"Not-Special Lunch"

Thursday, 2/7/13 - Little Z had been a beast the night before, wasting everyone's time and keeping the baby up late with her screeching and caterwauling. It was hard resisting her entreaties, but if we don't stick to our consequences now, she'll learn we don't mean what we say. She wouldn't get out of the bath, so Dadda wouldn't do their nightly bath ritual with her when she decided she was ready to get out after. He tried to compromise with an alternative, but she refused that too. Then I offered to help. Nope.
We ended up draining the tub, turning off the lights, and I eventually wrapped her towel around her in the tub. But Baby couldn't sleep with all the whining and crying. I tried carrying her out, but she ran back and hopped in the cold tub! She wanted Dadda, and she wanted to jump into his lap.

It's hard, when I know the underlying cause is whatever it is that's causing her social delays and sensory issues. It's not something that she can control completely. But it's hard to tell when it's totally beyond her control, and when she's just choosing to be a little turd.

It all started when he had gone into the bathroom, then walked back out to hand the Baby to me. Since he walked in and out, she got mad at him for some reason, and shut down. Then he told her to get out or he would be done and she couldn't jump into his lap, and she snubbed him. She has a hard time understanding the consequences when she's like that, and is quick to apologize and wail and make empty promises after. But if we cave, she'll never learn to understand that we mean it when we say it's time to do something, or that it's her last chance.

So I told her that because everyone had to stay up later because of her behavior, I wouldn't have the time or energy to make her lunch "special" for the next day. And then I had to stick to it! *sigh*

She eventually decided that spending the night in the tub by herself was not what she wanted to do.

Not-Special Lunch

Ham and cheese on Rosemary Bread, popcorn, apples, carrots and Ranch

Since we were only a week away from Valentine's Day, I didn't want to waste an opportunity to make a holiday lunch. So I snuck in a little love.

She keeps insisting that all the Xs and Os are for Tic Tac Toe, and not hugs and kisses, which I find hilarious. She's been soooo happy to see all the Tic Tac Toe decor and stuff lately... So I used mini letter cutters to make her an X and an O, and a mini heart cutter to make a few little hearts out of scraps of cheese from her sandwich.
Because the Rosemary Bread isn't whole grain, and it left a big empty space in the box, I included some popcorn in a triangle cup too. Whole grains. Space filler. Double win!

Since I was "going plain," I didn't do anything fancy with her carrots, which was almost painful for me. I only give her plain carrot sticks when I'm in a super hurry or if they fit some kind of theme. So I put some Ranch in a Mini Dipper. She generally only eats carrots if they're cut into flowers. Or if she has Ranch for dipping.

Another "compromise" was the heart pick. I added a pick to be festive, but chose turquoise to not be as fancy and fun and Valentiney. Which looked great with the turquoise lid from the new EasyLunchboxes Brights.

Mama's Quickie Leftovers Lunch

Leftover Vegetarian Curry Mishmash, TJ's Edamame Crackers, TJ's White Bean Hummus, carrots and cucumber

My lunch had an EasyLunchboxes Classics lid. She won't let me "waste" any of the new colored lids on myself.

Since I was getting this ready right before heading out the door, I was able to pack the curry and heat it up before adding the rest of the items. I chose a spork, since I could use the curve to my advantage and prop them on the crackers (these things are crazy delicious!) to help keep the handle from getting ooky.

I don't remember exactly what was in the curry. I usually scrounge together all the veggies from my CSA share that are going bad or have been sitting around a while and chop them up, toss them in a pot, add 2-3 cans of coconut milk, 1-2 cups of grains and/or lentils (I think this batch has brown rice and wheat berries. I usually use quinoa too,) and enough water or low-sodium vegetable stock to reach the top of the veggies. Then I add some salt, a diced onion, 3-5 cloves of minced garlic, and 3-4 Tbsp curry powder (I use half regular curry powder and half garam masala curry powder.)
I'm pretty sure the veggies in this batch included carrots, purple potatoes, rutabaga, parsnips, baby turnips, and celery.

