Toast Of The Day: Avocado Egg Salad Edamame

Super sunny day here in self quarantine, so a made a sunny toast to reflect my mood: avocado, egg salad, edamame, radish sprouts, cracked black pepper on whole wheat bread. It was good but I will need to make more pickled slaw for next time. 

😊❤🍞🥑🍳🌱

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.

😊❤🍱

Soba Bento

Meatless Thursday over here in our original Lunchbots Duo. The weather has continued in early spring mode, and this bento reflects our sunny mood. I love all the colorful fruit and produce we're seeing in the market lately. All these blood orange wheels are from the same piece of fruit. This variety of citrus is just amazing in its gradations of hue. Have you tried it yet? So pretty for bento!

Enjoy!

Egg Salad Sandwich Snack Bento

While I was going through my extensive bento stash recently, I found a ton of super cute bento boxes that my kids probably think they're too grown-up to use now. That's not what I think. Even though these boxes hold only 350 and 250 ml, I can still fill them with snack bento. And I know they are always excited (hungry) for snack bento between school and afterschool activities!

In TinySprite's big snack box: egg salad on whole wheat bread with pickled cukes and a little romaine for crunch.

In small snack box: grape tomatoes, edamame and mandarins.

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.

First Bento of 2020!

Hello bento peeps; anyone out there?
It's been almost a year since my last post (!) but one of my goals for 2020 is to revisit the blog, revive the inspiration, reinvent the passion, rearrange the way I'm preparing lunch, snacks and meals.
MisterMan is 16 now, and TinySprite is 12 (and taller than me so not so tiny any more) and they are well on their way to developing their own bentomaking skills. But today they both happened to be on school field trips and as I looked at their boxes sitting here at home I thought: I wonder if I still remember how? 🤔

Surprise! I can still put out a couple of good bento lunches. I threw these together in a half hour, using leftovers and stuff already in the fridge. It took way longer for me to remember how to upload the pics and insert the codes😑
But I am determined. I'm bringing bento back😊

Top: TinySprite's bento in stainless steel box, similar to this one.
Bottom: MisterMan's glass Pure Bento from Smart Planet Home.

Happy Easter Baby Chick Bento! 🐣🐰

It's not Easter yet, but one of my kids is already on school break. The other one's break is the week after Easter. Seems so late! How about your kids?

So anyway, here's my bento for the occasion. Had to make the baby chick egg, of course! If you do this, try to keep the yolk in the center. It really makes the carving much easier! My yolks were way off center so it was hard to cut neatly through so much white. In fact, the yolk was so low in the first egg I tried that I didn't even reach it at all -_-

Inside our Ecolunchbox Solo Cube: ham-spinach-tomato-enoki-furikake rice onigirazu, Okinawan sweet potato cherry blossoms, sweet baby peppers stuffed with edamame, tomato and berries.

Inside the Eco Dipper: soba, lettuce, hard boiled egg.

Happy Easter, friends!

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!

Banana Peanut Butter Pita Pals Bento!

Since using these tiny miniature pita breads (in this previous bento), I wanted to see how they would fare with peanut butter filling. Since TinySprite loves bananas, and I never use them in bento, I sliced some up and put them in too. They begged for faces, so that's what they got! This was an at-home snack bento, but if I were to send it to school I might replace the nut butter with sunflower seed butter, and maybe flatten the banana slice to make a kind of "seal" for the pita pocket. I added blood oranges, watermelon balls, blueberries and edamame in tiny silicone cups, and filled in the rest of the spaces with carrots. She thought it was pretty fun to eat!

In other news, I wanted to let you know that last week, my Kitty Has A Fish bento (that I posted here) won second prize in a contest sponsored by the Japan General Consulate in Los Angeles. There was a reception and presentation of certificates, and the 10 winning entries will be displayed in an exhibition at the Japan Foundation until March 28th, 2015. It is an honor to have been selected in the top 10 from among so many cute entries! If you would like to see the list of all ten winners, it is shown here: 

Year Of The Sheep Bento!

Gung Hee Fat Choy! The Lunar New Year begins tomorrow, and it will be the Year of the Sheep. To celebrate, I made a sheep riceball with rolled ham horns to accompany the gyoza (see my gyoza method here) for TinySprite. She also gets Okinawan sweet potato, grape tomatoes, edamame skewers, and a carrot. She'll also take an orange, which signifies good luck. The firecracker craft is one she made in school. Happy Chinese (Lunar) New Year!

Added to What's For Lunch.

Kitty Has a Fish Sandwich Bento!

Today I made a pair of cute mini sandwiches for TinySprite using my kitty and fish cutters. Each mini sandwich is a triple-decker spread with sunflower seed butter (no nut butters are allowed at school) and raspberry jam. I cut matching shapes from cheddar and mozzarella cheese to decorate the tops of the sandwiches, using nori for the facial features and cucumber for the scales. I also discovered my tulip cutter doubles as kitty paws. Score! The rest of the bento contains: steamed broccoli, edamame, purple Okinawan sweet potato, strawberries, and grape tomatoes (underneath). 

I packed everything pretty tightly in this stainless steel box I bought ages ago at Palama Market, a Korean market in Hawaii that also sells lots of different varieties of kimchi. This box used to have a removable divider which got lost years ago, but the box still holds up great. The two latches are secure as ever, and the gasket in the lid keeps it leakproof. The quality is superb. I'd love to get another one, but probably I won't ever need to. ^__^

Little Sistema Spring Salmon Bento

Little Sistema Salmon Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Happy April! I can hardly believe it's the 1st of April already. Next month we'll be done with school. Summer is almost here!! Okay, let's calm ourselves down a bit. There are still quite a few more bento to go before we get to take a summer break, and let's start with this one for TinySprite in our Sistema Bakery Box. It's a good Monday bento which required very little prep since the day before was spent running around, searching for eggs, and enjoying the springy Easter weather without a thought for the next day. I had some wild salmon in the freezer, which took only a few minutes to cook in butter and shoyu, to be packed with a cute floral cup of red rice and furikake, another cup of edamame, a fresh stash of pickled veggies, more Moloka'i Okinawan sweet potatoes, and the sweetest EVER organic farmers market strawberries. They are smallish in size and oddly shaped, but the flavor burst when you bite into them will bring tears to your eyes. The vendor actually guarantees you'll be back for his berries because they're the best. He's quite the salesman, but he's right. I'm definitely going back next week. Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

Shamrock Pepper Fried Rice St. Patrick's Day Bento

Shamrock Pepper Fried Rice Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Here's my contribution to St. Patty's Day, since it falls on Sunday and this will be our last bento before then. A four-leaf clover! Can we call it a shamrock if it has more than three leaves? My pepper happened to be four-lobed, so this is the shape we're going with. I fried a beaten egg inside the pepper ring, and then sprinkled some chopped spinach on top. It sits atop a bed of fried rice mixed with ham, edamame, egg and shoyu. I make sure to cook the pepper ring egg thoroughly, as it's not safe to pack uncooked egg for extended periods at warm temps. Alongside the lucky rice: cantaloupe chunks, and pickled cucumbers and onions. Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Bratwurst with Apples 'n Peppers LunchBots Bento

Bratwurst with Apples 'n Peppers LunchBots Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

This one is another selection of little bites for TinySprite, this time in the super cool LunchBots Clicks series. This is the small set, which includes one stainless steel rectangular container with a 320ml capacity, and another one with a 480ml capacity. As you know, I am a huge fan of the other LunchBots, and I use the Uno, Duo, Trio and Quad regularly. I was very excited to see the company come out with a set like this: the same high quality sturdy stainless steel body but with a tight-sealing, gasketed lid. The lids click closed on all four sides similar to the way the Lock & Lock boxes work. The lids are made of translucent blue plastic and are completely leakproof! That's right -- your food stays in contact with stainless steel but is safely protected from spillage through tossing, dropping and inversion! I don't know about you, but this is just about as close to perfect as I can imagine. Besides this small set, there's also a medium size for adults or bigger appetites, and even a large set that would be great for picnics or roadtrips. How versatile is that? I'm very impressed.
For this meal I quickly grilled some brats alongside some sweet peppers/chopped apples/celery for the bigger box and layered some sliced stone fruit, berries and edamame for the smaller box. I think the amount of food here is perfect for my kindergartner's lunch and snack, plus she can manage the click-locking lids easily by herself. Total win!

Hello Kitty Onigiri Bento!

Hello Kitty Onigiri Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

This bento is one I made for myself, and it was also meant to be my entry for the annual Bento & Co contest. The theme was onigiri, so I made two Hello Kitty mini-onigiri using my mold. I decorated their faces with nori, corn, and radish bows. I think this is the first time I've used this mini-onigiri mold, which was a gift from a dear friend. It's so cute! I added some oven-baked mochiko chicken pieces to the side, and then squeezed in some sweet fresh steamed corn off the cob, edamame, broccoli, carrots, and grape tomatoes. The second tier contains cherries, a homegrown apricot, raspberries, white peach, strawberries, blueberries and a few slices of steamed Okinawan sweet potato. I think I represented just about all the rainbow colors in this one! I packed it all inside my favorite stainless steel boxes. Each comes with its own gasketed lid, which don't have latches but which will stay leaktight if bound with elastic. You can use only one oblong box if you like, or stack two together and bind them with one larger band, which is what I did. There were 237 entries to the contest this year, and sadly I didn't make the final 10. But you can click over to see the ones that did, and cast a vote for the one you like the best (you have until Monday, July 16th). There are some unbelievably beautiful bento crafted by folks from all over the world; I was amazed and so inspired! Contests like these just go to show you how widespread the bento culture has become, and it's heartwarming to see all the healthy, delicious bento created by people influenced by this meal tradition from Japan. Very cool^_^

Spinach Gyoza Bento

Spinach Gyoza Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Gyoooooza! I found spinach wrappers in the grocery so I had to make gyoza. I think the green color is pretty cool-looking. I used ground turkey meat and added chopped scallions and choy mixed in to make the filling. This double stainless steel box set I got from Bento & Co comes in handy for this kind of bento. I placed as many gyoza as could fit into one box, atop a bed of shredded cabbage, and in the other box I packed the usual fruit (cara cara oranges, strawberry, blackberries, tomato) and vegetables (broccoli, carrots, and edamame). We have a glut of cara cara oranges around here; I can get a net bag of about 12 oranges for 99c. As a result, they make an appearance in daily bento, at breakfast, and in my midday smoothie. I love their ruby pink color, and they are sweet and juicy. Score!

