another lunch

Muffin Tin Monday - the swanky 70's!

2013-06-17T10:51:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the 70's! This week's Muffin Tin Monday theme is another stop in the decades series, the swanky 70's!

I'm hoping someone worked some shag carpet into their muffin tin. ;)

Curious about Muffin Tin Monday? Check out the MTM information page to read all about it.

Nibble Tray | preschooler's snack to go

2013-06-12T10:53:00.000-05:00

Summer greetings, everyone!

While I am very much enjoying not having to peel myself out of bed super early every morning, it still doesn't seem like we've hit that lazy summer days groove yet. I feel like I'm still waiting to catch my breath! Maybe that's just life with a houseful of crazy kids...

Speaking of them, the younger two never. ever. slow down.
Unless they are eating. Then they sit still for at least a few minutes at a time. Unless we are on the go, which is a lot. But even then they gotta eat. This is one of the recent on the go snacks I packed.

Packed in a Nibble Tray:
- veggie chips
- small bit of granola bar (a flapjack from a recent Graze box)
- a mix of peanuts, chocolate sunflower kernels, organic yogurt covered pretzel
- cheddar cheese
- pistacios
- salami roll-ups

The green leaf section has a built in ice pack, so it stays chilled for a while. The area held hummus (for the veggie chips) and a couple nibbles of kiwi fruit.

I had intended this nibble tray to be a shared snack for both Paige and Tyler. That was sorely short sighted of me. Those two were at each other's throats, each trying to snarf down as much food as they could before the other could have it. Maybe it would have worked out better had I made duplicate compartments of each food. But I don't think I'll test the the theory any time soon. Sigh.

Supplies used to make this snack:

Big Kid Summer Camp Lunch

2013-06-11T10:47:00.003-05:00

We have enjoyed over three weeks of summer vacation so far and this week Ethan gets to go to a summer enrichment program at school. Five full days of fun classes he got to pick out himself. A couple of the courses he opted for: Outdoor Games and Lego Mania. Totally rad!

Yesterday he insisted on packing his own lunch (it was my birthday and he didn't want me "to work too hard" - ha!) and I didn't grab a picture before he left. This is today's lunch:

Packed in a Laptop Lunches Box:
- multi-grain tortilla chips
- an individual portion of packaged Wholly Guacamole
- cheddar cheese
- organic strawberries & grapes with a fun cocktail fork to eat them with
- homemade granola bar (wrapped in wax paper and tucked in the side area)

Supplies used to pack this lunch:

Muffin Tin Monday - the ocean

2013-06-10T09:00:00.000-05:00

Welcome to Muffin Tin Monday!

The theme of the day is The Ocean.

And to be totally honest, I totally cheated and am recycling a muffin tin meal I made almost three years ago!

- a sand pail (mini bento bucket full of vanilla yogurt and topped with graham cracker crumbs)
- a school of fish crackers
- octopus (hot dog shaped octopus!)
- strawberries... just because
- lobster shaped quesadilla
- fish shaped boiled egg

More details about the making of this muffin tin meal are in the original post.

Supplies used to make this muffin tin meal:

New to Muffin Tin Monday? Check out the MTM information page to read all about it. The schedule of themes can be found there too. The schedule has been updated and themes are now listed through the end of July! If you have some theme ideas, please share your ideas in the comments!

Snacks, snacks, lots of school snacks!

2013-06-06T09:55:00.000-05:00

At one point during this last school year I thought I'd make a real effort to start documenting our packed school snacks. The problem is it wasn't a habit and therefore kept slipping my mind in the crazy getting-ready-for-school morning rush and 97% of the time I forgot to do it.

So these are just the random handful of snacks I happened to take pictures of. They spread over a long time period, and bridge a transition in Paige's diet (the more recent ones being lower in simple carbs and sugar and are artificial dye-free).

This snack was packed in our newish strawberry bento box. This is a 2-tier (stacked) box, but I just used the top box this time, so it was a single tier. It holds a homemade banana walnut muffin (with lots of chia seeds and flax meal added), and there are pumpkin seeds in the lidded Mini-Dipper container:

This is 1 of 2 new little bento boxes Paige got for her birthday in March. This one is divided into three sections. On this day she had Goldfish crackers, roasted almonds, and a Babybell cheese. That larger section was big enough to also hold one cell of a Goodbyn icepack blanet also, which helped keep the cheese nice and chilled until snack time:

The super cute lid... it's Hello Kitty! The lid snaps on like a Lock & Lock box. I found this bento set on ebay (from this shop).

This snack was packed in the 2nd box from that Hello Kitty bento set, this one doesn't have built-in dividers, but is the same size and has an identical lid. This snack contained a clementine, turkey jerky, and in the tube (an old mini M&M holder) are sunflower kernels:

Same box again, the tube also has sunflower kernels. And two mini granola bars ("flapjacks" from our Graze Box subscription):

Packed in a Goodbyn snack box, this snack is mini organic peanut butter cracker sandwiches (from Trader Joe's) and almonds:

Packed in a small Lock & Lock snack box, fishie crackers and pumpkin kernels:

The Goodbyn snack box again, mini saltine crackers and a mini muffin (I have no earthly memory of what type of muffin that was):

...my memory struggles again...this snack was some sort of granola bar (maybe an organic Clif's Zbar?) with what looks like graham crackers under it? And grapes:

The same snack sized Lock & Lock box as above, but I slid one of the included trays to the middle to make 3 sections. This one holds a granola bar, fishies, grapes. This was Ethan's snack, I'm pretty sure:

Some sort of crackers and itty bitty mini Hello Kitty sandwiches. Those tiny kitty sandwiches were made using larger "scrap" pieces of bread from leftover cut-outs. I used HK fruit & veggie cutters to make those (#5 from my Hello Kitty cutter round-up post):

Supplies used to pack these snacks:

The last school lunches of the year

2013-06-04T10:44:00.001-05:00

We are already in the thick of our summer vacation, so no school lunches have been made in awhile. But I did have a few stray lunches that hadn't been posted yet, and here they are!

One of Ethan's last lunches of elementary school, ever. (Sob!!)...

Packed in an EasyLunchbox container:
- soft pretzel roll
- cheddar cheese in a silicone muffin cup
- organic baby carrots
- grapes

Because this soft pretzel was unsalted I added a little car-topped shaker bottle holding pretzel salt for Ethan to add himself. This lunch is basically an exact replica of the Mickey Mouse pretzel lunch he had had the prior week. Because, why not? :)

One of Paige's last lunches of Kindergarten. Sniffle....

This lunch is packed in a Laptop Lunchbox:
- two slices of her favorite garlic parmesan chicken pizza
- a bounty of cucumber slices, cut with a flower shaped mini cookie cutter
- fruit: clementine, grapes, strawberry
- hummus in the small dipping container

I used the large container from a set of Laptop Lunch Bento Buddies to hold the large pizza slices. This container comes with a lid, which contained the loose parmesan bits from spreading over to the other side foods.

Interesting (to me) discovery: Paige did not eat the hummus. Despite being on a mega hummus kick. Why? I asked. She said, "I only love hummus on cucumbers if they have the crust on them. Without the cucumber crusts I like to eat them plain with nuffing on them. And I didn't have anything else to eat the hummus with."
Well, okay then! Good to know. By "cucumber crusts" she means the skin, of course. :)

And lastly, a long time ago lunch of Ethan's...

This one is packed in a Lock & Lock Lunch Set.
- soft pretzel
- strawberries
- cheddar cheese
- dry roasted chickpeas

I'm preeeety sure this concludes the last of the lunches from the 2012-2013 school year. Gosh this year flew by in a blur!

Supplies used to make these lunches:

Muffin Tin Monday - Perfect Picnic

2013-06-03T09:00:00.000-05:00

What? It's Monday again, already?! We are beginning week 3 of summer break and it's safe to say my brain is officially on summer schedule. I'm no longer capable of keeping track of days of the week.

Tah-dah! My ultra simple picnic time muffin tin meal:

Top row:
- watermelon, carrots and cherries, mini sealed bite-sized sandwiches with a few pretzels*,
Bottom row:
- *repeat, grapes, more watermelon!

Pretty boring, right? Yep. :)
Paige and Tyler shared this for a light lunch. Tyler stole Paige's watermelon, but she ate all the grapes. Seemed fair to me, but there was a lot of squawking involved. A brawl didn't break out and they remained unscathed. So, win.

Confession: I feel like I'm in the trenches of summer already, and I'm scared.

Supplies used to make this muffin tin meal:

Muffin Tin Monday - Down on the Farm

2013-05-27T09:00:00.000-05:00

What does Memorial Day and Muffin Tin Monday have in common? Today!

Totally lame joke? Yes!

Also totally lame? My muffin tin meal!

The scheduled theme for today is Farm, but mine is not themed at all. Actually there is a little secret theme imbedded here, it's called "leftovers" and it's what Tyler had for dinner last night:
- rice pilaf (lots of mushrooms, celery, and onion packed in there)
- steamed broccoli
- bratwurst
- ketchup for the sausage
- strawberries and carrots

Supplies I used to make this muffin tin meal:

I'd love to see what muffin tins you whipped up this week! Please share!! The more, the merrier. :)

New to Muffin Tin Monday? Check out the MTM information page to read all about it. The schedule of themes can be found there too. The schedule has been updated and themes are now listed through the end of July!

PlanetBox preschool lunch: fantastic firetruck fun for my fabulous & feisty four-year-old

2013-05-23T09:01:00.000-05:00

A couple days ago I had this fun lunch all ready to greet my youngest,Tyler, when he got off the bus from preschool. This little guy loves fire trucks a lot. And then yesterday that little guy turned 4. Four years old! I'm still wondering where the last four years have gone. Sigh.

Packed in a PlanetBox:
- Fire Engine #4, a sandwich cut with the truck Lunch Punch. I fashioned a little ladder out of havarti cheese, along with the number four. The siren is a little organic jelly bean. :)
- waffle pretzels with a few firetruck cheese crackers (homemade recipe here).
- kiwi fruit and strawberries, with the helpful firehouse dog bento pick
- cucumber fire stations and a bunch of carrot coins
- the middle treat section holds some five-alarm spicy jalepeno almonds

Because I am afraid someone will ask: the tiny firetruck cutter is from a set of transportation vehicle mini cutters I bought several years ago from an online bento shop that is no longer in business. I haven't seen any similar in a very long time. :( The way they are designed makes them really hard to use on cheese (which I originally intended using them for), but they have been really cute for cracker making.

Supplies used to make this lunch:

Lunchbots bento boxes | a little of this & a little of that

2013-05-21T09:00:00.000-05:00

These bentos are on the small side, but there is a lot of variety packed into these small spaces.

This bento is in a Lunchbots Quad (divided into 4 sections):
- two mini blueberry muffins with some pecans tucked in the corners
- butterfly crackers with organic cream cheese
- mini BabyBel cheese and slices of salami
- grapes & strawberries with a couple cute flower bento picks

Packed in a Lunchbots Duo (made with two sections):
- deli roll-ups, made with Applegate all natural ham & havarti cheese*
- cucumber slices, cut with a flower shaped mini cookie cutter
- tiny strawberries in a small silicone corner cup, with a cute bento fork to eat them with
- wheat crackers with organic cream cheese
- pumpkin kernels in the little corner cup, topped with an organic yogurt covered pretzel
- a couple strips of turkey jerky
- a few organic chocolate teddy cookies

I packed this Duo box with the wet stuff on one side of the divider, and dry foods on the other. Within each of these sections I used silicone grassy baran to further separate some foods: the deli roll-ups from the cucumbers, and then the teddy cookies from the turkey jerky.

Supplies used to pack these bentos:

* Applegate recently sent me a variety of deli meat and cheese to try out and enjoy with my family. :)

Muffin Tin Monday - Nursery Rhymes

2013-05-20T09:00:00.000-05:00

Welcome to Muffin Tin Monday!

Today's scheduled theme is Nursery Rhymes. :)

I totally phoned it in this week and whipped out this super simple muffin tin in mere minutes.

Top row:
- Little Miss Muffet's spider, creeping up on her ~~tuffet~~ zucchini muffin
- Jack & Jill's pail full of dry roasted peanuts
- Mary's little lamb, waving from the top of a grape heap

Bottom row:
- Baa Baa Black Sheep (olives)
- Old Mother Hubbard's bare cupboard. Poor puppy. :(
- Twinkling Little Star, up above the world so high

Those are dye-free organic "M&M" type candies in the star cup, the globe is a little piece of chocolate wrapped in earth-print foil. Both these treats were found at Whole Foods in the bulk bins.

My intent for this muffin tin was to have Paige guess what nursery rhyme each space represented. This was a huge flop as it turns out Paige doesn't know the nursery rhymes!!! What what what?!! I was flabbergasted. After talking a while about them, she says they sound "kind of familiar", but definitely not second nature, not by a long shot. Yikes! I guess we have a summer project on our hands: Nursery Rhyme Boot Camp.

Supplies used to make this muffin tin meal:

New to Muffin Tin Monday? Check out the MTM information page to read all about it. The schedule of themes can be found there too. The schedule has been updated and themes are now listed through the end of July! :)

An Amazing School Lunch For My Best Girl

2013-05-16T09:00:00.000-05:00

Okay, maybe it's not amazing, but Paige said it was "fantastic and delicious" and I'm pretty sure that's basically the same thing.

Packed in a PlanetBox:
- kiwi fruit pieces and strawberries, packed in the PlanetBox Big Dipper
- veggie chips
- two cute animal silicone cups hold peanuts (in the elephant, naturally) and pistachios
- deli pinwheels made with Applegate ham & Applegate cheddar cheese*, secured with simple bento picks
- a square of organic dark chocolate

That little orange fork tucked alongside the Big Dipper is from a set of bento forks I bought a few years ago. They were made by a bento company I never see around any longer called Caio (or something like that). There were a lot of bento accessories from that line that all coordinated, color-wise and with the same little animal characters. I think the line was called "Farm", though the animals featured were a bear, elephant, and bunny. It's unfortunate miniature sized utensils aren't more available for bento, they are really such a great little size. Not as tiny as a bento pick, but much more compact than a full sized utensil!

Supplies used to pack this lunch:

* Disclosure: Applegate recently sent me a variety of yummy meat and cheese to try out and enjoy with my family. :)

Kindergarten school lunches (times three!) - piggies, pinwheels, & puzzle pieces

2013-05-15T09:39:00.000-05:00

A few of Paige's Kindergarten lunches. I won't be able to say that for long...only one week of school for us to go! My little girl will soon be a big 1st grader! This year has flown. Like a turbo jet.

All these lunches are packed in EasyLunchboxes.

First, a lunch from last month that I forgot to post. :)

- sandwich cut into puzzle pieces with a Lunch Punch, cozied up in a large silicone cup
- veggie chips
- roasted chickpeas
- blackberries with a piece of organic fruit leather, cut with a small heart cookie cutter

Next, a lunch packed in a super big hurry. This lunch was no-nonsense. Put things in a box, apply the lid. Done.

- Applegate ham & Applegate havarti cheese rolls* with a bit of mustard, secrured with bento picks so they didn't unravel
- an apple cereal bar
- ripe organic strawberries & frozen blackberries
- pistacios

I left the cereal bar in the wrapper so it didn't get little crumbs all over the deli rolls, but cut one end open so Paige could slide it out easily.

Last lunch, TODAY'S lunch!

- a sandwich on multigrain of organic peanut butter & fruit preserves
- veggie chips
- sunflower kernels in the little piggie cup
- clementine wedges with strawberries
- cucumber slices, cut with a small flower mini cookie cutter (faster than peeling!)

The bread stamp that made that cute piggie face was a gift from a friend and I don't know where it came from, but the pig from this stamp set is similar. :)

Supplies used to make these lunches:

* Disclosure: Applegate recently sent me a variety of yummy meat and cheese to try out and enjoy with my family. :)

Planetbox | Ladies Who Lunch - a Mother's Day brunch box :)

2013-05-14T09:00:00.000-05:00

Last Friday Paige's Kindergarten class hosted a little Mother's Day tea at lunchtime. The kids and moms shared home packed lunches picnic-style.

Packed in a Planetbox lunch box:
- homemade hummus with waffle pretzels
- cucumber slices
- cutie orange, kiwi fruit, and two gorgeous grape gemstones on ring bento picks ;)
- girly girly mini sandwiches of peanut butter and fruit preserves
- naturally colored chocolate covered sunflower kernels in the middle treat section

The Mother's Day lunch event was the perfect ocassion to break out my new "fancy lady" mini cookie cutters. :)

Supplies used to make this lunch:

Muffin Tin Monday - In the Garden

2013-05-13T09:00:00.000-05:00

Welcome to Muffin Tin Monday!

This week's scheduled theme is "In the Garden".

In my super simple garden muffin tin:
- grape tomatoes with cute pea pod bento picks
- homemade ranch dressing in an adorable carrot-shaped silicone cup
- cucumber pieces on more cute veggie-topped bento picks

- Annie's organic bunny fruit snacks in a bunny shaped silicone cup (we lost so many tomatoes to rabbits in our garden last year! Boo to the garden bunnies!)
- mini sandwiches, one shaped like a bell pepper, one like an eggplant
- farm fresh strawberries (Owen and I went berry picking this weekend - fun!)

