I Heart Chili Riceball Bento

Another cold day calls for homemade chili (I used this recipe but with lots of extra veggies thrown in, because you know me) in the 17oz. Stanley thermal food jar; this larger size is great for kids whose appetite is bigger than the usual 12oz. jar can hold (like my MisterMan). I also like this jar because it's virtually indestructible; very heavy-duty and all stainless steel. To pack alongside, I used two EcoLunchBox Eco Dippers: one holds a heart-shaped shiso musubi with a nori face in a lettuce cup and a grape tomato. The other holds sliced kiwi, blood oranges, and fresh (yes, fresh!) pineapple chunks. He'll take the very practical combo spoon/fork/knife with him too. Happy Wednesday, friends!

Ribollita Bento

Ribollita Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Here we go with more thermal bento! This one is called Ribollita, or Tuscan Bean Soup. It's cool because you toss in cubed bread at the end, which soaks up the soup and gets all soft. I think it's supposed to kind of dissolve into the soup and make it thick, too. I'm on a roll with these thermal jars, and it's a good thing I have at least 4 because on winter days like this it seems to be all I want to pack for their lunches. If you haven't noticed, I'm big on one-pot soups and stews, in which I tend to throw vegetables and beans of all kinds and colors. Sometimes my dish is less than traditional because of this. I mean, look at this one. It's got beans, veggies, bread -- it's practically a complete balanced meal in itself. If you do this too often it can be risky unless you're sure to change up the spices and flavors so they don't catch on that you're pushing the same kinds of ingredients on them every day. But come on; who doesn't love Tuscan bean soup?! I will never forget the bowl I had in Florence at that restaurant with the long rustic communal wooden tables, where we strangely happened to be sitting next to another couple from the US (in fact they were from El Cerrito, just about a half hour north of us), where I was so smitten that I slurped that bowl completely dry. I tried to replicate that bowl using Ina Garten's recipe. You can too, if you like:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ribollita (Ina Garten's recipe)

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound dried white beans, such as Great Northern or cannellini
• Kosher salt
• 1/4 cup good olive oil, plus extra for serving
• 1/4 pound large diced pancetta or smoked bacon
• 2 cups chopped yellow onions (2 onions)
• 1 cup chopped carrots (3 carrots)
• 1 cup chopped celery (3 stalks)
• 3 tablespoons minced garlic (6 cloves)
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 (28-ounce) can Italian plum tomatoes in puree, chopped
• 4 cups coarsely chopped or shredded savoy cabbage, optional
• 4 cups coarsely chopped kale
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
• 6 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade
• 4 cups sourdough bread cubes, crusts removed
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan, for serving

Directions

In a large bowl, cover the beans with cold water by 1-inch and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to soak overnight in the refrigerator.

Drain the beans and place them in a large pot with 8 cups of water, and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer uncovered for 45 minutes. Add 1 teaspoon of salt and continue to simmer for about 15 minutes, until the beans are tender. Set the beans aside to cool in their liquid.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large stockpot. Add the pancetta and onions and cook over medium-low heat for 7 to 10 minutes, until the onions are translucent. Add the carrots, celery, garlic, 1 tablespoon of salt, the pepper, and red pepper flakes. Cook over medium-low heat for 7 to 10 minutes, until the vegetables are tender. Add the tomatoes with their puree, the cabbage, if using, the kale, and basil and cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, for another 7 to 10 minutes.

Drain the beans, reserving their cooking liquid. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade, puree half of the beans with a little of their liquid. Add to the stockpot, along with the remaining whole beans. Pour the bean cooking liquid into a large measuring cup and add enough chicken stock to make 8 cups. Add to the soup and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer over low heat for 20 minutes.

Add the bread to the soup and simmer for 10 more minutes. Taste for seasoning and serve hot in large bowls sprinkled with Parmesan and drizzled with olive oil.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the side bento box: blood oranges, some chunks of a kind of sweet melon resembling honeydew, strawberry and blackberries.

Chicken Masala Thermal Bento

Chicken Masala Thermal Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Now that it's cold and rainy again, it feels like time for thermal bento. What happened to pre-summer? Today I dusted off the thermal Stanley food jar and packed it with rice and chicken masala with onions and almonds. I forgot about the school's no-nuts policy (oops) -- if your school has a similar restriction, remember to leave them out. This flavorful chicken isn't too spicy for kids, since it doesn't call for any cayenne pepper, and it's plenty tasty for adults too. I made mine in the slow cooker with chicken broth and garam masala powder, and a yogurt thickened sauce. It only took a few hours, but it meant that I could leave the house for school pickup and not have to worry about it. I also packed a little separate bowl with oranges, the first cherries of the season, purple carrots, grape tomato and broccoli. Come on Spring! ^_^

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!

Hot Jook Thermal Bento

Hot Jook Preschool Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Double bento today for my son and daughter are nearly identical. They both get true comfort food: black/white rice jook with turkey and ginger, green onion scattered on top. I packed them in thermal food jars: the Stanley jar which you've seen me use before many times (and which I recommend highly) and the Thermos brand Hello Kitty jar which I hadn't used before. First thing I noticed is that the Thermos is much lighter. Of course, it is smaller (I have the 10 oz version), but also the lid is plastic and there seems to be quite a bit of heat loss through the lid. Immediately after filling the jar and closing the lid, I could feel it getting warm right away. The Stanley has a double lid: an inner plastic screw lid which is set inside the jar, and an outer plastic-lined metal cap which can be used as a bowl. If there is heat loss through the inner lid, it's not detectable through the outer lid, as fas as I could tell. I tested the Hello Kitty jar with boiling water, and found that the temperature of the water began dropping within an hour after sealing. That was pretty disappointing to me. We'll see what my preschooler says. Both kids toted along a side bento filled with strawberry, grapes, cara cara wedges, broccoli and carrots.

