Turtle Bento

And here is a bento lunch using the turtle shell apple. Kidlet has a turtle made of apple with head and arm being Boca nuggets. Alongside are a star rice ball, blackberries, cherries, orange, grapes, carrots, radish and cucumber.
The radish is the first from our community garden. The vegetables are starting to sprout up fast it is so exciting! There is nothing more delicious than veg from your own garden.

Tutorial: Turtle Shell Apple

Here's another simple way to jazz up an apple in your bento lunches. Kidlet loves the turtle shell pattern on a green apple in his lunch so he gladly helped me with this tutorial!

First, make 3 sets of 2 lines, scoring the apple lightly with a sharp knife.

Then use the sharp edge of your knife to remove the skin from the 3 lines you've created.

Next you will turn the apple and make 3 sets of 2 lines going the other way on the apple.

When you're finished rub the apple with a little lemon to prevent browning and you have a super simple and tasty apple!

Apples

Happy Father's Day Treats!

So, I saw these little burgers and fries on Bakerella's blog and felt they would be perfect to add to our Father's Day treat baskets. Sooo cute.

Kidlet insisted that there be a "Big Mac" version. He said that is what his father would want.

Kidlet's favorite part of course is the tasting. He approves of the burgers.


Also, spotted on Bakerella, lemon squares. I haven't made lemon squares in so long but they are delicious! And the recipe was super simple.

Now, Kidlet had never had a lemon square before and generally does not enjoy anything containing the flavor of lemon. He insisted however that he would like these.

He considers it........

Goes in for the taste.........

And it's a no! He has declared lemon squares the most foul food he has ever tasted. Thanks Kidlet. Oh well, I think they are tasty!

And lastly, we made some delicious Peanut Butter Heath bits cookies. I found the recipe on the back of the Heath bits package and deemed that we needed these in our life. They are delicious. Kidlet devoured his before I could get a non-blurry picture. He was a haze of cookie eating madness. Good times.

Super Simple Sunday

So, I never thought I would have to pack bento on a Sunday. You see, the Kidlet goes with his father on Sundays for the afternoon as per our custody arrangement. It works for us. The problem is that the faher has a hard time saying no to Kidlet. I understand, Kidlet makes some awfully convincing puppy faces. However, this has lead to him coming home every Sunday night with a sore tummy from all of the junk eating.

So that is why we have a Sunday bento. An attempt to show what a proper meal might look like and to help the father know it's okay to make him eat his veg, he likes it.

Bento has two rice balls, star and bear along with carrots, cucumber, apple, pineapple, and soy nuggets with side of ketchup.

Cupcake Cones

School is over for another year and Kidlet is now halfway through Elementary School. How did that happen? I feel like if I dare to blink I will look up and he will be taller than me and shaving. That whole "they grow up so fast" thing is not a joke. I used to think people who said that were silly but now I know the truth.

In celebration of another year well done, I made cupcake cones! Cupcakes inside an icecream cone, what could be better? Not much in Kidlet's opinion.

Recipe (Okay so it's not even really a recipe but it tells you how to get it done!)
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1 box cake mix

1 ready made frosting

1 lg. box ice cream cups (not the sugar cones, the flat bottom ones)

Directions

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Make cake mix as directed on box. Arrange cones in a rectangle 9"x13" cake pan. Fill cones 2/3 with cake mix. Bake as directed for cupcakes on cake mix box. Cool, frost, and enjoy.

Togepi

Today was Kidlet's last day of 2nd grade. *tear* I keep telling him to stop growing up so fast but I get the eye roll and "Mooommmm" in response.Lunch consists of a cheese Togepi on a "ham" sandwich, pokeball apple, grapes, carrots, and cherries. Kidlet requested the Togepi because he recently caught one in his game. Fun!

Tutorial: Apple Bunnies

Start out with an apple slice and make a score mark across the apple at a slant

Make an identical score on the other side of the apple. This will form a point

Slip your knife under the apple skin and slice up to the point of your triangle

Remove the triangle of skin leaving your little bunny ears.

You can now soak the bunny in ice water with a little lemon to prevent browning and to help the ears curl. I just rub my down with a little lemon juice because the Kidlet objects to "drowning the bunnies"


Apples

DIY Lunchables - Vegetarian style

Every so often Kidlet wants "what everyone else is having". Unfortunately what everyone else is having tends to be something horrible and unacceptable for lunch. However, I think I did an OK job of translating that to bento in a nutrionally sound manner. Could use more veg but Kidlet won't eat veg at lunch. All other meals, yes. Just not lunch. *shrug*

This bento has crackers, veggie protein "ham" stars, cheese stars, grapes, cherries, and a checkered apple.

Tutorial: Checkered Apples

Ah yes, the checkered apple. Kidlet loves them and so they are a prominent feature in many a bento in our house. I get a lot of requests asking how to make them so Kidlet helped me make this little tutorial. They are really very easy!

Start with a slice of apple. Score vertical lines on the apple with a sharp knife. I like to use a serrated steak knife personally.

Next score lines horizontally on the apple skin with your knife.

Use the tip of your knife to pop out alternating squares of the skin. Don't dig too deep or you'll lose delicious apple!




And enjoy! If you're not eating them right away be sure to rub a little lemon juice on them to prevent browning!



Apples

Pizza time

This bento was brought to you by Monday morning laziness. We had pizza over the weekend and I woke up to a bouncing Kidlet who was shouting "Pizza bento, pizza bento". So I attempted to take a piece of leftover pizza and still make it a nice looking bento lunch. Alongside the pizza there is an apple bunny, skewer of blueberries, and grapes.