Happy Little Bento

Nyanko Burger Kitty Bento

2012-02-01T18:33:00.001-08:00

Nyanko Burger Kitty Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Today I tried another new meatless burger recipe, since the garbanzo burgers and the beet burgers went over so well. This one is a walnut rice cheeseburger with fresh lettuce and a thick slice of ripe tomato in a whole wheat sandwich thin. The cute swiss cheese kitty Nyanko Burger is sure to make this a happy meal. I added some parmesan sweet potato oven-baked "fries", a cucumber cup of blueberries, cara cara orange chunks, cherries and a strawberry heart. Since it is the month of valentines, after all. ^_^

Do you know Nyan Nyan Nyanko? It is a San-X kitty character which can imitate various food items. I saw this Nyanko bento box and I strongly wish to obtain it. Isn't it so cute?

I have to admit, when I think of walnuts, I think of muffins and sweet treats. So when I smelled the walnut rice while making this, I had mixed feelings. Is this savory? Is it a dessert? A bit unsettling. The reason that walnuts are included is because this nut is a good source of monounsaturated fats. What I've found with these meat substitute burgers is that the flavor is usually so mild that the success of the burgers often depends upon the choice of seasonings you use. If you have a favorite blend (such as garlic and cumin, which I like), then maybe you should stick with that. But that's just my opinion. What do you vegetarians think?

For these burgers, I heavily adapted the recipe here:

Walnut Grain Burgers

2 cups cooked brown rice (I used a mixture of brown, white, millet, pearl barley, and amaranth. Very hearty and filling!)
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic
1 1/4 cups walnuts
1 egg
1 tablespoon your favorite seasoning blend (I used garlic bread seasoning)

Saute onion, carrot, and garlic in a large saucepan. Mix with rice and set aside.
Process the walnuts in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade until finely ground. Add the rice mixture, egg, and seasoning. Pulse until the mixture sticks together. With wet hands, roll into balls and then flatten into patties.
Coat a nonstick griddle or large skillet with cooking spray and heat over medium heat. Cook the patties for about 3 minutes or until golden. Turn carefully and cook for about 4 minutes longer or until heated through. Melt some cheese on top if you like. Place each patty on a bun with a tomato slice and lettuce leaf, with mustard.

Panda-monium Ma Bo Tofu Bento

2012-01-31T20:05:00.000-08:00

We're having a meat week, following up the sausage pasta with ma bo tofu (I adapted Lovelylanvin's recipe), complete with a pair of tofu panda friends. I adapted the traditional recipe quite a bit; in fact it may not resemble actual ma po tofu much anymore. I have to omit all the chili bean sauce because the kids won't tolerate the spice, and I always add greens. Today I chopped half a bag full of baby bok choy, several green onion stalks and cilantro and mixed them in for texture, color and nutrition. Sometimes I use pickled mustard greens as well. Also, there is less sauce in mine, to keep it more bento-friendly. If you wanted to keep the soupiness, it would be better to pack it into a thermal food jar. But for us today, this donburi bowl-type bento box works just fine! Top tier contains all fruit: strawberries, grapes, kiwi, blood orange and little mandarinquat. If you've never seen a mandarinquat before, here's a photo, beside some yuzuquats and a standard satsuma mandarin for size comparison. The hybrid quats taste like kumquats, but slightly different. I think kumquats are the tartest, but it could be just me ^_^

Daytrippers Pasta Bento

2012-01-30T20:01:00.001-08:00

Daytrippers Pasta Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Happy Monday! Are your Mondays as disorganized and chaotic as mine? No? Oh. Well, this is why you'll find many of my Monday bento are composed of food that cook easily from ingredients that are already in the pantry and refrigerator (or leftovers from weekend eats), and nearly always have no cute components whatsoever. Sometimes they are literally thrown together so quickly that there's no time (or need) to take a picture. Like today: it's a simple wagon wheel pasta bento tossed with nitrite-free chicken and roasted red pepper sausage and zucchini. Other section contains strawberries, grapes, grapefruit and tiny mandarinquat slices. Everything is packed in my Daytrippers bento box (from Paperchase), which comes with a separate section for the matching fork and spoon under the cute decorated translucent lid. TinySprite has a variable appetite, which grows when the meal includes her favorites. Like this one -- I know she loves this combo and it will disappear in no time, even without the cute parts. And that's a recipe for a successful bento ^_^

Salmon Butteryaki Bento

2012-01-26T21:34:00.001-08:00

Salmon Butteryaki Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

I'm trying to make an effort to cook salmon (or some other fish) at least once a week. I managed to squeeze it in this week, when I saw a beautiful wild Alaskan salmon fillet at the market. I prepared a simple butteryaki salmon on the stove, and roasted some sweet potato "fries" in the oven at the same time. There's also steamed Okinawan (purple) sweet potato, steamed broccoli, grape tomatoes, a strawberry, blood oranges and a blackberry. Nothing cute about this one, but it's pleasant-looking enough, largely due to the special "magic" round bento box. I love this box because of the removable sections, and also because a round box has an aesthetically pleasing kind of symmetry about it. There's no up or down, right or left. It's just perfect. Try it -- you'll find the meal somehow manages to look beautiful all by itself.

Butteryaki Salmon

Heat 1 T oil and 1 T butter in pan.
When hot, fry salmon fillets, skin side down, until crispy, a few minutes. Flip and cook a few minutes more.
Just before removing from pan, turn off heat and drizzle 2 tsp shoyu over fish and into pan.
Shake pan to distribute.
Remove and serve!

Rilakkuma and Kiiroitori Beet Burger Sandwich Bento

2012-01-25T19:58:00.001-08:00

Rilakkuma and Kiiroitori Beet Burger Sandwich Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Recently I've discovered the joy of beets. Beets, beets, beets. The only way I've ever prepared beets before was roasted and tossed in salad. But I love the flavor and figured, why shouldn't we try to fit them into a main dish meal? Today I made beet bean rice burgers which happen to fit perfectly inside these mini whole wheat sandwich rounds. I made these sandwiches with red leaf lettuce, and melted some swiss cheese on top. I got the idea for these burgers from the plethora of online copycat recipes that tried to replicate the famous Northstar Cafe beet burgers. I've never had those Northstar Cafe veggie burgers, but the pictures and the glowing review make me want to. I really wish I had taken a photo of the burger itself so you can see how red it really looks. ETA: I took some photos; see below. It's pretty cool; you can kind of see part of it at the left side of the bun. I layered two mini burgers in this bento box, and decorated the round bread with Rilakkuma's face cut from Okinawan sweet potato. I added carrots and his pal Kiiroitori (a turmeric-dyed quail egg with nori and carrot detail). Other side has blood oranges (sadly not very vividly colored), strawberry, peapods and cherries. Here's my sort-of recipe that I borrowed from here and greatly changed, because I like the flavors of these spices together. P.S. Don't wear white while making this.

Beet, Bean and Rice Burger

1 cup cooked rice
1 large beet, grated (other recipes say to dice, but I thought grated beet would hold together better)
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbs balsamic vinegar
1 squirt Dijon mustard (or to taste)
onion powder, to taste
salt and pepper, to taste

Mix rice and beet well, until uniform color. Fork-mash the black beans, and add. Mix well. Stir in the rest of the ingredients. My mixture was pretty sticky and a bit difficult to mix, but the stickier the mix, the better it stays together as a patty.

Taste the mixture and add more spice if you need to. Use an ice cream scoop to portion out the burger mixture, and shape into a ball. Flatten with a flipper and place into a heated, oiled pan on medium high heat. Cook for 2 minutes, or until you see a crust form on the bottom. Mine kept its integrity pretty well, so it was easy to flip over. Cook the other side another 2 minutes or so. Put some grated cheese on top to melt if you like. Toast some mini buns or sandwich thins, and serve with fresh greens, onions and tomato. Delicious!

Green Drink!

2012-01-24T23:02:00.001-08:00

Green Drink, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

I've been asked about my green drinks a few times, so I decided to write a bit about them. I just started making and drinking them for about 2 weeks, as one of my new year's challenges. So far, I LOVE them.
Seriously.
If you're not familiar with green drinks, do a google search. You'll find tons of recipes, articles and news tidbits, with lots of celebrity chefs and TV personalities touting them. I'll admit that I first heard of them from my mom, who started drinking them because she saw it on Dr. Oz. Once it registered, I found that many of my own friends are drinking these things too. The nice thing is that you don't need a special juicer or high-powered blender to make them. I only use an ordinary old blender with 2 speeds, and it works fine on the foods I've used so far. Also, you don't have to feel limited to an actual recipe -- use whatever you like! And experiment with flavor combinations. It's a lot of fun! I have a standard true-green drink that I like to make. I happen to like the pure green color, which is why I don't add other colors to this one. I also have a favorite red drink too (I will share this one later). If you mix all kinds of fruit and vegetables, you may end up with a brown drink -- which isn't bad, but it won't have the beautiful vibrant color that you see here. This is my recipe:

Sheri's Green Drink

1C almond milk
handful of spinach (maybe 1/2C packed)
handful of dandelion greens (or any other greens that you prefer, like chard, kale, lettuce, choy)

[blend these ingredients first, to get better liquification]

1 celery stalk
1/2 cucumber, peeled
1 apple, peeled
1 small orange, peeled
1/2 lime, peeled
1/2 avocado
1 inch ginger, grated
1T wheat germ (or flaxmeal)

Blend the remaining ingredients, in batches, so your blender won't blow its motor. If you have a high-powered blender, then just throw everything in at once.
This recipe makes about 4 cups. I drink about 2 and a half cups at midday, and save the rest in the fridge to share with my kids later. It tastes.. well, green, but with a sharp, tangy, fresh bite. If you prefer it sweeter, you can add fruit. Even a couple of strawberries will sweeten it up quite a bit, but then the color will change. I really like it to stay greeeeeen. And it might be too soon to tell, but my usual winter allergies seem to be less pronounced. This drink will give you energy, fortify you for the day ahead, fill you up, and make you invincible! Okay, I made up that last part. Maybe.

Calzone Flowers Lunchbot Bento

2012-01-24T19:08:00.001-08:00

Calzone Flowers Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Welcome to the first day of the Lunar New Year! The kids happened to have yesterday off, so we spent the long weekend celebrating with family. And today's bento has meat! It's a meaty calzone I made with whole wheat dough, containing pepperoni, ham, mushrooms, arugula, tomatoes and mozzarella. I had to slice it so that it would fit in the bento box, and decorated with Okinawan sweet potato flowers with peapod leaves. I rounded out the meal with a giant strawberry, some sliced kiwi, grape tomatoes, grapes, carrots, and sweet yellow pepper rings. You can see that after the dragon tour de force, I am now back to my usual "plain" quickie bento arrangements, which take much less time but which can still look fresh and appetizing due to the addition of colorful, seasonal fruit and veggies. I am a big proponent of local, seasonal ingredients for bento; the fresher it is, the less preparation (and even cooking) you have to do. And who doesn't love that?

Chinese New Year Dragon Bento 3

2012-01-20T18:18:00.001-08:00

Chinese New Year Dragon Bento 3, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

One more Chinese New Year of the Dragon bento and that's it; I promise! I made eggplant okra curry, which I think is a misnomer because there isn't any actual curry in here. Perhaps it should be eggplant okra stew. Anyway, it's completely vegetarian, which rounds out our second meat-free bento week. Wow! We haven't become vegetarians, and have no plans to completely quit meat, but I thought it would be a fun challenge to see how long our family could go without eating meat, voluntarily. Now that week #2 has come to a close, I can say that all of them took it like real troupers. No complaints from anyone. Pretty pleased about that! I even got them to all participate in my daily green drink resolution. They don't all love it equally, but they'll all drink it. Heh.
The thermal jar contains the eggplant stew, and the side box contains a selection of colorful fruit: grapes, strawberry, cara cara orange, and Okinawan sweet potato stars. I topped them off with a cheese dragon cutout, using my ultimate elaborate dragon cutter.

I used it last year to cut a dragon from dragonfruit; you can see that one here. The dragon is playing with a red ball on a stick. I think it represents the sun. Welcome Year of the Dragon; I hope it's an auspicious one for all!

