Reader Influenced Bento

17 May 2013 26 Comments

by eclecticlamb in Bento / Cute Food, Food Tags: ,

Vegetarian Bento

Last week I invited you to vote on the type of bento I would make. The winner was “Interesting colorful food layout (not character)”. I bought a lot of colorful produce for this bento but it ended up being red, green, and white.

I hope that you think of this as interesting and colorful. I tried a few new techniques in this lunch.

Container: ECO Lunchboxes

In Round Cup: Tri-Color Pearl Couscous cooked with vegetable bouillon, added chickpeas and decorated with chickpeas, green peas, and snow peas

In Oval Container: lettuce, cream cheese with some homemade pesto in cherry tomato cups, green pimento stuffed olives on star picks, checkered apple (this was my first time trying this, I used this awesome tutorial by Jenn of Bento for Kidlet), stamped watermelon (used cutter similar to this), and snow peas.

Not pictured: Blue Diamond Natural Oven Roasted Almonds with Sea Salt

Under the Sea Bento

16 May 2013 18 Comments

by eclecticlamb in Bento / Cute Food, Food Tags: ,

Under the Sea Bento

My 14 year old niece made this lunch. I only offered a little help/suggestions.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Ocean: Mukimame, sprouts

Starfish & Seahorse: Homemade grape jam sandwiches on wheat bread

Whale: Apple on blueberry yogurt

Fish: Pepperidge Farm Goldfish Crackers

Tennis Bento

15 May 2013 18 Comments

by eclecticlamb in Bento / Cute Food, Food Tags: , , ,

Tennis Bento

When I found Racchette pasta at Wegmans, I knew I had to make a tennis themed bento lunch. I made this lunch for my 14 year old niece. She ate it at school and heated the pasta with a microwave available for students. I placed the sides in silicone cups so she could remove them before heating the pasta.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Fruit: Mineola Tangelo

Nuts: Toasted pecans

Tennis Pasta: DeCecco Racchette pasta with green peas, dressed with a garlic and olive oil sauce, carrot lettering

Linking to:

Bento Lunch

Lily of the Valley Bento

14 May 2013 25 Comments

by eclecticlamb in Bento / Cute Food, Food Tags: , , ,

Lily of the Valley Bento

Lily of the Valley is my favorite flower. I love the shape and smell. I am also reminded of my Grandmother’s garden in the house she had when I was a kid. That house and garden holds magical memories for me. I have a memory of fresh cut Lily of the Valley in a small juice glass on a counter in the kitchen. The memories are probably more special because that house and garden no longer exist. When I was about 11 my Grandparents sold that house. A contractor bought it, destroyed the house and garden and built apartments.

Container: ECO Lunchboxes

Soil: Wild rice cooked with a vegetable bouillon

Lily of the Valley: Apple with chives (from my herb garden)

Vegetables: Lettuce, mukimame, cucumber, carrot, roasted green and orange bell pepper, roasted asparagus (difficult to see in photo)

Linking to:

Grown-Ups Gotta Eat

Bagel Bear Bento

13 May 2013 24 Comments

by eclecticlamb in Bento / Cute Food, Food Tags: , ,

Bagel Bear Bento

I am not convinced that this looks like a bear. I think that the eyes are the problem. But my husband enjoyed this for breakfast on a day he went to work early. I love that he does not mind eating cute food because I love making cute food.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Bear: Homemade bagels with cinnamon sugar topping, eyes (Craisins), nose (carrot made with CuteZcute cutter), filled with cream cheese and homemade apricot jam

Vegetable Bears & Fruit: Cucumber bears and strawberries

Mini Bears: Mini Teddy Grahams – Honey

Linking to:

BentoForKidlet

Vote for Bento I will Make

10 May 2013 15 Comments

by eclecticlamb in Bento / Cute Food, Blog, Food

I appreciate you my readers, your visits and all of your “likes” and comments. I love it when you offer suggestions for what I will make next.

So I thought it would be fun for you to vote on the type of bento I will make. Please vote below. In the comments, offer specific suggestions if you want.

Voting is open until Sunday May 12.  Voting is now closed. See results below. On Friday May 17, I will post the bento influenced by you.

Poll-Results

 

Family Tree Bento

09 May 2013 15 Comments

by eclecticlamb in Food, Bento / Cute Food Tags: , ,

Family Tree Lunch

I wanted to try out a family tree idea. This was a quick and easy lunch to prepare.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Fruit: Apple and strawberries

Dip: Ranch

Hearts:  Horseradish cheese

Tree: Peanut butter and homemade strawberry jam on wheat bread, broccoli, sugar snap peas, carrot lettering

Millennium Falcon Quesadilla Bento

07 May 2013 14 Comments

by eclecticlamb in Bento / Cute Food, Food Tags: , ,

Millennium Falcon in Asteroid Field

In preparation for my recent “May the 4th Be with You” blog hop, I made two bentos. This is the one that did not make the cut for the hop. But I thought that it would still be nice to share.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Background: Nori (dried seaweed)

Millennium Falcon: Cheese quesadilla with food marker details

Asteroid Field: Red grapes

Lightsabers: Pretzels with dyed white chocolate

???: I was aiming for Vader, looks more like Chewbacca, roasted green pepper with raw pepper slices behind

Linking to:
Bento Blog Network

Matching Bento and Napkin

06 May 2013 24 Comments

by eclecticlamb in Bento / Cute Food, Embroidery, Food Tags: , , ,

Bento with Matching Napkin

Awhile ago a reader suggested that I embroider a bento. I love my EasyLunchboxes so it was a natural choice to embroider it on a napkin. I enjoyed planning and creating this simple embroidered napkin with matching lunch.

Container: EasyLunchboxes

Stars: Peanut butter sandwiches on wheat bread

Fruit: Strawberry

Vegetable: Sugar snap peas

Embroidery in Progress

Embroidery in Progress

I made a 12 inch by 12 inch napkin from a Flour Sack Towel bought from Herrschners. I used a water erasable pen to transfer my pattern to my napkin. My stitching is done with a simple back stitch. For the food I used 2 strands of DMC thread. For the outline of the box I used DMC Perle 5. I would have used 2 strands of DMC thread but I did not have any black left in my stash. (If you would like the pattern, leave a comment or email me.)

EasyLunchboxes with Matching Napkin

ELB with Matching Napkin

Cinco de Mayo Bento

05 May 2013 13 Comments

by eclecticlamb in Bento / Cute Food, Food Tags: , ,

Cinco de Mayo Bento

I made this simple lunch for Cinco de Mayo. For the lettering I used a cutter set similar to this.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Cactus: Cucumber

Sombrero: Watermelon with dried blueberry fringe (I attached the blueberries with pieces of spaghetti – it softens by lunchtime)

Lettering: Horseradish cheese

Mexican Rice: I used this recipe from Eating Well.

Linking to:
BentoForKidlet Bento Lunch

May the Fourth Be with You Bento Hop

04 May 2013 57 Comments

by eclecticlamb in Bento / Cute Food, Food Tags: , ,

Star Wars Onigiri

Once again, I am proud to join my Bento Bloggers & Friends on this “May the 4th Be with You” blog hop. Please find the hop button at the bottom of this post and continue through the hop until you visit all of the amazing blogs.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Background: Spinach

Stormtroopers: Onigiri made with upside down bear rice mold, paprika stencil

Darth Vader: Onigiri mixed with black sesame seeds and made with upside down bear rice mold

Tie Fighter: Cucumber

Millennium Falcon in Asteroid Field: Tortilla with food coloring, red grapes

Please click on the hop button below to see what Beth of A Boy & His Lunch prepared.

May the 4th Be With You Blog Hop

Once you’ve completed the hop…

Return to Base

Nest Themed Dinner

02 May 2013 27 Comments

by eclecticlamb in Food, Party Planning Tags: , ,

Nest Dinner Header

My 16 year old nephew and 14 year old niece came over for a nest themed dinner. It was enjoyable to have them help me cook and the food was delicious.

Menu

  • Salad with bird crouton. I mostly followed this recipe from Lady Nann’s Table. The eggs and rest of the salad are from the Bird’s Nest Salad with Citrus Dressing recipe from Beautiful on the Raw. I only made orange eggs and did not put garlic in the dressing. We also used the olive oil choice in the dressing instead of nut butter.
  • Potato nests from Eating Whole. They took a lot longer to cook than the recipe said but I think that I had more potatoes in each cup. We roasted red pepper, white onion and zucchini to add to the nests.
  • Birds Nest Pasta from Veggie Kids. My niece had hers with peas since she does not like cheese. My nephew and I had our nests with pearl fresh mozzarella balls.
  • Birds Nest Cookies from Martha Stewart. They take time to make but are worth it! I used Cadbury Mini Eggs (milk chocolate with a crisp sugar shell). I bought the eggs around Easter.

Bird Nest Salad

Bird in Nest Salad

Potato Nests and Spaghetti Nests

Potato and Spaghetti Nests

Birds Nest Cookies

Nest Cookies

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