Breakfast Egg Muffins - To Go!

I found this recipe a while back for Egg Muffins that looked do-able, and seemed like a great way to have a healthy on-the-go breakfast readily on-hand. I tend to not get breakfast, since I spend my morning herding the  Princess. And sometimes SHE doesn't get breakfast before we have to go, and cereal in the car is just so messy!

I changed it up a bit, since I didn't have the spice Kalyn recommended. Also, my husband was making meringue cookies and only needed the whites of 4 eggs, so I took his yolks for this.

Breakfast Egg Muffins

Kalyn's Kitchen's Ingredients: (she has a lot of great South Beach diet recipes and advice!)

15 eggs

2c shredded cheese (Kalyn recommends low-fat, like sharp cheddar or Colby Jack)

1-2 tsp Spike Seasoning

3 green onions (optional but recommended)

Chopped veggies (optional)

Chopped low-fat ham, Canadian Bacon or sausage (optional)

MY Ingredients:

15 eggs (although I used 11 eggs plus 4 yolks and a dollop of 2% milk to help make up for the missing whites)

~2c shredded Colby Jack cheese (I didn't measure. I grated a little over a cup and it wasn't enough so I grated some more until I was satisfied)

1 tsp Schilling Season-All

1/2 tsp celery salt

1/2 tsp Italian Seasoning blend

3 green onions, diced small

Broccoli buds

Makes 12

Directions:

Step 1: Preheat oven to 375 F. Prep muffin tins. For silicone, use nonstick spray (I couldn't find mine so I just brushed on olive oil.) For metal tins use 2 paper liners per cuppy and use nonstick spray on liner that will touch the food. I have no opinion on the efficacy or necessity of this, but Kalyn has done this many times, so I trust her trial and error!

I *highly* recommend putting muffin tins on a baking sheet. The silicone ones tend to get a little floppy, and Kalyn says it is also good for catching drips or overflow. 

Step 2.1 (Optional): Prepare meats. If using bacon, I'd probably cook it a little first.

Step 2.2 (Optional): Prepare veggies. 

Since I don't know the first thing about blanching broccoli, and I didn't want big hunks of stem in my face, I opted to shave off the buds from the broccoli florets. I had 3 largish stems worth, plus a few smaller stems.

I chopped up the green onions. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to use the green leafy part at the top, but I tasted it and it seemed green-oniony, so I used it until it became too annoying to cut.

Step 3.1 (Optional): Put meats in bottoms of muffin tins.
Step 3.2 (Optional): Put veggies in bottoms of muffin tins.

Broccoli'd

I couldn't find my regular muffin pans, so I used my Jack-O-Lantern and flower-shaped ones! The others have too many little narrow parts, like the stars and trees, and I didn't know how small protrusions would fare, since they might cook differently than the centers.

Green Onioning

Step 4.1: Grate cheese.

They're Grrrrrrrate!

Step 4.2: Put in muffin tins, on top of veggies and meat, until cups are around 2/3rds full.

Step 5: Open eggs into largeish bowl with pour spout.

 Step 6: Add spice(s) to eggs. Blend.

Step 7: Pour eggs into muffin cups until around 3/4ths full. The eggs take a little time to settle, so I kept having to go back and add a bit more after the eggs had oozed down into all the crevices.

Step 8: Bake 25-35 minutes until risen, set and slightly browned.
I didn't get any pictures of them after they came out of the oven, since the Princess woke up and needed me and "the Ladies" to help get back to sleep, so my husband took them out of the oven for me.

Step 9: Loosen the muffins with a knife to remove them from the tins.
My husband didn't know this part, so my tins have a lot of egg bits stuck to the sides, and my shapes are a little less, well, shape-y.

Step 10 (Optional): If not eating them all right away, let cool for 15-20 minutes before putting them in an airtight container in the fridge. Divide into pairs (or whatever serving size you want) and put into freezer bags if freezing. (To save on high-cost freezer bags, we use cheaper small baggies for individual servings, then put THEM into a larger freezer bag. We can usually keep using the outer bag, since it doesn't get dirty touching the food!)
Kalyn says they can last for around a week in the fridge (so far not a danger in our house. 2 days and we only have half left!) Longer in the freezer, but I don't know how long.
Thaw in fridge before reheating.
She says you microwave a pair of muffins for 2 minutes to reheat.

I love how the Jack-O-Lantern face came out! Too bad it's Christmas!

Not as attractive on the top!

I had my first one still a little warm right out of the fridge (since my husband had just bagged them up.) It was a little green-oniony for me, but I don't like green onions. I'd probably try just 2 next time, or 3 but not bother with the green tops.
I tried 2 more the next night, but again got interrupted as they were heating, when the Princess woke up. Darn you, girl! Don't you WANT me to get Christmas ready?! I like them, but would LOVE if they had bacon in them. Definitely trying bacon next time! Can't even taste the broccoli, which is great, since then the kids won't spit it out! Cauliflower would be a great one to sneak in, since it's fairly flavorless and colorless.

Unka Seesee says they're great, and would be a big hit at a brunch or breakfast.

Cake Pop Culture

Amidst all my online holiday shopping on Amazon, I broke down and finally ordered myself a copy of Bakerella's Cake Pops book! I didn't have to wait long, since they have a promotion for a free month of Amazon Prime, or a free Amazon Mom account for any parent or caregiver of a child (the Mom one also gives discounts on certain child-related products, and 30% off on diapers if you sign up for the Subscribe and Save for that product, which you can cancel any time.) Either membership gives you free 2-day shipping!

After my success [and by 'success' I mean that they weren't an abysmal failure] with the cake balls, I think I'll be ready to make treats of this caliber... oh, around never. But I had to have this book!

Little Z appropriated it immediately, ignoring the toys in the shipping carton for her cousins in favor of this book! She flipped through, checking out her options. At first she was fixated on the Panda Pops.

That is, until she saw the mini "ah-meem tones" [ice cream cones.]

"I want THREE, Mommy. One, two, three. See?
I have three fingers, so that means I want three!"

I guess I'll have to try to make these at some point. I'm scared.
Hopefully the Bakerella Fairy will swoop in and leave me with trays of yummy, perfectly formed cake pops, so my daughter doesn't vote me off the island.



I got absolutely no compensation for this post, and wrote it on my own initiative. I love Bakerella and her food art, and love that these have made her so successful. Amazon got a free plug in there too, as I'm totally loving this free 2-day shipping. It's 3 business days 'til Christmas and I was still able to squeak in a last-minute Christmas present order without paying through the nose to get it in time!

Lost In Translation

Other than getting to fondle and dream up all the things I can do with my new toys, my favorite part about getting a shipment of bento stuff is reading the English instructions on the package.

Do not use for purposes other than those originally intended. [Okay. A little wordy, but pretty close.]
Do not put it near the fire to avoid deformation or catching fire. [Umm... If I put it near the fire I get deformed? And catch on fire?]

Picks:
As it is a small product, be careful not to ingest accidentally, or poke inside the mouth or eyes. [Rats. I wanted to eat it after poking my eyes out!]
To prevent accidental ingestion, never give it to a baby. [Um. DUH.]
On another package:
There is an error drinking danger. Please do not give to the infant no matter what. [.... *blink*... *blinkblink*...]

Spoons/Forks:
Please do not put it near the fire.
Please do not use it in oven. [I'm sensing a theme here.]
Please never give it to the baby. There is danger of drinking by mistake. [...]
This product passed the quality inspection. [!!]

Cookie cutters/shapers:
Some sharp parts can be found in this product. Take care not to injure your fingers. Do not use it as play equipment for children. [Okay. Not bad.]
Trimming die for soft food stuff such as dough for confectionary products. [Uhhh... Whuuuck? Actually, I've seen the word 'die' used to mean a shape cutter, like a die-cut.] Cooking use is not allowed for this resin product such as hot cakes and sunny-side up egg since the product is weak against heat.
Heating causes deformations and melting.
Do not place it at the place which will become very hot, in particular near fire.If it is placed near fire, it may be softened and deformed. [Uhh... Wasn't this covered twice already in the places which will be above these words?]
Microwave oven is not allowed to use. [Aww. But the microwave has been working really hard on being more responsible with cookie cutter use lately...]

