Berries and Bears Bento Lunch

My little guy is off to summer camp today, so packed him a bento lunch of berries and bears. (Lest you think he's going hungry, there's mac and cheese in a thermos to go along with this!)

First bento lunch since school's been out, so feeling a bit rusty already. Bears are my go-to bento, so got back into it with this simple lunch of cheese sticks, teddy grahams and strawberries.

The theme for camp this week is "hats" so I'm curious what they have planned for the kids. Not quite as compelling as a typical theme featuring superheroes or dragons and such. One thing I do know is that he loves dressing up (usually as Buzz Lightyear or Ironman), so I'm sure he'll have a blast!

Happy Bento'ing!
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Banana Snail Fruit Snack

We endured record-breaking heat here in North Carolina yesterday. So when the sweltering sun hit us at high noon, it seemed a good idea to have a light fruit lunch.

The starring role in our fruit smorgasbord was Mr. Banana Snail. He got his smile from strawberry fruit leather and antennae from Chinese noodles. His shell is a slice of whole wheat bread stamped from a circular sandwich cutter and embellished with fruit leather semi-circles. Gouda cheese clouds float above him in the sky.

He looks happy on this hot day. At least until he got chomped on by my little guy. Bye bye Mr. Snail.

Happy Bento'ing!
Star

P.S. Thanks to Ms. Dubien for the inspiration on this idea.

Madagascar Penguin Bento

So, I had this goofy idea to make a Madagascar penguin charaben for the kids. It took a few tries to arrive at a character that resembles a penguin. This little fellow was created using banana slices and blueberries. The feet and bill are carrot bits, and he's brought to life with little candy googly eyes.

The kids had fun with this one, as you can see from only seconds later.

As I mentioned, it took a few attempts to arrive at the penguin. My first effort involved mini marshmallows, and it didn't quite get there, as you can see below. So, it's best that I tried again and was able to create a healthier version anyway.

But, my little guy didn't mind the bento blooper. He loves those little candy googly eyes!

Happy Bento'ing!
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Brave Bento Lunch

My daugher challenged me to another bento competition last night.

We'd been thinking about doing a bento based on the movie Brave, and I thought we could collaborate, but she wanted to work separately. In fact, she declared, "It's every man for himself in bento!"

OK, so much like our inaugural bento competition, we worked in separate areas of the kitchen and no peaking was allowed! This was easier than the usual bento lunch because we just used a plate as our canvas, rather than stuffing everything into a lunch container. I suppose it's technically not a bento lunch, but more rightly a bento snack.

Anyway, we used similar ingredients: carrot curls, babybell cheese and blueberries to craft Merida, the main character of the movie Brave.

Wow! Here is my daughter's Brave bento:

She arranged carrot curls for the hair and a babybell cheese for the head. She crafted facial features various veggie bits including cucumber peel triangles for the eyes, carrot shapes for the eyebrows and mouth. She even used tiny slices of blueberry skin to create the nose. I love the expression on her face. I do believe she captured the face of a fierce female warrior.

This Brave bento made me think of my own heritage of headstrong Scotch-Irish females. Here's my creation:

And here was mine 3 seconds after it was completed. Such is the fate of Kyaraben (character bento).

Happy Bento'ing!

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Piggy Bento Lunch

My two little piggies didn't want to go to school today. 

It's nearing the end of the year, and the motivation to get out the door and to school on time is certainly flagging. This morning my third grader said she didn't want to go to school because, "I'm tired and everything is droopy." That gave me such a chuckle that I had to give her a hug and let her be late. She's a straight-A student and has hardly missed a day this entire year, so she earned one lazy morning.

As for the piggy bento, my toddler got watermelon bites and cheese columns with adorable piggy bento picks, as well as a piggy cheese face atop crackers. The pink pig head container contained parmesan (why is the spell-check saying that's not right?) cheese. My little guy loves parm so much, he'd practically snort it if I'd let him. This I packed for him to sprinkle on the spaghetti that went via thermos. (I think it's time for me to get a multi-layer bento box, BTW.) In case you're wondering, those are raisins under the piggy head. And finally, the "joyful pig" box contained a little something sweet. In this case, two jelly beans. Just enough to make him smile. And that's what it's all about.

On another note, today was the last day to turn in our fundraising forms for the St. Jude's Children's Hospital Toddler Trike-athon at my son's school. Being that last minute is the only time anything gets properly done, we canvassed the neighborhood last night in an earnest request for donations. Thanks to all the kind neighbors who contributed!

Happy Bento'ing!
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Elephant Bento Lunch

"There's an elephant in your lunchbox today!"

