Lunches for a Tuesday

Lunches for a Tuesday...

I'm enjoying Linda's Low Carb Menu's and recipes. I know I don't strictly follow her guidelines with the salad and vegetables, but I can't be so restrictive while I'm still breastfeeding the little one. All in all it makes for fun pick and choose style bento planning for me!

Today I had one tuna muffin sliced, a salad of cherry tomato, two asparagus spears,some cilantro and parsley, and salad greens. With that I had a yummy tamagoyaki rolled with nori and spicy hot sriracha. I made a batch of Emerald Isle soup also from Linda's recipe for supper last night; so a cup went with my lunch today. I also made the Asian cucumber pickles along side some mock sushi rice. I made this with 1 tablespoon of Philadelphia cream cheese and a cup of cauliflower. It was dee-lish!



Daddy's Healthy Hungry Man Lunch!

Daddy got three of the same tuna muffins. On a bed of iceberg lettuce he had two avocados filled with a corn, pea, red pepper and Mackerel salad. Thrown in with that were a couple of olives and slices of sweet red pepper. He also got a jar of Emerald Isle Soup and a container of crackers.  He called me before he ate it to say it looked nice. It should taste even better! (^^)


Car Adventure for Missy Lulu

Missy Lulu had a car shaped egg and a car shaped bologna skewer. Along with that she had couple of carrot and bread sticks. I love the  traffic light pick and I plonked it down into a peeled clementine! A yogurt was a sweet treat and milk to drink!

A Family of Bentos

Hi everyone! Had a wonderful weekend. My husband and I spent time just puttering around the house and playing with the girls. Nothing special for us, just, no engagements, no need to be anywhere especially, and no agenda; my dream weekend these days!

As always, Monday morning rolled around; and  it was "time to make the donuts bentos again! And this time I was happily making a bento for my lunchtime; as well as lunches for my sweet hubby and Missy Lulu! This is what I came up with by the time daddy and daughter were walking out the house for work and playschool:

Missy Lulu got grapes, spreadable cheese, and goldfish "like" crackers. All in a super sweet Winnie the Pooh container!

Daddy got a BBQ. riblette and chicken hornet salad. Complete with coleslaw and bun!

And lastly me!! Mommy got a bento lunch to jump start my low carb lifestyle/diet. I am determined to practice portion control using bento boxes..."when it's all gone that's it!"

Inside this bento we have low carb chicken fried rice
cauliflower. (Recipe here!) The cauliflower "rice" was topped with  tofu butterflies with bologna and black sesame details. I also had some salad and a babybel cheese to round out lunch. I felt really satisfied and feel excited about doing it all over again tomorrow! See you then! (^.^)

Daddy's falafel bento

This is Daddy's lunch for today. It's meatless Friday with a Middle Eastern flair! He got oven baked falafels...store bought yes, I started to make my own , but just didn't have the energy (lame, I know because they're really easy to make!) With the falafels he had a cucumber, garlic and Greek yogurt sauce. It's served in a silicone muffin cup and garnished with spring onion.

In his large box he has lots of salad, with  lemon dressed avocado, bell peppers, red onion, grated sweet carrots, and his usual little sprinkle of tasty fried onions. In a rectangular plastic box he had a spicy cous-cous salad with onion, bell pepper, and parsley garnish. Two pita breads round out lunch!

Friday's Piggy Bento

Happy T.G.I.F!!
Missy Lulu got a piggy bento today. I love this cute box!! I ordered it online here. It's two tiered and sturdy with a nice inner lid to keep all the goodies contained. Of course this  little piggy's pink...again a winner with my little lady!

Inside this little piggy we have in the first tier, (surprise) more pigs! Made from bologna, a tiny cut of salami and nori details. Along with our piggies, Missy Lulu had Clementine wedges, cucumber and a cherry tomato with a tiny piggy food pick!

In our next tier we have some tasty crackers...it's great to have the separation to keep the crackers crisp! I am in love with the tee-tiny piggy container filled with spreadable American cheese slices...I just melted two packets in the microwave with a bit of butter spread. But back to this pig... it's (ADORABLE!!) right!

See the little red spreader spoon? I saved it from a ice cream Missy Lulu got this summer; I thought I might be able to use it in a bento, and I finally did! Yay!! (^.^)

Animal Friends Bento

This morning I was in a complete fog...I just had no inspiration and needed something easy to make a cute bento for Missy Lulu. And voila I spy pre-made ravioli in the fridge!! Yay, saved!

In Thursday's bento Missy Lulu had two ravioli's made into cute lions and two animal friends holding black berries and Clementine slices. A drinkable yogurt completes this meal...now back to bed!!

Bentos Jan 16th & 17th

Playing the catch up game once again...Voi ei! It's just so much easier to crank out everything (Right) after I make the bento, but we are talking about 6am... Lately, I've just headed back to bed!

Monday's Bento for Missy Lulu
We started the week off with Pokemon! She doesn't get to watch the show yet..but the little cat or whatever this thing is, is quite cute Lol!! Kids get these t.v. names by osmosis I think! So when she saw the bento she said, "Ooh, Pokemon!"

She had a Pokemon Pizza, face made with an extra Cheddar slice and crab stick details. Along with the tiny pizza she had some clementine wedges and blackberries.

This lunch she just about completed...she took the cheese face off though.

Daddy's Monday Bento!

I love veggie wraps! I made one for hubby, wishing I could eat it myself for breakfast!! Inside the tortilla was avocado with lemon, a spicy cheddar cheese jalapeno and grated carrot salad, and salad veggies! Along with the salad and wrap he got two babybel cheeses and a clementine orange.
I also sent a big glass container of spicy tomato soup(I hate plastic in the microwave).He warmed up his soup at lunchtime. It was really chunky/spicy and topped off with grated cheese. He absolutely loved it, but, he got a serious case of heartburn...ooops!

Tuesday Bento for Missy Lulu
I kept things pretty simple with Missy's bento on Tuesday. She had simply a fish shaped boiled egg, two black berries and a yogurt. Lunch was complete with a box apple juice.

Tuesday´s Bento for Daddy
I went all out for Daddy's lunch starting Monday evening. I had a lovey white lasagna for lunch at my neighbors and decided to make it for him on Tuesday. The lasagna was super easy to make and filled with salmon & shrimp...yummy!

Salmon Lasagna serves 4-6
Ingredients

• 200 g quick cooking lasagna noodles
• 3 heaping tablespoons butter or margarine
• 3 heaping tablespoons wheat flour
• 2 cloves of garlic chopped and crushed
• 200 g Swiss or any white stretchy cheese
• 5d milk or cooking cream
• fresh dill
• 400 g salmon fillets
• 200 g small shrimp
• 300 g full fat small curd cottage cheese
• 1-3 dl grated cheese

Start with making a simple white sauce by slowly melting butter and bit by bit adding your flour. Once you have your paste: slowly add the milk, stirring quickly the whole time til all combined and no lumps. Add the grated Swiss cheese and with cooking scissors snip 5 or 6 sprigs of dill into sauce. You are not melting the cheese just combining with white sauce. Should resemble risotto in texture.

• In a mid size glass dish place a ladle full of sauce on the bottom.
• Next a full layer of lasagna noodles
• Then a layer of salmon, broken into bite sized chunks is added, along with a layer of shrimp on top
• Drop teaspoon fulls of cottage cheese all over the seafood, as the next layer 
• Place another layer of the cheesy sauce over the Cottage cheese / seafood layer.
• Make the  next layer of pasta, taking all the same steps til you fill your dish's height.

Bake in a pre-heated oven at 175  for 45 to 55 min. At the last 5 min take out to add grated cheese and let brown on top!

Pink Princess Bento

Yay, It's "What's for lunch Wednesday?!" Tervetuloa....Welcome!
Today Missy Lulu got a pink princess bento to take to playschool. I've had to scale down her food quite a bit to match her appetite so I find it's not too exciting of a post.

Here we have a couple of Castle pancakes I made with a Wilton cookie pan, two black berries on Cinderella´s cutest glass slippers and 100% fruit puree strawberry snack. She loved it...but what little girl isn't crazy over pink! (^.^)

Daddy's Tuesday bento

Wow, I missed Daddy's Tuesday bento so  I'll get it in now as well! (^.^) He loved the Chicken nugget Caesar Salad! He ate it for three bentos and I had to convince him to try something else! But I don't blame him! He had lots of lovely yummy stuff in there!

I made Donald Duck picks for my Donald Duck fan. Did you know that Fin's are crazy about Donald Duck? Yes, the duck is WAY more popular than a "certain" mouse here! LoL Maybe it's his feisty attitude. Fins call it SISU, pronounced "See-sue". Daddy has been collecting the weekly magazine Anu Ankka (Finnish for Donald Duck) since childhood.And that's just great for me because he's ok with a tiny bit of cute-ness in his bento..especially if it involves "The Donald" LoL!!

So yes, on the Donald Duck picks we have ham florets. Next he has a wheat roll and a babybel cheese with a "workman's" (^.^) hammer. In the carrot shaped container there are fried breaded onions...they can't be that healthy but they make everything taste AWWESOME!!! Not diet food at all but, I only gave him a tiny bit anyways! The usual salad vegetables accompanied the meal; they were cucumber and carrot curls, red bell pepper and lettuce. In the green contain we have his beloved Caesar dressing and in the plastic wrap there is grated Parmesan cheese. In his second container there is a man's size serving of chicken nuggets!  Lastly, a smaller container of extra dressing, just in case!

I so like making his lunches..the boxes always come home so clean I could practically just put the box back in the cupboard! Nice!(^_^)

Hogie Bento for Daddy!

I love sandwiches! especially Italian subs with the cross of tart veggies and vinegar and spicy Italian salami and Bologna...and yum... good crusty Italian bread!! So good! But alas I  live in Finland and there's no Italian deli to be found; so I have to "wing it" with what I can find! But after shopping for daddy's lunch this is what I came up with for T.G.I.F. !!

In Friday's hogie bento daddy got a big crusty hogie roll sliced in half and some of the inside carved out to make room for all the goodies!My cowboy also got olives on a cowboy hat pick. In the silicone cups are pickled red onion and pickled cucumber. Along with all the healthy salad fixin's he got smoked turkey, cheese and ham slices. In his smaller container he got a treat of B.B.q potato chips! I know he'll love this one!

Back to basics bento

I had to go back to basics with Missy Lulu's bento today.. meaning no treats, no sugar.  It's  really my own fault. I love the idea of a little sweet after a meal, even if it's  is a sugary treat...all in moderation right!? But a four year old just doesn't  get it sometimes. For the past three lunches, she has not TOUCHED anything except the sweets! Nothing, and she refused to even eat the healthier things, like her sandwiches or fruit as a after playschool snack! I have also noticed  when she says she's hungry she's only  interested in ice cream or whatever sweet snacks are in in the house! Not having that at all! Not to mention that both I and daddy have kilos to lose ourselves! So I've confiscated the treats temporarily, and I have a couple of good healthy eating books I'll start reading to her everyday. Hopefully we'll see some lunch time improvement and some empty bentos!Meanwhile...

In today's bento she had half of a puzzle sammie, made with bologna ,chives and cream cheese. To go with her little sammies she got tomatoes and apple slices! I still added the super cute factor of Rilakkuma food picks and her rilakkuma bento box!

Thursday's Bentos

 I never uploaded the bentos from Thursday...sorry! But here they are! (^-^)  Missy Lulu had a bologna päte´ sandwich, fruit and princesses fruit gummys.I used my new puzzle lunch punch on her sammie and it  worked great!

I used the most adorable bright yellow Lego style bento box...This is definitely the nicest box I have!

Daddy's bento had...let's just say a whole lot more!! Lol (^.^)!

Thursday, daddy had Soft shell fish tacos! Served with a tomato risotto,and his smaller container housed the spicy, chili tortillas!

