I am not real thrilled with today’s bento entry. I had no time last night for any elaborate prep; we had a school picnic followed immediately by the years first PTA meeting. It was after kidlets bedtime before we got out of there, baby L was tired, screaming, and would only calm and sleep by being held. 

So my bento plans failed. That was compounded by my terrible baking skills; I made mini corn muffins (intended for his lunch) that wouldn’t come out of the pan without breaking and that crumbled when you looked at them. I ran out of time to make the meatballs I’d wanted to include, much less any cute cheese creations!

I suppose I should just have repeated his rocket bento. That one hasn’t gone to school, he loved it, and it takes only ten minutes tops. Instead I ended up layering things in rows and called it a day.

He’s got lil’ smokies, fresh mozzarella balls marinated in seasoned evoo, broccoli, carrot disks, and yellow pear tomatoes. Under the green and gold kiwi is a thin slice of pound cake (oh so healthy!). It’s definitely low on the starch side for a traditional ratio. Pigs are bologna with little cheese flowers, decorated with a tiny bit of cilantro leaves and a little purple cake decorating circle thing. (I have no idea what you call them!) They really have no taste; it’s not sweet, just crunchy, so I don’t think it will bother him.

Total time spent (not counting wasted time on making the corn muffins or cooling time): about 10 – 15 minutes. The pigs and oink took only a few minutes. Pigs were done with a cookie cutter and I quickly freehanded the oink. I cooked the sausages in sauce to give them a nice flavor, steamed the broccoli, waited for them to cool down and then just sliced, picked, and layered.

Anyway, it’s not what I’d planned, nor particulary cute, but it’s full of things that he likes and will eat and fill him up and give him energy to finish his day. That’s what it’s all about in the end.


Posted by in Bento, Brain Dump