Pack A Rainbow In Your Bento Box
Welcome to Bento Summer School - Week 3! For the past two weeks we've talked about introducing new foods slowly to your kids as you start your bento adventure together.
This week's theme is color! I'm not talking about little plastic bottles filled with artificial dyes to make your food cute. We are talking fruits and vegetables! Don't worry, we will find some fun ways to make them fun, so your kids will WANT to eat them.
This week's theme is color! I'm not talking about little plastic bottles filled with artificial dyes to make your food cute. We are talking fruits and vegetables! Don't worry, we will find some fun ways to make them fun, so your kids will WANT to eat them.
Beautiful Bentos Are Alive With Color
Make a feast for the eyes and then for the taste buds.
I am vegetarian and I still catch myself being lazy about learning fresh new ways to incorporate different vegetables and fruits into mealtime. It's easy to find an excuse for not being creative in the kitchen, but once you decide to start making bento and ACTUALLY DO IT, you'll find yourself paying a lot more attention to color.
When you pack your lunch full of ziploc bags and prepackaged foods you don't notice the dreadful golden brown color that can easily consume the palette because you are not seeing your meal as a whole. The only color may come from sugary "fruit" snacks in a crinkly wrapper.
When you start packing your food in a bento box, the lack of color displayed in your lunch might be the first clue that your eating habits may not be as healthy as you thought they were. The good news is that you'll immediately start searching for more colorful additions for your bento box. Whether you are making it for yourself or your kids, an appealing presentation does matter and it encourages healthier choices.
Photo Credit:
Garden Friends by circusbaby
Healthy Eating Tips
Get your kids excited about trying new fruits and veggies.
- Make it fun! Chop fruits and veggies into bite-size chunks and buy an assortment of miniature forks, sporks and food picks for kids to eat with.
- Plan a trip to a local farmer's market.
- Grow a color garden with your kids. Plant a fun assortment of miniature and unusually colored fruits and veggies.
- Get your kids interested in learning about new foods by giving them fruit and vegetable printable coloring pages.
- Start an alphabet themed scavenger hunt and have your kids search for a few new fruits and veggies that start with each letter on the list.
- Make a color themed scavenger hunt and search for a few new fruits and veggies from each color in the rainbow. Print a list of list of fruits and vegetables organized by color from Sesame Street.
- Let your kids play the Veggie Adventures online game where they can harvest their own crops!
More great ideas and fun activities for kids!
Fun new recipes will added here daily!
Fun Fruit & Vegetable Recipes By Color
Purple
- Eggplant Parmesan Sticks
- Crispy on the outside and creamy and tender inside, I bet even kids that say they don't like veggies will devour them - they're like eggplant French Fries!
- Deep-Fried Purple Potato & Red Beet Roses
- Try this recipe for crunchy deep-fried potato & beet chips in the shape of a rose.
- Spicy Sesame Eggplant
- Favorite recipes and video cooking tips from Martha Stewart on marthastewart.com.
- Sweet-and-Sour Cabbage
- Favorite recipes and video cooking tips from Martha Stewart on marthastewart.com.
Green
- Sugar Snaps With Honey Mustard
- When served with this simple dip, sugar snaps are an enticing side dish for kids.
- Fruity Frog
- This apple-phibious treat is so charming, your kids may not even notice that it's good for them.
- Stuffed Cucumber Cups
- These veggie bites are an appetizing, eye-catching addition to any outdoor spread.
- Green Pea Mini-Burgers
- Adding to an ever-increasing number of bento-appropriate mini-burgers recipes here on Just Bento, here is one that turns out little green burgers that are as visually striking as they are tasty. What's more, they are vegan, gluten-free and inexpensive.
- Vegetable Kinpira
- While kinpira is traditionally made with carrots and burdock (gobo) in Japan, you can use the kinpira method for any crunchy vegetable.
- Ginger-Sesame Bok Choy
- Favorite recipes and video cooking tips from Martha Stewart on marthastewart.com.
- Guacamole Ice Cream Cones
- If your kids like chips and guacamole, they'll also like these cones!
Orange
- School of Fish
- It won't take long to reel kids in for snack time with these sweet-and-salty goldfish.
- Carrot Patches
- Here's a treat hungry students are sure to dig: baby carrots planted in tasty dip.
- Orange Juice Carrots
- This was originally presented as a dessert in one of my Japanese cookbooks.
- Carved Carrot Flowers
- I thought it might be helpful to post a quick tutorial on how to make these carved carrot flowers.
- Sweet Potato Slices For Bento-Stash
- You can freeze pre-cooked sweet potatoes for your bento-stash.
- Carrot Pancakes
- Carrot pancakes are a healthy spring treat that your little bunnies are sure to love.
Red (& Pink)
- The Cherry Hungry Caterpillar
- Turn a handful of bing cherries into a healthy treat that's as cute as a bug.
