Snappsy the Alligator (did not ask to be in this book!) - Literary Lunch

This lunch is also posted over at The Little Crooked Cottage as a Literary Lunch. Head over to the fabulous blog of four children's book authors and check out the wonderful Literary Interviews with Mr. Pig himself!

What would you do if on a very normal, ordinary day a pesky narrator appeared. Trying to make everything you do sound mysterious? Would you change your plans? You know, throw a party?

Find out in SNAPPSY THE ALLIGATOR (DID NOT ASK TO BE IN THIS BOOK!) written by Julie Falatko and illustrated by Tim Miller. A fun story about storytelling, friendship and irreverent differences.

We made a party lunch (and we are hoping to be invited to Snappsy's party...) filled with:

• fried rice (every lunch needs a back story)
• grape tomato party ballons (hint, hint)
• and a cheese, tomato and cucumber Snappsy part host

To see what happens when the narrator shows up at the party and if Snappsy ever liked being in the book, buy the book or get it at your local library! It is one of our favorites!

What I used to make this lunch (contains affiliate links):

Monbento for Mama: Egg Avocado Sandwich

Monbento for Mama is back after Spring Break! We had a wonderful week and a lovely weekend and after enjoying many treats, I need to get back to eating better! I grabbed our Monbento Tresor for lunch today since it is a little bit smaller than my Monbento Original. It also has two separate containers which worked perfectly for today's lunch.

Packed for lunch in our Monbento Tresor are:

• a delicious Egg Avocado sandwich (I simply seasoned it with sea salt and pepper. No need for mayonaisse or any other spread) on whole wheat bread
• plain yogurt swirled with honey
• granola with a few blueberries

Monbento for Mama: Wontons

Mondays are always hard. Even though I have such great intentions on Sunday, when Monday morning comes along my tiredness almost always wins over the intentions. I focus on making sure my family leaves the house with healthy and fun lunches and when it's time to make lunch for myself - my lunch making skills seem to have left with the kids. However, today I decided that even if I have less time to make myself lunch it can still be healthy, colorful and fun.

My Monbento is packed with mini chicken and cilantro Wontons and a fun fruit salad. I stocked up on fruit at our local Costco on Friday and loved having a good selection of fruit on hand. I combined bananas, two kinds of apples, oranges and frozen dark cherries. A quick drizzle of honey and a few apple flowers completed today's lunch. 

Did you pack lunch for yourself today? I'd love to hear what you packed! Leave me a comment :)

Monbento for Mama: St. Patrick's Day Bento

Tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day so I could not pass up the chance to pack myself a St. Patrick's Day themed bento today! My husband's family is Irish and therefore corned beef, soda bread and Irish coffee (or coffee with Irish coffee creamer when St. Patrick's day falls on a week day like this year) are a must-have! My kids are not big fans of corned beef and cabbage so this year I simply bought corned beef cold cuts and will make a cole slaw instead of slaving over crockpot corned beef with cabbage.

My Monbento Original is packed with:

• Macaroni salad because I haven't made any cole slaw yet ;)
• a green salad with cucumbers and a cucumber clover 
• green grapes and
• a corned beef sandwich with mustard and lettuce on pumpernickel and rye bread

Happy St. Patrick's Day, folks! Sláinte!

Monbento for Mama: Spring (Forward) Lunch

I almost forgot about my bento today! With 4 days off due to snow, daylight savings and three kids waking up sick, my morning started off on the wrong foot for sure ;)
BUT, I am so thankful I remembered. The kids have little appetite and only want soft foods and my stomach clearly did not adjust to daylight saving, so I was relieved to simply pull out my lunch and have something healthy to eat - even if a little early today ;)

My Monbento is packed with a spring themed lunch:

• left over Spaghetti Carbonara reminding me of sunny Italy
• a salad made from carrots and cucumbers and decorated with butterfly cut outs
• a banana
• a few strawberries
• and a few peanut butter crackers to tie me over until dinner. 

Hope your Monday started off well! We can get through Daylight Savings! Spring is in the air! (right?)

Monbento for my Kids: Monbento Tresor

I love my Monbento Original box and was therefore thrilled when Monbento announced that they would add a kids bento box to their line! Our Monbento Tresor arrived late last night and I am already in love! The quality of the lunchbox is superior and the design reminds me of my lunchboxes in Germany when I was in school! I haven't had the chance to take a lot of pictures yet but a full review is in the works!

