Typical Kindergarten Lunch

It's almost the end of Kindergarten and I wanted to show the typical lunch I am making for the girls now.  The meals are bigger, boxes are bigger, and there are less food "pictures" as they get pretty jumbled in the backpacks. 

Their lunches also include a snack - on the side: 1 Frozen Gogurt & 1 canister of water.

 .

These lunches included:

Pepperoni and provolone with lettuce and Miracle Whip on wheat bread - 1/2 Sandwich

1/2 Banana

Broccoli Crowns

Green Pepper Slices

Grapes

Cheddar Goldfish Crackers

Chewy Granola Bar

Raisins

A Mosaic Review of Bento

1. bento, 2. bentoDay2, 3. FishtankBento, 4. RosesInTheGarden, 5. Flowerbox, 6. farmbox, 7. SpookyBatBento, 8. ClownsAreScary, 9. TheVeryHungryBento, 10. Thanksgiving Bento, 11. LoveBento, 12. TwinBento, 13. DinoBento, 14. BENTO 001, 15. BentoStars, 16. PacManBento, 17. bentoFlowers, 18. Bunnies, 19. SpringFlowers, 20. OwlFaceBentoPub, 21. SpongebobSingle, 22. SpongebobSquareLunch, 23. LoveBento, 24. BentoOtheIrish, 25. EagleBento, 26. LoveBugBento, 27. LoveBugBento, 28. TwoButterflies, 29. CatBento, 30. Butterfly Bento, 31. MonstoBox, 32. beegirlbento, 33. PrincessBoxes, 34. HeatWaveBento, 35. LastDayofDaycareRainbowStar, 36. Snail Bento

Little Lovin Bento

Just a little lovin' for my kindergarten kiddos, inspired by a trip to the local farmer's market.

This box includes:
A collection of small heirloom tomatoes,
fresh strawberries,
frozen green grapes
carrots carved into heart shapes
romaine lettuce
heart shaped PB&J

That's right, this box contains peanut butter!  New school, new rules.  The kids are happy about the change.
Everything in the boxes was eaten except for half of one of the pieces of romaine.

Snail Bento, or Escargo-to

My kid started Kindergarten and already she has come to me with one of those I-knew-the-other-kids-were-going-to-be-a-bad-influence-on-you-questions, "Mom, can you get this thing that is in the grocery store near the salami and it has cheese and crackers and it is in a box..."
"Are you talking about a Lunchable?!"  "Yes!," she says,"Get me that!"
Sigh...

I made snails instead.
May my children forgive me.

These bento include one Turkey and Cheese Sandwich as a snail body
a Vanilla Wafer for a head, detailed with sparkly green icing
Carrot antennae, also detailed with icing
Lettuce as a meadow background
Grapes as the mossy floor
Carrots topped with Raspberries make the mushrooms on which the snail likes to snack

Last Day Rainbow Star Lunch

It's the end of an era.  This is the final pre-school lunch for my wee ones, and yes of course I made two.
My twins are soon to go on to kindergarten where who knows what the lunch situation will be. I wanted them to have one last special bento box lunch made with love from Mommy before their next big adventure.
Here is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Seedless Grapes
1/2 Peach
1 Peeled Carrot
1/2 Banana
1 Celery Stalk
1 Turkey, Bacon, and Cheese Sandwich on Wheat, cut into quarters
2 Hand Cut Green Pepper Stars soaked in blue food coloring for extra blue hue

Heat Wave Bento

There is a heat wave in most of the United States right now, so I made special Heat Wave bento boxes for my kids.  This lunch is supposed to evoke the hot winds of the southwest with the sun blaring in the sky.
This rocky desert landscape should fold nicely into two soft tacos.

