Other Half Of Valentines.

Just wanted to finish off the Valentine lunches that came out of our house for Valentine week :D

Cupid was at work today in Lynden's lunch....marble cheese arrows for Cupids bow (ham sandwich with a red tortillas top to make red), then some cute strawberry hearts and raspberries with a cute little critter pic.  Then in her snack box she got heart carrots and cucumbers with her cute gummy heart dude hanging out, chocolate pudding we made together finished off with heart sprinkles and a cute little dollar store container with some strawberry pink Pez candies for a treat

Valentine's Day has come...time to spread the love with my cute little heart birdie.  A Heart ham sandwich with cute embellishments cut out of fruit leathers and marble cheese, then some little song bubbles (marshmallows) as he sings his love tune.  Then we have heart jello jiggler cutouts (which she helped me make), a cute little critter in the jello and some raspberries to finish off that box.  In her snack box we have heart shaped red peppers, carrots and cucumbers with cute "LOVE" pics.  Then some heart strawberries and another container with a treat of pink and brown smarties inside :D

Hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day, I know my adorable 4 year old Valentine and I sure had a great day together!

Kicking off Valentine's week!

So, Im breaking my regular routine and thought I would post a few periodical posts this week leading up to Valentine's day so perhaps you can steal some of the ideas and include in your child's Valentine's Day lunch! I hope my simple ideas inspire you to have a little fun and surprise your child with a little dose of love in the lunch box to bring a smile and giggle to their face when they open...

We started out with the cute little containers I found at the dollar store (always keep my eyes open for lunch box cuteness potential) that says "hugs", it had a couple pink princess graham cookies in it, then I put some heart shaped cucumbers and strawberries to finish off her nutrition break breakfast.  Then for lunch she has a cute heart shaped ham sandwich with a cute heart shaped strawberry on top, some of our famous pink cottage cheese (she LOVED that we tint the colour pink and asks for it all the time.  when I first thought of it I made sure I made it WITH her so that she wouldn't open and frown at it thinking its gross, then it was cool instead!), and a few red and orange peppers to finish off the meal, voila!

Today started out with a heart shaped Babybel cheese, some heart shaped cucumbers and red peppers to match, and then some heart shaped jello jigglers we made last night together (and don't forget the cute little pink kitty cat pic in the jello).  In the lunch portion I put some raspberries and heartshaped strawberries, then some cut up pink wafer cookies, a cute pink/red tortilla topped bear sandwich (to go along with them learning about bears and their teddy bear picnic this week) and another cute box from the dollar store set saying "Love U" and there is cut up twizzlers in there for a treat to surprise her!

Any fun things you are doing for Valentine's Day?

Our week in Bento Box land...

Just wanted to share what was in the Bento Boxes this week at our house......

Monday:  We started out with some raspberries and blueberries, with some cut up marble cheese and Jicama sticks (yummy fresh veggie that packs a refreshing taste and strangely taste like peas).  Then for her main lunch she has peanut butter and bananas rolled in a whole wheat tortilla, with come cheddar rice cakes and a few dried apricots to finish things off.

Tuesday:  Cute strawberries sliced and fanned out pretty with some green grapes to mix, a container of cottage cheese and a blueberry to jazz up a bit, and then a few Jicama sticks and split peas.  For her lunch it was all about leftover fresh fish we caught ice fishing!  She got the fish, along with fish crackers in a cute little silicone fish cup, and a fresh homemade bun to finish off the meal (don't forget the lemon juice on the fish of course!).  Love my new little letter pics too, going to be fun to use for various occasions, just wish they came with multiple letters in the set for popular letters, might have to order another pack.

Wednesday:  Puzzle piece sandwich with a cute little Koala bear peeking out, then a few Jicama flowers with red pepper centers.  For her snack she had mixed fruit with green grapes, raspberries and blueberries to enjoy, a cup of cottage cheese and a yummy homemade Gingersnap cookie that we made together :D

Thursday:  We have a mixed assortment of veggies (red peppers, carrot sticks, Jicama flowers leftover from yesterday's cut outs, and snap peas), a sliced heart shaped boiled egg and a few Swiss Cheese crackers.  For her lunch she has strawberries sliced and fanned out with grapes and a cute teddy bear peeking out, then a few Jicama flowers with carrot centers and an adorable Teddy Bean sandwich (they are studying bears at school this month, including a teddy bear's picnic coming up next week too).

Friday:  She had a little lead in to Valentine's week with a heart cut out on her Babybel cheese, then her strawberries were cut into hearts, with a few grapes on top, and a little container of smores goldfish for a treat.  Then for lunch she had some meat roll ups, with cheese and swiss cheese crackers (with a cute little gummy heart guy hanging out in the cheese), then some mixed veggies (orange peppers, carrots, snap peas)

I hope I have given you a few ideas on cute things you can do to jazz up your child's lunches. As you can see its nothing too out of the ordinary, cute and easy and the kids get a smile every time they open their lunch kits to find your creations!  Enjoy!

