Daddy's Lunch For 29/2/12

This was the lunch Isi took to work today:

In this lunch he has:

• Sesame Peanut Noodles; recipe taken from Nigella Express. I adore Nigella! 
• (note: I switched her recommended egg noodles for healthier and low carb raw zucchini noodles)
• One soft boiled egg with a black sesame spice mix made by my sweet sister! So yummy !
• Grated carrot
• Sliced cherry tomatoes
• Diced mango
• A  Chevron sliced apple
• Blackberries and one big strawberry!

I hope he likes it! I didn't tell him that his "pasta" wasn't really pasta; but it tastes wonderful to me so we'll just see what he says! He's definitely Mr. Healthy Lunch Man today! Lol

Mumin Bento

I made Missy Lulu a Mumin Bento for snack today. Mumins are are characters in children's books and comics by Finnish illustrator and writer Tove Jansson. They are a family of funny looking things who are white and roundish, with large snouts that make them look kinda like hippopotamuses. They are a carefree and adventurous family, living  in the forests of Finland. They have many adventures along with their many friends. It's a wonderfully creative and distinctive Finnish trademark!

Here in this lunch bento we have

• A heart shaped pizza slice with extra cheese and Mumi Pappa and Mumi Momma
• A big strawberry and blackberries
• Apple juice to drink

I made the Mumin characters with provolone cheese and cut out nori pieces. The red pieces are little pieces of salami. She loves Mumin and was quite excited when she saw them this morning!

How about some Adult Bentos!

I've posted so much of Missy Lulu's kiddie food that I feel that Isi and I are neglected! So I decided to do some simple photos of our lunches....not going to write much text, but if you have any questions, I'll definitely answer! ^.^

Isi First!

• Smoked Salmon and avocado sandwich on rye
• Plum tomato stuffed with Cheddar, Crab and Jalapeno pâté
• Sweet red pepper
• Grated carrot with sesame seeds
• Black grapes
• Way too much sunlight...geesh! 

      

• Vegetarian Taco salad with Spanish rice. 
• Big Salad greens 
• Grated cheese
• Fried onions
• Sweet red pepper
• Tomatoes & Corn
• Provolone Cheese "salad bowl"
• Salsa and Sour Cream 

• Decent Photo today!

My Turn!! ^.^

• Low Carb tuna salad with salad and cheese flowers
• Cherry tomato
• Sauteed mushrooms with onion and soy sauce
• Hard boiled egg with Sriracha...yum! 

• Pork and Beef mix Soboro
• Egg scrambled with sesame oil
• Red pepper cut out scraps
• Stir fried cauliflower
• More Sriracha, I love that stuff!
• I was bad and had Diet Coke...trying to break addiction...failed

My Melody snack bento and Dora muffin tin lunch

For Tuesday, Missy Lulu had a My Melody snack bento at playschool. I also went ahead and made her a muffin tin for her lunch. She really enjoys eating from the muffin tin. I'm kinda sold on the idea until spring breaks and we can pack up and eat our lunches outside at the park everyday. First the snack bento:

For today's snack she had strawberry and banana yogurt with rice krispys and fruit (raisins and a strawberry.) I cut into the strawberry and added a little cheese face to make it a tiny My Melody.

Here's a closer look:

She loved it! Came home with a clean box!

For today's lunch she had her favorite character...Dora the explorer!

In this lunch she had Spanish rice with corn and black beans. She had a cheese basket with lettuce were she could mix her own taco salad. Besides rice she had chopped tomatoes, corn, and sour cream to top her basket with!

Dora up close:

Dora was made from Bologna, nori, and cheese!

Bob the builder Muffin tin and snack bento

Monday's here again, and Missy Lulu returns to playschool after a week long ski week break! She was so excited to head back to school, I really felt her excitement! I packed a special friend in her snack bento today; he's called "Puuha Pete" here in Finland, but we all know this little guy as" Bob the builder!"

We have a Quail egg "Bob", with his tools ready to work! On the hammer and screwdriver picks we have grapes and cheese "spacers." She also had a pretzel mix and kiwi fruit in this happy Monday snack box.

She enjoyed her Muffin Tin lunch so much last week, that I decided to do make another muffin tin for today! It's the same "Bob the Builder" Theme....

