Pork in Lettuce Wrap Bento

Pork in Lettuce Wrap Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

I made a Vietnamese style marinade using fish sauce, brown sugar and rice wine vinegar using a recipe from Bon Appétit. And instead of pork chops I used thin cut pork loin, for kiddie-friendly eating. I did a pan sear, and served in home grown "baby lettuce" leaves alongside pickled carrots and daikon, and cucumbers. There's also a baby cherry tomato in there for color. Before I left for a 2 week vacation this past summer, I had placed a little planter of baby lettuce sprouts into my fig pot. When I got back, the lettuce had taken over and grown to an immense size. So now we have lots of salad in our future! The rest of this bento contains super juicy and sweet late-season pluots, grapes and cherries. A tasty bento lunch for the kiddos!
Added to What's For Lunch.

Summer Rolls Bento, part 3.

Summer Rolls Bento, part 3., a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

We just came off a long 3-day weekend due to a teachers work day, and it's a little tough to get back into bentomaking and blogging again. And did I mention the whole weekend was the most gorgeous, summery, sparkling weekend we've had all year?! That's right; we hit our year's high temperature yesterday. The bay area is notorious for cool summers and late warming, so this is pretty typical. While everyone else is planning pumpkin soups and pot roasts, we're thinking refreshing salads and ice teas. So here's today's no-cook bento: the ever-popular summer rolls in rice paper wraps, filled with lettuce, pickled carrots and cucumbers, deli nitrate-free ham and salami. Yeah, I know it sounds weird. But the kiddos cannot get enough. Plus, the rice wraps stay closed so well (compared to tortillas) that they're hard to beat mess-free fun finger foods. How can you argue with that? Two little Okinawan sweet potato lovebirds perch upon a broccoli branch above a radish heart. Awwwwww. Summery peaches and berries complete the meal. I wonder if they'll go for summer rolls all week?

Added to What's For Lunch. 

4-Section Variety Bento

4-Section Variety Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Today I made a fun one for TinySprite. This is a 4-sectioned plain old plasticware container that I used to use for my kids when they were babies. I distinctly remember packing this box to go to the park with MisterMan, my moms' group, and their babies. I'd put cottage cheese in one part, scrambled eggs in another, kale-oatmeal (yes, for real!), and sweet potato or some kind of fruit. I always thought of it as baby-sized, but now that I dug it out of the cabinet, it looks like a good size for my preschooler actually. Yeah, MM has always been a HUGE eater. TinySprite's appetite has been unpredictable recently, and she's getting over a bug of some kind, and we're also trying a gluten-free diet with her for awhile, so I thought this box would be appropriate and fun for a change. She ate this one at home with me, so I got to watch. She loved looking at all the different portions. The first thing she downed was the corn tortilla/cheese/spinach wraps, then the yogurt with strawberries and sunflower seeds. She then informed me that she doesn't like blood oranges, so I had to swap those out for cara cara oranges. She stared at the sauteed mushroom/zucchini for a long time, and let me tell you she actually liked the lettuce leaf better. She did end up eating the whole thing, though, and even shared my green smoothie afterwards. Success!

Wraps Friends Bento and Corndog Minimuffins

Round Wraps Friends Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

A cute little bento for TinySprite in the round enamelware bowl with transparent lid I got from Daiso. It also comes in a square shape, and as nesting sets as well. These are a nice alternative to the stainless steel side boxes I usually use, and I like the clean white effect. Here I used four colorful silicone cups to keep things separate: chicken-lettuce-cheddar wraps in whole wheat tortillas, carrots, strawberries and grapes. I also tossed a couple of corndog minimuffins in her bento bag for snacktime. I made a batch of these cuties for MisterMan to take to school for his Valentine party (I found the recipe here), but of course I had to use chicken-apple sausages instead of hot dogs. They taste pretty good, if not exactly like corndogs. Fun idea though! Hope you all had a fun and enjoyable Valentines' Day with your loved ones. XO to you!

Summer Rolls Bento

Summer Rolls Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Today the kids get summer rolls; these rice wrappers are filled with lettuce and lemongrass chicken. You could also use shrimp, pork, or veggies alone. Since the wrappers tend to dry out, it's best to seal them in plastic wrap to keep them fresh and soft. The two-tier bento boxes are ideal for this purpose, since I can put the wrapped rolls together in one section and keep the fruit and veggies separate. MisterMan gets blood orange slices, carrots, a strawberry, grapes and a cup of cottage cheese with blueberries on top. Here's a closer look at the top tier.

TinySprite gets 3 mini-rolls in her bottom tier, and in the top tier: grapes, edamame, carrots and a strawberry. I totally forgot about this bento box since it had been shoved all the way in the back of the cabinet behind the stainless steel section. I really like it a lot, and I'm so happy I (re)found it!

Here's the recipe I used (from allrecipes):

Lemongrass Chicken Summer Rolls

2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast

2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger root
2 tablespoons minced fresh jalapeno chile (I omitted)
1/2 cup peeled and thinly-julienned seedless cucumber
1/4 cup minced fresh Thai basil leaves
1/4 cup minced fresh mint leaves
1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro
1 1/2 tablespoons minced lemon grass
1/2 cup ground peanuts
1/4 cup fish sauce
3 tablespoons lime juice
2 teaspoons white sugar
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon peanut oil
Rice paper wrappers
Lettuce leaves
Boil the chicken until no longer pink in the center (about 10 minutes depending on your pieces).
Remove, allow to cool, and shred into small pieces.
Toss together the chicken with the vegetables. Mix the fish sauce, lime juice, sugar, sesame and peanut oils, then add to chicken mixture and stir.
Dip one rice wrapper in a shallow pan of warm water to soften. Remove after a few seconds, drain a bit, and lay on flat surface. Place lettuce leaf on top, then some chicken (I drained the chicken a bit so that there wouldn't be so much sauce dripping out), then roll semi-tightly but be careful not to tear the wrapper. Set aside and repeat for the rest of the ingredients. Eat immediately, or wrap in plastic to seal in moisture and prevent drying out.

Mouse Wraps Tiffin Bento

Mouse Wraps Tiffin Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

This bento is another example of no-cook bento. I just realized that I have posted several no-cook bento lunches in the past few weeks, possibly due to the hectic nature of back-to-school and the feeling of having no time as we transition back into the school routine. Sound familiar? It's a good idea to have a series of no-cook bento ideas to fall back on in times like this, just in case you find yourself too busy or tired or maybe you just forgot to go grocery shopping in time. Oh, that's just me? Oops. Anyway, we'd just got back from a Labor Day weekend out of town, and I wasn't in the mood to cook anything after unpacking and all in the 80F heat. So my boy got turkey dog rollups with cheddar, spinach, roasted red peppers, and baby dills in a whole wheat tortilla. I cut it into three pieces and held the wraps together with leaf picks. Then, as I was looking at the three cross-sections, I noticed they looked like little faces with pickle ears, so I decided to add some nori faces. I put the fruit assortment into a stainless steel cup (strawberries, grapes, rasp- and blueberries), then filled in the gaps with steamed broccoli and little baby tomatoes. I also stuck in two tri-color (pink, purple and orange) carrot skewers; I think they look so pretty just aligned together like that. No need to even cut shapes with them. I put everything in my round stainless steel tiffin, which always seems so cool during the hot days. This one comes with a top, shallow tier but I left it out and the lid fastens on perfectly well without it. Score! Totally love this box a lot!

Panda Egg Wraps Bento

Panda Egg Wraps Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

I guess it's sandwich week, 'cuz we've got another sandwich today! Well, wrap. This one has ham, cheese, avocado, green olive tapenade and spring greens all rolled up in a whole wheat tortilla. I wrapped them in wax paper (bottoms are also folded in) to minimize fallout while the boy eats.

This is the very first time I've used this bento box without all the inserts, and I've used it at least 20 times! I was a little nervous at first, but everything just fell into place. I would have taken all the inserts out, but I was pretty sure the panda egg in his asparagus forest would need extra propping up. The panda is a hard-boiled egg with nori and radish (eye) details. I free-cut the nori, and don't know why he's so grouchy looking. Maybe he was hoping for actual bamboo.

I also added a few baby carrots and a half radish in that cup with him. Finally, I squeezed in a few supersweet strawberries and some red grapes. We had another beautiful spring day today! We'll have to appreciate this weather while it lasts, since the rains are coming back this weekend. Have a good one, friends :)