0 Bento #276 - Noodles & Wontons

A lunchtime favorite! Chinese noodles with steamed veggies, and chicken cilantro wontons.

Carrots, grapes, and chocolate-covered sesame seeds.

Bento #276 - Chicken cilantro wontons, Chinese noodles with veggies, grapes, carrots, chocolate sesame seeds.

In this lunch:

2 Bento #275 - Bunny Bacon Bites

Simple, yummy lunch - a grilled bacon and cheddar sandwich, cut into cubes.

I bought these carrot and bunny accessories back in the Spring at Dollar Tree.  They are good for a few uses, and so cute!

I have them filled with carrots (natch) and Pirate's Booty! That stuff is seriously addictive.

Grapes and celery sticks round out the lunch.

Packed up:

Bento #275 - Bacon & cheddar on whole wheat, grapes, celery, carrots and Pirate's Booty

In this lunch:

24 Bento #274 - Talk Like A Pirate Day Samosa Brigantine & Blog Hop!

Ahoy mateys! I be welcomin' ye aboard me ship, Black Bread's Revenge! This be the hour for our second annual Talk Like a Pirate Day blog hop! I fashioned a delicious midday meal fer th' hop - a chicken samosa brigantine ship made 'o red bell pepper, cannons 'o organic grapes, a mast 'o bitty organic carrot, starfish 'n barnacles. Yum!

Me ship sails past a tropical island, led by our beauteous mermaid siren masthead. We have a scallywag stowaway monkey lurkin' 'bout th' sword-speared grapes.

Yogurt starfish  'n tenacious barnacles o' chocolate-covered sesame seeds.

YAAAARRR!! Grub up, me hearties! Samosa brigantine all trussed in an EasyLunchBox, wit' a sea lubbin' walrus Squooshi pouch, Choomee Sip'n-topped carrot n' berry smoothie for snack.

Bento #274 - Suhki's chicken samosas, red bell pepper, baby organic carrots, organic red grapes, yogurt stars, chocolate sesame seeds, and organic carrot/butternut squash/berry smoothie.

Yo ho! Next lunch ahoy! Be sure to check out the next bento on me ship Black Bread's Revenge by clicking the pirate flag below!

After ye've sailed 'round this hop, hang on to yer sea legs! Click 'ere to board t'next ship fer another hop on The Flying Lunchman!

If ye liked me lunch, please be followin' Bentobloggy on Facebook! If ye be interested in last year's shipwreck pirate lunch, click here.

Used in this lunch:

5 Bento #269 - Piggy "Lunchable"

First of all, have you noticed my FABULOUS new blog design?!  Shalon Estrada over at Pretty Lovely Design just completed it for me, and I'm super excited to show it to you all.

So today's lunch is in a Planetbox, and I've done it in the style of a Lunchable, but way lower in sodium and all that stuff, and no throwaway waste!

Here we have some Columbus roasted turkey with a piggie sauce container full of dip for the veggies.

The crackers are melba toasts, a couple of mini crispy oatmeal raisin cookies from Trader Joe's.

A couple slices of cheddar cheese cut into a piggie face using a Cutezcute cutter and a bunch of fresh broccoli, and organic green and red seedless grapes.

Bento #269 - Roasted turkey, cheddar cheese, broccoli florets, dip, melba toast, grapes and oatmeal raisin cookies.

  

23 Bento #267 - Egg Salad Stuffed Heart Sandwich and Giveaway!

Yum, yum!  We have crossed over the boiled egg mountain and now Miss E just loves them!  She'll eat an entire boiled egg plain now. I made several yesterday afternoon and whipped them up into a simple, kid-friendly egg salad.  Just eggs, mayo, deli mustard and some minced celery.  I made a stuffed sandwich with my new heart-shaped sandwich press.  So cute!  I also have a collection of new picks, one of which is a sweets collection.

We also have some super delicious and addictive Willamette Valley granola chips!  They sent me a sample kit to try out and the whole family gobbled them down in record time.  In fact, we ate them so fast that they had to send me a few more packs so that I could actually blog with them!  Here we have a mixture of the Berry flavor and the Honey Nut.

Check out the snack-sized bags!  Butter Pecan...my personal fave.  That flavor doesn't last long at all in this place!  Not only is it great-tasting and totally satisfying, but it's filled with fiber such as oats, barley, amaranth and quinoa.  They also use no GMOs in their ingredients (call me impressed!)

Best of all, Willamette Valley Granola is giving a nice big sample kit away to one of my readers! One person will receive a kit with Butter Pecan, Wild Berry, Honey Nut and Vanilla Bean.  I'm trying out Rafflecopter this go-round, so let me know if it works (or not) for you.  

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I received Granola Chips from Willamette Valley Granola Company. I was not compensated for this review, and all opinions expressed are exclusively mine.  Winner will be notified via email, and has 48 hours to claim their prize.  Contest ends at midnight EST on 10/13/12.

32 Bento #264 - Talk Like a Pirate Day Shipwreck & Bento Booty Blog Hop Giveaway!

Yaarr there mateys!  Today be talk like a pirate day!  All ye scallywags be in fer a real treat!  There be TREASURE at the end of this blog hop, so grab yer quill and parchment and use yer letterin' skills to record in yer captain's log the clues on the treasure map that lead to the booty! Persevere me hearties, the treasure rivals ol' Blue Beard's!

(Translation: Grab a pen to write down the puzzle pieces in each blog in the hop!  It'll reveal where the treasure is located. Every blog in the hop has a piece of the map to the bento booty treasure - a giveaway! As you go through the hop, collect the pieces and put them in the right order to find out where to enter! You'll probably need something to write with, because there are 39 blogs to visit, so 39 pieces to collect! (OR print out our handy dandy worksheet!  Click here.) 37 pieces will spell the URL, and 2 bonus pieces with words on them will get you 2 entries to win!  Stick with it, the prizes are AMAZING and sponsored by AllThingsForSale!!)

So, today's bento lunch is a pirate shipwreck in a Planetbox!  Fresh green grapes are on palm tree stirrer skewers.

Next are our inside-out starfish pirates, yaaar!  They are having an altercation amid the palm trees.  With pretend plastic swords, of course!

The buzzword of the day in cucumber.

A treasure map hard boiled egg!  With the obligatory dagger thrust through the X on the map.

Details on my most awesome pirate ship centerpiece.  With a sneaky monkey and a Siren mermaid in the waves!

A tropical banana snack in a festive pirate sack.

Isn't it fun with the pirate parrot napkin and mermaid Sigg water bottle??

Bento #264 - Cheddar on whole wheat, organic cucumber, hard boiled egg, green grapes and yogurt star.  Snack - Banana.

Okay mateys! This here's my piece o' the map!  Hurry and collect them all, the treasure hunt ends on Sunday, 9/23 at the stroke of midnight!  

If you liked this lunch, please follow my blog here, and Like Bentobloggy on Facebook!

To find your next map piece, click here to visit Myra at Mommy and Me Lunchbox!  Happy huntin' mateys!

Print out the treasure hunt worksheet here.

5 Bento #263 - Salami Sandwich & Grapes

Hellooo there!  I'm finally getting back to the land of the living!  I've been battling a severe chest cold, and I'm finally starting to feel better.  Of course I never stopped packing lunch for Miss E, but I just didn't have the energy to document.  We've also been really busy getting new furniture and moving all sorts of stuff around, getting the nursery ready for baby's arrival in a few months, so it's been rather hectic.

Today I made a hard salami and cheddar pocket sandwich with The Pampered Chef Cut-N-Seal tool.

Ella asked if she could have salami every day.  I replied that I didn't think her doctor would approve of her cholesterol levels if I did.  Funny story - last year at her 5 year check up she had to have the obligatory cholesterol blood test.  The nurse came back and told me that her cholesterol was really high, and was rather concerned.  It struck me suddenly that on the way to her appointment she had grabbed a container of sliced salami and had eaten all of it moments before arriving. I swore that it was just an anomaly and she didn't actually eat cured meats all day long!  They had me bring her back in a week for a re-test, and naturally her levels were completely normal, but how embarrassing!

In the small container we have fresh green grapes and sliced orange bell pepper served with ranch dip.  I'm giddy with excitement over my new EasyLunchboxes Mini Dippers that just arrived in the mail!  They are the perfect size for dips and sauces, and have a leak-resistant top.  Yay!  They come in a package of 8, so lots of bang for your buck.

With tops affixed.  It's a princess-y kind of day.

Bento #263 - Salami and cheddar sandwich on wheat, Goldfish crackers, bell pepper, grapes and ranch dip.

11 years, never forget.

4 Bento #239 - Green Eggs & Ham

That's a green egg!  This is Dr. Seuss week, and also the debut of the new movie The Lorax (which we can't wait to see!)  I made these eggs very simply with some prepared basil pesto. Delicious!  I couldn't bear to color the "ham" green, (it's actually pastrami) so it appears here au naturale.

Bento #239 - Basil pesto deviled eggs, pastrami, carrot coins, and grape skewers.  Snack - organic peanut butter pretzel bites and mandarin orange.

3 Bento #236 - Three's Company! (Teacher Lunches)

...aaand I'm spent.  Maybe this should be titled Bento #236-7-8? I happily volunteered to do our teacher appreciation lunch yesterday.  I wasn't initially going to do bento boxes, but I remembered I had recently picked up these two large snap-style boxes which are really cool.  I cracked them out of their packages and went to town.  I didn't want to make them too cutesy, but I also wanted them to be a little fun. :-)

First, Ella's lunch.  I gave her chicken teriyaki pineapple and jasmine rice leftover from dinner, as well as a jasmine flower onigiri.

Flower cucumber centers!  And grapes!

The teacher lunches were both the same, with jasmine rice, (and a flower onigiri each) sauteed spicy Italian chicken sausage, roasted mixed veggies in balsamic butter sauce, and fresh grapes.  The three savory ingredients were meant to be able to be mixed with any one of the other items, if desired.  I gave them each a couple of deco picks to keep if they wanted.  The boxes were also theirs to take home!

There was also lemon creme cake for dessert.  I was at a loss as to what to pack it in, so I channeled my inner [misfit] Martha Stewart and used some large cello bags, and tied them with ribbon.  I also added a pink fork to each bow, but I didn't get a pic of that (of course.)  Probably not the most practical way to eat cake...but it's cake!

All together now!

I LOVE the carrying handles on these!  I hope I can find more the next time I go back to Super H Mart.  Before anyone asks me where to buy them...I looked everywhere on Google and could not find anyone who sells this particular box.  It's a Korean brand called KumHo Chemistry/Komicomo Wellbeing Brand and the box is called Quarter Lock.  Do let me know if you come across it!

All packed up in an Easy Lunch Box cooler.  Fit both of them PERFECTLY!  I can't get over how roomy they are.

Anyway, I hand-delivered the boxes that morning.  Hope they enjoyed them!  Ella got a kick out of having almost the same lunch as her teachers. :-)

Bento #236 - [Ella] Aidell's teriyaki pineapple chicken meatballs, jasmine rice and caramelized onions, grapes, and cucumber flowers. Snack - Clemetine (not shown.) [Teachers] Spicy Italian chicken sausage, jasmine rice, grapes and roasted veggies in balsamic butter.  Dessert - Lemon creme cake.