Bento #80

Banana, toasted cheese sandwich, fruity juice stick, Bombolin cookie.

Maisie did better eating today finishing her entire bento in the car on the way to ballet class.

Bento #79

Surimi & carrot sticks, lite ranch dressing in Hello Kitty container, mashed sweet potato, apple shaped golden delicious apple slices, banana cream filled biscuit.

Maisie really hasn't been eating much all week and today was just another day of the same. I was hoping that because she barely ate breakfast she's do well at lunchtime but all she ate was about half of the surimi & carrots and one apple slice. After school in the car she did eat the remaining apple slices and the biscuit. Then come dinner time she just picked at her food not wanting much. She doesn't seem sick and she's full of energy, especially considering she barely sleeps, so I guess when she's hungry she'll eat.

Bento #78

Carrot coins, beef ravioli, flowers made out of golden delicious apple, cheese & carrot, Pocky.

When I picked Maisie up from school today she told me that she ate all of her bento and that it was delicious and pretty. Sure enough, she did eat it all with only a couple scraps of carrot remaining in the box.

Bento #77

Chicken & cheese quesadilla, chocolate filled marshmallow, steamed broccoli, lite ranch dressing dip.

A few florets of broccoli came home with Maisie, everything else was eaten.

Bento #76

Steamed broccoli, lite Ranch dip, roast pork, strawberry jelly, Bombolin cookie.

As expected, most of the pork came home uneaten. Maisie really needs to be coaxed to eat meat but then once she does, she really likes it. After her nap I encouraged her to eat the pork, which she did, but she especially enjoyed it as she ate it with dip!

I've had numerous emails asking questions so I've made a page of the questions and answers which can be found here or by clicking on the Questions & Answers link in the side bar. I will update the page when there are new questions. Thanks for being interested in Maisie's bentos, following along with us and for asking so many great questions.

Bento #75

Toasted cheese sandwich, carrots & Marie golden delicious apple slices.

Maisie ate all of the sandwich but most of the carrots and apples remained. In fact, Maisie really ate very little today, a very small breakfast, a tiny box of raisins for morning snack, no afternoon snack and for dinner she just wanted scrambled eggs. Hopefully it's just this extremely cold weather we've been having making her not want to eat and not that she's getting sick or something like that, don't need my little girl being sick.

Bento #74

Laughing Cow light cheese, raisins, Hello Kitty golden delicious apple slices.

Today was pajama & pancake day at Maisie's school. Since they were eating pancakes her teachers asked that we send in something small to have in addition to the pancakes. I decided to go with more of a snack bento which she enjoyed. Only the cheese went uneaten as she said she was full from the pancakes and apples.

Bento #73

Thomas the Tank Engine toasted cheese sandwich, apple slices, peanut butter boy cookie, Bombolin cookie.

Today was dress in blue day at Maisie's school and I must have been blue packing her bento as it's totally uninspired and very beige. That being said, Maisie ate every morsel so even though boring the bento was a success.

Bento #72

Garlic bread & spaghetti bolognese decorated with carrot flowers, parmesan cheese in the bunny container, chocolate cream roll slices, Marie shaped golden delicious apple slices.

Both of the chocolate cream roll slices and two of the apple slices returned home with Maisie but she finished them all off after her nap.

Bento #71

Leftover house special pan fried noodles from Uncle Wong's, orange filled marshmallow, golden delicious apple slices.

Just a few little pieces of meat went uneaten so this bento was a success.

Bento #70

Grilled cheese sandwich, wavy cut apples & chocolate cookie.

Most of the apple slices came home but Maisie finished them off later in the day.

Bento #69

Garlic bread, spaghetti bolognese, waffle cut apple and carrot.

This meal was a hit and though she didn't eat it all at school, she managed to finish it off on the drive home.

Bento #68

I'm slowly easing my way back into cooking and preparing bento again. Here's Maisie's first bento of 2009 with many more to come!

Chicken & cheese quesadilla, sliced apple & carrot. Simple yes, but she loved it, finishing all but two slices of carrot.

Returning soon

It has been FOREVER since my last post and I'm sorry to say it's been that long since I last packed bento. Spending all of November being sick with half of it being in the hospital followed by a lot better December, spending most of that month on the beach in Aruba, didn't have me spending anytime in the kitchen. Maisie returns to school next week and now that I'm feeling better, bentos will be packed and posting will resume. I've missed reading all my favorite bento blogs and can't wait to start catching up again.

