Every Lunchtime - A Shel Silverstein Day Lunch!

It's Shel Silverstein Day! My bento friends & I are paying a birthday tribute to the late great author, with a blog hop!  And there's a link-up at the bottom of the post for anyone who wants to join our Shelebration :)

My lunch was inspired by Every Lunchtime from Falling Up:

A snake in the lunchbox! It had to be done :)

My snake is made of cheddar cheese, with a ham tongue & beady sugar eyes glued on with honey. He's coiled atop a ham & cheese sandwich to match (& use the scraps). On the side a carrot snake slithers among green grapes & hisses (with alphabet bento picks), while more eyes peek out from the strawberries. And as usual, I found the perfect Lunchbox Love note:

And here's a look back at one of Pickle's PB sandwiches, an edible homage to The Missing Piece Meets the Big O. It was inspired by my friend Keitha's Storybook Lunches she makes her son, based on the books they read together. And I just happen to be linking to her in our blog hop :)

Click the sign below to hop over to Keitha's Chaos & see what my clever friend has made:

And here's one more look at my lunchbox snake - it cracks me up!

How will you Shelebrate?

"How much good inside a day? Depends how good you live 'em. How much love inside a friend? Depends how much you give 'em."

~ Shel Silverstein

A Winning PlanetBox Lunch for the Man

Here's a recent lunch for the man :) When I pack pistachios, if I have a few spare minutes I love drawing something on them, ever since I first saw the idea on my friend Eclectic Lamb's blog - she also drew hearts on hers ♥ 

In case you're wondering... spaghetti with sauce, in a PlanetBox? Won't that be messy? And will he be eating it cold? ... The PlanetBox Launch Plus & Complete sets include a tempered glass Satellite dish for easy reheating, with a food grade silicone lid that both cushions the glass container & keeps it's contents from spilling. And there's just enough room on either side to pack utensils. So I was able to pack hubby's Lunchbox Love note on top of his saucy entrée without getting it messy :) I also included a Batman cloth napkin - which I'm told was a hit with the guys at work :)  

Besides the leftover pasta, lunch was grapes, apple wedges, pistachios, an itty bitty container of grated parmesan, & a dark chocolate caramel macchiato Balance Bar - his new favourite flavour. Sailor Boy loved this lunch so much he even texted me to say thanks ♥ 

Oh! Funny bit about the pistachios! I delivered Sailor Boy's lunch to him on base after taking the sproutlets to school.  After he went through the security gate & back towards the hangar with it,  it occurred to me that he sometimes like to crack open a tight pistachio with his teeth. So I called out across the tarmac to tell him I'd used food markers, so he could put the nuts in his mouth. There was a lot of jet noise though, so I had to repeat myself, a couple of times, then finally just shouted "You can put the nuts in your mouth!"  Yeah, his shipmates found that hilarious. Silly boys :)

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Some stuff I used to pack this lunch:

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Oh, I almost forgot!

The winner of my Balance Bar giveaway has been drawn & announced on the giveaway widget in the giveaway post :) Somebody will be getting a big box of delicious & nutritious snacks delivered to their door soon!

A Hobbit Day Riddle Lunch

Today is Hobbit Day, and this week is Tolkien Week! Why? Because September 22nd is both Bilbo & Frodo Baggins' birthday, and Tolkien week, celebrating authors J. R. R. Tolkien & his son Christopher, is always the calendar week in which it falls :) And wow, The Hobbit was first published September 21st 1937... 77 years ago yesterday!

In observance of all this, I've packed a Hobbit Riddle bento lunch for Bella. In Chapter 5 of the Hobbit,  Riddles in the Dark,  the hobbit Bilbo Baggins & the creature Gollum trade riddles; 3 of them are represented within:

1. Alive without breath, As cold as death; Never thirsty, ever drinking, All in mail never clinking.

2 .Thirty white horses on a red hill, First they champ, Then they stamp, Then they stand still.

3. A box without hinges, key, or lid, Yet golden treasure inside is hid.

I also added a Lunchbox Love note Riddle:

By perfect chance, that was the first card I took out of the box - I love that the answer is the same as the answer to one of the riddles in the lunch, which I also wrote on the note's blank flip side!

Bella's Riddle lunch is packed in a Frutti Blue Yumbox Panino. Obviously, her turkey & cheddar tortilla sandwich is a hobbit hole door (with pepperoni doorknob), as is her Babybel cheese, no riddle there!  In the center section she has pepperoni chunks with a ring pick. In the top right section, she has an egg in the shape of a fish... the answer to riddles 1 & 3 in one! In the bottom right section, she has cucumber chunks & sunburst tomatoes, on teeth picks... the answer to riddle number 2 ;)

Bella, her brother, & her friend who we were giving a ride to school all got a peek at her lunch while I took the photo, but I didn't tell them what riddles were represented, so we had a fun conversation on the drive to school while they tried to remember all the riddles in chapter 5 & figure out which ones went with the lunch - and they did!

It's been a couple of years since I made a Hobbit themed lunch! Last time was the day An Unexpected Journey came out in theatres!
The Hobbit Bento : An Unexpected Lunch

Talk Like A Pirate Day Treasure Lunch!

Yo-ho-ho! Today be International Talk Like A Pirate Day!  'Tis one o' me favourite days t' fix fancy grub fer me little sprogs, an I've amassed a fair bit o' pirate bento booty t' make it fun & easy :)

Avast! Wha' do ye reckon o' this, me hearties? Won't me smallest scallywag be sure t' love diggin' in t' this treasure lunch?!

Birdie's midday meal be packed in our new Frutti Blue Yumbox Panino. Arr! She's gone off veggies so I doubled th' fruit, t' keep th' scurvy at bay! Mixed berries 'n green grapes - plus one wee carrot stuck through a pirate cupcake ring - just in case th' wee wench might eat it, aye!

Me girly''s sandwich pirate isle be made of cheddar cheese & peanut butter, cut with a special promotional Lunch Punch Landwich cutter. 'Tis embellished with a tropical tree & a pirate flag pick, an X drawn with food marker, an' surrounded by sugar shark-infested water :) The shark cupcake sprinkles are affixed with dabs o' PB.

'Tis a special day so she gets to splurge with a special treasure treat of a few jelly belly jewels an' a chocolate doubloonie ;) Arr!

Happy International Talk Like A Pirate Day, mateys!

#GuacItForward for National Guacamole Day!

Happy National Guacamole Day! The folks at Wholly Guacamole are always looking for fun ways to celebrate National Guacamole Day & love the concept of paying it forward, so this year they're giving back to their community & encouraging fans to do the same, with the #GuacitForward campaign! And in partnership with Laptop Lunches, who also like to pay it forward, they're giving away some of the ingredients for a tasty healthy lunch! I'm pleased to be able to offer one of these giveaways to my guacamole loving readers :)

One lucky Wholly Guacamole fan in the United States will win:

• 1 Set of Laptop Lunches Avocado Bento Buddies
• An awesome Wholly Guacamole cooler filled with:
  • 3 Guacamole Trays (various flavors)
  • 2 mini cups (various flavors)
  • 1 Chip Clip
  • 1 Avocado Squeezie

▼ Scroll to the bottom of the post to enter via the Rafflecopter widget

Use the hashtag #GuacItForward on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram to share how you are paying it forward!

I packed my hubby a National Guacamole Day bento! Sailor Boy's favourite Dr. Seuss book is Green Eggs & Ham so I thought I'd make him smile with a green eggs & ham salad sandwich in his lunch. Of course I had to tell him that's what it was to get the smile ;)

Guacamole Green Eggs & Ham Salad Sandwich
Ingredients:

• 1 Wholly Guacamole mini (or 2oz Wholly Guacamole) 
• 2 hard-cooked eggs
• 2 slices deli ham
• 2 slices bread

Directions:

1. Peel & chop eggs. 
2. Chop ham. 
3. Combine eggs & ham with guacamole in a bowl & stir/mash until desired consistency. 
4. Spread on a slice of bread, top with another slice, & cut if desired.
5. Pack or enjoy!

I also packed green grapes, a Babybel cheese, & NatureSweet Sunbursts tomatoes in the side containers of his Laptop Lunches bento. I used a bento cutting tool to carve OMG! in the Babybel wax coating, & spelled OMGuac! with alphabet bento picks in his sandwich :)

Last of all, I added a Lunchbox Love note atop his Laptop Lunches Bento Buddies lid to remind hubby to #GuacItForward too :)

Wholly Guacamole Minis come in Classic, Spicy, Ranch, Chunky & Organic varieties! I used Spicy in my egg salad sandwich - Sailor Boy likes it hot!

You can also enter to win a NatureSweet Prize Pack 

from the Wholly Guacamole OMG! Sweepstakes!

▼ Enter the Giveaway!▼

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► Visit Wholly Guacamole for more fabulous & fun ways to OMGuac Your Lunch! There are some delicious lunch ideas for both adults & kids!

International Chocolate Day Balance Bar Giveaway!

Today is International Chocolate Day! It's the perfect day to give away some indulgent exotic chocolate healthy treats from Balance Bar! They recently sent me some of their delicious Dark Chocolate Crunch Bars & new Dark Chocolate Caramel Macchiato Bars to enjoy & have offered to send a box of the same to one lucky reader :)

 

We've tried the Dark Chocolate Crunch Balance Bars before - they're now one of Bella's favourite energy snacks - but the Caramel Macchiato flavour is new! Caramel Macchiato is Sailor Boy's favourite coffee shop drink, and Bella's just crazy about all things caramel, so both were excited to try one. And you know I had to put them in a bento lunch :

I packed Bella's in a LunchBots Trio - the Balance Bar fits perfectly!  I also packed some grapes, ham & cheddar roll-ups, & broccoli florets. I added some sweet touches to this healthy lunch with candy & chocolate bento picks :) And can't forget the Lunchbox Love! I can always find the perfect note. This one's from one of the new Lunchbox Love for Kids Riddles - the riddle side asks:

"Why does a flamingo lift up one leg?"

Answer: Because if it lifted up both legs, it would fall down! :)

I'll post Sailor Boy's lunch later this week - but I'll tell you now that he did say the Caramel Macchiato was awesome :)

I've recently started eating gluten free myself, and my on-the-go snack options have been feeling the impact - so I'm very happy that I can have both the Dark Chocolate Crunch & Caramel Macchiato Balance Bars. The Caramel Macchiato perfectly combines the rich flavour of roasted coffee & the sweetness of caramel, and the Chocolate Crunch hits the spot with a smooth layer of dark chocolate over a crunchy cookie base. They're both filling & delicious! There's also a gluten free Dark Chocolate Coconut Balance Bar that I'm pretty sure I'll love :)

Here's some nutrition info & a closer look:

• Gluten Free
• 100% Rainforest Alliance Certified™ Cocoa
• 180 Calories
• 13g Protein
• 4g Fiber
• Balanced 40-30-30 nutrition (What's that about? Click here)
• 7 Vitamins & Minerals
• Excellent Source of Antioxidants

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Here's your chance to win a box of these yummy bars!

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Today is also Roald Dahl Day, in honour of the beloved children's book author's birthday. I find it very fitting that Dahl Day & International Chocolate Day share a day, since one of Dahl's best-known books is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - which is celebrating it's 50th anniversary, by the way :) I'll definitely be celebrating both days today - by enjoying both a Dark Chocolate Crunch & a Dark Chocolate Caramel Macchiato Balance Bar ;)

P.S. Check out yesterday's Dahl-icious lunches, they're part of a Roald Dahl Day Blog Hop!

Disclosure: I was provided with Balance Bars to sample. All opinions are my own :)  
Giveaway Terms: U.S. entries only. One (1) entrant per household please! Prize provided by Balance Bar

A Bookish Bento for Roald Dahl Day

It's Roald Dahl Day tomorrow! In honour of the beloved author's birthday, some blogger friends & I are making Dahl-icious lunches & doing a blog hop! I made my Bella a bookish bento, with turkey & Asiago cheese tortilla books! I made Fantastic Mr. Fox, Esio Trot, Matilda, & The BFG:

The book sandwiches were super easy to make. I cut tortillas in rectangles & used food markers & stamps to make the covers. I cut cheese & turkey in smaller rectangles & stacked them for the pages, then folded the tortilla book covers around them. These were a big improvement on the ones I made for 2012's Dahl Day lunch.  I had come up with the whoppsy-whiffling idea for them just that morning, & only had cheddar & white bread. I've long been meaning to remake them with white cheese & brown bread, but Bella prefers sandwiches made with tortillas over bread - which worked out even better since tortillas are much easier to stamp & draw on!

I love how my new & improved edible books turned out! Here they are in my 6th grader Bella's EasyLunchbox. She also had some broccoli & grape tomatoes with a "Read" pick, & grapes with a chocolate bar pick - it's the 50th anniversary of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory!

And look, I had the perfect Lunchbox Love for Kids joke note to go with it :) Oh, I also tucked in a tiny pack of Wonka Gobstoppers ;) Hallowe'en candy!

Even the flip side of the Lunchbox Love note was just right :) I had a great foxy cloth napkin from Beneficial Bento too:

This book bento was such a fun lunchy use for my Stupendous Stampers :)

And in case you missed them, here are some of my sproutlets' splendiferous lunches from Dahl Days gone by :

 

2012's bento had elements from James & the Giant Peach, Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, & Matilda. One of 2013's (above) was all James & the Giant Peach, & the other (below) was mostly the BFG, with a smidge of Danny the Champion of the World. 

Now, it's time to get jumpelling over to Robot Squirrel and the Monkeys to see what luctuous lunches Eileen has made:

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Some stuff used to make this bookish bento: