Tuesday, 6/26/12 - A fun lunch before Little Gym Summer Camp. Since the theme for the week was transportation ("Cars, Planes, Boats and Trains" or something along those lines,) I went for a car theme. Meep meeeeep!
Mini Coupes: I sliced some carrots into slabs lengthwise to get pieces large enough for my mini car cutter (Daiso,) and cut the rest into sticks which are tucked underneath. I added some broccoli, shelled peas left uneaten from a previous lunch, and some kind of mini cucumber I found at the Asian market we visited the weekend before.
For the fruit, I chose some of the last of our mini organic strawberries from our CSA box, and a mini car cut from one slice of golden kiwi. She claims not to like kiwi, so I just gave her enough to try.
Stop! Go!: I managed to find green, yellow, and red mini muffin cups in my collection, to make a stoplight of sorts. (Green and red from World Market, 12.$2.99; yellow from Daiso, 5/$1.50) I put some more of my precious Masa Crisps from NatureBox in one, some Chocolate-Covered Os from Trader Joe's (like chocolate-covered Cheerios) in another - because they looked like little wheels! Teehee! And some Ranch dressing to dip her veggies in the third.
Cozy Coupe Built for Two: I used the car Lunch Punch to cut the bread and trim the ham and cheese to fit, then used a knife to hand-cut windows out from the top slice of bread. I used my faces cutter to punch two faces out of the cheese, approximately where the windows were. I used a mini circle cutter to make cheese tires and a wide-mouthed straw (for bubble tea) to make a cheese headlight and contrasting ham circles for the wheels.
I found the CARS bento box at the Disney Store, billed as a snack container. The sides snap-closed, and she can open them herself (but can't quite close it on her own, unless she lines it up just right and has a good angle on it.) On the Disney ones, the snaps do tend to fall off completely, which gets frustrating, but they snap right back on again, if you're an adult who knows what you're doing. She just packs her snack box in the cubby with her shoes for me to reassemble after camp if she can't get it closed herself.
This was seriously the best lunch I can ever remember having. Definitely the best one I've ever made for myself.
I bought a pack of Saturn peaches from Trader Joe's because Z had expressed an interest, and they were flatter, so would fit whole into an EasyLunchbox! Wheee!
I ended up with almost half a golden kiwi in scraps, due to being incapable of making one good thick slice big enough to cut the car for hers. I kept cutting at angles and getting little half-slices. So I scraped the peel off and chopped up the discards into my salad, along with the car carrot scraps and some chopped up carrot sticks. Plus the rest of the cucumber thing and some sliced grapes and raisins. And raspberry vinaigrette in the little container. It was sooooo gooood. The Saturn peach, which I had been really excited about, was almost a let-down.
I don't know if it was the golden kiwi, or the cucumber, or both, but my salad was so much better than usual.
Another pleasant surprise were my little pita pocket sandwiches. I put ham, some lettuce, and Pink Dip spread in each half of a mini pocket pita from Trader Joe's and cut them in half again to make sandwich quarters. Because they sat overnight, the cheese softened the bread just a little, so it was perfect (normally the pocket pitas are too dry and thick for my tastes. I like a higher fillings-to-bread ratio than they allow.)
Cozy Coupes
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| Masa Crisps, chocolate-covered O's, Ranch, ham and cheese sandwich, assorted veggies, strawberries and golden kiwi |
For the fruit, I chose some of the last of our mini organic strawberries from our CSA box, and a mini car cut from one slice of golden kiwi. She claims not to like kiwi, so I just gave her enough to try.
Stop! Go!: I managed to find green, yellow, and red mini muffin cups in my collection, to make a stoplight of sorts. (Green and red from World Market, 12.$2.99; yellow from Daiso, 5/$1.50) I put some more of my precious Masa Crisps from NatureBox in one, some Chocolate-Covered Os from Trader Joe's (like chocolate-covered Cheerios) in another - because they looked like little wheels! Teehee! And some Ranch dressing to dip her veggies in the third.
Cozy Coupe Built for Two: I used the car Lunch Punch to cut the bread and trim the ham and cheese to fit, then used a knife to hand-cut windows out from the top slice of bread. I used my faces cutter to punch two faces out of the cheese, approximately where the windows were. I used a mini circle cutter to make cheese tires and a wide-mouthed straw (for bubble tea) to make a cheese headlight and contrasting ham circles for the wheels.
Cars Snack
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| Strawberries, carrot cars, Trader Joe's Root Chips |
Mama's Lunch - Best Lunch I Ever Made!
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| Spinach and lettuce salad w/mini cucumber, carrot scraps, grapes, raisins, golden kiwi scraps, raspberry vinaigrette; ham and Pink Dip mini pita, Saturn peach |
I bought a pack of Saturn peaches from Trader Joe's because Z had expressed an interest, and they were flatter, so would fit whole into an EasyLunchbox! Wheee!
I ended up with almost half a golden kiwi in scraps, due to being incapable of making one good thick slice big enough to cut the car for hers. I kept cutting at angles and getting little half-slices. So I scraped the peel off and chopped up the discards into my salad, along with the car carrot scraps and some chopped up carrot sticks. Plus the rest of the cucumber thing and some sliced grapes and raisins. And raspberry vinaigrette in the little container. It was sooooo gooood. The Saturn peach, which I had been really excited about, was almost a let-down.
I don't know if it was the golden kiwi, or the cucumber, or both, but my salad was so much better than usual.
Another pleasant surprise were my little pita pocket sandwiches. I put ham, some lettuce, and Pink Dip spread in each half of a mini pocket pita from Trader Joe's and cut them in half again to make sandwich quarters. Because they sat overnight, the cheese softened the bread just a little, so it was perfect (normally the pocket pitas are too dry and thick for my tastes. I like a higher fillings-to-bread ratio than they allow.)
Super cute!!
ReplyDeleteCute! But where's the pineapple? Oh yeah... that's in MY lunch :p
ReplyDeleteVROOM!! The little faces peeking out are so cute!
ReplyDeleteThis is so adorable! Sharing on Facebook now :) Pinning and thank you for linking up at Mom On Timeout!
ReplyDeleteWow! So wonderful. I especially like the windows with faces looking out.
ReplyDeletelove it!
ReplyDeleteMari
http://inspiredbyfamilymag.com/
So many cute lunches! I especially love the cheese faces peeking out of the car window. My little guys would love this. Thanks for linking up to The Sunday Showcase.
ReplyDelete