An American in Bento

Lightened up, healthier Jambalaya

2011-11-25T21:18:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite meals, especially in the Autumn and Winter months, is Jambalaya - This recipe was adapted from a recipe my husband found a few years ago on the internet that used summer sausage, which we had a few of as part of a Christmas Gift box from Swiss Colony or Figis. In my version, I use brown rice, instead of white, increased the veggies a bit and replaced the high fat summer sausage with a low fat chicken sausage.

(Full ingredient list is at the end of the post)

There area number of chicken sausages on the market now, so look for a flavor that is low in fat and a flavor that appeals to you - The one I used here was the most point friendly I've found so far. It's a little different every time I make it - between trying different chicken sausages and different types of tomatoes. The original recipe called for stewed tomatoes, but I use whatever appeals to me at the time :)

This one I found at our local ShopRite and is only 2 PPV per link; most I've found have been 3 PPV per link.

When I saw this new flavor, I just thought it was perfect for Jambalaya - use whatever variety you feel will work for you :)

Start by dicing 3 medium celery stalks, 1 large red onion and 2 small bell peppers - I used a red and an orange bell pepper for more nutrition; colored peppers have *much* more vitamin C than green and I personally prefer their flavor, I rarely ever buy green bell peppers any more...

Sometimes I use pre-cooked (leftover) chicken, but this time I used 15 oz (raw weight) boneless skinless chicken breast that I browned and cubed.

Add 1 Tbs Canola or Olive Oil to a large skillet or chef's pan and add the veggies - saute until onions are translucent.

Add 3 clove(s) garlic clove, minced, 1/2 tsp each dried rosemary, thyme, ground cumin, cayenne pepper, paprika (I like smoked) and 2 tsp chili powder (I like to use 1 reg chili powder and 1 Ancho chili powder) and saute for a minute or two.

Add 1 1/2 cups brown rice - I like brown basmati for this - and saute for a few minutes to toast the rice - be careful not to scorch the rice mixture or you'll have to start over from scratch :o

Add one can stewed or diced tomatoes of your choice, 2 cups water, 1 large or 2 small bay leaves and salt and pepper - cover and simmer 25-30 minutes or until rice is tender - if all liquid hasn't been absorbed, remove lid, turn heat up a bit and simmer, stirring, until liquid is absorbed/cooked off.

Remove bay leaf/leaves, add cooked chicken, sliced sausage, and about 3 Tbs chopped fresh parsley and cooke another coupleminutes to heat through. I also added 5 oz thawed cooked peeled shrimp (I always keep a bag in the freezer) at the end and stirred it in - they'll be warmed by the hot dish - you don;t want to really cook them or they may become tough.

Yum! I like mine with a good drizzle of hot sauce :)

For 6 servings, this dish came to 9 PPV - other times, with other choices of sausage etc, it has been anywhere from 10 to 12 PPV.

Jambalaya

1 Tbsp canola oil

3 medium stalks uncooked celery

2 small uncooked bell pepper

1 large uncooked red onion

3 cloves garlic

1/2 tsp dried rosemary

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

2 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp paprika

1 1/2 cups brown basmati rice, uncooked

2 cups water

15 oz canned diced tomatoes

1 leaf/leaves bay leaf
1/2 tsp table salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

2 Tbsp parsley

1 pkg Thin 'n Trim Chipotle Peach Chicken Sausage - 1 link/2oz/56g

15 oz uncooked boneless skinless chicken breast(s)

5 oz cooked shrimp

Hot Sauce

Should I change my blog?!

2011-11-06T11:31:00.000-05:00

Hi Folks! It's been such a long time since I've posted here. I still pack Rob's lunches, but they are so much the same every day that I got a little bored with the posting :o I've been more into cooking than Bento here in the last year or so and usually post pictures to my FB account. A couplefriends have asked/suggested a food blog, but there are so many out there from so much more talented folks than I - but maybe I should... I'm doing Weight Watchers also and am often changing up and creating recipes that fit my plan and are pretty healthy, so I like to share that with my friends and others on the same journey... So folks, what do you think? Change this blog to include the food, create a new blog instead, what should I call it? Would love your input! :)

I think I'll start with a super healthy soup I came up with after reading a number of recipes online. I wanted something I'd never made before and I adore soups, plus a 5 lb bag of carrots was on sale that week - and it turns out, the soup is even Vegan :) I'm not a Vegetarian or Vegan, but a meatless meal a few times a week is a wonderful thing :)

It is based on a Guy Fieri recipe, but of course, I changed it quite a bit... Basically, the idea of adding ground pine nuts was the unique thing in his that I wanted:

Carrot Cauliflower Ginger Soup

1 medium red onion, chopped

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp olive oil (I used Trader Joe's Organic Garlic Infused)

2 Tbs fresh Ginger root, grated

1 Tbs minced Garlic

5 c Vegetable Stock (I made my own)

2 1/2 pound roughly chopped carrots

2 cups chopped Cauliflower

1 1/2 c Coconut Milk (I used Trader Joe's Unsweetened, not canned)

1 oz pine nuts, ground

a little nutmeg

a little curry powder

more salt to taste

ground pepper if desired

Toast pine nuts and set aside - Saute red onion in olive oil until translucent, add ginger and garlic and saute for a minute or two - add stock and vegetables and simmer covered until carrots are soft - blend with an immersion blender (or carefully, in batches in your blender, vented slightly with a towel on top of lid), add coconut milk, pine nuts and spices to taste; add a bit of water if the soup has become too thick for your taste (or stock or coconut milk, but this could change the PPVs) - Makes 6 servings at 3 PPV per serving

Original Guy Fieri Recipe is here:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/guy-fieri/ginger-carrot-soup-recipe/index.html

I highly recommend an immersion blender - I absolutely love mine and use it often enough - below is the one that I have and love - My husband wasn't sure we'd use the chopper and whisk attachments, but I do, especially the chopper; I used it for the pine nuts in this recipe as a matter of fact. Purchasing through the link will help support my blog, but of course, feel free to shop around for the best deal!