Many of you may be following the terrible events unfolding in Japan following Friday's 9.0 magnitude earthquake; the resulting tsunami devastated towns and destroyed thousands of lives. The people of Japan face a long journey towards healing and rebuilding, even while aftershocks still rock the country and rescuers continue to search for survivors. I and many fellow bento-bloggers have been keeping up with real-time developments via @makiwi on twitter, who has embarked on a labor of love to translate and update the rest of us on the news from Japan, seemingly without sleep. If you are looking for a way to help, please consider making donations to The Red Cross at IFRC.org or Doctors Without Borders at doctorswithoutborders.org.

Mac and Cheese Thermal Bento

Mac and Cheese Thermal Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

MisterMan gets to take his red Stanley thermal food jar, packed with steaming hot macaroni and cheese. This batch is very delicious. I basically used The Pioneer Woman's recipe here, and the cheesy sauce was super super tasty. But you know me; I'm always adding extra "goodies" into meals like this. I wanted to keep the deep orange color of the extra sharp cheddar cheese I used, so I threw in steamed chopped Indian squash and steamed shredded yellow carrots and yellow cauliflower. I was going to add some broccoli (and I did add a little before I changed my mind) but I think it looks more stunning all in orange. You could certainly add broccoli into the mac if you chose. But this mac & cheese is so good that you could even add the broccoli separately, like I did for their dinner, and they'll eat it totally undisguised. I also added Soyrizo, which I like to do in mac and cheese because I think it adds a little kick. The first time I did this I was afraid the kids would balk, but the trick is to not mention it and they'll never notice. I added a whole "link" this time and they loved it.

I also packed a side bento box with broccoli, grapes, strawberry, mini Fuji apple and chopped blood oranges. Oh, and two carrot lovebirds sitting in the tree ^_^

Added to What's For Lunch!

Curry Thermal Bento

Curry Thermal Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Tonight I made curry with chicken, zucchini, onion, celery, and Indian squash. I only had medium-hot so I kept the consistency on the watery side so it wouldn't be too hot for the kids. I served it to them over rice and they loved it. I later realized it would be good for curry udon, if we had any leftovers. I'll have to remember for next time. I packed in the Stanley thermal food jar, which I really like for its heat-retention capacity. I actually did a comparison of this jar and the Zojirushi Classic bento jar and was not too surprised to learn that this one was much better at keeping the contents hot after several hours. It also has the benefit of being smaller and less unwieldy than the much larger Zojirushi. However, I had to pack the cool items in a separate bowl. This is my stainless steel bowl (Daiso) that comes with a tight-fitting plastic lid: I was able to fit in some blood oranges, a mini Fuji apple, some blueberries and a carrot. This bento will keep him warm and satisfied on a cold school day.

Portuguese Bean Soup Thermal Bento

Portuguese Bean Soup Thermal Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Today's wacky weather included warm (50F) sunshine, rain, dark clouds, blue sky and even hail. Whew! This unsettled weather calls for hearty nourishing food. I made Portuguese bean soup, a local Hawaii favorite and a hit with everyone in the family. I adapted Sam Choy's recipe to make mine.

Portuguese Bean Soup

2 smoked ham hocks
4C chicken broth and 4C water (or all chicken broth if you prefer)
1C diced carrots
1C diced potato
1 diced onion
1C diced celery
1 head cabbage, cut into 1" cubes
1 bunch kale, chopped
1 head cauliflower, chopped into 1" cubes
1 can tomato paste
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can kidney beans
1 Portuguese sausage, sliced
1/2C dried macaroni
Cilantro

In a large stockpot, boil ham hocks in broth and water, then simmer until meat is tender. This part makes the house smell REALLY good and gives the soup its distinctive rich taste. Remove skin and bones from ham hocks, return meat to pot. Add remaining ingredients except beans, sausage and macaroni and continue to cook about 20 minutes. Return soup to a boil and add beans, sausage and macaroni, then simmer another 15 minutes or until macaroni is done. Garnish with cilantro. You don't even need to add salt or pepper; this soup is very flavorful and delicious. The recipe is easy to adapt to your preferences; you may add or subtract whatever vegetables you choose. My kids each asked for seconds, and I bet yours will too. The recipe makes a lot of soup, and it tastes even better the next day.

I took this opportunity to pack my other thermal jar; this one from Stanley. I'd used it before for chili, and I know it works very well, but I didn't show a picture last time. So here's what it looks like packed. As with the Zojirushi container, I preheated with hot water for a few minutes, then replaced the water with my preheated soup.

The side bowl of fruit was packed separately in his lunch tote. The Stanley jar insulates very well, and the heat doesn't conduct to the outer surface so this method worked well. He gets sliced blood oranges, a strawberry, blueberries, blackberries, grapes, a carrot and some peapods. I love this jar because it comes with a sealing lid as well as an outer cap which can be inverted and used as a soup bowl (shown with a spoon in the picture). A nice option for kids who have a hard time eating out of the jar itself. Can you tell I love this jar?