Mid-winter

Remember this bento I
made FOR MYSELF??
Well, you can vote for it
if you so choose over at
Adventures in Bentomaking
in the 300K contest!

There are some great entries,
like Jewelmaker's rainbow
bento...totally trumps my rainbow peace bento I made for September 11th last year.













Let's get the cute pics out
of the way next, LOL.
Maia has to put up with
a lot from her big brothers.

And here she is ready to
go out for lunch on Superbowl
sunday at the Lotus Blossom.
The food was fantastic, but
unfortunately I forgot my
camera so I can't review it
until next time. Sigh.

Monday:
AJ's snack: fancy apples; cucumber slices; meatless meatball; rice ball w/sun; green beans.
Ryan's groundhog day lunch: blueberries; fancy apple slices; meatless meatball; green beans; bell pepper "sun"; cucumber slices; baby carrot; Lake Champlain dark chocolate with almonds; rice triangle with abure age "groundhog" coming out of his nori "hole" to look for his shadow. Alas, I don't think winter is over yet.

A lunch for my husband:
steamed turnip; Lake
Champlain dark chocolate;
grape tomatoes; marinated
mushrooms; rice ball;
meatless meatballs; mini
pumpkin muffin; mixed
nuts; blueberries.

Nate has been really
in to eating avocado
halves lately. Actually,
he's been an eating
machine for most
everything, growing like
a weed.





Tuesday:
Nate's lunch: "chik'n" salad; grape tomatoes; roasted parsnips; strawberries & blueberries; mini pumpkin muffin; broccoli; carrot.

AJ's snack: "chik'n"
salad; broccoli; carrot;
mini pumpkin muffin;
Triscuit triangles.




Ryan's lunch: strawberries & blueberries; carrots; roasted parsnips; mini pumpkin muffin; snow peas; broccoli; Triscuit triangles; soy cheese shapes; Thermos of ma po tofu with green beans, bok choy & bamboo shoots.

Wednesday:
Ryan's Nintendo lunch: rice balls with yellow bell pepper & carrot stars; marinated mushrooms; edamame; broccoli; vegetable dumpling; fancy apple slices; "mushroom" made of soy cheese & tomato half w/nori face.
AJ's snack: a cupcake
for his friend's 5th
birthday at school.






Thursday:

AJ's snack & Nate's
lunch: mini pumpkin miso
muffins; mini banana
blueberry muffins; soy
nuggets...
AJ had seaweed rice
crackers & crunchy peas.
Nate had a chocolate
covered strawberry, blueberries, & grape tomatoes.
Ryan's lunch: Thermos of rice with stir-fried green beans, snow peas & asparagus w/"chik'n" strips and some stir-fried mung bean sprouts; mini pumpkin miso muffin; mini banana blueberry muffin; chik'n nuggets; grape tomato; chocolate-covered strawberries; blueberries; crunchy peas; iso maki crackers; almonds.

I thought I'd made way too much food for Ryan, but it was a very cold morning, he didn't finish breakfast, and he was singing in the school winter concert that morning. Wouldn't you know it, he ate everything except a few almonds & a single pea, and he couldn't finish those because he ran out of time at lunch. I guess he really was hungry!

My husband was leaving
on yet ANOTHER trip.
He's been traveling a lot
lately to promote his new
game to distributors around
the country. So I made
him dinner for the plane:
strawberries; Tofurky bagel
sandwich; red & yellow bell
pepper strips; grape tomatoes; baby carrots. And I tossed a chocolate heart in on top (not shown).

Friday:
Ryan's mid-winter lunch: peas & corn; meatless meatballs; blue rice; mashed potatoes; soy cheese cloud; yellow bell pepper sun; cucumber pine tree w/ Tofutti cream cheese snow & Tofurky trunk.
Ryan was being picked
up by grandma from
school, and later going to
a Valentine's party, so in
addition to a Luna bar, I
made this dinner/snack
assortment that could
last the entire day in his
backpack: whole grain
crackers; dried apricots; strawberry cereal bites; crunchy peas; iso maki crackers; peanuts &
raisins; grape tomato; baby carrots.

And can you believe it...a
local tomato, grown in an
adjacent town hydroponically.
Cool...and delish, once it
ripened sufficiently!



Better late than never!
I forgot to post our final
winter farm share from
2 weeks ago, oops. I have
dutifully posted pics of
an entire year's worth of
local produce since last
June. This last haul
included 4 ears of popping
corn (one of our favourites), 8lbs. of parsnips, a bag of spinach, a bag of bok choy & kale, a piece of daikon, and a 13lb. bag mix of other storage vegetables such as rutabaga, winter turnip, russet potato, carrot, onion, shallot, garlic, parsley root...and a mammoth winter turnip from the "extras" bin! And as usual I brushed aside the snow to pick some frizen sage leaves.