Ginger Bread & Snow Man Bento

Christmas is quickly approaching and the boys are SO excited that this is their last week of school before their winter break! Yippee! I'm almost done with our shopping (thank you Amazon.com!) and hope to start wrapping up goodies this week. The boys have been taking lunch all week but I just haven't gotten around to posting. I'm actually blogging right now from church during their Christmas show practice! The boys get to play 2 of the 3 Wise Men. I'm a proud mama! They've been so good & so patient with weekly practices. I can't wait until this Sunday for the final show.
Below are two of the lunches that are post worthy. I attempted to make a Santa Bagel ... however, it ended up looking more like a clown! LOL!

Brrrr! It's Cold!

I think I'm having way too much fun this week with our lunches. Yesterday, the boys brought little mini corn dogs & as you can see, they look like they are ready for a snow day (Oh how I wish! We live in So. CA so that's probably non gonna happen). It has been cold and gloomy here but not cold enough to snow where we live.

Santa! I know him!

I think Jingle was feeling a little home sick.  He seems to have found our dancing Santa last night and was all smiles!  The boys thought he looked hilarious and could not stop laughing when they found him this morning.  Luckily they didn't turn on Dancing Santa...other wise Jingle would have fallen right out! And that would be bad.

Christmas Wreath

My previous post showed what Jingle, our Christmas elf, packed for the boys lunch. He was a little bit off so I had to make a different lunch for the boys to take.

I made a Christmas Wreath aka Pizza Bagel. I topped a whole wheat bagel with pizza sauce, cheese & pepperoni then baked for 5 minutes. It was a hit with the boys! They love anything pizza!

I do have to give kudos to Jingles for trying to help out today with the lunches.

Jingle's Lunch

This morning we walked into the kitchen to find that our Jingle had already made the boys lunches! Well, that would have been OK by me, however, he packed waffle mix, frosting, tuna and sprinkles for the boys! My youngest was not mad at all and was happy to take sprinkles and frosting for lunch!  I saw this idea on Pinterest and thought it was too funny!!

Christmas Mini's

Today I used my new mini Christmas cookie punches for the boys lunch. Aren't they cute? I bought them at my local cake supply shop. My favorite one is the ginger bread man. I love going to cake shop because they have cute food picks and rings that are normally used for cupcakes.
I'm so impatient that I don't want to order them online because then I have to wait for them to arrive. =)
Lunch today was mini sandwiches, strawberries, grapes & crackers. (I finally went grocery shopping today!! Haha is this like déjà vu?)
And here's our little ginger bread man. Almost too cute to eat!

Elf On A Shelf

This month I'll be posting Christmas bentos along with other Christmas happenings in our home on my blog. It really is my most favorite holiday and time of the year & I'd like to share with everyone some holiday spirit!
So to start things off, let me introduce to you Jingle, our elf. This little guy arrived at our home this weekend and will be visiting for the month. He is here to help make sure the boys are being nice & not naughty.
However, we are finding that he has been getting into his own shinanigans!! Wonder if Santa has a list of his own for the elves!!

Our first Christmas lunch!

Hi Everyone and welcome to .... DECEMBER! Finally I can break out all the Christmas goodies I bought a few weeks ago.  I do apologize for not posting so much the last part of November.  But I'm back and ready to go!! And really super excited!  Today I made a Christmas tree lunch and since it was our first Christmas bento, I went a lil over board with the goodies today.  But I do love how my new table cloth (thank you Tarzhey aka Target) goes with our lunch.  And it's also fitting today since we also got our Christmas tree today (thank you Husband).

I tried to make the Christmas tree look like it was sitting on top of snow (marshmallows). Ornaments are M&Ms. My youngest won some Milano cookies from our white elephant exchange this weekend, so I put some in their lunch along with some pretzels. Oh and of course strawberries! I must admit that I really love how all of this came together NOW that I am looking at it. I was in such a rush this morning that I didn't have time to ooooh and aahhhh! 

Happy Holidays to all my visitor and fellow bento bloggers! 

It's gonna be a great Christmas Season!

Our tree! 

Breakfast for Lunch!

Welcome back!! I hope that you had a great Thanksgiving holiday! Ours was wonderful as we spent time with our family. I even made my very first home made apple pie! Yum!
I realize it's been a few days since then, that I've posted. I did make lunches for the boys on Monday & Tuesday but they were just super simple lunches so I didn't post anything. Haha in my mind they were not picture worthy! I know, I know...
But today I made a cute little lunch, or should I say breakfast? In our home, we love breakfast for any meal. So, today I made waffles (with our new waffle maker which I LOVE btw!). It's still technically fall so I'm still keeping with the fall leaves theme. I'm waiting until December to break out all the Christmas goodies (& I CANNOT wait)!

