Eclectic Lamb

Today was Shel Silverstein’s birthday so along with some of my Bento Bloggers and Friends we are having a bento blog hop. I love The Giving Tree book so it was a natural choice for my lunch theme.

My husband ate this meal. For artistic purposes it does not have a lot of food but he had several more pretzels, cheese, and yogurt on the side with this meal. It was his idea to make soft pretzels for the tree trunk. My nephews were visiting when I made the pretzels (I timed it so I would have help eating them) and one mentioned that the pretzel was bent; that was my goal. I struggled with how to make the tree stump that is found at the end of the book. Somehow I remembered Little Debbie Swiss Rolls. My grandmother who is now 97 loves them.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Tree: Homemade soft pretzel, spinach leaves

Apples: Cherry tomatoes with leaf picks

Tree Stump: Little Debbie Swiss Rolls cut in half and stuck together with a little bit of chocolate frosting, chocolate frosting details

Mini Dippers: Mustard

Please click on the button below to continue on this hop to see what Venia from Organized Bites created.

Today is Elephant Appreciation Day so it seems like a perfect time to share elephant shaped food. Today I have 7 new food ideas with elephants and 3 previously published ones. Elephants were my sister’s favorite animal when we were growing up. Her favorite stuffed animal was Ellie the elephant. I used many different techniques in this compilation: sculpted mashed potatoes, cookie cutters (pizza, sandwich, vegetables, fruit, pancakes, tortilla chips), stencil, homemade bread, and rice ball.

I enjoy making bread and am always looking for new themes to try. I blogged about this elephant bread lunch here.

I made this elephant tortilla chips and hummus lunch for myself. I often make shaped tortilla chips but for this lunch with tortilla chips and hummus I was influenced by this from Eats Amazing.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Left Side: Elephant shaped tortilla chips, cherry tomatoes

Top Right: Hummus with hot paprika

Bottom Right: Elephant shaped apple slices with cinnamon

I made this for my nephew on a day we went to the zoo. This lunch was previously published here.

I made these pancake elephants for my 10 year old nephew for lunch at home. I used an elephant cookie cutter when pouring the pancake batter but it did not work out great so I also cut them with the cutter after cooking. I think that they ended up cute but it was not a quick and easy process.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Left Side: Elephant shaped pancakes, maple syrup in Mini Dipper

Top Right: Red bell pepper

Bottom Right: Green grapes with elephant pick

My husband ate this lunch on a day we went to the zoo. This lunch was previously published here.

We made this as part of various animal fruit kabobs for a Zoo themed Baby Shower (fruit kabob with elephant shaped melon, blueberry, watermelon, and pineapple)

My husband ate this pasta elephant bento for dinner. I did not have any fresh fruit in the house but had some cookies in the freezer.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Left Side: Elbow pasta with butter and Parmesan cheese. Red and green bell pepper elephant shapes.

Top Right: Red and green bell pepper elephant shapes.

Bottom Right: Snickerdoodle cookies

I was thrilled with how my mashed potato Babar turned out. He looks more informal than his suit from the books – maybe he is wearing pajamas. When I was a child I was not a fan of Babar but my friend had the books. I was inspired to make Babar as part of this collection after reading BentOnBetterLunches World Elephant Day post. Recently, I borrowed Bonjour, Babar! from the library (6 classics). I enjoyed reading them and so did my nephews when they visited.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Babar: Head – mashed potatoes with a little butter, shredded Cheddar cheese, and a tiny bit of Wilton black food coloring gel (I shaped the mashed potatoes after it chilled in the refrigerator for awhile), Tusks – white Cheddar, Crown – orange Cheddar cheese, Eyes – I dipped a toothpick into black food coloring gel, Body – mashed potatoes with a little butter, shredded Cheddar cheese and cooked broccoli.

Top Right: Roasted Soybeans

Bottom Right: Sliced strawberries and blueberries

I wanted to make an elephant onigiri so I made this meal for my husband. It did not turn out as cute as I had pictured it in my head.

Container: LunchBots Trio

Top Left: Elephant onigiri (rice ball), dried blueberry (eyes), lettuce

Top Right: Lettuce mix with Colby-jack cheese (cut up scraps from another lunch), sliced almonds

Bottom: Red grapes

I made this meal for myself. I found it delicious and satisfying.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Top: Quinoa with shredded Cheddar cheese (melted in the hot quinoa), hot paprika sprinkled on mama and baby elephant stencil that I printed onto card stock and cut-out with a craft knife.

