Hoppy Easter Everyone...

HOPPY EASTER TO ALL!! 

Hope you have a fantastic long weekend celebrating with all your loved ones.....

We have swiss cheese crackers to start things off, a little container of cottage cheese, and some cut up oranges with a cute little lamb peeking out.  Then in her main lunch she has tulip cucumbers, some carrot sticks (for Easter bunny of course!), and of course the Easter Bunny had to make an appearance!  I used a hamburger bun for the sandwich, cut out little slits for the nose and whiskers, then I used the cucumber skins to make the nose and whiskers and finished off with some long slices of cucumbers for the ears.  The eyes are edible eye candies made by Wilton :D  Enjoy!

This one was a spring fun theme as our snow beings to melt here!!  We have mixed strawberries and oranges, swiss cheese crackers and butterfly shaped cheese slices.  For her main lunch she has a butterfly sandwish with cute little heart sprinkles as the spots and a slice of cucumber peel for the middle stripe.  Then she has some cute little cucumber and carrot flowers to top it all off.

Catch up week #2.....

Still catching up from my hiatus of sickness I had.....

Week 2....I got the monthly news letter from school yesterday and they announced that this month's theme is going to be Medieval times!  So, naturally I saw this as a challenge :D

Monday:  My first attempt at a castle for the Medieval Times....I cut out a castle sandwich freehand and then added a cheddar cheese topping, with a cute little princess at the top of the castle peak and some marshmallow clouds for effect.  Then some green grapes and raspberries to top off the lunch box.  Then for the snack box I put celery and cheese (I find the cheese only stays nice until first break, if left too long it gets runny and turns into a mess so I always put in her snack box for her 10:40 break), some cottage cheese and a few swiss cheese crackers to finish it all off.

Tuesday:  Her snack box had a Babybel with my best shot at free-handing a princess crown into it, swiss cheese crackers, green grapes and raspberries and the lost princess mixed into the fruit.  Another castle in the lunch box, but this time I spelled "Castle" for her to have fun learning and seeing new words that go along with her school theme and also the lunch I made.  I free-handed the castle, had ham in the sandwich and used cucumber peels for the entry doors to the castle.  Finished that box off with some cucumbers and red peppers on skewers that were swords to keep with the theme as well.

So excited, I got Bento mail today!  I ordered these ADORABLE cutters from Zulily and got them today!!  Great household products, clothing for kids and adults, and decorating goodies too. Did I mention cheap too?..worth a look!  

Wednesday:  Today brought Lynden raspberries, a Babybel cheese, some mixed bits n Bites snack.  For her lunch I got to play with my new cutters and I must say I LOVE them!  I made the cute little sun and moon sandwiches, with a chocolate chip cookie (and don't forget a cute little puppy pic on the middle), and her favorite fan sliced strawberries with a new word spelled out for her "DOG" to go with the puppy pic.  Too much fun to make the lunches educational AND fun so easily!

Thursday:  Her lunch box today was all about crackers and cheese snack food.  I gave her some skewered ham, soda crackers with cheddar cheese slices in them, a few pieces of beef jerky, sliced cucumbers and red peppers.  Her snack box is ranges, raspberries, dried apricots and come cute goldfish crackers to finish off the mix of snack foods today.

Friday: Started out with some celery and cheese, sliced boiled egg and some cute letter shaped "Fruit Krisps" cracker/cookies (they have dried fruit in them and are pretty yummy, with a letter stamped into top of each too for bonus fun).  In her lunch I had fun with the new cutters again!  A sun and moon, with the star Babybel to match.  Then some cute crinkle cut carrots and cucumber slices to top it all off...

Voila....there is the week in review for my munchkin!

I'm baaaack.....

Wow, have I been sick lately...hence the lack of posting.  I started a new job, then on second day at the job I got Pink eye severely, then it spread to my other eye....and if that wasn't enough, I then got a horrible dry dry cough and it has lasted 3 weeks and counting now...phewf!  I am on the mend hopefully!

But, the Bento boxes still had to be made, just didn't get around to posting them (this proves that even when extremely sick and sleep deprived, fun lunches are still easy to make)....so drum roll please........

Week one in review....

Monday:  We start out with a cute little piggy sandwich with a cheddar cheese open face, then some fan sliced strawberries, raspberries and a homemade chocolate chip cookie.  The nutrition break box has some sliced cucumbers, and fun zigzag cut carrots, a boiled egg sliced nice and thin, and to finish off there is a cup of cottage cheese.

Tuesday:  We started with cottage cheese, sliced cucumbers and fanned strawberries.  Then for the main lunch we had a de-crusted peanut butter sandwich with a cute flower pattern stamped into top and a hippo sticking out, then some sliced peppers.  To finish off there is a few pieces of beef jerky and some raspberries.

Wednesday:  My girl is LOVING spelling and seeing how words are spelled lately, she is on the verge of reading so I thought I would help out with that in her lunch to have some fun.  We have a homemade chocolate chip cookie, some raspberries and a cute little kitty cat pic peeking out.  Then we have some peppers and celery slices with a container of ranch dip and of course "CAT" spelled out for her to read.  For the main lunch I sliced some apples and soaked them in lemon juice to keep them from browning, added sliced strawberries, a cute heart cut out of the babybel cheese and a heart shaped sandwich with the cut out heart on top to finish it off.

Thursday:  We started with some raspberries and strawberries, a few Peek Frean cookies, and sliced peppers.  The main lunch is a ham puzzle sandwich with some cute critters sticking out. Then a few beef jerky pieces and a Babybel cheese to finish it off.

I can't count the times I get comments about "how do you have time to do those lunches", "those must take forever", "you must have only 1 child, that explains it" etc...but honestly, these lunches are SO easy to do and so much fun for the kids.  It is just a matter of putting a little bit of flair into the lunch, that's all.  I always try to include into each day a veggie, fruit, cheese, some carb fillers and perhaps a little treat so that it is well balanced.  But if you notice, I pretty much use the same things all week long, but just display them in fun different ways to spice things up but keep it budget friendly as well......hopefully this is helping you to get inspired!

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?