Pinterest has taken over! It is filled with mini foods that are perfect for bentos. It inspired me to make some mini meat pies to go with the girls' Annie's O's. I made up the recipe but it's fairly straightforward so it's probably a copy of one that's out there somewhere. The filling is made up of the following: lean grass fed ground beef, onion, garlic, potato, sweet potato, diced tomato, butter and some Worcestershire sauce as well as some Penzeys 4/S seasoning salt. If you've never heard of Penzeys spices, then you're missing my addiction! I love their store! So, I made enough meat pies for dinner last night and their lunches today too. For sides I added some crabapples and mushrooms. Nissa says she doesn't like the apples or the meat pies (even though she ate both yesterday, ha!) so we'll see how lunch goes. Oh and Happy St. Lucia Day! Can't wait for the little fest we planned for Friday. Hope the kids will have fun!

Leftover spaghetti with cheddar men and a tin of kiwi slices on one side, cucumber slices stuffed with kamaboko (pressed fish cake) men and real little gingerbread men on the other. Here's where their lunches part, one gets preserved plum and the other a sesame stick, two guesses as to who gets which. Oh okay, it's Annie who loves preserved plums! Christmas is quickly coming and I'm loving every minute of it.

The colors in these bentos are so muted that it made me think winter. Mandarin oranges and kiwi, bison sausage and roasted mashed squash, and sesame sticks with a cup of roasted soy nuts fill out their lunches. They ate pretty much everything in this one, foods to remember!