Everyday Bento Review!

 

 

I love cookbooks! I have an addiction to them really. I have to really hold back when I see them in the stores. I sometimes completely avoid the cookbooks all together. That way I won't pine for the latest one. When I am looking for a great cookbook I search for the ones that have awesome pictures, clear and simple instructions, readily available ingredients and recipes that I can adapt to my families taste. These are very important things in a great cookbook. I have been trying to purchase Everyday Bento for months. Every time I went to get it, Amazon was sold out! What that tells me is that this is going to be a great cookbook. About a month ago my friend Wendy asked if I would like one to review on my blog! YES!!!! I jumped at the chance to finally own Everyday Bento. I was so excited to get this particular book. She even autographed it!

My kids were equally excited. They wanted to pick a lunch. So they picked and I made my own version of Wendy's awesome bentos. The best thing about Everyday Bento is it meets every one of my qualifications for a GREAT cookbook. Yes. This book is great. It provides you with a jumping off point into the world of bento meals.  She keeps the ingredients simple. They are all readily available anywhere and all the lunches are all just plain adorable. She also makes it easy for you to make cute lunches for your kids without needing a hundred different tools to do it with. She even helps give you ideas for lunches for mom and dad. Here are two of the lunches the kids picked.

This is a Build It Yourself Pizza lunch. You can do so much with this lunch. Add all you kids favorite pizza toppings to the box and they have a perfect lunch!

This lunch is for the youngest girl. She has a flour tortilla cut into cute mini rounds. Mozzarella cheese, pepperoni pieces, peppers, sauce, cucumbers and grapes.

This is lunch for my middle girl. Artful Leftovers lets you take dinner leftovers and make a whole new meal out of them for lunch. You can do a lot with leftovers. This would be a great lunch for yourself or the hubby!

I used the Yumbox for this lunch. She has flour tortillas, Applegate ham, lemon pepper chicken breast, shredded lettuce, grapes, carrots, grapes and ranch dressing. The Yumbox is leak-proof so that ranch will stay right where I put it.

 

These are the snacks that my daughter and I took with us on an outing today. I used my favorite snack containers for the snacks. Sistema makes containers in all shapes and sizes. We have some gluten free pretzels, a GoGo Squeez applesauce, clementine oranges, peanut butter and sunflower seeds.

 

I really love this cookbook. Wendy gives some awesome tips for making healthy lunches. Go ahead and grab this one. It is well worth it. Don't forget to check out Wendolonia. She has an awesome blog too! This girl really knows her lunch.                                                                                                      

 

 

*I was sent this book for review. I was not paid in any way for this review. All thoughts are my own. This post contains affiliate links.      

 

You can find these items by clicking on the picture.

 

                                                                                                       

Bagel Sandwich!

Today the kids took a really simple lunch. I used the new Bentology Raspberry/Blue Bento box. I was sent the new box to try out. I also used the original Laptop Lunches box today. Both of these boxes are awesome. My kids really like the design of these bento boxes. I really like how easy lunch is to pack lunch when I use them. I also purchased the companion boxes to go with the new Bentology box. I used them today.(links will follow) I like both styles of boxes. Actually I love all of Laptop Lunches products both old and new. They are made very well and hold up nicely. That's important when you have four kids who can be kind of rough on their lunch boxes.

This is what comes with the new Bentology Raspberry/Blue bento box. Isn't it a cool lunchbox?

Here is the new Bentology box with the bigger main box. It is perfect for a large sandwich!

This is lunch for my middle girl. She has a pretzel bagel from Trader Joe's with Applegate ham, carrots, cucumbers, grapes and an orange.

This is the original Laptop Lunches box!

This is lunch for my youngest girl. She has the same lunch as her sister. She also has a Babybell cheese.

The lunchboxes are really the same in my opinion. By that I mean they are made the same. I do really like the clear boxes that come with the new box. The kids also really like the clear boxes. They like to see what is in them. That way they don't have to ask me what is for lunch. I also think the new boxes are perfect for all ages. These new boxes are great for your older kids or even for yourself. I also think they are quite trendy. I also love that the inner boxes are interchangeable between all the lunch sets. That means you can make them your own. I would recommend these boxes. They are a great addition to your lunch packing gear. They are also the perfect box for those of you who are new to packing lunch.

*I was sent the Bentology box to try out. I was not paid for this review, All opinions are my own. This post may contain affiliate links.

         

Easter DIY Lunchables!

My kids have really been hit hard over the last several weeks with illness. My youngest has really had it rough. For four weeks we spent a lot of time missing school. I was actually very thankful for all of our snow days this year. They made it possible for her to be home while ill and me not feel like I had to send her back to school before she was completely well. Our latest illness hit Friday morning at 4:30 A.M. It was awful and it hit the youngest first. The dreaded stomach bug found its way in. So I spent my weekend waiting to see who would be next. Sunday morning my middle girl came down with the yuck. It is Monday night and here I sit once again to see who will be the next victim. I thought my son was coming down with it but so far he hasn't. We shall have to wait and see what the night and the morning bring. So today I just made two Easter themed DIY Lunchables. One for my youngest who went back to school today and one for the boy in case he makes it in to school tomorrow.

 

The youngest girl has ham shaped bunnies, chick shaped provolone, a clementine, carrots and cracker rounds from Trader Joe's.                                                                                                                        

The boy has ham shaped Easter eggs, chick stamped pepperoni, cracker rounds, grapes and a clementine.

You can find the cute food picks by clicking on the Bento USA link in the upper right corner of this page. You can find the EasyLunchboxes by clicking on the pictures below.