Day 37- Muffin Tin Monday

Inspiration from Muffin Tin Monday Blog which doesn't do bento, but is none the less inspirational if a little bit too much for my small time eater:) (http://michellesjournalcorner.blogspot.com/search/label/Muffin%20Tin%20Monday). We made blueberry muffins over the weekend. For lunch today I threw those in a four square box with some  vanilla yogurt mixed with peach and nutmeg, some carrot and vertical sliced cukes and kiwi. Twizzler from Halloween to eat as treat "after everything else"...

Day 36- A Ghoulish Feat

Ham and butter on wheat shaped like a ghoul with cheese and cherry tomato pumpkins, orange cauliflower clouds oranges and peach gelatin (home made with fruit juice and knox gelatin-this was a huge hit). The ghost was apparently a big hit at school with Peanut's friends.

Day 35- Yogurt and Other Healthy Stuff

Every day this week seems like Peanut has been coming home with nearly full bento boxes, because according to her "they had candy for snack so she wasn't hungry (go healthy school!),  so I went real simple today with a 4 part lock and lock, a breakfast bar, some organic vanilla yogurt, orange and raspberries, and cucumber slices (basically, all of her favorites), and tucked in a candy corn napkin. She ate the cucumbers and half of the orange at least!

Day 34- Ghosts and Bones

String cheese ghosties with caraway seed eyes on pumpkin shaped american cheese slices. Served with manderin oranges in their own juice, edamame and "scooby Doo" bones with dried apples for snack.

Day 33- Spiders and Pumpkins Oh My!

After an entire week off of school and my first week ever off of work without my cell phone ringing non stop! Now we are starting to get into the Halloween mood! Lunch today was meatball spiders with angel hair legs (they get mushy enough by lunch, if inserted when hot to not cause any issues), a tangelo pumpkin with nori features, carrot pumpkin "slaw" and marinara sauce on a bed of angel hair pasta and "green stuff" (cucumber skin). Grapes for snack.

Day 32- The Hungry Caterpillar

At this moment "The Hungry Caterpillar-by Eric Carle" is Bear's favorite book so this is what inspired this one. I found a dozen of these online and unfortunately the only photss I took came out somewhat washed out but I love this idea. The Peanut put "caterpillar" holes in the slice of salami, the swiss cheese, the pickle, 5 oranges etc with a hard lastic drinking straw from one of those big gulp drinks you get at theme parks and zoos. We used a cherry tomatos for Mr. Caterpillar's head and formed the body from rice on a big leaf to make him feel "all better" topped with a cherry lollipop which she was under strict instructions not to eat unless she finished everything else (if she wasn't hungry still, she could bring said lollipop home to eat for snack as a special treat).

Day 31- It's a Bugs' Life

Ants on a log for snack.... Cherry tomato lady bug with ramen legs on a bed of black olives, apples and tomato flower on little smokies and cheese slice for lunch.

Day 30- Kindy Sight Word Snack

Just because I can... I made cinnamon/sugar and butter croutons out of wheat bread spread with butter and sprinkled with cinnamon and a teensy bit of sugar using cookie cutters (Peanut's job was to find all the letters that corresponded with this weeks' "sight words"-she did great!), and then I stuck them under the broiler for a few minutes and also made some garlic butter croutons for our dinner salad at the same time (pretty good- had never actually made croutons before but there is a first time for everything!). I put the croutons on top of a bed of dried craisins for today's snack...

Day 30- The Little Red Hen

This weeks' inspiration is kindy study of "The Little Red Hen". Hen made of ham with carrot and Nori accents, chick from hard boiled egg soaked in tumeric and water (made some with some Vege-Salt added for myself to snack on-yum!), on a bed of sushi rice cooked in my rice cooker with cucumber "wheat to be picked and threshed". Threshed wheat cucumber and "bread" apples (I know I am stretching it here but it is cute!:)

Day 29- PB & J- Quick Lame Lunch

Make a sandwich with sunbutter and fresh strawberry jelly on whole wheat bread, cut off the crust and cut it into little rectangles. Throw in some black olives, a cute bear pick and a barely peeled orange and good to go! (Lunch $1.00). Show up late for parent teacher conference because you got stuck late on a work conference call you just couldn't bear to hang up on though you probably should have ($150.00 est.), and then hear rave reviews from one of the moms you see standing outside about what great lunches you pack for your kid (awesome). Come home to your kindergardner hiding her face because she just knows Ms. M has told you all about her kissing that boy during recess! Priceless!

Day28- Mouse in the House/Hickory Dickory Dock

Since Peanut is now "really in to"(her words, not mine), the little animal lunches, I decided to humour her and continue on with them while also stretching my own mind in more productive ways then reminiscing about the two weeks I have left working for and helping a company I have given 8 years to for apparently no reason, transition. :) I told the Peanut that her "job" was to come home and tell me what she learned at school that day and to thus help me come up with "lunch" ideas. Today was Nursery Rhymes: Hickory Dickory Dock...The Mouse Ran up...You get the point? If you peruse bento blogs as frequently as I do, you will note that many mommy bento "artistes" might take such a theme to the point of sculpting Grandfather clocks out of mozzarella cheeze purchased in quarter pound chunks from the local chacuterie replete with Nori hands and faces blown from egg yolk suspended with sugar or some such. I admire these woman and do not think these endeavors a waste of time. In fact, I can see myself doing such a thing with only a bit more prodding. But...For the time being....I am too darn busy!

My mouse is made of plain old lunch meat (ham), cut in circles using a juice glass and the ends of two small floral cutters (a votive candle holder bottom might work as well?) with Nori features. The ears are set on two ends of a hard boiled egg (I boil these 6-8 at a time every third week or so for breakfast, lunch making and snacks), served on top of angel hair pasta with butter and fresh dill (left over from shrimp pasta dinner from last night).Sides of  cucumber/dill "salad", jello, and grapes.

Day 27- Monkey See/ Monkey Eat

This might be more aptly called the "trained monkey" bento. My colleagues and I were joking several weeks ago about the possibility of "politically bent" bentos (still an idea). Starting with the idea of sending a "donkey" bento with the name "jack" spelled out in cheese to certain members of certain departments as a "welcome lunch". I made this lunch for the peanut with no pun intended (at the time) after our nightly talking time she told me she wanted a "monkey bento" next (she helps plan these as well as make them). Since I am not exactly up to my usual game quite yet since last week's news, this box was made well after Peanut was in bed for the night ... Sandwich is sunflower (peanut free) butter, honey and banana slices, with banana tail, grape tomatos and celery stick jungle, with a pear/apple/pretzel tree for snack.