Lunches 9.14.15: Roald Dahl Day Blog Hop

It's time to celebrate Roald Dahl Day again!

We love Roald Dahl around here, and have done lunches and other food inspired by his books for a few years now.

And now, it's time for a Bento Blogger & Friends Blog Hop!

Tortilla sandwich: 30g, corn puffs: 2g, grapes: 3g, apple-banana sauce: 14g, strawberries and chocolate: 6g

The Boy has a lunch inspired by Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  He has an apple-banana sauce pouch, "dressed up" like a Wonka bar, with a little golden ticket poking out, along with strawberries (with chocolate of course!), grapes (because I didn't have blueberries), some corn puffs (under the tortilla), and a tortilla with chocolate almond spread, with a picture of Willy Wonka himself on it, drawn with food coloring.

The Girl has a lunch inspired by The Witches.  She has a "half nibbled" English muffin with cocoa almond spread and raisins around the edges, corn puffs, and a little carrot mouse on top of a bed of lettuce (that could be cress, for the soup, right?), along with "Formula 86" to turn children into mice, which is actually some banana apple sauce, and she also has some strawberries.

Enjoy the Blog Hop - Check out what Cristi over at BentOnBetterLunches has for you, and then hop around the other Bento Blogger and Friends to see the whole group!

Happy Roald Dahl Day!

Lunches: 12.16.14 - Ho Ho Holiday Hop!

It's just a week until Christmas Eve, and the Bento Bloggers & Friends decided it was time for a festive Ho Ho Hop!

The Girl's lunch

Joyful ornament sandwiches

The Boy's Lunch: Sandwiches: 20g, pretzels: 14g, Bean crisps: 2g, raisins: 31g, applesauce: 15g

I used my Christmas ornament cookie cutters to cut the sandwiches, which are chicken and Havarti cheese.  Along side the sandwiches, I packed some Christmas-y yogurt covered pretzels, bean crisps, and a present of applesauce in a mini dipper (I told the kids to unwrap before eating).  The Boy has some jumbo raisins, and The Girl has some orange slices.  For snack, The Boy has a cereal bar (not pictured, 28g).

Want to see what else we have to show you in the form of festive lunches?  Check out how Kathy over at Eclectic Lamb is celebrating, and then hop on through to the other Bento Blogger & Friends by clicking on the buttons on each lunch.  Happy Holidays!

Edible Geekery, the Harry Potter Way: Harry Potter Blog Hop 2014

Both of my kids love Harry Potter.  The Girl has a great Harry Potter birthday party for her 11th birthday (because a kid only gets the chance to go to Hogwarts for the first time once), and The Boy has been working on reading some of the books himself this year.  We read the first one with him, and this year, he has reread the first one, and continued on to read the second one and is now working on the third book.

We still have some wands leftover from The Girl's birthday party..

The Girl was even Hermione for Halloween last year..

When my Edible Geekery friends decided that they wanted to have a little Harry Potter themed blog hop, I was of course all for it.  This is Throwback Thursday Blog Hop, so these lunches were made a couple of weeks ago, and the kids have already enjoyed them.

The Boy decided that he wanted a lunch featuring Professor McGonnagal.  Way to make my life easy for me, huh?  I drew the best portrait I could of the honored professor on a tortilla, using food coloring and a toothpick.

The rest of his lunch was some carrot stick "wands", magical star yogurt cookies, some lentil curls (they look like pig tails, in honor of Dudley), a skull hard boiled egg (I thought it looked like He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named), and some apple slices.  (Because this is a throwback lunch, there are no carb counts - I send an email to the school nurse on the day I packed them.)

The Girl requested a Dobby lunch.  I drew her Dobby on a tortilla with a toothpick and food coloring.

The rest of her lunch is a hard boiled egg skull (hard to get a picture of it, but it was cool - promise), along with some carrot stick wands, a clementine pumpkin, lentil curls, and yogurt star cookies.

Want to see what my Edible Geekery Friends have to show for their special Throwback Thursday Harry Potter Blog Hop?  Head on over to Bent On Better Lunches to see what kind of magic is in store!

Lunches 10.29.14 - Halloween Blog Hop!

Halloween is upon us again, and it's time for another Bento Blogger & Friends Halloween Blog Hop, where we share some of our favorite ideas for lunches to celebrate the spooky season.

Quesadillas: 25g, RealStick: 1g, Blue Corn Chips: 5g, Yogurt Star: 2g, Apple slices: 6g, grapes: 6g

The Boy has some Jack-o-Lantern quesadillas, decorated with black food coloring, along with some blue corn tortilla chips, half a Vermont Smoke & Cure RealStick (BBQ flavor), grapes, and apple slices, and a single yogurt star cookie.  His snack is a granola bar (not pictured, 22g)

I got some great skelaton cutters from BentoUSA, and I used them to cut tortillas for quesadillas for The Girl.  He has a skull, a bone, and a bony chest.  I decorated them with some black food coloring, and made them into quesadillas.

