Mac and Cheese Thermal Bento

Mac and Cheese Thermal Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

MisterMan gets to take his red Stanley thermal food jar, packed with steaming hot macaroni and cheese. This batch is very delicious. I basically used The Pioneer Woman's recipe here, and the cheesy sauce was super super tasty. But you know me; I'm always adding extra "goodies" into meals like this. I wanted to keep the deep orange color of the extra sharp cheddar cheese I used, so I threw in steamed chopped Indian squash and steamed shredded yellow carrots and yellow cauliflower. I was going to add some broccoli (and I did add a little before I changed my mind) but I think it looks more stunning all in orange. You could certainly add broccoli into the mac if you chose. But this mac & cheese is so good that you could even add the broccoli separately, like I did for their dinner, and they'll eat it totally undisguised. I also added Soyrizo, which I like to do in mac and cheese because I think it adds a little kick. The first time I did this I was afraid the kids would balk, but the trick is to not mention it and they'll never notice. I added a whole "link" this time and they loved it.

I also packed a side bento box with broccoli, grapes, strawberry, mini Fuji apple and chopped blood oranges. Oh, and two carrot lovebirds sitting in the tree ^_^

Added to What's For Lunch!