0 Provolone Moon Sandwich, Ham Cubes with Bats

 October 29 2012

Lunch: Turkey Sandwich with Provolone Cheese Moon. Ham cubes with cute Bat Picks.  Cheese Tortillas hiding under napkin. Tomatoes in halloween cupcake cup.

Snacks:  Bear Hard Boiled Eggs (refer to previous post for DIY instructions), Ham or Cheese, Grapes, with Halloween tooth picks.

YumLunch?  Yes. Although, minor issues with the cheese. If it winds up being eaten in the late afternoon, it starts to get sweaty, and boy doesn't finish.  Will try freezing cubes, and see if that works better.

Cute pics of the boy:  Pumpkin husband carved (boy drew what he wanted on dry erase board).  Cool battery run candle that changes color. Photo was shot while it was green. Spooky.

0 PB Sandwich with Cheese Cutouts, Bunnies, Cheese Cubes.

October 25, 2012

Lunch: Plain PB sandwich with cute heart cut outs from cheese my son said he didn't like. Wos. Way to go Mommy. Grapes and Tomatoes.

Snack AM: Plums, Cheese Cubes, and Annies Cheddar Bunnies.

Snack PM: PB sandwich and bunnies.

Yum Lunch? 
Yep. All Gone. Even the Cheese hearts.

Sidebar: Trader Joe's sells buckets of plums for something ridiculous like $3, and they are great in lunches.

0 Cream Cheese Crackers, Turkey Rolls, Tortilla Rollups

October 24, 2012

Snack AM: Tomatoes in halloween cupcake-cup,  Cream Cheese Crackers, solitary TJ Turkey Rolls, American Cheese Flower Cutouts.

Snack PM: Cream Cheese Crackers, Carrots, American Cheese Cutouts, More TJ Turkey.

Lunch: Trader Joe's Turkey - just a solitary roll of meat. Tortilla with cream cheese. Cream Cheese Crackers. Hearts from AmericanCheese.


YumLunch? 
Not sure.  Boy says he ran out of time. Turkey rolls and Cheese Cut-outs weren't all gone.

The turkey is super organic, no preservatives, etc., from Trader Joe's. For the record, it sort of smells like a foot when removed from the packaging, but tastes good. It is also really wet -- so I blot with a paper towel before putting in the lunch.

Boy also said he didn't really like the taste of the American Cheese. This is only a bummer because as a creative medium, the American cheese is really cute when using cookie cutters. But as a Mom, who is gently trying to shape and prejudice my son's palette to like healthy food, I have to be happy - he's having a princess and the pea reaction to highly processed cheese, and prefers "regular" "real" cheese.

0 Space Theme: Egg Robots, PB Stars, Crescent Moon, Plum Moon

October 17, 2012

Lunch:  Hard Boiled Egg in Cute Robot Container, Plum (moon), Croissant Moon Sandwich (Turkey Lingonberry Croissant - see previous post same), Star PB sandwich on homemade bread.

Snack AM: Chicken (Rotisserie Left Overs), Kiwi with cute Bento Picks.

Snack PM: Plum, Munster Cheese Slices, Turkey Roll.

Yum Lunch? 
60% Yum...
Lunch-Egg wasn't eaten all the way.  Turkey and Cheese left over - Boy said he didn't have enough time to eat all his lunch, and PM Snack.  His mood was crummy too when I picked him up. Food-Mood Connection: his mood is typically bad when he doesn't get his  protein.

0 Birthday Lunch! Tamago Egg, Pears, Cute Hard Boiled Egg Molds

October 15, 2012       7th Week of School

Lunch: The lunch pictured is actually a birthday lunch I packed for my friend Sarah, whom I have not seen for ages, and whom I will get to spend the whole day with! Yay!  Tamago Omelet Egg Hearts, Bunny Hard Boiled Egg Molds, Grapes, Carrots (under Bunnies) and mixed nuts in small container (under Tamago).

Lunch for Boy: Tamago (not in cute shapes). Hard Boiled egg inside robot / rocket container. PB Sam.

Snacks: Tamago, H.B. Egg Mold (Bear), grapes.

At the bean, with friends, family and
Sarah, on her birthday (yesterday.)
Happy Birthday Sarah. 

Boy's Lunch. It's super protein day - because
there is a birthday treat for a fellow student. 

YumLunch?
Double Yum Good! Sarah and I had a delicious lunch, and the boy ate most everything, with a smidge of tamago left over (he was full)

Boy's snacks. 

0 Fall! Ham, Ham Sandwich, PB Tortilla; Leaf and Pumpkin Cheese Cutouts

October 11, 2012


The Boy's PK class has a fall theme this week - they are studying trees and leaves and pumpkins.

Lunch: Ham Cream Cheese Sandwich cut outs Leafs, White and Yellow American Cheese Leaf and Pumpkin Cut-outs, Tree Trunk Tortilla with PEANUT BUTTER in it. (Boy asked me to put PB in tortilla. I say "What? " I think it will be gross, and give him small sample. Boy pre-approves the taste as YUM. Go figure.)

Snack AM: Grapes, Cheese.

Snack PM: Ham Rolls, American Cheese Pumpkin Cutouts, Grapes, Carrots.

YumLunch?
Mostly Yum.  Some ham rolls and pumpkin cut outs didn't get eaten. Boy says he ran out of time during snack.








Products Used:  Small Leaf / Pumpkin cookie cutter from Sur La Table, however, I can't rave. They rust very easily, even if you wash gently.

0 I Heart You Ham! Ham Sandwich & Ham Rolls

October 10, 2012        6th Week of School

After a long Columbus four-day-weekend, I have lots of creative energy this morning and a large and very small heart shaped cookie cutter.

