A Grain-Free Valentine Lunch

Grain Free Valentine Lunch

[exceptional-citing quoted=”featured-bento” template=”bubble-gray” date=”” ]Baked Bacon, Colby and Cheddar Cheese, Zucchini Cake Brownies, Peas and Carrots with Homemade Ranch Dip, Strawberries. Stored in an Easy Lunchboxes Container; silicone cups and dip container from Bento USA.[/exceptional-citing]

My “creative mojo” has been struggling during the past month and a half. In my bento cabinets, I have boxes and boxes of sandwich presses, sandwich cutters, and large cookie cutters that have been used over the past three years to make boring sandwiches fun.

Now that bread is off the kitchen table, all of those bento supplies are only being used to collect dust.

(sigh)

Poor Mr. Boy and even Barney Kneeknuckles have been missing sandwiches; I’ve been trying to find a grain-free bread recipe that WORKS but so far, I’ve been disappointed.

So, what is a Mama (whose love language revolves around food) to do when she wants to show her Kidlets a little lunchtime love in a Grain Free Valentine Lunch? She makes Bacon Hearts, of course. And (grain-free) Brownie Hearts. And Cheese Hearts. And Carrot Hearts. And Strawberry Hearts.

Basically, I went cRaZy with hearts, much to the delight of my kidlets, who were already ecstatic at the thought of their beloved bacon in a bento box … but to see it in the shape of a heart (well, sort of a heart, anyway… the bacon wasn’t incredibly cooperative when I put it in the oven to bake and the hearts twisted up a bit) … that just pushed them over the top into squeals of delight and hugs. Barney Kneeknuckles, who has added “baycon hawts” to his delayed two year old vocabulary, wrapped his sticky arms around my legs (side note: WHY are children ALWAYS STICKY????), and yelled, “Kank you, Mommy! Kank you!”.

Bacon. The ultimate proof of love in this family.

{IHEARTLUNCH}

Time to share your lunch! What fun lunch boxes have you been packing for your family?

You can link to any kid-lunch/bento or family-friendly recipe on a blog post or via flickr photos — this linky is for any kind of healthy school lunch and kid-food, regardless if it is Bento-style or not. I want to celebrate our efforts to provide good and enjoyable school lunches for our families!

My only request is that you either add a link back to this post or include the Lunch Graphic (which links back) to your post so others can get here to view the linked lunches too!

Link up your school lunches and bentos! Please use a permalink for your post rather than linking your general blog/flickr account URL — this will help people go directly to your fabulous lunch!