Bento Weekly - Round 9

Monday (12/12) Cheese Quesadilla, Hotdog slices and corn kernels.
Ketchup on smidgets.

Tuesday (12/13) Asian salad with carrot chips, crab sticks,
shrimps and oranges.  Ranch and Mayo on smidgets.

Wednesday (12/14) Corndog, corn kernel and kiwi slices

Thursday (12/15) Cheese pizza, red grapes and broccoli

Friday (12/16) Turkey Crescents, carrot chips with ranch,
Asian pears.

It's my last week of packing school lunches.  And I am so proud of myself for not stumbling even for a day.  I have packed healthy and scrumptious meal to my son.  He enjoyed it and I'm happy.  Thanks for keeping up with me too.  I'll see you next year for another batch of school meals.  

For now, I will be busy crafting with my kids at home.  We have pledge to dress up our home with handcrafted Christmas decors.  I will post them on my other blogsite.  If you wish to visit it, please do so.  It's called MommyHOOD.  See you there!

Have a happy Christmas ahead of you!  Enjoy your break.

Bento Weekly - Round 3

My Bento item for WEEK 3!

Monday (Oct 31): Yummy Halloween Bento

Hotdog slices on a stick with marshmallows, kiwi slices,
sushi rolls, fruit roll-ups.

I know I need to be more creative next time.  I ran out of time to decorate my bento this year.  I couldn't find my edible marker pens to decorate & doodle on his lunch.  I was supposed to draw happy faces on his hotdogs, and decorate the mallow tops to look like a hat.  And doodle HAPPY HALLOWEEN on his sushi rolls.  I was supposed to unroll the fruit roll-ups and wrap it into toothpicks that would look like broomsticks.  But didn't have enough time.  SO I sent it in as is.  I also gave him a pack of goldfish for snack.  And my 3rd grader was as satisfied as ever.  He said he doesn't mind not having a dressed-up lunchbox.  He didn't want his lunch to draw much attention to other kids in school.  Or he might end up hungry again.  Good point!

Tuesday (Nov 1): Quiche & Toast Bento

Quiche & Toasts, edamame & strawberries on the side.

Request finally granted!  He's been asking for quiche for the longest time.  I finally had the chance to whip it up for him this morning for breakfast, and the rest ended up on his lunch.  I lined the bottom with lettuce, and noticed that too went down his tummy when he went back from school.  Good job, son!  Keep eating healthy :-)

 Wednesday (Nov 2): Fruits & Salad Bento

Salad of Romaine, raisins, broccoli, ham, crab sticks,
and Ranch bacon on smidgets.  Grapes on the side.
Plums for snacks.  Fruit roll-ups for treats.

I call it Salad days when I couldn't think of what to send for school.  Actually it's easier to prepare it coz you just have to toss everything you have in hand that your kids eat.  Just cut it into bite sizes.  Salads don't have to be all greens.  You can always add dried fruits, nuts, meat, hard-boiled eggs, fresh fruits, croutons or toasted buttered bread crumbs.  Just send in the dressing coz that's what put them all together neatly and yummy.

Thursday (Nov 3):

Gyoza, sushi rice rolls, crab sticks and watermelon balls.

I would say these are some of his favorite bento items put together.  I saw him flashed big smiles when he saw all these into his bento box. 2 compartments for watermelon balls to satisfy him even for snacks. He loves watermelons! The layers of Romaines at the bottom were used to prevent the steamed gyoza from sticking at the bottom of the bento.  And they don't go to waste coz he loves munching on Romaines after gobbling everything up. 

Friday (Nov 4):

Fancy garlic rice with crab sticks, mixed veggies, and eggs.
Chocolate crinkle muffins with plums on the side.  

To wrap up my Bento Weekly, I sent him something comforting on a rainy day.  Rainy days for school mean a rainy day schedule as well.  They would be eating inside their classroom.  So I sent him something easy and quick to eat, and not messy.  He also brought 2 fruit roll-ups for snack.

See you next week!

c",)

Bento Weekly - Round-Up 2

Oct 24 (Monday)

It's the second week of my Bento Weekly.  I thought I would be sending my son to school today with cafeteria meals.  We were so busy with a lot of kids' performances and parties during the weekend, that we failed to shop for this week's pantry supplies.  Anyway, this was what I came up with for Monday.

A salad full of Romaine lettuce, corn kernels, shrimp,
crab flakes & raisins. With a side dish of baked chicken
nuggets and diced plums. I don't know why my shrimps
turned out to be so washed out here, when they
 appear so pink.

I was dreaming about Monday's brown-bag last night.  I have to recall them when I woke up this morning. Ha! That was a nightmare.  But it turned out okay I guess, since I saw a smile on his face when he saw me packed his lunchbox.  I'm glad I still have Mc Donald's BBQ sauce in my fridge.  I sent it with his oven-baked chicken nuggets.

Oct 25 (Tuesday) Picnic Lunch Bento

Herbed beef balls with diced tomatoes,
 carrots with ranch, sliced oranges.

