Don't Monkey Around With My Pizza!!!!

Actually, I did monkey around with my pizza.

The local pizza place makes this awesome thin crust pizza called Garden Gold.

It has TONS of veggies, asparagus, onion, zucchini, spinach, mushrooms, 

and olives.... in fact the veggie layer is thicker than the crust is!

The Garden Gold has 1/2 the normal amount of cheese, and some of it is feta!!!

Don't get me wrong, I just adore thick crust and tons of cheese, but this pizza is delicious,

as as far as pizza goes, it's pretty healthy.  Anyway I practiced some "task avoidance"

and ended up staying in town a lot later than I planned, my blood sugar was dropping, so I decided

I would order a small Garden Gold for dinner and some left overs.

I swapped out the two medium containers for the large one, and used some monkey

cupcake paper to separate two slices (stacked) from my salad.  The monkey shaker contains

baco bits for the salad.  I also added some celery in with the salad dressing, it will get added to the salad.  

For dessert some strawberries with a monkey pick.  YUMMMMMMMMMMMM.

Pandas

Pandas are adorable.  I love my panda picks and dip holder.

But I wanted to find a way to incorporate them, not just have them be 

an afterthought to my lunch. I am also trying to use different boxes, even though my laptop is my favorite.

 So after playing around, this is what I came up with.

The top holds some red bell pepper with an egg and veggie sausage sandwich,

with cheddar accents, and one of those cute little panda picks.

The bottom tier some steamed zucchinis with Greek seasoning, another 

cute little panda pick, and a panda container with a bit of Italian dressing 

to dip the bell pepper in.  I will grab a small apple for a fruit in the morning.

OOPS... I forgot

So I think I am a bit to busy.. because last night I simply forgot to pack a lunch!!

This morning I realized I didn't have anything to take, and no chance of stopping for food.

I quickly threw together a lunch.. and here is what I did:

First I grabbed a small apple and put that in one side of my box, then I put some baco bits and dressing in.  I quickly tossed in some salad, and then a veggie meatball sandwich with sauce for dipping.  I cut a cheddar elephant, then a few cheddar dots from the same piece of cheese.  The cheese scraps became part of my breakfast as I ran out the door..  Lunch in like three minutes!!!  FAST FOOD the healthy way!

Space Shuttle Flyover

In honor of the Endeavour flyover I decided to play with some of my space themed cutters.

Top left is a sandwich topped with a space shuttle and planet (cut from cheese, painted with food coloring), top right is a nectarine planet with a ring of grapes.  Lower left zucchini stars with eggplant, and lower right Salad with baco bits, some cheese stars, a moon, and a shooting star full of salad dressing.

Talk like a Pirate Day..

While I didn't pack a pirate lunch today.. I thought I would share this old favorite.

Argh!!!!!

The pirate on the top was inspired by http://www.cutefoodforkids.com/2011/02/babybel-cheese-just-for-boys.html  I used black food coloring for the details instead of nori as she did, because I was out of nori... 

Simply Delicious

Some food doesn't need to be cute, not that it would hurt, it just simply

doesn't need to be.  I belong to a CSA, and get the majority of my produce

from it.  It's all fresh, local, and organic.  I do supplement with items I can't get 

locally (sorry, I love some things that just don't grow here), but I do try to 

eat local and organic when I can!  This week I got the most delicious figs,

I have eaten most of them, but I decided to put the last few in my lunch.  I only

wish there were more!!!  The greens for the salad, the kale, and the heirloom 

tomatoes also came in my bag.  Tonight I sauteed the kale (after washing and

removing the spines), added some chicken free chicken broth, then some 

Israeli Couscous, and some rough chopped heirloom tomatoes went into the pot.

It's delicious without the feta, but since I have some, well... why not!!!

So here you have it... Salad with some cheddar dots, some crunchies and ranch for

the salad, Couscous with kale, tomatoes, and feta.. and yummy sweet figs for dessert!

  

FAIL!

Cupcake Fail that is!!! Not a lunch fail for sure!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This lunch is inspired by my favorite artist, Kimchi Kawii!  

Love cute art??  Like bad puns??  Just want to smile cause the sugar overload will get you??

Check out her page at kimchikawii.com 

(Sorry for the shameless plug, the artist and I have been friends since first grade).

Tomorrow's lunch consists of a provolone sandwich with baby greens, grapes, red bell pepper, 

and some edamame hummus.  All the produce (except the hummus) came from organic local growers.. 

gotta love fresh local food!!!   The cupcake in the embarrassing situation was painted with food coloring

 on provolone cheese, and the letters were all cut from cheddar. The little letters (you know the ones

 that don't look hand cut) were cut using some letter punches I got at Daiso.

