What do you mean, don't play with my food?

I'm so out of practice packing bentos.  School is starting back in a week, so I decided I needed to start getting in the groove of packing lunches again, so here is today's bento:



Top Tier:
1 - Veggie purses
2 - Steamed green beans & carrots
3 - Gelatin cup
4 - Quail egg
5 - Cubed teriyaki beef

Lower Tier:
1 - Jasmine rice with seasoning

On side:
 1 - Clementine

(Yes - I like my beef VERY rare.  When cooking I cook it so it's just barely warm in the center.  Most of the brown in the beef is actually from the teriyaki sauce!)

A easy to pack, easy to eat lunch.  It's pretty straightforward so here it is:



Right Side:
Container of cocktail sauce
Cantaloupe cubes
Skewered green olives & feta with grape tomatoes that have seen better days (one tomato per pick, to be eaten together)

Left side:
Shrimp

Tucked in under the lid on the upper right is my frozen washcloth (as mentioned in my previous post).  Using this trick my shrimp and cantaloupe stayed nice and cold until lunch.

Sorry about the crappy, dark pictures.  It was dark outside when I took these, therefore, no natural light.  Anyway, my son and I went camping with his Cub Scout den this weekend and we had to bring a packed lunch to eat upon arrival (while we were setting up tents, etc.)  So I packed a couple bentos.  I think the kiddo's is actually cuter.  Here they are:

My bento



Left Side:
Homemade fried apple pie cut in half surrounded by maraschino cherries

Right Side:
Cheese Quesadilla
Grilled Corn and Black Bean Salad (see below for recipie)



Both of these bentos were in fairly deep boxes, which gave me the opportunity to use one of my favorite tricks for keeping food cool.  The night before, take a washcloth and fold it so it fits INSIDE the box , making sure that you can get the lid on.  Put the washcloth in a resealable sandwich bag (I try to reuse the baggie several times to cut down on waste.)  Once the washcloth is in the baggie, fill it with water until the towel is wet, but not soggy (you shouldn't see puddles of water in the baggie.)  Push as much air out of the baggie as possible and seal it.  Put it on a flat surface in your freezer (on top of a frozen pizza box for example).  I the morning pack your lunch, put the frozen towel on top of your food, and seal the box  (If you are worried about sweating making something soggy you could put a layer of aluminum foil between the towel and the food.)  It will keep it cool until lunch, and you can use the thawed towel to wipe hands, face, etc.  It is especially nice in the summer to have a nice cool towel to refresh yourself with.  This also works well for odd shaped boxes but instead of folding it to size wet the towel, put it in the baggie, then put the baggie in the box and "moosh" it around to fit into the shape, then put the whole thing in the freezer.  After about 1/2 hour check it to see if the towel has frozen enough to keep it's shape, take it out of the box and let it continue to freeze (don't leave the box in the freezer much longer than that unless it is freezer safe.)  I have tons of cheap towels that I use to pack in lunches, mostly "Magic Washcloths" from the dollar store.

Hi again.  I haven't been posting much since summer started.  Most of the time we are at home, so we don't need to pack a lunch.  But my son wanted to go to the park today, so I packed a couple bentos and we headed out.  We had fun, got some fresh air, and had a yummy lunch.  Here it is (his lunch was identical except he didn't have asparagus):



Left side:
Udon Noodles dressed with a little chili oil, chives, and red pepper flakes

Right side:
Asparagus, Pork tenderloin marinated in teriyaki sauce, Carrots, Messed up tamagoyaki with sweet red pepper, watermelon

I just cannot roll tamagoyaki to save my life!!  At the first flip I was encouraged that it would go well.  On second flip it ripped in half, and well, it went downhill from there.  So when I pulled it from the pan I put it on a tea towel and shaped it into a log.  It may look a little funky, but it still tasted really good  :) .

I went on a field trip to the zoo with my son.  We had to bring a packed lunch, so of course I made bentos.  The comments from the other parents were amusing.  One parent, who has seen my lunches before,  was hovering over us waiting for me to open our lunches.  She said that I always have a cute lunch (and she's never seen any of the character bentos!)

Anyway, here's our lunches:



Top Tier:
Pasta salad (Made with ravioletti, tomatoes, artichoke hearts, Italian dressing & McCormick Salad Supreme Seasoning)

Bottom Tier:
Checkerboard apples
Carrot curls
Barbequed chicken slices

Sidecar:
Citrus fruit salad

Kiddo is not very adventurous with food (due in part to his Aspergers/autism), so he has a slightly more boring version of my lunch:




Left side:
Peanut butter and Jelly sandwich
Two chocolate coins

Right side:
Checkerboard apples
Carrot Curls

Today my bento includes my favorite veggie ever - rutabaga.  I don't know why I didn't think to pack it before.  I normally eat it mashed, but it was really good cubed like this too.  Here it is:



Contents:
1 - Banana
2 - Basil fettuccine noodles
3 - Mini cheese hot-dogs
4 - Rutabaga cubes (YUM!)

