*Cute lunch check-in* and a link

brightning

I fear the end of the summer fruits is coming ...  boo! PIP your cute lunches here!

Also, a friend directed me to a cute blog with lots of cute lunch ideas. https://kitchenfunwithmy3sons.blogspot.com/

This lunch is a good example of how I try really hard not to waste food when I make DD's lunches. The piece of bread yielded five bunnies, so one of the sandwiches is regular and the other is a triple decker. Served with carrots (love the dip in the carrot container!), tomatoes on picks and raspberries with a chocolate-covered sunflower seed tucked inside.

Leftover broccoli macaroni with some mini grapes, tomatoes on picks and dried cranberries in the container. DD loved the macaroni at dinner and of course barely touched it at lunch.

I saw this idea at cutefoodforkids.com. Laughing Cow cheese wedge + Bagel Thin = cutest mouse ever! But isn't it adorable?! Some deli ham rolled onto picks was for layering on the bagels. Slices of nectarines, tomatoes and something in a little container - I can't remember! DD liked this so much, she finished the bagel and mouse and asked me to make her another! (The ears are jumbo sprinkles, and the eyes/nose are smaller sprinkles. The original used little rounds of meat for the ears plus sesame seed eyes.)

Any Pinkalicious fans? I don't actually like her, but DD received the books as a gift, and this lunch is an homage to a scene where Pinkalicious orders plain vanilla ice cream and her brother has plum pink perfection (that's a plum in a silicone muffin tin). A sealed sandwich is resting on some mini grapes, with an ice cream cutout on top (jumbo sprinkle for the cherry). There's also a strawberry and again, a mystery item in the small heart container - blame my forgetful pregnancy brain!

Proof that you can make a character with only a circle! Sprinkles and cupcake toppers for the details, plus a baseball cap pick on his head. A mini box of raisins, plum and strawberries round out the lunch, which DD actually finished and ate a few more strawberries, too. This lunch probably would have looked better in a bento box, but I store those in a lower cabinet and my back was sore!

Mrs.JLC

I love the mouse!

ecoppins

Wow bright, do you do this everyday or is this something you do once in a while?

brightning

ecoppins:

Wow bright, do you do this everyday or is this something you do once in a while?

I make these pretty much every day that we eat lunch at home. It really doesn't take much extra time, it's something to talk about over lunch and I try to make it fit in with something we're doing or that DD is interested in. 

KarBear

Ok, Bright, one more question...I know your DD is older than mine, but does she actually eat everything?  I mean, my kid would see that apple ice cream cone and eat the cone and nothing else on the plate

brightning

For the record, the cone is made of silicone! It's a cupcake mold I found at World Market this summer. However, she did eat the plum that was in it first.

My DD is an absolute fruit-ivore and always chooses to eat the fruit/veg first. (And the amount of fruit she eats is astonishing - she can eat 10 strawberries and still be hungry, but eat 2 bites of sandwich and be full. Odd!) She usually eats the cheese second and generally eats most of her sandwich. if she doesn't eat most of her lunch, she's not allowed to eat the sprinkles or any other tasty treats, which I definitely enforce, though she's pretty good about following that rule by herself now. Also, lunch is the only time of day she gets any dessert/special treats.

Occasionally, she'll just eat the fruit and ask me to save the rest of her lunch for later. She always seems to have the biggest appetite at lunchtime, too. We've cut out the morning snack and she's been wanting to eat lunch a little later, so those have both increased her appetite a bit. Even still, there are days when she'll only eat the fruit. Oh well! My job is to give her the food, it's her job to eat it. I never make her something else or try to entice her into eating.

The whole idea behind bento or other cute lunches is that the food is presented in a visually pleasing way that makes the children want to eat it and to try new things. Kids eat with their eyes, too, and hopefully seeing colorful food, little picks or forks that make it fun to pick up the food, or things served in an unconventional/cute way make them want to eat (and feel extra loved in the process). HTH!