Happy Friday!Â
Egg salad sandwich (the kidlet calls them “deviled egg sandwiches”), plum, blackberries, apple, wavy carrot fries, broccoli, peas in a plastic broken-eggshell shaped cup, a little raspberry vinaigrette for his peas and my first ham flower (its a little raggedty). The hen, chicks, and “cluck” are done in cheese with black sesame seed and carrot garnish. The red is food coloring again. I almost tossed the “cluck” because the painting kept smearing so bad, sigh. I do think the hen came out very cute though!
Total time spent: too much. I smeared the food color all over my first hen, and redid it. I made 2 “clucks” as well, and they both smeared like crazy, sigh. I also spent a good 15 minutes trying to make carrot feet for the chicks, but I struggled to get a nice little 3 prong claw, and when I finally did, couldn’t get it into the cheese so it looked right! Baby L was super needy and kept interrupting my work. Without the mishaps it would have taken maybe 20 minutes. Instead I probably worked on it an hour, maybe more.
The kidlet brought home his first “homework” this week. Basically its a literacy sheet, with letters to name, words to practice reading, and more advanced words to talk about. Well, he is way beyond knowing his letters, and he can read the words to talk about, much less the words he is supposed to learn to read (“I” and “am” heh). Behavior-ly he isn’t advanced, but I’m afraid he is going to be terribly bored with some of the academic content. We’ll practice writing all the words instead. He can write everything in uppercase, but of course its still uneven and juvenile in appearance, and his lowercase letters could use practice.
Today’s lunch is pretty simple. The kidlet loves Bakugan. It’s a game, a cartoon, and physical toys from Japan that is a bit of a craze in the elementary school set.  He doesn’t know how to play the game. He just came home from preschool one day knowing what they are and wanting to get some of the little figures. They are golf ball sized plastic and metal magnetic balls that unfold like a transformer into some creation, which is then the “brawler” for the battle between two players. Well, there is no way I could do a true bakugan bento. I am sure one of the amazing bento artists that can create elaborate nori designs and convoluted rice shapes to display perfect likenesses and landscapes could pull off a crazy looking creature like a bakugan, but not I. So instead I included the symbol of one of the bakugan “attributes” (don’t ask me to explain it, I can’t, but the kidlet would recognize it).
Since anything “cutesy” would be contrary to the whole bakugan thing, I kept the rest simple. Lil’Smokies, Broccoli, Carrot, Cauliflower, Sweet Potato, Pretzel and Cheddar Goldfish Crackers, Cantaloupe stars and a plum hidden under the Pyrus cheese. I took a babybell cheese, and carved away some of the wax to make the bakugan symbol. Sadly, babybel doesn’t make green, blue, gray, black or brown waxed cheeses; it will take some creativity to do the rest of them!
I think it came out pretty close. The knife slipped and I ended up makign my center point too short, but really, I’m sure its close enough to be recognizeable, and presumably he won’t have the symbol there to compare the two 😉
Total time was under 20 minutes. I braised the lil smokies in sauce (they are all bumpy out of the package, and cooking them in a little liquid plumps them back into shape and helps the flavor as well), and microsteamed the cauliflower and broccoli. While those were cooling I got everything else ready and then assembled.
Yo Gabba, Gabba is a nickoloeon program for preschoolers. It’s a crazy show. Yet another example demonstrating that the makers of kids programs must be on some wild drugs (think boobah — I rest my case). In spite of (or because of) the bizarro nature of it, the kidlet likes it. Eventually I hope to showcase each of the characters from the show, hopefully before he outgrows it! I started with Muno because he is the simplest, and a color I could capture without inks. (And he is my favorite ;))
Whole wheat sandwich (chicken spread and cheese), blackberries, yellow cauliflower and carrots. Muno is made from a fruit roll up (I needed that vibrant red), and his name is cut from cheddar. Also in his lunch bag will be the ubiquitous ranch dressing and a go-gurt (he loves those disgusting things!).
The kidlet is going through a phase where he dislikes solid meats. Lunchmeat, sausages, meatballs are ok, but pieces of chicken, beef or pork go uneaten, even when very tender. I don’t know if its the texture or what. So for his sandwich, I tossed some leftover chicken into the food pro with a little onion and celery (he doesn’t like chunks of those either) and ground them up fine. I stirred in just enough mayo to make it stick together.  I micro-steamed the cauliflower to take off just a little crunch
Total time spent: 20 minutes. I made muno ahead, but it didn’t work so well. Cheese and meat creations are fine overnight in the fridge well wrapped in plastic. Fruit roll-ups just get sticky and his features are slippery and smeared a little. He wasn’t difficult to cut out with a pair of honeybee cutterbee non-stick scissors (designed for scrapbooking, cutting glue dots and things), so it wouldn’t be tough to do it all in the morning the next time I need a fruit roll up creation.
Bento-ing can be contrary to my current frugal goal of tightening up my food budget. It could be very wasteful. I cut away a lot of bread to fit sandwiches to the box, Fruit and veggie shapes leave a lot behind, cheese buses and sonics leave tons of scraps, and so on. What do you do with all the leftovers from decorating bentos?Â
1. Unless I know I can dice them and use them in another meal that day, stock-suitable vegetables (carrots, zucchini, celery, etc), go into a gallon bag in the freezer along with other cooking scraps (parts of onions, celery tops, etc) to make stock. Since I’m planning on roasting a chicken a week for the next month, I’ll have plenty of carcass for making stock.
2. Cheese bits are saved in a baggie. I sprinkle them on my taco soup lunches or use them to make grilled cheese sandwiches. They can be tossed into scrambled eggs or omelets.  I also use them in savory meat and cheese corn muffins.
3. Meat bits go in those same corn muffins and egg dishes, or tucked into a sandwich if he has one that day.
4. I’ve been bad about bread, but I’ve started to save the crusts and extra bits. If I collect bread scraps a few days, then whiz ’em in the food pro, I can use those homemade breadcrumbs for meatballs (one of the few non lunchmeat proteins I can count on the kidlet to eat) or breading cutlets for dinner.
5. Usually the fruit scraps get eaten right away by me or the kidlet. I suppose you could save them and make a fruit salad, but I’m happy to let the kiddo gobble them up with breakfast for a little more nutrtion.
6. I don’t save nori bits. I don’t use much of it; he doesn’t actually LIKE it, and peels it off anyway. Just sometimes you just have to have a little black! No one here (including me) likes seaweed in any form. Truthfully, opening the bag I have the nori stored in to pull out a little bit to use makes me want to gag with that sudden fishy sea aroma that assaults my senses. So, bits left after punching out eyes or whatnot just plain get trashed, with no apology.
I am not real thrilled with today’s bento entry. I had no time last night for any elaborate prep; we had a school picnic followed immediately by the years first PTA meeting. It was after kidlets bedtime before we got out of there, baby L was tired, screaming, and would only calm and sleep by being held.Â
So my bento plans failed. That was compounded by my terrible baking skills; I made mini corn muffins (intended for his lunch) that wouldn’t come out of the pan without breaking and that crumbled when you looked at them. I ran out of time to make the meatballs I’d wanted to include, much less any cute cheese creations!
I suppose I should just have repeated his rocket bento. That one hasn’t gone to school, he loved it, and it takes only ten minutes tops. Instead I ended up layering things in rows and called it a day.
He’s got lil’ smokies, fresh mozzarella balls marinated in seasoned evoo, broccoli, carrot disks, and yellow pear tomatoes. Under the green and gold kiwi is a thin slice of pound cake (oh so healthy!). It’s definitely low on the starch side for a traditional ratio. Pigs are bologna with little cheese flowers, decorated with a tiny bit of cilantro leaves and a little purple cake decorating circle thing. (I have no idea what you call them!) They really have no taste; it’s not sweet, just crunchy, so I don’t think it will bother him.
Total time spent (not counting wasted time on making the corn muffins or cooling time): about 10 – 15 minutes. The pigs and oink took only a few minutes. Pigs were done with a cookie cutter and I quickly freehanded the oink. I cooked the sausages in sauce to give them a nice flavor, steamed the broccoli, waited for them to cool down and then just sliced, picked, and layered.
Anyway, it’s not what I’d planned, nor particulary cute, but it’s full of things that he likes and will eat and fill him up and give him energy to finish his day. That’s what it’s all about in the end.
The Kidlet loves Sonic the Hedgehog. He plays sonic unleashed on the xbox, and he and daddy have downloaded the oldskool versions of sonic (horrific graphics and all) and he loves playing those, too. He’s got an eductional sonic game for his leapster — well, you get the idea. He thinks the little blue speed demon is awesome. Right now about the only thing I can think he likes more are bakugan; but that’s another post altogether! 😉
Seeing as there are no actual blue foods, and sonic is bright blue, I resorted to food coloring. I tried edible markers (designed for cookies I think) but they didn’t work well on the cheese. The dampness would cause the marker to stop working, and it was super streaky. I wanted a little bit of variation in color, but the marker was way too much. So, I switched to food coloring. I’d picked up a wilton 12 color set and some little paintbrushes a while back, thinking I would try painting cheese (although when you look at something like this from pkoceres, it’s enough to make you give up before you start; amazing!) so I mixed a little blue paste with water and gave sliced mozzarella a coat, and then “cut” him out basically freehand, looking at a picture, using a needle like tool that is actually designed for quilling. When you aren’t in Japan with all the tools readily available, you have to make do! I’m using (new and unused, food only) items intended for other crafts — quilling tools, scrapbooking scissors and punches, beading pliers, icing tips, and so on. I finished him with a little bologna and nori accents.
Sonic sits on a stuffed sandwich. Also in there are carrot rings (ok, they aren’t exactly the gold colored rings that he collects in the games, but cut me some slack! ;)), melon flowers picked onto strawberries and a few blueberries for filler. I didn’t like that you could see the bottom of the box in the lower left at this angle, so I went back in and tucked in another couple blueberries. I also added three little Meiji candies, those apollo strawberry and chocolate cones. I was just too lazy to cart my camera back downstairs and take a new picture.
Total time spent: about 25 minutes, but most of that was spent on sonic, which I did ahead of time again, wrapping him in plastic wrap until lunch assembly. I also cut the carrot rings early, stashing them in a small tupperware container. So at packing time I just needed to “glue” sonic to the sandwich with a little whipped cream cheese, cut the melon flowers, stick them on the strawberries, and then pack everything in. Easy Peasy!
I haven’t planned out my meals in a long time, which is why my food spending is about 3 times what I’d like my food budget to be. I also end up throwing away a lot of food –  sinful amounts of produce, freezer burnt foods, even occasionally meat in the fridge I’ve bought and then don’t end up cooking for too long so it’s trash. Menu planning also helps me eat much healthier, so it’s back to meal planning for me. If I get stuck, I’ll take inspiration from one of the many posters over at Organizing Junkie, who hosts Menu Plan Monday. For the next month it’s my goal to use up as much pantry and freezer items as possible. We’ve got basically a quarter beef in the deep freeze and some wild salmon fished up by a friend, so I’m not spending as much as it seems 😉
For breakfasts we always have oatmeal, cold cereal, scrambled eggs, toast, freezer muffins, yogurt, cottage cheese and fruits to choose from. This week we also have a mexican zucchini frittata, and some raisin bread. Any dinner lefovers become lunch, but I’m trying very hard to NOT overcook and have leftovers unless I have specifically planned leftovers. I also have a small budget specifically for lunches, taken from what hubby was spending eating out every day, to keep us stocked with lunch meats, cheeses, etc for bentos.  My lunches this week are taco soup (4x), chicken salad on greens (2x), and veggie ramen stir fry (1x). Even when not specifically listed, I usually have a mixed greens salad and fruit available for dinner.
Monday: Mini Calzones, Green Salad with yellow Grape Tomatoes, Pineapple Oops, I forgot that today is the back to school PTA picnic and meeting. We’ll be having pizza there
Tuesday: Roast Lemon Chicken and Roasted Root Vegetables (Sweet Potato, Carrot, Onion, Turnip), Cauliflower (planned leftovers for Thursday and Friday meals)
Wednesday: Salmon Cakes and Lemon-Garlic Aoili, Lentils, Asparagus
Thursday: Chicken Curry (I’m using shredded leftover chicken, not cubed breasts), Brown Rice, Zucchini & Summer Squash
Friday: Chicken and Corn Chowder, Whole Wheat Rolls, Tri-Melon Salad
Saturday: Sorta Salisbury Steak (I’m adding mushrooms to the gravy), Mashed Potato, Broccoli & Cauliflower
Sunday: Roasted Salmon with Chili-Lime Sauce, Barley, Green Beans
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Update: Thursday and I am doing well and on track. I’m under budget for the week (which is easily the first time in months). I’ve made some adjustments (like when DH wasn’t going to be home for dinner, which I didn’t know until the day of – I wasn’t going to cook a whole meal for kidlet and myself) but I have adjusted only using things in the house already. The chicken curry recipe will NOT be in regular rotation. BLAND and tomato-y. I picked an easy low ingredient recipe for convenience, and it shows in the flavor. Ick.
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I got almost everything done that I wanted. I didn’t get things cleaned up as much as I’d like though. It’s just still so difficult since Baby L doesn’t want to be set down, even when napping. I did get my freezers and pantry inventoried and about have my meal plan done. I think I’ll be participating in Menu Plan Monday over at Organizing Junkie, so will be posting that tomorrow. I did make it to the farmers market and the asian market (they didn’t have quail eggs grr!  I planned to spend some of my lunch budget on those because they are so cute and fit so well in a bento!) with the kidlet, but since I didn’t have my menu quite finished, didn’t make it to the regular grocery. For me and my weight loss goals, I think I’ll basically plan a couple of breakfasts and lunches, cook multiple portions and just eat the same things for a week in those meals.
Haven’t posted any kid pictures lately — you can see they didn’t want to cooperate and show thier beautiful smiling faces! Baby L has been laughing for the past week or so — it’s about the cutest thing you’ve ever heard, an adorable little chortle. I think she is starting to look more like daddy too.
Nothing planned this weekend. My life is bound to get busier. There’s a school picnic, a PTA meeting, and a volunteer training this week. So this weekend I want to clean up a little, work on my weekly meal plan, hit the grocery, and otherwise relax with my family.
I do expect to have my menu planned out (my healthy I’m going to finish losing this weight or die trying menu!) and hopefully be a little more focused on my health and just posting pictures of the lunches (although, they are cute aren’t they? ;))
Speaking of lunches, kidlet’s teacher made a point to mention them to me, just briefly, saying “I’ve never seen such lunches before!” Heh.
Drop off this morning was almost as hectic as the first day. I’m sure in a couple of weeks we parents will be like, ‘ok, there’s the door, bye!’ But for now, those of us dropping off our kids instead of sending them on the bus are crowding the room, making sure lunches get put away, backpacks hung up, name tags on, torturing the teacher with questions and otherwise making nuisances of ourselves.
Jicama, carrot, zucchini and corn, mixed berries, turkey and cheese sandwich with layered cheese bus (the stop sign is a tiny piece of fruit rollup), mozzarella balls and pasta bears.
I’m sending his bentos in an insulated lunch bag, along with his water bottle and an ice pack. He is having trouble getting the mayo cups open, so I just put his dressing for the veggies in a regular tiny gladware container and sent it outside the bento. Â
Total time spent was about 25 minutes. I made the bus ahead of time though (that took a good 15), and wrapped it in plastic wrap. I also skewered the corn and boiled the pasta the night before. So assembling the bento was making a sandwich, cutting it to size, cutting up the veggies and packing everything in. 10 minutes in the morning isn’t bad at all, as long as I can steal some moments the night before to prep things.