3 All Thumbs

Hi guys!  I had to take a little break from making lunches and excessive typing early this week.  I was invited to do some bento demonstrations and show my Stella & Dot jewels with my mommy group at a friend's house on Sunday evening. During my very first bento demonstration of an Aussie apple, (which is normally a very non-dramatic event) I cut myself.  Badly.  The apple slicer I was using completely broke apart as I was pushing down on it.   I received nearly identical lacerations on both my thumbs and palms, three on each.  Yikes!  I spent the balance of the evening in the emergency room getting stitches, which was such a bummer.  My left hand, which took the brunt of the force, is especially sore and bruised black and blue from my wrist to above my first knuckle.  Not pretty in the least.  The picture below is one that my friend's husband took after we hightailed it to the ER.

As a sort of funny/crazy aside, on the way to the hospital, our friend who drove behind my car broke down half way there, and we had to pull over and wait until she could call for help!  All I could do was laugh at the situation and try to keep my upholstery clean.  Anyway, I'm grateful my thumbs are still attached, (yay, I needed those!) that there were no children present, and that I had some wonderfully capable and caring friends to do what needed to be done.

6 Bento #216 - Frog Prince Sandwich & Edamame

I just love these Lunch Punches!    This one is a frog prince, though I wish the features showed up better in the pictures.  Super cute.   As you can see below, I did an inside-out layered sandwich with 36 16 grain bread (doesn't it seem like they are now putting out bread with crazy amounts of grains?  This one was dropping flax seeds and nuts all over my counter.)

Edamame and some berry Yogurt Stars.

Ninja Aussie apple.

And all packed up in her PlanetBox.

Bento #216 - Whole grain bread and Colby cheese sandwich, berry Yogurt Star cookies, edamame, dried cherries and vitamins.  Snack - Aussie apple.

2 Bento #167 - Mini Meatballs & Puzzle Class Snack

We have a smallish bento today, since it's a special day at school - 'Grandfriends' day.  Not only did we bring a special class snack for the kids and visitors, but my parents, Ella's Mumu & Obbie are visiting from Maryland!  We are so excited that they were able to come for a nice visit.

Here is our class snack (plus two other trays not shown) - they are just simple cheese sandwiches cut out with the puzzle Lunch Punch Match & Munch cutter, and assembled  using their nifty puzzle diagram (which had my mom and I scratching our heads more than once!)  Their's looks a lot nicer than ours, that's for sure, but it was still pretty neat.

Bento #167 - Mini meatballs, steamed organic broccoli, mini pretzel sticks, salad cream, and an almond butter-stuffed Aussie apple.

Enter the AllThingsForSale bento giveaway here!

2 Bento #138 - Ham & Cheese Sushi

So, getting back into the swing of things!  Today we have ham and cheese "sushi" rolls, along with veg and some really yummy dipping sauce I made from this amazing new spice blend I've recently had a chance to try called Primo27, which is getting it's own post in just a bit.

I'm also extremely excited to be invited to take part in an upcoming collaborative event between E's school and our local Harry's Farmers Markets.  Perhaps some bento demos are in my future....  Can't wait to share more once the details are known!

Bento #138 - Ham & cheese on a flour tortilla, celery sticks, Primo27 dip and an Aussie apple.

12 Bento #133 - Double Noodle Bento

This double bento is from Friday evening.  We took E to have an evening playdate with our friend's daughter K (while we parents went to dinner AT the movie theatre) so I made them noodles and wontons.  They are just regular ramen noodles, but I always make the sauce that seasons them myself and throw the powder packet away.  There is way, way too much sodium and MSG in those things!  It's just soy sauce, garlic, ginger, dash of rice wine vinegar and toasted sesame oil, and some pepper.  Sometimes I get a little wild and add a dash of fish sauce and some sliced green onions.  I would normally add some frozen veggie mix (peas, carrots, corn, etc.) but Miss K is a little finicky, so I held off.  Of course, the animal chopsticks make it extra fun.

Bento #133 - Chinese noodles, chicken-cilantro wontons, yogurt stars, edamame, and an organic peanut butter-stuffed Aussie apple (not pictured.)

2 Bento #124 - Mac & Ham Flowers

Miss E requested her favorite organic mac n' cheese for dinner, and some went into this bento.  It's topped with cucumber and ham flowers.  The celery is topped with peanut butter and chopped pecan pieces for a nice crunchy bite.

Bento #124 - Organic mac n' cheese, cucumbers, ham, Aussie apple, celery and peanut butter pecan sticks.

3 Bento #114 - Wontons & Aussie Apple

We had another really fun day yesterday.  We went with a bunch of E's school friends to The Art Barn at Morning Glory Farms, and it was a hit!  The kids got to brush, pet and hold lots of different farm animals, do a fun art project, and have a couple hayrides.  I even saved a child from a giant daddy long-legs skittering over her back (*silent scream*)  When it comes to kids, my mama instincts kick in and I jump to action, but if I'm by myself I seem to freeze in hysteria or shriek for my husband to come save me.

I packed this lunch for her to eat while we were there.  The apple is so neat!  I've seen these a few times lately on other bento blogs, and it's called an 'Aussie Apple'.  You just carefully slice the apple however you want it, and then put all the pieces back together and secure it with a clean rubber band, so all the slices stay crisp and fresh.  It worked really well in my deepest bento box, especially because this was quite a small apple.

Bento #114 - Pan-steamed chicken cilantro wontons, raisins, baby carrots, 1/2 potato bread roll, and an Aussie apple.