Sardine Melt Sandwich Bento

Throughout the pandemic while the kids were distance learning at home, they handled their own lunches and snacks. Since they were on completely different schedules and the kitchen is steps away from their workstations it was easy for them. One of TinySprite's favorites was toast. Toast with all kinds of various toppings. So today I will copy one of her standards... 

Sardines on toast! Now before you make a face, did you know that sardines are high in omega-3 fatty acids, calcium and selenium, and much lower in mercury than your usual tuna? They are high in protein and very good for you. Here's how I made mine.

Toast bread til crunchy. Smear on some dill pickle hummus, then zhoug sauce (or your preferred tangy sauce; maybe even pesto, salsa or hot sauce). Drain the sardines and add them in chunks to cover the whole toast. Add cheese on top, put the sandwich back in the oven, and broil to melt.

Take out of oven and add baby spinach and pickled red onions on top. That's it! I used a slightly larger bento box today so I could add a cup of sliced dinosaur pluots. These are my favorite stone fruit and I'm surprised they're stil in season right now. Still so sweet and juicy too. Hope she likes it!

Salmon and Veggie Yumbox Bento

This bento might not look that pretty, but it's full of good stuff. The compartmentalized box is practical for those times when you happen to have a bunch of this and that to pack for lunch. You ever have days like those?

Furikake salmon pasta, veggie hash with celery, bell pepper, and butternut squash, cucumber tomato salad with pickled red onions, strawberries and cottage cheese with granola. A few chocolate raisins finish out this Yumbox. Have a yummy day!

🍀Happy St. Paddy's Day Bento! 🍀

Green green green!

Happy St. Patrick's Day, you guys! ☘☘☘ It's that green time of year; luckily there are lots of green foods to choose from. Too bad the protein has to deviate from the color scheme but maybe it's better that not EVERYthing is green...

Inside this cute green frog bento: stirfried chicken, baby bok choy and peas, tomato, strawberries, kiwi.

I made shamrock egg rings with green bell peppers (I looked for 4-lobed ones and sliced them about a half inch thick). You can fry the egg directly in the pepper ring and then put a lid on the pan to finish steam cooking. The rest of this Sistema bento contains: pesto spinach pasta, turkey bacon green bean rollups, a cucumber pot of pickled wakame (plus the cucumber balls), blueberries, strawberries and kiwi.

Hope you all have a fantastic St. Paddy's Day weekend! 🍀🍀🍀

Chow Mein Life Without Plastic Bento

We are using the Life Without Plastic lunch container again, this time with the removable dividers in place to test out the separating quality of the separators (last time I used the box with just a round cup in the center of our somen salad - that worked very well). MisterMan doesn't usually care whether the food happens to touch each other or the pickle juice gets into the strawberries, but I still wanted to find out just how much mixing occurs. I did use a silicone cup for the pickles, as I usually do, but I probably didn't really need to.

I placed chow mein in two of the four sections, then fruit (cantaloupe, raspberries and strawberry) in one of the remaining sections and sliced Okinawan sweet potato and pickles in the last. The box held everything together without much movement of the food inside; nothing leaked or spilled. Yay!

I used spinach noodles for the chow mein, and stir-fried fresh green beans, chopped baby bok choy, and beech mushrooms alongside. I seasoned with oyster sauce and shoyu to taste, plus garlic and onion. Top with a drizzle of sesame oil and chopped green onions. Quick, easy, and tasty!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On a side note, The Whole Foods Market blog wrote a piece focusing on Bento Box Lunch Ideas, and I share some bentomaking tips from Happy Little Bento over there. Please click over and take a look if you're interested! It's called:
Bento Box Lunch Ideas: 6 Easy (and Insta-worthy!) Options 
Thanks!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~