Hugs and Kisses Valentine's Bento, XOXO. Bento #535

I made an inlaid hearts bento last year with the hearts as center and thought I'll use the XO letters this year. HERE is the one I made last year. These are a great way to introduce different breads. Nikolai is not terribly fond of pumpernickel usually, but with the addition of cute shapes he eats it without complaint.

In this bento lunch:

• Heart shaped sandwiches, one of wheat bread and the other of pumpernickel with the letters cut and swapped for contrast.
• Sweet red bell pepper XO letters above edamame.
• Apple slices and seedless green grapes with pick.

Here are the supplies that I used to make and pack this lunch.

Continue Reading »

Chinese New Year Horse Bento

Friday will be Chinese New Year and it will be the year of the Horse! While it is not celebrated locally as it was where I enjoyed my childhood, we try to make it a celebration that our son will remember and cherish.
Wishing everyone who celebrates 'Gong Xi Fa Cai'!!

In this bento lunch:

• Horse shaped sandwich with mane and tail of pumpernickel bread and a candy eye.
• Lower left: Organic baby carrots. Pretzel sticks barn with provolone cheese window.
• Upper right: Strawberries and cherries with a couple of cute picks.
• Far Right: String cheese. This lunch is packed in his Laptop Lunches

Here are the supplies that I used to make and pack this lunch.

Continue Reading »

Valentine Butterfly Bento

I hope everyone had a great weekend. We enjoyed our weekend and did some cooking yesterday ( I taught Nikolai to wrap wontons in the morning), baked cookies in the afternoon and my hubby cooked a very nice Italian style dinner.
Since Valentine's Day is approaching soon, I expect to at least make a few Valentine's Day bento so here is the first one for this year.:)

In this bento lunch:

• Butterfly shaped Linzer sandwiches with the removed inner heart shaped sections forming the center section with two small heart picks for the antennae. I used strawberry jam for the filling.
• Heart shaped cucumber slices in a silicone cup with a cupcake pick.
• Heart shaped strawberries above seedless green grapes. 

Here are the supplies or similar that I used to make and pack this lunch.

Continue Reading »

Rilakkuma Snack Bento

I have several cute Rilakkuma lunch boxes and Nikolai requested a Rilakkuma snack! This is my first time of making Rilakkuma, I don't think it came out looking quite like him and perhaps I need some more practice. Nikolai was quite happy and for me that's all that matters.:)

In this bento snack:

• I used a round cutter for the face and ears. Raisin for eyes, cheddar ears and nose of provolone and nori.
• Pretzels.
• Apple pieces and green grapes.

Here are the supplies that I used to make and pack this snack.

Continue Reading »

100th Day Of School Bento

Today is the 100th day of school for Nikolai and he is looking forward to some of the fun activities at school. I can't believe it's been 100 days already!
I made this bento mostly from one and zero shaped foods.

In this bento lunch:

• Main compartment - Sandwich shaped with use of a circle cutter and topped with numbers and letters of cheddar cheese.
• Lower left - Cucumber slices with an apple cupcake pick.
• Upper left - Applesauce in little dipper with strawberry numbers, also Trix cereal in a silicone cup.
• Center - Dried peach.
• Upper right - Strawberry slices.
• I included a Lunchbox love note and this lunch is packed in his Planetbox Rover.

Here are the supplies that I used to make and pack this lunch.

Continue Reading »

Bears Field Trip Bento

Nikolai is going on a field trip today and he is so excited. I sent some frozen apple sauce in our mini dipper, that does double duty as an additional ice pack and the apple sauce will thaw out by his lunch time.:)

In this bento lunch:

• Mini bears sandwiches (stacked), cut and stamped.
• Organic apple sauce in mini dipper, a spoon and a fig bar cut into half.
• Seedless green grapes.
• Organic baby carrots.

Here are the supplies or similar that I used to make and pack this lunch.

Continue Reading »

Hello Kitty Bento

Hello Kitty is one of my favorite characters. I remember having most of the Hello Kitty items during my school years; from pencils, backpack, shoes, towels, soft toys, to piggy banks and the list goes on. I still have several of the items and have even been collecting some new ones.
I have seen so many cute Hello Kitty bentos made by my friends and also on the web over the years and decided to make one today.:) I used my CuteZCute cutter for the face and added a scarf.

In this bento lunch:

• Main compartment - Hello Kitty sandwiches (stacked), cut using my CuteZCute cutter and accents are nori and cheddar for nose and scarf. A granola bar and a cute bow pick.
• Lower left - Starfruit slices and a couple of grapes.
• Upper left - Sugar snap peas and baby carrots.
• Center - Yogurt star.
• Upper right -Cheese sticks and pretzel sticks.
• This lunch is packed in his Planetbox Rover.

Here are the supplies or similar that I used to make and pack this lunch.

Continue Reading »

DIY Lunchables (2)

I made these DIY lunchables before the school holidays last year and when Nikolai had half days at school. I took a quick glance in the fridge and pantry to see what ingredients I had available, put some on the counter and started assembling a selection of foods he often prefers taking an extra minute or two to cut into cute shapes and arrange them in the box.
DIY Lunchables = Quick, Easy to customize to personal favorites, Yummy and Cheaper compared to store bough ones.

DIY Lunchables in his Easylunchboxes 

In this lunchables:

• Snowflake Ritz crackers, nitrate free pepperoni, cheese and cucumber slices.
• Fig bar and cheddar crackers.
• Seedless grapes and apple slices.

DIY Winter themed Lunchables in a Lock and Lock box.

In this lunchables:

• Ritz snowflakes crackers above nitrate free pepperoni.
• Apple sauce with snowflake shaped sprinkles in leak proof mini dipper.
• Broccoli florets and star shaped carrot slices with a snowflake cupcake ring.
• Colby jack cheese.

Here are the supplies or similar that I used to make and pack these lunches.

Continue Reading »

Happy New Year Bento 2014

This is my first blog post and bento of 2014! I hope y'all had a great holiday. We had an awesome winter break and now we have to slowly get back into the daily school routine and lunch packing. I wanted to make a fun but simple bento for Nikolai today and came up with this party hat idea.

In this bento lunch:

• Party hat shaped sandwiches (stacked) with accents of Colby and Provolone cheese. I used the same cutter for the top and bottom accents with number cutters for the year.
• Sugar snap peas and grape tomatoes with hat picks.
• Seedless red grapes with a Happy New Year cupcake pick.
• Pretzels. This lunch is packed in our ECOlunchbox solo cube.
• Linked to BentoLunch.net

Here are the supplies or similar that I used to make and pack this lunch.

Continue Reading »