WFLW - Improvised Bento!

Late last week and early this week, I was at my sister's house to watch her two girls (along with  my own, obviously) so she and Unka Rop could both work on the same day(s.) I could have sworn I had taken a picture of the 'bentos' that I had made for the girls last week when I went to pick up Tually from preschool, but apparently not. But I DID remember to take pictures this time! Since I hadn't brought any of my gear (boxes, picks, cutters, etc) I just scrounged in their "Tupperware drawer" for items to use as boxes.

Carrots, apple "fries," cheese sticks, grapes, sandwiches, and a sprig of broccoli for Z

 I found two ancient Tupperware square boxes (probably from my mom, from when Tupperware first came out we were kids!) And a Gladware (or Ziplock. I didn't examine the pedigree!) reuse/toss container (not sure what they're called. But basically the ones you use until the lids start warping from too many washings, then recycle.) The largest one was for Z, because she eats more.
The large one (left) and the top right one (for Pilu) have PBJ on multi-grain bread. The lower right bluish one was for Tually, and she has 1/2 sandwich total, on white bread. 1/2 of THAT (so 1/4th of a sandwich) is just buttered bread, since that's what she told me she wanted when I asked before her mom took her to school. Just in case she'd eat some plain jelly (her usual preference) I made the other 1/2 plain jelly (home-made jelly!) [Obviously, not made by me. But it's entirely possible that I PICKED some of the blackberries that went into it.]
Not very exciting or artistic, I know, but shows that you don't need lots of fancy gear to make a "beautiful lunch!"

I totally flaked on posting last week, but I made bento!

Last Week's WFLW!

2/11/11 - Since we had a busy day 2 Fridays ago, (MOMS Club craft, then a dentist appointment for me, followed by my annual physical exam) we weren't going to have time to go home to eat. Like, ever. So I made sure to pack enough to make a lunch and a snack for her (I had McD's. Shame on me!)

Top to bottom, left to right: Sweet potato chips, mixed berries, cheese nibblets, pretzel logs; peppermint, apple juice box, Onion w/Chives cream cheese cup; sliced ham, mini pita pockets

I used a little freezer pouch from Rubbermaid that I had found on clearance at Target a while, back, but I had to cut it loose from the sheet. It leaked in the middle compartment, which was kind of frustrating. I guess they're only supposed to be cut into strips of little cooler pockets, rather than individual. Bummer. Luckily everything in that compartment was in manufacturer packaging, so no food was ruined.

2/1/11 - I didn't prep ahead for Tuesday's after-gym lunch, so I threw something together last-minute in my EasyLunchBox.

English Muffin PBJ, PBHoney sandwich "fingers," String Cheese, "Crunchy Peas" (Pea Crips, I think they're called,) strawberries and blackberries

Muffin Tin Monday - Shopping!

There's no theme this week (or any week, anymore) for Muffin Tin Monday, and I had planned on incorporating my husband's home-made pizza sauce and dough into an MTM on Sunday, except that our oven stopped working (we still have the 2 burners that weren't already broken. But still.) So I kind of neglected to remember to make other plans for one, and then was going to throw one together Monday, just to have something to show. But instead we went out and bought a new oven! Well... in the same strip mall as the Best Buy, there's a Cost Plus World Market and a Ross Dress For Less (which has a kitchenware section.)
So instead of making a Muffin Tin Meal, I found LOADS of great priced MTM gear!

I got the most stuff from Cost Plus -

The silicone Pig egg/pancake mold was $2, the silicone pink flower "egg poacher" (I'll use it as a muffin cup!)  was $2.50. The sets of 2 silicone "cracked eggshell" cups were kind of spendy at $5 per pair, but the flower, star and circle silicone muffin liners were a steal at $2.50 per package of 6! (12 in the mini-liner package. They also had red mini ones, which I thought I had grabbed, but I must have decided not to since I already have some small red ones.) The Ladybug Cupcake Kit was $8, and the cookie cutters were each $1 (plus they had a few other shapes that I already had.)

The Ladybug Cupcake Kit was kind of a disappointment, since the "picks" are just thick paper. And the grass wraparounds aren't as useful in an MTM (but I can use them grass-side out in a muffin cup, I guess.) And it's not like I needed another bag of cupcake mix, when I still have the ones from Christmas clearance muffin liner sets!

The Pasta was on sale for $2/bag (reg. $3,) and Chocorooms (chocolate biscuit cookie things) on sale for $1.50 (reg. $2) I can't WAIT to do some kind of transportation-themed meal with the vehicles pasta, and safari or zoo or jungle theme with the zoo pasta. Probably a fairy or garden theme with the Chocorooms!

I only found one item I HAD to have at Ross, but it was similar to something I saw and decided not to get from Cost Plus, and cheaper too! Ross also had a ton of other Easter/Spring related goodies you could use for MTMs or bentos, including a variety of Wilton cookie cutters and mini cookie cutter sets easily 40% lower than standard prices!

Blooming Cupcakes Decorating Kit $6 (reg. $10) - includes 6 silicone flower pot muffin cups, plus some medium flower  sprinkles and green jimmies. These will do nicely for Spring flowers, or a garden theme! Plus they're a little taller than regular liners, so may be flush with the lids on some of my bento boxes! Squeee!

Muffin Tin Monday - Be Mine, Valentine!

This week's Muffin Tin Monday theme is Red/Valentine's Day. This is the last week with a theme. She'll have some suggestions, but there will no longer be a unified theme each week. Awww.

Grape and strawberry skewers, Tortilla PBJ, Red Froot Loops, Raisinettes (in heart box,)
Mozzerella hearts, Carrot hearts, Red-dyed Greek yogurt w/ sugar sprinkles

I used my red heart muffin tin for obvious reasons.

PBeMineJ: I thought I had a scalloped heart cutter when I first conceived this, but apparently not. So I used my largest heart cutter for the top tortilla, and then used kitchen shears to make a larger roughly heart-shaped area around the cutter, and then hand cut a sloppy scalloped edge. I put PB on the larger one, but only in the middle, since the whole point of using a tortilla was for the pasty whiteness. I used my tiny letter cutters on tortilla scraps for the words. Strawberry jelly on the top heart, to provide contrast, and for red, which is part of the theme!

Raisinette Conversation: I got the little plastic heart box from Dollar Tree in a set of 10. Same as the plain ones I've been using, but this set has conversation heart sayings on them! I chose a red one for obvious reasons, and was thrilled that "Be Mine" happened to be on a red one! Since I needed an excuse to use the box, I scrounged around trying to find something to put in it. We had some Raisinettes left over from seeing "Tangled" on Saturday, so I put some in.

I {heart} Carrots and Cheese!: For the carrots and smaller cheese hearts, I used my tiniest cutter, from a mini cutter set. For the larger cheese hearts, I used the smallest cutter in my plastic graduated set from Daiso. I used my red Wilton Food Writer, but they are apparently not good on cheese. Since I was just too lazy didn't want to paint on cheese this time, I just left it at one.

I Pick Strawberries!: While I have a lot of heart picks, the only ones that came in RED, were some from a set at Dollar Tree. Plus they're extra long, so I could make kebabs. I chose red strawberries, again, should be obvious why. We have some mini green grapes in the fridge, and I wanted something to contrast with the berries, so these were perfect.

I thought she'd love the red yogurt with red sugar sprinkles. Not so much. She started squawking for "honey yogurt with honey on top" so I put some honey on it. No good. "NO! I WANT HONEY YOGURT WITH HONEY ON TOOOOOOOOOP!" "It IS honey yogurt! I just made it red, like the cheese." "NO! I WANT WHITE HONEY YOGURT WITH HONEY ON TOP! NOT RED HONEY YOGURT WITH RED SPRINKLES AND HONEY ON TOP!" *sigh*

She loved the red colored cheese. She licked it
for a while and asked a lot of in-depth questions
about it before finally popping it into her gob.

Tasting the red sprinkles.

She had no problems with the red Froot Loops, however. Those, some cheese, and some Raisinettes are all she ate.

Easy(Lunch) Does It!

In case you haven't noticed, I now have a great variety of lunch boxes. Japanese-style bento boxes, as well as other compartmentalized or interlocking segment boxes. I cycle through them. I've used each kind at least once or twice so far. But the one I keep going back to is my EasyLunch box. They come in a set of 4 boxes and 4 lids. I used them so much last Summer, at all our concerts-in-the-park, I went ahead and got another set! So far, these are the only lunch box products I have loved enough to buy again! [I'm not counting Japanese-style bento boxes, since I haven't bought multiples of the same one, just different ones in various shapes, sizes, and lid designs. And I still use these far more often.]

 In short, I love these lunch boxes!

Some of the things I love about EasyLunch boxes:

• BPA, Phthalate, Lead, Vinyl and PVC free!

• Microwave and Dishwasher-Safe
• Eco-Friendly. I only use zip-top sandwich baggies for craft storage now, and as frosting bags (with a corner snipped,) or for individual shake-and-bake with my cooking classes. Or the cheapie non zip-top baggies as kid gloves for messy activities! No more throwing out 3-5 baggies after every lunch!

• Takes up less space to store. The boxes nest together to make a much shorter stack! Lids too.

• Very durable. I've used mine regularly for 8 months now, and they're all still in great shape.

• Just 2 pieces to wash. Lid and box. Not a bunch of little fiddly lids and boxes floating around the dishwasher. With all my silicone muffin liners and cookie cutters, my little dishwasher box for washing  nipples and sippy cup valves can only hold so much! The lid fits lengthwise in my top-drawer bowl pegs, and the box lays in the side where I usually wash glasses. As an added bonus, I can put a few muffin liners or cookie cutters on the pegs the box leans against, so that they aren't flying around during the wash!

• The large compartment is fairly large. Easily enough for a sandwich with any kind of bread I choose. Most of the other boxes I have require creative sandwich mutilation cutting to fit! Plus usually room for some extra food too.

• THE PRICE! $14/four boxes plus lids, and only $8 for the machine-washable cooler bag.

• The cooler bag is designed for the box(es) to sit flat. so the food isn't sloshing all around with the box on its side, like every other cooler bag I've seen for similar products. And the short handle not only makes it easier for kids to carry, but also easier to keep the bag upright and flat in transit. Plus the bag easily fits 2 EasyLunch boxes plus an ice pack and drink pouches. Or 1 EasyLunch box plus an ice pack and some smaller containers and drink boxes. Everything Z and I need for a lunch (and snack) at the park!

• The box is the perfect size for eating off of laps in the car. Since the lid comes off completely, you don't have a lid trying to counterbalance the box off the lap and onto the floor. And the box is short enough lengthwise to fit between the arms of a toddler carseat, but long enough that it's not sliding sideways off the legs. And short enough widthwise that it's not hanging off the knees. I now keep a clean box in the car at all times for unplanned Happy Meals on the road.

Also great tub-side! Fits on the edge of the bath without falling in! She loved having a special "bath lunch"!

Some of the very few downsides:

• They were designed to not be air/watertight, so that little fingers could open them without adult assistance. This is the only lunch box system we have that Z can open and close on her own, and the only one I foresee her being able to open for a while. The others are tooooo tiiiiiight! *I* have a hard time opening (and sealing) many of the lids on the other boxes and inner containers! So you'd want to avoid watery stuff like soup. For thicker stuff, like dip, salsa and yogurt, you could just be very careful not to tip the box on its side for too long, or you can fit a piece of cling wrap or wax paper over the compartment opening (with a little overlap, obviously) before putting the lid on. I haven't tried this myself, since I'm very careful not to tip my lunches, but I've read several places that this works great to prevent leaks. But, to be fair, my "No Leak" sippy cups have repeatedly leaked all over my cooler bag, while these never have!
• The compartment number and sizes aren't always perfect for my lunch plans on any given day. As I've become more and more creative in the food variety and art I make for my daughter, I find that I need more flexibility. However, the EasyLunch boxes are still perfect for MY lunches, or for extra stuff if we're just sharing both boxes. And always my go-to box if our plans include eating lunch in the car between events.

While I was watching the video, Z heard the singing and climbed up into my lap. She watched, entranced, with her elbows on my desk and hands on her chin. "I like that show. It's a pretty good show. Let me do it again."

Disclaimer: These opinions are all my own, and I am not being financially compensated in any way for posting them. However, I will be receiving two 50% off coupon codes from EasyLunch and a link from their site to my blog (free advertising! Whooop!) I plan on giving away at least one of the codes, so stay tuned! 

I am an EasyLunch affiliate, and receive 20% of each sale completed through my direct links. 

My Heart In My Hands

The Mommyologist is hosting the Mom Sexy Valentines Day Bash party and link-up. Because we shouldn't ever let a bunch of flowers or a box of candy make us feel loved (or no flowers make you NOT feel loved!) We should ALWAYS be loved. By ourselves!

photo credit

I've never been a big proponent of Valentine's Day. Crowded restaurants. Frazzled last-minute husband shoppers. And almost always some disappointment or tears. One year my husband had to be out of town for Valentines Day, and he felt really bad about it. But I realized that I didn't care. ow, I don't mean that I didn't care that he felt bad, or that I didn't care that he was gone. But Valentines Day just isn't important to me. On my birthday, you'd better treat me like a frickin' princess. Now that I've pushed out offspring (without an epidural, thankyouverymuch) I expect somewhat of a big deal for Mother's Day. Christmas is about presents family, so we make a big deal, but it's not all about me. And our anniversary is about both of us, so I never felt that it was fair to put all the burden on him. Why should HE have to find the perfect, most romantic restaurant, flowers, presents, etc, plus write a heartfelt message in a card, while I reap all the benefits and barely lift a finger? Not fair. But Valentine's Day seems to be all about the guy disappointing having to prove his love for the lady. And it's a bogus holiday anyway.
I mean, you already reaffirm your love and celebrate each other on your anniversaries, right? V-Day was made into a big deal to sell more greeting cards [True. Google it.] I mean, sure. It's fine for young stupid people in love, or new relationships and such. And for kids to exchange cards and candy at school. But you don't expect diamonds for St. Patrick's Day, do you? Then why is this Hallmark holiday such a big deal? And why put so much pressure and expectations on the poor guys? They already have to remember your anniversary and birthday. And possibly Mother's Day.
I don't need a token box of chocolates or an obligatory bouquet of flowers to make me feel loved. I feel loved every time he does a load of laundry because I fell asleep putting the kid to bed, even though he'd been asking me to do it all day. I feel loved when he goes with me to the Asian market just so I can look for new bento stuff, even though he thinks I have plenty, and it's all silly anyway. I feel loved every time he changes a poopy diaper and doesn't give me the stinkeye for not getting up to help him hold her legs or distract her, even though he darn well better come help ME with one, if he's home. And I feel loved with every random caress or sweet nothing that he does or says without even thinking, because that proves he loves me far more than some calculated retail effort!
But, most important of all - I love myself. If I had to, I could live without my husband. If he died, I'd be devastated, but I could go on. If he'd done something heinous and was booted from our lives, I'd be fine. Because I love myself enough. I don't NEED someone else to make me feel loved. I sure do like being loved by others though!
"They" say that no one can truly love you until you love yourself, and I've always found that to be true. I see so many women (and men) putting up with a crap relationship because they think they're in love, or they think that that's the best they're ever gonna get. But if you loved yourself, you'd never put up with that crap. These boots were made for walkin', baby! You'd love yourself enough to know that you COULD survive without him/her. That you COULD take care of the kids on your own if you had to (even if it meant moving back in with your parents.) *shudder* You'd love yourself enough to know that you weren't "asking for it" and that you didn't "make him/her do it" and that you deserve better.

I love myself enough not to put up with an abusive or harmful relationship. I love myself enough to want to spread my gene pool far and wide. I love myself enough to stand up for myself if something's really important to me, and to let it go if it's not worth the hassle. I value who I am and what I have to offer, even if these don't happen to include dishes, laundry, cooking or cleaning. [Or self-control where bento or muffin tin meal supplies are concerned!]
I value my abilities as a mother, and am fine with not being perfect.
I'm not sure what he sees in me, but I value myself as a wife, since I know I am, in fact, worth it.
I value myself as a daughter/sister/niece/etc because I accept my family for who they are, and who they aren't, and everything in between.
I value myself as a friend, even though I'm kind of a flake and am terrible at keeping in touch. [Until Facebook. Now I "see" my friends daily!]
And I value myself as a person, because we are all awesome, in our own ways. Everyone deserves love, especially from themselves.

photo credit

Because, sheesh. I just can't be bothered to love everyone on my own! Too much work!

10 [of the many] Things I Love About Myself:

1. I can see the other point of view, even if I'm too stubborn to admit it. There have been many times I'm steaming mad at my husband because we're late to something I wanted to do, but I know deep inside that I just sat there and didn't help speed up the process. [Disclosure: Usually I'm the one making us late to stuff.]
2. I'm an awesome mom. I read parenting books and try and practice the good advice I read. I try and be extra patient with my daughter. I eat foods I despise, just to set a good example. I play with my daughter, despite having absolutely zero interest in what her teddy bear has to say. That kind of thing. [The amount of screen time she gets balances all this awesomeness out.]
3. I'm creative. I used to draw and scrapbook. Now I make artistic lunches.
4. I am very loyal. I don't abandon a friend, unless they turn into a complete jerk. Then I wait a bit and see if it was just a phase.
5. I make my own judgements. I don't decide to like or dislike someone based on the comments of others. As it turns out, I was able to tolerate working with a difficult personality (about whom no-one had anything good to say) for two years before it got unbearable.
6. I'm wicked clever. But motherhood has sucked most of my IQs out.
7. I have the capacity to truly forgive and forget. One of my younger sisters was kind of a [rhymes with 'witch'] as I grew up, and we only saw each other at Thanksgiving and Christmas. I had nightmares about her well into my 20s. But when she got pregnant, I knew that if I wanted to be part of her child's life, I'd have to interact with her. And as it turns out, she had changed, and we get along great now. I'm so glad that I was willing to let go of the past, since I gained a truly valued friendship. Plus some nieces I just adore!
8. I love to read. I just devour books. It got to the point that we had more books than we could stuff into our garage and under-stairs storage space. Plus, at $6-8 a pop, it was getting pretty expensive, as I could often finish a book in 2-3 days! So now we use the library, and I just buy the ones I absolutely love and want to read again and again. I am very proud of my love of reading and my ability to not only read fast, but also enjoy the same book again later.
9. I'm learning to cook, even though I'm terrified. I'm a perfectionist, so I hate doing anything unless I KNOW it's going to turn out perfect. But motherhood has forced me to lower my standards and accept failure in myself. And accept my other failings!
10. I have fantastic tastes in husbands and children. I apparently got the absolutely very best ones! I love my family beyond measure.

 

Tried-It-Tuesday - 2011, Week 6

This week I went out on a limb and tried making pocket sandwiches out of biscuit dough. Not only was I unsure if they'd turn out okay, I didn't even know if the dough would do what I wanted! And I wasn't going from a recipe or anything. To be safe, I used pre-cooked sliced ham and pre-cooked frozen meatballs. Not only would a case of food poisoning be less than stellar, but my husband is a total baby when sick I wouldn't relish being Nurse Mommy!
The pockets were not only delicious when fresh out of the oven, but they were good after sitting out and cooling for a few hours, and also after being slightly chilled in my lunch with an ice pack. Plus I was able to make a custom shape to fit my MTM theme!
I made both ham-and-cheese biscuits, plus spaghetti-and-meatball (minus the spaghetti) biscuit pockets!

So what have you done this week? Link up or leave a comment on anything new you've done, eaten, cooked, made or tried this past week!

WFLW - I {Heart} Bento!

For this week's after-gym-on-Tuesday bento, I went with a hearts theme. I had originally planned on making a hot air balloon in the sandwich compartment, but there wasn't room for the meatball biscuit pockets I had made, and the mini-pita halves didn't fit the right way either. I guess I could have done half a hot-air balloon with half of the basket, but I didn't think of it at the time. I had a clever name for the lunch too... I'll think on it and maybe try again next time.

Her Lunch: I {Heart} Bento

Ham and mozzerella mini pita pockets, pink heart with mini chocolate chips;
Carrots, green beans and Ranch; Greek yogurt with sugar sprinkles;
Strawberries, raspberries and blackberries

I was super excited to finally have a chance to use my new Laptop Lunches box! The compartments with lids are water-tight, and worked great for the yogurt and Ranch!
I got the mini pocket pitas from Trader Joe's. Loving them, so far!
I used a small plastic heart cutter (from a graduated set from Daiso) as a stencil for the pink sugar sprinkles o the plain Greek Yogurt. Since honey is so messy, and I don't have a lot left at home, I decided to pack some mini chocolate chips instead of scrounging up a small container for honey to drizzle on after she ate off the sugar. I got the plastic heart box from Dollar Tree ($1/10!)
I used 2 different tiny heart cutters from a mini cutter set for the carrots and cheese. The carrots are in a set of silicone heart cups, probably from Daiso.

My Lunch:

Apples and blueberries, Meatball biscuit pocket,
Mozzarella scraps, Carrot scraps.

I had originally made the mini pita sandwiches for myself, but switched when the meatball biscuit didn't fit in her box. I figured she could eat whichever one she wanted, or a little of both, as it turned out! I tossed in some leftover McD apples to fill space, with plastic grass baran, which is always a big hit with the kids after class. We ate next to girls who also usually stay and eat after gym. The older one loved the plastic grass and asked if she could keep the second piece of it (Z had the first) after she and her sister had played with it. I chose my bunny bento box ($3 from Daiso!) in honor of the Chinese New Year.

She hurt her foot somehow while jumping on a trampoline. I had been watching her at the time and didn't see her foot twist or anything weird, so I don't know what happened. But she limped around all day, so I know she wasn't faking it to get out of class early. She still wanted to stay and eat her beautiful lunch, and we had time to kill before my eye doctor appointment. I didn't think her foot required immediate medical attention, so we hung around and ate while I determined that while her foot hurt, it wasn't serious. Maybe a minor sprain or something.

Making a "Monster Mouth" with the baran

After eating all the sugar sprinkles off the yogurt, she added the mini chocolate chips.

She ate the veggies plain, but dipped my apples in the Ranch... and ate them.

We usually get a small candy from the fundraising table (the competition gymnastics team buys in bulk from Costco and marks it up some to raise money to go to meets and such.) Today she chose a blue raspberry Tootsie Pop. She loved how it turned her tongue blue, and made me carry her to the bathroom (since her foot hurt) and lift her up so she could admire herself in the mirror. Several times.