Playing with My Food: Hard-boiled Egg Boats for Bento Boxes

I think I may be the last person on this planet to know what a Bento Box is.  Really.  I’m sure most of you are going to be reading this and rolling your eyes like, “Oh geez, Heather, get with the times already!”

 

And I so don’t blame you!  Although I should warn you now that there are a LOT of things that I need to get caught up on.  It’s not pretty when your husband knows all the cool songs and trendy things about 6 months before you do…right before they’re no longer cool.  Or when you download the not-cool-anymore camera apps about 12 months too late.  All I have to say is thank goodness skinny jeans are still in…they ARE still in, aren’t they? 😉

 

Anyway, so Bento boxes are these cute boxes with compartments (typically) to pack meals and they are a really great way to get creative with your food.  You can make themed boxes, or just do something beautiful and creative.  The way I see it is that it makes the entire eating experience so much more fun – who doesn’t love to really enjoy a great meal, right?  Oh, and looking for ideas?  This amazing Pinterest board is chock full of ’em!

 

So now that I’ve told you about how awesome Bento boxes are I’m going to explain why my “box” is actually on a plate instead.  These days Nate is either eating out for work at lunch or taking leftovers as he flies out the door.  Wes and I eat at home, and therefore don’t really eat out of boxes.  BUT that’s no reason not to have a little fun!  I was playing with some of our favorite Great Day Farms hardboiled eggs (you find them in the deli section at Walmart!) and thought it would be fun to make a little treat for Weston’s snack.  We are all about water around here, and Weston’s room is decorated in an ocean/beach theme so I decided to make little boats out of the eggs!  Obviously the paper sails aren’t edible, but I remember one of my favorite things growing up was when I’d find a sweet note from my mom in my lunchbox – I am definitely passing that tradition on with Wes and our future kids!

 

So making the egg boat is super simple and really fun:

• Cut an egg in half. Pop out the yolk in one half and make it into a sun using thinly sliced carrots as the rays!
• Cut the other half in half again and stick another carrot in there as the mast of a boat.
• The water is just baby yogurt with 2 drops of blue food coloring that I swirled around – boys like weird colored food!
• Place the eggs in the “water” and top each mast with a little triangle of paper with a sweet note!

You can obviously duplicate this as much as you want, and it could even be a fun little display for a baby shower.

 

The big idea, though, is to get creative.  Have fun!  Make something interesting – and then devour it 😉

 

What about you guys? Have you made a Bento box before?  What would you make with hardboiled eggs?