Dr. Seuss is one of my all-time favorite authors. Not only is his writing filled with sing-songy rhymes and whimsical characters, but sometimes there are some gems of truth hidden in the stories as well. For instance: "Be yourself because the people that mind don’t matter and the people that matter don't mind!"
This is the time of year when we celebrate his birthday. (Technically, yesterday was his birthday.) Today, I am helping out in my son's classroom for "Read Across America" Day, as they devote a morning to reading their favorite Dr. Seuss stories. Which is why it seems appropriate to post my Dr. Seuss bento today. (Please forgive the graininess of the picture. I had some camera issues.)
The first thing to catch your eye should be "Thing 1" and "Thing 2" from my favorite Dr. Seuss book, "The Cat in the Hat". The Things are made out of strawberries and frosting. First, I picked through the package of strawberries, in search of the two largest ones. After washing them, I popped off their stems. Next, I whipped blue food coloring into store-bought frosting, and carefully topped the strawberries to create the carefree, blue-haired look of the Things. With a toothpick, I steadily drew the numbers onto the fronts of the strawberries. Then, most importantly, I let these cute Things DRY for a bit, which hardened the frosting, holding the design. I also placed each Thing into a silicone cup; that way, the shape of the Things held up better in the lunch.
In between Thing 1 and Thing 2, there is a stacked creation, representing the Cat's Hat! I took equal-sized slices of red pepper and white cheddar cheese. Alternating them, I threaded the pieces onto a toothpick. Tada! Nice and easy.
On the top layer of the bento, the focal point is the center cup of goldfish. These colorful crackers represent the fishies from "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish". However, do you know what I realized?! I opened the goldfish bag and was sorting through the colors ... much to my shock and horror, I realized that there were NO blue goldfish. For some reason I was sure that there were. Nope, I was wrong. But anyways, you get the idea, right?
Lastly, another favorite book of mine - Green Eggs and Ham. I have fond memories of my Dad reading this book to my kids; when my parents come to visit, at bedtime, you can hear my Dad animatedly reading Green Eggs and Ham to his not-so-little-anymore grandbabies. I don't know who enjoys it more - Dad or the kiddos.
In order to make "green eggs", I hardboiled eggs and removed the yolks, mashing them up with a good bit of pesto. Once I liked the consistency, I piped the pesto-yolk mixture back into the white part. For the "ham" part, I made roll-ups of baby spinach and slices of ham. I simply laid out a thin slice of ham, lined it with baby spinach, rolled it up, and then cut the rolls to fit into the bento. Again, nice and easy!
Hope you enjoyed this Dr. Seuss lunch, and remember that you don't have to make a creative Dr. Seuss lunch only on his birthday. Discover which book is your child's favorite; design a lunch around the book, and then read the book together! I'd love to know what you come up with!
And in the spirit of reading ... in case you didn't realize I put links on the book names, so that you can buy them off of Barnes & Noble website. Here are some other good ones: "Fox in Socks", "There's a Wocket in my Pocket", and "Horton Hears a Who". Grab a book & read it today!
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