I think it could use some more... Pork.

This time half the box is leftovers from the night before. Last night it was not a hit with the younger crowd. So I gave it a second shot with some success! And yes, my goal last night was to eat something so fatty that I could feel my arteries clog.

We have a peanut butter pig with a ham nose, cheese nostrils, and candy eyes. Carrot sticks are to the left, bananas with red sugar sprinkles on top, and some grapes.

The rounds are bacon wrapped chicken stuffed with ham and 2 cheeses. Next we have bacon wrapped white asparagus and a sword pick with grape tomatoes on it. Today's letter and number actually go along with the box. There were 3 meat rounds and 3 grape tomatoes. P is for pig, pork, and pleasantly plump. If you notice, I never have any dips for the carrots. I learned that if I provide dip, the minions will eat the dip but not the veggies. If I have no dip, they will eat the veggies 70% of the time without encouragement.

Tyke actually ate the bacon wrapped chicken this time around. And Pork licked the asparagus several times. Once I turned my back he started to eat his bacon and chicken rolls. He is such a ham.

Pork trying the asparagus.

No bento, but Some new stuff!

Today I had the opportunity to go shopping alone! All I had to do was get my eldest on the bus and then drop the other 3 off. :-D  

While at Meijer (like a Super Walmart) I decided to check the baby aisle for the elusive Sassy On The Go lunch containers. Previous expeditions have proved futile. I really did not want to order one... Or three. This time I was in luck! I found 3 blue and 1 pink! Perfect! I put them all in my shopping cart and then realized that I had already spent all my "bento allowance" this month.  Sad, sad day. Until I remembered that Single Awareness Day is next Tuesday. We had not gotten the minions anything yet. So I picked up the 3 blue ones. I figured I could not get away with getting Colonel Sanders one since she is just shy of 3 month. I do have to say that these are smaller than my Gerber ones.  The divided containers are a nice perk too. I just have to wait 6 more day until I can take them for a spin. I only paid $5.99 each for them. That's not bad at all.

When I arrived home, I nearly tripped over a box coming in the storm door. Yes, beware, minions may block clear view of the floor. My mother had sent me a gift for my birthday. No, no bento there. Although I did have a package in the mail box plus an envelope from China! Two of my Ebay item had come.

I paid .11 total for this with free shipping!

I do realize that bentos can be in normal containers. I have some lunches in green Tupperware someplace on here.

This is for Tyke. He loves Cars. Don't worry, the other 2 have
some coming for them too!

Love

I was feeling a little left out. A few of my favorite blogs have had some holiday themed bento and I have had... none. So I made a heart lunch. Why is it in a pink box? Because Tyke wanted the kitty. How could I say no to my blonde minion?


My Pork Chop was asleep by the time I put lunch out. He was up extra early this morning and fell asleep in the 2 minutes it took me to go out the door and put my eldest on the bus. Oh well, they had their lunches separate.

Today we have a whole wheat bologna and cheese heart sandwich with Love spelled out in 2 cheeses and bologna. In the bottom we have strawberries, apples, a Energy Bite shaped like a heart, and 2 chicken and spinach gyoza separated by a cheese heart.



I am so proud of myself. I made the energy ball/bite things again and used next to no honey and used crunchy peanut butter. I really liked this better. The minions are convinced they are cookies. So I see it as a win win situation. They are eating something that is very healthy for them and they think it's a treat.

Pork telling me it was an O

"Cupcake" lasagna and apple rabbits

 

Today we have Apple rabbits with marshmallow tail and nose, raisins, blueberries, and a bologna 5. In the second tier we have lasagna "cupcake", chex mix, and a bologna P.

I first came across the apple rabbit in an episode of Cooking with Dog . Be warned if you click the link, you will become addicted! Needless to say, the apple rabbit looked pretty easy. Which really translates into semi easy with the chance of cutting myself because one or more of the minions are running about or pulling on me. A baby gate does no good. My 2 year old is a football player in the making. I am pleased to announce that despite 2 of them fighting over one of over 300 Hot Wheels they have, I did not cut myself and they look about 1/4 as nice as the ones on Cooking With Dog. And yes, they really have that many Hot Wheels. *sighs*

Also I have "cupcake" lasagna in their lunch today. The original recipe was from Emily Bites. I loved the recipe, but I changed it a little bit for the minions. They need all the fatty goodness they can get. The use of wonton wrappers is genius and I have to admit that they taste great the first day and even better the second day. For the minions (ok, only 2 out of 4 since Clark is in school today and Miss Colonel Sanders is only 2 months old) I used hamburger, cottage cheese, Italian seasoning, cheddar cheese, pasta sauce, and the wonton wrappers.

