Shrimp and Mushroom Power Bowl

Today's power bowl has tasty protein and vegetables, and whips up in no time. I got the idea to add roasted mushrooms to everyday dishes (like pasta, salads or sandwiches) from a cookbook I was reading this week. I'll let you know my impressions after I try out some of his recipes.

I cooked almost everything you see here in the same pan on the stovetop, including toasting the peanuts, and each separate ingredient only took a few minutes. The mushrooms are a mix of black trumpets, portobellos, and porcinis. I seasoned with garlic and pepper, as well as a splash of ginger soy dressing. So delish!

The taro chips I tossed on a baking sheet in the toaster oven with some olive oil. You have to watch those to make sure they don't burn, but they only take a few minutes as well, if you slice them thinly.

Have a great weekend, friends!

😊❤🍱

Spring Roll Bento🌸🍱

Here's one to herald spring. Spring rolls! So fun for bento, and delicious at room temperature.

Today's one of those typically unsettled days with a little of everything. Warm and sunny when we woke up, followed by the sudden disappearance of the sun and subsequent black clouds and freezing wind. I'm expecting a downpour at any second. 😂

Luckily it's a fine day for fresh spring rolls. I put rice vermicelli in mine, with lettuce, napa cabbage, shredded carrots, red bell pepper, peapods, and shrimp. I sliced one open to show you, but I'll wrap it back up to keep it from drying out. I made peanut sauce for dipping (made with sun butter instead of peanut to abide by TinySprite's nut-free school rules).

Shrimp and Pasta Magic Round Bento

Shrimp and Pasta Magic Round Bento

I think I've been using this box for at least 5 years now; it used to be MisterMan's box, and now TinySprite's appetite is big enough to pass it on to her on occasion. A couple things make it a standout box for me: it's round, which is a pleasing shape. It's divided into three wedge-shaped sections, and these sections are removable so we can use any or all as we choose. The box is pretty deep, so the amount of food I can pack is substantial. And it comes with a snap-locking clear plastic lid, so we can see the beautiful lunch waiting for us! Finally, it somehow seems that everything looks good in this kind of round box, naturally. It's, well, magic. Hence the Magic Round Bento (MRB) nomenclature. Try it yourself and see!

Today I sent TinySprite to school with buttery shrimp and pasta and one of our current summer favorite salads: chopped romaine with halved cherry tomatoes and cracked pepper. This time I tossed with fresh corn off the cob. I'll sprinkle with whatever cheese I have on hand: feta, parmesan, even grated cheddar or jack. And since we're still in the stone fruit portion of summer, we're getting our fill of plums while we can. There are a couple berries in there to fill space as well. We're well into our 3rd week of school but it still feels like summer out here in California. How's your school year going so far?

Chinese Leftovers Bento

Chinese Leftovers Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

This is a true no-cook bento; gotta love those Chinese takeout leftovers, right? We had a lot of food left from feeding the babysitter the night before, so in they went to the round stainless lidded bowls from Daiso: there's chow mein, sauteed green beans, eggplant, shrimp, chicken and more. I added some three bean salad and sliced up a half plum, then filled in the rest of the space with a few grapes, and I was done! Which was great, since it ended up being thrown all together at quite a late hour. But please say you can't tell?

Bentobuddies Ebi Fry Bento

Bentobuddies Ebi Fry Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Look at the cute bento picks. So so adorable! I had to make a bento to match them, so this one is for my TinySprite. I made ebi fry (fried shrimp), octodogs, hard-boiled egg, steamed broccoli, tomato and strawberry. My girl loves ebi fry. I mean she LOVES it. I don't usually deep fry at home because I don't like to deal with the cleanup or the splattering oil. But it's totally worth it for this super crispy crunchy ebi fry. I used the recipe and method I found at Just One Cookbook, which calls for double dredging of the shrimp before panko. I think this results in the extra crispiness. When you make this, you should make a lot because the kids will end up grabbing them by the fistful and chowing down. I had them pack their own bento so they would be sure to save some for tomorrow! Delicious!

Summer Rolls Bento, part 2.

Summer Rolls Bento, part 2., a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

My TinySprite is so predictable; of course she asked for summer rolls again. Now I keep a stash of cooked shrimp in the freezer ready to roll anytime I need a quick no-cook bento. I'm getting better at rolling these now, too. I was able to fill the rice wrappers with lettuce, cilantro, pickled carrots and cucumbers, deli ham and a few shrimp. I made two rolls of about the same size and shape, without tearing either, and they both happened to fit exactly right in this cool new stainless steel lined double bento box set! I like the idea of the stainless interior, which is great for food which might stain, and it also seems cooler to me, like the food will stay fresher. The exteriors are plastic, and the lids are the locking gasketed type with 4 latches. They are completely watertight, which I take to mean the moisture stays in too -- thus I can pack the summer rolls without worrying that they'll dry out. One of the boxes has a removable divider, and the stainless liners of both boxes come out for easy cleaning. Look how cute the lids are, too! I love them. Along with the rolls, she gets a bunch of fruit (peach, strawberries, blackberries, champagne grapes, regular grapes, corn and a little Okinawan sweet potato bunny shape). Everything packed perfectly snugly and visibly through the translucent covers. They stack atop one another and even come with their own matching bag. Wow! Super super love them. So did she. ^_^

Panko Shrimp Bento

Panko Shrimp Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Today's bento contains panko-breaded shrimp, sweet potato and kabocha with a twist: they weren't deep-fried. They were broiled! What? I saw this "recipe" on the Japanese Timesaving Lifestyle Show, which is where I got the marmalade pork recipe that I used here. I can't really call it a recipe since the whole point of the show is that you can cook your favorite tasty dishes in a fraction of the time, which usually means forgoing the typical recipe and just quickly mixing a bunch of things together. It really looks haphazard on the show because they're madly racing against the clock, but at the end they always show the judges sampling the food and proclaiming it just as delicious as the regular version. So anyway, the contestant had used this method to make shrimp tempura. All you do is squirt kewpie all over the shrimp (and I also used kabocha and sweet potato), dredge it in panko, then broil (or grill) at high temperature until shrimp is cooked and lightly browned; around 15 minutes or so. If you like, you can add salt and pepper before adding panko. It is quick, but it doesn't get as crispy as deep-frying, obviously. You can serve it with tartar sauce, or cocktail sauce, or whatever you like. I steamed the kabocha and sweet potato before breading. In this bento I also added steamed broccoli, a radish heart, a cup of yogurt with chopped strawberries and sunflower seeds, carved carrots, and another cup of grapes and blueberries.

Added to What's For Lunch!

Takoyaki Bento

Takoyaki Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Today TinySprite and I stayed home. She had a low-grade fever and no appetite last night, so I wanted to make sure she stayed warm and dry on this cold, wet day. She loved having the whole morning together, and we did exercises, singing, reading and cooking. I had picked up a stovetop takoyaki pan at Marukai long ago, and decided today was as good a time as any to try it out. I didn't have octopus but I did have shrimp, so I made a substitution. Also, I used a package okonomi batter, since it was handy. You can see tutorials at Just Hungry and Lunch In A Box, but basically what I did was: mix up batter using the prepackaged mix, water, and an egg; heat the pan on the stove; pour batter into the pan just below the rim; add a cube of cooked shrimp and some shredded cabbage (you can also add beni shoga but I omitted it for kids' tastes); let cook until bottom is set, then flip using two wooden skewers.

There's no way to easily describe how to do it without pictures, and there was no way I could take pictures while I did it. It's kind of tricky to figure out the timing and the technique to flip without spilling batter all over the pan, but you'll learn quickly. Mine didn't turn out beautifully spherical, but they were pretty good for us! The spilled batter can be scraped back into the cup with the wooden skewers. I know purists will say you have to use octopus, but these tasted great with shrimp, and the kids loved it. She asked for some in her bento, and although it won't be fresh and crispy, I hope she'll still enjoy it. I was able to squeeze 5 in her bento box, with Cara Cara oranges, cherries, broccoli and carrot in the other side. I won't add the sauce, kewpie, and aonori until the morning so hopefully it won't get too soggy by lunchtime. If she were older I might send the sauce in a separate container for her to squirt on by herself. Here's a montage of her eating her first one. She loved 'em. ^_^

Garlic Shrimp Bento

Garlic Shrimp Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

For this bento I sauteed some shrimp in garlic, butter and lemon juice; then packed them into the box with some cilantro rice, steamed broccoli and carrot flowers. I usually use bigger shrimp ('cause I like the big ones), but the smaller ones came out pretty well too. And they cook super fast, which is a plus for me. The kids ate the shrimp for dinner with whole wheat bowtie pasta, which I cooked together with the broccoli in a single timesaving step.

I was able to find a bunch of summery fruits so I had to stick them in: along with the winter standard mandarin segments -- sliced strawberry, raspberries and blueberries.

I wanted to try making lemon risotto to go with the shrimp, since someone gifted us with a bunch of their backyard Meyer lemons, but ran out of time. Maybe I should use them for something sweet anyway, like lemon bars or some other dessert. I saw a recipe on twitter for limoncello bread pudding! Hmmm...

Garlic Shrimp Bento

Garlic Shrimp Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

MisterMan has garlic shrimp, a superfast dish cooked in minutes on the stovetop in olive oil, garlic and lemon juice. Next to the shrimp he has romanesco, which I was so excited to find locally :) At the same market I also found arugula sprouts, and the two hearts are cut from yellow beets. Purple cauliflower, tomato/artichoke salad, peapods and purple/maroon carrot skewer. Fruit section includes strawberry, golden raspberries, dapple dandy plum grapes and blueberries.

This is one of my favorite bento boxes, because of its classic round shape, 3 divided sections, and transparent lid! All important aspects of a cool box to me. The topper would be if it had all those characteristics AND were made of stainless steel... but I am still on the lookout for such a thing. :)

Garden Bento

Garden Bento for MisterMan, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

My first-grader gets rice vermicelli with barbequed pork (Bún thịt nướng) from our local Vietnamese restaurant, with 2 shrimp. The "garden" part is from the purple carrot "pansy" and the radish "mushroom", as well as the tomato and the purple potato slices all served atop a bed of lettuce. The fruit bowl consists of honeydew nectarine, strawberries, pluots, grapes, blackberries and lychee.

I thought of making a garden bento because he and his sister had so much fun playing together in our garden yesterday after school, catching frogs, picking up leaves, and climbing in the lounge chairs... it was almost like summer is still here...