Goodbyn Bynto containers on sale!

Right now on Zulily, Goodbyn Byntos, snack containers, salad containers, and insulated lunch bags are on sale! The prices are the lowest that I've seen for these. They are plastic, but are BPA and phthalate-free, as well as dishwasher safe.

Disclosure: I will receive referral credit for anyone signing up for an account at Zulily using the above link, though I'm sharing this because I think it's relevant to my blog readers, and not because of the credit :)

Path of least resistance

After a difficult weekend for the boy that included a blood draw, an upset stomach, new foods, and lego drama, I think packing him a challenging lunch would be asking too much of him. So, tomorrow's lunch will be a tried-and-true "yes list" lunch.

-Half sunbutter & strawberry sandwick on Rudi's gf bread
-Way Better sprouted multigrain chips
-Bare Fruit Cinnamon Apple chips
-Andean Dream quinoa coconut cookie

For my lunch, I'm taking advantage of some awesome leftovers. I'm packing into my new favorite lunchbox, and bringing along a Norpro Appetizer Spork.
-Steamed broccoli
-Pan fried tuna steak
-Millet made with homemade chicken stock
-Tiny bottle of organic Italian dressing

So cute, yet such a fail

-Chick rice ball with carrot comb and corn beak
-Ladybug rice roll, dyed with beet juice and wrapped in nori
-Bee rice roll with daiya cheddar and nori strips
-Black olives
-Star sandwich with corn tortilla and Wellshire turkey ham
-Pamela's gf ginger cookies
-Sili full of smoothie; strawberry, banana, cashew, homemade almond milk

Yep, sure is cute.
This lunch (and yesterday's) were near complete failures. The whole "lead a horse to water" thing changes color rather drastically when you mix in food aversions (see what I did there? Clever, I am). I didn't really expect the boy to eat beet colored sushi, or even taste it. He does, however, LOVE cheesy rice and plain rice, so I thought the bees and chick would be eaten. But no, he couldn't even make himself open the container. He ate the cookies, sandwich, and part of the smoothie, but emphatically declared this a "no list" lunch, and said that there were too many vegetables. He also let me know that he only wants sunbutter and jelly sandwiches and smoothies for lunch from now on. So, any progress that we've made with trying new foods at lunchtime is on hold until this new roadblock is cleared. Darn.
At least the girl thought the rice balls were cute. She ate the ladybugs and pulled the nori off the others. She wasn't thrilled with the tortilla, but did pull off the ham to eat and had her whole smoothie.
Tomorrow, they'll get sunbutter and smoothies, because the boy needs to get some food in him. 

Someone's been looking at pinterest again...

 

Clockwise from top left:

-Clementine wedges

-Apple stuffed banana pancake muffin with chia and hemp seeds

-Wellshire uncured turkey ham rolls

-Dried mango slice

-Mashed potato with nori totoro

-Dates

-Dried mango slice

-Carrot sticks

-Scrambled egg with nori wrapped ham slice for a lid

-Raw cashews

The kids and I spent some time this weekend on pinterest and flicker, looking at all the amazing bentos. It spurred a conversation with the boy about all the vegetables and fruit making it possible to make really cool bentos, and he agreed to try it out. It's not my best Totoro, but I think the kids will recognize him. I need a larger hole punch to do his eyes right.
The muffins are really yummy, and are so full of goodness. Each one is about half full of apple chunks. Then, I added a bunch of hemp seeds and chia, and a bit of maple syrup and coconut oil.
And, now I have the Totoro song in my head. And you should too...

UPDATE: (insert fail noise here) The ham and eggs were eaten and enjoyed by all, everything else came back home. The girl tried her muffin after school but was meh about it. She liked them better the next morning warmed up with a bit of syrup.

