Making Lunch Fun, One Box at a Time

ben·tol·o·gy (ben t äləjē) Noun : The study of making nutritious and fun lunches for my daughters.

I get a lot of inspiration from other blogs. So, in hopes someone might get some inspiration from me, I've decided to post some pictures here.

This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.Proverbs 3:7-9

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

First Fall Bento




  • 4 "acorn" sandwiches (stacked in 2s)


  • Pretzel snaps


  • Steamed broccoli and ranch


  • Babybel with acorn shape cut out (Ave has 2 acorn shaped cheddar cheese pieces)


  • Green grapes


Bento of the Week

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Lunchable




  • Peanut butter/wheat cracker sandwiches


  • Carrots and ranch with "cherry" tomatoes


  • Strawberry slices and blueberries


  • Chocolate pudding (I'm going to send a small container of sprinkles for them to add at lunch but if I put them on now, they will melt).

Monday, September 26, 2011

Theodore J. Bear





  • Salami and colby with yellow mustard or PB&J on whole wheat "teddy bear" sandwich. His features are made from brown crust, icing eyes, and a food safe marker.


  • Cherry tomatoes and ranch


  • Cheddar "teddy bears"


  • Red and green grapes


  • Mini Twix

Check out What's for Lunch Wednesday for more lunch ideas!

Sunday, September 25, 2011

A Little Fishy

Today's lunch was a piece of cake thanks to these new sandwich thins by Pepperidge Farm. Haley went to the grocery store with me this afternoon and spotted them and thought they were a "must have".





  • Ham and cheddar with honey mustand OR PB&J on a "Goldfish" sandwich thin

  • Goldfish crackers

  • Blackberries with a fish pick

  • Carrots with ranch

  • Mini Milky Way

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Flower Power



  • 3 flower shaped sandwiches (stacked)...Ave has PB&J (of course) and Haley has turkey and colby jack, both on whole wheat.

  • Steamed broccoli with a flower pick

  • Strawberry yogurt with a strawberry/blueberry flower

  • Red and green grapes

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

My Heart Belongs to You



  • PB&J on a whole wheat bagel with a fruit leather heart

  • Carrots and a red pepper heart with ranch

  • Red grapes with a heart pick

  • Chocolate pudding with "XOXO" sprinkles

The little cups I put the pudding in is a new item I picked up at my local bento store the other day. The come with little plastic lids. I don't think they'd seal something super liquidity or runny but I *think* it will work for pudding.

Monday, September 19, 2011

Roll-Ups

These are not the prettiest roll-ups I've ever made but they will do and they will taste just as yummy!



  • Salami and cheddar roll-ups on whole wheat. (Ave has PB&J, of course)

  • Build-Your-Own "Ants on a Log" (celery sticks, raisins and peanut butter)

  • Strawberry slices and blueberries

  • Mini Milky Way

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Go Buckeyes!!

The weather today definitely feels like fall and with fall, comes football! So, tomorrow's bento supports our Buckeyes!








  • 2 salami and cheddar on whole wheat "football" sandwiches. I decorated the football with the crust from the bread and a little provolone cheese.


  • Steamed broccoli with ranch for dipping and a super cute OSU pick that my wonderful sister-in-law bought for me...check out her amazing food blog.


  • Blueberries with letter picks that spell "Go Bucks!"


  • Babybel Buckeye


  • Mini Twix candy bar*

*I wish I had the time to make to make chocolate peanut butter buckeyes today. They would have been the perfect dessert for this bento...and then I could have eaten the rest! ;)


O-H!
Check out What's for Lunch Wednesday for more lunch ideas!

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Lock 'N Lock

Tomorrow's lunch is packed in Lock 'N Lock.



  • Peanut Butter cracker sandwiches

  • Cucumber and roma tomato slices

  • Strawberry yogurt with a strawberry heart

  • Strawberry slices and blueberries

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Cut the Rope

When I saw this cute lunch on What's for Lunch at Our House I knew I had to try to create a lunch inspired by Cut the Rope - it's one of the girls' favorite games on the iPad. I was really happy with how it turned out, which is good after yesterday!!





  • Avery has a PB&J on whole wheat and Haley has a turkey with veggie cream cheese on a sandwich thin. The monster is made from cheddar, with provolone teeth and hard boiled egg and cucumber peel eyes. The candy/rope is made from a Spree and a piece of linguine that I colored with a food safe marker.

  • Raspberries and blueberries

  • Peas

  • Pretzel snaps

  • Mini Milky Way

Monday, September 12, 2011

ParentMap Magazine Article

I'm pretty excited that my blog was featured in a ParentMap Magazine article, along with Shannon at What's for Lunch at Our House and Another Lunch and Kristen at Cookie Cutter Lunch and several others. Talk about being in good company!

Smiling Faces

Well, they can't all be winners! I'm so embarrassed by tomorrow's lunch that I almost didn't post it.

Today has been one of those super crazy days. I usually don't multi-task when I'm making lunches (except for the occasional phone call). As weird as it sounds, making lunches is my time...when I get to be creative. Well today, I didn't have any time for that. While making lunches today I was going over spelling words with my youngest, checking my oldest's math homework, and starting dinner. This is the result :(





  • Turkey and cheddar on whole wheat with the face made from cheddar, red pepper, carrot and icing eyes.


  • Plum slices


  • Carrots with ranch


  • Babybel with cucumber face


  • Pretzel snaps

Sunday, September 11, 2011

You're the Apple of My Eye!








  • 2 apple shaped sandwiches, stacked (H has ham and cheese and Ave has PB&J, both on whole wheat). H has a dyed piece of provolone on top. Avery doesn't like the provolone so I just colored her stem with a color safe marker.




  • Mixed veggies with ranch for dipping




  • Red grapes with an apple pick




  • Babybel cheese decorated to look like an apple using a pretzel stick, green pepper and icing eyes (These cookie pops from Family Fun were my inspiration for these).




  • Mini Twix


Check out What's for Lunch Wednesday for other lunch time ideas!

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Kitty, Kitty

A fellow bento-ing friend mentioned that she recently used play-doh cutters as cheese cutters for her son's bento lunch....HELLO!?!?! Why did I not think of that before?! I have a box of play-doh supplies sitting on the shelf of my laundry room. I used the kitten cutter for tomorrow's lunch:





  • Salami and cheddar on a whole wheat sandwich thin with a provolone kitten. The kitten's features are made from cucumber peel, whisker eyes, and pink sprinkles.


  • Peas


  • Raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries with a kitten pick


  • Cheddar cheese cut into a kitty shape


  • Mini 3 Musketeers

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Sweet and Simple

Tomorrow's lunch is sweet and simple:



  • Pinwheel sandwiches (Haley has ham, cheese and honey mustard and Ave has PB&J, both on whole wheat)

  • String cheese (halved and stacked)

  • Strawberry slices and blackberries

  • Broccoli with a cherry tomato center with ranch

  • Mini Milky Way

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Spicing it up!

As you may have noticed, my youngest in NOT very adventurous when it comes to sandwiches. The girl loves her PB&J! Now that she's in school every day and packing almost every day, I'm a little worried she's going to get burnt out. So, when I saw these pepperoni pizza puffs on Shannon's "Featured Friday" over at 'What's For Lunch at Our House', I knew I wanted to give them a try.





  • 3 Pepperoni Pizza Puffs with pizza sauce for dipping


  • Tomato, cucumber and mozzarella (well, technically it's string cheese) salad with Italian dressing


  • Seedless black grapes


  • Mini Twix bar

Monday, September 5, 2011

Sweet Treat

Who says you can't have an ice cream cone for lunch?








  • 2 sandwiches (Haley has turkey and cheddar and Ave has PB&J, both on whole wheat) stacked. I used the crust of the sandwich to make a waffle cone, provolone cheese for the ice cream, a cherry tomato for the cherry, and some sprinkles.

  • Carrots with ranch

  • Raspberries and blackberries

  • String cheese (halved and stacked)

  • Dove chocolate

Check out other fun lunches at What's for Lunch Wednesday!

Friday, September 2, 2011

All Things For Sale Give-a-way

I know there are a lot of bento newbies out there who could benefit from a give-a-way. Heck, even us "old timers" like getting new stuff! So, check out the give-a-way All Things For Sale is offering!

Thursday, September 1, 2011

You Are My Star!


(Sorry the picture quality is so poor. )


  • Turkey and cheddar on whole wheat sandwich thin

  • Peas

  • Cantaloupe and blueberries

  • Pretzel snaps