A non-bento food post!

2010-08-11T16:44:00.002-04:00

OK, now that I've posted the little bento photo gallery below, I thought I'd add a post of some other food stuffs since that's what I've been thinking about more than bento lately. I have been trying to eat healthier and cut way back on processed foods and nearly eliminate those which contain High Fructose Corn Syrup.

One of my favorite things, and some can be seen in the last couple bento in the last post, is the Black Bean Quinoa Salad I've been making. If you've followed my blog for a while, you may remember that I used to make Black Bean Orzo Salad - well, this is the same recipe, only I replace the Orzo pasta with healthy Quinoa :)

Below is a close-up from one of the bento in the last post. I love the color in this salad (but I don't think the photo captures it well). Instead of just red pepper, I like to also use yellow and orange for even more color and nutrition :)

The original recipe can be found here - I just swap the orzo for quinoa

This is my husband's version of a Panzanella Salad he had a number of years back on a business trip.

It's very healthy and a great way for us to use some of the basil from the garden. We've been making this for years - I made it this time, but the 'recipe' is his :)

The greens are baby spinach and basil from our garden tossed with fat free caesar dressing.

I toasted pine nuts in a skillet and then added red onion, roasted red pepper and artichoke heart quartes - heated that a little, turned off heat and added the halved grape tomatoes -

cut bread in to cubes and toasted under broiler

(it's a white whole wheat garlic herb bread that I made in my bread machine - if using plain bread, we would spray w/ canola and toss with herbs first).

Top the greens with the pine nut mixture and bread cubes and sprinkle grated parmesan - Voila - so yummy!

Next up is my husband's version of the shrimp and egg open faced sandwich they serve at Ikea.

He makes it a little different every time and it doesn't usually have cherry tomatoes, but we had just picked the first couple from the garden and wanted to use them :)

This time it was as follows:

Shrimp & Egg Toats

4 Tbs Hellman's Light Mayo

1 Tbs Spicy Brown Mustard

1 Tbs Fresh Dill

3/4 lb Baby Salad Shrimp

3 Boiled Eggs, chopped

Salt to taste

Additional Dill and Cherry Tomatoes for garnish

Mixed salad greens and/or baby arugula and baby spinach

(we use whatever we happen to have)

Toast of choice

(We used the White Whole Wheat Garlic Herb Bread as in the Panzanella above)

Last week the grocery store had Swordfish on sale. We haven't had swordfish in quite a while, so I decided to pick some up for dinner that night. A search for ways to prepare it yielded a recipe for Swordfish with Citrus Pesto. I read through the reviews and made a couple slight adjustments to the pesto - I ased a bit more garlic and only used the juice of half a lemon and half the orange,but all the zest. I thought it was pretty darn good, though it makes a lot more pesto than you need for the Swordfish, but that's a good thing as it is tasty and can be used for other things - I used it a couple nights later in a shrimp pasta primavera dish :)

Along with the Swordfish, I had picked up a bunch of beets. This was the first time I made beet greens, and only my second time eating them - I'm a fan :)

I sauteed some red onion in canola oil until semi translucent, then added garlic and sauteed for maybe 30 sec or so before adding the beet greens, which were sauteed until tender. I then sprinkled them with sea salt and a squeezed some lemon juice over it - yum!

The beets were just boiled, peeled and sliced - it's too hot for roasting, but I plan to try them that way this fall :)

The other side dish is a Grilled Italian Bread and Cherry Tomato Salad.

Along with the Swordfish, I had picked up a bunch of beets. This was the first time I made beet greens, and only my second time eating them - I'm a fan :)

The beets were just boiled, peeled and sliced - it's too hot for roasting, but I plan to try them that way this fall :)

The other side dish is a Grilled Italian Bread and Cherry Tomato Salad.

Kat used some of the pesto and some of the quinoa salad from above in her bento for today - the pesto is on top of some cooked shrimp:

Last night I made Miso Sake Glazed Salmon.

This is a dish Kat and I love and Rob will eat, but I don't think he loves it like we do...

I don't measure the ingredients when I make this, but this is basically what I do - just taste and adjust as needed:

I'm proud to say my salmon was cooked perfectly :)

Miso Sake Glaze/Marinade

1/4-1/3 cup miso paste

a couple tablespoons sake

a couple tablespoons mirin

honey - maybe a Tbs or so...

Salmon (I had 3 steaks, I think about 1 1/2 lbs)

Mix all ingredients and coat salmon - broil on low until salmon has just about reached desired doneness, then broil on high just long enough to finish off the glaze.

