Charlotte's Web Bento

I bought some Halloween themed background papers in hopes of Halloween lunch inspiration. Instead I got inspiration to make this Charlotte's Web lunch.

The little spiders on the webs reminded me of Charlotte's children floating away on their webs.

Charlotte is made from cheese and Nori on a web made from tortilla with AmeriColor marker to draw the web and "some pig"

Wilbur the pig is made from Ham. Well he is a pig! Underneath Wilbur and the web is a sandwich

In the other hat of the box is raspberries and blackberries, Trader Joes yoghurt stars, sweet bell peppers and a couple of Ghoulie Gummies from Trader Joes.

 All packed in a Monbento box.


    Used in this lunch    (Affiliate links)

Texas Longhorns lunch bento

The Texas Longhorns are the sports teams for the University of Texas UT based here in Austin.

So when I received this burnt orange monbento bento box. The first thing I though was I have to do a Longhorns lunch.

I wanted to do typical Texas fare for the lunch so i decided rice and chili. I also wanted something quick to whip up so rice (uncle bens minute rice)with southwest chili (hormel) Tostitos multigrain scoops, guacamole and multi colored tomatoes from the local farmers market. Mexican mixed shredded cheese and of course the longhorn symbol.

The logo of the longhorns is the longhorn cow. So I cut this out from cheese using a parchment paper template and an exacto knife.

 The great thing about the monbento box is it can be heated in the microwave. It has a vent in each layers lid. So I kept one layer with the items I wanted to heat and the other for the cold items.

 Unlike many bento boxes this one is sized generously for an adult portion I was very full after this.

You can use just one section at a time if needed and it comes with 1 divider (I used a second extra one)

Why not whip up a longhorns lunch for the UT fan in your life.

 Not shown my trusty spork.

 Monbento boxes are available form Amazon or direct from monbento they are having a sale in Wednesday so it's a great time to get one.

This post contains affiliate links. I was not compensated for this post but did receive the monbento box for my use.

 

 

Danger mouse Bento

Danger Mouse was one of my favorite cartoons in England.

I even bought US versions of them to watch.

So here is a tribute in cheese and ham!

DM: Good grief Penfold! I've been turned in to a bento!

Penfold: Crikey D.M doesn't that hurt, Chief?

DM:  No, didn't feel a thing!

Penfold: Oh, Crumbs!


For those individuals unfortunately enough not to see the show its kind of like comedy James Bond, if James Bond was a Cartoon mouse with a mole for a sidekick and the bad guy is a Toad.

Danger mouse is cute from mozarella cheese, ham, cheddar, cherry and Nori. on a sandwich with some cherries

The other side is Broccoli,  Blueberries, Grapes, Strawberries, Tomatoes and a Babybel cheese with Cut out letters for the Logo.

All served in a Monbento box available form Amazon or from Monbento see link in side bar.

This post contains affiliate links.

 

Brown bear bento

Following on from yesterday's Grumpy cat I thought I would do the same technique but simplified.

  I got the inspiration from my daughters bento bag available at Allthingsforsale.com



I had everything out and my 9 year old wanted to make them so these are her creations ( see i told you they were easy)

Using a circle cookie cutter about 3.5" cut out two slices for each bear from dark rye. From white bread with oval cutter about 2 x 1" cut a muzzle for each bear. Cut the same hole in the face piece and insert the white bread. Use oval cutter to cut out ears and trim in half. Eyes and nose are shape-N-amaze dough.

Assemble in box with filling of choice these have jam or cheese.
Boxes used include a hakoya, monbento and ziploc box.








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Sandwich faces easy lunches

Always an easy standby when I have run out of ideas is to give the sandwiches faces.

These are raisin cinnamon bread with jam.

The eyes are Wilton sugar eyes. Mouth cut out with small oval cutter.


The babybel I just cut out the wax with a straw and insert the eyes.

Also included Wonderful Pistachios, Rilakumma Cookies, Strawberries, Grapes, Tomatoes, Watermelon and kettlecorn.




