Owl Sandwiches Bento Lunch

I used some of our new cookie cutters today to make this owl bento lunch. I thought I'd share the whole process so you can see how the sandwiches are made, and how you can get your fixings to fit inside the sandwich. My sandwiches today were simple, just mayo and turkey, with lettuce as the "wings" of the owl. You can totally put in cheese and other things if you want, using the same method.

First, you have to find the best way to maximize the bread! I made two sandwiches from the two slices of bread. It's much easier to cut the bread first, before making the sandwich.

I'll post some recipes soon for using up all that leftover bread! I actually have a couple days worth of scraps saved in a bowl right now.

Next, you'll want to lay out your deli meat on a paper towel. Ours is from Whole Foods and it's an actual turkey breast that they roasted, so it doesn't have all that filler stuff and seasonings/water, etc to hold it together (so it's a bit dry). 

Just cut down and then use all the extra meat that's outside the cutter and pile it inside, so it fits in an owl shape.

Once they're in there, I just put mayo on the bread shape, put it on top of the meat (mayo side down, obviously), and flip the paper towel over.

That way, it fits perfectly onto your owl bread, it's all nice and even, and this way even the little ears have meat/fillings, etc. Yum!

I used my oval cutter to cut the wings out of lettuce, and a sharp knife to cut little triangles for the beaks. Almond slivers and (don't laugh) balled up bits of brownies are the eyes. Weird, I know. On the side, we have Rainier cherries from the farmer's market this week, black seedless grapes, and some pieces of skewered string cheese. Delish!

We're Back! Faces Bento and New Bento Schedule

Our vacation was rejuvenating! We had time to reflect, meditate and refresh our creative juices. These last two bento months were a blast, but as we continue, I think it's more important to present to our readers some bentos that can be easily duplicated. 

Each week we'll feature:

• one cute bento
• one adult bento
• our review on a bento product, technique, or website that we find inspiring, awesome, or helpful 

As always, please feel free to comment or provide suggestions on what you'd like to see or what you'd like to know. Thanks!

Today's bento features our fresh Southern California produce - we're hitting the beginning of stone fruit season and that means lots of peaches, plums, apricots, cherries, etc. at the farmer's market! It's difficult to cut up stone fruit, especially cherries, without totally damaging them, so I settled for making some cute faces, using my nori face punches, on the apricot and Rainier cherries (my favorite!). I also cut some "hair" out of a fruit roll up for the apricot. On the side, we have some sugar snap peas and some homemade jalapeno-spiced pickles to go with the ham, cheese and mustard sandwich. 

Close up of the apricot face:

I forgot to put lettuce in the sandwich, so to add some color I used my silicone grass. It ended up looking cute!