Over the Top and Amazing Bentos....

I stumbled across this article and it still blows me away with what people can do with food!  Look at these AMAZING Bento's..... http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/creative-and-interesting-bento-boxes/

For most Japanese mothers, lunch is not just simple food preparation and packing meals for their love ones, they spend their time arranging the meal in aesthetically pleasing way. These lunch boxes are known as “Bento.” Bento is a Japanese word for a meal served in a box. In history, bento is a packed Japanese lunch box, same idea to, the Korean dosirak, Filipino baon, or the Indian tiffin lunch. Today, they are a vibrant art form admired around the world.

If you’re interested on creating one for yourself or for your love ones, there are plenty of garnishes and interesting side dishes for your bento. A basic Bento is only divided into 2 parts: half of the lunch box is filled with rice, the other half is filled with a range of complementary foods, such as eggs, vegetables, meat or fish. Below you’ll see some of well-designed Bento that goes beyond the basic Bento preparation.

Harvest Bento. A well-designed bento that looks like the Sun Maid Raisin girl. (via: Sakurako Kitsa)

I Wanna Rock & Roll All Nite. This was made by Susan Yuen. She chose Gene Simmons of the popular band, KISS (via: Susanyuen)

Lovely Bento. Yaoi is one of Ramachan’s favorite manga. Yaoi is a Japanese word, which is in fact itís an acronym. It comes from “Yama nashi, Ochi nashi, Imi nashi”, which means “no climax, no point, no meaning”. (via: Ramachan)

Camping Bento. Perfect lunchbox for adventurous people specially going camping bento. (via: Lillergy)

Meta Knight bento. This Meta Knight bento was made of a rice ball with plastic wrap, and Anna put some seasoned seaweed inside. Meta Knight is dark blue with a gray mask, so I put ground black sesame seeds around the bottom half on the side of rice ball for the blue part. (via: AnnaTheRed)

Sony Playstation. A bento made by a gamer. (via: Markpascua)

Star Wars Bento. A star wars-inspired bento showing the planet Tatooine’s twin suns, Tatoo I and Tatoo II. (via: Vingt Deux)

Spidery Monster Bento. MisterMan, as the creator call it, gets a salmon salad sandwich on whole wheat thin with lettuce and cheddar. Guarding it is fanged tomato spider with baby carrot legs. (via: Sherimiya)

Starbucks Bento. Starbucks’ marketing department can borrow this idea for their future print advertisement. (via: Ricoco)

Kanda Bento. Here’s another anime-based bento design. This is the face of Yuu Kanda, one of the best D.Gray-man character. (via: S-in-C)

Ouendan Monkey Magic Bento. This is from the Monkey Magic segment of the sequel to the Nintendo DS game Osu. (via: Kickintheheadcomic)

Lost Bento. A Bento made by an avid viewer of popular TV series, LOST. (via: Aibento)

Nekobus Bento. Anna truly made an art out of frozen meatballs, broccoli, egg, cheese, snowpeas, asparagus and seaweeds. (via: AnnaTheRed)

Geisha Bento. In all the Bento design listed here, this one is really unique. It’s like a sculpture placed inside a bento box. (via: Sakurako Kitsa)

Konata Bento. This is Konata from Lucky Star Anime Series. (via: KandiKawaii)

Koi Pond Bento. Cathryn explains that he stones surrounding the pool are soy-braised button, bunashimeji (beech), and tiny enoki mushrooms. The Koi are kamaboko with red bell pepper and nori details. (via: Cathryn3)

Bioshock Big Daddy. Here’s another game-based Bento. Meet Bioshack Big Daddy and the little Sister. (via: Kickintheheadcomic)

Mokona Bento. Mokona is the pen name of the lead artist of the all-female manga-creating team Clamp. Mokona here is made of a giant rice ball (via: Nikoleart)

Power Puff Girls. Fans of power puff girls will surely love this. (via: Luckysundae)

House of Bento. This house looks yummy from the outside. I wonder what’s the inside. (via: Lillergy)

Goju Ryu Suparinpei Bento. The Karate girl is made of mozzarella, smoked ham and nori. The backgraound is made of mushrooms, green onions, mozzarella, pepperoni and turkey. (via: )

Frog Bento. Awesome tree frog sculpture. (via: Sakurako Kitsa)

The Oz-Man Cometh. Another excellent artwork by Susan Yuen. (via: Susan Yuen)

Bento of Super Smash Bros.. Featuring Pikachu and Mr. Game & Watch! (via: Kickintheheadcomic)

Spongebob Bento. Spongebob is made of a whole grain bread with mortadella and cheese. (via: Lovebones)

Death Note Bento. Death Note is another popular Japanese manga/anime series. (via: Kickintheheadcomic)

