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:


Friday, November 30, 2012

He's Coming to Town!

So, can you tell it's been a crazy busy week?  I think it shows in the creativity of the lunches but
what can you do?   


  • Sandwich roll-ups, made from a whole wheat tortilla, herb cream cheese and salami.  Decorated with letter picks
  • Carrots and ranch
  • Red grapes with a Santa cupcake ring
  • Babybel with "Ho Ho!" cut out
  • Mini candy bar
Here are some of the items I used when making this lunch:

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Frosty the Snowman

  • Snowman sandwich made from 2 circle-shaped cookie cutters, icing eyes, a carrot nose, a cupcake topper top hat, candy scarf and food safe markers
  • Tomato and cucumber slices
  • Blackberries with a snowman pick
  • Cheddar cheese mitten and snowman
  • Hershey Kisses

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Quick and Easy Christmas Lunch

I have to say, I am loving the set of Christmas cookie cutter stamps that I got at Target.  The stamps make it so easy to add a little "something" to the cut-out.

This lunch was super easy to make.  However, when I was done, I wasn't thrilled with how monochromatic it came out...too much green.  Oh well, they can't all be winners!

  • 2 sandwiches (stacked)
  • Red grapes
  • Broccoli, with a present pick, and ranch
  • Hershey kisses
Here are a few of the items I used when making this lunch:

Monday, November 26, 2012

First Christmas Bento of the Year

With Thanksgiving over, it's time to move on to Christmas!!  We usually do all our decorating the day after Thanksgiving.  Because we were out of town, we haven't decorated yet, so I'm feeling a little behind.  But, at least I can decorate lunches!!


  • Reindeer and sleigh shaped sandwiches, decorated with food safe markers
  • Raspberries with a reindeer pick
  • Sugar snap peas with cherry tomatoes and ranch
  • Hershey Kisses
Here are some of the items I used when making this lunch:

Thanksgiving at the Beach!

Happy Belated Thanksgiving everyone!  I hope everyone had a great holiday.    We spent ours visiting my parents at the beach.    Before we left, I made the girls a beach themed bento to get them excited (as if they weren't excited enough already!!)

  • Palm tree-shaped sandwich decorated with food safe markers
  • Babybel cheese, decorated with a food safe marker and a sunglasses pick
  • Blackberries with a flip flop pick
  • Carrots with ranch
  • Hershey kisses

Monday, November 12, 2012

Gobble, gobble!

Thanksgiving is getting close!

  • Turkey, cheese and a whole wheat tortilla roll-up with a colby jack "Gobble"
  • Cucumbers and ranch
  • Pretzel snaps
  • Red grapes with a turkey ring
  • 2 Hershey kisses
Here are some of the products I used when creating this lunch:

The Cat's Meow

I busted out the Cute Z Cute for a quick and easy kitty lunch.

  • 2 kitty sandwiches, decorated with food safe markers
  • Carrots with ranch
  • Blackberries, raspberries and blue berries with kitty picks
  • Mini Candy bar
Here are some of the items I used when creating this lunch:

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Author Visit

Today, author and photographer Michael Patrick O'Neill visited the girls' school.  O'Neill is a professional award-winning wildlife photographer, author and conservationist specializing in marine wildlife and environmental issues.  He has written seven non-fiction marine life books including Let's Explore Sharks, and Let's Explore Coral Reefs, designed to encourage school children to read, write and get involved in science and conservation.

We decided such an exciting day deserved a fun themed lunch!    My birthday was over the weekend and I got some new fun food markers.  My youngest was excited to help so she made her own lunch and I made my other daughter's lunch.

Here is what we came up with:


  • Starfish sandwich, decorated with food safe markers and icing eyes
  • Hard boiled egg, decorated with food safe markers
  • Sugar snap peas and cherry tomatoes with ranch
  • Blackberries, decorated with a fish pick
She asked me to specify that this was the lunch she made (wink, wink):

  • Starfish and fishy sandwiches, decorated with food safe markers
  • Broccoli, with a turtle pick, and ranch
  • Blackberries with a starfish pick
  • A little trick-or-treat candy
Here are some of the products we used when making these lunches:


Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone - last Halloween lunch of the season!


  • Ghost-shaped sandwich with a piece of white American cheese on top.  I used a straw to cut out the ghost's mouth and eyes.
  • Carrot sticks and ranch
  • Apple slices with small ghost cut-outs
  • Mini candy bar
Here are some of the products I used when making this lunch:

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Vampires!

I love it when something new comes to me.   I was making sandwiches today and it hit me...could I make that look like Dracula? 

Here's what I came up with:

  • Sandwich on a whole wheat bun.  I carved a bit of the top of the bun off to leave a part for his face.   Eyebrows and mouth are made from the carved away bread, icing eyes and fruit leather fangs.
  • Kiwi Vampire with cheddar eyes and fruit leather fangs.
  • Cheese stick
  • Broccoli and ranch
  • Mini snickers bar

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Spiders


To make the white chocolate web, I printed this web template and followed the instructions:


Here are some of the items I used when making this lunch:


Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Halloween Witch!

  • Witch Hat-shaped sandwich with a cheddar decoration
  • Cucumber slices with ranch
  • Raspberries with a cute witch pick (Thanks Sarah at Bentoriffic!)
  • Babybel cheese with a witch hat cut-out
  • Pretzel "Witch fingers"
  • Hershey Kisses

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Couple of More Halloween Lunches

Sorry I have been MIA for a few days...Here are a couple lunches to catch you up.

  • Salami and herb cream cheese roll-ups with Halloween picks
  • Red and green grapes with a pumpkin pick
  • Carrots and sugar snap peas with ranch, and a ghost pick
  • Cheese stick
  • Mini candy bar 
  • 2 skull shaped sandwiches
  • Raspberries with a skull pick (thanks Alex from LunchwithEyeness)
  • Sugar snap peas and ranch
  • Hershey kisses 
Close up of sandwich to show detail

Here are some of the products I used when making these lunches:


Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Halloween Hop

Are you ready for Halloween?  My bento buddies and I have put together a Halloween Hop to give you lots of Halloween lunch ideas. From scary to adorable, you'll find it all if you hop through Halloween by following the links provided in each post.

My oldest has a Frankenstein themed lunch:


  • 2 Frankenstein-shaped sandwiches (stacked), decorated with cheddar (shirt), cucumber peel and a Frankenstein face cupcake ring
  • Carrots with ranch
  • Frankenstein kiwi (inspired by this one at Another Lunch)
  • Babybel cheese with a ghost cut-out, decorated with a food safe marker
  • Mini candy bar
My youngest wanted a pumpkin themed lunch:

  • Pumpkin shaped sandwich.  Normally, I would have decorated it with cheese but my youngest is not a super fan of cheese on top of her sandwich.  So, I just pressed the face print into the bread and then added a little outline with food safe color to make it pop.
  • Broccoli with ranch, and a pumpkin pick
  • Clementine with a jack-o-lantern face cut out
  • Bat, pumpkin and moon shaped marshmallows

Ready to hop?  Check out Dina's Halloween post over at What The Girls Are Having!


Here are some of the products (or similar products) that I used when created these lunches.



Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Trick or Treat? We like Treats!

  • 2 cauldron-shaped sandwiches (stacked), filled with candy picks and decorated with cheddar letters
  • Peas (in a mini dipper cup).  Note: The cup has a lid that I added after I took the picture so that the peas stay put)
  • Raspberries and blackberries with a witch's hat
  • Mini bag of M&Ms
In addition to the products linked above, here are some of the other products I used when creating this lunch:

Monday, October 15, 2012

Creepy Crawlies!

Good thing my daughter doesn't have arachnophobia!

  • Sandwich made with the Pampered Chef sandwich cutter and decorated with a spider and it's web
  • Grape kabobs on spider picks
  • Sugar snap peas and cherry tomatoes with ranch
  • Babybel cheese with a spider cut-out, decorated with sugar eyes
  • Hershey kisses
In addition to the product links above, here is a link to another product that I used to make this lunch

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Mummy for Her Tummy

Completely inspired by Cristi's Mummy on a Stick over at BentOnBetterLunches came this slightly modified mummy:

  • Tortilla with herb cream cheese and salami, decorated with icing eyes and cucumber peel
  • Grapes with adorable mummy ring (which I won from AllthingsforSale.com's Halloween giveaway -- woot woot!)
  • Cucumber slices
  • Cheese stick
  • Hershey Kisses
The following are the products (or similiar products) that I used to create this lunch:

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

My CuteZCute Came!

You know the expression "It's the little things that make you happy"?  Today my "little thing" was my CuteZCute coming in the mail!  I have been SO excited to try this thing out.  Many of my bento buddies have been making lots of adorable lunches with this new product and I was dying to get one of my own!  Thank you JeeJee from AllThingsforSale.com for making my day!

  • 2 panda-shaped sandwiches (stacked) made with the CuteZCute and decorated with strawberry fruit leather, dyed provolone and a bow pick.
  • Carrots with ranch
  • Blackberries and raspberries with a panda pick
  • Cheese stick
  • York peppermint
Check out this Pinterest Board for l ots of other adorable lunches made with the CuteZCute!

These are the products (or similiar products) I used to create this lunch:


Monday, October 8, 2012

Mummy Loves You!

It's time to start Halloween Bentos -- YEA!!!!

  • 2 circle-shaped sandwiches (stacked) decorated to look like a mummy using provolone cheese, icing eyes and cucumber peel
  • Cucumber and tomato slices
  • Strawberries and fresh pineapple
  • Mini candy bar
The links below are for the products (or similiar products) that I used when making this lunch:

The Kissing Hand

For those that have followed my blog for awhile, you've seen this lunch (or something very similar) before.   Every time I go out of town without my kids (which isn't very often) I make them a lunch inspired by the book The Kissing Hand to remind them that I'll be thinking of them while I'm gone.  Last weekend, my husband and I went away to celebrate our 14th Anniversary (yea for us!) so I made the girls this lunch on the day we left:

  • Hand-shaped sandwich with a strawberry fruit leather heart
  • Peas
  • Strawberry hearts with blackberries
  • Hershey's KISSES

Thursday, October 4, 2012

World Animal Day Hop

Today is "World Animal Day" so my bento blogging buddies have put together a treat for you!   We've each chosen a different animal to theme a lunch around...As you click through the hop, it will be like a walk around the zoo!!

I chose fish because the aquarium is one of our favorite exhibits at our zoo.  It's a "must see", every time we go.

  • 2 fishy sandwiches with cheese and icing eyes decorations.  I used the crust of bread for the fins.
  • Blackberry and raspberries on fishy picks
  • Sugar snap peas with ranch (they are supposed to represent the reeds)
  • "Cookies and Creme" goldfish crackers
Click here to see the next animal on exhibit at A Boy and His Lunch.

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

She Plays the Violin

My oldest recently started taking violin lessons through the school.  So far, she LOVES it.  So, I made her a bento lunch on "lesson day".

  • Violin-shaped sandwich decorated using brown food coloring, angel hair noodles and bread crust.  The pretzel rod is supposed to be the bow.  I know it's WAY to big for the violin but what's a girl to do?
  • Babybel with music note cut-out
  • Carrots with ranch (ranch is hidden under a layer of carrots) with "MUSIC" picks
  • Blackberries with music note picks
  • Hershey kisses (under the carrots)

Monday, October 1, 2012

It's Fall Y'All!

Follow this link for the beautiful lunch my bento buddy, Glory, put together which inspired me to create the lunch below: 

  • Sandwich decorated with food safe markers and Colby cheddar "fall" letters
  • Apple leaves
  • Broccoli and carrots with ranch
  • Cheddar pumpkins 

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

4 Little Acorns

A quick and easy bento lunch to kick off the autumn season!

  • 4 acorn-shaped sandwiches.  I used the heel of the bread to cut out the darker tops.
  • Red grapes with a squirrel ring
  • Cheddar acorns
  • Broccoli, with an acorn pick, and ranch
  • Dove chocolate (which is hidden behind the acorn pick)

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Johnny Appleseed Day

September 26th is Johnny Appleseed Day...you know I can't let a theme go by without a special lunch!

  • Apple-shaped sandwich with a decorated tortilla on top
  • Carrots with an apple pick and ranch
  • Apple slices
  • Babybel "apple"
  • Hershey's Kiss
Check out the following links for more apple themed lunches made by some of my bento buddies!
Bent on Better Lunches
Zoe's Lunchbox
Becoming a Bentoaholic
Biting the Hand that Feeds You
A Boy and His Lunch

Flowers

  • 3 stacked mini sandwiches (stacked)
  • Red grapes with a flower pick
  • Spinach and cherry tomato salad with Italian dressing
  • Babybel with a tulip cut-out
  • York Peppermint

Monday, September 24, 2012

Go Pack Go!

My youngest is a big Green Bay fan.   In honor of them playing as part of Monday night football tonight, I made her a Green Bay Packers themed lunch :)

  •  2 football-shaped sandwiches with provolone decorations and a Green Bay pick
  • Raspberries with a football pick (I just bought these picks at Target)
  • Carrots with ranch
  • Cheddar football
  • Hershey Kisses
And here is a picture of my little fan and her lunch

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Reach for the Stars!

  • 3 star-shaped sandwiches with a "Reach for the Stars" pick
  • Raspberries in star-shaped silicone cups (from World Market)
  • Sugar snap peas with ranch
  • Babybel with a star cut-out
  • STARburst for dessert

Arrrr, It's "Talk Like a Pirate Day", Matey!!

And we have a lunch and a fun blog hop to celebrate!


  • 2 circle-shaped sandwiches (stacked), decorated with a pirate face using cheddar cheese, bread crust and cucumber peel
  • Cucumber slices with ranch
  • Blackberries with a pirate ring
  • Pirate Booty (that's really what the white cheddar puffs are called!)
  • Ferrero Rocher as a bit of golden treasure for dessert!
On a side note, did you know that if you go to participating Krispy Kreme doughnut shops today and talk like a pirate you will receive a free Original Glazed doughnut. Dress like a pirate and receive a free dozen of Original Glazed Doughnuts!