I can't wait to eat this little cutie!!!!

Cut The Rope - a Flashback

Anyone else addicted to playing Cut The Rope???

There is just something adorable about a candy eating monster.. and Om Nom.. what a name.

A while back I decided to make an Om Nom Bento.

This tasty and oh so cute lunch consists of grapes, pasta salad (topped with the cute little Om Nom), 

and a piece of banana in the top compartment. 

 On the bottom you will find bell pepper, pita chips, hummus and a laughing cow cheese. 

Om Nom was made by painting with food coloring on a piece of cheese.  Tonight's tip:  sliced cheese cuts very easily with a pin.  I keep a straight pin in with my Bento supplies just for this.  I painted Om Nom, let him dry, and then I cut him out by tracing him with the pin.   

Not all Bento is cute.. but it sure is yummy

A simple and tasty Bento from tonight's leftovers.

Cherries, carrots and ranch on the top.  Potato, meatless meatballs and broccoli topped with butter stars on the bottom.  Leftovers make for a five minute or less packing job, and I am off to bed!

Piggies in the Garden

Feeling the piggy love, so I decided to make some pigs in the garden.  

One of the most common questions I get is, "How do you make those little carrot flowers?".

Well folks, it's EASY PEASY!  All you need is a few tools.. well, really one important one, a flower shaped cutter, and a carrot!.  I love my vegetable cutters from Daiso and IchiBan Kan in Japan town. 

 You will also need something to punch the hole in the center.

I used this really cool little gadget I got at Daiso on my last trip to The City.

It came in a three pack  of punches to make two sizes of circles, and an oval.  But... what do you do if you don't have one of these nifty little things???????  Don't worry!!!  

I bet your have one of my next favorite tools...

A straw!!!! For flowers I like a thicker straw (like the kind you use for a milk shake, so just grab a handful the next time you go to a fast food joint).

Depending on what I am doing with the scraps, I sometimes peel the carrot... and sometimes I am lazy and I don't bother...  So cut some carrot pennies, then cut those into flowers.

If you have a nifty tool, you can cut the centers while the carrots are raw (I also have a small circle cookie cutter that will do raw carrots for crunchy flowers, but these are going to be cooked). If you are using a straw to cut the centers, wait till after you have cooked them.  I like to make a bunch of these, then lay them between sheets of parchment paper and freeze them, then I can grab one or two with no effort.

  

That's all there is to it.. EASY PEASY... there are some fun things you can do to make these flowers more complicated, but honestly, the simple ones are cute!  Here is what I did with mine!

I added some steamed broccoli, meatless meatballs, a little container of soy sauce, and some brown rice to make a pretty little flower scene.  Add to that more of my sister's yummy tomatoes with some ranch for dipping.  Don't forget some sliced red bell pepper with a piggy full of edamame hummus.  For dessert, well, my all time favorite type of grapes, black grapes!  I was so excited to see these lovely specimens on sale at last!

Another Five Minutes or Less Bento

Today was a very long day, that started with getting up early, and is ending with staying up late.

Fully of everything you could possibly imagine, so much I won't even go into it and 

will move on to what you are all here for, tomorrow's lunch!

So, tonight's Bento is a five minutes or less Bento.. meaning I am tired, I want to go to bed, 

and I am not feeling overly creative on top of that.  Tonight's foods of choice to work with are: half an egg salad sandwich on my sister's yummy homemade bread (the other half was dinner), baby tomatoes (from my sister's garden), cucumber, some yogurt based ranch dressing, and raspberries.  Gee.. can you tell I just got back from visiting my Sister?  Thanks for the bread and veggies Sis!

First I grabbed the cuke, and scored the skin a bit, cut some slices, and cut those in half.. add a handful of yellow tomatoes, and some ranch, and preso, the veggies are good!

Then I grabbed a giraffe cutter, a paint brush, the black and brown food coloring, and some cheddar.

I cut out two giraffes.

Then added a few fast details.. the black eyes were just dotted straight from the jar using the end of the paint brush, and for the brown I added a TINY bit of water to the paste, and painted a few quick spots. (please excuse my scratched up cutting board.. I guess I should buy a new one)

So toss it all in a box, using a silicone cup to separate the berries and tomatoes, and a cup for the ranch.. a dab of mayo to "glue" the funny looking giraffes onto the sandwich, toss a pick in with the berries, and................ look, check your watches (or should I say phones, because let's face it, who wears a watch these days??) in less than five minutes, it's LUNCH!!!!!!!!