Quick lunch...

It's not fancy... but:

-Peanut butter and tortilla roll ups with Christmas picks
-Graham crackers
-Carrots
-Holiday Goldfish

Ooey gooey peanut butter rolls!

Tomorrow's lunch is nothing fancy.
-Ooey gooey peanut butter and tortilla rolls on holiday picks that I got at the dollar tree!
-Carrots - the tiny ones. The smaller they are, the more she'll eat!
-Holiday Goldfish Crackers
-Grapes

Apple Snowman by Daddy!

Dean decided to help with Taia's lunch for today! He made the apple snowman! And he did a great job!

-Apple Snowman with icing eyes, carrot nose, natural gummy worm scarf and dye free fruit snack buttons.
-PB sandwich trees with chocolate covered sunflower seeds and a cheese star
- Mini Carrots

The artist at work.

Where has my motivation gone?

It's probably hiding with my creativity...

Today's inspiration came from Little Nummies!



I finally made it to the grocery store but still didn't venture away from my usual. I'm not quite sure why. Maybe Thursday's lunch will be different!

She has:
-What is supposed to be a reindeer PB sandwich. But it looks like I just crumbled some crust on top of a heart with a face....
-Holiday Goldfish
-Grapes and tiny baby carrots with a snowman pick. (Hey! The carrots got smaller! That's a change!)

First few Christmas bentos!

I'm not doing so great in the time and inspiration departments this week... Not to mention the shopping department.... ;) Maybe I'll get to the store this weekend so the kiddo will have some variety in her lunches!

Here she has a gingerbread man on a PB sandwich, carrots and Christmas goldfish.

Christmas Tree with dye free decorations and marshmallow snow, carrots and Christmas goldfish.

A "decorate your own" snowman on a PB sandwich with Christmas goldfish.

Not much originality but eh- I made an effort! :)

Random animals!

This was inspired by Melissa's awesome farm lunch over at Another Lunch. Hers is 100 times better but I'll keep trying! When I saw how she made her cow I realized that I have that same ice cream sandwich set! So I gave it a try! Since I don't use food coloring, I tried nori. I think it worked okay. A little more practice and I should be able to make it actually look like a cow!


She has:

-Boiled egg that somewhat resembles a cow... maybe
- Clementine with a doggie cupcake pick
-Turkey and cheese sandwich
-Cheese Rhino
- Ham chicken (Hehe. I wanted to use another of my ice cream sandwich molds. So this was just for fun!)

Early Thanksgiving Leftovers!

We are going out of town for Thanksgiving and we love to cook. So we decided to make a Thanksgiving dinner tonight! It was delicious! So for tomorrow she has a turkey and cheese sandwich, baked mac and cheese and an orange "pumpkin!" I was busy cleaning up the kitchen so it's not super cute but I bet it tastes super yummy!

A touch of spring!

It's chilly and fallish here! So we needed a touch of spring!


Taia has:
-Ham flowers on flower picks
-Grapes in a flower cup
-Bagel Crisps
-Dye free flower cupcake
-Macaroni and cheese in her Thermos Funtainer (not pictured)

Last Halloween bento and a dye free flower cupcake!

Here's her last Halloween Bento. I didn't make too many. But now I realize why she was so whiney this afternoon. SUGAR CRASH. Whoops!

-Grapes
-Nutella Sandwich
-Halloween Chocolate
-Halloween cupcake (DYE FREE!!!!!)
-Turkey





Here's a pick of a dye free flower cupcake. I love being able to make dye free cupcakes! :) Thanks mom! My mom got Taia all this awesome dye free stuff! SO EXCITED!

Boo!

I have been really slacking in the Halloween bento department! I got distracted with my other obligations, re-doing the floors in our house, my awesome girls trip to the beach (!) and mom stuff in general! So here is a lame attempt at a Halloween bento.

-Pumpkin shaped apples with a pumpkin pick
-Pumpkin and bat shaped pretzels and raisins in the bottom
-Halloween Rice Krispie Treat
-PB Ghost sandwich with icing eyes.

Animals galore!

Today we went to the zoo for one of our best friend's 3rd birthday! We had a super fun time! Taia had this elephant bento and mine was a little less fun! But only because I ran out of sliced cheese!
Hers:
-Ham sandwich on artisan flatbrean
-Mozzerella cheese elephant with an icing eye
-Carrot Chips
-Panda Cookies
-Grapes with a giraffe pick

Mommy's!
-BBQ Brisket sandwich on artisan flatbread
-Panda Cookies
-Carrot Chips
-Grapes and a panda pick

This week is Veterinarian week at school! I am exhausted from the zoo.... therefore, I slacked... a lot. She has:
-PB and Nutella roll ups
-Lion fruit snacks (dye free)
-Annie's Organic Bunny Snack Mix
-Grapes with a doggie pick

On-the-road bento and yet another Hello Kitty!

