Happy Easter Baby Chick Bento! 🐣🐰

It's not Easter yet, but one of my kids is already on school break. The other one's break is the week after Easter. Seems so late! How about your kids?

So anyway, here's my bento for the occasion. Had to make the baby chick egg, of course! If you do this, try to keep the yolk in the center. It really makes the carving much easier! My yolks were way off center so it was hard to cut neatly through so much white. In fact, the yolk was so low in the first egg I tried that I didn't even reach it at all -_-

Inside our Ecolunchbox Solo Cube: ham-spinach-tomato-enoki-furikake rice onigirazu, Okinawan sweet potato cherry blossoms, sweet baby peppers stuffed with edamame, tomato and berries.

Inside the Eco Dipper: soba, lettuce, hard boiled egg.

Happy Easter, friends!

Easter Chick Soba LunchBots EcoLunchBoxes Bento

Easter Chick Soba Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

I squeezed in one last Easter theme bento: a little chickie atop a soba nest. Actually, this is a hen's egg, so it's a pretty big chick, but all the better to see his little face. Quail eggs are easier to cut, but I managed to get the "eggshell" off this one pretty much intact after a lot of finagling. The containers hold soba tsuyu and furikake for TinySprite to add to her soba at lunchtime. The LunchBots Clicks is perfect for this because it's totally leakproof; if she doesn't finish it all, it won't spill out into her lunch tote afterwards. The EcoLunchBoxes Ecodipper was a nice-sized accompaniment to hold her strawberry, Moloka'i Okinawan sweet potato, house-pickled cucumbers and carrots. I won't see you until next week, so enjoy your weekends! Happy Easter, happy Passover, or happy egg hunting!

Easter Bunny Pals Deconstructed Fish Tacos LunchBot Bento

Easter Bunny Pals Deconstructed Fish Tacos LunchBot Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Today's bento is deconstructed fish tacos in the LunchBots Trio. I've packed fish tacos like this before (here and here and here and here), because there's no good way to pack fish and salsa inside a tortilla without everything getting soggy and falling apart. In fact, I'd rather just omit the tortilla altogether, but the kids love their bready carbs, so I added two bunny shaped tortilla pieces in this one to appease them (and make it count as an Easter bento as well. Score!). I put the fried snapper on a bed of spinach in one compartment, with the cabbage tomato onion orange pepper slaw next to it. The last section holds strawberries, sliced steamed Okinawan sweet potato, and carrots. In case you didn't notice the Easterness right away, the little chickies should give it away. Happy Easter! ^__^

Easter Bunny Ma Po Tofu Bento

Ma Po Easter Bunny Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Seeing as it'll be Easter in a few days, I thought I'd make an Easter bento for my little ones. This one is for TinySprite, who asked for her ma po tofu in her favorite panda bowl, so of course I obliged. I scooped it over black rice, and topped with sliced green onion, a tofu rabbit (cut with my nice metal cutter from the same shop as the one I got my dragon, goldfish, double flower, butterfly and bird cutters). I even gave him a carrot with cilantro greens to keep him happy.

The top tier of her bowl contains tomatoes, Moloka'i Okinawan sweet potatoes, carrot, broccoli, blackberries and strawberry. I brought these sweet potatoes back with me from Hawaii, where I saw this red-skinned purple-fleshed variety for the first time. Usually the Okinawan sweet potatoes have a whitish outer skin but this type, supposedly grown only on the Hawaiian island of Moloka'i, are distinguished not only by their red skin but their creamier flesh, as seen here. Too bad I can't find them in California. We'll be enjoying my stash for a few more days while they last, though!

Quail Egg Easter Bunny

Okay, one last Easter one.

A cute little quail egg bunny. So easy, anyone can do it. The hardest part is poking the cheese ears into the egg far enough so that they stand up (you have to poke pretty far). Then just sit him in a bowl of rice, add the nori face, sriracha cheeks, pink somen whiskers, and wait for the kiddos to go "Ohhhh sooo cute!" Imagine a whole basket full of baby bunnies? Or bunnies and chickies? Awwwww!

