May the Fourth Be With You - Vader and Son plus Death Star Star Wars Bento-ettes

To make this hop more manageable, it's been broken into two hops, so you can easily complete one, then check out the other when you have time! After checking out my lunches, click the button below to go into HyperDrive to see what Bento Days has created. The Force is strong with that one...

Once you've completed the hop...

Both girls have mostly the same assortment of foods, but I made them a little different, just for fun! Both of their lunches are packed in little Star Wars sandwich boxes found at Target's Dollar Spot. Z has a collapsible Star Wars water bottle from there also. The Mos Eisley "Canteen-a!" Hahaha! Cloth napkins from Red Poppy Crafts on etsy.

I didn't pack big lunches since these were for a Friday. Fridays are a little off, since neither of Z's preschools have class, and she has an occupational therapy appointment at noon, during what is normally our "lunch hour" the rest of the week. We usually end up eating breakfast a little later, since there's no need to wake anybody up, so eleven is too soon for lunch. Then we go out after 1pm  for lunch either at Naked Pizza (they have a gluten-free all-natural crust, and their soda fountain options are all-natural too!) or a local gluten-free bakery that also makes pizza (I don't like it, but Z does,) or a teriyaki place next door to the bakery that uses gluten-free teriyaki sauce. Then gluten-free cookies or muffin at the bakery, depending on what catches Z's eye that day, and whether it has artificial colors or flavors.

I'm usually fairly disorganized, so we're running out the door just as the kids start whining that they're hungry. Too late! So this time I planned ahead with small snacky lunches that can sit out for an hour during her appointment (and I get to use my ThriftTee Gear bag! Squeee!) to satisfy their hunger on the way there and to nibble on after. Then they'll still have room for whatever Mama wants! Yay!

I call these types of bentos "pick-ography" since it's mostly the accessories. But fast plus fun is still a win in my book!

Little Z's Force-full Lunch

For Little Z's lunch, I wanted to pay homage to the book "Darth Vader and Son" by Jeffrey Brown. It's a clever book of funnies depicting what life might have been like for the Dark Lord of the Sith if he had had to take care of his preschooler while trying to take over the galaxy. I got the book for myself, but Z saw it and went nuts for it. She has Hubby read it with her night after night at bedtime. What a hoot!
I can't wait for my copy of Vader's Little Princess to arrive; his follow-up book with Lord Vader raising Leia from a precocious toddler to a rebellious teenager!

Sith Lord and Son: I used just the top half of a Darth Vader Easter egg treat box to represent Vader and just pressed it in a little, like a cookie cutter, to get it to stay in place. (I got mine at Target before Easter.)

For little Luke, I used the head, bangs, and face cutter from the mini faces wheel from my favorite faces cutter set. The bangs were way too big, so I cut them again a little lower with the rounded part of the bangs cutter to make them shorter. And as always, cutting the facial features out from the cheese makes the cheese split. Since this was mozzarella, it was a little softer, so I almost got away scott-free. But I wasn't careful enough pulling the head off the cutter, and handled it too much trying to get peanut butter on the back. Oh well.

GF PPJ (organic raspberry jelly,) organic mozzarella and cheddar, organic peas, organic strawberries

Since they're walking along eating ice cream on the cover of the book, I had to include ice cream cones! So I stuck some ice cream cone cupcake picks into some small organic strawberries so they would appear at just the right level for the characters.

I had some lightsaber cupcake picks and reeeeally wanted to use them somehow, but couldn't trust Baby with them (she only gets ones I'm willing to let her lose somewhere in the car when she dumps her lunch, or ones I won't be upset about should they break.) So I managed to just squeeze them in on the side of Z's lunch, after sticking them willy-nilly through a poor little half-berry.

Baby, Destroyer of Planets...

Death Star: I chose the Death Star for Baby's sandwich both because it was easy (crazy easy!) but also because she's a destructive force too! I used large and small circle cutters on a heel and a regular slice of gluten-free bread (the heel was the last slice of the browner multi-grain, but the inside side had a nice shading to it, kind of like the Death Star itself. So I opted to use it instead of tossing it in my scraps bag to make into French Toast Casserole. The scraps from the circles and Z's crusts went in though!
I cut the mini circle from a scrap of the heel and did my best to slice off as much of the bread side as I could, so it wouldn't stick out so far. I glued it on with a bit of peanut butter, then drew the line around the middle of the Death Star with some organic chocolate syrup on the edge of a butter knife. I could have used my Justin's Chocolate Hazelnut Butter, but I figured this would be easier to work with!

