I'm Biggie: avid cook, speedy lunch packer, mom in San Francisco, & former expat fluent in Japanese. 
Baba ghanouj lunches
Contents: Grilled minted leg of lamb (Alton Brown’s “Silence of the Leg O’ Lamb” recipe), homemade baba ghanouj (grilled eggplant dip) with Aleppo pepper, grilled radicchio with chocolate/vinegar/raisin/pine nut sauce (recipe from How to Grill), quick salad of halved cherry tomatoes and cucumber with vinaigrette and mustard, and pita bread.
Morning prep time: 8 minutes, using leftovers from last night’s dinner. I made the quick salad fresh in the morning with vinaigrette already made and in the refrigerator — a quick way to add flavor to any number of dishes, not just salads.
Packing: The cut tomatoes in the salad gave off liquid, so if I weren’t using a totally divided box like the one above it would be better to pack it in a separate little container. I cut the big slices of lamb into bite-size pieces for easy eating (using a knife in the lunch containers is both unwieldy and scars the boxes).
Contents: Bug’s vegetarian bento had grapes, a quick salad of cucumbers and cherry tomatoes, homemade baba ghanouj (eggplant dip) and pita bread triangles for dipping.
Morning prep time: 6 minutes.
Packing: This was finger food except for the salad, so I used a little three-pronged mini fork for little hands. The baba ghanouj was pretty thick and I carried Bug’s lunch for him today, so I didn’t bother to cover the inner container. If I were giving this to Bug to carry by himself, I would have covered the heart-shaped container with plastic wrap or Press N’ Seal to eliminate spillage. I put Bug’s lunch in the same insulated Lock & Lock bag with my two containers, just left the drink container out. It was a slightly tight fit, but it zipped up and gave me the flexibility to pack more food in just one bag. I also picked up a couple of little carabiners to attach the lunch bag to my diaper bag, which frees up a hand to corral Bug!
Lunch in a Box is nominated for Best Food Blog in the Blogger’s Choice Awards. If you’d like to cast your vote for speedy lunch packing, click here (you can vote for multiple blogs in the same category).
READ MORE:
- Need for speed: A mommy’s lunch manifesto
- How to pack a bento lunch and use “gap fillers”
- Choosing the right size bento box
- Packed lunch food safety
- Biggie’s list of top speed tips, tutorials and equipment reviews
May 9th, 2007 | Categories: bento, for kids, lactose free, meat, recipe, vegetarian | 
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May 9th, 2007 at 6:57 pm
That Barbeque Bible recipe looks delicious! And I really love the lunchboxrecipes Flickr group you setup.
May 9th, 2007 at 9:37 pm
Thanks americanmutt! I just realized that I got the radicchio recipe from How to Grill, not Barbeque Bible (same author) — sorry! Glad you’re enjoying the Lunchbox Recipes group — I wanted somewhere for the lunch packing community to post all of their good recipes, not just the Japanese ones.
May 9th, 2007 at 10:12 pm
That lamb looks wonderful! Would you recomend it as a first time recipe for someone who’s never had or cooked lamb before?
May 9th, 2007 at 11:56 pm
Actually, I would. The wet rub gives it a really nice flavor/aroma, and it’s a pretty straightforward recipe. Cook time was longer for us than in the recipe, though — it’ll probably depend on the heat of your fire.
May 10th, 2007 at 1:19 am
I’m curious about how you made the eggplant dip. It looks really yummy ^^
May 10th, 2007 at 8:28 am
I am always amazed at the range of flavors Bug eats. I know kids can be contrary when it comes to food, but it’s still a feat. Although my husband and I aren’t talking about kids just yet (well, he is, not me), I’m very interested in the concept of feeding my kids ACTUAL FOOD, like you’re doing. Both he and I were raised with the “hot dogs and chicken nuggets” mentality, something I definitely don’t want to pass onto my children.
