Egg Burger Egg

 

I saw this idea on the internets and it was so cute I thought I'd give it a try. I used a regular hen egg sliced crosswise to make the bun, and just cut smaller portions of the fillings (cheese, ham, lettuce, onions, avocado, pickles, tomato and ketchup. The "fries" are carrot sticks.

You could make a super cute miniature version with a quail egg.

Have a great Thursday!

Japanese Rock Garden Toast

 

TinySprite gets a peaceful toast today: hopefully it helps her wind down after a long hard week at school. I was inspired by the food artist Manami Sasaki. She's so creative. We love toast over here so it seems like fun to use the bread as a canvas for imagination and beauty. And I always love a miniature! 

Happy Friday friends!

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!

Toast Of The Day: Avocado, Cheesy Eggs, Hummus & Tomato!

Why did it take me so long to discover cheesy eggs? My feelings toward scrambled eggs have changed forever. 

You guys might already know this, but the key to fluffy eggs is to cook low and slow. That is, low heat with constant stirring until you feel the liquidy cheesy egg start to develop form. I mixed my egg with a big spoonful of cottage cheese; you could use ricotta or whatever cheese your little heart so chooses. At that point, turn off the heat and let finish to your desired fluffiness. If you want to pile sky high on avocado toast, who's stopping you? 

And then just because I happened to have a pretty gradient of grape tomatoes, I made another toast on hummus. Come to think of it, I could have combined everything into one deliciously massive towering architectural wonder.
Architoastual wonder.
Next time!
😊❤🍱

Toast Of The Day: Artichoke Hearts!

Today's Artichoke Heart, Arugula & Purple Cream Cheese Toast idea came about after I read a recipe for marinating plain quartered artichoke hearts instead of buying the kind in those tiny jars. I used white wine vinegar and olive oil, as well as shallots, lemon slices and oregano. It came out tasting nothing like the jarred stuff, but still delicious!

Sure, you could eat it just as is, but why not make a fun toast with it? I used whole wheat pita again, schmeared cream cheese (into which I mashed a piece of steamed Okinawan purple sweet potato because, look how pretty!), scattered some arugula and piled on the home-marinated artichoke hearts.

Um, SO good!

😊❤🍱

Chicken Teri Onigirazu Snack Bento

Today's snack makes use of last night's dinner along with some fillers that I usually have lying around the fridge. Onigirazu is like a musubi but rectangular in shape like a sandwich. It's like a rice sandwich. If you do a search you'll see lots of  beautiful examples bursting with all kinds of colorful and delicious ingredients.

There are molds you can purchase to help you make the onigirazu shape but I find that it's easy enough to shape it yourself, and then you can size it to your specific bento box.

Feel free to pack whatever favorite foods you choose!

😊❤🍱

Pancake Snack Bento

Happy Shrove Tuesday!

Do you observe this day? All I know is that it's a day to eat pancakes, so this is what I made for TinySprite's snack today.

 They are little pancakes sandwiched with peanut butter, nitrite-free chicken sausages in keeping with the breakfasty theme, sliced super sweet strawberries, and supremed mandarin oranges. I've never supremed a mandarin before but they look so cute I might do it again for fun. Short stack is topped with a cheese bear.

Enjoy your Fat Tuesday friends!

😊❤🍱

Pita Snack Bento

I wasn't planning to make a snack but the avocados are ready to eat *right this second* so let's do this. I love avocado on bread, long before avocado toast was even a thing. If I had more time I would fry an egg or add ricotta cheese or hummus and beets or apple slices and honey or... so many possibilities! How do you like to eat avocado?

In MisterMan's Ecolunchbox Solo Cube: whole wheat pita triangles topped with stuff. Pack as many as you can fit so they don't move around inside the box and just stack them nicely. 

Plus more blood oranges because they're still in season and they look so amazing. Have a great weekend!

😊❤🍱

Bunny Eats a Rainbow Bento!

This one is just a fun snack I threw together for the kiddos to take advantage of all the colorful fruit and veggies slowly starting to appear in the markets these days. I can't wait until we are in full spring fruit season! This one, packed in the "Zen" box from Bento & Co, contains a rainbow of goodies: strawberry, satsuma mandarins, tamagoyaki (okay, not a fruit or veggie, but the egg contributed such a bright sunny effect here), kiwi, blueberries, and Okinawan sweet potato. I added a cheese bunny holding a mini fresh garden carrot too. Don't fear, spring will be here before you know it!

Valentine Snack Bento

Valentine Snack Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Yesterday I made sugar cookies, impressed with a heart image (using my mini heart cutter) and sprinkled with home-dyed pink sugar. I made 40 for the two kiddos to take to their class Valentine parties, plus a few extra to sample. ^_^
TinySprite pronounced them cute. Chocolate almonds (her favorite treat) and a little cup of yogurt with raspberries complete the sweet afterschool snack. I hope you all had a wonderful Valentines Day! Wishing you lots of love, hugs and kisses today and every day :D

Gluten-Free Adventures: Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bars

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bars (gluten-free), a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Okay, so I have been hard at work experimenting with treats and snacks in the gluten-free vein. When I saw this recipe for GF peanut butter chocolate chip bars, I thought: perfect! And also: so easy. I love bar recipes, because they're so much less labor-intensive than ones requiring you to make crusts, or roll out balls, or scoop into muffin tins. You just pour it into a pan and forget it until the timer dings. And it's usually at least a half hour or so, so you can kick back and relax too. This recipe, from Serious Eats, is no exception. I liked that the main flour is brown rice flour, which I've grown to realize I like the flavor of. And the peanut butter should mask any other taste issues as well.

Gluten-Free Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bars (Serious Eats)

Ingredients
3 3/4 ounces (3/4 cup) brown rice flour
2 ounces (1/3 cup) potato starch
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 ounces (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
4 ounces (1/2 cup) smooth peanut butter (I used chunky)
3.5 ounces (1/2 cup) granulated sugar
4 ounces (1/2 cup) dark brown sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup chocolate chips
[I added chia seeds and flax meal too]

Preheat oven to 350°F;. Grease 8x8x2-inch pan with nonstick cooking spray.

In small bowl, whisk together brown rice flour, potato starch, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. In large bowl, cream together butter, peanut butter, and sugars until light and fluffy, about one minute. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat well between each addition. Stop mixer and scrape down bottom and sides of bowl. Turn mixer back on and continue to beat until mixture is light, fluffy, and almost white. Turn off mixer. Add dry ingredients, turn mixer to low and blend to combine. Add chocolate chips. Mix until just combined.

Spread batter evenly into prepared pan. Bake until bars are puffy, golden brown, and a cake tester interested into the center of the bars comes out with a few moist crumbs, about 35 minutes. Place pan on wire rack to cool. When cooled, cut into 12 bars.

I have to say, these bars turned out perfectly. They look and taste exactly like gluten-filled peanut butter bars. Mine came out a tad bit dry, but that was my fault; I let them cook longer than the recommended 35 minutes because I thought they looked anemic (and I like my baked goods to look nicely golden brown). I won't do that next time. They were deeeeeeeelicious. A definite kid-pleaser!

TinySprite Snack Sandwich Bento

TinySprite Snack Sandwich Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

This was supposed to be a snack bento for TinySprite to keep her busy after school while her brother finished up his homework. It turns out she didn't have a big enough appetite after school to finish this, though. She put away the mini-wiches and the egg, but that was it. I cut a cucumber cup for blackberries, and tossed some grapes, strawberries and carrots into the mix. I also dyed a quail egg in beet juice after forming a heart shape using Anna The Red's method here. It was tricky, seeing as how quail eggs are rather smallish and kind of delicate. If you press too hard you'll crack the egg, which I kind of did as you can see. I added a nori face and some wings, which is my current favorite thing to do ever since I found these cool wing picks. I rarely make cutout sandwiches, because I'm not one to save crusts and odd pieces of bread for croutons or breadcrumbs or whatever it is you're supposed to save all those ends for, and then it's such a waste. But I wanted to use the little mini sandwich cutters that I received from a bentopal (aren't they cute?). I know other charaben makers are asked what they do with their leftover food scraps. After making these little peanut butter and jam cuties, I was suddenly approached by the resident scrap disposal, who often makes an appearance when he hears exclamations coming from the kitchen, such as "Oh no!", "Oops!", and "Crap!" (or variations thereupon). How can I refuse a face like this?

