Char Siu Fried Rice Panda Donburi Bento Bowl

Char Siu Fried Rice Panda Donburi Bento Bowl, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Welcome to November! The passing of Halloween signifies the beginning of the hectic holidays which seem to take over the next two months. Are you ready? We are starting the month with a rice bowl. This one contains sliced deli char siu atop homemade fried red rice with egg and shiitake mushrooms, steamed baby bok choy, and sprinkled with scallions. TinySprite loves this kind of donburi, and it's easy to pack in her little cute panda bento bowl. The top tier holds a few strawberries, and assorted pickled veggies, including baby orange bell peppers. I'm hoping I can sail as easily through the rest of the season...

Tacorice Bento Bowl

Tacorice Bento Bowl, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

You know that tacorice is convenient for bento (donburi rice bowl-type bento), is easy to make, easy to eat, and delicious, but did you know it's also a great gluten-free tortilla-less version (in case you're concerned about that)? Yes, it's true. For this bento I put a green lettuce leaf in the bottom, followed by a scoop of rice (it happened to be black rice, but you can use white or brown rice as well), then topped with taco-seasoned ground meat of your choice, shredded cheese, chopped onion, tomatoes, and cilantro. You can also add sour cream and sliced avocado if you so desire. I love this bowl type of bento; if I were making my own bento, I'd definitely make myself this type of bento very often. The cool thing about this apple bowl is that it comes with a top tier that sits loosely over the bottom section. I arranged some grapes and plum wedges in there, and screwed the lid on. It's not a watertight box, but that's not essential for this kind of food. We're closing out the week, and I have yet to make a Halloween bento...ooops! Next week. I think. ^_^