I made this star themed lasagna lunch for my 14 year old nephew to take to school. He loves my lasagna and a star theme seems fitting. This lunch was made to be reheated since he has a microwave available at school.
Container: EasyLunchBoxes
Left Side: Homemade lasagna baked without mozzarella cheese on top, mozzarella cheese cut into stars with a cookie cutter and added to cool lasagna
Top Right: Cashews
Bottom Right: Raspberries
Today I have 2 meals I made for my 12 year old nephew – dinosaur and turkey themed. In both cases he had other food to supplement.
I enjoy making shaped bread and the people in my life enjoy eating it. I received a request to make another dinosaur themed lunch with kiwi and I was happy to make it.
Container: EasyLunchBoxes
Left Side: T-Rex bread (cookie cutter) with food marker detail – made using this recipe, Cheddar cheese
Top Right: Red and green bell pepper
Bottom Right: Dinosaur Egg – kiwi
This meal can be a snack or a light meal or add Greek yogurt or nuts to make it more substantial.
Container: LunchBots Trio
Top Left: Turkey – cheese quesadilla (cookie cutter)
Top Right: Strawberries
Bottom: Cucumber and carrots
I am interested in space and have a reasonably sized space themed cookie cutter collection. When viewing my collection I decided to make several space themed pizza lunches. My nephews helped me out by eating these meals.
This is my second attempt at a pizza rocket. The spinach details helped it to look more like a rocket.
Container: EasyLunchBoxes
Left Side: Rocket pizza (cookie cutter) with spinach details, blackberries
Top Right: Stars – Trader Joe’s star cookies with pop-rocks
Bottom Right: Stars – Cheddar cheese (cookie cutter), sugar snap peas
This pizza is supposed to be the man on the moon. As usual my nephew liked it and was especially happy to get chocolate with the meal.
Container: EasyLunchBoxes
Left Side: Man on the Moon – homemade pizza with black olive details
Top Right: Mini Milky Way bar
Bottom Right: Blackberries
I had trouble making alien pizza. This is my second try – I think that the octopus cookie cutter helped it look better.
Container: EasyLunchBoxes
Top Left: Planet – apple rings with cinnamon
Bottom Left: Carrot Stars (cookie cutter), blackberries
Right Side: Alien pizza – used octopus cookie cutter, Wilton candy eyes
I love my vintage astronaut cookie cutter. I used it to make toasted bread for the salad.
Container: EasyLunchBoxes
Left Side: Astronaut – toasted bread (cookie cutter), romaine, black olives
Top Right: Chocolate pudding, sprinkle stars
Bottom Right: Star pizza (cookie cutter)
I made this pizza with orange Cheddar cheese so it would look more like a planet.
Container: EasyLunchBoxes
Top Left: Blueberries and strawberries
Bottom Left: Aliens – green olives with food marker details, space picks
Right Side: Homemade pizza with orange Cheddar cheese
I made this Christmas tree bread themed lunch for my nephew. Bread and cheese lunches are always popular.
Container: Fit & Fresh Bento Lunch Kit
Top Left: Kiwi
Bottom Left: Carrots
Right Side: Christmas Tree bread using this recipe, decorated with green sanding sugar and cinnamon decorations, Cheddar cheese
A few weeks ago, my garden club was involved in a holiday house tour. Garden clubs each decorated a house for Thanksgiving or Christmas and members of the community paid to tour the houses. Since making arrangements is not my strength, I volunteered to make 3D gingerbread decorations for the table. Members of my garden club made the arrangements seen in these photos.
The table in the house was huge! We set for 10 since we wanted to leave room at the ends for the crowds of people touring the house. I used a 3D cutter set from IKEA to make the stars and trees out of gingerbread. I used this recipe for the gingerbread. It was my first time using 3D cutters with gingerbread. I needed to cut the cooled cookies to enlarge the openings so they would fit together. I tried spreading the gingerbread slots apart more before baking but cutting them to fit worked better. To decorate the stars and trees I piped royal icing, mixed gold and silver sanding sugar and pressed it into the royal icing.
3D stars
3D trees
If you make 3D gingerbread decorations for your holiday table, I would love to see a photo.
I made this taco salad lunch for my taco loving nephew. It is fun to come up with new ways to serve the same thing.
Container: EasyLunchBoxes
Left Side: Eyes – cherry tomatoes with Cheddar cheese (attach cheese with small pieces of spaghetti – used a toothpick to make holes), mustache pick, Mouth – cookie cutter filled with Mexican cheese blend, lettuce
Top Right: Raspberries and blackberries
Bottom Right: Black beans, salsa, cherry tomatoes
Above the Box: Mini Dippers with Taco Sauce, and Fritos corn chips
I made this lunch for my 14 year old nephew. He loves lasagna and snowboarding and he has no problem bringing themed food to school. This lunch was made to be reheated. When he heated it in the microwave at school the mozzarella cut-outs were not as obvious. So it could be a sneaky way to prepare a cute meal for someone that does not necessarily want cute.
Container: EasyLunchBoxes
Left Side: Homemade lasagna baked without mozzarella cheese on top, mozzarella cheese cut into snowboard and person shapes
Top Right: Carrots
Bottom Right: Grapes
Today I have 3 very different themed lunches that I made for my nephews: Face muffins, Merman bread, and dogs and cats on a stick snack lunch.
My nephew requested muffins for lunch, these are cranberry. I stuck some eye picks in them for fun.
Container: ECO Lunchboxes
Contents: Fruit muffins with eye picks, walnuts, snow peas, blackberries
I found this easy oyster cookie directions and decided to make a merman bread lunch for my nephew on a day we were out and about. I know that this merman looks odd but I don’t think that my nephew cared.
Container: EasyLunchBoxes
Top: Merman bread (used this recipe) with cinnamon and food coloring marker details, Cheddar cheese, snow peas
Bottom Left: Oyster Pearl Cookie – graham cracker crumbs
Bottom Right: Blueberries
Above the Box: Mini Dippers with Hummus
My nephew and I collaborated on the theme and type of food for this lunch.
Container: EasyLunchBoxes
Left Side: Dog – green pepper (cookie cutter), Cat – watermelon (cookie cutter), Fruit kabobs – watermelon and cherries, vegetable kebob – carrot and green pepper
Top Right: Cheddar cheese
Bottom Right: Pretzel sticks
In my quest to find appropriate themes for salsa rice and black beans, here is a lobster. I made this meal for my 14 year old nephew for lunch at home.
Container: EasyLunchBoxes
Left Side: Hot cooked Nishiki rice mixed with a little salsa and pressed in a lobster cookie cutter with plastic wrap, black beans mixed with a little salsa
Top Right: Pistachio nuts
Bottom Right: Sand Dollar – Snickerdoodle with sliced almonds
I made this Star Wars themed lunch for my 12 year old nephew at his request. Bread and cheese is always a popular lunch.
Container: EasyLunchBoxes
Left Side: French bread, Cheddar cheese cut with imprint cookie cutter, white Cheddar cheese
Top Right: Red bell pepper
Bottom Right: Kiwi
These are lunches that I made awhile ago and did not yet blog. In this set I have a deer quesadilla, moose and owl shaped rice, and a soft pretzel shaped as a turtle.
I made this deer lunch a long time ago so I actually am not sure who ate it. I think that I made this for myself. It is the type of lunch I would make for my 12 year old nephew but I would not normally give him salad so it was probably for me.
Container: Book Bento Box
Contents: Deer – cheese quesadilla (cut with cookie cutter), lettuce, carrot, sugar snap peas, blackberries, raspberries
Not in Photo: Greek yogurt
I made this moose themed lunch for myself. I loved the Black Bean and Corn Salad.
Container: EasyLunchBoxes
Left Side: Moose – hot cooked Nishiki rice pressed into a cookie cutter with plastic wrap, carefully remove cookie cutter, brush on soy sauce, cooked broccoli
Top Right: Blueberries
Bottom Right:Black bean and Corn Salad (did not use onion)
I made this for my husband to eat on a night he came home late from work.
Container: EasyLunchBoxes
Left Side: Owl – hot cooked Nishiki rice pressed into a cookie cutter with plastic wrap, carefully remove cookie cutter, Cheddar cheese and food coloring marker details, cooked zucchini
Top Right: Owl – chocolate covered pretzel owl with almond nose and Wilton candy eyes – there are a lot of different versions of them out there, plain pretzels
Bottom Right: Dried apricots
My husband enjoys homemade soft pretzels, I like making cute food – these turtle pretzels pleased both of us.
Container: EasyLunchBoxes
Left Side: Turtle pretzel, with mini chocolate chip eyes, raw broccoli
Top Right: Turtles – white Cheddar cheese (cookie cutter), orange Cheddar cheese
Bottom Right: Peaches, leaf sticker on top of plastic cup
This week I entered my 3rd Flower Show. I tried to think about what I learned from my 1st and 2nd flower shows when I worked on my entry. Some things I kept in mind were hiding mechanics, something to lead eye through the piece, color and proportion. When I submitted my entry I was concerned since it appeared very different from the other entries (less sophisticated in my opinion). I was very surprised that I won first in my category and a blue ribbon for best of all of the artistic crafts!
The overall theme of the Flower Show was Holidays at the Inn. I entered under Artistic Crafts “Creative Gifts, Gifts for the Birds”. A feast of bird food suitable for hanging from a tree. Not a conventional bird feeder. No greater than 8 inches in any dimension. To be hung from a rod near eye level.
My blue ribbon for Artistic Crafts!
The angel is a miniature mostly edible corn husk angel.
Head: Shelled Hazelnut
Eyes: Chia Seeds
Mouth: Red Pepper Flake
Hair: Corn Silk
Body: White Millet
Bow: Shelled Sunflower Seeds painted red
The tree is a Styrofoam cone covered with sticky back moss (it was a moss sticker and very easy way to cover the cone). I used additional moss to cover mechanics (hot glue that was visible). I made a garland by threading pieces of dried pineapple, dried Goji berries, and dried blueberries on white thread. I wanted something to lead the eye through the piece. My fingers became very sticky but it was relaxing to make the garland. Other tree decorations are dried corn, cardamom seeds, mixed seeds on circles of hot glue, and red pepper flakes. I used hot glue to attach the decorations to the tree. I hung it by sticking a skewer with a pointed end through the tree and tied raffia on each end. I cut off the pointed end.
Paperwork and my blue paper ribbon for first place in my category.
In this photo you can see the display with the four entries in my class and the peanut at the bottom of my tree for the trunk.
This entry won 2nd in my category “Gifts for the Birds”.
This entry won 3rd in my category “Gifts for the Birds”.
This entry won honorable mention (or 4th) in my category “Gifts for the Birds”.
Since I won over all the other Artistic Crafts I am sharing photos of entries in the other categories.
This won 1st for “Gifts for Friends”. Brooch made entirely of dried plant material (except clasp). Plant surfaces may be embellished. To be displayed on a black velvet square six inches by six inches.
This won 2nd in the”Gifts for Friends” category.
This won 3rd in the “Gifts for Friends” category.
This won honorable mention (or 4th) in the “Gifts for Friends” category.
This won 1st in the “Gifts for the Tree” category. Ornament decorated with dried plant material. Plant surfaces may be embellished. Non-plant material may be added, but plant material must dominate. Ornament no greater than 3 inches in any dimension. To be hung from a 2 dimensional tree at eye level.
This won 2nd in the “Gifts for the Tree” category. It is made from pecan, rice, cattail, and milkweed.
This won 3rd in the “Gifts for the Tree” category.
This won honorable mention (or 4th) in the “Gifts for the Tree” category. It has cockscomb, allspice, and coriander seeds.
I enjoy entering flower shows with Artistic Crafts and look forward to entering again when I have the opportunity.
Today I have four chess themed lunches that I made for my 14 year old nephew. The chess cookie cutters are from here. I have the smallest sized set.
My nephew likes salsa rice and black beans and it was perfect for a chess board.
Container: EasyLunchBoxes
Left Side: Hot cooked Nishiki rice mixed with a little salsa and pressed in a square cookie cutter, black beans mixed with a little salsa
Top Right: Pistachio nuts
Bottom Right: Mini sour cherry tart with chess piece cut from pie crust
This pizza chess lunch was previously published here.
I made this on a day that I made other focaccia lunches. My nephew is always happy to have a bread and cheese lunch.
Container: EasyLunchBoxes
Left Side: Focaccia bread with squares of paprika added before baking. You could also use cinnamon (cookie cutter as stencil), Cheddar cheese stick
Top Right: Raspberries and pineapple
Bottom Right: Chess pieces – cucumber (cookie cutters), carrots
My nephew has a microwave at school so this lunch was made with that in mind. The squares of mozzarella will melt when heated and the side dishes are in silicone cups for easy removal before heating.
Container: EasyLunchBoxes
Top Left: Chess pieces – apple cut with these cookie cutters, apples were dipped in lemon juice and water to prevent browning
Bottom Left: Sugar snap peas
Right Side: Homemade lasagna baked without cheese on top, added squares of mozzarella cheese after baking
I enjoy Halloween at my house. Typically on October 31 I receive 250-300 trick-or-treaters in a 2 hour period from 6 pm until 8 pm. I make it obvious that I am open to hand out treats – carved and lit pumpkins and I turn my porch lights on.
I have a tradition that I give something special to the first 20 kids. I tell them that they are the first 20 but they don’t seem to care because I never had kids coming to my house the next year looking for the special treats. I do it for myself – it is fun.
The above photo is what I gave to my first 20 trick-or-treaters this year.
My porch before it became dark.
This was my third year to participate in the Teal Pumpkin Project. I wanted to try something different with my teal pumpkin so a friend and I drilled holes in it. I had non-candy treats available upon request for children with food allergies. This year two kids made the special request.
I tried a different type of nose this year. I like it. Yes, I know in this photo you can see my messy kitchen but it is realistic and not too messy.
I was comfortable asking this trick-or-treater for a photo since you can’t tell who it is and it was actually still light out.
Happy Halloween!
This year I have 4 fun Halloween lunches to share. I made all of them for my husband.
The first one is a candy corn themed mashed potato (the mashed potato cake is under the cheese).
Container: EasyLunchBoxes
Left Side: Mashed potato cake (cooled mashed potatoes cut with a candy corn cookie cutter), white Cheddar, orange Cheddar, and white Cheddar with a mixture of yellow food coloring and water brushed on, each cut with the same candy corn cookie cutter, cooked asparagus
Top Right: Reese’s Pieces
Bottom Right: Applesauce with cinnamon
This ghostly rice meal is prepared to be heated in the microwave. The cold sides are in silicone cups for easy removing before microwaving.
Container: EasyLunchBoxes
Left Side: Ghost rice – hot cooked Nishiki rice pressed into a cookie cutter with plastic wrap, cooked zucchini
Top Right: Raspberries
Bottom Right: Carrots in pumpkin shaped silicone cup
This Jack-o-lantern is made from cooked cheese mashed potatoes and cut with a cookie cutter.
Container: EasyLunchBoxes
Left Side: Jack-o-lantern – cheese mashed potatoes with orange Cheddar cut with a cookie cutter, face details – raw spinach cut with cookie cutters, cooked zucchini
Top Right: Raw green beans
Bottom Right: Pineapple and blueberries
The meal was very easy but has a whimsical element of surprise.
Container: EasyLunchBoxes
Left Side: Charlie Brown flexible pick, romaine, cherry tomatoes, hard boiled egg, mozzarella cheese (ranch dip not in photo)
Top Right: Peaches
Bottom Right: Halloween themed chips from Trader Joe’s
I made this for my taco loving nephew. As usual I did a theme because it makes me happy and I am very glad that he does not mind. In this case once the cheese is dumped into the salad, the theme mostly disappears except for the adorable Snoopy pick.
Container: EasyLunchBoxes
Left Side: Snoopy – white Cheddar with spinach details in this, Woodstock – orange Cheddar with spinach details in this, shredded lettuce, cherry tomatoes
Top Right: Watermelon and cantaloupe
Bottom Right: Black beans with some salsa
Above the Box: Mini Dippers with Taco Sauce, and Fritos corn chips
Awhile ago, my 14 year old nephew and I had his great-grandmother (my grandmother-in-law) over for lunch. While over the years I have had her over for tea with her great-grandchildren, it was my first time to make her a themed lunch. While brainstorming for suggestions I asked my husband. He said quilting. His grandmother does enjoy quilting and has made many for her multitudes of grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She had 9 children! I enjoyed making a focaccia quilt as part of this meal. The great-grandmother was very pleased with our lunch and visit.
Container: EasyLunchBoxes
Left Side: Homemade focaccia made with half whole wheat, half wheat flour, quilt details – spinach and Cheddar cheese
Top Right: Needle and Thread – cucumber, food coloring dyed spaghetti, carrot
Bottom Right: Raspberries
Not in Photo: Brownies, Strawberry Cheese Ball
I made this awhile ago for my 14 year old nephew. He likes good food, I like making fun lunches. I gave him the Happy Bento!: Lunches on the Go book to look at and to choose a lunch idea. He picked the lunch with a burrito, sombrero and mustache. I did not have the sombreros or mustache picks but was able to get them. This lunch was easy to put together and satisfied both my nephew and myself – good food and fun.
Container: EasyLunchBoxes
Left Side: Flour tortillas stuffed with rice, beans, and salsa, candy eyes, lettuce
Top Right: Cucumber
Bottom Right: Peaches with cinnamon
For many years I was fascinated about the idea of cooking in parchment paper packets. To find recipes and directions I searched under “vegetarian” and “cooking in parchment”, “cooking en papillote”, and “cooking al Cartoccio”.
I finally made the opportunity to try it for a dinner with my parents. My photos are not great since I was hungry and in a hurry to eat but at least I took photos. I worried about my technique folding the parchment paper since it was not as beautiful as in the photos. It did not matter. I was concerned about some leaking since parchment nowadays is very thin – but I doubled it and it was fine. It may not have been necessary. Some of my packets were not folded neatly but it did not matter.
Veggie Packets – broccoli, carrot, green beans, mushrooms, lemon slices, and pine nuts (I added them they were not in original recipe) cooked in parchment. I LOVED this recipe. It had a robust lemon flavor! My Dad also loved this one. My Mom was not as much in love – the lemon was a little too much for her.
Farfalle with Artichokes al Cartoccio – We mostly followed this recipe but did not use black olives. My Mom LOVED this recipe. My Dad and I were alright with it.
Fruit en Papillote – We followed this recipe but did not use the blueberries. Once it was out of the oven we served it with vanilla ice cream. I think all of us enjoyed this but how can you go wrong with fruit and ice cream.
Cooking in parchment paper was a different way to make and serve dinner. Now that I tried it once, I would do it again.
I made this Harry Potter themed lunch at the request of my 7 year old nephew. I was happy to also eat lunch with him.
Container: EasyLunchBoxes
Left Side: Harry Potter peanut butter and jelly sandwich on wheat bread, crust, cheese (lightening bolt cut with a mini cookie cutter), and food coloring marker details, broom peanut butter and jelly sandwich (cut with a cookie cutter)
Top Right: Sorting hat caramel – This was quick to make
Bottom Right: Hedwig – apple cut with a small owl cookie cutter and dipped in water with lemon juice to prevent browning, blackberries
I made this lunch for my pancake loving nephew. I find it easiest to make round pancakes first and then cut it with a cookie cutter. My nephew is happy to eat the scraps.
Container: EasyLunchBoxes
Left Side: Mini Dippers with Maple Syrup, squirrel pancakes cut with a cookie cutter, sugar snap peas
Top Right: Acorn treats
Bottom Right: Peach slices with cinnamon
I made this lunch for my 8 year old nephew at his request. I love it when people in my life request a theme! It was also fun to be able to have lunch with him.
Container: EasyLunchBoxes
Left Side: Charmander – Colby-Jack cheese slice cut into the shape with kitchen scissors, food coloring marker details, peanut butter sandwich on wheat bread
Top Right: Pokeball – I was inspired by this. I used white candy melts and piped chocolate around it (melted chocolate chips and put in a Ziplock bag and cut off a small corner). I could not find a small white candy so I just used more of the white candy melt.
Bottom Right: Pikachu pick – raspberries and blackberries
For the second day of school (2 weeks ago) I made favorite lunches for 3 of my nephews. My back to school tradition is to make mini Jam tarts with their school year on them (grades 7, 10, and 11 this year). My 12 year old nephew wanted brownies instead of jam tarts so I made brownies and jam tarts for them. I still gave the 12 year old 1 tart with his grade on it.
This first one is for my 16 year old nephew. I have made many variations of these lunches for him over the years.
Container: EasyLunchBoxes
Left Side: Tomatoes, Taco cheese blend, black beans mixed with some salsa, shredded lettuce
Top Right: Brownie
Bottom Right: Blackberries and strawberries
Above the box: Mini Dippers with Taco Sauce, and tortilla chips with a hint of lime
Not in Photo: Jam Tarts
My 12 year old nephew loves waffles and strawberry butter. I know it is not the healthiest lunch but I caved and made his favorite to celebrate back to school.
Container: EasyLunchBoxes
Left Side: Homemade waffles (I made them in the morning and cooled them on wire racks before packing them for lunch)
Top Right: Pepper Jack cheese
Bottom Right: Mini Dippers: Strawberry butter – I mixed fresh chopped strawberries with softened butter and added a little bit of confectionery sugar
Not in Photo: Brownie and 1 Jam Tart
My 14 year old nephew has a microwave at school so this lasagna meal was made to be heated. I put the sides in silicone cups for easy removal before he heats the rest of the lunch.
Container: EasyLunchBoxes
Left Side: Lasagna (I made it the night before for my husband’s dinner and this was a planned leftover)
Top Right: Pistachio nuts
Bottom Right: Blackberries
Not in Photo: Brownie and Jam Tarts
I made this Power Rangers lunch at the request of my 4 year old nephew. I was fortunate to be able to make lunches and eat with him, his brothers and their Mom that day.
Container: EasyLunchBoxes
Left Side: Power Ranger sandwich – peanut butter with strawberry jam on wheat bread, strawberry fruit flat details
Top Right: Raspberries and blueberries
Bottom Right: Power Ranger – Cheddar cheese
I was thrilled to help my friend create cute food for her daughters 11th birthday party. We made cat themed ice cream sandwiches, cat shaped cinnamon tortilla chips with fruit salsa, giant cat cookies and decorated paper plates to look like cats. We also served walking tacos, a vegetable tray, and salsa layered dip with tortilla chips.
Ice Cream Sandwiches
When searching for ideas for the birthday pool party I found this. When I heard that my friends daughter liked the idea of cat shaped ice cream sandwiches, I came up with three proposals. She choose the one that used the CuteZCute Animal Friends cutter set. She wanted mostly chocolate cookies with a few vanilla for people who don’t like chocolate. I used this vanilla recipe and this chocolate recipe. It was a bit of a struggle to get good imprints on the cookies. I had to use extra flour and a dry pastry brush to brush off the flour before baking. Also a lot of patience! You can make and freeze these cookies (without ice cream) several weeks before your party.
The night before the party my friend, her husband and I assembled the ice cream sandwiches. We sliced the ice cream and used the same cookie cutter to cut the ice cream (it worked out great and fit the cookies exactly). When the ice cream started to melt we sort of pushed it into the cutter and then put it on the cookie. My friends husband was ready with pieces of plastic wrap and he individually wrapped the ice cream sandwiches. Then they went straight into the freezer.
We made vanilla with strawberry ice cream, chocolate with strawberry ice cream and a lot of chocolate with chocolate ice cream. By far the chocolate – chocolate combination was the most popular but everyone seemed to enjoy their treat. I loved watching everyone enjoy their cat shaped ice cream sandwiches. It was a highlight for me.
Cat Tortilla Chips
I used the same cutter set to make cat shaped cinnamon tortilla chips. It did take time to cut out the faces on the tortilla chips but I enjoy that type of work – it is relaxing for me. We used an olive oil mister to spray the cut tortilla chips and then sprinkled with cinnamon sugar. I baked at 350 for about 7 minutes (but bake until lightly browned and crisp). We served them with a fruit salsa.
Cat Paper Plates
The birthday girl and I are both early risers so we decorated the plates first thing in the morning before everyone else woke up. It was peaceful and enjoyable to do this craft with her. I was inspired by these. I folded the pipe cleaners in thirds and cut with a scissors. We cut the ear pieces out of card stock. We then glued the pink parts to the gray ears and taped the ears and the whiskers to the paper plates.
Giant Cat Cookies
My friend made these gorgeous cat cookies! They were served at the family party which was held after the friends party. It is a monster cookie recipe and she frosted it using a silicone basting brush to make it look like fur. Her 11 year old daughter added the whiskers.
I enjoyed helping out with this party and hope that you now have some ideas for your cat themed party.
Since I am always looking for new ways to serve salsa rice, I made this M&M themed lunch for my nephew. Please let me know if you have any ideas for other themed lunches with salsa rice.
Container: LunchBots Trio
Top Left: M&M – cooked hot Nishiki rice mixed with a little salsa and packed into a round cookie cutter (used plastic wrap between my fingers and the rice), M cut from a fresh spinach leaf with a cookie cutter, black beans and salsa
Top Right: Radish, cucumber, carrot
Bottom: Raspberries, M&M’s
My 14 year old nephew and I have a special tradition but he does not think it is special. We plant sunflower seeds together in my garden each year. We have done it for 3 years so far. I enjoy this tradition and look forward to continuing it with him but he would be glad if I forgot about it. But when I thought about making a sunflower themed meal I immediately thought of my nephew as the perfect person to have it. He enjoyed this meal.
Container: EasyLunchBoxes
Left Side: Sunflower shaped bread (used this recipe) with sunflower seeds on the outside, cheddar cheese sticks
Top Right: Melon & cherries
Bottom Right: Sunflower – corn on the cob with poppy seeds in the middle
I made this lunch for my waffle loving nephew. I love finding new ways to include waffles in lunch.
Container: EasyLunchBoxes
Left Side: Ice Cream Cones – waffles cut with an ice cream cone cookie cutter, bell pepper cut with an ice cream cone cookie cutter
Top Right: Caramel peanuts
Bottom Right: Kiwi
When I make themed food for an occasion the food becomes part of the memories of that event. I am thrilled when I have new occasions to plan for and create cute food. My niece graduated from high school and she had a large party this summer. I was so happy that I was tasked with making graduation shaped appetizers. I was also thrilled that I received so many positive comments from party guests about my creations.
The top photo was a large tray of vegetable and cheese graduation appetizers.
I made these plain diploma and graduation cap tortilla chips to go along with dips that my sister-in-law made. I cut flour tortillas with these cookie cutters, sprayed a cookie sheet and the cut tortillas with olive oil and baked at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes or until lightly browned and crisp. Of course you can add salt or cinnamon sugar if that fits into your menu.
I also made a large tray of celery for appetizers. While they are great for graduations, it would also be fun for New Years Eve or other occasions that you want to mark the year in a special way.
I hope that some of these ideas will be useful for your special event!
This year on August 11, Japan has a new national holiday. Mountain Day (山の日) is a day to appreciate mountains. Growing up I spent a lot of time in the Adirondack Mountains since my family has a summer home there. I am all for appreciating mountains so I decided to create two lunches in celebration of this new holiday. I am sharing this on August 10 because tomorrow morning in the U.S., Mountain Day in Japan will be mostly over.
Container: LunchBots Trio
Top Left: Mountain – cream cheese sandwich on toasted wheat bread, snow peas
Top Right: Broccoli and carrots with homemade bento picks (used shrink plastic and my oven to make them) my neighbor made them with me
Bottom: Strawberries and blueberries
I don’t like the way this looks as it looks like a blob of mashed potatoes but it was delicious to eat so I am sharing it. The blobs are supposed to be mountains.
Container: Book Bento Box
Contents: Broccoli and cheese mashed potatoes, toasted walnuts, homemade bento pick (used shrink plastic and my oven to make them) my neighbor made them with me, raspberries, blackberries, pineapple
My nephew and I visited my parents at their Adirondacks lake house. I packed these easy lunches for our trip in case we had a late arrival. We arrived on time and ate our lunches on the front deck overlooking the lake. I have seen moose several times (Canada and Massachusetts) but never in New York State. One year I did see evidence of a moose visiting our property over the winter.
Container: EasyLunchBoxes
Left Side: Moose – cheese quesadilla (cut with cookie cutter), trail mix
Top Right: Green pepper
Bottom Right: Blueberries
My lunch was very simple – quinoa with white Cheddar and carrot lettering.
Container: EasyLunchBoxes
Left Side: Adirondacks text – carrots (cut with cookie cutters), cooked quinoa with white Cheddar cheese
Top Right: Asparagus
Bottom Right: Blueberries
I love making themed food and my nephew likes soccer and bagels so this was the perfect lunch for him. I drew the Rio Olympics soccer pictogram using a plastic sandwich bag and cream cheese. My nephew was pleased with how it turned out.
Container: EasyLunchBoxes
Left Side: Bagel with cream cheese soccer pictogram (put softened cream cheese in a ziplock sandwich bag – use scissors to cut off a small corner of the bag, pipe shape) background – cream cheese mixed with black raspberry jam
Top Right: Kiwi with soccer ball pick
Bottom Right: Rio – carrot letters cut with cookie cutter, cucumber
Today as part of our 50 Summer Activities, I have Robin Hood themed food. We read the book, watched the BBC Robin Hood TV show and ate bento lunches. I used vintage cookie cutters to make sandwiches and crackers and I also made a mashed potato and cheese wanted poster.
Container: EasyLunchBoxes
Left Side: Maid Marion, Castle, and Alan A Dale – peanut butter sandwiches on wheat bread (when using cookie cutters with sandwiches it is best to cut the bread separately then make the sandwich)
Top Right: Green beans
Bottom Right: Assorted melon
My nephews don’t like sandwiches for lunch and I wanted to use the Robin Hood cookie cutters so I made some homemade crackers. You can see some of the vintage cookie cutters in the photo.
Container: EasyLunchBoxes
Left Side: Castle, Crusader, Robin Hood homemade crackers with pepper jack cheese
Top Right: Gold – Rolos (I bought a small package and did not realize they were not individually wrapped so I cut the wrapper to individually wrap a few pieces)
Bottom Right: Deer (cut with cookie cutter) in forest – melon, kiwi
This one is a little goofy but my nephew requested his Robin Hood food have a mustache. It was a struggle but this is what I created (his younger brother helped). I was feeling a little mischievous with the arrow in the kiwi and did not put it in the center. My younger nephew told me it should have been in the center since Robin Hood was a perfect shot and he moved it (but after I already took the photo).
Container: EasyLunchBoxes
Left Side: Wanted Poster lettering – carrot, white Cheddar mashed potatoes cut with mini letter cutters, Robin Hood – orange and white cheddar, food marker, spinach, oval cookie cutter, mini mustache cookie cutter
Top Right: Gold – Ferrero Rocher chocolate
Bottom Right: Raspberries, kiwi, arrow pick made from card stock, tape and a toothpick
Two of my nephews, my niece and I made this fresh fruit cake to serve with dinner on their Mom’s birthday. My sister-in-law is a fan of fruit so it seemed like the perfect time to make this cake (it was on our summer 50 to-do list). I used a semi-large seedless watermelon and a small round seedless watermelon to make the tiers. I cut them at home by myself. It was difficult to get exact rounds even though I used a bowl as a guide. It took me at least 35 minutes to get the tiers cut. I was disappointed that the tiers were wonky but once we added fruit it looked fine!
I packed up my cutting board, knife, cookie cutters, toothpicks, and skewers, spaghetti (to attach the letters, flowers and leaves), and all the fruit and transported it to my sister-in-laws house where we assembled the cake on their back deck.
I was inspired by this, this, and this. I knew it might be a little chaotic making this with several people so I made a drawing as a guide. While we made the cake the kids enjoyed eating the fruit scraps and discovered that their Border Collie does not like apples. But my nephew told her it was “human” (food) and then she ate a slice!
Yes this cake is not as perfect as it would be if a food stylist worked on it for hours by themselves. But I think that this is more special. It was a memorable project to complete with my niece and nephews and a special gift for their Mom. The family of 7 enjoyed eating the fruit and my sister-in-law was very thankful.
Fruit used in our cake:
If you decide to make your own fresh watermelon and fruit cake here is my advice:
Other Fresh Fruit Cakes I Made:
I made this as an easy meal my husband could heat up on a night he came home late from work. It could also be eaten for lunch. The sides are in silicone cups for easy removal before heating in a microwave.
Container: EasyLunchBoxes
Left Side: Jellyfish – press cooked hot Nishiki rice (or short grained sticky rice) into a cookie cutter with plastic wrap then carefully remove rice from cookie cutter, cooked zucchini with salt, pepper and a little butter
Top Right: Fish – Cheddar cheese cut with a cookie cutter
Bottom Right: Blackberries with a shark pick
Edited: The giveaway is now closed. I will notify the winners.
I am very excited that it is my 5 year blogiversary! I am celebrating with a giveaway in appreciation for my readers. I have a prize for a person with an United States of America address and a prize for a person with an international address (outside of the U.S.A.)
Items in the USA prize:
Items in the International prize:
How to Enter:
Important!! Please read the Terms and Conditions of this giveaway!
Prizes cannot be shipped to P.O. Boxes. Winner will be randomly selected by a random number generator and notified by the email submitted with your comment. Entries that do not fulfill the mandatory requirements will be deleted. Winner will have 48 hours to respond before a new winner is selected. Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest are in no way associated with this giveaway. If you’ve chosen to subscribe by email for an additional entry, you must still be doing so at the time of the drawing or you will be disqualified, and I will draw again. I do not share or sell information and will use any information only for the purpose of contacting the winner. This giveaway ends Friday, July 22, 2016 at 5:00 p.m. EDT. (Edited: The giveaway is now closed)
As part of our 50 things to do this summer, my nephew and I made this ice cream treat. It is supposed to be Yoda but maybe it looks like a strange monster. Last year we tried to make Yoda ice cream and it failed since we tried to use ice cream as the ears. We used homemade tortilla chips this year which were much easier.
Ice Cream: Perry’s Mint-Ting-A-Ling
Head: We used an ice cream scoop to make small scoops on a parchment lined cookie sheet.
Eyes: Wilton Candy Eyes
Ears: We cut flour tortilla chips into ear shapes, sprayed a cookie sheet and tortilla ears with cooking spray and baked in 375 oven until done (less than 10 minutes for our shapes). Then we took white candy melts, melted them in the microwave (about a minute) added green food coloring, then spread the now green and melted candy melts onto the cooled tortilla chip ears.
Assembly: It is easier to attach the eyes and stick in the ears if the ice cream is a little soft. After we assembled the Yoda’s we put them back in the freezer until ready to serve.
Craft Fail!
This is a version we tried with sanding sugar tortilla chip ears (we added green sanding sugar to the cooking sprayed tortilla pieces before baking). I consider it a fail. Also someones finger got into the ice cream but maybe it looks like a mouth.
In my area when a person is 16 they can take a written test and once they pass it, they get a learners permit to drive. My nephew turned 16 today. He took and passed his written test and can now start learning how to drive a car. I made this birthday lunch for him. When I made it I laughed because while my message is “stop”, a 16 year old normally wants to go. I delivered this to him in time for lunch and was able to visit with him as he enjoyed it. I gave his siblings extra brownies.
Container: Fit & Fresh Bento Lunch Kit
Left Side: Stop Sign – cookie cutter, lettuce, shredded Cheddar cheese, “Stop” – mini cinnamon tortilla chips that I cut with a tiny letter cutter set and sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar before baking at 375 for about 5 minutes, brownie with red, yellow, and green M&M’s in a silicone cup
Top Right: Car – cookie cutter with chopped tomatoes and black olives, black beans with salsa
Bottom Right: Red grapes with vehicle picks
Outside of Box: Bag of Bite Sized Tostitos
I enjoy celebrating the Japanese festival Tanabata. My neighbor (and Japanese student) and I made this Tanabata themed lunch.
Container: EasyLunchBoxes
Top Left: Brownie with star shaped powdered sugar (sprinkled sugar in a star shaped stencil)
Bottom Left: Stars and Planets snack (with Gerber Graduates – stars, and O shaped cereal), we made the Tanabata pick with printable shrinky dinks and this image that we colored.
Right Side: Star rice balls made using a small star rice mold, carrots (cut with star cookie cutter), celery, blackberries
Happy Apple Turnover Day! I made these very easy and delicious apple turnovers by following this recipe. The dough is frozen puffed pastry and makes this dessert simple to make. I did not use an egg wash or extra sugar on top.
An item on our 50 Summer Activities list this summer was to make a bento lunch for their sister and deliver it to her at work. My 17 year old niece has a summer job as a field scout. She walks fields checking for weeds, bugs, and population (how many plants are growing in the field). Then she gives the report to the farmer who is managing that field. This lunch features Shepherd’s Purse a weed that happens to be pretty and a fun name. I included a birds nest because my niece found a nest in a field one day. My 11 year old nephew and I made lunches for each of us, drove them to the field where she was working, ate lunch together, then walked a field together. It was fun and educational.
Special Note: This is my 700th post! Creating content for this blog has become such a special part of my life.
Container: Book Bento Box
Contents: Shepherds Purse – celery, sugar snap peas, cream cheese over black beans, salsa, and rice, Birds Nest Cookies with peanut M&M’s, blackberries
Today is National Waffle Iron Day. We like waffles for breakfast, lunch or dinner. I did not take photos of my two waffle irons (one makes round waffles and one makes square ones) but I have two meals featuring waffles.
Container: EasyLunchBoxes
Left Side: Homemade waffles
Top Right: Raspberries and blueberries
Bottom Right: Cucumbers and carrots
Mini Dippers: Strawberry butter – I mixed fresh chopped strawberries with softened butter and added a little bit of confectionery sugar
This is a repeat of a recipe we have made several times – Pizza Waffles.
Container: EasyLunchBoxes
Top Left: Green beans
Bottom Left: Raspberries
Right Side: Pizza waffles, tomato sauce in Mini Dippers
My nephew made this lunch for himself with only a little advice from me.
Container: EasyLunchBoxes
Left Side: Sea Turtle pancakes (after making pancakes, cut-out with cookie cutter, eat scraps), strawberries, maple syrup (in small blue container)
Top Right: Sea turtle cucumber (cut with mini cookie cutter), carrots
Bottom Right: Sea turtle apple, on green apple (cut portion was dipped in water with lemon juice to prevent browning), apple scraps are underneath
Since I often make food for the same people and they have limited food they will eat, it sometimes takes a lot of creative thinking to come up with new ideas for my meals. My 11 year old nephew likes fruit and waffles. Somehow I came up with making waffle flags. I enjoyed creating this series and he liked eating these fun flags. Some of these were served for breakfast and some for lunch.
Container: EasyLunchBoxes
Top: Flag of Canada – waffle, fruit flat, maple leaf cut with mini cookie cutter
Bottom Left: Broccoli
Bottom Right: Mixed nuts
Container: EasyLunchBoxes
Top: Flag of Finland – waffle, blueberries
Bottom Left: Red bell pepper
Bottom Right: Cashews
Container: EasyLunchBoxes
Top: Flag of France – waffle, blueberries, raspberries
Bottom Left: Rhubarb crumb cake
Bottom Right: Maple syrup
My nephew wanted to try dill pickles in a meal but we both would not recommend it for many reasons – smell and juice from pickles.
Container: EasyLunchBoxes
Top: Flag of Denmark – waffle, raspberries
Bottom Left: Dill pickles, syrup
Bottom Right: Peanuts
Container: EasyLunchBoxes
Top: Flag of Israel – waffle, blueberries, Cheddar cheese cut with cookie cutter and decorated with food coloring marker
Bottom Left: Potato and green bell pepper hash brown potatoes baked in a muffin tin
Bottom Right: Star of David – Cheddar cheese cut with cookie cutter
Container: EasyLunchBoxes
Top: Flag of Panama – waffle, blueberries, raspberries, cheese stars cut with cookie cutter and colored with food coloring markers
Bottom Left: Raspberry yogurt
Bottom Right: Granola
I hope that you now have some easy and fun ideas to make your waffle into a flag. If you make some, please share your photo with me.
We are fans of homemade pretzels and I am always looking for new ways to serve them for lunch. I found this and used my normal pretzel recipe to make it. My 14 year old nephew ate this lunch. He had extra pretzels on the side.
Container: EasyLunchBoxes
Left Side: Homemade pretzel, cucumber slices
Top Right: Cheddar cheese (white Cheddar underneath) cut with a cookie cutter
Bottom Right: Apple slices dipped in water with lemon (to prevent browning), cinnamon
My nephew and I made these flower pot breads with vegetable flowers and ate them as part of our dinner. I used this bread recipe. The flowers are bell pepper and carrots cut with flower cookie cutters. The flowers are held together with raw spaghetti and put on wooden skewers. Last year we used the same pots to make cupcakes.
I made this lunch for my nephew since he enjoys salsa rice with black beans and salsa. I enjoy seeing how many salsa and rice themes I can make.
Container: EasyLunchBoxes
Left Side: Ladybugs – cooked hot Nishiki rice mixed with a little bit of salsa and shaped by hand using plastic wrap, spinach details, black beans and salsa
Top Right: Sugar snap peas
Bottom Right: Ladybugs – strawberries with chocolate and cookie decorating sprinkles
I made this meal for my husband to eat as dinner on a night that he returned home very late from work. I put the sides in silicone cups for easy removal before he heated the rest in a microwave.
Container: EasyLunchBoxes
Left Side: Fish – Cheddar mashed potatoes cooled then shaped with a cookie cutter, dried blueberry eye, spinach details, broccoli
Top Right: Raspberries
Bottom Right: Mixed nuts
I made this lunch for a good friend to take to work for her birthday. I gave her a few choices of themes based on her interests. She said dinosaur or birthday. When I asked my Mom for ideas to make it more special, she suggested balloons. So this is a combined dinosaur and birthday themed lunch. I put the side dishes in silicone cups so she can remove them before heating in her microwave at work.
Container: EasyLunchBoxes
Left Side: Dinosaur – Cheddar mashed potatoes chilled and shaped with a cookie cutter, Eye – cookie decorating sprinkle, cooked broccoli, Balloons – grape tomatoes with balloon string food picks
Top Right: Blackberries and raspberries with a Happy Birthday pick (these are not the same but are similar)
Bottom Right: Dinosaur – Cheddar cheese cut with a mini dinosaur cookie cutter, spinach leaves
Not in Photo: Chocolate Greek yogurt, small bag of mini pretzels
Today I have a space themed guest post at Bento Ninja. Go check it out!
Eclectic Lamb 
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