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

Monday, December 17, 2012

And the Stockings were Hung by the Chimney with Care

Talk about a super quick and easy lunch!

  • 2 rectangle-shaped sandwiches (stacked) decorated to look like a mantle using the crust of the bread and stocking picks
  • Raspberries with a stocking pick
  • Carrots with ranch
  • Pretzels
  • Dove Milk Chocolate Promises
Here are some of the items that I used when making this lunch:

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Santa and Rudolph

I made these doughnuts for the girls to take to a Christmas party this weekend.  (Thanks Pinterest!) As you may have seen, I've made the snowman doughnuts in the girls' lunches before.  My youngest specifically asked me if I'd make one of the Rudolph ones for her lunch.   


I've made quite a few reindeer sandwiches so far this year so I didn't want to go with a strictly reindeer theme.  What goes better with Rudolph than Santa?  So, pulling lots of inspiration from Michelle at Creative Foods (AGAIN!), I made this lunch:

  • 2 circle-shaped sandwiches (stacked) decorated to look like Santa using strawberry fruit leather, white whole grain bread and sprinkles.
  • Broccoli with ranch and a present pick
  • Blackberries with a "Merry Christmas" pick
  • Mini chocolate doughnut decorated to look like Rudolph using an M&M, icing eyes and pretzels
Here are some of the items, or similar items, that I used when creating this lunch:

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Candy Canes

I am happy today!  I discovered a cookie cutter, cupcake picks, sprinkles store, called Smidge and Pinch, and it's right down the street from my house!  How dangerous is that?!?!?  A friend of my told mine about it the other day so I ventured in this morning to check it out.  It is super cute and has tons of great things that I'll be able to use in my bento lunches!   If you aren't lucky enough to live in central Ohio, you can check out their online store.
Anyway, so here's the lunch of the day:

  • 2 candy cane-shaped sandwiches (stacked) decorated with salami and stabalized with parsley.
  • Carrots and ranch with a candy cane pick
  • Blackberries and fresh pineapple with a "Merry Christmas" pick (one of my purchases today at Smidge and Pinch!)
  • Mini candy cane for dessert
Here are some of the products, or similiar products,  I used when creating this lunch:

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Mittens

We're ready for snow!

  • 2 mitten-shaped sandwiches (stacked), decorated with small flowers (supposed to look like the fur on the mitten) cut out of whole grain white bread
  • Broccoli with ranch and a snowflake pick
  • Red grapes with a mittens pick
  • 2 Dove Chocolate Promises
Here are some of the items, or similiar items, that I used when creating this lunch:

Simple Snowman

I'm not sure it's fair to say I was just "inspired" by the snowman lunches created by Jill at Meet the Dubiens since I pretty much just re-created her sandwich!


  • Snowman Sandwich, made using the Pampered Chef sandwich cutter, cucumber peel for the eyes and mouth, a carrot for the nose (of course!) and a pick hat.
  • Peas
  • Colby jack snowflakes
  • Fresh pineapple chunks and raspberries with a snow globe snowman pick
  • Hershey Kisses
Here are some of the items, or similar items, I used when making this lunch:


Great Giveaway at AllThingsForSale!

My favorite bento supply store is having a fun giveaway!

Check it out at :
http://www.allthingsforsale.com/bento/holidays-gift-giveaway-kitchen-gadgets-and-lunch-boxes/

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer Had a Very Shiny Nose!

Completely inspired by this adorable Rudolph made by my bento buddy, Michelle at Creative Foods, I made a super simple but cute reindeer lunch!

  • Circle shaped sandwich decorate to look like a reindeer using icing eyes, a cherry tomato and pretzels
  • Holly veggies (Cucumber "leaves" and cherry tomato "berries") with ranch for dipping
  • Raspberries with a Christmas tree pick
  • Pretzels
  • Hershey kisses
Here are some of the items I used to create this lunch:

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

The Big Man Himself!

  • 2 Santa-shaped sandwiches (stacked) decorated with strawberry fruit leather, whole grain white bread and icing eyes
  • Red Raspberries with a "Believe" cupcake pick
  • Red and Green goldfish crackers with a Christmas tree cupcake pick
  • Peas
  • 2 Hershey Kisses
Here are some of the items (or similar items) that I used when creating this lunch:

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

Elves!

I'm sure you are all familiar with the phenomenon of the Elf on the Shelf.  We have 2 at our house, Cupcake and Dasher.  They arrived from the North Pole on December 1st.   I had intended to do an elf lunch on the day they arrived.   But, it was the weekend and I wasn't feeling overly ambitious so...better late than never!

 
  • 2 elf-shaped sandwiches, decorated with a cookie stamp
  • Cucumber slices and ranch, with an elf cupcake ring
  • Red grapes
  • Simply Gogurt
  • Mini doughnut decorated as a snowman, using candy corn and mini chocolate chips


Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer

I have made a sandwich similar to this in the past, but he's so cute that he makes me smile...So, I made him again!
  • 2 reindeer-shaped sandwiches (stacked) decorated with the crust from the bread (antlers), icing eyes and a halved cheery tomato (nose)
  • Kiwi and strawberry slices
  • Broccoflower and ranch with a Rudolph cupcake ring
  • Christmas colored goldfish crackers
Here are some of the items, or similar items,  I used when creating this lunch: