The Ghostest With the Mostest! Bento

Wednesday, October 31, 2012 - Baby's co-op preschool class was Halloween morning, so I packed Z a lunch to serve as breakfast and lunch (to nibble during and after Baby's class,) plus a breakfast for me to munch on during class, plus a lunch to prevent me from folding like a wet noodle and heading to McDs after dropping Z off at her preschool in the afternoon.

Mama's Not-So-Spooky Lunch

Grapes, tomatoes, 1/2  buttered GF roll; spinach and red lettuce salad w/strawberries,
raisins, carrot peels, dried soy beans, sunflower and chia seeds, and raspberry vinaigrette

I got to attend a Taste of Thanksgiving preview at Whole Foods Market, and in my "goodie bag" I received some Manini's gluten-free Peasant Rolls, which were "rolled out" (hahaha!) for the Thanksgiving holiday. [Pssst! Keeley! Peanut-Free facility too! And they specialize in mixes!] They are quite good, and taste like "real bread." Croissants, actually. Mmmmm! I was warned that these have a short shelf-life (since they do not contain preservatives) and don't freeze well, so I'm using them up as fast as I can. Omnomnom! I'm really taking one for the team here... Since I only had room for half a buttered roll, the other half went into my breakfast box.

The dried soy beans, sunflower seeds, and chia seeds went into the Mini Dipper box. I forgot to leave room for the raisins, so they spent the night in a bed of lettuce. I couldn't find a clean container and lid for the dressing, so I risked the spillover with a mini muffin cup. It did end up leaking into the salad, but this time I learned my lesson and positioned it away from the other compartments! I forgot to account for leakage onto the fork though. Ick. Luckily I had extra napkins in the car. Not from McDonalds. No, really.

*For the sake of full disclosure, I caved anyway and had McDonalds instead. [FOR SHAME!]
My salad made a tasty lunch for the next day. And hey! I had spare napkins handy...

The Most Ghosts 

Chobani Honey-Nana yogurt, strawberries, Ranch, home-made marshmallow fluff,
yellow carrots, SunButter-honey sandwich; chocolate chip features

Yo-Yo-Ghost: I was too lazy to dig out the big tub of vanilla yogurt I thought it would be more fun to use one of her favorite Chobani Champions Greek yogurt flavors, Honey-Nana, so I poured the whole thing into the smaller EasyLunchbox compartment, and added some Nestle chocolate chips (says "all-natural" right on the package! No fake vanilla!) to make a ghost face on top.

Ghostly Carrots: Since the yellow carrots were a little ghostlier, I cut one up into sticks and included a mini silicone cup with Ranch dressing to dip. I added a ghost food pick because I couldn't resist jamming yet another ghost into this lunch! To keep the sandwich from getting too soggy sitting next to the carrot sticks all night, I used a washable silicone baran to separate them.

Berry Simple Ghosts: For the strawberries, I added a silicone pumpkin cup with some home-made MOMables Marshmallow Fluff (made with local raw honey, so it even helps with our allergies!) for her to dip to make "Ghostberries." I added chocolate chips to the fluff to make a ghost face, and spread some fluff onto one berry with some regular and mini chocolate chip features. I'd tried dipping it, but instead of a nice layer of fluff, I'd left all the little strawberry hairs behind! Doh!

OoOoOoOoooo Sandwich: Since she'd be eating this at a nut-free school I chose SunButter and honey (she only likes SunButter with honey) and used a ghost cookie cutter on the bread. Regular and mini chocolate chips for the face.

This was all packed the night before, and it held up really well. And I actually remembered to include the cloth napkin for the photo this time! (I usually forget and grab one on our way out the door.) I chose the only Halloween-y one that I own, with a candy corn pattern, bought from Red Poppy Crafts on Etsy. I have put in requests for pumpkin-y, spider-y and ghost-y ones to plan ahead for next year! The spoon for the yogurt (also another near-miss in the "almost-forgot-to-pack" category) is just some bajillion-per-package BPA-free baby spoon. She likes stealing using the baby's feeding tools.

She was super excited to begin digging in on the way to E's school that morning. She opens the box and starts getting all excited about the different ghosts. "I love all your imaginations, Mama!" 
While eating the chocolate chips out of the fluff, she decides she doesn't like it. "Only on s'mores, Mama." Oh well. That takes care of worrying that there's too much extra sugar in there, what with the sweetened yogurt and chocolate chips! She only ended up eating the yogurt and strawberries. And the chocolate chips, of course. After pulling them off the sandwich to make a "Wanch ghost" first. Blech.

Mama's Breakfast Box

"Everything" bagel w/low-fat cream cheese, SunButter on bread scraps,
1/2 buttered GF roll

I included the bread scraps from Z's ghost sandwich with some SunButter on them for Baby. She loved them, and it kept her off me while I ate my bagel.

The bagel and roll were for me. I toasted the bagel first, and spread the reduced-fat cream cheese the night before. It makes the bagel extra chewy, which I like. The reduced fat cream cheese isn't as nasty tasting as the non-fat, so I may switch to this. Plus every brand of non-fat I could find at the regular grocery stores had fake colors (!!!) Trader Joe's might have a safe version though.

Z's school wasn't doing anything costume-y for Halloween, and she turned down my offer to let her use my eye liner on her face to go as Wonder Wish Kitty Girl just for fun. And I didn't get any trick-or-treating pictures, since I was hornswoggled into carrying the baby the whole time* (I had requested we bring the stroller, and Hubby said HE'D carry her. Harumph!) So here's a picture of Baby in her costume at preschool that morning. Awwwwww!
[This was actually Z's first costume! It's a 3-month size, but was a tad big on Z back when she was ~5-months. Baby E is soooo small. She's 10-months, wearing 6-months now. And other than the legs on the costume being a tad short, she fit this 3-month outfit perfectly. *sigh* At least she's not too heavy to carry everywhere...]

For the record, Z did amazingly well for her first time going door-to-door. (At the mall they tend to try and move you through the line quickly, so don't let the child choose from the bucket as often, and less trying to engage the child. So Z was able to be fairly successful there the past few years. No one tried to talk to her or make her talk to them. All she had to do was leave Mama long enough to get candy. How sad is it that I'm excited that my child will take candy from strangers?)
She not only (mostly) remembered to say "Trick or Treat," she also did a great job remembering to say "thank you." And after only one admonishment, only took one candy at each house, unless invited to take more. (Unless they had two bowls. Then she'd take one from each. Understandable confusion.) And she didn't freak out when people spoke to her or looked at her! It helped that the other two girls were there, so most comments were more generic and aimed at all three, like "What cute princesses!"

*We actually took turns. But when I wasn't carrying E, I was trying to keep up with Z and her cousins. There was no time for posing!

Tools of the Trade