Pork Veggie Rice Noodle Makizushi Bento

I made Vietnamese style pork chops and instead of packing them in lettuce wraps, which is how we ate them for dinner and how I usually pack them (which makes for a great bento, by the way), I decided to make more makizushi rolls for the kiddos. I've never put rice noodles in sushi before, but I guess it worked out all right!

I like how the black rice contrasts with the rice noodles (and the white pork). I included nuoc cham dipping sauce too, as well as pickled red onion and watermelon. The roll includes: black rice, romaine lettuce, pork chop slices, pickled carrots and daikon. Everything is packed in a stainless steel container with a leakproof clicktight lid, and an Eco Dipper container for the fruit. Perfect!

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!

Shoyu Chicken LunchBots Bento

Uh huh, yup yup, it's shoyu chicken again. With all the standard sides again (I made Moroccan chickpeas but I forgot to put it in! Oh well. It didn't really go with the Japanese theme anyway. Next time!) like broccoli and tomatoes. Instead of a lettuce leaf, you can pack yours over rice, which is how I like to eat it. The smaller LunchBots Clicks holds strawberries, watermelon chunks, and carrots. These two boxes are very cool! I love them because they are completely leakproof, with tight-sealing snap lock lids. They are a nice options to plastic containers and one of the few stainless steel box sets I have that are leakproof. Plus, the two together hold just the right amount for my third-grader. Perfect!

Kuri Curry LunchBots Thermal Bento

With the weather cooling down a bit, I'm thinking more about thermal bento these days. And when I saw the cutest kuri squash at the market, I had to make curry. I wish I took a picture of the squash before I cut it. If you haven't seen one, it's a small roundish squash with a tough outer skin in a brilliant red color. The flesh is orange like pumpkin and it's great in curry because of the autumny color! My curry is packed with all kinds of veggies (and ground turkey) like broccoli, celery, onion, carrots, and sometimes mushrooms and potatoes. You can pack it over rice or just straight, like I did here, in the LunchBots Thermal Food Container. I packed a side box with beautiful cara cara oranges (also called red navel in my market) and watermelon balls. I also packed this cute Light My Fire combo spoon fork because it's MisterMan's favorite. It even has a serrated edge for cutting. How cute! Happy Start of Fall!

Banana Peanut Butter Pita Pals Bento!

Since using these tiny miniature pita breads (in this previous bento), I wanted to see how they would fare with peanut butter filling. Since TinySprite loves bananas, and I never use them in bento, I sliced some up and put them in too. They begged for faces, so that's what they got! This was an at-home snack bento, but if I were to send it to school I might replace the nut butter with sunflower seed butter, and maybe flatten the banana slice to make a kind of "seal" for the pita pocket. I added blood oranges, watermelon balls, blueberries and edamame in tiny silicone cups, and filled in the rest of the spaces with carrots. She thought it was pretty fun to eat!

In other news, I wanted to let you know that last week, my Kitty Has A Fish bento (that I posted here) won second prize in a contest sponsored by the Japan General Consulate in Los Angeles. There was a reception and presentation of certificates, and the 10 winning entries will be displayed in an exhibition at the Japan Foundation until March 28th, 2015. It is an honor to have been selected in the top 10 from among so many cute entries! If you would like to see the list of all ten winners, it is shown here: 

Portobello Ecolunchbox Bento

Portobello Ecolunchbox Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Welcome back from a long Memorial Day weekend! Since we did a lot of grilling over the weekend, I decided to have a meatless Tuesday bento today. I broiled portobello mushrooms with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, then garnished with green onion, cilantro, and various other herbs from the garden. I personally had mine with chimichurri, with which I am currently obsessed. It's a very intense and aromatic dressing/sauce, and I use garlic and sherry vinegar to give it even more bite. I like it with meat, pork, even just with bread or pasta, like pesto. MisterMan has sliced portobellos with savoy cabbage - carrot - daikon - sesame slaw, watermelon, corn, peapods, tomatoes, Okinawan sweet potato, blueberries and apricot. All packed in the 3-in-1 Ecolunchbox set. Super refreshing to kick off this brand-new SHORT week. The last week of school for us!
Added to What's For Lunch.

Kamut Chili Bento

Kamut Chili Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Ka-what? Kamut? Yeah, that's what I thought too. Turns out this grain is some kind of really big wheat. Its origins are somewhat fuzzy, but it seems to be agreed that it's a kind of ancient grain that is high in protein and minerals such as selenium, zinc and magnesium. It has a nutty flavor and chewy texture, sort of like farro, or barley, or brown rice (to me). I found this recipe which incorporates Kamut, but which is basically just a chili recipe into which you add the grain. I decided to cook the Kamut with brown rice in my Zojirushi on the brown rice setting. I soaked overnight and it turned out fine. I thought it had a substantial quality to it, and made the chili quite hearty and filling. You could just as easily substitute farro or barley, though, in my opinion. I packed this batch for MisterMan over rice, and I should have used a leakproof container, obviously, but luckily there wasn't enough lunchbag-swinging to cause any spillage. The top tier holds: watermelon (!), satsuma, tomatoes and blueberries.

Kamut® Chili (from this recipe; it's very basic so I'm not sure why I used it)

Ingredients
1cup Kamut grain, soaked overnight, drained
2cups cooked pinto beans
1large onion, chopped
1green bell pepper, chopped
3cloves garlic, minced
1 zucchini, chopped
1carrot, diced
3teaspoons chili powder
2cups tomato sauce
1cup water
15ounce stewed tomatoes
1/4tsp Tabasco sauce (I omitted)

Cook soaked Kamut in rice cooker on brown rice setting.
Add remaining ingredients in with Kamut. Simmer for 1 1/2 - 2 hours.

Grilled Furikake Chicken LunchBots Quad Bento

Grilled Furikake Chicken LunchBots Quad Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

I felt like using the cute LunchBot Quad today because the divided sections are so handy it almost fills itself. I simply grilled some chicken, sliced into bite-size pieces, lay them in one section side by side, and sprinkled with sodium-free, MSG-free furikake. Next, I cut some garlic-roasted baby asparagus for the next section, and added a couple of grape tomatoes and a flower-shaped steamed Okinawan sweet potato. A third section got tiny silicone cups of homemade sauerkraut and pickled cucumbers (and a carrot), and in the last section I squeezed some watermelon cubes and a peeled satsuma mandarin. See what I mean? You've seen all these components in my bento before; some of them happen to be stocked regularly in my fridge for an easy go-to. TinySprite's kindergarten appetite is fairly small, so a few items of each food group will just about fill her up. The Quad is ideal for this purpose; love it!

Tasty Chili Bento

Tasty Chili Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

So the weather turns a little cool and what do I immediately think of? Chili! I winged it with this batch, not really measuring any spices but just adding and mixing until everything tasted just about right. Do you ever do that? I may have gone overboard with the chili powder and cumin, but I didn't hear any complaints. Just in case, I also sprinkled a little Maui brown sugar to tone down any excess heat. I had just enough left to pack for two bento the next day, served over white-brown-barley-quinoa rice. That was a close one. For my girl I used the Hello Kitty thermal jar. I decided to use the enameled stainless steel box I got at Daiso for the refreshing extras: delightful satsuma mandarin, cubed watermelon, carrot, pickled cucumbers, home-fermented sauerkraut, and a grape tomato. I hope this will keep the TinySprite going all day.

Breakfast For Lunch Bento

Breakfast For Lunch Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

I find that I tend to use the LunchBots Quad to try to give me some inspiration on days that find me kind of tired (or lazy). They're great for using up whatever odds and ends you happen to have lying around that don't seem to be enough for a whole lunch. Well, guess what? When you put them all in here, they somehow come together to add up to a complete and filling meal. I had a couple eggs and a sweet Italian sausage so I quickly tossed them in the frying pan to scramble up together. Topped with a few green onions, it'll make a tasty protein serving for TinySprite. The last of the roasted Brussels sprouts and a few carrots fill out the veggie section, and I squeezed a cup of cottage cheese / blueberries / pumpkin seeds alongside some baby super-ripe strawberries. The last section holds watermelon balls, because we're clinging to summer no matter what the calendar says. How about you?

Cheesy Stuffed Tomato Bento

Cheesy Stuffed Tomato Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

I sent TinySprite to summer school with this stuffed tomato duo nestled in a lettuce nest aside some crunchy fresh carrots. The tomatoes were halved, hollowed, and filled with a mixture of cottage cheese, parmesan, rice, chopped spinach, minced garlic and seasoned with salt and pepper. You could add bacon or prosciutto to the mix if you like. I topped with cheddar and melted it just a little under the broiler, but these are good without any cooking at all. Plus they are very refreshing on a hot summer day. I made these for #twittercheeseparty, July edition, but they are great for bento too. The other side holds a little cup of blueberries, some fresh corn off the cob, white peaches, raspberries, and a watermelon ball caterpillar. Happy Summer!

Breakfast Taco Bento

aco,
Breakfast Taco Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Today's bento arose from an idea amongst some twitter pals to have a virtual taco party; a #TwitterTacoParty. The idea was for everyone to come up with a taco meal with their own unique twist, then post and share it. Fun, right? There were lots of interesting and tasty-looking tacos floating around the twitterverse tonight, let me tell ya! I chose to make a breakfast taco, since who doesn't like breakfast for lunch? I used a whole wheat tortilla and stuffed with shredded cabbage, crispy soyrizo, fried egg, grated sharp cheddar, diced onion and tomato, sliced avocado and cilantro. I folded the large size round into a pocket and then folded down the top so that hopefully my boy can hold and eat with minimal spillage. I filled in the rest of the space with a rainbow of late summer tomatoes, and decorated the tortilla with some gingko leaves to add a touch of Fall. He also gets steamed broccoli and purple cauliflower, a star-cut radish, some watermelon wedges, a strawberry and red grapes.

Thanks to my twitter pals for giving me a bento idea along with a fun dinner "party"! If you want to follow along, come and join us. The more the merrier. Party on!

How to Make a Watermelon Brain!

Okay, I saw this first on twitter, here. Warning: it's cool, but kinda icky. First, get a watermelon.

Cut in half lengthwise.

Shave off the green skin, leaving the white part.

Start cutting with a sharp knife.

Make brain-like folds as shown.

Mine looks kind of gruesome because the white rind was so thin that the red part showed through, making it look a bit too "bloody" for me.

But I guess it does look kind of brainlike. It creeped out my family! But they still ate it. And you know me, I had to make a mini:

Out of a radish. ^_^

Happy Halloween!!!

Mini: Watermelon!

I made this mini watermelon from a green zebra heirloom tomato, after inspiration from playing with fire and water, a blogger who did a very similar thing (brought to my attention by Laura Bento, who knows my obsession with minis!). If you haven't seen green zebra tomatoes, they are characterized by green striations, very watermelon-like in nature. I scooped one out, cut out a corresponding size watermelon, popped it into the tomato shell, and placed sesame seeds on top. You can see that my watermelon scoop is not a perfect match for its tomato shell, but it was only my first novice try. I'll try again, you can be sure :)

Isn't the baby watermelon just the cutest thing ever? I mean, look at it!! Tee hee! Made for bento, I think :)