Veggie and Fruit Fireworks

My kids are on summer break, and like most other kids, they no longer need to carry a daily, packed lunch. Therefore, I decided to create an unpacked snack, getting creative with fruit and veggies. Since the 4th of July is quickly approaching, I crafted the produce into fireworks! (By the way, if you wanted to turn this into a full-size, unpacked lunch, add in cheese cubes, cooked penne, chunks of meat, etc.)

Here's what I began with - broccoli and cauliflower florets, baby carrots, celery, mushrooms, kiwi, Cherub tomatoes (SO delicious), blueberries and purple grapes. (Not pictured: orange and yellow pepper strips. I forgot I had them until halfway through!)
You can use whatever you have on hand!

Toothpicks are the essential tool for this project. And they are so cheap too!

Here's where you get to be creative. There is no right or wrong way to put together veggie and fruit fireworks! You can make fireworks starbursts.

Or the kind that shoot up from the ground.

Seriously, get creative! Let your kids in on the crafting the fun!

Starburst and ground fireworks work well with fruit too!

For the veggie fireworks, add some Hidden Valley Ranch dressing on the side, and you have the perfect summer snack!

At least, my kiddos think so!

They ate almost all of the veggie fireworks. I'm saving the fruit fireworks for tomorrow.

On another note, I'm taking a break over the 4th of July holiday, so there will be no post from me on Thursday, July 3rd. I hope that you have a wonderful holiday weekend with your family. I'll have a super special post on Monday, July 7th! You'll just have to wait and see!

"Thank you" on Memorial Day

To those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom - thank you.

To their families who lost a loved one - my sincerest condolences and my deepest gratitude.

From those who fought in the Revolutionary War to gain our country's independence, to those who have fought to protect our freedom ever since - thank you.

We are the land of the free, because of the brave.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day, albeit a tad bit early!
(Don't forget! Mother's Day is THIS Sunday! Do a something thoughtful for your momma.)

In honor of Mother's Day, I wanted to convey the special bond between a mother and child. While pondering HOW to describe that bond within a boxed lunch, my eyes came across a card that my mom-in-love enabled my kids to purchase for me.

Granted, my kids bought this card for me for a whole different reason ... on April Fool's Day, I discovered a live bird in my house and freaked out! The kids decided to prank me by putting this card (with birds on it) in my bed, so that I would freak out again. What can I say ... they are 5 & 8, and new to this "April Fools" pranking thing.)

Anyways, this card features a sweet momma bird caring for her two baby birds. 'Bingo', I thought! Therefore, "Mother's Day Bento" birdie-style. (I completely forgot to take pictures of me making the lunch, so you'll have to make do with my commentary.)

First, I boiled spaghetti noodles, mixing whole wheat noodles with regular to give a textured look. Once the noodles are cooked and cooled, I stirred in a tiny bit of olive oil to keep them from sticking to each other. In the bottom half of the bento box (which is a Lock & Lock container), I formed a "nest" of noodles.

Next, I created the "leafy tree" of baby spinach above the nest. A pretzel rod forms the branch on which the momma bird sits.

The "birds" are made from baguette and Brie cheese. Cutting the baguette into thin slices, I chose both a large piece and a small end piece to create my birds. To form the beak, I sliced a carrot and cut a V-shape from that slice. Creating the wing was a bit more pretentious; I used kitchen shears to cut a heart-shape from a mini bell pepper. Spreading softened Brie cheese onto the baguette slices, I topped each slice with a carrot beak and red pepper wing. Lastly, I dotted the baguette slice with a drop of black decorating gel for the birdie's eye.

Next, I nestled the larger baguette birdie into the spinach leaves, and the baby baguette birdie into the nest of noodles. (I sent along a container of Italian dressing to mix into the noodles at lunchtime.)

To promote the "loving bond" theme, I cut melon into heart shapes, packed in a separate container to contain the juices.

Tada! A Mother's Day Bento. Not too hard. Try it for yourself. You can do it!

Easter Bento

Happy Easter (almost)! I created this bento lunch before Easter, for two reasons.
(1) To illustrate what you could do with an Easter-themed bento
(2) To show you the steps (on Thursday!)
That way, you'll have the skills and the time to make one too!

Cookie cutters turned slices of multigrain bread into a cross and a tombstone. The baby spinach around the cross symbolizes green grass, while the edible pansy flower (eat only the petals) represents the newness of life in Springtime.

Mashed potatoes form the tomb, with black olives illustrating the emptiness of the grave.

Dried blueberries create the sky with a cheddar cheese sun shining down from above.

Red Twizzlers were cut and toothpicked together to form the word "Life", which is what Easter is really all about.

Come back on Thursday for the "How To" post!

Happy St. Patricks' Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! We are not Irish in the least bit, so I was NOT about to attempt making the traditional Irish fare, especially not with the blog world watching. So instead I created a whimsical rainbow and shamrock bento.

The main part of this lunch features a rice shamrock on a bed of baby spinach. It is actually fairly easy to make! I cooked rice in my rice cooker and let it cool for a few minutes. With wet hands, I molded the rice into heart-shaped rice patties. OR you can make a bed of rice, wet a heart-shaped cookie cutter, and press it into the layer of rice. Positioning the three hearts of rice into a shamrock shape, I added a fish-shaped, soy sauce container as the stem of the shamrock.

I spooned yogurt into the bottom left section, adding a few drops of food coloring. Using a toothpick, I swirled the colors to create a modern-style rainbow.

Lastly, what's a St. Patty's Day bento without a rainbow of fruit?! A few strawberries, clementine sections, half a pineapple ring, kiwi slices and purple grapes. Arrange them in a rainbow fashion. Tada!

Happy St. Patrick's Day, y'all!

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

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!

Valentine's Day Lunch

Yes, I realize that it is not Valentine's Day. However, I thought that I would post this lunch now for three reasons:
(1) To remind you that Valentine's Day is coming. It's on Friday.
(2) To give you an idea.
(3) To enable you to have time to get the ingredients to make a special lunch.

Here's what I did. First, I cooked heart-shaped pasta and tossed it with a bit of olive oil and seasonings. My mother-in-love gave the pasta to me, so I couldn't tell you where to buy it. But I'm sure if you Google it, you can find it.

Next, I cut baby carrots diagonally, twisted them around to match up the ends, and then speared them with a toothpick. Honestly, the toothpick was really hard to skewer the carrots with. Perhaps, you could try a food pick instead.

Moving on to the second layer: I cut a thick slice of pineapple and then pressed a heart-shaped cookie cutter into the slice, to make a pineapple heart. Because fresh pineapple is super juicy, I put it into a silicone cup to keep the juice from ruining the rest of the lunch.

This next part - the heart-shaped egg - was a bit more time-consuming. There are two ways to make a heart-shaped, hard-boiled egg. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures. Instead I'll include links on HOW to achieve this lovely look.
(1) Egg mold: Hard boil an egg. While it's still warm, peel it, and place it in this heart-shaped egg mold. Refrigerate until cool, and then pop it out of the mold. Voila - a heart!
(2) OR follow these directions on how to make a heart-shaped egg, using cardboard, a skewer & rubber bands.

Strawberries: This one is super easy! Follow this link to discover how to make heart-shaped strawberries.

Store-bought sugar cookie dough is transformed into Valentine cookies, using cookie cutters and red & pink M&M's. (The darn cookie dough expanded in the oven making an enormous cookie. Whoops!)

Lastly, here's an extra tidbit that I didn't utilize in this lunch, since my kids dislike raw tomatoes. But perhaps you can use it - how to make heart-shaped tomatoes!

Let me know what you come up with!

Candy Cane Lunch

Wow, Christmastime has snuck up on me once again. How is that even possible? I mean, it happens the same time EVERY YEAR! But here it is again. Although I am prepared with the purchasing of gifts & mailing of packages, I forgot about making a Christmas-themed bento lunch. A few days ago, while I was trying not to panic about coming up with an idea, I glanced over at my kids who were cutting out sugar cookie dough with cookie cutters, and an idea struck me. A simple, red and green themed bento.

The main centerpiece of this festive lunch is the two candy cane-shaped, peanut butter-filled sandwiches. I used a Wilton FoodWriter Edible Color Marker to create the red stripes on the candy canes.

In the middle of the candy canes, I placed a silicone heart cup of shelled edamame. The heart signifies the Love that came at Christmastime, and the green of the edamame adds to the cheer of this seasonal lunch.

To further complement the colors of Christmas, I placed baby spinach around the sandwiches and edamame. The little blue container holds a creamy caesar dressing, in which to dip the spinach leaves.

Rounding out the lunch, I added raisins and apricots, not because it is Christmasy at all. It's because that is what I had in the pantry. :)

I wasn't sure if the small candy cane-shaped sandwiches would fill up my kids' tummies, so I threw in some sesame-and-wheat crackers.

Lastly, what's a Candy Cane Lunch without a cookie to go with it? Hence, the candy cane cookie lovingly decorated by my daughter, LoveBug.