The Monbento Tresor is packed with:

• cucumber slices
• a roll with chicken and lettuce
• Annie's Snack Mix
• Strawberries

Monbento for Mama: Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

Today is READ ACROSS AMERICA DAY and DR. SEUSS' BIRTHDAY!

We love all of Dr. Seuss' books and are excited for the new book release in July. We always celebrate Dr. Seuss day but today we are doing it from home since schools are closed due to the weather. I asked the kids to gather some of their favorite books and help me make lunch. They came back with YERTLE THE TURTLE, THE CAT IN THE HAT and the LORAX. We all brainstormed ideas and together we packed this lunch and it was eaten right after the last picture was snapped!

Our Monbento is packed in Dr. Seuss style with:

• whimsical carrots, cucumber slices and carrot shaving Lorax tartuffolo trees
• apple slices in Cat in the Hat style with a Cat in the Hat pick
• and Yertle, the Turtle turtle sandwiches with butter, cheese and grape slices - all stacked up

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

Monbento for Mama - Brunch for Lunch

It's Monday which means I start my week making lunch for myself, too! We had another 2 h delay this morning due to the icy conditions on the roads. By the time all the kids are in school it is already 10:30am. I haven't had a real breakfast yet (if coffee doesn't count as breakfast) and it is so close to lunchtime that eating breakfast now makes little sense. So, I decided today is the perfect day for a packed brunch!

I used what I already had out for school lunches and packed my Monbento with:

• strawberries and blueberries drizzled with raw honey
• organic vanilla yogurt with homemade granola and coconut flakes
• a whole wheat English Muffin with an egg "sheet"*
• a mini garden cucumber and grape tomatoes 

*I simply scramble an egg, fry it until it sets in a little bit of oil, turn it over and then once cooked fold it onto the English muffin.

What I used to make this lunch** (contains affiliate links):
**The Monbento Original I have is no longer available. I linked to one of the available colors.

Monbento for Mama: Potstickers

Happy Monday! I decided to start this week off right and went to the gym immediatley after the kids left (Yay for me!). Lunch is simple and healthy and I hope it will give me the boost to pack all week to keep on track!

My Monbento is filled with:

• potstickers, left over from the weekend  
• dipping sauce (soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil and a little brown sugar)*
• a fresh cucumber and carrot salad with rice vinegar dressing**
• an apple, sliced and 1 tsp of Cinnamon Raisin Swirl peanut butter

*/** You can find the dipping sauce recipe HERE and the salad dressing recipe HERE

To make your own Monbento lunch you'll need (contains affiliate links):

Monbento for Mama - Super Bowl Left Overs

No matter which team you were rooting for last night, I think we all sat at the edge of our seats in the second half!! Watching the Super Bowl, the commercials and, of course, the Half Time Show is always a fun event at our house. But, as much as I enjoyed all the treats last night, today was back to healthy eating (well, almost) for this Mama.

I utilized the food we had left over - mostly from our veggie platter - and packed lunch for myself:

 

My Monbento is packed with:

• a Southwest salad with lettuce, corn, tomatoes and avocado 
• a bagel with cream cheese, salt & pepper and avocado
• almonds
• and dried cranberries

I did pack a Southwest salad dressing as well and I may have gone a little overboard. But, it was delicious ;) 

Happy Monday to you all!

Monbento for Mama - Un-Sloppy Joe

Today's lunch for Mama (that's me) is filled with left overs. The kids have the next two days off and I did not plan any lunchbox food...But, I have to eat so I packed what we had left over from last night's dinner.

My Monbento is packed full of:

• an un-sloppy Joe* pocket
• grape tomatoes
• left over pretzels and\
• a few dried cranberries

* I found the original recipe on the Pillsbury website. I simply subbed a few healthier choices and doubled the recipe to guarantee left overs. This fed 6 hungry people for dinner and for a small lunch.

