DIY Hello Kitty Sandwich

This post is in answer to Maria, who asked for a Hello Kitty sandwich idea.  If you don’t have a Hello Kitty cutter handy, you can make your own reusable stencil with a picture printed out from the net, a plastic sheet, and a few household items.

For the plastic sheet, I used an inexpensive, thin and flexible plastic cutting board that I picked up from the grocery store.  To make the stencil, secure the picture to the plastic using a clip to prevent the picture from moving, then cut with a scissors.

Place stencil on the bread and use a sharp and pointed knife to cut around it.  Use a slice of whole wheat and a slice white bread  for contrast and finish with cheese eyes, nose, whiskers, and flower.  Hope you like it Maria!

For a simpler Hello Kitty sandwich, use the stencil to cut out HK from a flour tortilla like I did in this DIY Ferb post.

A Few Bento Ideas

Last week a reader, Amanda, asked if I had any suggestions for lunches other than sandwiches and ones packed with rice.  Here are a few things that have worked for me since my 4 year-old son is not a big fan of rice, unless it has stew or some kind of gravy over it.

I do “Lunchables” style bentos with turkey, fruit, veggies, crackers, and cheese cut out with small cookie cutters.  BTW, I put the wrong yogurt in the picture!  It was supposed to be the strawberry Brown Cow yogurt instead of the plain.  My kids won’t eat the plain.

Pasta or noodles goes a long way with my kids.

Macadamia Nut Pesto Pasta

Heart Shaped Ravioli Pasta

Heart Shaped Gyoza

Butterflies with Lemon Grass Chicken and Soba

Roasted Chicken Farfalle and Caesar Salad

DIY tacos are a favorite of my daughters.  Just cut out tortillas in fun shapes to fit the bento box.

Hello Kitty Soft Taco Bento

Pizzette or tartlets also make for fun bentos.

Pizzette Bento

Savory Tartlets

Roy

No bento today, but I just wanted to share the reason why I haven’t posted much!  We named him Roy, and he is a Pomeranian and Chihuahua mix.  Roy is fearless, inquisitive, and he loves to cuddle.  Macky (our other dog) was very happy to meet Roy and they are well on their way to becoming best friends.

I forgot about how much work having a puppy in the house was, especially now that we are in the process of housebreaking him.

I will be back to posting soon!

DIY Ferb Sandwich

Here is an easy version of a Ferb sandwich that you can make for your child!  You don’t need to purchase any fancy bento tools, instead you’ll only need a few things that you probably have in your kitchen.

Print a picture off of your computer and then cut Ferb’s head out.  Make sure that it is no larger than the sandwich.

Place picture on tortilla and cut out using a kitchen scissors or a clean scissors.

Place a piece of waxed paper over Ferb and trace his eyes with a sharpie.

Cut out the eyes and place on a piece of cheese.  Use a sharp pointed knife to cut out the shape of his eyes.  If you are using the singles type cheese, then you can use a toothpick to cut the cheese out, like I did here.

Cut out the smaller eye circle from the waxed paper, place on cheese, and cut another eye out.  Place on top and of the eyes that you have already cut out.  This will give the eyes some dimension. Place eyes on Ferb’s head.  Use the rest of the cheese slice in the sandwich.

Take the crust and flatten well with a rolling pin.

Cut Ferb’s hair from the paper stencil, place on flattened crust, and cut out.  Save the rest of the crust to make Phineas!

Add on Ferb’s hair to his head.  Cut out two small eyes from the crust using a straw or pastry bag tip.

If your child is taking the sandwich to school, then “glue” all of the pieces on with a tiny dab of honey.  I also place a small piece of waxed paper over the top of the sandwich before closing the lid.  It will prevent the cheese from sticking to the top of the lid when you open it.

Voila! It’s Ferb!

Isabella

Today’s Phineas and Ferb character is Isabella!  Whenever she sees Phineas, her famous catch phrase is “Hi Phineas.  Whatcha doin’?”.  Isabella is Phineas and Ferb’s good friend and she secretly has a crush on Phineas.

Hope you all are having a great week!

 

 

 

Mini Perry Sandwiches

Here’s Perry again, this time in the form of mini sandwiches.  The platypus are made from PBJ sandwiches with cheddar and sugar eyes and are served along with pluots and a few cucumber slices and baby carrots.  Three more days until Phineas and Ferb the Movie!  :)

Perry’s demise…

Mini Phineas and Ferb Sandwiches

This Friday is the premiere of the Phineas and Ferb the Movie, Across the 2nd Dimension!  The movie is a great opportunity for a family fun night, so here are some quick and easy, mini sandwich ideas for you to try.  I made them as simple as possible so that you won’t have to spend all afternoon in the kitchen!  I’ll be making these on Friday night along with some fresh fruit and veggies with dip.

The Phineas sammies are turkey and cheddar on whole wheat.  After making the sandwiches, I cut off the crusts and cut it into fours.  Then added on triangle-shaped provolone for Phineas’ head, a small cheddar sun for his hair, and sugar eyes.

Ferb is PBJ sandwiches cut into eight pieces with cheese and mini chocolate chip eyes, and olives (you could use grapes!) for the noses.  I didn’t do it here, but you could add a small sprig of parsley for his hair like I did in this Ferb post .