I'm a slacker

For the past few days it has been between 101° - 105° here. It's hot. I'm from the north and can not function in this heat. Hopefully that explains my lack of posting. It's just too hot to not sit directly under an air vent. Lame, I know.

I'm kinda embarrased by today's bento. Big A insisted that I draw on the cheese that topped the sandwiches even though I explained cheese and food markers do not work well. Oh well, whateves I don't have to eat it.

He had
mini jelly sandwiches
cheese toppers
cereal bar
2 sausages
tomatoes
blueberry applesauce
and some oranges.

Of course the tomatoes went uneaten

Everything was devoured, except the tomatoes. So I was pretty jazzed. 

Since it's Wednesday, we go to the pool after camp. I couldn't being the usual snack of fruit because I was picking up a friends kid who is one picky eater. Instead we all has some yogurt covered raisins, veggie sticks (minus Big A he had a cereal bar) and some fruit cookies. Just the right amount of food to keep them fueled for cannon balls without the tummy cramps ;) 

Your kids have nerdy parents when..

I was beyond excited to get Star Wars bento accessories, and over the moon when I found the cutest Star Wars box the other day. I knew I had to use them for Monday Madness.
I don't have any Star Wars cutters, that needs to change, so I had to work around that. Hopefully it works. The husband approved and even told me how he wanted the sandwich decorated ;)


Big A has
Cream cheese and jelly death star
1/3 organic pop tart
Sausage link
1/2 fruit cup
Chocolate granola crunch thing
Cheese sabers
Cucumber stars
and a few fruit snacks

I am in love

I couldn't help but use that fabric. This totally makes my day. I think after this I shall geek out at least once a month. Sounds good right? 

Bento making 101

Making bentos can be as simple or complicated as you want. I like a middle of the road approach. No crazy layouts and a little more than a simple sandwich thrown into a box.
To make simple bentos like I one I showed you in my previous post you need

1. a box - more on those later 
2. some cookie cutters
3. a pairing knife 
4. cupcake liners - I like silicone vs papers
5. cool candy eyes - these are less than $2 at big box stores 

See? No need to spend a ton of money to make cute lunches. I told you, you have all this stuff don't you? Well, minus the candy eyes.

While you gather your stuff and imagine what you can create take a gander at Bento USA and drool over all the amazing things they have for amazing deals and  I will work on showing you some amazing boxes that I am dreaming about.

Deal? K.

Bento love and it's starting to take over

My first exposure to bentos was when I was in High School and would watch Anime cartoons where all the cool kids would randomly eat bentos. I had no idea what they were called, but remembered the cuteness and that I would totally want one if I ate fish.
Fast forward a good long while and my eldest man child (Big A) was about to start summer camp and I had to pack him a lunch. EEK. What was I supposed to do?!? We feed our kids as unprocessed and natural as possible on a single income and packed lunches were anything but that. I mean, Kids Clif bars are candy to my kids, and melon balls are desert in the T household. How was I supposed to pack that in a brown bag ?
Cue the interwebs!
And then, after a ton of insanely complicated lunches, I found Bentos! After that, I never looked at a brown paper bag again.
So what exactly is a bento? Well my friends, a bento is a single portion of a meal in a cute little box and is uber popular in Japan. All the food groups are there, and everything is made in pretty shapes so your kids will actually *try* that cucumber or bell pepper you have been badgering them about.

They saved my life. Really, Bentos were a sign that I could keep my kids eating habits up at camp and not spend a gillion dollars.

What kid wouldn't want to eat a cute kitty sandwich for lunch? 

I'll go over what exactly you need in the next post, and I guarantee you you have most of what you need in your kitchen already.