Kindergarten Bento - Letter T

Sprout's kindergarten class is learning about the letter T this week, and I promised her a letter T lunch. I'm sick today though :(  If I hadn't promised, her lunch would have been plain like her siblings' (they all took good food, I just didn't add  any special touches), but I did promise, so this is what she got:

• Triscuits Thin Crisp crackers - her favourite flavour, parmesan & garlic - and they're Triangle-shaped :)
• Tan yogurt (she loves peanut butter stirred into her yogurt)
• Cheddar & mozzarella cheese stick Twists with letter T picks in a Turquoise Triangle-shaped cup
• Green & red grapes with a grape Tree in a Turquoise cup
• Strawberries sliced like Triangles, with a Turtle & a Tiger pick
• To drink, she has iced Tea

This is Sprout's brand new green Yubo! I still need to get her a drink holder - she wants a pink one - but she really really wanted to take her new Yubo so her sweet brother shared his green drink holder - thank you Pickle!

♥  ♥  ♥  ♥ 

Don't miss my Yubo Review & Giveaway!

Johnny Appleseed Day Bento

Today, some say, is Johnny Appleseed Day.  Beanstalk wanted to buy lunch at school, Pickle wanted a peanut butter pizza sandwich (it's not what you think) and Sprout & Birdie are both home today (I'll make them apple-themed muffin tin meals later), but Bella said "yes, please" to an apple bento :)

Bella's apple-icious Laptop Lunches bento box contains:

• Gala apple wedges with a caramel dip
• Fig Newtons skewered with an apple cupcake pick
• A few pieces of caramel apple candy corn
• Apple shaped peanut butter sandwiches - the tiny ones were made with the apple shape from a Fall themed mini cookie cutter set that was a gift from Kat of Obento Momma - so cute and they used up all the bread :)
• A few fruit snacks in a little apple cup 
• Cucumber spears topped with one apple shaped cucumber slice
• For snack, an Enjoy Life Caramel Apple bar

Here's everything all packed. Her cute owl print cloth napkin from The Red Poppy cushions her sandwiches and keeps the fruit snacks from falling out. And a LunchBox Love note reminds her of how proud I am of her :)

Click the apple for more bento goodness:

After you read the rest of my post, of course :)

Here's Pickle's peanut butter pizza sandwich :)

Told you it wasn't what you were thinking!

And for my Sailor Boy, leftover ginger teriyaki chicken, bacon horseradish deviled eggs nestled in a garden salad, a satsuma orange, and a Gouda Babybel cheese with a heart shape cut from the wax and stuck on top of the orange, packed in his personal favourite container, EasyLunchboxes.

 I remembered the dressing this time! He got Mandarin Orange Sesame packed in an EasyLunchboxes Mini-Dipper. And a Light My Fire spork :)

Stuff used for these lunches:

Back To School: Yubo Review & Giveaway!

Boy do I have something fun to post about today! A Yubo review & giveaway! I'm so pleased that one of my readers will get to enjoy this unique lunchbox system for free! 

We've been using our Yubo for a few weeks now.  It's one of my favourites to pack, and I think it's Pickle's all-time favourite to take lunch in. He wants to take it every day, but sometimes he has to share with his little kindergartner sister, Sprout :)  Here's a fun Yubo lunch I packed for her:

Sprout has peanut butter and chocolate peanut butter sandwich spirals (a fun way to fit a sandwich in a small space), carrots, pluots, kiwi, yogurt, and raspberry applesauce. 

Yes, 2 runny things! No, I'm not at all concerned about them spilling and making a mess in the lunchbox - the inner containers are definitely tried and true leakproof :) In fact, when Pickle took this Snoopy lunch (below) he dropped it while running across the schoolyard - on the pavement - and everything in his lunch, including the yogurt, remained intact! 

The Yubo lunchbox is made up of the lunchbox frame, handle, outer walls (or lid and bottom if you prefer), and 2 faceplates. The handle can be attached anywhere along the outer frame. The faceplates can be changed, and Yubo has many to choose from, including holiday designs - you can even get them personalized with names and/or photographs! 

The Yubo Deluxe comes with it's own custom ice pack, a large square & 2 small round containers. They're just the right size for a yogurt :) Some yogurt cups are a perfect fit too (see below). You can also purchase additional Yubo containers & accessories, like the medium-sized ones in Sprout's lunch (top) and the drink holder attached to the frame of Pickle's Yubo (above).

The inner containers are easy for my kidlets to open & close, and they don't leak! And even if they don't put the lids back on when they pack up from lunch, and yogurt ends up all over the inside of the lunchbox, it's all right - it comes apart easily for cleaning - but not too easily - it can survive typical kid roughness. I can tell Pickle's takes some abuse judging by how dirty it is when he gets home, but that's okay - the whole thing goes in the dishwasher! 

Our Yubo lunchbox is in demand! 

You might remember in my Back to School post, I mentioned that there was more to the story of our hectic morning? Well, it might have appeared as if we had 2 Yubos, when in fact,  we only have 1... There was a bit of a battle over that Yubo :) I had packed an adorable apple bento in it, for Sprout:

Now, the Yubo is Pickle's favourite - but I hadn't meant for it to belong to any one person, I thought the sproutlets could share it, so when it came in the mail and Pickle asked "Is that a new lunchbox for me?", and I said "Yep, it's for everybody!", I thought he understood...

I was mistaken though...when Pickle saw Sprout's apple-themed First day of school lunch packed in his new favourite lunchbox, he was quite upset. Remember, he's autistic, and doesn't switch gears as quickly as some kids, and he was stuck on taking that Yubo for his first day. So, since Sprout only had a half day for her first day of Kindergarten and didn't really need to take a lunchbox, I took her lunch out and repacked it for him.

Luckily, I'd bought some extra inner containers, so it was a quick fix :) And clearly I was going to need to buy another Yubo!

But guess what? The folks at Yubo are so awesome, they offered to squelch the squabbling for me by sending me a 2nd Yubo with one of their new Hallowe'en faceplate design and I'll have a coupon code to offer those who entered the giveaway a special discount on those! Eek! So you'll be seeing Hallowe'en Yubo lunches very soon, and then get another chance to win one of your own. And if you just can't wait, go and check them out on the Yubo website, or Follow them on Facebook to get all the updates.

Things I Love

• Containers don't leak.
• Lunchbox and containers are easy for kids to open & close.
• So easy to clean - love that the whole thing is washable, and in the dishwasher too! 
• Versatility - I love being able to arrange the inner containers different ways, with different sizes, yet all fitting together.
• Changeable faceplates & overall look make it fun & unique.
• Ice pack perfectly sized for container.
• Availability of additional inner containers means I can pack portions ahead of time for faster mornings.

Things I Don't Love, but can live with :)

• Drink holder attaches with velcro, which may wear out... or not :)
• Multiple small containers & lids means more things to open & close & try not to lose.
• Slightly bulky, especially when drink holder added. Kids don't seem to mind though!

Overall, I love the design of the Yubo! It's eco-friendly, practical, and fun.

Yubo is Sproutlet Approved!

And now, the Giveaway! The folks at Yubo have generously offered to give one lucky reader a personalized Deluxe Yubo lunchbox of their choice! 
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: I was provided with a Deluxe Yubo lunchbox to review. No other compensation was given.  All opinions, descriptions,  and images are my own, with the exception of the Yubo logo.

Labyrinth Bento for Jim Henson's Birthday

If Jim Henson was still with us, today would be his birthday! Happy Birthday Mr. Henson, and thank you for all the happy memories!

As a child I loved all his characters, songs, movies, & television programs, and now my children do as well! One of our favourite movies that we have him to thank for is the fantasy film Labyrinth.  I made a Labyrinth lunch for Bella to take to school tomorrow before remembering that tomorrow is Breakfast for Lunch day at school and she wants the Cinnamon French Toast... but as it happens, Sailor Boy is home for lunch today, so now it's a Lunch for the Man :)

In the top left, he has a satsuma orange, and in the top right, Gala apple slices. In the main section, cheese quesadillas on a bed of romaine lettuce, carrot, & cucumber salad. And in the Mini Dipper, a chocolatey peanut butter yogurt dip for the apples. Oh, almost forgot - in the little Squinkies ball, a couple of fruit snacks. It was originally intended for Bella, remember :)

I probably don't need to spell out all the Labyrinth references - if you're a fan of the film you know what they are and if you aren't, they probably won't mean much - but just in case....

• a peach shaped silicone cup for the girl who ate the peach and forgot everything
• a Squinkies ball for the crystal that's not a gift for an ordinary girl who takes care of a screaming baby
• red & white striped apples for Toby's pajamas
• "It's not fair" for what Sarah says so often
• a labyrinth quesadilla - self explanatory :)
• peanut butter dip for the Bog of Eternal Stench
•  and a hole in the labyrinth quesadilla for the Oubliette. I'll let you in on a secret - there was a bit of a scorch mark there and Bella won't eat scorched bits so that's how the Oubliette got put in there :)

Sailor Boy enjoyed Bella's lunch, heheh :)  I'm sure Bella will still want a Labyrinth lunch one of these days though, especially after she sees this post, so I'll likely be reproducing this one!

If you haven't seen Labyrinth, I highly recommend it!

UPDATE - Sailor Boy said the Bog of Eternal Stench dip was delicious and I should add the recipe.  As usual, I didn't measure anything, but basically...

To make Chocolatey Peanut Butter Yogurt Dip, stir together:

• 2 heaping spoonfuls of Greek yogurt
• a heaping spoonful of peanut butter
• a small not-heaping teaspoon of Peanut Butter & Co Dark Chocolate Dreams peanut butter (or maybe a few drops of Hershey's syrup if you don't have that)

It really doesn't need to be exact to be yummy :)

Stuff used in this lunch:

 

It's Elephant Appreciation Day!

My little Birdie LOVES elephants. She even chose an elephant theme for her 3rd birthday party. Yet I only learned about Elephant Appreciation Day just last night, from my bento blogging friend Sarah of Zoe's Lunchbox. So, not having an elephant lunch planned, and possibly not having an opportunity to make one today, here's a collage of some past elephant lunches :

You can click here or on the pic to see all my elephant lunch posts :)

My friend Sarah DID make an elephant bento lunch, 
and you can see it at Zoe's Lunchbox.

Happy Elephant Appreciation Day!

Pirates Don't Change Diapers Muffin Tin Meal

Wednesday was Talk Like A Pirate Day, and I read the small sproutlets a pirate bedtime story. Birdie really liked it and took it to bed with her, so yesterday I read it to her again and made her a muffin tin meal to go with it. I'm a longtime admirer of Keitha's Story Themed Lunches, and wow, kudos to her - tying a book into a meal is harder than it looks - and she does it every school day! So here is my imitation = flattery tribute lunch pic, Keitha-style :)

As you can see, our copy of the book is well-loved :) 

Pirates Don't Change Diapers, written by Melinda Long and illustrated by David Shannon,  is a sequel to How I Became A Pirate, (which we also loved). In the book, Jeremy Jacob gets a visit from his pirate friends, who wake his baby sister Bonney Anne from her nap and then must help take care of her. And of course, pirates don't know how to take care of a baby!

 

The baby in the book, Bonney Anne, has strained spinach for lunch. I didn't have any spinach, but I did have broccoli, so I substituted that - it's green! I made a little wailing Bonney Anne from cheddar cheese, and just happened to have a daisy bento pick just like the flower in her baby hair :)

The rest of the lunch is just a little bit pirate-y in general. She has parmesan goldfish, anti-scurvy oranges, grapes on swords, white cheddar Pirate Booty, and mozzarella cheese X-marks-the-spot with one piece of the cheese stuck through a skull & crossbones cupcake ring. 

Birdie loved the pink pirate ring best!

 

I love the Bonney Anne skull & crossbones on the back cover of the book!

♥  ♥  ♥  ♥ 

Did ye catch the Talk Like A Pirate Day Bento Booty Treasure Hunt blog hop I took part in? Nay? Arr, what are ye waitin' fer? Th' hunt is only on 'til Sunday night... don't miss yer chance t' find th' treasure!

♥  ♥  ♥  ♥ 

Pretty PlanetBox & Spidey LunchBot

My bigger sproutlets love our stainless steel containers - I think they feel really grown-up having metal lunchboxes :) Metal lunchboxes are cool!

Bella has a pretty PlanetBox Launch, packed with apple wedges & a dip cup of caramel, a TimBit donut hole with a daisy pick, an EasyLunchboxes Mini Dipper full of Craisins, celery & carrots surrounding a flower muffin cup full of grapes, and a flower-shaped peanut butter sandwich. Tucked under the sandwich is a colorful owl print cloth napkin from The Red Poppy on Etsy.

Beanstalk has a Spider-man LunchBots Quad, packed with gummy fruit snacks, beef jerky, red grapes, and Spider-Man graham crackers. I stuck a spider cupcake ring in with his grapes expecting him to say it was too cute for middle school, but he said it could stay :) His cloth napkin, also from The Red Poppy, has a Marvel hero print. He has blueberry pomegranate juice to drink in the bottle in the background.

Containers used to pack these lunches:  

Arrr! It Be Talk Like A Pirate Day!

In honour 'o 'tis 10th annual Talk Like A Pirate Day, I've crafted me wee rapscallion sproutlets some scurvy pirate lunches! 

Beanstalk has a PlanetBox packed w' wedges o'oranges (t' prevent scurvy), barrrbeque Pirate's Booty, a Jolly Roger ham sandwich, a Jolly Roger carrot mini muffin, & a piece o' salt water taffy fer a treat.

Fer his snack 'tween school an' soccer, he has grapes skewered on swords, string cheese through a cupcake ring, & white cheddar Pirate's Booty.

Bella has an EasyLunchbox packed w' grapes on swords, veggie Pirate's Booty, Jake & the Neverland Pirates gummy fruit snacks, a Jolly Roger ham & cheese sandwich, carrot mini muffin, & a piece o' salt water taffy fer a treat.

Pickle has a Yubo lunchbox packed w' carrot mini muffin stuck wit' a pirate flag & sword, Jake & the Neverland Pirates gummy fruit snacks, a Jolly Roger peanut butter sandwich, & 2 yogurts. One is fer his snack, t'other is fer wit' his lunch.  Th' yogurt fer wit' his lunch is coloured blue fer water & infested wit' sugar sprinkle sharks.

The yogurt meant fer his snack is Chobani Champions honey-nana wit' a pirate print paper cupcake liner atop it. Yo ho!

An' now fer some fun!

This blog hop be a treasure hunt, and ye need me scrap o' th' map! Every blog in th' hop has a piece 'o th' map to a lovely bento booty treasure - a giveaway! As ye be off through th' hop, collect th' pieces 'n put them in th' right order to find out whar to enter! Ye'll be needin' somethin' to scribe wit', for thar be 39 blogs to visit, so 39 scraps o' th' map to collect! 37 pieces spell a URL, 'n 2 bonus pieces wit' words on them get ye 2 chances to win! T'win what? Well, ye'll have to follow the map t' find out!

Here's me piece 'o th' map, 'n an important piece it be!

Now be on yer way, th' treasure awaits! 

An' Karen o' Our Lunch Bags has made a pirate lunch that puts me own pirate grub to shame ... click th' Jolly Roger t' go see!

Big & Little Lunches for my Princesses

A princess lunch for my big girl Princess Mia Bella:

Her EasyLunchbox contains:

• A princess heart & crown dark Chocolate Dreams peanut butter sandwich
• Cucumber & carrot crowns
• Grapes on star skewers
• Disney princess gummy fruit snacks
• Dried strawberry "jewels"
• Fig Newtons, her favourite

Toddler Nibble Trays are great for packing small portions for preschool & kindergarten appetites:

 

Little Princess Sprout's Dr. Sears Nibble Tray contains:

• Mozzarella string cheese
• Honey ham
• Goldfish crackers
• Grapes
• Baby carrots
• Pluots

I love the happy smiling foods on the Nibble Tray lid :)

Powerpuff Girls Bentos!

Sugar & spice & everything nice... 

That's what these Powerpuff Girls bento lunches are made of! 

Sprout & Birdie adore the Powerpuff Girls. Birdie's favourite is Bubbles "because she has ponytails" and Sprout likes Blossom "because she's a genius and she wears pink".

Bubbles is in the blue cup with some green grapes and a baby carrot, Buttercup's in the green cup with apple wedges, and Blossom's pink heart-shaped cup holds organic strawberry hearts (I splurged, they looked nicer ... and yum, they have so much flavour!)

I wasn't about to colour the yogurt black like Chemical X so I topped it with colourful sprinkles instead; they're the sugar. I turned Powerpuff Girls baking cups inside out so the print shows, and filled them with Annie's Homegrown Cinnamon Bunny Grahams for the spice. And the fruit is everything nice :)

Remember Bunny, the 4th Powerpuff Girl? 

I sometimes feel like I'm cheating a little when I use cupcake picks to make a theme lunch instead of creating it all with the food... but then I remember there's no bento police or panel of judges, the only people I'm trying to impress are my sproutlets,  and they're easy, they already think I'm a superhero ♥ 

Besides, it saves time, and they're cheap and reusable :) 

♥  ♥  ♥  ♥ 

Tip:  You don't need to buy specialty bento picks & cutters to decorate your lunches. Check out baking supply shops for mini cookie cutters, pastry stamps, & cupcake picks. They often have popular characters and seasonal themes not even available as bento picks. Sometimes you can find matching paper baking cups too!