This week of lunches is on the lighter side because I was sick all week and had a hard time getting my act together in the mornings. I flaked on making Wyatt’s lunch a couple of times and then forgot to take a picture of Augie’s lunch today. That barely ever happens so I’m always surprised when it does.

Monday

Wyatt chose to have school lunch on Monday because it was hamburger day in the cafeteria. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t relieved when he chooses Mondays for his school lunch day because it makes easing back into the week so much easier.

Tuesday

On Tuesday, Augie had strawberries, some cherries from our Mother’s Day cherry picking adventure, turkey meatballs from the freezer and a cracker variety selection, aka: dumping the last bits at the bottom of a couple boxes into a silicone cups. Normally, the kids eat the cherries whole, but I decided to pit them for their lunch boxes to cut down the mess at school.

Wyatt had Pirate’s Booty, cherries, strawberries, meatballs and a small container of catsup for dipping.

Wednesday

On Wednesday, Augie had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on whole wheat, grapes, more cherries, carrots and sugar snap peas. This was packed in our hamburger bento box because Augie specifically asked for it. I don’t use this box very often because the varying depths of the layers always feel tricky to me. The bottom bun layer is really deep and the burger and lettuce are particularly shallow. It also holds a ton of food if it’s packed tightly.

Here’s what the box looks like when it’s all stacked together and closed up.

Wyatt’s lunch was packed in an Easy Lunchbox: Pirate’s booty, turkey Star Wars sandwiches, carrot sticks, ranch dip (in the green container) and cherries. The sandwiches just didn’t work out on this particular day. The cuts were messy and the faces didn’t imprint too well and then, to add insult to injury, I dropped a big glop of mayo on Darth Vader’s face so I had to flip it over and have the back side of the bread facing out.

Thursday

Augie took his lunch to school in the kitty bento box on Thursday: cherries, snap peas, grape tomatoes, turkey hot dog chunks and half a whole wheat bun.

Wyatt had school lunch again because I wasn’t feeling so hot (I’ve had a cold for three weeks!) and I was moving too slow to get his lunch ready on time.

Friday

Today Wyatt had strips of garlic naan, a chicken leg leftover from dinner, grapes (we still have cherries but the kids are sick of them), carrots and ranch dip.

Augie had the same lunch in a different configuration. I cut the meat off the bone and threw in some snap peas, but otherwise it was the same. I totally forgot to take a picture though! I didn’t even realize until I took the photos off my camera just now. Ha!

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This was a busy week in Wendolonia land. My husband and I had an unusually high work load so we had lots of early mornings and late nights trying to take care of business. Still, lunch must go on so here is what I packed for the boys:

Monday

Monday was pizza day at school, so Wyatt had hot lunch.

Tuesday

No, this is not Wyatt’s lunch — it’s Augie’s!! When I asked him which cookie cutter he wanted me to use on his sandwich, he chose the “W” cutter. I asked him if he was sure he didn’t want his own initial and he insisted on the W, so he ended up with a peanut butter and jelly W sandwich. Hee!

The rest of his lunch had grape tomatoes, carrots, strawberries and goldfish crackers. It was packed in a lunch box with the same shape as this cute pig bento box.

Wyatt’s lunch was packed into the Easy Lunchbox. He had strips of garlic naan, a leftover hoisin chicken leg, carrots, bacon cheddar ranch dip from Trader Joes for dipping, and strawberries. I wrapped the chicken leg in a little foil to keep the mess from the sauce at a minimum and I also included a wet paper towel in his lunch bag so he could clean up more easily if his fingers got too messy.

Wednesday

On Wednesday, Augie had strawberries, meatballs from the freezer, garlic naan circles, cheese sandwich crackers and raisins.

Wyatt’s lunch was very similar: garlic naan, strawberries, grape tomatoes, wheat thins and turkey meatballs.

Speaking of strawberries, I want to show you my new gadget! If you’ve been reading these lunch posts for awhile, you may have noticed that we eat a lot of strawberries. I am a big fan of strawberries because they are delicious, super nutritious and my kids always eat them. I splurge and buy them when they’re not in season (though not in the dead of winter because they’re never good then)  and I buy them in half flats from the farmer’s market all summer long. Until now I’ve hulled every berry with a knife which is a pain in the butt. When I started thinking about making the first batch of strawberry jam for the year, I decided it was time to buy myself a strawberry huller.

I. LOVE. IT.

The one I got is from Chef’n and it works so well that even Augie can use it. A++! Highly recommended!

Thursday

Yesterday, Augie had leftover cubes of steak from dinner, pineapple, crackers and apple chunks. I dipped the apples in some of the pineapple juice to keep them from browning which is one of my favorite tricks.

Wyatt had the same lunch as Augie, but I swapped garlic naan strips in for the crackers.

Friday

Today, Augie had cheesy sandwich crackers, teeny little carrots, a nitrate and nitrite free turkey hot dog that I sliced and put on plastic picks and perfectly hulled berries.

Again, Wyatt had the same thing with naan swapped in for the crackers. This was packed in our Laptop Lunch box.

The carrots are a new product I’m trying and the kids seem to like them a lot. I saw these petite carrots at the grocery store the other day and picked them up to put into a stir fry. They are about half the diameter of regular “baby” carrots. Wyatt has been eating carrots lately (they used to be on the most-hated list), but they are still on the edge of his comfort zone so I thought these might be fun for him. I don’t personally love to eat giant raw carrots because I think they’re unpleasant to chew and these little guys remove all of those issues. They might be worth trying on your kids (or yourself) if you see them in the store.

Disclosure: I bought my strawberry huller and carrots. I didn’t get any kind of money or swag or anything to promote them — I just like them and wanted to share.

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This week’s lunch themes: strawberries and Star Wars day! Read on to hear more.

Monday

Wyatt chose to eat school lunch Monday, which was just fine with me and my tired morning self.

Tuesday

On Tuesday, I had stars in my eyes when I packed the kids lunches. Augie had baked tofu decorated with small star-shaped cutter, carrots, strawberries and pretzels.

Wyatt had the same thing (packed in the Laptop Lunch box), with the addition of a jelly sandwich on whole grain oat bread.

Wednesday

I went to the farmers’ market on Tuesday and bought a half flat of humongus organic strawberries. They started showing up in the boys’ lunched Tuesday and lasted all week long. Look at those suckers! They’re the size of apples! Well, small apples — but still!

Wyatt had three of those bad boys along with turkey meatballs, carrots, wheat thins and a wedge of Laughing Cow cheese. This lunch was packed in an Easy Lunchbox.

Augie also had some of the big guys, but I couldn’t fit them into his lunch box whole so I had to chop them a bit. I also gave him red bell pepper strips, Triscuits and meatballs. These were packed in our kitty lunch box which is similar to this panda bento box.

Thursday

On Thursday, Augie had a home made Jello jiggler (or Knox blox) that I put together using strawberry lemonade and this recipe (the same one on the Knox gelatin box), strawberries, garlic naan, ham and some Sahale Snacks almond and cherry clusters. I received the nuts as a sample from the people at Sahale Snacks (along with their honey almonds) and they are super tasty.  I have to get my hands on more as soon as possible.

Wyatt had strawberries, Knox blox, an apple cereal bar, ham and garlic naan.

Friday

Happy Star Wars Day! May the 4th be with you! Of course I couldn’t let this day go by without doing something special in the boys’ lunches. Wyatt chose Boba Fett and X-wing fighter cookie cutters for me to use on his turkey sandwiches. I also filled a Darth Vader “Easter egg” with some space-themed goldfish crackers. It didn’t actually fit in his Easy Lunchbox — I just put it on top for the photo. The rest of this lunch had strawberries, Knox blox and some tortilla chips.

Augie chose to go with Darth Vader all the way: Darth Vader soy cheese sandwich and Darth Vader filled with goldfish crackers. He also had red peppers, sugar snap peas, strawberries and grapes.

And speaking of Star Wars, I just wanted to share a link to this adorable and funny book I saw at a store yesterday: Darth Vader and Son. It’s filled with cute drawings of Darth Vader and a little Luke Skywalker and has lots of clever little jokes about parenting. I don’t know…it made me laugh.

Have a great weekend!

