Fish Sticks Lunchbots Bento

Fish Sticks Lunchbots Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Remember those perfectly rectangular fish sticks from elementary school? Do they still serve those? I've never made them at home, but I saw this oven-baked version of fish sticks and decided to try. I used cod which I cut into strips, coated with egg and seasoned panko, sprayed with oil and baked in a 425F oven until golden. I also baked some diced purple potatoes under the rack of fish at the same time, and we also had kale chips (which we ate for dinner; no leftovers). I packed the LunchBot Quad with vinegary cabbage carrot onion daikon slaw on the side, and a selection of springtime fruit: cherry tomatoes, cherries, apricot and strawberry.
Added to What's For Lunch.

Bat and Char Siu Bao O'lantern Bento

Bat Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Today's double bento post is from last Friday. MisterMan got a bacon-wrapped turkey burger and roasted purple potatoes. He got a colorful selection of veggies including broccoli, purple cauliflower, carrots and a tomato, as well as a piece of corn on the cob. I think that's the first time I actually used 5 different color vegetables in a single bento. Yay! Only bummer is that this one is light on the fruit. I used a bunch of black grapes to design a bat on the corn. You might need to use a bit of imagination. My boy called it an octopus until I hinted that it fell into the Halloween category. After awhile he guessed "Uh, a bat?" Um, yee-ssss. Sigh.

TinySprite gets a more finger friendly bento -- a perfectly round char siu bao just called for transformation into a jack-o-lantern. I cut the features with a small paring knife, and rather than punch out the cutouts, I just lightly pushed them in. So much easier, and it looks fine this way. I used a piece of corn on the cob for the stem, and filled in the rest of the gaps with the same veggies as in her brother's bento. Done! Love these quick ones. Just a few more days of Halloween themed bento, but it's been fun! ^_^

Sakura Branch Bento

Sakura Branch Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

This bento includes some roasted chicken with Korean sauce (premade and stored in fridge), lotus root (renkon) in shoyu mirin sauce, steamed broccoli, a grape tomato and some raw star-cut baby carrots. The sakura blossoms are cut from steamed purple potato with sesame seed detail. For fruits he gets a giant strawberry, past-their-prime red grapes, and slices of blood orange.

So simple, right? But in the magic round bento box, it all looks like a bright spring day. More and more life is emerging in my humble backyard garden, and each new sprout and leaf bud makes me feel more excited each day. I have Blenheim apricot and nectarine trees in my yard, and I'm crossing fingers for buckets and buckets of fruit this year! I remember one year we couldn't give them away fast enough; we had so many.

I haven't started any seeds yet, but I have big plans for this growing season. Heirloom tomatoes! Basil! Cilantro and green onion! Mizuna! Shiso! Edamame? How about you?

Ginger Scallion Fish Bento

Ginger Scallion Fish Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Are you ready for Spring yet? I know I am. This bento has a bunch of plum blossoms to get us in the mood and signal to the world that we are ready for flowers (and sun)!

I steamed cod in shoyu, ginger and scallions with just a little cracked pepper and a final drizzle of sesame oil. At the same time I roasted some sliced yellow squash and broccoflower, which I placed next to the fish on the lettuce. In the next container I placed some purple potato chips (also roasted), a grape tomato and some red carrot flowers. All the veggies roasted together. I thought the purple might run off into the lighter colored stuff, but it held its color well. I brushed with olive oil and sprinkled with garlic powder during cooking and that's it. In the fruit section I put a strawberry, 2 cherries and a partially peeled mini mandarin. I was in the midst of peeling the whole thing like I usually do, but at this point I noticed that it looked like a little hooded creature! So I added eyes and a nose and put him in like that. Afterwards I also noticed that the cherry stems look like antennae, kind of.

This is a newish bento box that I got from a Korean market. It's nice because it has 3 sections as well as a transparent lid. The volume is 480ml, which is just right for MisterMan if I pack it full(ish).

Happy Monday friends!

