Happy Moldy Cheese Day, with The Stinky Cheese Man!

Today, October 9 2013, is Moldy Cheese Day! The origin is unclear, but I had this on my "bento inspirations" list, and had an idea to go with it, and had the time to implement. So there you go!

One of Z's favorite story books last school year was The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Tales, which they apparently got to read as part of their gingerbread man learning unit.

I personally despise the book, as I don't like the art style, and the characters are kind of jerks. And with constantly changing characters and how the book talks about how it's a book, it's a pain to read. But she loves hearing it, and will notice if you "accidentally" skip a chapter...

PB Crave Cookie Nookie GF sandwich, leftover Namaste Say Cheez GF/DF macaroni, organic apples and carrots

Stinky Cheese Man: After cutting the crust off one side of the bread, I placed a gingerbread man cookie cutter so that it would be headless. Then on a third piece of bread, I used a circle cutter, then cut the circle in half to make the head. After adding the filling, I cut a wedge out, just like the character in the illustrations.
The eyes are dried currant halves, and the mouth is a bit of freehand-cut fruit leather, both glued on with more peanut butter. I used uncooked (GF) spaghetti noodles to secure the head to the body.
I put the fork for her macaroni across the sandwich body, to look like he's wielding it. I don't think he has a weapon in the story, but when I set it there to free up my hand to do something else before deciding how to fit it in there, it looked perfect!

After packing this lunch the night before, I moved on to packing lunch for Hubby. One of the times I opened my over-packed fridge, this lunch came diving out at me and busted open all over the floor. I had fuzzy strawberries and carrots everywhere! And his head fell off. And I don't even want to talk about where the macaroni went.
Obviously, I packed a new one. Which I despise doing. I get bored easily, so like doing different things each time. Oh well. Stupid cheese man.

This lunch would be totally dairy-free, except the PB Crave Cookie Nookie has milk in it. But it's a totally cheese-less "cheese" lunch! The Namaste Say Cheeze macaroni and cheese is the first gluten-free dairy-free boxed mac that we've all liked. I like that it isn't a lot of filler ingredients - hemp hearts, herbs and spices, and natural flavors for the "sauce" packet. And the girls like the flavor. As-is though, the sauce doesn't get thick and creamy, and the noodles dry out and don't make good leftovers. But I change mine up a bit...

Instead of adding 3 Tbsp oil to the packet, I do half oil, half non-dairy milk (soy is "creamier, but I used rice because the flavor is less dominating.) I also add a 4 oz jar of baby puree - either sweet potato or squash, whatever I've got on hand (I stock up when the organic baby food goes on super sale!) And to give it a cheesier flavor, I add a few Tbsp nutritional yeast powder. Everything I add improves the nutritional profile, so extra bonus! And the girls like it better with a slightly thicker, creamier sauce. Plus it keeps the leftovers moister. I am still searching for the perfect 100% home-made sauce though, without resorting to processed "cheez" products. So far no luck.

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