The Witches - Roald Dahl Day Hop

Yesterday was Roald Dahl Day, which is celebrated every year on his birthday, September 13th. Not only did I grow up reading Dahl's books and watching films adapted from them, but now I get to share them with my daughter.. and with a little bit of interpretation, lunch! I'm not alone in this, of course, so along with some fellow bloggers, we decided to do a Dahl-icious Blog Hop!

This year, I decided to use one of my favorite books from Dahl, The Witches, as inspiration for the hop. In a previous year, we also used that inspiration to make our own version of vegetarian split pea soup... so yummy and back on the menu this week thanks to some unseasonable cool weather. The Witches, if you haven't read it (and you need to .. just as soon as you are done with the hop, that is), introduces it's main character, and readers, to real witches... dangerous, terrifying, vile creatures that have powerful magic, especially the Grand High Witch! In an effort to rid the world of children, a plan is devised to turn them into mice by luring them in with chocolate and sweets laced with a special potion, Formula 86: Delay action mouse maker. But, these witches weren't expecting one special boy and his very special grandmother!

Cheese sandwich (seems appropriate for a mouse, right?), Hershey's kiss, peas, and creamed maple applesauce. Awe.. look how cute that mouse is!

And, I certainly couldn't forget our own vial of Formula 86 AKA apple juice with this lunch.

Now, it's time to hop on over to the next blog, Bebento-Kids, and see what inspired them! Click through this link or the graphic below!

When you make it all the way through the hop and end up back here, be sure to check out previous year's inspiration, James and the Giant Peach, too!

In these lunches...

Happy Bento! Lunches On the Go - Book Review

So, it's pretty clear that I've been on a blogging hiatus, but I can't think of a better way to get back into the groove and get some new inspiration than with this fantastic new book, Happy Bento! Lunches On the Go by Anna Adden of Becoming a Bentoholic.

This book is full of great lunches for the veteran lunch packer looking for some fresh, fun, new ideas. But, it is also a fantastic resource for those just getting started. While the lunches in this book do call for some specific tools, there is plenty of room for improvisation, and also an extensive section on all the types of tools that Anna has and recommends, including a shopping list/links at the back of the book (AKA a great excuse to shop for some bento goodies). Every lunch is broken down in the book with supplies, ingredients, and directions that are thorough and easy to follow. I love the physical size of this book too... it's almost like a pocket guide that I could toss in my purse to reference at the grocery store. In fact, my daughter has taken it on a couple car trips to peruse while we ran errands.
I figured I might as well let my daughter continue flipping through the book to select what lunches to try first. She chose the one from the cover photo, which was simple, fun, and yummy! Sounds good to me. Anna's instructions for each bento are very detailed, so you can easily recreate her lunchbox ideas with ease, but you can modify them based on food preferences or materials on hand, as well. That is what we did!

Our lunch included red grapes, turkey and cheese sandwich (we just used food marker to color the Swiss cheese center), whole grain crackers, bell pepper, and an Oreo Thin for a treat.

There are so many great ideas in Happy Bento, from holidays and special occasions to seasonal and everyday fun. Even some obscure 'fun' days are in this book. How could you not love a book that includes special lunches for Pi Day, Talk Like a Pirate Day, and Shark Week?! As mentioned before, many of the lunches call for specific tools to create the lunches exactly, but you can use what you have on hand to make the ideas your own or use the book as a reference for your new Bento wish list!
For instance, in this lunch below, we modified again, but you can bet we have an hippo cookie cutter on the 'to get' list now! Plus, Anna's ideas reminded us about introducing some new foods. We love edamame, but it's not something either of the kids have had, so we mixed some in with something she already likes and it was a hit.

In our lunch, we used leftover spaghetti with Parmesan, a mix of green beans and edamame, mango and red grapes, and some shredded sharp cheddar cheese.

Be sure to pick up your copy of Happy Bento today! Here is the link, as well as to a couple fun tools I used in these lunches...

Shel Silverstein Hop

Today is Shel Silverstein's birthday, and it's time for a hop, so be sure and click the graphic towards the bottom of the page to go on to Bento, Monsters next. This author is one of the first, last, and 'onlys' for me. He is a master of literary arts, as well as actual art. There is not a thing from him I haven't enjoyed, both as a child and as an adult. I have every one of his books (so far as I know) and share them frequently with the kiddo. Her favorite is Don't Bump the Glump. And, while she wanted me to make any number of creatures from her favorite poems, she finally setting on the title and a character of my choice. Whew! Can you imagine what the Glump would look like in a lunchbox? Not so appetizing, I'd think. Text, it is!

Bagel thin with peanut butter & Trader Joe's cookie butter, watermelon, celery, and turkey in the containers, and provolone cheese letters.

For this occasion, the hubby had to get one too. While, he doesn't necessarily share my childhood obsession, he does like Silverstein. I mean, who doesn't? Anyways, I used to make him read Runny Babbit to me, so that was the lunch he got!

Lentil salad, grapes, strawberries, sesame tofu, fattoush salad, and provolone cheese.

And snack for the kiddo.. a mini blueberry muffin, half a banana (and a few raw pecans I threw in later)

AND ON TO THE HOPPING! CLICK THE GRAPHIC BELOW TO HEAD OVER TO BENTO, MONSTERS NEXT!

In these lunches...

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