Patriotic Blog Hop: 4th of July

My fellow Bento Bloggers and Friends

 are doing another hop today 

to commemorate Patriotic Day.

Independence Day in the US.

 I have incorporated Asian cuisine to make an American flag,
since we are Asians living in the US, with Asian cultures and traditions.

Summer Mealtime: Home-made Happy Meals

I must admit that summer isn't much lunch packing since the kids aren't quite keen on eating bento at home. Plus dad is quite amused whenever I serve meals on bento boxes. What else for hubby? These men in my life think I'm nuts. So, I try to serve it for my kids as snacks instead, when we're home, since they enjoy bento foods even better.

Today's breakfast was inspired by Mc Donalds' Happy Meals &

Lunchables Chicken Nuggets Meal.

I have prepared home-made chicken nuggets, courtesy of Momables, BBQ sauce and fruits as sides. Ms A had a starfish pick on apple slices, while Mr G had an Octopus pick on watermelon cubes. 

I must admit my kids could tell a healthier meal from not. And they devoured this like lightning flash. It was even compared to Lunchables' nugget meals.  And this was a sure winner and have added it as one of our Fall menus.

I have to thank Momables for the Nuggets Recipe, which is very easy to make,

and takes about less than 10 minutes to prepare & pack after it has been baked.

If you're looking for the recipe, check it out here.

Also, this might be a good time to take advantage of their dinners and lunches,

specially planned for you on a weekly basis if you subscribe over at MOMables

for as low as $5/month only.

Here's how it works on Summer Time and Holidays:

Between July 1^st and August 14^th we send you 3 large family friendly meals, a snack and a desert recipe for the whole family to enjoy. We’ve found that between activity-filled summers, trips to the pool, camps, and the grandparents… it’s at dinnertime when parents need help!  Our quick summertime recipes yield leftovers… and are perfect for quick lunches! Once again, we never forget the photo of what your food will look like, nor the very helpful shopping list! 

Recipe: Chicken Curry

Now that school is off, I have put my bento preps on hold as well till the next hop or trips or school year -- whichever comes first.  But I miss blogging so I thought of building my menus on this site to share.

Recipe: Homemade Garlic and Herb Burger

Since this has been a regular in my son's bento, I decided to share my recipe that made this so tasty and replaced their cravings for Mc Donalds' burgers.

Summer Blog Hop: In The Tall, Tall Grass

Summer is our most awaited season of the year. 

It means a lot of things in our household.

School break

Picnics & Gatherings

Zoos & Amusement Parks

Gardening & Sand Play

Beaches & Vacation Galore

Those are easy to plan. But linking which lunches to prepare are pretty challenging.

When I think of summer, I get vast ideas of it but wouldn't exactly know how to execute. So I turned to summer-themed books to make them come alive.

Lunch is served!

Out & About

Our mornings were spent on the road mostly with several appointments my dad was hooked up this day.  I got to drive him so the kids had to come. I thought yesterday would be my last day to pack lunches.  I guess once you've started, you can never stop. Normally we would just lounge in a restaurant/fast food for breakfast and lunch.  But with dad's health issues, we just have to be cautious on what he eats. 

These were what I packed for the kids since we left pretty early with their eyes still closed.  I purposely packed hefty to last till pre-lunch.  Just in case. Each one had 2 hotdogs (sliced), apple slices, corn kernels, brownies and ketchup on smidgets. My boy had a doggie lunch pick, while my girl had a kitty lunch pick.

My dad and I each had Tuna Salad Sandwich and apple halves. It was meant for breakfast only after his laboratory tests since dad was on 12H fasting.  And we just ate home after all his appointments were done.

Water Play & Butterfly Picnic Lunch

Today is the last day of my daughter's preschool after their formal graduation rites last Friday. They had 2 extra non-academic school days for Father's Day Craft, water play and picnic lunch.  It was unusual you might think, but they had 2 TV shooting day in the middle of the school year that interrupted instructional school days.  So to make up for that, they extended 2 extra fun days this week: Tuesday and Thursday.

Ms. A brought in butterfly PB&J sandwich and mini oreos on the pink silicone cups and Super V Berry juice pouch. School is providing fruits and veggies that's why you're not seeing anything packed here.

I also baked and brought in some treats that I forgot to make on the night of their graduation. Ms A and I made mini Double Chocolate Brownies, 2/kid for 12 kids. It's what the preschoolers wished for so I gave in. Pretty fortunate here that none of them have food allergies, so there's nothing to worry about.

Here they are having a picnic lunch. All sharing their lunch stories to each other. Pretty amazing how they hold their lunches.  These kids have grown so much that I am just so confident to send her to the big school this Fall.

Water play was more like a swim day. And for the protection of the children, I chose not to post any pictures of those wonderful memories on my blog. I'd forward them to their respective parents instead, so they have memories to cherish for a lifetime.

It's formally the end of the school year. This would be the last day you'd see me packing lunches for my kids unless I'm participating on a blog hop.  I'll see you next Fall!

Last Day: Hotdogs & Berry Love

Last days are the toughest,

especially when you've made a lot of good friends throughout the year. 

It's very rare that playdates were held for kids to keep up with the friendship they've established. The following year doesn't even guarantee that you'd land in the same class.  In our school, top 5 performing kids per class go in the high performing class section, while the rest are shuffled randomly and distributed evenly among classrooms.

