Food, Family, Fun.

grapes, blueberries, custard cream cookie, 2 mini bologna sandwiches

Heidi had the same - it's really easy to make multiples of things this way!

Emily's lunch was even almost the same - I just halved her grapes and added a few fishies.

What a fun new sandwich cutter! I have used this a couple of times now but I don't think that I have shared any photos before. The cutter set actually makes several different sandwiches - frog and bear pictured and cat & pig not pictured. There is the option of either stamping out or cutting out the face making for endless possibilities and not just sandwiches. 

Heidi's lunch - not travelling anywhere, just sitting in the fridge until she comes home at lunchtime.

Christmas Crack snack mix (recipe) , strawberries, veggies and a froggy sandwich

I know she'll want some ranch dip and I'll put it in the veggie cup when she asks.

Rose & Amy had very similar lunch items - neither one wanted the snack mix so just fruit and veggies for them

For Rose: Bear sandwich, hummus dip for her celery, tomatoes, cucumbers and carrot coins, strawberries

For Amy: cucumbers, carrots, celery, strawberries and a froggy sandwich

Recently I received my order from All Things For Sale with lots of fun goodies inside. Hopefully it will give me a little inspiration as I feel that the creative juices have not really been flowing lately. Do you ever get in those kinds of ruts? Probably I need to go through and tidy up my bento accessories storage area. That usually helps me get back in the swing of things. You know, kind of like how little children clean their rooms - 10% cleaning and 90% playing with stuff they just found! haha.

These are some items that I used in these lunches today.

honeydew melon, clementine,

froggy cheese sandwich, goldfish crackers

You can find this cute froggy bento, frog lunch punch and picks at All Things For Sale

mini ham sandwiches with frog & bunny stamps

These are new cutter/stamp sets. I think I need a little practice!

Green themed lunch for Heidi. 

green vanilla yogurt with sprinkles in the green cup, honeydew melon,

popcorn with green sprinkles, craisins, bologna sandwich - frog prince

 I started out making her sandwich with the frog prince lunch punch and then remembered that Bento Blog Network has a green theme this week. I have been wanting to participate in those for weeks now but I never remember to get it together. So a few quick changes of plan and Viola! Green themed lunch.

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Also shared on:

Heidi's

grapes, fishies & two cheese froggy sandwiches.

(new-ish frog cutter came from International Imports)

Amy's lunch

grapes, pineapples, two piggy sandwiches

Rose's lunch

pineapples, grapes, frog prince sandwiches

mandarin oranges, granola bites, honeydew & blue berries,

gummy vitamin, frozen frubes yogurt,

frog prince sandwich - yellow sprinkles on peanut butter for the crown

Almost everything was eaten today!

The Frog Prince - retold by Caroline Petherbridge, Illustraed by Lee Nicholls. It's from the UK and published by CYP Limited. This is one of our family's favourite book & CD stories - we normally listen to it in the car.  We've had this version for years now - I think it was our first ever book and CD set, thoughtfully gifted by Nana. Why am telling you about our favourite story CD? Well it's because it's a great set if you're interested and today's sandwich is based on it.

I've had the Sandwishes Lunch Punch set for a while now and everytime I see the frog punch I think of a plan to use it  but then usually end up using a different one for whatever reason. Well today was the day I used the frog lunch punch. It's meant to be the frog prince anyway so that wasn't exactly a stretch - lol.

Amy's Lunch today - planetbox again

in case you haven't noticed we use it pretty much everyday for school.

cucumber sticks, carrot sticks, popcorn, icing flower decoration (by request)

half a tangerine (meant to be the golden ball), pineapple chunks

and the Frog Prince Peanut butter sandwich.

If this lunch was for R, I would have definitely made a cheddar cheese cutout crown. Amy however won't eat any non-melted, non-string cheese these days so yellow decorating sugar it was. I don't think she'll mind eating that :) 

I have been making bento lunches and muffin tin meals for the entire school year but only recently did I begin blogging about them. So I decided to share a few of my past favourites including my very first bentos ever :) I had been looking at some blogs online, and had scouted out my local shops & baking supplies for some fun items. Then I placed an order online for some "fun stuff". It took a few weeks for my order to get here so this was made before it arrived with a cookie cutter that I already had and some cupcake picks I found in the baking aisle of a local store.

Amy's first ever bento made during summer holiday 2010

as a "practice run" before starting the school year.

Then I did a little more blog surfing, local shopping (found a large set of animal cookie cutters!) and then dug out some silicone baking cups that I had, and made these for the girls' lunch.

Amy: Caterpillar Lunch

 PB Caterpillar sandwich, ants on a log, carrot sticks,

butterfly crackers, blueberries & strawberry ( I was attempting a flower!)

Rose: Crocodile Lunch

 PB crocodile sandwich in a swamp of goldfish,

mixed berries, carrot sticks, string cheese, grapes.

The next day I made these. This was the first time packing them up and taking them out with us. Previously we were just eating lunch at home.

They travelled better than I expected!

Amy: Seahorse lunch

Ham seahorse sandwich, string cheese, carrots,

watermelon & blueberries, apple cinnamon mini muffin, grapes.

Rose: Froggie Lunch

Cheese froggie sandwich, grapes, string cheese & carrots,

apple cinnamon mini muffin, watermelon & blue berries.

Then finally one of my orders came so we had actual bento boxes to use.

 I made these that same day!

Amy: Butterfly Lunch

Butterfly crackers & cheese, grapes, cucumber slices, raspberry & black berry ( attempting another flower!), steamed broccoli & carrots, Ham butterfly sandwich.

Rose: Turtle Lunch

I have been getting tons of use out of those animal cookie cutters as the girls prefer sandwiches for lunch on most days.

I still have tons of lunch photos including many Muffin Tin Meals.

I'll get to posting some of them shortly.