A Glut of Bento...

Holy cow do I suck at keeping up on my blog! :P

I keep up with putting them on my Facebook account, after all, I'm on there every day, but have really slacked off keeping this updated. I think a lot of that stems from being a little bored with packing almost the same thing the majority of the time - at least the salad. I need to expand the hubby's horizons whether he likes it or not ;) I do sneak in things here and there that are a bit out of the norm for him, and he rarely complains, but the daily (with rare exceptions) salad is getting really boring for me. Oh well, C'est La Vie!

So, here we go with all the Bento for the last 6 weeks or so:


Sept 30 --
Bottom Tier: The usual Mixed Spring Greens w/ bunny shaped boiled egg, ham, turkey & swiss pinwheels and home grown cherry tomatoes
Top Tier: Hummus w/ pine nuts (Sabra Hummus is the best ever!), Kiwi and Mac salad w/ black sesame seeds
Apple and Muscat gummies in the lid


Sept 29 --
Bottom Tier: Pulled BBQ Pork (leftovers from dinner - BBQ sauce recipe from my Mountain Measuers cookbook - A collection of WV recipes :), Pineapple, strawberries and pomegranate seeds, macaroni salad w/ carrot and parsley flowers
Top Tier: The usual Mixed Spring Greens w/ car shaped boiled egg, ham, turkey & swiss pinwheels and home grown cherry tomatoes


Sept 28 --
Top Tier: Macaroni Salad w/ black sesame seeds, Roasted German Almonds (from Celtic Fest on Sat :), Chex Mix, Pineapple and Pomegranate Seeds
Bottom Tier: Mixed Greens w/ Star shaped boiled egg, cherry tomatoes and ham & swiss pinwheels (used up my turkey making us club sandwiches for lunch yesterday - hadn't had one in years and it was so good, but forgot to save a slice or two for the bento)
Muscat, Apple and Mango gummies in the lid


Sept 25 --
Botom Tier: Mixed Greens w/ Ham, Turkey and Swiss pinwheels, carrot flowers and a heart shaped boiled egg ♥ ♥ ♥
Strawberries, Purple Peapods!! (Aren't they awesome?!), Carrot Sticks and Hummus
Muscat and Mango gummies in the lid


Sept 23 --
Bottom tier: Mixed Spring Greens w/ Strawberries, Pomegranate Seeds and Pecans (he had Lite Raspberry Vinaigrette instead of his usual Lite Ranch dressing for this :)
Top Tier: Kiwi, Babybel, Edamame, Chex Mix and Macaroni Salad w/ black sesame seeds
Muscat and Apple Gummies in the lid


Sept 17 --
Tier 1: Mixed Spring Greens w/ carrot flowers, cherry tomatoes, ham turkey and swiss pinwheels and an ice cream cone shaped boiled egg
Tier 2: Cucumber, Macaroni Salad, Carrot sticks, Clementine segments, Strawberry, Blueberries and Peaches


Sept 16 --
Top Tier: Wasabi Almonds, checkers Apples, Black Bean Orzo Salad
Bottom Tier: Mixed Greens w/ cherry tomatoes from our garden and ham, turkey and swiss pinwheels
Apple and Muscat gummies in the lid


Sept 15 --
Tier 1: Mixed Spring Greens, pumpkin shaped boiled egg, carrot flowers, cherry tomatoes from our garden and ham, turkey and provolone pinwheels
Tier 2: Macaroni Salad w/ carrot flowers, Fruit salad of raspberries, peaches, blueberries and clementine


Sept 14 --
Bottom Tier: Mixed Spring Greens w/ Southwestern Chicken Breast strips, carrot flowers and cherry tomatoes from our garden
Top Tier: Macaroni salad w/ fresh cilantro and carrot flowers, sundried tomato hummus w/ carrot flower ring, peach slices and blueberries
Mango and Muscat Gummies in the lid


Sept 11 --
Bottom Tier: Japanese Mochi Cake, Muscat Gummy and Brown Sugar White Gourd Candy, Strawberries and Black Bean Orzo Salad
Top Tier: Heart shaped Ham, Salami, Pepperoni and provolone sandwiches, baby carrot sticks, bold chex mix and pecans in the center for filler


Sept 10 --
Top Tier: Cottage cheese w/ blueberries (from a cottage double) and black bean orzo salad (yes, I made that - finally, something not store bought in his bento ;P)
Bottom Tier: Salad w/ cherry tomatoes, star shaped boiled egg and the usual ham turkey & swiss pinwheels
Side Car: Strawberries and bananas - a popular cut in bentos done on the bananas - ends treated w/ lime juice to minimize browning
Apple and Muscat gummies in the lid


