We're all big fans of Lego in this family. After a recent visit to Legoland Windsor, I was inspired to create a Lego themed bento for my daughter.
To make the Lego blocks I used a straw to poke holes into the cucumber and carrot, cut the vegetable a little slimmer then stuck the circle that had been cut out back into the veg. Which created little Lego like bumps.
I used turmeric to colour the rice yellow (probably a little too much as my daughter didn't like the taste, whoops......less is more with such a strong spice).

My daughter is a huge Harry Potter fan. We're hoping to visit Harry Potter world in the next few months, so to tide her over until our adventure I created this little bento for her. I will no doubt make some more Potter inspired designs in the near future.

I made this cute little bear by adding soya sauce into the rice whilst still hot and gently stirring it in until you have an even light brown colour.
My daughter absolutely loved this bento bear!

I tried following a recipe by the fantastic "Bento Monsters".
I'm pleased with how they turned out, very tasty indeed!
You can find the recipe below if you wanted to try and create them yourself.
Bento Monsters Totoro Bread Bun

Hello there, its been a while! A couple of years in fact since I uploaded a new bento creation. A lot has happened in those 2 years. We've moved house (twice), got a crazy puppy and had a new addition to our family.
I'm pleased to say I now have the time and enthusiasm to bake and make bento again for my family, and will be sharing them with you here and on Instagram. Please follow me here @beanie.bento

A favourite little character of mine "Rilakkuma"!

Here's a bento I made to celebrate the Chinese New Year. Sorry for the delay in uploading. We've had a busy February filled with children's birthday parties!
I got to try out my new kitchen toy whilst making this bento. I used a spiralizer to cut the cucumber and carrots into fun curly ribbons!

I made these little panda bears by shaping the rice into panda shapes, then added nori to make the arms, and features.

I made the bread using this recipe: http://www.beaniebento.com/2015/10/puppy-pull-apart-bread-buns.html

Once the dough has proved, roll the dough balls out into 10 even pieces, maybe make the head a tiny bit bigger than the body. Arrange them in your chosen caterpillar shape, on a slightly greased baking tray.
Cut a black olive into two slices to use as the eyes, add the egg wash and chosen seeds. I went with sesame and chia seed. Let it rest for 30 minutes then pop into the oven at 180C for 12 minutes, or until browned to your liking!
I drew on a mouth with edible pen (best to do this part once bread has cooled).

Enjoy hot from the oven with butter or wait until cooled to add a yummy filling.

Sorry for the huge delay since my last post. We moved house and its all been a bit hectic! But, I'm back in the swing of bento and baking. I have a few more bakes to upload in the next few days, but's first it's a new bento!

Yummy Totoro Onigiri. I made the Totoro rice grey by mixing in black sesame paste.The features are made from cheese slices and nori. I used pink noodles for the whiskers (I was in a hurry so didn't fry them, but frying the noodle means you can eat it, I had to remove these pink ones before eating).
Lovely served with fresh veggies and salmon!

Sorry I have not posted anything recently. We are moving house so I seem to have very little free time for bento and baking.
But, here's some tasty Totoro pull apart buns!
I used a basic bread dough recipe and added black sesame paste to give them a darker appearance.

Rilakkuma Deco Roll Cake

This is my first attempt at making deco roll cake. Unfortunately the Rilakkuma got a little stuck to the non-stick paper. 
The sponge is so lovely and light! It was a real hit at home.

Please click the post for the full recipe and instructions. 

I should have uploaded this one last week but it got forgotten! Just found it hiding in my photo folder.

Here's a simple recipe for making some cute little puppy buns.

Click the post for full recipe and method : )

We're fully in the Halloween spirit now!
I made this little witch with pink noodle hair and nori hat for the mini bean this week. She really liked the mini pumpkins, these were made from carrot and nori for the features.

On my last trip to London I stumbled upon a wonderful Japanese confectionary shop. I found these adorable rabbit shaped wagashi and purchased a few a gifts.