Rilakkuma Bear Burger Bento

Rilakkuma Bear Burger Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Bear burger! This one has turkey and bison (combined because I wasn't sure how well the bison taste would go over), decorated with cheese and nori to make his face upon a spinach bed. There's homemade barbeque sauce in the little container, alongside carrots, strawberry and cinnamon sprinkled apple chunks. Easy peasy, and a hit with my meat-loving girl ^_^

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?

Pickled Sticky Rice LunchBot Bento

Pickled Sticky Rice Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

I made one of my favorite one-pot meals for today: sticky rice! See my method here. Since TinySprite is allergic to soy, I omitted the lup cheong (Chinese sausage) and replaced the meat with regular ham. I've also used Canadian bacon before (in this bento) and it went over just fine. This batch got shiitake mushrooms and a new kind of green: broccoli stalks. I thought it would give a little bite to the rice. And another new kind of green as well: pickled mustard greens. I know it sounds crazy, but my kids love pickled vegetables. Even mustard greens. Weird, right? It has a very strong flavor and totally changed the way I usually think of this dish, but in a good way. They liked it! Go figure. I put my girl's portion in the LunchBot Trio alongside: fresh pear slices, blueberries, strawberries, Okinawan sweet potatoes and carrots.

Furikake Mahimahi in Panda Bento

Furikake Mahimahi Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

We try to eat fish at least once a week, but it seems I've been slacking off here, since (scrolling down) I don't see any fish in my photostream lately. When I saw this nice mahimahi at the market I thought it would be a nice change from the usual salmon (although I love salmon). I cut the fillet into smallish pieces, then pan-fried in butter (olive oil is good too). At the end, I sprinkled some furikake on all sides. I've also made this using kewpie mayo, smearing the fish with it and then sprinkling the furikake and frying. This works, but the furikake might burn if you fry too long. For TinySprite's bento, I tossed a few pieces atop hapa rice, stuck a few carrots on the sides and topped with fish-shaped Okinawan sweet potato. A couple of fish skewers completes the theme. The top tier holds berries, radish and cucumber. Just sprite-sized. ^_^

Chickpea Cauliflower Curry LunchBot Bento

Chickpea Cauliflower Curry Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

I decided to make a vegetarian dry curry today, using a recipe that called for simply tossing chopped vegetables with olive oil, curry powder and brown sugar, then roasting the whole thing in a baking pan at 400F until tender and fragrant, about 30 minutes. I used diced eggplant, onion, red capsicum, cauliflower, potatoes and chickpeas. It's a nice mild flavor that the kids can handle, and a good way to get them to eat eggplant. I served it over some fresh spinach leaves in their bento, but it's good over hot rice as well. It's on the dry side, which makes it idea for bento, with no thick sauce to drip all over everything. This Lunchbot Quad keeps the curry separate from the rest of the food, which includes: carrots, corn, Okinawan sweet potato and broccoli; strawberries and raspberries; and pluots and blueberries. I thought this was a pretty big meal for my kindergartner, and I was pleased that she was able to finish it all. Score!

Honey Soy Ginger Baked Chicken Bento

Honey Soy Ginger Baked Chicken Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Today's chicken is a little different from the usual shoyu chicken, but the ingredients are the same. I used the recipe from the Mom 100 Cookbook by Katie Workman, which caught my eye because the photographs that accompany the recipes are very cool. They look messy and a little sloppy, just the way most meals look in my house. Plus, she shows variations for folks (like for those who prefer less spicy, etc.) Anyway, here's Katie Workman's version:

Honey Ginger Soy Chicken Recipe (from The Mom 100 Cookbook by Katie Workman)

1 cup of honey, at room temperature
3/4 cup of low sodium soy sauce (I substituted coconut aminos and it tasted okay)
1/2 cup very finely minced or grated fresh ginger (from about one thick 4-inch piece)
1/4 cup minced garlic (8 to 12 cloves)
2 chickens, 3 to 3 1/2 lbs. each, trimmed of excess fat and cut into 8 pieces each
5 scallions, trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces, from the white to about halfway up the green (optional)

Whisk everything except the chicken and scallions together, and add to chicken. Marinate a few hours or overnight. Arrange chicken in baking pan and scatter scallions on top. Bake the chicken in a covered baking pan at 350F for 30 minutes. Uncover, turn chicken, increase temp to 375F and continue to bake 30-40 minutes longer. Serve with pan sauce.

It was kind of sweet, but a nice balanced combo with the garlic, ginger and shoyu. The kiddos liked it a lot. I sent a few pieces to school with TinySprite, atop a bed of furikake rice, surrounded by corn off the cob and a broccoli tree. The upper tier of the panda donburi bowl holds peaches, strawberry, grapes, homegrown tomatoes and a steamed Okinawan sweet potato.

Slow-Cooked Pork Stew Bento

Slow-Cooked Pork Stew Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Yeah, I know it's not fall yet, but I had a little pork shoulder so I decided to toss it in the slow cooker with some potatoes, carrots and celery and make a kind of stew. It had been cool for a few days last week and I can smell fall coming, so we might as well dust off the stewpot and get ready for those hearty warm meals. This kind of bento is a cinch to pack, because all I do is heat it up and ladle it into the thermal food jar just before the kids go to school. The little side box with fruit (peach, strawberries and blueberries) can be packed the night before. It might not be the cutest looking lunch, but it's nutritious and filling, and it'll keep my kids satisfied though the afternoon. And... that's the whole point, right? Happy Bento-ing! ^_^

Little Tebasaki Drummettes Bento

Little Tebasaki Drummettes Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

I haven't made tebasaki (salt grilled chicken wings) in a long time, and the kids love it (see the method and recipe here). Usually I use a mix of drums and wings, or the entire wing, but I could only find the drummettes this time. They're kid- and bento-sized, and I was happy to see them fit in this box so perfectly. I made TinySprite a little rice "cupcake" with furikake and a baby radish "cherry", plus some lightly steamed broccoli and purple carrots on a skewer. The removable container holds more carrots, a few homegrown tomatoes, pluots, and a little Okinawan sweet potato bear shape. Just right!

Soy Chicken Drumsticks Bento

Soy Chicken Drumsticks Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Shoyu chicken was my absolute favorite dish as a child. I always requested it if my mom ever asked. This version is one I've posted before, and it's a Vietnamese style using fish sauce and coconut water. It has a different, less sweet flavor that I really crave, and when you make it in the slow-cooker you can enjoy the aroma for hours while you dash in and out of the house between kid chauffeuring duties. We are now cutting out soy due to allergies, so I had to adapt the recipe further (substituting with coconut aminos), but as MisterMan says, "It still tastes almost the same, like you know what it's supposed to be." Well, good! I guess. Kids (my kids, anyway) really like shoyu chicken, and I served this one over rice in the bento (out of view), and all the rice got devoured. Something about chicken & rice. The rest of the round box contains: Okinawan sweet potato flower shapes, steamed broccoli, carrots, pluots and golden watermelon. I didn't mean to buy a golden one, but it wasn't labeled as such. There's something weird about a yellow watermelon, though it tasted just like the red kind. I topped with a radish cut like an apple, with sesame seed detail. Simple!

Enchiladas of Love Bento

Enchiladas of Love Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

The kids get chicken enchiladas today, made with corn tortillas and filled with shredded chicken, onions, olives and cheese; smothered with red sauce and topped with more cheese. I packed MisterMan's in the rectangular two-tiered EcoLunchbox. The enchiladas lay on a bed of lettuce, with cilantro and tortilla "I love you" cutouts. I used the teeny tiny alphabet cutters that I think I found at Daiso. All the letters fit on three round plastic wheels, so there aren't a bunch of little letter cutters to get lost. It's so convenient! The upper tier contains cottage cheese with sunflower seeds and blueberries, alongside a handful of homegrown tomatoes, dinosaur egg pluot, strawberry and grapes.

Chick and Egg Salad Bento

Chick and Egg Salad Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

I had to make egg salad since my 9-year-old informed me that he'd never had it before. What? Whoops. I remember eating egg salad sandwiches when I was about his age, with all kinds of weird stuff like sweet pickle relish inside. Or maybe those were my sardine sandwiches? My childhood friend Barb showed me how to make a sardine sandwich with relish and tabasco; I still think that sounds really good, don't you? In fact, it may be time to introduce the kiddos to a sardine sandwich! I'll try that on 'em next week, maybe. For this batch, I mixed a few hard-boiled eggs (diced up with the handy-dandy egg slicer) with plain yogurt, sweet pickle relish, mustard, onions, salt/pepper and topped with diced ham. I put it on a lettuce salad but I'd like to serve it in a pita next time (at least for MisterMan). For fun, I nestled a baby quail egg chick on top. The upper tier of her favorite panda bowl contains sliced peaches, blueberries, grapes and strawberries. For the record: they both loved it. Yay!

Domokun Calzone Bento

Domokun Calzone Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

I made fun calzones for the kids; using regular pizza dough for MisterMan and the Gluten-Free On a Shoestring recipe for TinySprite. I filled with a variety of meat (pepperoni, salami and ham), plus arugula and cheese, then for Domo I sealed it up in a vaguely rectangular shape. While the dough is still sticky (don't dust with flour), add on some little dough pieces for arms and legs. They'll stick there without falling off throughout baking! I'm showing you MisterMan's version here. This version will puff up during baking because it's a regular yeast flour dough, but the gluten-free version will just sit there and look just the way it looked before baking. In a way, it's easier to bake creatures using gluten-free dough for that reason. But I think puffy Domo looks kinda cute. I put some red capsicum and cheese details on his face, along with black capsicum eyes, and tucked him into the stainless steel tiffin with some steamed broccoli. The upper tier contains steamed corn off the cob, carrots, blackberries and blueberries, strawberry, lychees and plums.

Here are some other Domos I've made (using sandwich bread): here and here. And my first one, for a field trip (he looks kinda funny to me now) here!

Added to What's For Lunch.