In this lunch she had a Bob the builder tuna melt. With her sammie she had "Bob the builder" pasta with added peas and corn. Fun items, besides "Bob" himself were "nut and bolts" which were sauteed button mushrooms and flash cooked carrots. For sweeties she had black berries and Clementine orange wedges, as well as some apricot yogurt with orange and yellow sprinkles. Lunch was washed down with cold skim milk!

She ate really well, the sammie, pasta, fruit and yogurt were all cleaned. She only ate one mushrooms and two carrots; but I'm happy with that. She tried them and didn't say they were yucky...she just didn't eat them all. It was a pretty big lunch after all!

Closer look at "Bob!" He's made from two types of cheese and nori details.




This post is linked @ Muffin Tin Mom for Muffin Tin Monday!

Hello Kitty, Breakfast!

I made Missy Lulu a Hello Kitty Breakfast bento this morning! She loved it, especially that she got to pour her own juice and maple syrup!

In this Hello Kitty breakfast bento she had a Hello Kitty pancake with marzipan details.She had warmed myple syrup in her little creamer server. With her Kitty pancake she had a tea cup of fruit and a glass of orange juice with extra oj in the little pink teapot! "All done, ready to play now Kitty!" ^.^

To Mumi's House for Lunch!

I was excited to make today's bento using a brand new bento box set called Cocolon from Casa Bento. It's lovely pink with polka dots. With a large thermal compartment holding 240 mls and two smaller food containers holding 160 mls each, this set holds a very nice sized lunch! I bought this set for myself; thinking that once it becomes warm and sunny outside I'd love to have a nice picnic lunch in the yard while my girls played...but this lunch was packed for Missy Lulu.

In this lunch she had quick cook cheese ravioli pasta. I mixed the packaged pasta with a cheese, broccoli and basil sauce I whipped up. In one of the smaller containers I packed oven roasted chicken wings, basil and cherry tomatoes. In the other pink container I packed fruit (grapes and a strawberry)and fresh baked blueberry muffin wedges from breakfast!

So just before lunch Mumi (Finnish for Grandma) pops by our house, well Missy Lulu takes two seconds to dump me and her baby sister to be with her Mumi and off they went! Oh well, so much for fancy new bentos! (^o^) It will be her dinner then!

Happy Day Bear

Today's bento is a breakfast for lunch bento! Missy Lulu woke up this morning in a very good mood! She rose and exclaimed, "Happy Day Everybody!" I laughed because nothing is really special about this day, but if she says so well it's a happy day!! ^.^

So today we have the Happy Day Bear!

She had a cinnamon and brown sugar bear made from whole wheat toast. He's definitely the "Happy Day Bear!" See him with his "Happy Day" flag? Along with the sweet, crunchy little bear; we have bacon and Tamagoyaki, Japanese rolled omelet. Fruit of green grapes, a big strawberry, and a cherry tomato brighten a already cheery day! And what breakfast isn't complete without orange juice! Well it's all here! Everyone have a fabulous Wednesday!!

     This bento is linked at "What's For Lunch Wednesday!" Week 91

A Tribute Bento!

This is a tribute bento to the lovely mommy Ming at Bentomonsters! Ming is an amazing bento artist with more creativity and energy in her baby finger than most of us have in our whole bodies! She dazzles me daily with not just one incredible bento, but five!!!(Two full lunch bentos, two clever snack bentos and a truly drool worthy mommy lunch bento!) I have so many favorite creations of hers, but I thought this dinner Charaben bento was especially cute, and "do-able" for someone like me! (^_^) Here's my tribute bento:

It's a bathing bear soaking up some Pork Chop curry, with carrots and potatoes! Click here to see the original and even cuter "set" of bathing bear bentos Ming did!! Amazing!

 Ming is super talented and so sweet as well; she very early on reached out to me with encouragement and coming from a star like her, it meant so much! A great inspiration!
Bentomonsters bento blog is a treasure of resource if you're interested in becoming a bento artist or just want healthy, delicious and creative meal and snack ideas for your kids or even for yourself. To help her celebrate, Ming is hosting a Bento supply giveaway with some extra cute prizes...it's super easy to enter so head right over to her lovely blog right now! Bentomonsters.blogspot.com
Congratulations Ming!!!