I keep saying I'm going to try this on chicken, but I haven't done it yet...

I absolutely loved the broccoli cooked this way - I had the little bit of leftovers cold this afternoon while I was making my lunch - so good :)

For the broccoli, ginger and garlic was sauteed and a couple tsp sesame oil and a little hot sesame oil , broccoli was then sauteed for a couple minutes, then I added a little water and put the lid on to steam the broccoli just until crisp tender - perfect :)

The noodles are a teriyaki noodle dish from a package - just trying to use up what I have in the pantry...

I hope you enjoyed this not so much bento food post and maybe get an idea or two from it :)

Just a quick 'photo gallery' of some summer bento to get back into posting :o

2010-08-11T15:05:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the extended absence! I don't know what happened, I haven't even taken pictures of all the bento that I've packed.

Below are pics of the ones I have photographed over the last couple months (obviously without the light box...)

Maybe I'll come back later and add descriptions, I really just wanted to get them on here

Practice Run #1 for Workshop...

2010-06-04T23:02:00.001-04:00

OK, so I think I've mentioned on here that we'll be doing a bento workshop at the anime convention here in NJ in June - Now only 2 weeks away :o

This is just a quick practice run for the bottom tier of the two tier boxes that some will receive (some will get the 2-ties, some will get a one tier). I don't actually plan on using green rice, but this was made from some of the leftover rice from the frogs I did for Monday. I didn't do a very good job on it - I think the small ball needs done with plastic wrap - it's too small to form by hand (at least I found it to be...).

It is supposed to be a walrus - as seen in the new Yum-Yum Bento Box book, but it's definitely not obvious here - it's supposed to look more like this.

Mine is missing the tusks as I knocked them off putting the other stuff in...

The egg will be one of 4 different shapes for the workshop (bunny, bear, fish or egg)

Anyway... Just thought I'd share the first trial run - subject to change; I may be better off sticking to a cat ;P

A messy, but healthy and yummy bento

2010-06-04T17:41:00.000-04:00

I think this bento just kinda looks like a mess. We had run errand after dinner and I was tired and just threw the bento together - plenty of color, but the arrangement leaves something to be desired...

I thought about putting faces on the mini quiches, but decided not to worry about it. I am down to scraps of nori anyway - need to make a run to the Asian Market!

In the left tier, he has mini quiches, baby carrot sticks, pea pods (from the local Farmer's Market they're running on the first Wed of the month through the summer - yay!), strawberries, blueberries and bold chex mix.

The right tier has a salad w/ cucumber flowers, sliced baby carrot, sliced grape tomato and sliced mini yellow pepper.

Dip 2 ways bento :)

2010-06-03T15:24:00.000-04:00

Last night for dinner we had Ikea meatballs in cream sauce w/ roasted potatoes and lingonberries.

I have to ask: Are we the only ones who every so often decide it's time to go to Ikea just to have their meatballs meal? lol - I know, we're a little strange ;)

When we purchased the frozen meatballs, cream sauce mix and lingonberries, we also purchased a package of giant round cracker things called knackebrod.

So, Rob decided we finally needed to crack into these things and made a seafood dip and an artichoke dip to have with this along with the meatballs etc.

I didn't actually measure it, but I would say it's about 14" across - I think there were 4 or 5 of them in the package (there are 2 left here; I'm not sure how much of it he and Kat ate...)

I found it to be a bit bland and dry for my taste - not quite so much as a water cracker, but closer to that than other crackers - I'm not a fan of water crackers myself; I like flavor and tend to eat flavored triscuits and that sort.

In the top tier we have the dips: artichoke in the bottom left yellow cup and seafood in the red upper right cup. The cheese and spices were baked on top of the artichoke dip and I added a grape tomato rose to the seafood dip since it looked so plain and white :)

He also has a sliced strawberry and blueberries, baby carrot sticks and bell pepper strips.

I put a bag of some of the knackebrod in his bag for the dips.

In the bottom tier is his salad - only this time it is romaine instead of the spring mix.

For the ham, turkey and cheese this time I used my set of 3 flower cookie cutters in 3 sizes to cut it into shapes. The bottom, largest flower is ham, the turkey is the next size on top of the ham and the swiss is the smallest in the corners. I laid the scraps in strips on each end and then sliced a baby carrot and placed them on top of the ham and turkey.

Yesterday he just took leftover baked ziti again and a salad, so I didn't even bother to take a photo.

Happy Bento-ing!

Tiger cubs bento - A very fruity bento :)

2010-06-01T14:28:00.000-04:00

I had so much fun packing the cute froggie bento for our friend that I really wanted to do another cute onigiri bento. I've mentioned before that Rob doesn't really want rice for lunch; especially plain rice, so I thought about it and decided a fruit filled onigiri in a rice cooked with coconut milk would probably be a yummy treat - unfortunately, to my surprise, I was out of coconut milk... But then, I noticed the cans of mango nectar and voila! Mango Rice - that sounded so good to me! So I put the rice and a can of mango nectar into my rice cooker and added the little bit of water it needed to bring it to the correct amount and got it cooking :)

I was so excited that by using the mango nectar, my rice would be naturally orange :) That immediately made me think of the cute tiger onigiri I've seen in a number of bento blogs and in the new Yum-Yum Bento Box book - so I grabbed the book and checked out their method and went from there :)

I chopped up a strawberry and the ends of the kiwi that are sometimes too small for the flower cutter I typically use for it, put some rice in the bear onigiri mold, added some of the cut up fruit, then added more rice to fill the mold. Of course I tasted the mango rice; My disappointment at not having coconut milk quickly dissipated - it was pretty yummy :)

I made 4 onigiri; Kat ate the other 2 :)

I absolutely love this onigiri box, though I haven't used it as much as I'd like.

In the top, onigiri tier, we have the adorable tiger cubs, a peanut butter and fig preserve flower shaped sammie (I kinda wish I'd thought of something else here...), Cucumber slices, baby carrot sticks and broccoli and grape tomatoes for filler.

In the shallow bottom tier we have 2 sliced strawberries, kiwi flowers and blueberries.

I love when the berries start coming back into season - such a healthy and attractive way to add color to bento :)

Don't you hate when you're lying in bed trying to sleep and you just can't stop thinking about bento to sleep? haha

Between being concerned there wasn't enough protein in his bento and that maybe it wasn't enough for a grown man who goes to the gym in the morning and doesn't eat breakfast; and what if he didn't like the onigiri and didn't eat it? He definitely wouldn't have enough food then... and thinking about what I still need for our bento workshop in a couple weeks, I just couldn't sleep.

So, at about 1:15am, I got up and threw this salad together in about 5 minutes - I had boiled the egg the night before (I always do 2 in case one gets messed up and then I also don't need to do one for the next day)

It's just the usual organic spring greens, a car shaped boiled egg, halved grape tomatoes and ham and swiss pinwheels (I was out of turkey).

In the end he said his lunch was too big - yeah, but better than still hungry, right? :P

It was nice to have a cute bento to post today since I only got a few hours sleep last night (got to sleep around 3:30ish, was awakened at a little before 4:30 by some noise from the girls, woke up again about 7? when Rob came in and dropped off his gym bag and kissed me goodbye and then the alarm went off at 8 - you needed the details, right? lol)

If you stuck with me this far, thanks for reading - lol

and Happy Bento-ing! :)

Bento for a friend and contest winner :)

2010-05-31T12:25:00.002-04:00

This bento was packed for a friend of ours visiting from California (he used to live here in Jersey, so he had lots of folks to visit!). Having me pack a bento for him was one of the things he said was on his 'to do' list while he was here - I was happy to oblige; especially since it allowed me to finally make onigiri myself.

Kat makes it for hers fairly regularly, but believe it or not, this was the first time I've made it (I think... lol)

Inspired by Pikko and Maki's new bento book Yum-Yum Bento (links to Pikko's 500th bento where she also has a link for the book; seems wrong to link to my own Amazon affiliate account...), I decided to go with the frog onigiri - It was a debate between the walrus, the tigers or the frogs :) I also debated between keeping it simple and just using food coloring or mixing white rice w/ green furikake - since I was unsure how green it would get w/ the furikake, I decided to just go with the food coloring and just added a few drops to it before starting the rice cooker. By the way, have I ever mentioned how much I adore our Zojirushi NS-DAC10 Zutto Neuro-Fuzzy 5-1/2-Cup Rice Cooker and Warmer :)

As I read in the book and have also seen on Pikko's blog and others, I used one of our bear onigiri molds and the ears then became the eyes. I noticed after taking the picture that when I put the left eye of the top frog back on after knocking it off twice I put it back on upside down, so the pupil is lower - funny how you see things in the photos that you don't notice live.

I never really map out the bento before I start them; sometimes I wonder if maybe I should start doing so - it would probably save some time as I dig around for what else to put in... I can't draw to save my life, so I figured it would be a futile effort to try and draw it out ;P haha

I am still playing with the lighting for my portable photo studio - I have 3 lights here because one of the lights from the smaller one we already had burnt out. I think I will look at replacing the bulb with a higher wattage.

I still think, even with the shadows, it looks better than with the flash - at least the detailsof the egg aren't so washed out...

In the top tier we have the 2 little green frog onigiri, a bunny shaped boiled egg, 3 Aidelle's Chicken Meatballs in the Pineapple Teriyaki flavor from the freezer stash, grape tomato ladybugs, lettuce leaf lining the box, and for fillers, a grape tomato, baby carrots cut in half lengthwise and then in half at an angle widthwise and mini yellow pepper strips.

In the bottom Tier are 2 strawberries sliced, blueberries, carrot flowers as a divider and then 2 bunny mini peanut butter and fig preserve sammies; I forgot to color the edge of the press with the food markers first and tried to do it directly on the bread - does not work as well with these icing/foodmarkers.

All in all I'm happy with this cute bento - sure, it may not be appropriate for a grown man, but I think he liked it anyway - lol. It helps that he'll be at another of his friend's homes today who has young children to see it :)

I decided to just go with this plain bento box rather than a cute one so that if he chooses to, he can use it to pack himself bento later. The bag is one I just got, and I think is really meant for a single tier as it was a tight fit; it is also thermal lined and has a velcro closure.

Another awesome friend in San Francisco did some shopping for me for bento sets for our upcoming workshop at the AnimeNext convention here in NJ. This bag was in the stuff she sent, but I have a couple extra drawstring bags we'll use in place of these, simply because we thought it would be easier for the attendees to carry bags with strings/straps around the convention :)

Wow, I really have just rambled away today, haven't I?

If you've stuck with me this far, it's time to officially announce the 50 Followers Theme Bento (links to the post w/ the pics of all entries) contest winner - although you can see in the poll who won :)

Congratulations to Angelene w/ her "Best Friends Forever" bento who won this bento set:

Angelene, please send me an email at tammy@robtammy.com with your shipping information :)

Thanks to all of you who entered and voted!

Look for another giveaway once I reach 100 Followers :)

Kat's Bento for today...

2010-05-28T22:21:00.000-04:00

This is the bento Kat packed for herself today. She had a job interview at Six Flags today to do Caricatures and was going to be stuck there while Ahmetia worked her shift, so she took a bento rather than pay the outrageous theme park prices for bad food.

In the top tier she has edamame, a sliced boiled egg and pink rice; she used the juice from the jar of umeboshi to color the rice. She wanted to try the little pink lamb that the new Yum-Yum Bento Box book has on the cover, but she was running late and didn't have time to do it. She also has a bottle of soy sauce.

In the bottom tier she has coconut jelly, a baby yellow pepper filled with hummus, sundried tomato and a spinach, artichoke and garlic saute she threw together this morning.

Rob didn't need a bento today.

Yesterday for lunch, Kat took an Arnold Sandwich Thin and made a veggie pizza out of it - since she took a picture of it, I thought I'd go ahead and share it :)

Doesn't that look delicious?! Too bad she didn't make one for her poor old Mom, who was so busy working yesterday that I just threw pizza rolls in the toaster over to scarf down at my desk for lunch :o

She used a wonderful all natural pasta sauce I got at Sam's Club for the sauce and topped it with mozzarella, sundried tomatoes, roasted red peppers, capers and onion -- I think that was it... Looks so yummy!

Well, back to enjoying a Friday night Strawberry Margarita! :)

Club Sandwich 'Sushi' Bento :)

2010-05-27T19:54:00.003-04:00

A while back - like probably 6 months ago - a friend sent me a link to a page where someone had done a similar club sandwich roll, but with avacado instead of lettuce and tomato. I've been meaning to duplicate it for quite a while, but just hadn't gotten around to it; and I may have been a bit intimidated by it, considering I have never even rolled sushi before and the one I had seen did not include how to roll it :o

Last night the girls weren't going to be home for dinner, so I decided not to marinade and grill the chicken we purchased earlier in the day for dinner - incidentally, we're not having it tonight either; I just ordered pizza after a very busy workday...

So, anyway... I decided to cook up the package of bacon I had in the fridge and make Rob a club sandwich - Something fairly simple that I knew he'd be happy with. Plus, I could finally do the club sandwich roll :)

For the club sandwich roll, I took a soy sushi wrapper - Kosher Soy Wrappers - and placed a folded slice of turkey on one end, folded the wrapper over it and stacked bacon on top of the turkey and soy wrapper, then folded it back over the bacon, added another folded slice of turkey and folded the last part of the soy wrapper over that layer, sort of accordian style. I then topped that with strips of lettuce and a slice of tomato cut in half, end to end and rolled the whole thing in another soy wrapper.

I lightly toasted two slices of bread and rolled it around the roll I had just made and finally rolled a sesame soy wrapper around that whole thing and then used a little mayo to seal it, sliced it (I ate the ends and was happy with the result :)

I probably should have used more lettuce and tomato, but live and learn right :)

In the top tier he has macaroni salad topped w/ baby carrot flowers and pub mix - my strawberries weren'tlooking so fresh and after so much time spent on the rolls, I really just wanted to get it packed.

In the bottom tier he has salad under the club sandwich rolls and some carrot and baby carrot flowers.

I finally ordered a larger (12x12) portable photo studio and am trying to figure out the best way to use it. I find the lights that came with it son't seem quite bright enough for this size - they seem to be the same lights that came with the smaller (8x8) one we already have that is too small for my bento photos (unless it happens to be a single tier...), so for this one, I used all 4 lights and set it up so the back was the bottom and the top was open so I could get above it and take the photos. I still need to play with it a bit to figure out the best setup and maybe try and find a place where I can leave it set up so I don't have to drag it out each evening.

This was yesterday's bento and the first time using the photo box, but with only the two lights it came with. As you can see, there is quite a bit of shadowing - especially at the back - and not quite enough light - but at least the egg isn't completely washed out as happens with the flash...

In the top tier he has macaroni salad w/ yellow pepper, celery and cilantro flowers, hummus topped with a small piece of sundried tomato and strawberries.

In the bottom tier - surprise! ;P - he has salad w/ a bunny shaped boiled egg, baby carrot flowers, yellow pepper bits and the usual ham, turkey and swiss pinwheels.

If you haven't voted for your favorite bento in my 50 followers bento contest, please do so before Saturday midnight :)

Thanks for reading and happy bento-ing! :)

EDIT: I found the post that inspired the rolls - at the risk of showing how lame mine are in comparison.... lol:

http://luxirare.com/bento-box/

Voting Time!!

2010-05-24T13:40:00.001-04:00

Below are the entries for my 50 Followers Theme Bento Contest.

Please vote for your favorite in the poll on the right - Poll will run through May 30 (set to close at midnight EST). Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to vote!