Lunch in a muffin & a Mister bento

-Ham and egg muffins
-Organic peanut butter bar
-Bare apple cinnamon chips
-Honest Kids berry lemonade

The kids' water bottles have been coming back home more than half full this week. I guess they aren't being reminded to drink since the weather has turned nippy. We've been talking a lot about staying hydrated and helping our bodies fight off colds by making sure we're giving it everything it needs to stay healthy. I included the juice pouch in their lunch to insure that they'd have a little extra to drink tomorrow. The girl's lips are chapped, and she's pretty interested in getting them feeling right again, so hopefully she also remembers to drink water all day.
The ham and egg muffins were an experiment that paid off well. I wanted to make a lunch muffin, but not a regular cornbread muffin since they are so delicate and make tons of crumbs. I was hoping for something that I could fill with veggies and protein to make sure the boy isn't just eating carbs.
Lightly whisk two eggs (the chickens are making HUGE eggs right now, so it's probably more like 3 store-bought eggs) with 1/2 cup of coconut milk,
then add;
1 cup of frozen corn
1 cup of Bob's Red Mill gf cornbread mix
6 oz of Wellshire Uncured Turkey Ham Steak cut into small cubes
1/2 cup of mashed acorn squash
I oiled my stoneware muffin tray with coconut oil, filled it a little over half full, and baked them for 25 minutes. I'm very happy with the way they turned out, light and cake-y, with some sweetness from the corn and saltyness from the turkey. It's got a good amount of protein, and I was able to get 2 veggies in there!

I was also able to pack a little bento up for the mister's lunch tomorrow. Usually he packs his own lunch, but I thought it would be a good day for a special lunch. Besides, it allowed me to try out the new EcoLunchbox I got the other day.

-2 Ham and egg muffins
-Tuna salad with cranberries and onions (he already has some bread at work)
-Carrots, olives, & grape tomatoes

The EcoLunchbox holds a lot more than I expected since it's so compact. I'm interested to hear how it works out tomorrow.

Rice Roll Lunch

Sunbutter and jelly sandwich half on Udi's gf bread
Sticky rice rolls with nori / half of a rolled Wellshire turkey ham slice
Glutino pretzels with hummous to dip
Dried apricots and peanuts
Envirokids bar for snack

Off to the side somewhere: a small container of coconut aminos to dip the rice rolls into. It's similar to soy sauce or tamari, but without the wheat or soy.
This is more carby than I'd prefer, but there is a lot of protein, and I'll have fruit for them to snack on before dinner.

UPDATE: Neither kid ate their hummous, but they both tasted it. The boy ate everything else except the apricots, but then he had those for a snack after school. The girl ate everything except 4 rice rolls and the apricots and peanuts, but also finished those off for an after school snack.

First lunch!

Life has been a blur, and it's been so long since I updated the blog. We've had a lot of changes around here, and one of the big ones is that we aren't going to be homeschooling this year. The kids are super excited to be starting school, and have been having so much fun planning lunches with me. Since allergy friendly lunches can be challenging, I thought I'd share ours here.
We are gluten, dairy, soy, oat, refined sugar, and artificial/chemical free. We recently tested the kids with eggs and are thrilled to have found that they are no longer a problem for them!! They are super excited to be able to eat eggs from our chickens, though the boy won't eat them unless they are in something baked. He has food aversions, and currently has under 20 foods that he'll eat reliably. I still include foods in his lunches that he won't eat, and every once in a while he'll surprise me and try something new.

Our first day of school lunch contains;
Half sunbutter and strawberry jam sandwich on Rudi's gf bread
Toothpick skewers (boy version) rolled Wellshire turkey ham / daiya jack cheese cube / Greek olive
Toothpick skewers (girl version) rolled Wellshire turkey ham / red grape / black olive half
Baby carrots with peanut butter to dip
Golden raisins / dried cranberries
They decided on the Envirokids bar for a snack. We shopped for school snacks last weekend and picked a few fun (but still pretty healthy) snacks for them to choose each day. It helps them be involved in packing their lunch, and I've found that they eat more of the rest of their lunch when they have a small treat. When we run out of the things we bought, I'll be making more snack-y things from scratch. The organic squash and applesauce pouch is for their morning snack. I will also not be buying puree pouches after this batch is gone. I'm going to order a few of the reusable silicone pouches from sili squeeze and making my own fruit and veggie purees. It's one of the only ways to get fresh veggies into the boy, so we do what we can to make sure he's getting some daily.
Now, I just need to figure out what I'm bringing for my lunch, and we'll be set.
Happy first day of school!!

UPDATE: They both are their entire lunch! The boy really surprised me, he not only ate his carrots, but he ate them first and finished them! Carrots are one of the only veggies that he'll eat un-pureed or baked into something, but even then it's rare for him to eat more than two or three baby carrots. His favorite part of this lunch was the sandwich (he's still so thrilled to be able to eat "egg bread"), and the toothpick skewers got a thumbs up from both kids.