Hello Kitty Bento with {tutorial}

My husband gave me a new bento box for Christmas and I have been waiting for a chance to be able to pack lunch in it. My daughter loves Hello Kitty and asked for a Hello Kitty "Sushi" Lunch which was the perfect opportunity :)

This is a fast and easy way to make a Hello Kitty themed rice bento:

All you need is some steamed rice, Seaweed, two pieces of frozen corn, a slice of ham and a flower shaped cookie cutter:

I cut some thin strips of nori with kitchen scissors for the whiskers and two oval shaped pieces of nori for the eyes. Then I used the flower shaped cookie cutter to cut the ham and layed out two pieces of corn. 

Now you just have to add the pieces to your steamed rice, add Furikake or soy sauce in a small container for seasoning and you are done!

Holiday Lunches

My kids loved that I hid little Santa chocolates in their lunches yesterday, so I did it again today. It seems the little joys are sometimes the most important ones and the ones they remember :)

For my oldest I packed apples, popcorn, Wasa Crackerbread and ham and cheese on the side so he can make his own sandwiches. He also brought yogurt and ice water. I added a Lunchbox Love note as well since my kids love finding them and telling me after school what they said! What a conversation starter!

For my youngest I packed present shaped sandwiches, apples, popcorn, ice water and yogurt and of course a small Santa chocolate! There is a Lunchbox Love note in his lunch as well and if he cannot read it he will bring it home and we read it together :)

My second grader has present shaped sandwiches as well as apples and popcorn but I snuck in a special German Vanilla cookie as well since I knew he would love finding something special in his lunchbox. Besides having ice water and yogurt he also has a Lunchbox Love note. I love sending them and being able to talk about them after the kids get out of school. Plus, after last week it seems any love we can add to our kids' every day life is a gift in itself.

I had fun adding some sweets this week and even though I try to feed my kids very healthy foods it  was fun adding some sweets to their lunchboxes and see their excited faces after school!

For all those of you that have not tried the spring loaded cookie stamps on bread yet: It is fun, easy and worth it! They come out great and I will look for more shapes as the holidays end and the new year begins. I found these at my local Target. 

7 Days until Christmas

My Kids have started the last week before Christmas Countdown and it was time for some more Christmas themed lunches!

We packed a chicken cold cut and lettuce sandwich Christmas tree, a Gingerbread family and strawberries. Can you spy the little Santa chocolate I hid? We also packed ice water and a drinkable yogurt.

7 more days until Christmas - the kids are so excited!

. 

This is a ham and cheese grilled cheese on a English muffin with pretzels and strawberries. There is also a babybel cheese with a Christmas Tree cut out and a mini Santa chocolate :)

Last but not least, Candy Cane sandwiches decorated with organic fruit leather, candy cane pretzels and more strawberries. A little Santa chocolate is hidden in this lunch as well :)

Quick Toddler Snack

We have been so busy this week I never got to post any of the lunches.
Here at least a quick snack from today for a very tired toddler:

This quick snack contains snowflake crackers, cheese and honey ham cut with a small star shaped cookie cutter and some mini hot dogs with peppers. I gently heated the hot dogs since she had the snack at home but they are equally yummy cold :)

Hoping you are enjoying a calm Holiday Season!

Day 5: Ham & Cucumber Sandwich Pockets

Happy Thursday! It is Day 5 of our Challenge and today we packed Ham and Cucumber sandwiches, yum!

The kids are still loving this week and are trying to come up with alternatives!

Since today is Nikolaus Day in Germany and Nikolaus came to us, too, we packed a Nikolaus lunch for today's challenge!

We packed penguin crackers, candy cane shaped pretzels, small glazed gingerbread and a sandwich pocket filled with ham and cucumbers in our Easylunchboxes. We also added two mini chocolates since it is a special day! We packed as always ice water and a yogurt to make this lunch complete.

Winter Lunches

When we woke up this morning frost was covering everything. It looked so pretty glistening in the sun. The sign that winter is on it's way and of course I made lunches to match:

My 10 year old packed lunch in his Easylunchboxes:

A Ham and Salad sandwich, cucumber slices and two Cucumber Christmas trees, snack mix with nuts and a cereal bar and as always an ice water and a yogurt drink.

My 7 year old chose a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with star shaped cut outs, cucumber slices and veggie sticks. Packed as well with ice water and a yogurt drink.

My 6 year old has a fairy bread chocolate spread sandwich, snack mix and cucumbers in addition to his ice water and yogurt drink.

I also packed my 10 year old a snack in our Lunchbot Trio: a half a banana with stars (I just simply pressed my mini cookie cutter into the banana and it made a design), cucumbers with more Christmas trees and some more snack mix.

Have you noticed that I am stuck between peanut butter and chocolate spread sandwiches? I sure do. So we announced this morning that those two choices are gone and we are packing some other foods next week. Their response: Excitement! They already chose grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup for tomorrow - so stay tuned!

What do you think? Would you like to participate in a one week no peanut butter/Nutella/almond butter/ chocolate spread challenge and post your lunches on my Facebook page to keep each other motivated?

Quick Snack To Go

Happy Monday!

Today is just a quick picnic style snack for my daughter. We will be in the car today so I made her a Lunchbox to Go :)

We packed ham and cheese sandwiches , apple slices and some crackers with cheese. I added apple shaped cheese with sprinkle decorations to look like apples although they look more like oranges ;) We also added a cute cupcake pick shaped like an apple to tie it all together. I also packed her ice water and a yogurt tube.

Enjoy your Monday,

Simple and Fast Lunch

I did not have a lot of time this morning but I still have a child that is undergoing CMT testing (Connecticut Mastery Test) and a finickey eater, so the lunches above were a quick and healthy way to make sure they get a good lunch today.

My oldest got the lunch at the top. A thin Deli sandwich bread filled with lettuce, ham and cheese. I also packed Goldfish pretzel cracker and applesauce and some cinnamon letter cookies from Trader Joe's that spell out Math :) Not shown is a yoghurt and a waterbottle that also were packed in his lunch box container :) Quick but filling and refueling after a test :)

My youngest son had rice shapes on salad with carrots, also applesauce and peanuts with a couple of mini chocolate chips. On top of the peanuts is a small container with sprinkles that he can sprinkle on his applesauce when he opens it :) He also had a yoghurt and waterbottle in his lunchpack :)

The rice shapes are just rice pressed into cute shapes. You can find them in many places but I got mine here. You scoop the rice into the shape, press down and press from the other side to release the shape. The great thing is that it takes no time, especially if you have left over rice and the rice is a little compressed and so easy to be picked up by little hands and eaten like finger food. You can also season the rice or even put food coloring in it to make it more fun :)

Happy Thursday,