Eyeball Pizza and Mummy Dog Halloween EcoLunchBox Bento

Eyeball Pizza and Mummy Dog Halloween EcoLunchBox Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Eyeball pizza is made with strategically cut red bell pepper for veins, pepperoni and olive um, eyeball, on a mozzarella whole wheat pizza. And just for the fun of it, I wrapped a turkey dog in some dough too, because I knew TinySprite would love that. I even shredded the mummy wrapping (okay, not on purpose). The rest of the EcoLunchBox Solo Rectangle holds a little cup of pickled cucumbers and another one of grapes and a strawberry. Halloween continues!

Mummy Pizza Bento

Mummy Pizza Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

I've been seeing a bunch of mummies in bento lunches flying around the internets lately, so I thought I would make some for my pizza-loving kids. I used sandwich thins for these, but you can use whatever kind of mini pizza crusts you like. Smear with tomato sauce, top with pepperoni and spinach, then layer strips of mozzarella string cheese across the top for a nice bandaged effect. I added some olive eyes. You could also add a pepperoni smile to make it a friendly mummy if your kids prefer. On the side I packed steamed broccoli, carrots, corn on the cob, Okinawan sweet potato, grapes and a strawberry.

Mummy Turkey Dog and Candy Corn Egg Bento

Mummified Turkey Dog Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

It's the last Halloween bento of the season. Yay! I'll put TinySprite's first since i think it's cute. I've seen people make mummified hot dogs using refrigerated puff pastry but I don't have any of that, and really should just get some since you can make all kinds of cool shapes with it. So I went with my standard whole wheat tortilla, which is just as well since TS can put it away just as is. I cut the round tortilla in a spiral, which made it easier to wrap around the cylindrical turkey dog. I melted some cheese, but used two heart picks to fasten it just behind his "head" and "feet". Two sesame seeds are his eyes. The rest of the bento includes broccoli, purple cauliflower, carrots, grapes and cubed dragonfruit. Are you familiar with this fruit? I don't usually buy it; it's very expensive here. But it does look cool.

The other cute thing I want to tell you about is the quail egg candy corn. Isn't it cute? I love quail eggs, as you may notice if you scroll through my past bento. They are so versatile and fun to use. You can even shape themy by hand. To make the pyramid (triangle) shape, just pinch the top between your thumb and forefinger while pressing the bottom flat with your other thumb. You'd do this while the egg is still warm, and it only takes a few minutes. Then, to dye it, just sit the egg down in a bowl of golden beet juice with the liquid level reaching up 2/3. After it's nice and yellow, take it out and place it in a bowl of regular beet juice, up to 1/3. The red will combine with the yellow to create orange. Voila, you have a candy corn. OKAY, I know the purists among you will say "Candy corn colors are white, then orange, then yellow on the bottom", and you are right, but it's more difficult to get the stripes in that order so you'll have to accept this substitution from me.

MisterMan got smoked salmon / cream cheese / baby arugula rollups, the same veggies, fruit and candy corn, but his dragonfruit is a dalmation, playing with a ball. Awwwww.
So that's it for this year, people! Thanks for indulging me!

Oh, and by the way -- if you haven't voted for your favorite Food Ninjas in the contest at La Fuji Mama's site, you should take a look at the very cool entries. My Ninja in the Fruit Bento is one of the contestants in the Photo category. Hapabento and Sonoma Bento are also entered. Happy Halloween!

Mummy Musubi and Ghosties Bento

Mummy Musubi Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

We're coming up on the last couple days of Halloween bento, so bear with me and we'll soon be back to normal. But I really wanted to use this mummy idea since string cheese really does look like gauzy mummy wrapping, doesn't it? And since my boy has recently informed me he likes "raw" cheese now, I get to try it! I made a rice ball with black rice and criss-crossed some thin string cheese strips on top. Since the rice was warm, it melted on a little bit and needed no other fastening. Have you ever had rice and cheese? I haven't, but he said he liked it. I made some eyes with pink and purple carrot discs -- nothing could be easier. Voila: mummy.

This was accompanied by a piece of luscious misoyaki butterfish leftover from dinner the night before. I really love this fish; I think it's another one of my top ten foods of all time. I used the recipe here but this time I marinated for over 48 hours, only possible if you can procure a very fresh piece of fish. I got mine from my local farmer's market, and it was delicious. I used to think it was called butterfish due to its buttery texture; it melts in your mouth and has a very silky quality.

TinySprite is a fan of the fish too, but I decided to give her something a little more user-friendly. While her brother can neatly and deftly handle all kinds of food types, she's a little more, um, hands-on -- so the easier the food is to manipulate, the more she can end up actually eating. I made cutout ghost sandwiches with ham and cheese, and stuck some mini chocolate chips as facial features. There's also a persimmon jack-o-lantern along with carrots, broccoli, purple cauliflower, tomatoes, grapes and apples -- just as in her brother's bento. Double bento --> done!