Bento: Camping themed lunch box

With the long weekend ahead of us, camping inspired lunches seemed appropriate.  These are the Arctic Zone containers with the small Laptop Lunch containers for dipping sauce.

Sandwiches are decorated with apple fruit leather "tents", broccoli "trees", Colby Jack "fire", and pretzel "logs."  Carrot & celery sticks fill the bottom left container, and if you're camping, fishing is included, right?  So Goldfish fill the remaining container.

Happy Labor Day weekend!

School Lunch Ideas: Star Wars, Hello Kitty, & Back to School

If you have been following my blog for any length of time, you know that I LOVE the Laptop Lunch systems.  You'll notice that we have a ton of different bento containers, and although we use them for different purposes, I feel like the Laptop Lunch system is the best fit for our needs.

 

This week's lunches use a combination of Laptop Lunch and Arctic Zone Ultra containers.

Most of the picks, baran, and other décor items come from allthingsforsale.com.  The silicone cups are from grocery stores and World Market.

 

When packing lunches, it's important that you consider your "wet" and "dry" components and the containers you select for each so that your kids don't find soggy pretzels or crumb-filled applesauce.

 

These lunches are mostly the same, but the kids have slightly different preferences and allergies, so you may notice some inconsistencies.  It's on purpose.  They are all nut-free.

 

Lunch 1 - Star Wars & Hello Kitty

Top left: Dried and yogurt covered fruit with a light saber or Hello Kitty pick

Left: pretzels

Top Right: Tortillas with Wowbutter, honey, sliced bananas, and chopped apples (halved so they fit) with a Darth Vader ring or Hello Kitty

Fresh pear

Bottom Right: diced pineapple with a drone ring or Hello Kitty pick.

Bottom: String Cheese

 

Lunch 2 Apple / Back to School Theme

(Looking at the first lunch on the left)

Aussie apple (check here for instructions)
Top left orange silicone: Picante plantains with a chalkboard pick
Top right green silicone: animal crackers
Bottom left green silicone: grape tomatoes
Bottom right orange silicone: dried bananas with alphabet pick
Apple pick in the center of the container.
Gogurt, String cheese, granola bar.

Lunch on far right also contains a sandwich (using the inverted container to trim the crust) with a letter pick and hand-drawn apple using Wilton Food Writers.

Ready for school!

It has come.  It is really here.  Our youngest children, twins, start Kindergarten tomorrow.  I don't know if I will cry or rejoice...or both.  Probably both.
I love the Laptop Lunch systems, but as we start the kids to school,  I want to be fully confident that all of the pieces will come home.  So these lunches are in the containers that came with the lunch boxes.
Inside, we have...
Sandwiches colored with Foodoodlers,  fruit leather cut into shapes, yogurt covered pretzels,  Fuji apples with cinnamon with food picks, and note bananas.
Clothes are ready for the week for all 3 kids. (The oldest already put them in order in his closet - so no photo.) 
Hang in there, moms and dads. We can do this.

Bento: Halloween

Bento: Finally Fall

It finally feels like fall here in Central Texas.  It's 55 degrees and raining this morning, and I *love* it!  I'm looking forward to being able to open the windows for the cool air.

The Laptop Lunch containers for today's lunch are filled with a potato bread sandwich (cookie cutter used for bat outline and colored with Wilton Food Writers), silicone cup with almonds and a leaf pick from AllThingsForSale.com, silicone cup with a homemade Pumpkin Maple and Cream Cheese Whoopie Pie.  I created dried apple "ghosts" (Wilton Food Writers) that are fun and SUPER easy, and the final container is filled with dried blueberries and a scarecrow pick also from ATFS.

Lunch face

A sandwich cut in half and stacked with a pair of creepy eyes combined with apple slices turned jagged teeth create a lunch face. Dried blueberries with a stray eyeball and granola bar bites finish out this quick Laptop Lunch.

The twins were at home today for lunch, and I made ham, cheese, avocado, and lettuce sandwiches topped with a mango slice for a smile.  Silicone cupcake liners hold raspberries, applesauce, and googly eyes (rings and picks) from AllThingsForSale.com

Lunch: Out of Bread

Last night, I realized we only had 2 slices of bread left for today's lunches. This morning, we made pancakes, and we made some extras to use as bread. Some Wow Butter and honey made for some great impromptu sandwich treats. Fresh raspberries, yogurt covered pretzels, and Gogurts finish out these three lunches.
Happy Friday!

Bento: October, Halloween, and Nut-free "Butterfinger"!

 I pulled down the Ziploc bag of Halloween pics, rings, etc. this morning!  The little man requested a ham and cheese sandwich, but they're always soggy if you make them ahead of time, so this is deconstructed.  The ham was patted dry and placed between the bread slices with a slice of cheese.  Lettuce (hiding a finger) and tomatoes are in separate containers.  Baby carrots (hiding a hand) and Gogurt are snacks, and the nut-free "Butterfinger" bite will be a special treat. (Nut-free "Butterfinger" = 1 jar Wowbutter + 1 lb. bag of melted candy corn mixed, cooled, cut + dip in melted chocolate.)  These are all tucked in Laptop Lunch containers with lids.

I'm sharing this one, not because I expect it to inspire you in any way, but rather to share my learning experience.  

The other day, we were running really late, so the Despicable Me minion is made with cheddar cheese and a food writer. (Our family is doing a Despicable Me theme for Halloween this year.) HOWEVER, I do NOT recommend trying to draw on cheddar.  I don't buy American cheese, because it isn't "cheese."  Unfortunately, American cheese is also a lot easier to decorate because of the moisture content.  I will be working on other Despicable me foods in the coming weeks, too.

Gogurt, fruit snacks, and a Nutri-Grain bar finish out this "we must go NOW" lunch.

Bento: Team Spirit

10 minutes before it was time to leave for school thus morning, my husband asked if I would make our 3rd grader's lunch. Our son who has demanded nut butter and honey sandwiches every day for the better part of almost 2 years decided he wanted grilled cheese, Mac and cheese, or ham & cheese for lunch. We did not have any ham or Mac and cheese, and I didn't want his grilled cheese to be soggy.
So I made a pastrami and cheese sandwich with the school mascot cut from a piece of pastrami and adhered with a tiny bit of mayo.
I carved the school's initials in an apple, pulled off the skin, spritzed with lemon juice and covered with plastic wrap.
I added a granola bar given my time constraints.

Bento: Apple of my Eye

On such a difficult and emotional day, I struggled with what to do for my 8 year old's lunch.  His knowledge of 9/11 is still very very limited.  I took the opportunity to share a little bit about it this morning and explained steps taken to keep our nation safe in the future. (With all of our family's travel, I didn't want him to live in fear.)  For his lunch, I decided to express how special he is to me.  His sandwich is adorned with hearts from fruit leather.  Dried apples have notes written on them with a Wilton Food Writer.  The apple has a heart cut with the same cookie cutter and removed with a small knife.  I use lemon-lime soda instead of lemon juice to "seal" the apples so that they aren't bitter.  I threw in a granola bar in the silverware space.  Show the ones around you that you love them!

Bento: Guess What Day It Is!

Hump Day!!!!
Do you think that commercial is half as funny as we do?  Today's lunch is inspired by how happy the camel is on Wednesday.
The Laptop Lunch box is filled with applesauce with cinnamon, dried fruit, a granola bar, and a "camel sandwich" made with Wilton Food Writers.  I drew this one freehand, but you could easily print out a picture and cut it as a template.
I wrote on both sides of the banana using pressure, not ink.
Happy Hump Day!

Bento: Star Student

As we start off the new school year, I wanted to encourage my 3rd grader AND to show you how easy a fun lunch can be.  Don't get me wrong, I love some of the elaborate lunches; but let's be honest, we don't all have time for that every morning.  My original plan didn't work out (when I realized that my loaf of bread was still in the freezer), so this a modified even EASIER version that was quick to throw together this morning.
This lunch is in a Laptop Lunch box (currently, there is a 72 hour sale for back-to-school - enter code BTS15 for 15% off.)  The sandwich has stars cut with a cookie cutter and a piece of fruit leather cut with the same cookie cutter.  The dried blueberries have some star sprinkles that I had left from cupcakes.  The egg was pressed in a star egg mold (and was a small egg!)  The egg took the longest, but I did it last night.

Last night, I boiled an egg (larger eggs are preferred) for 9 minutes, drained the water, rolled it around the pan gently cracking it open on all sides (to make it easier to peel), ran a quick rinse of water over the egg, peeled the shell, and placed it into the egg mold before putting it in the fridge overnight.  While the egg was boiling, I made the note with "Night Sky" font.  
This morning, it took less than 5 minutes to assemble the lunch. Happy Back To School!

Bento: beach

Bento: Healthy Easter

It doesn't feel like spring at a chilly 36 degrees this morning. 
Whole grain sandwich with Wilton bunny cutout and Wilton Food Writer coloring. Silicone plant and plastic leaf stems are from AllThingsForSale.com. Cuties, grape tomatoes, and a Gogurt finish out today's lunch.

Bento Friday

Bento: L is for LOVE

Scrabble Cheez-its, Sweethearts,  and fruit leather spell love in each compartment of today's Laptop Lunch.

Bento: Love with my Whole Heart

My hubs is out of town, and I had a late night for work yesterday and a long day today with an early release from school within the madness. This was an "in a hurry" lunch. Sandwich, fruit leather (adhered with honey), and a cookie cutter make it a little more fun than just a sandwich. A peanut butter bar, dried pineapple,  and fruit snacks finish out this lunch.

Bento: Sweetheart

This morning's Laptop Lunch is comprised of a honey wheat sandwich with a heart cutout and 4 Sweethearts, dried pineapple with a heart food pick from  AllThingsForSale.com, and a quartered apple with heart cutouts using the same cookie cutter I used on the sandwich and a small sharp knife to lift the apple's skin.

 

Bento: Heart Month

This Monday morning Laptop Lunch has a printable note from Chef Solus encouraging being active for a healthy heart.  The honey wheat sandwich has 2 hearts cut with cookie cutters, and one is outlined with a red Wilton Food Writer.  A peanut butter bar fills the rest of the large container.  Dried pineapple and blueberries fill the other 2 Laptop Lunch compartments and have heart-shaped food pics from AllThingsForSale.com.

Bento: Love

This Monday morning Laptop Lunch has 1/2 of a banana with "pressure-writing" on it that says, "Love," and a heart-shaped pick.  The top right corner is dried blueberries, and the bottom right is filled with dried pineapple - both with heart-shaped picks from AllThingsForSale.com.  Homemade bread was used for the sandwich and lips were drawn with a Wilton Food Writer and filled in with sugar sprinkles.

Love.