Teriyaki Salmon & Asparagus Bento

Teriyaki Salmon & Asparagus Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Wild salmon teriyaki with roasted asparagus thrown in there too. Baked purple potato "chips", cherry tomatoes and cucumber. Fruit side has satsuma mandarin, kiwi and raspberries. Yellow carrot added a bright punch with flower and star cutouts. The stars are cut out by hand, very simply with a knife tip. I am really liking the bright intensity of the yellow carrots -- I think I'll be using it quite a bit during these dark days of winter.
No holiday details here (too tired to think of any)! Maybe tomorrow...

Mochiko Chicken Bento

Mochiko Chicken Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Mochiko chicken using hapabento's recipe. Well, based on it...I deviated a bit, but I think it came out okay! The kids loved it, and since it was baked instead of deep-fried, it really wasn't that greasy. Thanks hapabento!

I used chicken thighs, and cut into smallish pieces, easy for kids to eat.
For the sauce, I mixed all together: equal amounts (4T each for my small batch) shoyu, flour, cornstarch, mochiko flour, sugar. Plus I added an egg, salt, minced garlic and finely chopped green onion (white part). Then I added to the chicken pieces and marinated for a few hours. As for the baking, I didn't get the pan super-hot like hapabento advised -- my olive oil was burning, and I should have used a different oil, with a higher boiling point, like peanut oil. So as a result it didn't "sizzle", and I was disappointed. It just quietly baked. Next time I will be sure to get the sizzle.

My boy also gets a rice "cupcake" with lavender purple potato "snowflakes" on top. The rice is actually just a thin layer of white on top -- underneath it's mixed with nori furikake. I also made more roasted brussels sprouts, and there's a "snowflake" satsumaimo and a cherry tomato. I know. It's just a star with holes in it. But I'm calling it a snowflake. Fruit square has grapes, a black plum, strawberries and blackberries.

A tip for really yummy roasted brussels sprouts: make sure you cut a deep "x" on top, toss in olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and make sure the vinegar gets into the heart of the sprout. Mix around a bit during roasting too, to make sure they are all well-coated. You will find that the brussels sprouts get nice and soft-crispy, with a yummy rich flavor. Even kids will love it! Try it, you'll see!

A kind of wintry-themed bento, with the snowflakes and all, esp. since the weather here has been very frosty! Though there are really few cute details in this bento, it was extremely tasty, which made up for it :)

The Floating Bento

The Floating Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

I have powers of levitation that I put to use in my magical bento today...what do you think? Actually, the light blue background I used just makes it appear as if there's no background at all! Also, it must have been a particularly bright day. Now that the days are getting shorter, I find my pictures might be getting darker with more shadows. Since I have no professional lighting equipment, this lack of natural light must be reflected in my photos, *sigh*. Do you use high-wattage lamps? Or like me, is the quality of your photo dependent upon the weather?

MisterMan has standard vermicelli noodles with grilled chicken, cherry tomato, cucumber baran, broccoli, purple potato wedges and bursting yellow carrots. Fruit side has satsuma mandarins, grapes (underneath), kiwi, blackberries and raspberries.

This bento is so simple, but it includes my boy's favorite kind of food: noodles, so I know it will be a hit. As for the rest of it, as usual I just throw in whatever I have in the vegetable crisper, making sure there is representation of most of the color groups. This is for nutritional balance as well as aesthetics. Starting after this bento, I am trying to put a festive touch into each one. There are only a few weeks left until Christmas, so we might as well make the most of it, right? Happy holidays, friends!

Chow Mein Bento

Chow Mein Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Chow mein with various veggies, satsumaimo flowers, broccoli, peapods, roasted sweet peppers, garlic roasted purple potatoes. Fruit side has grapes, one whole satsuma mandarin, and purple carrot discs. I wanted some contrast to the orange, and wished I had blueberries. Oh well -- the purple carrots seemed to do a sufficient job.

This is a handy Monday bento, when after the weekend I am too tired to cook anything. A quick chow mein can be supplemented with onions and mushrooms, then roast a few other things on the side and add them too. Even decoration is minimal, with only simple florettes. Still, the effect may be pleasing, especially since the boy loves fried noodles (his favorite food, I think!)

