Sweet New Yumbox Panino!

We've got a new Yumbox, the Panino!  6th grader Bella's excited about this new Yumbox! It has fewer sections in a different configuration than the Original Yumbox, but they're larger, & more suited to the kinds of lunches she likes. The dip/treat well in the center holds more too. Bella loves the Frutti Blue, it's one of her favourite hues! Here's her first lunch in the Panino:

Bella's Yumbox Panino contains:

• Heart-shaped peanut butter sandwiches embossed with a love note! I used my cookie message stamp set.
• Tomato wedges, as requested, with little bento forks that match the Lunchbox Love note I chose; sweets for my sweet ♥ 
• A handful of her Daddy's pistachios, she loves those. 
• Grapes, with a little purple koala pick in them just for cuteness :)

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Stuff used to make this lunch:

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

Today is Read Across America Day, & we're also remembering Dr. Seuss, the author & artist, whose birthday was yesterday!
"You're never too old, too wacky, too wild, to pick up a book and read to a child." ― Dr. Seuss ♥ 

I Seuss-ified Birdie's lunch:

• 1 Fish 2 Fish Red Fish Blue Fish cheese & Goldfish crackers
• Cat in the Hat striped Gala apple slices
• A Green egg & Ham, with a Crinklebine cupcake pick :)

And it's in a Cat in the Hat bento box!

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“I can read in red.
I can read in blue.
I can read in pickle color too.”
― Dr. Seuss, I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!

Pickle's PB sandwich is Sam's sign, from Green Eggs & Ham  :)

No green eggs & ham though. My picky Pickle would not could not eat them here nor there nor anywhere, so instead, I gave him green yogurt  :)

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Today's lunches are linked to the Bento Bloggers & Friends' Dr. Seuss Birthday Link Party!

I've got more Seussalicious blog posts!

Click here to see them all :)

C'est monbento!

Look, a new bento box! And it's French, ooh la la :)

Monbento sent me one of their MB Original Bento boxes - it's so nice! 

I packed a pretty garden salad, a square hard-cooked egg, and leftover lasagna embellished with cheese words I cut out with my alphabet bento cutters. The lasagna was frozen so it kept the salad chilled :)

The two-tiered MB Original bento box consists of two stackable 7" x 3.5" bento boxes with sealing vented intermediary lids, a removable divider, a top lid that leaves enough space for utensils, and a wide elastic bento strap: 

Things I like:

• The lids to the monbento's tiers fit together really easily and securely, they don't need the bento strap to keep them on, and do not leak. The two tiers do need the included elastic strap to keep them together but are perfectly functional individually. 
• It's has a real feeling of quality to it, very solid. I don't see the monbento warping, denting, or cracking easily.
• It's stain resistant! My tomato sauce washed right off, even after it was reheated in the microwave !
• It's microwaveable, with neato steam vents that let you keep the inner lid on while heating, to prevent spatter. No mess!

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The monbento line also includes matching cutlery & spill-proof sauce cups:

And this is fantastic... monbento has a Customize Your MB Original option! Look, I made one to match Bent On Better Lunches:

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It's hip to be square!

I made the square egg shown below using monbento's fun square egg mold. Simply pop in a warm shelled hard-cooked egg, snap the lid closed, and let cool. Each set includes one embossed with the word egg, the other with BON APPETIT. As egg sizes differ, it won't always make a perfect square, but close enough :) I've also used my square egg mold as a treat box in a bento!

Want a set of monbento's square egg molds?

Enter my Giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck!

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Some other stuff used to make this lunch:

Left-behind Basic Bento Lunches

Here are some school lunches I never blogged for reasons:

Cheese quesadillas for my little monkey Mia Bella, with honey ham rolled & secured with monkey bento picks, & cucumber slices, some cut with a flower shaped cutter, packed in our Leaflet tight bento box.

Ham roll-ups again, this time secured with cocktail swords, a mini bagel, grape tomatoes, carrots & celery sticks, packed in EasyLunchboxes. There was probably cheese in the bagel, but I don't remember for sure...

Cherry tomatoes, concord grapes, celery & carrot sticks, topped with cheddar cheese stars. I remember this one because she was still hungry when she got home, it would have been better as a side bento with some soup!

A classic Beanstalk's choice bento from ages ago, all fruit & grain. Quaker Whole Hearts cereal, Clif KidZ bar, & Granny Smith apple wedges. 

And, another fruit & grain Lock & Lock lunch. Grapes, star crackers, mini bagel, & harlequin apple. My boy's a creature of habit...

These are all pretty basic bentos, nothing amazing about them, but I think they're good examples of how basic doesn't have to be boring - small touches like a couple of cute picks, a little detail with a paring knife, something cut with a cookie cutter, or even just arranging the food in a pattern, can make an ordinary lunch a little more appealing :)

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Some stuff I used for these lunches:

Iron Man Bento

Iron Man 3 is in theatres today, and Beanstalk is so looking forward to it! I packed him an Iron Man bento lunch in his Lego-style bento box.

I used the Iron Man cutter from our Marvel Comics Hero stamp cookie cutter set to make his peanut butter sandwich. Pretty decent detail for a cookie cutter on bread, it's actually recognizeable! Beanstalk was impressed :) 

Pretty cool bento box, wouldn't you say? Like a big Lego brick! 

This neat brick bento box from Bento USA has 2 tiers with plastic lids that seal them. One lid holds chopsticks and the other holds a little ice pack (included) - but I used the space to pack his Marvel superheroes cloth napkin & Lunchbox Love note. It's held together by an included elastic bento strap. 

Beanstalk's Iron Man lunch contains apple & cantaloupe wedges, chocolate covered raisins, & almonds (in the small red & yellow Lego-style boxes), the IronMan peanut butter sandwich, & a granola bar.

My friend Jenn & Karen made Iron Man lunch for their little guys too, check them out on their blogs, Bento for Kidlet & What's In our Lunch Bags?

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Some of the stuff used to make this lunch:

Lunch is a Hoot!

Birdie has an owl for lunch today. Hoot hoot!

Her owl is a cheese sandwich made of honey wheat & white, with mozzarella & American cheese details. Beneath the owl is the rest of the string cheese used for the eyes, baby carrots, & strawberry hearts.

The underside of the owl is the reverse bread - no waste! 

The half-circle piece cut from the top actually makes wings...

... but I ate them! Bad hungry mummy :)

Her lunch was inspired by our new bento box, all the way from Britain! It was a surprise from my blogger friend Grace of Eats Amazing. I had admired this owl design box months ago and she remembered - thank you Grace!

The bento box is by Paperchase. The lid is transparent and there's a shelf beneath it that holds cutlery, chopstick, napkin etc. I've tucked Birdie's cloth napkin in it, and a fork - it looks kind of like a branch for the owls to sit on :)

Sprout's lunch is what she asked for, with a couple of friendly little animal picks for fun. She has carrots, string cheese, strawberries, mini peanut butter sandwiches, a GoGurt tube, & an Oreo, packed in her yubo lunchbox.

Pickle has his usual yogurt & cookie (not shown) & peanut butter sandwich - cut with an airplane Lunch Punch from the Vrrrmm! transportation set.