Bento Diva

Happy Heart Day Bentos

2012-02-13T20:48:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentines Day! OK, a day early but you get the idea. I personally love all holidays, how could you not enjoy a reason to celebrate? I was quite excited that my daughter was born on Cinco de Mayo, can't beat a double celebration!

On to the Valentines bentos. The pictures are weak - but no natural light and all that, this is the best I could do.

The 6 year olds:

Strawberries with heart picks. Little heart cookies. Babybel cheese with a heart cut out. A little heart container with dried cranberries. Sandwich with a kiss and a hug cut out of fruit leather.

The 3 year olds is nearly identical. Due to her dairy allergy though, she has red peppers cut into hearts instead of the cheese.

Spent tonight cutting hearts out of honeydew and cantaloupe and putting them on popsicle stickers for the 6 year olds grade one class. I'll try and remember to take a picture before they head off to school. He did remind me it was also pink and red day and informed me that there was no way he was wearing pink - so he's sticking to red.

The 3 year old is having red day but we are going rouge - we are busting out the heart ruffles. They are covered in hearts, can't get more Valentines than those pants!

Hope you have a great day with the ones you love!

I'm a slacker!

2012-02-10T08:40:00.000-08:00

I swear, more lunches to come! I'm working 6 days a week until the end of March so things are a little hectic around Bento Diva land!

I am planning for some cute Valentine lunches for next week - are you?

Here are some pink and red food ideas!

Red pepper
Tomatoes
Apple
Watermelon
Cherries
Strawberries
Grapefruit
Red Grapes
Strawberry/raspberry jam
Cream cheese with a drop of food coloring
Yogurt (if you need coloring, just swirl some berries through it)
Strawberry jello
Cranberry juice

And thanks to Pintrest, I bring you these adorable food ideas for Valentines Day!

Stay tuned for Valentines lunches :)

Winner + Panda and Penguin Bentos

2012-01-22T15:12:00.000-08:00

First a big congratulations to Bina, winner of the Sweet Lunch Punch set! And many thanks to Lunch Punch for donating those for the contest. If you haven't already, make sure you check out their website to see all the cool sandwich punches they have! I personally can't wait to get the puzzle one for the 6 year old and the princess one for the 3 year old.

On to tomorrows lunches. The 6 year old is doing a unit on penguins in grade one right now. It's pretty cute as their preschool buddies are coming to their class tomorrow to work on a penguin project with them. Soooo of course we have to have a penguin lunch, just a given, right?

We have a penguin sandwich with fruit leather, icing eyes and a cheese beak and a little cup of fish friends for him. A cup of applesauce with a penguin made out of fruit leather, icing eyes and a mini M&M I broke up. Way to maximize a single mini M&M, huh! Then melon with a homemade pick - I didn't have any penguins so I dug out one of the kids foam stickers and stuck it on a random pick.

Now for the 3 year old, I wanted to use up the fruit leather scraps so for her, I went panda.

I used a teddy bear cutter and added some fruit leather eye rings and for the nose, fruit leather on half a mini marshmellow. I still had some bread scraps so the panda got some babies. Then melon with pandas and little cups of veggie booty and mini rice cakes.

If you notice the 3 year old gets mini rice cakes and veggie booty alot, you are right. She is in that annoying "I don't have much time to eat" stage and I know if I put a little of those in there, she will definately eat those. And let me tell you, she is not a child you want to not eat - when she doesn't, she turns into a miserable mush. I myself am in that annoying "Can't stop eating" stage and am a mush as result of it - haha!

It's a Gumball Lunch Party!

2012-01-15T19:39:00.000-08:00

We are having a gumball machine lunch party - wanna come?

After my kids saw the lunch punches that made their ice cream sandwiches, they couldn't wait to have the gumball machine. Busted that one out for their lunches tomorrow, it looks so cute!

So we have the gumball machine sandwich with mini M&M gumballs. The little detail is fruit leather. See the animal pick? He's stuck in the "gumball" that was cut out. Then we have strawberries with hats - (hey, it's a gumball party!) and a babybel cheese with icing eyes sitting on top of a couple mini rice cakes.

The 6 year old wanted to know if I put gumballs inside the machine - I'm good... but not that good!

Don't forget to enter to win the whole set of 4 Lunch Punch Sweet cutters - enter via Rafflecopter on the post below this one!

Ice Cream Sandwiches!

2012-01-08T12:30:00.000-08:00

I know, I know, it's been a bit of a dry spell around here! Trying to get back on track after the holidays, here's hoping!

So before Christmas, Kiersten, owner of The Lunch Punch, sent me the cutest sandwich punch set. Love it. Like, super love. It's the Sweet set and has 4 different sandwich cutter - a gumball machine, a birthday cake, ice cream cones and a cupcake. They come packaged in this sweet (get it? haha) little box, all ready to use! The best part is that they are awesome for boys and girls. I love princessy things and so does the 3 year old but I can assure you, the 6 year old doesn't want anything princess related showing up in his lunchbox. But ice cream - who doesn't love it?

Aren't they adorable? You will love them too! Wanna get your hands on them? Keep reading!

So anyway, this is tomorrows lunch - isn't it sweet? (I'm wearing that one out, aren't I...) Ice cream sandwiches with sprinkles, fruit with ice cream pics and a cucumber and red pepper cupcake.

On to the fun part! So Kiersten also sent a second set for me to do what I wished with, no conditions attached. We love that around here, don't we! Here is your chance to win the exact set I have!

You can enter below and can get up to 12 entries.

Earn 3 entries by posting a comment on this blog post.
Earn 3 entries for posting something about Bento Diva on Facebook (prior posts do not count)
Earn 3 entries by tweeting something about Bento Diva
Earn 3 entries by following this blog. If you already follow this blog, just add that you already follow into that box.

(I'm not a tweeter so you are on your own with that one! ha!) To start, either log in with Facebook or your name and email. Good luck! Contest ends on Jan 22, 2012.

(Please give rafflecopter a few seconds to load, it can be slow) a Rafflecopter giveaway

Sweet Snowman Bento - Happy Holidays!

2011-12-19T18:41:00.000-08:00

Well, we are back from the Bahamas - trip of a lifetime. Enjoyed every minute and even though I said I wouldn't, I did pack lunches. They weren't cute though :)

I am packing lunch for the 3 year old this week, she's still in daycare until Thurs. The 6 year old is out of school and hanging with my mom so she is in charge of his lunch!

This is what my little mama got today.

Snowman - Ritz crackers and peanut butter cracker-wiches (is that a word?!). Raisins for the eyes and buttons, fruit leather hat, carrot nose and pretzel arms.

Then strawberries with a Santa pick, cucumbers and a red and green mix made out of veggie booty and cranberries.

Hope you appreciate the "snow" I added around the container for decoration - I'm just so artsy LOL

Dolphin Days Bento

2011-12-01T12:40:00.000-08:00

This is my last post for a couple weeks as we are off to the sun and warmth of the Bahamas tomorrow! The 3.5 year old has talked non-stop about meeting her "dolphin friends" as we will be doing a dolphin experience while we are there. So it called for, you guessed it, a dolphin lunch!

Both kids got the same only the 6 year old got the cheese pictured below.

Grapes with penguin and seal picks, goldfish crackers (kind of a given!) , dolphin sandwiches and fruit leather fish on the heart sandwich and Babybal cheese.
Now, just to keep you interested and coming on back, I'll let you in on a little upcoming giveaway. It's some sort of awesome, let me tell you. It's a brand new product from lunchpunch - and here's a clue... it might look a little something like this:

You know you want to rock the gumball sandwich! Stay tuned - giveaway coming up when we get home!

Bagel Surprise

2011-11-26T21:24:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I do lunches at night and other times, I wait until the morning. This never works out as well as I run out of time and am in a mad panic. This happened the other day when I got distracted looking at all the Black Friday deals!

So I had to throw something together quickly for the kids before I left for work. As I grabbed these mini bagels, I noticed that the middles kind of looked like mouths. (Yes, it's happened, I now see weird qualities in food products). It worked out well as all I did was shove some icing eyes into them, stick a flag in to make the orange segment into a boat and throw in some pretzels. Tada - a lazy persons bento! Even the mini bagels look horrified - haha!

Sweet Treats Bento

2011-11-20T14:07:00.000-08:00

Been wanting to do this lunch for a while, I've been thinking about it ever since I got these pics that you will see in the fruit. They are so cute - they look like treats (ice cream, donuts, cupcakes) from the side but are animal faces if you look at them from the top. I like a good multi-use product!

Both kids are getting the same, the only difference is the 3 year old will get mini rice cakes instead of pretzels as she isn't a fan.

Cupcake sandwich with sprinkles stuck into the bread and a fruit leather cherry. Cut up a paper cup for it's... paper cup LOL. I'm most proud of my "cake" in the yellow container. It's just a chewy granola bar cut into pieces with a square of fruit leather with sprinkles pressed into it. Craisins in the blue container with a pick that holds messages. Strawberries with those picks I mentioned above and pretzels.

Peanut Butter Bear

2011-11-17T12:59:00.000-08:00

I've been at home with this terrible cold thing. Kept the 3 year old home today with me as she is congested and it seemed like the best thing to do. It's become apparently however that she and I do not have the same thing. Mine is the "want to lay on the couch and recover" strain and hers is the "want to monkey around, get into everything and generally cause mayhem" variety. Let's just say the 2 are not compatible!

Anyway, with her being home, no packed bento today. I did pack a quick one for the 6 year old but it was pretty standard so no pictures.

Here's what she got though. She said she was going to eat every bite and surprisingly, she actually did.

Peanut Butter Bear using rice cakes (regular and mini) and raisins for the face.

Caterpiller (fail - she thought they were turtles) with cucumbers and yellow peppers, dip, a "haystack" of yellow peppers with a pick and melon boats.

She also got a Motts sugar free applesauce with a melon boat and a pick, which you can see in this picture:

After eating she said, "Mom, when I'm big, I'm going to make cute lunches too". I said "Yep, you can make them for your babies when you are big" and she said "And you can have more babies to make them for". Um, no. One thousand times... no. I said "I'm happy making them for the babies I already have". To which she said "But you don't have any babies...." and gave me *the look*. Errr.... right. Cause lord help you if you ever refer to her as a baby!

Lego For Lunch Bento

2011-11-13T15:57:00.000-08:00

So I was lying on the couch - err.... doing something productive..... when I just had this compulsion to make the 6 year old a Lego lunch for tomorrow. Wasn't sure exactly how I was going to do it but it's usually easier to do girly lunches so when I have a good one for my boy, I'm all over it!

I knew for sure though, that it would involve this tool. I got this on a whim and man, I use it all. the.time! It cuts 2 sizes of little circles and an oval and white long thing pokes out what you've cut. I use it for eyes, the oval I use for mouths (cut one then cut another inside to make a smile)... it's very handy! You can get it at All Things For Sale for 4.99 - if you click the button on the left and order anything, I get a 5% credit voucher to use - just sayin' :)

Anyway, I got a little punch happy with it but knew it would be awesome for Legos!

For the sandwiches, I punched out circles out of the top piece of bread then little round tubes out of the cheese and stuck them in the holes.

Strawberries have fruit leather circles, as does the cereal bar. I cut up a Babybel cheese to look like a minifig and added eyes and a mouth with fruit leather - (remember the oval cutter above, that's how I made the mouth) I printed off some minifig pics to stick in there as well - you can see them better in the 2nd picture.

Pics are taken on our Lego table which I highly, highly recommend getting if you have kids that enjoy Lego.

Now if you think I was doing that again for the 3 year old, oh no - one time only deal! She got a flower theme (I know, it's like my old standby) with flower sandwiches with fruit leather detail. There are some carrot flowers, another mini sandwich in veggie booty and rice cake pieces and flower strawberries with flower picks.

In case I've never mentioned it, they get other things as well for snacks. They usually get their box plus yogurt for lunch. I don't take picture of the snacks because it's kind of boring. Usually a baked item (homemade muffins, granola bars or whatever), more fruit and something like sugar free applesauce.

Animals... Perhaps?

2011-11-11T15:24:00.000-08:00

Catching up on last weeks lunches as today was a holiday and they had, surprise, surprise PB&J. I'll admit, every Sat/Sun for lunch, they eat PB&J. The 6 year old because his school is nut free so it's fun for him. And the 3 year old, because she believes peanut butter should be its own food group and served at every meal. I think she needs a peanut butter support group.