Tools of the Trade

         

Cherry Baby - Go Green Lunch Box

I was intrigued when I discovered the Go Green Lunchbox - the different compartments excited me, but I had heard that it was kind of big, and there were other pros and cons, same as any other lunch box. But I was eager to give it a go!

Go Green makes sectioned lunchboxes and insulated lunch bags - and while the box is only available in one color (boooo!) the bags come in a gorgeous array!

 

The Go Green Lunchbox has an innovative design, with the silicone seals for each compartment to make it leak-proof, silicone-coated side tabs to close the box and help protect the tabs in a fall, and a little twisty lock in the lid to make sure the lid (and therefore your lunch contents) stay secure.

Water, Cherry Pomegranate drink powder, pomegranate arils, cherry gummies, carrots, ham sandwiches, cheese

"Yay"s

• Lots of compartments
• Individual seals on each compartment so everything is leak-proof!
• The lid is separate. I hate a lid sticking up in the air and tipping the whole lunch over if someone bumps the box (or the table!) Or the lid causing the lunch to flip over while on a lap in the car.
• Easy to clean. The bottom is dishwasher safe, and if you take the silicone seals off, the lid is too!
• Snap-sides and locking clip help keep lid sealed and secure in transit or if dropped!
• Room for the water bottle right in the box, so it's less likely to get left behind somewhere.
• The bag has a white board in a little frame. You can draw a little picture or write special messages and reminders ("Remember to use the potty after lunch!" would be my message every day! Sheesh! But it's a good way to remind them about special after-school plans, or if they needed to be sure and bring something home that day.) Or you could tuck a Lunchbox Love note or photo in there.
• Every part is available to be purchased separately, to replace lost or busted parts, or just to have extras.

"Meh"s

• One of the side snaps on my lid won't stay snapped. It keeps opening on its own. But the lid lock and the other three snaps keep my lid on. I need to experiment with locking first versus after snapping down the sides, and whether the order of closing the side snaps matters. But that's way too complex for my kid to do at this point.
• It's hugemongous. The compartment and overall box sizes are okay, but difficult for my little shawty to  fit into her preschooler-sized backpack. 
• Only comes in one color. Green.
• Despite the size, a whole un-cut sandwich won't fit. You'd need to cut it into smaller portions and stack them. So many of my sandwich cutter shapes would be too big as well. (Maybe if you bent or  angled it, as shown in the company's photo, but that could spell disaster for many sandwich filling options!) 
• The dangly lid clippies. I can't imagine you should leave them on in the dishwasher, so might as well leave them off if you don't think they're awesome.
• The lunch bags aren't machine washable (the inner plastic lining and insulation rarely hold up well through a laundry cycle!) I'm not as worried about the interior, since it wipes clean fairly easily, and I can stick a vinegar-soaked rag in there overnight if it starts to stink. But for some reason we are stain magnets here. A new lunch bag lasts about 3.2 seconds before it gets a stain on it. Usually before we've even used it the first time! It's like a sticky fairy lives above the front door and waves her magic wand as things enter my home.  

"Boo"s

• The side clasps are too hard for my preschooler to open without help. She did manage to turn the lock herself though.
• Lid is not dishwasher-safe unless you remove the silicone seals, which means they'll get lost. At least they would in MY house!
• The bags carry the lunches vertically, so any fancy bento cuteness either needs to be secured really well, or just accept it will all get jumbled up.
• And this is just MY issue, but the box is too big to fit on my 12x12 scrapbook paper, so the sides either get cut off, or you see my crusty old cooler on my crusty old back porch (where the best light is in the morning.) Notice you're NOT seeing my crusty porch in any of these photos...

Cherry Baby Bento

To make this lunch, I filled one of the compartments with pomegranate arils (because cherries are out of season!) and added a cherry cupcake pick on top.

I had found some naturally-colored (and flavored) cherry-shaped gummies at a store. The cherry mini cup was the perfect container to make a small serving of treats look like more.

In the square muffin cup I used a cherry blossom veggie cutter on some carrot coins to make cherry blossoms, and tried to use red dot picks to look like cherries, but they just looked kind of lame. Oh well. There is a mini spoon tucked in that compartment to use for the pomegranate seeds.

For the cherry sandwiches, I used a mini circle cutter from a space cutter set to cut out two ham and two bread circles for each sandwich. I used mustard to "glue" everything together, and put one ham circle in between the breads, and one on top, to make the cherries look more cherry-like. I used the same cutter on some thick slices of mozzarella cheese, and used leaf picks to pair everything up to look like cherry bunches.

During lunch,* I noticed Little Z had eaten all the sandwiches, but hadn't touched the cheese circles yet. So I asked her if she liked them (I meant did she think they were fun or cute.) "I didn't even try one yet, because I was enjoying the sandwiches sooo much!" All is forgiven!
[*She takes her lunch for snack to her AM preschool, so she doesn't fill up on Goldfish and Cheerios instead, and then we have an hour at home to finish her lunch before her afternoon preschool starts.]

For a size reference, an EasyLunchbox fits two square cups across in the large compartment and one in the smaller compartment. And two square cups fit vertically as well,. So together, all the sections except the one to hold the water bottle are roughly the size of an EasyLunchbox, but a little longer top to bottom. Plus deeper/taller.

I packed a cloth napkin and drink powder packet in the top right compartment - the one with all the stuff I was worried about tumbling around.

Okay, I lied. Here's a little slice of crusty old back porch cooler. *shudder*

A Laptop Love note was perfect in the little white board frame in the carrying bag! But my ice pack didn't fit in the netting pocket, so I put it in the bag underneath the box.

You can read a more in-depth review from BentOnBetterLunches. She and I had pretty much the same issues and concerns with the lid being attached with those little clips. But she took way more photos of all the features!

Disclaimer: I received a free Go Green box and bag to review.

Tools of the Trade

        

XOXO - Hugs and Kisses!

Since I wasn't packing a bulky bread, the Lunchbots Trio (Red Lid) was the perfect fit for this lunch. Everything's all snuggly and cozy together... without actually touching!

Hugs and Kisses!

Applegate uncured turkey hot dog with cheddar cheese, strawberries, "Everything Bagel" pretzels, carrots

Monday, 2/4/13 - I had initially thought about skewering cheese Xs with the uncured hot dog Os, but this cheese is pretty crumbly, so I probably would just have gotten mad and thrown things. Cubes it is!

Berry Kisses: I'm so glad I figured out how to make the heart-shaped strawberries. Most techniques I see I just can't quite get the hang of. But these have been a success! You just cut the stem off in a V instead of flat across the top. Then slice in half to make two hearts. Just as quick and easy, if not easier, as lopping off the stem and cutting into quarters. And the halves help you fit more into a lunch than when leaving them whole.
I got a second pack of the letter picks just in time! This wouldn't have been the same with only one "XO."

Xs and Os: I chose the Rold Gold "Everything Bagel" pretzels as her grains option (yeah yeah. Not whole grains, I know. But our bread is extra grainy, and I use all kinds of weird grains in dinner, like wheat berries and quinoa. Plus brown rice. So I don't feel so bad with the occasional "enriched wheat flour" treat.) I didn't really want to cut a zillion little carrot Xs, so I just cut sticks for her to make into Xs! And separated them from the pretzels with a small silicone baran (the one with Xs on it, of course!)

I managed to fit a whole Applegate uncured turkey hot dog (cooked for 30 seconds in the microwave first, to kill off potential listeria) on four heart skewers, along with some slabs of cheddar cheese.
I used mini letter cutters on some extra cheese to keep with the XO theme. These letters are really hard to work with when you have crumblier cheese like cheddar. Fruit leather probably works fine, and softer cheese like mozzarella might not crack and break as easily. But nothing fits it to poke the cheese out, so I end up gouging it to death with a toothpick! Luckily both of these letters look the same flipped over! And the Os held together enough you don't notice all the splits... This set is also the only one I've found with mini numbers too, so probably worth all the hassle.

Little Z was thrilled... with her "Tic Tac Toe" lunch! Haha! Doh! I think they hadn't ended up having time for snack at school that day (which always pisses her off,) so she asked for ketchup and Ranch when she worked on it during her lunch hour. Then she polished off everything except part of a hot dog skewer and a few carrot sticks. Mama ate the leftover carrots, and Baby helped with the hot dog and cheese (I hate hot dogs. Even the uncured ones with recognizable ingredients!)