Eggplant Okra Curry Stew

Ingredients

2 large eggplants
1 bunch scallions, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp turmeric
1 tsp salt
14 oz can chopped tomatoes (if you like it extra tomato-ey, you can add another can)
water or broth as desired
1/2 bunch kale, torn into pieces.
1/2 pound okra, trimmed and cut into 1/2 inch slices, angled
1 Tbs chopped cilantro (or more, if you like it, like me)

Preheat oven to 400F, wrap the eggplants in foil and bake for 1 hour, until soft.
Cut each eggplant in half and scoop out the soft flesh into a bowl. Mash.
Heat 2 Tbs oil in a wok and saute the scallions and garlic for a few minutes.
Add the chili powder, cumin, coriander, turmeric and salt and cook 3-4 minutes.
Add tomatoes and simmer 5 minutes.
Add the mashed eggplant, kale and cilantro. At this point you may need to add water or broth to make it saucier. I think I added about a 1/2 cup. If you like it soupier you can add more.
Bring to a boil and simmer until sauce thickens, about 5 minutes.
Add okra, stir well to mix, reduce heat, cover and simmer for another 5 minutes.
Remove cover, turn up the heat and cook another 5-10 minutes, until the okra is tender but not too soft.

Chinese New Year Dragon Bento 2

2012-01-19T18:32:00.001-08:00

Chinese New Year Dragon Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Aaaand, it's another Chinese New Year bento! It's the Year of the Dragon - in case you forgot. Today I used my super cool slim stainless steel double box bento set (called "Zen" from Bento & Co) because I wanted to have a place for my dragon to rest until lunchtime. Each of these boxes is identical, and each has its own lid with gasket. When the two tiers are stacked and bound together with elastic, they are perfectly sealed. The left box contains salt grilled salmon with some lime wedges, roasted potatoes and kabocha strips (both sprinkled with garlic powder), and a bunch of grapes with a beautiful strawberry. The right box is layered with slices of cara cara oranges. I am super excited to see these fruit too! Now I am stocked up on blood and cara cara. They complement each other well -- the dark red blood oranges are tart and the pretty pink cara cara are sweeter. On top of those I lay my dragon made from cucumber, with quail egg and tomato eyes, tomato nostrils, and wispy green fire. I also cut some fierce fangs from the cucumber. His body is represented by the cucumber scales behind his head. Do you see him? I am trusting MisterMan with both tiers of this bento set for the first time, and I'm a little nervous! I hope he doesn't fling his bag around too much. RAWR!

Added to Allergy-Friendly Lunchbox Love.

Hello Kitty Chinese New Year Dragon Bento

2012-01-18T18:30:00.001-08:00

Hello Kitty Dragon Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Since this was a no-cook bento I took advantage of the extra time to use a Chinese New Year theme. Since 2012 is a Year of the Dragon, today's ravioli are shaped into this mythical creature -- or rather, Hello Kitty dressed in a dragon costume. She's wearing a spinach-ricotta ravioli mask, her face made of cheese, nori and yellow pepper. Her whiskers are ume somen. I used picks liberally to achieve my charaben objective, showing that you can use ready-made items (and a bit of imagination) to reach your desired decorative goal. This bento was for MisterMan, and I realized that it was probably more appropriate for TinySprite, but he didn't mind. The girls teased, "You're eating Hello Kitty!" The rest of the bento includes: baby tangerine, cucumbers, carrot, peapod, strawberry and blueberries. Chinese New Year falls on January 23rd this year. Gung Hay Fat Choy!

Anpanman Bean Burger Bento

2012-01-17T18:39:00.001-08:00

Anpanman Bean Burger Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Remember the vegetarian run we had last week? It's continuing today with these garbanzo bean - rice burgers I made. I've made black bean burgers before, but they tended to fall apart easily. This recipe uses rice and egg as a binder, and the mashed garbanzos seems to have a stickier consistency. They still don't have as much integrity as a regular ground meat burger, so I'd use care while eating it in a bun, but it held together well enough for our bento. I placed this patty on a layer of curried cauliflower and decorated his face with grape tomatoes, sweet potato and Okinawan sweet potato to look like Anpanman. The fruit side contains all red items: blood (Moro) oranges, grapes and strawberry. So happy with the blood oranges again this season! They're a bit tart, but a nice change from normal oranges. Aren't they beautiful?

Garbanzo Bean (Chickpea) Rice Burgers (adapted from Whole Living recipe)

Ingredients
2 cups cooked and drained chickpeas
1 cup cooked brown rice (I used 2 cups to make it even stickier, and mine was a mix of white, brown and and millet)
1 shallot, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley (I used cilantro because I love this herb)
Salt and pepper (I used cumin too, because I like this spice)
1 large egg, whisked
2 tablespoons olive oil

Mash chickpeas and brown rice until thick paste forms. Stir in shallot, garlic, and cilantro. Season with salt, pepper and cumin. Stir in egg. Form into four 1/2-inch-thick patties.
Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add patties and cook until golden brown, about 4 minutes per side.

Vegetarian Hominy Bean Chili Bento

2012-01-12T18:43:00.001-08:00

Bean and Hominy Chili Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Guess what? We made it through a whole meatless week! Today's vegetarian chili is the 4th meatless bento in a row, and it's a thermal one. I've never tried this recipe before, and it has a different flavor than our usual meaty chili, with a ton of vegetables and beans such as black and kidney beans, lentils, carrots, sweet pepper, onion, zucchini, kale, celery, and hominy. It calls for a lot of chili powder, but also 1 ounce of bittersweet chocolate, which counters the spiciness enough that the kids could handle it. They loved it. I topped it with grated parmesan and fresh cilantro, and it was delicious. Even though it still hasn't been all that cold, it was nice to make a warm bento. It is winter, after all. The side box contains a selection of fruit: oranges, strawberry, blackberry, grapes, and a carrot. That's it for the week! We'll see if anyone asks for meat next week. ^_^

Black Bean Hominy Chili

(adapted from Pam Anderson's recipe)

Ingredients:
1 quart good quality vegetable broth
1 can (14.5 ounces) petite-diced tomatoes
1 generous Tb. vegetable oil
1 medium-large onion, cut into medium dice
1 bell pepper, cut into medium dice
1 carrot, sliced
1 zucchini, sliced
1 stalk celery, chopped
1/2 bunch kale, stem removed and leaves torn into small pieces
3 Tbs. chili powder
1 tsp. each ground cumin and oregano
2 cans (15.5 ounces each) drained black beans
2 cans (15.5 ounces each) drained hominy (I substituted kidney beans; you can use any beans)
1 cup lentils
3 large garlic cloves, minced
1 ounce bittersweet chocolate
1/4 of chopped fresh cilantro

Directions:

Heat oil in a pot over medium-high heat. Add onions and peppers; sauté until soft and golden brown, about 5 minutes. Add chili powder, cumin and oregano: sauté until fragrant, a minute or so. Add beans and hominy along with broth and tomatoes. Add the rest of the vegetables and lentils. Bring to a simmer, reduce heat to low and simmer, partially covered, until vegetables are tender and flavors have blended, about 40 minutes. Stir in garlic, chocolate and cilantro; simmer a couple of minutes to blend flavors. Turn off heat and let stand a few minutes if there's time. Adjust seasonings and serve.
Added to Allergy-Friendly Lunchbox.

Pretty Quinoa Salad Bento Bowls

2012-01-11T19:50:00.001-08:00

Pretty Preschool Quinoa Salad Bento Bowl, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

This is the third meatless bento so far this week. Wow! I didn't plan for us to go meatless this long but decided we could try it and see how it felt. So far I haven't heard any complaints at all. Today's bento was inspired by a recipe I saw over the Christmas break which looked like bibimbap to me, or a kind of somen salad. It's actually a red quinoa salad, topped with wilted spinach, parboiled carrots, edamame, cucumber strips, wakame and fried egg. I packed along a little cup of vinaigrette dressing for them to pour over right before they eat. The top tiers contain fruit: oranges, strawberry, blackberries and cherries. I'm showing both kids' bento because they're so pretty. Fresh and colorful, almost like a warm weather cold salad. I really will start making more hearty bento meals, but the weather has been so mild and warm lately that I just haven't thought of it. They haven't even been wearing jackets when I pick them up. How's winter where you are?

Three Bunnies Meatless Calzone Bento

2012-01-10T20:18:00.001-08:00

Three Bunnies Meatless Calzone Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Using the Sistema box to house the ever-popular calzone bento today. I asked the kiddos whether they preferred pizza or calzones and they chose calzones. Go figure. While they aren't much to look at (at least mine aren't), they are pretty colorful and exciting inside. I used red pepper, eggplant, grated zucchini, grated kabocha, arugula and cheese. TinySprite watched me make them, and handled the dough a bit. Since they're kind of hard to close (what with all the fillings), I did most of the manipulation. She watched me adding the grated veggies and was fooled when I put in the grated kabocha, since it looks exactly like CHEDDAR. Hehehahaha! This is really the best box to hold a calzone, because it stays separate from the rest of the stuff and doesn't really need to be immobile. Well, except for the Okinawan sweet potato bunnies, which will likely fall off. The rest of the colorful sides include: orange wedges, cherries, strawberry, grape tomatoes, carrots and cucumbers. So fresh, it could almost be a spring bento!
Added to What's For Lunch.

First Bento of the Year!

2012-01-09T18:40:00.001-08:00

First Bento of the Year!, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Hellooooo out there! I haven't posted a bento for, um, it seems like forever. We had a school break over the Christmas and New Year holidays, and I didn't make a bento the whole time. Didn't even think about bento. I was afraid I'd forgotten how to make one again. But here I am, 3 weeks after the last one. It might look a bit messy and thrown-together, but it qualifies! I found a beautiful wild salmon filet so decided to roast it with a splash of olive oil, garlic powder and dried herb mix. And since the oven was on, of course I also threw in some halved brussels sprouts and sliced kabocha. While everything roasted away, I got the brilliant idea to try slicing the kabocha thin into chips. Could I get the kids to crave them if I called them kabocha chips? And would they get crispy? Wait til the end of the post to find out! I placed everything into some green leaf lettuce, and tucked in a red radish and some Okinawan sweet potatoes for color, and used the (included) stainless steel cup for cottage cheese with blackberries, sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds. There are also a few raw carrots in there. The cup comes with a tight-fitting plastic lid to ensure the contents stay put, which is very convenient. Oh, and about the chips? Although they didn't crisp up completely, I played them up, made lip-smacking yummy sounds, and sure enough they clamored for "More chips! Kabocha chips!" Success. Muahaha!

The Nutcracker Suite Bento

2011-12-19T17:49:00.001-08:00

TinySprite as Little Fairy in The Nutcracker Suite a video by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

We're all done with the school bento for the year, but there is one more Christmas snack bento that I made for TinySprite to celebrate her ballet performance in her company's Nutcracker Suite ballet production. Here's a minute or so of their performance, if you're curious to take a look. For her bento, I made a little sandwich decorated with a Nutcracker and a Little Fairy (or Sugar Plum Fairy), with a few carrots, tomatoes and broccoli snuggled in there as well.

She's still in pre-ballet (as she is only 4 years old still), but she really, really enjoyed dancing the Little Fairy role again this year. And she has matured and become more graceful this year. (Okay, okay... but you should have seen her last year to appreciate that statement :) I don't dance ballet, so I'm not sure where she gets her passion for the art, but she loves this show a lot. She can watch it endlessly, and she knows all the dances, which she will perform whenever she hears the music. And I've had to watch and listen to it so many times that I think I can dance them all myself too! (Just kidding) ^_^

Added to What's For Lunch.

Thank you to Maki of Just Bento, for adding my quail egg snowman bento to her yearly Christmas bento roundup. If you're in the mood to see some creative and festive bento ideas, do take a look!

Lil' Quail Egg Snowman Bento

2011-12-15T19:12:00.001-08:00

Quail Egg Snowman Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

The last two quail eggs in the batch have become TinySprite's winter school term's last snowman bento! Yep, I did make an inordinate number of snowmen bento this season. MisterMan doesn't get a bento because his class is having a Christmas luncheon. I made inarizushi for his class, and I'm hoping the kids like them. As for my girl, she also gets chicken, one of the inarizushi, Okinawan sweet potatoes, crabapple, carrots, oranges and blackberries along with her happy snowman. The Christmas themed bento have been a lot of fun to make this year. Hope you had a chance to make something fun and festive in your lunchboxes too. ^_^

Ninja Snowman Snack Bento

2011-12-14T19:56:00.001-08:00

Ninja Snowman Snack Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

This one is a snack bento for TinySprite, to keep her busy after school while her brother finishes his homework. He has a biography due, and he's chosen Leonardo da Vinci. What an interesting person! But back to the bento. I squeezed a chicken egg into a snowman shape and decorated it with nori as a ninja. He's wearing a red pepper and cheese Santa hat for the occasion, but I bet he's not too happy about it. The rest of the bento contains carrots, edamame, cucumbers, Okinawan sweet potatoes, orange chunks, a blackberry and a crabapple. It should be just enough to keep her occupied (and quiet) for a half hour or so. ^_^

Santa Pucca Portuguese Bean Soup Bento

2011-12-13T18:25:00.001-08:00

Santa Pucca Portuguese Bean Soup Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Since we're on a roll with the thermal bento food, why not continue with Portuguese bean soup? I was reminded of this Hawaii cold weather staple by a twitter pal who tweeted a photo of her pot simmering away. I get lots of meal ideas on twitter: foodie folks are always posting recipes and photos - just a quick scan through my stream brings up a whole bunch of options. One of the best things I love about twitter. This recipe is adapted from Sam Choy, except with lots of extra added veggies and stuff. Here's my version (method and recipe here).

