Salmon, Potatoes and Asparagus LunchBots Bento

Salmon, Potatoes and Asparagus LunchBots Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

I haven't used the LunchBots Clicks in awhile, and I really should because I love them. Not only are they stainless steel, but they come with leak-proof translucent lids. You can see what's inside and there's no chance of anything dripping out. How awsome is that? And they are the perfect size for the kids' lunch bento. Here I've packed TinySprite's omega-3-rich salmon furikake in one box, alongside some roasted baby potatoes sprinkled with garlic powder and pencil asparagus. The other (slightly shallower) box contains sliced peaches, pickled cucumbers and pickled red onions. I think this bento is just about the right amount for my chatty girl. She can manage to get everything eaten and still have time to run around outside with her little pals before settling down for the afternoon session of 1st grade. Did your kids settle back into the routine without problems? I think my girl is having a bit of trouble remembering what it means to sit still and be *quiet* during class time >.<

Balsamic Vinegar Sesame Chicken Lunchbots Bento

Balsamic Vinegar Sesame Chicken Lunchbots Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Chicken and rice, chicken and rice... la la la la laaaa... Is there any more that needs to be said? Well, all right; I'll say a little more. This is the balsamic vinegar sesame recipe I got from Maki at Just Bento, except I used a shoyu substitute and kept it sweeter and less vinegary. I made it before here. It gets divided treatment in this Lunchbots Trio, in a bed of lettuce by itself, next to a cup of furikake rice, homegrown cherry sunsugar tomatoes, and steamed Okinawan sweet potatoes. Peaches and berries round out this plain jane basic lunch bento. I've resolved to start with the Halloween bento next week. For sure I'll be able to get in at least a week of spooky scary creepy bento! Or at least a few cute jack-o-lantern ones. Those are my favorite!

Chicken Rice Wraps Monbento

Chicken Rice Wraps Monbento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Today's bento is packed in the gorgeous Monbento Original bento box. This company has only a few products in its line, but this particular box comes in a rainbow of colors, with a multitude of colorful accessories to go with it. It's a beautiful, substantial piece of lunchware. I never would have considered getting one of these fancy bento boxes for my kids, but the generous folks at Monbento offered to send me one to try out. How nice! The first thing I realized is that this two-tiered box is BIG. The company says it holds 4 cups, which is nearly twice what you might need for a school age kid. It'd be nice for an adult, though. I decided to try it out with TinySprite first.

I made two "summer rolls" for her, which are basically a rice paper wrap containing shredded chicken, lettuce, and pickled carrots and cucumbers. She LOVES these, and always begs for them at Vietnamese restaurants, where she promptly eats the entire plateful. I'm not that skilled at packing and rolling them tightly, but I did manage to seal the deal without any rips or holes. I wrapped the wraps in plastic, which I don't usually like to use, because otherwise they are prone to dry out if not eaten right away. As you can see, they take up quite a bit of room, so it was nice to have some extra space to snug two of them together in one tier along with a hard-boiled egg buddy and a couple of Okinawan sweet potato slices. The bottom tier has its own black lid to help keep things contained (and probably would keep things from drying out as well). I filled the top tier, which comes with a removable separator, with assorted fruit: peach wedges, strawberry, grapes, lychee, homegrown cherry/pear tomatoes, and broccoli. I didn't have to squeeze the fruit in, and an appropriate amount fit very nicely. I was very pleased with the space I had to use in this bento. It was a bit heavy, but I coached her on how to open it safely (without dropping the whole thing), and she reported that everything went well. And she did end up eating the whole thing! MisterMan was a bit put out that he didn't get to use it. I said "But it's fuschia. You don't mind using a fuschia box?" To which he replied, "It's kind of purplish. And boys can use purple you know." OH. Well, now I know! I'm glad, too! Okay, next one is for my purple-friendly boy. ^_^

Sweet O'Potato Bento

Sweet O'Potato Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Tomorrow there's no school for MisterMan since they are having first quarter parent-teacher conferences. So instead, I'm posting a picture of the snack bento I made for TinySprite this afternoon. She ate this when she got up from her nap. We didn't get her brother right away because he had music class after school. On these days I give her a snack to tide her over until I start dinner. Even though it's just a snack, I still like to put as many nutritious foods (including vegetables) in there as I can.

Today I cut a slice of steamed sweet potato with a pumpkin cutter, and stamped a face using triangle and square cutters without pressing all the way through. I added a couple of salami and mozzarella cheese stick skewers (the rest of the cheese stick is behind the sweet potato), some cherry tomatoes, sliced peaches, a strawberry and a tiny crab apple. I filled in the gaps with blanched peapods. First thing she said when she took off the lid of (my new Cinnamoroll) box was "Scary!" But she picked up the jack o'lantern and ate it first! Are you surprised to learn that she ate everything in this box? I was! I didn't expect her to eat all the peapods, but she did. It's cool because soon I'll be sending along a bento box lunch to accompany her to preschool, and I'm hoping the cute presentation will encourage her to finish everything there, even with all the distractions of other kids (and possibly junk food). Stay tuned and we'll see...