I picked up the veggie shaped mini cookie cutters on ebay a couple months ago. I discovered I can get them practically dirt cheap from there, even with shipping. I loaded up on a few others sets I didn't have yet in my collection too. :)

Supplies used to make this muffin tin meal:

Now I'd love to see what muffin tins YOU cooked up this week. Please share!! The more, the merrier. :)

New to Muffin Tin Monday? Check out the MTM information page to read all about it. The schedule of themes can be found there too. The schedule has been updated and themes are now listed through the end of July! :)

Peace, Love, & Mickey Mouse - more Mickey bentos :)

2013-05-09T09:00:00.000-05:00

More Mickey in the house...and in the lunch boxes. :)

Ethan got some Mickey fun this time.

Packed in an EasyLunchboxes:
- soft pretzel
- cheddar cheese
- organic baby carrots
- kiwi fruit & a strawberry on a puffy Mickey head pick

That cute little Mickey Mouse container next to the pretzel is called a furikake shaker bottle. Furikake is seasoning flavor/spices that is sprinkled on rice in traditional Japanese bentos and food. I have it filled with pretzel salt since this soft pretzel was unsalted. Ethan could add a sprinkle of salt to the top as he wished.

Peace, Love, & Mickey Mouse!
- multigrain peace sign pretzel chips
- kiwi fruit and a strawberry heart
- Mickey Mouse crackers (they are from Disney World)
- little Mickey Mouse sandwich of organic peanut butter & local honey

This lunch is packed in a 4 square Lock & Lock box. :)

Supplies used to make these lunches:

EasyLunchbox bento | Mickey Mouse & Minnie Mouse lunches

2013-05-08T08:00:00.000-05:00

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E

Big huge puffy heart love for Mickey Mouse. Also? Big puffy heart love bursting open when seeing how thrilled little Tyler was with his special lunch yesterday.

Packed in an EasyLunchbox:
- two Mickey Mouse sandwiches of organic peanut butter & fruit preserves
- Wheat Thins & a BabyBel cheese circle
- organic yogurt covered pretzels
- Mickey Mouse crackers (picked those up on our trip to Disney World)
- organic strawberries with a SUPER CUTE Mickey Mouse glove bento pick

I spied those adorable Mickey picks on ebay a month or so ago and about jumped out of my skin from the excitement of them. So stinking cute! I've had them sitting on my counter all these weeks because the package of cuteness just made me happy to look at. I decided it was finally time to put them to use. They just make me smile. A lot. :)

While Tyler was enjoying his lunch I decided to busy myself by making a similar one for Paige for the next day's lunch (that's today!). I don't usually make lunches ahead of time, but if this works out (no sogginess or staleness) it would be fabulous.

Paige's Minnie Mouse bento is also in an EasyLunchbox:
- cucumber slices (with a sprinkle of pepper)
- organic yogurt covered pretzels
- Mickey crackers
- Minne Mouse sandwiches, also pb&j on multigrain
- organic strawberries & grapes with a marvelous Minnie Mouse bow bento pick :)

The Mickey and Minnie sandwiches were both cute and stamped with a pair of cookie cutters. Incidentally, these are the same style (and maker) of my favorite Hello Kitty ones. The bow pick was also scored on ebay, as part of a cute 12 piece Minnie themed bento pick set. {insert more smiles}

Supplies used to make these lunches:

2 Laptop Lunches for my Kindergarten girl

2013-05-07T08:00:00.000-05:00

A couple Laptop Lunches here! These are both school lunches made for Paige.

- cucumber sticks with a schnazzy handstanding bunny bento pick
- mini-dipper full of hummus
- organic strawberries and a talented dancing bear bento pick
- three mini sandwiches on multigrain, cut with this little cutter set
- Snap Pea Crisps
- black bean quinoa tortilla chips (from Trader Joe's)

A couple random notes:
#1 - Paige only likes those Snap Pea Crisps if she can dip them in hummus.
#2 - Those tortilla chips from Trader Joe's are fantastic!
#3 - I absolutely love those little EasyLunchbox mini-dipper boxes, and stoked they fit in the Laptop Lunches. While the Laptop Lunches do come with a tiny dip box, the mini-dippers are a bit bigger and the lids are easy for my littles to handle independently. I'm a fan.