GF PPJ (organic raspberry jelly,) organic peas, organic strawberries, The Good Bean salted roasted chickpeas

I added the Stormtrooper cupcake topper ring just because I could, and put some salted roasted chickpeas from one of my foodie subscription boxes into an R2-D2 Easter egg treat box (that also came from Target.) Yes, yes. They're a choking hazard. But she made me give her some the other day and did great with them, splitting them apart in her mouth, chewing them a little with her four little budding molars, and swallowing them down. (I had a migraine so bad I ended up vomiting. Before that, I had been lying on the floor in the hallway eating them because they were handy when I lurched into the kitchen to find something quick and easy to nom before my pain meds made me nauseous. So I was in no shape to be denying her anything. She overpowered me!)

And check out last year's post too! Clearly I looove that face cutter set!

Tools of the Trade

        

Mama's Secret Weapon: Butter Kale! (How I Trick My Girls Into Loving Their Greens!)

 

A lot of getting kids to eat new foods is in how you market it to them. "X-Ray Vision Carrots" and "Dinosaur Trees" will get kids to try carrots and broccoli more than "Here. Eat your carrots and broccoli. You won't know if you like them until you try them!" You want to cater it to your child and their interests though. For mine, stuff with "princess" in the title is more effective than "dinosaur," but she's also quite literal, so many things don't work with her. "They're not trees, Mama." I tend to use key words for foods or flavors I know she likes, or mix in her favorites the first few times. Like adding chopped olives and olive can juice to something almost guarantees she'll gobble it all down, for example.

When I first made kale chips, I waaaaay over-salted them, which was actually a selling point to my sensory child and me. We loooove salt! So calling them "Salty Kale Chips" was a win, and she loved them! Now she'll eat them with less salt, because she "knows" that she likes them.

So when I got some kale raab in my weekly CSA farm share, I was stumped. I looked it up online, and saw that it's just the flowery tops of the kale plant. And looks quite a lot like baby broccoli (they're both in the brassica family.) I looked at a few recipes, and decided on chopping it small to make it easier to nibble and frying it in butter and olive oil. We love butter. So when I brought it out, called it "Butter Kale," and said that it was for MY dinner, since she'd already eaten her frozen peas, I ensured that she would at least try it. She loves kale chips, butter, and snitching my food. She ended up gobbling down my whole plate, leaving only a few stem bits! (Made from half a pound of kale raab!)

This recipe is super easy (hence my actual success at making it!) and pretty yummy. For vegetables, anyway.

Butter Kale

1/2 lb kale raab or 1 bunch kale (or kale mixed with other greens... it's all good!)
1 pat butter
1 Tbsp olive oil
Salt or seasoned salt, to taste

I chop up the kale raab into smallish bits, roughly every inch along the stalks (also works fine with regular kale, just be sure to cut the leaves off the stems first. You can eat or discard the stems, your choice. I chop them into small chunks and eat them.) Then set it aside for a few. Mostly because I don't have enough clear space for my cutting board and a heated pan!

I turn the stove to medium (4 or 5, if there's numbers,) and plop in a blob of butter, usually the size of a pat. Or so. And bloob in some olive oil, since it's a healthier fat than butter. But you can use whatever cooking oil you feel comfortable with. I'd say 2 Tbsp total. But the butter really adds a nice flavor.

Once the butter is all melted and you've rolled it all around to coat the bottom of the pan, go ahead and toss in your chopped greens. Use your spatula to stir and flip them around until they're all oily all over. Sprinkle with some salt or seasoned salt. Keep stirring and turning for 5-10 minutes, until they're all wilted and to desired level of tenderness. I usually test a bit with some stem on it, and cook until I'm satisfied with the texture, since I usually only get to eat the stems after my locusts have gone through it all! Some of my leaves *pop* and get a little browned and crisp, but we love those, since they *scrounch* like kale chips in your mouth. Yum!

