Domo Meatloaf Bento

I forgot where I found this meatloaf recipe but it calls for a whole container of silken tofu to be mixed with 1 pound of ground turkey and 1 pound of ground beef (or pork). You wouldn't notice the tofu except that this meatloaf comes out very moist and with a lighter texture; not as dense as a regular meatloaf. It's pretty good, and I'm thinking healthier too! 

And of course, rectangular brown food must be transformed into Domokun. I think it's a bento rule.

😊❤🍱

Happy Girls' Day Bento!

Happy Girls' Day and wishing all our little girls the happiness, strength, and good health to achieve their goals and make all their dreams come true!

We love you! 🥰

😊❤🍱

Furikake Salmon Lunchbots Bento

Two in a row! I'm on a roll now.

I recently learned that to ensure a crispy salmon skin you need to remove all the moisture from the fish first. I patted the filet with paper towels and let it air dry for a while before pan frying. Came out good! I love salmon and cook it once a week. I eat mine very simply with a bowl of 🍚 or on a salad🥗. So ono😋

In TinySprite's Lunchbots Trio: furikake salmon on soba noodles, assorted vegetables (broccoli, asparagus, tomato, carrots, edamame, Okinawan sweet potato), kiwifruit, pickled radish and red onion.

Happy Boys' Day Bento!

Happy Boys' Day!

This day is also known as Children's Day, Kodomo No Hi. In Hawaii when I was growing up we celebrated Girls' Day on March 3, and Boys' Day on May 5th. I made TinySprite a Pucca bento on Girls' Day and today I made a little boy with origami kabuto (samurai helmet) and koinobori (carp streamers) to signify strength. Do you know how to fold origami kabuto? It's a fun activity to do with your kids! May all the boy(s) in your life grow up to enjoy a good, happy and healthy childhood!

In our Ecolunchbox Solo Cube: roast pork, polenta, rotini pasta, carrots, tomatoes, Okinawan sweet potato, hard boiled egg, radish, strawberries.

Chef Bento Noodle Contest by Bento & Co

Hello Bento Friends!

Bento & Co held a contest this past week for a Noodle Theme Bento. The contest is open to any and all, and it's a fun way to challenge yourself into making a bento using the ingredient or element called for. The company holds a similar contest every year with different themes, and I decided to enter this year (I also participated in a past contest here).

I was pleased and honored to have been selected as one of the ten finalists! 💖💖💖
You can see the other nine finalists in the collage above; they are beautiful! The ultimate ranking of the 10 bento will be determined by public vote, meaning people like you! If you are so inclined, please click over to the Bento & Co website to view the entries in closeup, and cast your vote for your favorite. Voting is open until Wednesday! If you vote for me, thank you! 😘💕

While you're there, you can check out the super cute and practical bento and kitchen items offered in the shop. I love the quality and selection of the goods offered by this Kyoto-based company!

In case you were wondering, my entry is this one (top middle in the collage): Soba Totoro Bento! 

Hope you are enjoying a wonderful week so far! 😊❤🍱

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!

Werewolf Bento

Raaaaaaawr!

What's Halloween without a werewolf bento? A piece of jagged cheese on a mini whole wheat bagel, and a few nori cutouts make this one not-too-scary. Also in our LunchBots Clicks: edamame skewer, carrots, radish, and grapes. I wish I had a wild animal type of fork to use for this lunch; that would have been cool. Good thing we have the upcoming weekend to get ready for the trick-or-treaters; if this year is anything like previous years, we're going to have to majorly stock up. Like bulk candy Costco run!

Totoro Soba Saladbook Bento!

Hello from Totoro! Yup, it's another Totoro bento. It may be true that we are in the midst of Fall, but we are still digging the cold noodle bento these days. This one is a soba salad, with chopped romaine, shredded carrot, fishcake (kamaboko), nori, grape tomatoes, and steamed Okinawan sweet potato soot sprites. I poured tsuyu directly on the noodles because the lid is gasketed and advertised to be leakproof. Spoiler: it didn't leak! This is a new lunchbox called SaladBook by Smart Planet. It's only the first time we've used it so we'll reserve judgement until we use it again. Stay tuned!

Pikachu Bento!

Totoro got me thinking about Pokemon, and especially Pikachu. I don't think I've made one in a long time, so here's a snack bento with a Pikachu cut from a turmeric hard-boiled egg. I sliced the egg in half lengthwise so I could use the other half for ears, tail, hands and feet. I used nori for detail, and apple peel for his cheeks. Also in our Lunchbot Clicks: black rice, carrots, lettuce, and plum.

