Category: Yummy

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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July 5, 2015

4th of July Eagle Watermelon

Yep, I know it’s the fifth. But better late than never.

Coming up with themes for already well-themed holidays is challenging. For the fourth, it’s the flag, the fireworks, etc. This year, I worked on the eagle. It’s pretty straight forward carve (using a paring knife and a v-shaped instrument) except that I used baby carrots to give his beak and feet some depth. The stars were a last minute addition, but I think it makes it more patriotic looking, right? For fruit, we got as close to red, white, and blue as possible with watermelon, strawberries, green grapes and blueberries. The back half of the carve was a bowl shape to hols more fruit. It was fun to eat it at our friends’ yearly 4th of July party. Of course, the first thing to go were the stars.

Hope you had a safe and fun fourth this year!

For this watermelon, I used

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June 19, 2015

Dolphins and Waves Fruit Bowl

Ahhh watermelon season is back. And this particular one was delicious! For a picnic in the park, I brought this fruity dish… a watermelon ocean and banana dolphins. All it had in it was green grapes, strawberries, watermelon, and of course, bananas. The banana dolphin idea is certainly not mine as it has spread over the internet like wildfire, but I’ve always wanted to try to do it because it was such a brilliant thought that I wish I could give credit to the originator (but I have no idea who that person is). Anyhow, the kiddos loved them and I thought they were particularly cute — it helps too that it was delish 🙂

For this watermelon, I didn’t use anything in particular besides some carving and regular kitchen knives. I did add the black sprinkle for the eyes, though, since they looked much more uniform than carving the eyes.

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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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May 19, 2015

Rain, Rain Come and Stay Bento

Normally at this point in the year, rain is the last thing anyone wants to see. But when your state is in major drought, every single drop counts. Today it looks like rain! But it’s doubtful it will actually rain 🙁 So to encourage the weather, a little rain cloud and sky scene for lunch.

In today’s lunch:

Main PB&J cloud mini sandwiches. I don’t have a large cloud cutter, so I made this one out of small circles. They break apart into mini sandwiches. The trick is to start with one circle, then cut the one next to it with the same cutter so that it fits into the other. Keep going and five mini sandwiches later, voila! Eyes are made from chocolate chips with a non-pareil highlight and the mouth is a little bit of candy string. The rain drops from the cloud (and his happy tear) are candy coated sunflower seeds.
Sides Blueberry sky with white sprinkle stars and an artichoke dip moon (in a mini silicone cup) with black sprinkles and candy string for a face. Surrounding it are Pasta Chips for dipping.
Also included but not pictured Yogurt and string cheese.

Today, I used:

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May 7, 2015

A Gradient of Fruity Flowers

With this being Teacher Appreciation week, as always I was stumped as to what to get for the teachers. I really like gift cards generally but sometimes I feel like it feels like a last-minute gift. So I wanted to show my thanks to our preschool teachers by making them an edible flower arrangement. You probably all heard me complain about how much edible arrangements cost, so I took it into my own hands and came up with a bouquet of watermelons, cantaloupes, and pineapple with blueberry metals and green grapes stems. Super simple as always, just by using an inexpensive glass vase, one cookie cutter, and some wooden skewers. The twist this time was that I added the melons so that the arrangement was a gradient of colors for a pretty burst of colors. To create the base of the flowers in the vase, I added blueberries to the bottom and grapes on top of those. The fluted neck of the vase held the flowers in place beautifully.
To finish the gift, I added a hand-lettered card not pictured here. I really hope the teachers like the treat!

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May 4, 2015

May the 4th: A Lunch From the Dark Side

As is my custom on May the 4th, a Star Wars bento for the kiddo 🙂 Today, it’s one from the Darkside… Sith lord themed. Beware the Dark Side! They have cookies 🙂

In this lunch:

Main PB&J Darth Vader Sandwiches and a Darth Maul strawberry (on the back of a Darth Vader Easter egg), with details done with black edible dough (and yellow sprinkle eyes). I made his horns out of peanuts (cut them to points with a sharp paring knife.
Sides Trail mix with the front of the Darth Vader Easter egg (front) and large purple grapes.
Also included but not pictured Yogurt and pasta chips with brie.

Today, I used:

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April 30, 2015

Beauty and the Beast Bento

Beauty and the Beast is the kiddo’s favorite Disney movie, so today’s theme is Beauty and the Beast! I had plans to figure a way to sculpt out a Beast face out of the kiwi but that would have added a load of time to this lunch! I’ll admit that the painting was difficult because the kiwi is so juicy that the water-based food dye that I used to paint started to smudge a bit but I think it will make it to lunch. We will see! 🙂

In this lunch:

Main A PB&J “Book” sandwich and a banana with Belle carved on it
Sides The Beast is painted onto a kiwi and I used a tiny bit of white edible dough for his teeth. I also included a red rose made from a strawberry on a blueberry background.
Also Included but not Pictured Yogurt and mozarella

Today, I used:

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