Daddy is now addicted to bentos!! I (was) supposed to make him lunch to take to work two maybe three times a week...but that has changed! LoL, he said, "I want this every, every day!" Mocking our daughter begging for sweets and candy!(^-^) So Mommy's work load has increased but "I can do it!" I kinda like planning out adult bentos right now. I still have the cutesy/tiny food love but I can definitely get into the beautiful crafting side of bento making. And my husband has given me so much praise and even showed his work colleagues so the pressure is on to produce good stuff! I need large bentos now and I've ordered him a Mr. Bento from Amazon but until then I'll just have to work with this Tupperware set I bought last year.
This is a vegetarian lunch as hubby not so keen on a lot of meat and he wore his self out on chicken Caesars these three days....I warned him! Anyways today is meatless Wednesday!!

He got a huge salad filled with veggies like olives, cherry tomatoes, and star shaped  bell peppers all on picks.Other veggie spirals of carrot and cucumber  I spun out of my Spirooli slicer.  He also got a heaping serving of feta cheese squares, boiled edamame and red onion. I made a yummy ramen noodle side salad and placed it in a red food cup. I got a little cutesy with a Rocket theme running over from my daughter's  Kimmo Kuu space bento. He luckily loved The adventures of Tintin as a kid and that's what I tried to model my apple carving after.The massive salad is completed with a few blueberries,  a Babybel cheese with a star design and a container of salad dressing.  . In the smaller round container I added a few  spinach/feta cheese parcels baked up this morning!  And then he sent me a lovely text saying he loved it!! Awwww (^o^)

Lunar Jim Lunch!

Lunar Jim is a popular cartoon here in Finland, but I believe it's a Canadian Production. It's all about Astronaut Jim and his team of scientist finding adventure in outer-space! Missy Lulu requested to have Kimmo and Säde (the Finnish names of Jim and Ripple his moon engineer. I love her character! She's so smart and always comes up with clever new inventions.
For this bento we have two bread origiri sandwiches. Jim is like a mini cheese burger, with a beef meatball and mayo inside and the cheesy face and hair of Jim. Ripple or Säde is dessert...filled with Nutella ; her  face and hair is made out of marzipan..yummy! We also have a carved apple space ship and edamame on star skewers! This was fun to make, I hope she enjoys it..And as Jim says "Let's Get Lunar!!"

I wanted to show their faces with and without their space helmets on. The helmet is made from on of those plastic balls holding toys in those 25cent dispensers...but I don't know how it got home though, ..I would never buy one of those things! Lol

Minnie Mouse Bento

Today Missy Lulu had a visit from Miss Minnie Mouse!! Minnie is such a cute character and I love her style with big bows and polka dots! She was much easier than I thought she would be when Missy made the request...(because of the punch tool set I had.) I'll definitely do this again.
So today we have a Minnie cheese sandwich on healthy Reissumies bread (Finnish rye bread.) Mickey mouse veggie cut outs are of carrot and red bell pepper with sour cream and onion dip in the tiny mickey mouse container. I made my own picks with Mickey stickers and tooth picks, on them are grapes and blueberries. I am pleased to say we had a empty box when she got home! Yay Missy!!

Hubby Bento

The hubby and myself are looking to drop...... ahem, a (few) pounds following us around after our Christmas Holidays (^o^). I told him I'd love to help him by making bentos two or three times a week. It's easy to control portions and he'll save lunch money by bringing lunch! For my first hubby bento he had a simple Ceasar Salad in a Tupperware lunchbox

...and he ate every scrap LOL!!! I was thrilled to see this as I have to beg Missy LuLu to eat just even a few bites of lunch these days!!

Back to school with Dora!

Missy Lulu was back to leikkikoulu after a very nice Christmas break. She was quite ready to see her mates and teachers again and I couldn't wait to use all the new bento tools "Santa" brought me on Christmas!
In a new Dora the Explorer lunchbox Missy got a cheddar, broccoli and hot dog muffin; which I baked fresh this morning! Along with her muffin she got banana yogurt...in honor of boots the monkey; sliced apple and Clementine wedges and a package of Dora cookies to celebrate the return to playschool! A fun welcome back!

Grandma and Grandpa for Christmas!

I'm now back to blogging from the holidays and boy, was Christmas wonderful all around! My husband got me the best present ever, my mom and dad for Christmas & New Years!! (Thanks Honey!) We had a super time eating good food and playing with the girls...mom even help me do some home organization so my home is 10 times better now then how it was before they came! We took lots of pictures and cherished every moment we had!