Make Your Own Lunch!

It's another blog hop! This one's in honour of Mother's Day! A bunch of my fellow bento bloggers decided to let their kidlets make their own lunches for Mother's Day (or make lunches for them) and take a well-deserved break :)

I didn't plan on joining in this Mom's Day Off blog hop - Sailor Boy took all the sproutlets out for the whole day Mother's Day (yesterday), so I had a nice long break and only myself to make lunch for (it was awesome!) - but since my darling little Birdie & Sprout have been taking turns getting up all night, and now the sun is rising, I figured, might as well let them pack their own bentos for later, in case I am too exhausted to feed them...

Sprout was a silly girl picking out some pink picks from my bento bin:

 

She chose her Goodbyn Bynto lunch box, and a muffin, some cheddar cheese, carrots, celery, and grapes to put in it. Here Sprout is cutting a flower and butterfly from the cheddar. I had my camera on the wrong setting for a fast-moving 5 year old and the dim 5:00 am lighting, oh well, sorry about the blur, but, no do-overs :)

 

Just one little shape from the centre of each slice of cheese, really?

Here is Sprout's finished Bynto lunch, packed all by herself. She insisted the cheese sit atop the water bottle where it wouldn't get mushy from the carrots, and stay cold. Good thinking!

Birdie fell back asleep, I'll let her make her own later. Hopefully much later! I did pack an EasyLunchbox for Bella though - since there was all that extra cheese already out :) She also has a muffin - they are Butternut Squash Oatmeal Ginger Coconut - but shhh, don't tell the sproutlets, what they don't know they are more likely to eat! I also packed her some grapes and celery, and some new sides - freeze-dried mixed fruit, and NatureBox Smoky Pumpkin Seeds. I love them! I was a little hesitant to share, but she asked if she could try some in her next lunch so, I was nice ...

Sprout is sleeping now too. I have a feeling today is going to be a loooong day! Ah well, I had a fabulous and relaxing Mother's Day yesterday :) I hope all my fellow mamas did too!

My lovely bento blogging friend Keeley McGuire was kind enough to let me cut in, so won't you please help me thank her for her awesomeness by following the hop all the way through and back to her? Your first stop is What The Girls Are Having - click the flower to see the beautiful bento Dina's daughter packed herself!

Thanks a Latte & I'm Back :)

Today wraps up Teacher Appreciation Week! All week long I've been noticing the wonderful ways my fellow parents have been recognizing & thanking their children's teachers for all they do, but until last night I felt too cruddy to make an effort myself.  I loved what Shannon of BentoLunch.net did for her kidlets' teachers - Starbucks gift cards with a punny thank-you note, so that's what I did too. And Starbucks was happy to give me a stack of cup sleeves with my gift card purchase :) Here are mine - I love how they turned out!  ♥

A big thank-you to ALL the teachers out there - at school and at home!

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I'm over the flu and back in business! I said I was just going to let them eat pizza at school today, but I ended up making a few lunches after all :)  Quite last minute as it happens, since it was the sproutlets who decided they didn't want the school's pizza!

Beanstalk got NatureBox Zingy dried Currants, a granola square, SmartFood popcorn, a fruit leather star, Gala apple rings with star centres, and applewood smoked ham on teeny star picks, packed in his PlanetBox.

Bella got SmartFood popcorn, Fig Newtons, applewood smoked ham, Gala apples, carrot slices, and 2 tomato balloons - because today is my LEGO lunch Box's blog birthday, so I made one tomato balloon for an Instagram birthday greeting, and rather than waste it, Bella got it plus another - packed in her usual EasyLunchboxes container.

This is the birthday greeting I used the other tomato in - I had fun making it! The balloon string picks are part of a cute bento accessory set that also includes rings, hands & feet, flower stems, & umbrella handles :)

Pickle was happy to have pizza today - but here's a Lunch Punch truck peanut butter sandwich I made him the other day when I didn't feel up to posting:

And here's one of Bella's from this past week. It was originally intended for Beanstalk, but then he ended up staying home sick so I added mozzarella and fig newtons to the ham, carrots, apples & roasted vegetable crackers I had already packed in a LunchBots Quad for him, and gave it to her :)

Hey, it's Friday! Happy Week End to All!

We Eat With Our Eyes First

Ever hear the saying "we eat with our eyes first"? It's true, how our food is presented makes a difference! We eat with our eyes - then our mouths. 
And kids are no exception! I know my kids are more likely to try a food that's presented as part of a theme, or cut into a cute shape.

Which would your kidlet choose...  this?

