Friday, December 28, 2012

Musical Pig & Cat Bento

These cute animals are so happy, they are singing together!
I used some of y new bento goodies to make this bento including the Orange 3 Tiered Bento Box, Musical Note Picks, and the Food Writer Pen. I also used my Cute Z Cute cutter set to make the pig and cat.
  • Cat (Gluten free corn bread, ham, mustard, black olive, peas)
  • Pig (Gluten free corn bread, ham, mustard, peas, Rollos)
  • Sugar Snap Peas

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Zelda Triforce Food Cutter

Another one of my Christmas presents came today. Well actually it's a present for me AND my wife since she is a huge fan of everything Zelda.
This Triforce cutter also imprints the inner triangle into the bread or cheese or whatever food that is being cut.

It's super cool, and I can't wait to make my wife an awesome Zelda themed bento.

3D Chrismtas Tree Bento

Earlier I bought myself a 3D Christmas Tree food cutter, and I finally got a chance to use it this morning. I made myself a simple breakfast bento and decorated it with a green tree and a white (snow covered) tree.
 I used my new 3D Christmas Tree Cutter that I bought myself as an early christmas present, and I used my Blue Poke-a-dot Bento box that my wife game me.
  • 1/2 Udi's GF Bagel, Tofutti Vegan Cream Cheese, Raspberry All Fruit Spread
  • Trees made from Cucumber and Carrot stars
  • Present cup with Applesauce and Christmas sprinkles
  • Satsuma
 Aren't these cool? I think I need to slice the cucumber a little thinner next time.
Here is the package the cutters came in. It comes with three cutters, two for the tree and one for the star on top. You do not need to use the star if you want to make a little forest of trees instead of a Christmas tree.

More Christmas Bento Goodies

Today my friend came over and gave me and my wife our Christmas Presents... and I got sooo many awesome Bento Goodies! I guess this year my Christmas presents were themed around Bento.heck out the Awesome Bento Boxes and Accessories my wife gave me Yesterday.
You may think this is a lot of stuff for a friend to give, but she got good prices on them all, and I am required to make a lot of bentos and blog about them as repayment. lol. After all this friend is my Biggest Bento Blog Fan!
Anyway, here goes
 Look at it all, Ahhh!!!!! I want to make Bentos Right Now!!!
 This is a Picnic Bento Box that has 5 removable containers that can also be used for veggies and dip at a party or cookout.
 
 One Black Poke-a-dot and one Pink Lace Oblong 2 tier Bento boxes with chopsticks under the covers and black bento bands to keep them together.
 
 
 2 packages of Food Picks. The Flower picks come in Clear, Pink, Yellow, Green, and Blue. The Halloween Picks have 2 Ghosts, 2 Bats, 2 Headstones, and 2 Gothic Fences.
 These are really cool 3D Food Cutters. Each Package comes with three cutters that cut food that you can fit together to make a 3D Elephant and a 3D Bunny. I also bought myself the 3D Christmas Tree earlier, but I'll have to blog about that separately.
 These are animal Food Cutters that also double as Presses to make the detail of the face and body on the food you cut. There is a Bear, Elephant, and a Bunny.
 This is a super cute Sandwich Press that turns sandwiches into filled bread pockets.

 These are 2 Rice Molds. The left one makes rice into rolls that are traditional for sashimi and the right one turns the rice into little cubes.
 These are the super cute Pig Chopstick set that came with Pink Chopsticks, a Pig Case, and a Poke-a-dot Cloth that holds the chopstick case.
 This is a Silicone Mold that is perfect for making cute tea cakes or molded jello desserts, and they are the perfect size for bento.
 Here is an Egg Slicer that cuts hard boiled eggs into wedges and slices that are perfect for a fancy salad bento. The Avocado Slicer will slice avocados into perfect slices for bento, sandwiches, and salads.

