My Favorite Turkey Decoration & Turkey Bento + Use Up That Extra Halloween Candy

To kick off November, I thought I'd recap some of my favorite turkey posts from last year, so here we go...

Thankful Turkey Bento Lunch


Thanksgiving Bento ~Pilgrims meet Turkey


My favorite Turkey decoration from Cost Plus (He's at the bottom of the post)


Cost Plus brought back this awesome turkey decoration again this year.  They sold out fast last year, so get yours before they're gone!
 
Halloween Peanut Butter and Toffee Candy Bark

Do you have some extra Halloween candy you'd like to be rid of?  I know I do!  If you'd like to use up that Halloween candy, Bon Appetit has a fun recipe for you to check out!
 
*This post has been added to Project Queen's Link Party #7
& Running with Glitter Link Party #34

Happy November!

~The Lemonista

Fun, Simple Bento Lunches

I doesn't take much to add a little Bento spin on someone's lunch to brighten their day.  I'm often asked what Bento supplies I would consider must haves. You can really go crazy with Bento supplies (I'm sure I tow that line) but honestly, if you have a couple interesting containers, a few fun sandwich cutters and some cute food picks, that's more than enough to create a smile.
 
For example, here's a container of Bing cherries. I've pitted them with my favorite cherry pitter from William Sonoma, placed them in a cute square container and stuck one simple green leave food pick in them. 
Voilà --Bento.

My little boy actually loves the leaf food picks.  Here's his lunch the first day of preschool.



The Mickey Mouse Bento sauce container holds ranch dressing for the carrots and the crackers are in a silicon baking cup/cupcake liner to keep them crisp.

How about these ripe Plouts (A plum and apricot hybrid sometimes called dinosaur eggs. These are super yummy by the way, so if you see them at the grocery store, pick some up.)

I've sliced these, lined them up in a rectangular container and then added sweet little critter food picks.

Or take this dill pickle. 

All I did was stick a little girl food pick into the end and now it's bursting with cuteness.


Here's a simple sandwich for you. This reminds me of a music box I had as a little girl.

I used a large glass to cut this sandwich into a circle.  I cut a doily in half (found on the cake decorating isle at the arts and craft store) to line the back side of a round container.  Sprinkled the sandwich with Wilton's edible star glitter and stuck a ballerina food pick in the sandwich.
 

This snack box is filled with healthy edamame, blueberries and Colby cheese. I've used silicon food dividers to keep everybody in their own spot. See how the animal Bento forks just beg little fingers to dig in? 
 

The easy lunch is a cheese sandwich with some fresh grapes.  Adorned with a hamster food divider and squirrel & acorn food picks, it becomes Bento.
 
I find most of my Bento supplies on ebay these days.  I try to buy multiple items from the same seller when possible to combine shipping. There are many online Bento suppliers though, so pick up a few Bento goodies, use your creativity and watch those little faces grin.

Here is a list of some of the Ebay Bento suppliers I've order from and had a good transaction.  Please understand that I do not know these sellers personally and I can only speak from my experience.

I've ordered a bunch from this shop, including the Mickey Mouse sauce containers:
http://stores.ebay.com/sakurazakkashop

Here are a few others I've ordered from more than once:
http://stores.ebay.com/JstuffSale-dotcom?_trksid=p4340.l2563
http://stores.ebay.com/yingkajapan?_trksid=p4340.l2563
http://stores.ebay.com/takarazukadesigns
Enjoy!
 
~The Lemonista

Disco Bunny & Dancing Panda Bento + A Bento Giveaway!

School is back in session and I've already made a few fun new Bento lunches.

Disco Bunny Bento


This first sandwich is quick and easy to make.  I simply cut a sandwich in quarters, decorated each quarter with hand cut carrot flowers (instructions below) and then stabbed each carrot with a dancing bunny food pick. The resulting sandwich reminded me of a a 70's disco tech, so I named it Disco Bunny Bento.

To make the carrot flowers, cut long "V" shaped groves down a peeled carrot with a sharp knife.


Continue to cut the groves all the way around the circumference of the carrot.


Until your carrot looks like a flower.  The fatter the carrot the more petals you can have on your flower.


Then slice your carrot into coins until you have your desired amount of flowers.


