Soup for Lunch

I love soup and could eat it every day, including breakfast! Samantha enjoys eating it almost as much as I do and she also enjoys helping make it. I decided to make soup for her lunch the other day. SO she has soup in the thermos, some assorted cheese cubes and bread in the yellow tier and a fruit salad with blueberries, grapes and oranges in the blue tier.

Since I have switched to eating almost all real food prepared by me we have pretty much given up ramen noodle soup. I still like those little curly noodles on occasion so I decided to make a soup with a healthier base and then just add the noodles in the pack. I saw on Weelicious a couple of weeks ago that she did something very similar. I made my soup using the ingredients that I had on hand and things that I know Samantha and I both really like. I don't have exact measurements because I was using what was left. I started with some chicken stock from my freezer. To that I added some minced garlic, a couple of tablespoons of chopped onion, a couple of tablespoons of miso, some sliced portobello mushrooms and a couple of handfuls of chopped spinach. After that cooked for a little bit, I added the noodles (and tossed the seasoning pack) and cooked long enough for them to soften up. It was very good, I got to have some curly noodles, and by adding the veggies, I was able to make it a little healthier and more filling.

Valentine Bento

I forgot to post the Valentine Bento that I made this week. The top tier has what I call sandwich kabobs and some grapes. The sandwich kabobs are cubed bread, cubed ham and cubed cheese. the bottom tier is a mix of acocado, cucumbers, red and green peppers and tomatoes and in the heart shaped cup are some mini pickles, olives and marinated artichoke hearts. The fruit cup on the side is a mix of blueberries, grapes, raspberries and strawberries. The little dipping cup on the side has some salad dressing for the veggies. Sometimes Samantha likes dressing on the veggies, sometimes she likes them plain. I have been taking my niece bentos too when I take Samantha one and she loves to dip her veggies so I always include it when I take her lunch.

I have never been much of a sandwich person. Every once in a while is fun but I would not like to eat one every day for lunch. When I decided to start eating  healthier, I knew resturant lunches would be out and I knew that if I ended up taking sandwiches for lunch every day that my lunch makeovers would last approximately a week. I started by Goggling for ideas for other interesting lunch ideas and that is how I discovered bentos in the first place. Samantha happened to be over here one day while I was doing a search and she fell in love with the idea of bentos too. I had been her nanny really since about the time she started really eating most table foods so I knew the bentos would be perfect for her. She has always eaten just about anything that you give her and she loves meals when she gets to eat a variety of different foods. The concept of giving her a lunch with a variety of different types of foods really appeals to her. I try and eat lunch with her on Fridays or when I am off work and always take her a bento. Samantha likes sandwiches even less than I do, but she loves all the components of a sandwich. There's where the sandwich kabob comes from!