So this was the only day when they all said their goodbyes and hoped to be in the same classroom the following year. For their lunch hour, they got to sit free wherever with friends they want to eat with. My boy was so happy to eat with his friends. He had with him 4 rows of hotdogs (for 4th grade) with 3 cat forks (3rd grade over and done!), strawberry hearts and Annie Homegrown Organic Snack Mix.  Something the boys love to share around.

And this is the best award I ever got for myself this school year.

A Certificate of Appreciation for being a parent volunteer

for the entire school year, rain or shine.

Along with this, my boy sent home the highest grade ever, straight A's

and a citizenship award of A too.  No honor roll yet for the lower grade level.

It starts next year and hopefully he'd be a part of it.
Get ready 4th Grade.  Here we come!

Tomorrow will be my daughter's Pre-K Moving Up Program.

And we're all looking forward to that.
It's another special milestone to celebrate in our household. 

Have a safe and wonderful summer everyone!

~Marie

Last 2 Days: Eggrolls & Pears

It's the last 2 days in school. And the kids can't wait till school is finally over.  My boy woke up a tad late today and didn't feel like going to school at all.  But he didn't want to miss the last week's fun events, so he went anyways.

 I packed one of his favorite meals, eggroll. It's home-made and it's my last batch of what I've made for the month. This is the time that I try to finish up what's left on my pantry/freezer (bento-related) just to make sure nothing would go to waste.  He also had roasted seaweeds, and pears which I took the time to cut it with one of my flower vegetable cutters. 

If you need recipe for my eggroll, you can find it here.

Enjoy your Wednesday!

~Marie~

Picnic Lunch with K-Buddies

Today is Picnic Lunch with their Kindergartner Buddies.

Everyone gets to bring a sack lunch, not necessarily disposable, since they are eating on school grounds. I tried my best to pack hefty, just in case he would want to share it with his K-buddy. I also made it extra cute and easy to eat.  I sent crackers, pepperoni (his new favorite), cheddar & carrot florets, ranch on smidgets, and strawberry hearts with bear picks. I also stashed 2 sets of Super V CapriSun juice pouches, Danimals yogurt drinks, and pretzel snacks. One set to give out for his K-buddy.

School is over in 2 days, and we'd love to make it memorable for the kids.

I can't wait till the last day. It's time to plan for the summer.

Have a great Tuesday!

DIY Lunchable Pizza Meal

It's my children's final week in school.  Alas the end is here!

But I'll surely miss packing meals for them.  Have I told you that we eat differently at home? We eat rice with varied home-cooked Asian meals. The foods featured here are exclusively for school meals only. It's my way to make my school lunches even more appealing even if I have to pack repeats in consecutive weeks.

It was a long quest before I could find a way to send my son's favorite Lunchables meal in a healthier version. I wouldn't claim the bright idea coz it was from a fellow bento blogger, Cristi, of BentOn Better Lunches, who created a blog for Momables' This vs That Lunchbox Wars. I was given the chance to try out Momables,  and was thrilled to find that it was part of the week's menu.

I tried and tested it at home before I sent it to school.  I wanna make sure it's yummy and worth preparing. I was so happy to get double 2-thumbs up by my kiddos. They both agreed that it was way better than Lunchables because of its natural and fresh ingredients.

I so thank God for brilliant moms who find ways to duplicate a pre-packaged store bought lunches into healthier, fresher & yummier alternatives that doesn't sacrifice lunch appeal at all.

I know that Lunchables has come up with a newer lunch version that has fruit sides. But what would be better to feed our kids? Preserved or Fresh?  I hope we find time to pack extra love when we send our kids to school. This doesn't take any more than 10 minutes of our time to pack. We can actually do it the night before.  This summer I will be finding more ways to send healthier lunches for school by Fall, since I'll be having an incoming Kindergartner by then.

Don't forget to check back later, as I will be featuring MOMables' 3-month subscription giveaway to celebrate my 1st year blog anniversary. That would be a great opportunity to try Momables. But you can always subscribe anytime you wish. 

Check out their wonderful rates available at their website.

Make sure you follow my blog via Google Friend Connect (found on the blog's sidebar) so you don't miss out on this special offer.

Have a great Monday!

~Marie~

TGIF Bento Meals

It's the last Friday School Lunches! YAY!!

Now that the school is almost at the end, the kids are counting down till the last day.  And I'm surprised that my boy actually knew that today is his last Friday in school. That goes to say that I can now get my intended rest in the morning.

I prepared another round of garden fresh salad for him since he requested for it. He has romaine lettuce, carrot flowers, craisins, and ranch on the main compartment. The upper left compartment has shredded cheddar and organic pretzels on green silicon cups. The upper right compartment has blueberries and strawberries on blue silicon cups.

Then I was surprised to see my daughter prepared herself a snack at home.  Glad I caught it before it's all gone. This is the reason why I love pre-cutting fruits and veggies on the table where she could just grab and eat when she's hungry. She had corn tortilla chips, trail mix of raisins, nuts & dark and white chocolate chips, and heart-cut strawberries

I hope you'd have a nice weekend ahead!

Thanks for visiting me.

Happy Friday!

~Marie