Since carrots will keep for several days in an air tight bag, you can save the rest of your unsliced carrot for future Bento making.

I must be on a dancin' critter kick, because here's the Bento I made this morning:

Dancing Panda Bento


This an oatmeal cookie cut in have, two silicon baking cups filled with fresh blueberries and edamame, and then decorated with dancing panda food picks and panda food dividers.  You can search for these items as "Bento panda food picks" and "Bento panda food dividers" on ebay. 

A cute matching cheese sandwich completes this lunch.


Time for a giveaway!  Yay!


If you love the darling dancing disco bunny food picks from Japan that I've pictured in this blog post, you are in luck.  I picked up an extra pack for my followers.  Just leave a comment on this post and I will do a drawing Friday 8/26/2011.

Good Luck!

~The Lemonista

Erin Go Braugh! Leprechaun Bento & St. Patrick's Day Ideas!

Which means, God Bless Ireland.
I've always been kind of partial to that expression. Grin.


This Irish family will all be sporting green come Thursday, but I have a few other simple things planned to celebrate the emerald island's most famous holiday.
My friend Laurel,  of http://petalpusheraccessories.blogspot.com/, sent me over the following Bento idea.  Since I won't be making this until March 17th, I though it only fitting to post the inspiration photo today.  This will give you time to plan if you'd like to do the same.
Leprechaun Bento

The photo is from a family magazine, but I cannot find a link, so I will give you my best guess as to what the items are in the photo:

The Leprechaun is a sandwich cut in a circle shape.  The bottom of a green pepper has been used for the hat. The band on the hat looks like a strip of grape fruit roll-up and the buckle is a piece of hand cut cheese. The leprechaun's beard is shredded carrot.  His eyes are two raisins and his mouth a sliver of red pepper.  His nose looks like a piece of dried fruit but I'm not sure what?  Regardless, you could really do anything here. The rainbow fruit salad contains strawberry, Mandarin orange, pineapple, kiwi, and blueberries.  At the end of every leprechaun's rainbow is a pot of gold. These golden chocolate coins are my favorite part of the meal! You can purchase them at Cost Plus.


I've also picked up shamrock shaped silly straws and green nail polish at Old Navy.
The straws and polish are cute and cheap (one of my favorite combinations). Grin. They do not appear to be available online, but I would imagine that most Old Navy stores have the same seasonal items available in the stores.


My daughter goes to a uniform school, so painted nails are a cute way to sneak in a little festive flair.



As a good Irish girl, I need to get in my corned beef and cabbage for St. Patty's Day dinner.  The traditional Irish stew isn't a favorite of mine, but Reuben sandwiches are! 


This sandwich consists of thinly sliced corned beef, Swiss cheese, crispy sauerkraut and 1000 island dressing grilled between two slices of dark rye bread.   Serve them up with a crisp dill pickle and some salty chips and you've got a winning combination.  My mouth is watering just thinking about it!


Growing up, my Mom would dye the dogs eyebrows green and hide a drop of green food coloring in the bottom of our dinner glasses so that the milk magically turned green when she poured. 

***GIVEAWAY ALERT***

I'd love to hear your family St. Patrick's Day traditions, so please leave them in the comments.  I'll choose my favorite on Friday 3/18/2011 and ship you a box of my homegrown lemons.  Wink. 

~The Lemonista

Easter Bunny Bento

My first try at some Easter Bento. 
Here we have a cheese sandwich cut with the bento container for a perfect fit.  Sitting on the sandwich is the Easter Bunny himself.  Grin.   This guy came from Fancy Flours:
http://www.fancyflours.com/icing-bunny-with-carrot-feet.html
Wouldn't he be cute on a cupcake?

The pink striped bunny Bento food pick flat was purchased on ebay.  Search "Bento Food Pick Flag" to find these on ebay.  The green grass behind the cheese sandwich is reusable silicon BARAN purchased from jbox http://www.jbox.com/product/NYH131

Also from Fancy Flours are these adorable bunny party picks--perfect for Bento! I smile thinking of my daughter eating her raspberries and red grapes with this darling bunny.  I picked these up on one of Fancy Flours super sales and sadly they are sold out now. 

