Eyeball Pizza and Mummy Dog Halloween EcoLunchBox Bento

Eyeball Pizza and Mummy Dog Halloween EcoLunchBox Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Eyeball pizza is made with strategically cut red bell pepper for veins, pepperoni and olive um, eyeball, on a mozzarella whole wheat pizza. And just for the fun of it, I wrapped a turkey dog in some dough too, because I knew TinySprite would love that. I even shredded the mummy wrapping (okay, not on purpose). The rest of the EcoLunchBox Solo Rectangle holds a little cup of pickled cucumbers and another one of grapes and a strawberry. Halloween continues!

Anpanman Portobello Pizza Bento

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

We made portobello pizzas again (see my method here), and I've found that it's best to scrape out as much of the gills as you can, use a minimum amount of cheese (just enough to "glue" the toppings on but not enough to get all gooey), and leave the vegetables just a bit tender (not super grilled). Of course, these pizzas are best straight out of the oven, but the kids beg to take them to school. Whenever I see a round food now, I think of Anpanman. And I had just the round things to make his nose and cheeks (pepperoni minis). I used ham to make his eyes, eyebrows and mouth (and nori for his eyeballs). If I had waited and put the pepperonis on after (or cut smaller circles) they might have looked rounder. And you might have recognized him. But whatever! I rarely use this flip-top box, but it fits the food just too well today. Happy Wednesday!

Portobello Pizza Bento

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

I saw this portobello pizza idea somewhere...maybe on Pinterest or something? Anyway, it was described as a low-carb way to enjoy pizza. Gluten-free too; so I gave it a try.

Here's the method I used:
1. Dust/clean portobello mushroom cap, and remove gills with a spoon to create a little mushroom "cup."
2. Cut off stem.
3. Fill with your choice of toppings (I used shredded zucchini, bell pepper strips, spinach, pepperoni, cheese)
4. Top with cheese if you like, and bake at 350F until mushroom and toppings are softened, and cheese is melted.
5. Alternatively: put cheese in first, and layer toppings on top.
6. Bake at 350F until everything is softened and bottom cheese is melty.

Well, the first thing I noticed is that since the mushroom cap doesn't absorb any moisture, it can fill up with moisture from the veggies. It might be better to saute the veggies before putting them on, maybe. Also, I prefer the cheese on the bottom version, because I like the fresh vegetables looking nice on top. In fact, you can reduce the cooking time as much as you like, and keep the veggies on the crunchier side, too. Still good that way. Anyway, my boy wanted to take one to summer adventures program, so I packed one in this Sistema-look-alike box. The only thing different about this box is that there are 3 divided sections on the fruit side instead of 2. I took the picture with the pizza inside the big section, but actually what I did was close the fruit section and place the pizza on top of the lid in its wax paper before closing the domed lid on top of it. Worked great! He liked all the attention his weird pizza got. In the fruit section: corn on the cob, carrots, broccoli, peaches, lychee, and cherries.
This is a fun meal that the kids can help with, and you can pile a lot of stuff in those portobellos :)

Children's Day (こどもの日, Kodomo no hi) Bento

Children's Day (こどもの日, Kodomo no hi) Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Happy Children's Day (こどもの日, Kodomo no hi)! The 5th day of the 5th month used to be called Boys' Day (with Girls' Day falling on the 3rd day of the 3rd month) when I was a kid growing up in Hawaii, but now it has been generalized to include all children. I will always think of this day as boys' day, though, symbolized by the carp. I made gluten-free pepperoni pizzas to commemorate. This is the same dough I used last time, pressed into a fish shape before topping with cheddar cheese, quartered pepperoni scales, and a zucchini/pepperoni/mozzarella/kale eye. Underneath this fish pizza is a regular shaped pizza topped with shredded kale, julienned zucchini, pepperoni and cheese, and in the top tier of this EcoLunchBox is cottage cheese/sunflower seeds/wheat germ, blood oranges, strawberries and blackberries, and carrots. Happy Children's Day to all the littles out there!

