Pizza n' Stuff Bento

Pizza n' Stuff Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

It's a pizza bento, one of the kids' favorites. They love to go out for pizza, but when I make it at home it's better.. and healthier! This one is a whole wheat honey crust, spread with mascarpone cheese, layered with thinly sliced sweet potato, arugula, caramelized onions, mozzarella, and drizzled with balsamic vinegar. I put a few pieces in the top tier to keep them separate from the rest of the bento. The lower tier contains clementines, grapes, pickled cucumber, cherry tomatoes and kabocha wedges that were pan-fried in the drippings from the caramelized onions. Nothing kawaii, but all yummy stuff nonetheless! MisterMan loves this tiffin, I think because it's so heavy. He always says, "I can tell there's a BIG bento in here!" ^_^

I'm adding the crust recipe for those who are interested. I used the Allrecipes Whole Wheat Honey pizza crust. It's super easy:

1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 cup wheat germ
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon honey

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2.In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.

3.In a large bowl combine flour, wheat germ and salt. Make a well in the middle and add honey and yeast mixture. Stir well to combine. Cover and set in a warm place to rise for a few minutes. (I left it for an hour.)

4.Roll dough on a floured pizza pan and poke a few holes in it with a fork. (Thinner will be crispier.)

5.Bake in preheated oven for 5 to 10 minutes, or until desired crispiness is achieved.

Then, add your toppings and bake at 425F for an additional 18 minutes or so. Instead of one big pizza we made several smaller ones. Besides this one, we also made traditional tomato sauce based pizzas with pepperoni, sauteed mushrooms, minced green pepper and spinach. You might keep an eye on your pie to make sure it doesn't burn. Kids can help by making their own pizza: put out bowls of toppings and they can sprinkle them on as they like. Lots of fun!