An American Bento

Have you seen those tradition Japanese Bentos?  They look exquisite, filled with all sorts of exotic goodies.  My girls get a little squeamish when I suggest the possibility of making one of those...but I think they'll enjoy this bento lunch.  It takes some of the food finds of a traditional bento box and mixes them with things that are a favorite of my kids.   And since this is one busy, work filled weekend for me I made some Bento lunches for Daddy-O to pull out of the fridge and serve. 
I know the girls will love them, but I'm willing to bet he makes himself something different!

This lunch has some salmon, jasmin rice, cucumber salad, carrot sticks, cashews, some mandarin oranges, and some crenshaw melon.  This is local salmon (we live in the Pacific NW, and man is our salmon yummy!) and the cucumber salad is similar to what you'd find in a sushi restaurant.   As always I used our easylunchboxes...not only can I pack a ton, but they stack in the fridge so nicely!

Picnic at the Park

I asked what you wanted to see and a Picnic lunch was the winner, and well frankly, a picnic is really a great way to go!  I packed the girls up today to hit a local park to burn off some extra energy, and threw together a few lunches which not only saved money, but saved us from needing to make a trip through a drive through.  When I was packing the lunches I kept thinking about what Ma might have packed the Ingall's family for a picnic after church (I am such a product of the 70's).  I decided she would have packed chicken, potato salad, berries, maybe a chocolate cake or an apple pie, probably some season veggies and some fresh baked bread.  Since I had 30 minutes the fresh bread and pie were out.  Also the veggies picked from my garden will have to wait, since the plants aren't yet producing... lucky for me the 10 plus local grocery stores have all sorts of lovely produce!

This picnic lunch has some grilled chicken drumsticks, homemade potato salad (yum), an apricot, watermelon, carrots, broccoli, tomatoes, some Tillimook cheese and a cupcake! (The cupcake was leftover from a birthday celebration this weekend, but if I hadn't have had it I would have made some brownies.)  Since it's a picnic I'm going to go a little crazy and pack some Hansen's soda!    I'm willing to bet this picnic lunch that Pa and Half Pint would have gobbled it up.
And this easy, yummy picnic lunch is packed in my favorite easylunchboxes.