Shark Bento

Watch out! Shark attack!

I am so excited to share my review of the lastest bento book out there: Happy Bento!: Lunches on the Go with you today!

First off, Let me start by saying I am SO proud of Anna of Becoming a Bentoholic! Her book, Happy Bento!: Lunches on the Go, just came out and it is fantastic! There are 50 different bentos, tons of large photos, step by step instructions, and tutorials jammed pack in this small book (I LOVE the size!). There are many wonderful and healthy ideas to give you lunch inspiration! It is a great source if you are looking for school lunch ideas and to add variety to your lunch packing routine. 

My favorite chapter is of course the FUN bentos. I am all about making fun and creative food! I couldn't wait to recreate some of these fun lunches so I had Eliana go through and pick one. We ended up picking the shark bento, which we both loved.

In this shark bento, inspired by Happy Bento!, Eliana has goldfish crackers, homegrown cherry tomatoes (in a silicone cup) and a shark sandwich swimming in a sea of blueberries. The sandwich was ham and cheese, and I used a mini chocolate chip for his eye.

We were really happy with how he turned out! The step by step instructions and photo tutorial really helped and I was able to make him so quickly! Photo tutorials are always such a big help for me. This took about ten minutes (including interruptions from the kiddos and washing the fruit!) Eliana LOVED the Shark bento and was already figuring out what we should make next :)

The great thing about Happy Bento is that even if you don't have everything exactly the same you can still make the lunch and use it as a source of inspiration.  I don't have a lot of the exact cutters, punches, or silicone cups that were used in some of the bentos, but I can easily recreate the lunches using what I have at home.

All in all, this is a great source of bento inspiration! SO happy for you Anna-- Happy Bento! is a wonderful book and an amazing accomplishment! Congratulations on your first book!

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**Disclosure:  I was sent this book for the purpose of this review.  As always, all opinions expressed in this post are my own**

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Rudolph Pancakes

Surprise your kiddos with these Rudolph Pancakes!

With Christmas right around the corner I made these simple Rudolph pancakes for Eliana! I was in a pancake making mood so I figured I'd make some fun shaped ones for her :)

These were really simple.  I took my homemade pancake mix and added cocoa powder to add some color and extra flavoring and they came out great!

To make these Rudolph Pancakes:

First mix up your pancake mix, homemade or boxed. (Mix it well so there are no bumps.)  I then added some cocoa powder (didn't measure) and I used that batter to make Rudolph's head.  His head is very simple-- just a circle.  You can use a squeeze bottle or just simply pour the batter onto your griddle.  I made a few pancakes with this batter before making the antlers.

To make the antlers darker I added more cocoa powder to the remaining batter.  This batter I put into a squeeze bottle and roughly drew out some antlers. To make the antlers you have to draw the outline on the skillet (on low heat) first.  Once your outline has cooked a little bit then you can fill in the rest of the shape with the pancake batter.  Once your entire pancake shape is almost fully cooked gently flip it so it can cook on the other side.

I used two mini chocolate chips and a Hershey-ets for the nose (peanut free and nut free!) and Rudolph was all set! Eliana LOVED him! 

...And now I have the Rudolph song stuck in my head now... and maybe you do too? You are so very welcome ;) I can't believe Christmas is in ONE WEEK!! :)

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Simple Panda School Lunch

Eliana's Second Day of School! 

Today is Eliana's Second Day of school!  Her school split the kindergarten in half for the first two days and they also had shorter first days in order to help the kids adjust to school.  And next week they only have school two days. At first I was annoyed with trying to figure out which day she went and what time, but I really do think it will help us all ease into the school routine.  So her first day was Wednesday, and then she was off on Thursday while the other half of the kids went that day.

