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!