Halloween Themed Lunches

 Welcome to my first post as part of a Bento Bloggers and Friends Blog Hop:

This was a Halloween-themed lunch I packed for my husband in our PlanetBox. He had a pumpkin-shaped granola treat, carrots, pumpkin-shaped pear and apple slices (treated with Fruit-Fresh to avoid browning), cherry tomatoes, a Babybel with a Jack-o-lantern face, a few pretzels, a few chocolate covered sunflower seeds, a turkey and muenster sandwich in the shape of a witch’s cauldron, and two homemade grape-flavored gummies. To create the brewing goo in the witch’s pot, I used tri-color tortilla strips that we happened to have on hand to go with the chicken tortilla soup we were having for dinner.

The granola was made following a modified version of this recipe from Another Lunch. I have been using Melissa’s granola recipe for about a year now and we love it! We add one teaspoon of cinnamon and sometimes substitute cinnamon chips, cappuccino chips, or Reese’s Pieces (like in this one). I placed two Reese’s pieces and some mini chocolate chips on top of the granola to make the face of this Jack-o-lantern.

The gummies were made using this recipe from Skip to My Lou. We have used blueberry, raspberry, orange, strawberry, green apple, and cherry flavored Jello and they all get eaten within a day! These were made with grape Jello because I wanted the purple color to go with the rest of the Halloween theme. I poured the gelatin into these cookie presses that I have had for years but never used successfully for cookies. I had been hanging onto them confident that I would use them for something, someday with my kids. And now, I am glad that I still have them because they worked great as gummy molds.

One day last week, I packed matching lunches for me and my husband in our black Lock & Lock boxes. We had cheddar crackers in homemade (see below) pumpkin silicone cups, apples cut in the shape of leaves, blueberries, grapes, cherry tomatoes, cucumber slices, celery and carrots in another pumpkin cup, and a brownie in homemade skull and ghost cups.

I also used the homemade silicone cups in lunches for us at work on another day. These lunches, like the ones above, accompanied chicken salad and pitas that were packaged separately.

For another day at work, I packed the same food for the two of us, but used different boxes. I thought it was interesting how the amount of food looked like more in the PlanetBox compared to the LunchBots Trio even though it was essentially the same. One of the really cool things about packing bentos is fitting a lot into a small space. Anyway, we both had carrots, cucumber slices, tomatoes, a piece of granola bar, Goldfish, kiwi, grapes, raspberries, and a turkey and havarti sandwich. I decorated my husband’s sandwich/pita with cheddar cheese pieces to create a pumpkin face. We also each had a gummy O because I am still trying to use up the bag of those that I bought for my daughter’s letter O lunch.

Earlier this fall, I had the idea to make my own shaped silicone cups by purchasing silicone cupcake or muffin molds and then cutting them apart. I had noticed the prices of silicone molds getting lower and that they were becoming easier to find. I thought they would be easy to cut with scissors so when I saw this Halloween set at Walmart for about three dollars, I decided to try out my idea.They did cut easily, and I did not have problems with the silicone tearing even in the areas with sharp turns like in the bat’s wings. I have been using these cups in lunches for the last couple of weeks; they are holding up very well and seem to be just a durable as any individual silicone cups I have purchased. So, as long as these themed silicone trays remain inexpensive, I will use this idea for other holidays.

I had saved a few produce containers and decided to use this one, which once held tomatoes. I went with a pumpkin theme since they were visiting a pumpkin patch. She had a pumpkin-shaped and stamped peanut butter sandwich that I packed in the pumpkin snap-top bag from the Dollar Tree. The repurposed container held an apple slice with a leaf cutout, blueberries and grapes on homemade pumpkin picks, sugar snap peas, cucumber slices, orange pepper slices, cherry tomatoes, a few almonds, and a few Goldfish (under the almonds). I used paper spider cupcake liners and turned them inside out so the images would show; I learned that trick from Cristi at BentOnBetterLunches.

I placed a die cut from this Martha Stewart pack on top pf the container and packed the box inside a bag that my husband bought last year for a quarter at Walmart. The bag was made of the same material found in many types of inexpensive reusable shopping bags and had a Velcro closure. The orange color and robot drawing made it pretty perfect for this lunch. My daughter enjoyed the trip and was really pleased with the pumpkin, corn, gourd, and apple that she was allowed to select and bring home.

http://rachelsrandom.com/2012/10/spooky-ghost-bento/

Thanks for visiting my blog. I am really excited to be part of this group and to be doing my first post as part of a blog hop. Be sure to click to follow the hop to the next stop at Rachel’s Random Ramblings.Then, keep clicking so you don’t miss any of the cool lunches and great ideas included in all of the other posts.