Quick Macaroni and Cheese Bento

I found the cutest pasta at the local market on Friday. It's teddy bear shaped! Since it was time for lunch, and I had just done a ton of dishes, I didn't feel the need to dirty up much more with cooking lunch. So, I made a tiny batch of macaroni and cheese with 1 cup of the bear pasta. I boiled up some water, added a pinch of salt, and then filled the box with pre-cut cucumbers and pre-peeled carrots. I then got out a slice of cheddar cheese, and cut out a bear shape using my rice mold. With the leftover bits of cheese, a teaspoon of butter, and 2 tablespoons of milk, I made some simple macaroni and cheese using the hot, drained pasta. Then I filled the rest of the bento with half of the pasta and my daughter set to work eating it. To save time tomorrow, I took the other half of the pasta and made another bento for the fridge. This time I used a leaf of lettuce to separate the pasta, and added some grapes and cut cucumbers to switch things up a bit.

This is the coolest carrot I've ever seen! It grew wrapped around another carrot!

The first bento, with the cheese cut-out.

See? Teddy bear pasta!

Mmmm, pasta and some fruit and veggies.

Here you can see how it all fits with the lid on.

Sandwich Wrap Bento Lunch

I wanted to share the lunch I made for my daughter. I made a of sandwich wraps using leftover chicken, jazzed up sour cream, lettuce, and shredded cheddar. Once they were finished being filled, I rolled it up on both ends to look like a burrito, and cut it in half. The bento box pictured has a heart-shaped silicone cup, so I cut the wrap diagonally, then flipped the top half over the bottom so that the points of the wrap looked like the bottom of a heart. I place the heart cup (just a silicone cupcake cup) in the far end of the bento box, and then slipped in the wrap. There was a little room left inside, so I put in a cherry tomato. The lunches were really yummy, and fit inside the box beautifully.

The silicone cup squished together a bit. Oh well.

Sour cream dressing (taste as you go method)
Sour cream-small container
Minced/crushed garlic in jar (about 1tsp)
Seasoning salt
Extra virgin olive oil (about 1 tsp)

Chicken Quesadilla Bento Lunch




Today I needed to cook up some chicken that was in the fridge, so with the request from my daughter to have tortilla's for lunch, I decided to make some quesadillas. They were super easy to make, so I figured it would be wonderful to have saved myself the trouble of making lunch tomorrow if I made bento box lunches with the leftovers. Since bentos are so small, I decided to play with the shape a little. I sandwiched my cooked chicken (sauteed in olive oil and sprinkled with seasoning salt) and cheddar cheese between two wheat tortillas and carefully placed it into my skillet.

On medium heat, I lightly browned both sides. I pressed them flat before I flipped them because I wanted to make sure the cheese acted as a sort of glue for keeping it together.

Once they were done, I cut out four circles with a biscuit cutter and sat the circles aside for the bentos. My daughter devoured the rest of the pieces.

The bottom tortilla was a bit harder to cut through than the top.

I placed the circles into each bento box and added a container of salsa. These containers were actually easter eggs with neat patterns along the sides. They were food safe and closed decently, keeping the salsa properly contained.

These eggs had enough space for the right amount of salsa.

Next, I added some containers of sour cream. These don't have tops, so I used dividers to top them.

The sour cream on the top edges helps the divider sheets stick on.

I finished the boxes with some sliced cucumbers. Both bento boxes turned out beautifully!

I think my daughter can have the elephant one.

This cute bear one will be mine tomorrow!