Bottom Left: Roasted zucchini with pine nuts

Bottom Right: Raspberries (from freezer – they look a little frosty in this photo)

I hope that you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed preparing it for you. If you want to receive my blog updates, please subscribe by email.

Arrr! I have two lunches today for Talk Like a Pirate Day, a Lego pirate and a pirate map pizza.

I made this for my 10 year old nephew for lunch at home. We were not sure if this would be good enough to blog. But in the end I decided to share it. I thought that I had a plastic pirate sword but could not find it. I made one from candy melts but it turned out a little strange.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Left Side: Lego Pirate (Naan bread covered with cream cheese, painted on food coloring for face and body, peg-leg is cinnamon, white candy melt eye and detail on shirt, semi-sweet chocolate hat with white chocolate skull, sword is white candy melt with a little black food coloring), cheese quesadilla (background)

Top Right: Cucumber

I made this for my husband’s lunch (for the next day) at the same time that I made a pizza dinner.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Left Side: Pirate map pizza (tomato sauce, mozzeralla cheese, red pepper, green pepper, mushroom, zucchini) – there are two map pizzas in this lunch.

Top Right: Pirate treasure chest chocolate with white and semi-sweet chocolate

Bottom Right: Sliced celery with Monkey Pirate pick (sticker that I stuck to a toothpick)

Bottom Right: Strawberries

I did not start playing taking piano lessons until I was in the 4th grade. I remember thinking that my Mom should have put me in lessons much earlier. I thought that I was too old to start taking music lessons. But after I asked for lessons she did find a piano teacher for me and I took lessons through high school.

I made these lunches over the summer when I spent a lot of time with my niece and nephews. Many of these instrument and music themed lunches are very basic. I tried to include instruments that kids often study: piano, French horn, cello, voice, saxophone, guitar, trumpet, tuba, harp, violin, and drum.

Piano

My 15 year old niece made this piano out of nori (seaweed) for herself.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Top Left: Cherries

Bottom Left: Green beans

Right Side: Cooked Nishiki rice, nori, music picks

French Horn

My 12 year old nephew plays the French Horn so I made this lunch for him.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Top Left: Raspberries

Top Right: Pretzel Crisps

Bottom: Brazil nuts (in Mini Dipper), French Horn strawberry jam sandwich on wheat bread, green beans

Cello

I made this for my 12 year old niece. She plays the cello.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Left Side: Cello pita sandwich with nutella and food marker details, almonds and cashews

Top Right: Carrots

Bottom Right: Cherries

Voice

I thought that voice would be a good addition to this collection so I made this lunch for myself (I am not a good singer).

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Left Side: Broccoli, rice, cheese singer with food marker details, cheese notes

Top Right: Black beans with sauteed onions

Bottom Right: Plain Greek yogurt with blueberries

Saxophone

I made this lunch for my 14 year old nephew.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Top Left: Green beans

Bottom Left: Blueberries

Right Side: Walnuts, Pretzel Crisps, Saxaphone strawberry jam sandwich on wheat bread

Guitar

I made this cheese mashed potatoes guitar lunch for my 12 year old nephew.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Left Side: Mashed potato and cheddar cheese guitar with black olive details, spinach leaves

Top Right: Blackberry yogurt with fruit flat musical note

Bottom Right: Green grapes

Trumpet

I made this lunch for my 10 year old nephew.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Top: Trumpet strawberry jam sandwich on wheat bread, orange bell pepper, red bell pepper

Bottom Left: Bugles

Bottom Right: Blueberries

Musical Notes

I love the combination of pasta, beets, and blue cheese but I don’t like my pasta to get pink. My LunchBots trio was the perfect box for this lunch I made for myself.

Container: LunchBots Trio

Top Left: Penne pasta with blue cheese

Top Right: Spinach leaves and musical note shaped beets (I used a cookie cutter)

Bottom: Pistachios

Tuba

My 15 year old niece plays the Tuba so I made this lunch for her.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Top Left: Peanuts

Bottom Left: Raspberries

Right Side: Tuba strawberry jam sandwich on wheat bread, salad

Harp

This is supposed to be a harp. I packed it on a day that I packed food for my Mom and 12 year old niece to eat while they were out and about. They did not know what this was supposed to be. Their guesses were Hershey Kiss or heart.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Top Left: Cottage cheese with peaches

Bottom Left: Green grapes

Right Side: Harp Pita with nutella (food marker details), carrots

Violin

I made this violin lunch for myself.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Top Left: Walnuts

Top Right: Pretzel Crisps

Bottom: Radish, strawberries, Violin peanut butter sandwich on wheat bread

Treble Clef

My niece designed and ate this lunch, we made it together. It represents the lines and spaces of the Treble Clef – Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge and Fantastic Americans Crave Enchiladas

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Left Side: Enchiladas with black beans, sauteed onion, and cheddar cheese, salsa, Treble Clef on tortilla with food marker details, letter picks

Top Right: This is supposed to be fudge. I wanted to buy fudge but it was difficult to find this time of year. I quickly made fudge but the consistency is wrong so I guess my candy thermometer was wrong or I messed it up somehow.

Bottom Right: Cucumber boy with matchstick carrots

Bass Clef

My niece designed this lunch, we made it together (my 10 year old nephew drew the markings on the cow), and my 10 year old nephew ate this meal. It represents the Bass Clef – All Cows Eat Grass and Good Boys Do Fine Always

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Left Side: Bass Clef cheese quesadilla, food marker lines, Bass Clef symbol flour tortilla with food marker details, letter picks

Top Right: Grass (snowpeas)

Bottom Right: Cow (cheddar cheese with food marker details), matchstick carrots

Drum

This is supposed to be a drum. I gave this lunch to my 12 year old nephew.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Left Side: Onigiri (rice) drum with cheese details, matchstick carrots

Top Right: Walnuts

Bottom Right: Blueberries

Which musical instrument did you play or does your child play? Did I include it here?

Friday night my husband and I took two nephews to see the movie Dolphin Tale 2. So of course I made my 10 year old nephew this dolphin themed meal. My 12 year old nephew had some snacks and dessert because he ate pizza at an after school party.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Left Side: Dolphin shaped cheese quesadillas (he ate the scraps on the side), blueberries

Top Right: Orange bell pepper with Winter the dolphin pick

Bottom Right: Red, White and Blue Goldfish crackers

My 15 year old niece requested this lunch. She wanted a main course pie and pie for dessert. I love getting food requests and enjoyed making this meal. My husband had it for dinner the night before and this meal was planned leftovers for lunch.

My husband and niece loved this zucchini and cheese pie with potato crust. Since I am particular about eggs in things, I liked that this does not use eggs. Most similar recipes call for eggs.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Left Side: Zucchini Cheese Pie with Potato Crust (I reduced the scallions, onions, and did not use the bay leaves), spinach leaves

Top Right: Pistachios

Bottom Right: Mini Peach Pies (I made my own pie crust)

Here are some (mostly easy) ideas for making a sandwich more fun to eat. Most of these techniques are quick to make. Try these at home or in a packed lunch.

1. Fun Picks – Just stick a pick in it. Eye picks make a fast and fun face sandwich. I added a pea pick for the mouth. You can buy picks at BentoUSA or Eats Amazing UK.

2. Cookie Cutter with 2 types of bread – In this example I used wheat and pumpernickel breads. We normally eat wheat bread but I keep pumpernickel bread in my freezer to have on hand for fun details or something different. I served the wheat bread bat with the lunch. There are so many possibilities with this technique. You are only limited by your cookie cutters and types of bread that you and your kids will eat.

3. Sugar Shape – Use a cookie cutter, a little butter and colored decorating sugar to make your sandwich standout from the crowd. In the example below I pressed a star shaped cookie cutter into my top piece of bread. Then, I added a little bit of butter and carefully sprinkled colored sugar inside the cookie cutter.

Here is a basic photo tutorial.

4. Carrot Letters – This technique takes a little bit of time but not too long. I actually find it relaxing to cut shapes out of food. Think of all of the words you can spell with carrot letters! Thinly slice carrots and cut letters with small cookie cutters. If you will not transport your sandwich upright the letters may shift but you can “glue” them on with some Peanut Butter or WowButter. You can also pack a cloth napkin on top to help prevent shifting. I previously published this lunch here.

5. Cheese – Adding cheese in a cute shape is a tasty way to add fun to your sandwich. The example below actually shows several techniques (cheese, food marker, and carrot). I used a knife and two different colored cheeses to make this ship. I drew details on the sail with food safe marker.  This lunch was previously published here.

6. Candy Eyes and Food Marker – This is really two techniques. Occasionally I like to use food safe markers to draw on my food. I use Americolor food coloring markers.  The eyes in this example are Wilton Candy Eyeballs. If you are concerned about the eyes moving, you can try to glue them on with Peanut Butter or WowButter.

7. Cookie Cutter Shape Cut-Out – This simple technique adds a lot of visual appeal. Use a cookie cutter to cut a shape and show the sandwich filling underneath. I previously published this lunch here.

8. Sprinkle Shapes – There are so many sprinkle shapes available to add fun to your sandwich. This technique is best if you will serve the sandwich at home or carry the sandwich flat (not sideways) in your bag.

9. Dried Fruit –  Make your sandwich special with dried fruit. In this example I used dried blueberries for the eyes and nose and half of a dried apricot for the mouth. It was fast and easy but so cute!

10. Toast Stamp – The toast stamp in the example was actually in a set of two that I found in a dollar store. I pressed the stamp into the top slice of bread. Then I toasted both pieces of bread. This lunch was originally published here.

I hope that this article will inspire you to easily transform your sandwich into something fun to eat. Whether you try one technique or combine several techniques you are only limited by your imagination and what you or your kids will eat.

Linking to:

I made this learning with the head, heart, and hands themed lunch for my 12 year old nephew. The order is counterclockwise because I knew that my nephew would prefer more fruit than vegetables.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Head (thinking): Angel hair pasta with spaghetti sauce, Parmesan cheese, Head (Naan bread) I put a layer of Parmesan cheese under the bread to protect the bread from getting soggy.

Hand (doing): Carrots with Hand (cucumber)

Heart (feeling): Green grapes with strawberry heart

Mini Dippers: Ranch dressing and cashews

I made this “Hit the Books” themed lunch for my 15 year old niece on her second day of school. She is a great student so she does not need the subtle reminder in this lunch. But it was fun to make this simple theme. There is quite a bit of rice in this book shaped onigiri so I hope that this lunch is more filling than it may look.

At the bottom of this post you will see the Jam Tarts that I also included in my niece’s lunch. There are 5 kids in the family and I made 3 jam tarts for each of them with their school year decorated with pie crust.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Left Side: Book shaped onigiri with nori shaped hand and filled with black beans and salsa. I used a mini loaf pan to shape the cooked Nishiki rice into the shape of a book. I lined the pan with plastic wrap, put in some hot rice, pushed down with plastic wrap, added a mixture of black beans and salsa, then added more hot rice and packed down using plastic wrap between my fingers and the rice. I then picked up the plastic wrap to remove the packed rice from the pan. I painted on the book spine with a few drops of food coloring mixed with a tiny amount of water. Then I cut out the hand with some dried seaweed (nori). Salad surrounds the book.

Top Right: Cashews

Bottom Right: Green grapes

Back to School Jam Tarts: I was very pleased with these. After I took the photo I told my husband about this being a snapshot in time (the current grades of the kids). My husband said that someone (not knowing the meaning of these) may think that I could not count. I was impressed that he could joke so early in the morning.

I made the crust the night before but I rolled, filled and baked these in the morning before school. These could be made the night before and you can use store bought pie crust.

Roll out pie crust. Use a 2.5 inch round cookie cutter or similar sized glass to cut pie crust rounds. Carefully put each pie crust round into non-stick or greased mini muffin tin cups. Partially fill each pie crust cup with fruit jam. (I used black raspberry and strawberry jams but only the black raspberry is in the picture.) If you overfill, the jam will bubble up while cooking and while edible will not look as clean. Cut pie crust scraps into numbers with small cookie cutters. Place numbers on top of the jam.

Bake at 375 for about 20 minutes or until pie crust is lightly browned.

I made these simple lunches for 2 of my nephews on a day that I made an elaborate dinner for them. Cookie cutters made these sandwiches quick to make. I let them have Popchips because they prefer eating something other than sandwiches at my house so I wanted to give them a special treat.

My just turned 10 year old nephew ate this goat shaped sandwich at my house.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Contents: Popchips, red bell pepper, salad, red grapes, strawberry jam on wheat bread, candy eye

My 12 year old nephew ate this cow shaped sandwich at my house.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Contents: Brazil nuts, red bell pepper, spinach, strawberry jam on wheat bread, food marker details, red grapes, Popchips

I know that this may not look like a cow but my 15 year old niece enjoyed this lunch and I had fun making it. I tried to copy the cow from a book I bought while in Japan this year. I used spinach instead of seaweed, carrot instead of ham, and baby carrot instead of hotdog.

Container: ECO Lunchboxes

Cow: Rice, radish, carrot, spaghetti (to hold on the carrot nose), spinach

Other Contents: Sauteed zucchini in olive oil with dried basil, snow peas, asparagus, mini sweet peppers, cherry tomato, red grapes

My town has a day in the July when there are town wide sidewalk sales, garage sales, and yard sales. My niece and nephews enjoy searching for treasure at these sales and I agreed to drive them around and walk to sales with them. My 10 year old nephew requested a garage sale themed lunch. We ate on my front porch.

This lunch is not pretty but I don’t think that most garage sales are pretty. It has an assortment of items for sale – pink Legos, tennis racquets, and a dresser. You never know what you will find at a sale.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Top Left: Strawberry yogurt Lego bricks (I froze yogurt in this silicone mold)

Bottom Left: DeCecco Racchette pasta with green peas

Right Side: Cheese quesadilla background with cheese quesadilla dresser (details drawn with food safe markers), snow peas, raspberries

I was happy today to guest post over at Student Bento. I wrote an article about ideas to use pasta, flour tortillas, rice, homemade bread, and potatoes in your lunches. It includes some of my favorite lunches. Please go check it out.

I made these lunches on days that I wanted to keep it quick and easy. Many of these were for outings with my niece and nephews and I made the lunches from ingredients I happened to have in my house.

I made this for myself on a day I went raspberry picking with my niece. I made pasta for both of us and prepared them differently. I just came up with this combination as I was prepping the lunches. It was healthy but delicious!

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Left Side: Elbow pasta with snow peas, red bell pepper, toasted slivered almonds, salt and pepper

Top Right: Red grapes

Bottom Right: Plain Greek yogurt with cinnamon

I made this for myself on a day I went raspberry picking with my nephew. I ended up going raspberry picking twice this year because the first time only black raspberries were ripe. I did not take photos before I left the house so this photo was quickly taken at the raspberry farm. They had picnic tables available where we had lunch.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Left Side: Mini wheat pita, hummus

Top Right: Brazil nuts

Bottom Right: Strawberries

I made this for my niece on a day that we went raspberry picking. It was fast to use my ice cream cone cutter on bell peppers to decorate this lunch.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Left Side: Elbow pasta with a little butter, black pepper and Parmesan cheese, red and yellow bell pepper (I cut the ice cream cone shape with cookie cutter)

Top Right: Walnuts

Bottom Right: Red grapes

I made this lunch for myself on a day my nephew and I went hiking. I guess that many of my favorite foods happen to be green.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Top Left: Green grapes

Bottom Left: Pistachios

Right Side: Snow peas, almond butter sandwich on pumpernickel bread

I was running out of time on a day that my nephew and I went raspberry picking so I made him a sandwich. Since I know that he prefers non-sandwich lunches I gave him a special treat of BBQ potato chips. I try to be the Aunt that gives them fun food.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Left Side: Strawberry jam sandwich on wheat bread, granola bar, Brazil nuts

Top Right: Strawberries

Bottom Right: BBQ potato chips

My nephew ate this lunch at home. It was leftovers from a featured ingredient raspberry lunch that I will publish next week. He is always happy to eat a muffin lunch.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Left Side: Green beans, raspberry muffins

Top Right: Walnuts

Bottom Right: Raspberries

I made this lunch for myself. I had some watermelon leftover and thought it would be fun to put it in a bento lunch.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Left Side: Watermelon

Top Right: Cottage cheese with cinnamon

Bottom Right: Romaine lettuce with carrots, red cabbage, tomatoes, walnuts, and cheddar cheese

So although I love to make themed cute food, sometimes I just quickly throw together lunches from ingredients I have in my kitchen. Quick and easy can be attractive and delicious.

Linking to:

I am happy today to participate in the 3 Tools, 3 Bloggers series at Wendolonia. Each of us used the EasyLunchBox, Animal Picks, and Wilton Noah Cookie Cutters in our lunch. Visit Wendolonia to see how each blogger used the same tools.

I made the obvious theme with these tools since it is a theme I have considered for a long time. This was a meal I actually made for myself. It was fun to eat and delicious. I did not add sweetener to my cocoa cream cheese. It complemented the cinnamon sugar animal crisps in this meal.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Left Side: Naan bread Ark with a mixture of cream cheese and unsweetened cocoa powder (I used a toothpick to draw lines on the ark), blueberries

Top Right: I used the Noah Cookie Cutters to cut the animal shapes from a flour tortilla. I brushed on some olive oil, sprinkled on a mixture of cinnamon sugar and baked them at 375 until crisp (about 5 minutes but watch them closely).

Bottom Right: Carrots and sugar snap peas

Linking to:

I made these lunches for my nephews and myself on a day we hiked at a nature preserve. One of my nephews wanted a Canadian Goose themed lunch. The other nephew wanted a beaver dam lunch. I used the opportunity to make a dragonfly themed lunch for myself.

I used a lot of the same ingredients to make these lunches somewhat easy to make. The goose took the longest of these three lunches. The beaver dam was easy to make but I made it earlier so it could set. I packed it with an ice pack. It was still a little messy to eat but the kid did not complain.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Contents: Dragonfly shaped cheese quesadilla (2 on top of each other), snowpeas, blueberries, pistachios

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Contents: Beaver shaped wheat sandwich with strawberry jam (food marker details), yellow bell pepper, beaver dam (I used this recipe without the peanuts and tried to shape them to look like a beaver dams. I made 1/2 a batch and everyone ate the extras for dessert).

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Contents: Pistachios, snow-peas, pumpernickel and wheat bread sandwich with peanut butter (neck) and strawberry jam (body), white details (cream cheese)

It was a beautiful day for a hike and these lunches made it a little more special.

Linking to:

My nephews and I used Grands biscuits to make individual pizzas. We made one of them in a puzzle shape using this to create this make your own pizza lunch. It can be a small meal or a hearty snack.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Left Side: Grands biscuits puzzle pizza, tomato sauce in Mini Dippers, mozzarella cheese in silicone cup

Top Right: Cucumbers cut with puzzle cookie cutter, it came with a jigsaw puzzle.

Bottom Right: Red grapes

Linking to:

I made this lunch for my 12 year old nephew. We spent the day together and visited the Buffalo Museum of Science. My drawing of the atom is not perfect but my nephew did not care. He gobbled it up. This was a quick and easy lunch to make.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Left Side: Cheese quesadillas (three) with atom drawn with food safe marker. I was inspired by this beautiful lunch by Bento for Kidlet.

Top Right: Carrots

Bottom Right: Pineapple

Not in Photo: Almonds

This lunch came about because I wanted to use my hummingbird cookie cutter. I have had it for awhile and never used it. I ended up with this simple and delicious lunch of a cheese quesadilla over salad.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Left Side: Hummingbird shaped mozzeralla cheese quesadilla, baby romaine blend salad with pumpkin seeds and slivered almonds

Top Right: Cottage cheese with fresh dill

Bottom Right: Sliced strawberries

I made this bento for my 15 year old niece. I am somewhat new at mashed potato sculpture but I enjoy it. It seems to be very versatile. To make the mashed potatoes I added a little butter, milk, and shredded white cheddar cheese to cooked potatoes and then mashed until it was the consistency I wanted.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Top: Butterfly (mashed white potato , red pepper, carrot, blue potato), broccoli

Bottom Left: Watermelon cut with butterfly cutters

Bottom Right: Pistachio nuts

Linking to:

I made this meal for my 12 year old nephew. He enjoyed it very much. Since this nephew does not eat a lot of vegetables I asked him what to use for the background. I was surprised but pleased when he wanted raw spinach leaves. I think that it made the perfect background.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Top: Snoopy mashed potato (I added some butter, shredded cheddar cheese, and a little milk), spinach details and background

Bottom Left: Watermelon

Bottom Right: Pistachio nuts