Thursday's Bento...a Day Late!

Yep...I'm late but what can I say?!  Rich had a pretty simple bento yesterday.  He is a tad bit picky so it's tough at times.  I love him no less, though!!  Hubby took the pic at work so I apologize for anything you can't see very well!  Here we go....

Starting in the large compartment in my $1 lunch container with built-in utensils on the lid:  Heart and flower shaped cukes with a cute heart pick in the white silicon muffin cup (Dollar Tree - huge pack for a buck), a Tony's Ham & Cheese stuffed Sammie (I wrote his nuking instructions on it w/ marker so he'd know), bunny rabbit-shaped boiled egg.  Filling in the spaces around it all are 2 Hershey's Kisses and a handful of mixed nuts.  In the smaller compartment I put a cut up Gala Apple (sprinkled with lemon juice to prevent browning - and it held up nicely from the previous night when I made it) and a little container of Cookie Butter underneath to dip the apples in.  All topped off with a cute flag/star pick from a big pack of stuff from Big Lots!  Cheap is good!  Rich loves to have a boiled egg each day....I'm happy to oblige because it is great, lean protein!

There ya have it!  :)  Oh, I'm going to include a cute pick from a couple of weeks ago.  My niece, Taylor, and I decided to try our hand at homemade sushi.  I really wish I liked it!  Tay and Rich thought it was yumm!

It's pretty, though!  It had avocado, cucumber, and red bell pepper in it (if I am remembering correctly)!

Have an awesome weekend!!  Oh, btw, my birthday is coming up on Monday...know what I want for my bday?  More followers!  Help a sister out!  :)

Peace!
Joy

Summer Bento Blog Hop Inspiration....I LOVE the Beach!

SO, I was inspired today by a Blog Hop that went on today among the Bento Bloggers.  Since today is the first day of summer, they decided to have a hop around that theme.  I was VERY impressed!  My fave item was a bunch of miniature marshmallows on sticks (pretzels) that the artist had actually roasted over the gas burner on the stove!!  How cool!?

Since I LOVE summer...for obvious reasons (I'm a teacher), I figured I would create one for Rich using the same theme.  He has had a Bento every day this week, but I must say that they haven't revolved around a theme.  I am excited to show mine off to you!

Starting at the top left and going clockwise, we have the ocean which is made of blue vanilla yogurt, a starburst sun, a Werther's Chewy SeaGull, and cookie crumb sand.  Next, there are 3 Beach Balls made out of circle I cut out of bread with the top of a medicine bottle.  Then I used edible markers to color in the triangles.  These are Cookie Butter sammies.  The middle consist of a tiny red chocolate candy that I dug out of a jar of misc sprinkles.  These are accented by an orange Hibiscus Flower pick and a mini umbrella!  Below that you simply have some "Whales" which are Dollar General's brand of Goldfish.  Aldi carries "sharks" as their brand.  Finally, you have a little fishy boiled egg.  Hubby was impressed!  I also had a pink flamingo pick in the whales but it disappeared before the picture!

A close up of the ocean scene and beach balls.

You should try "bentoing" because if I can do it, anyone can!  I had a CRAPPY day and I just focused my energy on this for a few and believe it or not, it helped!  Whatcha think of my creation??  I also need some theme ideas. 

Puzzle & Penguin Mini-Bento

I have felt pretty close to death for a couple of days!  I hate being sick!  Anyway, I finally cooked tonight...I'm sure my hubby was happy!  I made a big pot of ham/veggie/misc soup...the best!  We are having that for lunch tomorrow.  I made each of us a little breakfast/snack bento to munch on throughout the day.  I bought 2 new sammie cutters from Wally World.  They are CUTE!  I got the puzzle one and a penguin duo!  I hate Wally World but was there checking out a phone deal someone had told me about.  Out of stock - go figure!

Each has a mini penguin sammie and 2 puzzle pieces - filled with....wait for it....COOKIE BUTTER!  YUMMO!  The penguins each have a flower sprinkle for the eyes.  The chili pepper is made from a Trader Joe Fruit Leather.  The ABC cookies are also from TJs and are quite tasty!  Hubby has organic white cheddar mini cracker sammies and a tiny Fruit Stripe packet!

 

 

 

 

 

Cookie Butter: Trader'Joe's Product Review

As promised, a post on Cookie Butter.  Whenever I go to Trader Joe's, which I LOVE, I make it a point to try something new....every time.  There have been a couple of flops, but there have been FAR more YUMS!!  Rich is in LOVE with Cookie Butter.  It is $3.69 a jar.  Best way to describe it is a consistency a tiny bit thicker and "tackier" than Peanut Butter with almost a gingersnap flavor in the background.  You can use it just like you use Peanut Butter.  Our fave so far is to simply roll out a piece of bread and spread a thin layer of the butter on.  We then roll it up.  It's very tasty!  I purchased 2 more jars tonight!  It was funny because we had used about 1/3 of the jar when Rich started panicking over running out!  LOL

Try it out and let me know what you think!  I gotta warn you though...it IS QUITE addictive!!

**Note...I am in no way affiliated with Trader Joe's nor did I receive any form of compensation for saying the positive things about the product!  We just love it!