A Simple Bunny Bento

We had a bit of a busy morning, so I opted for simple, matching bentos. F&B have the exact same thing, right down to the bunny decoration. The only difference is the pick (I only have one bunny). Matching lunches are so much easier, I really should do that more often. :o)

Faith has half a ham & cheese sandwich on multigrain rounds, cut in half again to fit the box and topped with a cheddar bunny (eyes and nose are cucumbers). Above that is whole grain pasta tossed with peas, carrots and a bit of ranch to make a yummy cold salad. To the right, we have fresh grapes, and below, freeze dried Asian pears and some koala cookies for a treat. Simple, quick and easy, what more to ask for!

Puppy Bentos for F&B

F&B needed lunch today, so we decided to go with a puppy theme, times 2. The gorgeous Dallas weather seems to have provoked allergies in me, so the simpler, the better today!

I opted to use the sandwich style boxes again, to show how much food they can really hold, as well as how perfect they can be for a started bento. All we needed to add was a water bottle and it's a complete lunch!

Ben had a cream cheese and jelly sandwich on multigrain rounds, cut in half and stacked on top of each other. It's topped with a happy puppy face (orange cheddar, white cheddar ears and cucumber features). To the top is a silicone muffin liner filled with blueberries, to the right a few blueberry-pomegranate crisps, and to the left, carrots, a couple of koala cookies and a couple of red licorice bits as a treat (so yummy, review coming soon)!

Faith has a salami and cheese sandwich, also on multigrain, cut in half and stacked, but topped with a cheddar dachshund. White cheddar makes the ears and a bit of cucumber for the eyes. Since we are low on fruit she likes, she has a lot more carrots, along with a container of ranch, some crisps, koala cookies and licorice bits as treats.

And I have a decidedly non-bento PB&J sandwich, because I feel icky & need comfort food. ;o)

What's for Lunch Wednesday, Week 35

Welcome to "What's for Lunch" Wednesday, Week 35!!!

Thanks so much for joining in last week if you did and looking forward to seeing all the fun lunches this week!

Want to join in?

Just choose a bento you've made from the last week you want to share, copy the URL of that post from your blog (you may need to click on the title to get it), and enter it into the linky below.

Click on the "Add Your Link" button to add yours and follow the steps, it's simple, I promise!

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Tea Party for Faith

And today's lunch dilemma, what do you do when you're out of fruit?

In my defense, I have fruit. I just don't have fruit that the girl likes. I have blackberries (they have seeds), raspberries (they also have seeds), and blueberries (they don't have seeds, but she doesn't like them unless they are cooked into something). I have no idea how she determined all this, considering she eats pretty much anything else, but she's just not a fan of raw berries. The only solution I could come up with was up the veggies a bit, which made her quite happy because I had cucumber and carrots right now.

Faith had a salami, cheese and herb/chive cream cheese sandwich on multigrain sandwich rounds. This is apparently her new favorite type of sandwich, in case you were curious. To that, I added some tea cutouts (pot & cup, along with flower decorations). She also has veggie chips, cucumber and carrots with more tucked underneath, a couple of blackberry-pomegranate crisps and blueberry banana bread bites. Thinking the latter could count as fruit, maybe?

I'm getting pineapple today or I'll never hear the end of it. ;o)

Today, it's packed in a sandwich style box. Mine has Disney Princesses on it from ages ago, but they sell these all over the place (Kroger has crayon box looking ones among others). For those new to bento, it's a great little box to give things a try, maybe $2ish and it holds more than you'd think, if you pack the food tightly.

A Rather Ferocious Bento for Ben

We were changing around our media shelves this week and just found our copy of the Wizard of Oz. Hence, I've had the "Lions & Tigers & Bears, Oh My!" refrain in my head for a little bit. So, the obvious solution to that is to make a lion bento.

Now if you remember, the last lion I made looked more like a demented My Little Pony, so this time, I was bound and determined to do better!

Ben has a ham & cheese sandwich on multigrain rounds, topped with a cheesy lion. The main is actually a flower cookie cutter, with a round cookie cutter face. The eyes are the little candy ones we use frequently (check Amazon for supplies) and the nose and mouth are bits of cucumber. I did have to trim a thin piece off one side to make the sandwich fit, but for those worried about waste, I ate that piece. It was yummy. The other side holds blueberries and a matching lion pick, a few carrots, a few veggie chips and the last of the blueberry banana bread. We're packed in a Lunchbot Duo for a change, I'm liking it.

Looks a little more like a lion this time, doesn't it? ;o)

Veggietales Bento for Miss Faith

Since I finally went grocery shopping the other day, it was high time to come up with something a little more creative. F&B have been playing a Veggietales game pretty frequently, and Bob & Larry seem to be nice and oval-ish to create. I had the kiddos bring me some pictures and we got to work.