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Man, I was uninspired lunch-wise this week. I found myself making the same lunches over and over and over — or at least it felt that way. I’ve been doing a lot of other creative projects lately. I wonder if that’s part of it? Hmmmm…I dunno for sure. In any case, here are this week’s lunches:

Monday

On Monday, Wyatt’s lunch was packed in an Easy Lunchbox. He had a roast beef sandwich on a whole wheat hamburger bun, pretzels, carrots, bean dip for dipping the carrots (in the red tub), wheat thins, sliced cheddar cheese and some strawberries.

Tuesday

The kids had some jello at a restaurant last week and totally flipped out over it. They begged me for days to buy some jello, so Monday afternoon Augie and I made a big batch. I let most of it set up in a big bowl, but I also poured a little right in some containers for lunches. Brace yourselves for a slew of jello lunch photos!

OK, so Tuesday: Wyatt had another roast beef sandwich, pretzels, strawberries and green-flavored jello.

Augie had Triscuits, soy cheese, carrot chips (purchased at our local gourmet grocery), watermelon and green jello.

Wednesday

Wednesday was another Jello day — I poured it right into a silicone baking cup when I initially made it. I also sent Augie with grapes, deli ham roll-ups and stars that I cut from garlic naan.

Wyatt had exactly the same thing, but I added some carrots to his lunch too.

Thursday

On Thursday, Augie had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich that I cut into a gingerbread man shape, strawberries, pretzels and mango chunks (his current favorite fruit).

Wyatt had strawberries, goldfish grahams, pretzels and a roast beef sandwich. I bought a ton of roast beef this week.

Friday

Augie’s lunch had mango, grapes, pretzels and turkey meatballs from the freezer.

I really phoned it in on Wyatt’s lunch today. He had a jelly sandwich (cut into “fancy” triangles), pretzels and strawberries.

And in case you were wondering: Yes! I painted my table blue last weekend!

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The kids are back to school so we are back to a normal lunch-packing regimine. Before we get into this week’s lunches though, I wanted to share one from last week:

This was a hearty snack I took to the beach for the boys and I while we were on spring break. I packed it in our OOTS Lunchbox and it was designed to be shared by all of us. The most exciting parts are the slices of lemon bundt cake leftover from Easter lunch. The boys couldn’t wait to get their hands on those, but I forced them to eat the healthy stuff first. Heh. That healthy stuff included: bunny crackers, leftover Easter eggs (Wyatt didn’t want one so there are only two), ranch dip and carrot and bell pepper slices.

Monday

On Monday, Wyatt had garlic naan, a brownie, grapes, carrots and a roast beef “rose” that came out looking kind of gross and horrifying. Oh well — he ate it happily. This was packed in our Laptop Lunch box.

Tuesday

On Tuesday, Augie had blackberries, carrots, turkey meatballs, bunny crackers and a star-shaped cookie. He also had a small container of black bean dip for the carrots, but I forgot to put it in the lunch box before taking the photo.

Wyatt’s lunch was very similar, but he had Boba Fett roast beef sandwiches in place of the meatballs.

Wednesday

This is what I packed for Augie on Wednesday: leftover chunks of pork chop, carrots, snap peas, goldfish crackers and garlic naan cut into the shape of a gingerbread man with a cookie cutter.

Wyatt’s lunch was packed in the Easy Lunchbox: carrots and bean dip, a clementine, pork (it looks like a ton, but it’s only about two ounces) and garlic naan.

Thursday

On Thursday Augie had blackberries, a strawberry, goldfish, naan and turkey slices.

Wyatt had naan, strawberries, blackberries, tortilla chips and leftover carne asada from dinner. Augie liked the beef too, but there was only enough left for one of the kids and Wyatt looooves it so he got it in his lunch.

Friday

On Friday, Augie was the winner of the leftovers jackpot. He got the rest of the teriyaki chicken we brought home from dinner at a Japanese restaurant and some of the rice too. The brown on it is some of the teriyaki sauce. He also had wheat thins and berries.

I left my phone in the office last night so my alarm didn’t wake me up this morning and we were running late. When this happens, I find it’s often easier to have Wyatt buy lunch at school. For the last two years he’s been really pro-school lunch but today he begged me — begged me — to please make his lunch because he couldn’t bear the thought of eating in the cafeteria. Veeeeeery interesting! I’ve noticed he’s becoming more choosy about which days he has school lunch over the past couple months and today he explained that he only likes the pizza they serve and one kind of hamburger. How could I resist that argument. I quickly threw together this lunch of carrot sticks, ham sandwich, white cheddar popcorn and berries to save him from the lunch line.

