Welcome Elves!!

Our Elves, Dasher and Cupcake, come every year on December 1st. The girls have been counting down the days until they come. So, why not have a bento lunch to celebrate their arrival back from the North Pole!

Here are what Cupcake and Dasher look like:

The Cupcake inspired lunch:

The Dasher inspired lunch:

• 2 Elf shaped sandwiches (stacked). Their hats are provolone cheese that I painted (using a paint brush) with gel food coloring. Their cheeks are also food coloring that I painted on. Their eyes and mouth are cucumber peel and a bit of extra bread for their noses and ears. Their hair is made from the crust of the bread.


• Strawberries and blueberries with a candy cane pick


• Carrots with ranch


• Reeses peanut butter bells

Pretty Snowflakes, Pretty Snowflakes...

In celebration (Bah-hum-bug!!) of our first snow, today's lunch has a snowflake theme. At least the girls are excited about the snow.

• PB&J sandwich cut out with the Pampered Chef sandwich cutter and provolone snowflakes.


• Raspberries and blackberries with a snowglobe cupcake pick


• Peas


• Dove chocolate

**I was afraid this lunch was a little small so I threw some pretzel snaps in by the sandwich after I had taken the picture.

O Christmas Tree

I am not happy that these shorter days are affecting my ability to take pictures in natural light. Sorry for the picture quality!

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  2 Christmas tree shaped sandwiches (stacked) with mini M&M ornaments and a cheddar star


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  Strawberry slices with a Christmas tree pick


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  Cheddar trees


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  Cucumber and tomato slices with ranch


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  2 Reeses bells

Let the Christmas Bentos Begin!

Now that Thanksgiving is behind us (I hope everyone had a wonderful one!) it's time for Christmas themed bentos. I'm starting them off with a Rudolph themed lunch.

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  2 reindeer shaped sandwiches with crust antlers, a cherry tomato nose and icing eyes.


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  Carrots with ranch


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  Red grapes with a Christmas tree pick


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  Hershey Kisses

Give Thanks!

• Ham and cheddar roll-ups with "Give Thanks" letter picks


• Blackberries and raspberries


• Steamed broccoli with ranch


• String cheese


• Cornucopia snacks (i.e. Bugles)

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!

Turkey Feathers

My inspiration for this lunch was Tommy the Turkey.

• 2 circle-shaped sandwiches with a carrot beak, icing eyes and an apple skin gobbler
• Apple slices with peanut butter
• Carrots with ranch
• Hershey Kisses

  Click here for links to other Thanksgiving Themed lunches:  

Turkey Day is on It's Way!

And here's a lunch to celebrate:

• 2 Turkey-shaped peanut butter and honey sandwiches (stacked) with cheddar foot and beak, fruit leather gobbler, and an icing eye


• Strawberries and blackberries


• Carrots with ranch


• Mini PB Snickers bar
  
  

Flower Power

Another quick and easy lunch...

• Peanut butter cracker sandwiches


• Clementine flower with strawberry center


• Roma tomato and cucumber slices with ranch


• Cheddar cheese flowers


• Pretzel snaps


• Mini Milky Way

Gobble, Gobble

• Whole wheat mini bagel with salami and herb cream cheese decorated with a turkey ring.


• Pineapple, blueberries and strawberry slices


• Carrots with ranch


• Mini Snickers bar
  

Quick and Easy - Pizza Puffs

• 3 Pizza Puffs (see Recipe tab) with pizza sauce for dipping (Note: they are frozen in this picture but they will be fine by lunch)


• Carrots with ranch


• Blackberries and raspberries


• Babybel


• Nestle Crunch

Happy Leaves

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  Herb cream cheese and salami on a whole wheat mini bagel


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  Colby Jack cheese leaves with cucumber faces


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  Cucumber and tomato slices with ranch


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  Pineapple and blueberries


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  Hershey Kisses

High Fashion and Barbie

My youngest is SUPER in to Barbie so I think she'll get a kick out of this lunch:

• 2 high-heel sandwiches (stacked) with a fruit leather bow


• Blackberries with a "Barbie" pick


• Steamed broccoli with ranch with a lipstick pick


• 2 Hershey Kisses

My oldest is NOT in to Barbie. However, I didn't want to make her a completely different lunch. So, we're saying her's is "High Fashion":

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  Same lunch...no Barbie pick ;)

Teddy Bear Picnic

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  5 Teddy Bear-shaped sandwiches made with my new sandwich cutters....Thank you Vicki!


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  Carrots with ranch


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  Raspeberries with a teddy bear pick


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  Teddy Bear-shaped cheddar cheese


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  Mini Teddy Grahams

Autumn Leaves

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  Leaf-shaped sandwich with cheddar and fruit leather leaves


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  Brociflower with ranch


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  Sliced strawberries


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  Pretzel snaps


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  Mini Nestle Crunch bar
  
  

Birds in a Bird House

I'm taking a little break from the fall themed bentos.

• Bird House-shaped sandwich. I used the brown crust to accent the house and decorated it with cheddar birds.


• Carrots with ranch


• Grapes with a bird house pick


• Nestle Crunch bar

Happy Birthday Bento!

Happy Birthday...to me! You know how I love a theme, so I made a bento to celebrate my birthday :)

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  2 party hat-shaped sandwiches with cheddar and provolone decorations



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  Clementine with a clown pick



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  Carrots and cucumber slices with ranch



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  Snickers bar

Field Trip Bento

H's class is going on a field trip and she needs a completely disposable lunch. I had remembered seeing "field trip lunches" over at Happy Little Bento and thought it was a great way to pack a bento style lunch in a disposable container.

I started out with a strawberry container which I washed and then lined with parchment paper. Instead of my standard silicone cups, I used paper jumbo-sized cupcake liners. The picks I used came from a box of 100 so I'm ok if they get tossed (this time).

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  Peanut Butter and jelly on whole wheat (it won't be refrigerated so I didn't want to send anything that might spoil).


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  Cucumber slices with cherry tomatoes


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  Red grapes


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  Kit Kat bar

All closed up and ready to go! (I actually added a piece of parchment to the top too to help keep everything packed in and because there are holes in the top of the container.)

This is pretty much the same lunch but packed in a more "normal" way.

• PB&J on whole wheat in the shape of a teddy bear


• Cherry tomatoes, cucumber slices and ranch


• Red grapes


• Mr. Good Bar