bentoriffic

My girls are learning about Florida today.  Miss G was asked to dress like a tourist at preschool to celebrate things about our state.   Since I recently did two lunches showing where the state is, I decided to make things that they like & see often.   The mockingbird is our state bird.  We feed the birds at our house, and a mockingbird sits atop the large oak tree in our front yard and sings most days.  It imitates the songs of many other birds so it’s pretty to listen to.  They are also fierce protectors of their nests so if we (or the dogs) get too close, they will swoop down & chirp at us to give us a warning.

The mockingbird is made from Rudi’s Whole Grain bread.  And the wings and tail feathers are the heel of the loaf.  Its eye and beak are made from fruit leather. His leg & tree branches are made from pretzel sticks and the leaves are unsalted pumpkin seeds stuck on with almond butter.  Next to the bird is a mandarin orange peeled at one end to make a sun since Florida is the Sunshine State.  At the top left in an orange cup (the orange blossom is our state flower) is a cornbread muffin and at the top right are locally grown blueberries from King Family Farm and Market and organic raspberries with an umbrella pick.  Her lunch is packed in an Easy Lunch Box.

And Miss A gets a flamingo today.  Flamingo “stuff” is sold in every tourist shop in our state.  When I first visited Florida over 20 years ago, I was shocked to not see one flamingo.   They aren’t native here, but we see plenty of them at our local attractions.  If you’re visiting here, Sarasota Jungle Gardens is a fun place to visit in Sarasota.  They have many flamingos that walk around the grounds, and the kids can hand-feed them.  They are also at the Tampa Lowry Park Zoo where we spend a lot of time.  So even if they’re not native, we do get to see them often.  It is a rare thing if we see them anywhere in the wild, and in fact they are mostly in the Florida Keys and Miami area.  Other than that you won’t really see them here if you’re here for vacation.

Miss A’s flamingo was made of the same Rudi’s Whole Grain bread.  I stuck some pink sprinkles on with agave nectar.  The state tree of Florida is the sabal palm (also known as the cabbage palm) so her palm tree trunk is made from dates and coconut flakes, and the palm fronds are honeydew melon.  At the top left are orange blossom cups with blueberries and raspberries, and at the top right is a mini cornbread muffin with a flamingo pick packed in her Easy Lunch Box.