Eliana had a WONDERFUL first day of school and actually cried when I came to pick her up. No... Not because she missed me, but because she did not want to go home! I had to explain to her that she could not sleep at the school and eventually she accepted that and decided it was OK to come home.  She was very disappointed she had yesterday off and couldn't go to school but she was so excited to be there today! Today will be her first full day :)

Overall her first day was amazing! Minus one minor mishap that gave me a slight heart attack ;) But I must mention how proud I am of Eliana for advocating for herself and being so verbal about her food allergies on her very first day of school.  The nurse called me on Wednesday to tell me that Eliana was having anxiety at lunchtime and saying she was allergic to nuts and that they had no record of this (insert ME FREAKING out, because I did in fact pass in the paperwork and now my heart is in my chest thinking she ate something)! However, the nurse assured me everything was fine and Eliana was moved to the nutfree table AND she found the paperwork about five minutes after our phone chat. But wow. Way to give me a heart attack on the first day of school. Seeing the school nurse number gave me heart palpitations. But again. I am extremely proud of Eliana for being so verbal and safe, not to mention how awesome it is that the school nurse praised Eliana's ability to articulate her allergy very clearly to them. I'm so proud of her! I think we are off to a good year! :)

So for her second day of school I made her a simple panda bento! :)

For her lunch Eliana has a panda pocket sandwich filled with I.M. Healthy chocolate soynut butter (peanut free/nut free spread). She also has a babybel cheese, strawberries and flower cucumbers with cute panda bento picks. Her lunch was packed in an EasyLunchbox, sitting ontop of her ice pack and inside her Bixbee Sparkalicious purple lunch bag :) She also had some fruit ice water (sliced strawberries in ice cold water) in her thermos and a snack that goes in with her as well.

I'm still a newbie school lunch packer so I am trying to figure out how much she will actually eat in school.  At home she has all the time in the world and really does take forever to eat. Because she LOVES to talk and is a slow eater I am trying to figure out how much food to send and how much she will actually eat. So these next weeks I will be adjusting to figure out how much to pack her :) And again -- I can't wait to pick up my baby from school today! :)

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First Day of School!

Today is Eliana's first day at school!!

This morning I dropped off Eliana for her first day of school! My baby is in Kindergarten!! She was so excited to go to school today as soon as she woke up she changed her clothes, got her packback and she was ready before the rest of us! We had to slow her down and told her she had to eat breakfast first but I am thankful she is that excited to go!

This is her first time in school so this is a transition for the both of us! I have been home with her the past 5 1/2 years and this will be the first time I haven't been with her all day.  I am more nervous because of her peanut and nut allergy than anything else.  She is in an nut free classroom and sits at the nut free table at lunch but it still gives me anxiety to not be in control of her environment anymore. However her teacher and the school nurses are absolutely lovely and I am positive she is in good hands.  I'm also thankful Eliana is so articulate about her allergy and can speak up for herself.  But like any other allergy mom I am still anxious! Lots of transitions and adjustments happening for us in our family and I'm sure with many other families as well!

Her first packed school lunch is a bee lunch in her yubo lunchbox. Before school started we talked about how she needed to bee kind, bee nice and bee respectful at school so I thought making a bee lunch would be cute :)

Her lunch was half a sandwich (crusts cut off and cut into two mini sandwiches) of WowButter, sliced strawberries and mini chocolate chips.  On top I had Scrabble Jr. Cheez-Its spell out "BEE".  In her bee silicone cup she has some colby jack cheddar cheese cut up.  She also had strawberries with a bee pick, and some yellow bell peppers (because bees are yellow :)) All packed in her yubo lunchbox. I even put a little peanut free/nut free sticker (comes with the Wowbutter) on top of her lunch.

I almost forgot a drink, but then did attach the drink holder afterwards! I completely forgot about having to pack a drink to be honest! First time school lunch packer here! I have some adjusting to do too :) 

Even though I have packed us lunches before she has never had to go off with it to school so this is a fun and new experience.  And I love making her fun food for lunch because I hope it will remind her how much I love her.  Making fun food is something we love to do together so while I can't be in school with her I can make her some fun food and hopefully put a smile on her face :) 

 I can't wait to pick her up later today and hear how her first day went!! :)

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Two Year Blogiversary Giveaway!

How else do you celebrate your 2 year blogiversary but with a giveaway?! I've been behind and meant to put this up on my actual blogiversary, but here it is!! :)

Creative Food is teaming up with Bento USA (All Things For Sale), CuteZCute and EasyLunchboxes! There are FOUR AWESOME PRIZES total for the lucky winner! Not only are these prizes awesome-- they would be perfect for Back to School!