Tools of the Trade
Cloth napkin from Red Poppy Crafts on Etsy.

   

Love Bug Bento

This one came about purely by accident. I was searching for my baggie of heart-shaped cutters and couldn't find it. I can't even remember what my idea had been. But somehow I came across an empty mints tin, and thought to put a Valentine's sticker on it. I liked the owl best, but then saw the "Love Bug" and thought "Hmmm. I could make that..." So I did!

Wednesday February 13, 2013 - My new PlanetBox Rover was perfect for this lunch - I needed an area large enough to accommodate the sandwich, plus areas for the veggies, fruits, and the little mint box that started it all!

Cracker Nuts, sugar snap peas and carrots, Surf Sweets hearts,
raspberries with dark chocolate covered pomegranate seeds, ham-cheese-mustard sandwich thin

Love Bug: The tin was from some Trader Joe's Green Tea Mints that a certain someone seems to love, and keeps proooomising that she won't just swiper it off my desk and eat the whole package in one go. So far I've been snookered twice. So I had an empty that wasn't even a week old yet. *sigh*
The window had some stickum on it from the original label, which is what gave me the idea to put a sticker on in the first place! So I could cover it up! (MUCH easier than painstakingly scraping off all the residue!)

Instead of sweets, I filled it with Nagaraya Garlic Cracker Nuts that I get at an Asian grocery. They are soooooo good! When she saw that I had a new bag, she went wild begging and cajoling me to give her some. I had to fill the tin last so I didn't get distracted after opening the bag and eat them all instead of making her lunch! They're crazy delicious!
(Her AM preschool does not have a peanut or nut ban. And the one child in the class with a peanut allergy only reacts if he eats them, and is fine around others eating them. The teacher doesn't let them share, and sits them apart from each other at the little table, since she knows I pack peanut products, just to be safe. Not that Little Z would share anyway! Haha! She jealously guards anyone from even LOOKING at her lunch!

Grassy Bug: Love Bugs live on the ground, so that means grass! I used organic sugar snap peas to be the grass, and stuck a ladybug pick in for the cuteness factor. I added a few carrots cut with a mini heart cutter to add color and more hearts!

In the little treaties compartment, I put in two dye-free Surf Sweets Organic Fruity Hearts that I got from Natural Candy Store.

Berry Bug: Strawberries are the obvious choice for fruit in a ladybuggy lunch, but I didn't have any. In hindsight, half a red apple could be good too, with just a little knife and mini cutter work to remove bits of peel to etch in the design. Oh well.

Instead, I used up the last of our organic raspberries and sprinkled on some Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Covered Pomegranate Seeds, which she loves. And they look kind of ladybug-spottish. Since pomegranate arils are pretty much a membrane around a sac of juice and a seed, I wasn't expecting too much from these candies, but I'm a sucker for anything dark chocolate (or anything that might look cute in a lunch...) Plus she loves pomegranate "seeds" (what she and my Hubby call the arils.) They're actually quite good. Like chocolate-covered mini gummies, with seeds inside.

I spelled out "LOVE BUG" with my alphabet picks, except I couldn't find the Os. Luckily I had a heart pick that subbed in nicely!

Sandwich Bug: For the sandwich, I used a whole wheat sandwich thin, because I still had some in the fridge (bread lasts longer in there! And since I no longer cook with raw meat, I had a whole drawer laying empty. Now it's a bread and spillover-veggies drawer!) Plus it was already round and I didn't need to find my large circle cutter.

My Colby Jack cheese and uncured ham came in pre-sliced rounds, so no need for my cutter there either! I sliced the cheese down the middle, and angled them artistically. Then I realized I hadn't put on the mustard yet, so had to take it all apart again. *sigh*
For the "spots," I used a tiny heart cutter - and then saved the cut-outs and smooshed two together around each bit of uncooked spaghetti noodle to make antennae. And the others went in the compartment with the tin of cracker nuts.

Tools of the Trade