Also, see below the entries for the bento the winner of my previous 25 Followers drawing packed in her prize :)

Entry 1

"Rosemary"

And the theme is... not hearts. You thought it was gonna be hearts. I know. But it's not. It's Rosemary.

The top layer is Rosemary Lemon Pulled Pork (with tomato garnish), Rosemary Garlic Potato Wedges (in not-wedge form), and Rosemary Steamed Spinach.

The bottom layer has Rosemary Tomatoes, Grapes, Kumquats, Kiwi, and a Strawberry.

Entry 2

"Children's Hideout"

This is my take on a little kids hideout. There are two bear onigiri, with a fish filling. Their treasures include grapes, carrots, walnuts, corn, and a few deviled eggs. There's also bell pepper leaves.

Entry 3

"Best Friends Forever"

A simple bento packed with loads of tender, loving and care for a beloved friend!

Entry 4

'Spring'

Spring always brings life and love. i tried to put all these in a box. so there are newly grown spring vegetables (lettuce, green onion, radish) along with off-season vegetables (pepper, cucumber). and, as a symbol of love, i also placed some heart shaped egg rolls and some heart shaped ham sandwiches in the box. i made it as a breakfast for my love. and he was delighted with it.

Entry 5

'The Bluebird of Happiness'

The bento consists of home-made tuna fritters, paprika stir fried mini corn, sliced radishes, cucumber sticks and humous. The little bluebird and the nearby tree are cut from mild English cheddar and rubbed with food colouring. The bluebird is seated amidst the colours of a garden beyond the cucumber fence. In the fruit layer are strawberries, grapes and kiwi

Entry 6

"Hello Kitty"

boiled fish cake, thin french beans, cherry tomato, broccoli, carrot. hk is made from chicken ham. their dresses, ribbons and flowers from yellow and red pepper. hk mama’s chef hat made from fish cake and bento bowl , ham

Entry 7

"Weanie Dog"

I made this bento to look like my weanie dog, Deanie Weanie. It contains a nori dog with a red pepper collar and cheese face on top of white rice. The other container has shoyu chicken with steamed broccoli, raw carrots, and grape tomatoes. :)

Entry 8

"Pet Treats"

The sandwich is leftover from Panera's. It also has cucumbers, green apple jelly, a few pickles, goldfish and Colby Jack Cheese. The goldfish represent kitty treats and the cheese is for the dog bones.

We have 4 cats and 1 dog.

Entry 9

"King and Queen Aliens"

The bottom portion contains rice and has a King and Queen Alien made out of green colored egg sheet and decorated with nori cutouts.

The rice is bordered with asparagus and rolled steak slices. Top portion contains lettuce, carrots, bell pepper, cucumber, raisins, strawberries, and cheese.

Entry 10

"The Strongest Link"

This bento contains 2 onigiri pressed rice balls with nori seaweed hearts, some apple and carrot, and chicken dippers with lettuce.

I was going to call this bento “The weakest link” seeing as I made some carrots all linking together in a chain and it was the first phrase that sprang to mind, but after thinking about it, “Weakest” sounds a bit negative and today has been a really positive and jolly day, weatherwise, moodwise and mental health wise!

Entry 11

"Love"

Cheese boy and girl over tiny pesto bowtie pasta (the hearts mean they're in love), cheese hearts on bruschetta with mini toasts, frozen cherries and carrot sticks. Simple but loving!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And because I didn't get it posted before I had my computer crash and recently got the pictures again, here is the bento packed by my last, 25 followers, bento contest, Rebecca Frank :)

The Sandwich box was not part of the prize - I love the way she packed it :)

In the bottom tier is left-over shrimp fried rice that I made for dinner, it has some cauliflower stuffed in as a filler.

The top tier has a hard boiled egg cut in half with the yolk pulled out and mashed with some garlic dill mustard in the yellow cup. The blue cup has pasta salad I made a few days ago, it has orzo, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, fresh mozzarella, and onion splashed with lemon juice, olive oil, and dill.

And if you were curious, the sandwich box has roast beef, spicy cheese, lettuce and mustard roll ups. Also 2 tomato provolone 'sandwiches' and a little bottle of balsamic vinegar for the pasta salad.

Here is what she won in my last contest:

The 3 minute bento...

2010-05-21T10:39:00.000-04:00

I almost didn't even bother to post this one since it's ugly, uninspired, and probably really doesn't qualify as a bento; other than being packed in a bento box ;P lol

I made baked ziti for dinner last night - it was probably my best ever. When I asked Rob if he wanted a bento or just leftover ziti, he said 'ziti is fine' - so, since this box is microwave safe, I decided to just pack it in it. Hopefully, being cheesy, it doesn't ruin the box (but if it does, I'll just have to replace it - the lid is starting to fade a bit anyway, even though it is supposed to be dishwasher safe :P As you may have noticed, I use this box a lot!)

In the bottom tier, he has a salad w/ a couple halved grape tomatoes, a piece of wheat garlic bread and some strawberries. I see a lot of red, beige and green - definitely no 5-color bento here!

We have a friend visiting from Cali who has requested a bento while he's here, so hopefully there will be something much better to post in the next week! ;)

Happy Bento-ing!