Anyway, you might have noticed the title of this blog post and the Perhaps? it because I'm not totally sure that this is an animal I made, ha! I told the 3 year old she had a kitty in her lunch and while she enjoyed it, she came home and told me she was pretty sure it wasn't a kitty. Whatever happened to getting credit for trying?!

I rolled up deli meat to make the "kitty" - s/he has goldfish crackers for ears, cucumber eyes, red pepper mouth and a piece of cracker for the tail. The bow is a pick. Then veggie booty, a variety of crackers and melon with animal picks.

The 6 year old who doesn't eat meat but does eat dairy got:

Crackers with animals cut out of cheese - I wrap these up these stacks before packing it all up so that the cheese doesn't dry out. Then a cup of sugar free applesauce, a few fishy crackers and a cereal bar. Finally melon with a strawberry and grape flower. He normally doesn't comment much on his lunches but apparently he thought the flower was "super cool".

The other day, I ran into Safeway to get something and saw this whole wheat pasta in the shape of bugs. Knew my kids would dig it so I grabbed it and made pasta salad for the 3 year old as that's her other obsession. The 6 year old had a sort of mac and cheese, bug style. They both eat *every bite* - AND *the 6 year old did not complain*. Holy crap, someone call Guiness, we have a new record. Plus, they thought it was hilarious to tell everyone their mom gave them bugs for dinner.

The 3 year old took leftovers for the next 2 days:

Tasty Transportation

2011-11-07T20:31:00.000-08:00

The 6 year olds grade 1 class is doing a unit in transportation. Decided he needed a lunch to go along with it - well, actually they both needed a lunch to go along with it as mama only has so many ideas!

Used the big Lock N Lock container with the inserts from my square Lock N Lock.

Strawberry boat in a sea of grapes. Babybel cheese in a car paper cup. I cut out an extra I had to put on top. Fruit twists with truck picks. Crescent pizza "wheels" with rocket picks. And finally, a train sandwich on a track made of crust.

The crescents are a fun lunch item. I had an extra thing of Pillsbury Crescent Rolls in the fridge so whipped these up. Take them out of their packaging and pinch them so it is one long piece of dough (it comes perforated for the crescents). For the 3 yr old no dairy chick, I spread with pizza sauce, sprinkle with meat and chopped peppers and roll width wise. Cut little slices, put on a baking sheet and bake until the bottoms are brown (usually 10-12 minutes). For the 6 year old, I skip the pizza sauce and do peppers, meat and grated cheese. They can be frozen in ziplock bags to have on hand.

For the 3 year old's dairy free version of this lunch, I replaced the Babybel cheese with red peppers cut out like boats and like I said above, no cheese in the crescent "wheels".

Beautiful Butterfly Bento

2011-11-04T18:19:00.000-07:00

So the 3 year old and I were shopping at Safeway the other day - something I rarely do as I leave that up to my husband and the kids on Sunday mornings! So going to the grocery store is kind of fun for me - I always get sucked into new and fun items. (Yes, this is probably why I am not allowed to participate on Sundays - ha!)

Anyway, she spotted this butterfly sandwich cutter by Evriholder and of course we had to get it. We always seem to luck out for cute cutters at Safeway - and frankly, for $2.99, I couldn't resist!

It's unique in the fact that it cuts it into two pieces down the middle, unlike the other ones we've had.

Tried it out last night so here is her butterfly bento from today. Normally I make the sandwich then cut it all but this time I cut both pieces of bread separately so I could do the holes for the jam to show through in the top piece. The middle thingy of the butterfly (whatever the technical term is for that) is a long strip of red pepper. She enjoyed it but she did say at first she thought it was licorice. Sorry, sister!

In the left corner is half a Kashi cereal bar. It had a line up the middle so I cut a fruit leather flower and let the line be the stem. Stuck a pick in to hold it.

Then, cantaloupe flowers and a little square of mini rice cakes, all packed in the larger rectangle Lock N Lock box.

Halloween Wrap Up!

2011-11-04T18:09:00.000-07:00

I know we are over Halloween but I have a few things I have to post before we can kiss it goodbye for another year!

First, here's a Halloween bento made by Angela, she says she's a beginner but it doesn't look like it, does it?!

The last thing is I thought I'd post what we had for dinner on Halloween before trick or treating!

The 3 year old and I had these as she can't have dairy - mummy dogs! Strips of crescent rolls wrapped around hot dogs and baked. They were so good!

Then for the 6 year old who doesn't eat meat but can eat dairy, I did pumpkin grilled cheese (with cucumber stems):

And finally, dessert! Frankenstein vanilla pudding with a little food coloring (it made it light green, hard to tell) and the dairy free version, jello! His "hair" is crushed Oreos.

Kids loved it! We were supposed to have our sweet neighbour boys over to join in but it didn't happen this year due to germs. I'll have to come up with something else fun for next year them!

Halloween Wrap Up

2011-11-03T10:33:00.000-07:00

Guys,

If you have any Halloween lunch pictures, send them my way!

I'll do a post tonight with the things from Halloween that haven't been posted yet. And then it's on to new and fun things!

kimineurope @ hotmail.com and title it Halloween Bento.

Spoooooky lunches for yooooou!

2011-10-30T15:48:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween!!! OK, a day early but I'm the first to wish you that, right?

Here are the kids lunches for tomorrow - I'm sad Halloween will be wrapping up, it's been so much fun.

Here is the 3 year olds. Now, I know I don't usually send things like Oreos but I couldn't resist making an Oreo bat with fruit leather wings! I melted a couple chocolate chips in the microwave in order to stick on the eyes.

She also has a mini waffle sandwich (jam in between) - we get the Earths Best mini waffles. The stem is a piece of veggie booty and the face is fruit leather.

The boo is another mini waffle sandwich topped with a multigrained Ritz cracker with peanut butter and alphabet preztels to spell out BOO.

Then peach applesauce with a fruit leather pumpkin and a melon ghost with grapes. The spider is stuck into a piece of melon in an orange little cup as I had a space to fill!

The 6 year old is a lot of the same only he can eat dairy but his school is nut free.

So instead of the cracker/peanut butter, he gets preztels spelling out BOO on another waffle sandwich. He also got a Babybel cheese - I stuck a pumpkin I cut out of paper on top to make it Halloween-ish, and a pick to make the pumpkin stem.

Normally their snacks are pretty boring (yogurt etc) so I don't bother posting them. This one is cute though, so why not! I had left over plastic test tubes from a party favor we made so I used them in their lunch. I alternated raisins and Floridas Natural Fruit thingies (OK, not the official name) so it was (sort of) orange and black. Hey they are natural, they can't be THAT orange, right?

Can't wait to see what you made for Halloween lunches! Make sure you send them to me at kimineurope @ hotmail.com

Oh, and a shout out to new reader Rachel for posting a comment - love those comments and so glad you are enjoying the blog!

Pumkinhead Bento

2011-10-26T20:32:00.000-07:00

I love my little pumpkinheads. The 6 year old lost tooth #6 today. When he smiled, I told him he looked like a jack-o-lantern. He made me smile and said "Hmm, no gaps. Guess you are just a regular pumpkin then".

I made something for the 3 year old to take into daycare tomorrow, think the kids and teachers will enjoy it. Used food coloring and made orange rice krispie squares, pressed it into a round dish and added a fruit leather face and paper stem.

I didn't do it for the 6 year olds class, the whole allergy thing freaks me out. However, I couldn't not give him a special treat so I made him a little rice krispie pumpkin. The stem is one of my flower leaf picks.

He also has melon and cheese and crackers. The orange Ritz would have probably be more pumpkiny but I'm a sucker for anything labelled "whole grain". Behind it in a little container is pita chips I made with a pumpkin cookie cutter. Take the pita, cut it up, spray with some cooking spray and bake. They are crunchy and delish!

And the 3 year old's lunch. No dairy makes it tricker. (Hello dairy allergy, you are cramping my theme style, go aaaaway! LOL)

She has pita chips with salsa (there is a pumpkin in the salsa but don't feel bad if you can't see it LOL), watermelon with a spider and orange flower picks, veggie booty with a black cat and finally, crackers with peanut butter and a fruit leather face.

And finally, this super cute lunch submitted by Amber!

Halloween by Lisa and Christine!

2011-10-25T20:15:00.001-07:00

Thanks to Christine and Lisa for submitting these awesome Halloween lunches!

If you have any lunches you'd like to send in pictures for, please send them to kimineurope @ hotmail.com Right now we are loving Halloween but send them all in!

Happy Haunting Bento

2011-10-23T19:07:00.000-07:00

The first Halloween bento! I decided I'd do at least 2, maybe 3 - because Halloween + bento = so much fun! So this is number 1 and both kids got the same thing.

Ghosty sandwiches cut with a cookie cutter with icing eyes and a Cheerio mouth. Spooooky, isn't it? You can buy a package of icing eyes at baking supply stores, they are cheap. I don't use them all time but my kids enjoy them as they feel like they are getting candy in their lunch.

Then, cantaloupe pumpkins cut with a small cutter and a black cat pick. A tip - I hide all the scraps under the cut outs so I don't waste it then layer the cute things on top.

Finally, had to have something orange and black so orange fishy crackers with black raisins.

I've got a few other ideas so I'll definitely make another on Halloween day and probably one more in between, depending on my time/energy/mojo/procrastination/laziness/general sloth like tenancies. Check back!

Just a small amount of cuteness....

2011-10-22T15:57:00.000-07:00

Now, before you get any crazy ideas, not all of my lunches are cute. In fact, many are not so cute or even just plain boring.

This is the 6 year olds lunch from the other day. I was trying to throw his lunch together, leave for work and (oh crap, it's orange day) cover the 3 year old with orange stickers at the same time. Apparently no one in this house owns anything orange, who knew?

So I just try and add a little bit of cute on those days. Sometimes a little cute is better than no cute, right? I took whole grain alphabet pretzels (Blue Menu, from the Superstore) and pressed them into his sandwich to spell out his name. I added a hippo pick to his fruit and cut up his cereal bar so fishy crackers could swim around it. Quick, easy and done!

And speaking of orange day, Christine (who works at the 3 year olds daycare and is obviously much more organized than I am!) prepared this for her little boy:

Doing a one color lunch is always fun - or even a rainbow lunch!

Now, I need some comments on the following:

1) Halloween bento. Do I pack one on Halloween day because that makes sense or should I do it this week, so you can see ahead of time? Or maybe both? Let me know.

2) How the heck do I get people to post comments? I see lots of blogs and there are tons of comments so how do I get that happening? Do people not know how to comment? Or just too lazy like I usually am?? LOL I totally want this blog to be a network of sharing of ideas so I need to know you are out there! Random strangers, this means you too. Come on people, don't make me guilt you like this.

3) Finally, are there any themes you want me to bento? Any ideas? Tell me and I'll see what I can do. The rule will be I will only use what I have on hand so that I really have to use my old rusty noggin.

And what I did above is what one of the 3 year olds beloved teachers would call "the sandwich". Nice comment/yell at you/nice comment. HA! Is that not true, Krystal? And yet so fitting for a lunch blog!

The Pink Princess Pancake and the Blue Boat Bento

2011-10-19T19:32:00.001-07:00

Doesn't that title sound like some sort of fairy tale?!

I wanted to make a princess lunch for the 3 year old - because what 3 year old girl wouldn't be into that? And if there is one thing we all know about princesses, they involve pink - lots of pink.

Her princess lunch consisted of blueberry applesauce with a princess ring stuck in it and watermelon with pink heart picks. The little containers have dried cranberries with a pink raccoon pick and a beautiful grape rose. At the bottom, tiara pancake (recipe below) sandwiches (2 pancakes with jam in the middle) adorned with raisins and fruit leather on a pink napkin.

The big highlight was the spoon. I got this set of 3 skinny spoons and forks the last time I was at Daiso and they have a seriously love for those little spoons, who knows why!

Now, I'm not a waster. I try and use all the scraps. So after I cut out the tiara pancakes, I had almost half pancakes left - but not really big enough to cut anything out of them. Sooooo, I trimmed them flat and they became boats for the 6 year olds lunch. I'm pretty sure he's glad he got boats instead of pretty, pretty princess.

I punched out fruit leather circles then punched out holes in the boats and stuck the portholes in. Little flags became the masts and you can't see it, but there are fruit leather waves.

Above, he has grapes with sea life picks and waffle mini pretzels with a cheese boat and fish, and more fruit leather waves. He enjoyed it but did file a complaint about his lack of ring!

On sports nights, we try and have some quick that we know the kids will eat and the night before it was pancakes, hence the leftovers. I always have a big container of homemade mix on hand to quickly throw them together.

Here is the recipe - now please note - this will make a big container - you will NOT use all this at once, this is to keep on hand! That could be mighty confusing!

Pancake Mix (to keep on hand)

4 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
2/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 tablespoon baking soda

Mix together and store in an airtight container.

Now, when you want to use it, combine 1 egg, 3/4 cup of milk and 1 mashed banana in a bowl. Whisk in 1 cup of your mix. If you choose, fold in 3/4 cup of blueberries.

Cook pancakes in lightly greased pan.

So good and better than buying a bag of mix.

Bentos - By You!

2011-10-17T20:30:00.000-07:00

This was so much fun, I'd love to keep it going! Send any pictures of your cute lunches to kimineurope @ hotmail.com and every couple of weeks (or when I get a few), I'll post them!

Quick shout out to Christine for always commenting on my posts and to Nic for posting about my blog on her Facebook yesterday. (Hi, Nic's friends!)

Here we go - your lunches! Make sure you leave a comment below and tell these ladies how much they rock for sharing their lunches!

These were Jen's first bentos - awesome job! She reported back that her kids ate every bite!

This bento is from Christine. She's seen my lunches for the last 4 years while caring for my babies and it's so much fun that she now has the cutest little boy to make bentos for!

This lunch is from Amber - she could have many lunches to make in years to come as her daughter is determined to marry my son! LOL

These adorable lunches are from Sarah. (We've just had our Thanksgiving here in Canada in case you are in the US and were wondering!)

And a Halloween one from Sarah:

Blast Off Bento

2011-10-16T16:38:00.000-07:00

I bake a lot for my kids. I usually manage to cram it in once per week among my full time job, sports etc - sleep is over rated, right? Anyway, I like to bake and freeze - muffins, mini muffins, savory muffins, loaves, cookies - you get the idea. It lets me have a whole variety of things to pack for their school/daycare snack which is fruit and whatever I've pulled out.

Sometimes I get tired of making muffins hence why today I used one of my favorite pans - the multiple mini loaf pan! I had a new recipe I wanted to try and it ended up being so good as mini loaves.

Here they are, Banana Carrot with Raisins, yum.

And here is the recipe for you - this is to make it as a loaf:

1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sugar (I used between 1/2 cup and 3/4 cup)
2 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt (I didn't use any)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup mashed ripe bananas
1 cup grated carrots
1/2 cup chopped pecans (I didn't use any)
I did add about 1/2 cup of raisins

Directions

In a mixing bowl, combine oil and sugar. Add eggs; mix well. Combine flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon; gradually add to the creamed mixture alternately with bananas. Stir in carrots and pecans. Transfer to a greased 9-in. x 5-in. x 3-in. loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 55-65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack to cool completely.

For my mini loaves, I baked them at 325 for 30 minutes.

Lunches were done early today as the kids went over to my mom's and are sleeping over. Love that Granny!

Now, before I start - the 6 year old is a pain lately and won't eat the veggies I try and pack in his lunch. I can get him to eat some at home (you know, with constant nagging, I'm not above it) but at lunch, they get returned every time. So I've given up. So while his sister is a veggie fiend, instead of the adorable veggies I gave her (as you'll see), he got a babybel cheese. I just thank my lucky stars (ha - goes along with the theme!) that my vegetarian kid isn't my dairy allergy kid!

So lunch for tomorrow is a Blast Off, space theme. I got some new cookie cutters and was dying to try the, aren't they the cutest? They cut the face out at the same time.

So we have a planet and star sandwich with mini cloud sandwiches to use up the rest of the bread. The cup is a rocket theme (that you can't see) with rice cake moons and fruit leather suns (ya, I know they look like flowers, I think they are LOL).

The cups above are grapes with space picks - I didn't have any suns so I used a lion turned backwards.

Finally planet veggies using the same cookie cutter and some randomly cut. I added a little thing of dip after the picture was taken.

Pictures of your bentos that you submitted will be posted tomorrow so check back!

Hodge Podge

2011-10-14T12:40:00.000-07:00

First, if you have any pictures of lunches you've made this week, please send them to me to post! I have 4 so far and would love more! Email them to kimineurope @ hotmail.com

This is yesterdays lunch. It's a bit of a hodge podge, didn't make it the night before, not much time before work/school... that type of deal.

The first container has a garlic knot - we had them with our dinner and seriously best.thing.ever, we all fell in love! Super quick and easy, I'll post the recipe below! Some fishy crackers around it.

This is the 3 year olds - she also had honeydue melon and veggie booty. The last container is cucumbers and red and yellow peppers. There is dip inside the penguin container.

Took 2 seconds to throw together but they still enjoyed it!

Here is the recipe for the Garlic knots. I used Crescent Rolls as I had a thing of them in the fridge and didn't use the parsley. I also had to bake them a few minutes longer than called for.

1 tube (12 ounces) refrigerated buttermilk biscuits
1/4 cup canola oil
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes

Roll each biscuit into a 12-in. rope and tie into a knot; tuck ends under.
Place 2 in. apart on a greased baking sheet.
Bake at 400° for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.

In a large bowl, combine the remaining ingredients; brush the warm knots with the mixture.

Dino-myte

2011-10-11T20:58:00.000-07:00

Before I get to lunch, you know I have a love for the Lock N Lock containers, right? Well, I was cleaning out this huge drawer they all live in and it turns out, I don't just have a love - I have a problem! I swear, there weren't that many in there yesterday! Apparently I should be packing lunch for half of grade one or something! This will have to be our little secret. Please don't phone "Hoarders".
OK, lunch. The lunches started out using the DynoBytes sandwich cutters - I like these because they just cut off the crusts and don't waste much else. I picked up the dinosaur and dolphin ones while at Safeway one day, you know how they have those ends of random things? There. I dig them as I get tired of cutting the crusts off for my seriously anti-crust 3 year old. Why she has such a hatred for crusts, I'll never know. And here I swore I'd be one of those moms who never cut the off crusts. Never say never, especially with a diva in the house.

Today I used different containers, I used to use these all the time for my lunch but forgot about them. They are the Ziplock disposable ones (but I reuse them).

In the one section, homemade pumpkin cranberry cookies.

Next, apple slices in a checkboard pattern. This is SUPER easy, don't be scared off as it looks cool. You just score the apple in both directions then with a point knife, sort of pry off the skin squares you don't want. I normally don't pack apples because of the browning but I wanted to try a trick I had heard about. I was drinking a can of Sprite and apparently if you dip the apples in there, they don't brown. Sure enough, worked awesome. I packed these at night and they were still fine in the morning!

