Easy Twist on Ham and Cheese

One summer, back before I ever contemplated attempting creative lunches, I sent the kids to daycare with a ham and cheese sandwich almost every, single day.  Gosh, they were so tired of it by the end of the summer I thought I'd never be able to serve them one again.

So you can imagine how apprehensive I feel now when I need to throw a simple ham and cheese lunch together.  My solution was pretty easy actually.  By rolling out the bread slices and cutting off the crusts I can offer the sandwiches with enough of a twist to throw the kids off the scent of monotony!

 

Also included in the bento:  chips and dip, Capri Sun Roaring Waters, grapes, orange slice, strawberry, cherry tomatoes, chocolate cake with chocolate syrup.

Better Late Than Never

I always say . . . sometimes anyway.

Sorry for the late post, but I've had a rough couple of nights and I've been draaaagging.  And the frozen strawberry margarita to help me relax isn't helping.  Well, actually, it's helping pretty well.  :-D

All righty then, my Goodbyn bento for the day, chock full of yummy chicken nuggets and egg noodles.  So easy to cook up in the mornings!



Also included in the bento:  Capri Sun Roaring Waters, carrot cake cupcake, strawberries dusted in sugar, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, greenbeans.

Restaurant Inspiration

Nancy challenged the Lunch Bunch to create bentos this week that are inspired by some of our favorite dishes from restaurants.  I asked the the kids what they thought they might like to have for lunch today . . . and they all agreed, "KEMAH!"

They love the sliders from the burger joint we like to visit down there.  Jamie and I love them too, they are mouth-watering.  Unfortunately, we realized after a visit last weekend that our favorite little hole in the wall down near the boardwalk has closed.  We are pretty darn sad about that.  So this challenge came at just the right time, because we apparently need to learn to make our own delicious sliders and waffle fries.

By the way . . . we forgot the waffle fries for the bento.  D'oh!



Also included in the bento:  Capri Sun Roaring Waters, chips, lettuce and tomatoes, orange slices, and strawberries dusted in sugar.

That's a Wrap!

Or a taco, but since it they don't have regular taco stuffings, maybe a wrap is more appropriate.  Or how about I just call them yummy?

These wraps were super easy to make with browned ground beef.  I mixed a bit of ranch dressing in some cream cheese to spread on the tortillas, sprinked the seasoned ground beef and chopped green onions and rolled.  I love what convenient vessels tortillas are.  I made sure to send a fork though . . . just in case they were messy.



Also included in the bento:  Capri Sun Roaring Waters, grapes, orange slices, strawberry, cucumber, celery, and carrot sticks with Ranch dip and strawberry star pastries.

Time for Pizza

We were totally caught off guard with Sunday's time change.  I don't recall getting any warnings about falling back an hour this year.  Maybe we're just not watching enough TV.  An easy cure.

Anyway, time was important this morning because I decided to make homemade pizzas for our lunches and I needed to wake up about a half-hour early.  Jamie set the automatic timer on the oven to turn on at 5:30.  Only thing is, he forgot to change the clock on the stove.  So at 4:30 AM we're up trying to figure out what that smell is.

That smell is . . . an oven that needs to be cleaned.  But I digress.

Dough is so simple to make I decided to make it from scratch this time, which I did before I went to bed so it would be ready to roll out, load up, and bake.  I can't eat processed tomatoes anymore, so Jamie has been perfecting his tomato skills.  He roasted some cherry tomatoes--added salt, pepper, garlic, olive oil, thyme, and oregano--to create a homemade sauce for our pizzas.  After adding some fresh chopped tomatoes, pepperoni and mozzarella this morning, I threw them in a 500°F oven and baked them for 8 minutes and voila!

They are delicious.  If I do say so myself.



I know people will think I'm crazy for waking up early to make pizza.  But it's really quite easy so please don't be intimidated if you want to give it a try . . . whatever time you make it!



Also included in the bento:  Capri Sun Roaring Waters, grapes, orange slices, strawberry, cucumber, celery, and carrot sticks with Ranch dip and pineapple dump cake.

And just a reminder, don't forget about our giveaway.  CLICK HERE TO WIN A GOODBYN BENTO!

Election Day Bento

Well, I tried anyway.  In honor of election day I thought about some American favorites, like hot dogs, corn on the cob, and apple pie.  And then I modified them.

This Goodbyn is full of carbs so I decided to forgo the buns and wrap the hot dogs in tortillas.  What can I say, we're from Texas . . . it works for us.  The kids love corn on the cob too, so I made sure to cut them in manageable pieces for the quick lunch they have at school.  I also made a pastry with a store bought pie shell.  The stuffing was made from scratch with fresh strawberries, sugar, and cornstarch.  Jamie liked it so much he said I should make a gallon of it.  I'm pretty sure that's not going to happen.  :-)

I used a star shaped cookie cutter to make the pastries.  I think these would have worked fine if I had used a larger star.  As it was I couldn't seal the sides very well and ended up with "bleeding starfish". Yummy?  Well, they weren't great to look at, but they did taste good.



Also included in the bento:  Capri Sun Roaring Waters, grapes, orange slices, cucumber and carrot sticks with Ranch dip and cherry tomatoes.

Quesadilla Ghosts

Jamie put the kids' lunches together today.  Ian feels he's a bit to old to have a Halloween themed bento, but Max and Emy are still game.  So today Jamie used our larger ghost cookie cutter to make some quick specters out of cheese quesadillas.

Cute and yummy.



Also included in the bento:  Capri Sun Roaring Waters, grapes, orange slices, strawberries lightly dusted in sugar, cucumber and carrot sticks with Ranch dip and marble cake.

Pumpkin Time

Another bento filled with Halloween spirit!

We used leftovers from last nights dinner to stuff pumpkin-shaped biscuits.  I used the canned biscuits again to save time--they work so well.  We had Sloppy Joes last night and they were yummy.  Jamie's recipe is great for sneaking some vegetables into the kids' diet and they are never the wiser.  He chops up carrots, onions, spinach and celery in the food processor.  Mixes and cooks the veggies with ground beef.  And then coats the concoction with a sauce made of brown sugar, ketchup, Worcestershire and vinegar.

Delish I tell ya!

I rolled out the biscuit large enough to cut two 3.5" pumpkins, topped one side with a tablespoon of Sloppy Joe mix and layered the other side over the mixture, sealing the sides with a bit of water.  Jamie suggested I make steam holes, which I did with a toothpick.  After brushing over them with a little bit of egg, I sprinked some kosher salt and popped them in the oven per the package directions.

They came out so cute.  Thank goodness!



Also included in the bento:  Capri Sun Roaring Waters, strawberries lightly dusted with sugar, crackers, cheese stack, cucumber and carrot sticks with Ranch dip, and marble cake.