Bento #67

Teriyaki chicken & pineapple meatball pieces over jasmine rice with mixed veggies & beans on a leaf of romaine, mango fruity pudding.

Yesterday was pizza day at school (yeah!!) and I know, not much variety today as I'm still sick so it's sort of what's in the house and quick. Maisie really enjoyed this bento though as she finished 99% of her rice and veg and left only one tiny piece of meatball and half of the lettuce leaf. Glad to see that she's eating again!

Bento #66

Chicken salad & cheese on wheat octopus, melon fruity pudding, broccoli & ranch dressing dip.

I've been sick with a cold and I think Maisie may be under the weather too as she only ate a bite off of each octopus leg and a tiny bit of broccoli. The fact that she didn't eat any of the pudding makes me think she's not feeling 100% as the pudding is her favorite part. She did eventually eat the pudding and a bit more of the broccoli but for the most part she just wasn't in the mood to eat much of anything today.

Bento #65

Chicken salad & romaine on a multi-grain wrap, mango fruity pudding, Cotton Cup Sweet.

The only thing that Maisie actually ate was the mango pudding. I'm going to guess that she wasn't that hungry at lunch time because she's had the wrap sandwich before and loved it and who could pass up a candy ice cream cone? For the remainder of the day Maisie really didn't want to eat so I may try this bento again sometime in the future and see if she does better with it.

Bento #64

Surimi & steamed broccoli with ranch dressing dip, Cotton Cup Sweet and strawberry fruity pudding.

Maisie loved this meal and devoured everything!

Bento #63

Hommus and cheese on wheat Thomas sandwich, steamed broccoli, strawberry fruity jelly, chocolate covered chocolate marshmallow, ranch dressing dip.

Only about 1/3 of the sandwich remained uneaten today.

Bento #62

Chicken salad & romaine on wheat sandwich cut in thirds, grape fruity pudding, steamed broccoli, roasted pepper with jalapeno hommus*, two Pocky sticks.

* If you haven't tried this brand and especially this flavor of hommus, you should give it a try as it's the best I've ever had and honestly I think it better than what make at home and what I make at home is pretty awesome so this one honestly rocks!!

I don't think that Maisie was particularly hungry at lunch time as she only ate 2/3 of the sandwich and the Pocky sticks. Later in the day she did eat a little of the broccoli & hommus as well as the pudding. For dinner she wanted pancakes so that's what I made for her and even there she only ate a couple of silver-dollar sized ones. Not a stellar day eating wise but hopefully tomorrow will be better...Or maybe she's still coming down from the cake, cake and more cake high of the weekend.

Bento #61

Pasta Bolognase, grape fruity jello, Cotton Cup Sweet, grapes.

Maisie ate all but a couple of pasta twists and one grape, another successful meal.

Bento #60

Meat fritter, fish fritter, tongue, corn with sauteed spinach, Korean chop chae.

Only a little of the chop chae and about half of the meat fritter remained so this meal was a hit with Maisie.

Bento #59

Bombolin cookie, grape fruity pudding, homemade baked mac & cheese.

I'm desperate to go shopping as we now have no Maisie approved veggies or fruit in the house!! I also need some new ideas for Maisie's bentos as I feel like I'm in a rut. Thankfully tomorrow is pizza day at her school so maybe I'll be able to stock the pantry, re-group and make something interesting for Maisie's bento on Thursday...Shoot, maybe even Eammon will get something interesting and different in his bento.

Even though it looks like not much of a meal, his bento actually had a huge portion of mac & cheese. Maisie did a great job eating only returning home with a small amount of mac & cheese leftover.

Bento #58

Homemade baked mac & cheese, broccoli with ranch dressing dip, Bombolin cookie dried fruit & nuts, grape fruity pudding.

A few nuts and a tiny amount of the mac & cheese went uneaten.

Bento #57

Broccoli & ranch dressing dip, pork & cilantro dumplings, quail eggs, dried fruit, Bombolin cookie and melon fruity pudding.

Maisie loved this meal, returning home with only two tiny bits of dried fruit remaining in her bento box.