Polenta Bento

This one is a mishmash of stuff we had at dinner, including the polenta that made an appearance on my toast in the previous post. I think TinySprite would prefer a box filled completely with sausage; she's a definite meat lover🐖🐮

😊❤🍱

Domokun Calzone Bento

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

I made fun calzones for the kids; using regular pizza dough for MisterMan and the Gluten-Free On a Shoestring recipe for TinySprite. I filled with a variety of meat (pepperoni, salami and ham), plus arugula and cheese, then for Domo I sealed it up in a vaguely rectangular shape. While the dough is still sticky (don't dust with flour), add on some little dough pieces for arms and legs. They'll stick there without falling off throughout baking! I'm showing you MisterMan's version here. This version will puff up during baking because it's a regular yeast flour dough, but the gluten-free version will just sit there and look just the way it looked before baking. In a way, it's easier to bake creatures using gluten-free dough for that reason. But I think puffy Domo looks kinda cute. I put some red capsicum and cheese details on his face, along with black capsicum eyes, and tucked him into the stainless steel tiffin with some steamed broccoli. The upper tier contains steamed corn off the cob, carrots, blackberries and blueberries, strawberry, lychees and plums.

Here are some other Domos I've made (using sandwich bread): here and here. And my first one, for a field trip (he looks kinda funny to me now) here!

Added to What's For Lunch.

Pizza Face Bento

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

Look at those luscious lips! Okay, you might need a bit of imagination to see it, but there are supposed to be tomato eyes and red pepper lips on this cheesy, salami, arugula flatbread pizza. I used Mediterranean whole grain flat bread, which is thick enough to stand up to toppings, but which bakes crispy for a cool mini pizza. The other sections of this Sistema double-sided box contain Okinawan sweet potato, corn on the cob, pluots, nectarines, strawberries and blackberries. Smooch!

Sunny Side Kimchi Fried Rice

Sunny Side Kimchi Fried Rice, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

I had extra rice from the last batch of Thai purple jasmine, so I decided to make kimchi fried rice. This time I used chopped onions, garlic, baby bok choy, red capsicum, shredded carrot and green onion. And chopped kimchi of course! This time I added equal amounts of shoyu and kimchi juice; I'm trying to get my kids accustomed to more spicy foods so we can all eat the same stuff. My husband and I LOVE spicy food, the hotter the better. Korean is one of our favorite cuisines, and kimchi jigae is my favorite Korean soup! If we order it at the restaurant, I eat most of it. Wouldn't it be great if the kids liked it too? Then we could all enjoy it. Anyway, back to the bento.

Kimchi fried rice is a good way to introduce spicy food because you can control the level of hotness using more or less of kimchi and kimchi juice. If you like it very spicy you can add a lot, until the rice turns a beautiful orange color. It's a delicious and substantial meal-in-one, and if you add meat it's even more so. Traditionally you can top with a fried egg, and you may remember last time I made a fried egg bunny. Here I fried the quail egg inside a red capsicum ring, which is an idea I got from a flickr friend, Cathryn3. Nori and sesame seeds make the facial details. I also added some yellow carrot flowers for color punch. For fruits I put in a tangerine, strawberry and some kiwi flowers. This is my Pokemon box, which always seems too small to me at first, then ends up being a perfect size for my 6 year old. Go figure.

Happy Friday, bento friends!

Bento Box