A Lunch Only Mommy Loved

For such a simple-looking lunch, this actually took me a lot of time to prepare. The menu is as follows (from bottom left, clockwise):

• A California Pluot (plum-apricot cross), very tasty looking.
• Two mini-muffins -- one banana & one "meal muffin."
• A package of "natural" gummi bears with a few peanut M&Ms for color.
• A Thermos of hot mashed potatoes, with a slug of grated cheddar cheese on top.
• An orange kitty-shaped condiment cup of mayonnaise for the mini "sandwiches."
• Mini ham-&-cheese "sandwiches" with grape tomato "bread," held together with toothpicks.
• A blue pig-shaped condiment cup of mustard for the mini "sandwiches."

VERDICT:

• California Pluot. Reportedly it "fell on the floor" so "I couldn't try it." This sounds a lot like what happens when BunnieB "accidentally" drops things on the floor because she doesn't want to eat them. But hey, I wasn't there, I suppose I should give her the benefit of the doubt.... not. This was especially frustrating because the fruit was soooo perfect and it looked sooo delicious... I'd have rather her brought it home untouched so I could have enjoyed tasting it!
  
• Banana muffin. She'd had these recently so I knew she liked them.
  
• "Meal Muffin." As before, she didn't like it and threw it away. I love these though. They are filling and just sweet enough to taste good, without tasting like a "dessert" muffin.
  
• "Natural, Organic" gummi bears. Two thumbs down! She said they were awful. These looked okay but were several years old, so their age may have actually been the problem. Not that I'd be buying these again anyway -- I don't really see the point of buying expensive gummi bears -- it's still junk. She just haranged me into getting these once when we were shopping at Bare Essentials, and it was the only thing they had that appealed to her younger sensibilities.
  
• Peanut M&Ms. Sometimes she likes peanut M&Ms, sometimes she doesn't. Today was a thumbs up.
• Mashed potatoes w/grated cheddar cheese. A major, major hit! "And the cheese all sunk to the bottom and it was all gushy and it was sooo yummy, Mommy!"
  
• Mayonnaise in kitty cup. Once again, the mayo "stunk."
  
• Mini ham-&-cheese "sandwiches" with grape tomato "bread." When she saw these in the lunchbox in the a.m., she exclaimed "you know I hate baby tomatoes!" I explained that they were just for decoration, to make the ham & cheese sandwiches look pretty, and that the seeds had even been removed so that they wouldn't get the ham & cheese "wet" (one of her pet peeves). Alas, to no avail. She said the sandwiches were yucky and she didn't eat them.
• Mustard in pig cup. "What kind of mustard was that, Mommy? It was dis-GUS-ting."

PREPARATION DETAILS:

• California Pluot. Washed, dried, & put in a silicone muffin cup for looks.
  
• Banana & "Meal" muffins. Banana muffin recipe is from some place online, but I substituted 1/2 whole wheat for the white flour. "Meal" muffin is from a non-vegan version of the recipe in The Vegan Lunchbox.
  
• Mashed potatoes w/grated cheddar cheese. Leftover boiled organic, yukon gold potatoes. Added some butter, salt, and milk, and used a flat, slotted spoon to mash them right in the pot. Nuked them with a handful of shredded cheddar cheese the morning I packed the lunch, while the thermos heated up with just-boiled water.
  
• Mini ham-&-cheese "sandwiches" with grape tomato "bread." I borrowed this idea from one of the bento blogs I frequent (I think it was LunchInABox.com, but I'm not sure!). Instead of cutting stacked slices of swiss cheese into little squares, I cut a stack of alternating slices of ham and american cheese into circles that were about the same circumference as the grape tomatoes. Initially I used a seltzer bottle cap but that was tearing up the edges of the ham, so I ended up using the bottle cap as a pattern and cut around it with the tip of a sharp paring knife.