Happy Halloween

Today was a busy day filled with costumed fun and of course candy! I love Halloween, even when I don't feel good. I didn't do nearly as many Halloween activities with the monkey's as years past, lucky for me, I'm the only one who cares about that anyway. They had a great night trick or treating with friends and have been spoiled rotten.

One Eyed One Horned Flying Purple People Eater 

In this lunch : In an Easy Lunch Box

• OEOHFPPE - Peanutbutt wings, jelly face with candy eye, candy corn teeth, gummy bone, bugle horn, and ham legs
• Bloodshot eyeball - powdered donut, decorator's gel, M&M
• Monster mouth - carrots and cantaloup 

Monsters Mash-up

 In this lunch : In a Laptop lunch box

• Rice Crisps with Skeleton pick
• Spinach, Almond, cherry, bleu salad
• Skull avocado with colby cheese
• Silly eyes on salami with colby cheese monster teeth
• Cantaloup

 Creepy Crawly 

In this lunch : In an Easy Lunch Box

• Spider web - Jelly sandwich with spider ring
• Ghostly Smores - ghost marshmallows, nutella, and graham crackers
• Carrots with Jello Jiggler spider and web
• Cantaloup - jello jiggler spider on a spider web ring

 Happy Halloween

 In this lunch : In an Easy Lunch Box

• Ghost - jelly sandwich
• Spooky smores - ghost marshmallows, nutella, graham crackers
• Coffin candy
• Spooky carrots with ghost pick
• Haunted bananas with chocolate chips

Two more lunches to post from last week and then we're all spooked out :) Then we can be Thankful for all bounty of candy we have received.

Hotel Transylvania

This past weekend we watched Hotel Transylvania. The first time they saw it they weren't in love with it, and one of the boys was actually a bit scared. This time though they loved it. Maybe it was having popcorn and soda for breakfast but they loved it. Green monkey has requested 2 lunches this week from the movie.

Murray the Mummy 

In this lunch : 

• Murray - Turkey and Cheese sandwich 
• Pyramid - Graham crackers
• Bones - Jello Jigglers
• Mummy - Babybel cheese on top of carrots
• Pumpkin patch - Grapes and cantaloupe

Count Dracula 

 In this lunch : In an Easy Lunch Box

• Dracula - Provolone cheese on a ham sandwich coffin
• Carrots
• Candy bones - From inside the coffin, that I re-purposed to hold his ranch dressing instead
• Bloodshot Eye - Powdered donut, M&M, decorating gel
• Bats - Cantaloupe

The bloodshot eye was actually leftover from little blue monkey's preschool academy Halloween party the day before.

 

Let the sugar rush begin!

Last week's forgotten lunches

I've been a bad blogger, I had made lunches Wednesday and Thursday last week but never blogged them. Now here it is Monday and I have new lunches to blog, so here's just Green Monkey's from last week and I'll add ours later.

Lego Star Wars 

As both monkeys are going as Star Wars characters this year it fit for our Halloween lunches.

In this lunch : 

• Boba Fett and X-Wing fighter - Jelly sandwich
• Cheddar rocket crackers
• Carrots and grapes with light saber pick
• Han Solo trapped in jello jigglers

It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown

One of our favorite Halloween Movies of all time

 In this lunch : In Easy Lunch Box

• Snoopy - Stamped jelly sandwich
• Charlie Brown Ghost Costume - Jelly sandwich
• Great Pumpkin - Jelly sandwich
• Pumpkin Patch - grapes and cutie orange
• Pumpkin Peeps

Halloween is right around the corner. The house is finally decorated...outside, the inside has been scary for awhile, ahem. Pumpkins have been carved. Costumes have been worn 3 times already to various events.

Doctor Who for 3

So keeping with the "new shiny bento tools" theme, I recently got a Doctor Who ice tray from Think Geek. But ice is a bit wasted on my kids who still use cups with lids. So then I thought hmm maybe cheese, no that's a LOT of cheese, then I thought oooh jello, no jigglers! my big green monkey wanted to try strawberry applesauce too so here's how the experiments went.