Waffles, strawberries, pears & a hard boiled egg.  I also included a side of syrup (not pictured).

Panda Pilgrim - Happy Thanksgiving

Hi Everyone! Today is the last day of school for the holiday! Yippee!! That means time with the kids to goof around and hang out for the rest of week and boy are they excited!  I'm pretty sure Friday will consist of the following: Eating followed by video games followed by some pumpkin pie followed by MAYBE some shopping followed by MORE pumpkin pie. Sounds good to me!

Our panda pilgrim is made out of eggs and I used cheese and nori for the accents. The hearts are made out spam and of course rice.  It's was a spam and eggs kinda day. =) And since it's the last day of school I put in a cookie.

I'd like to wish all of you and your families as very Happy Thanksgiving from our home to yours.  Enjoy your day with your families and remember that we have so much to be thankful for.

I thank God for all He has done in our lives and all the blessings he's poured onto my family.  Without Him, I would have nothing.

Psalm 107

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,

his faithful love endures forever!

Thankful For U & Fish Themed Bento

Today I went a little overboard and made 2 different lunches. Again, a very rare occasion. My youngest one was going on a field trip the Aquarium of the Pacific here in Long Beach.  I promised him I would make him a special lunch for his trip.  I didn't want to make the same one for my older son so I made him something different. Call me "Crazy Over Ambitious Mom".  I can't help it.  Making these lunches have gotten the best of my creativity and I love it.  It's like scrap booking with food!  

First lunch was for my older son.  It was left over pizza from our end of the season soccer party we had last night.  Thank goodness my friend talked me into taking the left over pizza home because I know my son wouldn't have wanted a sandwich for lunch.  I used my handy dandy letter cutters for the message, cut up some strawberries and put in some yogurt covered pretzels.

This lunch was for my little one. I so LOVE how his whole lunch came out! Probably one of my favorites.  This little fishes are just too adorable.  I packed him a pbj sandwich, gold fish (of course!), yogurt pretzels and strawberries.  

When I showed him lunch, his first concern: 

"Mom! I need to be able to throw it away. I can't bring home all that stuff."

Handled. Daiso sells disposable bento boxes so I told him he had nothing to worry about and that he could throw away the container and everything else.

And when he came home:

Aiden: "Oh mommy! I forgot to tell you something!"

Me: "Yes, honey."

Aiden: "Umm, my fishies moved when I got my lunch!"

Me: "It's okay baby! Fishies swim remember?"

Aiden: "Oh yeah!"

Gobble! Gobble!

Can you believe it's already the week of Thanksgiving?? To kick off this week, I decided to make a turkey themed lunch today.  I had a lot of fun making this little turkey.  These are probably THE 2 EASIEST turkeys I have made in my life!  I showed my youngest kidlet the finished sandwich and he said it looked like a duck! 

And speaking of turkeys, I still need to go out and get ours.  We have a tradition where we name our turkeys. I know, it's weird, but funny.  I can't remember what we named ours last year - I'll get back to you on that after I ask my sister. She usually helps me cook for the big day.  Do you have any funny Thanksgiving traditions? Also, I wonder what the family would think if I just served up these turkeys instead of the full 30 pound one? LOL!

Turkey sandwich is filled with pbj, strawberries and grapes, cookie, wheat thins and cheese wedge.

I Love You

Sorry for the late post.  Things have been bust at home and I totally forgot to post Thursdays lunch (Friday they both had a pizza party so no lunches).  It a bit chilly last week and the boys were asking if they could bring clam chowder soup for lunch.  I didn't think it would be a problem since I did buy some insulated soup containers.  I warmed up the soup really and closed it up.  Good, right?  No. =( My boys came home and said that by the time they had lunch, their soup was cold so they didn't even get to it.  I felt so bad! I was hoping that the soup would have at least stayed warm.  I'll have to research what other insulated soup containers are out there that work well.

Above is soup (it was hot when I took the picture), a turkey and cheese sandwich, strawberries with white chocolate chips and oyster crackers.

And just for fun, I added little notes in their lunches ... just another little way to let them know that mommy loves them.

Another Simple Lunch

Some days, I have a burst of creative energy flowing & I can put together a great (in my opinion) looking lunch. Other days, I feel like I'm a struggling to even find a matching top & pants for the boys to wear...& they wear uniforms!! Today was one of those days. I didn't plan ahead & this is what they ended up having. Sorry for the blurry pic...refer to previous reference above: struggling.
Turkey & Provolone sandwich on a Hawaiian Roll, Goldfish Crackers, Plums & Cantaloupe. I put in a few Skittles too.
However, tomorrow is a new day & I plan on putting my sassy pants on so I can make a great lunch for my boys. (Well, we'll see. Ha!)

I "Mustache" You A Question

Hello my fellow readers! Today I was back to making lunches since yesterday was a school holiday for Veteran's Day. It was a nice little break & the kids enjoyed lounging around all day.  I, myself, had to work.

Today's lunch was inspired by this little guy right here: Hello Mr. Tycoon. This is my youngest and he was trying to decide which one looked good on him.  Good choice, sir! 

This weekend my sister picked up some goodies for the boys and one of the items was a slap bracelet (above) with different mustaches printed on it!  Mustaches have been so trendy lately and I'll be the first to admit that I love this trend.  Why? I honestly can't tell you why, but I love seeing the black little staches on mugs, stationary, sunglasses and even baby clothes (I bought my cousin a onesie with a mustache for their new baby boy). I just think they are cute. Heck, I've even seen Hello Kitty sporting a mustache so they can't be that bad. Mr. Tycoon's picture then inspired their lunch below.  Do you see a resemblance? Ha!

Mr. Tycoon wanted a turkey & cheese sandwich AND a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

There are grapes and apples for their fruit and of course we can't forget the panda creme filled cookies.

I am loving the mustache on the panda which is/was a food pick, but i cut the little stem of so that it would lay flat.

Disclaimer: To my dearest husband if you are reading this, I like mustaches on paper, graphics, clothes, food picks...etc. Please do not interpret this that I am giving you the red light to grow a mustache. Thank you.

Angry Birds Have Arrived!

We love Angry Birds at our house. We have Angry Bird pajama's for the boys, toys, games on the iPod (of course!) and sleeping eye masks (YES!). Now they have made their debut in our kitchen. AND with the release of the new Star Wars version of the game, I thought it was only fitting to make an Angry Bird bento.  Needless to say my boys were pretty excited when I showed them.

I used my new Cute-Z-Cute cutter to make the piggy.  The sandwich cutter was very easy to use! 

I used a nori puncher for the hair and eye brows & pupils of the bird, cheese for the eyes and carrots for the beak.  

My youngest son is so funny! I was making their lunch and this was the conversation:

Aiden: "Mom, where do eggs come from?"

Me: "They come from chickens, honey."

Aiden: "Even the hard boiled eggs?"

Me: "Yes, Aiden. Even the hard boiled eggs.  All of the eggs we eat come from chickens."

Aiden: "Oh!! Because I thought eggs just come from any bird that's around in the sky!"

Oh my little one, I love these little conversations.

Piggie sandwich is pjb, hard boiled egg for the bird and Angry Bird graham crackers. I also included a side of all natural apple sauce but I couldn't fit it in the box.

Now... this mommy has some Star Wars Angry Birds to play on her phone!

Falling Leaves

This morning it rained but I think it is still a beautiful day.  The sun is slowly trying to peek out from the clouds on this cold fall morning. I love when the weather is like this. Cold but still sunny.  It's the perfect time time for comfort food and cuddling up with the kid & the hubby.  Ok and maybe our little yokie, Jacob, when he's not trying to nibble on one of our fingers.

Today's lunch was inspired by a recent lunch my older son and I had at California Pizza Kitchen: Panko Crusted Mac & Cheese. We had ordered it as an appetizer and he asked me if I could try to make it for their lunch one day. And here it is in it's cheesy baked (not fried!) glory...YUM.  

Panko Crusted Mac & Cheese, Grapes, Strawberries and Goldfish.

MORE Bento Loot

One of my favorite things about making bento lunches ... are the supplies!! There are tons of different boxes, punches, sandwiches cutters, food picks (the list is endless) that are available to buy.  I've only started making bento's since this September and my collection of items has grown SO much. (Too much probably in my husband's opinion!). You can click here to see my previous purchase.

I know I've mentioned the Daiso store before but I wanted to show you some of the bento supplies that they carry for $1.50 each. I bought these items at the beginning of October.

Here is the store front. Inside is lit with fluorescent lighting and neon pink trim. SUPER BRIGHT.

These are just some of the many different bento boxes that they have available. They have a whole isle full. I had a really hard time deciding which ones to get. Choices! Choices!

Need silicone cups or baking cups? This is the place to get them. They have a collection of different themes, shapes, sizes and colors perfect for your kidlets lunch.

And this was my purchase. I didn't go too overboard because I really wanted to get just a few items.

Above is a strawberry bento box( there's a medium and a small size box), 2 more bento boxes, some silicone cups, heart picks, a knife to cut designs with and a nori punch.  

Fast forward to the end of October. I've been seeing these Cute-Z-Cute cutters in different bentos online  but I knew that Daiso would not carry this item.  The items below I ordered from AllThingsOnSale.Com.  Shipping is $6.00 flat. Me, being the inpatient person that I am, paid the extra $3.00 to have it expedited. My items came in the mail on 11/2 but were were out of town. It's now 11/7 and they are STILL in their packaging! I know...next time I won't be so impatient.  The only reason I ordered these online is because I know that I can't find these in store anywhere. 

1. Food cups and food dividers

2. Sandwich cutters! Cute huh? They make 4 mini sandwiches.

3. This is one of my favorites.  Food picks that resemble little hats and bow ties. Imagine the possibilities!

4. "More food picks?" As my older son said when he was watching me go through all my goodies.

Yes. MORE!

5. Mustache picks. I need to think of some thing clever for these! 

6. & 7. Fall themed picks - for that fall theme bento that I will eventually make before the season is over.

8. Cute-Z-Cute cutter. I can make a panda, cat, frog, bear shaped food. I've seen Angry Bird piggies made with these cutters so that I'll have to attempt as well.

My bento supplies are starting to look like my scrapbooking supplies, endless.  But this is the fun part for me aside from creating different lunches.  =) The kids get to eat  & enjoy it. It's a Win-Win for all of us!

The Alternative CornDog

If your kidlets are anything like mine, there's probably a good chance that they enjoy eating corn dogs.  I am ok with them but if it's something that my kids like to eat that I feel isn't healthy, I will try to find a way to make it healthier than the original.  Hence...the corn dog muffin. It's baked & not fried which is a PLUS. Also the hot dogs are actually all chicken and nitrate free. Who knew those little Jiffy boxes of muffin mix would come in handy other than for corn bread? Not me! Thank you again Pinterest for this brilliant idea! You can find the recipe here on my Pinterest Board.

Corn dog Muffins, Apples, Grapes & Broccolli. It's what's for lunch!

It's Election Day!

As I was 90% done with packing the boys lunches this morning, I realized "Today is voting day!!" How could I forget? I tried to think of something "voting" or "election" themed to include in their lunch today, but didn't have anything. I'll be sure to be ready in the next 4 years! So check back then! =)

Today's lunch was a breakfast burrito (whole wheat tortilla, egg, fat free refried beans & cheese), strawberries & grapes. The little blue & yellow package on the side is a Filipino dessert which my dad brought back from his trip to the Philippines. It's called Polvoron.

 

I don't consider myself a political person at all, but today I did vote. I hope that all of you went out to the polls today as well so that your voice could be heard too!

Dinosaurs! RAWR!

Hello Everyone! I don't know about you but the Daylight Savings time change has got me off beat today.  We were 30 minutes EARLY to school...on a MONDAY of all things. That never-ever-EVER happens.  I could have probably spent that extra time on the boys lunch today because this is all that I could come up with. Bleh. But needless to say, my boys were happy with mommy's lunch, so that is all that matters.  

Chicken nugget dinosaurs on a bed of rice. They are suppose to look like they are walking on grass.

Strawberry Applesauce (which I was leery of at first but when I checked the ingredients, I was relieved: Strawberry, Apple.) And because we STILL have a TON of Halloween candy left, I included a Kit-Kat. The candy will somehow mysteriously disappear tomorrow when I take it to the office.  "Mom where's the candy?" "Candy? What candy?"

Happy Halloween!

Trick or Treat! Happy Halloween! Whew ~ I made it through another month of bento lunches which means no school food for my kidlets. I had fun making this below and I even managed to bake up some mini sugar cookies last night. This will be my last bento for this week since we will be out of town the next few days. I hope everyone has fun tonight & be safe! I will see you all next week!

Mini Halloween Sandwiches - Mr. Candy Corn, Mr. Boo, Mr. Pumpkin & Mr. Frakenstein (all on whole wheat bread and filled with egg white salad). Clementine orange and mini sugar cookies!

