I know it's been awhile since I posted any bento's. Poor Penelope has been eating plain boring lunches. I decided to finally do something a little fun for her today, especially since she is getting very excited about Santa's upcoming visit.
Snowman turkey and cheese sandwich, grape tomatoes, pickles, craisins, and a piece of Christmas fudge from our cookie swap. Thanks Tracy, it's delicious!

Today I made a yummy shredded beef in the crockpot for tonight's dinner. Even though I didn't get a picture of it I thought I would share the recipe because it was very tasty. This shredded beef can be used in tacos as well as quesadillas, burritos, salads, sandwiches, you name it! Here is the recipe. Enjoy!

Crockpot Shredded Beef

4 lb. Boneless Beef Chuck Pot Roast
1 Cup of Beef Broth
1 package of dried Onion Soup Mix
2 tbs of Tomato Paste
3 Garlic Cloves minced
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp Cumin
1 tbs Chili Powder
1tbs Adobo Seasoning.
Olive Oil

Mix the paprika, cumin, chili powder and adobo seasonings in a bowl and then pat over the entire piece of meat getting it completely covered. Heat a skillet on medium high with some olive oil to sear the meat so both sides are browned. Place meat in crockpot. In skillet add the beef broth and tomato paste and stir  to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer a few minutes. Place the minced garlic and onion soup mix over the meat in the crockpot and then pour the beef broth mixture on top. Cover and set the crockpot to low and cook for 7 hours. When it is finished remove the meat from the crockpot and place in a bowl using 2 forks to shred it. Once the meat is shredded put back in the crockpot with the juice so that the meat remains moist. We made soft tacos with this meat on flour tortillas topped with guacamole, sour cream, and cheese. Delicious!

Here is Penelope's new Snack Box.

Penelope has had many smoothies in her short life but this is the first one she made all by herself!

1 Banana
About 3/4 cups of frozen blueberries
About 3/4 cups of yogurt
About 1 cup of milk
About 1 tablespoon of sugar.










She made enough for the both of us and then some! Good thing it was a yummy smoothie.

I've been slacking on making Penelope a snack box lately and for the last few days she has been asking for snacks in between meals and complaining about being hungry. She finally asked me if I was going to make her a snack box. Bad mommy! So here is Penelope's healthy snack box.

Grapes, mixed nuts & dried cranberries, pickles, carrot sticks and a cubed pear.

This weekend was the annual Stocking Stuffer Party at the Pratt Museum. They set up several tables with Christmas crafts for the little ones in the museum and you can visit the cabin next door and take photos with Santa.

Creating a Gingerbread House

Visitng with Santa

Penelope's preschool class had a little Thanksgiving program today. It was awesome to listen to and watch her recite prayers and wonderful songs about giving thanks and the Lord. They sang quite a few songs and Chris and I were very surprised since she knew all the words and this was the first time we heard any of them. They must have been practicing for weeks! Everyday that I pick up Penelope from school I ask her what she learned and she usually answers "I don't know" or "I forgot", the little stinker!
The kids also made bite size pumpkin pies for everyone to enjoy, yum!

Here is Penelope's lunch for today. Turkey cheese quesadillas w/ sour cream, sliced apples, trail mix, chocolate covered cherry, and Sea Snax roasted and seasoned nori snack. She was not the least bit into the seaweed. :)

Guess what?! I don't have to cook this Thanksgiving! We were invited over to a friends house for Thanksgiving dinner. I am pretty excited especially since I really dislike making a turkey. I can't wait to cook a Christmas ham though!