Vegetarian Spices LunchBots Bento

Vegetarian Spices LunchBots Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

So today we are starting a week of unseasonally warm temperatures over here in the Bay Area; today was predicted to be the warmest, and it reached the upper 70s in my 'hood. It was a fantastic harbinger of summer! I decided I wanted to not-cook tonight, and just have salads, in honor of the heat and also the fact that it's Earth Day. I almost did no cooking, but I did griddle up some veggies to go with the chickpea salad. It didn't take long, though. I sliced some eggplant, zucchini, shallots, tomatoes and garlic, and fried in olive oil until tender. I drizzled honey and sprinkled oregano to taste -- very simple. The chickpea salad is simply fork-mashed chickpeas tossed with sliced onion, cilantro, cumin, lemon, salt and pepper. The next section has grated carrot and beet salad (tossed with cider vinegar, pomegranate juice, a sprinkling of ground ginger, salt and pepper), beside the pickled cucumbers, daikon, baby turnips and kumquats. I also added pickled red onion since she likes that. Some fresh farmers market strawberries and a little sprig of broccoli for color round out this fresh vegetarian bento for TinySprite. Happy Earth Day!

Chickpea Cauliflower Curry LunchBot Bento

Chickpea Cauliflower Curry Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

I decided to make a vegetarian dry curry today, using a recipe that called for simply tossing chopped vegetables with olive oil, curry powder and brown sugar, then roasting the whole thing in a baking pan at 400F until tender and fragrant, about 30 minutes. I used diced eggplant, onion, red capsicum, cauliflower, potatoes and chickpeas. It's a nice mild flavor that the kids can handle, and a good way to get them to eat eggplant. I served it over some fresh spinach leaves in their bento, but it's good over hot rice as well. It's on the dry side, which makes it idea for bento, with no thick sauce to drip all over everything. This Lunchbot Quad keeps the curry separate from the rest of the food, which includes: carrots, corn, Okinawan sweet potato and broccoli; strawberries and raspberries; and pluots and blueberries. I thought this was a pretty big meal for my kindergartner, and I was pleased that she was able to finish it all. Score!