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Yellow Haired Girl and Butterfly Bento

Days pass by so fast indeed! Imagine, it's Friday again...which means that the 1st week of school is almost over. The past 5 days have been contrary to what I expected. Because it's Cherlin's 1st week in Kindergarten, I thought that the morning rush will drive me crazy, but it didn't. Since Monday until this morning, everything was so smooth. By 7:10a.m, Clarise and Cherlin are both dressed up and ready to go to school, and the good thing is, they are always wearing their sweet smiles...which means that they are always excited to go to school. We even had the time to take pictures, so I guess there's really no morning "rush" around here...


...and the bento making (that I thought would be hard) turned out to be just like the ordinary packed lunch preparation I used to do for Clarise before. (The only difference is the added creativity and style that I put into it!) But since I have to prepare packed lunch for 3 now (including Ryan) I have to wake up 30 minutes earlier than before. But waking up at 6a.m. is just fine. After 5 days, I'm kinda used to it now. And I'm telling you, I am now addicted to making bentos! I just love to see how much my girls enjoy them! It's an added work to me, but the joy and excitement they bring to my daughters make me feel so good! The first thing I check when they get home are their lunch boxes, and seeing them empty gives me some sort of fulfillment! It just proves that Clarise and Cherlin loves the bentos I prepare for them, and I believe that's enough reason for me to keep on enhancing my creativity to come up with cuter bentos. :)

Here are two of the bentos I made for the girls this week. I made bento for them everyday but the other three are almost the same as the ones I already featured here. These two are my new creations, so to speak! I found them really cute. Clarise and Cherlin agreed with me on that, so as some of their classmates who saw these bentos! Check them out!

Bento #12 Yellow Haired Girl Bento 
What's in it: Mac & cheese, sweet ham, mozarella cheese, carrots
cantaloupe and grapes
This is my homemade mac & cheese that I decorated with sweet ham (face) and mozarella cheese (eyes and lips). I cooked it the night before then just heat it up in the microwave the next morning. It's supposed to look like a smiling yellow haired girl, but I wasn't able to define the hair that much. I added some rolled sweet ham, carrots and mozarella cheese mini kabobs. And for dessert, Clarise requested for cantaloupe and grapes kabobs while Cherlin just had grapes. I used the cute music notes picks that I got from Fit JP Store in Houston. For the girl's face, I used these cutters:
I used the bear shaped cutter for the face...I trimmed the ears though. And for the eyes and lips, I used the blue cutters.

Bento #13 Flowers and Butterfly Bento 
What's in it: Butterfly shaped cheese sandwich, flower shaped sweet ham with julienned carrots, cantaloupe and grapes

For this bento, I made use of these cutters:
  • Heart shape cutters - for the wings of the butterfly
  • Wiener cutter - for the body of the butterfly
  • V smile cutter - for the antenna of the butterfly
  • Flower shape cutter - for small flower shaped sandwiches
To make the wings of the butterfly, cut 4 slices of bread and 2 slices of American cheese using the big heart shaped cutter. Then cut a heart shaped hole into 2 of the heart shaped slices of bread using the small heart shaped cutter. (Am I using the word heart shaped cutter too much? Sorry, I just want to make my instructions clear.) Put the wings together: whole heart shaped slice of bread at the bottom then heart shaped slice of American cheese in the middle and the heart shaped slice of bread with heart shaped hole on top. Trim the bottom point of each heart sandwich, move them close together and put the body of the butterfly on top. I used black sesame seeds for the eyes and mozarella cheese for the white body stripes.
For the flower shaped ham, this is what I did:
I fold the ham crosswise then cut the center part into strips . I made 2" julienned carrots, put about 8 pcs. of them on the ham and then rolled the ham over. I secured each flower with a bento pick. Easy hah! :)

These bentos put smiles on my daughters' faces...I'm sure it will do the same to all the little girls out there! 

29 comments :

  1. STUNNING PHOTOS... we need you!


    Greetings. This is my first time on your blog, but you have a terrific one. I am always on the look out for new blogs, new ideas. I especially appreciate all the details you d0. Great photos makes it seem like anyone can replicate the recipe!

    I am asking, would you please consider posting a few of your favorite recipes on erecipecards.com
    http://erecipecards.com/

    It is a tool for bloggers to see and to be seen. Your posts would fit in perfectly.

    in addition, all photos, recipe titles as well as your blog name would link directly back to your blog. Thus giving you new attention and potentially new readers.

    Or, if you just want to take a look at a lot of fellow food bloggers all in one place. A great learning experience to get ideas about how to establish your own blogging voice!


    Please take a look. If you have any ideas or questions, please do not hesitate to write

    Dave
    http://erecipecards.com/
    Contact@eRecipeCards.com

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  2. Cute lunch ideas... great photos. My daughter would love this type of touch in her homemade school lunches.
    Jenn

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  3. Your princess are cutie pies. These bento ideas are perfect. Every picky eater will be happy when they open this bento.

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  4. Wow! WOw! WOW!! Great job Tina! I'm really so proud of you! :D You did all your bentos so well and you're getting better and better each day! You're just so talented and creative! I love both your bento designs and I may need to copy your ideas from now on! :P
    The yellow hair girl bentos will be easier to define the hair if you use spaghetti or any noodles. Try it out the next time! ;)

    Congrats on your invitation by eRecipeCards! So happy for you, my dear! ;D

    Btw, yesterday morning, I tried making your pancake with egg in the middle but too bad, not successful bcoz I'm in such a hurry preparing for Trinke due to some reason and when I cracked the egg in, the egg white is too much and over-flowed! Actually I could just remove it after cooked but my pancake tore! >.<
    I'll try it again the next time round. LOL
    *Didn't have any more time left for me to take pics of it too. Sigh....

    Hope you and your family have a wonderful weekend! ^.^

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  5. Tnx for the tip, Lyn! I'll try using spaghetti next time! :)
    I'm sorry to know abt what happened to your egg-filled pancake. Better try it again when you have ample time. It's not good doing it when you're in a hurry! :)

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  6. Wow, very cute bentos.I like the butterfly,so nice :)

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  7. Awww your girls are adorable, and very stylish:)
    And your bento is perfetto:)))i love the 13th, I think my daughter would flip for this:)) Thank you so so so very much for these ideas!!!!

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  8. Oh those bentos are too cute! I bet your girls were the envy of the lunch room =)

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  9. Very cute bentos. You're very creative.

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  10. You know Tina, its amazing that you put some much of effort in preparing your kids meals and the way its prepared, they will finish every bit of it for the creative way it looks, great and well done.

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  11. It's my pleasure Tina! ;D
    Yeah, I'll make sure I'm not rushing the next when making the egg-filled pancakes! Tks sweetie! ;D

    Btw, I love your deli-meat blossoms and what a great idea to add carrots in the middle! ^.^

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  12. You are such a great mom! What fabulous lunches for your children...I'm sure they are the envy of their friends :)

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  13. Hi Tina! I just voted for you - best of luck!!! I'm so glad you're going forward with these bento lunches for school. So fun, creative, and healthy alternative to school lunch programs. Their friends will all be asking their moms to make them!

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  14. These are all beautiful.I like taking pride in what I put in my children's lunch boxes. I have to try them out. Thanks for stopping by. Following you.

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  15. Just to let you know you got 2 thumbs up from my 4 yr old daughter. She said 'ahh, can we make these?' Now, I have to learn how to make your wonderful creations. I think I might try the butterfly and see how it goes.
    Love to read your blog so much that I'm awarding you the Versatile Award.
    Congrats,
    Barbara
    Español para Niños (Spanish for Kids)

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  16. You are such an amazing little mom, Tina! You do so much for your children! I love all the clever little bentos. There's endles possiblilitis what you can creat with them!!!

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  17. These bentos are stunning Tina! I like them both but the butterfly sandwich is over the top cute! I LOVE the ham and carrot flowers! Great idea! Lovely pictures of your beautiful girls all ready for school!!!! <3

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  18. These are absolutely adorable. For sure they will put a smile on anyone's face when they open these bento boxes. Especially love the butterfly ones, so beautiful and creative.

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  19. Hi Tina, this is my second time to open your blog and congratulations! Very helpful for me as working Mom. Eyra and I are very excited to try it. We are here @ SM fairview and try to find a store to buy some of the stuffs that I'm going to use esp. the cutters.

    You're such a great Mom to Clarise & Cherlin and a perfect wife to Ryan. You inspired me to do the same preparations for Eyra and inspired me to continue to become the best mother to her.


    Thank you for being an inspiration! Congratulations and more power!



    Thank you for being such an inspiration to us. Keep it up! Congratulations and more power!

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  20. Your daughters are so lucky! I would have been so jealous of any friends who had lunch like this when I was in school!

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  21. Aww..you make bento too now...:D)!! I love the mac n cheese idea!! So sorry for not commenting for such a long time, I have been away from blogging for a few weeks, but now I am back again :)!

    Your two daughters look so sweet, I am sure they enjoyed eating their bento meals as much as they loved looking at them :D)!

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  22. What fun! Your girls must be so excited when lunch time rolls around! I must make the butterfly for my oldest munchkin~she loves butterflies!

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  23. Thanks everyone! I've seen how bentos added fun and excitement into my girls' school lunch! I guess I'll keep on doing this as long as they want it! :)
    @Eloi: Thanks so much for dropping by! I'm glad to be of help to you!
    @CG: I got so inspired by you & Lyn that's why I decided to try it! (^.^)

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  24. I love the photos of your children they're adorable! And they look so happy to be going back to school, I always dreaded it lol. I can see why they're so happy if I had a bento box that smiled back at me at lunch time I'd probably be excited for my first day too. Thanks for sharing, you're extremely creative! By the way, I have a blog award waiting for you! =] http://www.freespiriteater.com/2011/08/blog-awards-winners-and-awful-band.html

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  25. The kids are so cute and I love those bento boxes. I need you to come make some for my son! LOL!

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  26. Whoa!!!!!! My kids will definitely envy if your kids are in the same class! What time do you have to wake up to make these bento for them when they have to be ready by 7am?! You are an amazing mom Tina.... I barely can wake up at 6:30am... ZZZ.... These are really cute bento and I can see their happy face when they see inside!

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  27. Wow...your kids' bentos must be the envy of the other kids at school! They look really cute and yummy! After the long break, it will be hard for me to wake up early again. Got to start going to bed a little earlier as school will be starting soon :)

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