Balsamic Vinegar Sesame Chicken Lunchbots Bento

Balsamic Vinegar Sesame Chicken Lunchbots Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Chicken and rice, chicken and rice... la la la la laaaa... Is there any more that needs to be said? Well, all right; I'll say a little more. This is the balsamic vinegar sesame recipe I got from Maki at Just Bento, except I used a shoyu substitute and kept it sweeter and less vinegary. I made it before here. It gets divided treatment in this Lunchbots Trio, in a bed of lettuce by itself, next to a cup of furikake rice, homegrown cherry sunsugar tomatoes, and steamed Okinawan sweet potatoes. Peaches and berries round out this plain jane basic lunch bento. I've resolved to start with the Halloween bento next week. For sure I'll be able to get in at least a week of spooky scary creepy bento! Or at least a few cute jack-o-lantern ones. Those are my favorite!

Back to Bento!

Back to Bento!, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Welcome to 2011! Are you ready for a new year? We had a nice long break of two weeks during which time I easily forgot about making bento, meals and cooking, and worrying about school and scheduling in general. It was nice, but now it's time to get back to business. Although I went grocery shopping today, I of course forgot to pick up various bento essentials, so my bento may be lacking in areas for awhile. Today I decided to use my LunchBots Trio, a stainless steel rectangular bento box with rounded corners and two permanent dividers. It may not look like it, but the three sections are equal in volume. I know because I tested it with water. The dividers do not keep the sections completely leakproof, but unless you're packing something very soupy or runny it works fine. I made pan-fried balsamic vinegar chicken and put the pieces in one section along with a tiny brown rice / barley / lentil furikake musubi. Another section has pan-fried garlic purple potatoes, pickled cucumber and carved carrots. Last section has a honey tangerine and peapods. There are also two bunny picks to celebrate the new year. Happy New Year friends!

Tomato-chan Bento

Tomato-chan Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Went out for dinner today, since it was my *birthday* -- so I made a quick batch of balsamic vinegar chicken to pack into the double bentos today. They're both pretty much the same. And are you surprised to see kabocha in another form as well? Since the pan was already coated with balsamic sauce, I decided to quick steam a few Brussels sprouts and kabocha, then fry them all up in the same pan. Super easy, right? And if you have kids that might balk at plain steamed veggies or you can't spare the time to whip up a special veggie side, it's the perfect way to add flavor with minimal labor. If you look at my bento style, you'll see that I often re-use sauces for the protein as well as the veggie. In this case, the sweet balsamic gives a touch of bite to the mild kabocha and my girl almost gobbled them all up before I could save some to pack up. I quartered the Brussels sprouts to speed up the cooking. Some decorative cucumber slices serve as baran, and I included colorful carrot skewers to add focal interest. They both got cinnamon-sprinkled apple slices, and MisterMan had extra room so I added cottage cheese with raspberries, sunflower seeds and wheat germ. The cute touch in both is a tomato character, which was inspired by Tomato-chan, from a clip a twitterpal Alissa passed along. Warning: if you link, you might find the song stuck in your head awhile. It's very cute! Ton-ton-tomato chan!

Boo! Bento

Boo! Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

For MisterMan's bento I made balsamic vinegar chicken, based on Maki's recipe. I simply mixed equal volumes of balsamic vinegar and shoyu, marinated overnight, and oven-roasted the next day. I cut the chicken into smaller pieces so they'd cook faster, and also for ease of eating. You can sprinkle with sesame seeds, but I totally forgot about that. It's really good, and I love the way the chicken comes out a rich dark brown color. Since I was using the oven I also roasted some tomatoes and brussels sprouts. These I tossed with garlic powder. Everything nestles in a green lettuce leaf, as usual, along with a piece of corn on the cob decorated with purple and orange carrots. In the fruit section I put some black grapes, a few nectarine slices and a tiny tangerine. Since I had another section I scooped some yogurt and topped with letters spelling Boo! cut from nectarine and purple carrots. Only one bento today; TinySprite hung out with me for the day. I've noticed that the days she has off from preschool are days she seems to catch up on napping. Yay!

Chicken and Jack o'Tangerine Bento and Hello Kitty Egg Preschool Bento

Chicken and Jack o'Tangerine Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

For MisterMan: Chicken drummettes, steamed broccoli, corn on the cob and carrot sticks for lunch today. Fruits were strawberries, grapes and a glowing jack-o-tangerine.

For TinySprite: Boiled egg decorated as Hello Kitty with radish ears and rice stick whiskers, nori eyes and corn nose. Corn on the cob, steamed broccoli, carrot sticks and gold cherry tomato. Strawberry and grapes.
Seems like hers is a miniature version of his, doesn't it? I think I got this double bento thing down! This bento seems very small for her lunch, but she hasn't been hungry lately. Maybe she's too excited. I picked her up during lunchtime and she hadn't finished the corn so she ate that when we got home. She is quite busy with the talking and gesturing during lunch, I noticed. It's a wonder she has any time to get any eating done at all. Sigh.

Five Spice Chicken Bento

Five Spice Chicken Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Chicken and rice -- that old standard that never fails -- makes an appearance in this bento once again. This time with some Chinese five spice in the mix. Super flavorful and goes really well with plain rice. Here's what I do:

For 3 chicken thighs:
Mix 3T shoyu, 1T olive oil, 2tsp five spice, 1tsp fresh grated ginger, and 1tsp fresh minced garlic. Marinate chicken a few hours or however long you have (doesn't really matter too much). Roast for 10-15 minutes, turning occasionally. Reduce heat to 350F and bake additional 15 minutes. If you cut the thighs into smaller pieces for cooking like I did, they will cook faster and you can skip the baking step. Check to see when your pieces are cooked through, and remove from heat.

I put the chicken pieces and a furikake-sprinkled rice ball in a moon-shaped silicone cup along with a few colorful cherry tomatoes and a bunny cut from radish. This box is pretty deep so I was able to squeeze in a corncob, Okinawan purple potato, broccoli, yellow carrot flower shapes, peapods and some white nectarine slices into the rest of the space. I made a big batch of chicken so you'll see it again in near future bento as well. I just realized I should have cut a moon shape instead of flowers, for Mid-Autumn Moon! Next time.

First Day of School Bento

First Day of School Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

The first day of school! MisterMan started 2nd grade today, and to commemorate the day, he's bringing an "apple" to school. Okay, it's not really an apple; it's a radish with sesame seed and edamame detail. It sits atop a 4-bean spinach salad in a silicon cup. There are flower-carved carrots on the side. Sliced roast chicken in a lettuce leaf fill the next section, and the fruit selection includes grapes, cherries and a strawberry. A simple bento that contains his favorite foods is sure to give him energy to get through a full school day. And a bonus: this bento qualifies for the B.O.M.B back to school theme at Hapa Bento. Don't forget to enter! Have you started school yet? If you're still enjoying summer, lucky you!

Added this bento to What's For Lunch here. You can add yours too!

Walrus Bento

Walrus Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Okay, we're done with Hello Kitty for awhile. For this bento I used the brown / red rice combo that looked like it would make a nice walrus. I mentioned in my review of Yum-Yum Bento Box that one of my favorite characters is the cute walrus onigiri on page 53. Well, mine doesn't look quite so cute, does it? When TinySprite saw it she asked "What is it? Oh, waris? Oh. Waris. Yeah!" So she didn't exactly let on that it wasn't a great example of one, but it was pretty obvious that she had no idea what kind of animal I was talking about. Oh well! Along with the walrus, which had nori eyes and freckles and radish tusks, she also got roast chicken, golden cauliflower, carrot sticks, strawberries and cherries. And in keeping with the marine theme, I used dolphin and fish picks, and my iridescent mermaid figurine that I got from gamene. Thank you megan! I love her! Can't imagine why the mermaid would remind her of me... can you? ^_^

I linked this bento at What's For Lunch! You can too!

Piggie Bento

Piggie Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Today's bento is the very convenient "More Leftovers" bento; yay! Are you familiar with this type of bento? It happens when you make an extra large batch of kiddos' favorite meals, some to eat over the next day or two and perhaps some to freeze for later as well. Love them. I tucked the balsamic chicken pieces in a lettuce leaf and snuggled some steamed broccoli next to them (sound familiar?). I made a fresh batch of mixed rice: this one consists of Thai red rice, white, brown, bulgur, tricolor quinoa and oats. Adding a mix of various grains to your rice gives an extra nutrional boost. Plus, it adds interesting texture and flavor too. It's a lot more substantial than plain white rice and goes great alongside all kinds of food. Luckily we all love it, but if your family is hesitant, try adding just one or two extras, like quinoa or pearl barley, to start. You might be surprised at how much you grow to like it!

Okay, so back to the bento. I used the mixed red rice to form an onigiri, since yesterday's came back totally eaten (yippee!). Piggie details are made from purple and white potato and purple carrot. The usual sides are here: carrots, strawberries, blackberries, grapes and tangerine half. All packed in my new LunchBots divided stainless steel lunchbox. It's very cool; the divider is permanent and the stainless steel lid "snaps" on without latches. It seems pretty secure but I wouldn't put liquids inside since it's not watertight. We'll see what my boy thinks of it tomorrow. Happy Hump Day, bento friends!

Balsamic Chicken Bento

Balsamic Chicken Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Balsamic chicken was adapted from Maki's recipe: I marinated chopped chicken thighs in equal volumes balsamic vinegar and shoyu. Instead of draining off, I just pan-fried the chicken for a few minutes until browned and let the associated marinade reduce during cooking. Sprinkle with sesame seeds after. The reduced sticky sauce is great with steamed broccoli and rice too. I made a batch of Thai purple and white jasmine rice (not the same as glutinous purple rice, or black rice, which I've used before and which turns a much darker black color). I mixed it with furikake to make an onigiri for my boy's bento. Topped with sweet potato / purple potato flowers, this bento now qualifies for Hapabento's May B.O.M.B contest! I also added steamed broccoli, raw yellow carrot spears and a radish. Fruit side contains strawberry, grapes and one of the last remaining Cara Cara oranges. I'm SO sad that they appear to be unavailable suddenly, and the last time I saw them they were $3 a pound! Oh well. I'll have to wait for the summer fruit production. Our tree is now full of apricots, which I hope will mature into bright orange fruit soon!