- Strawberry Mice
- These fun mice made of strawberries will have your kids happily nibbling on a healthy snack in no time.
- Decorative Apple Cutting Techniques
- If you just spend a few minutes cutting the pieces in decorative ways, they can really perk up your bentoscape.
- Mini-Mozzarella Chicks & Cherry Tomato Skewers
- Easy to make and it will sure impress kids or grown-up lovers of cute food.
- Fairy Berries
- These strawberries dipped in pink chocolate are the perfect treat at a fairy-themed birthday party.
- Mr. Tomato Head
- Bright and cheerful, these pea-brained fellows may actually tempt your child to eat vegetables.
White
- White Radish Rose Decoration
- If you are looking for easy decoration ideas for your salads or bento lunches than this tutorial on how to make a radish rose might interest you.
Tip
Soak cut fruits and vegetables in water and lemon juice to prevent them from turning brown in your bento box.
Learn more about how to prevent fruits and vegetables from turning brown.
Bento Food Colors & Dye
Fun ways to add more color to your bento box!
Some bento designs require a little extra color to make them look just right. If you've added all the natural ingredients you can possibly stuff into your bento box and it still needs more, you can add a pop of color with food dyes.Learn more about dyeing your bento foods with natural and artificial food colorings.
Also, check out this awesome fruity onigiri idea!
Attn: Summer School Slackers
You know who you are. :)
For all you admitted slackers out there, you should know that once you quit thinking about it and actually give bento making a try, you'll be inspired to keep going and the ideas will come easier. Working on the weekly projects will give your some practice just in case we host any contests and design competitions throughout the course. (hint, hint)
Homework - Week 3 Assignments & Projects
Create a bento box meal with lots of fruits, vegetables & color!
Extra credit: Share your colorful bento box on a Kawaii Bento Club page or blog post. Then leave a comment below with the URL.
Bonus Points: Continue to record ideas and recipes in your bento journal from week 1.
Please feel free to post any links and photos from your Bento Summer School projects to the Facebook wall and Flickr group!
Post Links To Your Week 3 Projects Here
Bento Summer School comments and questions go here too!
Please feel free to post any links and photos from your Bento Summer School projects to the Facebook wall and Flickr group!
Some of our sponsors are curious to know how many students are currently participating in our weekly classes, so it's time for ROLL CALL: Leave a comment if you're here! *Participation is the only way to qualify for any prizes or graduation competitions (hint, hint), so please keep posting your homework projects for us to see!
Bento Summer School Questions & Comments
submit
-
Reply
-
Shannon @Bentolunch.net
Jul 17, 2010 @ 1:17 pm | delete
- A not-quite-planned rainbow bento! I discovered the rainbow after we made it. ;o) http://bit.ly/dcgyin
-
-
Reply
-
Pat
Jul 11, 2010 @ 3:41 am | delete
- Here's mine: http://viridian.multiply.com/journal/item/37/Kyaraben_4_Rainbow_in_my_box
-
-
Reply
-
Pat
Jul 9, 2010 @ 6:01 pm | delete
- Here's mine: http://viridian.multiply.com/journal/item/37/Kyaraben_4_Rainbow_in_my_box
-
-
Reply
-
hapabento
Jul 6, 2010 @ 2:34 pm | delete
- Here's my colorful bento. http://bit.ly/cG7JO4
-
-
Reply
-
Sonoma Bento
Jul 5, 2010 @ 6:41 pm | delete
- I am here, and looking forward to more fun topics in Bento Summer School! The farmers market is my main source for colorful bento ingredients. Here's my latest colorful bento: http://sonomabento.blogspot.com/2010/07/gender-bento.html
-
- Load More
Questions & Comments
-Briton Donahue aka: enslavedbyfaeries
Bento Summer School Organizer / Kawaii Bento Club Leader
-Briton Donahue aka: enslavedbyfaeries
Bento Summer School Organizer / Kawaii Bento Club Leader
The Kawaii Bento Club
Where art meets lunch and they go out to play.
Bringing bento enthusiasts together to share, discover, teach and learn the adorable, edible art of creating nutritious boxed lunches with a playful twist. We are reinventing the way we feed our kids and families by preparing healthy, homemade food, making it cute and packing it in reusable, eco-friendly containers. Lunchtime has never been this much fun!
Feeling creative?
Create a Lens!
Explore related pages
- Eww, I Got Cooties In My Bento Box! Eww, I Got Cooties In My Bento Box!
- Kawaii Bento Box Starter Kits Kawaii Bento Box Starter Kits
- How To Make Cute Faces On Bento & Onigiri How To Make Cute Faces On Bento & Onigiri
- Bento Food Colors & Dyes Bento Food Colors & Dyes
- Toadstools & Snails Bento Box Toadstools & Snails Bento Box
- Bento Summer School - Week 1 Bento Summer School - Week 1
Rainbow Food Chart
Amazon Price: $12.50 (as of 02/23/2012)
