Bento Box - Frittata for Lunch

Frittatas are delicious, and they're great for using up whatever vegetables you happen to have on hand. Be sure to include lots of fresh herbs as well. Don't be intimidated by the Caesar salad. Instead check out this simple recipe.

Menu

• Frittata
• Caesar Salad
• Navel Orange Slices

Preparation Notes

• Prepare a frittata of your choice (try the recipe HERE). Be sure to include lots of fresh herbs and vegetables. (recipe shown below)
• Slice the orange.
• Prepare the ingredients for the Caesar salad:

1. Tear romaine lettuce into bite-size pieces.
2. Prepare the dressing:

• 1 Tbs. lemon juice
• 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1 clove of garlic (minced)
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/8 tsp. pepper
• 3 Tbs. olive oil

3. Sprinkle some of the dressing over the lettuce and toss.

4. Add parmesan cheese and croutons (optional).

5. Toss again.

• Alternatively, pack the salad ingredients separately and assemble at lunch time.

Source: Laptop Lunches


Asparagus Fennel Mini Frittata

Enjoy this delicious frittata for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Frittatas are a wonderful way to add fresh seasonal vegetables to your weekly fare.

Ingredients:

• 1 medium red potato, julienned
• ½ red onion, chopped
• 1 tsp. olive oil
• 8 asparagus spears, chopped
• 4 Tbs. fresh fennel, thinly sliced and chopped
• 3 eggs, beaten well
• 3 Tbs. grated parmesan cheese
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
  1. Coat a small frying pan with the olive oil.
  2. Add the julienned potatoes and chopped onion, and sauté until just cooked through.
  3. Add the asparagus and fennel and sauté for about a minute, stirring occasionally.
  4. Beat the eggs.
  5. Mix the parmesan cheese into the eggs.
  6. Pour the egg mixture into the frying pan and stir once or twice to combine with the vegetables.
  7. Cover and cook on low heat until the eggs have set. Remove from the pan and enjoy.

Bento Box - Four Cheese Ravioli

Ravioli is easy to prepare and, with the seemingly endless combination of fillings and toppings, is sure to be a hit amongst the entire family. We served our four-cheese ravioli with a fresh green salad, oranges and chocolate squares for dessert, which made for quite the lunch time treat.

Menu

• Four Cheese Ravioli with Marinara Sauce
• Green Salad
• Tuscan Salad Dressing
• Orange Slices
• Dark Chocolate Squares

Preparation Notes

• Cook the ravioli, and spoon it into one of the large containers. Top with marinara sauce and fresh basil.
• Create a simple salad by tossing your favorite greens with dried cranberries and walnuts, and pack it in the other large container.
• Fill the dip container with Tuscan dressing to drizzle over your salad.
• Fill one bento divider with dark chocolate squares, and place the chocolate and Tuscan dressing in your medium container.
• Slice oranges to put into your other medium container.

Craig Morgan - This Ain't Nothin'

Our Little Girl

Over the past few weeks, Chris and I have REALLY started to see the signs and realize that our baby girl is quickly becoming our little girl. Of course, she'll always be our baby, but with the strides she has been taking over the past few weeks, it's hard to miss that she's not a baby any more. Chris has even joked that his "Scooter" is becoming a "Moped" :o)

One of the things that's caught my attention the most is the fact that "Da-Da" became "Daddy" a couple of weeks ago. Beyond that, she's trying to say new words every week. She now, frequently says: Ma-Ma, Daddy, Ba-ba (bottle), Ju (juice), shoooe, Na-Nah or Na-Ne (banana), Bi (bite), ab-ble (apple), O or Jeh-wO (Jello), bye-bye, no, see, Ba (bath), Ba (back...she'll point you in the opposite direction), Wa-wa (water), Coa-Coa (for horse because Coach was the first horse she really connected with), C-mOn (come on), side (slide), ou-side (outside), dough (door), wab-el (waffle), boo or bah (book...she makes the sign for book while she repeats the word), ca-ca (color), boo (blue), eh-wO (yellow), puh-pel (purple), Ni-nigh (night-night), man (a-men...she either says this when she wants to say her prayers while placing her hands together and/or at the end of the prayer), bow or hah-bow (bow / hair bow; also used to refer to her headbands), bock (box, usually referring to her lunch box), Dod-jew (Dodger), Re (Rhett), dod-ja or dod-je (doggie), Elmo, sho-da (shoulder), eye, bu-bu (bubble), bah (block), rie-ba (right back), f-ow-ah (flower), he-wO (hello / cell phone), Die-pew (diaper), pee-pee and poo-poo, as well as T-T (Trinity). She's also started trying to repeat other words she hears us say during the course of our day, such as tickle and Bible. She's trying to put together phrases, too. For now, besides the few word pairs I listed above and certain words in children's songs, it's just random syllables that she tries to string together.

