Spring Forward

I've never really enjoyed the time changes of Daylight Savings Time, so I thought I would try to make it a little cheery today.

I made the "spring" from cucumber peel. I tried several times to peel the cucumber so it would be curvy but I am not talented in the ways of peeling fruits and veggies... so my next try was to slice the cucumber as I normally would, then slice the peel off, in a circle, which worked much better. I wrapped the peel around one of my bento basket clothes pins to sit while I made the rest of the lunch. I cut the little leaves with scissors out of the peel scraps from when I was trying to peel the cucumber. Sliced grape tomatoes in half, arranged them on some fresh rice as a flower.

I hardly ever use my veggie cutter but today I found a big fat carrot and got to use my cutter to make a cute little inside to the flower, then I made a bunch of extras for my little one's lunch just for fun.

Rice and hot dog flowers

I love my little rice molds, as they are easy and fast to use on days I am not feeling terribly creative. I also have the Fagor 3 in 1 cooker, so I can cook rice pretty quickly!

I cooked up some rice, added coconut oil and garlic salt and pressed them into the flower molds; sliced up some leftover Applegate Farms turkey dogs, and, tada! Quick, cute flowers that my kids gobbled up. Included in the lunch were fresh peaches, apples, raisins and almonds.

My youngest is allergic to rice, peaches, and grapes, so this was her alternative lunch with turkey dogs octopuses, pistachios, cashews, and apples.  

Summer flower

Another bowl of rice... wondering what to put with it, I found a can of olives and was just going to toss some olives in, but I guess I can't even do that, I have to make something out of it! So they became flowers...

I woke up late

This is called "I woke up late and fortunately there was leftover rice and beans in the fridge". Threw the leftovers in a rice mold, and added some goji berries, boom.

With a side of baby carrots, plums, and pecans.