I started with just kale raab, but then I started getting "braising mix," which I had no clue what to do with. (Braising Mix is basically a mix of greens. I recognized kale, rainbow chard, various raab versions of mystery greens, and more mystery greens. Probably some collard and mustard greens, since I know they grow those there. Possibly dandilion greens. They grow those there too. On purpose!)
I read a recipe where basically you cook them the same way as the kale raab, so one day when I was low on raab (we'd gotten .75 lb that week, so I only had .25 lb left - I can only fit around a half-pound in the pan at once,) I filled in with the braising mix, which I'd also chopped every inch or so, to make it harder for Z to tell that it was different.
She didn't notice a thing! Now I can add in any kind of green or more kale leaves. Whatever I have. Both girls go ape for it. This also tastes great with a bit of minced garlic or some green garlic shoots chopped up. You'd want to cook the garlic for a minute or so before adding the greens though.

Dinner For Baby:

Butter Kale (kale raab plus braising greens,) leftover cauliflower fried "rice," rice and quinoa with cheese

I modified a cauliflower fried rice recipe from Family Fresh Meals by giving up on grating the stupid cauliflower roughly halfway through, then filling it out with a pre-cooked rice and quinoa mix. Hand-grating the cauliflower is a major pain in the booty, plus my girls need grains more than they need the extra veggies, at this point!
I also sub the soy sauce out for some gluten-free tamari. And I don't bother pre-cooking the egg. I just add it a bit earlier and cook it right there with the "rice." Lazy => ingenuity!

The rice and quinoa mix is done up in a big batch (usually a cup of each) once a week or so, and some is kept in the fridge and the rest gets frozen. Then I always have some on-hand for a quick toss-in, like for the fried rice, or just as a side for dinner. Since most gluten-free products are high in white rice and starches to make them more "normal," it means that it's harder to get in all the whole grains they need each day. So this is an easy fix that both girls love! I added cheese to it one night halfway through reheating, and called it "cheesy rice," and now it's a requested favorite. And if I make some for Z, even if Baby already ate the dinner I made for everyone else that Z rejected, I have to make some for her too!

Truthfully, Baby didn't get quite that much Butter Kale. It just looked so forlorn in there with just the bit that she got, so I tossed some of Big Sister's in there too, just for the photo.

I served hers in an EasyLunchbox, even though we were eating at home, because it's easier for her to manage than a plate and two bowls, or to have everything together on a large plate. This way, nothing gets pushed off the side as she tries to jab it with her fork, there is a lot of forgiveness in the dish if she tips it a bit as she leans on the side, there aren't different dishes moving around as she eats, and everything still stays separate.
Plus, honestly, it's just as easy to wash this in the dishwasher than the other dish(es) I would have used.

Little Z's Dinner:

Leftover mashed "potatoes," rice and quinoa w/cheese, more cheese, butter kale (kale raab plus braising greens)

The mashed "potatoes" are really mashed potatoes, rutabaga, turnips, sunchokes, and parsnips. And an onion plus garlic. Ha! I left the peels on the potatoes (a mix of red, fingerling, and German butter-something... whatever I had on-hand from various weeks of my farm share) but peeled the rest, chopped and boiled them up, then mashed it all together. She loooooooves it!

I put hers on a divided plate because she's a big girl and can eat without shoving all her food off the side! Ha! Plus this plate has a fairly high lip. No good for soup or anything like that, but great for mashed potatoes and gravy kind of thing.

Tools of the Trade

 

Bento Scrap and Salvage Salad Lunches - Made Pretty

These salads were all made from a salad base prepped once... it ended up lasting around two weeks. *cough* I had a head each of organic cabbage and romaine lettuce from my farm share. I don't like cabbage, especially raw, like in salads. But it had to get eaten... I was getting a head a week for around 5 or 6 weeks straight! (Stay tuned for another fun way I used up my cabbage! Coming some time this month at MOMables!)

These lunches also feature bento scraps and salvaged bits of food that were about to go bad, or had been half-chewed by one kid or the other...