Friday night we attended an amazing Hello Kitty birthday party! On the way home, Taia said "I think you should put one of the treats from Bella's party in my bento on Tuesday!" Not quite sure why she wanted it on Tuesday instead of Monday.... But her wish is my command! :)

-Nutella sandwich with a cheese and organic fruit leather Hello Kitty
-Yogurt Covered Raisin (I think : ) ) treat from Bella's party!
-Hello Kitty cocoa cookies. I get these at T.J. Maxx. They're still pricey but SO cute and yummy! (And dye free!!!!)
-Carrot chips with a Hello Kitty pick!





It looks like our game tonight will be rained out. But Taia always gets hungry before AND after she cheers. So I made her a bento that would hopefully be big enough to snack on in the car both ways. Maybe she'll eat it at home for dinner if it gets rained out.

-Chocolate chip cookie. She and her daddy make the best cookies EVER. Seriously. Ask around...
-Carrot chips
-Raisins
-Cheez its
-Nutella tortilla roll ups

Ode To Canada! It's Canadian Thanksgiving! Who knew?

UPDATE: I totally just found out that it's Canadian Thanksgiving! So this was perfect timing! :)


Canada is awesome. Mainly because some awesome people come from Canada. So I was inspired by all of my maple leaf cutters and picks... what? They make you think of fall? Pshaw! Canada all the way!!

-Canada is awesome nutella sandwich
-Maple leaf apples
-Canadian Bacon (HAM) on maple leaf picks!

I dedicate this lunch to the most awesome Canadian I know! :) I love you KMF!

Now I need to work on some inspiration for Box Springs, GA, Dallas Texas and Eerie, PA bentos! Haha!

It's fall y'all!

I should've done another police car for tomorrow to redeem myself.... But I didn't wanna. So she has a fall bento.

-Leaf carrots
-Pumpkin sandwich with a cheese pumpkin on top
-Acorn Apples with a pumpkin pick
-Leftover Mac N Cheese with a leaf pick
My pumpkin looks a little blah. I should give him a face or something..... but there's plenty of time for pumpkins!!

Police Car?

I struggled with this bento.... obviously.

-PB sandwich with cheese and tortilla decorations.
-The H and C on the stars stand for our county name.... I told you I struggled. If I could use food coloring markers I could write "Sheriff" on it....
-Tortilla police car with cheese "lights," windshield, and wheels.
-Carrots
-Fruit Snacks
-Grapes


The tortilla doesn't show up very well. I even used white bread, which we rarely eat, for the color contrast.

And I just realized that one of the wheels must have shifted while I was placing it in the Easy Lunch Box! Whoops!

Hello Kitty

I saw the tutorial for this SusanYuen.wordpress.com! I think it turned out super cute! At least it looks way better than my last 2 Hello Kitty attempts!

-Grapes and Carrots with a Hello Kitty pick
-Raisins
-Hello Kitty Cheese Sandwich

I'm getting better at Hello Kitty.

And yes, it's still Police week..... I'm having a tough time with that.... I have a car cookie cutter, which I used for today's lunch. But it didn't turn out very police-y so no pictures! But I will try again! Just not sure when I'll be brave enough!

Apple Tree!

The inspiration was from One Hungry Hungry Hippo!

If I would've been more prepared, I think I could've done better. But I think it turned out cute!!
I am about to make some bentos for Taia's Apple Jon, Tigger and myself! They are in town so we are heading up to the school for lunch! She has been calling them Apple Jon and Tigger since she learned how to talk. We aren't really sure why but how fitting that Apple Jon would visit during apple week!!

She has:
-Spinich grass?? Background
-Cheese Stick tree trunk
-Apple shaped apples
-Carrot Flowers
-Buttered Shell pasta

Supply Organization

How do your organize your supplies?

I rearrange mine constantly.

I have WAY too many cookie cutters to keep them all together.

Some are in buckets in the hall closet.

Some are stashed in baggies under the cabinets.

A few of my most used and some that I plan to use soon are kept in a drawer with my picks and most used boxes.

The really small ones are in a tackle box so they are tossed around and forgotten about in the bottom of my drawer like they were for the longest.

