Halloween!!!

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays! There is something about the candy, the opportunity to dress up as something you always wanted to be, the candy, going door to door begging for candy, and of course the candy!! Plus I must say I do like orange. This weekend we had an adult Halloween party where I made bloody eyeball meatballs and some fondant ghost cupcakes!!! Miss A took a Halloween bento that was a pumpkin sandwich with a cheese face and black olive eyes, nose and mouth. We also did some man-eating tomatoes!!! With cheese teeth, string teeth little legs in a bed of spinach leaves!! We also added some pirate booty snacks!!!! Hope everyone had a fabulous Halloween!!!! And some awesome candy!!!

Miss A's Big Day!

Well today was a big day for Miss A. It was her birthday!! She was able to bring a treat for her class and she donates a favorite book to the school library. The book she loves is Birthday Monsters by Sandra Boynton. The desserts for her class have to be bought, but luckily her teachers understand my complete ADD that they let me put a little topper on the iced sugar cookies!! It is just marshmallow and powdered sugar...which is of course fondant. So to mirror her book theme we did monsters!!!

Of course then we have her lunch, which she wanted me to surprise her. So we have a ham sandwich cupcake with a "5" on it. We have some pirate booty, strawberries, and green beans!

For her after dinner dessert we had a Cinderella doll cake. For Halloween Miss A is dressing up as Cinderella so I thought it would be appropriate!! I took a shortcut and laid a heavy fondant layer on the top so I could use her existing top bodice of her dress. My intent was to let her keep the doll. I take the legs off when I insert the doll...and somehow....someway...I must have thrown the legs away. Oopsie. But all in all a fabulous day!! We had cake and strawberry ice cream which gave us not only the Texas flag colors but the Texas Rangers colors which are playing the world series still as I type.
I cannot believe how big Miss A is!! What a joy and inspiration is she is to me!

Bats have thumbs?

So Miss A came home talking all about bats this week. I honestly did not know that bats had thumbs which allow them to climb rocks. The largest bat is a fox bat. Fruit bats eat fruit and they sleep during the day and come out at night. There was a lot more she talked about but honestly I got stuck on the thumb think and just kept googling. Haha. So yesterday's bento was a bat! Halloween appropriate and school appropriate! We have a fruit bat hanging from a tree. The tree is fruit roll up and edamame. The tree looked a bit fuller when we started but Miss A ate half of the edamame while making her lunch. We have an orange mandarin moon and a dark blueberry sky! :)

Turtle turtle...

Timmy Tommy Turtle was a fine little bento indeed,

with his whole grain turtle shell

He has a marbled cheese head, legs, and tail, 

black olive eyes and smile. 

He races on a bed of tomatoes, grapes, and blueberries,

 under a green bean sky!! 

(Yes I am really that corny...)

Happy Tuesday everyone!!!

Preggy fishy???

So this morning Miss A wanted a tortilla in her lunch box, that was her only request. The rest did not matter. So I got an idea for a fish. So here we have a tortilla ham fish with ham scales, tail and face features. We have some grapes for the ocean floor, corn to fill the negative space and blueberry bubbles coming out of the fishes mouth. Miss A said the fish looked pregnant....geez....it's a tough crowd!!! haha!

To the Batmobile!!

Besides the big weekend with Miss A's Alice in Wonderland tea party on Saturday, we got to celebrate another birthday on Sunday. One of my dear friends son and one of Alexa's friends, Kurt, had his bday on Sunday. Miss A and Kurt are 2 days apart!! Due to the crazy weekend Kurt's mom assisted the cake process by baking the cakes for me. WOO HOO!! That way I had the fun easy part of icing and decorating!!!! So here you have the Batman Cake!!! I must say this one was quite fun!!!

Miss A's Mad Hatter Tea Party

Well this weekend was a big bang for the Z Family. It was Miss A's 5th birthday party! I have always wanted to do an Alice in Wonderland themed tea party, and finally Miss A was excited too. We had it at our home and I have been collecting decorations for about 6 months. Well when you start early you end up with a whole mess of items...haha. The most I paid for a tea pot was $5. I hit all sorts of small town antique shops. I even hit thrift and consignment stores. The shops here in Dallas are sooo much more expensive so I tried to avoid that area. 

I also found these flowers at a local craft shop, Hobby Lobby and they were already half price and I got them for another 40% off! I had this idea to create a drapery of flowers in the middle of the room. We have high ceilings so we can't exactly hang from our ceiling...so we had to create one. Thanks to my husband and a new ladder I think we did pretty good!

