Bento 08-31-07

Chinese Dumplings with soy and tokanatsu sauce, Red Roast Pork, Bun for stuffing rrpork, watermelon, grapes, cookies and a little sample from Target ...archer farms product...banana split?














Thai lunch bento (they call it binto), with spoon stuck in it, other box in background.

















Close up of the thai lunch binto. My kids used to take this one, it's the smallest I've seen, about 4 inches in diameter. Seagull brand.

Bento 8-30-07

Frankie's Bento has a steamed Char Siu Bao/Salapao with nori, grape tomatoes/red grapes, cow egg with nori spots, dumplings, soysauce and tokanatsu sauce.













Jack's bento today has a steamed Char Siu Bao/Salapao with punched nori, pink pig egg, grape tomatoes/redgrapes, and two dumplings.

Stashing Day!

The secret to keeping up this bento habit is to make stuff when you have time. So that you aren't stuck when time isn't on your side.
These are onigiri. It's basically rice pressed into a mold with red roast pork in it. I came up with an efficient way to make them. I line the mold with a plastic foldover baggie, scoop hot rice, with an icecream scooper , press down the rice with the baggie, making a deep impression for the meat. Insert the meat, top with more rice, fold over the baggie and press down firmly with the mold. It works beautifully. I read on Lunch in a Box that you can also toast them in a skillet. I added the nori only to the ones that would be consumed soon. The rest went into the freezer. More stash!





























These are eggs, molded using some ice cream sandwich molds I got at Williams-Sonoma for $9.95 You boil the eggs, and while they are piping hot, put them in the sprayed with Pam mold and wrap with rubberbands. Set in ice cold water for 10 minutes and gingerly take the plunger part off, and voila! You have molded eggs. To get the cool colors, just set the egg in a small bowl with food coloring. Thanks to Lunch in a Box, who taught me how. I used nori seaweed cutouts to finish off the cow.
















I grew up on these...Char Siu Bao!! My stepmom would bring them home from Japanese Village in L.A. We knew what gems were in that pink box with a cotton string holding it together. I enjoyed these as well while living in Thailand, and made them up to put in lunch box. My son loves them so much, and you can microwave them for 15-20 seconds, and you have a delish treat.














These dumplings are Thai. When we lived in the northern city of Chiang Mai, I used to shop at Rimping Superstore, and outside of the store, you can buy a bag of these with fried garlic and a wonderful salty/sour sauce. You stab the dumplings with a skewer and relish in its divine taste! Perfect for the hungry and tired shopper....and for bento.

08-28-07

Uncrustable Ham salad sandwiches, koala march cookies and blueberries for Jack. There's also spinach underneath the sammies for jungle leaf effect.



Ham salad with spinach on whole wheat, doritos and mini nutter butters for Frankie.

Bento 08-27-07

Yum Korea!! Jap chae, cauliflower, broccoli, tomatoes, cukes, soysauce, and gingerbreadman shaped carrots on a stick for me. YUM KOREA was made with Apples and bell pepper cutouts.







Jap Chae! Korean Noodle Salad, fish chips, panda cookies for Allie.

08-26-07

Stuffed mini wheat pitas with ham salad and spinach. Carrot cutouts and goldfish and stars. And celery/peanutbutter sticks to fill the gap.


Stuffed mini pitas with ham salad and spinach. Carrot cutouts, raisins sausages, stax chips, koala march cookies and a few cereal straws....enough to share.

Bento 08-25-07

Bento in a hurry! Stashing food away is the secret to sucessful bento-ing. I relied on my stash of homemade uncrustables and grab quick stuff like goldfish/stars and raisins and some cereal straws. Jack loved it.

More leftovers, which I like to call encores!

Bento 08-24-07

What's a cake doing on a bento blog? Well, it was my son's 16th birthday and knowing he loves green tea, I made a green tea infused vanilla cake with buttercream. It was a big hit as well as the dinner, which was Teriyaki Chicken, Jasmine Rice, steamed Calif. Veggies, and potstickers. Bentos are great because you can use these leftovers and create a fast and delicious meal. Since I make cakes at Publix, I wasn't going to bring cake with me to work! LOL

Bento 08-23-07

This is Jack's bento with Black Forest Ham Sandwiches, tomatoes, gemelli pasta, blueberries and a jelly.
Frankie as potted meat sandwiches with spinach, mini pita pockets with turkey, mayo and spinach, gemelli pasta, tomato slices, goldfish and starfish crackers and blueberries.

Frankie as potted meat sandwiches with spinach, mini pita pockets with turkey, mayo and spinach, gemelli pasta, tomato slices, goldfish and starfish crackers and blueberries.