***Giveaway Alert***

However, I picked up an extra set of 10 for the blog!  So followers of my blog, please leave a comment on this post and I'll do a drawing Friday 3/4/2011 for the Bunnies. :-)


Using a small bunny cutter, I made the bunny cucumbers for the veggie.
The organic cheddar bunny crackers are Annie's brand from the grocery store.
http://www.annies.com/cheddar_bunnies


The bunny message bubble (that I have no idea what it says?) is a Bento food divider found on ebay.

Did you know that Pottery Barn Kids no carries Bento boxes!  You know Bento has gone mainstream in the USA if Pottery Barn jumps on board.  These are great basic boxes for girls and boys!




 http://www.potterybarnkids.com/products/spencer-bento-box-containers/?pkey=e%7Cbento%7C1%7Cbest%7C0%7C1%7C24%7C%7C1&cm_src=PRODUCTSEARCHNoFacet-_-NoFacet-_-NoMerchRules-_-

Happy Monday Everyone.

~The Lemonista

Panda Bento & A Super Moist RUM CAKE!

Today we have some cute pandas!  I love how black and white makes the natural colors in food pop!   The darling little panda food picks and reusable plastic food decoration dividers were found on ebay.  Just try searching "Panda Bento" or "Panda food picks" or "Panda food dividers" to find these items. 

I used the Bento box food container to cut the PB&J sandwich to fit perfectly.  Next I added the panda food picks to the fresh strawberries.  The conversation hearts are held by a pink silicon heart cup (purchased on JBOX) and behind that I have two organic yellow carrots purchased at Safeway grocery store.  Lastly, I decorated with the panda food dividers.  I think this turned out cute and it was quick and easy to make. 

Here's a link to the heart cups:
http://www.jbox.com/product/TAM039


Okay, now for some serious yumminess!
I've wanted to make a Rum Cake for the longest time and finally got around to it!  My recipe search resulted in literally dozens of versions of basically the same recipe.  So it's hard to know who to credit the original recipe to.  I wanted the cake to be family friendly and not have that "blow you away" alcohol flavor, so I made some adjustments to the traditional recipes I found.  The resulting cake has all of the wonderful rum flavor you would expect without the strong alcohol kick.  I have to say that this is one of the moistest cakes I've ever made!  Hope you love it too.



Just look at how moist this cake is!


I served this up with some CoolWhip and fresh strawberries.  YUM!  Wish I could share.  This was fantastic with my morning coffee. Grin. Snort. 


Rum Cake ~ The Lemonista's way.

Ingredients:


Cake
1 cup chopped, toasted pecans (optional)
1 18-1/2 ounce yellow cake mix with pudding in the mix.  (I used Pillsbury brand)
4 eggs
1/2 cup cold skim milk or water will work too
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup Myers's Rum Original Dark


Glaze
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup water
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup Myers's Rum Original Dark


Preparation:
Cake: Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour 12-cup Bundt pan. Sprinkle nuts on bottom of pan. Combine all cake ingredients. Beat for 2 minutes on high with electric mixer. Pour into prepared pan. Bake for 1 hour. Cool in pan.  While cake is cooling in pan, prick the cake with a fork and pour 2/3 of glaze over the cake.  Once cooled, invert on serving plate. Drizzle remaining 1/3 glaze over top of the cake.

Glaze: Melt butter in saucepan. Stir in water and sugar. Boil 1 minutes, stirring constantly. Add Rum and boil an additional 4 minutes.  Remove from heat. 
Enjoy!

~The Lemonista

Simple Bento & Old Fashioned Lemon Meringue Pie

I'll do the drawing for the Lemons tomorrow morning after I drop my son off at preschool, so probably around 10am MST. Wink.  There is still time to enter, so please throw your hat in the ring if you haven't already done so.  As a follower of my blog just leave a comment on this thread:
http://thelemonista.blogspot.com/2011/01/whos-up-for-another-lemon-giveaway.html

This morning I have some simple Bento for you. 
The sandwich is just a peanut butter and jelly sandwich cut with a SweetBytes sandwich cutter that I got on the bread isle at the grocery store.
\


http://www.amazon.com/SweetBytes-Sandwich-Crust-Cutter-Heart/dp/B00167TA48

This cutter would make a really cute sandwich for Valentine's Day.  Grin.

For Elyse's fruit and Veggie, I did red grapes (the fave at our house) and these new organic yellow carrots I found at Fry's (Kroger).  If you see these carrots--buy them.  They are really tasty and an instant hit with my kids!



I made the faces on the carrots with a nori punch and then added my new favorite Bento hat food picks.  I picked these up on ebay.  Just search "Bento food pick hats."


I don't do Bento every day, probably more like one or two days a week, and sometimes I only add a food pick or cut a sandwich in a cute shape--Really any little detail to give my kids lunch a little something special is enough.   So have fun with it.  It doesn't have to be anything more than a post-it note with a cute face drawn on it to make your kids smile. 


Using a tried-and-try recipe in an old Betty Crocker Pie cookbook, I made my first lemon meringue pie this season.

I promise a pie crust tutorial in a future post, but for now if you have a favorite recipe, then use that. If not, them I think the best store bought pie crust is the Marie Callender's brand in the frozen food section.

Betty Crocker Lemon Meringue Pie

9-inch pie shell, Baked
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon cornstarch
3 egg yolks, slightly beaten
1 1/2 cup water
3 tablespoons butter
2 tsp. grated lemon peel
1/2 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice

Pie Meringue

3 egg whites
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
6 tablespoons sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Beat egg whites and cream of tartar until frothy.  Beat in sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time; continue beating until stiff and glossy.  Do not under beat.  Beat in vanilla.

Bake pie shell.  heat oven to 400 degrees.  In saucepan blend sugar and cornstarch.  Combine egg yolks and water; stir gradually into sugar mixture.  Cook, stirring constantly over medium heat until mixture thickens and boils.  Boil and stir 1 minute.  Remove from heat; stir in butter, lemon peel and juice.  Immediately pour into baked pie shell.  Heap meringue on hot pie filling; spread over filling, carefully sealing the meringue onto edge of crust to prevent shrinking or weeping.  Bake about 10 minutes or until delicately browned.  Cool Pie away from draft.

*important tip*  Separate eggs carefully; even the smallest amount of egg yolk can prevent the whites from whipping.  
*To get the cute peeks on my meringue, I gently slapped the top with a spatula once I was done spreading the meringue.



Enjoy!
The Lemonista

Hatching Chick Bento! Plus a Tiffany & Co. Cake!

I thought it was time for some new 2011 Bento!   I think this one turned out very sweet.
I followed the instructions on pg. 138 of Yum-Yum Bento Box to make the hatching chick.

Isn't she cute with her cute little food pick bow.

The chick sits in a pink silicon baking cup filled with shredded cheese and then trimmed with some edible green apple Eatster grass (that I found at Target last Easter).  I used a nori punch to make the eyes and a small piece of carrot cut like a diamond for the beak.

I pitted the Bing cherries with my handy dandy cherry pitter from William Sonoma.
This is a must have tool if you love fresh cherries!
http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/oxo-olive-and-cherry-pitter/


Added one of my leafy stem food picks to the cherries and filled a rooster sauce container with ketchup for the egg.


Placed a silicon food divider between the cherries and yogurt covered pretzels in the back row.  A little plastic chick food divider peeks up from in between the pretzels.


Added a couple chicky food picks and two carrots.
And here's the finished lunch. Grin.


Remember the banana cake recipe I posted?
http://thelemonista.blogspot.com/2010/12/santas-sleigh-lands-on-my-banana-cake.html

I got a wild hair after dinner the other night and whipped up this cake.


This was a 10 min. decorating job, so not my finest, but I think you can get the idea.  If I spend a little more time on this one, I think it could really be pretty!

I made the same recipe linked above, but baked the cake in a 7" X 11" cake pan for 28 min.  Cooled the cake completely.  Cut the cake in half.  Spread the filling and sliced bananas on half the cake and placed the other half on top.  Then I tinted the icing Tiffany blue. 
Frosted the whole cake.  Quickly rolled and cut some ribbon out of white fondant icing.
Finally I printed the Tiffany & Co. logo, cut it out and placed it on the cake to look like a tag.
All the while, vultures swarmed around me in the kitchen...


 
Two seconds after I snapped the photo, the vultures descended. Grin.