Butterfly Fried Rice Bento

Butterfly Fried Rice Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Fried rice gets a fried quail egg topping in the shape of a butterfly: these are actually mini peppers so I split up a single quail egg into the three pepper rings, and pan-fried both sides. I decorated with nori and picks to suggest a butterfly. Do you see it? The fried rice is standard fare, using onions, carrots and other leftover veggies; plus this time I used chopped swiss chard. Healthy and tasty. Other section contains cottage cheese with blueberries and wheat germ, as well as sliced peaches and strawberries. Don't fly away so quick, summer -- stay for awhile...
I added this one to What's for Lunch Wednesdays. Take a look for more cool ideas!

Mini Super Burgers Bento

Mini Burgers Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Around here the summerlike weather doesn't kick in until around lunchtime, so by the time dinner comes around we're feeling in the outdoor mode. We made sliders, or rather super turkey mini-burgers that I "improved" with all kinds of secret stuff! You can do the same. Use your favorite burger recipe -- mine uses turkey (or chicken), an egg, a splash of Worchestershire, crushed garlic, minced onion, a half cup of rolled oats -- and I mixed in finely grated carrot and not-so-finely chopped broccoli. Yes, broccoli! You can see the bits in the patties here if you look closely. I like chunky burgers, and the tiny broccoli pieces cook up nicely while the patties are frying or grilling. You can add any kind of veggies you like; whatever you have available in your fridge. If you serve with homemade barbeque sauce (ketchup, maple syrup, mustard powder, celery seeds, lemon juice to taste) your kids won't even notice. So good.

I put the patties on a lettuce leaf so he can tear and eat them in lettuce wraps (Protein Style), and I added a cherry tomato and yellow bell pepper butterfly along with carrot flowers. Fruit side has black grapes, a half plum, a half peach and a couple of lychee. Oh, and a bunch of forest friends, since otherwise it's a pretty dull-looking bento. Yay!

Butterfly Cutter

I got a new butterfly vegetable cutter! I love it! I had no butterflies at all, and this one is so detailed and pretty.

It has lots of crimps around the edges of the wings, as well as interior shapes.

See its first use in my boy's bento today :)