0 Bento #213 - Fried Rice and Edamame

Last few days have been a little hectic (small cocktail/jewelry party last night) so what could be a simpler meal than fried rice?  It's one of my go-to quick meals.  I almost always make extra rice and keep it in the fridge for a few days in an airtight container.  This rice is made with egg, ham and edamame.

I included a special treat cookie.  I made a batch of these amazing oatmeal cookies at 9pm that night.

Bento #213 - Fried rice, organic carrots, Boursin cheese, grapes and a cookie.  Snack - Banana.

3 Bento #153 - Slider and Grapes

This burger was leftover from lunch the other day at a restaurant. E is still pretty new to burgers, she only recently decided that she likes them.  The cookie is from a batch that E made with her grandmother during the snow/ice storm.  E is in some kind of growth spurt, because she's constantly eating!  Anyone else there with me?

Bento #153 - Hamburger, red grapes, organic cucumbers, dip and homemade chocolate chip cookie.

8 Bento #143 - Veggie Dumplings & Fruit Kebab

Sorry about the glare, it's hard to photograph the Planetbox sometimes, it's so shiny!  haha

Today we have some small veggie gyoza dumplings with a little ducky cheese cutout.  I just got some new kebab skewers, which are actually drink stirrers with the ball ends snipped off so that I can easily slide food onto them, and so that they fit better in my bentos.

Bento #143 - Veggie gyoza, ducky cheese, bunny crackers, fruit kebab & homemade chocolate chip cookie.

19 Bento #142 - Beary Good Bento

Pardon the corny title, it's late and my husband is whistling "The Chicken Dance" as he does the dishes, and it's a bad influence on me.

Yesterday I was online browsing luggage stores and came across this totally adorable lunch bag!  I have a real soft spot right now for owls (E's class is called The Owls and their class mascot is named Whooo.)  This one's by Skip Hop, and has a matching backpack.  Hold me back!  Utter cuteness.

As for today's bento, as the title suggests, I have some cute bear friends holding hands.   Right now World Market has their cookie cutters on sale, BOGO free, and they are the perfect size for a slice of cheese.  I made a loaf of sandwich bread today and that's what the bread in this bento is, Mr. Brown Bear was made using the heel piece.

You'd think that buying a fresh fruit salad is a waste of money on a small scale, however I've found recently that they've been a very cost-effective way of getting a variety of fruit that I'd not otherwise get, especially this time of year.  It's a huge bonus that it's already cut and prepared.  I bought a 2lb fresh fruit salad bowl this evening for $5.92, and I know I spend that much on just one type of fruit, let alone the five or six types that are included.  It just makes sense!

Bento #142 - Homemade bread, Monterey Jack cheese, celery sticks, homemade chocolate chip cookie and fresh fruit salad.

1 Bento #82 - Egg Flower & Wild Blueberries

Today we're going to help my SIL pack up her classroom, so I packed a lunch for E to take and eat there while we work.

Bento #82 - hardboiled eggs with a blackberry, wild blueberries, artisan lettuce, mini oatmeal cookies and banana chips.

Also, this is in a new bento box that I picked up from Niko Niko this weekend.  I'm impressed by the locking style - instead of the handle hinges being the locking point, it's those tabs on the bento box itself that lock into the handles, so a lot less chance for hinge breakage.  I can see this one lasting a long time!

0 Bento #55 - Grilled Turkey & Cheese

It seems to be Clementine season yet again, and I have a few pounds of them sitting on my counter, so you'll probably see a few in the coming days (if I don't eat them all myself first.)

These crispy mini cookies are oatmeal raisin, and I get them at Trader Joe's.  First time I've gotten them, and they smell so good, like nutty Nilla wafers to me.  

Bento #55 - Turkey & cheese melt, carrot coins, Clementine wedges and crispy mini oatmeal raisin cookies.

0 White Chocolate Chip & Berries Oatmeal Cookies

Whew! Talk about a long recipe title!

1/2 cup (1 stick) plus 6 tablespoons butter, softened
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups Quaker® Oats (quick or old fashioned, uncooked)
1 cup raisins, craisins or a mixture of other dried berries like blueberries, cherries, etc.
1 cup white chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350°F. In large bowl, beat butter and sugars on medium speed of electric mixer until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Add combined flour, baking soda, and salt; mix well. Fold in oats and raisins/berries and chips; mix well (actually, at this point I take off my rings and mush it all together with my hands. Much easier this way.)

Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets,

then pat each one flat with your thumb. Bake 10-12 minutes or until light golden brown.

Now, watch them bake.

Cool 1 minute on cookie sheets; remove to wire rack. Cool completely. Store tightly covered.

Serve to little ones on fun gorilla plates!

1 Tinkerbell Fairy Party

So, I went a little crazy with appetizers for this party my daughter was invited to.  The party theme was a Tinkerbell movie party, so all the little girls dressed up as Tink, made beaded necklaces and finally watched the new Tinkerbell movie.

I wanted the appetizers to be fairy or woodland-themed, so here's what I came up with.

"Toadstool" bites - Mozzarella and colby cheese sticks, halved grape tomatoes and a little Baconnaise sauce underneath the caps, on a bed of onion sprouts:

Next, "Bunny" crackers - herbed cream cheese, and mini baby carrots on a whole wheat Ritz cracker:

Initially these "Ladybug" crackers were going to be the herbed cream cheese with grape tomato halves and a black olive half for the head, but I figured it was too many tomatoes for the little ones, plus, E looked at me like I was feeding her poison when she tasted the olive.  So, these morphed into fruit ladybugs, strawberry and grape on strawberry cream cheese on a whole wheat Ritz (yes, some ladybugs stepped out of line):

Last, but not least, the hit of the party, fairy wand sugar cookies!  I almost never ice cookies, so I'm really out of practice (okay, I'm terrible at it!)  They look a  mess, but they tasted good, and the kids didn't care!  I sanded them with a fine glitter sugar.  I did the second pan with just swirls: