Puppy Sandwich Ball Tutorial

It is so cool that you can use sandwich balls in place of rice balls for a bunch of bento ideas.  Y loves rice, but I love having another option, and also, they're amazingly cute and easy!  Oh these bento possibilities really do seam endless!  

To make these all you really need is your sandwich makings (so far this cheapy mushy white bread seems to work pretty good!)  

1. To make this puppy you need 2 pieces of bread and peanut butter (or whatever your desired spreadable filling)
2. Cut off the crusts and press the bread flat (or flatish, you don't have to overdo it)
3. Spread PB avoiding the edges
4. pinch together the corners and middles till you have a little sandwich "parcel"
5. At this point I press mine into my rice ball maker (and I know what your thinking, yes you can totally put these into your shaped rice molds!).  If you don't have a rice ball maker, that's okay, just hand form into a ball and proceed to the next step.
6. Now you have a ball!  Hooray!  Is it going to be a panda, a prince, a soccer ball?  Ours is going to be a puppy :)
7. Wrap your ball tightly in plastic wrap so that it holds its shape and place in the fridge while you prepare the other pieces (or overnight) . . . And on to the ears . . . 
8. Prepare another piece of bread a la' steps 2 & 3 and this time fold it in half and press down to seal the cut edges
9. Cut two thin slices to be the ears (you'll have left overs, or enough ears for at least another puppy)
10. Retrieve your ball and put on the face so you'll know where you want to place the ears.  I used mini chocolate chips and a black food color pen for the puppy face.
11. Use a little bit of PB to adhere the pinched end of the ear to the head (these don't stay super well but this bread becomes almost mold-able and between that and the PB, it's enough).

You're done!  Wasn't that fun! 

I'm linking up with Today's Creative Blog, I heart naptime

Spring Bunny Bento

I've been testing out my bento abilities lately. Today I made bento bunnies in a kale and strawberry garden!

I'm embarrassed to say these took me probably 15 to 20 minutes (yep, to make 2 tiny cheese sandwiches) but the results were quite adorably fabulous if I do say so!  Each box contains a cheese sandwich bunny, kale chips and strawberry flowers.

I used a cup to cut the bunny face out of the corner of a sandwich, the ears are merely the remaining strip of  sandwich folded and cut into 2 narrow pieces.  The eyes are cheese and olive, I felt pretty ingenious when I used both ends of a metal frosting tip to cut the circles!  The whiskers are precisely thin cut carrots in which I discovered I have a very unsteady hand.  The only actual bento-specific supply I used was the tiny triangle cutter for the bunny nose, but this could totally be freehanded meaning you could replicate this box with no special supplies . . . do it!

If you have yet to try kale chips, you are missing out!  Ever since I found pre-cut and cleaned kale at my local Walmart these have become an almost daily snack!  I just place a couple heaping handfuls of kale in a gallon Ziploc with a tiny swish of extra virgin olive oil and a couple pinches of garlic salt then shake shake shake and bake on a cookie sheet at 300 F for around 15-20 minutes!  There is something so satisfactory in seeing this picky little peep cram these dark green crunchies in her mouth :)

I'm linking up with Today's Creative Blog

Lunch

Theirs:

Pin It

I'm not a bento all-star, by any means :) . . . YET! This easy lunch can be made using strained ramen noodles (mixed with grated carrot) for the nest, broccoli (steamed or fresh) for the tree, and a hard boiled egg for the baby birdie. The eyes, for lack of sesame seeds or anything better, were just green sprinkles. The beak is a carrot. The cutting of the egg white: harder than it looks, folks :) hence the mild face wound on my chickie. But when you're audience consists of members under the age of 5, you always win!

Mine:

Source The Kitchn

I'll use the source photo because while mine tastes awesome, it just doesn't look as pretty!