Daleks! Exterminate! 

In this lunch : In an Easy Lunch Box

• Dalek sandwiches - red is a ham sandwich blue is jelly sandwich
• Grapes and carrots with a Dalek pick ( My awesome friend Princess sent me all these Doctor who thingys to play with)
• Dalek - Frozen strawberry applesauce - Fail - melted by lunch time, bonus fail I forgot to send a spoon, but his teachers got him one so he could try his applesauce, still not a fan even when it was a dalek, at least he tried it.
• TARDIS - Jello jigglers - WIN! This held its shape and was a bit wibbly wobbly fun. So now I've pretty much made blue jigglers out of every ice tray we have muhaha!

Saved by Doctor Who? 

 In this lunch : In an Easy Lunch Box

• TARDIS - Jelly sandwich
• Bow tie - Turkey sandwich with 10th Doctor pick
• Grapes and Carrot with Cyberman pick (Thanks Princess!)
• Dalek - Frozen strawberry dalek - also double fail, again thawed by lunch, and bonus fail since he brought his lunch he sat down, in doing so was not allowed to get up and go get a spoon because yeah I forgot his too, I'm nothing if not fair and balance.
• TARDIS - WIN - He loved his wibbly wobbly TARDIS and wanted more after school, but alas all gone so I'll be sure to make more

Doctor Who? 

 In this lunch : In an Easy Lunch Box

• Weeping Angel (Just for you Princess Don't Blink!) - Ham and Turkey in a carb smart tortilla
• 4th Doctor - Grape tomatoes and carrots
• 11th Doctor and Rory and Amy - Red, green, and black grapes (But not sour HA)
• Dalek - Jello Jigglers
• TARDIS - Jello Jigglers

I used one 6oz box of blue raspberry jello, added 2 cups boiling water, 2 oz unflavored gelatin, and stirred until dissolved. Once poured into various containers (I'm no Martha it was messy) chilled and set for 3 hours...or over night until I packed lunch this morning ;) More jiggly blue fun to come.

New CuteZCute Animal Palz

I love love love new bento toys! Thanks to All Things For Sale we got the cutest new mini pocket sandwich set and some new Halloween picks too. I was so excited to get called in to work today because that meant I got to use most of them in 1 day! usually Mondays are just the big green Monkey but when I go to school...so does little blue so it was a triple header this morning and these were so fast and easy it made 3 lunches a breeze.

Cute Z Cute Animal Palz

Spooky Bats

In this lunch : In an Easy Lunch Box

• Cute Z Cute Bats hanging in their cave - Jelly sandwiches
• Bats hanging on a cheese stick
• Ghost Peep
• Ranch in an ELB mini dipper
• Carrots with Gate pick
• Grapes with bat pick

Cute Family 

 In this lunch : In an Easy Lunch Box

• Cute Z Cute Panda mom with baby, Daddy monkey - Jelly Sandwiches
• Scrabble cheese - its
• Goldfish
• Carrots
• Grapes

Witch way to lunch?

In this lunch : In an Easy Lunch Box

• Leftover barbacoa beef in carb smart tortilla with witch pick
• Edamame
• Carrots and grape tomatoes
• Grapes with spider ring

Simple yet festive. Mondays are like that :)

Anything Goes

Every night before bed I ask the monkeys what they would like for lunch the next day. After they are asleep I go to work. I'd love to be one of those morning people that hop out of bed and get a jump on the day...but I'm not. I'm a zombie, even after coffee, and the monkeys are no better at mornings. So we all take a good hour to get up, fed, dressed, and out the door. So I bento at night. Last night it was 3 lunches for today and a cute snack for little monkey's class. They are on transportation so I made apple and grape cars, not pictured but you know the ones. If you ever see good outdoor lighting...it was probably a sick day :)

Pixar Transportation 

Cars and Planes 2 of his favorite movies in one bento!

