0 Bento #12 - Fish Sticks

Bento #12 - I decided to try out my mini cookie cutters for cheese garnish on tonight's dinner. Ultimate Fish Sticks (whole grain, whole filet, from Costco, arranged into an "E"), cheddar and carrots. Yeah, it's a little uninspired, but that's because my husband was begging me to come to the table and eat already. The adults had baked tilapia.

2 Bento #11 - Mickey Mouse Nuggets

And so we get ready to start a new week!  This bento consists of Mickey Mouse whole grain chicken nuggets (Costco), celery sticks, spinach & herb dip, grapes and ABC cookies (B-U-D)

1 Bento #10 - Spinach Ravioli

Bento #10 - Spinach ravioli, ants on a log (celery with strawberry cream cheese and craisins), and more craisins. Boy, will she be surprised by the cream cheese! Hope she eats it.

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This was the first lunchbox that came back totally empty - she ate all of it.  I think I need to be packing her less like this, since the class gets a nice snack from a different child every day, which is usually crackers & cheese, yogurt or muffins, so she's probably not terribly hungry when lunchtime rolls around.

0 Bento Supplies

I bought most of these items on eBay - the picks, the silicone cups and the cutter, and the boxes on Disney.com.

0 Bento #9 - Turkey Quesadilla

Bento #9 - Turkey & cheese quesadilla, asparagus & dipping sauce.

This was tonight's dinner. She declared that she doesn't eat meat, or asparagus. I declared that she does eat both, especially if she wants dessert. Ahh, mommyhood!

0 Bento #8 - Underwater Party

Bento #8 - Underwater Party! Octodogs (with smiley faces!) Goldfish crackers in a "pond", carrot "coral" and vidalia onion dip

Case in point - she asked me for smiley faces on her octo dogs today. She's in a MUCH better mood!

0 Bento #7 - Grilled Ham n' Cheese Flower

Bento #7 - star flower grilled ham & cheese, celery, clementine & ABC cookies

Ella didn't really appreciate it today. She told me to stop making faces on her sandwiches, and no more stickers on her napkins :( She had a rough day yesterday, she's had very little sleep and was out of sorts. I'm sure she'll be back to loving the stickers and faces tomorrow :)

0 Bento #6 - Mini Corn Dogs

Bento #6 -  mini honey corn dogs (organic, baked), carrots & dip

0 Bento #5 - First Day of School! Gyoza

Bento #5 - Ella's first packed school lunch, chicken gyoza (potstickers), fresh raspberries, celery & dip, and ABC cookies (E-L-L-A)

School started today! This was Miss E's requested lunch.

0 Bento #4 - Ham n' Cheese Flower

Bento #4 - my take on a fun grilled ham & cheese sandwich in star flower shape. It's not actually burned ;)

Today was meet the teacher day at E's school, so when we got home I made her lunch.

0 Bento #3 - Waffles

Bento #3 - This was Ella's brunch this morning - a made-from-scratch blueberry waffle dotted with fresh raspberries, cubed colby cheese and orange-blueberry sauce.

0 Bento #2 - Animal Rollup

Bento #2 - Okay, I fully admit it - I have no idea what kind of "animal" this might be, but Ella liked it. It consists of bacon mac n'cheese (leftover from The Nook the other day) with sliced chicken nuggets rolled in a small flour tortilla. Raspberries and sliced chicken nuggets for ears, nose and tail.




I know this isn't REAL bento, but it will be more so once she starts school next week and I start packing it in her lunch box ;)

A few days ago I took Ella to the Dollar Tree, and then to Ikea to buy a bunch of bento supplies - cookie cutters, neat cups, pretty toothpicks...fun!

0 Bento #1 - Octodogs

Bento #1 - consists of sliced carrots, ranch, cheese & grapes on skewers and "octo-dogs"

This is my practice attempt at making bento-style lunches for Ella. Amazingly, she ate the "octo-dogs" (hot dogs cut into octopus shape) with gusto, when she has always turned her nose up at them before! She is very excited about me decorating her food. I think this is going to be a great way for her to try new and different things.

8 Introducing...Bentobloggy!

Hi! I'm the mom of 3 year old Ella. Miss Ella will be going to pre-school three days a week this year, a fantastic International Baccalaureate school on 40 acres of land with ponies, farm animals and organic gardens.  It's a wonderful environment for kids to learn in, because they take the kids outside every single day - rain or shine - for nature hikes, caring for the farm animals, pony rides, organic gardening, and just plain fun!   I'm really excited to get started making neat, healthy lunches for her, hopefully ones where she will venture to eat new things. Now, I dont pretend to be an expert in bento (or even packing kid lunches!), and I'm certainly no photographer (so please don't hold too-dark or over-exposed photos too much against me!) but I am creative and I'm thinking of this as my new hobby. Bentobloggy chronicles my adventures in bento-making, healthy foods, as well as my other culinary efforts.

Enjoy, and thanks for stopping by!