Black Bean Burger Cheddar Jack Bento

Black Bean Burger Cheddar Jack Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Counting down the final hours before Halloween... so I guess I can fit in at least a couple more. This one has two black bean / black rice burger patties on lettuce (protein style) with a melted cheddar jack-o-lantern on top. I used the method I described here, based on the original garbanzo bean recipe I used here. I put some ketchup in the little green container, and added some blackberries, corn, carrots and a strawberry to round out the meal. If you haven't entered to win an EcoLunchboxes bento set here yet, you can take a look at the giveaway post here. You have until the stroke of midnight tomorrow.... oooo.... before I close the comment entries. I just read through the comments, and some of you have some clever ideas on how to reuse and recycle; I'm impressed! Enjoy your Halloween eve!

Jack-O-Pepper Field Trip Bento

Jack-o-pepper Field Trip Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Here's a quickie, and my first Halloween bento of the year. It makes use of the very handy mini sweet pepper as a carvable cutie. I posted a tutorial here. All you need is a smallish, sharp knife and some steady hands. The rest of the bento is composed of TinySprite's favorite summer rolls (a nice finger food that requires no disposable utensils on the road) -- these contain pickled cabbage, lettuce, and boiled chicken. There're also some strawberries, carrots and broccoli, and a little recycled fruit cup container of grapes (not olives). Funnily enough, she actually brought that home because she wanted me to use it again. ^_^

Flatbread Pizza and Jacks Bento

Flatbread Pizza Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Yes, I know we just had flatbread pizza like, 2 weeks ago, because I see it in my flickr photostream there. Actually, we've had it even more recently than that for dinner. Okay, we probably have pizza and calzones every week. The kids clamor for it, and they love it, and it's so easy. I'm thinking we should have been doing this all summer, in fact. Today's version is meatless. We used zucchini, baby portobella mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, mozzarella and basil. I added steamed corn and broccoli, a bat-shaped Okinawan sweet potato, pluots, strawberry, and carved orange cherry tomatoes. I carved these tomatoes into jack-o-lanterns for our twitter tomato party, and decided to use them in the bento here for festive fun. Is it too early for jack-o-lanterns and Halloween decorations? Last year I was on a mission to carve as many jack-o-lanterns as I could, from as many orange foods that I could find. You can see the collection in my set here. (I also did it in 2009, here.) I discovered there are quite a few orange colored foods that can be carved. Should I continue the tradition? ^_^

I've been asked: how did I carve the tiny tomato?

With a tiny knife.

Here's a tutorial I made showing how I carved a mini sweet pepper. The technique is basically the same for, well, all the little foods I carve into jack-o-lanterns. ^_^

Sushi and Jack O'Egg Bento

Sushi and Jack O'Egg Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

These two bento are from last Friday; I was too lazy to post them then so I'm posting now. It works out great because today's bento were purchased banh mi sandwiches which weren't really worth posting. I didn't even take any pictures of them. Last Friday I made sardine furikake and used it to make these sushi rolls. I also added sliced cucumber as well. MisterMan's bento had a full-size roll plus a hard-boiled egg carved into a jack-o-lantern. It kinda looks like a ghost pumpkin, don't you think? There are carrots, strawberry and grapes as well. I added a little container of shoyu and packed them into my new nesting frog boxes.

TinySprite's bento has the same sushi but I made mini rolls for her. She also got a cup of broccoli florets that I had sauteed with shallots and toasted walnuts. I rounded out her bento with grapes, carrots, a crabapple and a golden cherry tomato. I noticed during her first two days of preschool she didn't have much appetite for her bento, and brought the leftovers to finish at home. Well, on Friday I let her stay until the end of the lunch period, and sure enough, she finished the whole thing. I'm glad, because this bento looks pretty small to me, compared to what she usually eats at home. I'm thinking that she's been distracted by the kids and the novelty of school, and when things get more settled she'll have more of an appetite again.

