Beet Tofu Avocado Pickle Onigirazu

 

This one may be vegetarian but it's substantial and flavorful. I wanted to make a snack for TinySprite using some random ingredients I had from salads this week. So here's what I did:

First I put the rice (this one is a mix of black, brown, and white), then I placed some baby kale leaves to keep the sliced beets from making the rice soggy. Then I layered sliced tofu, avocado, pickled red cabbage and red onion, then topped with baby spinach leaves to protect the rice again. To the bento I added sliced pluots, raspberries and yellow pear tomatoes. 

All packed up for TinySprite when she gets home from school. Happy Friday friends!

 

Happy Easter Baby Chick Bento! 🐣🐰

It's not Easter yet, but one of my kids is already on school break. The other one's break is the week after Easter. Seems so late! How about your kids?

So anyway, here's my bento for the occasion. Had to make the baby chick egg, of course! If you do this, try to keep the yolk in the center. It really makes the carving much easier! My yolks were way off center so it was hard to cut neatly through so much white. In fact, the yolk was so low in the first egg I tried that I didn't even reach it at all -_-

Inside our Ecolunchbox Solo Cube: ham-spinach-tomato-enoki-furikake rice onigirazu, Okinawan sweet potato cherry blossoms, sweet baby peppers stuffed with edamame, tomato and berries.

Inside the Eco Dipper: soba, lettuce, hard boiled egg.

Happy Easter, friends!

Chicken Katsu Onigirazu Bento

Working on improving my onigirazu technique; today I made oven-baked chicken katsu. There are lots of recipes out there describing this method - basically instead of deep-frying the panko-breaded chicken cutlets, you bake them in a 400F oven for 30 minutes or so. The key is to toast the panko on a frying pan first so that it turns a nice brown color, like how it would look if you had actually deep-fried the chicken. You really can't compare oven baked chicken katsu with real deep-fried chicken katsu, but I thought it came out okay. It will never be as crispy as deep-fried, but it definitely is less oily. And there is very little cleanup involved. I like that!

For this onigirazu I didn't use a mold; I simply placed some rice in the middle of a sheet of nori, then layered with shredded cabbage, a few slices of chicken katsu, a squirt of tonkatsu sauce, more rice, then folded up the four corners and cut in half. I like how it looks, but I can still add more filling. Next time that's what I'll do. Also, I'll fold a little more tightly. The learning experience continues. Also inside our LunchBot Clicks: strawberries, orange cherry tomato, steamed broccoli.

Chicken Teriyaki Onigirazu and Makizushi Bento

Hi friends! This is my first attempt at onigirazu. Onigirazu is like a rice ball (onigiri) except it is square in shape and flatter, like a sandwich. In this way, you can have more fillings than inside a round or triangular ball. Onigirazu molds exist, just as they do for regular onigiri, but I didn't have a mold so I freehanded it - placing rice, chicken teriyaki, lightly sauteed asparagus, then more rice on a nori sheet. Then I folded it, wrapped in wax paper, and cut in half so it would fit nicely inside the Eshly Deli Box. I filled out the rest of the box with purple carrot flowers, tomato, broccoli, and a melon sampler. Have you been eating as much melon as we have? It has been a great summer for sweet watermelon, honeydew, and cantaloupe!

I thought it came out pretty well, and MisterMan seemed to like it. There are lots of possibilities for fillings, and it is a good way to use up refrigerator leftovers easily (ham and egg, tuna salad, tomato bacon lettuce, smoked salmon cream cheese, steak, hamburger, whatever!).

I decided to make TinySprite's chicken and asparagus inside a makisushi roll. I thought it might be easier (and more fun) for her to eat this way. And they fit nicely inside the LunchBots Clicks box, alongside some Dapple Dandy pluots and a sweet strawberry. This stainless steel box comes in a couple sizes and is great because not only does it have a leakproof lid but the lid is translucent so you can see what's for lunch! I love that effect a lot. So there we have a couple of nice cool bento for a warm summer day! Hope you are all enjoying your last bit of summer!

Bunny Riceball and Salted Salmon Bento

Salted salmon and rice for TinySprite today. Have you made shiozake before? The method I use is one from LovelyLanvin's recipe: I salt the fish overnight, then slice into small strips before broiling. It packs very well for bento and tastes delicious cold or room temperature. It's nice to serve with plain rice because the salmon itself has lots of flavor. I decorated the rice with nori into a bunny face, and using lettuce as a liner means she can either wrap the whole thing up or eat it with a fork. This cute divided box lets me add blood oranges and grapes in a separate section, alongside steamed Okinawan sweet purple potatoes, carrots, and cucumbers. Simple, but so delicious! This is one of my own favorite meals as well. ^__^

Panda Rice and Chicken Bento

Just a little more of that unbeatable (for me) comfort food combo: chicken and rice. I used the Vietnamese Soy Chicken Drumsticks recipe that I've made several times before (you can see my version and the link to the original recipe here). So good. Sometimes I pack the drumsticks whole, but today I pulled the meat off the bones so I could arrange a cute bento in this enameled stainless steel bowl (from Daiso). I can pack a lot of food in here because it's pretty deep, and it has a translucent tupperware-type lid to keep everything secure. The advantage to packing a tight bento like this is that the food doesn't move around like it might in a larger box. Besides the chicken meat, this bento contains a mushroom-cut radish, steamed broccoli, a panda rice ball (with cucumber "bamboo"), carrots, grape tomatoes, and blood orange segments. Aren't those cute pencil chopsticks? I have a pair in 5 other colors. They don't really function as color pencils, by the way. ^__^

Just curious; I notice another bentomaker often photographs her bento on a pure white background, and it seems to make the food stand out. I tried the same, but I'm not convinced I like it better. Maybe I have too many shadows. What do you think?

I Heart Chili Riceball Bento

Another cold day calls for homemade chili (I used this recipe but with lots of extra veggies thrown in, because you know me) in the 17oz. Stanley thermal food jar; this larger size is great for kids whose appetite is bigger than the usual 12oz. jar can hold (like my MisterMan). I also like this jar because it's virtually indestructible; very heavy-duty and all stainless steel. To pack alongside, I used two EcoLunchBox Eco Dippers: one holds a heart-shaped shiso musubi with a nori face in a lettuce cup and a grape tomato. The other holds sliced kiwi, blood oranges, and fresh (yes, fresh!) pineapple chunks. He'll take the very practical combo spoon/fork/knife with him too. Happy Wednesday, friends!

Hello Kitty Bento (just for fun)! =^.^=

Hello! The kids have no need for a bento today, but I thought I would make a bento in imitation of the most kawaii charm I have ever seen. It is of course a Hello Kitty bento charm. Have you seen it? I got mine at the gift shop at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles during the Exploring the Supercute World of Hello Kitty exhibit. It just so happens I own the same bento box in real life, so I tried to recreate all the foods I can see in the charm. I took some artistic and culinary liberties, though. I also used TinySprite's toys for my props today...

Happy Friday, friends! Have a great weekend! ^__^

Added to What's For Lunch.

Skull Onigiri Chili EcoLunchbox Bento

Skull Onigiri Chili Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Are you getting into the Halloween spirit yet? I'm starting to... slowly! I figured it's time to start getting spooky so today I made a skull onigiri to go with the vegetarian chili (chock full of zucchini, corn, tomatoes, onion, carrots, and kabocha). I lay the chili on a lettuce leaf and put the skull on top. I made it kind of chunky so that there wouldn't be too much sauce to drip all over everything. I usually pack chili in a thermal jar, but I really wanted to use this cool new stainless steel Solo Rectangle box I got from EcoLunchbox. It's on the bigger side, simple and sturdy. I used a silicone cup, and these fit perfectly. They would be ideal for separating foods you want to keep apart. Besides the chili, I put in some cucumbers, a sprig of broccoli, and a mini red pepper. I put some homemade pickled cabbage, lotus root and cucumber in the cup. The lid to this box fits snugly, though not watertight, and I added an elastic band for extra insurance. Because I wanted to keep the fruit separate in case the chili moved around, I used an EcoDipper, a round lidded stainless steel half cup size container. Again, the lid fits snugly but I wouldn't use it to pack anything watery. It's perfect for a handful of fruit, though. This combo worked out very well for MisterMan. He swung his bag around, but since the silicone cup reaches the top of the box, the pickled foods stayed segregated. Although these boxes aren't leakproof, they are easy to use and should not pose a problem for your child to open and close. Having been a longtime user of Ecolunchbox products, when the company asked me to try out these newer products I didn't hesitate. I'm happy to share my experience with you, so you can feel confident before you decide to give these items a try. I've been packing bento for both a girl and a boy for almost a decade (wow!), and I have a good idea about what works and what doesn't. I have more to share tomorrow, along with a giveaway! I hope you stop by!

Ecolunchbox provided the items I used to pack this bento today, but I received no other compensation, and the opinions I expressed are mine.