That's what I told my son the morning I created this elephant bento lunch. (I love the look of curious wonder he gives me when I tell him there's an animal in his lunch!)

For this bento lunch, I used a sandwich container and filled it with pink and blue silicon cupcake liners. Each was filled with a finger food such as the mini ritz cheese crackers which I topped with two little cheese E's for elephant. Also on board were some of my little guy's favorite finger foods including pineapple and marshmallows.

To make the elephant sandwich, I used the elephant shape tool to cut out the shape, then punch the facial features like this: 

And that's all you need to create a quick and easy elephant bento lunch for kids! Then I send my little guy off to school, telling him,

In the spirit of spreading cute, check out this baby elephant stained glass from Chantal's Stained Glass. The pattern is available for free on the site.

 

Happy Bento'ing!

Star

Lion Bento Lunch

Roooaaaarrrr! It's a lion of a bento lunch. This big cat bento features a new-to-me technique I've come to call displacement. You can see it in the face on the apple flower.

I did this by first cutting an apple into equal-width slices and used a vegetable punch to create the flowers. Then I created the face by punching out the expression from the apple flower and filling in the space with the same expression cut from strawberry fruit leather. Cool!

Rounding out this lunch are cucumber slices topped with a lion bento pick and cheese columns pierced with a big cat bento pick. And the centerpiece of all the elements is a little lion bento container which holds four jellybeans for a little nibble of dessert.

Happy Bento'ing!
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Bear Bento Lunch

Bears are abundant among my bento supplies, so here's a lunch I made for my little guy featuring that four-legged, furry animal. I went so far as to include the bear theme in the food itself with the Teddy Grahams. What, me compulsive? Ridiculous.

Other nibbles in this beary bento include cheese columns and apple flowers with raisins and a beary little sandwich. The centerpiece of this creation is an irresistible little bear container I found by chance on a kawaii site. I think it is a rare and special bento accessory. In fact, the site said so: Order soon. Only 2 left!

I make the little apple flowers by slicing an apple, then using a flower shape veggie cutter to punch them out. Just remember to soak in lemon water to keep them from turning brown. So annoying when that happens. These are topped off with an adorable little bear bento pick. This set is unlike any others I've bought because the little faces are staring straight up at you, instead of straight ahead. It's all in the perspective...

Happy Bento'ing!
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Master Panda Bento Lunch

Newsflash: Pandas are adorable! Seriously adorable.

In fact, the irrepressible "awwwwwwwww" that follows any image of a panda got me to wondering. What triggers our affection for this bear? I actually did a little research and found the answer (hint: there's a scientific explanation) which I share below.

But first, it's a panda bento!

Wait for it...awwwwwwwwwww! OK, so now that we've got that out of the way, let's talk bento.

This was actually a totally new bento venture for me. I'd not attempted to craft a panda face from a sandwich before, and I was thrilled with the way it came out! I created my master panda bento lunch by first assembling a sandwich of colby cheese and wheat bread, then cutting it into a circle. I then used the heel of the loaf to cut the two oblong shapes that encircle the eyes. I cut two more to serve as ears and tucked them in between the bread at the top. A simple straw punched out the actual eyes. Wait, that sounds kinda violent. How about this instead: I used a straw to punch out a small circle for the eyes, and another semi-circle tool for the mouth.

Master panda is accompanied by baby carrots and a slice of tomato topped with a wee little panda bento pick. The final touch is a panda container filled with fruit snacks for a little something sweet.

Now, back to the mystery of our love of pandas...

I actually found an article from the BBC that lists out all the reasons we humans love the giant panda. These include the fact that they sit like we do and also eat with their hands. The fact that they are rare and elusive contributes to their allure.

But the main reason, I think, we are drawn to them is simply because of their appearance including their roundness and that distinctive coat, most especially those eyes which seem bigger because of the black patches of fur around them. The reason we love a chubby creature with big eyes is because it reminds us of infants. There's actually a scientific term for this (which I just learned) called neoteny.

It's all summed up beautifully here in this explanation from the San Diego Zoo: "Our own young have characteristics that we humans respond to such as a big, round head, large eyes, a high forehead, and a roly-poly body. We are programmed to respond to these babyish looks. Babies just make us like them and want to care for them. It is part of our human makeup."

So, there you have it.

Happy Bento'ing!
Star

Kitty Cat Bento Lunch

This bento says Meow! No literally, it does. Look. How cool is that? Super cool; I only wish I'd had some white cheese, so it would have provided more contrast against the ritz cracker. (Sorry, my inner graphic designer is showing.) Sliced white cheddar, mozz or provolone are good choices for this. I just didn't have any on hand.

