Monday was the last day of summer vacation before my big boy started 1st grade and my little guy went back to day care so we ventured out a little farther than we normally do to visit a park with a splash pad. I packed a picnic lunch for all of us in the big Oots Lunchbox. The Oots box worked perfectly – we all helped ourselves from the different containers and we used the internal box lids for little plates. I packed: blueberries, strawberries, leftover barbecued chicken legs (2 for me, 1 for Wyatt and one chopped up for Augie), whole wheat pretzel sticks and a little tub of edamame hummus to dip the pretzels in. The hummus is a new-ish Trader Joe’s discovery. I’ve liked it for a long time, but the kids are suddenly cuckoo-crazy for it.
Tuesday
And then Tuesday we were officially back to school!
I feel ridiculous telling you this, but Monday night I froze up when it was time to pack the lunches. I went into the kitchen and I just didn’t know where to begin. Deciding what to put in the lunch boxes is always the hardest part for me and I completely blanked. Part of it was exhaustion from a lot of activity on a really hot day, part of it was that I didn’t have as much “lunchy” food in the house as I thought I did, and part of it was that after my “Back to School, Back to Lunch” series of posts last week I felt like I really had to bring it with the first day lunches. Silly? Yes! But I still was stumped.
The toddler lunch had leftover wild rice from dinner, mixed veggies from the freezer, turkey meatballs and blueberries.
The 1st grader’s lunch was blueberries, a strawberry cereal bar (cut into chunks to fit) and turkey meatballs that I cut into quarters and threaded onto skewers. I also included a little container of catsup for dipping the meatballs in.
Wyatt has been crazy for dill pickles this week, so for his snack, I cut a couple into chunks and put them into a small box with some pretzel sticks. I was very careful to drain as much liquid off the pickles as I could and put them into a silicone baking cup so that they didn’t make the pretzels soggy.
Wednesday
On Wednesday, Augie’s lunch was soycatash, leftover salmon chunks from dinner, a mini whole wheat hamburger bun and some cantaloupe chunks.
Wyatt’s lunch and snack were packed into the Laptop lunchbox: a Z-Bar, whole wheat pretzel sticks, cantaloupe chunks, corn, a mini hamburger bun and ham and cheese roll-ups.
Thursday
This 1st grader lunch had strawberries, cantaloupe stars, baked tofu, a mini hamburger bun and a box of raisins.
His snack had cantaloupe, a strawberry star, a few pretzel sticks (a little hard to see) and a cheese stick. I had to cut the ends off the cheese to make it fit in the box, and although I planned to use them to fill those little gaps, I ended up eating them because they looked tasty. Oops! Also, do you see what I did here with the stars? I was planning on using both types of fruit all along, so I just used each one to decorate the other. Easy peasy!
Friday
Wyatt’s lunch was pretty simple today. I packed leftover pulled pork into the thermos, then slipped that into the OOTS Lunchbox along with containers holding a mini hamburger bun to make a sandwich with and some mixed berries. I also threw in a Z bar as a treat for his snack. I cut the package open because either they don’t help the kids with their lunches in 1st grade, or Wyatt is too shy to ask for help yet.
A few months ago, I won a giveaway for some Cosmo Cricket scrapbooking supplies at the Ella Publishing blog. The box came in the mail on Friday, and I was super excited to sit down and make some pages with the paper inside. Cosmo Cricket is my favorite paper company and I hadn’t even seen this line of paper yet. On Saturday — for the first time in ages — I made time to do some scrapbooking. I’ve really been wanting to do some pages about Augie since our photo albums have so few pictures of him in them yet. This paper pack is family themed so it was a great place to start.
The page is a selection of photos of us together that I pulled from a big stack. I took most of these myself with the stick out your arm and click method. Very sophisticated!
The journaling reads:
My dear little Augie — you are so special to me! I’ve been so piviledged to spend two years at home with you. I have loved being there for all your firsts — first steps, first words, first slobbery kisses. I know you so well and I love all the things about you that make you who your are. You’re my boy!
I’m very excited upon reading this over to discover that I misspelled the word “privileged” for posterity. Yay!
Dang it! I’m totally behind again on my Project 365 stuff. I’m going to try to catch up over the next few days, so brace yourselves!
July 2, 2010: Augie runs across the back yard with one of his beloved plums. Our neighbor’s tree rained plums down on our driveway for several weeks and every time we went outside I spent the whole time trying to keep Augie from eating rotten plums.
July 3, 2010: Now here Augie chows down on one of the ones we picked from the tree. The other challenge with the plums was keeping the boys from eating so many plums that their digestive tracks blew out.
July 4, 2010: Wyatt got to try out his first sparkler on the 4th of July! We were at a friend’s house for the afternoon and in addition to putting on super hero costumes, the kids ran around the yard with sparklers (closely supervised, of course!).
July 5, 2010: Wyatt decided it was “red day” and collected as many red things as he could fit on the pull out cutting board.
July 6, 2010: Trying on Dad’s sunglasses. He looks a little Tom Cruise-y here, I think.
July 7, 2010: Wyatt and I had a free afternoon after his morning pirate camp (Augie was at day care) so we got lunch at his favorite restaurant, Denny’s (?!) and then we went to the bowling alley. He totally kicked my butt, but in my defense, he got the bumpers when he bowled and I didn’t!
July 8, 2010: I had completely forgotten about this incident until I pulled this photo up! Wyatt was up to one mischievous activity after another and finally got sent to his room to get his act together. He fussed and whined about it for a very long time, but then things went quiet. I knew better than to think he had calmed down so suddenly, but I was so thankful for the quiet that I decided to just let it go for a bit before checking to see what he was up to. Before long, he came out of his room, dressed all in white with his body pressed up against the white wall. He inched along for a bit, convinced he was camouflaged and that his dad and I couldn’t see him. I actually think that Augie didn’t notice him at first, but eventually he got to the oak bookcase and the jig was up! Busted!
This was a very snacky week bento-wise: Augie’s daycare provider was on vacation so he didn’t need a packed lunch and Wyatt was in afternoon day camp all week. The good news is that Wyatt starts 1st grade next week, so I will start packing him a lunch every day again! Plus snacks!
After a fairly light summer, these weekly bento posts are going to start to get beefy again!
Monday
Wyatt begged and begged his dad for a Z Bar at the grocery store, so he got to take it for his snack as a special treat on Monday. He also got a few blueberries and strawberries.
Bonus Dad Snack:
My husband was working at home on Monday for the first time in several weeks and I was so happy to have another adult around that I made him this fancy snack plate (he’s usually on his own for lunch and snacks). I gave him apple slices, grapes, fake Triscuits with aged gouda (our new favorite cheese) and peppered salami slices.
Tuesday
For Tuesday’s day camp snack, Wyatt had nectarine slices, three blueberries for garnish and fake Triscuits.
Wednesday
Wednesday’s snack was a biscuit and blueberries. I drew a Batman logo on the biscuit with food markers. If you’re wondering why the bat is green, it’s because most of the markers in my set (including the black one) have dried up now. The pink still works OK, but there’s no way Wyatt is going to allow me to draw the Batman logo in pink. I think it’s time for a new set!
Thursday
On Thursday I packed a whole wheat hot dog bun and strawberries. The inside of the bun is spread with a layer of home made plum jam.
Friday
Finally, I packed this snack for Wyatt’s last day of day camp. There were blueberries and as a special treat, he got a big handful of cat cookies.
Melissa from Another Lunch is one of my favorite bloggy buddies and her site always offers up something fun and inspirational. She puts together themed bentos and muffin tin lunches for her kiddos that are super-creative, but simple to execute (once she’s passed on her clever ideas).
Cooking with My Kid
Cooking with My Kid is one of those wonderful 365 projects — a mom cooks a new dish with her young son every day for a year. The dishes are usually pretty simple but they’re chosen to introduce her boy to new flavors and ingredients. She helpfully lists out which steps her son helped with for each recipe. The site is new to me, but I can’t wait to try some of them out with my kids.
Nurture Baby
Though Augie is well out of the baby food stage, I still check in with Nurture Baby from time to time for ideas for toddler-friendly dishes. I particularly liked the Bebe Bolognese — as did my boy — and I loved having small portions in the freezer to pop into his lunch box on day care days.
Meal Makeover Moms
I discovered the Meal Makeover Moms via their weekly podcast, but their website is a source of great family-friendly recipes too. The difference between these woman and many other food bloggers though is that they test the heck out of their original recipes before they release them out into the wild. As a result, every recipe of theirs that I’ve tried has been top-notch — and my kids have eaten (almost) all of them too!
Gourmet Mom on the Go
The Gourmet Mom on the Go isn’t a bento site per se, but it offers up some insanely cute serving ideas. A sandwich shaped like a lion with a grated carrot mane? How freaking cute is that? The recipe archive on this site is enormous, so no matter where your tastes lie, you’re bound to find something your family will enjoy.