Banh Mi, Early Summer Version Bento

Banh Mi, Early Summer Version Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

What, you say we've already had a banh mi bento recently? Really? Let me check...nope, last one was 2 months ago! But it's true I've made other kinds of sandwich bento in the meantime. Let's face it: sometimes it's easier to make a sandwich bento than prepare "real food" and there's nothing wrong with that. Today was such a lovely day, we spent most of it outside and I didn't do any cooking at all. We got Vietnamese takeout and took home some banh mi for lunch. Today it is chicken. I cut it in half and added extra spinach and cilantro to fill out the green veggies, then wrapped in wax paper and snuggled them into the basket part of my Keroppi bento box. The lower tier is just big enough for some early summer fruits: white peach, rich red plum, golden apricot, tangerine, blueberries, and more homegrown strawberries. Oh, and some purple cauliflower because I am in love with the vivid hue. I live for summer fruits, and these are just the beginning. The plum is still a little tart, but I really do like them like this. The peaches are super sweet. And the strawberries -- well, these are bigger than the mini ones I packed a few days ago, and they are bursting with sweet flavor. It's such a treat to enjoy fresh picked fruit, and if you can't grow a fruit tree, you can definitely try a strawberry plant. They're very small and prolific; you can enjoy a handful of fruit with each bloom. And they're so cute! I'll try to remember to take pictures of the baby fruit as it matures from a tiny green berry into a luscious red one. You'll be hooked.

This is MisterMan's last bento of the first grade. It makes me a little nostalgic, just like at the end of kindergarten. He's growing up so fast and I always wonder how long he'll be agreeable to taking bento for lunch. He's still the only one in his class having bento for lunch, and so far the response by the other kids has been positive. The girls especially -- he says they come over and say "Awwww, so cuuuuute." I guess the boys are too manly for that. Anyway, I'll still have TinySprite to make bento for. She'll start preschool this summer, hopefully. She's much pickier than her brother, so it'll be more of a challenge!

End of school marks the beginning of summer for us so.. Happy Summer, Bento Friends!!

Pink Bunny Pizza Bento

Pink Bunny Pizza Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Sweet potato pizza was for dinner and I made some extra for MisterMan's bento. I adapted the recipe from Gourmet Mom on the Go. It's easy and quick to make, and it really does taste great! Really!

Here's what you need:
2 medium sweet potatoes (I used regular ones, satsumaimo, and Okinawan sweet purple ones. All good!)
Ready to bake pizza crust (I've used whole grain lavash wrap and pocketless whole wheat pita rounds)
5 oz. mascarpone cheese, or 5 oz. cream cheese mixed with 2T sour cream (I've used the cream cheese mixture and it's delish!)
olive oil and balsamic vinegar
shredded baby spinach
roasted garlic
garlic powder, rosemary, thyme (optional)

Here's what you'll do:
Drizzle olive oil on your crust and spread evenly with the cheese and roasted garlic.
Sprinkle with shredded spinach.
Layer the peeled, thinly sliced potatoes over the cheese.
Sprinkle with garlic powder and herbs, if using.
Drizzle top with olive oil.
Bake at 425F for 18-25 minutes or until potatoes are soft and crust is crispy.
Remove from oven and drizzle with balsamic vinegar.
Slice and enjoy!

One of the best things about this pizza is that you can hide any number of goodies under the potatoes. My 3 year old will pull off all the spinach if it's sitting on top, but this way she never even sees it. It's awesome. I put two pieces of pizza in the basket part. These were baked on soft lavash, which crisped up very well. The one in the back has Okinawan purple potato, and the one in the front has satsumaimo. In the lower tier I put my pink bunny molded egg. You can see the details on this one better, whew! It helps to dye it in beet juice, I think. I also added some white peach, a half apricot, half strawberry, red grapes and a sprig of steamed broccoli. Yummy!

Chickie bento

Chickie bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

This one is for TinySprite: Under the colby jack cheese chick is a little chick sandwich with almond butter. Propping them up are blueberries, and an edamame skewer. A bunch of Bing cherries, and cottage cheese with peach, strawberry and wheat germ.

All my peaches are ripe right NOW, which is what I get for buying so many at the Farmer's Market last weekend. So, you will see lots of peaches in these bento (as the family is seeing at our meals at home too ;) S'okay ~ peaches rock.