BRAVE - Quickie Merida Bento

Wednesday, 7/18/12 - First day of camp for "Fables and Folklore" week at The Little Gym, which Z dubbed "Pwincess Camp" because the sign for it had a princess on it. (Plus a knight and a dragon. But she only had eyes for the princess!)
I literally threw this lunch together last-minute... I only got to take photos because I told Hubby I'd bring it out to the car while he strapped Z into her carseat - and I snapped a quick one on the front porch!

Merida from BRAVE

PB-chocolate almond butter sandwich, carrots, peas, cheese, raspberries

The Queen - I used a bear head-shaped cutter on some cheese, and a faces cutter for the faces. And I did each one this time, since she hassled me about giving up halfway through the last time I did bear faces, since they split the cheese apart in the middle.

The Triplets - Raspberries... get it? Bear-ies? With three little bear head picks to represent the boys.

Merida - I was inspired by the one I saw at Bento Fun Lunch. I used my biscuit cutter to make two circles of bread, then slapped on some peanut butter and Trader Joe's Chocolate Almond Butter (she prefers Nutella, but it has Vanillin in it, which is an artificial flavoring. Some dye-sensitive kids react to it. Although I think she's fine with it, I'd rather avoid "fake" ingredients altogether. It's not like there's a health benefit to eating them! Plus Hubby discovered my stash of sandwich spreads. He seems to think that two flavors of chocolate PB (dark and white chocolates,) chocolate almond butter, sunflower seed butter, soy butter, "cookie butter," and 3 kinds of regular peanut butter (crunchy, creamy, and with flax seeds,) is excessive. So I haven't restocked the Nutella.)

Large grated carrot shreds would probably have been better, but I didn't really have time. So I just whisked a peeler around some stubby organic carrots.So the hair isn't as curly-looking as I would have liked, but it got the job done.

I used a nori face punch on a spinach leaf for the nose and mouth - the "nose" is actually an upside-down smiley-eye punch!

For my quickie DIY dye-free candy eyes, I used white chocolate chips and mini semi-sweet chips. I microwaved the white chips for 30 seconds, then 30 more, then I smooshed in the mini semi-sweet chips for the pupils. It wasn't perfect, but looks good from afar. The white chips kind of split at the bottom, but I was able to smoosh them back together. It wouldn't have been an issue if I'd had time to let them harden, but I didn't, so I was mangling them all up trying to transfer them onto the sandwich using a butter knife as a spatula.

"Princess Camp" Snack

Parmesan Goldfish with dried edamame beans, raspberries

My Bento Mama Friend from Bentoriffic sent Z this "pwincess" snack container, which was not only perfect for this camp theme, but also purple, Z's favoritest color! I used a pink bear silicone cup to go with the bear-themed lunch, since there was plenty of room in there for the legs to stretch out! (Mine was imported from England on eBay. I've only found brown ones anywhere else.)