These aren't really for bento, but they are cute Piggy Kitchen gadgets. The Pig on the left is a magnet that doubles as a plate golder for taking hot plates out of the microwave. The Pig on the right is a cute little bowl that's perfect for soy sauce.
Here is a picture of all the bento goodies I got this year for Christmas.
  • 8 Bento Boxes
  • 4 Sets of Picks
  • 3 Sets of Animal Cutters
  • 2 Sets of Chopsticks (and 2 chopsticks in the oblong bentos)
  • 2 Rice Shapers
  • 1 Food Pen
  • 1 Egg Mold
  • 1 Pocket Sandwich Press
  • some Cool Kitchen Gadgets
Half is from my wife, and the other half is from my friend. Don't I have some awesome people in my life? I am soo thankful, and I am super excited to use it all!!! :) I hope I get a chance to start making more bentos this coming New Year because I still have a lot of bento accessories I haven't been able to use  and experiment with yet.

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Christmas Day Bento Goodies

Merry Christmas to everyone who celebrates. Today (Yesterday) is Christmas and my wife has surprised me with a big box filled with bento goodies!!! I was so excited so I took pictures of all the awesome bento boxes and accessories I got.
 Here is the Bento boxes and accessories that my wife gave me for Christmas.
 These next pictures aren't the best because I was so excited I took them quickly while sitting on the living-room floor on Christmas day.
 Four 3 tiered Bento boxes in Pink, Blue, Green, and Orange
 One Blue and White Poke-a-dot Bento with separator and tight fitting lid.
 
 
 Two Packages of Picks. Christal Picks in Yellow, Blue, Pink, Clear, and Green, and Heart Music Picks in Pink, Blue, and Yellow.
 Chopsticks with a Purple and Black Case.
And a food writer pen with two different size caps. (I am super excited to draw on my food using ketchup and mustard!)

This is soooo exciting! I wish I had a week off from work so I could play with all my awesome bento goodies and make a ton of bentos!!! But I'll have to wait for a day off and some free time instead.

I hope everyone had a wonderful day and I hope you all got what you were hoping for! :)

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Yule Log Bento

Yule is upon us, and I put together this quick Yule Log and Holly Bento using the delicious dinner my wife made.
  • Yule Log (Pork Chop with spice rub)
  • Fire (Tomato peel)
  • Snow (Mashed Potatoes)
  • Holly (Cucumber Peel and Tomato)
  • Decorations (Mixed Veggies)
And I used my Penguin Fork for some extra Holiday cheer.
Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly!

I hope you all have a Wonderful Holiday Season!

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Piggy Salad Bento

I haven't had a chance to bring a bento to work yet, so tonight I made myself a quick Piggy Salad Bento to bring to work tomorrow.
  • Nuts (Almonds and Shelled Pistachios)
  • Satsuma (With a cute Piggy pick)
  • Italian Dressing (In Piggy bottle)
  • Salad (Mesclun Mix Greens, Shredded Carrots, Cherry Tomatoes, Piggy Cucumber, Piggy Vegan Mozzarella 'Cheese')
I'm looking forward to having this cute and yummy meal for lunch tomorrow. :)

Avocado Grilled Cheese Piggy Bento

Although I am super tired from work, I jumped at the chance to make a bento tonight.
I really wanted to try using my CuteZCute pig face cutter so I decided to turn my avocado grilled cheese sandwich dinner into a piggy themed bento.
 Oink Oink! This little piggy is playing in the snow!
  • Snow (Popcorn)
  • Piggy (Gluten Free Bread, Vegan 'Cheese', Avocado)
  • Frozen Blueberries
  • Satsuma
  • Mini Apple
  • Raisins

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Black Cat Snack Bento

You may have read my previous blog about Winning the CuteZCute giveaway... well tonight I finally got a chance to try it out.
Why has it taken me so long you may be asking yourself, well for very good reason. I was promoted to Manager at work, and I moved to another store location. So between traveling to the new store and learning all my new duties I just have not had the time or energy to make any bentos until now.
I hope to make at least one bento a week, and hopefully more, but I don't know if that'll happen until things settle down into a routine.

Anyway, I had a chance to make a bento today so I grabbed my newest cutters and made myself a cute Black Cat Snack Bento.
 
The cat is made up of:
  • Udi's Gluten Free Omega Flax and Fiber Bread (Toasted)
  • Teddie Unsweetened unsalted Peanut Butter
  • Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
The Trail Mix is made of:
  • 100 Calorie Pack Almonds and Walnuts
  • Mini M&M's
  • Golden Raisins
  • Mini Box Raisins
  • Salted Shelled Pistachios

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Thanksgiving Leftovers Bento

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and if you didn't celebrate I hope you had a wonderful regular day! lol
Anyway, I packed all my Thanksgiving leftover in my mini crock pot and brought them to work for lunch the day after Thanksgiving (I know this post is late, I've been busy with work and taking care of my wife who had wrist surgery and gallbladder surgery this month).
 I made the bento in layers and rows... The first layer was all the side dishes,
  • Corn with Butter Sauce
  • Gluten Free Cornbread Stuffing (Homemade by me)
  • Peas
  • Squash
  • Mashed Potatoes
 The next layer was a thick slice of Turkey Breast from my mom's turkey. I stoll some of her leftovers when I went to visit because her food is the best!
Finally I topped it off with Gluten Free Turkey Gravy. YUM! gravy used to be on of my favorite foods. Stuffing as well. But seriously, I used to drown my food in gravy and then I licked the plate clean...

This bento was my favorite! The gravy kept everything moist and I ate a little bit of everything with each forkful.Isn't that the best way? I love having a little bit of everything in each bite... my wife is the opposite and eats everything separately.

GoPicnic Review

My sister gave me a bunch of these GoPicnic boxed meals and they are sooo cute I thought I'd do a review of one of them.
She gave me 3 different kinds, Sunbutter and Crackers, Hummus, and Crackers, and Black Bean Dip and Plantain Chips. This review is for the Sunbutter and Crackers GoPicnic Box that is Gluten Free, Dairy, Free, and Peanut Free!
 When I first opened the box I wasn't sure what to expect, but then I saw all these single serving packets.
 Not only was there a packet of sunbutter and a packet of crackers, but there was also a bag of seed mix, a fruit snack, and a chocolate chip cookie.
 I've never had sunbutter before (except in a chocolate sunbutter cup candy that I didn't like) so I wasn't sure what to expect. The crackers were Crunchmaster, and they are my all-time favorite crackers... so I knew that even if I didn't like the sunbutter I'd still have the crackers to eat.
 I opened the sunbutter and squeezed some onto the crackers, and boy was it tasty! I prefer the taste of peanut butter and other nut butters, but this is delicious as well... if a little high in calories. The salty crunchy crackers paired well with the smooth nutty flavor of the sunbutter.
 Next I opened the seed and fruit mix. There were sunflower seeds, raisins, chocolate chips, pumpkin seeds, and dried mango (I believe, I can't quite remember).
 This was my favorite part of the meal! YUM! I love trail mixes, so I figured this would taste good, but the crunchy seeds, sweet chocolate, and chewy fruit mixed so well together. You can pick pieces of it to eat seperately, or you can pour it into you mouth and enjoy all the flavors and textures together.
I was looking forward to the fruit snack because I usually love these, but I was not a fan of the flavor of this one (Mango? Tropical? Something like that). I kept thinking it tasted a little coconut-y even though I don't believe there was any coconut in it. I was disappointed with it, but it wasn't bad... just not what I was expecting.
For dessert there was a Crunchy Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookie. It was certainly crunchy, and it was pretty good, but it wasn't anything to write home about. Great for people with food allergies though.

And after you eat your lunch there is a Sudoku puzzle inside for your entertainment. How thoughtful! I love Sudoku and I had fun playing.
All in all I think this was a pretty good lunch. It was very convenient for me to bring to work and eat throughout the day, and I can see myself bringing these with me on a road trip, traveling, camping, or on a picnic because they do not need to be refrigerated and they are pretty well rounded. Though I'd probably grab a few carrot sticks to add some vegetables as well.