There he goes. Can you catch him? ^_^ 

Totoro Char Siu Bao Bento!

Totoro! I was thinking about him this past week because we happened to find the My Neighbor Totoro picture book in the library. It's a little jarring to read the story and descriptives since watching the film is more of a stream of flowing imagery washing over your senses. But it is fun to look closely at the detailed illustrations. In the scene where the sisters are eating cucumbers fresh from the garden, you can see the chewed-up bits of vegetable in Mei's open mouth while she's talking about bringing corn to her mother. Anyway, here is my tribute to everyone's favorite "cross between a bear and a raccoon and an owl." Have a magical adventure today!

Also in the ECOlunchbox Solo Rectangle: grapes, cucumbers, carrots, strawberry, lettuce. Details made from fishcake, nori, soba.

Pork Veggie Rice Noodle Makizushi Bento

I made Vietnamese style pork chops and instead of packing them in lettuce wraps, which is how we ate them for dinner and how I usually pack them (which makes for a great bento, by the way), I decided to make more makizushi rolls for the kiddos. I've never put rice noodles in sushi before, but I guess it worked out all right!

I like how the black rice contrasts with the rice noodles (and the white pork). I included nuoc cham dipping sauce too, as well as pickled red onion and watermelon. The roll includes: black rice, romaine lettuce, pork chop slices, pickled carrots and daikon. Everything is packed in a stainless steel container with a leakproof clicktight lid, and an Eco Dipper container for the fruit. Perfect!

Mediterranean Life Without Plastic Bento

There's actually a theme to this bento, kind of, instead of just a hodgepodge of miscellaneous foods, for a change! It's also vegetarian. I was going to make a bento grain bowl, but then I realized I could use one of the dividers in this Life Without Plastic container to keep the fruit separate. So now it's a ¾ bento bowl. The cauliflowerettes and purple carrots are roasted with olive oil and whole garlic cloves over lentils and quinoa topped with halved cherry tomatoes; cumin-spiced crispy chickpeas; and a beet-yogurt romaine salad. The kids like these beets because of the vinegary honey yogurt sauce. Also, I told MisterMan that beets are a natural stamina booster, so he asks for it on P.E. days now!

The cut fruit are a variety of orange-fleshed honeydew called Golden Dewlicious. It's pretty good but not as sweet as cantaloupe. I think the summer season for melons might be drawing to a close pretty soon. We'll have to take advantage of the last remaining fruit while we can. So sad! Has Fall arrived yet where you are?

Crispy Spiced Chickpeas

• 2 (15-ounce) cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed 
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon chili powder

Method:

Toss chickpeas with olive oil and spread in skillet (you can also roast in oven instead),

Fry (or roast) over medium heat until crispy, about 20 minutes.

Sprinkle with spices to coat all chickpeas.

Experiment with your favorite flavors, such as garlic powder, curry powder, cayenne pepper, Chinese five spice, Japanese togarashi - anything you like!

Beet Yogurt Salad

• 3/4 pound beets (2 large or 8 small), trimmed
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 teaspoons sherry vinegar (or red wine vinegar)
• 1/2 cup Greek yogurt
• 2 tablespoons honey, or to taste

Method:

Wash and dry beets, place in foil wrapper, and roast at 450F until fork tender, about 45 minutes, depending on size. When cool, rub off skins and slice into half rounds or smaller. Whisk together oil, vinegar, yogurt, honey, salt and pepper. Mix in beets - they turn the dressing a pretty shade of pink! Eat as is or atop salad greens of your choice.

Chicken Teriyaki Onigirazu and Makizushi Bento

Hi friends! This is my first attempt at onigirazu. Onigirazu is like a rice ball (onigiri) except it is square in shape and flatter, like a sandwich. In this way, you can have more fillings than inside a round or triangular ball. Onigirazu molds exist, just as they do for regular onigiri, but I didn't have a mold so I freehanded it - placing rice, chicken teriyaki, lightly sauteed asparagus, then more rice on a nori sheet. Then I folded it, wrapped in wax paper, and cut in half so it would fit nicely inside the Eshly Deli Box. I filled out the rest of the box with purple carrot flowers, tomato, broccoli, and a melon sampler. Have you been eating as much melon as we have? It has been a great summer for sweet watermelon, honeydew, and cantaloupe!