Panda Egg Salmon Patty Bear Onigiri Lunchbots Bento

Panda Egg Salmon Patty Bear Onigiri Lunchbots Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Today I packed a couple of salmon patties for TinySprite in the Lunchbots Trio box. Like with the bean burgers, I bulked them up with extras; this time I used brown/white rice and quinoa. I also added shredded carrot, and minced onion and celery. It's good with Dijon mustard and a little yogurt or sour cream, and a squirt of lemon juice. Just mix until the consistency holds together, then flatten some balls and pan-fry. You can serve with mustard Old Bay aioli on a bun, but I've just placed her patties in some lettuce leaves. There's a little bear onigiri, some carrots sticks, corn off the cob, a panda egg (I cut the ears, eyes and mouth from grapes by hand), and assorted fruit (strawberry, pluot and blueberries. The kids are really digging the burger variations. What else can I make a burger out of? Hmmm.

Hello Kitty Onigiri Bento!

Hello Kitty Onigiri Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

This bento is one I made for myself, and it was also meant to be my entry for the annual Bento & Co contest. The theme was onigiri, so I made two Hello Kitty mini-onigiri using my mold. I decorated their faces with nori, corn, and radish bows. I think this is the first time I've used this mini-onigiri mold, which was a gift from a dear friend. It's so cute! I added some oven-baked mochiko chicken pieces to the side, and then squeezed in some sweet fresh steamed corn off the cob, edamame, broccoli, carrots, and grape tomatoes. The second tier contains cherries, a homegrown apricot, raspberries, white peach, strawberries, blueberries and a few slices of steamed Okinawan sweet potato. I think I represented just about all the rainbow colors in this one! I packed it all inside my favorite stainless steel boxes. Each comes with its own gasketed lid, which don't have latches but which will stay leaktight if bound with elastic. You can use only one oblong box if you like, or stack two together and bind them with one larger band, which is what I did. There were 237 entries to the contest this year, and sadly I didn't make the final 10. But you can click over to see the ones that did, and cast a vote for the one you like the best (you have until Monday, July 16th). There are some unbelievably beautiful bento crafted by folks from all over the world; I was amazed and so inspired! Contests like these just go to show you how widespread the bento culture has become, and it's heartwarming to see all the healthy, delicious bento created by people influenced by this meal tradition from Japan. Very cool^_^

Double Jacks Shrimp Bento

Double Jacks Shrimp Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

It was a double bento day, and I wanted to make a black jack-o-lantern to contrast with last time's ghost pumpkin. Is it creepy-looking? It sits alongside some garlicky shrimp in a bed of lettuce. It's almost the end of summer fruit, and I had to pick up some apples because I have a feeling the stone fruit are going to be rather unsweet these days. Sigh. To brighten up the lowly apple, I decided to carve another jack-o-lantern. I'm not good at the apple carving, and rarely do checkered apples because I always end up cutting outside the lines and digging out too much flesh. I took kind of a long time to carve this apple, and probably won't be doing this again unless I have lots of time to spare. Also in this section are grapes, carrots, purple cauliflower, a couple nectarine slices, and those teeny yellow pear tomatoes were actually picked from my homegrown vine. There are still a couple more hangers-on, clinging to the final days of "summer".

TinySprite got more of the shrimp, and I also tried out my new quail egg mold. Can you see the faces? I dyed them in beet juice to enhance the definition, but not quite long enough. The quail egg molds are so cute. They came in a set of two: one makes these cute expressions and the other makes animal shape imprints. I never realized how much quail eggs vary in size, but each of the three I molded was a different size. The biggest one actually didn't fit at all; it split and oozed out the edge. However, that didn't really make a difference on the face side. I just cut off the excess and it looked fine. I also gave her some grapes, nectarine slices, carrots, purple cauliflower and a carved crabapple. This apple was really hard to carve and you can probably see that it didn't come out that nicely. But she didn't mind! She loved it. Last week you might remember that she didn't show much interest in eating at lunchtime, and I have been slowly increasing the size of her bento to see if she might start to eat more. Well, today was the first day I walked in and she was already in the play area. I asked her why she wasn't eating and she said she finished already. Wow! The teacher verified it. And get this: she ate everything; even the lettuce! I guess her appetite is increasing, what with all the INTENSE playing she's been doing at school. Twitter pals will know what I mean. ^_^

Frankenstein Bento

Frankenstein Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Only one bento today, since TinySprite only goes to preschool 3 days a week. I used my two-tier red usagi box and put pan-fried chicken and red pepper sausage on a lettuce leaf in the bottom tier, plus a Frankenstein musubi made from broccoli rice and decorated with nori facial details plus sriracha cheeks. Upper tier has carrots (yellow carrot flowers in the bottom too), purple cauliflower, grapes, strawberry and golden cherry tomato. MisterMan told me his classmates thought it was The Hulk, but he set them right, telling them it was "FrankenstEEn". Uh huh, okay.
I added this bento to What's For Lunch; head over there to see more!