Easter Bunny Calzone Bento

Easter Bunny Calzone Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Yes, I know Easter was yesterday, but you know I had to make a bunny calzone, right? I saw so many pictures of cute little bunny breads working up to Easter that I thought: how adorable and easy! Well, not that adorable or easy in reality. Can you see the bunny? Don't lie; it's okay -- I gave my kids unlimited guesses and they never got it. I guess I should have drawn a face in front so you can tell it's sitting there with two front paws and long ears laid against its back. I even made hind legs and a cottontail! I should have put a carrot in its paws as well. Now that would have been cute! He sits in his Sistema multicompartmental box with some broccoli, carrots, clementine, grapes, strawberries, and a lone Okinawan sweet potato star. Hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend!

Mama and Baby Easter Chicks Bento

Mama and Baby Easter Chicks Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

TinySprite asked for a Mama and Baby chicks bento, so here they are! I'm not expert with the egg white zigzag cut, especially when the yolk is so close. I'm told if you want the yolk to be perfectly centered, you must constantly roll the egg during boiling. Um, okay; that's why mine will have to be off-centered. The trick is to use a small blade and work with a light touch, but you can see that I punctured the yolk a few times. No matter, TS was still thrilled to see this duo! I'm so happy I've been able to use my supercute wings picks so much this past week. Here, the mama is flapping her wings in happiness over her hatchling chick's appearance. Aww! There's also miso butterfish (method and recipe here), roasted kabocha (tossed with parmesan) and brussels sprouts. Yes, I've taken to tossing all kinds of vegetables with parmesan, and you know what? It suddenly makes them a lot more desirable to the kiddos. The rest of the bento contains ripe strawberries, blueberries and grapes. That's it for the Easter bento at our house for this year. Hope you all enjoy a wonderful weekend. Happy Easter and Happy Spring!

Easter Bunny Chicken Burrito Bento

Easter Bunny Chicken Burrito Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

More bunnies, and more! This one is made from a hen egg, with cheese ears, nori face and spaghetti whiskers. He is smiling because he's got a garden of carrots waiting for him at lunch. They lie atop a pulled barbeque chicken burrito wrapped in a whole wheat tortilla, surrounded by broccoli, peapods, and radishes. The sweet side contains strawberries and grapes. There's that little chick again, trying to get into the bento. Sorry lil' guy!

Easter Bunny BBQ Chickenwich

Easter Bunny BBQ Chickenwich, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Continuing on with the bunny theme, I've made a cheese bunny for TinySprite to top her DIY mini-sandwiches. I made a crockpot of slow-cooked barbeque pulled chicken, which the kids like because it's sweet. Instead of premaking the sandwiches, I decided to keep the filling separate so that the bread wouldn't get soggy. I did prepack the bread (whole wheat mini-sandwich thins) with baby spinach greens. She can use her fork to scoop the chicken into the bread (or she could eat everything separately, as my boy has been known to do) when she's ready to eat. There's a gigantic strawberry, some grapes and some blueberries, peapods and carrots to round out this bento. And of course, the cheese bunny with her nori face and Okinawan sweet potato flower. All packed in our new-ish Chococat box. I'm so happy with the way it all fit into this one. ^_^

Easter Chick Mabo Tofu Bento

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

Did I use this panda box for mapo tofu last time? It just goes so well. I love the recipe, but I have been trying to bridge the gap between the spicy-eaters and the nonspicy-eaters, and this time I mixed some of the spicy batch with the nonspicy batch for the kids' bentos. My girl would have none of it, but my boy actually ate the full spice version (over lots and lots of rice) this time! He probably drank a gallon of water with it, but still! I consider it a victory. The top tier contains some cooling grapes, strawberries, carrots, broccoli, and a little quail egg "Easter chick" -- wearing an Easter hat to boot! It's the week before Easter Sunday, so I thought I'd put a few spring characters in there. Did the tiny fluffy chick want to go along with his buddy?