I used kale, cabbage, carrots, zucchini, celery, onions, potatoes, lentils and kidney beans. There is Portuguese sausage too, of course, but the best part of the soup is the addition of ham hocks to the soup base; it adds a delicious smoky salty flavor. Along with the thermal jar of soup, I packed a side box with orange slices, broccoli and grapes, plus a little Pucca dressed for winter in her santa suit. Her face is a quail egg, her dress is red pepper, the trim is radish with a cabbage ruffle hem. Her hair is blackberries and her features are nori and sriracha. ^_^

Added to Allergy-Friendly Lunchbox Love.

Heat Miser and Hermey Mac 'N Cheese Bento

2011-12-12T19:44:00.001-08:00

Heat Miser and Hermey Mac 'N Cheese Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Okay, I'm almost too embarrassed to tell you about the mixed-up bento today. Almost. But it's done, and I didn't even think about checking the facts until afterwards. So confident was I! Anyway, I woke up wanting to make Mayor Burgermeister Meisterburger (remember him?) from the animated Christmas TV Special Santa Claus is Comin' To Town. It's a great one, right? But then I remembered the Heat Miser, and started singing his awesome song. You know the one: "Friends call me Heat Miser, whatever I touch - starts to melt in my clutch! I'm too much!" So then I decided to make him. But then I remembered the little misfit elf dentist-wannabe from the Island of Misfit Toys, and.... I think you may be starting to get the picture that I have TOTALLY mixed up all the stop-action Christmas TV Specials. But did that stop me? Noooooo. Never mind that Heat Miser was from The Year Without A Santa Claus, and Hermey the elf was from Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer. They are both going in my bento; so there! Luckily the Mac and Cheese is a definite hit. I made it the way I did last month (in this bento), mixing in broccoli and diced kabocha to boost the nutrition. I also crumbled in some soyrizo, which is a chorizo soy substitute which adds spice and flavor. Super good. I packed it in my cute apple-shaped bento bowl, with the top tier holding the grapes, grapfruit, carrot, broccoli, and two quail egg Christmas characters who have NEVER ACTUALLY MET before this very day in MisterMan's bento. Pretty incredible day for them, I'd say. Wonder what they'd talk about? ^_^

Oops! Santa Bento

2011-12-08T20:05:00.001-08:00

Oops! Santa Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Today I packed cheesy enchilada casserole topped with cheesy snowflakes. I don't have a mini snowflake cutter; can you believe it? But since no two snowflakes are alike, I took some liberties and just created some using the flower and star cutters I already had. Looks like Santa is heading into the snow-covered chimney! I saw this idea as a cupcake somewhere, and decided to make a bento version. The snow is cottage cheese, Santa's pants are apples, and his boots are grapes. I held them together with dried spaghetti, which will soften by lunchtime. In order to close this Lunchbot box, I moved the silicone cup to the center between the orange slices. Ho ho ho! I hope he makes it okay! ^_^

Added to Allergy-Friendly Lunchbox Love.

Jack Skellington Chicken Bento

2011-12-07T18:23:00.001-08:00

Jack Skellington Chicken Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Today's menu is tebasaki (grilled - or in my case broiled - chicken wings with sea salt). See the method and recipe I used here. When I make it, I always have to make several pounds (yes, you read that right) because I tend to snack while cooking. To monitor quality, of course. I sprinkle mine liberally with shichimi togarashi (Japanese red pepper mix), which makes it totally addicting. Even though the kids eat theirs plain, they are very tasty just with the sea salt. They can eat 10 or more wings each, and I packed their bento as full as I could, while still including pan-fried garlic kabocha, tomatoes, and Okinawan sweet potato. The fruit cup contains grapes and grapefruit, and a quail egg Jack Skellington wearing a mini sweet red pepper and radish santa hat. I was going to make Sally too, but after cutting out all those tiny features for Jack, I was done! I'm really not one for itty bitty nori cutting. She would have been very cool-looking though, so I'll have to make her another time for sure :)

Hello Kitty Santa Curry Bento

2011-12-06T17:47:00.001-08:00

Hello Kitty Santa Curry Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

It's time for curry again, with the nighttime temperatures dipping into near-freezing range these past few nights. You'll probably be seeing quite a bit of the thermal bento jars on this site over the next few months. Like last time (see this bento here) I used a ton of vegetables, but I also used ground pork, which made it very substantial. This batch contains onions, celery, carrots, sweet mini peppers, potatoes, and broccoli. I packed (and served it at dinner) over hot brown rice mixed with pearl barley. This combo results in a chewy rice batch that I really like. The little side car contains oranges, grapes, broccoli, Okinawan sweet potato flower shapes, and a little quail egg Hello Kitty santa with a strawberry hat and suit. Aww! ^_^

Added to What's For Lunch.

Christmas Tree Salmon Bento

2011-12-05T18:20:00.001-08:00

Christmas Tree Salmon Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

So here it is, two more weeks left of school (and school bento), and I'm running out of new ideas for Christmas themed bento. Luckily, my friend karaimame posted a Christmas bento that is so cute, it begs to be ~~stolen~~ imitated. It's a broccoli Christmas tree. I remember I made one a couple years ago (see this bento), and now that I peek at that one I see that last time I used the tree trunk pick and made the ornaments look like strings of lights (much cuter). Sigh. Maybe I used up all my festive idea brain cells on Halloween this year. Anyway, this bento contains crispy butter shoyu salmon, which means I pan-fried it with butter, then drizzled shoyu after I turned the heat off. Super good. Besides the tree with colorful pepper ornament cutouts, I've got baby grape tomatoes, Okinawan sweet potato stars, carrots, crabapple, strawberry, orange and grapes.

Today I met with TinySprite's preschool teachers to go over her first semester progress. Everything was as I expected until I asked whether she was well-behaved and polite. Well.... perhaps sometimes during circle time when they are asked to share, she'll burst into song... and sing a verse or two, and on, and on, and on. Maybe she could sing a little less. (Sheepish looks from teachers). What?! I guess I should be happy she's not busting out the dance moves too. Wait, I forgot to ask about that...

Mabo Tofu Snowman Bento

2011-12-01T20:41:00.001-08:00

Mabo Tofu Snowman Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Today's mabo tofu elicited this comment from MisterMan: It's not REALLY mabo tofu because it's not spicy. Wellll, technically I suppose that's true. But the adult batch is certainly spicy! I always split the batch into two so that the kids can eat the bland half while the adults can enjoy the red spicy chiliness of authentic mabo tofu. We love it hot hot hot! Woot! I also made their version kind of dry so that it's more bento-friendly. I layered it over rice in a lettuce leaf before adding a tofu snowman on top. I used oval cutters to make the body, cut the hat free-hand from Okinawan sweet potato (and yellow carrot), cut purple carrot buttons, orange carrot nose, and nori eyes and mouth. The hands are those handy bone picks again. Told you these were versatile. Other side contains grapes, raspberries, strawberry, carrots, broccoli and baby crabapple.

Oh, and in other news, I was just notified by Stuart Reb Donald (Wannabe TV Chef) himself that I was awarded the 2011 WTVC Food Blog Best Niche Site Award. Wow, thanks Stuart! Will wear the badge proudly! Check out his site for interviews and commentary on all kinds of food-related TV and celebrity news and shows. Happy December friends! ^_^

Quail Egg Santa Bento

2011-11-30T17:56:00.001-08:00

Quail Egg Santa Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Tomorrow is the first of December! Are you ready? I guess we'd better start with the Christmas themed bentos now. Only 2 and a half weeks of school to go! Did I already mention that yesterday? Yes, we're pretty excited here. For this bento: along with some shoyu chicken, I decided to put a layer of black rice (over more chicken) in one section of the round three-section bento so that I could have a canvas to put my santa. It's a hard-boiled quail egg with a radish hat, nose and beard. I cut the beard with a standard flower cutter and used several "petals" for an extra fluffy beard. I don't have any cute Christmas mini cutters, so most of my decorations have to be hand-cut. I'm not one to spend a lot of time doing them, so you know that whatever I make has to be quick and pretty easy. In the last section I've added another cute crabapple, some grapes and a few carrots. My girl loved her crabapple so much she saved the seeds, brought them home carefully wrapped in a napkin, and told me she wants to plant them in the yard and grow an "apple bush." Well all right then! ^_^

Minestrone Rudolph Bento

2011-11-29T19:02:00.001-08:00

Minestrone Rudolph Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

The recent cold weather has put me in the mood for hot soups and stews. The heavy fog that we woke up to this morning stuck around all day long, which doesn't usually happen. It felt like 6pm all day. So everyone was very glad to have some hearty warming minestrone soup to take the chill off. Just as I always do, I threw in a lot of colorful vegetables to make this soup chock full of vitamins and nutrition. There's also some smoked andouille sausage in there for a little bite. TinySprite loved it so much, she asked for more again tomorrow. In her side dish I gave her the cutest little baby crabapple, steamed broccoli, carrots, grapes, a strawberry, and my first attempt at a Christmas character - Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer. He's made from a shoyu-dyed hard-boiled quail egg, with nori eyes and mouth and a baby grape tomato nose. Are you in the Christmas mood yet? We've just put up our tree and are in the process of decorating it now. The kids love this part ^_^
Added to What's For Lunch.

Delicious Zucchini Bread Recipe

2011-11-28T21:17:00.001-08:00

Zucchini Bread side view, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Have you recovered from the Thanksgiving weekend of feasting? I'm having a bit of a delay in getting back to the bentomaking. But I'm enjoying the memories of the good eats we had over the past few days. Here's a little bento-break special interest food item I thought I'd share with you. I made this zucchini bread for both MisterMan's and TinySprite's class Thanksgiving Luncheon parties (minus the nuts and chocolate). I love this bread because it's very cake-like, moist and delicious -- and yet it's packed full of zucchini. Muahaha! You might sprinkle some powdered sugar over the top to make it more festive (for say, Christmas parties?), but it's really not necessary. Really. You can even ask a bunch of 8- and 4-year olds.

Zucchini Bread
3 eggs
1C vegetable oil
1C packed brown sugar
2C grated zucchini (about 3 small zucchinis)
2 tsp vanilla

Mix the above ingredients together in a large bowl.

1C flour
1C whole wheat flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3 tsp cinnamon
1C chopped walnuts
1/4C wheat germ
1/4C mini chocolate chips

Mix the 2nd group of ingredients together in a medium bowl, then add to wet ingredients in the large bowl. Pour into 8x8 baking dish and bake at 350F for 1 hour.

Chili Rice Panda Bowl Bento

2011-11-23T17:57:00.001-08:00

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Chili Rice Bowl Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

This was the result of my last crockpot meal: turkey chili with beans and vegetables. And this bento is MINE! I packed the two kids' lunches in their thermal jars in the morning, and didn't feel like taking the time to snap a picture. I don't know when the last time was that I made a bento for me, but I am going to start doing it more often. I used the cute panda bowl bento set, which is perfect for rice bowls. When I was a kid growing up, my favorite thing to get at Zippy's was chili rice. That's how you order it: chili rice. I loved it for a long time until someone told me you get a lot more chili if you order chili cracker instead. I can see the logic there. After all, there's only so much chili you can pour over a giant scoop of rice. So I switched to chili cracker, but I always loved chili over rice. So I made it for myself. This chili is so jam-packed with healthy stuff you practically get younger after you eat it. There's tomato, carrots, zucchini, kidney and black beans, ground turkey, onions, sweet peppers, and kale. I topped mine with grated cheddar and a sprinkling of cilantro. Really hits the spot on a brisk fall day, don't you think? And I prepared a fruit tier for myself too: fall pluots, cantaloupe balls and three raspberries. And I cleaned it all up!

Slow-Cooked Turkey Chili

1lb. ground turkey (or whatever meat you like, or you can omit this entirely)
2 cans kidney beans, black beans, white beans, or other beans of your choice
1 32-oz. can crushed tomatoes
1 8-oz. can tomato sauce
1 onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 carrot, sliced
1 bunch kale, chopped
2 zucchinis, chopped
1 tsp. chili powder (or 2 tsp, if you like)
salt, pepper

Brown the meat in a skillet and drain. Add to slow cooker along with all the other ingredients. Cover and cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours. Garnish with cheese if desired.

Added to Allergy-Friendly Lunchbox Love.