The notes are by Lunchboxlove

One is in a monbento box the other in a mulberry mybentomeal box.

  

Products used in this lunch.

These are affiliate links. Please help support my blog.

Turtles everywhere bento

My daughters favorite animals are turtles and tortoises. So here are a few I'll let her decide which they are.

The first is cut out of bread using a cutezcute cutter upside down and added head and tail. Nori details. On a bed of butter lettuce, tomatoes and grapes.

The next is a half a babybel cheese on strawberries and last but not least a homemade cookie on bed of kettlecorn.

I added this nicely appropriate card from Lunchboxlove

All in a monbento box.

Products used in this lunch.

May the forth be with you bento hop

It's May the Fourth. Other wise known as Star Wars day. I am participating in a Star Wars themed bento blog hop.I have three kids so I had to do three different Star Wars themed bentos.

The first for my girl twin is a Wicket the Ewok bento.

Wicket is made from A Dark rye and white bread jam sandwich. With blue corn tortilla hood. His spear is a matcha green tea pocky with a cut grape on top. The forest of Endor is made from broccoli. The other side has fruit with Yoda because he is the light side of the force. Darth Vader is saying "come to the dark side, we have cookies!"

The next for my boy twin is a Yoda bento.

Yoda is made from a folded flour tortilla with cheese and an Easter egg c
container I got in the sales. With grape hands and a matcha green tea lightsaber. Underneath is a cheese sandwich. Again the dark side has cookies (I am almost sold on the dark side, the willpower is not strong in this one)


Last but not least for my eldest daughter. I made a Bantha bento.

The Bantha is made from dark rye sandwich with cheese horns and mouth. Bantha fodder is fruit.


Now I know you want to see even more Star Wars lunches so just hop on your speeder bike and zip on over to Healthy eating starts at Home to see what creation she has in store for you by clicking the red picture below. Then once you have finished the hop for even more click on the green picture. May the force be with you...


Once you've completed the hop...


Boxes used in these. Are a monbento two tier black bento box. A disposable tupperware, and a Trudeau fuel. Other products used below.

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.

Frog month bento

Did you know that April is national frog month? In honor of these little jumping critters I did a frog bento.

This frog themed bento includes two frog cutezcute sandwich sealed with panda sandwich maker (one jam one cream cheese). The fruit side has grapes, strawberries, guava, dragon fruit, and kiwi lily pads. On a bed of spinach. 

The is also apple frog pies and a pandan coconut mochi with sugar eyes.

Products used in this bento.

Shaun the sheep and naughty pig bento

Spring has sprung so here are some spring Shena-a-anagins with Shaun the sheep and a naughty pig.

My daughter is a huge fan of Shaun and Timmy and I love Wallace and Grommit so this will probably be the first of several on this theme.

Shaun sandwiches using sealed bear sandwich maker upside down. Shaun is a little on the round side and is looking a like Sheena shaped. Head is cut out from Cheese and Nori. The naughty piggy is from ham ( what else!) with nori eyes.

In a monbento box.

Cat and Mouse bento

Quick bento using cutezcute cat cutter and  panda sandwich press on dark rye and white jam sandwiches.

Some left over veggies with cheese mouse from playdoh cutters and cat cookie again from playdoh cutters.

All in a black Monbento box.

Need to get some nicer boxes for the other two kids.

Products used in this bento.

First actual lunch bento: Love snails

The lovely monbento black box came in the mail today. I bought it from amazon I will do a review when I have had chance to see how it holds up.

So first bento for middle kid (she is easiest as she will eat anything)

I had to go with what was in the fridge so base of French toast. Grass is spinach tortilla. Snails are rolled up cheddar and mozarella with spinach tortilla on a quarter of a frigo cheese stick. Spaghetti eye stalks with cheese and sesame seed eyes. Heart strawberry. Ladybug is half a babybel. Toadstool is other half plus other half of cheese stick.

This is my first attempt and I am not hopeful of it reaching the destination in one piece. I need to work on some items for tighter packing. Other layer of bento has fruit and mini cookies for treat.