Wouldn’t Jamie Oliver be proud?

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Hello everyone and happy Friday! Here are the lunches I packed for my boys this week:

Monday

School lunch/no preschool day so I’ve got nada to show.

Tuesday

Tuesday, Augie got a car and Easter themed lunch. (I don’t know how they work together — I was just throwing cute things in the lunch box!) He had a car shaped hard boiled egg (made with this mold), some golden raisins that I put into a plastic Easter egg and sealed with a sticker, strawberries and some taco meat and black beans leftover from Monday night’s dinner. I also packed a side car with some tortilla chips to scoop up the meat but I forgot to photograph them.

Wyatt had chips and taco meat too, plus I sprinkled a little cheese on his. He also had goldfish crackers, an egg with raisins in it and strawberries. This was packed in our Laptop Lunch box.

Wednesday

Augie’s lunch was a stack of Wheat Thins, a deli ham rose, a few carrots, baby tomatoes and grapes.

This was what was left in his lunch box when I opened it after school. Usually, everything is gone from his lunch at the end of the day, but lately he’s been leaving a few things.

Wyatt had grapes, Wheat Thins, aged gouda cheese, a roast beef and mayo sandwich on a whole wheat hot dog bun, a mandarin orange, carrots and some spicy black bean dip (in the blue container). I used our Easy Lunchbox for this lunch.

Here’s what was left after school. It was all still icy cold because I’ve started doubling up his ice packs so he ate most of what was left while he did his homework.

Thursday

Thursday, Augie had carrot sticks, tofu cut to look like a mustachioed bunny and a penguin, grapes, home made naan, a mandarin orange and bean dip for the carrots. I feel like we took a bit of a trip around the world with this lunch since Japan, India and Mexico are all represented.

Wyatt had exactly the same items, just configured differently.

Friday

Today Augie had another vaguely Easter-ish lunch: grapes, mandarin orange, sort of egg-shaped pb&j sandwiches and cheddar bunnies, both in a plastic egg and out of it.

Wyatt had grapes, carrots and bean dip, a roast beef sandwich and pretzel sticks.

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Last month I started writing a weekly column at Hellobee and today I thought I’d share a few of the articles I’ve put together for them. Hellobee is an adorable site that focuses on parenting through pregnancy, infancy and the toddler years. I will primarily be writing about bento boxes for toddlers and I’ll be sharing lots of fun lunches and bento techniques for new eaters. Here are some of the articles I’ve written so far:

• Four Great Reasons to Pack Bento Box Lunches for Your Toddler — If you’re not already sold on the bento box idea, I give you a few reasons to consider making lunches this way.
• Bento Box Technique Spotlight: Arrange the Food Neatly — My absolute favorite (and the easiest!) bento technique.
• Easter Bunny Bento Box — I run down how I put together the box pictured above, plus I give a detailed explanation of how to use an egg mold.

You can find all of my posts here. I hope you’ll come visit me!

Another week, another batch of lunches for the kids. Check it out, yo!

Monday

Wyatt was home sick from school AGAIN, so I didn’t pack him a lunch. Augie is always off on Mondays.

Tuesday

Tuesday, Augie had grapes, little tomatoes, carrot sticks and baked teriyaki tofu that I decorated with bear cut-outs. Here’s a guide to how I did those cut-outs if you haven’t seen it before.

Wyatt had a similar lunch: carrot sticks, sliced tofu, mandarin orange wedges, grapes, whole wheat pretzel sticks and a few little tomatoes. This was packed in our Laptop Lunch box.

Wednesday

Wednesday, Augie had a star-themed lunch: garlic naan cut into small star shapes, deli turkey with a soy cheese star on top, little tomatoes, grapes and mandarin orange wedges.

Wyatt’s lunch was packed into an Easy Lunchbox: whole wheat pretzel sticks, a cheese stick, strips of garlic naan, mandarins and grapes.

Thursday

Augie has been pretending to be a kitty cat all week, so I cut his turkey sandwich into a kitty shape. He also had goldfish crackers, strawberries and some raspberries.

Wyatt had grapes, a few M&M’s in a little box, Scrabble Cheez-its, a cheese stick (hidden in the silverware area), strawberries and turkey and mayo Boba Fett sandwiches that I cut with our Star Wars cookie cutters.

You might notice that the kids’ sandwiches were made with white bread today. A year or two ago, I quietly made the decision not to buy white bread any more. I didn’t say anything to anyone about it and for the most part no one really noticed. Or so I thought. I accidentally picked up the wrong kind of bread at the store the other day and when I pulled this out, the kids went crazy. “Is this a special treat, Mom?” “Why do we get white bread? Is today Easter?” “Can I have toast for breakfast?” “Oh thank you, Mommy!” Ha!

Friday

Today, August’s lunch was packed in a new-ish box that I broke out for the first time: strawberries, mandarin oranges, another turkey sandwich on that wonderful white bread, space soy cheese cut-outs and space goldfish crackers.

And Wyatt had exactly the same thing, minus the soy cheese and plus a cheese stick.

Have a great weekend!

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This was another week of sickness in Wendolonia land and Augie was off preschool much of the time. Someday we’ll all be well, right? Here are the lunches the boys ate when I packed them.

Monday

Wyatt had school lunch

Tuesday

Augie’s lunch had turkey meatballs from the freezer (both kids asked for them in their lunches), Israeli couscous leftover from Monday’s dinner, blueberries and strawberries.

Wyatt also had meatballs, strawberries and blueberries. His lunch (packed in the Laptop Lunch box) was rounded out with Scrabble Cheez-its and carrots. The smaller blue tub had catsup for dipping the meatballs.

Wednesday

On Wednesday, Wyatt’s lunch had a big slice of cinnamon twist bread, blueberries, strawberries, carrot sticks and baked tofu decorated with rocket ship and star cut-outs.

Wyatt was super excited about this lunch and ate almost all of it as you can see by this photo I took when he got home.

Thursday

Wyatt was also pretty jazzed about Thursday’s lunch (packed in the Easy Lunchbox): home made ranch dip, carrot sticks, jelly sandwiches, Doritos and strawberries.

I knew he was going to like this lunch a lot and I expected it to be completely gone when he came home. The Doritos were a super special treat that I bought on a whim and strawberries are always a favorite. The dip was a new recipe I tried the night before and he couldn’t stop dipping carrots in it so I thought that would also be gone, so I was surprised to see it nearly untouched after school. When I asked him why he didn’t eat it, he told me that his lunch companions asked him if he was dipping his carrots in bird poop.

Oh. That’s why he didn’t eat it.

Friday

Augie was feeling well enough to go back to school today so I packed him a super simple lunch of pb&j, carrots, snap peas and strawberries.

What did you put into lunch boxes this week? I’m looking for a little inspiration.

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I’ll just tell you straight up: this is going to be a pathetic bento post. Wyatt was sick part of this week, I’ve been fighting a cold and the time change on Sunday has totally kicked all of our butts. I packed lunches for the kids most of the days but we were were scrambling to get out the door every morning, so I either didn’t have time or totally spaced out on taking pictures.

Please tell me I’m not alone in this! We surely aren’t the only family who curses time changes with a fiery passion, right?

Thursday

Yes, Thursday is the first day I managed to take photos!

We had a ton of leftover pizza from dinner the night before and the boys wanted it in their lunches on Thursday, so that was the focal point for both of them. Augie also had strawberries, Scrabble Cheez-its and grapes.

Wyatt had pizza, strawberries, Cheez-its, grapes and a chocolate chip cookie bar with no chocolate chips in it. He decided that he hates chocolate chips a few months ago, so now when I make cookies I set aside some dough before I put the chips in so he’ll have some to enjoy too. I honestly don’t understand this AT ALL. How did this child manifest from my DNA??

I did remember to take an “after” picture when he came home from school though! He left the crackers and the grapes. Augie ate those for an after school snack.

Friday

Today Augie’s lunch was ham, goldfish crackers, clementine wedges (this batch is sweet as candy and the kids and I blew through them) and strawberries.

That’s all for this week. Kind of pathetic! Don’t forget that today is the last day to enter the Wendolonia 5th Anniversary bento swag giveaway! Go enter if you haven’t already!

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