Lately I've been working hard to make meals that satisfy my meat and potatoes eating visiting snowbird family members, are safe for my child to eat with his food allergies, and don't put me off with my own vegetarian leaning, low end of the food chain eating tendencies. Hearty soups and pasta dishes seem to make everyone happiest.
Last night we had a killer dairy free lasagna. I made up a huge batch of my usual pasta sauce, mixed together a (defrosted) box of frozen spinach and a container of Tofutti Garlic & Herb Better Than Cream Cheese for the ricotta layers and covered it with homemade seasoned bread crumbs. I may be a pretty mean cook, but my time management skills are in need of some improvement. Dinner was running late, but in the oven, when I decided that bath time would precede dinner time. Instant meltdown. I dared mess with the bedtime routine, and boy, did I pay. So I reinforced the whiny demands for dinner now, then bath and bed by quickly cooking some noodles to mix in with the leftover pasta sauce and then hustled The Kid off to bed.
When child falls asleep before eating dinner specifically designed for him, child will eat leftovers in lunchbox the next day!
Here you see the dairy free lasagna tucked into a thermos with a bento box on the side containing grapes, a baby banana, a gluten free Double Chocolate Brownie Bite from a test batch, a fork, napkin and a couple of Spongebob stickers. It's a big lunch, but The Kid eats the leftovers as a snack before Tae Kwon Do after school. Let's see if dinner hits the table on time tonight!
5 comments:
Can you tell me where you get your little lunch containers, tiny, cute little utensils, etc. I've never heard of bento boxes before, but I love what you do for your child's lunches.
Hi Lindsay! Bento is a traditional and beautiful Japanese style of packed lunch. If you google it (especially an image search) you will be amazed! I don't go all out, but am happy to borrow some of the techniques and tools.
For ordering bento supplies, I use http://www.jbox.com/category/819, but be aware that jbox has an attached adult site at jlist.
There are also a few of my favorite bento sites listed in my blogroll, if you'd like to check them out!
Laptop Lunches have some great Americanized bento boxes in fun colors. You can check out their site at, www.laptoplunches.com. They simplify the lunch packing routine and are a big hit at lunch time.
Oh, we are big Laptop Lunches fans, but they do limit you to room temp/cool items. We've done quite well with those, but this winter, the kids have been asking for thermos-based lunches...
Love your ideas, Libby! Keep 'em coming.
Thank you for the bento tips, everyone! I appreciate it. :)
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