Category: Bento

October 8, 2015

Them Bones Bento Lunch

I love October because that’s a time when all the spooky lunches come out. Today’s lunch? A boneyard. I’ve bought a treat last week at the store and have been waiting to use it! It’s the Cheetos 🙂 I don’t ever buy them but as a little treat, once in a while when they’re not bright orange, I’ll get them. This time, I found them in skeleton parts which I wish would’ve looked more like skeletons but eh, my kiddo loved them anyhow.

This is probably the third time we use the OmieBox. Overall impression: I like it, it’s a good box and allows for generous portions. Still bummed I can’t somehow attach a drink to it (besides a juice box) so that it can be self-contained but I found a lunch bag in our stash that’s big enough for it and a water bottle.

In today’s lunch:

Main A skull and bone shaped pair of PB&J sandwiches. I got the cutters at Williams Sonoma, but can’t find them there anymore 🙁
Sides Green grapes with skeleton food picks I picked up one year at Target, bone-shaped Cheetos, an apple carved into a skull, covered with food fresh to keep from browning

Today, I used:

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October 1, 2015

First Day of October Bento

Today was the first day of October and to celebrate, a simple pumpkin lunch. Also, a celebration of the return of the mandarins! So happy it’s starting to really feel like fall here in California.

In this lunch:

Main Triple stacked pumpkin PB&J sandwich with trail mix nuts around it. I used some tiny cutters to make the face (a triangle and a strange cloud-like cutter that I found in my supplies but I don’t know where I got it!)
Sides Green grapes and a mandarin
Also included but not pictured Yogurt and a bottle of water

Today, I used:

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September 22, 2015

Hotel Transylvania 2 Bento

Today I did a Hotel Transylvania 2 Bento! I had so much fun being a part of this blog hop with my buddies from the Bento Bloggers and Friends group. I decided to concentrate on Mavis and her batty ways today, so bats is the theme. We can’t wait to see this movie, we loved the first one so much (well, maybe me more than the kids, but I’m a monster lover).

In this lunch:

Main A PB&J Mavis 🙂 For the outlining I used Nutella and for her teeth, two ghost sprinkles tucked into the bread… the bottoms make perfect vampire teeth!
Sides Bats & Ghost veggie chips and green and red grapes. The bat is made with three grapes — one for the body, one for the head and one cut in half for the wings (with triangles cut out to make them look like wings). I held the bat together with toothpicks. For eyes I use blue circle sprinkles, and for teeth, long white jimmies.
Also included but not pictured Applesauce

Today, I used:

Hop on over to the next lunch in our hop to see more Hotel Transylvania fun!

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September 17, 2015

Ocean Friends Bento

A leftover day! My kiddos love love love lobster. So once in a while, I buy wild rock lobster and make lobster rolls/lobster and butter pasta for dinner. It’s great for everyone because those who don’t want pasta eat it on a bun and those who love pasta can have it mixed in their noodles. Win-win! (And that’s a sort of rarity at my house, that I don’t have one or another kiddo complaining about dinner). My eldest kiddo begged for a lobster roll lunch so I made her an ocean friends bento today. I think the picks really help with this one as I’m not sure my whale-bun translated very well this time. Oh well, bet it’s delish for lunch.

As for the OmieBox performance, it performed well last time and served its purpose. I now send it in a bag, though, because my kiddo needs the water bottle. A small fork did fit in the container though!

Main Rock lobster sauteed in butter and garlic. Served warm. The roll is supposed to be the head of the whale (with blueberry eyes) and the tail is sticking out of the lobster.
Sides Blueberries, red grapes and the brown things on the top left are longan fruit, which is a little bit like lychee but more delicate. My kiddos love those too!

Today, I used:

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September 3, 2015

Goldilocks and the 3 Probiotic Bears (and a small OmieBox review)

A while ago, on Kickstarter, I backed a project called OmieBox. It’s a new lunchbox that allows you to pack both hot and cold items in the same box. I thought it was genius!

Today I used my OmieBox for the first time, to pack a warm/cold lunch for my kiddo. For the first time, I have learned a bit more about how I’m going to use it.

The great stuff: I loved the insulated dish because it held more than I thought it would (a bowl’s worth of mac and cheese). The whole lunchbox is pretty deep so there are four slices of cheese up in the top container, here I think I could’ve put an entire ball of fresh mozzarella cheese in there! Overall, the concept is still awesome, too, so I’m liking the ability to put the warm foods and cold foods together.

What I’m still working out: When I put in hot food, usually, this will mean I need to put in a fork or some sort of utensil. Problem is that the OmieBox is supposed to be one contained lunchbox (with a handle and everything) and it’s hard to get that fork in without sacrificing food space in there. Today I sent it in as a lunchbox and wedged the fork in. I also realized at that point that our usual Thermos water bottle wasn’t going to fit. My kiddo said she would just use her “desk” water bottle (they’re allowed a plastic water bottle at her desk as opposed to her metal lunch water bottle). The easy solution to all this is to put the OmieBox into a large-ish lunch bag, but kind of takes away from the whole contained lunchbox thing.

Well, we’ll see how it performs today! I’ll report back.

Main Goldilocks is made of mac and cheese with a tortilla face painted with food coloring. A little bow food pick for her hair 🙂
Sides Fresh mozzarella cheese with sweet basil leaves for the tops of the tree. Raspberries and 3 Probiotic gummy bear vitamins.

Today, I used:

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August 26, 2015

The First Day of Third Grade Bento

It’s the first day of third grade! I have to admit, it snuck up on me. We went abroad this summer and we’re still jetlagged so really, I feel like this minute it’s 3 in the morning. But alas, the kids are in school and the bigger kiddo is in third grade. CRAZY. I wanted to remind her that she has someone fun waiting for her at home, so I did a dog lunch for her today. We just got a puppy and the kids are insanely excited about her. So here’s to another year of bentos!

Main PB&J puppy shaped with with circle cutters and triangles for ears. The brown stuff is Nutella; the eyes are Wilton large eyes. The nose is a blueberry.
Sides Blueberries and a 3rd made out of cheddar. A chocolate chip protein bar I shaped into a dog bone.
Also included but not pictured Applesauce and water.

Today, I used:

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July 17, 2015

Camp Bentos!

My big kiddo is a lover of camps. She loves the activities, she loves the camaraderie, she loves everything. Last week she went to a day camp that needed a lunch everyday. I didn’t bento every day, but I did do it a couple of times. The camp’s theme was books so I had a little fun with that theme. I also put in a robot lunch, just because I have been wanting to do another robot lunch for ages.

In the robot lunch:

Main A cream cheese robot sandwich with a string cheese decorated with cheddar gears. Black sprinkles in his eyes.
Sides Hard boiled egg with a cheddar wrench. Grapes and blueberries
Also included but not pictured Yogurt and graham crackers

And a bookworm lunch!

In the bookworm lunch:

Main PB&J sandwich bookworm made with a circle cutter and holding a cheddar cheese book. Eyes are candy eyes.
Sides Hard boiled egg, green grapes.
Also included but not pictured Yogurt.

Today, I used:

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June 6, 2015

Spirit Week Bentos!

This last week has been spirit week at school for the kiddo. I usually only do one fun lunch a week (she gets a very simple bento type lunch every day with sandwich and fruit, cheese, yogurt, etc.), but there were all kinds of fun activities for spirit week so I added a couple of extra fun lunches into the mix. The first one below was for the end-of-the-year field trip to a bowling alley, one for mustache day, and one for Disney day.

The “real” fun bento lunch was this one, just for this field trip. In this lunch:

Main A bowling ball PB&J with a crust end on top to give the bowling ball some color. Bowling pin cheese stick (with bowling pin drawn in Sharpie)
Sides Blueberries with a star-shaped cheddar slice (I was going to put the word strike! but it was too long to fit) and a 10. Green grapes with two baby carrots that I carved into pins.
Also included but not pictured Yogurt.

A fun lunch, but much simpler. In this lunch:

Main A set of three little mustache PB&J mini-sandwiches.
Sides Strawberries with a little candy mustache, baby carrots with a little mustachioed friendly pick.
Also included but not pictured Yogurt and string cheese.

Another fun but simple lunch for Disney day! In this lunch:

Main A PB&J Minnie Mouse decorated with cherries for her bow.
Sides Blueberries on bow picks, cherries with a cherry pick.
Also included but not pictured Yogurt and string cheese.

Today, I used:

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May 31, 2015

Turning 8: A Birthday Bento

Today is the kiddo’s birthday… happy birthday, big 8 year old! I made a fun lunch on Friday to celebrate. Once a year (or so) I make a Nutella sandwich for her for lunch — this lunch has more sugar than I would normally like, but hey, it’s her birthday and the kiddo is excited. It’s a day in which she is the boss and we have to do what she says. She’s in heaven.

In this lunch:

Main A once yearly Nutella sandwich, cut to resemble an “8” with a sour belt underneath and wearing a birthday hat food pick. I didn’t have a large “8” cutter, so I made one with two circle cutters. The sandwich is double stacked.
Sides Blueberries with two balloons — the middle piece of bread from the “8” covered in Nutella and then rolled in star sprinkles. Balloon string food picks finish the look. Also, kettle corn with sprinkles and little friend picks to celebrate 🙂
Also included but not pictured Yogurt and string cheese.

Today, I used:

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May 28, 2015

Sheriff Callie Bento Lunch

Once in a while, my middle kiddo (who usually gets her wonderfully balanced lunch from preschool) stays home and asks for a special lunch. So, seeing as she wants to be a sheriff when she grows up, a Sheriff Callie lunch (who is her favorite) was in order. I’ve been wanting to make it for a while but it’s too young for the older kiddo. Anyway, to the details!

In today’s lunch:

Main PB sandwich Callie. I used green candy covered sunflower seeds for eyes (lined with black food dye and finished with a white non-pareil highlight) and a heart sprinkle for a nose. The muzzle was just a little oval and the patches on her face are peanut butter (the gray parts are peanut butter with a tiny bit of black food dye).
Sides Carrots with a sheriff star and strawberries with a food pick to resemble the cactus, Toby with little carrot hat.
Also included but not pictured Yogurt and string cheese.

Today, I used:

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