The little kitty cat bento picks were the inspiration for this lunch. I filled a sandwish (oh that's a cute typo; i think i'll keep it) container with blue and yellow silicon cupcake liners to start, then filled those with orange wedges, raisins, crackers, pineapple and, of course, goldfish for the kitties.

Added to this was a thermos of hot pasta to fuel my little guy for his trike-athon at school to benefit St. Jude's Children's Hospital. Go toddlers, Go!

Happy Bento'ing!
Star

Bunny Bento Lunch

Much to my surprise, my son loves boiled eggs. This surprises me because my daughter has not yet eaten one and she's been living on the same planet with eggs for 8 years now.

A lot of bento lunches often include eggs. Of course these may be pickled, in which case I would have to gag, so no pickled eggs in my house, just a simple boiled one. Anyway, for lack of any other source of protein on hand, I created this bunny bento featuring boiled egg, strawberries, peas and a few multigrain pringles. (I know these aren't healthy, but let's pretend.) I topped the yellow rice with a bunny head from white cheddar cheese. This is a sturdier cheese, so it works better than stretchy mozzarella for Kyaraben (character bento). I love these flower shape silicon cupcake liners. Definitely a staple of my bento making.

And the finishing touch is 3 mini marshmallows in the tiny "joyful rabbit" secret box. I imagine this makes for a bit of a fun seek and find when my little guy pops open his lunch. Of course, he's learned by now there's something sweet hidden in the littlest container, so I'm sure he dives into that before eating anything nutritious. Like an egg.

Happy Bento'ing!
Star

Under the Sea Bento Lunch

My daughter is very competitive. I appreciate this character trait except that she is quick to pick me as her competitor. True to character, she recently challenged me to a bento competition.

When I finally agreed, she promptly announced ground rules (yes, there were ground rules) including time limits and separate kitchen stations with no peaking at your competitor's bento. There were no restrictions on theme or ingredients. The winner would be determined based on creative use of ingredients.

It all went down pretty much like an episode of Top Chef, which I guess isn't surprising considering it's kinda required viewing at our house.

So, when this thing started, it was an bento frenzy! My son enjoyed his front row seat to the antics and stealing bites when we weren't looking. When the kitchen timer buzzed, I presented my entry: Under the Sea Bento:

Blue rice served as the backdrop for my ocean-themed bento lunch. This was created by adding just a drop of blue food coloring to white rice. The featured characters here are octopus hotdogs, otherwise known as octodogs. These cute little fellows are easy to make. You simply cut a hotdog in half, then slice the dog six ways halfway up and drop in boiling water. When you do this, the ends curl up, and you have instant tentacles! (It occurs to me that there's probably not any other situation in life in which "instant tentacles" would be a good thing.)

A cheese shrimp accompanies the octodogs and the ocean floor is accented with two yellow stars which came in one of those special themed bags of goldfish crackers.

Your standard issue goldfish also make an appearance swimming amongst a sprout of algae (or maybe coral?) hand cut from a slice of American cheese.

The final element is a fish-shaped bento container filled with fresh pineapple. A tiny bit of broccoli (Why can I never remember whether broccoli has two c's or two l's?!) provides an eye for the little fish.

So, who won? Check out my Broadway Bears Bento post on my daughter's entry to find out!

Happy Bento'ing!
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Broadway Bears Bento Lunch

My daughter recently caught me off guard by challenging me to a bento competition. After relentlessly, er, repeatedly, challenging me to a duel, I agreed. She's not only naturally competitive, but also quite creative and seems to have a natural knack for bento making.

Check out the post on my Under the Sea Bento for more details on the ground rules of our throw-down. Yeah, there were rules. I told you she was competitive.

When the kitchen timer buzzed and time was up, my daughter delivered this grand creation which she titled Broadway Bear Bento. Impressive, don't you think?!

The centerpiece of this bento lunch is actually center stage. One made of cheese pizza. Standing atop stage lights made of cheese are those divas we all know and love as Teddy Grahams. Stawberry fruit leather stars serve as the backdrop. An abundant mix of chocolate chips and multi-colored m&m's served as the audience while the marshmallows were the orchestra pit.

This over-the-top Broadway production even featured an aquarium with goldfish swimming hither and yon in a pond of blue rice. Carrot and cheese stick people offered a standing ovation from the balcony.

Here she is with her creation, which was pronounced the winner of our first ever bento competition. I'm so proud!