Deconstructed Pork Carnitas Tacos Bento

2011-11-22T17:11:00.001-08:00

Deconstructed Pork Tacos Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Remember the slow-cooked ono pork roast from last week? This bento is an example of repurposed pork leftovers. I sliced some pork and fried it to get nice crispy edges, then packed it with tomato-onion-cilantro salsa and rolled tortillas for him to either build a taco at lunch, or eat separately as he chooses. I decorated with Okinawan sweet potato stars, and added late-season pluots, black grapes and raspberries. Yes, I know I'm using the same three-sectioned LunchBot Trio as I did for the original pork bento, but it's because this box is so ideally suited for deconstructed meals like this one. I've used it numerous times already, and it's still in great shape -- maybe a little scratched with tiny dents, but the lid still fits securely and the welded partition seams have held up without fail. Love it.
Added to What's For Lunch.

Mackin Cheese Thermal Bento

2011-11-21T17:42:00.001-08:00

Mackin Cheese Thermal Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Here's another time-saving meal that I really should make more often. Who doesn't love mac and cheese? And it doesn't have to be plain and boring; you can feel free to add all kinds of interesting and fancy ingredients. It's your meal and you can make it however you want! So here's an "interesting" twist on this batch. I usually make mac and cheese on the stovetop and finish it in the oven and under the broiler (like here and here), but I just didn't have time for all that this time. After mixing the macaroni with the milky, cheesy, creamy sauce, I had an urge to make it more nutritious (surprise). I was going to throw in some steamed broccoli florets (which I sort of did, as you can see), but then I had a genius idea. What about kabocha? Since everything was already basically cooked, I steamed the kabocha separately, just enough for it to keep its shape without getting mushy. Then I diced them and gently tossed and folded them in. Since the squash is orange, it blends right in. Not that I was trying to hide it or anything. But I was so pleased with myself that I waited until the kids had finished licking their 3rd bowls before I casually mentioned that I had added "like, a half a kabocha" in there. TinySprite wasn't phased. She was the one who, when I asked whether she wanted mac and cheese, responded "Sure! I love cheese. What's mackin?" But MisterMan's head snapped right up and he said "What?!" That's right, buddy! Muahaha!! Okay, maybe their taste buds aren't all that discriminating. Or maybe there was just so much real cheddar in there that they totally missed it. But I am inordinately happy that my kabocha passed itself off as cheddar so easily. I really love this squash, if I haven't mentioned it already. ^_^
Added to Allergy-Friendly Lunchbox Love.

Ono Pork & Sweet Potato Fries Bento

2011-11-17T17:33:00.001-08:00

Ono Pork Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

This year the kids seem to have a lot more after-school activities than last year, but maybe it's just the scheduling that makes it seem more hectic. Even with only one activity per kid, there are some afternoons where we seem to be rushing from one place to the next, changing uniforms in the car, and squeezing homework in between somehow. After a few very late nights, I've wised up: I dusted off the slow-cooker and plan to use it on those days when we don't get home until 6:30pm. Here's the result of the most recent slow-cooker night - My Mom's Ono Pork Roast (see my method and recipe here). The 3-pound pork shoulder should last for more than one meal, and there are lots of things you can do with the leftovers. We've shredded and fried the meat and made tacos, which are really good. To go along with the sliced pork here, I've added Okinawan sweet potato, baked sweet potato "fries", and roasted brussels sprouts. The fruit section contains a late-season plum, grapes, and raspberries. In my favorite LunchBot Trio!

Calzone Rollups Bento

2011-11-15T18:09:00.001-08:00

Calzone Rollups Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

It's a calzone bento, kind of, except this time I rolled up the dough with the fillings inside (salami, pepperoni, cheese, spinach), then baked and sliced into little bite-sized pieces for fun. Yeah, I'm having way too much fun with the calzone-styled foods. It's such a convenient, sandwich-y way to pack a school lunch bento, with so many filling possibilities. The rest of the bento contains roasted red kabocha, steamed Okinawan sweet potato slices, and a cup of grapes and raspberries.

4-Section Mochiko Chicken Bento

2011-11-14T18:56:00.001-08:00

4-Section Assist Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

I packed this bento in my adjustable 4-sectioned Assist box which I found at Ichiban Kan. This is only the second time I've used it (see my other bento here). It's a nice shape and size, and the lid fits tightly with a rubber gasket and matching strap. Not sure why I don't use it more often. In one section I packed some pseudo-mochiko chicken in a lettuce leaf. This recipe is very tasty, even if it's not exactly traditional. The veggie section contains broccoli, carrots, roasted kabocha, and steamed Okinawan sweet potato. The two fruit sections contain raspberries, grapes, and cinnamon-sprinkled honeycrisp apple chunks. It might look a little big for a third-grader, but the box is on the shallow side. Also, the separate sections ensure that the foods don't mix, so it's not necessary to pack each completely full. And, everything stays put even when it's tossed around in the lunchbag. Great, right? I think it's an ideal box for a kid or an adult.

Sticky Rice Panda Bowl Bento

2011-11-10T16:21:00.001-08:00

Sticky Rice Panda Bowl Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

More panda and more! I found this ultra cute panda bento bowl set recently, and yes, even though I have several panda bento boxes already, I had to get this one because it's a bowl set, which makes it perfect for things like donburi (rice bowl meals) or... sticky rice. I don't usually pack donburi because my kids aren't big rice eaters, but they do like sticky rice. Go figure. This batch (see my basic recipe and method here) contains regular white sweet rice mixed with koshihikari short grain brown rice. I added char siu, lup cheong (Chinese sausage), shiitake, baby bok choy and small chunks of kabocha. I made sure to add the choy and the kabocha at the very end of the cooking cycle; maybe 5 minutes before the end. You want the squash to be firm and not mushy. I topped this rice bowl with chopped green onions - doesn't it look nice? The top tier has a nice stylized divider, making it perfect for the berries, oranges, Okinawan sweet potato butterflies and a tiny sprig of broccoli. And look at the cute panda face on the lid! It clips securely, and even came with the little fork and spoon, which have tiny heart-shaped cutouts in the handles. Naturally I couldn't resist. ^_^
Added to Allergy Friendly Lunchbox Love.

Crab Linguine Bento

2011-11-09T17:22:00.001-08:00

Crab Linguine Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

A simple crab linguine pasta bento for my TinySprite. I tossed the noodles with spinach, roasted baby tomatoes, crabmeat, olive oil, pepper and parmesan. The top tier contains dragonfruit balls, raspberries, sliced persimmon, a bit of steamed broccoli and some Okinawan sweet potato flowers. It probably took 10 minutes to put this bento together, but it still looks bright, fresh and tasty. You don't need to spend hours making an artistic piece of edible art in order for the bento to look good. Colorful, seasonal foods will help you ensure you've packed a healthy and balanced meal that will provide nutrition for your active learner. And most importantly, my little girl gobbled it up. Yay!

Our Cooking Channel Bento Commercials!

2011-11-07T19:58:00.001-08:00

Cooking Channel Promo with the Happy Little Bento family (long version) a video by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Remember that interview and video shoot we did for the Cooking Channel back in the spring? Well, guess what? Our clip didn't end up on the cutting room floor after all. They ended up using it for a series of commercials that started airing a few weeks ago. If you get the Cooking Channel, you might have seen it - maybe without realizing it was us! We don't get that channel, so I had to get the DVD copy. I posted it here and on my flickr so you can see it too. After three hours of filming, bento-making, and talking, I was surprised to see a coherent 1-minute segment that made us look pretty poised and respectable. What a great editing job! I have immense respect for all the folks responsible for the work and production that goes into making an interesting and cool-looking promo. We found it amazing that it looks like a beautiful sunny day when in actuality it was around 8pm. All those hot spotlights really make a difference. I wish I had a setup that like to shoot my bentos at night and have it look like the brightest naturally sunny day ever. Also, if you have a 4-year old like mine, you know that after 3 hours of ANYthing they're usually either bouncing off the walls or having a meltdown or (yikes) both. But as you can see, my TinySprite was a perfect ANGEL. Hahahaha! (see previous comment about stellar editing job). Besides the solo 1-minute ad, there are also two other ads we're in which are comprised of two 30-second segments. Our segment is the same in both of these short versions but I've included them both so you can see the interesting other pieces (one's with a BBQ dude and the other is with a couple that runs a bowling alley restaurant). The cool thing about the Cooking Channel that makes it different from the Food Network is that it seems to focus more on the "everyday" regular person rather than celebrity chefs or reality contests. Folks like you and me. Thanks for taking a look! ^_^

Curry Dia De Los Muertos Bento

2011-11-02T17:12:00.001-07:00

Curry Dia De Los Muertos Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Today I decided to make vegetable curry, but wanted to try a new recipe. I used Nami's Keema Curry recipe at her popular blog Just One Cookbook. If you haven't checked it out, you really should! She has a lot of great recipes here, and always includes photos and step-by-step instructions. I chose this one because it looked delicious, and it seemed quick and easy (my forte!). I was right on all counts. I omitted the ground pork and added a lot of veggies I happened to have on hand: kabocha, zucchini, potatoes, carrots and onions. I made extra for bento, and it was a good thing I did because the kids inhaled it. I made it mild and added some applesauce too, and they loved it. I packed it into a thermal bento, along with a side container of cinnamon-sprinkled apples, grapes, broccoli, Okinawan sweet potato, and a colorful quail egg Dia de los Muertos skull. Happy Wednesday friends! Shared at Allergy Friendly Lunchbox and What's For Lunch.

Wonton and Dragonballs Bento

2011-11-01T18:58:00.001-07:00

Wonton Dragonballs Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Wontons! That's what my kids shout when they find out I'm making them (see my recipe and method here). The excitement is just as high as with the gyoza. I love packing wontons because I don't have to bother to present them nicely. They're just wrinkly dumplings so all you have to do is squeeze them in however they fit. I think I put 10 in the bottom of this round stainless steel tiffin, along with broccoli, corn, carrot, and a little Okinawan sweet potato flower. In the top tier I arranged some grapes, strawberries, honeydew melon and dragonfruit balls. A few friendly faces make it a happy little bento. Don't you think? ^_^
Shared at What's For Lunch.

Monster Fingers Bento

2011-10-31T19:05:00.001-07:00

Monster Fingers Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

The last Halloween bento of the season! Monster finger calzones with almond fingernails. One of them even has a bloody wound, which was unintentional but actually looks pretty real, right? There's also carrots, broccoli, strawberries, raspberries and "diced" dragonfruit. Get it? Happy Halloween from the conflicting forces in our house! Hope you had a safe and scary night with lots of goodies in your candy haul!

Skull Quail Egg Bento

2011-10-30T21:33:00.001-07:00

Skull Quail Egg Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Continuing on with the skull theme, today I made a quail egg skull on black rice to accompany some shallow-fried panko chicken, broccoli and roasted kabocha. There are also carrot flowers, corn, strawberries, grapes and honeydew melon. All packed up in my supercool slim double decker Zen box from Bento & Co. I love this box so much it was hard to entrust my boy to take it to school with him, but it's proven quite sturdy and impervious to normal 8-year-old boy wear and tear. So far. You all ready for Halloween? One more day...

Skull Sandwich Bento

2011-10-27T14:12:00.001-07:00

Skull Sandwich Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

We're taking a break from jacks today because I just found this skull and crossbones cutter that a dear friend sent me last Halloween. I should have marked out the skull and bones shapes to more clearly delineate the image, because when MisterMan saw it he said "Oh, a gingerbread man!" Whatever! Come to think of it, I guess skulls and crossbones are more pirate-y than Halloween-y. Oops. I lightly pressed the cutter partially through the sweet potato bread top slice of his sandwich, which fit perfectly in one side of my Sistema box. The other side is just right for a selection of colorful fruit and vegetables: carrot, corn, broccoli, Okinawan sweet potato, strawberries, honeydew melon and grapes. I used a few grapes to cut out the face for the skull, which I sealed in place with plastic wrap. Scary or not?

Baby Jack Snack Bento

2011-10-26T19:16:00.001-07:00

Baby Jack Snack Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

This one is just an afterschool snack for TinySprite. I wanted to try making a mini jack-o-lantern from a ... quail's egg. I tried dyeing it in a mix of red and golden beet juice, but I guess I didn't let it soak long enough. I used luckysundae's shaping method but hers came out much better! In fact, my son asked if it was a tomato. Oops. This jack took way too much time for me. After hard-boiling, I had to squeeze with strings into the puffy pumpkin shape overnight, and then I had to soak in dye another few hours (which obviously wasn't enough). Maki uses turmeric and shoyu to get orange; I'll have to remember that for "next time." I tried a hen's egg too, but it cracked along the seams. Also in this teeny bento: strawberries, peapods, carrot and Okinawan sweet potato.

Persimmon Jack and Sausage Bento

2011-10-25T18:23:00.001-07:00

Persimmon Jack and Sausage Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Of all my bento boxes, this is the one I get the most email queries about. Unfortunately, it's not available online (as far as I know). I found mine in a dusty corner of a shelf in the housewares aisle of my local Asian grocery, where it probably sat for months. I love the way it looks; the trio of sections is somehow very aesthetically pleasing to me. It's also quite uncommon to find a bento box that includes three subdivisions. The only other one I have is the Lunchbots Trio, which I also love. Anyway, today I've packed chicken sausage with sweet pepper and mushroom stirfry, along with corn, steamed broccoli, carrots, and Okinawan sweet potato star shapes. The fruit section contains grapes, a strawberry, and ... a persimmon jack-o-lantern. Have you started seeing persimmons in your markets? It's not a favorite of mine, sadly. I'd like to enjoy it more, since it's so plentiful this time of year, and since the inlaws have a tree which bears a TON of fruit. Luckily the kids seem to like it though! ^_^

Oh, and I forgot to mention: Foodista.com has selected Happy Little Bento as this week's Bento Blog and Photo of the Week. Thanks a lot Foodista!

Mini Burger and Cheddar Jack Bento

2011-10-24T19:45:00.001-07:00

Mini Burger and Cheddar Jack Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

A fun bento that the kids totally loved: burger and fries. Woohoo! Okay, they were turkey oat burgers and oven-roasted fries but still. I also snuck in some roasted kabocha, a couple colorful carrot sticks, broccoli, and a cup of red fruit: pluots, strawberries and raspberries. The burger is topped with none other than our favorite smiling "jack" - I know, I should have used jack cheese! Sheesh. What was I thinking? One more week of jack-o-bento to go... I think I'm gonna be able to pull it off. Hey, maybe next year I should go for a whole month of jacks! Nah only joke..

Candy Corn Quail Egg Bento

2011-10-20T16:45:00.000-07:00

Candy Corn Quail Egg Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya♥.

I strayed from the jack-a-day series today because I wanted to make a little candy corn quail egg, and it took so long that I didn't feel like trying to find another food to carve into a jack-o-lantern. First of all, I didn't shape it triangularly enough, and then I didn't have time to soak it long enough to keep the colors dark. But then, if you've dyed eggs before, you know that the color tends to fade pretty quickly anyway. To dye this egg I used golden beet and regular beet juice. I first let the egg sit halfway in a cup of golden beet juice, then placed it 1/3 of the way into a cup of red beet juice. I had nice sharp lines of color demarcation at first, but then they bled out and faded. I had made these cuties before (in the two bentos here) and I think they looked better then. Oh well! This bento contains butterfish misoyaki (see my method here), homemade oven roasted "potato chips", steamed Okinawan sweet potato, corn, tomatoes, carrots, and a fruit assortment (pluots, honeydew melon balls and grapes) -- all packed up in my favorite Lunchbots Trio. Have a sweet day!

Orange Pepper Jack O'Lantern Bento

2011-10-19T19:21:00.001-07:00

Orange Pepper Jack O'Lantern Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

I happened to find the most perfect pumpkin-shaped mini orange sweet pepper at the farmers market last weekend. It just begged to be carved, so how could I resist? I stuffed it with cottage cheese and sunflower seeds after seeding and carving it. This box is convenient for deconstructed fish tacos in that the cod can go in one section while the tomato-onion-avocado-cilantro salsa goes in another. Of course, you can put them together, but it's prettier this way. You can pack the tortillas separately if you wish. I put a fruit selection (strawberry, plum and grapes) in the last compartment, and topped with a purple Okinawan sweet potato bat. I think it looks fresh and colorful. And my boy really did eat the whole pepper, cheese and all ^_^

Jack O'Lantern Onigiri Bento

2011-10-18T18:08:00.001-07:00

Jack O'Lantern Onigiri Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Lazy person's bento contains rotisserie chicken and rice. Come on; don't tell me you haven't done the same at least once before! Maybe Sunday after a long weekend and you're too tired to cook anything? I love the rotisserie chicken option. So easy. To keep the Halloween theme going, I made a brown rice onigiri mixed with shredded carrot, and cut a face from nori. A cute pick helps you identify the jack-o-lantern if you haven't already :) Also included: Okinawan sweet potato, corn, broccoli, plum and raspberry.

Gyoza and Frankenstein Bento

2011-10-17T20:38:00.001-07:00

Gyoza and Frankenstein Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

I made gyoza. Yay! That's the response from the kiddos every time. I made, as usual, a double batch to last us for bento lunches the next day (see my method here). I packed as many as I could in here, and then filled the other section with carrots, grapes, and a honeydew melon Frankenstein. Muahahah! I cut the features from grapes and Okinawan sweet potato. I made ears with raspberries and I know that the carrots look like earrings but whatever. He's the new Frankenstein. But he's still a monster! RAWR!

Jack-o-lantern Calzone Bento

2011-10-13T21:38:00.001-07:00

Jack-o-lantern Calzone Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Yes, it is in fact a Jack-O-Lantern calzone! Kind of. Instead of the half moon shape, I tried to make it rounder by closing it on the bottom instead. I found that it's not easy to cut a jack face into a calzone. I didn't want the innards to run out, so I didn't cut all the way through. And I think I made the features too small, for the same reason. Anyway. There he is, and I'm calling him a jack-o-lantern, so there! Also in the container: carrots, kabocha, Okinawan sweet potato, broccoli, star-cut radish, orange wedges, and grapes. Two more weeks to go. Can I do it??

Salmon and Polenta Jack Bento

2011-10-12T19:07:00.001-07:00

Salmon and Polenta Jack Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

In today's LunchBot Trio I've packed some wild salmon marinated then broiled in a molasses, shoyu, garlic and ginger sauce. There are some diced roasted potatoes and quartered brussels sprouts in the next section, topped with a polenta jack-o-lantern. Polenta is excellent for carving, in case you were wondering. It's a perfect consistency and quite easy to cut. I recommend it. I made mine with grated white cheddar, but I bet if I had used yellow cheddar it would look more pumpkin-colored. The rest of the bento contains carrots, Okinawan sweet potato, grapes, strawberry and raspberries. Have I mentioned how much I love this three-sectioned box? It's so practical and handy for keeping separate flavors separate. It's hands-down one of my favorite bento boxes.

Mummy Pizza Bento

2011-10-11T19:24:00.001-07:00

Mummy Pizza Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

I've been seeing a bunch of mummies in bento lunches flying around the internets lately, so I thought I would make some for my pizza-loving kids. I used sandwich thins for these, but you can use whatever kind of mini pizza crusts you like. Smear with tomato sauce, top with pepperoni and spinach, then layer strips of mozzarella string cheese across the top for a nice bandaged effect. I added some olive eyes. You could also add a pepperoni smile to make it a friendly mummy if your kids prefer. On the side I packed steamed broccoli, carrots, corn on the cob, Okinawan sweet potato, grapes and a strawberry.

Roadtrip Jackolantern Bao Bento

2011-10-10T20:32:00.001-07:00

tiffin
Roadtrip Jackolantern Bao Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Yes, we took a roadtrip this weekend, which called for a picnic-style tiffin bento set the two kids could share in the backseat. It was the perfect chance to make Jack-O-Lantern baos, don't you think? If you haven't tried it, you'll find that char siu baos are super easy to "carve" -- I've done it a lot. You can either slice off the top layer of brown to reveal the fluffy white bread underneath, or (much easier), simply push in the cut areas to suggest a 3D effect. Cool, right? Each kid got their own tiffin with their own personal Jack, plus I added a couple of tiny carved cherry tomatoes, a broccoli "stalk", carrots, and Okinawan sweet potato slices. The third tier is packed with corn and fruit for the two of them to share. The best thing about these car trip bentos is that everything is finger-friendly and basically mess- and waste-free. Love that. Hope you all had a wonderful weekend and Columbus Day!

Ma Po Tofu Jack Bento

2011-10-05T19:58:00.001-07:00

Ma Po Tofu Jack Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

MisterMan and TinySprite both get ma po tofu (I adapted Lovelylanvin's recipe) in their bento boxes today. The kid version always looks so bland to me because I have to omit all chili sauce. I think my son would be willing to try this dish a bit spicier these days, but my daughter would surely rebel against any red flakes she might happen to spy. The other half of the LunchBot contains strawberries, yellow cherry tomatoes, Okinawan sweet potato slices, blackberries, and a tangelo jack-o-lantern -- made with tofu eyes and teeth. Heheh!

Jack-O-Lantern Sushi Bento

2011-10-04T18:12:00.001-07:00

Jack-O-Lantern Sushi Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Today's TinySprite bento is no-cook: turkey dog "sushi" with black Forbidden (mixed with white) rice. I made the little jack-o-lantern faces from nori, and the most time-consuming part was cutting the smiles. I first cut a regular smile shape, then cut the three teeth afterwards. The stems are bits of peapods. There are also carrots, strawberries, Okinawan sweet potato, blackberries, raspberries and grapes. Are you getting tired of the jacks yet? Or are you asking yourself whether I can possibly keep it up for another 3 and a half weeks? Good question. I'm betting I will have to start recycling ideas pretty soon. ^_^

Chili and Pepper Jack Bento

2011-10-03T18:28:00.001-07:00

Chili and Pepper Jack Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

We had our first rainy day of the season today. It started out nice and sunny, so I got a nice swim in the morning, and the clouds moved in this afternoon. It was full on raining by the time I picked the kids up from school; good thing I had a big pot of chili simmering. It hit the spot perfectly. Best of all, there's enough for tomorrow's bentos for all! Both kids get chili in their respective thermal food jars, plus a separate container for the fruit sides. I even carved a mini sweet pepper jack-o-lantern just for fun. Happy Fall!

Anpanman Sandwich Bento

2011-09-29T20:26:00.001-07:00

Anpanman Sandwich Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

I'm posting this Anpanman sandwich I made earlier this summer but forgot to post, in keeping with the theme from today's snack. I was chatting with my pals on twitter last night about Anpanman and his delicious foodie friends, which include Currypanman, Melonpannachan, Shokupanman (which I ate this afternoon), and others with equally intriguing names and heads shaped to resemble their names. I wish we could watch the Japanese series, just so we can see what kinds of characters show up on each episode. This turkey and cheese sandwich is made with bagel thins, decorated with cherry tomatoes, strawberry, blueberries and nori to create Anpanman's face. On the side I packed some more berries, Okinawan sweet potato hearts, broccoli and carrots. I rarely use this box, but it does seem to fit this bread perfectly well, doesn't it?

Shokupanman is a slice of sweet potato bread, smeared with cream cheese, and decorated with blackberries, strawberries, grapes and jam. He was delicious~!

Tebasaki and Kabocha Jack Bento

2011-09-28T21:55:00.001-07:00

Tebasaki and Kabocha Jack Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Today I packed another guaranteed kid favorite: tebasaki chicken wings. I won't tell you how many we make, but I always make more than I think we'll eat so that there will be enough to pack for bento. Today I cleaned out the wings at the butcher. If you haven't yet tried this recipe (see the method and recipe here), you really should. It's easy, and it's deliciously addicting. You won't be able to stop after 5, or 10, or ... well, now you see why I have to make so many. I skip the shichimi togarashi for the kids, but you can sprinkle furikake instead if you like. They are already salted, so my kids love them just as is, straight out of the oven. They are also good cold or at room temp, making them perfect for bento. I used a deep bento box to pack a bunch of wings, plus the usual sides: corn, broccoli, carrots, pluots, strawberry, blackberries, Okinawan sweet potato car, and my Jack-of-the-day, carved from a roasted kabocha slice. So it's really a Japanese pumpkin jack-o-lantern. How about that? ^_^

Werewolf Calzone Field Trip Bento

2011-09-27T19:45:00.001-07:00

Werewolf Calzone Field Trip Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

MisterMan has a field trip to the wildlife museum, so I thought it would be appropriate to make a werewolf calzone for him to take for lunch. I think my last werewolf bento may have been cuter. Anyway, in addition, it fits in with the Halloween theme too. On the upside, my calzones are really starting to look calzone-shaped. On the downside, I guess it doesn't look all that werewolf-shaped, does it? I tried to make furry edges and pointy ears, but I didn't have enough extra dough for that. I hope the radish and yellow and purple carrot eyes, mouth, and fangs help. This one is stuffed with pepperoni, salami and ham, plus spinach, thin sliced zucchini, baby portobellas and cheese. I think it would be fun to form a plain roll (and easier too). Maybe I'll try that sometime. The rest of this disposable container holds corn, broccoli, carrots, Okinawan sweet potato, peapods, peaches, grapes and strawberries. I kept the calzone separate with the wax paper between. When I closed the box, he fit perfectly, peering out the window. RAWR!

