Happy Halloween Bento Lunch

I must apologize for all the late posts I've been making lately. Work is in the way plus a lot of school volunteering happening. I am seriously hooked on Kindergarten activities, and this is what I'm always happy about.  October is almost over, and the end meets the Halloween Event. My kids are having a Halloween parade in school.  All dressed up on their favorite costumes. Mr G was dressed as Harry Potter, and my little one was Belle.  And this is our favorite rhyming chant on Halloween day.

Eepity, creepity, oh what a fright!

Hiding from things that go Bump in the night

Eekity, squeakity, oh such a lark!

I wish I wasn't afraid of the dark.

Turkey ghost cut by bunny cutters on peanut butter sandwiches,
grapes and strawberries on jack o'lantern
and ghost food picks. She also had zombie milk chocolates.
All packed on her Hello Kitty bento box.

Jack O'Lantern, trick or treat

Scary costumes out on the street

Ghosts and ghoulies in the air

Stay inside, beware, beware!

Ghost turkey cut by cuteZcute cutters on cheese ravioli, with
grapes, strawberries and zombie milk chocolates. All packed on
our favorite Easy Lunchboxes.

A Gyoza Lunch

It's the final week of October, and Halloween day is almost here.  We don't usually celebrate Halloween except for minor dress-ups due to our school-wide big Halloween morning parade.  Students are judged based on 3 different criterias with prizes in store. Most Original, Scariest, and Cutest. And everyone gets a treat after. This is the time, they have an additional break before dismissal to consume their sweetest treats of all, and pass out big bags of goodies. 

We haven't bought and carved our pumpkins yet.  We missed the pumpkin patch festival during the weekend.  We were at the Legoland/SeaLife the whole weekend celebrating their Pre-Halloween Event, which was a total blast.  Nothing beats celebrating it with good family friends.  It's always a huge hit.  We just have to get our pumpkins in our local grocer to complete the event.

School Lunches: Bacon-dog in a Bun

While Missy A had just a plain turkey dog, Mr G's was inspired by a fastfood chain's bacon-dog meal. Mr. G saw this on an ad,  and requested if he could have it, minus all the works, for his lunch in school, provided I make it.  Though it took much time to prepare, sounds like a done deal!

K-Bento: Turkey-dog in a Bun & Eco LunchBox

Missy A requested for her favorite turkey dog sandwich last night for her lunch today.  It's always nice to hear request from my kidlets. It takes out the burden of brainstorming what's lunch for school.  As I always say, we plan ahead and draft our menus while we shop in our local grocer the weekend before, but there are last minute change of hearts as well.  For those days, I'm doomed to come up with something creative from what's available.  That's when you see the lunches were dressed up.
Otherwise, they can go as simple as they can be.

turkey-dog in a bun, green grapes, and ketchup on the pink cup

DIY Cracker Lunchables - The Bento Style

On Sunday, we were grocery shopping while planning their school lunch menu.  

I figured it would be easier that way.  We were at the freezer section where they could see all the frozen dinners for sale.  I asked them which among those would they want to be in their lunch boxes. My girl squealed, "Cracker Lunchables!"  My boy said, "Mom can do that.  Pick another."  Funny she loves those cracker meals in the box when she doesn't even eat the cheese.  So I told her I can make a better Cracker Lunchable for her without the cheese.  She agreed and here's what I came up with.

And she's extremely happy. Only her favorites are in the box.

 ☻

Breakfast Sushi & More

What is the easiest and simplest lunch to pack on your menu?

Believe it or not, it's sushi rolls for us.  I can make hundreds of them without any fuss.

And the kids love them no matter what the filling are. They eat them hot or cold.

No questions asked.

I know that I've been blogging about planning and preparing ahead of time is still the best policy on lunch-packing.  They cut the preparation process in half the time.  Making your mornings stress-free and more relaxing.  To be honest with you, that is not quite true in my case. I brainstorm at night instead and do all the preps the following morning. The kids preferred them packed fresh everyday. It must taste better and fresher.

But I still plan ahead of time by planning our weekly menu, and shop for the ingredients on weekends. I want ingredients available when the need arises.

School Lunches: Ghost in the Box

Bento Bloggers and Friends are doing a Halloween Blog Hop today. If you haven't seen that, please click here.  For added lunch inspiration, a linky party has been hosted by the BBF Blog for more  Halloween Themed Lunches.  To view, please visit them here now. If you blog about your lunches, please add your rendition and get discovered.

Mr G has finally agreed on a Halloween themed lunch, so I made him one today.  Nothing extraordinary as what my other bento mammas could produce, but Mr G loved it just as is.  I don't have any Halloween cutter in hand, so I made use of my Pokemon sandwich cutter frame that almost shaped like a ghost, without using its stamper. This one is Chikorita's frame. Then I just added eye candy features and pepperoni mouth to complete the look.  Isn't that a lovely ghost?

K-Bento: Heart Bento

Missy A was at it again. She wanted White Chocolate PB shaped sandwiches again and this time she picked her own cutter. She's pretty much a girly girl and she loves hearts.  I must admit I was never successful at cutting breads with my shaped cutters.  They always crack on me.  But for some reason, I learned a simple technique that prevents the sandwiches from crumbling.  I know that not all blogs would tell you how they actually did it, but with little experimentation, I was able to figure out the way.

K-Bento: Fieldtrip Sack Lunch

October 17 is fieldtrip day for Missy A. 

They had an educational tour at the Centennial Farm, 

where they learned about animal lives and planted a radish crop,

which they brought home as a souvenir of their trip. 

They were required to bring sack lunches and a water bottle/juice pouch

that were packed on disposable containers/baggies,

with proper name labels for easier distribution.

Since Bento Bloggers and Friends were doing a Halloween Hop on this day, 

I decided to theme her disposable containers as such.

School Lunches: Pepperoni Cheese Ravioli

Mr G has been a huge fan of pepperoni. 

With its high amount of fat and sodium, I'm glad pediatrician approved it for him since he needs high caloric food intake for being an underweight boy.  But that doesn't mean he has to eat it every single day.  Just on days when he craves for it, 

and strictly for school only.

For those who are conscious about their kids' daily caloric intake, you can substitute  pepperoni for a turkey pepperoni that has a lighter content of fat and sodium.  For a healthier option, top it with freshly made tomato sauce and shredded chicken breast. They taste great as well. Kinda like mac and cheese on marinara sauce.

School Lunches: Circus Show Lunch

I have recently received my bento picks in the mail and I have decided to make use of it.  I know there are other ways to present this but since corn dogs are in the menu this week, Missy A thought it might be nice to make use of it and make a circus show.  

This is nothing extraordinary. A matter of fact, I don't have plenty of time on my hands this morning.  Brainstorming takes time. It doesn't come naturally.  So this is what we've come up and what matters most is she's happy and satisfied.

School Lunches: Cheese Tortellini Marinara

Mr G's lunch was adapted from the Taste of Home's Recipe, seen below.

I didn't edit the recipe for my version. I'd let you adapt yours from the recipe that I found.  The recipe itself tastes good.  But as always I modify it for our individual bud's preferences.

K-Bento: Hotdogs & Choco Pretzel Sticks

Missy A has been awarded with a Super Star Certificate yesterday so I thought of making one of her favorite lunches today, hotdog slices with the word STAR spelled out.  Also in there are pretzels with chocolate dip on the yellow cup.  It's a very simple lunch, and you can always make it look special with the use of bento accessories.  All of these, from All Things For Sale.

School Lunches: Pepperoni Pizza Lunchables

Mr G had been playing favorites recently and has requested his most favorite school lunch ever. You guessed that right! It's the Pepperoni Pizza Lunchables.  We made use chia pockets this time instead of the whole wheat sandwich thins. I have been sending the chia pockets to school lately because of its great taste than the sandwich thins. It makes a better crust for the DIY-Pizza meal.  All I did was toast it in a toaster oven. Crisp enough to be crunchy soft by lunchtime.  And the texture is very similar to hand-tossed pizza crusts.

K-Bento: Ham Chia Pockets Kebabs

It's Parent-Teacher Conference Week. 

I was scheduled to meet up with her Kindergarten Teacher this afternoon at 12:15. Nothing to worry about since she's academically ready and equipped when I sent her to school. I worry more about social.  Missy A started out the school year so shy and reserved.  But I was glad to be told that she has slowly come out of her nutshell, and has now made good friends with most of the girls in her class.

For lunch, Missy A had 8 mini ham on toasted chia pockets kebab with strawberry hearts on her Hello Kitty bento box.  Love to see her devoured this lunch as she chatted with her regular lunch buddies. 

Tools used for today's post:

K-Bento: PB on Mini Cinnamon Toasts & A Recipe

Missy A has a budding inclination towards cinnamons lately.  She adores the cinnamon toast waffles to the point that she requested it for school.  We bought the one by Eggo and my children went crazy over them. A package of 10 mini waffles all gone in a single eating.  So we have to purchase more to pack for the following day's lunch.

School Lunches: Chicken Taquitos & A Recipe

This is the second time I sent Taquitos to school because it was a success.

Mr G loved taquitos and I'm happy because I found another entree to serve for school lunches.  This time I'm making them myself.  It was pretty tough to roll the tortillas and keep them rolled. I read somewhere that all you need is a toothpick that holds each taquitos neatly in place till they're ready for baking. 

K-Bento: S is for Sandwich Spirals & A Tutorial

Missy A has a Peanut Butter addiction. She can literally snack on it by just spooning it out straight from the jar. Since she can't do that in school, she eats PB sandwiches in so many ways that I could find. One of them is the sandwich spirals that has gone viral on the bento world.  This is the first time I'm sending sandwich spirals to school, but she's been eating it at home as I improve my skills on rolling them tightly and neatly in place.

World Animal Day Hop: A Seahorse & Friends

October 4, 2012 is World Animal Day.

That calls for another Blog Hop.

My fellow Bento Bloggers and Friends prepared lunches of varying animals on each hop. So brace yourselves as we amuse you and your kids with the different animal lunches showcased on this special day.  This is like virtual animal museum of the Bento World.

School Lunches: Momables Chix Nuggets

Today the kids didn't like anything but their favorite crispy chix nuggets that I have learned to make thru Momables. If you're looking for the recipe, it can be found here. I'm not just so keen on making them with shapes because I always make them faster when just molding with my hands.  You just have to be generous enough with the breadcrumbs for the success of making them crispy and crunchy. We bake them for extra healthy options. Kids don't like them fried anyway.

School Lunches: Piggy Chia Pockets

If you have been following my blog, you already know that I was given the opportunity to try out CuteZCute newest baby. Yesterday's lunch featured the bears and the kitty lunches. If you haven't seen it, check it out here. Today's school lunch is courtesy of CuteZCute cutters again. This time on Chia Pockets. 

It's school's picnic lunch today.  This is a fun event that helps promote school camaraderie among students. Everyone from TK-6 sits on a tarp covered ground, all gathered together with the teachers and the principal eating and chatting together. It was my first time to witness this event since Mr. G started 1st grade in this school. Now that he's in 4th grade and Missy A in K, I have all the time to sit back and enjoy this moment of their school age years.

School Lunches: Panda Bears and a Kitty Ravioli Meal

Recently I was given the opportunity to try out a new cutter by CuteZCute.  It's one of the cutters that I've been wanting to own.  It's a cutter and a stamper in one. You can use them on breads, cheeses, hams, fruits, tortillas etc.  They cut very clean and are kid-friendly.  The set comes in 4 faces, a frame and a pick to gently push out small & intricate designs off the cutter.  It has a panda, a kitty, a frog and a pig.