How-To: Make a #12 from Jicama

Today, I'll show you how to make Seattle's famous #12 out of jicama. But perhaps, you're not a Seahawks fan ... okay, then you can still use this simple way to liven up your kid's lunch.

If your favorite team has a special number, then use that. Or incorporate the jersey number of your child's favorite player.

Basically, you need a cutting board, a paring knife, a sharp knife and cookie cutters. Plus a jicama, at least in my case.

Put down the cutting board on the counter, of course. With the sharp knife, slice the jicama in half; it's easier to work with this way.

Using the paring knife, peel the brown skin off of the jicama. You'll also want to make a second pass to peel away the fibrous white part, as it's a bit bitter.

Next, with the sharp knife, carefully cut 1/4-1/2" slices of jicama.

Once you have an even slice, put your cookie cutters (in my case - #12) on top, and firmly press down.

Tada! Veggie numbers. Told you it wasn't hard. And by the way, I don't waste the jicama scraps. Those get packed in tomorrow's lunch. :)

So ... this is an easy, quick way to jazz up your kid's lunch. Try it today!

Super Bowl 2015: Seahawks Bento Lunch

Today's lunch is dedicated to the Seattle Seahawks. All across my city, homes and businesses alike are showing their support for the Seahawks by raising #12 flags. At night, the skyline is lit up with green and blue atop the skyscrapers. It's really pretty.

Nestled among blueberries, a football-shaped egg is careening towards the cheddar-cheese-stick field goal post, which is situated atop baby spinach.

On the bottom half of the bento box, a jicama #12 sits on top more green and blue - broccoli florets and blue corn chips.

Come back later this week to see how to make your own #12 out of jicama. Hint: it's pretty easy!

Super Bowl 2015: Patriots Bento Lunch

Although I live in Seattle, and therefore am a Seahawks fan by default, I also want to acknowledge our Super Bowl opponent, the Patriots. Which is why today's bento lunch features the colors of the New England Patriots.

Any football fan, or anyone following the recent games leading up to the Super Bowl, will recognize the Patriots' colors as being red, white and blue. The red is represented by strawberries and red bell peppers, while the blue is acknowledged with blue corn chips and blueberries. Sticks of jicama constitute the white portion of the Patriots' colors.

A football-shaped egg (protein) is headed towards a field goal post made from cheddar cheese sticks (dairy).

Next week, I will feature a new Seahawks bento lunch, as well as a later post on how to make #12 out of a veggie. SEA ... HAWKS!

Shout out to the Seattle Seahawks!

If you're a follower of my blog, you'll know that I live in the greater Seattle area. Although my family and I are not technically fans of football, if you live in Seahawks country, you had better be a Seahawks fan. :)

So in light of their recent win, today is a throw back post to when the Seahawks won the Super Bowl last year.

Quick and healthy bento

Sometimes, life hands you lemons, and in the midst of trying to make lemonade from those lemons, life goes on, and school lunches still need to be made. What the heck am I talking about? Well, over Christmas break, along with my entire family getting sick, I developed bronchitis, the severe coughing of which illness bruised my rib. The only way to heal a rib = rest. So I am not allowed to do pretty much anything, except breathe, sit, rest and sleep. I can't grocery shop. I can't vacuum. I can't make meals. I can't do diddly-squat. (But a major shout out to my awesome husband, who has taken care of me and the kids and the household. Love you, Babe!)

However, the kids went back to school today (hooray!). And I needed something for their lunches. Remember how I said I couldn't grocery shop? Therefore, there wasn't a huge of variety of lunch-type items in our house. But I managed to pull together a relatively healthy lunch out of what was left-over from the holiday munchies.

Today's lunch consisted of:
Roasted Garlic Triscuits (grain)
Baby carrots, broccoli florets, snipes and celery sticks (lots of veggies)
String cheese (dairy)
Costco's fruit and nut trail mix (fruits and protein)

Don't think that you can't make a quick and healthy lunch. Just look around at what you have, and put it together. It doesn't have to be Pinterest-worthy; mine aren't! Healthy and do-able - let's all aim for that goal this new year!