 Or this ? It's the same meal, a minute later :)

I know which one my preschooler prefers! She pointed to the second photo and said "I want that flower garden lunch".  She was very pleased when I put it in front of her. She didn't used to, but now she eats the celery, ever since I first made it into a flower stem.

Flower egg made using star egg mold
and large egg rather than extra-large.

Here's another example: My 3 year old, excited about her egg!
She wouldn't eat eggs until I gave her one shaped like a flower :)

You don't need to be a bento artist!

There are lots of ways to make a pretty presentation that don't require any artistic skill. And kids are pretty easy to please! For school lunches, remember that kids will probably bang their lunchbox around, so don't get too fancy, and fill the container so stuff is less likely to get jumbled about. You can use a cloth napkin to fill empty space and hold things in place :)

10 easy & fun ways to make kid's meals more appealing:

• Arrange foods pleasingly. Neat stacks or rows rather than heaps. 
• Cut food in bite sizes and skewer it with cupcake picks, bento picks, kebab sticks, party picks, even swizzle sticks/drink stirrers! Food on a stick looks more fun - like party food!
• Separate foods and keep them neat with silicone baking cups or other small containers. This is also a useful way to add colour.
• Cookie cutters are handy to cut shapes from foods that can be sliced, like cheese, small sandwiches, some veggies... some play dough cutters work too - raid the craft cupboard!
• If your kidlets don't have issues with food dye, you can add smiles or other details with food colouring markers.
• Do more than cut the crusts off the PB&J, use sandwich cutters to make characters and shapes.
• Use special molds to shape rice, hard-cooked eggs, mashed sweet potatoes, even stuffed sandwiches. 
• Keep fruit from browning by dipping it in juice containing citrus acid, or sprinkle with Fruit-Fresh
• Use baking sprinkles to add a dash of fun to plain yogurt.
• Serve food on fun dishes. Muffin tins are a favourite of my girls!

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Here are some of the things I use to turn my kids' lunches into eye candy.  If you bake or entertain, you may already have a lot you can use!

Edible Geekery : May The 4th Be With You! Star Wars Lunch

It's Star Wars Day!

Beanstalk's PlanetBox is packed with a lunch any Padawan would trade his food pellets for. On the Dark Side, a Darth Vader cupcake topper lurks among black grapes. On the Jedi side is a candy coated pretzel rod lightsaber. I had issues with the baking melts - it was meant to be a light coating, but it was too thick for dipping and I had to spread it on with a spatula. It ended up more candy than pretzel, hmph. Beanstalk will be thrilled with all the sugar in this lunch - may the force be with his teacher ;)

Green grapes & lightsaber cupcake picks surround an apple Yoda (thank you Kitchen Fun With My Three Sons for the recipe). I stuck a storm trooper cupcake topper in a square of Clif Z bar, & next to it are a pair of peanut butter granola squares. In the centre is a rolled piece of ham, solo. 

I know, that joke was really bad... but I couldn't resist :)

Bella's not a Star Wars fan, but she wanted in on the fun (I think she just wanted the chocolate covered pretzel rod lightsaber - that I forgot to include in the pic) so I packed her potato soup in her brother's Clone Wars Thermos instead of her pink one, and added some lightsabers to her fruit & veg. The Darth Vader cupcake toppers are rings so I put her cloth napkin through one. 

Can't forget Pickle! He has a Luke's right hand peanut butter sandwich ;) 

And not shown, yogurt & oatmeal cookie, like every day. The lightsaber is just because I had one left. Red is his favourite colour, too.

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In celebration of Star Wars Day, the Bento Bloggers & Friends did a blog hop, but it's broken now. Still, click to see if you can still check out my Rebel friend Jenn's tribute lunch at Bento for Kidlet! 

1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - Lunches going out the door...

4 different lunches today:

Beanstalk likes X-Men, especially Logan / Wolverine, who often calls people Bub, so I cut "Hiya Bub" out of some fruit leather to make him smile :) Underneath is peanut butter granola bar. He also has popcorn (which is packed with antioxidants), Gala apple wedges, Craisins and a few yogurt pretzels in his PlanetBox.

Pickle has some peanut butter sandwich bats:

Bella has a DIY pizza bagel lunch in a LunchBots Trio - bagel, little container of sauce, shredded mozza, ham + grapes & whole wheat fig newtons.

Sailor Boy has a mish-mash in his EasyLunchbox. Pizza roll-ups skewered with tomatoes,  a Babybel cheese, some Annie's Bunny Grahams (he loves these), cucumber & carrot sticks,  strawberry & banana skewers, & lots of little hearts for that touch of love ♥

Stuff I used for these lunches:

 

& bento accessories: