Valentine's Hop 2014

This post contains a small collection of lunches featuring hearts that I packed on dates in January or February of this year. The post is part of a Bento Bloggers and Friends Blog hop so be sure to click the button at the end of the post to visit the next site.

The first lunch is one my daughter had Monday of this week. Packed in a two tier pink bento box, she had cucumber slices on a white heart pick, carrots, cheddar cheese cut in heart shapes, grapes on heart picks, a Milano cookie, a few Cheez-Its in a narrow pink silicone oval, a small container of sunflower seeds, and a peanut butter sandwich stamped with a Love You conversation heart press.

On Tuesday, I used a different two-tier pink box for her lunch. She had carrots, apple slices, Cutie slices, orange pepper cut into hearts, ham pieces in a pink heart silicone container, sunflower seeds in the small white container, a few mint white chocolate chips, strawberry heart-shaped Jello, and Goldfish in a plastic heart container that I saved from a Valentine last year. 

 

I added a heart die-cut to the lid of the bento box. This was packed with a Valentine's napkin and a small little fork for the ham.

Earlier this year, my husband and I had matching lunches for work packed in Easy Lunchboxes. We had turkey on whole wheat pitas, blueberries on heart picks, a Milano cookie, Cheez-Its and sunflower seeds in the heart-shaped containers, with veggies and fruit in the two side compartments.

The next bento was from earlier in the month. My daughter had cucumber, carrot, and pepper slices along with grapes, blueberries, and cherries on a long red, heart pick in the bottom tier. The top tier held crackers, a small heart-shaped Dove chocolate, almonds in the small container, and a stamped peanut butter sandwich. I included a "Love" decoration on the top of the box.

The last bento for this post was packed in our pink Sassy box. She had carrots, pepper slices, snap peas, Goldfish, a Dove chocolate, sunflower seeds in the small pink container, a Babybel, blueberries on a "so sweet" pick, Cutie slices, and small heart-shaped, sealed  peanut butter sandwiches.

To try to keep the little sandwiches from drying out, I placed them in a small inner container and closed it with a lid. I was glad to find one that fit the sandwiches and allowed the box to close easily. I also tucked a little note under the bento band.

Thanks for viewing my Valentine's lunches. Please click the button below to move to the next lovely lunch blog, Lunches Fit for a Kid, in this hop.

2014 Winter Olympics Blog Hop

Today's post is part of a Blog Hop featuring lunches related to the 2014 Winter Olympics. I have been excited about preparing for this, especially since we have been out of a regular schedule the last few weeks due to weather-related school cancellations and sickness. But, this week school was open every day, so I was much more motivated to pack fun, tasty lunches.

Speaking of snow days, I recently remembered that I spent quite a few of those watching Winter Olympic events. Ice skating, bobsled, and luge are some of my favorites. I have happy memories of watching those at home and at my babysitter's as a kid.

This first bento was prepared in our blue Sassy box for my daughter's lunch. She had mini peanut butter sandwiches shaped and stamped to resemble three of the Sochi Olympic mascots (polar bear, leopard, and hare) sitting on a bed of "snow" (Pirate's Booty). She also had cucumber slices, carrots, celery, blueberries, grapes, and strawberries with a USA pick. For treats she had a Milano cookie and a gold "medal" chocolate.

For an evening craft, we were making paper dolls from a little book she received at Christmas. I found the three closest to the mascots and created little bronze, silver, and gold medals. I then wrote a little note for my daughter on the back. She was excited about the medals - to her they were "fancy necklaces" :)

The next bento, in a Sistema box, was for my son's breakfast at daycare. In USA-themed colors, he had Frosted Mini Wheats, Cutie slices, cucumber, strawberries, blueberries, and grapes. This was packed along with a yogurt tube and applesauce.

That day, my husband and I had matching bentos packed in EasyLunchboxes. We had tomatoes and cucumber on long star picks, celery and carrots, a Cutie, grapes, and blueberries in star-shaped silicone cups, Cheez-It Snack Mix with a star-shaped pretzel on top, and curry chicken salad in a red silicone cup with a star pick. I also packed a whole wheat pita to go along with the chicken salad.

I included star (winners) napkins and selected my red and blue EasyLunchbox lids to match the theme of cheering for the USA's Olympians.

My daughter's snack was also packed with a red, white, and blue theme in mind. She had Frosted Mini Wheats, Cutie slices, a string cheese, and grapes and blueberries on a red heart-shaped pick.

On another day this week, my daughter had a USA themed lunch featuring sushi rice shaped into stars, a Babybel cheese, ham cubes with a heart flag pick, Cheez-Its, and grapes on star picks. This was packed in a single layer of our blue Bentgo box.

That same day, I packed lunches for work in our Planetboxes. My husband and I had blueberries and strawberries with a star-flag pick, turkey rollups, raspberries in a blue star-shpaed silicone cup, a gold "medal" chocolate, chipotle-lime cracker chips, and white chocolate covered pretzel rings arranged and colored with food safe markers to resemble the Olympic rings. My husband's lunch had a tiny American flag.

And, mine had a tine little white hare similar to the Sochi hare mascot.

That same day, my son's daycare breakfast included strawberries, blueberries, a piece of granola bar, snowflake-shaped Ritz crackers, and yogurt covered raisins.

On another day of work lunches, I decided to feature the events. I liked the simplicity of the event logos this year so I printed some and made small picks of each event.

 I also replicated the logos for bobsleigh and speed skating using Jello.

These pictures show the complete assembled lunches. We had curried chicken salad on a ciabatta roll with fruits and veggies on the side. Sochi is spelled out in the small cookies.

The last lunches were created with an emphasis on Winter Olympics. In Bynto boxes, we had turkey rollups, snack mix below the large snowflake cutout, berries on snowflake picks, veggies with Sochi spelled in alphabet picks, a Cutie, and strawberries.

My daughter's lunch that day was also Winter themed. She had Pirate's Booty "snow", mini fudge cookies with a flag ring, strawberries, carrots, celery, blueberries on a snowflake pick, ham pieces in a blue star cup, and a Babybel.

Lastly, I used silicone cups in the colors of the Olympic rings one morning for my son's breakfast at daycare and for my daughter's morning snack. My daughter had blueberries in the blue ring, chocolate chips for the black ring, red grapes in the red ring, Goldfish in the yellow ring, and cucumber slices in the green ring. 

My son had grapes in the blue ring, raspberries in the black ring, snowflake crackers in the red ring, yogurt covered raisins in the yellow ring and blueberries in the green ring. He also had yogurt (not pictured).

I had fun packing these Olympic-themed bentos this week and I am looking forward to watching some of the events. Please click on the button below to visit the next stop on the blog hop at Eclectic Lamb. I am sure you will want to see how she has incorporated the Olympics into bentos.

A Lovely Lunch for February

This lunch full of hearts was something I packed for my husband on Valentine's Day 2013. I started this post on that day and never got back to it. Oh well, it is perfect for sharing now at the beginning of this February. He had a heart-shaped turkey sandwich topped with a Love decoration, Goldfish in a pink heart cup, a mini pink cupcake with heart-shaped sprinkles, heart-shaped marshmallows, and heart-shaped candies in the treat section.

 He had heart-shaped strawberries, a hear-shaped piece of apple, and grapes on a pink heart pick.

 He also had a pasta salad filled with hearts. It included rotini noodles, cherry tomatoes, and heart-shaped celery and peppers. Outside the pasta salad were mini heart-shaped cucumber pieces.

 I had included the little red fork because it matched the Valentine's theme, but I later realized it wasn't too realistic or useful when a lot of the pasta salad came back uneaten and he explained that he couldn't eat fast enough with that little fork.

I placed a paper heart on top of the lid of the pasta salad container and included a napkin decorated with hearts. I remember that this lunch was fun to make. It was packed in our Planetbox, which is one of my favorites for adult lunches.