- two clementines with cute leaf picks and a handful of grapes
- Paige's most favorite, garlic chicken pizza with parmesan
- veggie chips
- turkey jerky

I've been trying to limit the amount of sugar Paige gets in her lunches. Packing two sugary fruits (clementines and grapes are both high sugar fruits) is not ideal, but I tried to counter it with higher protein sides. She also had a higher protein snack for her afternoon snack time. :)

Supplies used to make these bento school lunches:

Muffin Tin Monday | Classic TV & Cartoons

2013-05-06T09:00:00.000-05:00

Howdy ho, muffin tin makers and lookers!

Today's theme for Muffin Tin Monday is Classic TV & Cartoons!

Here we go, my mish mash of classic tv and cartoon hits:

Top Row showcases...
- I Love Lucy: Vitameatavegamin crisps (Eat Your Vegetables chips)
- Lassie: a mini-dipper of homemade hummus
- Flipper!: cucumber & baby carrots with a dolphin bento pick

Front Row entertainment...
- The Flintstones: no-bake "energy balls" with bone bento picks
- Land of the Lost: dino sandwich made with Applegate turkey & cheddar cheese
- The Jetsons: homemade robot crackers

Let's take a closer look at what's going on in Lassie's neck of the woods...

Oh no! That's Timmy, and it looks like he fell in the well again! ;)

Ah, this muffin tin brought back a lot of memories for me! These are all tv shows I watched obsessively as a kid. Any other Land of the Lost fans? Did you ever think Timmy couldn't find his way out of a paper bag without Lassie to lead his way? Anyone else marvel at how Flipper could solve mysteries, catch bad guys, and rescue those boys week after week? Oh man, not pictured in this muffin tin, but I also loved Ben. That big bear? I wanted him to be my friend. I swear, those tv kids had the coolest pets....

Supplies used to make this muffin tin meal:

New to Muffin Tin Monday? Check out the MTM information page to read all about it. The schedule of themes can be found there too. :)

pssst! The schedule has been updated and themes are now listed through the end of July!

Kindergarten Field Trip Lunch & hearty snack bento

2013-05-02T13:20:00.000-05:00

Earlier this week Paige had her last field trip of the year. Unlike most field trip lunches, this one did not need to be disposable (yay!).

The field trip was to see a performance of Go Dog Go. So naturally I tweaked a little of that heme into her lunch that day.

Packed in an EasyLunchboxes container:
- pb&j sandwich on multigrain, cut with a dog in a dog house Lunch Punch
- two dog bowls (according to Paige!), with Goldfish crackers and a few grapes
- Wheat Thins and some Applegate Farms havarti cheese, cut into bone shapes with a mini cookie cutter
- cucumber slice "frisbees" ;)

Because the class ate lunch earlier than normal, before leaving for the field trip, parents were asked to send in "a hearty snack" for the afternoon, when they returned back to school. No problemo! It was the perfect occasion to break in our new strawberry bento box:

This berry cute snack bento holds:
- a bunch of hummus in a mini-dipper box
- "Eat Your Vegetables" chips
- two organic strawberries
- deli roll-ups made with Applegate Naturals uncured slow-cooked ham & natural Havarti cheese*, with a bit of mustard

This strawberry box is crazy cute, all stacked up ready to roll. :)

Paige was so excited over this strawberry bento, and I really enjoyed packing it up. It was a reminder that I really need to reach for those lesser-used fun bentos in my cabinets.

Supplies used to make these bentos:

* Applegate recently sent me a variety of delicious deli meats and yummy cheese to sample and enjoy with the family. :)

preschool bento box lunch | robot crackers, tiny sandwiches, & a flower eating dog

2013-05-01T09:00:00.000-05:00

Cute lunch for little Tyler, coming right up!

Packed in a Sassy box:
- mini sealed sandwiches, filled with hummus
- robot shaped homemade cheese crackers
- cucumber slices and baby carrots
- cantaloupe flowers in a silicone cup

So, for the record, those cute robot cutters make super cute crackers! I mentioned when I used them to make tiny robot sandwiches that I wanted to try it, but wasn't sure the details would come though. I'm so happy they worked perfectly. Cutest crackers ever. :)

Supplies used to make this lunch:

The anti-bento lunch box, part 3: another look at Owen's lunch

2013-04-30T15:27:00.000-05:00

I am going on my 4th year of blogging about lunches here (albeit off and on), and have pictured over a thousand bentos during that time. And yet this is only the third lunch of Owen's to appear here. The first two lunches were posted three years ago in 2010, the anti-bento lunch, and an updated anti-bento lunchbox part 2.

Without further ado, Owen's current cast of cafeteria characters:

Owen's lunch is almost exactly the same every single day.

Every. Single. Day. He has the following packed in his lunch box:
- a thermos of milk
- a jar of applesauce
- a container of something crunchy
- a spoon
- an ice pack

The only thing that changes in his lunch is the Thermos Funtainer (we have 3 "boy ones" in rotation) (I once sent Paige's Hello Kitty one in his lunch box and it came back untouched, he refused to drink from it). I am THRILLED (like, hallelujah, rejoicing!) that he drinks milk from those Thermos bottles because for the first 3 years of school he would only drink the Horizon organic milk boxes, in either vanilla or strawberry. He still LOVES those milk boxes, but now we do those only as an occasional treat. Plain milk in a Thermos Funtainer is much easier on our grocery budget (not to mention, less sugar).

The stainless jar for his applesauce is a more recent purchase. There was a time that Owen would only eat applesauce from the little single serve containers. With a straw poked through the lid. It took years of work for him to eat it with a spoon. And then another year before he'd eat the same applesauce (Mott's natural) from a jar, rather than the single serve container.

Ever since Owen braved to eat jarred applesauce from a regular container I have been searching for the right container to pack it in. You wouldn't believe how many I have tried and discarded. My requirements were pretty simple: something in the 6-9 ounce size range, leak free, easy to open. Well, I did find something that met those requirements, but they were totally not durable and would crack and need replacing. Like every three weeks. Finally, finally, I have found the perfect applesauce jars for Owen.

These are made by Lunchbots. They hold 8 ounces each. They are not big and bulky like the Thermos Funtainer food jars, so Owen is able to grasp them better to easily open and close. They don't leak. They will never crack. Hello. We finally found a winner.

The contents of Owen's "something crunchy" container changes day to day. Today he had pretzels. Sometimes it is crackers (saltines, Ritz, Goldfish). Sometimes it is corn chips (like Fritos, or the Trader Joe's version of). In truly desperate "oh no, our cupboard is bare!" times he gets plain Cheerios as his crunchy thing, but being that he eats dry plain Cheerios for breakfast every.single.day I try not to double him up on that if it's at all avoidable.

If you can't tell, eating is a huge struggle for Owen. And for us, as his parents, and as a whole family. We can't walk into any ole restaurant we like and sit down for a meal unless we know they serve french fries. Yes, french fries. That is the only (ONLY) food from a restaurant Owen will eat. If we are going somewhere unfamiliar we have to pack a lunch box for him to take along.

Owen has made eons of progress, in many areas, since being diagnosed with autism at age three. There has not been much progress in the eating department at all. Things like eating applesauce with a spoon instead of sucking it through a straw, allowing that applesauce to be in any old bowl or container instead of the familiar pre-packaged single serving containers are HUGE milestones for him. Those seemingly small steps took years of work and tears (on all our parts) to achieve.

Not all kids with autism have enormous eating issues like Owen, but many do.
Owen is not your typical picky eater. Owen would starve rather than eat food outside his accepted circle of foods. And that is not an exaggeration. He would simply not eat.

Lately Owen has been open to smelling unfamiliar foods. This is a huge step for him, as food smells used to send him running for the hills. We take what we can get. Small steps. Baby steps. Itty bitty infantile teeny tiny steps.

Owen's lunch, all packed up and ready to be zipped. Yep, that's the same lunch box he's used since Kindergarten. :)

Thank goodness L.L. Beans lasts forever. I think we will get a couple more years from this yet.

So here we are, at the end of April. The end of Autism Awareness Month. I squeezed Owen's lunch in just under the wire!

Amy's final autism message, which also touches on the topic of food:

"Children with autism are 5 times more likely than other children to have problems eating. Often labeled "pickiness," these eating disorders are actually due to sensory issues (extreme sensitivity to tastes and textures), oral motor difficulties (problems chewing or swallowing), obsessive-compulsive disorder (always having to drink from the same cup or eat from the same bowl), food allergies or sensitivities, or a combination of all of the above.

