On the Eleventh Day of Christmas...

'Tis the season to make bento! Well, it's ALWAYS the season for that! So join us for the Seasons Eatings blog hop and be inspired. Or just hungry! Yum!

So after you check out my lunches below, pour yourself a nice hot mug of holiday cheer and hop on over to see what seasonal treat One Crafty Thing has whipped up for you!

On the Eleventh Day of Christmas, My Mama Gave to Me...

GF chocolate hazelnut spread sandwich, goat cheese, DF dark chocolate, edamame, pomegranate arils

 

I couldn't resist making "Santa Who" lunches, but it was difficult choosing which Who to do! I decided on Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor, because, well. Bow ties are cool! Especially Christmas bows!

And as it so happens, I have this awesome Eleventh Doctor cookie cutter! *swoon*

"Tied bows are cool"

For the hats, I used a mini Santa cutter on the edge of a slice of goat cheese (goat milk has a different sugar and protein than cow's milk, which is easier to digest. And E and I aren't intolerant to.) I used the edge of the slices to make just the hat portion, and then used a knife to round off the bottom edge.

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For his cool "bow tie," I used a mini ribbon cutter on the goat cheese. Then I used my cheap plastic-bristle brush (dedicated for food only) and some red India Tree Nature's Colors food color to paint on details. They held up well overnight. Often the colors will bleed or disappear completely after a night in the fridge.

I made custom dairy-free (and fake-vanillin-additive-free) chocolates by melting some fancy dark chocolate in my Doctor Who chocolate mold, imported from the UK. Shipping from them to the US is heinous, but my buddy from Eats Amazing let me ship direct to her (free shipping, since I hit the minimum for that!) and repackaged to ship to me for 1/4 the price! Woot!
No friends overseas? No worries. There's one with larger TARDIS and Dalek shapes from ThinkGeek. Which may or may not also be in my stocking this year... *cough*

... a Dalek, Oh-So-Pret-ty!

GF chocolate hazelnut spread sandwich, goat cheese, DF dark chocolate, edamame, pomegranate arils

 

To get an imprint to show on gluten-free bread, I had to press rilly-rilly-rilly hard, which made the bread very fragile. Since I was too lazy to mess with the bread was too delicate to spread my hardened refrigerated peanut butter and jelly, I used some "Choc and Nut" Hazelnut-Cashew Chocolate Spread. Just one thing to futz with, plus super easy to spread! And dairy-free, so safe for Mama, and artificial vanillin-free (stupid Nutella!) so safe for Z.

"Ma-ast-i-cate! Ma-ast-i-cate!"

For E, I used my Dalek cookie cutter. Because life isn't complete without a Dalek Claus! D'awww! Adorable!

Tools of the Trade

      

And check out this short video of Little E enjoying her lunch!