Pumpkin Twins #133

These guys were supposed to be pumpkins but they ended up looking like the retro version of Officer Big Mac or Mayor McCheese.  Paige didn’t know who I was talking about which made me feel old, LOL!  Anyway her lunch consists of two small Dutch rolls filled with turkey, lettuce, and American cheese.  I also gave her a side of celery sticks with apple shaped carrots and poppyseed dressing.  This bento was super fast and easy as you can tell.  It took me less than 10 minutes to put together!

Boo-tiful Bento #132

Today’s bento is a remake of this sandwich bento that I made last year for Halloween.  The ghosts are made from mozzarella cheese and sit on top of a turkey on whole wheat sammy.

I am amazed at all of the fun Halloween bento ideas out on the web!  For more spooky inspiration check out a few of my favorites-

The Adventures of Skinny Mini Kiki

Happy Little Bento

Sonoma Bento

A Pocket Full of Buttons

Crouching Mother Hidden Toddler

Bento Bird

What’s For Lunch at Our House

Check them out!!!

Frankenwich #131

Paige and Sean finally decided on their Halloween costumes, and this year will be dressing up as pirates!  Mark and I still haven’t decided on our costumes although I have a sneaking suspicion that Mark wants to do an 80′s rock band theme like we did last year.  Mark was Axl Rose and I was Slash from Guns and Roses.  Needless to say our costumes were pretty hilarious and I am glad that the kids are not embarrassed by us yet.

Anyway, todays bento is for Sean!  In anticipation of Halloween, I made him a Frankenstein sandwich made of whole wheat bread, turkey, and cheddar.  I also packed him some pretzels, grapes, and sliced kiwi with olive eyes.

This bento is featured in What’s for Lunch Wednesdays!

#thinkpink and #projectpink Bento

I’m sure that everyones’ lives has been touched in some way by cancer.  For myself, three of my aunties have had breast cancer and sadly two of them have passed on.  My other aunty is a  breast cancer survivor and is doing well today!  Since this month is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I made a bento in honor of all those whose lives have been touched by breast cancer.  For more information about breast cancer and the importance of early detection visit the Susan G. Komen site.

A Tale of Two Bentos #129

A reader (Hi Linda!) recently wrote to me about the logistics of bento making.  Well to begin, my day starts at 5:30 am.  I wake up early because I enjoy having a cup of coffee, reading the news, and spending some time with my hubby while it is still peaceful and quiet in the morning.  At around 6:15 am I start Paige’s lunch.  Depending on what it is, Paige’s lunch will take me anywhere from 5 minutes (for sandwiches) up to 30 minutes for bentos that require cooking like the one pictured above.  I keep things really simple and try to do as much prep as I can the night before.  I also make sure that whatever I make for dinner that I save a small portion for Paige’s lunch the next day.  For example the bento above contained misoyaki chicken, corn, rice, and watermelon.  Since we had misoyaki chicken for dinner the night before, I saved some of the cut and marinated the chicken to cook the next morning.  We also had watermelon and corn for dinner that night so I reserved a few pieces on the side for Paige’s lunch.

Sandwiches are much simpler and faster to put together since they require no cooking.  I prep everything the night before (including cutting the carrots and the details for the sandwich’s face) so that all I have to do in the morning is assemble the sandwich and  tuck it in a bento box.  Really the key to an easy morning is to do as much prep as you can the night before and just do one simple cute thing for your bento.