It's been awhile, so I thought I'd give a shot at making sushi again.  They turned out really yummy, though I am finding I like more vinegar in my rice than it is normally made with.  I guess that is the benefit to making it myself, I can do it anyway I want.



Top Tier:
1 - Soy Sauce
2 - Banana slices (peel still on)
3 - Granola (for yogurt)
4 - Blueberry yogurt

Bottom Tier:
1 - Avocado & krab sushi
2 - Avocado & salmon sushi
3 - Grape tomato gap fillers

Today I really wanted fish for lunch, but the only fish I had was frozen solid.  I put it in one of those Ziplock steam cooking bags with some teriyaki sauce and orange slices and cooked it for 4 minutes.  It came out really flaky and tasted yummy.  Here it is:



From left to right:

1 - Steamed sugar snap peas
2 - Salmon seasoned with orange and teriyaki
3 - Rice balls (okay, technically rice rectangles) with shredded egg & broccoli mixed in
4 - Broccoli in-between rice balls
5 - Clementine and pineapple

Between illness (mine), hospitalization (my father's), financial woes (our family's), new job (my husband), IEP/BIP issues (my son), and just generally dealing with life, this has been a really screwed up, crazy, busy, eventful, stressful month-and-a-half or so.  Unfortunately, except for some VERY functional bentos (that I took to the hospital, as we were spending 8+ hours a day there for a couple weeks), I haven't been bentoing; I just haven't had the motivation or stamina to do it.  But last week I really started feeling that itch again.  I decided that I really wanted to get back into it again (and build my freezer staples up again too!)  So here is my back-to-bentoing bento:



Top Tier:
1 - Peeled Clementine
2 - Two bite-sized Three Musketeers orange flavored candy bars
3 - Mini ground chicken patties

Bottom Tier:
1 - Pasta Salad

The challenge this week at Bento Challenge is Disney.  SO I decided to do one of my enduring favorites, Tinkerbell.  Now, mind you, I've never done a specific character for my bento before, so why in my mixed up mind, did I think doing a character as delicate as Tink would be a good idea?  Oh well, she could have come out worse I suppose!  So anyway, here is Tink checking out her flower garden:



On left:

Tinkerbell is made of bologna (skin), egg (hair), soy wrapper/mame nori (dress and shoes), spring roll wraps (wings) and black paste food coloring and a toothpick.. 

Steamed broccoli and carrot flowers on a bed of broccoli slaw.

On right:

Mini cheese quiches in pastry cup topped with a grape tomato slice. 
Hiding around the quiches are green and red grapes (you can see one peeking out at the top of the top flower).

This really is a quick lunch, both in terms of making it and (hopefully) in eating.  I only have 10 minutes for lunch today, so I needed something quick and easy.  Here it is:



From left to right:

1 - Quesadilla Chicken Bundinos (an item I found in the freezer case) cut in half.
2 - Carrots and cucumbers
3 - Red grapes

Today was a quick and easy lunch.  I tried to make it look attractive, but there's not much I can do with it.  Here it is:



Top Tier:
Chicken and veggie stew with egg noodles

Bottom Tier:
Strawberries
Chocolate cake

As part of the activities for March is Reading Month at my son's school parents are invited to come have lunch with their child while a guest reader reads to the class (the school calls it Lunch with a Loved One).  So, I decided to try to make a literary lunch.  And of course, when you think of children's books the first author that comes to mind is Dr. Seuss.  It didn't come out as well as I had hoped, but the kids should get a kick out of it.  So this is my Seussian inspired lunch, it is for my son and I to share:



Left Box (Bottom Tier):

1 - Tossed salad topped with a cheese & salami Cat in the Hat hat.
2 - Two bite sized chocolates.
3 - Colored Goldfish crackers (to represent One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish)
4 - Container of dressing for salad.

Right Box (Top Tier):

1 - A green hard boiled egg and slices of ham sitting on top of half a roll. (Green Eggs and Ham - obviously!)
2 - A blood orange (Because a red orange just seemed like something Dr. Seuss would come up with.)