Pretty Quinoa Salad Bento Bowls

Pretty Preschool Quinoa Salad Bento Bowl, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

This is the third meatless bento so far this week. Wow! I didn't plan for us to go meatless this long but decided we could try it and see how it felt. So far I haven't heard any complaints at all. Today's bento was inspired by a recipe I saw over the Christmas break which looked like bibimbap to me, or a kind of somen salad. It's actually a red quinoa salad, topped with wilted spinach, parboiled carrots, edamame, cucumber strips, wakame and fried egg. I packed along a little cup of vinaigrette dressing for them to pour over right before they eat. The top tiers contain fruit: oranges, strawberry, blackberries and cherries. I'm showing both kids' bento because they're so pretty. Fresh and colorful, almost like a warm weather cold salad. I really will start making more hearty bento meals, but the weather has been so mild and warm lately that I just haven't thought of it. They haven't even been wearing jackets when I pick them up. How's winter where you are?

Ninja Snowman Snack Bento

Ninja Snowman Snack Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

This one is a snack bento for TinySprite, to keep her busy after school while her brother finishes his homework. He has a biography due, and he's chosen Leonardo da Vinci. What an interesting person! But back to the bento. I squeezed a chicken egg into a snowman shape and decorated it with nori as a ninja. He's wearing a red pepper and cheese Santa hat for the occasion, but I bet he's not too happy about it. The rest of the bento contains carrots, edamame, cucumbers, Okinawan sweet potatoes, orange chunks, a blackberry and a crabapple. It should be just enough to keep her occupied (and quiet) for a half hour or so. ^_^

Smoked Salmon Rollups Bento

Smoked Salmon Rollups Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Today I'm posting TinySprite's bento for her last day at her current preschool. In July she'll switch to another school for the summer program and continue into the fall for the pre-K program there. She requested rollups, so that's what I made. There is smoked salmon, cream cheese and arugula wrapped in corn tortillas. Alongside there's a tiny cup of edamame, some carrots and broccoli, and a few slices of Okinawan sweet potato. In the top tier she has some fruit arranged into a bear's face: oranges, cherries, blackberries, grapes and strawberries. When I picked her up, she had barely touched her bento. It turns out she had been busy passing out almond cookies to her classmates and hugging them, and reporting to everyone that she'll be going to "Garrett's School" (her buddy that lives down the street) now. It was sweet. Everyone yelled "Bye!!" as we walked out. She's a very sociable girl, and while she had made several close friendships at this school, she wasn't worried about losing them or missing them too much. She is very excited about the new school though. When we got home, she made sure to sit down and finish her bento, which she really loved. She only had me to chat with, so she was able to chow down her meal pretty quickly ^_^
I am submitting this bento to the twitter group #bentocuteness, with a roundup being posted by Yuri (@chefpandita) at her site. As soon as the site goes live, I'll link to it here so you can see all the other participants. Since I was invited based on a panda bento, I thought I would enter a panda bento box -- one of my favorites. Thanks for inviting me Yuri, and I'm looking forward to seeing all the other bentos from around the world ^_^
*ETA: The BentoCuteness Roundup has gone live! Here is Chef Pandita's post of all the cute bentos. Take a look and enjoy :D

Summer Sushi Bento

Summer Sushi Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Our summer sunshine came back today, which put us in the mood for some cool food. I hadn't made sushi for awhile, and I have the perfect bento box for it, so I decided to make a roll for MisterMan. His has krab, cucumber and omelet, plus furikake, inside. One roll fits just about exactly on each side of this cute 2-roll box, but I elected to pack the other side with broccoli, Rainier cherries, blackberries, a little strawberry, carrots, and the delicious Flavor Rosa pluots. This variety is my favorite pluot this season. The flesh (like the skin) is dark red - almost black - and it's extremely juicy and sweet. I've seen my favorite variety from last year (Dapple Dandy) but the batch I got wasn't quite sweet enough. Maybe they'll come through later in the season. I added some edamame in the little side section that's meant to contain either wasabi or ginger, and I packed it all up with a pair of chopsticks in the center slot. Cute, right? The lid (which I forgot to show) is even domed to accomodate the cylindrical sushi. I also have one half this size, which holds one roll and one pair of chopsticks. So handy ^_^