The best excellent food is homemade cakes in the after. [Ur?]
Wash it carefully before use it.
Wash and wipe very well after use it and keep it dry. [It I will it wash it it it.]
Be careful not to injure fingers and hands in a section. [In a section of what?]
Do not use it besides an original use. [So no copying other people's ideas!]
When take off a staple of a stapler, be careful not to injure hands and fingers. [Seems a little off topic, but this packaging had the plastic blister stapled to the cardboard hang tag, rather than glued. But still...]

Silicone cups/containers:
Best used for lunches providing a pliable fit. [My lunches usually have a pliable fit... in my thighs!]
Washable and reusable mean greater savings. [Uh, no. 'Washable' means you can clean it, and 'reusable' means you don't have to throw it out... neither of those words mean 'greater savings.']
Product may have a peculiar odor of silicone at first. [Charming.] It will gradually fade out, and it is sanitarily harmless. [Is 'sanitarily' even a word?]
Wash with dishwashing detergent before primal use. [Rawr. Primal.]

Bento boxes:
Mostly they say the same stuff. Avoid heat, handwash, etc. Except one. One was all in Japanese, except the words "Sheep Lube" [... Needless to say, I didn't buy that one.]

I'll update periodically, as I add to my hoard of bento supplies.

WFLW - Winter Wonderland Goodbyn Bento

For this week's What's For Lunch Wednesday bento, I decided on a "Winter Wonderland" theme for our after-gym Goodbyn lunch on Tuesday.
.

Cheese "snowflakes," Reindeer hot dog w/hay (mac and cheese,) Snowman tangerine,
Water, Marshmallow Snowman
'Frosty Branches' (pretzel sticks,) Bear Fork and Spoon, 'Pine Needles' (green beans,) Applesauce;
Ranch, Ketchup and Bear (sprinkles) containers; Olive penguins.

The Boring Stuff:
Snowflakes: I cut up a string cheese stick into little "snowflake" medallions.
Frosty Branches: We got some new organic whole-wheat jumbo pretzel sticks at Costco. They taste odd, but good.
Pine Needles: I had already put the green beans in the lunch Monday night (since the Goodbyn is too big to fit in any of my insulated bags, and since it's only out of the fridge for a little over an hour between leaving the house and the end of gym class, I pack as much as I can the night before and refrigerate the whole thing, so the box starts out chilled.) I was then checking out the week's Muffin Tin Monday submissions, and saw the entry from The Young'ns call the green beans in her tin 'pine needles.' Genius! I added a festive mushroom/greenery pick from Bake It Pretty. There's a Cinnamon Apple Sauce cuppie underneath, and two Tupperware Smidgets with ketchup and Ranch.
Three Bears: I just got animal forks, spoons and sauce cups from Daiso's bento section, and this was a perfect opportunity to use them! I chose bears on a loose connection. Bears. Hibernate. Winter. Polar Bears. Whatever. Plus, there was no way I could justify an Elephant or Ladybug!

Snowman Tangerine: I probably got this idea from Melissa at Another Lunch. Looks like a cross between her orange with leaf pick and Snowman egg. I used one of my new Bake It Pretty winter hat picks (don't see them, looks like they're no longer available) and Wilton Food Writers (I only got the red and green set, which were on super sale at Joann's.)

Reindeer and Hay: I got the reindeer hot dog idea from Two Bears Farm's MTM Monday night after most of my meal was assembled. I had already planned on the Mac and Cheese (left-over from her after-nap snack on Monday,) and just figured I'd sprinkle some Parmesan on it and call it 'snow.' But this genius idea made the Mac and Cheese so much better, and solved my worry about not having enough protein in this meal.
I snapped a small pretzel knot in half, nibbled open a space to make them look more like antlers (I had such a terrible time in the past trying to break them into antlers, this was was MUCH easier, if slightly grosser for the recipient.) I used my food writers to make eyes and a nose. Since I was doing this part Tuesday morning, I opted to be quick and lazy and use the red food writer, rather than trying ketchup. I put it all in a small KidsKonserve container.

Marshmallow Snowman: Two marshmallows secured with a toothpick. Hat pick. Little cracker stick arms. Food Writer face. I used a small orange bento pick and shoved it through from the back to make the pointy end into a nose.

Olive Penguins: I had two of these olive penguins left over from Monday's party. I stuffed my carrot scraps and split olives underneath.

Little Z was delighted with her lunch. In fact, I threatened to eat all the fun stuff if she didn't cooperate in getting ready that morning, so she was more helpful than usual.

The kids who were getting ready to leave all flocked around her lunch too. The regulars are getting used to us bringing something fun, so if they remember, they come to check it out. Now even the moms are telling me they're inspired to try fun things with their food because of these! Hooray!
I was inspired by a link one of my friends posted on Facebook about AnotherLunch's cute foods. I had been wanting to blog about something, and had started taking pictures of crafts and stuff we were trying, but didn't really have any focus until Melissa inspired me! I found Michelle's Muffin Tin Monday through her, and bentolunch.net's What's For Lunch Wednesday through Shannon's submissions to MTM. I've met so many fun people online, and this is all so much fun! So I am so glad that what I do can inspire people too.

She loved spooning the sprinkles onto the applesauce. I didn't have winter-y or Christmas-y sprinkles, so the best I could find was an orange-yellow-white mini ball mix from Halloween. So, kind of like snow!

She ended up eating half of the green beans; the olive penguins and most of the extra olives; and all the cheese, pretzels, and hot dog. She ate very little of it after gym, but most of the rest after nap. The applesauce spilled bringing it back home, so I threw it out. She nibbled, licked and took-apart and re-assembled the snowmallows, but I ended up throwing them out rather than bring them back home.

March Of The Pingu-s (Olive Penguins)

I can't find the original link where I found this recipe, but it was on a parenting magazine website. Parents, Parenting, Family Fun, something like that. You can find loads of other tutorials and ideas if you Google "olive penguins."

I've been wanting to make these for ages, ever since I first saw them. I bought the olives, and they've been sitting in my pantry for months (well, technically not. Princess loves olives, so I'd replace the cans as I used them, so I'd have them just in case!) But every party or get-together I had thought to make them for either got cancelled or I didn't have enough time to make them.

Monday 12/20/10 was my MOMS Club's Holiday Party, and late Sunday night I remembered that it was a potluck! I had nothing to bring, other than a bag of chips, or cheese and crackers. So I planned to make cookie-cutter cheese and crackers. But then I saw someone else had RSVPd that they were bringing cheese and crackers already. D'oh!

But I had everything needed for olive penguins!

Olive Pingu-s

Ingredients:

Carrots

Jumbo/Extra Large Olives (approx. 36 per 6oz can)

Large Olives (approx. 44 per 6 oz can)

Cream Cheese (or savory-flavored cream cheese) - softened

Toothpicks (optional)

Pastry tip and bag or Heavy-Duty Ziplock (optional)

Directions:

Step 1: Cut carrot(s) into coins. Larger coins stand up better, but smaller coins look better, so it's your call what diameter carrots you use.

Step 2: Cut a small triangle wedge out of each carrot coin to make 'feet' shape. Save wedge to use as beak. 

I found that short wedges didn't stick out very far as beaks, and longer wedges tended to leave a big gap where the toothpick was trying to go. I also ended up shaving most of the wedges down to a skinnier size so they wouldn't split open the olive when being inserted. For the wedges that were from too-thick coins, I just replaced them with wedges cut from a spare coin that was either too small or cut at an angle so I didn;t get a full coin.

Step 3 (Optional): Slice Jumbo/Extra Large olive lengthwise down one side only.

I only did this on one olive. It was too labor intensive for me, and it made piping the cream cheese harder. If you are using a knife to spread/fill with cheese, this way would be easier.

Step 4: Spread or pipe cream cheese into center of olive. 

I chose to put my cream cheese in a heavy-duty Ziplock and snip a corner so I could pipe the cream cheese, since it's much easier and less messy.

Step 5: Gently insert beak into smaller opening in Large olives. (The smaller openings on mine looked like an 'X' mark.)

You *can* try and push beak through from larger opening, but I had mixed results, with an over 50% failure rate. I found it was just easier to cut a sliver off the beak until it fit better.

Step 6: Pipe or spread a blob of cream cheese to center of each 'feet' coin to help cement the body.

Step 7: Press filled Jumbo olive onto 'feet.' The olive sits better if you put the larger opening side down.

Step 8: Pipe or apply a blob of cream cheese to the 'neck' of the body.

Step 9: Attach 'head' olive onto 'body.'

Ta-Dah!

Step 10 (Optional): Insert toothpick through top of 'head,' all the way down through the carrot 'feet.'

I found it was easier to do this step as I was affixing the head to the body. I'd stick the toothpick through the 'head,' then bring it to the body and skewer down through it to the carrot, sliding the head up as I went. 

Tips/Hindsight:

The ones I saw originally didn't need toothpicks, but my cheese just wasn't enough to stick everything together. It's possible that had I wiped the olives and carrots dry, they would have stuck together with just the cheese. But since I was making these the night before, and transporting them, I didn't want them to go dry overnight, or fall apart on the drive over (or during the toddler/diaper bag/Tupperware juggling act on the way in from the car!) Or maybe whipped or spreadable cream cheese works better (I used a brick.)

The original ones I saw also used a toothpick to poke eye holes in the head, and somehow filled them with little bits of cream cheese, but I couldn't figure out how to do it cleanly without a very small-holed frosting tip. Maybe you could pipe cheese into the head from the back and have it squirt out the eyes, but I got a lot of splitting on the bodies when I was piping them, so it might not work out well.

I decided that since they were going to look fairly sloppy anyway, that I'd save myself a step and just let a blob of cheese pipe out the top of the bodies as they filled. But this meant I was placing them small-hole-side down, which was okay because of the toothpicks to secure everything. I also had some olives split open as I was piping, so if the split looked mostly perpendicular, I pretended it was a cut like my first one and called it good!

After the first one, I found it was much easier to do these assembly-line-style. Cut all the coins, cut all the wedges, fill all the bodies, put beaks in all the heads, put cream cheese 'glue' on all the feet and the necks, then assemble. You may see cheesed 'feet' in pictures before the step where I said to put cheese on the feet, because I was learning as I went! It was a big hassle having them there taking up so much space while I was trying to do everything else!

The olive discolors the toothpick, so avoid inserting from the bottom.

Army of Penguins

I think I ended up with around 32

A fun way to serve/display them would be to have shaved or shredded parmesan scattered onto the serving platter as 'snow' and have them marching along it.

For extra work fun, you could make custom decorations for your picks, like hat stickers or printouts that you apply to the tops of the toothpicks so they rest right on top of the head! (You'd want to have 2 per toothpick and sandwich the toothpick between them, using glue or sticker-paper to adhere them to each other. Or just one sticker and use plain paper for the back piece, then trim to fit sticker. Do this before inserting into penguin!)

The kids were enchanted by the penguins (Little Z sang the "Pingu" theme song the whole drive there!) but several of them didn't actually end up eating them. Little Z scavenged all the (untasted) rejects. She'd even stop eating her candy cane or sugar cookie to ask for another "olive Pingu."

Santa was at the party and gave all the kids full-sized candy canes. I swear, that stupid thing lasted for hours! She slorped on it for 2 hours before beginning the munching process, which took her another hour to complete. Meanwhile, everything within a 10-block radius was covered in sticky! [And cat hair. But that goes without saying. You could bring a hermetically sealed bag into my home and upon entering my house, will find cat hair inside! Someone new comes in, in cat-hair-free clothing, and you can see the sirocco of hair converging to engulf them and absorb them into the collective.]

Muffin Tin Monday - Oh, Kimmens Tree!

O Christmas tree! O Christmas tree! 

How yummy are your branches!

O Christmas tree! O Christmas tree! 

How yummy are your branches!

O-ornaments, and presents too,

How I can't wait to nibble you!

O Christmas tree! O Christmas tree! 

How yummy are your branches!

For this week's Muffin Tin Monday, I wanted to do a Christmas tree theme. Tree. Presents. Ornaments. Etc. I couldn't find my handy, dandy notebook [Blue's Clues reference] with all my ideas and list of what foods I could do what with, so I had to wing it. I was also at a disadvantage in that I decided to do this on a weekday, since we were home sick with a cold, rather than on the weekend like I normally do, when I have a back-up adult to confine the toddler when she starts getting grabby.

Left to right, top row: PBH stocking, strawberries, cheese with strawberry "candy
cane," Cracker Kimmens tree, dessert and lunchy ornaments, PBH hobby horse.
Bottom row: Triscuit present, star crackers, PBH and Brownie Bite presents with
strawberry accents, cheese train, strawberry toy soldier, cracker present.

Kimmens Tree: Last year, Little Z had only been talking for around 6 months. When prompted, she would wish her teachers a "Mirry Kimmens" which I thought was just too adorable. So I started saying "Kimmens." And then she'd call the tree a "Kimmens tree" and it sounded like "Chemistry." Just. Too. Cute.

I used the last of our large triangle rye crispbread crackers from Ikea with a Laughing Cow Mozzerella, Sun-Dried Tomato and Basil wedge cheese spread. I cut up some green pepper and carrot decorations. Plus my finger. I can't be trusted with sharp things! We got a bandaid for my finger. (I let Nurse Little Z "help." She chose the bandage out of the box, peeled open the wrapper and pulled off the sticker-backs. I helped her put it over the right spot, and she helped me wrap it around.) 

I used a star cracker from a Chio Maxi Mix to top the tree.

Presents: I had originally planned to just use Triscuits again, but as I was rooting around I found a Pepperidge Farm cracker assortment left over from Thanksgiving, with more shapes to choose from. I used the last of the Laughing Cow cheese on the rectangle sesame seed cracker, and used some onion and chives cream cheese on the Triscuit. More carrot and green pepper fun ensues.
We were out of red pepper, and I was a little sad at the primarily green-orange-white motif that was happening with the presents and tree and such before I spiced it up with the strawberries!
I got a killer deal on some Pillsbury Sweet Moments Chocolate Fudge Brownie Bites (on markdown to $1.25/bag, and buying 2 got me an additional $2 off a future Safeway purchase with some other stuff I was buying.) So I thought it would make a nice present, and add some color.

She chose the present cutter, and although I had vetoed it originally, since I had lots of presents already planned, I decided to go for it, since I like to incorporate her requests whenever possible.

For the bow, I just used the top part of the cutter on a strawberry slice, then rotated it upside-down to cut the bottom of the ribbon. All my other strawberry accents were just little slivers, except for the most-of-a-toy-soldier, who aaaaaalmost fit onto a strawberry half.

Trimming the Tree: I used one of the Pepperidge Farm crackers (a fairly bland flavorless one) and some vanilla frosting (left over from my Cake Balls) to have a platform for more strawberry accents to add more color. I added mini chocolate chips for fun. The other ornament is a Whole Grain Ritz with onion/chive cream cheese; and green pepper, carrot and frozen corn accents.

Toys and Such: I had really wanted to use more of my mini Christmas cutters, because if not now, then when? But nothing was big enough for most of them. Even slices from my Monterey Jack cheese end was too narrow for many of the ones I wanted to use. And the green pepper train I made at first just blended in with the tree muffin tin. I re-made it in cheese. I love my candy cane cheese, even though it looks sloppy. At this point I was rushed and had a hungry, whining, sick toddler begging for her 'chokklit present.' I decided to make a sandwich, just to have something big enough, and made a stocking, hobby horse and the present. (I had originally felt that the crackers were enough from the 'grains' family for this meal.)
I tossed in some more sliced strawberries just to have something actually in the muffin tin, and to add more fruit. I also tossed in some star crackers, to look festive.

She's telling me she wants to eat the 'taz-ssert or-na-ment' first.
[dessert ornament]

After peeling off anything remotely resembling a vegetable, she ate all the cheese and crackers. She had most of the strawberries, and both the desserts.

I couldn't find the awesome Wilton Christmas cutter set I got on super sale at Joann's. It was a 40-pc set, with 20 different shapes, 1 each in regular and mini sizes. For $5.99!!! Regularly $20-something. It had a lot of shapes I haven't found elsewhere, like the toy soldier and a little elf.
I culled out all my duplicates, so hopefully there'll be a Muffin Tin Swap next winter! *Hint hint*

WFLW - Goldilocks And The 3.... Bunnies?

Tuesday morning we were all home sick, so we skipped gym class. I usually make a bento meal for after gym on Tuesdays, so I figured I wouldn't have a post to link this week to What's For Lunch Wednesdays. Until my shipment of new bento stuff arrived on my doorstep after breakfast! Wahoo! Picks, picks and more picks! Nori punches. Silicone cups. Cutters. And something new I've been jonesing for: Sandwich pocket molds!

Whilst watching me put away my picks in the timely new bead/floss/craft organizer box I had just bought Monday, Little Z requested a "piggy teem nunch" [piggy theme lunch.] She fished out a bunny/bear/star sandwich pocket mold set and asked for "bunny sandich. Peeduh buddah an hunee peess." So we traipsed into the kitchen to make her an at-home bento!

"Bunny Pellets" (olives,) Bunny cheese, "Rabbit Food" (carrots) with Ranch,
and Baby Bunny, Papa Bunny and Mama Bunny sandwich pockets.

I was excited to get to use my new Sassy On-The-Go Feeding Set box. I finally remembered to look for them at Target, since they are less than $6.50 there. And she was thrilled with her new pink "nunch box."

I used the bunny mold to make 3 PB-honey sandwiches. Instead of making the sandwiches, then trying to cut the bunnies out and having PB go everywhere, I punched out 6 little bread bunnies, fed the scraps to the birds, applied PB and honey to 3 bunnies, put the other 3 bunnies on top, then put them back into the mold one at a time to push the imprinter down on them. For fun, I chose some new little hat picks I just got, since Z was enamored with the little hair bow one and wanted me to use it right away. In fact, I had to stop her from just jabbing it into a bunny head several times as I was assembling the sandwiches!

Mama Bunny in the yellow hat pick, Papa Bunny in the green party hat.
and Baby Bunny with the hair bow.

Used an older bento cutter to make bunny head cheeses out of Monterey Jack, and a new bunny fork pick with some olives. If you've been paying attention, you'll notice we've been very olive-heavy lately. That's because we got 2 opened-cans-worth from Thanksgiving, and we aren't even half done yet!

I chose carrots as an obvious veggie choice for this theme, plus my leftover cucumber end and green beans all went bad, so carrots was pretty much all we had in the veggie department. Used a new little tiny silicone cuppy for Ranch, and a new leaf pick for a particularly tiny baby carrot.

She chose all the picks (except the leaf one for the carrot. She was racing to sit at the table since we were (mostly) done with making her lunch.) She chose olives instead of apples, and I didn't fight her too much, since I'm getting tired of apples too, and she'd had some pomegranate juice already that morning, to fill a fruit slot.

She appropriated a Spring bunny pick I got recently from Bake It Pretty and immediately began impaling her bunnies on it. She ate everything with a pick in it, plus the rest of the olives.

I told her the story of Goldilocks and the 3 Bears, but I changed it to bunnies, and changed the ending. Instead of scaring Goldilocks away at the end, the bunnies lectured her on manners and not stealing, then gave her a second chance to make better choices.
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If you choose to buy bento supplies from allthingsforsale.com, you can use code ANOTHERLUNCH for 5% off. One big advantage to buying from this site is that they are located in the US, which can save a TON on shipping!
I get no compensation if you buy from them, but if you use the discount code, Melissa from Another Lunch gets store credit, which she uses to buy things for giveaways!