Sailboats: #27

What do you do with all the leftover hardboiled Easter eggs? So far, I've made deviled eggs, egg salad sandwiches, and today I've made sailboats. The little sails are made from strawberry fruit leather. In the background are cheddar chicks and sliced kiwi. She has water to drink.

This one took me maybe 3 minutes to throw together while I was chopping up the other eggs to make egg salad. Frankly, peeling the eggs took longer than anything else. Fresh eggs from backyard chickens don't peel the same as eggs from the store that have been sitting around for weeks. I normally make sure to use our oldest eggs for hard-boiling, but we made so many I just didn't bother. Makes you wonder how old the eggs they sell really are, huh?

Hatching Chick: #26

I almost decided not to post this one, but I figured I may as well. My attempts are definitely not all perfect, as this illustrates. The important thing is that Pea likes them and is inspired to eat her lunch. On the left is a deviled egg with an attempted chick face made from carrot and some kind of seed. I can't remember what I ended up with, but I remember that celery seed was too small. I tucked broccoli around the egg to help keep it stable. On the right are strawberries and carrots. I also included some kind of organic juice box that she got for Easter from her aunt and uncle and a small container of ranch dressing.

The Verdict: She said the deviled egg was "too spicy". I apparently added too much hot sauce. Oops.

I Speak for the Trees: #25

I thought Earth Day deserved a special bento, so I give you The Lorax guarding his remaining truffula trees. The blue background is made with sushi rice dyed with red cabbage juice mixed with just a smidge of baking soda. The green field is made with brown jasmine rice mixed with smashed peas. I also added a little coconut milk to all the rice since sweetPea adores it so.

The truffula trees are made out of jicama. The pink one was dyed with beet juice. We attempted to dye the white one yellow using orange juice, but it didn't really work. It changed color a little, but not enough to really tell. I think next time maybe I'll try turmeric. For some great ideas on natural dyes check out this article from Just Bento. I'll probably also use some of those ideas for egg dyeing.

The tree trunks and the Lorax are made out of cheddar cheese with nori and provolone details. I also added little red cabbage bushes at the base of the trees. I got that idea from a post by Anna the Red. Her Lorax is made from sweet potato, which I thought was a great idea. I wish I could have done that, but Pea has suddenly decided she no longer likes sweet potatoes.

How long did this take? A ridiculous amount of time, but we had a great time. Pea and I were having fun with the dyes. It was pretty cool how just a touch of baking soda turned the purple cabbage juice into a beautiful blue. Talk about practical science. We also talked about how making bentos is earth friendly because we reuse our boxes and make our own food rather than using packaged items. I feel like it was time well spent.

Added to What's For Lunch Wednesday. Check it out for more great lunch ideas. :)

Happy Teeth: #24

On the bottom are two onigiri shaped like teeth. They're happy because Pea had a dentist appointment today.  She also had strawberries, cucumber, and cheese slices.

The Verdict: She didn't have much appetite today. She said she dropped one of her rice teeth on the floor. She washed it off, but it still grossed her out so she didn't eat it. (Well, yeah, but good try.) She left the cheese, the cucumbers, and one of the berries. She just said she really wasn't very hungry.

I was happy with the way the teeth turned out though. It was really easy to shape the rice however I wanted. I just put a few spoonfuls into some plastic and mushed it around until it was the right shape.

Bunnies Galore: #23

In our new LunchBots Uno sweetPea has a mama bunny made out of provolone cheese on half a ciabatta roll with cheddar cheese details. She has 3 baby bunnies made out of apple slices. The bunnies (and Pea) are feasting on broccoli, carrots, and blackberries. Those are actually some of the same things the bunnies like to eat from our garden. I tried to make a little barrier between the bread and the blackberries using a slice of carrot. We'll see how it went when she gets home.

I know it's a little off topic from the bento theme, but I wanted to share a fun craft idea. I spent yesterday making these with Pea's class, which is composed of kids ages 3 through 5. I did a lot of helping, but the kids loved choosing the little details and filling their socks with beans. I worked with one child at a time and when he or she was finished, the bunny was supposed to be placed on a shelf until time to go home. Some of the kids were convinced the bunny wanted to spend the day with the child rather than sitting on the shelf. One little girl thought her bunny needed to go to the bathroom with her.

Pea spent a lot of time after school teaching her bunny how to be the Easter Bunny. Apparently "Loppy" needed to go to Easter Bunny school after taking a timed nap. Then Loppy hid plastic eggs around the house for me to find. Then it was my turn to help Loppy hide the eggs for Pea to find.

In other words, it's a great craft that lends itself to lots of imagination. Just make sure to tie the sock closed tightly. I was able to help about 20 kids make bunnies. I think altogether it took about 4 hours - about 2 in the morning and 2 in the afternoon.

JellyBean background

Pea decided she wanted to pimp my blog. She chose the jellybeans as a special Easter background. Then she told me a story about her friend at school that has brought some sort of jellybeans that are nasty flavors that she doesn't even end up eating. I suspect they're a version of the Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans from the Harry Potter series.

Thunder Over Louisville: #22

Thunder Over Louisville is the big opener of the Kentucky Derby Festival. It is held on the 3rd Saturday before the actual Derby race is held. I've gone many times over the years, but we've yet to take sweetPea. Frankly, I'm afraid the long day would be too much for her to handle and the loud noise would freak her out. However, we tend to catch it the day after on the interwebs since the fireworks don't even start until 9:30. The rest of the day is filled with fighter jets and other various aeronautical displays. Some day we'll take her, but this year she'll get to experience it through her bento. :)

We always watch the display from the Kentucky side, but I thought it would be prettier to pretend like we're watching it from Indiana and can see the Louisville skyline. So she has a cheddar cheese skyline with beet and jicama fireworks. The rice is the last of the Forbidden rice. It's packed in our brand new LunchBots Uno.

People keep asking me how long it takes to make these lunches. Really it depends on how detailed I get. This one only took about 15 minutes this morning. I used leftover rice from last night and had already peeled and sliced the beet. Then I just had to slice a bit of jicama and cut all my shapes. Pea stood on a chair at the counter while eating her oatmeal and watched me.

The Verdict: She ate all of it.