It’s back to school week here on Wendolonia! I’m going to be bringing you a new article focused on lunch-packing every day this week.
Today’s topic: Sandwich Adventures
Sandwiches are the foundation of many packed lunches, but it’s easy to get into a rut with them. PB&J day after day can get really boring. So what can you do to make a sandwich — that convenient and easy lunch box staple — exciting? Here are a few ideas for jazzing them up:
Vary the Bread
One way to make a sandwich instantly interesting is to swap out regular sliced sandwich bread with some other kind of bread. Here are a few to try:
Tortillas – Most kids love tortillas and they’re probably something you already have in your kitchen. Stack fillings inside and cut them into easy-to-eat wedges. Or spread fillings evenly over the tortilla and roll them up for wraps. Once your sandwich is rolled up you can take it a bit further and slice them into small rounds of “sandwich sushi”. (Don’t use the word “sushi” if it will make your kids freak out though.)
Naan – This grilled Indian bread is soft and a little chewy. My kids are absolutely ga-ga for it and ask me to buy it nearly every week.
Pita pockets — There’s something about stuffing sandwich fillings inside a little pocket that makes them more fun. Pita pockets are great for looser fillings like tuna, egg or chicken salad that tend to fall out of regular bread when you take a bite.
Flatbread — My oldest son likes his flatbread layered with ketchup and salami. (Blech!) If your kid isn’t a big weirdo (and I mean that in a loving, caring sort of way), you can use more traditional ingredients.
Biscuits – This is a new favorite at our house. I buy the tubes of biscuits from the grocery store and bake them in the morning. We eat some with our breakfast and then at lunch time, I slice them in half and put ham and cheese inside. Yum! They’re also the perfect size for a bento box.
Cresent rolls — Another bake-in-the-morning option, also sized right for a bento.
Mini bagels — Add cream cheese and jam to a cinnamon raisin bagel, or roast beef and cheddar to a plain bagel
Garlic toast — Technically this is sliced sandwich bread, but it’s so much more exciting than that. I spread regular bread with butter, sprinkle on a little garlic salt and then toast it in the toaster oven until it’s golden brown. Slap in a slice of cheese (and maybe even a little tomato) and your sandwich is suddenly fresh and delectable.
Shake up the Fillings
Take some of the old stand-bys — turkey and swiss, peanut butter and jelly, chicken salad — and tweak them with some fun additions or substitutions:
Turkey and Swiss
Swap the meat: choose smoked turkey, southwest turkey or herbed turkey instead of plain, roasted turkey
Swap the cheese: replace swiss cheese with muenster, havarti, or cream cheese
Add this: mashed avocado, cranberry sauce or mango chutney
Peanut Butter and Jelly
Swap the peanut butter: try almond butter, sunflower butter or cream cheese instead.
Swap the jelly: replace jelly or jam with raisins or thinly sliced fruits like bananas, apples or pears.
Add this: this is going to sound totally weird, but add a few potato chips to a PB&J — the crunch is fun and your kids will think you’re a totally awesome rebel!
Chicken Salad
You can’t really swap the chicken in a chicken salad, I don’t think. Maybe you could use turkey, tuna or eggs? Sorry, that’s not really very original….
Add this: chunks of apple, halved grapes, chopped celery, toasted almonds, curry powder, a spoonful of mango chutney or apricot jam.
Try Something Really Different
Or you can try subbing something that’s technically not a sandwich at all:
Deconstructed Sandwich
We’re big fans of the deconstructed sandwich around here. Roll up some deli meat, cut some sliced cheese into shapes with cookie cutters (or just into squares) and pop in a pile of crackers.
Build Your Own Pizzas
I loved this idea from Food Momiac: Buy a refrigerated pizza crust and when you have a little extra time on the weekend bake it off into several 2-3 inch wide little crusts. Then pack the crusts into your kid’s lunchbox along with some spaghetti sauce, shredded cheese and mini pepperonis (or whatever topping he likes). Let your kid assemble his pizza at the lunch table. So fun!
What do you do to shake up sandwiches in your lunches?
More from this series:
Monday: Lunch Box Ideas(with a free downloadable list for your fridge!)
Comments
bentos · elementary school · food · photo
. If you’re wondering why the bat is green, it’s because most of the markers in my set (including the black one) have dried up now. The pink still works OK, but there’s no way Wyatt is going to allow me to draw the Batman logo in pink. I think it’s time for a new set!
