Bento Lunches Fit for a Dragon!

I got these fancy paper Chinese dragon picks for 2012, the Year of the Dragon. And then never got around to using them. But since I had some naturally-dyed hard-boiled eggs laying around, and used a cracked-shell dying method to make a "dragon egg," so it was the perfect time for these to come roaring back out!

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Dragon Sister

Organic strawberries and sugar snap peas, organic HB egg w/salt, organic brown rice, seaweed furikake (in box)

 

I had to snip the picks shorter and lay the dragon on its side to fit it in the box, but Z had plenty of fun with it at lunch time, making it weave and bob and undulate with the two picks and flexible paper midsection.

Z and I both love to put this seaweed furikake mix I got at the Asian grocery on our rice, so I put some in a shooting star box for her. Kind of looks like fireworks, yeah?

Sadly, the natural dye faded overnight, so my dragon egg ended up just being a very pale pinky egg. But I snapped a pic the night before, just to be safe! But to get this effect, evenly crack the shell all around on a hard-boiled egg (not a raw one! Doh!) before dropping it into the (hopefully natural food-based) food dye. Soak for at least 15 minutes. Then peel right before packing lunch or right before you send the lunch out the door so the colors won't bleed or get absorbed into the egg before lunchtime.

Little Sister Lunch

Organic broccoli, tomatoes, sugar snap peas, and berries; organic HB egg w/salt, organic brown rice w/salt

The toddler got a similar lunch to Big Sis, but without the dragon pick.I didn't want to deal with that in the car!
Since E is far more likely to actually eat her fruit, she got a nice berry assortment. And different veggies too, since she eats a wider variety. And actually eats them...

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