Halloween Ghost Pizza with Recipe

Any pizza lovers out there? My hubby and Nikolai love pizza and they can eat them served hot or cold. We baked a batch and saved some for the next day's lunch.

Ingredients:

• One tube refrigerated Pillsbury biscuit dough
• 1 bottle of organic pasta sauce
• 2 slices part skim mozzarella cheese (for the ghosts)
• Sliced olives

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 400°.
2. Roll or pat biscuits into 2-1/2 in. circles. Place on greased baking sheet or non-stick sheet. I love our baking sheet which has wide handles!
3. Add pasta sauce on top of biscuits.
4. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until edges are lightly browned and remove.
5. Using a small ghost-shape cookie cutter, cut a ghost out of each cheese slice.
6. Immediately place a ghost over each pizza; add pieces of olives for faces.
7. Pack in his Laptop Lunches after the pizzas cool down.

You can recreate something similar with different cheese cut outs for sure. I've also made Pizza Mummy and Jack-O-Lantern Pizza with English muffins that you can find here.

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4 Grab and Go Muffins For School Lunch Box (with Recipe)

This school year I've been packing muffins quite often for Nikolai's school lunch. I'm definitely not a morning person, and we have to wake up way earlier since school starts earlier. You'll never find me waking up earlier than I have to, standing in the kitchen baking or cooking in the wee hours of the morning. Most days I'll pack his lunches the night before or he has to pack them in the mornings.

We usually make a batch of muffins during the weekend ( sometimes from scratch and sometimes from the box), eat some and freeze the remaining. They are super portable and will last in the fridge for days or in the freezer for months. They are especially great for busy mornings when you have to race out the door and need a grab and go breakfast, and perfect for the lunchbox, after school snacks or for anytime of the day. These lunches are packed in our Easylunchboxes container.

Below are just a few lunch ideas with muffins included.

These ham and cheese casserole muffins are our favorite muffins lately, we have made them so many times that I remember the recipe by heart now, lol.

Ingredients:

3–4 pieces whole wheat bread, torn into small pieces
3–4 slices deli ham, chopped into bite-sized pieces
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
8 large eggs
1 cup milk
2 teaspoons ground mustard
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 400°F. Grease muffin tin well.
• Drop bread pieces evenly in muffin tins until they come about 2/3 of the way up the tin.
• Sprinkle ham pieces evenly in each tin.
• Sprinkle cheese evenly in each tin.
• Whisk together eggs, milk, ground mustard, and pepper.
• Pour egg mixture evenly in each muffin tin.
• Bake for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown on top and cooked through the middle.
• Enjoy!!

Bento lunch 1: A couple of ham and cheese muffins from the fridge
(Nikolai doesn't mind eating them cold, but you can also heat them up and drop them into a thermos if you prefer them hot), a granola bar, organic baby carrots and seedless grapes. Packed in our Easylunchboxes container.

These blueberry muffins are from the box, follow the instructions on the box and it's so easy and turned out tasty.

Bento lunch 2: A couple of blueberry muffins from the fridge, just pop them in the lunchbox with a granola bar and a cheese stick in the main compartment. Sides are apple slices sprinkled with cinnamon ( Nikolai's favorite way of eating apples) and seedless green grapes. Packed in our Easylunchboxes container.

It's pumpkin season once again, and we love everything pumpkin! Of course we had to make some pumpkin muffins.
There are so many recipes out there, almost all are quite similar, but this one works for me, it's simple and I usually have most of the ingredients on hand.

Ingredients:

2 cups Pumpkin Pancake mix
1 egg
1 cup milk
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
Pam non-stick cooking spray or muffin cups.

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 350º.
• In medium bowl, stir together pancake mix until moistened. Do not over-mix.
• Spoon batter into greased or paper lined muffin pan, filling ¾ full.
• There is enough batter to fill one dozen muffin wells.
• Bake at 350º for 13-15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.
• Enjoy!!

Bento lunch 3: A pumpkin pancake muffin, string cheese, granola bar, crackers, nitrate free ham roll-ups in my favorite silicone cup, organic baby carrots and an organic apple. Packed in our Easylunchboxes container.

Bento lunch 4: Turkey and cheese wrap, a couple of blueberry muffins, a granola bar, apple slices with sprinkle of cinnamon, grapes and crackers.
All of these lunches are packed in our Easylunchboxes container.