This is Allie's first bento! It has Black Forest Ham with Spinach, Cheese slices, Tomato slices, stars and goldfish crackers, and gemelli pasta.

Bento 08-22-07

Here's my lunch, Khao Paht (Thai Fried Rice), Imitation Crab and a pinwheel to pick them with, cukes and a twist of lime. I found this mini Maggi sauce bottle at an oriental store in Orlando. I was lucky enough to buy two boxes, only 1.99 each! And each box has 6 bottles!! I love great deals!

Frank's lunch has a Blackforest Ham Sandwich w/ spinach and pepper cheese, goldfish and stars, tomato slices, Koala march cookies and a pepper cheese Hello Kitty. I have a press that makes the design. I bought it from some random lady from South America at some cake decorating classes.

This is Jack's lunch Mr. Sausage is back by popular demand, and he is flanked by two ham slice pigs. Thai Fried Rice, cukes and goldfish and stars and Grapes on pinwheel picks. Today was Pizza day, so Jack didn't even take his lunch to school! He ended up enjoying it for dinner!

Today I went through my cake decorating bins, and found oodles of mini cutters, toothpicks of various sorts... It's nice to be able to have a double use for my tools.

Bento 08-21-07

The first bento is Jack's with Imitation Crab, Cheddar chunkies, grapes on a stick, heart-shaped cukes, hard boiled egg, a jelly, and hello panda cookies. Jack loves imitation crab and asked for "extra" the last time I served it to him.

The next one is Frankie's, our diehard sushi eater. He really wanted more, so I made him molded sushi and tried my hand at making nori stars. Right now the punchers are 40% off at Joann's so I got two. The cukes go down the middle and grapes too. I managed to find some hello kitty soy sauce bottles at a Korean store near Orlando. Boy was I shocked. I audibly gasped when I found them. They were only .99 too! woo hoo! I wondered if my 16 year old young man would mind HK and he said, "No, not at all." I guess she is original anime afterall.
The last one is mine. Grapes, Imitation crab, peas and carrots, cukes, hard-boiled egg and a homemade hello kitty jelly. I got the coolest ice tray and used some Wilton gummy bear mix I had to make my own.

"Uncrustables" Unwrapped

I found this handy-dandy sandwich press at none other than a thrift store! It's a Pampered Chef Press N Seal. You take two bread slices, spread peanut butter on both sides of the bread and a dollop of jam inbetween. I didn't do this in the beginning and the jam would stain the bread. The pnb acts as a sealant. lol You could also make these with potted meat, or chopped up left over meat, or whatever is your fancy. I usually buy the cheapie bread because I can throw the crusts away, or feed them to the birds that flock to my compost pile. And the sandwiches adhere better. I am showing you three pictures because I actually set the pocket sandwiches on a cookie tray and freeze them. Once they are sturdy, I put them back in the bread bag and seal them off. And pop them in the freezer. This will insure quick and efficient bento-making regardless if I have time or not! I bought potted meat and will report later how this fares. I have a great cookbook called "How to Make Your own Groceries" and I'm going to look for more ideas to incorporate into this new passion of mine. My daughter was thrilled, she said,"Now this is a hobby I can get into Mom" ROFL. She's 17!

1. PRESS DOWN FIRMLY AND WIGGLE-WIGGLE-WIGGLE THE CUTTER.

2. VOILA! YOU HAVE A HOMEMADE POCKET SANDWICH

3. SET ON A COOKIE TRAY AND FREEZE. RETURN TO BAG AND PUT IN FREEZER.

Bento 08-20-07

Well, I got rave reviews from my sons about their bentos. They are looking forward to tomorrows lunch. Frankie wants more sushi and Jack opted for more American food. So, that's the beauty of bento! You can individualize each meal.

Frankie's bento includes inari sushi, crab/creamcheese and avocado sushi again, and another of the same without the nori wrapping. I added the noodle salad and some koala's march cookies. The salad was a version I created from Rachel Ray's magazine.



Jack's has a homemade "uncrustable" made using a pampered chef press (instructions to follow), raisins, koala's march cookies, red grapes, fish and starfish crackers, and vienna sausages. I tried carving a little face on just one of them. Jack is so appreciative! He said, "I feel very cared for Mom!"

Bento Lunches for All

I'm starting this blog to document my bento lunch adventures which begin today! Actually, while I lived in Thailand for four years, my older children used to tote a metal bento to school each day. We still have them, but I've opted for a stackable plastic rectangular version, in order to be able to fit items better.

This first one is made of Avocado/CreamCheese/Imi Crab Sushi, Inari Sushi, Pear cup, Julienned Cukes, and jellies from the asian store. I grew up on sushi and thankfully my children love it.