Salmon Hash ECOlunchboxes Bento

Today because I happened to have potatoes, I decided to make salmon hash instead of the usual broiled teriyaki or furikake method. I made a kind of pistou with parsley and broccoli, with garlic and olive oil, to go with it. I also added some yuzu too. It was pretty good. A hash is nice because you cook it all in one pan, and you can add whatever extra veggies you have. I had some kuri squash so I diced it along with broccoli stalks and onions. It would have been good with sweet peppers too. This ECOlunchbox Oval comes with a separate container for the nectarine and grapes, so they stay out of the salmon. So handy and practical!

Cold Penne Pasta Salad

Looks like we're on a cold noodle salad roll over here. I really don't know why it didn't occur to me to make pasta salads ALL SUMMER long, but the idea is now in my head. This one doesn't have a sauce, but gets all its flavor from the diced garlicky chicken sausage, roasted red peppers, and pickled onions. I parboiled broccoli that I had chopped finely and tossed that in too, because you know me, I gotta have some green in there. I loosely used a Serious Eats recipe for Spanish Pasta Salad but adapted some ingredients because it was more convenient. It still tastes good!

Spanish Pasta Salad With Chorizo, Piquillo Peppers, and Pickled Onion

(from Serious Eats recipe)

1/2 medium yellow onion, finely diced (about 1/2 cup)

1/4 cup sherry vinegar

1 pound small pasta, such as macaroni (I used penne because I like the color of this carrot version)

Kosher salt

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling

6 ounces Spanish chorizo (about 2 sausages), diced (I used chicken garlic sausage)

4 medium cloves garlic, minced (about 4 teaspoons)

1/4 cup chopped roasted or grilled piquillo peppers from 1 (12-ounce) brine- or oil-packed jar (I used roasted red peppers)

1/3 cup chopped parsley leaves and tender stems (about 1/2 bunch)

2 scallions, thinly sliced on the bias

2 to 3 teaspoons zest from 1 lemon

Freshly ground black pepper

1. In a small mixing bowl, cover onion with sherry vinegar and let stand until lightly pickled, at least 15 minutes and up to 1 hour.
2. In a pot of salted boiling water, cook pasta until very tender throughout, 2 to 3 minutes longer than al dente stage according to package. Drain in a colander, then chill under cold running water. Let drain well, then drizzle lightly with olive oil and toss to coat. Set aside.
3. In a small skillet, cook chorizo over medium-high heat until fat has rendered and chorizo is crisp, about 8 minutes; during last 1 minute of cooking, stir in garlic.
4. In a large serving bowl, toss pasta with chorizo, garlic, and its rendered fat, along with olive oil, piquillo peppers, parsley, scallions, and lemon zest. Drain onions and toss into salad. Season with salt and pepper. Serve right away at room temperature or make up to 1 day in advance, refrigerate, and return to room temperature before serving. 

The rest of the bento contains sliced plums and white nectarines, as well as a grape tomato. I hope TinySprite enjoys her Paperchase lunch box bento!

Spider Egg Halloween LunchBots Clicks Bento

Spider Egg Halloween LunchBots Clicks Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

No-cook bento alert! Actually, this bento contains leftover soy chicken (stripped off the drumsticks), black rice, and steamed broccoli from a couple days ago. I added a hard-boiled egg for extra protein, and little rice sticks make a white spider. What do you mean you don't see a spider? Trust me! A happy face means: non-spooky! The smaller LunchBots Clicks box holds sliced nectarines, grapes, strawberries, and steamed purple sweet potato. We're still keeping up the spidery Halloween theme. How much longer can I go? Let's see...

Halloween Spider Calzone Bento

Halloween Spider Calzone Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

It's October people! And you know what that means... Halloween is just around the corner! I've always found Halloween bento to be the most fun to make. I have more from this holiday than any other (even Christmas) for some reason. And why not, when there's so much you can do with the theme. Let's start with a spider. You can make a cute spider, did you know that? The calzone contains the usual: cheese, pepperoni, spinach and mushroom. I put TinySprite's in a box with some homegrown lettuce, and added some sliced nectarine, grapes and strawberries on the side (so he doesn't get soggy). MisterMan got his in the compartmentalized Sistema box, which works equally as well for this kind of food. Happy Halloween!

Herby Chicken LunchBot Bento

Herby Chicken LunchBot Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

When I need an easy standby, and we already had shoyu chicken, this one usually fills the bill. TinySprite especially loves this chicken. It's broiled with olive oil and a toss of Provencal herbs, and mixed in the pan with halved baby potatoes. It's a one dish meal, and there's always extra for bento. I steam some broccoli alongside so the kids can wipe the plates with it. There's also steamed corn off the cob, the usual pickled cucumbers, cubed nectarines and grapes. All packed in the LunchBot Trio. Happy Monday!

Gyoza EcoLunchBox Solo Bento

Gyoza EcoLunchBox Solo Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

It's gyoza day! This is always a hit with the kids, guaranteed. And I know traditionally you don't add extra minced choy or spinach, but in my house you do! And you don't even hear any complaints about it because gyoza is so much fun to eat! I used a mixture of ground pork and turkey, and also added green onion, shoyu and sesame oil. You can send along a little container of dipping sauce (or not). I packed these in our EcoLunchBox Solo Cube atop a few garden lettuce leaves and golden (and cherry) tomatoes. The little side Dipper holds just the right amount of sliced nectarines, grapes, and a strawberry. Yummy!

Mama Loves Her Bunnies Bento

Mama Loves Her Bunnies Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

It's Mother's Day this Sunday, so I'm sending my kids to school with a reminder of how much I love them. I can still give them both a big squeeze just like this, which I love to do! Even though they are 9 and 6, and growing bigger every day, I'm going to keep squeezing them. Every chance I get. I made TinySprite a calzone with spinach, mushroom and cheese, her favorite. A little broccoli and pea pods fill in the spaces, along with the usual pickled onions, strawberries, carrots and nectarines. How will you celebrate the mothers in your life? Happy Mother's Day!

I Love Watermelon (Radish)! Bento

I Love Watermelon (Radish)! Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

You can't see the burger in the photo, but I tried a new meatless recipe. It consists of about a cup of roasted sweet potato, a cup of brown rice / barley, and a cup or two of black beans, processed along with sauteed onions, garlic, cumin, and Worchestershire sauce to taste. The patties stuck together pretty well, which often is not the case (in my experience) with bean burgers. I melted cheese and served with tomato slices next to a side of cabbage / onion / carrot slaw tossed with vinegar, shoyu and a bit of superfine sugar. The last section of the LunchBots Trio contains the miniature spring selection of fruit at my farmers market: strawberries, apricot and nectarine. We have watermelon too, but the cheddar bear is actually enjoying a slice of watermelon radish. Those are good too, even if they're not quite as sweet!

Rubber Ducky Curry Bento

Rubber Ducky Curry Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Packing some curry today (see the recipe I used here). I made it a lot more "soupy" than the recipe calls for, because I like it that way. TinySprite's Hello Kitty thermal food jar is topped with a handcut yellow capsicum "rubber ducky" taking a swim. The side box holds: a perfectly sweet and unblemished organic (tiny) apricot, sliced nectarines, baby strawberries, a steamed Okinawan sweet potato, and some pickled stuff. The weather's been cooling down a bit (a bit; down to the upper 60s), so this warm bento should be welcome!

Angel Hair Mushroom Saute Bento

Angel Hair Mushroom Saute Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

This one involved cooking, but only very minimally, which made it an easy Monday meal. I sauteed a variety of mushrooms (crimini, beech and enoki) in butter and some olive oil until softened, along with minced shallot and garlic. Salt and peppered to taste, parsleyed, and grated some aged manchego into the pan with the heat turned off. Tossed the cooked angel hair into the pan with the mushroom sauce, and it was done. And the kids gobbled it up! I packed some for MisterMan's bento, topped with some dark-skinned purple sweet potato which I found locally. He also gets the first baby nectarines I've seen at the market this year, baby strawberries, and fresh pickled cukes, kumquats, and watermelon radish. Happy Monday!

Gluten-Free Gyoza Bento and Method

Gluten-Free Gyoza Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Today's bento contains homemade gluten-free gyoza. Really!

Ever since deciding to try a gluten-free diet for TinySprite nearly 6 weeks ago, I've been trying to come up with alternatives to all our favorite wheaty foods. So far I've been successful with cookies and breads, but I was worried about gyoza. You see, we love gyoza. And wonton too. But how are we going to make them gluten-free? Well, luckily I'm not the first one to wonder this. I decided to use Andrea Nguyen's recipe and method for making them with mochiko, tapioca and millet. She made it seem easy enough, and even noted that they tasted great! Well, it was hard! Hard for a non-dough-expert like me, anyway. I'm not a fan of rolling and cutting out dough, but for gyoza I'll do it. And if I can do it, so can you!

Nguyen's Recipe for Gluten-Free Basic Dumpling Dough

3 3/8 ounces (3/4 cup) tapioca starch
3 3/8 ounces (3/4 cup) millet flour
4 3/8 ounces (3/4 cup) Mochiko Blue Star Brand glutinous (sweet) rice flour
2 teaspoons xantham gum
3/4 cup just-boiled water plus 1 to 2 tablespoons cold water

I simply mixed everything up and formed a wettish lump of dough.












I pulled off balls about the size of golf balls.














Flattened them with my fingers.

Rolled them out with a wooden dowel and cut out circles that I thought would be big enough. They turned out to be a bit bigger than standard sized wrappers, but she cautioned that this dough doesn't really stretch and give, so I wanted to make sure I could fill them sufficiently without them tearing.

This recipe made about 24 wrappers, but mine were a bit thick since (as mentioned) I was concerned about tearing. In fact, they look like tortillas, don't they?

I filled the gyoza wrappers as usual, placing a teaspoonful (or so) of pork and scallion mixture, then folded into a half-circle. The edges do not glue together like regular skins, but must be pinched together like dough. I was able to make pretty good pleats and close off the edges. These are ready to go into the pan.

Yes, they turned out to be a bit thick, but making them bigger was a good move since I could fill them pretty heftily. I pan-fried and steamed them as usual. They developed a crispy bottom and soft tops, and held up pretty well! The wrapper was a bit chewier than the normal wheat wrappers, but not in an unpleasant way. Otherwise, they tasted great! TinySprite loved them! I ended up making the wrappers on one day, storing them in a sealed container in the fridge overnight, then filling them the next day after bringing them back to room temperature. This is due to the fact that the wrapper-making was a bit time-consuming. The wrappers stored just fine, staying soft and pliable without drying out. I'd consider this recipe a success and would definitely make them again!