17 Bento #240 - Dr. Seuss Bento Blog Hop The Lorax & Oh The Places You'll Go

As I mentioned in yesterday's Green Eggs & Ham post, this is Dr. Seuss week!  Some of my fellow bento-making-mamas have decided to do a Dr. Seuss-themed blog hop, so mosey on over to Nina's Mamabelly's Lunches With Love blog and see her Seuss bento too!

First of all, I want to thank my husband for making these most adorable humming-fish drawings on my pink-dyed gyoza.  I tried my hand at some, and they were atrocious.  I freely admit to stashing those rejects in another container which is also going to school, but in less fancy packaging.  I will have more on the blue rice "water" and my other natural coloring tomorrow, but suffice to say, I am HOOKED!

As you may imagine, this bento is inspired by The Lorax, and this being Dr. Seuss week AND the debut of the new movie with the same name.

I made two different types of Truffula trees, one being of mandarin orange and the other of a crazily-carved Baby Bel cheese.  The trunks are pretzel sticks.  Everything is laying in a pond of blue "water."

I also have a bunch of cherry "balloons."

I also made an after-school snack of naturally colored farfalle pasta tossed with olive oil and a side of basil pesto.  This one was inspired by "Oh, The Places You'll Go"

Bento #240 - Cherries, mandarin orange, pretzel sticks, jasmine rice, Baby Bel, and chicken gyoza.  Snack - Farfalle in olive oil and basil pesto.

Now don't forget to check out Nina's Mamabelly's Lunches With Love blog and see her Dr. Seuss bento too!

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.

5 Bento #229 - Gyoza & Baby Bel

More Baby Bel!  I got myself an X-Acto knock-off (hello, it was PINK and retractable) and so I experimented a little.  I used some deco cutters to make a light imprint in the wax, and then traced it.  It's really not precise, but I think I just need some practice.  Or have my hubby do it.

And *gasp* another chocolate treat!  I fully blame my mom for this.  She sent us a HUGE - and I mean massive - box of chocolates in the mail yesterday.  So E got a chocolate nut cluster in today's lunch.

The gyoza are not actually burned, just FYI.  

Bento #229 - Chicken gyoza, ponzu sauce, celery sticks, ranch dip, dried cranberries, Baby Bel cheese, chocolate nut cluster and pretzels.  Snack - whole grain apple snack bar.

1 Bento #183 - Earth Day Lunch

First, this lunch is in a Planet Box, and the pasta is Barilla PLUS with Omega 3s and a lot of other goodness.  I made a huge batch for the volunteers at school, and packed some for Ella as well.  It's tossed with roasted organic veggies in a balsamic butter sauce and Parmesan cheese.

Bento #183 - Vegetarian organic pasta salad, dried blueberries and cherries, pretzel sticks, roast turkey slices and vitamins.

Officially, Earth Day is today, but E's school had their Earth Day celebration on Wednesday, marked with a school-wide parade, awards, booths, activities and presentations.  It's such great fun, and so informative!  This year we had the pleasure of hearing Dr. Marcus Eriksen, co-founder of the 5 Gyres Institute.  He spoke about the pollution, specifically plastic, that is inundating the Pacific with huge floating garbage patches.  He and his colleagues built a raft out of thousands of empty water bottles and an airplane cockpit and floated on it for 3 months from California to Hawaii, braving the elements and studying water and sea life along the way. It was so interesting!  Certainly makes one think twice about using disposable plastics.  One tip he gave which I hadn't even thought about was to skip the plastic straws when you go out to eat.

Dr. Eriksen speaking in front of the Earth Balloon in the community center.

Showing some of the empty cigarette lighters he picked up on remote Pacific islands that wildlife is ingesting.

A sea turtle which grew around a plastic milk jug ring.

 Later I sat with E's class as they ate.  Her friend L also brought a PlanetBox lunch!

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!

12 Bento #140 - Grilled Ham & Cheese Flowers

Here's a little experiment I tried today, and while it's not green eggs and ham, a green cheese flower will have to do!  Going into the new year my goal is to try some new techniques in my bentos, and since this turned out well, my confidence is bolstered.  It was really simple, I just dropped a dot of green food colouring on the cheese (provolone) and used the back of a spoon to coat it all over.  The color takes very quickly.  I blotted up the excess with a paper towel.  Voila!

Bento #140 - Grilled ham & cheese, coloured provolone flower, pretzel sticks, craisins, organic baby carrots and ranch dip.