We had an area for the kiddos to make their own hats. For the ladies I glued mini felt hats to headbands and there were all sorts of flowers, feathers, butterflies, birds, tulle and stickers to put on them. The boys had a top hat and rock star or space stickers to put on theirs. 

I also had another chance to grow some grass from my kit I bought online a few months back. I used them in these big cup and teapot planters I got on sale at Wal-Mart for $10! Niiice! 

Miss A's birthday is the only event that I do not make a cake, my sister always makes her cake. It allows me to focus on all the details and other foods! I like to work with fondant because I never took any classes and all the icing handwork is something I do not have any earthly idea what to do with all those icing tips!!! My sister on the other hand can do all that decorating with icing. So she made a teapot cake on top of a mad hatter hat.

Cheshire Cat Snails Tails (tortilla rolls, with turkey, cheese, cream cheese and spinach all rolled up with a gherkin pickle held together with a toothpick! 

We have some White Rabbit Hole Donuts (powdered donut holes)

Queen of Hearts Jelly Tarts (strawberry tarts, palmiers, and some other cookie called
 some sort of jamdingers)

I made Caterpillar Button Mushrooms (mozzarella and tomato)

We also had veggies and fruit. The plate stands were more of my mix and match finds at small town shops. I held them together with glue dots that way I could break them down for easy storage and also make different combinations that fit my needs!
We also had Mad Hatters Sweet Tea and March Hare Raspberry Lemonade served in teacups with the kiddos initial on them. (technically espresso cups I got at World Market for 99cents.)

Of course it would not be a party without the Mad Hatter to stopped by and did a few magic tricks and had fun with the kiddos! This was about a 1/4 of the kiddos. We had 24 kiddos at our little shindig!!!

It was a great party, great fun, and best of all great guests! Thanks to my family for all the set up and clean up support!!! Can't wait until next year!! Need to start planning....hhhhhmmmmmm

Two little birdies...

Thursday bento was a little fun. We did some little birdies out of hot dog. Used toothpicks to hold the wings together and perched them on a bed of corn. We have some grapes and a babybel cheese with the word "Tweet" cut out in cheese on it. Of course after I cut out "tweet" Miss A asked me why I did that word. I told her that is what a bird says. She said no they don't mommy...they say "chirp chirp". HAHAHA! Good grief! Let's just say that began a 30 minute conversation with a 4 year old about the different sounds a bird makes! Oy vey!!!

From A-Z

Wednesday's bento lunch was Miss A's initials but also A through Z for the alphabet she recites every day twice a day if not more. Not to mention counting to 100 everyday! BOY IS THAT FUN!! ha ha! So we have A and Z ham sandwiches and salt and vinegar chips. I don't know how that little crazy gal can eat those but she loves them! We have some green beans and strawberries and there you have it!!!

Miss A's pumpkin!

Miss A got her idea for her bento today from last nights dinner. We had rice, stir fry, and potstickers! yum! I have not done rice molds in awhile so she wanted me to do a rice mold out of her pumpkin cookie cutter. It was not enough rice so we also used the cat cookie cutter to mold the rice. We just stuck left over rice into the cookie cutter and wrapped in cling wrap and stuck in the fridge. This morning we pulled it out and she chose the ham and shapes for her faces. She also cut out cheese shapes herself, she was determined not to use a tool. Oy vey! haha. I made the turkey rolls and then we added the edamame for some protein and some grapes for dessert! Voila!

Weekend Bake Extravaganza!

So this weekend was a first for me. Working full time, being a mom to an almost 5 year old and a 5 month old, I usually only commit to one baking project in a weekend. But this weekend was a baking trifecta, but I must admit it was fun!!!

We started off with 20 ladybug cupcakes for Miss A's soccer team Saturday morning.

Then Saturday afternoon a good friend of mine had her 3 year old

sons bday party. He wanted a Lightning McQueen cake and since I did this a few weeks ago I knew I could spit it out with little stress. I must say the car popped more then the last one because I outlined everything in black.

Then Sunday I did a bridal shower Tiffany box cake. I must say making that Tiffany blue was so much fun! I even had fun making the tiny chain for the heart charm. Next weekend is Miss A's bday party. It is the one party that I don't make her cake, my sister makes it! That way I can focus on the other party details! However...I am working with a friend for a special cake for her son this weekend...It is a superhero!! Going to be a fun week into a spectacular weekend!! But for now....let's get through the week! Have a great one!!!

Lil' Pumpkin

Well it is a new week. Had a crazy weekend full of baking so Monday was a nice easy lunch for Miss A. She knew right off that she wanted a pumpkin sandwich! So we have a turkey pumpkin sandwich with cheese accents and a green bean stem! We have some baby lil pumpkins, that are yellow tomatoes and we threw in some green beans and pirate booty!! Miss A just loves those air puffed cheddar corn things...Pirate Booty rocks!

Joe the Mouse!

This week has been a crazy week. Miss A has had some fall activities at school including parent teacher conferences and a visit to a pumpkin patch that fell through because of all the rain we had here in North Texas. So I only have one bento to post from Tuesday and nothing from Monday or Wednesday...:( This is a sloppy Joe mouse!! So we named him Joe of course. For those non American blog readers a sloppy joe is kind of like a barbecue sandwich but with hamburger meat. Or like a meatloaf sandwich but more saucier!! Hope that makes sense! The mouse has macaroni cheese ears, a yellow tomato nose, black olive eyes, and green picks to hold it all together in the center. We added in some cheese whiskers and filled in the negative space with yummy blackberries!!

Space the Friday Frontier...

Hee hee...Space the Friday Frontier...get it? hahahaha! That is too crafty and funny! hee hee. So why space Miss A asked this morning...honestly. I don't know! ha! We had such a beautiful moon last night, perhaps that is what inspired this pizza moon with cheese rocket ship. Also I am still on the lookout for intelligent life on earth so I thought a little alien ship would be cute as well. We have some tomato asteroids among the blueberry space. The cheerios are the asteroid belt and the string cheese...ummm..well...Miss A wanted string cheese. HA! Have a great weekend everyone!!!

MOM....

Well today was a great day because it was my birthday...I am about to get out there and enjoy the last 3 hours!! This was the fabulous bento today!! 3 little square sandwiches with the letters..M-O-M and a heart!! Also a blueberry heart in a sea of corn!! Too fabulous!! Hope everyone has a great day! See you tomorrow!!!

Soccer baby!!!

Well Miss A had her first soccer practice today and it was fabulous! She loved every minute of it. We just hope she enjoys her first game on Saturday! So todays bento was a soccer ball sandwich...I am not going to lie...this was a tough one! Soccer balls are hard to represent with cheese!! Sooo ummm squint really hard when you look at it and it looks perfect! ha! Soccer ball sandwich, green beans, strawberry soccer field, and some fig newtons. Tomorrow is a big day....It's MY BIRTHDAY!! WOO HOO!!!

Bento Binky Babybel Baby....

Tuesday was a leftover day already!! Ha! We had some fettuccine alfredo leftover which is always great for hair! We did a ham face baby with a red bow in her hair, blueberry eyes, tomato nose, and a red babybel binky (pacifier) in her mouth!!! Haha! This week Miss A starts soccer!! It took us almost a full year to get her to play soccer!! She is super excited...so tomorrow may have to be a soccer theme...we will see!

Ka-Chow!

So this weekend I had the honor of making a bday cake for my little cousin, Kaiden. In this cake adventure of mine I have many firsts and this was definitely a first. A car cake that is to resemble the infamous Lightning McQueen. Thank goodness this smiling amazing little two year old was so excited about his big day he was not critical of my mistakes!! haha! Baked the cakes on Saturday and the big 12inch chocolate decided to crack in 3 places...oy vey! Thank goodness I had some positive thoughts from facebook (thanks Tennille) that icing is glue. So after that and a glass of wine I was golden! So golden in fact I stayed up and iced and painted the car!!! Looks like I had my own paint and body shop!! I used an air brush tool and special liquid paint to spray the car. Great because you can mix colors, use less dye which is better for taste, and if you don't wear a mask you get the same color boogers in your nose as the paint!!! Great at dinner parties the next day!! haha!

I made the bottom round in buttercream and then smoothed with the viva paper towel. A professional at a cake store in Dallas suggested royal icing for the car. They said to get the look of fondant but still have icing, royal would be perfect. Yeah....let's just say I thumped this puppy with my thumb and it made a nice hard THUMP! Not to mention it cracked like humpty dumpty after he fell off the wall when we tried to cut into it!! haha! SOOOO live and learn! The decals were fondant and the wheels were chocolate donuts!!!

The logo with Kaiden's name had some issues and never dried properly. So on the spot at the party I cut another logo and affixed it to MULTIPLE other edible items in my nephews house and finally found a Ritz cracker to keep it stiff!! hahaha. Always an adventure!!!