Homemade Chicken Nuggets

Bella's yummy heart-shaped homemade chicken nugget lunch is part of my latest This vs That post at MOMables!

Just posted today, Lunchbox Wars : Chicken Nuggets is a fresh, healthy remake of a boxed chicken nugget convenience lunch - and includes my recipe for the homemade chicken nuggets :)

Lunch For The Man: Airplane Food

Sailor Boy had to travel for work recently. Not on a ship though, he went by plane - so I packed him an EasyLunchbox to eat in the air.

He has grapes, kiwifruit, carrots, almonds, pistachios, blueberries, and black forest ham & mozzarella cheese rolls. I folded the cheese into the ham before I rolled and skewered it. Everything bite-size and mess-free.

I wanted to separate his foods but didn't want him to take any of my silicone muffin cups, and I stopped buying the disposable kind - but I save just about everything I think might be repurposed, so I dug up some plastic cups that once contained frosting in the ends of tubes of refrigerated cinnamon roll dough, and some medicine cups that came with cold syrup. Applesauce cups would have worked well too but I couldn't have fit as many.

I should have taken a photo from the side to show you - it's kind of hard to tell from the top - but the rims of all the little cups reach right to the lid when it's snapped in place. Everything was held securely enough that I was able to turn it completely sideways with nothing shifting or spilling over - perfect for traveling with the man :)

Spring is NOT in the air today...

... but it IS in Bella's bento... a little bit :)

Bella has cheddar flowers, Spring print Ritz crackers, grapes (there's a 2nd layer under the flower cup), tomatoes topped with ham tulips, carrot tulips, & celery. The carrot had a split in it so just had to make a 2nd split for the tulips. I attached the ham tulips to the tomatoes with cute little tulip picks from AllThingsForSale, and secured the cheese stack with a bunny pick from Daiso. A pretty Spring-y lunch to brighten this gloomy rainy day - I hope :)

Nothing cutesy for Beanstalk - he was less than thrilled about his Valentine's Day hearts bento. I did still sneak a little sunshine in - Sun-Maid raisins (made from grapes & sunshine, right?) and Spring print Ritz - but only the ones with the sunshine, not the flowers or butterflies :) 

To answer Jenn of Bento for Kidlet's question from the other day, "where do you take your lunch pictures?", I take mine on our front porch too! The light is best there in the mornings, although on gloomy days like today, the "best" light still isn't very good! :)

Pickle wanted pancakes. Fortunately for him (because I am not good at making them), when Sailor Boy makes pancakes, he makes lots so we have extra to freeze - so I only had to reach into the bag in the freezer :) He has separate spoons for the yogurt and the peanut butter cup - he likes a fresh spoon - and a dipping cup of maple syrup, covered in Glad Press'n Seal.

Stuff I used today:

Rainbow Week : Green Day!

Our Rainbow Week continues with my favourite colour:

Green

Bella's Green Day lunch is a green salad with striped cucumbers, diagonal sliced mozzarella, a striped Granny Smith apple, and green grapes. This one was easy since she likes most greens! But sadly, not kiwi.

It's Groundhog Day! Sailor Boy's groundhog saw his shadow, so went back to sleep in his bed of lettuce...

6 more weeks of winter... I thought so. I made this lunch last night, but I had a feeling winter wasn't over yet, so I cut a snowflake out of a Babybel cheese - my first embellished Babybel :) In the main compartment of his Easy Lunchbox Sailor boy gets chicken kebabs again - this time atop a green salad, and with mandarin oranges. The small green container is filled with salad dressing - and that's a Light My Fire spork, they're great. Mister Groundhog is made of refried beans, with dried chile features and provolone teeth.

Pickle got frog prince & fairy princess peanut butter sandwiches made with sandwich cutters from the Lunch Punch Sand*wishes set. 

Rainbow

Birdie & Sprout's Green Day rainbow muffin tin meal was a yogurt & fruit bar!

I set out plain yogurt and a flower muffin tin filled with mango, banana, kiwi, strawberry & blueberry stir-ins, and a graham crumb & milled flaxseed "cookie crumble" topping. I gave them each a bowl and spoon and let them scoop their own yogurt and add their own fruit. 

They loved it! They were totally digging the "cookie crumble" too, and I was feeling pretty smug about sneaking the flaxseed in there :) Both girls were munching as much fruit as they were putting into their bowls, and still ate what was in the bowl when they finished filling it. They got yogurt and fruit all over, so I did have to put my camera up and sit at the table with them to assist. It was messy but fun.

I did take a quick snap of Birdie's bowl - second helping! Look at that messy mixture - both their bowls looked like that - and they ate it up! Now, if I had served them something that looked like that, they would have declared it "yuck" and refused it, but since they made it themselves...  :)

I was all excited to see Birdie add some kiwi, that was one of the 2 fruits I was almost certain they wouldn't touch. But if she actually ate any, it was by accident - she picked that big chunk back out. Ah well, she gobbled up everything else in her bowl, even the mango, which was the other fruit I didn't think they'd eat, yay!  I'm definitely going to let them do this again... but next time, they'll be wearing smocks :)

More Rainbow Fun!

Did you read my review of the Rainbow Kit?
I didn't mention that there's a Today I Ate A Rainbow Song!
Birdie & Sprout will sing it for you:

Isn't it cute?!  Want to hear it again? Visit The Today I Ate A Rainbow Song Page! to see it performed by Hannah, rainbow eating daughter of Kia, who created Today I Ate A Rainbow!  My Sprout wanted to sing it solo too:

Enter my Today I Ate A Rainbow! giveaway

 for a chance to win your own Rainbow Kit!

Rainbow Week : Yellow

We're halfway through our Rainbow Week! Today's colour is

Yellow

Bella's yellow lunch was inspired by Beatles songs ! Beneath the celery sticks and cheese, she has a turkey & cheese sandwich, yellow peppers, and on the side, slices of golden delicious apples, and some plain pasta (with a Thermos Funtainer of hot cheese sauce to pour over it at lunch - not pictured). Do you know which 4 Beatles songs are represented?  ♪ ♫

♫ Yellow Submarine, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Golden Slumbers & Give Peace A Chance ♪

Beanstalk didn't eat the snack I packed him yesterday, so he got it again today, plus an organic Clif Z Bar. Pickle got a cute beehive and bee peanut butter sandwich. The cutter for this was a surprise gift from a friend, and this is the first time we've used it. Pickle loves it,  thank you Linli!

Sailor Boy has pineapple teriyaki chicken kebabs, yellow pepper slices, sharp white cheddar cheese, and grapes in his Easy Lunchbox. I also scratched a little love note on the peel of a banana and sneaked it into his lunch tote  ♥
By the time he opened his lunch the message would have been really dark :)

No pic of the banana, he leaves before the sun rises, too early for me! I also wrote a banana note for Birdie though, if you want to see an example :

She can't read yet so I just drew pictures :)

Rainbow

I saw these rainbow fruit kebabs on the MOMables facebook page way back in August, just before the popular lunch menu plan officially launched, and have wanted to make some ever since. It took me a while, but I finally got around to making some for my sproutlets!  I made these ahead of time for Sprout & Birdie's snack. Two each, and a yogurt cloud to dip in :) 

They still don't like pineapple. More for me :)

We were out all day, so no muffin tin meals, then brought one of Sprout's little friends home with us this afternoon, so Birdie and I made muffins together while they played. Banana muffins! She really liked mashing the bananas:

I almost forgot to get a picture of the banana muffins before the 3 little girls ate them all - and by the time I remembered, there were only 3 left!  They were really good muffins, and so cute in their flower muffin cups :)

There's nothing rainbow about them - but they are yellow :)

Now these muffins, made by the talented Kris

 of In the Kitchen with Audrey, are Rainbow!
   

And healthy too! Click the Rainbow Mom button to see more from Kris, Audrey, & little sister Maurene too!

Thanks for following our Rainbow Week! Don't forget to read my review of Today I Ate A Rainbow! and enter to win a Rainbow Kit of your own!

Lunch for the Man : Take-n-Make Taco Salad

Taco meat salad for Sailor Boy, some assembly required. I packed the leftover taco seasoned ground beef separately so he could microwave it before adding it to the salad in the Easy Lunchbox, then top it with the shredded cheese. Yum! Kiwi & blueberries for dessert :)

I just had to add a little touch of love to this leftovers lunch - I sliced one of the tomatoes in half diagonally then put them back together with a party pick (same way I made these carrot hearts) to make a teensy tomato heart  ♥

All Star Lunches

All my school age sproutlets have stars in their lunchboxes today :)

Granny Smith apple with Bella's first initial, grape tomatoes, 

peppered turkey & sharp cheddar on a whole wheat bagel.

 Honey ham roll-ups, Granny Smith apple,

  raisins and whole wheat bagel for Beanstalk.

Pickle has a round sandwich with a star

 and a star sandwich with his first initial.

I hope all my little stars have an all-around good day :)

It's their Daddy's birthday today! He'll get to be the star this evening, with cake! Birdie & Sprout said he should have a chocolate cake with pink frosting, and what a nice Daddy, he said that's what he's always wanted. So the little girls and I will be baking and frosting today, and getting all chocolatey and pink  ♥

Don't forget to enter my Uforya Giveaway!

Eating Real Food Can Be Fun!

