Anpanman Turkey Burger PlanetBox Bento

Round sandwich thin in the square section. It works! And the PlanetBox Rover smushes it down just enough so Anpanman's face doesn't move around. Score! Turkey burger with melty Swiss, romaine lettuce, and varied tomato and Okinawan sweet potato decoration, An ombre selection of blood orange segments, a little cup of cottage cheese with sunflower seeds and granola, carrots, asparagus, and pickled lotus root. Oh and a tiny cup of arare (rice crackers). Happy Bento!

Sardine Melt Mini-Sandwich Bento

Yes, it really is a sardine sandwich, and will my kids really like it? I learned how to make a sardine sandwich from my childhood friend who lived down the street. She made it for me and showed me exactly how she did it. She was a year older and I did whatever she said; if she liked it then I liked it too. And I still do! I use canned sardines packed in spring water with no added salt, and add pickle relish and cracked pepper. If it were for me, I would also add sriracha (or tapatio or tabasco) for extra zing. Melt some cheddar and toast the bread, and it's so good. I also added some romaine lettuce leaves. Not to mention all the healthy omega-3s you'll be getting. You should try it!
I used my Sistema Bakery Split Container to pack the sandwiches (two mini sandwich thins) with the carrots on one side and the fruit (blood orange, half a satsuma mandarin, and a grape tomato) on the other. The partition keeps the two sides separate. Anpanman character picks ensure the sandwich stays intact - aren't they cute? Happy Wednesday!

Anpanman Egg Salad Sandwich Bento

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

We're baaaa-aaack! Did you notice a dearth of bento over here on this little page of the internets? We were on Spring Break last week. Anyone else? Yeah, it seemed a bit early to us too. But we did enjoy some time off to play and have some fun in the sun. We went to the beach, scarfed down the requisite shave ice and malasadas, and generally warmed up our winterized (well, California winterized) bodies. After a nice relaxing week, we're ready to get back into the bento habit! Actually, this one was from before the break: an egg salad on whole wheat sandwich thin with baby spinach. Couple of carrots, the usual pickled condiments, and a few berries make up the rest of the lunch. Happy Meal!

Okay, this photo was not taken by me (thanks and photo credit to Steve Anderson), but we saw some humpbacks breaching just like this, from shore. It was spectacular! And very "Life of Pi"-like: we also saw fish leaping over the waves and slow-floating turtles poking their heads up for a look around while they fed on coral reefs. There was even a report of a first ever shark sighting in the Ko'Olina swimming lagoons, but luckily we missed that.

Anpanman Portobello Pizza Bento

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

We made portobello pizzas again (see my method here), and I've found that it's best to scrape out as much of the gills as you can, use a minimum amount of cheese (just enough to "glue" the toppings on but not enough to get all gooey), and leave the vegetables just a bit tender (not super grilled). Of course, these pizzas are best straight out of the oven, but the kids beg to take them to school. Whenever I see a round food now, I think of Anpanman. And I had just the round things to make his nose and cheeks (pepperoni minis). I used ham to make his eyes, eyebrows and mouth (and nori for his eyeballs). If I had waited and put the pepperonis on after (or cut smaller circles) they might have looked rounder. And you might have recognized him. But whatever! I rarely use this flip-top box, but it fits the food just too well today. Happy Wednesday!

Anpanman Burger Bento

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

Today's bento features meeeeeeat! I made beef/turkey burgers for the kiddos. This one is MisterMan's, since it's packed between two whole grain sandwich thins. He can put the frisee inside the burger along with a squirt of ketchup inside the pig bottle. Every time I see a round bun I see Anpanman now. If you go back in the archives you'll see it's true. I made one ages ago here, and a more recent one (that I think looks much better) here, and then a naked burger here. The tomatoes are from my home garden, and the orange sunsugars and yellow pear varieties are doing really well right now. I had to barricade them to keep the dog away, since he loves fruit. I used red pepper for the mouth, and blueberries for eyes. I know, I forgot the eyebrows. Darn! He fit perfectly inside the EcoLunchBox, with the upper tier holding a selection of: carrots, pluots, strawberry, golden raspberries, lychee, purple cauliflower, and corn. I had to slice the tomatoes in half to fit, but the nice thing is that the top pushed everything down so it didn't move around too much, but not so much that it smushed. That's what I call a perfectly packed bento.

And by the way, it was our end-of-summer twitter food party today, and the star item was ... yogurt! I made cannoli ice cream. It was really an excuse to put pistachios and dark chocolate together in a creamy, divine way. And also to eat ice cream. ^_^

Anpanman Bean Burger Bento

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.

Anpanman Sandwich Bento

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~!

Back To School Bento

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?

Anpanman Sandwich Bento

Anpanman Sandwich Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Super fast and easy sandwich bento today, since we still have some slow-cooked pork. Sliced up, they make a tasty sandwich tucked with baby spinach between sandwich thins. And since it is a round surface, it spoke "Anpanman" to me. I cut his facial details from grapes and tomatoes, and squeezed some steamed broccoli in the corners to keep him secure. This snap-shut container ensures that the sandwich will keep fresh without drying out, but if I used a basket I would have wrapped the sandwich in wax paper.

The included side box contains fruits which stay separate so that the sandwich won't get soggy: strawberry, blackberries, grapes and a summer-fresh apricot!