Love U Bento

I named this bento Love U Bento because not just the obvious love I have for my kiddo, yes the main reason. But, I love what bento making has done for my family. Bento has helped my kiddo feel good about her lunches and better about any diet restrictions I have for her. From GF to now  lactose free foods, bento has made lunch exciting so that she feels she has the best lunches and doesn’t miss out at all compared to her friends or what the school is hashing out that day.

Yes bento takes a few extra moments in the morning, if you don’t have that kind of time you can prepare it the night before if creativity strikes. You can make if so much more healthy by just using as much of the colored fruits and veg you can put in and that makes it fun to eat and look at! I suggest everyone give it a try, plus it is addictive to make!

Today’s Love U Bento started with making some sammi into balls to make little bears. This is so easy to do, you only need bread with crust off, filling ( I used meat and dairy free cheese) and plastic wrap. You add filling to center of bread that is placed on plastic wrap. fold gingerly the corners of the bread to center of filling, gathering up plastic wrap to hold in place. Once you have all four corners of bread into middle covering the filling you twist the plastic wrap tight around the bread and filling to form a ball,  If bread is too dry try a quick steam with a little water sprinkled on it and nuke it. Obviously fresh bread works best. If using GF light steaming helps or if you make it yourself and it is warm and soft that is the best time also because fresh baked GF bread is soft and yummy. Especially the brand  Gluten Free Pantry I did a review of it here  https://mommasays.net/best-gf-bread-mix/.

So I made the bread balls and decorated it with a cute face using nori and meat attaching with a bit of mustard (mayo works better also PB), I attached some bread ears with dry spaghetti as a pick to the heads.  The girl has a cute little bow pick on her head. They are sitting on some lettuce and have some blanched broccoli surrounding them. Above in a heart shaped cup I have some cherry tomato, next is a cucumber wedge, apple wedge with I <3 U carved into it, meat flower, orange wedge, kiwi wedge and two globe grapes on a star pick. I added more color by cutting some carrot flowers and placing them around.

This  super cute bento is sure to please the kiddo today as she loves little animal bentos.

Momma Says: I love the variety of food and veg and my kiddo does to, even if it is just a small piece it gives variety of color, taste and textures.