I thought it came out pretty well, and MisterMan seemed to like it. There are lots of possibilities for fillings, and it is a good way to use up refrigerator leftovers easily (ham and egg, tuna salad, tomato bacon lettuce, smoked salmon cream cheese, steak, hamburger, whatever!).

I decided to make TinySprite's chicken and asparagus inside a makisushi roll. I thought it might be easier (and more fun) for her to eat this way. And they fit nicely inside the LunchBots Clicks box, alongside some Dapple Dandy pluots and a sweet strawberry. This stainless steel box comes in a couple sizes and is great because not only does it have a leakproof lid but the lid is translucent so you can see what's for lunch! I love that effect a lot. So there we have a couple of nice cool bento for a warm summer day! Hope you are all enjoying your last bit of summer!

New Bento Box Review: Yumbox

Today's review is on the Yumbox. This box is designed by a pair of moms who wanted (from their website): "a bento-like tray, with one lid that sealed all compartments; designated food groups to encourage and assist parents in packing a balanced meal; built-in portion control; a cool design and illustrations to make this little box more of an adventure in good nutrition than just plain old lunch!" 

The boxes come in a variety of sizes and with different numbers of sections. The one I have has 6 sections; there are other versions with 3 and 4 sections as well. They come decorated with different themes on the bottom of each section, like Pirates, Mermaids, Circus, and Rockets. The theme of mine is Parisian Pink. It's very cute!

The graphics are very colorful and artistic. They are labeled with different food groups, in order to help with balanced and nutritious meal planning. The image is applied to the underside of the plastic so there is no risk of scratching from the food. The inner (clear) plastic compartment is removable for easy cleanups.

Our first bento contains a bunch of different foods, and this type of bento would be ideal for kids who prefer to graze upon smaller portions of lots of variety of foods.

I packed: spiralized zucchini raw "noodles" with fresh off the cob sweet corn and shredded mozzarella cheese, pickled napa cabbage and beets, garlicky smashed cucumber pickles, steamed Okinawan sweet potatoes, purple carrots, peaches with homemade granola, and little chocolate bear cookies because they fit perfectly into the tiny circular section. This box worked very well, kept everything separate, and prevented leaking of any liquid. The latch was easy to use and young kids will have no problem securing and opening it on their own. It would also work well as a snack box for an older child.

The garlic smashed cucumber pickles came from the Lucky Rice Cookbook, authored by Danielle Chang, who came with her crew to film a segment with Happy Little Bento for Lucky Chow a couple months ago. I thought her cookbook might contain lots of fun ideas for packing into bento, and I was right! I'll show you more of them in the future. Happy weekend, friends!

Disclosure: Yumbox generously provided me with this product for use without cost to me. I was not required to write a positive review, nor was I compensated in any other way. All opinions I have expressed are my own.

New Bento Box Review: Eshly Deli Box

Hello Bento Friends!

Hope your summer is going swimmingly! If you're like us, you've been making sure you enjoy every last bit of summer vacation before it's gone -- and it's always gone too soon, isn't it? I sometimes feel like we're actually busier during summer than during the school year. Is that weird? Anyway, one of my summer goals was to make sure to try out some new bento gear and develop some new lunchpacking ideas to put in use for the upcoming school year. And I am starting on that project now!

The first new bento box I want to show you is a knockout stunner of a beauty. It's called Eshly Deli Box and it's manufactured in Berlin, Germany from European Ash wood; each round box from a single piece of wood.

This is the interior: the box comes with two removable interlocking pieces which divide the box into four sections. I've also used one of the pieces by itself to create two sections, and because of slight variation in the wood, the piece can wedge into position in certain locations and it works fine.

The craftsmanship is delightful. The lightweight wood is smooth, splinter-free, and the grain and color variations add to the natural good looks of the box.

The loose-fitting lid is grooved on top to allow the elastic band to secure the box snugly without moving around or accidentally slipping off.

Here is my inaugural bento in the Eshly Deli Box. I placed the food inside silicone cups because I was anxious about staining the brand new wood! I need not have worried, though. The product designer assured me that although the wood may take up color from certain foods like beet or berry juice, over time it will fade just like wooden cutting boards. I packed ume soba with halved grape tomatoes, chopped green onions, scallions, romaine lettuce leaves and a tiny bottle of tsuyu as a deconstructed soba salad. I also included homemade roasted five-spice chickpeas, carrots, and lightly steamed corn on the cob. A tiny mandarin and a black apricot round out the meal.

My lunch looks like summer in a box! I found the Eshly box to clean up easily with damp wiping. It is fine to wash with soapy water if necessary, as long as you promptly dry it completely. I imagine the care should be the same as that taken with unvarnished Japanese magewappa wooden boxes as well.

Overall I was very pleased with the performance of the Eshly Deli Box. It is lightweight, well-made, comes with a secure elastic band dyed with natural dye, and is very practical with removable section dividers. I love the fact that it is made of natural and ecologically sound hardwood, of a variety that is more elastic, more resistant to abrasion, more easily bent and less subject to splintering than most other kinds of wood (taken from company info sheet). Furthermore, and perhaps most of all, it is beautiful. I might not send it to school with younger children (not for any reason except the possibility of dropping and damaging), but I'm sure middle schoolers and up will have no problems caring for this box. I love this box and you can be sure I will be packing many more bento in it in the future!

For more info on this box, you may contact the company Atelier Britta Knuppel at www.brittaknueppel.de or on Instagram @eshlyberlin.

      

Salmon Hash ECOlunchboxes Bento

Today because I happened to have potatoes, I decided to make salmon hash instead of the usual broiled teriyaki or furikake method. I made a kind of pistou with parsley and broccoli, with garlic and olive oil, to go with it. I also added some yuzu too. It was pretty good. A hash is nice because you cook it all in one pan, and you can add whatever extra veggies you have. I had some kuri squash so I diced it along with broccoli stalks and onions. It would have been good with sweet peppers too. This ECOlunchbox Oval comes with a separate container for the nectarine and grapes, so they stay out of the salmon. So handy and practical!

Planetbox Sandwich Bento

I don't know why, but Planetbox Rover seems to scream sandwich bento! to me. Today, at least. It has a nice big compartment for it, and even though it's a square, I'm putting a baguette in there, because that's how I do it. It's a sardine sandwich, and before you judge, listen: it's packed in harissa, covered in melted cheese, and laying on a whole wheat sweet French roll. The lettuce underneath he'll pack between the bread right before eating, so it doesn't get all soggy. It's good! Besides that, he gets super ripe strawberries, cara cara orange, homegrown kadota fig, tomatoes, carrots, cinnamon yogurt, and tiny bear cookies (because they fit in that little space perfectly!). Yum!

  

Shoyu Chicken LunchBots Bento

Uh huh, yup yup, it's shoyu chicken again. With all the standard sides again (I made Moroccan chickpeas but I forgot to put it in! Oh well. It didn't really go with the Japanese theme anyway. Next time!) like broccoli and tomatoes. Instead of a lettuce leaf, you can pack yours over rice, which is how I like to eat it. The smaller LunchBots Clicks holds strawberries, watermelon chunks, and carrots. These two boxes are very cool! I love them because they are completely leakproof, with tight-sealing snap lock lids. They are a nice options to plastic containers and one of the few stainless steel box sets I have that are leakproof. Plus, the two together hold just the right amount for my third-grader. Perfect!

Kuri Curry LunchBots Thermal Bento

With the weather cooling down a bit, I'm thinking more about thermal bento these days. And when I saw the cutest kuri squash at the market, I had to make curry. I wish I took a picture of the squash before I cut it. If you haven't seen one, it's a small roundish squash with a tough outer skin in a brilliant red color. The flesh is orange like pumpkin and it's great in curry because of the autumny color! My curry is packed with all kinds of veggies (and ground turkey) like broccoli, celery, onion, carrots, and sometimes mushrooms and potatoes. You can pack it over rice or just straight, like I did here, in the LunchBots Thermal Food Container. I packed a side box with beautiful cara cara oranges (also called red navel in my market) and watermelon balls. I also packed this cute Light My Fire combo spoon fork because it's MisterMan's favorite. It even has a serrated edge for cutting. How cute! Happy Start of Fall!

Soba Salad Round Bento

Cold soba salad is typically a warm weather food, and I know it's late September - the first day of Fall, in fact - but it still feels like summer around here. And I just realized I forgot to make soba salad at all this past summer -- so here it is! I used cha soba (it looks pale green and has a faint tea flavor), and topped with chopped romaine (my favorite salad green these days), julienned carrots and cucumbers, sliced grape tomatoes, and char siu. Sprinkled with sesame seeds and packed with a little soy-ginger dressing in the little yellow container this bento is ready to eat. I actually put the dressing container in the main part on top of the soba -- the top tier presses down on it just enough to keep it from moving around and spilled open. And if it does spill, it will spill on the salad. Top tier holds sliced plum and a few strawberries. All very refreshing on a warm summery day.