1 and 2. EasyLunchbox container set AND cooler bag (your choice of color):

We love EasyLunchboxes! They are simply one of our favorite lunch boxes. Not only are they affordable (four containers priced at $13.95) they are durable. I have had the same set for over a year and a half and have had no wearing or tearing or warping, even with use of the dishwasher. They are also safe for the freezer and microwave AND they have no BPA, Lead, Vinyl or PVC so they are a great choice to make food safe waste free lunches! I love how the compartments are separated naturally so that food doesn't have to touch. I also love how they stack! I can pack all of our lunches ahead of time and stack them in the fridge with different color lids. 

We love both the Classic set (with lid colors blue, red, green and orange) and the new Brights (with lid colors teal, purple, yellow and pink). We also love to use the cooler bag as well. I like how it holds the lunch upright and you can pack up to three EasyLunchboxes in it. You can also get FREE shipping through the EasyLunchboxes Amazon Store! (USA or Canada)

You can see other lunches I have made in EasyLunchboxes HERE.

3. CuteZCute Cutter:

I LOVE the CuteZCute Cutter. This 6 piece set gives you the tools to make so many different food creations -- the options are endless! You get one outer face cutter and four different animal face cutters/stamps. One side of the animal face is used as a cutter, the other is used as a stamp. You also get an adorable little panda pick that helps you poke out the food that gets stuck in the cutter. It is seriously one of the best bento tools I have. You can make a simple sandwich so cute in a matter of seconds! I love how you can use the same outer face cutter and can change the animal faces!

4. Vegetable Cutter set (in either small or large, winner chooses):

These Vegetable Cutters are not just for vegetables-- they so versatile! You can use them on cucumbers, carrots, bell peppers, apples, pears, cheese, deli meat, breads, etc. They are very easy to use and cut through the hardest of vegetables easily because of their stainless steel edges. They also come in an awesome plastic case so you can keep them all together neatly.

Using the prizes I made up this fun and cute lunch: The Frog and The Fly Bento.

I decided to go back to my roots to celebrate my second blogiversary. I found inspiration from one of my first ever creative fun food creations I made for Eliana, Two Frogs on a Log (please excuse the horrible lighting!) Creative Food has come a long way since Two Frogs on a Log and I am so thankful to my family and to all my readers and followers (YOU) for helping me get here today! I mainly started Creative Food because of suggestions from family and friends. I seriously love making creative fun food for Eliana and I am glad to say that all this fun food has made her eat better! She is more involved in food preparations, eating healthier and with more variety :)

To make The Frog and The Fly bento lunch (packed in an EasyLunchbox) I first used my CuteZCute cutter on a sandwich. The Frog is a peanut free/nut free wowbutter sandwich (I actually forgot to add honey and cinnamon, which is how Eliana loves it, but no worries--Eliana had me correct my mistake before she would eat it lol) The tongue is organic fruit leather.

The Fly is sitting in yogurt (in a Mini-Dipper). I made The Fly out of a mini chocolate chip and confetti sprinkles with chocolate sprinkles showing the "fly path".

For the flowers, because a Frog would be in a pond and ponds have flowers right?, I used my vegetable cutters to cut my cucumbers and yellow bell pepper. The cucumber scraps are underneath.

SO Back to the giveaway!!

One lucky winner will get one EasyLunchbox container set (winner can choose which set; classic or brights), one Insulated Lunch Box Cooler Bag (winner chooses which color), one CuteZCute cutter set and One stainless steel vegetable cutter set (your choice of size; small or large)!!!!!

Enter below in the Rafflecopter for a chance to win!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Giveaway comprises of 4 (four) prizes total for 1 (one) winner. One lucky winner will receive one EasyLunchbox container set (winner can select which set; classic or brights), one EasyLunchbox lunch bag (color of choice), one CuteZCute cutter and One vegetable cutter set (winner can choose which size set; small or large). This giveaway begins on August 2 and ends August 16 at 12 am. Winner will be contacted through email and will have 48 hours to respond.  If winner fails to respond within 48 hours I will draw another winner. This giveaway is for U.S. and Canada residents only.

**Disclosure: All Things For Sale sent me their vegetable cutters for the purpose of this review and giveaway.  

As always all opinions expressed in this post are my own**