Flatbread Pizza and Jacks Bento

2011-09-26T19:58:00.001-07:00

Flatbread Pizza Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Yes, I know we just had flatbread pizza like, 2 weeks ago, because I see it in my flickr photostream there. Actually, we've had it even more recently than that for dinner. Okay, we probably have pizza and calzones every week. The kids clamor for it, and they love it, and it's so easy. I'm thinking we should have been doing this all summer, in fact. Today's version is meatless. We used zucchini, baby portobella mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, mozzarella and basil. I added steamed corn and broccoli, a bat-shaped Okinawan sweet potato, pluots, strawberry, and carved orange cherry tomatoes. I carved these tomatoes into jack-o-lanterns for our twitter tomato party, and decided to use them in the bento here for festive fun. Is it too early for jack-o-lanterns and Halloween decorations? Last year I was on a mission to carve as many jack-o-lanterns as I could, from as many orange foods that I could find. You can see the collection in my set here. (I also did it in 2009, here.) I discovered there are quite a few orange colored foods that can be carved. Should I continue the tradition? ^_^

I've been asked: how did I carve the tiny tomato?

With a tiny knife.

Here's a tutorial I made showing how I carved a mini sweet pepper. The technique is basically the same for, well, all the little foods I carve into jack-o-lanterns. ^_^

Wonton Pandamonium Bento

2011-09-22T18:40:00.001-07:00

Wonton Pandamonium Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

I made wontons today! (See my method and recipe here). I was craving wontons drowning in chili oil, shoyu and vinegar, topped with green onions and peanuts. So good. But of course for the kids it gets served PLAIN (that's how kids like it; go figure). They're not pretty but they taste delicious. I squeezed a bunch into the bottom panda bento tier along with a few peapods, then filled the top with corn, carrots, broccoli, bear-shaped Okinawan sweet potato, pluot and grapes. Did you notice the clever way I tied the picks into the theme? It's "Panda"monium! A bit obvious? Nah.

Mochiko Chick'n Chicken Bento

2011-09-21T19:55:00.001-07:00

Mochiko Chick'n Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

I made oven-roasted mochiko chicken today (see recipe and method here) and tossed some sliced kabocha wedges in there as well. There's also something in this bento that I don't usually pack. Do you see it? That's right: rice! I got the idea for satsumaimo rice from Hapa bento's Okinawan sweet potato gohan post. I cooked a mix of black and brown rice, then tossed with diced satsumaimo (Japanese sweet potato) which I had tossed in the rice cooker whole midway through the cycle. I cut the imo after cooking, then gently folded into the rice. After packing the peapods, red plum, corn on the cob and Okinawan sweet potato stars, I had a little spot for a tiny hard-boiled quail egg chick. I cut the "eggshell" white with my small paring knife tip, and added nori eyes and carrot beak to the yolk "chick". I have a container of precut nori eyes and such, so that I can just use what I need right away. Too late, I just noticed that the two dots are different sizes. Oops. Still cute though, right?

Butterfish Kabocha Bento

2011-09-20T19:48:00.001-07:00

Butterfish Kabocha Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

The kids get butterfish misoyaki, one of my favorites (recipe here), pan-fried kabocha, and oven-roasted potatoes and Brussels sprouts. It was so hot today, and yet here I was roasting a bunch of stuff. What? This is the kind of bento I like to pack in the Fall; it's full of comfort food and warm flavors. There's also some carrots, juicy pluots (this one had dark red flesh and was pretty sweet, actually), and grapes. And a couple of Okinawan sweet potato fish shapes to round out the color spectrum. This is one bento that I might really love for myself. ^_^

Orzo Salad Bento

2011-09-19T18:27:00.001-07:00

Orzo Salad Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

It looks like we are finally getting our summer weather this week. Today was a hot 80F and more of the same is forecast in the near future. So I took advantage of the summery vibe and made an orzo salad. When MisterMan was a toddler, he had a friend whose mom always made spinach and orzo. It seemed so curiously healthy; I'd never heard of it before. So finally, numerous years later, I'm making it. Whole wheat orzo tossed with spinach-y pesto and topped with feta and more fresh shredded spinach. You could add olives too, if you like. I supplemented this meatless Monday bento with corn on the cob, peapods, carrots, grape tomatoes, a smiling apple-shaped Okinawan sweet potato, strawberry, and a pluot! I couldn't believe I found more pluots at my farmer's market this past weekend. One vendor still had them and when I saw that I scooped them up. Well, now I know why they're hard to find. They are no longer in season. Juicy, yes, but not sweet. Aww. The memory of the ultra sweet deliciousness from earlier this summer will have to suffice. Until next summer.

Totoro and Bear Calzone Bento

2011-09-15T19:42:00.001-07:00

Totoro Calzone Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Today the kids get calzones again! I used roasted red peppers, caramelized onions, lots of cheese, and baby arugula in the meatless ones, and salami and pepperoni in the meatlover ones. Love them. MisterMan got Totoro, with radish and nori eyes and nose, and soba whiskers, and TinySprite got a brown bear.

The rest of the bentos contain broccoli, peapods, carrots, corn, plum, strawberries, blackberries and grapes. Love this pizza and calzone week. Super fun and easy, and everyone's happy! P.S. I think I'm getting the hang of shaping them now. No puffy pig snouts!

Hummus Rollup Bento

2011-09-14T18:36:00.001-07:00

Hummus Rollup Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

What's that? Didn't we just have rollups? Um, yes. I wish I had taken a cross-section photo of this one to show you the goodies inside. I smeared a whole wheat tortilla with homemade hummus (I made mine pretty thick so it would act as a sticky spread rather than a runny dip), added shredded baby spinach, caramelized onions, roasted red pepper strips and rolled the baby up. I stuck a few cute picks to hold it in place, but as it turns out, this sushi box accomodates the rollup perfectly. How's that for multipurposing? I tucked a few steamed peapods on the sides and topped with Okinawan sweet potato heart shapes. There's a strawberry, blackberries, carrots, broccoli, and sliced plum. These plums are nowhere near as sweet as the pluots of last month, but they'll have to do. And if you have been looking at my bentos for the past few years you'll know I never put these in: chocolate covered raisins! I couldn't resist. They fit so perfectly in the chopstick slot. What do you think?

Pink Bunny Egg Bento

2011-09-13T19:25:00.001-07:00

Pink Bunny Egg Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

TinySprite's two-tiered bento holds smoked salmon and cream cheese bread rollups on sweet potato bread. To make bread rollups, it's best to use soft bread. I remove the crusts, which I don't usually do, but it looks much neater this way. You can save the crusts for another use (like mac and cheese). Flatten the bread with a rolling pin, then spread the cream cheese, layer the salmon, and simply roll up tightly. Cut into bento-size pieces, and pack snugly so they don't unroll. I added a piece of steamed broccoli and a hard-boiled beet-dyed bunny-molded egg. The upper tier contains strawberry, carrots, cucumbers, nectarines and Okinawan sweet potatoes. Easy!

Quinoa Salad Bento

2011-09-12T19:42:00.001-07:00

Quinoa Vegetable Salad Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Has it really been over a year since I made quinoa salad? Oops. Can't imagine why I hadn't made it this summer. It's a great way to use summer squash, along with colorful bell peppers and crunchy celery, for a protein-rich meatless lunch option. Quinoa is an ancient grain that comes in a variety of colors (see my picture here). I used a tricolor mix today for this salad. The non-recipe is an easy one: simply saute the peppers and minced garlic in olive oil until crisp-tender, then add 1 cup quinoa and 2 cups water (or broth of your choice). Bring to boil and simmer for 15 minutes. Add sliced zucchini about halfway through cooking. Season with salt to taste, and I also added cumin. It's done when the quinoa is tender but not mushy. Turn off the heat and add celery and nuts for crunch. This recipe is very adaptable - you can add any vegetable you like. Try tomatoes or kabocha, or top with chopped apples; it's refreshing and nutritious. I tucked a piece of corn on the cob, an Okinawan sweet potato "spaceship", some carrots, and a cup of Greek yogurt with berries and sunflower seeds into this EcoLunch Box to round out a fresh meal. Happy little bento!

As a side note, my recent Domokun sandwich bento has been receiving attention from ParentMap magazine (see article here) and Happy Daddy magazine (a French blog here). Coincidentally, the PBS.org article I mentioned last time also featured a (different) Domokun sandwich bento I had made. I guess it's the season for Domo. RAWR! ^_^

Pizza Face Bento

2011-09-08T19:34:00.001-07:00

Pizza Face Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Look at those luscious lips! Okay, you might need a bit of imagination to see it, but there are supposed to be tomato eyes and red pepper lips on this cheesy, salami, arugula flatbread pizza. I used Mediterranean whole grain flat bread, which is thick enough to stand up to toppings, but which bakes crispy for a cool mini pizza. The other sections of this Sistema double-sided box contain Okinawan sweet potato, corn on the cob, pluots, nectarines, strawberries and blackberries. Smooch!

Mac and Cheese Bento

2011-09-07T20:04:00.001-07:00

Mac and Cheese Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Look, it's a thermal bento. In summer. Is it wrong? I was just in the mood for mac and cheese, so decided to pack a couple in my kids' thermal food jars. It's not essential to pack mac and cheese hot, and in fact I bet my kids would be happy to eat it at room temp, but there's something about ooey gooey cheesy mac that sounds so good to me. Last time I used The Pioneer Woman's recipe (for this bento here), and that was really good, but this time I used a bacon mac recipe. It could have used more cheese, I think, but it was still pretty good. I know the side box looks absurdly huge in the photo, but trust me; it's an illusion (it's actually propped up on the thermal jar lid). There's a lot of broccoli in the mac and cheese, so all I gave him on the side is: corn, carrots, strawberry, cherries and pluot.

Bacon Mac and Cheese (based on the recipe here)

8 ounces macaroni
2 1/2 cups milk
4 ounces each grated provolone and Asiago cheeses
2 eggs
2 scallions, chopped
3 slices sandwich bread, torn into small pieces
3 strips bacon
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
3 T flour

Preheat oven to 375 F. Butter a 2-quart shallow casserole dish. Cook the macaroni until al dente, about 5 minutes. Drain, transfer the pasta to the casserole dish along with 1/4 cup milk.
Meanwhile, mix the cheeses together. Beat the eggs with 1/4 cup milk in another bowl, add scallions, bread and half the cheese, set aside.
Cook the bacon, remove from pan. Cook the onion and garlic in the same pan, about 4 minutes, then add flour, cook another 2 minutes. Add the remaining 1 3/4 cup milk to the skillet, boil, and whisk until thick.
Remove the sauce from heat and whisk in the remaining cheese, add the sauce to the macaroni and stir to combine. [Here I added steamed broccoli, chopped fine]
Add crumbled bacon to the egg/bread mixture, spread over the top of the pasta.
Bake about 40 minutes.

Sticky Rice and Purple Stars Bento

2011-09-06T20:29:00.001-07:00

Sticky Rice and Purple Stars Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

I made sticky rice (see my basic method here) using shiitake mushroom, baby bok choy, Chinese sausage and kabocha (as I did in this bento here). Actually, today's bento looks quite like that last one from 6 months ago, doesn't it? Well, if it works... I like to add in colorful vegetables to increase the nutritional value and make it look appetizing. Since the rice is cooked in chicken broth and the sausage is tossed in during cooking, the rice is infused with lots of flavor. I topped with star-shaped Okinawan sweet potatoes. In this LunchBot, there's also steamed broccoli, peapods, carrots, pluots, strawberry, and cherries.

In other news, Happy Little Bento blog got a writeup on PBS.org by Alice Currah of SavorySweetLife. The article is called "Bento Lunches For Kids", and you can take a look at it here. I hope it gets a lot more parents interested in preparing healthy and nutritious bento lunches for their school-age kids this year!

Piggy Calzone Bento

2011-09-01T18:18:00.001-07:00

Piggy Calzone Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

I was so happy with the way my pizzas turned out, I decided to make calzones. I rolled the dough (use any pizza dough for this) out into circles, then placed chopped ham, pepperoni, grated cheese and baby arugula on half, and folded the circle in half, pinching to seal the edges together. For fun, I added two balls for ears (which I rolled in flaxmeal), and a little circle for a snout. I intended for it to result in a cute bear face, but the snout rose during baking and I think it looks more like a pig snout now. So a piggy it is. The calzone fits perfectly in one side of the Sistema box, while the other sectioned side contains: corn, broccoli, carrots, pluots, nectarines, grapes, strawberry and lychee. Oink!

Squash Blossom Pizza Bento

2011-08-31T18:52:00.001-07:00

Squash Blossom Pizza Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

We made squash blossom pizza a la our favorite pie from Pizzeria Mozza and Scala's Bistro. I used whole wheat flatbread rounds for the kids' bento since they are such a cute size and perfect for little hands. I sliced the zucchini thinly, and sauteed briefly, then scattered on the flatbreads along with chunks of mozzarella. I layered fresh squash blossoms (a whole bag from my farmer's market for $2) on top and baked. For the adults I added peppers (Scala's uses padron) and for the kids I added garlic powder. Super yum! These happened to fit just right in the two-tiered stainless steel tiffin, and I was able to keep the fruit and vegetables separate on the top: corn, cauliflower, tomatoes, grapes, cherries and pluots. Looks like a pretty sunflower, kind of. ^_^

Purple Goldfish Bento

2011-08-30T18:19:00.001-07:00

Purple Goldfish Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

The theme of today's bento is ... fish! To go with the miso butterfish that I made (method and recipe here), I cut some big-eyed goldfish from Okinawan sweet potato using my very cool goldfish vegetable cutter. I've cut carrots (in this bento) and regular sweet potato (in this bento) before, but this is a first for purple goldfish. I think they look rather vibrant, if not very realistic; do you agree? The mottled color looks kind of cool. It's a bit tricky to get the fish out without damage, and there were a few casualties. A stiffer vegetable would cut more easily. The rest of my LunchBots Trio contains: grape tomatoes, corn on the cob, green cauliflower, carrots, plum, cherries and raspberry.

Salmon and Potatoes Bento

2011-08-29T21:30:00.001-07:00

Salmon and Potatoes Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

It's teriyaki salmon again, this time with roasted baby potatoes tossed in olive oil and garlic powder. I packed the rainbow in the LunchBot: white lychee, red dinsaur pluot, orange carrots, yellow carrot (with nori dog face), purple carrots, and purple Okinawan sweet potato (cut into bunny shapes which you can't ascertain). I'm still stretching out the summer fruit, since they are still available in my farmer's market. Think I can make it last through September?

Back To School Bento

2011-08-25T19:32:00.001-07:00

Back To School Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Here's another First Day of School bento. Along with shoyu chicken, corn on the cob, carrots and steamed broccoli, I packed sliced Flavor Rosa pluots, lychees and blueberries inside the stainless steel divided LunchBots Trio. I made a little chalkboard from cheese and nori to commemorate the beginning of school. I freehand cut the numbers and letters with my microscissors. Do you see the little Anpanman? He (a gift from a thoughtful bento friend!) seems a bit apprehensive about all the learning. I remember how bittersweet it was to return to school in the fall. On one hand, it was hard to leave long lazy days of summer behind; but then again it's always fun to see friends again, right? How are your kids adjusting back to school?

Spanakopita Bento

2011-08-24T18:58:00.001-07:00

Spanakopita Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Today I experimented with filo pastry pie, which I baked in a muffin tin. I used feta and spinach filling, like I did for spanakopita in this bento. I thought the little pies would make perfectly sized bento portions and the kids would have fun eating them. Besides the spanakopie, I packed the usual sides: corn on the cob, carrots, broccoli, car-shaped Okinawan sweet potatoes, cherries, strawberries, blueberries and a little ripe raspberry. It went over pretty well!

Apple and Stars Bento

2011-08-23T19:48:00.001-07:00

Apple and Stars Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

I suppose this can count as a back to school bento, with a radish "apple" for the teacher, and a trio of Okinawan sweet potato stars! Although maybe they should have been gold stars. Also included in this round bento: teriyaki salmon, steamed broccoli, corn on the cob, carrots, plum, nectarine and blueberries. The summer fruit are still going strong in our markets, so summer will live on (in our bento) despite our return to school!

Roadtrip Bento 2: Mickey & Minnie

2011-08-22T18:24:00.001-07:00

Roadtrip Bento 2, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

The weekend before school started we took a roadtrip to L.A.; a last chance to enjoy some warm summer weather and time with family. I packed our three-tier tiffin with some munchies to tide the kids over during the long ride. They each got a char siu bao, and they shared an assortment of fruit I packed in the bottom tier. I've made several different character baos (Ponyo, AstroBoy, Harajuku Lovers, Totoro, Shifu, Hello Kitty, Hamtaro, Kireizukin Seikatsu, and Pikachu) but never Mickey and Minnie Mouse! So that's what I did. Yes, I know they look like monkeys. That's why I used the little flag picks, to add a little power of suggestion. TinySprite got Minnie, with eyelashes and mouth cut from nori, and a strawberry bow. MisterMan got Mickey. Both have grape eyes and noses, with cheese detail. I cut their faces with my paring knife and used the extra for their ears. Their fruit section contains strawberries, grapes, cherries, plum and nectarine. I chilled that tier so that it stayed nice and cool. The temps in the Central Valley reached 100+, so it was a nice cool treat!

Domokun Sandwich Bento

2011-08-18T20:02:00.001-07:00

Domokun Sandwich Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

RAWR! It's Domo today! I recently realized I hadn't made a Domokun charaben in a long time. Here's another Domo sandwich I made. And another one. (Seems I only made him on field trips! How funny.) And why not? He's so cute. I made a tiny cream cheese sandwich using rye cocktail bread, which is square-shaped and comes in a long loaf. His eyes are bits of grapes, his mouth is a red plum, and his teeth are cut from mozzarella. This was a snack bento for TinySprite, so she got a few little cups of fruit: peach, nectarine and raspberries, along with cherries and grapes. I also squeezed a few peapods, carved carrots and tiny broccoli florets next to him. He looks like he wants a hug, doesn't he?
Added to What's For Lunch!

Tebasaki Chicken Wings Bento

2011-08-17T18:59:00.001-07:00

Tebasaki Chicken Wings Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

This is another TinySprite bento from last week. She got her favorite salt grilled chicken wings (recipe here), of which she can eat massive quantities. If you make these, be sure to make an extra large batch so there will be enough for bento. They taste best fresh, hot and crispy, but the kids do love to eat them at room temp just as well. The adult version has Japanese seven spice pepper (shichimi togarashi) sprinkled liberally, which makes it mouthwateringly delicious for spice lovers. Make sure to pack lots of napkins, as the eating will be messy. She also gets carved carrots, steamed Okinawan sweet potato flower shapes, broccoli, strawberries and blueberries. Simple, colorful, and tasty!

Added to What's For Lunch!

Furikake Snapper Hello Kitty Quail Egg Bento

2011-08-11T20:16:00.001-07:00

Furikake Snapper Hello Kitty Quail Egg Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Another TinySprite bento. Actually, MisterMan's lunch was provided during this last week of Summer Adventures, so I've been making only the little girl's bento. She doesn't eat nearly as much, so I feel like I can make hers in no time at all! For example, in this bento I gave her a few pieces of pan-fried snapper sprinkled with furikake, then a section of steamed corn on the cob, a few carved carrots, a little piece of steamed broccoli and Okinawan sweet potato heart shapes, some grapes and a sliced strawberry. I had one more spot left, just big enough for a quail egg. And you know what my favorite quail egg character is! I didn't even bother to shape the egg into an oval. Once I add the nori eyes, corn ears and nose, somen whiskers and trademark red ribbon, she becomes instantly recognizable. I can make this Hello Kitty in just a few minutes now. I keep a little container of punched oval and circle shaped nori bits, so I don't even need to dig out the craft punchers. She really is the easiest charaben ever!

Meatballs Bento

2011-08-10T20:13:00.001-07:00

Meatballs Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

TinySprite gets sweet tomato sauce meatballs in her little bento today (see the sauce recipe here). I was able to squeeze four of them in, alongside a piece of sweet corn on the cob topped with an Okinawan sweet potato butterfly cutout. I nestled everything into a lettuce leaf, but naturally she didn't eat it. She's not a big "salad" fan, unlike her brother, unfortunately. The top tier contains carrots, steamed broccoli, cherries, blueberries, a blackberry and sliced dapple dandy pluot. This pluot variety has sweet flesh but tart skin. Have you tried it?

Pikachu and Pokeball Bento

2011-08-09T19:42:00.001-07:00

Pikachu and Pokeball Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

This is a no-cook bento using (by request) the last of the pizza we got from Tony's. I supplemented with two hard-boiled eggs: one chicken egg dyed in golden beet juice and decorated as Pikachu with nori details, and one quail egg placed inside a matching sized halved cherry tomato and decorated as a pokeball with nori details. I cut all the nori by hand, which was definitely the most time-consuming part of making this bento. I packed everything together with the usual sides: steamed broccoli and Okinawan sweet potato, carrots, grapes and a big juicy strawberry. Pika!

Sausage Zucchini Skewers Bento

2011-08-08T19:19:00.001-07:00

Sausage Zucchini Skewers Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

My kids got matching bentos, consisting of chicken and spinach nitrite-free sausage and zucchini skewers. I love the way they fit in the long section of my LunchBot Trio. Veggies went in another section: car-shaped Okinawan sweet potato, corn on the cob, broccoli, and orange and purple carrots. Fruit went in the last section: luscious peaches, raspberries, blackberry, and baby sugar plum.

TinySprite's bento had the same ingredients, in a more petite version. Ta-daaa!

Panda Ravioli Bento

2011-08-04T18:21:00.001-07:00

Panda Ravioli Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

It's a panda panda bento! These are organic spinach and feta ravioli that I lay atop some lettuce and added a nori face to. I had to hand-cut everything since I don't have the right size punches for any of these features. In fact, I don't have a panda face punch at all. Can you believe it? This bento is for TinySprite. She gets a partial corn on the cob (mainly because the whole piece wouldn't fit), Okinawan sweet potatoes, carrots, and some fruit in the top tier (dinosaur plum, cherries, grapes, raspberries and blackberry. I barely got this one to close, but it was secured with an elastic belt. She loved it. It came home empty, for the first time in a while. Yay!

Teriyaki Salmon Bento

2011-08-03T20:09:00.001-07:00

Teriyaki Salmon Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

This is our first real bento after a week off. I made teriyaki salmon and packed it in the two-tier stainless steel tiffin bento because there's more room this way. My boy is entering 3rd grade and I'm finding that the kiddie-sized bento boxes are getting too small for his appetite already. I should have packed a musubi next to the salmon in this bento, but I didn't think of it. He said he made salmon lettuce wraps with the lettuce. This is also one of the few boxes that allows me to pack a big piece of corn on the cob (without slicing off a few rows first, like I have to do in TinySprite's bento). He gets the usual extras: carrot, broccoli, Okinawan sweet potato; and in the top tier peach, cherries, grapes and strawberry.

TinySprite's two-tier bento is similar, although she got purple carrots instead of sweet potato. She ate everything here, even the lettuce, except the corn on the cob. Don't know why. >.<

Sandwich Rollups Bento

2011-08-02T19:54:00.001-07:00

Sandwich Rollups Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Here's another bento from pre-vacation break; a super easy no-cook one. I made turkey colby cheese rollups, which is just a more fun way to pack a turkey colby cheese sandwich. First I flattened the bread with a rolling pin. You can cut off the crusts to make this neater (I didn't do this, as you can see - they might have rolled together more tightly if I had). Layer cheese, turkey, and fresh greens. You can add mustard or pickles if you like. Then roll tightly. I think I melted the cheese onto the bread first, before adding the rest of the ingredients. I rolled it in a makisu (a bamboo mat used to roll makizushi), then sliced into a thickness that would fit neatly in my stainless steel EcoLunchBox bento box. The rest of the box contains cherries and carrots, and the separate (lidded) container holds Greek yogurt topped with berries and a walnut. Can you see the face? ^_^

Added to What's For Lunch!

We're Back! Pesto Tomato Pasta Bento

2011-08-01T18:15:00.001-07:00

Pesto Tomato Pasta Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

This is a bento set from the week before we left on vacation. I didn't get a chance to post all week; in fact, I didn't even boot up the laptop, heh. It was fun to take a bento-break while we visited with family in Los Angeles. The kids love going swimming and playing ball at their cousins' place, and visiting with their grandparents. We got to enjoy a real summer week of 90s temps too! It was great. For these bentos I made spaghetti with pesto and roasted grape tomatoes. I decorated MisterMan's with a colby cheese and Okinawan sweet potato "ice cream cone" while TinySprite got a Hello Kitty face on hers. They both got corn on the cob and various summer fruit like: lychee, cherries, blackberries and donut Sweet Peach Pie peaches. Cool pasta and fresh fruit make a perfectly satisfying summertime bento. Don't you think?

Sticky Rice Bento

2011-07-21T19:17:00.001-07:00

Sticky Rice Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

This bento contains sticky rice, one of my favorite one-pot meals (my basic method is here). For this batch I used regular white glutinous (sweet) rice, and mixed with Japanese brown rice. I presoaked for a few hours before cooking, and about 15 minutes before the end of the cycle I added sliced lup cheong, shiitake mushrooms, and shredded baby choy. You can add other ingredients if you like. I've made it with cubed kabocha, which resulted in a nice colorful batch. You can also add in chopped green onion after the rice is finished cooking, which is what I did here. I packed it inside a lettuce leaf, alongside some carved carrots and a piece of corn on the cob, which I decorated with Okinawan sweet potato hearts. The fruit square contains yellow peach, strawberry and blackberry. The last square has yogurt topped with chopped fresh pineapple, sunflower seeds and wheat germ. If I pack yogurt, I try to overlay it with fruit to keep it contained as much as possible. It's actually Greek yogurt, so it's not very runny. I also usually tell MisterMan when there's yogurt in his bento, so he can try to minimize the amount of swinging around he does with it >.<

Finally, remember the Bento & Co contest to "Make a Bento for Someone You Love"? There were 223 entries, from France, USA, Germany, Turkey, Switzerland, England, Norway, Morocco, and Japan. I wanted to thank all of you for voting and supporting my entry. I didn't win the grand prize trip to Kyoto, but I did place high enough in the final 20 to receive a generous gift certificate to Bento & Co! So, thank you very much, bento friends! ^_^

Pikachu Bao Bento

2011-07-20T18:45:00.001-07:00

Pikachu Bao Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

We haven't had a char siu bao bento in awhile so, here's one for July. I made Pikachu using a bao and a hot dog bao cut in half for ears. I added ear and eye details with Okinawan sweet potato, radish for cheeks, purple carrot for nose and mouth, and hot dog for tongue. Okay, the ears aren't as pointy as they should be. I had to tell MisterMan what it was supposed to be, and he said "Oh, Pichu? It looks more like Pichu." All right then. If you don't know (and I didn't), Pichu is the pre-evolved version of Pikachu. I guess that's appropriate! He also gets a donut nectarine (not very sweet), steamed broccoli, cherry tomato, carrots and cherries. Happy Wednesday!

Added to What's For Lunch!

Gyoza Field Trip Bento

2011-07-19T20:16:00.001-07:00

Gyoza Field Trip Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

It's Tuesday and you know what that means -- field trip day for MisterMan! Today they went to the Lawrence Hall of Science to learn about dinosaurs and fossils and shark teeth. Last week we had wontons. What's another good finger food that packs up neatly and easily, doesn't spill or get squashed, and tastes good at room temp? Gyoza! For these I used ground turkey, since that was what I had, but ground pork is traditionally used. I added a variety of other non-traditional ingredients too, like baby choy and soft tofu. I also added grated ginger, garlic, green onion, shoyu, and sesame oil to the mix. I only had medium thick skins, which are easier to work with (especially if you have kids helping you, since they don't tear as easily), but I like the thinner skins better. They make for a more delicate texture. I took some shots of my half-finished batch before cooking. Just for fun.

To cook the gyoza, I pan-fried in a little oil over medium high heat to brown the bottoms, then added water and covered to steam-cook the rest of the way and get the tops soft. The rest of his bento includes the usual summer fare: corn on the cob (under the strawberry), grapes, lychee, steamed broccoli, Okinawan sweet potato flower shapes, and sliced Sweet Peach Pie donut peaches underneath. I didn't find this batch very sweet. Do you like donut peaches? Maybe it's just the harvest available in our area, but I haven't had any super sweet ones yet. I prefer the regular variety. I packed everything up in a lettuce leaf and wax paper, into a disposable strawberry basket container, and he was good to go!

TinySprite got a similar, smaller, non-field-trip gyoza bento, which I packed in her two tier pink oval box. I love this box; it's lightweight, compact, easy to open and close, and just right for a smaller appetite. It used to have a removable divider in the top tier, but I lost it. However, it still works well for keeping the sweet in a separate section from the savory items. And it looks quite pretty too, I think. Happy Tuesday!

Deconstructed Salmon Sandwich Bento

2011-07-18T20:01:00.001-07:00

Deconstructed Salmon Sandwich Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

This bento is a do-it-yourself sandwich, featuring butteryaki salmon (see my method here), some wild greens, a few slices of buckwheat bread and provolone cheese. The components all fit nicely inside the separated section of this dual lunch box by Sistema. I wrapped the bread inside wax paper to keep it separate from the rest of the ingredients, and decorated with a triplet of provolone bunnies and a mushroom-cut radish. The other section is divided, and allowed me to fit quite a bit of extras: corn on the cob, broccoli, carrots, Okinawan sweet potato flowers and tomatoes on one side; and lychees, strawberries, superdark plums and blackberries on the other. The plums were so juicy I had to drain them off before packing them in! MisterMan loves these deconstructed bentos, and he gets a lot of attention during lunchtime while he assembles his lunch. A bright cheery summertime bento for my boy ^_^

Mapo Tofu Kitty Bento

2011-07-14T19:03:00.001-07:00

Mapo Tofu Kitty Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Both kids get mapo tofu bentos today. I halved the batch so that the kids' version would be bland -- er, mild -- and the adults' version would be red hot and spicy! I didn't add any chili bean sauce to theirs, and I placed it in a lettuce cup for neatness and appearance. MisterMan ate the lettuce and all, as I expected, as well as the kitty quail egg, steamed corn, Okinawan sweet potato, carrots, strawberries and blackberries.

TinySprite finished all her bento today; yay! She only left the lettuce but ate all the mapo tofu, peaches, Okinawan sweet potato stars, broccoli, carrot and strawberries. I packed her bento in the Paperchase Daytrippers box, which comes with matching utensils in the upper tier and snaps tightly closed with the cute girls design on the lid. It's the first time I've given her such a "big" box, and was concerned that she wouldn't get around to finishing it again, but the novelty and cuteness won her over, I guess. Super happy about that!

Purple Flowers Bento

2011-07-13T19:16:00.001-07:00

Purple Flowers Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Another pair of bento today again: shoyu chicken for both kids - with assorted corn, Okinawan sweet potato, carrots and fruit. I carved flower shapes out of purple carrots in MisterMan's bento; aren't they pretty? He also gets the dark red (almost black) plums that are loaded with juice and super sweet; I think they're called Flavor Rosa. I can't give them to TinySprite or I'll see evidence of them all down the front of her shirt. Instead she gets cherries, which she can eat pretty neatly. They also both get a grape tomato.

Unfortunately, she didn't eat much of this bento; most of the chicken came home. When dinnertime rolled around, she was starving! I'm really hoping she'll get into the practice of actually eating lunch soon. I think she's excited with the new schedule and friends; she'll probably settle down into the routine in the coming weeks. We'll see! ^_^

Wonton Field Trip Bento

2011-07-12T19:49:00.001-07:00

Field Trip Wonton Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

MisterMan had a field trip today (they went swimming!), so I made wontons, which are fabulous for field trips for several reasons. They pack up easily, they are perfect finger food, and they taste great at room temp. If your kids prefer dipping sauce, you could send some along in a sealed condiment cup, but my kids love to eat them as is. I packed as many as I could fit into my go-to disposable field trip snap-lock recycled strawberry container, which I first lined with wax paper and lettuce. There was also room for a piece of corn on the cob, a tiny red apple, carrots, a bunch of grapes (beneath) and a luscious red strawberry. I put a little penguin on the corn too, for fun. This Okinawan sweet potato turned a mottled tie-dye purple color; kind of interesting for a change. I find that the bigger ones are more variegated in color, maybe because it takes longer to cook them evenly all the way through? That's my guess. Still delicious though! I cook them every day because everyone loves them so much; we eat a lot!

TinySprite got a similar one too, but a little smaller in size. She has adjusted well to her new school, and appears to have to same lunchtime issue here too -- eating too er, slowly. She finished everything in this one except two carrots though, so I'm happy about that.
If you've voted for my bento at the Bento & Co FB site "Make a Bento For Someone You Love" Contest, thank you! I always appreciate your readership, your encouraging comments and insightful questions. It's what makes bento such a wonderfully unifying community activity. I'm so glad I started this blog almost two years ago -- just because of all the fantastic friendships and connections I've made here. So... thank you!
Added these bento to What's For Lunch!

Mahimahi Summer Bento

2011-07-11T19:11:00.001-07:00

Mahimahi Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

I found a nice mahimahi filet today so decided to do the furikake mahi mahi that is so popular in plate lunch in Hawaii. It's so easy; the way I do it is 3 steps max: squirt with kewpie mayo, sprinkle with furikake, then carefully pan fry both sides. I added three tiny fish shapes cut from radish, with sesame seed eyes, and a grape tomato for color. The next compartment has bicolor corn on the cob, bicolor Okinawan sweet potato star shapes, and purple and orange carrots. For fruit he has lychee (yummmmmy!), sweet yellow peach, and cherries. Everything fits just right in this cute and practical Lunchbot.

Some exciting news about my bento from last week: it reached the final 20 in a contest sponsored by Bento & Co: "A Bento For Someone You Love"! There's a vote going on at the company's Facebook page to determine the final winner -- the grand prize being a trip to Kyoto. If you have a chance, I would appreciate a vote from you, my wonderful readers! The site is here: Bento & Co. You have to "like" the page first, then click on the purple "Participer" button, then scroll through the entries. They're not labeled, but mine is currently on page 3 and looks like this:

Thanks very much for your help! I'll let you know the results :D

Somen Salad of Love Bento

2011-07-07T19:41:00.001-07:00

Somen Salad of Love Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Note: I entered this bento in Bento & Co's contest to "Make a Bento For Someone You Love". It placed within the top 20 finalists, and won a gift certificate to the Bento & Co store!

Today's bento consists of what I think of as quintessential summer food: somen salad. Here are some other ways I've packed somen salad in bento: here and here. Have you had it? In Hawaii we eat it a lot when the weather is hot and humid. My dad had a method of making the somen noodles. These noodles are very thin, so you must not overcook them or they'll become mushy and sticky. As soon as they're done you have to cool them down to stop all further cooking. During this cooling step, my dad always pulled single serving size bundles of somen out of the basket and twirled each into a kind of little nest, keeping each bundle separate from the others. When they've cooled to room temperature, he stored the bundles next to each other in an airtight container in the refrigerator, with a paper towel just under the lid to absorb any condensed moisture. Then, when you're ready to make your salad, you can quickly and easily pull out as many servings as you need. Ta-daa! For today's salad, I used non-traditional toppings along with some of the usual: julienned omelet, ham, carrot and lettuce, grated purple carrot, and fresh corn off the cob. I arranged them atop the somen in a pleasing rainbow array. I chose the round tiffin because I like the way the ingredients look in a circular pattern. Plus, the stainless steel serves to keep everything cool. The top tier fits on top and is just deep enough to accomodate a variety of summer fruit: strawberries, cherries, lychee, black- and raspberries, and sliced yellow peach. The tiny blue container contains dressing for the salad. I almost forgot about the heart radish in the center; something needed to go there. Just now, as I was typing this, MisterMan walked over and looked at the picture of this bento he ate today. Immediately he said "Oh, I liked this one! I especially liked the radish heart because it reminded me how much I love you." ^_^

Colorful Bento Of Hearts

2011-07-06T18:20:00.001-07:00

Colorful Bento Of Hearts, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

This is a bento I made for MisterMan. It contains shoyu chicken in a lettuce cup, carved carrots, steamed broccoli, corn on the cob, and Okinawan sweet potato heart cutouts. I anchored the purple hearts with rice sticks stuck into the corn. The fruit side has a selection of strawberry, blackberries, raspberries, cherries, mango and lychee. All the delicious fruit of summer! And since I'm still on the stainless steel kick, I've packed everything in this cool latched divided lunchbox (one of my favorites). All the foods I've used are ones that taste good cool or at room temp, making it a refreshing midday meal on a warm day. I like the way the metal stays cool in his insulated tote, keeping the food inside crisp and appetizing. This bento includes all the colors of the rainbow, with a balanced variety of protein and vegetation. It's an easy feat with the rich bounty of summer; have you packed a rainbow in your bento lately?

Roadtrip Triple Bento

2011-07-05T22:26:00.001-07:00

Roadtrip Triple Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

I used my three tier stainless steel stacked tiffin bento set (looks like this all packed up) for a roadtrip snack for my kids on our recent drive down to L.A. over the long July 4th weekend. Each kid got similar stuff: homemade potato salad, dough wrapped hot dogs (pigs in the blanket), Okinawan sweet potato, corn on the cob for my boy, carrots, broccoli and strawberries. They shared the fruit tier: super sweet yellow peach slices, black grapes, de-seeded lychees and more strawberries. I chilled the tiffins until the last moment before packing up the car, and by a few hours into the drive they were ready to eat. It was very refreshing to enjoy cool bentos during that hot (90F temps) trip. I didn't use any ice packs but they really stayed cool very well. I highly recommend packing this kind of bento if you'll be traveling somewhere warm this summer. Now I'm wishing I had the 4-tier...