In this lunch : In an ELB

• Dusty Crophopper - Low -carb tortilla with ham
• Lightning McQueen - Peanutbutter and jelly sandwich
• Carrots
• Yogurt pretzels

Spider 

In this lunch : In an ELB

• Spider - Ham and cheese sandwich with candy eyes
• Ghost Peep
• Carrot and orange spider

Jack-O-Lantern 

My class is studying pumpkins this week so I played with my food

In this lunch : In an ELB

• Jack-o-lantern - beans with cheese and nori details
• Rice crisps
• Roasted seaweed under everything
• Jack skeleton orange
• Cucumbers and tomatoes

Don't forget to go check out Day 3 of the Bento Bloggers and Friends Frightful Fall Blog Hop. Today begins with Becoming a Bentoholic sure to please and inspire you.

Ghostly fun food

Everyone has their holiday, this is ours. So yes we will do mostly Halloween themed lunches, but will squeeze in some other themes too, monkeys willing that is.

Witches House 

What makes it a witches house? I don't really know but little guy liked it.

In this lunch : In an ELB

• Witches house - Peanut butter and jelly sandwich
• Jack-o-lanterns, Bat, and Cat Halloween gummys
• Ghost peep
• Ham flames in spider chimney
• Spider carrots
• Black grapes and orange with skull pick

 Ghostbusters 

In this lunch : In an ELB

• Boo - scrabble cheese-its
• Ghostbusters symbol - Ham and cheese sandwich
• Grave fruits - black grapes and orange with Gravestone pick
• Carrots

Planes

So i thought it was transportation week...nope I'm teaching pumpkins little blue monkey is on transportation theme this week... Oy!

In this lunch : In an ELB

• Rice Crisps
• Plane - cheese and beans
• Summer sausage and babybel cheese
• Cucumbers and grapes tomatoes

Yesterday I was part of a 3 day blog hop with my fellow Bento Bloggers and Friends. Day 2 is today beginning with One Crafty Thing so please go click through all of them they are sure to be amazing!

Frightful Fall Hop

Braaains, Braains, Brains! Grrrooooaaaan. Translation : The Bento Bloggers & Friends are at it again with 3 spooky days of Frightful Fall Hops. Run for your lives! You can't very well celebrate Halloween without them, they just keep coming, unless of course you remove their braaains. Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, The Return of the Living Dead, Warm Bodies, Zombieland, World War Z, 28 Days Later, Shaun of the Dead, The Walking Dead, and Plants Vs. Zombies, any one you pick the undead are just oozing with blood stained awesome.

Zombies

Kid version : Plants Vs. Zombies

In this lunch : In an Easy Lunch Box

• Plants Vs. Zombies - Ham and cheese sandwich, gummy brains
• Popcorn background
• Zombie severed fingers - String cheese melted into ice cube tray
• Diseased carrots - gummy boogers
• Eyeballs - black grapes and gummy eyes
• Brains snack - scrabble cheese-its and popcorn with a few candy corns

For more Zombies Fun check out these two from last year, click titles to see full posts after the hop:

Plants Vs. Zombies

 (Kid approved Zombies)

The Walking Dead Zombie

(Mommy's Zombies)

 Click the button below to eat through some delicious ideas beginning with Bento School Lunches and creep through all of these spooky blogs until you get back here. Then check back at Bento Bloggers & Friends Thursday and Friday for more scary delights. Happy Halloween Grooooaaaaaaaaaaan...

Click  the button below to continue the hop over at Bento School Lunches

Spider Cinnamon Rolls

This year has been rough on me so I haven't been doing as much as I used to. I do still like to make special breakfasts when they least expect it. Which is any time really because if its fancier than cereal everyone is amazed :) This weekend I decided to spook up our cinnamon rolls. As part of the Immaculate Baking Program I received some cinnamon rolls and I cannot put into words how much my family loves them. from the pop of the can to the final mastication they hound me every minute as to when they can eat.

Directions :

1. Pre-heat oven as directed on packaging
2. Pop open the can and pull apart the 5 large cinnamon rolls
3. Unroll the outer layer and cut into 5 pieces ~ 1.5" each piece, the 6th leg can stay attached just bend to fit
4. Press legs into remaining roll "body"
5. Bake according to package instructions
6. Glaze the head - included
7. Eyes - 2 raisins
8. Fangs - 2 Brach's s'mores candy corn

My kids flipped for these and they were so easy. They fought over the last one and split it.

Momma has to eat too

I teach 2 days a week at my son's preschool, not his class :) God bless those 2 Angels. Most of the time I post all 3 lunches I make on the same day they are made (me + 2 monkeys), sometimes I don't if mine doesn't fit their themes. Mine aren't always as fancy as theirs, sometimes they are "adult" themes, and sometimes its literally "look lunch". These fall into the last category so I dragged my fingers in writing this up.

It's Fall 

Our class was studying leaves this week and they love it when my lunch matches.

In this lunch : In an ELB

• Black beans
• Leaves and acorns - provolone and colby cheese
• Rice thins
• Grapes and heart strawberries

Ode to Starbucks Pumpkin Coffees

Its no secret coffee is my lifeline, and I love the pumpkin flavors.

 

 In this lunch : In an ELB

• 2  green quadrants - rice crackers
• Starbucks cup - Ham with Starbucks stir pick
• Pumpkins - Colby cheese
• Grapes
• Carrot chips

 Even if I don't play with my food, grown-ups gotta eat too. I do love packing my lunch because I tend to eat healthier, and smaller portions than when I graze all day at home.

Spookylicous fun

I know, I know we have 3 more weeks until Halloween, 21 days, but who's counting. We love Halloween themes, I'll try to mix-it up some this month but let's face it there will be a lot of spooky fun things to eat.

Frankenstein 

In this lunch : In Easy Lunch Box

• Frankenstein - Sunbutter and jelly sandwich using our new 3-D cookie cutter
• Edamame
• Test tube - Turkey roll
• R.I.P. - Carrot chips and strawberry
• Skull - Grapes and strawberry

Witch

In this lunch : In Easy Lunch Box

• Witch - Turkey sandwich, gummy eyes, carrot hair, hat pick
• Ghost Peep
• Grapes and a strawberry with a ghost pick

 Frankenstein Cyberman 

*Aside - Every holiday my boy finds a way to work Doctor Who into the more traditional characters. So after the Frankenstein on Monday he wanted to turn it into a cyberman.

 In this lunch : In Easy Lunch Box

• Frankenstein - Cyberman - Turkey and cheese sandwich, carrot arms, 
• Ghost peep
• Cemetery - Grapes and Strawberry

 All of these were very fast and simple to put together, and that's good since I made them in the morning as opposed to my usual night before packing.

Portal 2

My green monkey is always full of fun ideas for lunches, sometimes I don't really know what he means. So he got the sign. After some discussion the monkeys told me about the robots so my second attempt went to little blue monkey.

Portal 2 

In this lunch : In an Easy Lunch Box

• Portal sign - Ham and cheese sandwich
• Portal - Scrabble cheez-its
• 2 - Trader Joe's cinnamon schoolhouse cookies
• Carrots
• Watermelon

Mommy's little monkey helping color the candy eyes and Ritz crackers

In this lunch :

• P-Body - Carb smart tortilla with ham and candy eye
• Atlas - Carb smart tortilla with turkey
• Blue and orange portals - Ritz crackers
• Carrots
• Watermelon balls

 I love it when the monkeys get a chance to help make their lunch, especially because they always bring it to life with action sounds while they help.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2

We had a fun filled weekend full of fun, family, and friends stand-up paddle-boarded through ACL Music festival, indoor skydived at iFly, and saw the new Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2. It was adorable, many laugh out loud moments for the kids and us. I asked the monkeys what their favorite parts were and both said Berry, so we shared him.

Taco-dile Supreme! 

In this lunch : In Easy Lunch Box

• Taco-dile Supreme (or not so supreme) - Carb smart tortilla, smokey provolone teeth, ham tongue, candy eyes. While a great character green monkey doesn't actually eat tacos so he got a make-over.
• Clouds - Ghost marshamllows
• Cheeseburger - Krabby Patty gummy
• Jack-o-lantern and fall leaves - carrot chips
• Berry - Strawberries with candy eyes and a little gel icing for the mouth

Berry 

In this lunch : In Yubo lunch box

• Berry - Ham sandwich, strawberry fruit roll-up, yellow sprinkles, marshmallow and candy eyes, and pumpkin leaf pick.
• Strawberry hearts
• Clouds - marshmallow ghosts
• Cheeseburger - Krabby Patty
• Cheese spider - american cheese melted and chilled in an halloween ice cube tray, on top of Ritz crackers
• Jack-o-lantern and fall leaves - carrots chips, on top of grapes

These were so much fun to make and hopefully to eat. If you haven't seen the movie I hope you do. Something tells me in a few months it will be added to those played on repeat in the van.

I can see the weekend from here

This is really a simple lunch kind of day. I have been burning the candle at both ends and instead of bento before bed have been forced to get up even earlier to bento before school. So apologies for the lack of photographic clarity, my eyes are even blurrier in the  morning and once they eat it well... there are no second chances. But hey they are being eaten!

The Dark Side 

Big Green Monkey is prepping for Halloween

In this lunch :

• Boba Fett and Storm Trooper - Ham and cheese sandwiches
• Han Solo - in cheese carbonite.
• Darth - Sliced apples

Say Cheese! 

It's picture day for little Blue monkey

In this lunch : In our new Laptop Lunch Box thanks to Scarlett's Excellent Adventures First Give-Away!

• Apple smile - Apple slices, sunbutter, and marshmallows
• Say Cheese - Cheese-it scrabble crackers
• Smile Watermelon
• Camera - Sunbutter and jelly sandwich with ham and cheese lens, krave flash, and m&m button

Leftovers make fast lunches 

In this lunch :

• Shrimp salad
• Watermelon
• Trail mix

 So while the pictures are not my best ever the food was yummy and bellies were full, so goal achieved for today.

* Update - The camera lunch  was inspired by some Bento Bloggers & Friends who had their picture day before us. So for more ideas please check them out:

Feeling a Little Lunchy

 Mommy + Me Lunch box

Keeley McGuire

Bento School Lunches

Sorry to add these late, but I didn't want to miss including them because they are awesome!

Eerily Fun Food Begins

October is here, the neighbors are putting out decorations already, my birthday is around the corner, and that means Halloween is coming! My favorite holiday of the year. I love the costumes, candy, and especially horror films. So my kids of course pick up on this and start requesting Halloween themed lunches, not every lunch of course, but a lot. Today's is a simple sandwich cutter but he loved it, and I also put a spooky twist on some coconut macaroons from Immaculate Baking too.

Bats

In this lunch : In our Easy Lunch Box

• Bats - Ham and Cheese sandwich
• Boarder - carrots
• Eyeball  - New Coconut macaroons from Immaculate Baking, with a candy eye. 
• Black grapes with Bat pick

The pre-made coconut cookie dough made these eyes fast and fun. Each package has 12 pre-cut jumbo cookies, you could flatten them but I had eyes in mind so I left them as is. Once golden brown I pulled them out and pressed a candy eye into each one before it cooled completely. So yummy!

Empty Child

It's October!!! It's filled with my birthday, Halloween, and the countdown to Doctor Who's 50th Anniversary is a mere 52 days away. I know some countdown to Christmas, but not in this house, we long for the return of our beloved Doctor.  If you're not a Whovian please enjoy this kid in a gas mask...

Are you my mummy? 

In this lunch : In our Easy Lunch Box

• R U MY (Are you my) - Trader Joe's Cinnamon schoolhouse cookies
• Mummy - Babybel cheese melted in a cake pop mold
• Empty Child - Provolone and ham sandwich
• Planes - Watermelon
• Cucumbers