Fuel up on real fruit snacks! Here are the apple & grape car snacks I made and posted on my Facebook page yesterday:

All you need are apples, firm grapes, and food picks*:

1. Slice an apple into wedges and trim the core.
2. For each apple car, slice 2 grapes in half, widthwise.
3. Push the pick through the sliced side of one grape half.
4. Now push the pick through one end of the apple slice.
5. Finish with the other grape half,  sliced side out. 
6. Repeat with the other end of the apple wedge and 2 more grape halves, and it should look like a little car  :)
7. (optional) Trim any protruding pick if desired.

*I used short plastic bento picks, but toothpicks would work as well - maybe break them in half. If your kidlets are a bit young to have toothpicks in their food, uncooked linguine or spaghetti noodles might be better, if the pasta was thick enough to not break in the process.

Some great variation suggestions were made on Facebook too:

• pears with cucumber wheels
• carrot slice wheels on a cucumber car 
• banana wheels 
• cheese wheels

There are plenty of nutritious possibilities for this simple fun snack! 

Update - April 24th 2013 - My car fruit snack is featured in the May 2013 issue of Family Fun magazine & website, as Treat of the Month!

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Talking to my 10 year old son about real food

Yesterday, Beanstalk, my 5th grader, came home from school with some carrots in his bento box - but I hadn't packed him carrots - (he says) he doesn't like them. When I asked him about them, he said his teacher gave them to him, because she didn't think his lunch was very nutritious.

Now, my first reaction was to feel miffed and defensive. But then, I thought about what was in his lunch that day and how it might have looked to her. I don't have a pic, but it was a Lock&Lock 4 square bento box, packed with apple slices, white cheddar popcorn, and an organic Clif Kid Z Bar - but the Clif bar was cut in half in one of the little squares - I bet it looked like a brownie to her! Now that I've thought about it more, I'm thankful that she cares about his nutrition :) Here's a lunch of his similar to yesterday's:

 The Clif bar does look like a brownie.

A little backstory: Beanstalk is very picky - always has been since he was a baby - and slow to gain, with little appetite. His pediatrician even prescribed Pediasure to supplement his diet when he was a toddler. He just doesn't have much interest in eating. So, I am glad when he lets me pack him a lunch and put anything into it other than a nutrition bar (like Power bar or Clif bar) and a Boost drink.

Anyways, his teacher criticizing his lunch gave me an opportunity to talk to him about nutrition. "See," I said, "even your teacher agrees with me. You should eat more real food, not just meal replacement bars." We talked about how some processed foods may fill you up, but that your body doesn't use all of it, so that "filler" is empty calories, and how filling up on empty calories may make you feel full, but you didn't eat anything your body needs, and now you don't have room. I told him it's okay to eat some empty calories - he does share my love for candy - but only after you've eaten enough of the good kind of calories that your body needs for fuel. (If there are any dietitians reading this, constructive criticism on what I told him would be welcomed!) Here's another typical Beanstalk lunch, in a Fit & Fresh Chill container:

Oh, I am turning this into a long story... get to the point right? I told him I would really love to see him try more real food. Yes, there was nutrition in his Boost and Clif bars - but they were processed, and what if they suddenly weren't available? And really, he might find out he likes things that he thinks he doesn't - he's been saying "I don't like ______" for so long now, it might not actually be true anymore - our tastes develop and change as we grow, and he might like something now that he didn't 5 years ago.

So, I asked him if he would be willing to try new foods if there was an incentive. He suggested video games. Figures. But, that's what he likes, so if the promise of video games gets him to try more real food, is that so bad? I hope not... I suggested this:  If he tries something from each colour's list on the Today I Ate A Rainbow chart every day for a full week, I'll buy him a previously-viewed video game (they cost less).  Deal! And he wanted to get started right away too - last night he ate a whole strawberry! (OK here's where those of you with good eaters are thinking - one strawberry? Big deal. But I don't think this kid has eaten a real strawberry in years, in fact, for longer than I can remember.) He started slowly, with little nibbles and a grimace on his face, but the last couple of bites he chewed and swallowed without his gag face. Woo, celebrate!  *sigh* Wish us luck with the other colours of the rainbow!

Tart & Tangy

I'm snickering at my pun of a title :) Here is Bella's Easy Lunchbox containing a pumpkin tart, and tangy teriyaki orange chicken with chopped veggies and noodles. This is actually some of my dinner from last night. Bella liked hers so much that she had seconds, and still asked if she could take some for lunch the next day... but there wasn't any left! So I scraped half of mine aside for her to have today - oh the sacrifices we make for our children ;)

The pumpkin tart is one of the 6 dozen I made last night for my school age sproutlets to share with their respective classmates today. I used a pumpkin cookie cutter to cut the dough circles so the crust would have a wee stem and the tartlets would look like little pumpkins. I think they kind of do... The bell pepper rounds holding the grape tomatoes were Baby Bird's idea - she was with me when I went for groceries and insisted I get a pepper for her big sister - how sweet is that? ♥

Birdie took a Dr. Sears Nibble Tray full of various fruits and veggies. We just got this container and I love it! The little compartments are perfect for when we get down to the last few pieces of things, and the portions are just right for her teeny tot tummy. I really do love this nibble tray, it's adorable and practical.

You can see on the right side, there are little tabs - that's where the dip tray clips on. Without the dip tray, it's about the same proportions as a Sassy box. It's so cute with the dip tray attached - it looks like a pineapple! The dip tray has an EZ-freeze base to keep what's in it perfectly chilled. There are even cute little happy food characters molded into the compartments, to give you suggestions what to put in there, or something for your tot to uncover as they eat :)  Here's a pic of it empty, check it out!

*This is not a review, I didn't get one free - this is just me gushing all of my own accord :)  

Pickle and Beanstalk didn't need lunches, their classes are having "Thanksgiving feasts", and Sprout wanted scrambled eggies... so that's it for packed lunches for the next 4 days. Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate! Enjoy your long weekend :)

This post is linked to:

A Manly Lunch

Sailor Boy's workmates tease him about his lunch bag - they call it his "lunch purse".  It's the same kind our sproutlets take their lunch in - a Built neoprene tote - except his is solid black instead of colourful print. It doesn't look like a purse to me, but... I don't have man-vision.

So anyways, this past weekend we had a night out with his co-workers, and the "lunch purse" came up in conversation. I tried to tell the guys that's it's not a purse, it's a tote... "It's called the Gourmet Getaway Lunch Tote" I informed them... but apparently that just made it funnier. He told me he loved me but I wasn't helping - and lots of laughs were had at his expense :)

I felt like I should pretend to feel bad, so today, I made him a special lunch to make up for giving his buddies fresh material. Hopefully the yumminess will take some of the sting out of the teasing :)

I made a cheddar and pepper-jack quesadilla, and since he works in aviation I used an airplane in the clouds Lunch Punch to cut it up. I also cut a cheese plane with a Wilton cookie cutter, and filled the other 2 compartments of his Easylunchbox with fruit.

As a final touch, I added a little message to the lid : 

I bet all that teasing about his lunch bag comes from sour grapes - those guys are just jealous of the lunches inside it  :)

Starring : Lunch!

I got the cute idea for writing on a plastic lid from a tip and photo shared by fan on the Easy Lunchboxes Facebook page,  and made a mental note of it; too bad I didn't remember that she used dry-erase markers! I used a Sharpie... oops! We'll see if it comes off after school, if not, oh well, I'll just keep adding to the doodles every time I use this particular  lid :)

Bella had a bunch of stars in one compartment of her lunch today; star-shaped carrot slices and mozzarella cheese bits. She also had a dinner roll, and some chicken and tomato kebabs on a bed of lettuce.  No dressing for my Bella, she likes her lettuce plain!

Pickle's sandwich was made of the two ends of the loaf turned crust side in. I made star imprints with a Play-Doh stamp on one side.

Mister Picky Beanstalk packed his own lunch as he is doing more often than not these days. He took a Clif KidZ Bar, a vanilla Boost, and a Jazz Apple.

Rainbow Bright & Slightly Spooky

Bella got muffin cups in her lunch today, a rainbow selection :)

I didn't have any blue food so I put blue seal picks playing with cheese balls in the blue cup ;) Ham roll-ups in the pink, carrot stars in the red, cheddar hearts & bunny crackers in the orange,  sweet bell pepper in the yellow, & celery in the green. All things I know she likes. I think the celery looks like it's smiling :)

When I pack things that might tip or spill and make a mess, I like to fill the empty space with something to keep things from moving around. Most of the time I use a cloth napkin - it acts like tissue paper does in a gift box, keeping things in their place. Today I used lettuce - it's like edible tissue paper - plus it will help the veggies stay moist, and Bella likes lettuce so she'll probably eat it!

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I made Pickle's lunch slightly spooky and a little more fun than usual. He was sort of upset this morning and didn't want to go to school, so I promised him a treat in his lunch to look forward to. He loves plain milk chocolate, especially if it has the Hershey's brand on it, so he'll be happy to find the Hershey's chocolate ghost. He also got bat peanut butter sandwiches, a few marshmallow ghosts, and a bowl of Cheerios with a little bottle of milk. Fun!

I know I've said it before, but I just love this Sistema container! Cereal on the bottom, sandwiches and treats in the tray, all separated, sealed, and compact.   I just had to buy another one with pink trim for Bella's salad lunches :)

Hey, I have a button now, if anyone wants to link to me! 

<center> <a href="http://bentonbetterlunches.blogspot.com/"><img src="http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h35/merrycrismess/BentOnBetterLunches/BentOnBetterLunchesButton1.png"/></a></center> A big thank you Charlene of Bentos for Bella &
Honeysuckle Designs for making it for me! Happy Monday everyone!