Lunches: 2.14.17

I don't do cute lunches so often now that the kids are older (although, ironically, The Girl has totally gotten into Japanese culture and all things kawaii [that's cute] - maybe she can make herself a kawaii bento sometimes. lol) - But, for Valentine's Day, I at least pulled out a cookie cutter.

English muffin hearts: 25g each, mixed dried berries: 10g, apple slices: 10g, pretzels: 6g

The Boy has a couple of peanut butter and honey English muffin hearts, mixed dried berries, pretzels, and apple slices.  He said that he will get some snack at school, from Valentine's.

The Girl has a couple of pb & honey English muffin hearts, mixed dried berries, pretzels, and orange slices.

Lunches: 2.13.15 - Lunchy Valentines

Since Valentine's Day is tomorrow,  I thought I'd send some love in lunches (more than usual!).

Sandwiches: 25g, strawberries: 4g, gummy conversation hearts: 14g, apple slices: 4g, carrots & ranch: 2g

The Boy has a couple heart sandwiches with hummus, spinach, and turkey, along with strawberries,  some gummy conversation hearts for a treat, apple slices,  and carrots with ranch. His snack is a yogurt (not pictured,  10g).

The Girl has a couple heart sandwiches with hummus, turkey, and spinach,  along with strawberries,  gummy roses for a treat, apple slices, and carrots with ranch.

Kid Made Lunches and Lunches With Love: Valentine's Day Blog Hop 2013 - 2.13.14

I was sick Sunday night and Monday.  I had a fever and a horrible headache, as well as a fun dizziness every time I tried to do anything exciting, like stand up.

Needless to say, I wasn't making any lunches.  So, the kids made their own.

There was an inordinate amount of giggling coming from the kitchen on Sunday evening, as the kids declared they were "scientists" and had made a concoction of chocolate and marshmallows, which they had molded in a heart silicone mold I had, put toothpicks in, and frozen.  Pretty funny.

To their credit, they declared that they also needed some vegetables, so they grabbed the cauliflower from the fridge, and with minimal help from The Hubby, made my roasted cauliflower "popcorn" to finish out their lunches.  So, it's not all about the chocolate and marshmallows.  They know it's about balance.

I thought it would be a good set of lunches to include in my Valentine's Day Blog Hop from the Bento Bloggers and Friends.  I also included some special lunches I made for the kids (and for The Hubby, my forever Valentine) in the post.

I love when the kids make their own lunches, though I do enjoy making them for them, but it's fun to see what they come up with on their own.

And The Boy took that picture, too

The Boy's Monday lunch was a feta and jelly sandwich (yes, his choice), with a cut-out on top, along with some roasted cauliflower, a yogurt, some more cheese, and a really good portion of blueberries.

His Tuesday lunch was a cheese and jelly sandwich, a fruit jelly, one of the marshmallow chocolate heart creations, a yogurt, blueberries, and some apple slices that he gleefully colored with food markers.

Sandwich: 30g, blueberries: 3g, apple: 4g, graham crackers: 6g

For Today, I made him a cheddar and jelly sandwich with a heart cutout, blueberries on a heart skewer, half a small apple with a small heart cut out, and some mini graham crackers in a heart shaped cup.  His snack is a yogurt (not pictured, 12g)

The Girl's Monday lunch was a jelly and cheese sandwich imprinted with a Cute-Z-Cute cutter, a fruit jelly, yogurt, a chocolate marshmallow heart creation, blueberries, and roasted cauliflower.

The Girl's Tuesday lunch was made with love by The Boy.  He gave her a cheese and jelly sandwich, a marshmallow chocolate heart, a yogurt, blueberries, and apples "colored to look like watermelon."

For Today, I made her a sunbutter and jelly sandwich with a heart cutout, a marshmallow chocolate heart creation, blueberries on a heart skewer, heart shaped apple pieces, and some mini graham crackers.  Her snack is a yogurt with some honey stirred in (not pictured).