Unsloppy Joes

original recipe from Pillsbury

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs of ground chicken
• 2 cans of tomato paste with pesto (6oz)
• 2 cups of water
• either two packets of Sloppy Joe seasoning mix or make your own HERE
• 2 Pillsbury™ Grands!™ refrigerated biscuits
• 1 cup of shredded cheese

Steps:

• Heat oven to 375 degrees.
• Cook ground chicken until thoroughly cooked through.
• Add tomato paste, water and seasoning and simmer for 5 minutes.
• Roll out each biscuit into 6 inch rounds.
• Top with 1/3 cup of meat mixture and about 1 TBS of shredded cheese.
• Fold over half of the dough to create a pocket.
• Seal edges with fork.
• Bake 12 minutes or until golden brown.

Petal and Poppy and the Penguin - a Literary Lunch

Did you see Mr. Pig's recent interview with Petal and Poppy? We love Petal and Poppy and decided to send a surprise lunch over to the cottage to celebrate Petal and Poppy's new book: Petal and Poppy and the Penguin - written by Lisa Clough and illustrated by Ed Briant.

In Petal and Poppy and the Penguin, Petal and Poppy discover a penguin in their garden! Petal is too afraid to let him into the house at first but soon this cute, friendly and very talented penguin wins her over.

I packed a Petal and Poppy lunch in our Monbento Original - of course with penguin! 

Packed are:

• a Petal sunbutter sandwich
• a Poppy peanut butter sandwich
• and a salad with carrots, grape tomatoes, cheese and cherry flavored cranberries.

Our lunch was inspired by this page from the book Petal and Poppy and the Penguin.

Make sure you go and read all of Petal and Poppy's fun adventures!

Isn't Penguin cute as he is sitting in his BabyBel Cheese and grape tomato hot balloon drifting in cherry flavored cranberry clouds and flying over lettuce and carrot fields?

Monbento for Mama - Deconstructed Egg Salad

After cleaning up my kitchen cabinets I found my beloved Monbento box and decided it was time to start up packing lunches for myself again! First up is one of my all time favorite sandwiches: egg salad. To keep my sandwich from getting soggy I actually deconstructed the egg salad and layered mayonaisse, sliced eggs (seasoned with salt and pepper) and lettuce.

My Monbento is packed with:

• one deconstructed egg salad sandwich with shredded lettuce
• an apple
• almonds
• dried cranberries
• peppers
• a Lärabar
• a Babybel Cheese 

Mama's Lunch

Mamas gotta eat, too. I pack lunch for myself most days as well but often forget to post them.
Today, I am posting just my lunch for a change :)

I packed lunch in my monbento MB original bento box. I love the size which is perfect for a generous lunch.

I packed my monbento with

• grapes
• carrot sticks
• a cheese stick 
• a vegan peanut butter bar

and

• brown left over rice 
• with a zuccini, squash and muchroom stir fry
• I also packed some soy sauce which is not pictured. YUM!

Monbento Review

Monbento kindly sent me their Original bento box to review.

You can really see and feel the quality of this two-tier bento box. The box itself has nearly a soft feel to it and the plastic is thick and matte - simply beautiful. The MB Original bento box comes in many color combinations but I love the simplicity of this white butterfly box.

The box comes with

• two containers and 1 top lid
• two intermediary lids
• 1 divider
• two silicone caps + joints and
• 1 elastic band

The top tier comes with a divider and both compartments have a lid that forms an airtight seal and enables both tiers to be microwavable thanks to the silicone caps that make it easy to vent. 

There is ample room in both tiers for either an adult bento, big kid's lunch or when used with only one tier a smaller child's lunch.

I packed lunch for myself as a change and was able to fit some left over taco chicken, black beans and corn with cheese butterflies and tortilla chips on the side and in the lower tier a salad with cucumber, radishes and carrots with poppy seed dressing ( you can see the dressing bottle peek out behind the butterfly silicone cup) and a silicone cup full of sprouted lentils seasoned with brown sugar.

It held plenty of food for a generous lunch and nothing leaked thanks to the air tight seal!

Pros of the MB Original bento box:

• sleek modern design with soft touch plastic
• a choice of many fun colors
• microwave-safe
• dishwasher-safe
• airtight
• BPA-free

There really were not really any negatives besides the fact that you probably want to buy the box for yourself since it looks just to good to share with your kids ;) Check out the Monbento website for more bento boxes, bags, accessories and cutlery. I fell in love with their whole line!

You can also find Monbento at Amazon.com or of course at http://en.monbento.com