Calzone Flowers Lunchbot Bento

Calzone Flowers Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Welcome to the first day of the Lunar New Year! The kids happened to have yesterday off, so we spent the long weekend celebrating with family. And today's bento has meat! It's a meaty calzone I made with whole wheat dough, containing pepperoni, ham, mushrooms, arugula, tomatoes and mozzarella. I had to slice it so that it would fit in the bento box, and decorated with Okinawan sweet potato flowers with peapod leaves. I rounded out the meal with a giant strawberry, some sliced kiwi, grape tomatoes, grapes, carrots, and sweet yellow pepper rings. You can see that after the dragon tour de force, I am now back to my usual "plain" quickie bento arrangements, which take much less time but which can still look fresh and appetizing due to the addition of colorful, seasonal fruit and veggies. I am a big proponent of local, seasonal ingredients for bento; the fresher it is, the less preparation (and even cooking) you have to do. And who doesn't love that?

The Nutcracker Suite Bento

TinySprite as Little Fairy in The Nutcracker Suite a video by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

We're all done with the school bento for the year, but there is one more Christmas snack bento that I made for TinySprite to celebrate her ballet performance in her company's Nutcracker Suite ballet production. Here's a minute or so of their performance, if you're curious to take a look. For her bento, I made a little sandwich decorated with a Nutcracker and a Little Fairy (or Sugar Plum Fairy), with a few carrots, tomatoes and broccoli snuggled in there as well.

She's still in pre-ballet (as she is only 4 years old still), but she really, really enjoyed dancing the Little Fairy role again this year. And she has matured and become more graceful this year. (Okay, okay... but you should have seen her last year to appreciate that statement :) I don't dance ballet, so I'm not sure where she gets her passion for the art, but she loves this show a lot. She can watch it endlessly, and she knows all the dances, which she will perform whenever she hears the music. And I've had to watch and listen to it so many times that I think I can dance them all myself too! (Just kidding) ^_^

Added to What's For Lunch.

Thank you to Maki of Just Bento, for adding my quail egg snowman bento to her yearly Christmas bento roundup. If you're in the mood to see some creative and festive bento ideas, do take a look!

Calzone Rollups Bento

Calzone Rollups Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

It's a calzone bento, kind of, except this time I rolled up the dough with the fillings inside (salami, pepperoni, cheese, spinach), then baked and sliced into little bite-sized pieces for fun. Yeah, I'm having way too much fun with the calzone-styled foods. It's such a convenient, sandwich-y way to pack a school lunch bento, with so many filling possibilities. The rest of the bento contains roasted red kabocha, steamed Okinawan sweet potato slices, and a cup of grapes and raspberries.

Hello Kitty On Ice Bento

Hello Kitty On Ice Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

This is a little snack bento I made for TinySprite. It's a sandwich on potato bread, topped with a quail egg Hello Kitty who is ice-skating on the bread lake. Her dress is made of turkey dog and pepperoni, and her skates are purple carrot. Her facial features are nori, cheddar cheese, and pink ume somen whiskers. There are peapods, a broccoli tree, carved carrots and grapes. This is the last week of school before Christmas break, and there are all kinds of parties and luncheons planned. I love this winding down of the school quarter. Christmas is coming! Is it cold enough to ice-skate where you live?
Posted at What's For Lunch!

Mini Pizza Bento

Mini Pizza Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

I made mini pizzas using pocketless whole wheat pita rounds, pepperoni, sun-dried tomatoes, cheese and shredded spinach. Since MisterMan is learning fractions this week, I was going to write "1/4" on each piece with asparagus, but they were too big and simply fell off. Later I realized I should have just used pepperoni. Next time.

Since this tiffin is quite deep, I was able to put all slices in the bottom and place the top tier on top. I filled the top, shallow bowl with a variety of fruits: red grapes, kiwi flowers, a mini mandarin, cinnamon apple hearts, and a grape tomato. The grape tomato is very important, as it allows me to enter this bento in the RED B.O.M.B.contest at hapabento's blog. Yay! I guess the tablecloth also counts too, right?