Do you have a favorite muffin recipe?

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Ham and Cheese Crescents Roll-Ups For Lunch With Recipe

This seems like a good time for me to post this amazing recipe that I found on pinterest, and have used so many times. Our entire family, our friends, co-workers all loved them, and I've made them for many parties as well. This recipe only requires three ingredients which makes it totally my kind of easy recipe! You can have them for breakfast, lunch, dinner, tea time or really anytime of the day. They are so tasty!

I baked some the other day for breakfast and packed a couple of them into Nikolai's Easylunchboxes for this school lunch.

Here is the recipe which I used.

Ingredients:

• 8-oz can refrigerated crescent roll dough. I used Pillsbury brand 
• 8 slices of deli ham 
• 8 slices of cheddar cheese (you can use any other cheese that you prefer)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Separate dough into 8 equal pieces (they usually separate into triangles)
3. Place 1 slice of ham and 1 slice of cheese (folded in half) on the larger end of the triangle.
4. Roll the crescent up with the ham and cheese inside, and place it tip side down on a baking sheet ( I line it with aluminum foil for easy clean-up).
5. Bake for 15 minutes, until tops are golden brown.
6. Enjoy! 

Nikolai doesn't mind eating lunch foods at room temp or cold , thus, I send some in his lunchbox. In the above lunchbox I have used some of my eyes picks to give them a fun appearance and added goldfish crackers and some seedless grapes in the other sections.

In the lunch shown below, I have also included a couple of tasty Ham and Cheese Crescent Roll-ups, this time choosing airplane and truck picks. This time I have cheddar bunnies and orange slices in the other sections. This lunch was also packed in our Easylunchboxes.

Seldom do I follow a recipe exactly as I find it. I like to add a tweak here or there to suit my own taste, and I think this recipe is perfect for that. Try something different in place of the ham, perhaps smoked turkey, try it with Swiss or Asiago cheeses. At home you might enjoy experimenting with different dips or side dish combinations. Be adventurous and have fun!

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4 Pumpkin Muffins For Lunch with Pancake Muffin Recipe

We are well into Fall season now, and this is my favorite time of year! We have been enjoying the flavors of pumpkin, apples and other fall favorites! I've also gotten into experimenting with some new fall recipes and have pressed my family into food tester service, lol.
These lunches are quite similar, but they were made with different sides and were enjoyed on different days. The English Muffins are Thomas' limited edition pumpkin spice. All of us like these very much.

We found some pumpkin pancake and waffle mix during a recent visit to Trader Joe's and my wonderful hubby made some pancakes with it for breakfast the other day. I used the same mix and made some of our favorite pancake muffins! These were simple and are very tasty without any toppings.

I usually add frozen organic blueberries, strawberries and chocolate chips. You can also use bacon, ham and sausage pieces if you prefer adding meat. I love the idea of baking several batches at a time and freezing the extras for those super busy mornings when we need to grab and go. These particular ones were baked the day before and I'd left some out for the next morning, the rest went into the freezer. They are very simple to make, and you get the ease of a muffin with the deliciousness of a pancake.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Pumpkin Pancake mix 
• 1 egg
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
• Pam non-stick cooking spray or muffin cups.

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350º.
2. In medium bowl, stir together pancake mix until moistened. Do not over-mix.
3. Spoon batter into greased or paper lined muffin pan, filling ¾ full. 
4. There is enough batter to fill one dozen muffin wells.
5. Bake at 350º for 13-15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.
6. Enjoy!!

In this bento lunch: A pumpkin pancake muffin, string cheese, granola bar, crackers, nitrate free ham roll-ups in my favorite silicone cup, organic baby carrots and an organic apple.

The photos below show some Thomas' limited edition pumpkin spice English muffins.

In this bento lunch: English muffin with pumpkin cream cheese spread topped with an angry bird cupcake ring, granola bar, Babybel cheese, seedless red and green grapes, Annie's organic crackers and pumpkin cookies from Trader Joe's

In this bento lunch: English muffin topped with a pumpkin shaped gummy candy, yogurt covered pumpkin shaped cookies from Trader Joe's, Babybel cheese, organic kiwi slices and baby carrots.

This is the easiest bento lunch of all: English muffin with a cute alien pick, granola bar, string cheese applesauce, a smiley face spoon and Annie's organic crackers. This is typical of the type of lunch that I pack whenever I'm low on groceries.

These fours lunches are almost similar, but with different sides. Most importantly, Nikolai loved his lunches. Yay to mom! All of these lunches were packed in our Easylunchboxes.

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Quesadilla Lunches with An Easy Kid Friendly Recipe

It's back to the real world after Halloween and a truly fun filled weekend with family and friends! Putting away the treats, it is time for something not so sweet but still very tasty indeed. We love having quesadillas for breakfast, lunch, snack, dinner or anytime of the day. They are quick to make and always great. Sometimes we have them as an appetizer, other times as a main dish, or a side. We have also made them for parties and late night after movie snacks.

The most important part of any quesadilla is the filling, of course, and that is easy to customize to individual tastes. Do you have a special or favorite filling for your quesadillas? Ham and cheese are Nikolai's favorite. He doesn't mind eating them cold or warm for his school lunch, and they are so easy to pack.

I'll share with you our easy recipe and directions. Feel free to substitute the meat or cheese to your liking. You can also use whole wheat tortilla or any other kind that you prefer.

Ingredients:

• 4 Small Flour Tortilla
• 2 slices of nitrate free cooked Ham
• 2 Slices of Colby cheese

Directions:

1. Heat a skillet on medium heat and spray with cooking spray.
2. Place a tortilla in the skillet, add ham and cheese and then top with another tortilla. Cook for 1-2 minutes.
3. Flip and cook for an additional 1-2 minutes. Repeat with the remaining tortilla.
4. Remove from heat, let cool for a couple of minutes, cut the quesadilla into four wedges and serve. ( I let it cool a couple extra minutes before packing them into his lunchbox).
5. Enjoy! ( or, take to school or work, THEN enjoy!)

Here are a couple of quesadilla lunches. They are mostly similar lunches, enjoyed on different days. Packed in his Planetbox.

In this bento lunch (packed in a Planetbox rover):

• Quesadilla wedges with Nikolai's favorite ham and cheese filling.
• Organic baby carrots.
• Organic corn puffs.
• Apple wedges.
• Yogurt covered star.

In this bento lunch (packed in a Planetbox launch):

• Quesadilla quarters with a cute bear pick.
• Red and green seedless grapes.
• Babybel Gouda cheese, mini cheese cracker sandwiches, Rice Krispies bar with a bear baran.

Here is a collage to pin.

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Ghost Halloween Lunch and Ghost Pizza with Recipe

I made a stop at Trader Joe's during the weekend and got carried away with all the yummy fall foods, purchased a couple of carts full of them and shared some with friends. They have those cute ghost and bat shaped potato crisps and they are so cute and very yummy! Their pumpkin cookies are delicious, as is their pumpkin pancake mix, from which hubby made pumpkin pancakes yesterday. I especially like the pumpkin tea, pumpkin cream cheese, pumpkin coffee, and pretty much everything pumpkin. It all has that 'Fall has arrived' flavor which taste so good.

I've created several ghost themed lunches over the years that are easy and fun. Cutting the string cheese to look like ghosts is my favorite part. I'll be sharing with you the method I used for the string cheese as well as my favorite mini pizza recipe.

The photo below shows an example of one ghost themed lunch that is quite easy.

You can make some cute ghosts similar to these quite easily.

You will need:

• String cheese
• Paring knife
• Toothpick, food safe marker or sunflower seeds

Method:

1. Cut the string cheese into half.
2. Using a knife, make a slit in the middle and almost 3/4 way down.
3. Make a few more additional slits till you get 8 legs or less.
4. I used a toothpick for this particular face accents. Just poke the toothpick on the cheese to create the eyes and mouth. I've used food safe marker before and I've seen sunflower seeds being used. Just some ideas.

In this bento lunch (packed in a Planetbox): I used a ghost shaped cookie cutter for the sandwich and raisins for the facial details. Honey was used as glue for the raisins. Sides were dye free choc sunflower seeds, Annie's organic crackers topped with a couple of ghost string cheese, seedless green grapes with a ghost cupcake pick, organic baby carrots, organic granola bar and seedless red grapes.