Then the dinos! Cut with the cutter listed above. Then I used another tip of a random flower cutter to cut the crust into spikes for their backs. I used baking sprinkles for the eye and mouth (and made the eye dot with an edible writer pen). The grass in the background isn't edible, it's a food divider called "baran" in bento land. You can get all sorts of baran so that your food items don't touch if you don't use sectioned boxes.

Finally, the part the 6 year old loved - a dinosaur joke.

Q: What kind of dinosaur keeps you up at night?
A: A bronto-SNORE-us

Hey, it's funny when you are six!

Leave a comment - please? I love knowing you all are reading this - otherwise I feel I'm chatting with myself! (Which is not all that unusual....)

PS - I have 3 photos so far of lunches you are packing, yay! Keep them coming, I will post them next week. Just pack a cute lunch of some sort this week, take a picture and send it to kimineurope @ hotmail.com . Doesn't have to be fancy or a work of art, just show us what you made!

Lunch Ideas

2011-10-10T09:18:00.000-07:00

Lunch Ideas

It's a holiday here so my kids will be getting stale bread crusts and warm water for lunch - kidding!

Thought I'd dedicate this post to lunch ideas since I know I'm not the only one that struggles to think of things to put in their lunches!

Before I do that though, remember this is the week to submit a photo of a cute lunch you've packed. Come on, you only have to do one at the very least! Send your photo to kimineurope @ hotmail. com so I can post them next week. It's doesn't have to be a traditional bento, just make it cute and take that picture!

Sandwiches:
Meat
Cheese
Peanut Butter/Jam (if allowed)
Cream cheese and cukes
Cream cheese and jam
Cream cheese and meat
Egg or chicken salad
Tuna
Hummus

To change it up, instead of bread use:
English muffins
Pitas
Tortillas
Bagels/Mini Bagels

Other ideas:
Bagel/mini bagel and jam/cream cheese
Cheese and crackers
Hard boiled eggs
Waffles/mini waffles
Pancakes
Tortilla roll ups (add filling, roll up, slice into pieces)
Soup, chili or leftovers in a Thermos
Pasta salad
Pasta with sauce or cheese
English muffin or bagel pizzas
Meatballs
Homemade Lunchables - meat/cheese/crackers
Hummus or Tzakiki and Pita
Savory muffins (like ham and cheese)
Salad (regular, Greek etc)
Oatmeal in a Thermos (keep meaning to try this)
Quesadillas and a little container of salsa

Snacks:
Applesauce
Fruit flavored tofu
Yogurt
Cottage cheese
Fishy crackers
Granola bars
Cereal bars
Mini rice cakes
Trail mix (make your own with what you have on hand)
Banana/apple/zucchini/pumpkin bread
Mini muffins
Cheese cubes
Pretzels
Ants on a log (use cream cheese instead of PB for no nut schools)

Fruit:
Apple slices
Steamed apples with cinnamon
Orange segments
Bananas
Pear slices
Melon
Plums
Strawberries
Blueberries
Raspberries
Mango
Pineapple
Peaches
Cherries
Grapes
* Tip - send a cup of yogurt to dip in to make it fun!

Veggies (with or without dip):
Cucumbers
Carrots
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Peppers
Peas
Mushrooms

Pasta Salad and Winner

2011-10-07T09:28:00.000-07:00

Just realized I didn't draw for the winner of my favorite food picks. Congrats to Jen G! (Email me your mailing address to kimineurope @ hotmail.com and I'll fire them out to you!)

So here is your challenge for next week. Pack your child a bento - any form, any fashion, doesn't have to be fancy. Then send me a picture (see email address above) so I can post it! I'll give you all next week to whip something up and then the following week I will post any pictures. I'd love for this blog to be a communal sharing of lunch ideas. Feel free to send any recipes, lunch ideas or anything else!

OK, on to a lunch.

This was the 3 year olds lunch yesterday. She LOVES pasta salad. LOVES. As in does a happy dance when she sees it (she takes after her mother, we like a good happy dance). We had it for dinner so she got the leftovers. I used up several different pastas as each bag just had a bit left. And before you think I'm fancy, I use the Clubhouse mix which is awesome. You mix oil, vinegar and the seasoning packet and toss with pasta and veggies. So good. Hers is how she prefers it, with cucumbers and yellow peppers.
Some long skinny carrot strips under the bowl. Honeydue melon with animal picks and a cereal bar cut into flowers - the heart pick is stabbed through a dried cranberry. Easy and quick.

Monster Love

2011-10-05T20:03:00.000-07:00

Wanted to do something cute for the 6 year old. I always am careful to try and walk that fine line between cute and cutesy as frankly, I don't want to pay for the therapy down the road LOL

So what he got today was a very cute but not cutesy monster sandwich. What 6 year old boy doesn't like monsters? Especially the ones that come in the cheese and lettuce variety!

I've been using a larger Lock N Lock container (it comes with 3 rectangle sections) and just piecing together things with odd and random containers. Whatever works!

The monster sandwich I cut out with a large glass. He has pretzel rods with a piece of veggie booty stuck on each to make those monster.... whatever you call 'em? Horns? Ears? His eyes are fruit leather and the white thing is a baking sprinkle that I put a black dot on with an edible marker. His teeth are cheese.

Then he has some honeydue melon with spaceship picks (closest thing I had to monster) and the rest of his dried papaya he conned his dad into buying.

Maybe a good Halloween lunch for your little monster....errr.... child?

PS - thanks to those following this blog :) Makes me happy when you follow, repost on Facebook or comment - many thanks!

Lunch Trial - Baby Taco Cups

2011-10-03T19:58:00.000-07:00

So if I'm not sure what the kids will think, sometimes we give a lunch a trial at dinner! I saw this idea on mylunchrox.com and I thought wow, super smart AND cute! And the kicker was it was also SUPER easy.

To make the little taco cups, you take a cookie cutter and cut out circles of tortilla shells (like the kind you would use for a burrito) to fit inside a mini muffin tray. You squish them in, spray lightly with cooking spray and bake for 7-10 minutes at 350. Tada! You could use a cookie cutter to cut them out but in this house, a souvenir glass from the Great Canadian Beer Fest worked out well!

Note to self - remember what your grandma told you, "Patience is a virtue!" Wait until AFTER you take the picture to sample or it will be really obvious! LOL

Then I put them on a plate with stuff to fill them: cut up peppers, lettuce, cheese, salsa and a small bowl of refried beans (not shown). I gave them a little spoon and let them fill them and eat them and dinner was a success! Definately packable for lunch and easy to eat - just stuff the toppings into your sections and pack a spoon and a little container of salsa.

Now, what to do with those scraps that didn't make it into circles? I chopped them up into pieces and laid them on sprayed baking sheet. Spray them again lightly then shake garlic powder on them. Bake until crispy and you have garlic chips - we love them!

Mickey Monday!

2011-10-02T14:09:00.000-07:00

This is for the 3 year olds lunch tomorrow so it's getting named Mickey Monday!

This lunch is packed in large Lock N Lock container but it didn't work with the 3 inserts so I just used some other random containers.

I made a PB&J sandwich and cut out the circle with a large cup (then ate the rest for my lunch today!) Stuck 2 mini rice cakes in as the ears. The eyes and nose are flattened out raisins and the mouth is a strip cut out of a piece of fruit leather.

I totally admit to the cucumber Mickey being kind of freaky but hey, it's the thought that counts! Cut up cukes and peppers with a Mickey sauce container that has salad dressing for dipping. The other container is strawberries with a red bear pick that we will pretend is a mouse because it worked with the Mickey colors!

Feel free to repost this on FB and I always love your comments!

Q and A

2011-10-02T10:56:00.001-07:00

I've had a bunch of people ask some questions so I thought I'd post this here.

If you have a question, feel free to post it in the comments and I'll add it on to this post.

Q: What do you use for your bentos?
A: At the moment it's the Lock N Lock boxes which have the 4 squares. I like them because you can have all 4 squares, take 2 out for something larger on one side etc. I also like that they go all the way up to the lid so there is no mixing it up going on between squares.

Q: Where do you buy these Lock N Lock containers?
A: Well, if you are in the US, you probably have alot more options than I do! I've ordered them to a friend from Amazon.com before. However, since then I did a happy dance (seriously, I did - I apologize if you witnessed it) when I saw them at my local Sears.

Q: What about other bento style boxes?
A: I'm totally open to trying them, I just haven't yet. There are some super cool boxes out there with sections like Go Green Lunchboxes and PlanetBox. There are also the traditional Asian style bento boxes which are non-sectioned.

Q: Where do you get your supplies?
A: For the most part, I get them on eBay. I just search Bento Picks or whatever I'm looking for. I usually go with sellers that have a good combined shipping rate to Canada. Normally I can order quite a bit for $6 in shipping or so.

As far as a specific website, I keep meaning to try this one out. Tons of stuff and reasonable shipping:

All Things For Sale

Other than that, when I'm in Vancouver (Richmond to be precise) or Seattle, I hit up Daiso. They have a great selection of picks, boxes and some other things.

I just keep my eyes open everywhere in case I see something that would work. Dollar stores, Michaels, you just never know where you'll find things. I usually get my cookie/sandwich cutters at the local bakers supply store.

Q: How do you think of ideas?
A: Usually it's something my kids are into - like say Morgan and the robot lunch. Sometimes it's ideas I've pinched from things I've seen online. Depends on the day!

Q: Do your kids eat all their lunch?
A: Well, here's the thing. I think it's important that cute is balanced with what they will eat. As in, there is no point in me making a cute seaweed decoration as there is no chance they will eat it. So I make what they will like, then cute it up. If I'm not sure if they will, I'll usually give it to them at home first to see. Kids need fuel to learn all day and I need to know they have the energy to do that.

OK, so post any other questions I haven't answered and I'll put them on here with the answer. Come on, you know you wanna!

Also, don't forget to enter the contest below for the adorable food picks!

Teeny Tiny Little Pancake People

2011-09-27T20:32:00.000-07:00

Had to come up with something fast tonight for dinner as we needed to rush out to skating lessons. Went with banana pancakes and thought, hmmm I'll make some extras for lunch. Then I decided to make teeny tiny ones the size of a quarter so I could use my new little hats picks!

The 3 year old will be getting a party of pancake people in her lunch tomorrow - along with another big one to fill her up! (Faces made with cut up raisins and craisins)

Tuesday's Lunch

2011-09-27T20:27:00.000-07:00

Both kids had this today, nothing fancy but I'm trying to take pictures of my regular bentos as well so you can see that it can be basic but still fun!

6 year old - Dried mango and banana chips (they sweet talked their dad into those at the grocery store), some fruit salad, a container of apple sauce and a cheese and red pepper muffin.

The 3 year old got the same only her muffin was ham and red pepper.

One can't do dairy, one won't eat meat - these kids of mine!

Winner and New Contest

2011-09-26T21:17:00.000-07:00

Congrats to Jodi - winner of the marine cutters set!

Here is another chance for you to win! I ordered my favorite bento picks set (and trust me, I have alot!) so you could enjoy them too. I love them because they have faces when you look at them one way but look totally different from the top.

All you have to do it post a comment to this post and I'll draw a winner at random next Monday!

A bit big for bento....

2011-09-24T19:31:00.000-07:00

We had the 6 year old's class party today. The main thing we had for lunch was a huge hit so I thought I'd share it, even though it's not small enough for bento!

The theme of the party was pirates so we had 2 of these baguette pirate ships - great for a party or even just a playdate! Super quick and easy and got gobbled up! We did one cheese and lettuce and one jam to play it safe.

Cut the baguette, put whatever you want inside, stick pretzels along the sides for oars, throw in some sails and you have a great pirate ship. The best part is that 99% of both got eaten, it was a nice change from regular party food and they served as centerpieces!

Can't take credit for the idea though, saw it on a website and thought it was great. You can download the pirate sails for free here! I printed them out on cardstock and used heavy duty wooden skewers.

Here's our cheese and lettuce version!

Lunchbox Recipe - Blueberry Pumpkin Muffins

2011-09-23T14:25:00.000-07:00

OK, so I'm not a super huge muffin fan. I make them for my kids but I don't eat alot of the ones I make because I feel they are just wanna be cupcakes - ha! Except these. These are sooo good. Seriously. You'll eat as many as your kids! (Is that a good or a bad thing?) Try them and let me know what you think!

Blueberry Pumpkin Muffins

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup quick cooking oats
2/3 cup white sugar (I don't always use all the sugar)
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
1/4 cup butter, melted (I use margerine)
3/4 cup fresh blueberries or frozen blueberries, thawed (I use frozen)

Directions

1.Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease and flour muffin pan or use paper liners.
2.Mix the flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg together in a mixing bowl until evenly blended. In a separate bowl, stir together the pumpkin, milk, egg, and butter. Gradually stir in the flour mixture, just until all ingredients are moistened. Fold in the blueberries. Spoon batter into muffin cups, filling to the top.
3.Bake in preheated oven until tops spring back when lightly pressed, about 20 minutes.

Freezing instructions:
They freeze great! I freeze them in freezer bags and take out the night before for lunches.

Peanut Butter Piggy, Perhaps?

2011-09-19T19:55:00.001-07:00

Welcome to tomorrows lunches!

Peanut Butter Piggy

For the 3 year old. A little too cutesy for the 6 year old!

Making the pig: Cut 2 circles of bread and punched out 2 holes for the nostrils. Spread with PJ&J (you see the jam peeking out through the nostrils). Squished the 2 together. Cut a triangle cracker in 2 for the ears and red pepper for the inner ear and mouth. Eyes are a combo of a baking decoration (white thing) and raisins.

Then we have grapes with fellow farm animal picks and some fishies in an animal cup. Oh and some veggie booty as it reminded me of curly pig tails!

For the 6 year old

A Whales Tale

Punched the whale and water out of a piece of bread with small cutters. (Uses the same set you can win below! Don't worry - yours is the new and unopened set!) Made his favorite cheese and lettuce sandwich letting the cheese show for the whale and the lettuce show for the water. Fishy crackers to swim around the whale.

Cut up grapes with a whale and fish picks.

Small bowl of water (OK, berry sugar free applesauce) with a seal on a "rock" (aka strawberry). Picture taken before the lid was put on for the applesauce container, I'm not that wild and crazy!

If you've enjoyed these lunches, please take a second to comment! Gives me motivation to keep posting if I know people are diggin' them :) Also feel free to tell your friends, re-post of facebook (I totally love that) and don't forget to enter the contest a few posts down!

Lunchbox Recipe - Homemade Granola Bars

2011-09-18T11:03:00.000-07:00

These rock! My kids adore them.

Homemade Granola Bars

2 cups rolled oats
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup wheat germ
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup raisins (or 3/4 cup of whatever dried fruit(s) or extras (coconut, chocolate chips etc) you like.
1/2 cup honey
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Generously grease a 9x13 inch baking pan.
In a large bowl, mix together the oats, brown sugar, wheat germ, cinnamon, flour and raisins. Make a well in the center, and pour in the honey, egg, oil and vanilla. Mix well using your hands. Pat the mixture evenly into the prepared pan.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until the bars begin to turn golden at the edges. Don't let them get too brown - just the edges! Cool for 5 minutes, then cut into bars while still warm. Do not allow the bars to cool completely before cutting, or they will be too hard to cut.

Freezing instructions:

After cutting into bars, place a flat layer in a freezer bag. (I usually do 4 per bag). Then take out the night before and by morning, they will be ready to get put into lunches.

Go make a batch and let me know what you think!

TGIF Lunches

2011-09-16T15:19:00.001-07:00

Today's lunches..

Strawberry Garden

For the 3 year old:

Strawberry PB&J sandwiches - I poked in a few of those red cake decorating sprinkles to make it more strawberry like. Hulls of the strawberries are veggie booty.

A couple flower mini sandwiches so not to waste the rest of the bread, veggie bootie and grapes with flower picks.

The Letter M

The 6 year old asked for "M" sandwiches so that's what he got. Made them cuter by polka dotting them with fruit leather.

Grapes with robot picks, a cereal bar cut into 3 and speared with a pic and a few pretzels.

Let's do this thing!

2011-09-15T18:30:00.000-07:00

So here goes - first official post on Bento Diva!

First, I posted some things under the FAQ on the left side (<----- over there, under the cupcake) along with a few things under About Me. The FAQ might answer some questions you have about Bento, the About Me - well, probably won't LOL

On the previous post, I posted some pictures of bentos I've made my kids. Yes, I use alot of the same things. Why? My kids are picky. They aren't going to go for that traditional seaweed, molded egg type deal. No way, no how. I gotta make it cute and fun - but I have to make it so they want to eat it as well. (Try being around the 3 year old when she hasn't eaten - not pretty). I try and keep it healthy but I'm not uber crazy either (like my mom was. Seltzer and carob? Not a treat. Just sayin'.)

Anyway, on to the fun cause I want you to bento too! Yes, you. It's giveaway time! (And keep checking back as I ordered some more bento things for me and got a couple more things for giveaways as well).

Here's what you can win today - a set of marine cutters great for cutting cheese and ham! Just post a comment on this post with your name/email and I will choose a name by random draw next Thursday! If you aren't local I'll happily mail it. if you are, you can pick it up yourself. Love you!

PS - You can be emailed with updates on this blog by subscribing on the right :)

Bentos from the past...

2011-09-15T18:07:00.000-07:00

Robot bento.

The 6 year old loves a good robot. Cheese and lettuce sandwich with pretzel arms, crust mouth and circles cut out of fruit leather for eyes. Strawberries and the rest of the fruit leather speared with robot picks and a few fishy crackers.

Number 3 Bento

Leftover pancakes with jam inside - for the 3 year old (bet you figured that out!) Grapes with animal picks, fishy crackers and bear cereal things from the health food store.

Pirate Bento - dairy free version.

The 3 year old has a dairy allergy. Her pirate sandwich uses red pepper and cucumber peel for the face. Veggies on people picks (she loves those), strawberries with animal picks and some raisins and veggie booty.

Pirate bento.

Pirate sandwich with with a cheese face and cucumber peel and red pepper features. Homemade granola bar (remind me to post the recipe!), strawberries with animal picks, raisins and veggie booty.

Bear Bento

Quick bear sandwiches with raisins and craisins for the eyes and mouth. Strawberries with bear pics. Honey fishy crackers (bears like honey, they do match the theme!) and raisins in a bear cup.

French Toast Bento.

Leftover french toast (breakfast for dinner, yum!) rolled up with jam. Strawberries, whole grain rice cakes and cucumber people.