Halloween Bentos thus far...

I have ideas!  I have lots of Halloween ideas.  I would like to thank the version of myself that exists in the past for buying some Halloween bento gear last year when prices went 50% off!

None of these are super fancy lunches but the kids think they are cute and are pleased to receive them.

Packed in a Laptop Lunchbox, lunch consists for a cheese sandwich with a bat cut-out, some grapes, a mini oatmeal muffin in a cute Halloween liner, a yogurt and the piece-de-resistance, a silicone spider cup of Jello with candy eyes.

Lunch is a "Mummy Dog" that the kids and I made by wrapping refrigerator rolls around a hot dog and baking. The eyes are drawn on with food-safe markers.  Also included are grapes, a banana decorated with stickers and a Halloween Joe-Joe's cookie from Trader Joe's.  Each child also got a Halloween joke card.

Lunch on this day was a sunbutter and jelly sandwich, grapes, a mini-muffin (hidden under the yogurt) a yogurt and in the sealed container, halloween shaped Jello jigglers.  I clearly failed on the photo taking before sealing.

Another Laptop Lunchbox Lunch(can you tell they are my new favorite thing?)  Jack-o-Lantern cheese sandwich, dried apricots, grapes with a pumpkin pick, pirate booty, yogurt and a Halloween Joe-Joe cookie.

This is how tech rolls..

Where I work, this is how tech rolls....

We also build shrines to the server gods. We are willing to sacrifice a lot to keep the email flowing.

Homemade Buttermilk Bread

I enjoy baking and decided I should venture into the realm of sandwich bread.  Ok, to be honest, I also had some buttermilk that I needed to use up!  This recipe is SO simple and the results were amazing.

I used the Cooks Illustrated Buttermilk Sandwich Bread recipe.  It involves dumping your ingredients in the standing mixer and letting the machine do the kneading for ten minutes.  Then you let it rise twice and bake.  Total time is about three hours, but it is mostly hands-off.

The bread smells fabulous while baking and once it cools, the bread has a nice texture and crumb.  Great for making sandwiches.  If you plan to sneak a slice before it cools completely,  cut carefully.  The bread is delicate while warm and will squash into a funny shape. Ask me how I know....