Any pizza lovers out there? My hubby and Nikolai love pizza and they can eat it served hot or cold! I've made this fun Halloween themed pizza for lunch a while back. I plan to make it again soon but I'm afraid I'll not have enough time to post the new lunch and recipe. Here is the older lunch with recipe. You can recreate something similar with different cheese cut outs for sure.

Ingredients:

1. One tube refrigerated Pillsbury biscuit dough
2. 1 bottle of organic pasta sauce
3. 2 slices part skim mozzarella cheese (for the ghosts)
4. Sliced olives

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 400°.
2. Roll or pat biscuits into 2-1/2 in. circles. Place on greased baking sheet or non-stick sheet. I love our baking sheet which has wide handles!
3. Add pasta sauce on top of biscuits.  
4. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.
5. Using a small ghost-shape cookie cutter, cut a ghost out of each cheese slice. 
6. Immediately place a ghost over each pizza; add pieces of olives for faces. 
7. Pack in his Laptop Lunches after the pizzas cool down.

In this bento lunch:

• A couple of ghostly pizzas made with Pillsbury biscuit dough, tomato and basil organic pasta sauce topped after removing from oven with mozzarella cheese cut to ghost shape and black olive accents.
• Top Left - Organic peas with a ghost pick.
• Top Right - Peach slices topped with mozzarella cheese mini ghosts.
• Far Right - Fork wrapped in cloth napkin. 

It's easy and tasty, bake a batch and save some for the next day's lunch.

Our favorite products:

 

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Jack-O-Lantern Tortilla Lunch and Cinnamon Tortilla Chips {with recipe} for Halloween

Jack-O-Lanterns are among my favorite symbols of fall, I especially love to look at the many variations of them. The ones I like best are those which are hand carved and  highly detailed with much imagination and creativity.

I made the ones for this bento out of tortilla. I used my Jack-O-Lantern cookie cutter to cut the tortilla to pumpkin shapes and to create the faces. To the right side there is a string cheese upon which I used a marker to draw a ghost face on the outer wrapper. In the top left section there are some seedless green grapes and pineapple pieces shaped as pumpkins with a cute pick.

On the bottom left are some cinnamon tortilla chips. These baked cinnamon sugar tortilla chips are so delicious and really quite easy to make. I used a pumpkin shaped cookie cutter to cut out the tortillas to pumpkin shapes and then baked them in the oven. Scroll down for the recipe.

Cinnamon Sugar Flour Tortilla Chips Recipe (you can substitute spinach, whole wheat or any kind of tortillas according to your preference). You can also double up the recipe and alter the ingredients to your liking. My family loves cinnamon, thus I used a little extra here and in my other cooking much of the time.

Ingredients:

• 4 flour tortillas (medium size)
• 4 tablespoon sugar
• 2.5 teaspoon cinnamon 
• 3 tablespoon butter, melted

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a bowl mix the sugar and cinnamon together.
3. Melt butter in a small bowl.
4. Using the cookie cutter, cut pumpkin shapes out of the tortilla.
5. Dip the cut pieces of tortilla in melted butter (shake off the excess), and coat with cinnamon sugar.
6. Place coated tortillas on the lined baking tray.
7. Bake for 10-15 minutes.
7. Remove from oven and let the chips fully cool.
8. Enjoy!

This lunch is packed in a Planetbox Launch and I included a Lunchbox Love note in his lunch bag.

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Pancake Blueberry Muffins, Breakfast For Lunch {with recipe}

I have a couple of sheep themed lunches to post, but I just found out that today is pancake day and I decided to post this pancake bento first. We love muffins at anytime of the day and we are also huge fans of breakfast for lunch. I love the idea of baking several batches at a time and freezing the extras for super busy mornings, when we need a grab and go.These particular ones were baked yesterday and I've left some out for the next morning, the rest went into the freezer. As I have promised earlier to share the recipe, scroll down and you'll find it.

This recipe is one of our longtime family favorites. There are so simple to make, you get the ease of a muffin with the deliciousness of a pancake. There are gazillions of yummy pancake recipes out there but this one works for me, it's simple and I mostly have the ingredients on hand.

I usually add frozen organic blueberries, strawberries and chocolate chips. You can also use bacon, ham and sausage pieces if you prefer adding meat.

Here is the recipe which I added blueberries.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Original Bisquick mix or any other brand that you prefer.
• 1 egg
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
• Blueberries
• Pam non-stick cooking spray or muffin cups.

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350º.
2. In medium bowl, stir together pancake mix and remaining ingredients (except blueberries) until moistened. Do not over-mix.
3. Spoon batter into greased or paper lined muffin pan, filling ¾ full. Add blueberries in each cup leaving space in between them.
4. There is enough batter to fill one dozen muffin wells.
5. Bake at 350º for 13-15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

Easy right? I included a couple of them with super cute Mickey and Minnie picks, in Nikolai's Easylunchboxes. He also had strawberries, seedless black grapes, granola bar cut into half and Greek yogurt with pure maple syrup in his leakproof mini-dipper.
I also made a batch the other day with heart shaped strawberries and you can find one which I included in Nikolai's school lunch here.

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

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Naan and Curried Hummus bento {with recipe}

I love curry and the spicier the better for me! I am fortunate that my hubby could take spicy curry too as I cook curry almost every week at home. When we first met, I always ordered for him curry which are mild, but he told me he could eat spicier than that, of course I thought that he was trying to impress me,lol. That was when we were in Asia and we could get any curry almost everywhere easily, no need to cook! Here in the US, where we live, it is quite difficult to get great curry and when you do, it is quite pricey.

I usually serve naan, paratha, chapatis with home made dhall or curry chicken and our family loves it. For this bento I decided to add a little Indian twist to hummus with curry.

Here is the recipe:

2 (15oz) cans chick peas/garbanzo beans, drained
2 tbs water
2 tbs extra-virgin olive oil
1 tbs lemon juice 
2 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp salt

Place all ingredients in a food processor, process till smooth. Enjoy! I packed some for Nikolai's lunch in his planetbox.

In this bento lunch:

• Main compartment - Stonefire brand naan cut into triangle shapes, topped with a cute antibacterial sheet which my friend sent from Japan.
• Lower left - Organic baby carrots and curried hummus in the small dipper.
• Upper left - Annie's organic Bernie's farm cheddar crackers.
• Center - Yogurt covered star.
• Upper right -Watermelon cut into bear shapes.
• This lunch is packed in a Planetbox rover.

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

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Bear Ham and Cheese Muffin bento (with recipe)

We are back and and it's back to basics. I managed to bake these yummy muffins during the weekend and here is how a cute silicone cup could transform a simple muffin to a cute one. Ours never made it to the freezer, just refrigerator for two days at the most, hubby is the culprit, lol.

Make a batch, freeze them (unless they get eaten first!) and reheat later. They are great for busy mornings when you have to race out the door and they are quite delicious, for breakfast or anytime of the day. I intend to bake these more often so that we have them ready to grab and go for lunch boxes.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• Fresh ground black pepper
• 1 cup milk
• 2 eggs
• ¼ cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup ham, diced
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350º.
2. Grease a standard muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray.
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt and black pepper. Stir to combine.
4. In another bowl add milk, eggs, vegetable oil and ham. Mix until combined.
5. Stir the wet mixture into the dry mixture just until moistened, don’t over stir!
6. Scoop into muffin cups to ¾ full. There is enough batter to fill one dozen muffin wells.
7. Bake at 350º for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

In this bento lunch:

• Right: Ham and cheese muffin in a bear shaped silicone cup, sugar snap peas and ranch for dip in a small container.
• Left: Teddy grahams in a bear shaped silicone cup and strawberries.
• This lunch is packed in a Planetbox Shuttle

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

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Macaroni Bento and Cinnamon Tortilla Chips with Recipe

We have extra tortillas and I decided to make tortilla chips but instead of plain tortilla I used spinach tortilla which I had on hand. It is so easy to make and they are quite addictive. I'll be getting more tortillas very soon, possibly this evening!:)

Ingredients:
- 1 stick butter, melted
- 4 Spinach tortillas, small size
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Mix together the sugar and cinnamon.
- Brush butter on top of the tortillas.
- Sprinkle generously with cinnamon sugar.
- Cut into 8ths.
- Put onto a cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees till light brown (approximately 8 to 10 minutes).

I saved some for his bento :)

In this bento lunch:

• Bottom Left: Seedless black grapes.
• Bottom Right: Annie's Organic white cheddar pasta.
• Top Left: Cinnamon spinach tortilla chips.
• Top Right: Organic baby carrots and ranch in small container.
• Far Right: Utensils wrapped in cloth napkin.
• This lunch is packed in his Laptop Lunches.

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

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Halloween Ghost Pizzas Bento {with recipe}

A few days ago my son took a leftover piece of cold pizza straight from the refrigerator for a snack telling me that he enjoyed pizza at pretty much any temperature. Using a modified version of a recipe I found online, I made some ghostly mini pizzas and packed a couple for his lunch today. Here is my modified recipe:

Ingredients: One tube refrigerated Pillsbury biscuit dough, 1 bottle of organic pasta sauce, 10 slices part skim mozzarella cheese (for the ghost), sliced ripe olives.
Directions:

1. Roll or pat biscuits into 2-1/2 in. circles. Place on greased baking sheet or non-stick sheet. Pre-heat oven to 400°.
2. Add pasta sauce on top of biscuits. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.
3. Using a small ghost-shape cookie cutter, cut a ghost out of each cheese slice. Immediately place a ghost over each pizza; add pieces of olives for faces. 
4. Pack in his Laptop Lunches after the pizzas have cool down.

In this bento lunch:

• A couple of ghostly pizzas made with Pillsbury biscuit dough, tomato and basil organic pasta sauce topped after removing from oven with mozzarella cheese cut to ghost shape and black olive accents.
• Top Left - Organic peas with a ghost pick.
• Top Right - Peach slices topped with mozzarella cheese mini ghosts.
• Far Right - Fork wrapped in cloth napkin. 

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

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Bento Lunch #423: Dinosaurs bento and No Bake Energy Bites with Recipe

Nikolai learned how to make these energy bites from his gifted and talented class at school. He requested to make them at home so we got the ingredients yesterday. Here is the recipe we used. I included some in his dinosaurs bento lunch today.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups dry oatmeal (we used old-fashioned oats)
• 1 cup Sunbutter (you could also use Almond butter or Peanut Butter)
• 1 cup ground flaxseed 
• 1 cup chocolate chips 
• 1 cup raisins
• 2/3 cup honey

Method:

1. In a bowl, begin mixing the SunButter and honey together.
2. Add the oatmeal and flaxseed and continue mixing.
3. Combine the chocolate chips and raisins.
4. Continue mixing all of the ingredients thoroughly.
5. Chill the mix in the refrigerator for 1/2 hour.
6. Once chilled, remove from refrigerator and roll into balls of whatever size you prefer. 
7. Store in an airtight container and keep refrigerated. I am sure ours will be gone in a couple of days at most; they are so yummy!! 

Note: Feel free to substitute the ingredients above or add more to your liking. I have seen recipes using coconut flakes, almonds, pecans, sunflower seeds, walnuts, dried fruits, vanilla extract and more.

In this bento lunch:

• Dinosaur shaped whole wheat sandwiches with icing eyes and cucumber slices plates on back. No bake energy bites as stones below dinosaurs (recipe above).
• Cucumber slices.
• Strawberry slices and seedless green grapes. Packed in an Easylunchboxes container. Linked to BentoLunch.net
• Linked to BentoBlogNetwork.com

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

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Bento Lunch #273: Birds Nest Cups

I started my pinterest boards yesterday, finally! I have been contemplating about it and procrastinating at the same time. So much more to learn and I am definitely taking baby steps as I'm not a natural tech wizard :)
This is a recipe that I found awhile back but did not follow proper instructions when making it. It turned out o.k but taste great.

Couple of birds nest, veggie crisps and seedless red and green grapes. Linking to Bentoblognetwork.com

Ingredients for birds nest-
12 turkey bacon
1.5 cups egg substitute
6 tbs shredded Mexican cheese blend
1 tbs minced parsley (I used organic oregano)

1) Cook bacon medium heat, partial set and not crisp
2) Coat muffin cups with spray. Wrap 2 bacon stripes around the inside of cup ( I used 1 stripe, in future will try 2)
3) Fill each muffin cup with 1/4 egg substitute, top with cheese
4) Bake 350F for 18-20 mins, cool for 5 mins before removing from pan
5) Sprinkle with parsley

Here are the items that I used to make this lunch.

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