Ninja Snowman Snack Bento

Ninja Snowman Snack Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

This one is a snack bento for TinySprite, to keep her busy after school while her brother finishes his homework. He has a biography due, and he's chosen Leonardo da Vinci. What an interesting person! But back to the bento. I squeezed a chicken egg into a snowman shape and decorated it with nori as a ninja. He's wearing a red pepper and cheese Santa hat for the occasion, but I bet he's not too happy about it. The rest of the bento contains carrots, edamame, cucumbers, Okinawan sweet potatoes, orange chunks, a blackberry and a crabapple. It should be just enough to keep her occupied (and quiet) for a half hour or so. ^_^

Baby Jack Snack Bento

Baby Jack Snack Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

This one is just an afterschool snack for TinySprite. I wanted to try making a mini jack-o-lantern from a ... quail's egg. I tried dyeing it in a mix of red and golden beet juice, but I guess I didn't let it soak long enough. I used luckysundae's shaping method but hers came out much better! In fact, my son asked if it was a tomato. Oops. This jack took way too much time for me. After hard-boiling, I had to squeeze with strings into the puffy pumpkin shape overnight, and then I had to soak in dye another few hours (which obviously wasn't enough). Maki uses turmeric and shoyu to get orange; I'll have to remember that for "next time." I tried a hen's egg too, but it cracked along the seams. Also in this teeny bento: strawberries, peapods, carrot and Okinawan sweet potato.

Happy Chinese New Year Bento!

Happy Chinese New Year Bento!, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Tomorrow is the Lunar New Year, when we celebrate the Year of the Rabbit. And since the dragon is a part of the celebration, I've included a dragon cut from dragonfruit in TinySprite's snack bento today. It's playing with a blackberry ball atop a bed of sweet and juicy Cara cara oranges. We didn't have a lunch bento today since we went out for lunch and a window-shopping stroll on this beautiful sunny day. It was a wonderful way to send out the last day of the year. Along with the red and gold decorations I added some garden roses. Four of my roses bushes happened to have a perfectly fragrant bloom open today, so I cut them for display in the picture, and now they are in a glass vase on our table. Strangely enough, even my (normally Fall-blooming) dahlia also had a blossom on it. I think this unseasonably warm stretch of weather we've been having is confusing the plants. I hope Spring weather and temperatures will arrive in the rest of the snow-bound country very soon. In the meantime, Happy Chinese New Year!

Sweet O'Potato Bento

Sweet O'Potato Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Tomorrow there's no school for MisterMan since they are having first quarter parent-teacher conferences. So instead, I'm posting a picture of the snack bento I made for TinySprite this afternoon. She ate this when she got up from her nap. We didn't get her brother right away because he had music class after school. On these days I give her a snack to tide her over until I start dinner. Even though it's just a snack, I still like to put as many nutritious foods (including vegetables) in there as I can.

Today I cut a slice of steamed sweet potato with a pumpkin cutter, and stamped a face using triangle and square cutters without pressing all the way through. I added a couple of salami and mozzarella cheese stick skewers (the rest of the cheese stick is behind the sweet potato), some cherry tomatoes, sliced peaches, a strawberry and a tiny crab apple. I filled in the gaps with blanched peapods. First thing she said when she took off the lid of (my new Cinnamoroll) box was "Scary!" But she picked up the jack o'lantern and ate it first! Are you surprised to learn that she ate everything in this box? I was! I didn't expect her to eat all the peapods, but she did. It's cool because soon I'll be sending along a bento box lunch to accompany her to preschool, and I'm hoping the cute presentation will encourage her to finish everything there, even with all the distractions of other kids (and possibly junk food). Stay tuned and we'll see...

Hello Kitty Quail Egg Bento

Another Hello Kitty Quail Egg Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

I haven't posted a TinySprite bento for awhile so here's one from last week. It's a post-nap snack bento, with various fruit: pluot, kiwi and superripe saturn peach; a cup of edamame, carrot sticks and a little furikake mahimahi. I boiled a quail egg and tried to use a metal star cutter to form a star, but you can see it didn't really work. So instead I stuck some radish ears, rice stick whiskers, nori eyes and a yellow carrot nose (and the very useful red bow pick) and turned it into baby Hello Kitty. She was so excited about this bento; I was glad I had the presence of mind to take some pics of her eating it. The last time I did was almost 6 months ago. She looks so much older now, doesn't she? But still sitting in the baby booster seat, haha! She still prefers to eat with her hands, even though I always provide a utensil. So, things usually end up getting kind of.. messy. Ah, well. ^_^

Kalua Pig Bento

Kalua Pig Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Today's snack bento is made extra delicious with homemade kalua pig from Charlotte, who sent us home with leftovers from their potluck last weekend! Thanks so much Pat and Charlotte! The kids (and everyone) loved the kalua pig. Its salty goodness goes really well with rice and a bunny-shaped hard-boiled egg. I should have dyed the egg for better contrast, but of course I never learn my lesson about the washed-out egg effect. I must be doing something wrong with the white balance, or I should be fixing it in Photoshop somehow. Hmm. Anyway, the rest of the bento contains carrots, romanesco, tomato and grapes. The sweet cherries get a teeny little box all to themselves. Even though I only filled a silicone cup with pork, I bet TinySprite will be asking for more. It's so yummy! I have an exciting post coming up soon, so stay tuned....

Ninja In The Fruit Bento!

Ninja In The Fruit Bento!, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

This snack bento is for my 2 year old TinySprite ~ a nori-wrapped hard-boiled egg ninja standing guard with his various weaponry. Watching over the satsuma mandarin, sugar plum, black grapes, strawberry and raspberry. Sword, dagger and throwing star shaped cucumber.
Inspired by fellow flickr bentoist MAHOUTAKE's egg man, and a challenge! Come eat the fruit! Dare you!

Little snack bento for toddler usuallly consists of fruit and cheese -- her favorite foods -- but I usually try to add some protein and veggies as well. Eggs and peanut butter are good stand-bys. She loves hard-boiled egg, which she will eat yolk and all, but for some reason she is not a fan of scrambled eggs or omelet, unfortunately. If your child is picky about certain foods, perhaps the stubborn one may come around if you present the food in a different form. Beans and peas are another specialty food; she prefers them deshelled. Don't bother to deshell them first; little kids love to "play" with their food and may even end up eating more if you let them pop the peas out themselves. My girl may be picky, but I can be sneaky too :)

Werewolf Toddler Snack Bento

Werewolf Toddler Snack Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

I have lots of Halloween-themed bento this year ~ too many to blog. They were a lot of fun, though, and if you want to see them all in one place, you can glance at the dedicated set I made in flickr. I'm posting this one here just to let you know this one made Front Page on Flickr Explore, which was a first for me and was very exciting! This means the photo was cycled on the front page for some time (about 5 hours) on October 24th. Here's what the screen shot looked like.

I made the chicken and sun-dried tomato ravioli "werewolf" for TinySprite with mozzarella and nori facial details, and cut curved pieces for the paws. My mom thinks the paws are the best part of the bento. There are also peapods, strawberries and blackberries. Her Jack O'Lantern is cut from a mini orange sweet pepper. It's my favorite cutting material and I love that the vegetable is naturally hollow too! Here's how I cut my little pepper jack-o-lantern (a recent post), if you are interested :)

It's only 2 more days until Halloween! Tomorrow my boy has the day off, so he will spend it hanging out with his sister and me. Who knows what will be in store?