Reminder! Contest Deadline is Saturday :)

2010-05-20T19:53:00.000-04:00

Just a quick post to remind you that the deadline for entering my theme bento contest is this Saturday!

http://anamericaninbento.blogspot.com/2010/05/contest-time.html

Happy Bento-ing!! :)

Flowers! :)

2010-05-17T18:15:00.000-04:00

So, tell me, do you all prefer the larger pictures I have been using the last couple days, or do you prefer it smaller? Not that it will necessarily change my mind - lol

This was a fairly quick bento, but I felt like doing a little more to it, so I did the grape tomato roses on his usual salad, with a car shaped egg this time and the usual ham, turkey and swiss pinwheels and a few carrot flowers.

The other tier contains the last of the chipotle macaroni salad and is topped with cucumber, carrot and grape tomato flowers, hummus w/ some black sesame seeds - I tried using a small flower cutter as a stencil, but it just looks like a circle. Then he has a couple strawberries cut up and topped w/ an extra carrot flower.

We both took the day off tomorrow as we have a friend visiting from California, so there will likely not be a post tomorrow. How often do you get to know that in advance!? lol

Don't forget to enter my theme bento contest!

It must be the time for giveaways and contests; If you haven't noticed it yet, I added a little list for other contests, challenges and giveaways on the side bar :)

What is this thing? lol

2010-05-14T20:26:00.000-04:00

Here is Rob's bento for today. The 'design' in the center didn't quite work out as I had envisioned, but at least it was something a little different - lol

I cut the ham into wedges and placed them in a circle into the centerof the salad to make a cup - stuck in the swiss cheese, also cut into wedge shaped, filled in the middle of the ham 'cup' with turkey cut into strips and topped with egg slices andtopped those with flower shapes cut out of nori. Then I stuck in a few grape tomatoes :)

The top tier has the chipotle macaroni salad I made the other day, topped with smaller flower shaped nori cutouts, cucumber slices, strawberries and blackberries.

I had planned to put a couple baby carrots in the bento, but when I opened the bag of the organic baby carrots my daughter picked up the day before, they felt all slimy :( What a waste!

Don't forget to enter my theme bento contest - only 3 entries so far, so chances are great so far!

Another day, another bento :)

2010-05-12T14:44:00.001-04:00

Last night for dinner I made guacamole - I think I may have mentioned before that we like to sometimes just have guacamole and chips (baked) for dinner. I must say, I do love my guacamole :)

I make mine with avacados, chopped onion, chopped tomato, cilantro, lime juice, garlic, salt and a little hot sauce - soooo nummy! I use plenty of lime juice and it keeps it from browning so it works in Rob's bento for the next day - if there's any left :)

For today he has a little hummus, a little guacamole, baby carrots, cucumber slices, blackberries and strawberries in the top tier.

In the bottom I used red leaf lettuce to make a cup for the chipotle macaroni salad, then used more torn up for a small salad w/ a star shaped boiled egg and ham, turkey and swiss pinwheels.

I then slivered some green onion to make it at least a little different and added the carrot flowers :)

Happy Bento-ing! :)

The usual... And don't forget to enter the contest!!

2010-05-11T20:31:00.001-04:00

There's really nothing new in today's bento, but here it is :)

He has blackberries and strawberries - I'm so glad to see them on sale and looking so nice right now - yummy and healthy - and colorful! :) Berries are a bentoists best friend - one of many! lol

I also made another batch of the chipotle macaroni salad, but I may need to add more dressing to the remainder before I pack it in another bento. Since I actually had some red leaf lettuce, I lined that section of the tier with it before adding the macaroni salad - it does add something to it, don't you think? Then there are the familiar carrot flowers w/ green onion stems and black sesame seed ground.

In the bottom tier is his usual salad with a bunny shaped boiled egg, carrot flowers and turkey, ham and swiss pinwheels. As you can see, I still need to work on my photography - especially ith those white eggs...

In case you missed it, I posted the contest Friday.

I also extended the deadline to May 22 - wasn't thinking that we would have company for the first half of that week and I may as well give you more time of I won't have time to review them until then! :)

Once again, the contest is to do a theme bento - any theme you want it to be; the sky's the limit :)

http://anamericaninbento.blogspot.com/2010/05/contest-time.html

Contest time! :)

2010-05-07T15:42:00.004-04:00

This is yesterday's bento and was packed pretty darn quickly after a few Cinco de Mayo Margaritas - lol :)

The top tier contains hummus, sliced strawberry and the chipotle macaroni salad I had made the evening before w/ carrot and green onion flowers.

The bottom tier is the usual organic spring greens with more carrot flowers and grape tomatoes. I also put a bag of triscuits in his bag to go with the hummus.

So, now on to the contest!

Here is what I have decided to do this time - a bento theme contest!

Here's the deal - it can be any theme you want, let your creativity flow :)

I am asking that each person enter only once. Entries can be emailed to me at tammy@robtammy.com and please use the subject line Theme Bento Entry - you may submit 2-3 photos if you'dlike, but only one will be used in the voting.

The deadline for entries will be Saturday, May 22 at midnight EST.

Please pack a new bento for the contest - The idea is to get everyone to get creative - Also please include a description to be posted with your entry - Thanks! :)

If I have 20 or fewer entries, I will place all of them in a poll to be voted on here on my blog - If there are more than 20, myself and my daughters will choose the 20 finalists and the poll will be among those entries.