I used these ingredients to make this sweltering bento:
The Hot Sky - Soft White Corn Tortillas
Winds of Heat - Cheddar and Monterrey Jack Cheese
The Desert Rock and Sand - Cold Rotisserie Chicken
A Wisp of Cloud in the Sky - White Rice
The Sun - Half of an Egg

Cat peaking Out of the Bushes (Sounds better than "Cat Box")

Today's feline inspired bento "Cat peaking out of the Bushes" is composed of :
broccoli to create a background and to hold everything in place,
celery and dip,
Laughing Cow cheese wedges for the ears,
hummus in a nice round sealed pack,
crackers, both as the face of the cat and underneath the cheese and broccoli as a base,
tomato slices for the mouth,
shelled edemame for the nose and eyes,
and carrot slivers for the whiskers.
 It's just something joyful for my little kittens.

USA Bento

USA!  USA!  Are you in the mood for the 4th of July yet, how about Memorial Day? You could pack a few of these boxes on your weekend camping trip, or your all day beach outing.  I made it for lunch.
If you're worried about the twins, don't worry, I made two of these, I just didn't like the picture of the second flag sandwich that much.

So... We have watermelon, blueberries, with a flag shaped almond butter and strawberry jelly sandwich, on a bed of string cheese and tomato stripes.

Two Butterflies

This week's bento was made with much input from one of my twins.  She asked for a butterfly with almond butter and jelly sandwiches cut into hearts for wings  and a string cheese for the body.  I added a carrot top for the head and antennae, a cherry cut in half for sub-wings, and a bed of spinach with a cucumber border to set the stage.  The wee one's idea was super.  Can you tell that I am proud of my little butterfly? 

Green Rainbows Over Green Forests and Green Lakes

Do not adjust your screens, today's bento lunches are green.
This St. Patrick's Day meal features:

Green Rainbow Sandwiches made with Green Bagels and Turkey Bologna
Clouds of Green made from Green Grapes
Green Broccoli Trees
And a Lake of Green Blue Cheese for Dipping

Heart Box

I could not let a Valentine's Day go by without making a special Heart Box for my babies.
This one features:
Turkey and cheese on wheat bread with heart cut outs and the crusts removed.
Heart shaped strawberries.
Flatbread and creamy wedge cheese slightly mushed into a heart shape.

You can see my other love inspired bento box lunches on this blog, at the following links.

A Little Extra Love
Love Bug Bento
Valentine Lunch, Bento of Love, Heart Shaped Box?

A Little Extra Love

A little extra love for my little loves.
Almond Butter and Jelly sandwiches cut into Heart shapes with a cookie cutter.
Grapes quartered, and cut into a heart shape for sandwich accent.
Slice of Cheddar.
Peas with carrots cut into hearts.

Nothing expensive, nothing unusual, just something made with a little extra love.

Two Princesses

 

Two Princess Bentos for my Two Princesses.  Featuring:
Almond Butter and Strawberry Preserve on Wheat Dresses,
decorated with Cheddar Cheese and Apple Slice sashes, Apple Shoulders, and Parsnip Sleeves.
Apple Shoes.
Homemade Muffin Faces with Chocolate Chip Eyes, Apple Smiles, Cheddar Cheese Hair.
All on a bed of sliced Green Grapes.

The Muffin Recipe can be found on the blog at this link here, but for this bento, I didn't add the chips until after the muffins were cooked.

Love Bug Bento

These bentos are for my Love Bugs.
They feature:
Open faced turkey sandwiches with Jarlsberg Swiss.  The cheese heart was cut with a cookie cutter.
Caterpillars made of celery filled with almond butter and Honey Nut Cheerios.
"Cuties" Mandarin Oranges on the side.

Time Keeps on Slippin'

Am I feeling patriotic?  Am I strangely inspired by Steve Miller?  Am I a huge Stephen Colbert fan?

All of those things are true, but that is not why I made these Eagle bento boxes.

My little babies are growing up and they have graduated into their new Eagles classroom at Preschool.

On their first day I made these boxes.

Almond butter and jelly on french bread for the head.

A thinly sliced baby carrot and green bean for the eye.

String cheese for the neck feathers.

Pretzel sticks for the body feathers.

Cantaloupe for the Beak.

Now they're ready to fly like eagles; to fly right into the future.