Purple Potatoes

So many people have wondered about these purple potatoes, I thought I would post some pictures to show what they actually look like. These are not the Okinawan sweet potatoes, which also have purple flesh (though with white skin) -- those are completely different (as they are sweet potatoes). I have come across two different kinds of purple potatoes. The one on the left is a lighter color, although you can't really tell from this photo, and the one on the right is much darker, almost black.

These are the same potatoes. I cut them in half, raw, to show you what the uncooked flesh looks like. Pretty cool-looking! You can see that the "black" ones on the right have better, darker and more uniform color.

After cooking. I roasted these, for about 30 minutes with olive oil. The "black" ones have a nice dark rich purple color, which intensifies over time! If you keep the cooked potato in the fridge overnight, it will be even darker the next day. The other purple one has a lighter lavender color; also very pretty in its own way. Strangely, I haven't noticed that this color changes over time.

Here they are the following day after cooking and storing in the fridge overnight. The light ones actually got lighter, while the dark ones got darker!

So there you have it: my very unscientific comparison of the two purple potato types available in my neighborhood. In case you were interested. ^_^
Almost forgot to mention: they look super pretty in bento!

Three Flowers Bento

Three Flowers Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

This round bento box always seems to call out for flowers, for some reason. It's also my favorite "box", because the food seems to look nice with minimal effort at arranging.

MisterMan has chicken lettuce wraps, red (Bhutanese) mixed rice with furikake, sweet potato maple leaves, purple and gold cauliflower, romanesco, yellow pear tomatoes. Fruit section has satsuma mandarins, strawberry, blackberry and raspberries. The lavender flowers are steamed purple potato with steamed purple carrot centers.

These purple potatoes seem to be different from the black-skinned purple potatoes I get from the farmers market in that the flesh is much lighter in color. Both types taste just the same as regular potatoes (to me), and perhaps next time I'll cook both together to compare. Maybe you have noticed that I like purple hues... if there is a purple food to be had, you can be sure I will be determined to obtain it :)

Tortellini Bento, and Bento Leftovers: What To Do With Them?

MisterMan's bento has tortellini and sausage leftover from an Autumn Party with friends. Roasted sweet peppers, purple potatoes and beet-dyed cauliflower. Yellow pear tomatoes and peapods. Fruits include clementine, blackberries, and raspberries. November is made for roasting stuff, I think!

I have been tagged by Susan of Hawai'i's Bento Box Cookbook to discuss what I do with bento leftovers after packing. Well, for me, the decorative touches are often minimal, so scraps do not always occur... the most likely leftovers for me would be after making cutouts from veggies like carrots, sweet potatoes, radish or cucumber. My method is simple: I almost always eat them myself! But I'll also put them in the bottom of the bento too. They'll add height to other items in the box.

1) Bread –I don't often make cute cutout sandwiches, but if I do, I'll put the extra bit in the bento too-- underneath. My girl will eat all kinds of bread bits.

2) Nori seaweed – Probably like others, I keep the sheets I use for cutouts in a zipperlock bag, and reuse them until gone. No extras there!

3) Cheese – I usually only use cheese for my girl, and leftovers go in with the box of grated cheese that is always in the fridge. I'll use cheese from this box throughout the day for quesadillas, pasta, sandwich melts, omelets, etc.

4) Cold cuts or cooked ham – Don't use this often, but very easy to simply eat up!

5) Fruits – Eat them myself, or save for kids' snack after school.

6) Vegetable or fruit peels – We compost these, or sometimes give to the dog (he really does like them! :)
Gonna tag Karina of Bunches and Bits next and ask her to share what she does with her bento leftovers!

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When you have answered the question (which can be in any style/format you like), nominate another (one will do) fellow blogger (who is not already on the list) and pass the tag to your nominee.

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Have fun :)

Tagged:

1. javapot

2. susanyuen

3. sherimiya

4. karina


[Ps. No cute picture with this tag unless someone can generously suggest one which would be most appreciated! Hint, hint…anyone wanna sponsor or is just creative?? All credits will be given.]