Today's bento is actually a dinner bento.  I'm in charge of my son's after school movie night and will be there from 1 - 6:30.  I packed my son a bento too, but his is just a bologna sandwich, carrot sticks, and a piece of birthday cake - he's not very adventurous.  Anyway, here's my dinner:



Top & Bottom - Broccoli and carrots
Middle - Jasmine Rice and Chicken Meatballs with pineapple in teriyaki sauce
On the Side - Spice cake with cinnamon apple pie filling (shown in picture after the jump)

Wow, I've been gone a long time!  I've been computer/internet-less since January 1st and just this week was able to get back on-line.  I felt so disconnected without internet!  I've been making bentos all along, but didn't photograph most of them because I knew I wasn't going to be posting them, so I'll just restart from today. 

Today's bento is, of course, Valentine themed.  Here it is:



Clockwise (starting at 12):

- Cheese and apple picks
- Carrots and a tomato for salad (lettuce lining box will be shredded to make salad)
- A chocolate heart and a Hershey's Kiss
- Stuffed sandwich (portobello mushroom, feta cheese, and caramelized onion) - see below for more detail
- Chick peas, salad dressing, and more carrots and another tomato for the salad

Well, between the holidays and a plumbing issue that all but shut my kitchen down for three weeks I haven't been making bentos for about a month.  I've missed it!  Here's the one I made Friday:



Top Tier:
1 - Snowflake & snowman shaped chicken nuggets
2 - Green olives on picks
3 - Snowman onigiri filled with a ground chicken and veggie mixture (hat is black olive, scarf is a piece of lunch meat)
4 - Snowman container with honey for nuggets

Bottom Tier:
1 - Carrots, broccoli, ans sweet red pepper rings
2 - "Snowflake" apples and grape gap fillers
3 - Snowman filled with ranch dip for veggies
4 - Snowman cookie


This is packed in a new box I found.  It can be used with one tier, or keep adding on as many as you need.  The lid has a built in handle.  It will be a great picnic bento.  I have six tiers (I can get more if needed).  There are three plain tiers and three divided tiers.  The brand is Snapware (they have a website).  They are listed as craft organizers, but on the packaging, website, and in the e-mail I sent them, they stated that they are food safe, good for freezer and refrigerator, top rack dishwasher safe and microwave reheatable (lid too - loosen lid before heating).  I believe that each tier is a 3 cup capacity - HUGE!  I'll probably only use one tier at a time from now on unless I'm packing for more than one. 

This is my entry for this week's Bento Challenge theme - animals.  This is also my first try at omurice, I think it turned out pretty good.  Here's the bento:



Bento Box:
1 - Omurice with pepper jack cheese bunny
2 - Broccoli, cauliflower & carrots
3 - Piece of breaded pork chop with american cheese kitty
4 - Spring roll cut in thirds

Monkey side container:
1 - Spice cake topped with cinnamon applesauce

Today my bento includes one of my favorite uses for leftover stuffing - as a filling in baked eggs.  Here's the bento:



Top Tier:
1 - Baked eggs with stuffing (see below for what it looks like on the inside)
2 - Carrots
3 - Onigiri filled with ground beef & peas (It's hard to see, but there is a strip of mamenori with white & black sesame seeds wrapped around the onigiri.)

Bottom Tier:
1 - Orange slices
2 - Homemade cranberry sauce

The theme at Bento Challenge this week is technology/electronics.  I had a bunch of ideas, but decided to go with this one.  My son ALWAYS takes my pink Nintendo DS, so I figured this was the only way I'd ever get to see or touch one again.  It didn't come out as well as I had hoped, but it's still okay.  I had to simplify it a bit, my original plans were a little ambitious.   So here is the bento:


Contents:
1 - Pink Nintendo DS onigiri (it folds like a DS to fit in the box - see pictures below)
2 - Shrimp
3 - Broccoli & carrots
4 - Hard boiled egg

Well, I won't be having any leftovers from Thanksgiving. (Long story, but the ending is that we are having Thanksgiving dinner at a restaurant.)  So I decided to indulge myself and make a Thanksgiving inspired bento - no turkey or stuffing, but the flavors are inspired by Thanksgiving.  SO here it is:



In the middle of the box:
1 - Roasted potato cubes
2 - Mushroom caps stuffed with seasoned ground beef
3 - Carrots slices, tomato, and green onion (to be mixed with lettuce divider to make a salad - dressing not shown)

Upper right corner:
1 - Green bean casserole

Lower left corner:
1 - Apple/cranberry crumble

Perched on corners:
1 - Mini crescent rolls (each is 1/3 of a triangle of exploding tube dough)

The rolls are perched on the side of the box so you can see everything, they are laid on top off the mushrooms when packed.