Butterfly Bento

Here are today's bento for my two little butterflies. 
Watermelon sliced
Blueberries
Cucumber sliced
Almond Butter and Strawberry Jam Sandwiches that are shaped like Butterflies
Homemade Blueberry Muffin made from a recipe in The Complete Magnolia Bakery Cookbook, Recipes from the World-Famous Bakery and Allysa Torey's Home Kitchen

BentO' the Irish

It's time to celebrate!  St. Patrick's Day is almost upon us.

Let's party with something traditional like

 BENTO!!!

Today I have 3 bentos.  Two for my twin girls and one for the Proud Irish Husband of Food.
OK, had I planned this ahead of time, those Shamrock sandwiches would be Corned Beef, but alas... they are Turkey and Cheese.  The shamrock cuts left not enough left over as to be impossible to get a second shamrock out of the sandwich, but just enough to inspire a Lunch for Daddy. 


The last minute preparations led to the discovery of the most Irish of Snack Foods - Veggie Straws!  The green, white, and orange sticks make a lovely Irish Flag.

Blueberries?  They are healthy, nutritious and not entirely absent in Ireland.  The girls would have gotten raw carrots, like their Dad, but their school doesn't allow them.


If anyone wants to share some bento, please post a link in the comments.

Valentine Lunch, Bento of Love, Heart Shaped Box?

I was overcome with love for my two little girls this week and I had to express it somehow.  Hopefully my expressions will be remembered by my children always.  This little Pre-Valentine was made like this...

A bunch of washed edemame pods are topped with cherry tomatoes cut into heart shapes with a sharp knife.
Deep Red Chilean cherries are sliced in half and pitted, then covered with sprinkles of hearts picked out of a box of Kashi Heart to Heart cereal.
A bed of romaine heart lettuce is laid beneath heart shaped roast beef and muenster sandwiches.  The sandwiches were easily cut with heart shaped cookie cutters. 

Maybe this will inspire you to share some food love with someone special.

The Miracle of Hannukah Bento

Hannukah is a holiday about the miracle of lights. The Maccabees were able to fight off overwhelming forces to take back the holy temple from the Greeks who wanted the Jews to worship their pantheon of Gods. It is about keeping the holy flame lit in the temple during a war. Oil that was only supposed to last one day, lasted eight days, enough time to get more oil. In other words, G-d helped keep that flame a-glowing. It is a metaphor for keeping the light of Judaism alive in the face of powers that wish to squelch the religion.

My multicultural family celebrates Hannukah today with this festive Bento. Yes, I realize we are in full Los Angeles culture clash with this one. Almond butter and boysenberry jelly on wheat bread make fine dreidles. Thinly sliced baby carrots represent Hanukkah Gelt, the chocolate coins given to children to play dreidle with and for luck. The kids' daycare doesn't allow real chocolate, or the twins might have had a special treat in the lunch. They do have one surprise, apples are under the menorah. The menorah itself is made of edamame for the candles and sharp cheddar for the flame.
When I saw the edamame box in the fridge, I thought,
"Great, candles, but we have been eating these things so much, there's no way I'll have enough for two menorahs. I need eight candles, plus the shamus (the candle that lights the others) times two, that's eighteen edamame pods!"

As I was laying the candle pods out I found one damaged pod, oh no... but there were exactly eighteen good ones, nine for each box! It's a Hannukah Bento Miracle. This flame keeps a-glowing.

Spongebob Square Lunch

So, now it's about food... In honor of the release of SpongeBob's Truth or Square Videogame
,I am releasing, Spongebob Square Lunch!

Ingredients:

Almond Butter and Jelly sandwiches on Wheat Bread with Strawberry and Boysenberry Jelly for shading

String Cheese for the nose

Toasted Seaweed for background and eyelashes

Eggs for eyes with blue food coloring for the irises and olive tapenade for pupils, also eggs for teeth and shirt

Tomato for tie

Veggie Sticks for arms and legs

Food color for painted on squarepants!