I have discovered that peanut butter makes really nice "glue". I used it to stick the nose and tails onto the apple rabbits today.


I am happy to say that it took a little coaxing but Tyke finally tried the lasagna and loved it. This is the 3rd time he has seen it. Pork on the other hand is more than happy to eat almost anything.

Yellow and white chick

The boys are still not wanting to eat rice for some odd reason. They use to love it. So today I thought I would try something a little different. I decided to use my rice molds on broccoli and cheese Rice a Roni. I have to say it held together rather well. To bad the minions still would not touch it. They just ate the cheese off the top.

Anyway, today's lunch consisted of Rice a Roni  chicks with a swiss cheese and cheddar cheese chick on top, apple "eggs", strawberries and blueberries on a sword skewer, and 100% processed chicken nuggets (yep, do you want to know how these are made? Ask and I am sure you will not eat them again). Oh, and spinach under the chicks. Today's letter was "U" and the number 8. Why 8? Because we had 8 chicken nuggets and it worked perfect to count with.

I cheated with the chick eyes. I think I will be doing that a lot from now on. Wilton makes candy eyes. How great is that? Give the minions a little sweet with their lunch and make my life easier.

Jellyfish and the pasta field

I have to say, looking back, I wish I would have made a cheese Spongebob. *sighs* Maybe next time. My little Miss Colonel Sanders was interrupting my not so creative juices with her cries to be the center of attention. Yes, 2 month olds can be very needy. Good thing they are so cute. I suppose I could have put her in a sling. Only I am sure she does not enjoy food being dropped on her. Or not yet anyway. I am sure she will once she can gum real food. Mama makes a mess when she is playing with her bentos. That is why I have a dog though. The dogs job is to clean up anything I may drop.



This is the maiden voyage of my Gerber Mealtime Organizers I picked up at Walmart the other day. Please see my previous post for my review on them.

Anyway, back to the bento and less about my issues. Today's meal consists of tricolor pasta with spinach (you can barely see it) and butter. There is a baby sausage crab sitting on some zucchini. The jellyfish are made from the baby sausages cut in half and whole wheat thin spaghetti. 

To the left of that is some unsweetened applesauce with the letter "C" made out of blueberries. Above that is yet another one of those yummy energy balls (which the minions still think are cookies) and some of the Kraft 3 cheddar cheese blend.




I used one of my silicone cups in this one. I think this will be the last time I do so. From now on, only paper cups. Pork was ever so kinda and gave the cup to the dog to clean when I was not looking. Needless to say, I no longer have a cup. Also I have decided that I "need" a nori punch. Making small eyes is just to much work for me.

Gerber Mealtime Organizer

I decided to give my new Gerber Mealtime Organizers a spin. I do have to say that they are a little large for the amount of food my toddler and preschoolers eat. Although when you are making a fun lunch, space can be a perk. They are a good size for teens and adults. I picked my Mealtime Organizers up at Walmart in the baby section. They appear to only come in blue and red. 

The Gerber Mealtime Organizers seem to open up with ease. My eldest has some very fine motor skill problems and cannot always open things. Yet he managed to open this up without an issue. Also my 2 year old was able to open them. That is always nice. Even though they did open and close easily, they seemed to remain shut quite well. Pork (2) was running around the table with his, tripped, and the box bumped against the table. It remained shut. That is nice, especially with little ones.

These are not leak proof. Although one of the small sections on the inside comes with a tight cover. So you could pack applesauce or yogurt. The large section on the inside is more than enough room for a sandwich.

The only issue we had was with the outside compartment on the lid. When the minions let the lid drop back to the table, the cover to the compartment would pop off. So if you used that compartment (I didn't) you would either need to be gentle when you put the lid down or take the food out of that compartment first. Either way, we did like the Gerber Mealtime Organizer and at $6.99 each, I think it was a good deal.