More Movies

Continuing our movie themes this week. To be honest last night both of us were stumped as to what to do next. Then after chatting with a good friend she mentioned 2 movies we haven't done yet, and 1 we hadn't seen yet.  So first was The Croods which we wanted to see but never seemed to have the time. The second was Epic which we just saw last weekend and loved. I know parents are supposed to groan about having to watch children's TV and Movies but a lot of them are pretty funny even for grown-ups, or maybe I just never really grew up :)

The Croods- Cave Drawings

In this lunch :

• Cave drawings - Peanut butter and jelly on whole grain white rounds, Americolor markers
• Goldfish
• Strawberries
• Carrots

Epic - Leafman warrior and Grub

In this lunch :

• Leafman Warrior on his bird  - peanut butter and jelly and americolor edible markers
• Gold fish
• Strawberries
• Grub the snail leafman - orange

Both of these were very fast, I'd estimate 5-10 minutes each at most. Simple cookie cutters and markers that's all it takes and voila movie preview in a box for lunch.


I am so grateful to be among the very talented blogs in the Circle of Moms Top foodie Moms contest. If you have a moment please click and vote for me. Voting ends June 4th. Thank you for all of your support.

Monsters University

Continuing our summer movie preview guide...AKA movies we can't wait to go see when they come out. We really loved the original Monsters Inc. and cannot wait to see what the collegiate versions have in store for us. All of our favorite monsters are back and funnier than ever.

Sulley and Mike

In this lunch :

• Sulley -
• Jelly toast 
• Mascarpone cheese tinted blue for fur fluffed with a toothpick (Thanks Lunchbox Dad)
• Candy eyes
• Nose - strawberry (darkened with food coloring)
• Mouth - Fruit leather and mascarpone teeth
• Horns - bugles (Colored), on top of Monsters Cheese-its
• Mike - Cucumber, provolone, sugar snap pea (horns and arms), wet veggie smears food coloring
• Watermelon M and U and M and U college pennants
• Monsters gummy snacks (Not pictured...oops see below)

Randall and Mike

In this lunch :

• Randall - Jelly sandwich, fruit leather and candy eye glasses, provolone mouth, colored with food coloring, on top of Monsters University Cheese-it crackers
• Mike - Cucumber, provolone eye, sugar snap pea arms and horns
• M and U Watermelon, watermelon M and U college pennants
• Monsters University fruit snacks

Of course Mike was the first Monster we ever did way back in October. To see that post click here or on the picture.

 Mike and Boo 

Thank you for supporting us through our first year of making bentos and blogging our journey through creative lunch food for picky eaters. If you have a moment please vote for us over at Circle of Moms Top 25 Foodie Moms 2013. 

Mommy's Day out

Tomorrow my friends and I are leaving the kids behind (at school or with sitters) and going on an adventure. I'm so excited I can't wait. We're going ziplining! Amazing views over Lake Travis, and picnic on the beach. A whole day just us girls, fresh air, and zipping through the trees. Since we leave early in the morning I had to make lunches ahead. Here's mine :)

Zippity Do Da Day

In this Lunch :

• Mixed vegetable salad
• Trees - Roast beef trunks and branches, Broccoli tops
• Sugar snap pea Ziplline
• Zipliner - Radish with americolor markers, the wetter the fruit/veggie the more colors run
• Lake - Babybel cheese
• Carrot and Cucumber flowers
• Watermelon leaves

There are only a few days left for voting in the Circle of Moms Top 25 Foodie Moms contest. Please click and vote for us every day until June 4th. Thank you for your support this has been a great first year of bento making for us. I am still in aw of how our little blog has grown and the friends we've made through this creative process.

Despicable Me 2

We cannot wait to go see Despicable Me 2 when it comes out this summer. The DVD of the first Despicable me has been on repeat in the van for awhile now. So for today both kids got a little taste of our favorite characters.

Gru and Crew 

In this lunch :

• Gru - Turkey sandwich on bread thins, provolone scarf, candy eyes, carrots, and provolone letters, food coloring and Americolor markers
• Ba Ba Ba Banana (you're welcome for that being stuck in your head) - Banana
• Minion - Tastykakes Dreamie (AKA Twinkie), fruit leather goggles with candy eye and a little candy melts to hold it in place, chocolate sprinkles for hair, food coloring

Small army of minions and the girls 

In this lunch : Look what I learned from my BBFs muffin tins make great toddler meals when you stay home. A group of bloggers link up muffin tin meals every Monday they are so cute. Check out Muffin Tin Mondays over at Another Lunch.

• Ba Ba Ba Banana...Minion? Banana colored with Americolor food markers
• Minion cake - TastyKakes Dreamie (AKA Twinkie) with chocolate sprinkles, frui leather goggles and candy eye, a little chocolate melts for glue, food coloring
• Carrots
• Minion sammies - Peanut butter and jelly, food coloring, fruit leather goggles, and candy eyes
• The girls lower right section
• Margo - Fruit leather ponytail 
• Edith - Peanut butter and jelly striped hat
• Agnes - Top pony tail fruit leather
• A roll of turkey for filler because he won't eat cheese

 Just 2 more weeks of school and between buying his lunch once a week and the 2 half days plus Memorial Day off not many school lunches left. Woohoo! Oh I mean ;) onto summer picnic food soon, yea that's what I meant. :)

Many of my Bento Bloggers and Friends have been nominated for Circle of Moms Top 25 Foodie Moms. 10 of us in all. Please take a moment and give us a vote. We need your help, everyone can vote once every 24 hours and contest ends June 4th. Thank you for supporting your fellow moms.

• A Boy and his lunch
• Bento For Kidlet
• Bentoriffic
• Bentos on the Bayou
• Biting the Hand That Feeds You
• Family Fresh Meals
• More Than Your Average Mom
• Robot Squirrel and The Monkeys
• What's For Lunch At Our House?
• What's In Our Lunch Bags?

Army of Daleks : The birthday party

Our little blue monkey was destined for geekiness. Beyond our genetic contributions, he was born on May the 4th, a geek holiday paying homage to Star Wars, which we also love, but that's not the theme this year.

I have mentioned that our monkeys are also little whovians. So when Green Monkey got a Doctor Who TARDIS themed party for his 6th birthday, naturally Blue Monkey wanted a Dalek theme for his 4th. The best part is we already had decorations so all we had to do was plan entertainment, food, and get him his own Dalek best friend. Yes he awoke to a Dalek bigger than him from ThinkGeek of course.

For the party we once again went with the gold stars and swirls from big brother's party and the Doctor Who faces taped to streamers, the front door got a Dalek To Victory poster this time around.

We repeated some activities too like "Who are You" mask station, great for impromptu games of freeze tag Weeping Angel style.

"Keep Calm and Color" printable coloring pages from BBC Fun and Games, also where we got the masks which we printed onto card stock and glued to craft sticks.

We had a painting craft station this time, "Skaro Faire" each kid could paint a wooden backpack buddy or toy. These are great little key chains kits you can find at Walmart or similar stores.

But the best was "Pin the Egg on the Dalek" game. We made it using a foil blanket from a race, black duct tape, pipe cleaners, and craft foam. Each kid had a foam circle with their name on it to try and get their dot in between the panels...of course everyone won candy anyway ;)

We also had a magician come perform for the kids, Peter the Adequate. He was hilarious young and old alike loved him.

 Our Dalek gift bags were made using colored paper bags, colored sticker dots, foam craft circle, pipe cleaners, sharpie marker and some glue.

Onto the food, since it was an afternoon party we went with finger foods/light snacks.

• Fruit tray
• Veggie tray
• Meat and cheese cracker tray
•  Pita chips and humus
• Sontaran Corn dogs - little smokies in mini corn bread muffins with Americolor faces
• Eggs Eggs Eggs Eggsterminte Deviled eggs
• Jammy Dodgers - I was thrilled when our local grocery store carried these in the international aisle.

And of course there was cake! Since it's his golden birthday (4 on the 4th) we went with a gold Dalek. I made it using Hershey's Black Magic cake recipe, Swiss Meringue Butter Cream frosting, Dark Chocolate Ganache, Satin Ice Fondant, Chocolate chip cookies (Neck, baked pan style cookie then cut to size), old school candy dots (yes the kind that peel off paper), marshmallows, a cake ball, a gold gum ball, and gold spray from Wilton. The plunger and whisk were the only non-edible parts I found them at Party City and Make it Sweet bake shop.I am never happy with my cakes, even though they taste great and every year they get more elaborate. I am not a baker, or an artist, and what exists in my head is always above my skill set, but I try and the kids are happy. I promise to never become a professional baker :)

The cake ball Daleks were made from an oreo, a cake ball, chocolate melts, pretzels, candy eyes, and almond slivers. Like these from Exterminom. Everyone loved them, in fact I should have made more as we ran out.
We also made many many cupcakes as he goes to 2 different preschools. I fell in love with mascarpone cheese. I made strawberry cupcakes with strawberry buttercream frosting and strawberry mascarpone filling and marshmallow Adipose on top.

For the second school we made Dalek strawberry cupcakes with chocolate buttercream frosting, candy sticks, and red jelly bean.

 We do love a good Doctor Who party. I just wonder who will win TARDIS or Dalek, the battle is still raging across the house. Either way both Monkeys have had a very happy Doctor Who birthday and it was fun trying to make each party unique.

If you missed his Dalek birthday cake sandwich for school you can find that post here.

Happy Towel Day!

A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value. You can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapours; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a miniraft down the slow heavy River Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (such a mind-bogglingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't see it, it can't see you); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough. More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (strag: non-hitch hiker) discovers that a hitchhiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, face flannel, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet weather gear, space suit etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitch hiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitch hiker might accidentally have "lost." What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is, is clearly a man to be reckoned with.
Hence a phrase that has passed into hitchhiking slang, as in "Hey, you sass that hoopy Ford Prefect? There's a frood who really knows where his towel is." (Sass: know, be aware of, meet, have sex with; hoopy: really together guy; frood: really amazingly together guy.)^[3]

—Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

I know I know its Saturday, and for some of you school is out already (lucky). But who can resist a little Edible Geekery? I sure can't. So I grabbed my towel (What? There is one in the kitchen) and prepped lunch for me :). No matter where you might end up, don't panic, and always remember your towel.

 In this lunch :

• Towel - ham
• Hitchhiker's hand - provolone cheese
• Improbability flower pot - broccoli and carrots
• Spinach and kale salad greens
• Restaurant at the end of the universe - cauliflower, broccoli and provolone
• Almonds and pistachios

Here's a look back at how we celebrated Mr. Douglas Adam's Birthday and a Geeky Valentine : Click for lunch details and original posts.

Don't Panic!

So long and thanks for all the fish!

If you are up for the adventure, add your own Douglas Adams inspired creations to our Edible Geekery linky below.

World Turtle Day

Today we are celebrating the 13th annual World Turtle Day. Since 2000 American Tortoise Rescue has been raising awareness on May 23rd to celebrate and protect turtles and tortoises.

So we played around with some of our favorite sealife and featured sea turtles in our veggies.

Finding Dori 

 This is our veggie ode to crush made from cucumber and broccoli

Dori, Ray, and Crush

In this lunch :

• Ray and Dori are made from peanutbutter and jelly with candy eyes and food coloring hand painted (sorry no time for cheese art today) 
• Pirates booty sand
• Strawberry clams with marshmallow pearls on top of cherris
• Crush - Cucumber slices and broccoli Florette

Tropical Dreams 

 Sandy beaches and palm trees yes we are ready for summer even without a beach in sight.

Another veggie turtle

In this lunch :

• Pirates booty sand
• Funbites peanut butter and jelly cubes on palm trees
• Clam shell strawberry on cherries
• Cucumber and broccoli turtle on carrots with Americolor marker used for the eyes

 We just did a turtle lunch last week using out CuteZCute cutter for the shell as well. See that post here. Am I turtle enough for the turtle club?

A fellow Bento Blogger and Friends  Lunchbox Dad recently posted a tutorial for his veggie turtles check it out.

Happy World Turtle Day!

Stop and smell the Roses

Mommy confessional...I didn't pack lunch last night, even though I knew we had a busy morning and I had to have both monkeys out the door before 7. To add to the challenge my son wanted a nose for his lunch...seriously a nose. So I went to bed picturing a nose sandwich and then this morning I woke up and thought about Mr. Potato Head. AHA! Perhaps he should stop and smell the roses today.

Roses are Red

Violets are Blue

There is nobody sillier than you

In this lunch :

• Peanutbutter and Jelly Tulip and poppies
• Ham and cheese roses on noses
• Strawberry roses
• Cucumber and carrot flowers and another nose

 You may have noticed a new button in the right sidebar for Circle of Moms Top 25, Some Bento Bloggers & Friends and I have been nominated for Top Foodie Moms of 2013. But we need your help. Please head on over to Circle of Moms Top 25 Foodie Moms and click to vote for us every day.

Three Little Kittens

Three little kittens they lost their mittens, and they began to cry,
"Oh mother dear, we sadly fear that we have lost our mittens."
"What! Lost your mittens, you naughty kittens!
Then you shall have no pie."
"Meeow, meeow, meeow, now we shall have no pie."
The three little kittens they found their mittens,
And they began to cry,
"Oh mother dear, see here, see here
For we have found our mittens."
"Put on your mittens, you silly kittens
And you shall have some pie"
"Meeow, meeow, meeow,
Now let us have some pie."
The three little kittens put on their mittens
And soon ate up the pie,
"Oh mother dear, we greatly fear
That we have soiled our mittens."
"What! soiled you mittens, you naughty kittens!"
Then they began to cry, "Meeow, meeow, meeow"
Then they began to sigh.
The three little kittens they washed their mittens
And hung them out to dry,
"Oh mother dear, do you not hear
That we have washed our mittens."
"What! washed your mittens, you are good kittens."
But I smell a rat close by,
"Meeow, meeow, meeow" we smell a rat close by...

 I don't know if it was all the nursery rhyme bentos from the Bento Blogger and Friends that do Muffin Tin Monday or what, but this was stuck in my head this morning. So I turned to my CuteZCute and found the kitten face.

 In this lunch :

• Peanut butter and jelly CuteZCute Kitten with mittens
• Pirates booty
• Kitty pick is on a strawberry kitten with cherry mittens
• Cucumber kitten details made using the CuteZcute cutter on the peel

I think its hilarious the way my train of thought works at 6am. Woke up with no plan in mind, still hate Mr. Meany-pants alarm clock. First I looked at Green Monkey's library book and thought hmm maybe I should follow Keitha's Chaos's footsteps and do a book lunch, then realized I'd want to do that at night to use more detail. No ok something faster, then Sheldon Cooper from the Big Bang Theory popped into my head with soft kitty. 

Now I know I've seen that theme done before, though at the time I couldn't remember who had done it. So I hopped on my friend Pinterest as I sat down to write this morning and found one from Bento for Kidlet, oh actually two here's the other, and one from Biting The Hand That Feeds You. But that's still not where my mind settled while making lunch. No the mental jukebox played on and while cutting the fruits and veggies the old nursery rhyme Three Little Kittens by Gru from Despicable Me popped into my head next. So how's that for insight into a crazy bento mommy's head?

Giving me an Eyeful

Well the eyes have it. My son certainly gave me an eyeful this morning when I came up with four eyes instead of one as per his request before bed. He did love the green eyes though. He still wants one big scary eyeball and I may do it, but another day. :) I don't know why I got all sorty with the fruit loops either, sometimes I go into a daze and just play with the food before boxing it up.

In this lunch :

• Fruit loops
• Peanutbutter and jelly eyes
• Apple eyes with carrot lashes

I really expected to be asked for a lego lunch as we went to Lego Fest this weekend, but nope after watching our first episode of Supernatural he wanted a big scary eyeball.  I did not deliver scary this round so it can stay in the idea jar in my head for later use.

Star Trek Into Darkness : An Edible Geekery Blog Hop

Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Edible Geekery. Its mission: to explore strange new culinary tools, to seek out new foods and new combinations, to boldly go where no lunch has gone before. Join us as we travel through the dark reaches of fridge space and into the light of the school (or work) cafeteria and warp speed ahead until you dock back here. Damn it Jim, I'm a mom, not a torpedo technician!

The NCC-1701 Enterprise 

Spock: Captain, this ship will not fit.
James T. Kirk: IT WILL FIT, WILL FIT, WILL FIT!
[the ship scrapes through]
James T. Kirk: See, I told you it would fit!
Spock: I am not sure that qualifies.

In this lunch :

• Black beans and rice outer space
• Provolone and string cheese Enterprise - I used food coloring and a food-safe paint brush for the fine tip though you could achieve the same with edible markers

Scotty: The ship's dead, sir! She's gone!
James T. Kirk: No, she's not...

Science Officer Mr. Spock

Khan: Mr. Spock. The mind of the Enterprise. The fearless genius who ensures a calm force of intelligence guides their every mission. But look deeper and you will see an outsider who does not belong, a man of two worlds. This tears him apart, the constant battle between what he thinks and what he feels. What does he do? Does he follow his head, embracing logic and the path of reason? Or does he follow his heart, knowing the emotions he cannot control may destroy him? I will help him decide... 

In this lunch :

• Ham sandwich with provolone Spock
• Wheat crackers
• Carrots and Star Trek emblem
• Star Trek strawberries and blue berries

Spock: I will be brief. In your travels, did you ever encounter a man named Khan?
Spock Prime: As you know I have made a vow never to give you information that could potentially alter your destiny. Your path is yours to walk and yours alone. That being said, Khan Noonien Singh is the most dangerous episode the Enterprise ever faced. He is brilliant, ruthless and he will not hesitate to kill every single one of you.
Spock: Did you defeat him?
Spock Prime: At great cost, yes.

Now travel at warp speed to Jessie at Chaos and Confections and see what  she has discovered.

 

Lunch the final frontier

Ok maybe not the final frontier but definitely the most challenging meal of the day. Bento style lunch has been a great tool to play with our imaginations and get the monkeys to eat healthier foods without getting bored. Some days they are pickier than usual, and some mornings they change their minds after we had a plan in place. I'm a sucker and do as I'm told, yes you read that right, within reason they are entirely in charge of their meals. So today is a teaser if you will for the awesome (yet rejected sniff sniff) lunches that will be featured in our post tomorrow celebrating the opening of the new Star Trek movie Into Darkness.

 In this lunch :

• Ham and Cheese star
• Carrots with Star Trek emblem cucumber
• Star Trek strawberries

Today was also little blue monkey's last day of preschool so we dropped off our last round of teacher appreciation gifts.

The Class Gift - Spa at home

In this basket :

• Oval bread basket
• Beach towel
• Magazine
• Restaurant gift card
• Bug spray
• Sunscreen
• Aloe gel
• Lip balm
• Toe nail clipper
• Nail polish
• Nail brush
• Sunglasses
• Loofa sponge
• Gel eye mask
• Thank you card
• Wrapped in clear wrap and ribbon

Hopefully this gets them on the road to relaxation and pampering this summer after wrangling our silly 3 year olds this year.

Fast Teacher/Office Staff Gifts
It's so easy to forget the office staff or the special teachers but they are just as instrumental in your child's education and really appreciate the gesture not matter how small. This morning I was in a rush (shocker) and I didn't have the flower pots I needed for the flat of flowers I bought, so I punted and found a quick printable on Skip to my Lou and just wrapped it around the delicious frappuccinos, you really can't go wrong with coffee. I figure it will wash down all the sweet treats from graduation and other pinning mommas gifts that were brought in today. :) Simple, delicious, and appreciated.

Turtle enough for the turtle club?

Another random unplanned morning, and the green monkey requested a turtle. I'm still in love with my CuteZcute so I used it again. I have shiny toy syndrome, I get obsessed with my newest toys and use them to death. :)

In this lunch:

• Peanut butter and jelly turtle with candy eye, the shell is the CuteZCute cutter upside down, the rest was free-hand
• Veggie straws
• Grape turtle with cucmber shell
• Carrots with grape and cucumber turtle

Countdown to summer vacation

Our preschool comes to an end this week and only 3 1/2 more weeks of kindergarten so we definitely have summer on the brain. Not that they will all be summer themed some are still just random morning musings.

Panda 

A while back my son wanted a panda, and I made a sorry attempt using my bear cutter, not quite as I envisioned, but now that I have a CuteZCute it deserved a revisit. I opted not to color it and just play with the sandwich stamp feature of the cutter.

In this lunch :

• Peanut butter and jelly panda with raisinets and yogurt covered raisins for his belly
• Cucumber slices
• Apples - I was going for ball shapes to give panda some toys to play with :)

Beach Time 

If you ask little blue monkey what summer means to him he will say its time to go to the beach.

In this lunch :

• Peanut butter and jelly beach ball on a yogurt covered raisin beach with palm tree picks
• Cucumbers wearing sunglasses
• Apple flip flops

 18 school days left for big green monkey, and 3 1/2 hrs left for blue monkey. I haven't done a request post yet, so if there is something you'd like to see us attempt before the end of the year, leave a comment below.