My last bento before Halloween and I am pooped. Ran out to a parent meeting at my daughter's school last night only to find out that the meeting is actually in two weeks. I think I'll send my husband to that one. On a bright note since I arrived forty minutes early I did get a chance to read a magazine. This bento is composed of two pork buns on parchment, an edamame pumpkin patch with yam circles, cranberries and cashew smiles. Wishing you a happy day before Halloween.
I know that "Bento Purists" will not see the link between gourmet style pasta and bento, but for this busy mom it's perfect. During the holiday season I am noticing special edition shapes like pumpkins, fall leaves, and turkeys that make great bento salads when combined with brightly colored vegetables. I have been using cherry tomatoes, orange and red bell pepper and cucumbers for quick crunchy additions. Toss with a low fat salad dressing and maybe a little mozzarella cheese shreads and you are good to go.
Boo! to you today. Lunch bento is filled with whole wheat ghost and provolone cheese slices, lettuce, ghostly cookies. Snack bento is filled with cranberry and apple salad for later in the day.
Look carefully into my box and you will see what looks like shrunken heads of Jack-o-lanterns. Boo....I bought these irresistible pasta shapes that are Jack-0-lanterns with dreams of pasta salad and artichokes. Did you notice I forgot the artichokes? I think it is because I was at the point of brain freeze when it came time to make lunch. I had just finished two hours at Party City looking for Halloween costumes for my teenage daughters. We left the store empty handed. "Just shot me now!" and put me out of my misery, please. The bat box contains more of the yummy pumpkin bread with tiny Peanuts characters made out of fruit. Get it Charlie Brown in the pumpkin patch? Any hoot...the pumpkin box contains sliced pear with two caramels.
Halloween Bento lunch composed of Cashew Chicken, white rice, orange slices and pumpkin bread. How can I resist the urge to nibble before lunch. I am really looking forward to Halloween this year even though my kidlets are all too big to Trick or Treat. Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays. I am very partial to candy. The pumpkin bread was at special request of my dh. He saw pumpkin muffins in Whole Foods today for $2.50 a piece. Despite the fact that he was drooling I couldn't bring myself to spend that kind of money on one muffin. Instead I went home and made two (2lb.) loaves from ingredients I had on hand. Does that make the pumpkin bread free? I did only pay .25 cents for the can of pumpkin several months ago. One loaf is destined for the deep freezer, the other loaf will be history in short order. YUM! 
This halloween bento is all vegetarian. It is made up of hummus and cheese stuffed mini bell peppers, cucumber pumpkins and a ghost tin stuffed with Asian Slaw. I am still trying to get the nack of working with nori as a decorative addition. I have a lot of new found respect for those bento artists out there that work with those tiny pieces of nori every morning. With my glasses on I could barely find them on the kitchen counter. I think tweezers will be my next addition to my bento kit. No snack today I get to go home right after school. Yeah!
Today's bento was low calorie and plenty filling. The single tier balloon bento box contained sliced turkey with arugula in whole wheat tortilla rolls on a bed of greens. The pumpkin box contains red seedles grapes and dried apricots. The lemon slice was for my afternoon cup of tea. Simple and sweet, bon appetite.
I finally got to use my new cookie cutters on sugar cookies this week. I split the batch and froze half immediately. A whole batch of fresh cookies would just soar out of the kitchen. It is amazing how good they taste before dinner, after dinner, before bedtime and for breakfast if you are not careful. 
This bento is lunch today. I was looking for a little pick me up since I have been in bed two days with the flu. BOO, HOO. The bento is filled with rice, cheese leaves, miso glazed eggplant, ginger teriyaki pork, and a pumpkin filled with purple grapes. The little pumpkins and the cellophane party bags are from the dollar spot at Target. The ghost tins are from the Halloween party supply section (approx. $2.00). The package has 24 tins. I'm thinking Halloween brownie ghosts. I should have bought two packs. Now I'm thinking rice molds, jello molds, fruit cups the possibilities are endless.
Look what I found at Michael's Arts and Crafts Store over the weekend. They are Halloween snack containers that look like they will work as bento boxes. The bat holds 200 ml of water and it seems to be slightly smaller than the others. They are not water tight but they are super cute and if kept upright the tops are secure enough to hold food and things that are moist. The best news of all is that they cost $1.oo (USD) each.