Yup, The Boy took this picture, too

The kids even made me a sick-day lunch, which was a Ramen soup, a little chocolate that The Boy colored with a food marker, an apple sauce, and two starburst candies "because candy makes everyone feel better."  And so it did.  At the very least it made me feel loved.

For my own Valentine, my dear Hubby, I made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (which he would eat every day if I let him) cut into hearts, with imprints from a stamp, along with blueberries, a couple Do-so-Dos (Girl Scout Cookies have arrived!), half an apple with a heart cut out, and some mini graham crackers.

Now, I hope that you will hop on over to see what Loving Lunches is packing for her little Valentine, and continue along the way.  Happy Valentine's Day, and I hope it's a good one for you all.  (I'm just happy I can stand up without falling back down again.. that's really nice)

Lunch: 2.14.12 - Valentine's Day

And Happy Valentine's Day for the Girl's lunch, too!

I ate the second half of this apple...

Her snack I am pretty pleased with.  It got me giggling.  I hollowed out half of an apple using a heart shaped cookie cutter and my melon baller, and filled it with the rest of the red colored applesauce that I made to use in The Boy's snack.  Tee hee.  I think it turned out well.  I think she'll be amused.

Her lunch is a heart shaped turkey sandwich on Valentine's Swirl Bread, cheddar hearts with a couple small pieces of Sunkist fruit leather on top, just to add a pop of color, kiwi hearts, yogurt pretzel rings, heart raviolis from Costco, and a few heart shaped juice jigglers.

Lunch for The Boy: 2.14.12 - Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Applesauce: 15g

The Boy's snack is applesauce with a heart in it.  I made the heart by taking a little of the plain applesauce and adding a tiny bit of pink food coloring to it, then putting a small heart cookie cutter in the remaining applesauce and scooping out the plain applesauce, then replacing it with the pink applesauce, and carefully removing the cookie cutter to leave the heart intact.  I saw this trick with yogurt over on Bent On Better Lunches, and it worked great with applesauce!

Sandwich: 20g, apple heart: 6g, watermelon: 4g, pretzel rings: 5g, raviolis: 20g, jigglers: 5g

The Boy said that everything needed to be hearts for Valentine's Day lunch.  His lunch is heart shaped Valentine's Swirl Bread with turkey and cheese, watermelon hearts, watermelon apple slices, yogurt covered pretzel rings (not hearts, but ... still cute), heart shaped raviolis from Costco, and some heart shaped juice jigglers.

Aren't those jigglers cute?

Recipe: Valentine's Day Swirl Bread

I have had these canape bread pans for a very long time, but I have not used them often enough.  What better time than Valentine's Day to make heart (and flower, and star...) shaped bread?

And how about making it swirly for the holiday?  Sounds right up my alley!

The recipe I used was my standard whole wheat pain de mie recipe from King Arthur Flour.  The only changes I make in this recipe are to use whey from straining my homemade yogurt, and I also throw in a little ground flax seed (about 1/4 c).

I split the dough into two portions and knead in the colors.  I used pink and no-taste red.  To get vibrant colors, you have to use a good amount of the gel food colors.  I think it's worth it.

Once I had the two balls of dough colored, I rolled them each into very thin, large rectangles (probably about 24" x 12" at least).  Then, I layered the two rectangles on top of one another and gave them a nice final roll with the rolling pin, to make sure the two slabs of dough are melded together.  Then, I rolled them up, tightly, jelly roll style, and cut them into three equal sized lengths (about 8" long each).

From there, I took my canape bread tubes and sprayed them with Everbake spray from King Arthur Flour - it doesn't leave residue, and works great.  Then, I put the dough into each of the tubes and pressed it down with the end of my rolling pin, and let it rise for about 45 minutes to an hour (until the dough has risen nearly to the top of the tubes.  Preheat the oven to 375 F, and place the top lids on the tubes.  Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the bread sounds "hollow" when you knock on it.  Remove from the oven, and cool for 10 minutes in the pans.

Carefully remove the bread from the pans, then wrap in a kitchen towel and in a plastic grocery bag to cool completely.  Enjoy!