Sugar Meltdown

The weekend was spent
eating the treats from the
boys' pumpkin bags.
I left plates of healthy food
around for healthy snacks
& meals.




The 3 boys can wipe out
a platter of food like
this in under 5 minutes.
I can't imagine the
spread I'll have to
make when they're
in their teens.

Monday:
Ryan's lunch: sunflower butter & jam sandwich; carrots; grapes; green beans; broccoli; a pickle.

I'm keeping food simple this week as we really have to use any free time to clean out our basement that flooded last week. I won't post the heartbreaking photos of soggy Hello Kitty puzzles I'd bought in Japan, lots of books, or my husband's first publishing venture that all went into the dumpster.
AJ's snack: green
beans; grapes;
sandwich.






Tuesday:
Nate's lunch: rice ball; baby corn; a pickle; kiwi; sesame tofu; carrot; bell pepper strips; cherry tomatoes.

AJ's snack: rice
triangle; sesame
tofu; baby corn;
a pickle.

No public kindergarten
on Election Day.

Wednesday:
Ryan's lunch: rice & miso chik'n donburi; a pickle; baby corn; steamed asparagus; whole wheat cabbage & shiitake dumpling; homemade raw cashew/tofu "cheese"; kiwi.

AJ's snack: 1/2
sandwich; tamari
flax crackers;
a carrot.





husband's lunch: miso
chik'n donburi & rice;
steamed asparagus;
dumpling; kiwi;
carrots...in a recycled
vegan donut holes
plastic package!

Thursday:

I woke up with a migraine & mastitis, any very few groceries left. It was also Ryan's parent-teacher conference in the afternoon; his teacher said she wishes she "had a room full of Ryans".
Ryan's lunch: sesame tofu; "basketball" rice ball; mini banana walnut muffin; orange slices; cashew "cheese"; chinese green beans & asparagus.

Nate's lunch: rice cube;
orange segments; green
beans & asparagus; a
fortune cookie; tamari
flax crackers; sesame
tofu.



AJ's snack: Veggie
Booty; rice triangle;
green beans &
asparagus; sesame
tofu.



Friday:
Ryan's lunch: wheat flax crackers; smoked almond crackers; Veggie Booty; hummus; peas; 2 meatless meatballs; Annie's fruit snacks; applesauce.

back to bento

Monday:May 5th was Children's Day, a holiday in Japan where carp streamers are flown to represent the family, often a larger one for the father, then smaller streamers for each child. So I cut out two carp streamer shapes out of nori and put them on either side of an onigiri triangle for AJ's snack, along with: edamame; a mini pumpkin muffin; blanched spinach; 2 cantaloupe bears.
Ryan's class was celebrating his teacher's birthday, so he brought a chocolate cupcake cone with vanilla rainbow frosting--I forgot to get a photo of it, doh!

Nate and I shared a
second breakfast of
blanched sesame
spinach and miso soup.







Lunch & dinner was a polenta lasagna. I've used rice lasagna noodles to make a gluten-free lasagna before, but using polenta really works well too! I only used half the polenta called for in the recipe though. I veganized this recipe from a Food Network show and it turned out fabulously! My husband really enjoyed it and the boys liked it too. Some of my substitutions included:
- for the sausage: Tofurky Sweet Italian Sausage with sun-dried tomatoes...I hadn't bought imitation sausage in at least a decade; this stuff was pretty good and smelled marvelous.
- for the 3 cheeses: Vegan Gourmet monterey jack; Galaxy Vegan Grated Topping for the parmesan (though I only used about 1/2 a cup instead of 2 cups); a homemade tofu ricotta of my own (this worked really well keeping the top moist so it could be cooked without covering for 50 minutes).

Tuesday:
Basketball bento for Ryan: Basketball sandwich; baked sweet potato fries; a container of ketchup; orange slices.
I recently bought some edible food coloring markers and wanted to try them out. They didn't work too smoothly writing on slippery orange soy cheese! But I have another idea which was my main reason for buying them that I will try next week....stay tuned!

I froze the remainder
of our anniversary
cake. We'll save it
to eat after the new
baby's arrival...in
only 7-12 weeks!




Here are AJ &
Ryan imitating
my 30 week
pregnant belly
with some mini
beachballs they'd
just gotten at
the garden center.
hahaha

Wednesday:
Ryan & AJ: green beans dressed with a little soy sauce; cantaloupe chunks; baked Ian's Alphatots; container of ketchup.

Friday:Ryan & AJ: grilled nutritional yeast cheeze sandwiches; mango slices; dill pickle pieces; baby carrots.

Lately Ryan has been creating some of his own meals & snacks. He calls them his Iron Chef food.

He has some very
interesting sandwich
combinations, like
sliced banana, sliced
apple, lettuce, &
cream cheese.

Or strawberries,
peanut butter, &
spinach.


What's more, he's
been handing out
sticky notes at
mealtimes so that
everyone (myself
included) can rate
the food and see
which part of the
meal is the winner!