The Dark Side…of cheese. You didn’t think I was going to use these Star Wars cookie cutters for cookies, did you? Well. I am – just not yet. No, first I needed to make lunch for the Kid, and we all know how much he loves cheese…

ingredients:
soft white bread
cheese

Man, that’s a pretty sad ingredient list. Anyway, I used very, very soft fresh bread from a Japanese bakery, but I’m sure Wonderbread or another soft white will do fine.

I positioned the cutters so I could maximize the bread and got both a Vader and a stormtrooper out of one piece. It’s pretty lame how excited that made me.

Once I cut the face out, I then pressed down to imprint the image. Voila – instant evilness.

Then I used just the outside to cut the outline of the cheese to fit.

Sure you could butter these bad boys up and make grilled cheese, but there was something nice and subtle about the shadow images of the faces pressed into the soft bread. Something…super evil. But mostly…super cute!

SURPRISE. I don’t think anyone wants to hear that when it comes to lunch, but these mini meatballs with a surprise edamame in the middle are pretty cute. Especially when you jazz them up with crazy bento picks. Look at that. The pick looks like a chicken bone. Freakin’ adorable.

Chicken Meatballs, What recipe, here.
See all Yoda lunches, here.

As you can tell from this series, I like to make sure the kid has a healthy lunch – but also a lot of fun.

Sometimes I wish I could see the Kid’s face when he opens his lunch box, and I’m sure the kid sitting next to him was totally freaked. Or maybe it will scare off certain…other people during lunchtime…hm?

Domo Meatloaf recipe, here.

So – the Kid is being bullied. Ok, maybe that’s a harsh term, but let’s just say…people are stealing his lunch! Apparently the things I send him off with look too good since kids try to eat his lunch regularly. And it’s not just the kids, it’s the teacher too! One of his daycare teachers ASKS him for his food AND eats it. Not cool. Listen, the Kid is mini, he needs all the nutrients he can get.

I don’t make him those super cute bentos, but I do try to send him off with GOOD tasting food. Too good, I guess? Now it’s backfiring. Looks like he’s going to have to eat liverwurst for lunch from now on…

Brown Sugar Ham Steak recipe, here.
Homemade Tater Tots recipe, here.

The Kid, aka Cheese Lover, aka Cheese-a-tarian, in his recent school project: ‘What would you do with $100?’ he said, “I’d buy cheese.” Good lord. I could think of a lot better things to spend $100 on – but whatever. And this is why he loves this dish. It’s cheese-y with a cheese-y Goldfish cracker topping. Perfect for your big-spending cheese lover.

Goldfish Mac n’ Cheese recipe, here.

I’m telling you the kids LOVE this stuff. It’s sort of ridiculous how much of this they eat. It’s light, tasty and goes great with everything. I like it on it’s own, but the Baby loves it with chicken apple sausage.

My favorite part? There is no red sauce to clean up like with regular spaghetti. You should look under the Baby’s dinner chair. It’s like a massacre under there…

Lemon Spaghetti recipe, here.

Bento making is a dangerous game. It’s so easy to get caught up in the fun – but I won’t do it. No way. No how. Ok. Maybe just a little.

Luckily the Kid likes hard boiled eggs so the $1 I invested in these egg shapers paid off. (Thank you Japanese Dollar Store.) Why would you shape an egg into another shape instead of an….egg? WHY NOT.

Start by boiling your eggs. Put the eggs into an empty pot. Fill (CAREFULLY) with enough water to cover the eggs. Be careful or they might crack, yo.

Add salt if you like.

Put the lid on the pot and bring the pot to a boil. Once the water starts to boil, turn OFF the heat.

Leave the pot (with the lid still on) on the stove for 12 minutes.

Take them out and rinse them under cool water for JUST A MINUTE – but working quickly, shell them. This hurts. Seriously. Burning hot eggs and trying to take the shell off quickly leads to swearing. Your kids should probably leave the room.

Now take the still warm eggs and put them in the shapers, locking the shapers shut.

Place them in a bowl of ice water to cool them down.

The shaping takes a while, I usually put them in the fridge overnight. Once you open the shapers you will have yourself a mightly fine looking egg.

When I was a kid I’d go fishing with my Grandpa- he always used marshmallows and those seemed to be the most effective bait. The strawberry marshmallows reminded me that, then I added pretzel sticks for ‘rods’ to catch the cinnamon graham goldfish cookies. A stretch, I know – but it makes snack time more fun!

ingredients:
1 cup cinnamon graham goldfish
2 ounces of mini strawberry marshmallows
3 ounces of pretzel sticks

yogurt

Mix the ingredients together.

Obviously you can use other flavors, I just liked the colors that this made.

It tastes even better with a yogurt pond as dipping sauce!

Food that looks like something else is fun, but maybe not when it’s snails. I love these faux-cargots cause they crack me up – but the concept of a roll-up or wrap is nothing new. They are perfect for packing in a school lunch and the Kid loves anything in a tortilla!

Faux-cargot recipe, here.

Mochiko chicken is DEELISH. Then again I love mochi, so I like to use mochiko in everything. Soup, cupcakes, waffles, you name it. Mochiko chicken is typical Hawaii meal – I like to add a little garlic to mine and also cut it up into tinier than bite sized pieces. It really marinates full of flavor that way. Like most fried chicken it tastes GREAT cold, so leftovers make a fantastic lunch. Yoda thinks so, anyway.

Mochiko Chicken Recipe, here.

*Part of a series of posts documenting the Kid’s lunch.