She also has a couple jack-o-lantern clementines.

In her lunch, she also has boo-tiful kiwi slices (don't they look like eyes?), blue corn tortilla chips, and half a Vermont Smoke & Cure RealStick.  Her snack is a granola bar (not pictured)

As a note, my blog post will be live before the hop is, so that The Boy's school nurse can see his carbs in his lunch for his insulin dosage.  Come back after 10:30 EST to see what my Bento Bloggers & Friends have in the way of spooky deliciousness.  Click on the button to see what Beneficial Bento has in store, when the hop goes live.  Enjoy!

Lunches for 9.12.14 - Roald Dahl Day Blog Hop

Tomorrow is Roald Dahl's birthday, and because it is a weekend with no school, the Bento Bloggers & Friends decided to celebrate early with a blog hop.

As a note, I have to post earlier than the others, due to the fact that The Boy's school nurse needs the carb counts for his lunch first thing in the morning. When you click on the button to go on to Bent On Better Lunches, there will be a place holder (and Link Party for Roald Dahl Lunches!) until the other blogs go live, at 10 AM (EST).


We love Roald Dahl in our house and have read most of his books together.  On our recent trip to NYC, we listened to Matilda on audiobook on the drive down.

It's one of my favorite Roald Dahl books.  I love how strong and brilliant Matilda is, and how she doesn't let the horrible people in her life get her down.  Her cleverness and resilience are to be admired.

For the kids' lunches, I recreated a couple moments from the book on tortillas.

"Never do anything by halves if you want to get away with it.  Be outrageous." - Roald Dahl, Matilda

Matilda tortilla sandwich: 20g, lettuce and ranch: 2g, rainbow carrots: 2g, fruit leather books: 23g, watermelon: 5g

The Boy's lunch features Matilda enjoying a book, in the form of a tortilla sandwich with hummus, rosemary ham, and cheese.  The tortilla is on a bed of lettuce, with a little cup of ranch dressing, along with rainbow carrots and some books made out of fruit leather sandwiching over cheddar cheese, and some watermelon in the pink container.  His snack is an Un-Roald-Dahl-ish granola bar (not pictured, 23g)

The Girl has a scene with Matilda and Miss Honey, on the same tortilla sandwich, that I originally made too large to fit into the Easylunchbox.  Oops.

"All the reading she had done had given her a view of life that they had never seen." Roald Dahl, Matilda

I cut it down to fit and put it over a bed of lettuce, along with a cup of ranch dressing, some rainbow carrots, and books made with fruit leather and cheddar.  Her snack is a granola bar (not pictured).

Now, why don't you head on over to Bent On Better Lunches and see what she has in store for you, and if it is past 10 AM EST, hop on through the Bento Bloggers & Friends and see what everyone else has come up with!

What's your favorite Roald Dahl book?

Doctor Who Series 8 Edible Geekery Blog Hop: Lemon Ginger Souffle (plus Doctor Who inspired dinner)

It should come as no surprise to most geeks that there is a new Doctor Who season starting on Sunday, with an all new face for the Doctor, as Peter Capaldi takes over for Matt Smith.

This calls for an Edible Geekery Blog Hop!

Since the kids are not yet in school, and I have the day off from work, there is no call for lunches... so dinner it is!

Now, bear with me.  My Doctor Who references in this dinner may seem a bit of a stretch - but I had to make something that people would eat.  As it was, The Boy refused to eat the fish (soy-ginger cod, from Trader Joe's - Ginger for the gingers), and neither child liked the (Rory the) Roman artichokes, though I loved them.  

Image found on Pinterest

The big hit in dinner was the baked potatoes, to honor our favorite Sontaran, Strax.  I just baked them with some olive oil and Italian spices.  So good.

All puffy and gorgeous

And then, I decided to make a souffle for dessert.  I went with a lemon souffle (because it is zippy, just like Clara), and threw in some crystallized minced ginger, in honor of the gingers in The Doctor's life, Donna Noble, Amy Pond and River Song.

This was absolutely delicious.

Image found on Pinterest

I modified this recipe for the souffle slightly.

Lemon Ginger Skillet Souffle (in honor of The Doctor's zippy gingers, and Clara aka Souffle Girl)

Modified slightly from One Perfect Bite

5 eggs, separated

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

2/3 c sugar

1/8 tsp salt

zest of 1 lemon

1/3 c lemon juice

2 Tbsp all-purpose flour

1/3 c mini diced crystallized ginger

1 Tbsp butter

confectioner's sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 375 F. In a grease free bowl of an electric stand mixer, whip together the egg whites and the cream of tartar on medium until frothy.  Add 1/3 c sugar and salt slowly, while beating.  Turn speed up to high and beat until stiff peaks form.  Carefully transfer the whites to a clean bowl.

Beat the egg yolks and the remaining 1/3 c sugar in the stand mixer's mixing bowl until thick and pale.  Stir in the lemon zest, lemon juice, and flour, mixing until just combined.  Fold in about 1/3 of the egg white mixture, until only a few white streaks remain.  Gently fold in the remaining egg white mixture, along with the crystallized ginger.

All folded in and ready to bake

In a 10" skillet (not non-stick), melt butter on medium-low heat, coating the bottom and sides of the pan when it has melted.  Add the souffle mixture to the pan gently.

In the skillet, stovetop

The edges are bubbly and slightly cooked - time to transfer to the oven!

Cook on medium-low heat on the stovetop until the edges begin to set and a few small bubbles appear.  Transfer to oven and cook until set and lightly browned, about 10 minutes.

All baked and topped with confectioner's sugar.

Sprinkle with confectioner's sugar and serve immediately.

This recipe is a win all around for sure.  I would absolutely make it for a party.

Now, since we have caught up on the current run, and we are anxiously awaiting Sunday's premier, The Girl has decided to watch some classic Doctor Who - she started with Season 1, episode 1.  I love that I am raising a good and proper geek girl.

Older Doctor Who posts are found here and here, if you want to stroll through history a bit.

Come along, Pond

Now, why don't you head on over to the next stop in the blog hop, and see what Jessie from Chaos and Confections has come up with, then hop on through to see the offerings from everyone else.

We are excited for the premier on Sunday, that's for sure!

So You Want to Pack Lunches: A Back-to-School Blog Hop & Giveaway

Though we are still in the full swing of summer, school is creeping up faster than we might like to think about.  With back-to-school shopping comes pondering about lunches.  I assume that you are at least thinking about packing lunches if you are visiting my blog... but who knows?  Maybe you found me by googling royal icing bees...

In honor of the Back-to-School season, I am taking part in a Bento Blogger & Friends Back to School Bento Basics Blog Hop and Giveaway, where we are taking the opportunity to give you some of our best tips for getting started in packing bento-style lunches.

For the most part, my lunches style tends to be on the less-decorative side.  My main tip is to get yourself some good bento boxes.  My absolute favorite is the EasyLunchbox.  They are my go-to box, and I love that they are dishwasher safe and amazingly sturdy.

I also like the Yumbox, especially for younger folks, and I really want to try their new Panino (with larger compartments).

For the larger appetite, the GoGreenLunchbox is one that I like.

Now that you have a box, what do you pack in it?

I love packing fruit.  The kids love eating it, and there is always a variety available.  I always look for something interesting in the produce aisle, and if it is small and adorable, that's even better.

I recently found some champagne grapes at Trader Joe's, and the kids and I are gobbling them up.  I pack vegetables, too, but I know that the kids will eat whatever fruit I put in their lunchboxes, but I will have more luck with different kinds of vegetables at other meals.  Therefore, some of my lunches might look a little fruit-heavy.  Rest assured, my kids are getting vegetables, but maybe just more under my watchful eye.

Packing leftovers - and lots of fruit!

Often, I will pack a sandwich or a wrap, but not every day.  There are times when I pack leftovers, or quessadillas made for lunches, or a hard boiled egg and some cheese... there are a lot of options.

One thing that I like to do is to make a list of available options and post it on the fridge.  I list what we have on hand in different categories - vegetables, fruits, dairy, protein, grain, and other.  The kids like to pick from different categories and let me know what they would prefer in their lunches.

Though I don't normally do a lot of decoration, it is nice to have options for doing fun lunches.  There are some very easy decorative options from Bento USA.  I have a large variety of picks on hand, and they make it simple to jazz up a lunch.

A tiger quesadilla

Another way to make a lunch more fun in an easy way is to use a sandwich cutter.  I just love the CuteZCute cutters - they are versatile and absolutely adorable.

Fun fruit - cucumelon!  And, a silicone cup. :)

A useful thing to keep on hand is some silicone baking cups.  They make good separators, and can add a pop of color.

When I have time, I like to make some homemade treats for the kids.  My most popular recipe is my rainbow pain de mie.  The kids absolutely love when I make this, and it makes even a plain sandwich more fun.

Occasional fun with food art - A Roald Dahl Fantastic Mr. Fox piece of cheese, colored with food markers 

Finally, don't be afraid to experiment!  Have fun, and your kids will be able to tell.  If you want to add more decorative elements, go for it.  Kids can tell when you pack their lunches with love, and that's what counts.

Want to see what other Bento Bloggers think about Bento Basics? Hop on over to Bebento. Before you go, don't forget your piece of the puzzle for the Bento Bloggers & Friends Back to School Giveaway. You need them all to enter and it's open worldwide! Did you know the grand prize voucher can be used towards shipping too?

And if you've collected all the pieces, you can enter right here using the Rafflecopter below! Good Luck!!!
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