My picks and small muffin cups are kept in tackle boxes. They are typically $5-$6 are work really well.

I would love suggestions on storing larger cookie cutters.

I forget what all I have because I have so many. I buy those big value buckets so I really have no idea what all I have!

Snacky lunch

I only have two apple cutters if you couldn't tell! So I'm sort of out of ideas. And they're eating apples at school for snacks so I'm trying not to send a lot.

For tomorrow she has:

-PB and banana sandwiches on apple shaped tortillas
-Fruit Snack Apples
-Bear egg
-Cheese stick cut up to fit
-Banana


I HOPE to come up with an apple tree type idea for Friday.... I just need to get creative and go shopping. But I have company coming in tomorrow. So either they'll help or distract me with fun stuff! :)

Apple Patch!

It's still apple week! She LOVED the apple shaped apples today. She thought it was super cool. So today she has peanut butter and apple shaped apple sandwiches on tomato tortillas. Sounds gross but she stole one while I was making them and devoured it! So.... apparently it was yummy!! The first picture was taken before I realized that I needed peanut butter on both sides to use as glue.


-Cheese Apples
-Apple and PB sandwiches
-Apple shaped apples
-Grapes
-Carrots
-There's also a squeezey apple sauce tossed in her lunchbox.

I need to find some cute apple picks!!

Green Apples!

I try not to use a lot of packaged foods, other than her Capri Sun Roarin' Waters. (Those are only because her thermoses and water bottles make her backpack too heavy.) But with my lack of inspiration, She's getting some packaged food tomorrow!

Here she has:

-Squeeze Applesauce
-Mott's Fruit Snacks (They are the apple juice people afterall! :) )
-Apples in the shape of APPLES! Yes, I realize how incredibly ironic and awesome it is. ;)
-Peanut butter sandwich with a cute cheese apple.

I think my favorite part is the apple shaped apples.... even though you can't quite make them out. I assure you, they're cute and you'll be seeing them again...like tomorrow. ;)

Yet again, I'm having a hard time adding dye free color... always up for your awesome suggestions! !

Johnny Appleseed Day

I struggled a bit on this one. I didn't want to put actual apples in her bento because they'll be eating lots of apples at school this week.

So she has:
-Apple straws
-Apple sauce with organic sprinkles
-Fruit shaped fruit snacks
-Nutella sandwich with a cheese apple!

The colors are a little bland but apple colors are a bit bland....

Now hopefully I can get more creative as this apple week goes on!!!

Suggestions would be more than welcome!

Hello Kitty Revisited!

So I went all over town searching for Hello Kitty cookie cutters today!

I found them at Party City for $3.49! Wahoo!

It's still not perfect but I'm making progress!!!

I think she needs more color... but that's hard without using any food dyes! So I'll be thinking of ways to add color without adding food dyes! Suggestions WELCOMED!!!!




Here she has:

-Tortilla and PB Hello Kitty sandwich
-Cheese Hello Kitty
(raisin eyes, organic fruit snack nose, cheese bow and cilantro stem whiskers!)
-Grapes on a HK pick (also from Party City!) and carrot chips
-Apple straws and raisins

A ruff start.....

I had a "ruff" start with the "Hello Kitty" bento that looked nothing like HK but Taia enjoyed that for dinner.
And here we have:
- a dog and bone nutella sandwich with cheese toppers and an icing eye.
-grapes ad carrot chips
-apple bones (I'm sort of addicted to cutting apples into shapes! :)
-And I'll toss a banana in her lunch box in the morning

Hello Kitty first attempt....FAIL....

I wanted to attempt a Hello Kitty sandwich since I've seen some adorable ones on Pinterest....

Apparently those people are very talented or have the right tools or maybe a combination...

Even my Hello Kitty egg revolted and I do those all the time..... I may toss this lunch (read that "feed it to her for dinner") and make something else for tomorrow.... I will update later...


If at first you don't succeed..... try and try again.....or just give up because you'll never be able to make a Hello Kitty sandwich....



I'm going in search of a HK cookie cutter!!

A Cinderella Lunch!

It's doctor week...... And that's a really hard theme to work with.... So we're doing a fairy/princess theme....so far at least! :)

For tomorrow she has:

-Crown and Princess slipper nutella sandwiches with cheese tops
-Pocky wand
-Crown apples (These turned out cute!)
-Grapes and carrots!

I really need to find some princessy picks!

Fairy Princess

I've been struggling with my Lunch Punches for a while. Well, I've solved my problem!! My bread was too thick!! I bought thin wheat bread today and it didn't tear!! YAY for a pretty fairy princess!

-Fairy Princess Nutella Sandwich with a cheese skirt, fruit snack decorations, and a pocky and cheese wand (the leftover cheese and fruit snacks are under her.
-Carrot chips
-Grapes
All packed in one of my trusty Easy Lunch Boxes!

Gone Fishin'... again!

She really liked the PB and celery fishing snack that I took her class yesterday and sent in her lunch today. So I've packed it again for tomorrow.
-Chocolate chip Goldfish
-Colored Goldfish
-Celery and PB
-Hello Kitty boiled egg
-Cheese stick
-Crackers

Nothing fancy but it'll make for a happy kiddo! !

A little random. . . . .

-A bear shaped egg.
-Ritz crackers
-Heart shaped cheese and fruit leather
-Chocolate Chip Goldfish
-Celery and Peanut Butter to "fish" the goldfish!

Daddy to the rescue!

Before Daddy's help.... super boring...

After! Cute!

This week is "Dentist Week" in Taia's class. I'm having a heck of a time with the theme. So I gave up....... at least for now...

Her lunch looked so plain and boring for today. Until I walked in the kitchen last night and Taia's super awesome daddy was cutting her name out in cookies!! The metal cutters imprinted her name into his hand since the cookies were already baked! It was kind of funny! The right side still looks a little bland but it looks way better than it did!

She has:
-Cheese Quesadillas with organic sprinkles for color and a cookie "Taia"
-One random meatball..... I'm not really sure why I tossed that in there!
-Watermelon flowers (The press and seal wrap is to prevent the juice from leaking on the dry foods like they did yesterday. One of the benefits of the Easy Lunch Boxes is that kids can easily open them. But that also makes it easier for liquids to leak. The press and seal prevents it! Problem solved!
-Apple straws and a cookie that she and her daddy made last night.

Quesa-duo!

We are trying something new!
- A cheese quesadilla on top
- A nutella and PB quesadilla on bottom ( hopefully she'll try and like the cheese one first!)
- Fruit snacks
- Grapes
- White cheddar popcorn

Last minute and by request!

I've been a little spread thin lately and sort of forgot to make Taia's lunch for today! Whoops!
So this morning I asked her (in a rush) what she wanted.

She requested:
-a Nutella sandwich with her name in fruit snacks on top
-cheese
I added
-raisins
-carrots


I think I'm going to head up to the school to have lunch with her today! If I decide to go,
I'll post a picture of my bento! Although I'm sure it won't be anywhere near as cute as hers!

Lunchopolis Giveaway!

Check out the great Lunchopolis giveaway over at 2 boys+1 girl= 1 crazy mom.

Repeat!

Today's lunch was such a success that Taia requested the same for tomorrow!


-Watermelon
-Cheese
-Crackers
-Turkey (instead of today's ham)
- An apple in her bag since we're out of bananas

Cheese and crackers with a side of melon!

For tomorrow she's got (in a Hello Kitty box- didn't snap a pic of the lid):
-Watermelon - That little container has a lid so the juice doesn't get on the other food.
-Cheese
-Ritz Crackers
-Ham roll ups on a heart pick
A cute little Hello Kitty baran that a friend sent me from Japan!
-A Banana that I'll toss in her lunchbox separately.

Who needs those pricey lunchables?

Simple lunch

This week is grandparents/family week at school. I intend to dedicate at least one lunch to the theme. But tomorrow's is just a simple lunch. I found a Wonder bread square crust remover and sandwich sealer for $3.99 and really wanted to try it out!

She has:
-Pb&J sandwich (I had a little issue with the cutter so it's more of an odd rectangle than a square? But it was my fault, not the cutters! There are some fruit leather flowers on top and the scraps are hidden under the sandwich.
-Turkey and a cheese stick since chances are she will refuse the Pb&J....baby steps!
-Pears (Thanks to an awesome friend who picked them and gave us TONS!)
-Watermelon (Supposedly seedless.... I've never seen so many seeds in a watermelon....
I forgot to put the picks in before I snapped the picture....AGAIN!

A Whale of a lunch.

This isn't one of my favorites. But I'm out of ocean ideas!
So I'm ready for some creative freedom next week! The theme is family/grandparents but I don't know if I will be able to come up with anything. So I may be themeless! :)

She has:
-2 Whale nutella sandwiches
-Graham goldfish
-Grapes and carrots
-Turkey skewer