Happy Bento'ing!
Star

Pasta Bento Lunch

Today's bento lunch features the fresh pineapple we bought last night. Upon seeing the big "dinosaur fruit" (as my daughter called it) on the kitchen counter, both kids were instantly intrigued and the prospect of carving into the pineapple pretty much derailed all of dinner.

After futile attempts to get them to eat their meal first, I finally relented and cracked into it, and we all gobbled the entire pineapple in one sitting! Good thing it was buy one, get one free, so I had pineapple #2 for bento lunches today.

This bento includes some bowtie pasta with carrot columns and pinto beans as well as stacked ritz crackers and cheese stick columns. I added whimsy with a cheese flower atop the pasta (just use a cookie cutter to punch any shape from a slice of cheese) and adorable little frog bento picks.

If it's pineapple season where you are, hope this inspires some ideas for tomorrow's bento lunch!

Happy Bento'ing!
Star

Dramatic Crackle Dyed Easter Eggs

Not a bento lunch post here, but wanted to share some Easter fun that falls under the category of creating eye-catching food.

I was mesmerized by this striking crackled style aster eggs when I first saw it, so I had to give it a try. I have to confess, it wasn't the easiest thing I've tried lately though. It took several attempts over a few days to get it right. (Well mostly right!)


I followed the instructions by Kimberly Low's blog. She calls them marbled eggs. That's probably a better term. What do you think?

I like the red ones best. The green ones were also dramatic. Wish I could figure out how to preserve more of the white, but it's tricky. You never know how it's gonna turn out 'til you peel them, so it's always a surprise!

Orange Rabbit Bento Lunch

Here's a little bunny bento I created for my son last week. I recently bought some of Amy's bunny cheese crackers just as a change from the goldfish and the kids ate them like crazy, so I only had a handful left for the bunny bento.

I perched a little bunny bento pick amidst the green grapes (BTW, why is it impossible to find grapes from anywhere other than Chile anymore?)

I added a little colby chese rabbit head atop some string cheese columns, and had just enough space for the adorable happy rabbit box. I tucked two chocolate chips and a mini marshmallow in there for a tiny dessert for my little guy.

I made a face in the orange slice using strawberry fruit leather. This was the first time I'd attempted that, and it turned out awesome! I wanted to make a bunny face on the orange, but I couldn't get it to work. Will try again another day, another bento.

Happy Bento'ing!
Star

Robot Bento Lunch

My son is obsessed with robots. In fact, occasionally he will lapse into the staccato-like cadence of a robot then pivot to superhero mode, so it's quite an interesting robot-superhero mashup.

It occurred to me one morning that a robot bento lunch would be a super cool thing to do, but I certainly didn't have any well-thought-out plans for how to create it.

I hit on the idea of using marshmallows and pretzel sticks to fabricate my edible robot, and I was pleased with how it turned out. More importantly, my little guy reacted to the site of the robot with the biggest grin I've ever seen that early in the morning!

As you can probably figure out, I simply constructed the robot using two marshmallows for the torso and head, and pretzels for the limbs and antennae. It is finished off with details drawn on using a food marker.

Mr. Marshmallow Robot stands amidst a pile of spare parts--pretzels, cheerios and mini marshmallows. The rest of this robotic bento lunch features mac and cheese and peas. Hey, that rhymes. Could be the beginning of  a cute kids' song...

The final touch was added with robot bento picks and the robot spelled out in cheese.

Happy Bento'ing!
Star

Taco Bento Lunch

It's a taco bueno bento! This bento reflects my daughter's limited preferences in Mexican food which is basically a taco with cheese and salsa only. For this bento lunch, I placed two tacos on their side and topped them off with a cheesy little message.

Beside the tacos, I tucked a serving of salsa in a pink flower-shaped silicon cupcake liner accented with a cucumber flower. (Keep in mind that most tomato-based foods will likely stain any container that's not glass.)

A large helping of shredded cheese rounded out this bento lunch along with ridge-sliced cucumber chips topped with a little grape tomato-and-cucumber kabob.

Maybe this will inspire your next lunch to be a taco bueno one!

Happy Bento'ing!
Star

Smiley Face Bento Lunch

It's a rainy Monday, and I'm a bit uninspired in the bento lunch department today. My efforts are produced this simple smiley face bento lunch. While not spectacular, it was impossible to suppress a smile when it was finished and packing it up for my little guy to take to school.

This all-smiles bento includes rice with steamed green beans. A medley of marshmallows and raisins are topped with a smiley face vanilla wafer. Apple flowers offer the final opportunity for one last smile. See the Lion Bento Lunch post to learn how easy those are to make.

Happy Bento'ing!
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