'Twas The Night Before Halloween

It's the day before Halloween! Are you all ready with your kidlets costumes? I know my little ones are excited! 

I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do with today's lunch, so it's somewhat all over the place.  I wanted to do something really super cool, but at the same time, something easy that wouldn't take too long. Pasta it is! I finally got to use the skeleton food pick for decoration and the Halloween pasta that I bought at Cost Plus Market. You can't really tell, but the pasta is Halloween shaped and colored black, orange and cream.

In the top box are Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Mini Muffins (Click here for the recipe!) which I made to resemble a one eyed monster ?? (Yes, yes that's what it is!) Strawberries and apples on the side.  The bottom has Halloween pasta with light Alfredo sauce and turkey meatballs.

Happy Halloween Eve!

The Mummy Returns!

Hello! I hope that all of you had a lovely weekend! Well, it's the last few days leading up to Halloween so I have a few treats in store for my kidlets and for all of my lovely readers/followers/passer-byers. =)

A few weeks ago, I made a Mummy Sandwich and guess what?!? The mummy returns! [Insert scary movie scream!] But this time he's come back in the form of a hot dog and he even has  buddy with him!

Again, since I'm new to bento lunches, I've been seeing these hotdog mummies in everyone else's lunches.  I had to make sure to try some out for Halloween because I'm not sure what these would translate to during other holidays like Christmas  (Ugly Christmas Sweater Hotdogs??).

To make the mummy hot dogs I used canned bread dough (Pillsbury Grand Biscuits to be exact). I flattened out the dough, cut them into strips and then wrapped them around the hot dogs to make them look like mummies. Talk about couture! I baked them for 20 mins at 350 degrees.

I also added some white chocolate covered strawberry ghosts and a clementine orange with a pumpkin face (again). 

A joke to end the night:

Q: Why was the mummy so tense?

A: He was all wound up!

Keep Calm & Bake - Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

I was finally starting to feel  a little better today so I thought I'd try get back into the swing of things and bake up something good. I was craving something "pumpkiny" (haha  I know that's not a word!) and I remembered that I had a two ingredient recipe on one of my Pinterest Boards. The recipe called for one can of pumpkin pie filling and yellow cake mix.  I switched it up a bit and used Spice cake mix and added mini chocolate chips to it. YUM! 

• One box of Spice or Yellow Cake Mix. I think you can use any kind actually, but like I said, I was in the mood for something "Pumpkiny"
• One can of pumpkin puree
• Chocolate chips (if you wish and as much as you want!) I did not measure, I just poured some here and there
• Pumpkin Pie spice .. again I didn't measure. I added about 3 or 4 shakes (BIG SHAKES!)
• I noticed that as I was mixing the batter, it seemed a little thick, so I added about 2/3 cups of water to the mixture. 

And that's it for the ingredients. Make sure to mix well. 

I used mini Halloween cupcake liners. Spooky huh?  You can also use regular size cupcake liners.

Line your pan with baking cups and fill with batter. I used about

1 teaspoon in each mini cup. 

[**Notice how the batter looks uneven in the cups?? 

I will come back to this in a few pictures down. **]

I baked the muffins at 325 Degrees for 30 minutes (but different ovens & times may vary).

** Ok, remember how I mentioned to note that the batter was uneven? Well this is what the muffin will look once it's done baking. What I forgot to do with my first batch was to smooth down the batter before I baked it. To do this, wet the back of a spoon and smooth of the top of the batter once it's already in the baking cup.  This will help create a nicer top when the muffin bakes.

Here is a picture of the second batch. This looks much nicer and will be easier to decorate.

You don't have to do this step though! It's totally up to you. I just did it because I forgot I was planning to decorate a few of them. I used cream cheese frosting in the pictures below.

Ever wonder how to make those spider webs on cupcakes and cookies? Well here is a quick tutorial!

1. Pipe 3 - 5 circles onto your cupcake (the number of circles depends on the size of cupcake you are decorating).

2. Take a toothpick and starting from the center circle, drag the toothpick down so that the icing also goes down with it. Drag all the way down from the center to the outside circle. You may need to do some "re-tracing" if the icing doesn't follow all the way down the first time. 

3. Continue step 2 until you complete your spider web.

4. Ta-dah! All done. Easy right? 

You can also do the following:

~Alternate circle colors of the spider web

~Frost a base color first (such as black) and then pipe on a white spider web

The Final Yummy Product!

I'd love to hear if you tried this out and see how you liked it!

I was playing and made a little mummy one too!!

Happy Halloween from our home to yours!