Mozza-Stuffed Turkeyballs Bento

Mozza-Stuffed Turkeyballs Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Today's bento contains mozzarella stuffed turkey meatballs (which also include grated zucchini, onion, oats and flax), over pasta and broccolini. To stuff, simply place a cube of mozzarella onto a flattened patty, then add a dab of meat on top and mold it around the cheese until it's completely enclosed. If it's not completely surrounded, you may get some oozing out during cooking. I served it with marinara sauce, but omitted the sauce for TinySprite's bento, as she's not a huge fan of tomato sauce. I decorated with mozzarella sakura flowers, and the rest of the bento contains strawberries, carrots and blackberries. This one was a big hit!

Meatballs Bento

Meatballs Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

TinySprite gets sweet tomato sauce meatballs in her little bento today (see the sauce recipe here). I was able to squeeze four of them in, alongside a piece of sweet corn on the cob topped with an Okinawan sweet potato butterfly cutout. I nestled everything into a lettuce leaf, but naturally she didn't eat it. She's not a big "salad" fan, unlike her brother, unfortunately. The top tier contains carrots, steamed broccoli, cherries, blueberries, a blackberry and sliced dapple dandy pluot. This pluot variety has sweet flesh but tart skin. Have you tried it?

Meatballs and Bunnies Bento

Meatballs and Bunnies Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Chicken meatballs today, in tomato-cider vinegar sauce. This batch is made with ground chicken, oats, shredded zucchini, wheat germ, onion and my experiment: quinoa! I cooked the quinoa separately and added it into the meat mixture before simmering in the tomato sauce. Very tasty! There's also curried lentils with spinach and grape tomatoes in another section, black rice topped with two tofu bunnies and a radish "Easter egg", and the usual fruit portion with strawberry, grapes and kiwi. This 4- sectioned bento box comes in handy for meals like this one, with different flavors I'd like to keep separate. Festive, isn't it?

Bento4Japan is still going strong. Remember, 100% of your donation goes to Japan Disaster Relief. There've been some bids on the origami crane earrings I made (yay!) -- these are lightweight, delicate and feminine. Would you like a chance to win them? A lovely gift for your favorite girl, perhaps? Or yourself ^_^

Pikachu and Bug Meatball Bento

Pikachu Meatball Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

I asked TinySprite what she wanted for dinner yesterday and right away she shouted "Meatballs!" Really? Okay. So I found this recipe for meatballs in a sweet tomato sauce that I thought the kids would like. They were meant to be served as sliders on cute little buns, but I was pretty sure that wasn't gonna happen without meatballs falling out, bread falling apart and general ensuing unhappiness (whining). So we skipped that part. They loved them over rice, though, with the thick sauce gooping all over everything. They both must have eaten 4 or 5 biggish meatballs! I didn't think of it, but next time I'll add shredded zucchini or spinach. Luckily I had a few leftover for bento. I also made cheesy polenta because I think it goes really well with the flavorful tomato sauce, so after placing 3 big meatballs in a lettuce leaf, I freehand cut a Pikachu face from the polenta. I added nori, watermelon radish and carrot details to his face. I snugged him in with some steamed broccoli and raw carrots. Fruit include strawberry, grapes and blood orange.

TinySprite's meatballs are cut in half for ease of eating, and I used a yellow carrot and nori to make a face. There's also a little block of polenta, broccoli and watermelon radish flowers. Her fruit include: cara cara oranges, grapes and strawberry. That's it! If you're interested in the sweet tomato sauce, here's how you make it:

Sweet Tomato Sauce for Meatballs

1 can (15 oz) tomato sauce
1 medium onion, sliced
garlic powder to taste
1/4 C sugar
1/4 C cider vinegar

Heat 1T olive oil in skillet over medium heat. Add onion and cook for 7 minutes, stirring. Add remaining ingredients, and MEATBALLS (use your favorite recipe), and cover. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer 18 minutes or until cooked through, turning halfway. Serve meatballs with onion sauce spooned over. Yummy!

Triple Chickie Meatballs

Triple Chickie Meatballs, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

I made meatballs for this bento, using a mix of ground turkey, oats, onion, and yes -- kale! You're not really surprised, are you? If you keep the container of lightly steamed, chopped kale in the fridge, you yourself might also find lots of fantastically healthy uses for it too. And after bathing the meatballs in homemade barbeque sauce, they tasted yummilicious -- just ask the kiddos :)

Since everyone's putting Easter-y type creatures in their bento, I thought I would make some chicks. Okay, they're brown, but can you use your imagination? I gave them carrot beaks and sweet pea eyes, and used the barbeque sauce to "glue" them on. Also tossed in some roasted baby potatoes -- two kinds: new potatoes and rose fingerlings. I really like these little taters. They crisp up quickly and taste great with just olive oil and garlic powder. Nothing could be easier. A fancy cut carrot, some cherry tomatoes and some steamed broccoli fill in the gaps. In the cup (included with this EcoLunch stainless steel bento) is cottage cheese, triangles of sweet Cara Cara oranges, slivered almonds and wheat germ. This is my last Cara Cara, because even though I bought a whole bag's worth last weekend, the fam has been sucking them down like mad! Should have bought more.

I'm pretty happy with the look of this bento. Even if there's only one flower today!