A Sandwich You Can Read

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This week my daughter's school is having a spirit week in celebration of reading. Each day they are encouraged to wear something specific. Monday was designated as "Wear a T-Shirt You Can Read Day". I decided to have have a little fun with this in her lunch. I stamped her peanut butter sandwich with "A Sandwich You Can Read". She saw me preparing this and seemed to think it was funny and cool. 

I packed the sandwich in one tier of our pink Lego like bento box. I like to use two tier boxes when I pack peanut butter sandwiches for her because it's easy to keep one tier at room temperature overnight while the other tier is stored in the refrigerator. The second tier here contains slices of Asian pear, green grapes, carrots, celery, apple slices, and tomatoes. I added an ABC pick and a notepad pick to go along with the reading theme. I packed crackers and a cookie in a small red Lego container and in the smaller red container, I added a few Tic Tacs with words for "Candy You Can Read". 

I stamped the sandwich with letters from this Cookie Notes Cookie Cutter set. It comes with three different cookie cutters and each has tracks for holding letters. You can see the tracks and the letters in the image to the side. This allows you to create any kind of message you like. My daughter really likes the individual, unique nature of the idea that it can be used to create any kind of sandwich message.

Since my son attends daycare at a different school, he is not celebrating the same days this week. But, I still wanted to pack a themed lunch matched to his interests, so I decided to use our special firetruck bento box. He has fruits and veggies accented with flame picks, a fireman's ax, and a firefighter hat. In the little box to the side, he has crackers and I will include a tube of yogurt too when I place this in his firetruck lunch bag. 

If you know a child who loves firetrucks, be sure to visit my post on our recent firetruck birthday party. You'll find lots of ideas for food, decorations, activities, and favors.

Breakfast for National Tooth Fairy Day

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Today was National Tooth Fairy Day and we celebrated with a simple, but fun breakfast. My kids had berry muffins with little fairy picks, blueberries and green grapes on tooth picks, and apple slices cut to look like teeth. I have wanted to get my hands on some of these tooth picks since I saw them a few years back on this post over on Bent on Better Lunches. But, for a long time I never saw them for sale anywhere. Recently, my friend, Amanda, at Bento Ninja found some and she was nice enough to let me share an order with her. 

Lunches for National Carnival Day

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Friday was National Carnival Day, so I took the opportunity to use a few of the vintage picks I had purchased last year. I also selected the Yumboxes with the trays shown below because the pictures went really well with the carnival theme.

My son's lunch is below. He had veggies, fruit, frosted mini wheats, baby Goldfish, and peanuts in the little circle section. I added clown and animal picks for the carnival theme.

My daughter's is similar with a few different picks and cheese in place of cucumbers. Lately, she has been liking shredded mozzarella. So, I placed some of that below a slice of Colby cheese cut in the shape of a giraffe. I used the giraffe cutter from this set to cut the cheese and press the image. I think these monkey picks are really cute. I got all these vintage carnival/circus themed picks from the Mother Goose Collectibles store on eBay.

A side note about these lunches. I packed them on Wednesday night and my kids ate them on Friday. The leak proof seal on the Yumboxes is perfect for packing lunches ahead. It keeps each section completely separate from the others. This means all the foods stay just like you want them. In this case, the cheese did not dry out, the apples did not brown, the crackers and mini wheats stayed crunchy, and the veggies stayed crisp. Also, the Yumboxes stack well in the refrigerator so it is really easy to pack ahead for times when I will be away for work or home late.

Umbrella Themed Lunches for Rainy Days

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It has been VERY rainy the last few days here. So, rainy that our pond is full, our neighbors' yards are filled with water, and our driveway is incredibly soft. We are beginning to feel quite stuck in the muck with all the soggy clay around here. The continued rain led me to decide on umbrella themed lunches for this Thursday.

First, I'll share my daughter's lunch. She has an umbrella shaped peanut butter sandwich colored with food safe markers in one tier of the blue bento box. The other tier holds slices of Colby cheese, tomatoes, and cauliflower along with chunks of plum cut and arranged on an pick to resemble an umbrella. Halves of sugar snap peas are also on umbrella picks. In the smaller silicone cups, she has a few mini saltine crackers and a few pieces of muddy buddies. I saved the white umbrella handles from chocolates we had a few years ago. I also have green handles saved from Lindt chocolate carrots that I have used in bentos for umbrellas before.

Since I colored the sandwich in pink, purple, and blue stripes, I decided to mix and match my bento box tops and bottoms to coordinate. This also allowed me to use two bigger sections as bottoms so that one was large enough to fit the sandwich and umbrella handle while still having a deep enough box to fit the umbrella made from plum pieces. I think the pink and blue combination will brighten my daughter's day tomorrow even if the rain continues.

My son doesn't eat sandwiches so his version of the umbrella lunch is much more simple. He has slices of apple, carrots, tomatoes, broccoli, cucumber slices, a cup of blueberries, and some sugar snap peas. A couple of the sugar snap peas are cut and added to umbrella handle picks to look like umbrellas like I did in his sister's lunch. In the small red box, he has a few mini crackers and a few roasted chick peas. I will also include a tube of yogurt in his lunch.

I packed my husband's lunch in our Bentgo box. He has a turkey and provolone sandwich cut and colored to look like an umbrella. To the side, he has two more "umbrellas" made out of plum and apple. These were very easy to make. I just cut the side off of the apple or plum, cut the side in half, arranged the two pieces back to back so that the skin was to the outside, and stuck a piece of toothpick through the back to hold them together above the white handles.

The other tier of my husband's lunch contains veggies, and a Babybel cheese. The small square container holds homemade Ranch dip to go with the veggies.

While you are visiting my blog, you can click over to see another umbrella lunch I packed a few years ago when my daughter was in kindergarten and her class was covering the letter U. I posted my U is for Umbrella lunch along with other lunches for Q, R, S, and T in this post.

Lunches for National Tortilla Chip Day

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February 24 is National Tortilla Chip Day. Since my kids love tortilla chips and my daughter sometimes requests chips and salsa for lunch, I decided this would be perfect for Wednesday lunches this week.

In our blue two tiered bento box, my daughter has tortilla chips with a couple of Nestle chocolates, broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes, sugar snap peas, apple slices, and plum slices. On the side, she has a string cheese, and a small container of salsa. Over the last year, she has developed a taste for some spicy food items and salsa is one of the things she likes "hot".

In this picture, you can see the tiered box all assembled. This box is great for a lunch like this because I can keep the chips sealed in one section of the box so they stay very crispy while the foods with moisture, like the apple and plum slices, are separate in another section. 

The next lunch is for my son. It is packed in our three tiered round hamburger box. My son has tortilla chips, roasted chick peas, and a birthday cake Oreo in the bottom "bun" tier of the box. In the "lettuce" layer, he has veggies, and the "burger" layer contains four types of fruit alongside slices of cucumber.

This box is a little tricky to pack because the tiers that reassemble the lettuce and burger layers of the hamburger are quite thin, requiring that the food placed in them be arranged in a thin layer so that the box will stack properly allowing the clips on the sides to attach. My son LOVES this box and gets excited every time I use it. The struggle of getting everything to fit feels worth it when I see his happiness over getting to take this box to daycare for lunch. And, as far as cute, novelty style bento boxes go, this one is inexpensive. It is usually available for around $5.00 on Amazon.

Lunches for National Play Tennis Day

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Sometimes when deciding what to pack for lunch, I check out what National Days are coming up. Looking at the list sometimes sparks an idea or reminds me of some supplies I have around. This was one of those nights. I looked and saw that Tuesday is National Play Tennis Day. Then, I remembered that a friend had sent me a cookie cutter shaped tennis racket and that I had a couple of vintage tennis racket picks from the Mother Goose store on eBay. Then, lunches came together and the process was fun.

The lunch above is for my husband. He has a turkey and pepperjack sandwich on a baguette alongside some veggies with one of the tennis racket picks. I used letter picks to spell out Play Tennis Day. The other sections hold Chex mix, a chocolate, blueberries in a star shaped cup and a couple of slices of nectarine. This is packed in our Fit and Fresh three section box.

The next lunch is for my daughter. It is packed in a Yumbox. She has a Babybel cheese, Muddy Buddies, fruit, veggies, and a tennis racket shaped peanut butter sandwich lying on a few Goldfish crackers.

I used the cookie cutter above to make the sandwich. My daughter liked the idea of the mini sandwich in this shape. This is a closeup of the tennis racket pick. I think it is pretty cute. Check out the Mother Goose eBay store for more cute picks.

Working Car Themed Lunch

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To start off this week, my son will have a transportation themed lunch. In our Working Car bento box, he has carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, apple slices, plum slices, raspberries, blueberries on vehicle picks, cauliflower, broccoli, mini round tortilla chips, and two Nestle chocolates. In the smaller Working Car box, he has roasted chickpeas. He tried a sample of these in a store and liked them. I am always searching for additional sources of protein for him since he mostly prefers fruits and veggies, rarely eats meat, and doesn't eat cheese, so I jumped at the chance to buy the chickpeas. He requested more later during the day that we bought them so I am hoping that he will also eat them in his lunch.

My son really liked the napkins I recently purchased from Sew Chic, Geek Boutique and asked that I include them in his lunch more often. So, I pulled out this car and truck napkin which goes really well with this lunch. I hope it makes him smile during Monday's lunch.