Graduation Themed Food

grad veg appetizers close

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.

  • Graduation hat cucumber slices (1.5 inch cookie cutter), cherry tomatoes, fresh mozzarella balls (threaded on a small wooden skewer)
  • Green pepper square (used small cookie cutter), carrot tassel (used lemon zester), green olive with pimento, piece of mozzarella string cheese (on a fancy toothpick)

graduation tortilla chips

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.

year celery appetizers

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.

  • Celery filled with peanut butter, numbers are fruit by the foot cut with mini metal cookie cutters
  • Celery filled with cream cheese, numbers are carrot cut with mini metal cookie cutters

I hope that some of these ideas will be useful for your special event!

Posted in Bento / Cute Food, Party Planning | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Mountain Day Japan Bento Lunches

山の日弁当

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

Yama no hi mashed potato lunch

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

Posted in Bento / Cute Food, Food | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

2 Adirondack Themed Lunches

moose themed quesadilla lunch

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

Adirondacks text lunch

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

Posted in Bento / Cute Food, Food | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Olympics Soccer Themed Lunch

olympics soccer themed lunch

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

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Olympics Soccer Themed Lunch

3 Robin Hood Themed Lunches

Robin Hood Sandwiches lunch

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

Robin Hood Cheese and Crackers lunch

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

Robin Hood Wanted Lunch

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

Posted in Bento / Cute Food, Food | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Fresh Watermelon Birthday Cake

Fresh Watermelon Cake

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.

Watermelon Cake Diagram

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!

Fresh Watermelon Cake back

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:

  • Seedless watermelon
  • Kiwi
  • Raspberries
  • Blackberries
  • Cantaloupe
  • Green grapes
  • Pineapple
  • Apples (dipped in pineapple juice)
  • Honeydew melon
  • Strawberries

Fresh Watermelon Cake Top

If you decide to make your own fresh watermelon and fruit cake here is my advice:

  • Think about color when planning your cake.
  • Make a sketch before you go grocery shopping so you buy the fruit you need.
  • Buy a mixed variety of fruit (this is not a cheap project).
  • Don’t worry if your tiers don’t look perfect – cover them with fruit.
  • Allow a lot of time to complete this project! This took at least 1.5 hours to cut and assemble.
  • If you will cut letters or shapes make them first (to make sure you have the fruit you need and to get the most difficult part done first).
  • Have a lot of people available to help eat your cake.

Other Fresh Fruit Cakes I Made:

Posted in Bento / Cute Food, Party Planning | 7 Comments

Jellyfish Rice Lunch

Jellyfish rice lunch

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

Posted in Bento / Cute Food, Food | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Jellyfish Rice Lunch

5 Year Blogiversary Giveaway

5 Year Blogiversary Giveaway Prizes

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.)

USA Prize 5 Year Blogiversary

Items in the USA prize:

  • Bento Lunch Box
  • Spring Cookie Cutters
  • Leaves Imprint Plunger Cutters
  • Purple Cabbage Cups
  • Lettuce Cups
  • Spring Imprint Plunger Cutters
  • Animal Fork Picks (5 different animals)
  • Animal Fork Picks (6 different animals)
  • Gnome picks
  • Black cat picks
  • Bear, Elephant, Bunny picks
  • Hello Kitty picks
  • Vegetable picks
  • Eye picks
  • Candy/donut picks

International Prize 5 Year Blogiversary

Items in the International prize:

  • Eye picks
  • French forks
  • French picks
  • Flower picks
  • Candy/donut picks
  • Cherry blossom picks
  • Lilo & Stitch picks
  • Animal & tree picks
  • Number picks

How to Enter:

  1. Please submit a comment telling me if your address is in the U.S.A or international (outside of the U.S.A).
  2. Make sure that I have your email address with your comment.
  3. For an additional entry please subscribe to my blog by email (top right of the page between the header and the social media buttons) and tell me in your comment that you subscribed.

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)

Posted in Blog | 112 Comments

Easy Yoda Ice Cream

Yoda Ice Cream candy melt ears

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.

yoda ice cream sanding sugar ears

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.

Posted in Bento / Cute Food, Food, Party Planning | 4 Comments

16 Birthday Car Themed Bento Lunch

driving themed lunch

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

Posted in Bento / Cute Food, Food | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Tanabata Star Festival Lunch

Tanabata star festival bento lunch

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

Posted in Bento / Cute Food, Food | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Tanabata Star Festival Lunch

Apple Turnover Day

Apple Turnover Day

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.

Posted in Food | 1 Comment

Shepherds Purse Lunch

Shepherds Purse bento lunch

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

Posted in Bento / Cute Food, Food | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Waffle Iron Day

Waffle Iron Day Waffle Lunch

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 

Waffle Pizza Lunch

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

Posted in Bento / Cute Food, Food | Tagged , | Comments Off on Waffle Iron Day

Sea Turtle Pancake Lunch

Sea Turtle Pancake Lunch

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

Posted in Bento / Cute Food, Food | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Waffle Flags

Fruit and Waffle Flags Collage

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.

Canadian Flag Waffle Lunch

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Top: Flag of Canada – waffle, fruit flat, maple leaf cut with mini cookie cutter

Bottom Left: Broccoli

Bottom Right: Mixed nuts

Finland Flag Waffle Lunch

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Top: Flag of Finland – waffle, blueberries

Bottom Left: Red bell pepper

Bottom Right: Cashews

France Flag Waffle Lunch

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Top: Flag of France – waffle, blueberries, raspberries

Bottom Left: Rhubarb crumb cake

Bottom Right: Maple syrup

Denmark Flag Lunch

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

Israel Flag Waffle Meal

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

Panama Flag Waffle Breakfast

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.

Posted in Bento / Cute Food, Food | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Music Pretzel Lunch

Music Pretzel Lunch

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

 

Posted in Bento / Cute Food, Food | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Music Pretzel Lunch

Flower Pot Bread with Vegetable Flowers

Flower Pot Bread with Vegetable Flowers

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.

Posted in Bento / Cute Food, Food | 6 Comments

Ladybug Rice Bento Lunch

Ladybug Rice Lunch

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

Posted in Bento / Cute Food | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Mashed Potato Fish Bento

Mashed Potato Fish Lunch

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

Posted in Bento / Cute Food | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Mashed Potato Fish Bento

Dinosaur Birthday Lunch

Dinosaur birthday lunch

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

Posted in Bento / Cute Food | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Dinosaur Birthday Lunch

Space Guest Post at Bento Ninja

Space Guest Post at Bento Ninja

Today I have a space themed guest post at Bento Ninja. Go check it out!

Posted in Bento / Cute Food, Food | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Space Guest Post at Bento Ninja

50 Summer Activities

Last year my nephews and I completed 100 Summer Activities. This year it was requested that we only do 50. I was surprised but it might end up being easier for me. Some of these activities are repeats from last year (they wanted to do them again). Since we only have 50 items this year, each of us will also have independent projects. We have not finalized our independent projects yet but they currently include: write comic, stop action Lego film, design board game, study chess strategies, and learn more Kanji (my project).

Outings

1. Walk to Tim Hortons
2. Have Great Grandma over for lunch
3. Library drop in and make robotics
4. See movie at local theater
5. Village garage sales
6. Go on a hike
7. Corning Museum of Glass
8. Go to Aunt Kathy’s parent’s lake house overnight
9. Visit Aunt Catherine and cousins
10. Aquarium
11. Trampoline Park
12. Lego Store
13. Peach Picking
14. DEC Hike – pond with pink water lilies
15. Miniature golf
16. Go to candy store or chocolate shop
17. Cuba Cheese store
18. Rock City

Handmade

19. Wood carving
20. Tin can lantern
21. Throw paint filled eggs at canvas
22. Lego catapult
23. Glow in the dark lemonade (will not drink)
24. Glow in the dark bubbles
25. Design your own drink jar – paint on glass jar
26. Make clocks
27. Make something with clay
28. Balsawood airplane kit
29. Lego zipline
30. Lego USB drive

Other

31. Archery
32. Movie Marathon
33. Have their dog visit for the day
34. Freeze toy in ice
35. Read a book, watch the movie, make themed food
36. Play horseshoes

Science

37. Make volcano with baking soda and vinegar
38. Exploding sidewalk paint bag
39. Special effects book pg 1, 20, or 54 (will post more details later)
40. Experiment with food coloring, milk, soap

Food

41. Tea light marshmallow toasting
42. Battered fried apple rings
43. Walk to local ice cream parlor
44. Make homemade ice cream
45. Make slushies
46. Make fried dough
47. Make Yoda ice cream
48. Make fresh watermelon cake
49. Make cinnamon rolls
50. Make bento for sister and deliver to her at work

We were successfully able to complete our 100 activities last year so I am hopeful to complete our list of 50 and independent projects this summer. I hope to post some updates along the way and give a report here at the end of the summer.

Posted in Adventures, Bento / Cute Food, Crafts, Party Planning | 2 Comments

Frog with Cap and Diploma Graduation Bento Lunch

Frog with hat and diploma graduation themed lunch

This is the last lunch I made for my niece while she was in high school. I am emotional writing this. She is a talented and special young woman and I am honored to be her aunt. While I hope I will make many more meals for her, this was the last time to send her to school with lunch.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Left Side: Frog – Cheddar mashed potatoes with cooked small broccoli pieces (once potatoes are cooled use a cookie cutter to cut out the shape), face details spinach cut with this cutter, graduation cap – the same mashed potatoes cut with a diamond cookie cutter, carrot tassel. Diploma – thinly sliced carrot rolled and tied with a celery string, carrots and zucchini sauteed in a little olive oil and finished cooking in vegetable broth

Top Right: 2016 – carrots cut with cookie cutters, green grapes

Bottom Right: Graduation cap – candy filled Chocolate Graduation Cap Cookies. The recipe is from Hungry Happenings. You can’t tell from my photo but it is what is sometimes known as a pinata cookie – there are mini M&M’s inside. I struggled with the tassel because it was my first time making modeling chocolate and my consistency was not right. But my niece and her friends enjoyed the cookies.

Graduation hat candy filled cookie

Check out Hungry Happenings to see what is inside this cookie and how to make it.

Posted in Bento / Cute Food, Food | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Cardinal Bento Lunch

Cardinal bento lunch

I made this lunch for my 17 year old niece during her last days in high school. She enjoys eating salsa-rice and black beans so I incorporated them into this bird themed meal.

Container: Book Bento Box

Contents: Cardinal – cooked Nishiki rice mixed with a little salsa and pack into a cookie cutter by pressing down with plastic wrap, then carefully remove cookie cutter, dried blueberry eye, ground black sesame seeds, orange Cheddar beak, lettuce, asparagus, sugar snap peas, strawberry, black beans with salsa and corn. Nest – pie crust cut into circles and carefully place in muffin cups – bake weighted with aluminum foil and beans or pie weights, when pie crusts are cooled add a drizzle of melted chocolate and fresh blackberries.

Posted in Bento / Cute Food, Food | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Crepes for Lunch

crepe lunch niece

My 17 year old niece requested crepes for lunch. I have made savory crepes many times before but not for my niece or nephews and I had never sent them to school for lunch. I was a little worried but I am told that it worked out well and they enjoyed them.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Left Side: Homemade crepes with Cheddar mashed potatoes (mash potatoes with butter, milk, Cheddar cheese, salt, and pepper)

Top Right: Broccoli

Bottom Right: Homemade crepes with cream cheese, blueberries, and honey (I packed two of these with printed wax paper in-between)

Crepe lunch nephew

I made this lunch on the same day for my 14 year old nephew. I thought that it was slightly more attractive so I am including it here. It is identical except for the vegetables.

Posted in Bento / Cute Food, Food | Tagged | 2 Comments

Panda Mashed Potatoes Bento Lunch

Panda Mashed Potatoes

Each day this week I will feature lunches I made for my niece during her last days in high school. She became my niece just after she graduated from kindergarten when I married her uncle. She will graduate on Saturday. During the month of May, each week I made a special meal for her to bring to school. It was my way of showing love with food and connecting with my niece.

Today I have Cheddar mashed potatoes in the shape of a panda. It would be easy to make with leftovers from dinner.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Left Side: Panda – Cheddar mashed potatoes cooled then shaped using CuteZCute Animal Friends (head) and CuteZCute Cuddle Palz (body) cutters, spinach details, asparagus 

Top Right: Chocolate square with mixed nuts underneath

Bottom Right: Blackberries with panda picks

Posted in Bento / Cute Food, Food | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Panda Mashed Potatoes Bento Lunch

Zucchini Pie and Cherry Pie for Lunch

Zucchini Pie Cherry Pie lunch

My 17 year old niece and I were looking through posts of past lunches that I made for her. When she looked at this pie themed lunch from 2 years ago, she mentioned that it was delicious. I decided to make another pie themed lunch for her. My husband and her brother (15 years old) ate identical lunches.

Note: This lunch is meant to be heated in a microwave so I placed the mini pie and nuts in silicone cups so they can be removed before heating the zucchini pie.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Top Left: Miniature cherry pie with cherry shaped pie crust cut with a mini press cookie cutter. I based it on this recipe but made a different Martha Stewart crust, I reduced the sugar, did not use the lemon zest, and did not use a top crust for the pies. I also did not brush with an egg wash.

Bottom Left: Mixed nuts

Right Side: Zucchini and Cheese Pie with Rice Crust

Posted in Bento / Cute Food, Food | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Raccoon Themed Lunch

Raccoon cheese over grain lunch

This simple lunch was made with a cookie cutter set, food coloring marker and a cupcake ring. It was healthy and fast to make but has a bit of whimsy.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Left Side: Raccoon – orange Cheddar cheese, white Cheddar cheese, cut with a raccoon cookie cutter set, food marker details,  Wegmans Golden Jewel Blend with Israeli couscous, traditional orzo, split baby garbanzo beans, and red Quinoa – cooked in vegetable broth

Top Right: Sugar snap peas

Bottom Right: Grapefruit

Posted in Bento / Cute Food, Food | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Brown Bear Brown Bear Book Themed Lunch

Brown Bear Book Lunch

Today I have a food version of the book, “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?” by Bill Martin, Jr. and Eric Carle. I enjoyed working with food, color, and cookie cutters to create this snack type lunch.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Left Side: Brown Bearshomemade cinnamon tortilla chips (cut with a mini bear cookie cutter), White dog – Cheddar cheese (cookie cutter) on top of orange Cheddar cheese, Red bird – red Jalapeno Cheddar tortilla chip cut with a mini cookie cutter (place on baking sheet, spray with cookie spray and cook in a 375 degree oven about 10 minutes until crisp) cashew nuts, Green Frog – cucumber (cookie cutter) carrots

Top Right: Gold Fish – carrot (cookie cutter) blueberries

Bottom Right: Blue Horse – flour tortilla cut with cookie cutter and dyed blue with food coloring and water, Townhouse crackers

Posted in Bento / Cute Food | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Thy Friend Obadiah Book Seagull Themed Lunch

Seagull themed bento lunch

Today my lunch was inspired by “Thy Friend Obadiah” by Brinton Turkle. It was a 1970 Caldecott Honor Book and I still have the book from my childhood collection. Reading this book over and over again is a treasured memory.

Container: ECO Lunchboxes

Contents: Seagull – hot cooked Nishiki rice (pack into a cookie cutter by pressing down with plastic wrap then carefully remove cookie cutter), salsa and black beans, blueberries and raspberries

Posted in Bento / Cute Food | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Tale of Peter Rabbit Book Themed Lunch

Peter Rabbit Quesadilla Lunch

Today I have “The Tale of Peter Rabbit” by Beatrix Potter. This easy lunch is made special with a printed image and a mini cookie cutter.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Left Side: Peter Rabbit – print image from the internet and cover with packing tape, cheese quesadilla

Top Right: Blackberries

Bottom Right: Salad with lettuce, radish, and carrot cut into a watering can shape with a mini cookie cutter

Posted in Bento / Cute Food, Food | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Tale of Peter Rabbit Book Themed Lunch

The Little Engine that Could Book Themed Lunch

Little Engine that Could book lunch

I remember my Mom reading “The Little Engine that Could” book to my sister and I when we were little. Letter and train cookie cutters make this motivating lunch special.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Left Side: Train – peanut butter sandwich on wheat bread cut with a train shaped cookie cutter, Cheddar cheese lettering cut with cookie cutters, paper napkin underneath

Top Right: Raw cauliflower

Bottom Right: Blueberries with a carrot train cut with a mini cookie cutter

Posted in Bento / Cute Food, Food | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on The Little Engine that Could Book Themed Lunch

Corduroy Book Themed Lunch

Corduroy book lunch

It is a special week here at Eclectic Lamb. Children’s Book Week! Each day this week (Monday – Friday) I will feature a different book. Please be sure to follow this blog so you don’t miss out on any of the fun.

Today I am honoring the book “Corduroy” by Don Freeman. Perhaps this does not really look like Corduroy but I think he is cute. I made this lunch for myself but I had help eating the extra button shaped peanut butter cookies.

Container: Fit & Fresh Bento Lunch Kit

Top: Corduroy – chilled mashed potatoes cut with a cookie cutter and brushed on soy sauce, clothes – wilted spinach (put fresh spinach in the microwave for a few seconds), button made from mashed potato with toothpick holes, eyes dried blueberries, mouth food coloring spread on with a toothpick, cooked broccoli

Bottom Left: Blueberries

Bottom Right: Peanut Butter Button cookies

Posted in Bento / Cute Food, Food | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Chess Pizza Lunch

chess pizza lunch

It is my nephews birthday today (14) so of course I made lunch for him. He likes chess so his sister suggested this theme. I decided to make pizza but struggled a little to make it look like a chess board. (I also gave my nephew the rejects.) The way that worked the best for me was to cook the crust with just the pizza sauce and put the cheese on top afterwards.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Left Side: Homemade pizza only bake the crust and sauce, add cheese (cut with a small square cookie cutter) when it is out of the oven. Cheddar cheese chess piece on top of pizza board.  [there is a pizza with sauce and melted cheese under the chess board pizza]

Top Right: Pistachio nuts

Bottom Right: Chess pieces watermelon and cantaloupe (cut with these cookie cutters)

Posted in Bento / Cute Food, Food | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

Children’s Day Japan Themed Food

Childrens Day Japan pizza

Today we are celebrating Children’s Day in Japan (Kodomonohi). I have celebrated Girl’s Day (Hinamatsuri), and the Star Festival (Tanabata) several times but this is my first time sharing Children’s Day food on my blog.

Carp shaped wind socks are common in Japan for Children’s Day. I made a simple homemade Koinobori pizza. My pizza has tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, black olive & mushroom (eye), green pepper for the scales.

Chlidrens day Japan lunch

This is an simple quesadilla lunch dressed up for Children’s Day.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Left Side: Cheese quesadilla with Origami style Kabuto hat drawn with food coloring marker.

Top Right: Koinobori cheese with food marker details, cucumber

Bottom Right: Apple

Happy Children’s Day!

Posted in Bento / Cute Food | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Children’s Day Japan Themed Food

Chewbacca Sandwich with Yoda Yogurt

chewbacca and yoda lunch

Happy Star Wars Day! May the Fourth be with you! My friend and I made this meal for her husband for a meal at home. He seemed to enjoy eating this themed meal.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Top Left: Banana with Yoda cupcake ring

Bottom Left: Yoda – lime yogurt frozen in a Yoda ice molds

Right Side: Chewbacca peanut butter sandwich on wheat bread – use press cookie cutter to cut each piece of bread separate then spread peanut butter and put the two pieces of bread together, Star Wars Cheese-It crackers

Posted in Bento / Cute Food | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Chewbacca Sandwich with Yoda Yogurt

Dance Themed Sandwich Lunch

Dancer sandwich lunch

My friend and I made this easy lunch for her daughter. It was a natural theme for her since she takes dance class.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Top Left: Apple slices (the cut side was dipped in pineapple juice to prevent browning), musical note cookie cutter press into apple, remove, then carefully use a knife to remove the apple peel, sprinkle cinnamon sugar into musical note cut-out

Bottom Left: Mini sweet peppers

Right Side: Peanut butter sandwich on wheat bread with sprinkles, (use a dancer cookie cutter to cut-out shape on one side of bread, spread peanut butter on other side of bread and then carefully put the two pieces of bread together, add sprinkles)

Posted in Bento / Cute Food | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Blueberry Scones for Lunch

Blueberry Scones bento lunch

I love it when people in my life have food requests. It often results in my making a food or theme that I may not have thought about on my own. When I asked my 17 year old niece what she wanted for lunch she said, “blueberry scones”. I was excited to make this meal for her. My husband loved the idea and wanted the same for lunch.

Container: ECO Lunchboxes

Contents: Blueberry Scones (I made these without the glaze), Lemon tea (used as a divider), crinkle cut (with a special blade) rainbow carrots, lemon butter (with lemon zest and a little confectionery sugar)

Small Round Container: Lemon Greek yogurt with raspberries and a blueberry

Blueberry Scones lunch Easylunch box

The same day I made this lunch for my husband.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Left Side: Blueberry Scones (I made these without the glaze)

Top Right: Cashews

Bottom Right: Raspberries

Posted in Bento / Cute Food, Food | Tagged | Comments Off on Blueberry Scones for Lunch

World Penguin Day Lunch

Penguin Orzo and Spinach with blueberries lunch

In honor of World Penguin Day I have this penguin themed lunch. I used the cookie cutter holding food technique that I first found in the book Happy Bento!: Lunches on the Go. Check out the author’s blog at Becoming a Bentoholic. This metal penguin cookie cutter had a handle but my husband cut if off using a dremel tool.

Note: Because of the metal cookie cutter do not heat this meal in the microwave. I enjoy this orzo pasta cold.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Left Side: Penguin – inside metal cookie cutter is Orzo pasta with Spinach and Feta, blueberries

Top Right: Penguin Snack

Bottom Right: Penguins – cut purple carrots with mini cookie cutter, lettuce

Posted in Bento / Cute Food | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on World Penguin Day Lunch

Flower Pretzel Lunch

Pretzel Flower Lunch

My husband is a fan of homemade soft pretzels. I wanted to make it cute so I shaped the pretzels into flower shapes.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Left Side: Homemade soft pretzel, flower pretzel bites (I used regular M&M’s and chocolate underneath instead of the white chocolate.)

Top Right: Cucumber and carrots flowers (the carrots are lighter in color since it is from a rainbow carrot package) cut with mini cookie cutters

Bottom Right: Mixed nuts

Posted in Bento / Cute Food | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Flower Pretzel Lunch

Cinnamon Arrows Archery Lunch

Cinnamon Arrows Archery lunch

My friend, her daughter and I made this easy lunch. Her daughter was taking archery lessons so it was the perfect theme for her.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Left Side: Cheese quesadilla, cinnamon tortilla arrows (cookie cutter)

Top Right: Mini sweet peppers

Bottom Right: Clementine with food marker

Posted in Bento / Cute Food, Food | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Cinnamon Arrows Archery Lunch

Individual Sour Cherry Cobblers

Sour Cherry Dessert out of oven

My inclusion of the words, “individual”, and “cobbler” in this title is probably controversial. This is a large portion (the dish is 500 ml, about 16 oz) as my husband loves fruit desserts. Also I know that most people would not call this a cobbler but for some reason we do. I am not sure why. This fruit dessert has a top lattice of pie crust and no bottom crust.

I often make this easy fruit dessert for my husband. I say often but he would probably say not often enough. I was a little surprised that this is the first time for it to appear on my blog but it is so ordinary to me. I make them with whatever fruit I happen to have in my freezer (usually peaches or sour cherries). My husband loves sour cherries and we sometimes go pick them ourselves even thought it is quite a drive from our house.

I have never tried this dessert as I don’t like cherry desserts – the slim chance that I may get a pit deters me (we use the automatic depitting machine at the cherry farm), also fruity desserts are not my thing. I don’t think that it is very sweet as my husband prefers dessert to not be extremely sweet. He will eat sour cherries right off the tree!

Sour Cherries in dish

I don’t really have a recipe for these. I thaw frozen cherries, drain a majority of the juice and fill up my containers (the dish is 500 ml, about 16 oz). I usually make two at a time. One he eats for dessert and the second one either for breakfast or dessert the following night. I add 1 Tbs of cornstarch and 1 Tbs of sugar to each dish.

Pie Crust Cut

I make this pie crust but you can buy pie crust to keep it easier of you want. The photo is a little deceiving. My cutter has two types, curved and straight. Only the straight cut is shown in the photo but I used the curved to cut the crust.

Sour Cherries ready to bake

Here are my Sour Cherry Cobblers before baking. I bake them at 375 degrees for about 40 minutes (until the filling is bubbly and pie crust lightly browned).

My niece also likes these but since my husband loves these he usually does not want to share. But sometimes I make these on a night she joins us for dinner.

Posted in Bento / Cute Food, Food | 1 Comment

Imaginary Creature Week Round Up

Imaginary Creatures Food Collage

I enjoyed coming up with a different imaginary creature bento for each day of the week. I hope that you enjoyed seeing them.

Which one was your favorite? Please leave a comment if you have ideas for future themed weeks.

Mermaid

Sea Serpent

Unicorn

Dragon

Fairy

Posted in Bento / Cute Food, Food | Comments Off on Imaginary Creature Week Round Up

Fairy Bento Lunch

Fairy Bento Lunch

My last imaginary creature this week is the Fairy. When I decided to make a Fairy themed lunch I thought it would be fun to make edible moss. A Google search revealed these moss cookies. They are surprisingly easy to make, realistic looking, and delicious.

Please follow Eclectic Lamb so you don’t miss out on future themed weeks. Also if you have an idea for a themed week you would like to see, please leave a comment.

Container: Book Bento Box

Contents: Fairy peanut butter sandwich on wheat bread (I put a barrier of aluminum foil between the sandwich and cookie because I was concerned about the bread getting funny), moss cookies made and cut to fit the box, green grapes, walnuts

Fairy moss lunch close

Here is a close-up of the beautiful moss cookie.

Posted in Bento / Cute Food | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Fairy Bento Lunch

Dragon Tortilla Chips Bento Lunch

Dragon Tortilla Chips lunch

My fourth imaginary creature this week is the dragon! These dragon tortilla chips are fun to dip in salsa. Make sure you come back tomorrow to see my last creature in this series.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Left Side: Dragon Tortilla Chips – spinach, garlic and pesto tortillas cut with a dragon cookie cutter, place on cookie sheet sprayed with cooking spray, spray dragons with cooking spray and bake in a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes or until lightly browned and crisp, salsa (in Mini Dippers)

Top Right: Cheddar cheese, walnuts

Bottom Right: Strawberry and Kiwi

Posted in Bento / Cute Food | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Unicorn Bento Lunch

Unicorn Lunch

Continuing on our journey of imaginary creatures in bento… today I have the unicorn. This healthy lunch features a rice unicorn made with a cookie cutter. Make sure you come back this week to see what the last two creatures will be.

Container: Wooden box purchased in Kyoto at Bento&co.

Contents: Unicorn (cooked hot Nishiki rice packed into a cookie cutter then carefully push out of mold), dried blueberry eye, pecan horn, cherry tomatoes, pecans, green grapes, strawberry, asparagus

Posted in Bento / Cute Food | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Unicorn Bento Lunch

Sea Serpent Bento Lunch

Sea Serpent

Second in my series of imaginary creatures in bento – I have a friendly Sea Serpent pizza for lunch. Each day this week (Monday – Friday) I will feature a bento lunch with a different imaginary creature. Please be sure to follow this blog so you don’t miss out on any of the fun.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Top: Sea Serpent – pizza dough shaped by hand (put small ball of aluminum foil sprayed with cooking spray under the bottom middle curve to hold it in place), mozzarella cheese, dried blueberry eye, romaine lettuce, blueberries

Bottom Left: Carrots, cucumber fish (cookie cutter)

Bottom Right: Greek yogurt with blue sanding sugar and boat pick

Posted in Bento / Cute Food, Food | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Sea Serpent Bento Lunch

Mermaid Bento Lunch

Mermaid Lunch

It is a special week here at Eclectic Lamb. Imaginary creature week! Each day this week (Monday – Friday) I will feature a bento lunch with a different imaginary creature. Please be sure to follow this blog so you don’t miss out on any of the fun.

First up… the Mermaid. This lunch was fun to make with a cookie cutter and egg mold.

Container: ECO Lunchboxes

Contents: Mermaid – chilled Cheddar cheese mashed potatoes shaped with a cookie cutter, plain breadcrumbs sauteed in butter until browned, radish, walnuts, Fish – shaped hard boiled egg dyed with food coloring, blueberries, asparagus, carrots

Posted in Bento / Cute Food, Food | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Mermaid Bento Lunch

Snoopy Doghouse Snack Lunch

Snoopy Doghouse Tortilla Chip Lunch

This easy snack lunch was made fun with a cookie cutter and some food picks. My new favorite way to make tortilla chips is with jalapeno-cheddar flour tortillas – they have great flavor!

Container: Fit & Fresh Bento Lunch Kit

Left Side: Dog house tortilla chips – (jalapeno cheddar tortilla cut into dog house shapes with a cookie cutter, sprayed cooking spray on pan and on top of dog house, baked in a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes or until lightly browned and crisp), peanuts in shells, spinach

Top Right: Carrots, sugar snap peas

Bottom Right: Red pepper hummus

Posted in Bento / Cute Food | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Snoopy Doghouse Snack Lunch