Santa Lunch

Last bento before Christmas break.  I saved Santa, of course, for the final Christmas bento.  We have chicken soup in the thermos, Santa ham and provolone sandwich, red and green apple slices, carrots and a cherry tomato.

Snow Buddies

A couple of cute snowman buddies for lunch today.  Here's hoping for a white Christmas!  Ham and cheese snowmen, cucumber slices and a large cherry tomato, grapes and couple of Christmas tree pretzels.

Preparation notes: The snowmen are homemade ham and cheese "hot pockets" made with Pillsbury Crescent Dough.  I just cut circles for the dough, smaller ones for the head and slightly larger ones for the bodies, and filled them with diced ham and cheese and formed them into balls.  I brushed a little food and color and water on the scarves before baking them and added the buttons and face details with food color markers after they cooled.  The hats are cute cupcake picks.  These are really yummy.  I make them the night before and in the morning, I pop them into the toaster oven to warm up and crisp the dough, and let them cool back to room temperature before putting them in her lunchbox.  I make little balls with the extras and we either munch on them right away or eat them for breakfast at some point so the extra doesn't get wasted.

A Giveaway...

A lovely bento blog I follow is having a giveaway of some super cute Disney picks.  Here's the link:  http://www.bentomonsters.com/2012/12/2012-christmas-giveaway.html

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Christmas Lunchable Style

Anna asked for ham and cheese lunchable today.  So I cut up some ham and cheese in Christmas shapes to go along with some veggie Ritz crackers, carrots and snap peas, a couple of ham and cheese pinwheels and some applesauce.  Just for fun I stuck in a few peppermint marshmallows.

Christmas Stockings

N'Anna wanted macaroni and cheese and a hot dog for lunch today.  So we have mac-n-cheese in her thermos, Christmas stocking hot dogs, sugar snap peas, a clementine and a few almond bark pretzel trees.

The hot dog I just cut in half, then cut about 1/3 of the half at an angle and hold the pieces together with a long bow pick.  There's a piece of string cheese at the top where the fur should be.  I also stuck in a couple of animal picks to look like toys sticking out the top.

Candy Canes

Really simple lunch today, candy cane grilled cheese sandwiches, along with chicken soup, carrots, grapes, and a three pretzel trees.

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Gingerbread Men

Spaghetti-O's and meatballs with some garlic toast gingerbread men.  Asparagus, cherry tomatoes, pears and a few vanilla yogurt covered cranberries.

Rudolph and Friends

Rudolph and Friends chicken nuggets today.  She's got some chicken rice and vegetables in her thermos, grapes and some ketchup for dipping in the little green container.

Snowmen

Snowmen today.  A little snowman cheese sandwich, cherry tomatoes, celery with cheese, a radish "ornament", and couple of mini chocolate chip cookies to go along with the chicken soup in her thermos.

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Christmas Pasta

One of N'Anna's favorites, garlic butter pasta in cute Christmas shapes.  Hard to see, but there are Santas, presents and stockings in there.  Rounded out lunch with some green beans, a little container of parmesan, garlic toasted christmas trees in the back and some pears.

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Christmas Pizza

First Christmas bento this year, by request.  We were making Christmas sugar cookies for a cookie/winter fair fundraiser event at her school this weekend, and while we were decorating cookies, I asked what she wanted for lunch.  She didn't really know, but when I suggested pizza, she said she wanted it shaped like a Christmas tree.

Along with the pepperoni pizza we have some fresh veggies, grapes and vanilla yogurt covered cranberries.

Sorry for the fuzzy picture, I didn't realize the picture was so awful when I took it this morning.

Preparation notes:  I just cut the crust from a multi-grain sandwich thin with a large cookie cutter.  I toss that in the toaster oven to get somewhat crisp, then I add the pizza sauce, cheese and pepperoni and put it back on the oven long enough to melt the cheese.  If you don't toast the bread just a bit by itself, you end up with a real soft crust that doesn't seem much like pizza.  Just let it cool to room temperature before you put it in the lunchbox and close it up.

Tiny Teddy Croutons

I had to prepare something that required very little morning prep as I had to leave early in the morning for an appointment, so a very simple lunch today.  Beef-a-Roni in her thermos, tossed salad with ranch in the little orange container, applesauce and some tiny teddy garlic croutons.

Preparation notes: In the evening I prepared the salad and dressing, put the applesauce in the little container, and threw that in the fridge, just need to toss it in the lunchbox in the morning with an ice pack.  I made the croutons, let them cool and put them in a container straight into the lunchbox.  Just preheat some water in the microwave and pour into the thermos to preheat it while I'm getting ready .  Then 1 minute for the pasta and into the thermos.  About 3 minutes in the morning and lunch is ready to go.

Snow White and Dopey

Snow White and Dopey roast beef and provolone sandwiches today.  I also put in half an apple (can't have a Snow White lunch without an apple).  Sugar snap peas, cherry tomatoes, and a couple of brownie bites fill it out.  I had to put Snow White on top of the Dopey to fit it in her lunch box and lay the tomatoes down.

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