on springtime.  Should have added some greens for the leaves, but my pantry is out so that will do for the day.  On side compartments are green pears and a couple of chocolate chip cookie treat.

Have a wonderful day!

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Thank you for your support!

Welcome Spring!

Finally Spring is here!! We've been so waiting for this season for a long time. We can't live in the cold weather for long anymore. Kids get sick on and off.  They miss out on fun play dates, and the not-so-fun school works too...LOL! Blame it all on the season. Winter is the FLU season.

Welcome Spring!!

We miss all the beautiful colors of the garden. This is the time my kids and I start to renew the garden and hunt for the brightest color of the season to bring cheers to each and everyone.

So I thought of packing colorful lunches today to remind them of the beautiful cheerful hues of Spring....our most favorite season ever.  When they saw what's in their Easylunchboxes for lunch, they said, "Oooooh! Is it Spring yet, mom?" Yes it is! And I'm a day late.  But better be late than never.

 

Don't you love packing lunches for your kids especially when celebrating something?  It makes everything special too with a touch of those Lunchbox Love Notes that express your heart out.  Loud enough for kids to feel and be proud of in school and out.

Have a wonderful Spring!

This has been linked up to the party!

Check it out.

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Mini Pancake Star Bites

I am honestly getting bored of my lunches and thought of putting out the cutters, and try our hands (my girl's) on it once again.  It's fun making lunches with your kids.  Have you tried it yet? 

Lunch below is made with a lot of help from my little fairy princess, Missy A. She makes food with a magical touch.

She requested for pancakes. And she wants them bite-sized.  So, we thought of cutting them with her choice of mini cutter to go into her Lunchbots Trio.  And it's STAR for that matter. She's addicted to STARs because it's what makes up a wand of a fairy.  She  wanted to put a toothpick on them, but it wouldn't fit right on this box.  SO we'll make them on a different box next time.

On her Lunchbots Trio, we packed mini star pancakes with maple syrup on the yellow mini cup, strawberries on the left compartment, and hotdog wheels on a stick and a ketchup on the pink mini cup.  We have also included a pink mini fork for her to eat her pancakes with.

Also, we made our pancakes from scratch. We like it better that we can control the type of ingredients that goes into our system. Currently, we are on search of hotdog products that could come close to nitrate-free, all-natural and organic meat brand.  My children can't live without hotdogs, so I gotta find something safer and healthier. I heard of Applegate, have you?  I am getting in touch with them and see if they could end my search.  Would let you know :)

Let's find ways to pack lunches FUN and healthy for our family.

This is linked up at:

Let's see them all!

Have a fabulous day.

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the cheapest and most complete online bento products in the USA.

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Thank you for your support!

Spring is here! Bunnies Everywhere!

Technically, it's not yet Spring till the 20th. But with the warmer weather and the change in time last Sunday, I could feel the fresh breeze of Spring coming really soon. I haven't really prepared anything bento for Spring or Easter yet, but I have one post which went to a Thanksgiving post, which is very wrong and disturbing I think...LOL!! So I thought to re-blog it for the right Season.  Here is the link for that previous post, in any event you still want to see.  

Lunch above was Missy A's. They are PBJ bunny-wich pals, with bunny picks hopping all over the sweet green grapes.  Mini mallows and raisins for treats. Everyone in her class loved this. Two of her friends took a bunny for themselves, as she gobbled whatever was left.

Welcome Spring!

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Rotini for your Heart

On my quest to feed my kids healthy and nutritious meals, I have found a way to sneak in whole grains pasta into their diet.  The kids found whole grains pasta tasted like paper.  So I thought of mixing in equal portions of regular and whole wheat Rotini with a pesto sauce.  

We all know that whole grains help fight chronic illnesses; such as, diabetes and hypertension.  So it's better that we start early on healthy eating habits.  Both chronic illnesses are in our family history line.  So preventive is the key to stay away from it.

The family is all having Rotini on our EasyLunchboxes with home-made vegetable marinara sauce for lunch today. No meat.  Both Mr G and Missy A brought them to school, while hub packed it for lunch.

FACTS: Do you know that you shouldn't supposed to be sending in pasta with tomato-based or cream-based sauce mixed in already?  For unknown reason, there is a chemical reaction between pasta & tomato sauce that causes food poisoning when not consumed within a period of time, say an hour or 2. So keep them separate when sending them to school.  Be sure to send the noodles straight from the fridge, and the sauce heated well before packing in thermal containers to keep them hot. Invest on good thermal containers that can keep foods hot for at least 5 hours. Another way to prevent food poisoning is to boil your noodles well, and store any leftover in the fridge.  Always reheat sauce before serving.

I have linked this post to Bento For Kidlet's Meatless Monday.  

Not a Monday lunch but a good and simple menu for vegans.

Visit the party and get more great ideas for your menu this week.

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Homemade Chix Burger - A Recipe

My children are always drawn towards fast food chain meals. It must be the FAD.  You know, whatever they see most eat is a must eat.  So we had a serious health education talk at home and agreed to minimize fast food products and pre-packaged meals at all cost.  I told them it's not bad to eat them once in a while if they need a bite or more, but a daily consumption would surely hurt them systemically.  Besides mommy has all the time to cook and play with food to make them yummy-licious.  So why not take advantage of it.  And reserve restaurant foods for special occasions.

Lunch was Chicken Burger, which we call it Chix Burger for short.  Mister G had a couple of whole wheat halves of Filipino dinner rolls, known as Pandesal, with the chicken patties in his EasyLunchboxes.  Condiments and pickles were on the side to prevent it from getting soggy.  Sides were plums, orange wedges and grapes.  Usually good with lettuce, but due to my pantry shortage, I sent them without, and complemented it with more fruits.

A smaller portion for Missy A on her pink EasyLunchboxes. Ketchup on the pink condiment cup underneath her Yakult drink with a yellow spoon to scoop it out and spread onto her chicken patties.  One small compartment of smaller plum cubes, and a medium compartment of orange wedges and 2 rows of mini red grapes.

Click here to access the recipe.  Consider yourselves forwarned, this recipe is very simple that anyone can follow.  All ingredients are basic unless you have allergy issues, please consider to substitute.  Feel free to modify according to your taste buds. Adjust salt and pepper measurements. Any questions, jot me a comment below.  Thank you!

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