Power Rangers Bento Lunch

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I don't make lunches quite this elaborate every day but it's a lot of fun to make the extra effort for a special occasion. The ranger sandwich works as a stand-alone snack too - great for Power Rangers party food or a special tea at home! The 5 fruit and vegetable stripes represent the 5 colours of the individual Power Rangers and they're easy to customise if your child doesn't like any of the ingredients - for example you could swap in strawberries for the red tomatoes or olives for the black grapes - whatever works best for you and your child.

We had fun creating the simple vegetable power coins, popcorn seemed the ideal snack to include when celebrating a DVD launch (bring on the family movie night!) and some gummy stars (as a nod to the Power Ranger's origins in space) finished the lunch off nicely.

Power Rangers Bento Lunch

Ingredients: 

• ¼ cucumber
• ⅓ medium carrot
• 4 cherry tomatoes
• handful blueberries
• ¼ yellow pepper
• handful black grapes
• handful raspberries
• handful popcorn
• Gummy stars
• 2 slices brown bread
• butter or butter spread
• 1 slice ham
• 1 slice cheddar cheese
• nori (sushi seaweed)

Equipment: 

• mini bento circle cutter
• alphabet bento picks (optional)
• round nesting cookie cutters
• kitchen scissors
• divided bento box (I used our Yumbox Panino)

Method: 

Start by making the cucumber and carrot 'power coins'. Cut 4 or 5 round slices from the cucumber, about  ½ cm thick. Peel the carrot and cut off 4 or 5 round slices to the same thickness as the cucumber.

Using the mini circle cutter, cut the centre from each of the cucumber and carrot slices. Swap the circles over and push them back into the vegetable slices so that the cucumber slices end up with carrot middles and the carrot slices with cucumber middles. Pop the cucumber 'power coins' to one side ready to pack in the lunch and save (or eat!) the carrot coins for a snack.

Prepare the remaining fruit and vegetables: wash and halve the cherry tomatoes, wash the blueberries, de-seed and cut the pepper into slices, wash and halve the grapes.

Arrange the five fruit and vegetables in the largest compartment of your lunch box; red tomatoes for Jason the Red Ranger, blueberries for Billy the Blue Ranger, yellow pepper for Trini the Yellow Ranger, black grapes for Zack the Black Ranger and pink raspberries for Kimberly the Pink Ranger.

Fill one of the smaller lunch box compartments with popcorn and add P & R alphabet bento picks to decorate. Pop the cucumber and carrot power coins in the other compartment and the gummy stars in the little treat well.

Finish the lunch off with an extra special Power Ranger sandwich!

To make the Power Ranger sandwich, start by making a sandwich with a filling of your choice. I used ham on brown bread. Push a larger circle cutter into the top of the sandwich, at an angle so you don't cut a full circle - you're aiming for a semi-circle for the top of the Power Ranger's mask.

With a sharp knife, cut down from the semi-circle to create the mask shape, then trim away the crusts (don't throw these out though, feed them to a passing hungry child or pop the crusts in a bag in the freezer ready to whizz into breadcrumbs for future recipes!).

Using a smaller circle cutter, cut out a semi circle then cut again with a slightly larger circle cutter to form a moon shape. Cut a little indent on the bottom and trim off the sides then place on top of the sandwich to create the mouth guard of the mask.

Cut a visor shape from the nori (fold it in half first to get a perfectly symetrical shape) then place it on top of the sandwich. Cut 4 tiny triangles of nori to go on the top of the helmet (pointing down) and a sliver of nori for the mouth.

Place the Power Ranger sandwich in the lunch box on top of the Power Ranger coloured fruits and vegetables.

Enjoy!

Power Rangers is available on Digital Download now and will be available to buy on DVD and Blu-ray from 31st July 2017. If you just can't wait, you can preorder it on DVD or Blu-ray from Amazon now!

Grace

Disclosure: This blog post was commissioned by Lionsgate in support of the Power Rangers DVD launch.  I was compensated for my time and the cost of ingredients, however all opinions expressed in this post are my own.

This post contains some Amazon affiliate links; I may receive commission on items purchased through the links.

If you enjoyed this post and would like some more packed lunch inspiration, head over to the creative bento lunches section here on the Eats Amazing blog where you’ll find over 450 fun packed lunch ideas, enough to keep you going all the year around!

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