The Duck Song Bento

Hey!(Bum bum bum) Got any Grapes?

I apologize in advance for getting this song stuck in your head.

My kids came home singing this a while ago and now every one in the family keeps walking up to each other and saying "got any grapes?"

Now if you don't know what I am talking about please go watch the video down at the bottom, it's funny I promise.


So here is my homage to this fun little song.

The duck and speech bubble are made from mozarella and cheddar cheese outlined with americolor food marker. On a dark rye and jam sandwich. The fruit is of course grapes. Served with a glass of cold and fresh and all homemade lemonade.

If you can't see the video here is the link
 
Then he waddled away. Waddle waddle...


This lunch is in a Mulberry bento box.

now go link up at I heart lunch

Totoro Italiano bento

Totoro has gone all Italiano. This bento was my entry for the Bento and co international bento contest. The theme was pasta so I made Totoro ravioli. We are having a little blog hop to show some of the ones that didn't make the top 20 finalists.

The main box is on a bed of the ravioli filling (proscuitto, mushroom, onion and spinach) with brocoli, mushrooms, rainbow carrots from the farmers market(purple, yellow,oranges and purple) these are so good I went and bought another bunch this weekend. Yellow, red and dark red tomatoes. Totoro is home made basil pasta with plain pasta belly, filled with prosciutto, mushroom, spinach and onion. 

The other tier of the box I did a caprese salad on a bed of baby spinach. This is tomatoes, mozarella cut in shape of chibi Totoro. And large olive susuwatari (soot sprites) .

For the dessert I did fresh fruit, strawberries (from the farmers market so tiny and so sweet), Raspberries, blackberries and a chocolate soot sprite and a candy melt chu totoro plus a couple of chocolate mushrooms. I made the chu totoro by melting blue, brown and white candy melts and "painting" onto parchment with a toothpick.

Recipe for ravioli.

Pasta: 

2 cups flour

3 large eggs

1 bunch of fresh basil

Pinch of salt

Put all ingredients in food processor

Pulse until mixed together and forms a ball. If it doesn't form add a couple teaspoon of water a littlest a time and. Remix until ball forms. 

Knead the ball for a few minutes on floured work surface and then wrap in cling film for 30 minutes 

The plain pasta is the same but without the basil.

You can fill with whatever you like. I used a prosciutto, mushroom, spinach, onion filling.
Roll out your pasta with a pasta machine you need it quite thin. They get creative with your cookie cutters. Put a spoonful of filling in center of one cutout then egg white wash round outside to seal together. To add the belly I cut out white pasta and stuck on with egg wash.
Boil until the pasta floats only a couple of mins. Have fun with your favorite cookie cutters and see what shapes of pasta you can make.

I hope you like my first ever bento contest attempt. Although I didn't make the top twenty there were over 350 excellent entries and I will try again next year. I learnt so much while doing this. A few fellow bloggers who entered and didn't place have banded together to showcase all the love and hard work that went into their creations so lick on the pic to hop on over or take a sideways walk to an amazing under the sea bento from Momma says.

box used in this bento.

Maui Turtle bento

Cream cheese sealed sandwich with cheese turtle and flowers. Spinach, tomatoes and star fruit. New potatoes, pistachios and a cookie.

now why not celebrate bento on the bayous blogiversary

Deep in the heart of Texas

Deep in the heart of Texas bento. Heart sandwiches, (lone) star fruit, Texas cheese and bacon crackers. Plus salad and fruit.

New sandwich cutters and star fruit bento

I got an lad of sandwich sealers cutters from ebay. Still working out how to get them nice and neat for a couple and haven't tried all of them yet. Got a clover, heart, square, bear, bunny, mini hearts and square, rilakumma and kiiroitori.

Also tried the kids with a new fruit star fruit. Two of them like it and it looks so pretty.

Kid created bentos

I really wasn't feeling great and the kids had a late start so I asked my eldest to make lunches for herself and help her brother and sister make theirs. I expected them to just stick a sandwich in the box and a bag of snacks.

Apparently while I was working upstairs there was much activity going on in the kitchen. This is what my husband photographed when they had done.

They did a really great job. They did sneak in some skittles but put in fruit and cheese as well. One of them is meant to be minecraft. The strawberries even got cut into heart shapes and arranged.
see other kid created bento here.

Quick flower sandwich

This was the third one I made on the day of the star and bunny bentos. A quick flower jam sandwich and  babybel  cheese. A cutie some whales. A selection of fruit and honey graham sand a Totoro apple pie.

All in a Monbento box.

Staar test bento

So it's Staar testing this week at school, so I did a star bento. Cream cheese sandwiches with star cutouts, star cutout babybel and star dragonfruit.

 

In a Mulberry bento box.

Bunny cutout sandwich

This was a really quick bento. I just cut the top layer of bread with bunny cutter added punched out nori for face.

Served with fruit, cheese crackers and graham crackers.

In a Trudeau Fuel lunch box.

Angry birds lunch

Two of the kids are on a field trip so have disposable lunches.

Piggy sandwiches and fruit and crackers.

I couldn't find any brown bags or plastic baggies as I stopped using them so I had to send some year old disposable glad containers which I used to use before I starting bentoing it was time they were recycled anyway.

Eldest has Angry bird babybel on a cheese craker nest with cream cheese Bad Piggys made with a cutezcute and mini graham crackers as the barriers and grapes for the birds eggs. Other section (not pictured) has more fruit and a mini Apple pie.

 Things I used in to make this.