Curly Haired Girl Bento and Sandwich Bentos

So how are your kids enjoying their time back at school??? For both my girls, so far so good! They are still so enthusiastic every morning...no hard time waking up, eating breakfast, taking a shower and dressing up. My 4th grader got perfect scores in her first spelling, math & science quizzes. She joined the school choir and is auditioning for the all city choir...and she's running again for student council class representative. I guess it will be a busy school year for her! My kindergartener on the other hand, is really enjoying school so much! She gets a "green" in her daily folder everyday which means that she's doing good...she's full of stories when she gets home...and always so eager to do her homework! Her first year in school is really starting well! I hope things will remain the same for both Clarise and Cherlin! May their enthusiasm and eagerness to learn never stop!

Ryan (the hubs) thinks the bentos I make for the girls contribute a lot to their enthusiasm because it gives them something to look forward to everyday. This week, instead of me deciding what to put in my daughters' bentos, I had them tell me what food and theme they want. It is a whole lot easier that way! At least I am sure that they like the food, and they're not just force to eat the bento because it's cute! :) But I still do all the design, and they won't see it until lunch time...so it's always exciting for them to see what I came up with! 

I'm sharing with you three of the themes Clarise and Cherlin requested for this week:

Bento #14:  Flower Garden Bento (Cherlin's idea)

What's in it: Flower shaped cheese/peanut butter sandwich, flower shaped carrots

with celery leaves, flower shaped spam with cheese, broccoli, grapes and pear

Cherlin wanted a flower garden theme, and she wanted bread, carrots, cheese & spam in it...so here's what I came up with.

For 1 flower, you will need, 2 slices of bread. You have to cut the crusts off, cut each slice into 3 equal pieces and using the back of a knife, make a crease on each for easier folding. You will also need two slices of American cheese cut into the same size as the bread, and a few more slices that you can use to design the flower. Put one slice of cheese on  each piece of bread, and gently fold them together to form a heart shaped petal. Push the edges to seal. I made one big and one small flower for each bento box so I used three slices of bread, instead of just two (5 petals for big flower & 4 petals for small flower). Clarise requested for peanut butter filling so I just spread peanut butter into each piece of bread and folded them the same way as the cheese filled petals. After making the petals, arranged them together in the bento box to make flowers and just decorate them as you please. As for me, I made star and flower shaped cheese for the centers.

I also added flower and star shaped spam on top of the cheese flower center to make it more appealing, and made some more flower shaped spam with cheese center for an additional flowery effect in the bento box...

To add some color, I made flower shaped carrots with celery leaves...and I also added blanched broccoli in it. This is a bit time consuming, so I suggest that you cut the bread ahead of time and just wrap them tight with plastic. Do the same with the carrots, cheese and spam. Wrap them in plastic and refrigerate. 

Bento #15:  Curly Haired Girl Bento (Clarise's idea)

What's in it: Chicken Pasta, American Cheese, Carrots, Spam, cantaloupe and grapes

This is very simple. This is basically my Pasta With Chicken and Sun-dried Tomatoes in Alfredo Sauce, but Clarise requested me to cook it without the sun-dried tomatoes all because she likes it better that way. So that's what I did. She wanted me to use the pasta as girl's hair cause she read from Lyn's (of My Lil Cheeky & Messy) comment on my bento post last week that spaghetti noodles should be used for a more defined hair. Thanks to Lyn for that tip!

To make the girl's face, I just used spam...and for the eyes and lips, I used cheese. I also made some flower shaped smileys using spam and cheese.

Bento #16:  Under the Sea Bento (Clarise's idea)

What's in it: Fish and Starfish shaped ham sandwich, squid and octopus beef franks, cantaloupe, grapes and kiwi

Clarise requested for an "under the sea" theme, and she just wanted ham sandwich in it. But I wanted to add more sea creatures, so I made squids and octopus using beef franks. For steps in making the octopus, click here. For the ham sandwich, I used multi-grain white bread, bread, mayonnaise, and turkey ham... 

For the eyes and mouth I used regular American cheese, and for the scales, American white cheese.

For the squid, cut one beef frank in half then cut each half lengthwise. For each piece, notch the top to form a pointed head and then make a notch on each side about half inch down the head. Make several slits to form the legs of the squid. Using a knife, make 2 small holes for eyes and a little slit for a smile. This will become noticeable after cooking. Boil in water until the legs are curled up.

These are the cutters I used for the fish & star fish. For the fish tails, I just used a sharp knife to shape it.

Wishing you all a great weekend! And for my friends and readers here in the US, Happy Labor Day!

Filipino Red Hotdogs and Buttered Veggie Spaghetti & Octodog Bentos

Just 10 days to go before school starts here in Texas! I'm so excited for Cherlin who'll be in Kindergarten this year! Quite sad because my baby and little helper won't be with me the whole day anymore. I'll really be missing her...but I'm so happy with the thought that my baby has grown into a smart little girl who seems so ready to face a new world. 

Yesterday was "Popsicle with the Principal" at Robertson Elementary (Clarise and Cherlin's school). Cherlin was so eager to go, not just because of the popsicles but also to be able to shake hands with the principal. I was so proud of her when she confidently talked to the principal. The smile on her face showed how excited she was to be in school.

Time really flies so fast!!! It was not so long ago when I gave birth to Cherlin...

From that tiny helpless baby, she's this confident 5 year old now who's all set for a new level of exploration.

I'm so proud of her but I can't help but feel sad. Actually, thinking about it put me in tears. This was exactly how I felt when Clarise started Kindergarten. But I know it will be more difficult for me now. It won't be easy to drop them both to school then come home into an empty house. I'll be missing the time Cherlin & I used to spend together while waiting for 3p.m. to pick up Clarise from school. I know this is just one of those feelings that fall under the job description of "being a mom", and yes, it will pass. I guess for now, I just have to focus on how lucky I am to see my bright, loving, healthy daughter turn into a Kindergartener, and learn to look on the bright side: Cherlin will learn a lot from school and meet new friends and I, on the other hand, will have more time for myself doing things I love like cooking and blogging (and shopping!). That would be good, right?!

I am happy that Clarise and Cherlin seem so excited for the coming school year. At least, all I have to worry is me being sad for being left alone at home (LOL), and not them feeling uncomfortable in school or whatsoever. They even said that the thought of the bentos I will be preparing for them everyday is adding up to their excitement. That's really good to know! To see them enjoying bentos is the only reason why I got myself into bento-ing. Oh well, actually, they are my inspiration in everything I get myself into! 

I guess I'm boring you with my being too emotional now, so I better go on with my bento post for today. I made two simple bentos this week. They were for the girls' packed breakfast on two consecutive mornings (Tue & Wed) that we went to the park:

Bento #9: Filipino Red Hotdogs Bento 

What's in it: Filipino red hotdogs,  

flower and bunny-shaped cheese sandwiches and grapes

I used the bunny and flower shaped cutters for the sandwich, and the rabbit wiener cutter for the hotdogs. They're so cute, aren't they??? FYI, after shaping the hotdogs, I boiled them instead of frying. This results in nice evenly cooked hotdogs.

Bento #10: Buttered Vegetable Spaghetti and Octodogs Bento 

What's in it: Spaghetti pasta with buttered vegetables,  

and octopus beef franks

For the spaghetti, I just sauteed a Tablespoon of minced garlic and a cup of mixed vegetables in 4 Tbsp olive oil-flavored butter then mixed 3 cups of cooked pasta in it.

 

For the octodogs, I used 3 regular sized beef franks. With the use of a sharp knife, I cut each of them into 2. Then I cut the 8 'legs' of the octopus, leaving about a third of each halved beef franks to form the head. Using a knife, I also made 2 small holes for eyes and a little slit for a smile, which became noticeable after cooking.

 

I boiled them until the legs are all curled up, after which I drained them on paper towels before arranging in the bento box. If you want a curlier effect, you can use 1 whole hot dog to make one octodog.