Stars & Stars Revisited

School's out for summer, no need to pack lunches this week! I still have lunches I photographed but never blogged though :) Here's an end of the school year lunch for my kindergarten star Sprout's 2nd to last day:

Raspberries with a congratulatory cupcake pick, carrots, cheddar "gold stars", & graham crackers, packed in her yubo lunchbox, with a Goodbyn bottle.

Here are a couple more star lunches, from back in March:

Birdie's Yumbox contains cherry yogurt with star sprinkles, watermelon, carrots, cucumber slices embedded with carrots stars, whole grain cheese crackers, an egg a couple of yogurt-covered cookie stars, and I can't remember what was in the little shooting star box :)

Birdie didn't eat the cucumbers & carrots, so I reused them in Bella's EasyLunchbox the next day:

She had a turkey, cheddar & white cheddar flatbread sandwich, dried strawberries& fig newtons, and Bidie's leftover veggies.

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Some of the stuff used to make these lunches:

And the containers they're packed in:

It's a Patriotic Bento Blog Hop!

Today's post is part of a patriotic blog hop! 
Beanstalk, Bella, Birdie & Sprout all have red, white & blue lunches in celebration of Independence Day, but since I've already done an American flag sandwich for my Pickle this year, and I'm Canadian, I decided to make him a Canada flag sandwich in honour of Canada's Birthday (July 1st)

His flag is a peanut butter sandwich, and on the side he has red & white marshmallow stars, and the bits of the sandwich cut out for the flag, skewered on maple leaf picks, and yogurt topped with red frozen yogurt stars. 

Happy (early) Canada Day Pickle!

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My Bella selected everything that went into her stars & stripes bento.

She has an EasyLunchbox packed with a star-shaped peanut butter sandwich, tomatoes, NatureBox Zingy Currants, Fig Newtons, and Gala apple slices. I added the marshmallow stars as a treat.

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Beanstalk has his 4th of July food in a stainless steel LunchBots Quad.

He has a flag made of blueberries topped with cheese stars & a striped Gala apple, red, white & blue Goldfish, ham & the rest of the mozzarella string cheese used for the stars.

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Birdie and Sprout got Lock & Lock bentos.

Birdie has blueberries and mozzarella on heart picks, strawberries topped with a frozen yogurt star, a star-shaped hard-cooked egg, and red, white & blue Goldfish, topped with USA cookies.

Sprout has her yogurt stars atop some blueberries, cheese stars atop strawberries, and the bottom half the same as Birdie :)

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For afternoon snack yesterday, Beanstalk enjoyed red, white & blue organic naturally colored corn chips, served in a miniature Weber Grill! Hahahaha!

Now hop on over and to What's for Lunch at Our House and see what Shannon has made!

Some containers used for these lunches:

Nutella Day & Rainbow Kit Winner!

Yesterday was World Nutella Day. I had never heard of it until I read about it on Lunches Fit For a Kid's facebook page, but thought it sounded like a great idea - I would make my sproutlets Nutella sandwich treats in their Monday lunches, for World Nutella Day - except, I somehow got the day wrong...
They still count though, because I made them Sunday night :)

Bella's pretty in pink lunch has celery sticks by request, with peanut butter for dipping - in the little pink container, with a fruit leather heart on the lid - green grapes, Granny Smith apple hearts, and a little Nutella sandwich heart.

Beanstalk has ham, fruit leather roll-ups (I sliced one into 3 pieces), apple stars and bars, and 2 sandwich "cookies" - 1 Nutella, 1 peanut butter.

I am trying out one of the divided trays from our new Lock & Lock square box in our good old 4 square box. I like how the divider comes right up to the lid.

Pickle declined a Nutella sandwich. I made him a bunch of peanut butter sandwich shapes to go with the geometry he's been learning about at school. He also got some yogurt and lemonade.

Today I Ate A Rainbow! Giveaway Time!

Today's the day someone wins my Giveaway of a Rainbow Kit from Today I Ate A Rainbow! Wow, there were so many entries, with so many great comments! Thanks to everyone who followed my  Rainbow Week! I hope you enjoyed it. Making colour-themed lunches was fun, but I am glad to go back to doing anything goes lunches - sticking to one colour was more difficult than I thought it would be! The list of fruits & vegetables in each colour of the rainbow on the Today I Ate A Rainbow! chart was a big help though :) Okay, it's time to announce the winner!

The winning comment is #57!

Update: Sadly, the winner neither contacted me to claim her prize, nor provided any contact information for me to reach her, so I will be drawing and announcing a new winner this Saturday, February 11th.

And to answer one of the questions asked in the giveaway post comments, yes I do think it could work with an older child. It's been working with my 10 year old... he's been extremely picky his whole life. You might be interested in my recent post: Eating Real Food. We have been using it as an incentive for him to earn video game privileges, and he's been trying things. He still hasn't liked much - but he's willing to try something before saying he doesn't like it now, and that's all I can ask.

Thank you all who entered! I'll be doing another review & giveaway, of another fun healthy eating tool, within the next couple of weeks, so keep visiting :)

Rainbow Week : Orange

Day 2 of  Rainbow Week ! Today is Beanstalk's favourite colour...

Orange

Bella's orange lunch contains a ham & cheese sandwich on whole wheat bagel thins, with the bagel top underneath it - she can put the top on herself after the pepper flower makes her smile :)

Bagel thins are Bella's new favourite sandwich bread, they don't make her too full. I like them too, they fit the largest section of her Easy Lunchbox perfectly, and since they're thinner than a regular bagel, even with a sandwich stacked full I can still get the lid on. On the side she has mandarin oranges, and baby carrots arranged around a sweet potato star (made with an egg mold).

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Beanstalk stayed home this morning, but was feeling better just before lunch. He got his own late breakfast (brunch?) of cereal, then I took him to school in time for his usual lunch period, with a snack of golden delicious apples and orange slices in his smaller Lock&Lock:

Rainbow

For my little sproutlet girls, I made rainbow muffin cup meals. They really do like this kind of nibbly meal best. Red strawberries, Orange carrots, Yellow parmesan cheese, Green spinach rotini, & Blue (ok Purple) grapes. Plus a White hardboiled egg cloud :) 

I only have one round orange muffin tin, the other one is pumpkin shaped.

 My 5 year old Sprout was sweet, she let her little sister have the round one :)

Birdie loved the "eggie" cloud. I used my star star egg mold, which needs an extra-large or jumbo egg to make a star - if you use a smaller egg it doesn't fill the mold, so you end up with a rounded star, which looks more like a flower to me and my girls - or a cloud :)

I wasn't really expecting Sprout to eat the spinach pasta, she has refused it several times in the past, but hoped the cup of parmesan and the spoon to sprinkle it on herself might get her to at least try it - and it worked! She covered it in parmesan and ate it all up! Even asked for seconds - which she ate without any fresh parmesan :) Today's Rainbow meal was a big success!

More Rainbow Fun!

Pickle wanted to be in on the rainbow fun too,

but without actually eating a rainbow of fruits or vegetables...

so I made him a rainbow peanut butter sandwich - kind of:

If only he'd let me colour on his sandwiches... I'll just have to admire the talented Caren of Bento-logy's beautiful and colourful Rainbow Smiles sandwich instead ♥

Gorgeous and inspiring, just like all her bentos!

One last thing!

Yesterday I reviewed The Rainbow Kit by from Today I Ate A Rainbow, but I didn't mention their fantastic website, http://www.todayiatearainbow.com/ & blog! You'll find great tips & ideas for picky eaters, suggestions for using the chart, meal ideas, fun rainbow cooking videos, there's even a Kid's Zone with fun activities and colouring pages! Even if you don't have a Today I Ate A Rainbow! chart, it's a great resource, don't miss it!

And don't miss my Rainbow Kit Giveaway!

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!

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!

Greens to Go!

I just love the container I used for Bella's lunch today! It's a Klip It Salad To Go by Sistema. There is a divided plate that sits atop the main bowl part, with a little well in the middle for a small lidded dip/dressing container. It can also be used without the top tier. Very cute. Bella has chicken garden salad on the bottom, apple slices (some cut in celestial shapes) & shredded cheese (for sprinkling on the salad) on top, and a little caramel dip for the apples. The container came with a fork & knife that clip in the lid but she prefers the Light My Fire Spork.

The little girls' lunches are not very inspired, but they are still cute, and nutritious - that's the main thing of course - right? ;) Goldfish crackers, carrots, cheese, & turkey for Sprout, and goldfish, carrots, cheese, & grapes for Birdie, who has gone off meats again.

For Pickle I used both our Lunch Punch Train and Train Bytes cutters to make a long peanut butter sandwich train.

I was able to puzzle it all into one container but there was a wee empty space, that he insisted I fill with a piece of the cut off bits - funny boy - and hey, those bits are MY breakfast!  :)

Bento Lunch #46 - This & That

 Leftovers in the lunchboxes today :)

Chicken & sausage kebabs for Bella, on a bed of lettuce, some shredded mozzarella, Triscuit crackers, and Cran-Apple Jell-O.  I just discovered that Jell-O makes an unflavoured variety you can mix with the juice of your choice - sweet! That's got to be better for the sproutlets than the artificially flavoured and coloured kind, right?

Turkey & lettuce for Bean Sprout & Baby Bird. Sprout has rice, heart & star apple slices, and cheddar cheese,  while Birdie has shredded mozzarella & cheddar shapes, and red grapes & apples.

Beanstalk & Pickle opted for the school hot lunch, pancakes.

Twinkle, Twinkle, You're My Star

Happy September!  I love this month!  It's my birthday month (oh please let me get a new camera)...  it's back to school time (I love new beginnings ... and 2 hours alone 3 days a week) ...  and Autumn days are on the way, and I love Fall...  Sweaters, crisp, cool air, colourful leaves, firing up the wood stove, baking, crock-pot suppers, apples & pumpkins, pumpkin spice candles (mmm), woolly socks, did I say sweaters? I love sweater weather. Oh, happy September to me, and to you too!

Yesterday everyone but Pickle had a MOMables lunch, which I didn't photograph... but I did take a pic of Pickle's peanut butter sandwich (say that 3 times fast!)... in fact I took before AND after pics. I left the crusts on to see if he'd eat them, which was kind of a gamble, because he might have refused his sandwich altogether... but I got lucky :) Sailor Boy warned me the other day about naming Pickle's sandwiches, saying he's going to want every sandwich named - and the man was right, as soon as I set the plate it in front of the boy, he asked "What's this lunch called?" I'd had my coffee that morning though, so I was able to think fast. "Twinkle, twinkle, you're my star!" "Me?" "Yep." "Yay!" And he accepted his crusted sandwich and began to eat it. But not the crusts. He left the crusts - completely intact :)

Oooh, I'm also super excited today because of all the love I've been getting from fans of my little lunch blog! BentOnBetterLunches got a glowing recommendation from Cooking My CSA, was added to the EasyLunchboxes Community page, and recipe creator & food writer Mandy Rivers of South Your Mouth asked me to collaborate with her to gather ideas for lunchbox notes! You can find some of them on her website :)