My son has a very severe autism-related eating disorder. He has eaten only sweet potato/yams out of the same bowl for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the last seven or eight years now. We work with a doctor and mix in supplements to make sure he gets adequate nutrition, and we work on adding new foods with a combination of occupational and behavioral therapy. Happy Autism Month!"

Thank you for your support during this month of sharing about autism. :)

Supplies used to pack this lunch:

Last Two Puzzle Lunches for Autism Awareness Month!

2013-04-30T09:02:00.000-05:00

It is the end of April, and the end of the month-long Autism Awareness themed lunches.

I have two more puzzley lunches to show now, and I'll be back later to share one of Owen's typical lunches. Riveting stuff, let me tell you. :)

But first, an Ethan lunch -

Packed in a PlanetBox:
- organic gala apple slices, flip-flopped to make a fun pattern
- grapes
- homemeade granola bites, made puzzle shaped by using a puzzle muffin pan
- Wheat Thin crackers across the top
- cheddar cheese

Paige's lunch from the same day -

Packed in an EasyLunchbox:
- puzzle shaped sandwich
- pretzle chips
- a few organic gummy bears in the treat box
- cucumber slices, with a sprinkle of fresh pepper
- apple and strawberry slices

And that, my friends, is the end of the puzzle lunches for awhile. Phew!

Another special autism message from Amy:

"Person with autism" or "autistic?" Language shapes how we perceive the world and how others perceive us. In disability circles, "person first" (person with autism) language is usually encouraged, however many autistic self-advocates prefer the term "autistic."
They say that autism is such an integral part of what makes them who they are, that that saying "person with autism" would be the equivalent of calling a woman "a person with womanhood." In fact, Temple Grandin once famously said that autism was such an inseparable component of her identity that even if she could "cure" herself, she would choose not to.

I tend to use "autistic" or "on the spectrum." My son considers himself the possessor of an "autistic brain" and sees it as a superpower. However, I do use person first language at times, after receiving a lecture from an acquaintance about the shocking wrongness of using "autistic." The lecture didn't convince me "autistic" was wrong, but it did convince me that it can be so distracting to some people that it will sidetrack an entire discussion. ;)

Happy Autism Month!

Supplies used to make these lunches:

Muffin Tin Monday | April Showers Bring May Flowers

2013-04-29T09:00:00.000-05:00

Welcome to Muffin Tin Monday!

The assigned theme for this week is April Showers Bring May Flowers.

Top row:
2 umbrella sandwiches.
The green handles for the umbrellas are from Lindt chocolate "carrots" I saved from Easter.

Middle row:
havarti cheese raindrops atop crackers.

Bottom row:
strawberry flowers on a kiwi backdrop, bento picks make the tulip stems and pretty daisies.

April has felt especially rainy to me this year, not necessarily literally, but figuratively it has been a sad month. Death (a child from our elementary school passed away), disasters (Boston Marathon and West, Texas tragedies), and a diagnosis (not ready to talk about that yet). It's just been a month of yuck and heartache and I am so hoping May blooms with beauty and bursts with bliss. I have two friends who are having babies next month and that seems like a wonderful start. :)

Supplies used to make this muffin tin meal:

New to Muffin Tin Monday? Check out the MTM information page to read all about it. The schedule of themes can be found there too. :) The themes through June are posted!

EasyLunchboxes Lunch | Honk If You Love Fridays! car bento

2013-04-26T09:50:00.001-05:00

This cute little lunch was for my youngest car-fanatic, Tyler.

Tyler attends morning preschool four days a week and is home by lunchtime, so packing a lunchbox is not necessary on most days. But the boy LOVES a lunchbox. So every now and then I try to have a cute lunch waiting for him at the kitchen table, all packed up in a lunchbox, for when he gets home from school. Tyler gets so excited and sports a smile a mile wide as he unzips the lunchbox and lifts the lid of the bento box. His delight is well worth the extra minutes it takes to put a bento together for him. :)

Packed in an EasyLunchbox:
- Car sandwich, this is hummus on seedy multigrain bread, with little cheddar cheese wheels
- the road, an organic Clif Kids Zbar
- spare tires and jack ;) - cucumber slices and baby carrots
- road hazards: kiwi chunks and strawberry pieces, with a cute flag bento pick

Tyler waved that little flag pick around and said, "look mama! it's a sign!". I said "that's called a flag!". To which he then said, "a flag? the flag goes on the castle!". Coming from a kid who was completely unintelligible a handful of months ago, his words make me so happy. :)

Supplies used to make this lunch: