Elmo and Crayons



Super quick bento today.  Some leftover mac-n-cheese in her thermos, a cut up hot dog with some crayon cupcake picks, peas and grapes with an Elmo cupcake pick.

Preparation notes:
If you're new to bento lunches, you can find lots of cute bento supplies in the cake decorating section of some craft and hardware stores.  The white divider is just a silicone cupcake cup.  The orange one I purchased from a website that sells bento lunch supplies.

A Flowery Bento

Lots of little flowers today.  Chicken noodle soup in her thermos.  Flower shaped mini-grilled cheese sandwiches, sugar snap peas, and flower yellow apple bites.  Dressed it up a tiny bit with ladybug and bee picks.

A little note on preparation - I cut out the little cheese sandwiches in the evening and place them in her lunch box.  In the morning, I use a tiny egg skillet and grill up the sandwiches with some no fat butter spray.  I let them cool completely on a cooling rack before I put them back in the container.  When I'm cutting up the apple the night before, I drop the pieces into a bowl of half water, half lemon juice.  They always still look nice by lunch.  I usually keep the extra cut apple pieces for me to snack on or throw into a spinach salad.

Tigger, Pooh and Piglet

N'Anna wanted some beef and noodle soup (not pictured, in her thermos).  I gave her a few choices, and she decided on the rest of lunch herself, and helped me make it.  She chose Tigger, Pooh and Piglet mini cream cheese and strawberry jelly sandwiches.  Then we filled it up with corn on the cob, diced peaches and some mini Lorna Doone's.

It's A Hoot (Owl)

Sticking with the Fall theme today.  I've seen so many cute owl sandwiches, I have been wanting to make one for a while.  Tuna salad owl sandwich with cheese details (and several pieces of lettuce inside), carrots and snap peas, grapes and a few brownie bites.  N'Anna calls these "crunchy sandwiches" because of the lettuce.  Of course, I picked the crunchiest pieces of lettuce.

Also shared at:

First Fall Bento

In honor of the first day of Fall over the weekend, here's N'Anna's first Fall bento.  Turkey and cheese sushi-style sandwich rolls, green beans, gold fish, and leaf shaped red and yellow apple pieces.

Spelling Word - H A T

I wasn't feeling well yesterday, and Daddy took N'Anna to her gymnastics class so I could stay home and rest.  Afterwards, they went to Olive Garden because she said she wanted spaghetti.  Apparently, she only ate salad and bread, because all of the spaghetti came home.  She told me as she handed me the box that she wanted the spaghetti in her lunch, and oranges.  She just had oranges, but I if that's what she wants, ok.  I was out of regular oranges, so a mandarin orange cup will have to do.

I decided to toss together a salad to go with, and we haven't done a spelling word this week - so, Kindergarten spelling word H A T.  Lettuce salad with carrot shreds, cherry tomatoes, and cheese H A T.  Threw a cute hat pick on a little Babybel cheese girl and lunch was done.  Just need to warm up the spaghetti and put it in the thermos in the morning.

Kinda' like it when she knows exactly what she wants!  A welcome relief since I'm not feeling the best.

Pizza

Today we have mini-pizza squares, veggies and ranch, orange wedges and a few mini Chips Ahoy cookies.

These mini pizzas on multigrain sandwich thins are a favorite of hers.  I just use some squeeze pizza sauce, pizza cheese, mini-turkey pepperoni and sliced cherry tomotoes.  Then I throw it in the toaster oven on 400 degrees right on the rack for a bit.  When it's all melted and the "crust" is crisp, I let it cool on a cooling rack to room temperature before I put it in her lunchbox.

I plan and pre-pack as much as I can in lunches always the night before.  Everything is laid out, partially packed, etc. to make getting lunch ready as easy as possible.  I'm not really a morning person.  As I was packing up veggies last night, the little one came in and told me to take out the cherry tomatoes and cucumber that I had in there.  She likes them, but not together.  Per her request, three sugar snap peas in each container, and then I could put in some carrots if I want to.

Note to self - less variety on the vegetables in a single lunch box.  Glad she came in - I'll try to remember to ask for input more often while packing instead of after she eats it.

A sure thing

N'Anna hasn't eaten much of her lunch for the last couple of days.  Not sure why, it's all been food she usually loves.  So, I decided today I needed to pack something she always eats up.  I didn't have her all time favorite, Spaghetti-O's - but I did have a small cup of Beef-a-Roni.  Here's hoping she'll eat better today.

Beef-a-Roni in the thermos, some butterfly-shaped garlic toasts, red and yellow cherry tomatoes, a piece of string cheese, and some yogurt covered cherries.

I also decided to etch her a banana for breakfast.  If you haven't seen these before, you just lightly scratch a picture or message into the banana skin with a toothpick the night before, and by morning, it turns dark like this.  Kind of fun.

Hello Kitty Grilled Cheese

Today is supposed to be significantly cooler than it has been, so I wanted to include some nice warm soup in her lunch.  I'll need to start back in making some homemade soups on the weekends to eat now that it's getting cooler.  So, real simple lunch today.  Chicken Noodle-O's in the thermos, a couple of Hello Kitty grilled cheese sandwiches, green beans and grapes.

Tiny Bears

A passel of tiny bears today.  Ham and cheese mini sandwiches, baby carrots, cucumber, ham flower with cherry tomatoes, strawberries, and a few chocolate chip Teddy Grahams.

Dora Star Catcher Bento

Today's lunch has a cheese dog flower (with star centers), star shaped cream cheese and grape jelly sandwiches, strawberries, and broccoli & cheese soup.  Cheesy soup or rice is the only way N'Anna will eat brocolli.  Added the cute Dora and Boots cupcake picks for fun.

Abejita Bento (Little Bee)

Today's bento was inspired by the new little bee container I got at our "Everything's $1" store. The little containers were two for $1. I got a frog, a monkey, a ladybug and a bee, of course, for my little N'Anna Bee. She has some taco wraps, mexican rice, corn and tomatoes, and applesauce in the new bee cup. The taco wraps are just some leftover taco beef and cheese I rolled up into a little taquito and cut up.

The little bee is cut from cheese, and the stripes are cut from a Wilton sugar sheet (you can find these in the cake decorating section of some craft stores).

Also shared at:

Simple chicken soup & a thermos wrap

Chicken vegetable soup in the thermos, with some grapes, goldfish and I sliced and mixed up a small red and orange tomato from the garden.  Tomatoes are almost done for the season and N'Anna loves 'em.  Stuck a small yellow pear tomato in the middle.  Just realized the bunny pick in the back is turned around.  Threw the cute l'il animal picks in the grapes for something cute.

I made a thermal wrap for her thermos so I can throw both hot and cold in her lunch box.  I keep the grapes and tomatoes in the fridge overnite so they are still cool by lunch.

For the thermal wrap, I bought a used soft sided cooler at a junk store for a couple of dollars and cut a piece just the size to wrap around her thermos.  Then I sewed a cute fabric scap over top to hold it all together, and zig zag stitched some bias tape around the edge.  I then stitched on a piece of velcro to hold around the thermos.  It works great - keeps her soup hot, and the cold stuff is still cool by lunch.

Also shared this post at:

Hello Kitty

Hello Kitty



Hello Kitty turkey and cheese sandwich today with veggies and cheese dip, a Jell-o pinwheel and some strawberries.

Flowers, by request

Flowers, by request

N'Anna requested flowers in her lunch today.  So, homemade lunchable style ham 'n cheese with vegie crackers.  Also a couple of ham 'n cheese roll-ups, a flower shaped hard boiled egg, salad with flower cucumbers and carrots, and some mandarin oranges.

Mac-n-Cheese

Mac-n-Cheese

Just a quickie, not too cute lunch today.  We had tumbling class and a school event last night, and Mommy was little tired.  So, we have mac-n-cheese in the thermos, peas, a few l'il smokies and some yogurt covered cherries.

Clown

Clown

We went to the circus over the weekend, and I've been trying to think of a way to incorporate that into lunch this week.  N'Anna's been asking for a grape jelly sandwich too, so here's today's lunch.  Grape jelly clown sandwich, ham and cheese pinwheels on some cute picks, fresh veggies, half a plout, and just because they're so cute, two Jell-o pinwheels.

How-to's if anyone's interested...

Here's a link to how to make the ham and cheese pinwheels: http://motheringcorner.com/2012/08/30/ham-and-cheese-rolls-hello-kitty-and-rilakkuma-bentos/

Here's a link to how to make the Jell-o pinwheels: http://www.joyofjello.com/?p=1085

Cheese Ravioli

Cheese Ravioli

Today we have some sauteed cheese ravioli, meatballs, marinara for dipping, green beans, and some yellow watermelon.  Hadn't seen yellow watermelon before - it's just a bit more mildly flavored than the red.  Put a couple of cute froggy forks and a muschroom pick in the meatballs since there was nothing really cute today.

Heart-y Pizza

Heart-y Pizza



Today we have heart shaped turkey pepperoni pizzas, grapes, a garden salad and three little mini Oreo's.

The mini pizzas are made from a multi-grain sandwhich thin that I cut out with a large heart shaped cookie cutter.  I spread a little pizza sauce, finely chopped up cheese and some turkey pepperoni and toss them in a toaster oven for a few.  Then I let them cool to room temperature on a rack before placing into the lunch box.  It's one of her favorites.