It's this time of the year for the school's picnic lunch again. They will be eating all together on the grass-grounds at exactly noontime.  I thought of sending in something new and satisfying on cold fall weathers like today.  I thought of sending soup, but I'd rather not to avoid spill-accidents.  They're sitting on the ground today, not on chairs.  So I made him herbed beef balls with diced tomatoes on the side.  I covered that diced tomatoes with press & seal, so its juice would stay where it should be.  I did the same thing with the ranch. I also sent him an extra small apple for snack, juice pouch & water.  Then I think I forgot to send him utensils to use.  I guess I would have to drive back just before lunch to make it to him.  That's the life of brown-bagging.  It happens.

Oct 26 (Wednesday)

Chicken Teriyaki strips over steamed rice, strawberry hearts
and banana-cinn muffin for dessert.

I like it when I get special requests coz that saves me the trouble of formulating lunch menus for the following day.  This was our dinner leftover last night.  I guess he really loved it to even repeat it for school lunch.  I forgot to send in ketchup though.  He loves it with ketchup.  Don't ask me why.

Oct 27 (Thursday)

Vege-meat Sushi rolls, egg rolls, red grapes, roasted edamame.
An ideal finger-food bento.

Let's try on that roasted edamame again.  Last time I sent it, it went back almost untouched.  He said he was having a difficult time to shell it.  But after I explained to him that there was neither shelling nor skinning required on my lunch meals, he was determined to try again.  SO I'm keeping my fingers crossed that those edamame would be all gone by the time he's home.

Oct 28 (Friday)

Edamame, meatballs, orange wedges and plums.

This was a combination of bento items of what he had for this entire week.  I also sent in apple slices which I packed it in a Ziploc eliminating as much air as I could to prevent it from browning.  I didn't have a ginger ale or lemon lime soda to soak the apples, so I have to find a way to keep it looking fresh.  So far the week went pretty well.  And I was glad to survive another week of lunch packing.

See you next week!

c",)

Project Lunch Box - Week 3

Today is a fresh start.  

A new challenge to fulfill.  

It's the Project lunch Box.

This is the 3rd week of the Challenge.

However, it would be my first since I saw the post quite late.

I was a little too busy fulfilling my Brown-Bag Challenges

in the month of September.

Everything Grilled-Up for a Strawberry-filled Monday

Grilled 4-Cheese Quesadillas, Chicken Nuggets,
Strawberry Wheels, BBQ sauce & a BABY RUTH.

I felt like grilling this morning since I woke up 10 minutes ahead of my alarm clock.  It's another week of brown-bagging for my son to school.  I thought of bringing back Chicken Nuggets since it's been a while since he had it.  This time I paired it with Quesadilla wedges. Four of each.  A Baby Ruth Chocolate for his treat. And a bunch of extra strawberries to fill him up.

Cheeseburger & Salad Tuesday

Today is quite big for my project lunch box by special request.  

Due to my recent success of packing his lunch for the Brown-Bag Challenge, 

my son has learned the value of eating healthy.  

Cheeseburger and Asian Green Salad

 with Ranch and oranges on the side.

We called it Asian Green Salad because of the dressing and some ingredients.  We made use of Romaine lettuce, imitation crab meat, corn kernels, raisins, orange wedges, bread croutons and Thai fish sauce as the dressing.

But for his salad, we did a few alterations.  I crushed the bread croutons into crumbs-like and made use of Ranch dressing instead.  Try the Thai Fish Sauce and let me know how you liked it.

Shrimp-a-licious Wednesday!

Rice with sweet pea and corn, shrimp and asian pear cutlets

with juice pouch.

For a healthier option, I've always mentioned to substitute rice with quinoa.  But since I'm still training my kids' palates to different tastes, I have to break it gently.  It'd come along the way.  My grilled shrimp were marinated with salt and pepper, thyme and lemon juice.

Hotdogs for Thursday

Hotdog on a bun, strawberry halves,
and some oreo cookies for
some lunchbox fun.

Hotdog on a bun is a classic lunch idea.  But it does not disappoint little tummies.  A matter of fact, it is what pleases them most.  Today was supposed to be tuna melt sammies, but he opted for this instead.  And so be it!

Cheese Pizza Bagels for TGIFriday

Home-made Cheese Pizza Bagels,
broccoli and corn on the side and some
of his fave strawberries.

My Cheese Pizza Bagel is just simple to make.  

I'm sure most of the moms could make this. 

It's as easy as spread, sprinkle and bake.

(Ing: spaghetti sauce, shredded cheese, mini bagel halves)

Bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes.

I'm glad I made it through this week's challenge and had clean lunchboxes at the end of each day.  I will be making Just a Bunch of Momsense's comment card soon to add to my son's lunchbox.  Maybe that could help me plan my lunch meals for the following weeks.  You might want to check that out too so you have an idea what I'm talking about.

See you next week!!