Potato Bar Muffin Tin

Hi everyone, this is my first participation in Muffin Tin Monday! Usually I'm a bento making mommy; but here in Finland, schools are out for ski week and I have my oldest daughter home with me during lunch time. Today our muffin tin is a individual serving mash potato bar!

In this lunch we have mash potatoes with bacon crumbles. The extra toppings she added as she wanted: broccoli with cheese sauce and tomatoes and fresh chopped basil. For sweet treats there are grapes on heart picks and apple sauce with Cinnamon and heart sprinkles! She enjoyed it so much, but she's a serious potato lover! Thanks for visiting!

Mommy Kiss Muffin Tin

Missy Lulu was home with me due to a bad cough, and lack of sleep. The lack of sleep wasn't just due to a little cold; baby Sunshine is teething, and not so, well...sunny LOL. Nights have been rough on us all but happily by daylight every one's back in good spirits!
 I made a muffin tin lunch instead of her usual bento.  Missy Lulu loved munching on each little thing.  We spent the day talking, reading and playing a memory card game...it was a fun little day! This is what she had...

I made Cheddar cheese corn dog muffins in my Wilton "girl" cookie mold pan. It's really nice and I've used it before here. They're foolproof and really take the shape of the mold well,  no sticking! I used cake pop sticks for easy dipping and eating. With the "Corn dog Kiss" (^-^) she had cherry tomato, basil and mozzarella balls, two heart marshmallows and fruit of a big strawberry and banana slices. We all ate lunch together in a nice sunny spot!

I told my girls that we're going to practice eating like fancy ladies in a trendy restaurant. Missy Lulu did quite well, with lots of cute small talk and manners; Baby Sunshine...well!??

We're going to work on it!

Little Diva Bento!

Girls Rock!
I love watching my four year old entertain! She loves to sing, dance and make jokes all with a microphone and her audience of mommy and isi. (^.^) When I saw these "Diva-licious" food picks, I already saw this little ode to the tiny diva in my head!

In this lunch we have a "Rock Star" cheese tortilla sandwich. The sandwich is accompanied by Divalicious purple chips we sliced and made together in the microwave with a chip kit. She also had a tomato, mozzarella and basil ball on a big 80's style bow pick. Grapes and a drinkable yogurt satisfy my little star's sweet tooth!  Rock on!!

Valentine's Day Lunch

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!
I hope you're having a wonderful day full of love!
Things seemed to be going well initially (Ha!) I pre-prepped my strawberries for Missy Lulu's  themed bento. I also made a maki style smoked salmon roll for Daddy's Valentine lunch. The purpose for doing that is to keep  a sense of order in the morning; you see,  after my "creations" the kitchen is destroyed!  This time, I had a perfectly clean kitchen much earlier than usual, but I'm not liking the results of the food sitting in the refrigerator overnight. I think I'll just deal with the morning chaos.....but this is what I ended up with!

Missy Lulu's Strawberry couple! 
I badly copied, was "inspired" by Lian Mamma's Obento clever little strawberry couple...so cute (see the real deal here.) But I changed the detail to marzipan instead of what is probably nori...bad results, with runny features on my berries...sniff sniff.

In this lunch she had two fat strawberries, a chicken drumette, and two heart shaped marshmallows!  I baked cupcakes for Missy's class; she was so excited!

Daddy's Valentine's Lunch turned out a little bit better...

In Daddy's lunch he had salmon pesto rolls. In the Valentine's spirit I topped each roll with beet hearts! Along with the rolls he had cucumbers filled with creme fraiche, red onion, salmon roe and spring onion. He also had nice little picks holding tomato, mozzarella cheese and basil leaves. For his  romantic sweet he had three strawberries! I hope he likes it!

Valentine's Bear and Finnish Woodland Bento

In today's lunch Missy Lulu had a little visitor!  Miss Valentine Pink Bear! She had baked a little Valentine's cake just for Missy Lulu at her tea time and wanted to share!

In this Valentine's themed bento she has a bacon filled onigiri, dyed pink with beet juice. Miss Bear's facial features are nori and two cupcake heart sprinkles. The little Valentine cake is made of cheese and pickled beet slice. With her rice ball she had a simple Tamagoyaki (omelette) rolled with pepperoni...let me tell you that's good stuff! She also had a couple of pork rolls stuffed with green beans along with side veggies of broccoli and half a plum tomato. In the second small box she had a pretty fruit salad of frozen raspberries and kiwi with a small heart cup of strawberry yogurt for dessert!!
I knew there was no way she was going to eat it all, but she was home from school today so we munched together though out the day!

Daddy's Lunch today reminded me of walks in the woods of Finland...

I guess I'm thinking of lichen covering rocks and the ground. And I also carved a toadstool/mushroom out of radish (which funny enough I didn't know really exsisted outside of Smurf Village, till I move here! LoL)Yes, I can't wait until it's sunny for hours and hours, but still cool when taking long walks Suomi's Nordic Forrest. Anyways, this lunch may look Scandinavian cool but it tastes of Middle Eastern flair.
He has falafels covered in a spicy tomato sauce with cous-cous and flower cut carrots. He also had a hot salad with peppers, onions,chickpeas, lentils,and sweet peas sauteed in garlic, ginger and olive oil. I also had some steamed broccoli from last night's dinner so I threw those in too! Along besides these spicy things, he had a small cooling side salad with curly lettuce, cucumbers, red/orange plum tomato, more radish and feta cheese. I didn't have any pita bread but I still had big totilla so I cut it into nice wedges!

Simple Valentine's Lunch

Wednesday's lunch for Missy Lulu was pretty basic...but that doesn't mean she didn't love it!

In this lunch she had a boiled egg dressed with a smirky smile and her Sunday hat. Along with her egg, she had a cracker- pretzel mix in a heart shaped silicone cup. What she like most was her treasured egg (which she found last year in an Easter Egg Hunt) filled with a soft, gooey, spreadable cheese! I thought the hearts made it perfect for my Valentine's theme this week! She also had milk to drink and half a kiwi for dessert!

Bento full of hearts and Daddy's Day

Day two of my Valentine's Bento theme week! Missy Lulu had a bento full of hearts!

In this lunch she had three peanut butter filled heart sammies,topped with strawberry fruit leather hearts. Along with her sandwiches she had heart shaped apple slices and a kiddie sized yogurt! A box of milk rounded out her lunch.

Today was Daddy's name day so he had a tiny tribute in his lunch!

In his lunch he had a hogie roll filled with a really creamy smoked salmon/chive salad. With his sandwich he had a nice light salad with cucumbers, cherry tomatoes and red onion. He also had two babybel cheeses with his first name initial cut out! His dessert was a fat sliced kiwi! "Happy Names Day Isi Riku, boy do I love you!!"

Love bugs and a Cheatin´ heart!

I'm  starting a Valentine's Theme for Missy Lulu! Seven days counting down to the 14th! For the first Valentine's Bento we have a couple of sweet love bugs! Awwww

In this Valentine's theme bento we have two love bugs, which are two halves of a quail egg, dyed with beet juice. The heads of the bugs are made with black olives and the details are made from cheese and nori. The love bugs sit on a cut out tortilla sheet and "Love Bugs" are spelled out with salami. The Idea is to roll everything up like a burrito to eat! In this lunch she has sides of a heart shaped cup filled with heart shaped mango slices, and a babybel cheese with a heart cut out as well. She doesn't get a drink today but had a sip-able 100% strawberry puree snack!

I spent a lot of time on this bento this morning, I guess I had the extra time because I MAJORLY CHEATED with Daddy's lunch this morning! He had a store bought salad...but at least it was a Chicken Caesar ('-')

 With this salad I also took the trouble to open a packet of curry chicken soup with added chunks of chicken ...ahh (which he cooked..('-'))  I Rock!!! (^_^)

A Couple of Super Yummy Low Carb Bentos

I've gotten myself in a little battle over my weight, or I've always been fighting it more honestly! Never that thin as a child or teenager, I felt that I never looked to my full attractiveness because of the extra weight. As a young adult, really after I started a career as a Flight Attendant I got the tools to really beat those extra pounds; meaning party life, months of hotels with no kitchen, and diet pills. Though I was thin, I wasn't all that happy with the side effects of living that way and thankfully I got things together before I ran into any real problems.

Fast forward ten years later and I have a lovely husband, two babies, and even a poodle! (^.^) Life is a blessing everyday, but once again I am much too heavy at 72kilos or 158pounds, and at the height of 5'4" or 163cm, I'm doing my looks no favors!
My goal is long term foxy-ness which to me is at around 55kilo or 121pounds, lots of exercise and of course healthy eating; that's where my bento obsession can come in quite handy!! Yay!!

I have to have portion control for life now that I will be the big 4-0 next year...but no worries because Mommy KiKi will be a hottie 40...trust me! Anyways back to my Bento Beat the Pounds Plan. With the portion control and honestly, detailed planning that goes into bento making; I have the keys to live quite happily on  restricted calories and even carbs. I'm on the Induction phase of the Atkins diet/ lifestyle and plan to document my biggest meal here ( my  bento packed lunch). I choose to follow the Atkins diet plan  because of the abundance of Internet information on the diet, the easy  availability of foods to eat on it, and the lack of starvation (A big plus for a stay-at-home mom like me!)

Another key to my diet and bento; is for me beauty...I just love the attractiveness of a well put together bento.  It gives me instant encouragement, and I feel totally indulged without the calories. I love spending the time researching and creating my own little treasure box each day for not just my four year old and my husband, but yes, even myself!! Now on to some photos!

This is a taco salad bento based on Linda's Low Carb recipe here. Along with this yummy little salad I had a treat of unsweetened Greek yogurt which I added a couple of drops of saccharine and adorned with a tiny sprig of cilantro and a tiny lemon wedge. The lovely little dessert cup held three tablespoons fulls and I savored it with a tiny dessert spoon!

I made tiny little "taco shell" cups from a 0 carb provolone cheese slice. You simply cook in the microwave for 1 minute or two depending on your microwave power, while still hot and able to mold,  cup the cheese around a small glass (or any small round shape in your kitchen); and voila` a tiny taco basket to hold all your yummy-ness! Looky-luu!!

It even bites elegantly...it was just so nice!

Mornings I have a soft boiled egg and some type of 0 carb breakfast meat. And every weekday morning I have a big cup of vanilla tea with saccharine and coconut oil. Coconut oil has a ton of benefits and can really zoom your low carb dieting. Read all about it here.

Pasta is a big no-no  initially on a low carb diet, but there are good substitutes once you are in the goal weight achieved maintenance phase of your low carb lifestyle. But I found a super healthy and delicious alternative for my diet right now!!

This is raw zucchini squash "pasta" cut from my Spirooli veggie slicer Delightful!!

This is how the bento turned out...

In this delicious bento I had the zucchini "pasta"with soy sauce, along with two lamb meatballs, warm Greek salad (with cherry tomatoes, spinach , red onion, pea pods and feta cheese). To dip the meat balls, I made three tablespoons of low carb tzatiki with mint dressing recipe here. I sipped a wine glass of sparkling water with my lovely lunch!

Now that I've settled well into my Induction phase of the Atkins diet I really enjoy and really taste my meals. I can say it's completely satisfying and I don't miss a thing!

For my next bento's I will feature a drool worthy bento from some of the many "Bento Masters" in cyberspace. My plan is to recreate the bento best I can, but tweak the ingredients to my low carb lifestyle. Check in next week to see what I can come up with!

Winnie the Pooh and Tiny BLT Bentos

These are two bentos I made for Missy Lulu last week.

Another Winnie the Pooh...

This lunch had "Nalle Pooh" or Teddy Bear shaped pasta (Missy's favorite thing!) and peas. Along with the pasta she had sliced kiwi fruit and a couple of grapes on a Winnie pick. The Winnie figure on the pasta is American cheese slice and nori cuts from a Winnie the Pooh punch! She cleaned the whole box!! (^.^)

Next day she had a BLT bento...

Here she had her very first bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich on really soft brown bread. I cut little flowers out of 1 slice of bread before adding the mayo and cherry tomato, bacon and lettuce. The cute little sammies are held together with jeweled colored flower picks and sitting in tiny paper cups. Along with the two sammies she had a flower cup of grapes and some "No  junk" brand wheat cookies. A box of orange juice completed this lunch. Even though this is a super simple lunch,  i thought it to be very pretty with the cute-ness of the sammies and the lovely green of this sandwich box, complimented by the iconic poppy flower Merrimekko napkin. She ate well, but didn't eat everything...she left the flower cut bread slices untouched...maybe she's thinking of going low carb like Mommy? Who knows! Lol  (^-^)

Catching up on lunches with daddy

I've fallen behind with posting again... but luckily I have kept track with my photos so I can easily update when I have free moments! I'll just show you the "goods" and give a brief description, OK! (^-^)

In this lunch daddy got a big portion of Chicken and Broccoli Casserole recipe here. To accompany this he got a simple side salad.

This is a make your own sandwich bento with Salami, a bologna pate I made with Aioli mayo and chives, cheese and veggies. I sent a pear and a Clementine orange for a snack.

Here's his favorite Chicken nugget Caesar Salad....again ('-') At least this time I added a fruit salad of grapes, pears and kiwis!

I went all out (well kinda, ha) for a Indian themed lunch Monday Jan. 30th. I "zucched up" a jar of Uncle Ben's Tikka Masala sauce with fresh chillies, fresh cilantro and ground cumin seeds. Then I lumped a bag of spicy "falafel like" veggie balls in a Tupperware box to marinate for a day and night. I added a Red onion Indian salad/side dish and made a Indian and vegetable cous-cous. The samosas, onion fritters and Naan were grocery store bought from the freezer section. It was all a total hit! He kept saying it all tasted so REAL...real? Well OK! (^.^)

Yesterday I kept things simple with a nice veggie wrap sandwich! Filled with yummy avocado, spicy cheese and carrot salad, red onions, tomatoes, red bell pepers, and Chinese cabbage! It looked so good I just had to show you a slice of it!

Huge Post...but that's all of it for now! See you again soon!
Love, KiKi (^-^)

Squirrel Bento

Missy Lulu's Friday lunch had a little squirrel inside! She loves squirrels and always wants to catch any she sees in the park or even the backyard!! I hope she'll love this little guy too!!

In this lunch there is our little squirrel sitting atop of a traditional Finnish snack called Lihapasteia; which is basically minced beef wrapped inside biscuit dough. The squirrel is made from cut Gouda and American sliced cheese; with nori details. His acorn snack is also bread crust and Gouda cheese. This lunch is pretty healthy with the addition of broccoli with a little tree trunk pick and three sweet cherry tomatoes.She also has dried fruit cut into flowers for dessert! I really liked the look of this lunch,.. i hope shh eats it all!

Snow Globe Bento

This is my first time getting my schedule straight to participate in the Bento of the Week!! Yay!! I have made two other bentos to enter the festivities  here , but was completely confused about entry times!! Anyways, I finally got things together! This weeks theme is snow; so I made Missy Lulu an ice skater snow globe lunch!

I sketched the ice skater with wax paper, then cut out the form with a tooth pick on Gouda cheese. I filled in the details with pieces of nori. The sandwich is what (used) to be my favorite before going low carb; strawberry jam and Philadelphia cream cheese. The popcorn represents snow, and I placed lots of little cupcake snow sprinkles around our little ice skater...a frosty milk completes the lunch! I packed everything up in Missy's polar bear bento to boot! Fun!

Another Lunch with Elmo!

Missy Lulu loves Elmo!! So I packed him up for a little lunch for playschool this past week. This was my second attempt to participate  with the Bento of the Week, but I keep goofing up on the dead lines!! Ahhhgh!  Anyways  this weeks theme was Red. So here it is in all his red cuteness!

In this lunch we have a Elmo "flip up" peanut butter and fruit leather "jelly" sammie. I say "flip up" only because the "jelly" part is on the outside of the sandwich and the peanut butter spread inside. I made a simple Elmo pick with some stickers and added red grapes. Along with the red grapes we have sliced red plums with cute red crayon picks! To drink she had a strawberry  V-8 type of veggie /fruit juice.  Happy to say she ate it all!

I had planned to participate in last weeks theme as well but got goofed up on the entry date again ...But, I'll post it here as well...the theme was green so I made a Kermit the frog!...

Kermit is a spinach pancake, a traditional Finnish speciality, with a salami tongue along with cheese and nori details. A tiny salad of Rocket makes his collar. Green pears with a couple of Kermit's froggy buddies on picks sit in a green silicone cup. A green box of apple juice completes lunch! Maybe I'll get things in order for next week! It's snow!