Tuesday, 3/12/13 -

Salvaged apple, raspberries, cheese scraps, Van's GF crackers, fancy peppermint patty;
salad mix with golden, Chiogga and regular beet flowers and scraps; carrot flowers and scraps, broccoli,
raspberries, dressing; plus sunflower seeds, hemp hearts, raisins

 

The cheese scraps were from a huge pile left over after our snack week with the Duckling Gets A Cookie!? and Elephant and Piggie cheese cut-outs. Omnomnom.
The apples were rejected leftovers either from a preschool or bedtime snack. And I'm fairly sure the flowers were uneaten from one of Little Z's lunches.

And that Peppermint Patty? Oh yes. As good as it looks! I got it from Whole Foods, since we can't have York Peppermint Patties with their artificial flavors. The only other dark chocolates with mint filling I've found have creamy centers. Mmmmm! Definitely a luxury item though. My eyes popped out of my head and went "AWOOOOGA!" when I saw the price... Can't remember, but they're either $3 or $5. Each.

Wednesday, 3/13/13 -

TJs Coconut Chips on salvaged apple slices, cheese scraps, Van's GF crackers; salad mix w/carrot and
beet flower coins and scraps, strawberries, broccoli, sunflower seeds, hemp hearts, raisins, dressing

 

More Mo Willems snack cheese scraps, plus some apple slices salvaged from a half-bitten apple (that's usually as far as Baby gets before she's full or gets bored with it...)

Thursday, 3/21/13 -

Salvaged pear bits, TJs dark chocolate mints, chocolate toffee trail mix; salad mix w/carrot and beet flowers and scraps, pomegranate arils, tomatoes, purple broccoli, raisins, sunflower seeds, hemp hearts, and dressing.

This late in the week I tend to get a little treat-heavy. I'm tired of all the %*!@ veggies! So I used a whole compartment for treaties. Ironically, I'm not eating healthy for my weight or anything. Just to use up all the random veggies we get in our share each week... I can hardly keep up! But I want to set a good example for the girls, and I want to go as natural as we can, so I get the organic produce share. The reason I do that versus just buying from the grocery store is that I get more for my money, I support a local business, it challenges me to eat outside my comfort zone, and it gets the girls more engaged in their food, since we get to choose and count and weigh our own share based on the signs above the different bins each week.

For this salad, in addition to the carrot and beet scraps that get mixed in to all my salads, I have the salvaged bits from a pear that Baby started on, plus the last of the pomegranate arils. Not enough to hold onto to serve to Z (other than sprinkling a few on yogurt or apples or something,) so into my lunch they went!

Tools of the Trade

    

Preschool Day Breakfasts and Lunch for Baby and Mama

Wednesday, 3/6/13 - Wednesdays Baby and I go to a co-op preschool class, so I like to pack our "breakfast" the night before and bring it to eat at school. I try and pack Baby E enough food to nibble on through lunchtime/early afternoon, but I pack myself a breakfast and a lunch.

Mama's Breakfast

Hummus, Wholly Guacamole; organic broccoli, carrots, and beets;
Udi's GF Cinnamon Raisin toast, organic apples and grape

Yes. Just one grape. I don't remember why I randomly had one left...

Baby's Breakfast (and Lunch... and Afternoon Snack...)

GF Honest O's, cheddar scraps and string cheese nibblets, hummus, Udi's GF Cinnamon Raisin toast, organic cherry tomatoes, organic kiwi, mandarin orange, Chobani Cherry Greek yogurt

I got some Chobani cherry Greek yogurt at half-off the sale price due to being short-dated, so I fed it to the kids as quickly as I could. Here I packed some in a Kids Konserve water-tight container to feed her at preschool. I packed a second spoon for the hummus, since she likes to eat it "straight up," and I didn't want her going back and forth between the hummus and yogurt with the same spoon, since I had planned on eating the yogurt after she lost interest.

Mama's Lunch

Lettuce w/mixed greens, golden and Chiogga beet scraps, carrot scraps, strawberries, broccoli, sunflower seeds (all organic,) hemp hearts, raisins, and Raspberry Vinaigrette. Hard boiled egg (salted,) mandarin, organic kiwi

One carrot scrap cut with a flower veggie cutter left intact, but the rest of the veggie scraps were chopped up and mixed into the salad. The dry add-ins are in the Mini Dipper, and 1 Tbsp dressing in the Smidget.

Tools of the Trade