Lunch: Ham and Cream Cheese (Heart) Sandwich, Peanut Butter Sandwich, Grapes

Snack AM:  Carrots with small "mayo" container (from eBay) full of Bolthouse Blue Cheese Yogurt Dressing, Tortillas with Cream Cheese.

Snack PM: Ham Rolls with Grape Tomatoes

Yum Lunch?
All Gone!

Mayo Container,
Found on eBay

Sausage Cutter Kit,
Found on eBay

0 Happy Anniversary!

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Lunch: a slightly less successful tamago omelet (I tinkered with the recipe, and added too much oil to my pan) in heart and birdie shapes, topped with American cheese to cover up the slap-dash tamago. It tasted fine, but didnt hold its shape as well as the last batch. Strawberries in heart shapes, peaches in flower shapes, and Cheerios. (I know - O's seem like a lame lunch item, but the boy has been begging for them lately).

Snack: more heart strawberries, tamago heart, Annie's bunny pretzels.

Snack: hearts, cheese with cute flower picks, more bunnyzels.

YumLunch?
All gone - but... This was not enough food. For a second I wondered as I was packing it all up, and now it seems more obvious looking at the snap shots from this morning.  Insert appropriate maternal guilt here.

Consequently, Boy very hungry and less than cooperative by the time our family sat down to celebrate my husband's and my wedding anniversary.

Thank you to the patient staff at Fin Sushi who did not bat an eye, when we asked for a small soy sauce container filled with water so my son could water-paint his anniversary card. Nor did they flinch when we asked for more napkins, more chopsticks, more rice, more napkins, more napkins again, please, and would they please be so kind as to box pretty much everything we ordered for the boy.

Thanks also to my wonderful husband who kindly and patiently explained to our son why he shouldn't sing at the top of his lungs, rock and dance like a person with no spine, and why laying like a drunk frat boy, on the shared bench seating, so that his feet were touching the couple seated next to us - well, why that was in bad form.

Thank you also, kind husband, for cupcakes, milk, pie, clean dishes, banjo music, putting tired boy to bed, cuddles, helping with snacks and other morning chaos.  Also, thanks for constantly exposing me to funny pop culture things that I would otherwise miss, and making me laugh every day.

0 Away we go. Tamago!

Monday Sept 24, 2012

Woke up early, and decided to try a Tamago recipe, that I found on YouTube.

Here is the recipe:
  2 Eggs
  1 tsp sugar
  1 tsp mirin
  50 ml (.21 cup) dashi (substitute chicken stock).

I watched the video a few times and decided to try chopsticks as my primary utensil.

It did not take long to make a thick, rectangle omelet that I could cut into cute shapes. As I cooked the tamago, I noticed that my first layer was a little brown, but that got covered as I added more layers and "rolled" them up.  (Refer to video.)  I let it cool only a few minutes, and had no difficulty cutting it into birdie and flower shapes. We ate the scraps with breakfast.

Tamago tastes a little sweet (like the tamago you get at sushi joints).  This is OK with me - I consider this "strategic sweetness."

The mirin reminds me of vanilla extract, which I might try in the future. I'm not too worried about the sake / alcohol content - it's a small amount. Hey - maybe it will help my child sleep at nap time. JK.

Lunch: Tamago Birdies, Carrots, Grapes, and one  Raspberry.

Snack AM: Hard Boiled Egg (Fish Shape with soy sauce detailing), Tiny Tamago Flower, Annie's Cheddar Bunnies.

Snack PM: H.B.Egg Fish Shape with Tiny Tamago Flower surrounded by Green Grapes.

YumLunch? 
You betcha.

0 Love Bird Liverwurst Sandwich, Monday, third week of school.

Decided to try Liverwurst again, and confirm it's a YumLunch.

Lunch: Liverwurst Cream Cheese filling, between whole wheat bread, with white and orange American cheese on top (I use a straw to cut the tiny circles for eyes.) Cute Birdie Cookie Cutters from Amazon. Birds are nested on some spinach leaves.

Got a great deal on Peaches at Trader Joe's, and used cute Japanese vegetable cutters to make the flowers.  (I also found the cute flower stem picks on eBay, using a "bento" search.)


Snack AM:  Carrots and Hummus.

Snack PM: Tomatoes and cute H.B. Bear Egg.

YumLunch? 
Yes - except the spinach leaves. Oh well.

Japanese Vegetable Cutters

		Stainless Steel Vegetable Cutters #K8444 "100% Made in Japan!!" by JapanBargain

	Cute birdies

		Kate Aspen Tweet Baby Mamma and Baby Bird Stainless-Steel Cookie Cutters, Blue by Kate Aspen

0 Liverwurst YumLunch! Friday, 2nd wk of school.

While at Whole Foods Market this weekend, my son kept grabbing tubes of organic Liverwurst, and putting them in the cart. You know, the way kids do.

At first, we put them back, but then I thought, Why not!

We are still waiting for the school to tell us if any of my son's schoolmates have a peanut allergy. Liverwurst is a great sandwich spread - high on protein - and a great alternative to peanut butter, (if you eat meat, which we do.)

Modest Makeover: I mixed the Liverwurst with cream cheese for extra yum factor.

Lunch: half a hard boiled egg (car shape) and "train sandwich" with L'Wurst + Cream Cheese filling. Train cookie cutter  was a gift from Nana. White American cheese on top with orange American cheese for details. Carrot "track."

Snack AM: a small sandwich (same Liverwurst filling) pita chips, and olive-hummus, from Trader Joes. Hummus not pictured.

Snack PM: half a Hard Boiled Egg (car shaped) and green grapes.

YumLunch?
Yes! Only a smidge of hummus left.



Thank you for cute train cookie cutters, Nana!