Chicken and Jack o'Tangerine Bento and Hello Kitty Egg Preschool Bento

Chicken and Jack o'Tangerine Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

For MisterMan: Chicken drummettes, steamed broccoli, corn on the cob and carrot sticks for lunch today. Fruits were strawberries, grapes and a glowing jack-o-tangerine.

For TinySprite: Boiled egg decorated as Hello Kitty with radish ears and rice stick whiskers, nori eyes and corn nose. Corn on the cob, steamed broccoli, carrot sticks and gold cherry tomato. Strawberry and grapes.
Seems like hers is a miniature version of his, doesn't it? I think I got this double bento thing down! This bento seems very small for her lunch, but she hasn't been hungry lately. Maybe she's too excited. I picked her up during lunchtime and she hadn't finished the corn so she ate that when we got home. She is quite busy with the talking and gesturing during lunch, I noticed. It's a wonder she has any time to get any eating done at all. Sigh.

Chili Jack O'Cheese Bento and TinySprite's 1st Day of Preschool Bento!

Chili and "Jack" Cheese Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Today MisterMan has chili and rice, with a jack-o-lantern cheddar cheese topper. I could have melted it in, but I left it "raw" and he ate it. Yay! I also roasted some cherry and pear tomatoes in olive oil and garlic and put them in a silicone cup. For fruit he got strawberries and grapes. The rest of the gaps I filled with carved carrots, steamed broccoli, and peapods. Everything fit snugly in this EcoLunchbox. I love the separate lidded container it comes with; you may have noticed I usually use it for things like chili and other gravy- or sauce-type foods. I've also used it for yogurt or cottage cheese with fruit topping.

I'm including TinySprite's first preschool bento here too. It contains tortilla rollups with ham, cheese and spinach, carrots, a strawberry, grapes and orange melon. It was her very first day today, and she did great! They had a lot of fun, went on a walking field trip, picked apples and tomatoes, and she even made a bff. The teacher told me I'd hear all about her new best friend, since they spent a lot of time chatting and playing together. I picked her up during lunchtime, and watched her interact with the other kids. Sure enough, she was so distracted talking with them that she didn't finish. I was a little disappointed about that, but figured she could finish the rest at home. Well, this is what happened when she sat down to finish:

At first I thought she was just thinking, but then I saw this:

Guess she was pretty worn out!

Jack-O-Lantern Musubi Bento

Jack-O-Lantern Musubi Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

I have made lots of Halloween themed bento so far this season, and I think this one is my favorite. I don't usually make onigiri because my boy doesn't love rice all that much. I think he would rather have something more interesting! But I really wanted to try to make a pumpkin riceball. Now I see why so many people like to make riceball kyaraben; their chubby faces are so cute! So I am pleased with how the "carved" pumpkin turned out, and I think the little floral touches add some charm to this otherwise "plain" bento :)

MisterMan has fish / lettuce "tacos" with homemade tartar sauce in container underneath. Roasted supersweet mini red pepper and red cherry tomato add color. Carrot rice Jack-o-lantern. Satsumaimo and Okinawan sweet potato flowers.

Fruit side has late season peaches, blackberries (kind of tart!) and black grapes.

A Bunch of Halloween Bento!

I have embarked on a mission to include a carved jack-o-lantern of some kind in each of my son's bento until Halloween! I know what you're thinking: huh? why?

Hmm. I don't know.

Because it's fun? For this one I made a cucumber witch too, with rotini pasta hair. The jack is made from an orange cherry tomato. There's also a skewer of multicolored carrots, and some watermelon radish.

Here I made chicken, and the jack is a tiny carrot disc. The fruit side has yellow plum and tiny sugar plum, with sweet kiwi and carrot/sweet potato detail.

This one had banh mi (Vietnamese sandwiches), and the side box has romanesco, fruits, and a plum carved jack-o-lantern!

And finally, a ravioli bento with sweet potato jack. Did it feel like Jack overload? Putting them all in a single post kind of makes me look obsessed...but really I'm just very festive. Really! Wait til you see the post of the bento from this coming week. Happy Halloween!