Purple Bunny Bento

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

I know what you're thinking: they just had salmon this week already. But actually the bento from Monday was a late post from a few weeks ago -- so this is the first salmon of the week! I broiled this one with a cajun spice mix, and laid it upon some white/brown/quinoa/millet mixed rice in the lettuce cup. As usual, I roasted some veggies at the same time; this time some pencil asparagus which I tossed with olive oil and parmesan. There's also carrots, peapods, a section of fruit (strawberries, blueberries, grape tomatoes), and a steamed Okinawan sweet potato bunny with rice stick whiskers, because I realized at the last second that Easter is coming in a week or so, and I haven't made any Easter bento yet. Just in case the bunny doesn't cut it, there's a little fuzzy chick to get the point across. Happy Spring!

Meatballs and Bunnies Bento

Meatballs and Bunnies Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Chicken meatballs today, in tomato-cider vinegar sauce. This batch is made with ground chicken, oats, shredded zucchini, wheat germ, onion and my experiment: quinoa! I cooked the quinoa separately and added it into the meat mixture before simmering in the tomato sauce. Very tasty! There's also curried lentils with spinach and grape tomatoes in another section, black rice topped with two tofu bunnies and a radish "Easter egg", and the usual fruit portion with strawberry, grapes and kiwi. This 4- sectioned bento box comes in handy for meals like this one, with different flavors I'd like to keep separate. Festive, isn't it?

Bento4Japan is still going strong. Remember, 100% of your donation goes to Japan Disaster Relief. There've been some bids on the origami crane earrings I made (yay!) -- these are lightweight, delicate and feminine. Would you like a chance to win them? A lovely gift for your favorite girl, perhaps? Or yourself ^_^

Mabo Tofu Chicks Bento

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

Today's bento has mabo tofu, one of my favorite meals which I hadn't made in a long time. When I make the kids' version I don't use any chili sauce at all, sadly, since they have no tolerance for it. This is why theirs looks so brown. After they get their serving, the adult version gets a few tablespoons of chili paste added in, which adds the nice red color that I love. For this batch I used ground chicken, and I also stirred in an egg, which is why there are yellow bits visible in the closeup. I scooped the mabo tofu over some lettuce in this bento, and I left out most of the sauce to keep it on the less drippy, bento-friendly, side. For dinner they had it served over rice, which is my favorite way to eat it. I added a red leaf and dandelion green salad with sliced grape tomatoes and feta cheese, carrots, strawberries and grapes to round out the bento. And for a final Easter touch, I put two baby chicks sitting on a leaf together. They are made of yellow carrot, with orange carrot and nori details. Cheep cheep!

Easter Egg and Jook Bento

Easter Egg and Jook Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Got the inspiration for today's bento from my very own scratchy throat and cough. The cough is especially annoying, and has been lingering for a few days now. I can tell it's getting better when I can get through a whole sentence without suddenly hacking off to the side for a couple minutes. I made jook for myself, really, but the kids love it too so I packed some for them (my basic jook recipe is here). For this batch I used white and brown rice, a mixture of organic chicken broth and water, and added baby spinach, green onion and steamed wild cod fillet into the bubbling soup. I also drizzled hot chili oil on top of mine but omitted for the kids. I packed it in our trusty Stanley thermal food jar so it'll be nice and toasty come lunchtime. He also gets a side box filled with a half mandarin, strawberry, grapes, blackberry, steamed broccoli and a cute little quail egg chick. I'd attempted to make the zig-zag egg cut before without success, so I boiled a few eggs in case I encountered trouble. This time it worked beautifully the first try. I used a sharp razor blade to make each tiny individual cut, and then pulled the two halves apart gently. If you have a thin blade paring knife, you could use that as well. Make sure your egg is boiled completely hard, to make it easier. I added nori eyes and a carrot beak, and now the little chickie is ready to pop out and be eaten!