CuteZCuteness

August 17, 2014

I am a HUGE fan of CuteZCute products! They make adorable lunches with minimal effort. As you know from my lack of posts, life is very hectic these days. But, I’ve still managed to keep up with cute lunches (follow me on Facebook or Instagram to keep seeing them) mostly with the help of cute cutters that do all the work for me!

Get CuteZCute!

 
Captain Barnacles Sandwich

This winter, Cora fell in love with the Octonauts. I wanted to explore new ways to use the CuteZCute, so I decided to make Captain Barnacles, the polar bear. Since it was near Christmas, I put him in a fruit leather santa hat and gave him kiwi and pineapple snowmen to play with. I rounded out the meal with diced Quorn cutlet with a small cup of mustard for dipping.

The polar bear was made by adapting the cute panda character in the CuteZCute cutter set. Want to win one of your own? Enter the CuteZCute Giveaway, open through Wednesday, February 13.

To make this lunch I used:

 
Froggie fun lunch - a cute frog eyes a fly in the yogurt

In this cute lunch an impish frog eyes a tasty looking fly. Almond butter and jelly frog-wich with cheese and fruit leather embellishment, berries buried in vanilla yogurt decorated with a fruit leather and cheese fly, strawberry flowers and honeydew melon flowers with a froggie imprint, in one of the beautiful new Brights from EasyLunchBoxes

This cute frog is one of the adorable characters in the CuteZCute cutter set. Want to win one of your own? Enter the CuteZCute Giveaway, open through Wednesday, February 13.

To make this lunch I used:

 
Japanese Bento Box Accessories Sandwich Vegetable Cutter 3 Stamps
 

CuteZCute Giveaway

February 6, 2013

cutezcute-giveaway

This winter, the Veggie-Bento household has been under siege by a viral invasion. Actually, make that multiple viral invasions. As you’ve seen, I did not manage to post my lunches during that time, BUT I still made cute lunches 🙂 . Looking back, at least 75% of those quick and easy, but CUTE, lunches were made using the CuteZCute. I love love love this set! I wake up, tired and late (at best) and have no idea what I am going to make. I reach for the CuteZcute, and the rest of the lunch just comes together. So far, I have used it on both of Cora’s staples – cheese and almond butter/jam sandwiches, with cut outs in the bread itself, cheese, fruit leather or all three. Some of my favorites are in the pic above and will get their very own posts over the next few days. And, here’s the best thing, I have just begun to scratch the surface. There are already loads of brilliant (and yummy) ideas to be found on the CuteZCute Pinterest board.

To celebrate my triumphant return to blogdom, I am honored to be hosting a giveaway – you can win your very own CuteZcute set! To win, you need to visit CuteZCute and leave a comment below telling me which character is your favorite and ‘like’ CuteZCute on Facebook. You can also get extra optional entries by showing Veggie-Bento some love and sharing this giveaway. You have until midnight EST Wednesday, Feb 13 to enter and the winner will be picked the next morning. The winner will have 48 hours to claim the prize by email before I pick again. Open to domestic and international entries, so UK friends go for it!

If you can’t wait that long to get your own set, or need to buy a bunch for friends (they make GREAT gifts for families with young kids) you can buy them on Amazon.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Happy Turkeys for Thanksgiving

November 19, 2012

We veggies don’t do turkey for Thanksgiving. But, this year I am making an exception and making turkey sandwiches, kinda. Oh, and serving Quorn ‘Turkey’ Roast for my Scottish relatives who are visiting and looking forward to a traditional-ish American Thanksgiving. Usually, I do veggie lasagna and go for an Italian-style feast so this will be a fun change!

Vegetarian turkey sandwich

Cheese sandwich with fruit leather features, raspberries in plain Greek yogurt, watermelon and pineapple fall leaves

Vegetarian Turkey Sandwich

Cream cheese and banana English muffin sandwich with fruit leather and cheese features, watermelon and kiwi fall leaves, baby carrots and hummus

To make these lunches I used:

 
Japanese Bento Cute Food Pick 12 pcs
Bento Pastry Cookie Cutter and Stamp Leaves
 

Giving Thanks

November 15, 2012

This is going to be short and sweet. I am oh so thankful for my family. I can’t imagine life without Cora and my hubby. So, when my blogger friends and I decided to do a Thanks bento blog hop, I knew just what I wanted to do:

Thankful bento

Almond butter and jelly people, cheese house with fruit leather hearts and soy paper drapes, fruit hearts and plain greek yogurt with natural food colored sprinkles and fruit leather letters.

Now, follow the thankful blog hop to see what Glory is giving thanks for this year:

To make this lunch I used:

 
Japanese Bento Accessory Food Pick Hat 3D food picks 8 pcs
 

I am just now recovering from the flu and fairly happily spent the duration of the bug in bed with my iPad watching the short-lived but awesome series Firefly on Netflix. The 10th anniversary special for the series airs on 11/11 (http://science.discovery.com/tv/firefly/10-anniversary) and I can’t wait! To celebrate, some of my geekier bento friends and I are having a Firefly-inspired blog hop, starting at 9am PST. I went live a little early so please check back and catch the rest of the hop!

My big challenge was making a fun lunch that would work for me as a Firefly fan and Cora, who has no idea what I’m talking about. Then, I saw the episode in which Kaylee gets to dress up in a frilly pink dress and knew I found my hook 🙂 I usually avoid the overly-girly with Cora, but every once in a while I make an exception for all too-selfish reasons. This was one of them.

Firefly Anniversay Blog Hop - Kaylee's Dream Dress

I decided to capture the end scene in which Kaylee curls up on her bunk, gazing at her pretty dress (decorated with strawberries pureed and mixed in with cream cheese and a touch of natural food color) and eating treats. In this case, she is eating cream-cheese stuffed strawberries and an apple (sliced up of course!). To commemorate her beloved ship, we have melon and pineapple fireflies in the corner.

I realized that this might not be enough food so I added another layer to the sandwich. I called it a ‘hidden dress’ to Cora. She then decided the hidden dress needed to be decorated too.

Firefly Kaylee's under dress

Then Cora decided the dress was so pretty Kaylee needs to be wearing it. And she needs to have a face. And she needs to have hair. Hair that is blond, like her.

Cora's Kaylee

And there you have it – a lunch suitable for a Firefly fan AND a particular 4 year old girl. Kinda

Don’t forget to follow the Firefly to the next blog and check out Shannon’s celebration of the Firefly anniversary special. Shiny!

To make this lunch I used:

Natural Food Color

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Princess Pig

November 7, 2012

Princess Pig

Last night, I read The Princess and The Pig to Cora, then this morning made her lunch from my memory of the pig princess. I should have looked at the book, she needed more bling!

The Princess and The Pig

To make this lunch I used:

 

Finally! A Mermaid!

October 25, 2012

Cora has been asking for a mermaid lunch for quite awhile. So, far, I’ve gotten away with a variety of under the sea themed lunches, but I really wanted to honor her request without resorting to one of the sexy mermaid cutters I saw everywhere. I spent a little time studying different cartoon mermaids (no, NOT Disney) and came up with a design I could feel good about. So, Cora finally got her mermaid lunch!

Mermaid Lunch

I made our girl using a shark cookie cutter. I cut off the fins and the head, and used a small circle cutter to make her head. Her hair is made from organic, dye-free cheese curls

To make this lunch I used:

 
Decorative Bento Cutter Ham Cheese Cutter Set 18 Shapes
Decorative Bento Cutter Ham Cheese Cutter Set 15 Facial Expression
Japanese Bento Decoration Ham Cheese Cutter Set 9pcs Sea
 

Fall Leaves

October 24, 2012

Fall Leaves Lunch

To make this lunch I used: