Piggie Norimaki Bento

Piggie Norimaki Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Did not feel like cooking anything for bento, so I prepared the quickie backup bento of turkey dog rice and nori rolls. Not technically "sushi" but along those lines. I used a mixed rice (red, white and brown plus quinoa) for these rolls. After cutting into bite-size pieces, I decided to add little piggie faces to them, pink as they are. The rest of the bento contains the usual carrots, peapods, steamed broccoli and Okinawan sweet potato, strawberry, blackberries and lychee. Yes, lychee! I spied them in the markets here this past week, and I am extremely excited about it. As you can see, they are wonderfully white, juicy and sweet: my favorite fruit of summer. Well, early summer. Until mango season. Heh.

Added to What's For Lunch.

Snail Pals Bento

Snail Pals Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

For MisterMan's bento today I decided to use the split pea / jade rice combo I cooked. I was hoping to end up with really green rice, but the color faded and I was left with slightly pale green pea rice. I made sushi rolls and cut two pieces for snail bodies. Too bad you can't see the nori spiral, but it's very cute. For the snail heads I steamed and cut a tiny baby potato in half, and added nori details. They are snuggling with some baby carrots.

Are you wondering what that red food is on top? It's yet another recipe from The 10 Things You Need To Eat (Lieberman and O'Connor) called Beet and Zucchini "Lasagne", although there're actually no lasagne noodles involved. It's pretty good, and a good way for the family to get a heaping dose of both vitamin C and iron. Here's the quick rundown:

Beet & Zucchini "Lasagne"

-Brown 1 lb. ground meat, season with s/p.
-Add oregano, minced garlic, and one 16 oz can of crushed tomatoes. Cook 15 min, then set aside.
-Combine 1 1/2 cups ricotta cheese with 1/8 t freshly grated nutmeg.
-In a glass baking dish approx. 7x11 inches, spread a layer of meat sauce on the bottom.
-Follow with a layer of beets (2 lbs worth, boiled, peeled and sliced 1/8 inch thick).
-Then a layer of zucchini (3 pieces, peeled lengthwise into ribbons down to the seeds).
-Then spread the ricotta mixture.
-Repeat the layering, ending with beets and zucchini.
-Top with 2 cups grated mozzarella, then bake for 30min at 375F until brown and bubbly on top.
What you end up with is a juicy meat and veggie lasagne, with the beet juice soaking into everything and making it sweet and tasty. I love beets, so it was naturally delicious to me. But the kids aren't necessarily beet fans, so I was happy that they dug in and got their fill of vitamins! For this bento, I cut small pieces for ease of eating. In the fruit section I put some sliced Cara Cara oranges and red grapes. We have been eating lots of the Cara Caras; I love their dark orange-red color and I'm so glad they're in such abundance here. My local market sells them for 25c each. :D

Finally, a couple pics of my jade / split pea combo, before and after cooking:

Happy Hump Day, bento friends!

Vinegar Chicken and Rice Bento

Vinegar Chicken and Rice Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.
A simple yet brightly colorful bento lunch for my boy. Red wine vinegar chicken (recipe from maki at JustBento.com), 2-color carrot skewer, roasted tomato & artichoke with feta, brown rice makizushi with 2 color sweet potato detail, peapods and a tiny yellow pear garden tomato balloon. Fruit side has dinosaur egg plum, black grapes and blackberry.
If you ever find yourself out of ideas to beautify your bento, perhaps you can take a tip from me: sometimes just a small flower or leaf cutout is enough to draw the eye to a corner and bring a sense of nature and serenity. I will often not take the effort to cut any fancy characters or themes, due to lack of time or energy! But I think the bento still looks nice this way. I also like the contrast of an organized skewer of vegetables amidst the general randomness. You may notice that many of my bento look similar to this one. I think a simple presentation shows a calming kind of respect to the natural beauty of the food. Just my opinion.