She is starting to enjoy having her teeth brushed and flossed and helps out from time-to-time. Just this past weekend, she started showing signs of getting ready to potty train again - she came to me and said pee-pee over half of the time she needed to go to the potty. She usually tells Dodger and Rhett night-night and sometimes tries to give them kisses through their crates before she goes to bed. She will often give us good night kisses, as well, but she has to be in the mood. If we ask her for "sugars" or kisses and she doesn't want to she turns her head away and slightly up in the air while squishing up her face. I think it's so cute. She loves playing in the water, but she doesn't really like having her hair washed. She totally abhors having her toe nails clipped; I think some of this might be because of how ticklish her feet are.

Trinity loves to color, "read," and slide. She also likes music, from trying to sing to "playing" on her drums and pianos. She's starting to understand how to play hide-and-seek. (Chris will often take her to hide in a closet and wait for me to come find them.) Trinity is now telling Chris "shhhh" as they stand and wait in the closet. She loves several children's songs, too. She'll put her fingers up to her cheeks when she wants us to sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. (I still haven't figured out why though.) She'll say bye-bye baby when she wants to sing Rock-A-Bye Baby. She'll say B-C-Ds when she wants to sing the ABCs. What I think is the cutest, for now, is when she wants to sing The Wheels on the Bus, Trinity will say "shhh" "shhh" "shhh" "beep" "beep" "beep"; as we sing this song, she'll go through all of the stages from round-and-round and waaah-waaah-waaah to up-and-down. She'll also put her thumbs and pointer fingers together, almost forming a diamond shape, when she's wanting to sing the Itsy Bitsy Spider. When singing Pat-a-Cake, she loves the ending of "for baby and me." She'll place her hands on your cheeks and squish them together while saying "meeee" with you.

Trinity is definitely a "Daddy's Girl" right now. She'll still want ma-ma from time-to-time, but she is absolutely Daddy's little helper. Trinity is Chris' little shadow, from helping out with our plants to helping "build" our entertainment system and some shelves. She will follow Chris every where. Trinity has no fear, which means I have to try to keep my eye on her every second. She'll climb up her slide the wrong way and think about jumping off; she'll also try to tip over her rocking chair or giraffe-bike. She rarely ever cries when she gets hurt. The longest I've ever heard her cry is a time she fell and almost bit through her lip and that was only for a minute.

After two months, she still loves Montessori School, too. For the past couple of weeks, if Trinity is in the middle of doing something when I walk in, she'll stop what she's doing for a minute and step away and say "roar" (what she does when she plays like she's going to get us). Then she'll run over to me saying ma-ma and ask me to c-mon. Trinity will then bring me back over to her work to show me everything she was doing. After that, I'll ask her to put her work away so we can go home. She'll hurry up and get everything put up and run over to her cubby and grab her lunch box, bag, and blankies; then, she'll run out the classroom door wanting to get outside and in the van asap.

I can't wait to see what God has in store for her, as well as for Chris and me as we try our best to guide her through this time of her life.

I love this baby girl with all my heart!

Baby Girl

Although Trinity is not really a baby any more, she will (most definitely) always be my baby girl.

The past few weeks she has gotten so fun. Just like when she started cooing, then moving... as her understanding of the world around her and her vocabulary grows, we are often awe struck with her new "tricks."

She recently figured out she can express her feelings/wants and actually let us know exactly what it was that she wants. "Come on" or "C-mOn" can frequently be heard, and she is so sweet as she looks at you and says it while reaching up and motioning with her hand (opening and closing). "Back" is another new word she has a grasp on, too. If she leads you somewhere and you try to move out of that area before she wants you to, she will often say "back" while either motioning/pointing back to where you were or grabbing on to your legs and pushing/pulling you back.

"Ouside" is also frequently used these days. Trinity loves being outdoors (rain or shine). Now that she's figured out she can tell us what she wants and she will often get it, she is often pointing toward a door and saying "ouside" or even going over to a door and trying to fiddle with the door knob while repeatedly saying "ouside."

A week or so before she started using "come on" and "back," Trinity figured out that she could try to position us how she wanted by guiding us with our shoulders, arms, fingers, legs, etc. She was wanting me to slide the first time she did this with me. She was so cute as she walked across the room to where I was sitting in the floor. Once she got over to me, I thought she was reaching to give me a hug. Instead, she grabbed my shoulders and proceeded to try to "pull" me in the direction of her slide. Once I stood up and started heading in the direction she was trying to guide me, she reached for my finger and led me the rest of the way there. Then, she pointed at the steps and said "slide."

I really wish I could catch some of these moments on video! Trinity's definitely growing up...