Faith has a turkey & cheese sandwich on multigrain sandwich rounds, topped with VeggieTales decorations. Bob (he's a tomato for those of you who don't want VeggieTales) is made out of orange cheddar with white cheddar and cucumber accents, while Larry (a cucumber) is made out of lighter orange cheese with white cheddar and cucumber accents.

To keep with our VeggieTales theme, there are cucumber flowers, carrot sticks and some yummy veggie chips. To the right, there's cantaloupe, blueberries, blackberries, and a bit of my homemade blueberry-banana bread. It's packed in one of our Easy Lunchboxes, which in turn is packed in the matching cooler.

As for Mr. Ben? He's sitting at the kitchen table, drawing the VeggieTales characters and singing, rather loudly, "God is bigger than the boogeyman". He amuses me.

What's for Lunch Wednesday, Week 34

Welcome to "What's for Lunch" Wednesday, Week 34!!!

Thanks so much for joining in last week if you did and looking forward to seeing all the fun lunches this week!

Want to join in?

Just choose a bento you've made from the last week you want to share, copy the URL of that post from your blog (you may need to click on the title to get it), and enter it into the linky below.

Click on the "Add Your Link" button to add yours and follow the steps, it's simple, I promise!

Please add a link back here:
http://www.bentolunch.net/search/label/what%27s%20for%20lunch%20wednesday
so that others can join in and see/share their bentos too.

If you'd like a button to link back with, it's over in the side bar, with the code!

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Simple Little Bento, and fresh banana bread

If you've actually read this blog for awhile, I bet you can guess which kid gets this bento. The "Peanuts" are usually a dead give away. It's just a simple little lunch today, but I do have lovely homemade blueberry-banana bread, which makes for a nice addition.

There is a half sandwich (cut in half again to fit)--salami, cheese, and whole grain sandwich rounds. There are carrots, two little mini marshmallows for a treat and a space filler, the banana bread, blackberries and blueberries.

So, any guesses which kid? ;o)

Muffin Tin Monday - Breakfast Pancakes!

Time for Muffin Tin Monday, and it's a no theme week. In our case, we opted for a breakfast/use out some leftover pancakes kind of theme. Shaun made really good berry pancakes the other morning, and we had 2 leftover, which isn't really enough for another breakfast (you try giving one pancake per kid). However, Ben really wanted the pancakes and Faith didn't, so it worked perfectly for a muffin tin.

Ben has the berry pancakes, quartered for easy dipping, along with real maple syrup (pure Canadian maple syrup that we brought back from our Canada Christmas trip). To go with that, he has more berries, both blackberries and blueberries, along with some sliced cantaloupe. Easy and yummy!

Check out Muffin Tin Monday for more fun tins!

Flower Snack Bento

We needed a quick snack today and Miss Faith was in a flower mood. I just bought some new sandwich fixings, so we had the perfect foods to make flowers from the deli meat. (Check out the tutorial from Deb at HapaBento to see how to do it, it's easier than you'd think!)

Faith has a salami blossom (because the salami slices are smaller than average, I actually used three pieces, one after the other, to make the blossom look fluffier). To go with said salami blossom, she has muenster cheese flowers, woven wheat crackers (aka Target brand Triscuits), a few carrot sticks, cantaloupe and blackberries. I just love the blossoms, I need to do this more often.

And in other news, if you get Family Fun magazine in the mail, check out p. 51 of the February issue to see F&B! It's all from this post, but it's so cool seeing their pictures in a big magazine!

Other recent posts from me:
A Possum Tale, or everything I never wanted to know about possum - Yep, really don't care for possum
Baby Einstein Discovery Kits Review & Giveaway - Come enter!

Cute Bunny Wrap Bento

We were in the mood for something a little bit cute today, and I was also really craving egg salad.

How to fix both problems?

Bunny wraps! They are just a simple egg salad, wrapped in a tortilla, and decorated with cucumber faces and carrot ears. For the carrot ears, slice thin pieces of baby carrot (I actually trimmed one end to a triangle) and use a really sharp knife to make two slits in the top of your tortilla roll. The ears slide right into place.

Ben has a bunny wrap, a few pretzels, cantaloupe, blackberries and blueberries. The wrap actually slid right into the box after the picture, I just had to show off his cute face first!

What's for Lunch Wednesday, Week 33

Welcome to "What's for Lunch" Wednesday, Week 33!!!

Thanks so much for joining in last week if you did and looking forward to seeing all the fun lunches this week!

Want to join in?

Just choose a bento you've made from the last week you want to share, copy the URL of that post from your blog (you may need to click on the title to get it), and enter it into the linky below.

Click on the "Add Your Link" button to add yours and follow the steps, it's simple, I promise!

Please add a link back here:
http://www.bentolunch.net/search/label/what%27s%20for%20lunch%20wednesday
so that others can join in and see/share their bentos too.

If you'd like a button to link back with, it's over in the side bar, with the code!

Trouble adding your link? Leave it in the comments & I can add it for you!

Simple Favorites for Ben's Bento

Settling in and back to our routines, so it was decided that Ben needed a "Ben's favorites" bento. And no "Ben's favorites" bento is complete without having some Peanut decorations!

Ben has cream cheese and blackberry pomegranate jelly on 100% whole wheat sandwich rounds, a few pretzels, carrot sticks, blackberries and blueberries, all accentuated with Peanut picks. The lack of a cheese Peanut is due to the lack of cheese slices, we'll need to buy some for our creations!

Muffin Tin Monday - Cups & Liners

Slowly but surely, we're getting back in to the swing of things at home after the holidays. Shaun was awesome enough to run a few errands for me this morning, so we have fruit again, which makes lunches much more appealing. We did have bananas and frozen fruits, but none of those look nice in bentos.

And, I got my fruit just in time for this week's Muffin Tin Monday. The theme was cups and liners, so the perfect chance to break out some brand new silicone cups I bought before Christmas. They are from World Market and came in groups of 6. Of course, I had to by the blue stars and the pink flowers, couldn't leave one of my munchkins out!

Ben has blueberries, blackberries, cantaloupe, muenster cheese, deli turkey and crackers today. Nothing fancy, the kids were "starving" and I wasn't feeling especially creative. Although, I learned that both of them apparently love muenster cheese, as they ate a half a block of it this afternoon.

Faith's is similar, but no blueberries, and I am pretty sure Ben ate her blackberries (she is, oddly enough, not a berry fan). I added carrots to hers and got some poutiness that I did not want to cut the new cucumber just so she could have two slices right now.

Check out Muffin Tin Monday for more fun tins!

Other recent posts by me:
Sopapilla cheesecake - this is on my family/personal blog, but trust me, it is sooooo good!

What's for Lunch Wednesday Week 32

Welcome to "What's for Lunch" Wednesday, Week 32!!!

Thanks so much for joining in last week if you did and looking forward to seeing all the fun lunches this week!

Want to join in?

Just choose a bento you've made from the last week you want to share, copy the URL of that post from your blog (you may need to click on the title to get it), and enter it into the linky below.

Click on the "Add Your Link" button to add yours and follow the steps, it's simple, I promise!

Please add a link back here:
http://www.bentolunch.net/search/label/what%27s%20for%20lunch%20wednesday
so that others can join in and see/share their bentos too.

If you'd like a button to link back with, it's over in the side bar, with the code!

Trouble adding your link? Leave it in the comments & I can add it for you!

On-the-Road Lunch Bento

We couldn't have breakfast bentos without having lunch bentos. Of course, since it is a 2 day trip, we can really only have bentos on the first day. We do stop in Nashville to visit family, so day two will involve an extra lunch stop. However, the Nashville-Dallas leg is a much easier drive than Buffalo-Nashville, so we can take a chance at stopping in Arkansas for lunch.

For yesterday's lunch, Ben has a corned beef and cheddar sandwich on this really yummy bread my mom buys. In honor of the Canadian collies, it's decorated with a cheese dog and doghouse. Ben has carrot sticks, blackberries, pretzels, and one of the snowball Christmas cookies, covered in coconut. Again, all fairly non-messy foods that are easy to eat in the car.

The Kids Cook Monday - Layered Salad

We are just finishing off our Canada trip, but Ben needed one more chance to cook with Nana, hence this week's The Kids Cook Monday! This layered salad was actually part of our New Year's Day dinner and Mr. Ben was quite proud of it--lots of opportunities for him to slice, dice, crumble and arrange the salad.

Layered Vegetable Salad:
6 cups chopped lettuce
6 hard boiled eggs, sliced
1 package frozen peas, thawed
1 lb bacon, cooked & crumbled
2 cups shredded Swiss cheese
1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sliced green onions
salt, pepper, paprika

Place 3 cups of lettuce at the bottom of a glass bowl, spinkle with salt/pepper.
Layer eggs on top of the lettuce, sprinkle with salt.
Layer peas, then remaining lettuce, then bacon, then cheese.
Spread mayo evenly over top, sealing to the edge of the bowl.
Chill 24 hours, sprinkle with green onions & paprika before serving.

On-the-Road Breakfast Bento

Since we are heading back to Dallas today, I opted to make the kids some bentos to take on the road with us. We took bentos on the way to Canada with us and it allowed us to drive further, stop less and for shorter amounts of time, so we figured, we'd do it again!

For an extremely portable breakfast, we opted for multigrain bagels with cream cheese (half bagels, cut in half again), that I unfortunately had to use foil to wrap the bottom of, to prevent it from getting soggy. I really hate using disposable goods but sometimes, desperate times call for desperate measures.

But I digress, the reason behind the foil is all the yummy fruits to go with the bagel--blackberries, pineapple, cantaloupe and watermelon. I also have yogurt for the kids, but those are also in single serve containers, it's just easier that way.

Two days and we'll be back home!