I’m wondering if you’ve read up on the subject, or if you just decided to try to expose your son to as many foods as possible?
The food looks GORGEOUS as usual — good luck with the voting, I’ve already done my part! ♥
May 10th, 2007 at 12:59 pm
I’ve been dealing with the same problem of cut tomatoes giving off liquid — I put a thin piece of toast under the tomatoes to sop up all the liquid. And you can eat the toast if you’re so inclined (although I found that if you really do want to eat the toast, putting a little seasoning on it before adding the tomatoes makes it tastier).
May 10th, 2007 at 2:12 pm
Ooh, great tip, ms_hooligan! I like it!
May 10th, 2007 at 2:19 pm
How do you keep the salad from absolutely marinating in the vinaigrette? I find that by the time I actually eat foods with salad dressing on them, a lot of times the vinegar has completely soaked into the food, which makes it really puckery. Do you make your own salad dressing?
Also, I love the heart-shaped box in the bottom lunch. Cute!
May 10th, 2007 at 2:20 pm
Thanks pinkfairywand! I’m constantly awed by what Bug’ll eat too — I try not to make a big deal out of it one way or the other, and find that he’ll eat pretty much anything over a week’s time. For example, he’s been on a temporary strike against cherry tomatoes, but for some reason when I cut them in half and put them in this salad he gobbled them up. Radicchio seems too bitter for him and he spit it out at dinner, but he’s pretty game for most everything else.
I was raised on adult food (not special kid’s food), and I couldn’t imagine cooking TWO meals at each meal (one for Bug, one for us) or dumbing down our normal diet. I did a little bit of multicultural reading when we were introducing solid food, and was inspired by cultures that don’t hesitate to feed children normal food (albeit without lots of salt or hot sauce — you know). But I don’t have the hubris to think that I’m to credit for Bug’s eating habits — some of my friends have done the same things, but their children wound up being very picky eaters. I’m just thankful and cross my fingers that it continues…
Thanks for the kind comments and the voting — I’m mostly just hoping to stick around on the top page for as long as I can, and am thankful for everyone who has voted to help make that happen!
May 10th, 2007 at 6:25 pm
Well, with the tomatoes and cucumbers, I was actually *aiming* for marinating — no delicate greens that would turn to mush in the vinaigrette. When I pack greens (lettuce, cilantro, green onions, etc.) I pack the dressing in a separate container and use an ice pack of some sort to keep them cool until I’m ready to eat (wilted salad = not so nice). I do make my own vinaigrette, mostly because I’m cheap and it’s so easy. It varies according to my mood, but I make a bunch at a time in a bottle that I keep in the fridge. Thanks for the comment on the heart-shaped subcontainer — it really perks up a child’s lunch!
May 10th, 2007 at 8:23 pm
I applaud anyone who can get a toddler to eat the kind of lunches you are packing for him. I wish I’d been able to persuade my kids to eat that healthy at that age!
May 11th, 2007 at 5:50 pm
We had the grill fired up for the lamb and radicchio anyway, so I took four really big eggplants and oiled them and poked some holes in them with a skewer. Threw them on the hot grill until they were blackened and scary-looking. Took them off the grill, put them in a bowl and covered it with plastic wrap — let it sit for 10 minutes to let residual heat finish cooking the eggplants. Filled a basin with cold water, dunked an eggplant at a time, and peeled the blackened skin off while they were still hot. Throw the peeled eggplant into a colander and let it sit for at least 5 minutes to let the bitter juices drain off. In a food processor, it’s the same as making hummus. Whirl in some minced garlic, lemon juice, tahini, salt and a splash of olive oil plus the eggplant flesh. Adjust seasonings to however you like it. You could make it without a food processor if you chop the eggplant really fine, maybe mash it with a potato masher — depends how you like it.
May 11th, 2007 at 6:59 pm
Thanks, never!
May 14th, 2007 at 11:04 pm
Bruschetta, maybe?