"Joe and Sparky Go to School" - The perfect Back to School book!

Today's lunch is all about Joe and Sparky! My kids love the "Joe and Sparky" book series by Jamie Michalak. Her books are always funny and sweet. Her new book "Joe and Sparky Go to School" is funny, creative and a great read for all ages! And - of course- the perfect book to read before school starts or even during the year. Absolutely hilarious!

If you haven't read this amazing book yet, here is the description from Amazon:

Sparky the turtle may be cautious, but when the strange vehicle full of noisy short people pulls away from Safari World, he finds himself stuck on the bus’s roof just the same. Luckily his giraffe friend, Joe, is adventurous enough to take a running jump, too! When they arrive at school, they discover that there’s a lot to learn, like the fact that the restroom is full of little magic "ponds," that you’re supposed to count the peas, not eat them, and that the goal of the day seems to be to get a star. But just when Joe fears that he may have to go home starless, Sparky reminds him of all the ways that his loyal friend already shines. Readers will roll over laughing — and find lots to relate to — in this hilarious new adventure.

We packed our Easylunchboxes with a fun Joe and Sparky lunch:

• strawberry hearts because we love Joe and Sparky
• a cheese star on cheese crackers to make sure we get that star
• and of course Joe and Sparky looking out through the broccoli trees. Joe is made out of rice, cheese and nori and Sparky is a turtle pick. The broccoli trees also have a few carrot flowers.

Mama's Lunch

Mamas gotta eat, too. I pack lunch for myself most days as well but often forget to post them.
Today, I am posting just my lunch for a change :)

I packed lunch in my monbento MB original bento box. I love the size which is perfect for a generous lunch.

I packed my monbento with

• grapes
• carrot sticks
• a cheese stick 
• a vegan peanut butter bar

and

• brown left over rice 
• with a zuccini, squash and muchroom stir fry
• I also packed some soy sauce which is not pictured. YUM!

Pandas and Onigiris

My kids love rice and what they consider Onigiri: plain sushi rice wrapped in seaweed. We finally found some Furikake seasoning this week and everybody liked it so now I need to get some Furikake containers for their lunch boxes :)

Our lunch consists of three Onigiri, apples and orange slices, energy bites and seaweed Arare which are Japanese crackers wrapped in seaweed.

For the younger kids I made smaller Onigiri and they packed apples, oranges, energy bites and Arare as well.

The kids loved decorating with our new panda picks and I think they came out very cute :)

My sister asked me the other day for a quick picture tutorial on how to make these very plain Onigiri because she wanted to make some to dip in different sauces and I made this tutorial on my phone - so pardon the light and quality - but I though some of you might like to see it.

Typically, I steam the rice and let it cool until it is only slightly warm. I put about one Tablespoon of rice on a small piece of plastic wrap and either form a ball by kneading the rice or twist the top of the foil until a ball forms. In this tutorial I used some seaweed and a seaweed stamp and made first a round rice ball with face. You can also cut a long strip of seaweed and wrap the rice ball in it to look more like an Onigiri. Beware that the seaweed will "shrink" once it absorbs some of the moisture from the rice so cut the strip a little longer then necessary!

Hope this helps if you are looking to make some very simple rice lunches!

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!

A Bento To Be Thankful For {For Mommy}

The theme for this year's Bento Bloggers and Friends Thanksgiving Blog Hop is

I am thankful for...

I am thankful for so many things in my life but the most thankful I am for my family. They have supported me daily by eating my bento creations, dealing with my bento gear all over our kitchen and by sampling new recipe ideas. Thank you for helping me start my Facebook page and liking all my posts! Thank you for commenting on my blog and for encouraging me to keep going! Thank you for long phone calls about photoshop and other picture editing programs and for simply listening when I am over the moon that someone retweeted me! Thank you for supporting me in my passion!

But most of all thank you for enjoying the fact that I make you lunch ~ I love you!

This bento was packed in our ECOlunchbox and I packed it for myself - but don't worry! I still fed the kids ;) I packed them fairy bread by request :) I packed white rice, and vegetables (black beans, onions, corn and peppers) as well as my wonderful family made out of cheese, chicken, turkey pepperoni and cucumber skin. I have a cutter that you can use to piece together faces, hair and arms which I used to create this bento.

Ming from Bentomonsters is also thankful. Find out what she is thankful for by clicking this button:

Also linking up here:

      Things I used to make this lunch: 

World Animal Day Blog Hop

Today is World Animal Day and Bento Bloggers & Friends are having an exciting Blog Hop! 

We all picked a different animal to make today ~ click through the hop to see them all !

I picked a BEAR as my animal:

And here is the World Animal Lunch I made:

First I added some lettuce and my rice bear. The bear is made with rice and colored with soy sauce. I mixed about 1/2 cup of cooked rice with soy sauce until I was happy with the color. I added the rice to a piece of plastic wrap and shaped the head. I added thinly cut julienne style cucumbers with a tiny amount of salt and then folded them into the middle of the head of the bear. Then I made two small rice balls for the ears and added some white rice for his snout and also cheese and nori details to make his ears and face :)

I love the this tutorial from Moriazu on how to make a shaped onigiri! 

After that I added the details: straw-bear-ries, Italian cookies, Enjoy Life Chewy On-The-Go Bars Cocoa Loco -- 5 Bars, pretzels to make a fence and cheese flower to go with my soy sauce flavored bear. 

I hope you enjoyed my Bear Bento

 and now please click on the blog hop button to see what animal Obento Momma picked!

Happy World Animal Day!

and

This is also my 100th post! 

Thank you for all your support!

Things I used to make this lunch:

Kitty Cat Snack

My daughter loves having special snacks and since we got the fabulous CuteZCute Animal Friends Cutter in the mail recently (review to follow) she wished for a Kitty Cat Lunch. I used the cutter to make a strawberry jelly bread sandwich and also added some grapes with bento picks. 

I really love how easy it was to make the cat and my daughter loved that it looked so cute!

I also made her a girl and her cat rice balls to complete her snack. I simply rolled some cooked white rice into balls and added seaweed decorations and a bow pick :)

Things I used to make this lunch:

Baby Bird Onigiri Snack

 I made these cute Onigiri Snacks this weekend. They were so easy to make and the kids loved them!

I put about two tablespoons of rice on a small piece of plastic wrap and rolled the rice into a ball. I added nori details cut out with my nori punch and cut out a small triangle for the beak.

Happy Snacking!

Things I used to make this lunch:

Ruff-Ruff Bento

I had some rice left over from yesterday and decided to make bento boxes for lunch today!

I packed a rice ball shaped like a dog with nori accents and a carrot tongue, strawberry hearts and a jelly sandwich in the upper tier. In the lower tier I packed a cereal bar, cheese crackers and cinnamon cookies. I also packed ice water and popcorn today.

To make the dog I placed some rice in plastic wrap and shaped the head. Then I added the nori accents I had cut out earlier with sharp scissors. The tongue is a piece of carrot cut with a vegetable knife :)

Happy Monday!

Car Bento

I am ending this week with one last rice bento. This time my son wanted a "Police Car Bento." I feel a lot more comfortable using cookie cutters then rice presses and so I thought of this after seeing this amazing bento from Daisy Selalu! Her blog is amazing. Please go and visit (:

I made fresh sushi rice and added just a little salt. I pressed the rice into a car cookie cutter I have and filled in the surrounding space with scrambled eggs before removing the cookie cutter. I added cucumber stars and red pepper flowers and nori detail to complete the top.

At the bottom are car shaped whole wheat bread sandwiches with Nutella and peanuts. I used this cutter and stamp set for the sandwiches. I really love it because it is so versatile :) We also packed Kefir in a reusable drink bottle today.

Happy Friday!