Phoenix Suns Bento. Kawaiikiki made a bento about her favorite NBA team, the Phoenix Suns. (via: Kawaiikiki)

Spring Picnic Bento. This is an entry bento design by Laura for the Spring Contest sponsored by Bento & Co. (via: Laura Bento)

Wallace and Gromit Bento. Wallace and Gromit is one of the creator’s favorite British animated films. Susan use rice stuffed with barbeque chicken to create Wallace and kamaboko for his eyes and teeth. (via: Susan Yuen)

Sea Bento. Ironically, there’s no seafood in this bento. (via: Liloaznangel)

Patapon Bento. Patapon is a rhythm game for PSP. You push the buttons to make the Patapons march, attack and defend from enemy. (via: Kickintheheadcomic)

Xmas Bento. Kids will surely love this even though it’s not Christmas season yet. (via: Nonochan)

I could only DREAM of being that great and creative!!!

Anyone going to attempt any of these?

Last week's Bento Adventures

First of all I must apologize for taking a hiatus from blogging last week.  My mother was down visiting from California so I was soaking up all the time I could while she was here!

Back to business here though, and the Bento's didn't stop while she was here...so here is me playing catch up from last week!

Monday: sliced cucumbers, with mixed peppers (my daughter can't get enough peppers so I go with it all the time!), Babybel cheese with a cute star shape cutout, and a cup of mandarin oranges to finish off her snack container.  For her main lunch she has bologna flowers with homemade cookies she made with daddy the night before.

Tuesday: Homemade omelette with chopped peppers and ham inside (yup, peppers again!), bologna rolls with cute little animal pics holding them together, some cheese and cracker rounds, and a couple dried apricots to finish off the big box.  Her snack box had a homemade apple cinnamon mini muffin, skewers of fresh yummy pinneapple, and some heart shaped cucumbers with carrot sticks :D

Wednesday: A few different munchies for her snack container today; bologna rolls (the kid loves bologna so I have to give in sometimes and give it to her), cheese slices, dried apricots (must get to grocery store and pick up fresh fruit!), and some star shaped cucumbers with a carrot in the middle to fill (I saved the inside star cut out of cucumber for tomorrow's lunch).  Her main lunch was leftover egg noodles with a bit of butter and parmasean cheese sprinkled over, and a yummy fresh bun.

Thursday: Her snack today was yummy oranges slices (lets keep those illnesses away with Vitamin C intake!) and a few diced strawberries, a cute Babybel with a rabbit cut out (tried free hand cutting it, hope it looks like a rabbit), and a few goldfish crackers in her cute rabbit silicone cup.  Her main lunch was a few mini sandwiches (just got some new cutters to play with, see below), a bear silicone cup with some fruit snacks, and some mixed veggies to top it off.

 

Friday:  her lunch box has a cute fish silicone filled with Craising, and a few pink wafer cookies cut up, then another new toy I just got was used for the cute puzzle sandwich (see below), with a cute little racoon critter peeking out of the puzzle piece.  Then her snack container was filled with a star shaped Babybel, some homemade banana chocolate-chip loaf, a few carrots sliced up fun and an adorable bunny rabbit hard boiled egg with her own cute bow for her ear!

Some fun new toys arrived in my mailbox this week!!  Check out this post for details

New Goodies Arrived today!!

Now that Christmas is done and over with (read: Paid for), I decided to treat my daughter (okay, me) with some new fun things for her Bento Boxes!  here is what I picked out from www.allthingsforsale.com ....

Japanese Bento Accessory Food Pick Hat 3D food picks 8 pcs

 
These are ADORABLE little accent hats and bows I can add to almost anything to make it so much cuter!
How can you beat that for only $3.99  for the set?

Bento Accessories Sandwich Cutter Fun Puzzle

I have been wanting this one for a while but it was always sold out (there is another version I actually wanted more but it is still sold out so I went with this one for now).  I thought this would be a lot of fun for her sandwiches.

Japanese Bento Box Accessories Sandwich Vegetable Cutter 3 Stamps

These cute little stamp like items are going to be cute to use for mini sandwiches, but I have also seen them used as stamps on sides of bananas and such for some added details or even just to cut veggies and fruit into shapes.  The top animals are interchangeable also so you can mix you the shape with the stamp, or just take the stamp off separately and stamp!

 

Japanese Bento Accessories Sandwich Cutter Small Animal and Flower

These Sandwich Cutters are designed to make shapes of rabbit, bear and flower.  It can also be used to cut ham and cheese (or whatever you can come up with!).  After you cut your bread you can place the cuties into your bento box!

Japanese Bento Accessory Food Pick Alphabet Letter Set 26 pcs

These I thought would be adorable for spelling out words in her lunches....but unfortunately they were delayed from the first shipment so I should get them this week!

Can't wait to explore some new fun lunches with my (I mean, her) new toys.......