Bunny Grilled Cheese

Another Easter themed lunch today.  Little Bee has chicken noodle soup in her thermos, with a bunny grilled cheese sandwich, green apple flowers, green beans and three little speckled malted Easter eggs.

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Easter Egg Pizza Lunch

Today Little Bee has three mini Easter egg decorated pepperoni pizzas, an assortment of fresh veggies and string cheese bites with some cute bunny and spring picks, ranch for dipping in the little orange container, and a mixed fruit cup.

Bunnies

Doesn't feel very spring-like around here (snowstorm in the midwest), but Easter's just around the corner anyway, so bunnies seemed in order.

Bunny ham and cheese sandwich, celery sticks and cheese, bunny-eared cherry tomato, a clementine and a bunny shaped hard-boiled egg.

St. Patrick's Day Pasta

Another Irish Flag theme today.  Buttered green, white and orange veggie pasta, meatballs with marinara (in the orange container), asparagus, and grapes.  The little yellow container has some parmesan to sprinkle on her pasta.

Easter Bento Giveaway

Bentos on the Bayou, a lovely blog, is hosting a wonderful Easter Bento Giveaway.  Check it out:
http://bentosonthebayou.blogspot.com/2013/03/easter-giveaway.html

Irish Flag Themed Lunch

Little Bee brought home a couple of very cute art projects from Kindergarten yesterday.  An Irish flag and a clover as they are studying Ireland.  So I was inspired to create an Irish flag themed lunch.  She's got two little roast beef and provolone sandwiches, celery sticks and cheese dip, a clementine, and a couple of painted marshmallows to finish it off (just used my food color markers).

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Pizza with Clovers

Trying to get in a little more St. Patrick's day fun this week.  Today we have pizza with clovers (multigrain sandwich thin pizza with clover shaped pepperoni cutouts).  Threw in a couple of rainbow fruit and veggie kabobs (cherry tomatoes and grapes), some crinkle cut carrots and applesauce.

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Spaghetti-O's and Salad

Sorry for the poor picture, silly Mommy let the camera battery die - so I had to use my cell phone.

One of N'Anna's favorites today by request - Spaghetti-O's and meatballs with a veggie salad and some mixed fruit on the side.  I snuck in a couple of clover picks yesterday and today, working up to St. Patrick's Day.

Bears

A couple of cute little bears.  Bear food cup with a cheese hot dot, sugar snap peas and ranch for dipping (in the little orange container), goldfish crackers and grapes.

Minnie Mouse

Leftovers with a little Minnie Mouse flair.  A sloppy joe with green beans, clementine, and some fruit drops.  Just dressed it up a bit with a Minnie Mouse cheese slice and the cute pink pick.

Butterflies

Really quick and simple today -- vegetable beef soup in the thermos, with a butterfly shaped grilled cheese sandwich, apple chunk (with a little butterfly cutout) an some mini fudge stripe cookies.

Soup 'n Strawberries

Little Bee asked for soup and strawberries today.  She's got some chicken soup in her thermos, a strawberry jam and cream cheese sandwich, crinkle cut carrots, strawberries and couple of mini rainbow chip cookies.

On another note, there's a cool giveaway for FunBites over here:  http://bentomakesmehappy.blogspot.com/2013/03/funbites-review-and-giveaway.html

Little Ladybugs

We ended up having a snow day today, so lunch didn't have to go to school.  She had tomato soup, crackers, two little flower shaped grilled cheese sandwiches (which I grilled before I served, and I didn't retake the photo), applesauce in the ladybug cup, craisins, and a couple of bites of string cheese.

Pigs n Blankets

Very simple lunch today, using up some leftovers.  Mini pigs n blankets, sugar snap peas, grapes and Jell-O.

Hello Kitty Pocket Sandwich

My Little Bee requested "the best sandwich ever" for lunch today.  Tuna salad with crisp lettuce - she used to call them "crunchy sandwiches".  Along with, she's got a clementine, some maraschino cherries, tulip shaped carrots, a piece of string cheese, and two mini chocolate chip cookies.

She also requested the cookies for dessert, but it's funny, usually if I pack a dessert type item, it almost always comes back home.  We're really lucky, and she really likes the healthier food items, but we'll see.

Zoo Animals

Zoo animals and a Mexican theme today.  Beef, cheese and lettuce burritos with Mexican rice, tomato chunks and some cinnamon applesauce.

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Winni the Pooh

We had a snow day yesterday, so no lunch.  We weren't too sure about this morning either, so had to whip up something quick.  Winnie the Pooh ham and cheese mini sandwiches, carrot fries, I had a little ham and cheese pinwheel left so I threw in a couple of ham and cheese balloons, very cherry yogurt with some maraschino cherries.

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Panda Sandwich

N'Anna requested a tuna sandwich for lunch, so I decided on a panda pocket sandwich.  It's tuna salad with a little lettuce inside.  Finished it off with a veggie salad, some ranch dressing in the small container, Goldfish crackers and Jell-O with mandarin oranges.

Teddy Bear Grilled Cheese

Easy peasy today.  Teddy Bear pocked grilled cheese sandwich (his features didn't turn out quite as clear as I would have liked), along with some carrots, chicken soup in the thermos, mixed fruit cup and a few mini fudge stripe cookies.

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Mickey Mouse Pizzas

Mickey Mouse mini pepperoni pizza bites today.  Along with she has some diced peaches, cherry tomotoes, asparagus, and couple of mini rainbow chip cookies.

I used a Mickey Mouse cookie stamper to cut the "crust" (whole wheat sandwich thins that I toasted and then cut) - and I have to say - pepperoni is really hard to cut.  I used the sandwich size real pepperoni so I could get a whole piece for the ears.  I really wish they made sandwich size with turkey pepperoni.  It's healthier, very tasty and easier to work with.  :)

I only put faces pieces on the top two - it's just small bits of cheese with a little black food marker.

Quick Minnie Mouse

Quick and easy lunch today.  Minnie Mouse turkey and swiss sandwiches, chicken soup in the thermos, crinkle cut carrots and grapes.  Dressed it up with a cute Minnie Mouse cupcake pick in the grapes.

Valentine's Day Lunch

Happy Valentine's Day!  For lunch today, N'Anna has two mini heart shaped roast beef and swiss sandwiches, sugar snap peas, a cherry tomato heart, strawberry yogurt with X's and O's sprinkles, pomegranate seeds, and some Valentine yogurt pretzels.

Valentine - Lunchable Style

A little lunchable style Valentine's meal today.  Ham and cheese hearts, veggie Ritz crackers, heart shaped carrots, diced peaches, and tomato soup in the thermos.  I added some heart shaped Jell-O jigglers on the side for a little fun.

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Hello Kitty Valentine

A little Hello Kitty Valentine's lunch today.  N'Anna's got some mac and cheese in her Hello Kitty thermos, a couple of heart hot dogs (with cute picks to hold them together), green beans, pomegranate seeds and a few heart yogurt covered pretzels.

Leftovers - Valentine Style

Little Bee asked for some leftover pizza in her lunch today.  Since this is Valentine's week, I cut a couple of hearts out of cheese and sausage pizza.  She also wanted asparagus for her vegetable, so she got that along with some grapes and Jell-O.  I threw in a little heart pick with some maraschino cherries on top too.

A Beary Easy Lunch

I had complete bento block last night, and could not think of a thing to fix for lunch, had no special requests from the little bee, and no particular leftovers.  I had picked up this package of frozen white meat chicken nuggets and the little happy face potatoes (not too healthy, I know) in case of emergency while back, lol.  So - just cooked those up in the toaster oven in this morning and dropped them into a bear cup.  Then I threw in some green beans and a crinkle cut apple for a "beary easy lunch" today.  There's some ketchup for dipping in the little green container.

Flower Garden Salad

Today we have a cute little flower garden salad with cheese flowers and some crinkle cut carrots.  Spaghetti-O's and meatballs in the thermos, grapes, flower garlic toasts and some salad dressing in the little container.

Dora and The Map

Dora and The Map themed lunch today.  The Map burrito (taco meat, tomatoes and cheese), some homemade mexican rice with carrots and peppers, pomegranate seeds, and carrot and sweet pepper stars.  Dora and Boots are cupcake picks.

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Princess Stuff

The little one begged me for some Campbell's princess shapes chicken noodle soup (in the thermos).  To go along with, we have a grilled cheese princess crown, green beans, grapes (with some princess ring picks), and a mini strawberry cupcake.

Spring Fever

I know, it's way too early for spring fever!  But, it's been bitterly cold around here, and today seemed quite nice.  We were all wishing for spring while we were out running around.  So, a spring like lunch seemed like the thing to do.  Flower crescent dogs, a start shaped hard boiled egg (cute in half to somewhat resemble a flower), flower and ladybug orange and yellow carrots, a cherry tomato, a clementine, and a mini strawberry cupcake.  I had occasion to bake some strawberry cupcakes earlier, and made a few mini ones in some candy cups.  There's also a carrot butterfly up on top.

I found a tutorial for the carrot butterflies here:  http://eatsamazing.co.uk/recipes-tutorials/tutorial-carrot-butterfly  Took me a few tries, but I finally got it!  The trick for me seemed to be slicing it thin enough that it was pliable when you bend it into shape.

Strawberry Bear

Lunch today is Beefaroni in the thermos, a little cream cheese and strawberry jelly bear sandwich, string cheese, cherry tomatoes and grapes.

I ran across a sweet bento blog, Karenwee's Bento Diary, the other day, and she's got a tutorial for making sandwiches with an egg mold.  Here's the link: http://kwbentodiary.blogspot.com/2012/09/star-bread-using-egg-mould.html.  Her blog is lovely, and her lunches are really fabulous!  I used a bear egg mold for a little strawberry sandwich.  My bread was a little airy, so some of the cream cheese and jelly is peeking out here and there, but I still think it turned out darling.

A Dolphin and a little negotiation

Despite my desire to pack a nice variety of cute lunches for my little B, ultimately, it's all about her.  She developed a nasty cough yesterday, and I felt the need to get some extra veggies in there, so I told her we were packing some nice vegetable soup in her lunch today.  She agreed, but we had to negotiate the rest.  She wanted some more asparagus and grilled cheese to go with it even though she had grilled cheese yesterday and asparagus the day before.  So be it.

So, today's lunch is vegetable soup in her thermos, dolphin and heart grilled cheese (cut with the dolphin/heart lunch punch), asparagus, some goldfish and a little container of applesauce.

Chicken Soup and Grilled Cheese

It's snowing pretty good where we are today, and I wasn't sure last night if we were going to have a snow day or not, so I didn't prepare lunch, just in case of a snow day.  Weather turned out not as bad as they thought, so we're off to school.  I just needed to pack something simple, with some warm soup.

So today we have chicken soup in her thermos, a couple of mini Hello Kitty grilled cheese sandwiches, fresh veggies, grapes, and some Hello Kitty biscuits.

Piggy Pizzas

Two mini piggy pepperoni pizzas today, along with some asparagus, cherry tomatoes, strawberry yogurt and a few mini fudge stripe cookies.

Preparation Notes:  These little mini pizzas are favorites, and they are really easy to make.  For this one, I used the CuteZCute cutter, but you can use any cookie cutter or simply leave them round.  I cut the pizza "crust" from a whole wheat sandwich thin.  I pop them in the toaster oven for a few minutes to get just a little crisp.  I put some squeezable pizza sauce on top, then layered on some mini pepperoni.  Then I top with the pizza cheese that I chop up a bit so it melts nicer and little pieces don't stick out over the edges.  Then it goes back into the toaster oven long enough to melt the cheese.  After it comes out, I put it on a cooling rack and add the decorative pepperoni cut outs on top.  After cooled, I place in her lunch box and it goes in the fridge.

In the morning, I preheat the toaster oven, and pop the little pizzas (and in this case the asparagus) into the oven long enough to heat through and crisp up the crust again.  I put them out on a cooling rack while we get ready.  Once everything is cooled all the way to room temperature, I put it all back in the lunchbox and it's ready to go.  This way it only takes a few minutes of prep in the morning, but nothing is soggy or soft from having been in the fridge.

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Hearty Leftovers

Today we have N'Anna's favorite leftovers, meatloaf.  Nothing really cute except for the silicone heart cups.  She's got cheesy broccoli rice with the meatloaf, and in the other container, some corn off the cob, craisins, and orange Jell-O with mandarins.

Cat and Mouse

Cat and Mouse lunch today.  I was browsing some other bento blogs, and the little one saw a cute cat and mouse lunch and said "I want that, I want that!".  I told her she'd have to eat another sandwich (which normally objects too), but she still wanted it, so I decided I'd give it a try.

Ham and cheese cat sandwich, mouse hard boiled egg, green beans, checkerboard apple slices and a couple of mini chocolate chip cookies.  The cat sandwich was made with the CuteZcute sandwich cutter, and there's some basic directions on making the mouse on the website below.  I used shredded cheese for the whiskers instead of dried spaghetti.  I cut a tiny "X" with the end of a knife to insert the cheese into.

Here's the one she saw:  http://eatsamazing.co.uk/lunch-boxes/another-cat-lunchbox

On another note, one of my favorite bento blogs is giving away some really adorable food picks.  Actually, I'm hoping that I will win - but thought I'd share anyway.  :)

   http://www.bentomonsters.com/2013/01/bento-berries-giveaway.html

A Few Flowers

Just a really simple lunch today.  N'Anna is more often requesting what she would like to eat in her lunch.  So if you are noticing some repetition, it's by request.  She asked for Spaghetti-O's and Meatballs (in her thermos) and a clementine with a cherry.  I filled out her box with a couple of cherry tomatos (which she never tires of), and some flower shaped garlic toasts.