Bento- Catch-Up

Well, as part of my title says I do pack bentos for my oldest child. 4/5 days of the week. However, this year Sissy and I are butting heads on what foods to pack, so not all of our lunches have been picture worthy..ha ha :-)  She wants what her friends eat every day  potato chips, individual packs of cookies and teddy grahams, Gatorade, candy bars,LUNCHABLES(yuck) etc....  I don't buy those things on a normal basis so I am not buying them for her lunches!  Don't get me wrong I do not mind to give her a treat sometimes but not junk EVERY day!(I got away with ONLY ONE lunchable in Kindergarten!!!) I am really TRYING to eat more whole foods and not buy AS MUCH processed junk...It's hard...
Here are a few lunches that we have done this year in 1st grade...

This day she had:
Half of a Ham sandwich
Sourdough bites
Carrots
Strawberries
Cream Cheese Dip
She took water to drink

This day she took Lunch and Snack in the same box. She had:
Apple
Raisins
Fortune Cookie
Fruit Leather
Turkey Smoked Sausage w/Ketchup
Colby Cheese block
Cheesy Sourdough bites
She had the Horizon Chocolate Milk

This was a snack that she took one day:
Leftover muffin from breakfast and HM Fall Granola
She had water with it

That's what the box looks like closed up.

This day she took:
Pretzel Thins
Grapes
HM Chocolate No Bake Cookies
Smoked Sausage w/Ketchup in the HK container
Babybel Cheese
She had water to drink

This is this box closed up.

Blogger kept turning this one for some reason!

This day she had:
Ham and Cheese Sandwich
Cantaloupe and Grapes
Pirate Booty
Cashews
Water to drink

This is the container closed up. I bought this for Brother...Sister took it over! :-)

HA HA Blogger doesn't like my pictures...turn your head to the left...

This day she had:
Turkey and Cheese Sandwich
Apples
Peanut Butter
Cheez-Its
Sunflower Seeds
She took water to drink

This day she took:
Leftover Pork Chop
Pears w/Sprinkles
Carrots
Fruit Twist
This day she took a Horizon Chocolate Milk

Arghh...Turn to the right...

This day she took:

PBJ
Wheat Thins
Grapes
Left Over Cake from my birthday
She took water to drink

The smaller box is snack, she had:
1/2 of a Giant Breakfast Cookie
Trail Mix

Larger box was lunch, she had:
1/2 multi-grain bagel
Cream Cheese for bagel
Pepperonis
WW String Cheese
Carrots
6 small candies from a birthday party...I didn't want them in house so I told her to keep one and give 5 of her friends the others...   :-)
She took a small Fruitable juice box to go with snack and a Horizon Chocolate milk with lunch

These are the boxes closed up...

Taking cue from my Bloggy friend Wendy I am going to do a post very soon on my bento stash...I have been "collecting" my bento for almost 3 years now. I was very lucky that in that time my older brother was in CA and he very graciously went to a Diaso store and bought be a huge bounty!! Check back to see our stash! :-)

Beef and Cabbage Soup

Today has been one of "THOSE" days for me...so I hid in the kitchen while Brother watched a movie and made a big pot of soup!

Beef and Cabbage Soup

1lb lean ground beef
1/2 head of cabbage
1 onion chopped
1 can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 can stewed tomatoes
1 can chicken broth
1 can V8 Juice (I had a bottle so I poured that into the empty broth can)
2 1/2 cans water (same as above in the empty broth can)
Garlic Powder
Salt and Pepper to taste

Fry onion until almost done and add ground beef.

Cook until brown and then drain the grease

Add everything else to the pot,bring to a boil. Reduce heat, Cover and let simmer for 1 1/2 hours.

Brother and I gobbled up two bowels of this for lunch today! Very tasty! :-)

I also had extra to take to Big Daddy's Nanny, my Brother for dinner tonight and some for lunch tomorrow!

Homemade Chicken Nuggets

Homemade Chicken Nuggets

1lb chicken
Panko Bread Crumbs
1 large egg
2 Tbsp flour
Salt
Pepper
Paprika
(Sometimes I add a little parsley flakes)

Cut chicken into chunks

Put egg in a bowl and gently whisk

Put flour in separate bowl

Lay out a sheet of wax paper, add 1 cup(maybe more) Panko bread crumbs and 1Tbsp paprika

Season chicken with salt and pepper then coat in flour

Dip into egg and then into Panko bread crumbs

 I always make a lot of these at once. So at this point I put wax paper on a cookie sheet and put the chicken on that and into the freezer to "flash-freeze" so I can throw them all into one big Ziploc bag to have on hand.

Bake at 400 for 20 minutes. So much better than Mc...well, you know  :-)

Menu 9-26/10-2-11

HAPPY FALL Y'ALL!!

I am so glad that Fall is here! It is my favorite time of the year! The weather is getting colder and I can't wait to take a ride in the mountains to see the leaves! :-)

We have a few things going on this week that changed my menu. My birthday is tomorrow so I didn't make any plans, just going to see what I feel like. :-)
We have plans for Saturday so I am taking an OFF day then as well.

I will not be posting any shopping trips this week because I didn't see anything I needed at the drug stores and I ended up only getting produce and such at Kroger, nothing great. But, I did save some money this week so I can put that up for stock-up items!

Monday:
Cereal w/Fresh Fruit
Bento/Beef and Cabbage Soup(New)
Birthday :-)

Tuesday:
Whole Wheat Banana Pancakes w/Fresh Fruit
Bento/Sandwiches
Homemade Chicken Nuggets(freezer),Annie's Mac and Cheese w/Raw Veggies

Wednesday:
Scrambled Eggs.Turkey Bacon and Whole Wheat Biscuits
School/L.O.s
Goulash w/Salad and Green Beans

Thursday:
Oatmeal w/Bananas
Bento/L.O.s
Pork Steaks,Sweet Potatoes,Corn on Cob and Applesauce

Friday:
Omelet w/Toast and Salsa
Bento/Cheese and Crackers w/Fresh Fruit
LaCarretas

Saturday:
O
   F
      F   DAY!   :-)

Sunday:
YOYO
YOYO
Beef and Broccoli w/Rice,Egg Rolls and Fortune Cookies