Sept 9 --
Bottom Tier: Salad w/ carrot flowers, ham turkey & swiss pinwheels and bunny shaped boiled egg (I was a bit annoyed when a litle chunk got taken out of it there...)
Top Tier: Bold Chex Mix, checkered apples, strawberries, cherry tomatoes filled w/ shredded mozzarella, basil and italian dressing that Kat made and mac salad w/ a couple more carrot flowers
Apple and muscat gummies in the lid


Sept 4 --
Bottom Tier: Mixed greens salad w/ car shaped boiled egg, ham turkey and swiss pinwheels and carrot flowers
Top Tier: Olive hummus, babybel light and curry pumpkin seeds for filler, mac salad w/ carrot and cucumber flowers
Muscat gummy and japanese snack cake in the lid and he had pita for the hummus


Sept 3 - horrible photo...
Bottom Tier: Mixed greens salad w/ ham turkey and provolone pinwheels, baby carrot slices and bunny boiled egg
Top Tier: Mac salad w/ black sesame seed and nori face, peaches and olive hummus
skittles in the lid :)
He also had pita for the hummus






I hadn't grocery shopped since we got back from camping, but here is what Rob ended up with for his birthday Bento for aug 27 :)
Top Tier: Clementine sections, Bold Chex Mix, Mac Salad w. Carrot I ♥ You, Wasabi almonds and reeses pieces in a mini paper valentine's cupcake cup :)
Bottom Tier: Iceberg salad (from a bag), shredded cheddar, cherry tomatoes from our garden, southwest chicken breast and Happy ♥ Birthday carrots :)
Grape and Mango gummies in the lid



Now here are Kat’s Bento since she started college  She is an Art major, so we decided it made sense for her to attend community college for her first 2 years (as Ahmetia, my oldest daughter is also doing – though she’s in her 3rd year there – partially due to her doing a term in Scotland last year)

They are on campus for over 8 hours 2 days a week and on those days pack lunch and dinner bento. Kat forgot to take photos a few times and Ahmetia forgets and hasn’t packed them as religiously as Kat has. Kat tends to be much more conscious of spending money on food at school.

I am going to need to get them the small soft sided coolers like Rob uses for those long days, though the hotter days are over, so it’ll be something we need to remember to get before the weather heats up again.





Sept 30 -- Dinner
Top Tier: Rice w/ Furikake (rice seasoning) in the monkey, tea marbled quail eggs and spring greens
Bottom Tier: Baby Carrots, Tamagoyaki and Kiwi slices


Sept 30 -- Lunch
Bottom Tier: Pineapple, Pickled radish and strawberries
Top Tier: Tamagoyaki, Ginger Onigiri and baby carrot


Sept 24 -- Dinner
Top (Onigiri) Tier: Cherry tomatoes from the garden, Asian Jelly cup, Broccoli, Umeboshi Onigiri and baby carrots
Bottom Tier: Strawberries, Apples and grape halves


Sept 24 -- Lunch
Top Tier: Tuna and Umeboshi filled boy and girl onigiri, baby carrots and broccoli
Bottom Tier: Apples, Green Tea Cake, Kiwi, Grap halves and Spinach Namul


Sept 8 Lunch Bento -- First day of classes for Kat and she was stuck on campus from about 9:15am until 9pm :o
Top Tier: Clementine sections, apple slices and strawberries
Bottom Tier: Tamagoyaki, rice and cherry tomatoes from our garden stuffed with shredded mozzarella, basil and italian dressing


Sept 8 --
This was her dinner bento...
Top Tier: Banana, PB&J with flower cutout, broccoli and cheese dog cut up
Bottom Tier: Salad w/ craisins, walnuts, raspberry vinaigrette in the dog cup, mac salad and sweet simmered black beans she made



Now are the 2 days worth of Bento that Ahmetia packed and remembered to photograph 


Sept 9 --
Bottom Tier: Broccoli, Asian jelly and strawberries
Top Tier: Baby carrots, twice baked potato from Omaha steaks and peanuts


Sept 8 Lunch Bento --
Top Tier: Cheese Omelet, Rice w/ Furikake
Bottom Tier: Baby carrot sticks, Asian jelly, Muscat gummy and dragon fruit



Sept 8 Dinner Bento for her very long day on campus --
Bottom Tier: Baby Carrot sticks, Asian jelly and dragon fruit in cup of the peel
Top Tier: Ramen and broccoli stirfry





OK, For those of you who get the email update, I think I got all the pictures corrected. I'm too lazy to resize them :P

Happy Bentoing!