January 31, 2013

K-Bento: Waffles and Bacons

My Kindergartner, Missy A is a number 1 breakfast eater at home. She eats anything served for breakfast anytime during the day.  That brought the wonderful idea of packing it for school lunches as well.  I always get a high success rate of a clean lunchbox and a happy tummy after school.

Due to my daily crazy schedules, I have lost track of the exact dates I sent in a particular meal. Everyday, I took pictures, upload them in a batch to my image web host, copy the link to blogger, and save just whenever I find time.  I didn't like the idea of a daily stress of coming up with a post anymore. Just because of the high demands of my kids.  I assist with homeworks after school, and re-teach what was learned in school.  Just to make sure they retain it well for chapter tests in the future.

So one school day, Missy A brought breakfast for school lunch.

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January 28, 2013

Meatless Meal: Quorn Chicken Cutlets

About a couple of weeks ago, I received a promotional email from Quorn Foods, makers of meatless and soy-free frozen dinners. I was offerred to try out any one of their products {my choice} for a review. To be honest we're not a fan of frozen dinners.  I had mixed emotions toward this offer because I am not quite sure how my children would respond to meatless meat that obviously look like meat.  But I ended up replying with a YES. And I'm just so glad that I did!

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January 25, 2013

Pillsbury Pizza Crust - A Semi-Homemade Meal

Have you ever wondered how easy it is to make your own pizza?  Well, I am so thrilled to announce that I had the grandest time to make one of my own this morning just before school.  You heard that right, just before school.  And it took me less than 20 minutes to prepare and bake them from scratch (with a little help) this morning.

I discovered Pillsbury's Pizza Crust just last Monday when I was shopping alone at Target. Saw it at the fridge section along with cookie doughs and eggs.  This is why I love to shop alone. I get the chance to trail along each and every aisle, and read on every food labels on my long list.

This lunch is what I consider semi-homemade because it wasn't really made from scratch. I had a little helper. The pizza crust was pre-made.  So if you have any food allergy issues, you might want to consider reading the label first.

Start with pre-heating the oven to 400 degrees F. Grease any size of cookie sheet. I lined mine with aluminum foil for easy clean-up.

Next, Open! It takes a little trick to open the package, but I made use of a spoon to push onto the marked line to pop open.  Then peel away till you get the dough out of the can.  

Third, Unroll onto cookie sheet and press to desired thickness.  Pre-bake the dough to 8 minutes.

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Lastly, spread with 1/2 cup of pizza sauce. I used seasoned Spaghetti Sauce, as always.  Then top with cheese and other preferred toppings of your choice. Make sure that if you're adding meat, they're cooked already. So if you're considering to make this for school lunches, pre-cook all meat toppings. Also plan how you want the toppings distributed. Return them in the oven, and bake for another 8-10 minutes. Since my crust is pretty thick, I left it in the oven for a full 10 minutes for a crunchier crust, unless you want them soft and chewy.

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My kids love bacon, pepperoni, and mushrooms.  Missy A is not huge on pepperoni so I have to leave the other half free of pepperoni, or she might not eat them.  Everything else is equally distributed.  

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January 24, 2013

Quick and Easy: Freshly-Made Bento School Lunches

I have featured lunches that are quick and easy to prepare in the morning. I wake up 30 minutes before the kids to prepare for breakfast and lunch.   Each meals featured below are tried and tested to be packed under 20 minutes.

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January 17, 2013

Semi-Homemade School Lunches

I have been working part-time with a crazy schedule.  There are days when I get 3 days in a row for 10 hours on the floor each day. Just lucky to get hours after I've dropped the kids off to school. That gives me ample time to read books to Missy A, as part of her Kindergarten program, before I took off to work. It's pretty darn tough to prep lunches ahead of time when work is physically exhausting that gives off zero stamina to brainstorm & prepare the night before.  So what do I do on these days? Either I make use of frozen stuffs I made days before, or purchase foods that I can work on to  make it semi-homemade. I may not have time to post them on time, but I make sure to never miss to  pack lunches for them on a daily basis. 

Here are some of the lunches I sent for those busy days with not enough time to make ahead, but managed to make them semi-homemade and healthy.

Dimsum 

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January 16, 2013

His & Her Lunch

You must be wondering by now what has happened to us. I have been delayed posting lunches lately.  I've been crazy busy with work (not that I work daily) and with my school volunteering duties.  It's just physically exhausting and mentally draining to even come up with a sensible write-up for each post.  Seriously, I can't just post the lunch picture and hit publish anytime.  It wouldn't be nice to just leave you guessing what's in the box.  So please bare with me.
I made a HIS and HER Lunch last week.  These were one of the days my kiddos prefer different menus.  Most of the time I send in somewhat similar lunches, and just show off  how I pack individual portion size for each. 
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Bear Loves ONIGIRI


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First of all, I'd like to make a BIG thank you to my Secret Santa, Keitha of Keitha's Chaos for the generous Christmas Bento Gifts I received last Christmas, which made this day's lunch incredibly possible. I am no expert when it comes to ONIGIRIS. But with this little help, I was able to come up with a very cute lunch for my kids.

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On our EasyLunchboxes, each one got a bear and a heart-shaped onigiris, with their favorite holiday ham leftovers.  On each smaller compartment are rows of grape tomatoes, and some raisin grapes.

Wishing everyone had a fabulous lunch!

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All bento accessories are available through Bento USA,
the cheapest and most complete online bento products in the USA.

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January 7, 2013

Chicken Nuggets, Corn Kernels & Melon

Finally the kids are back to school after Winter Break. They've been off for 3 weeks and they've been missing their friends and teachers. Honestly, I love to be with my kiddos every single day of my life, but there are times I wish for ME time too.  And that's when I want my sanity back...LOL!! Kids can drive you crazy at times. Don't you agree?

We're always good on first days. No jitters...no tantrums...always on time & early. These were the days when the kids were still excited and hyper.

For their first days, I didn't make anything special, but fulfilled their requests. Missy A had her favorite chicken nuggets meal with BBQ sauce on her green condiment cup, corn kernels and melon cubes with a puppy food fork. Everything packed on her favorite Goodbyn Small Meal Box.

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Mr. G got a similar lunch except that I doubled the portion size.  And his lunch was packed on his favorite blue lidded EasyLunchboxes.

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The kids also had their Emergen-C Raspberry Drink (pre-mixed to boost up their immune system this flu season) on their individual Goodbyn bottles, and a package of Mini Oreos for their sweet treat.

Breaded Salmon + Brown Rice for Work

Finally got the chance to take a picture of my hub's lunch for today. I usually would prepare my kids' meals first so I could stage them while the kids were still asleep.  And would prepare breakfast next. His lunch would always be last since leftovers never look good on pictures the next day unless I heat them up. Honestly, hub's never picky as long as he has something packed.  One of the several things I'm so grateful for.  

This morning, I had time to cook for him. Finally! I was able to thaw some salmons overnight. I made him breaded salmon over brown rice.  He also had some melon cubes and fresh garden salad that he prepared after I took a shot of this.  I wasn't able to wait any longer.  The kids were up and didn't wanna miss to blog about his lunch too by the time I got back from school.


Breaded Salmon & Brown Rice

Here's his lunch!
Seasoned and breaded Alaskan salmon.  One of his favorites so far.
And packed on our favorite EasyLunchboxes.

Have a good lunch, everyone.
Happy back to school!
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All bento accessories are available through Bento USA,
the cheapest and most complete online bento products in the USA.

Other bento gears are also available thru My Amazon Affiliate Link.
Thank you for your support!
Aknowledgements:


January 5, 2013

Karioka, Panittone & Cheese

Saturday was my first day of work for the year 2013.  I work part time in an office that has off lunch hours. Technically it's been set for 1:00pm, but it actually depends on the bulk of work, or patients should I say.  Mostly, it doesn't happen till 2- 3pm.

I follow my body clock. So when I'm hungry, I eat {no matter what}.  Yes. And how do I do that? Simple. I pack my lunch wherever I go.  It doesn't have to be big and heavy. Anything that can fill up and satisfy an empty stomach is good enough.  Don't you think?
Karioka, Panitone & Cheese
Today, I packed some home-made Karioka {coconut crunchy balls} with maple syrup on the pink cup, panitone with Brie cheese spread on the yellow cup.  And of course a few slices of Christmas aged cheese to munch on while working. Everything packed on a LunchBots Trio. Believe it or not, this saved my day.  It got me worked better and efficiently without any cry of hunger pangs.

I usually can't survive a meal without a rice, but I like finger foods whenever unplanned circumstances arise. It's the easiest way to sneak food into your mouth while working.
I hope you had a great weekend before school even resumes on the 7th, and start un-packing those bento tools once again. Let's re-start making lunches fun like never before.

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All bento accessories are available through Bento USA,
the cheapest and most complete online bento products in the USA.

Other bento gears are also available thru My Amazon Affiliate Link.
Thank you for your support!

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