The winner will receive the bento box, belt and bag set below:

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

2010-05-05T15:21:00.001-04:00

I realized when I looked at the photos from the SD card that there really is no protein in today's bento to speak of... Oh well, C'est La Vie!

I decided to give the macaroni salad a little extra kick for Cinco de Mayo and added some chipotle seasoning to it. I thought it tasted pretty good :)

His salad is a little plain today as I just wanted to get it finished and go to bed last night - so lazy of me... Making the macaroni salad was enough for me :P So, I just cut some grape tomatoes in half and arranged them in flowers and added a couple carrot flowers.

In the other tier is sliced strawberries and the chipotle macaroni salad w/ carrot and green onion flowers w/ black sesame seeds for the ground.

He also has his gummies in the lid and I threw a bag of raspberry shortbread cookies into his lunch bag just in case he was still hungry :)

I plan to definitely post the 50-followers contest either tomorrow or Friday, so stay tuned! :)

2010-05-04T18:11:00.000-04:00

Last night for dinner I grilled chicken tenders sprinkled with chipotle seasoning, which we ate pretty much as it is in Robs bento for today. I love when leftovers can be used in the bento for the next day :)

In the top tier, we have hummus, strawberries and carrot salad.

In the bottom tier, we have a mixed spring greens salad w/ cucumber, grape tomato and carrot with the chicken tenderloin sliced on top.

He also has gummies in the lid for a little treat and I packed him a few triscuits for the hummus and light ranch dressing for his salad.

This is Kat's bento for today.

In the top tier, she has an onigiri filled with spicy tuna, some broccoli, strawberries and Aidelle's Teriyaki Chicken Meatballs.

In the bottom tier she has the last of the carrot salad, japanese pickled cucumber, baby carrots and banana.

Chewie is delicious!

2010-05-03T14:50:00.000-04:00

I totally and unabashedly stole this idea from veganf at Disposable Aardvarks: http://disposableaardvarksinc.blogspot.com/2010/04/chewie-soba.html

Rob loves Star Wars - he even has a curio in our bedroom full of Star Wars goodies - lol - so when I saw this, and realized I had soba and that Rob would probably eat them made into sesame noodles, I was excited :)

I made a sauce of peanut butter, a little sesame sauce/tahini, sesame oil, rice vinegar and say sauce - whisked it all up and mixed into my soba noodles. I think my ratio is off and it could have used more sauce, but Rob said Chewie was delicious, so score! :)

I did my Chewbacca first, getting him shaped a little and then filled in around him with carrot salad. I then added some parsley for foliage and cucumber flower halves and grape tomato slices were added.

The other tier has the usual organic spring greens mix, tuna salad in a food cup in the center with a grape tomato flower w/ green onion stems and sesame seed ground. Cucumber and carrot flowers top the salad.

I also packed crackers in his bag to have with the tuna salad.

For some reason when I went to get the pictures off the camera, they weren't there! :o Thankfully I had decided to get them off the camera to upload to FB last night and was able to get it back out and take them again - otherwise I would have discovered they were missing after Rob was gone with the bento :o

Another simple bento :)

2010-04-30T17:59:00.002-04:00

Rob's bento for today was packed pretty quickly.

The first tier contains fresh pineapple, carrot salad, kiwi slices cut into flowers and curry pumpkin seeds.

The second tier contains tuna salad (or tuna mayo as I've noticed many in other areas call it :), and salad w/ carrot flowers.

I also put a baggie of multigrain crackers in his bag to go with the tuna salad.

We often have the tuna salad mixed into a leafy greens salad with cucumber and tomatoes in the summer and he always likes crackers with that, so I wanted to be sure he could eat it either mixed into the salad or just the way it is on the crackers.

Unfortuantely, I didn't have tomatoes or a cucumber to add to it for today (I do now since I sent Ahmetia to the store today :)

Last night I decided to use these star and heart shaped foil baking cups from Reynolds. I like that they are shorter and fit into the shallower tiers of this bento box and the shallower top tier of most of my other bento boxes.

On the tuna, I simply sprinkled some black sesame seeds on top to quickly add a little visial interest without spending much more time on it.

I'm still trying to decide what I want to do for the 50-Followers Contest; I know I want to have people submit bento photos this time, but I need to decide if I want to do a theme or what...

Stay tuned!

I do know the prize will be the following bento box:

Prize is subject to change (just in case I decide to go up to Mitsuwa and find something different before I post the contest - lol)

Everyone should play with their food!

2010-04-28T15:10:00.000-04:00

This is from Rob's bento for yesterday - I had a little fun with it - can you tell? :)

I recently bought some new food markers at the grocery store that I discovered with the cake decorations and candles. These are much more fluid than the ones I purchased previously - which I found to be both a good thing and a bad thing.

I used them directly on the press part of the sandwich cutters rather than on the bread (except for the little bit of extra coloring I did on the one flower - hehe). I was a little concerned that the color would dry too quickly, but it seemed to work great.

Here is the full bento. I packed it earlier than usual since we were going to see Flogging Molly Monday night :) The show was awesome - love them! :)

The tuna sammies are just propped up on a plain organic spring green salad. He also had his light ranch dressing for the salad once he ate the sammies.

In the other tier he has a homemade carrot salad - I even grated the carrots instead of buying shredded carrot :) He also has fresh pineapple and strawberries.

This was Monday's bento.

Amazingly, I did not pack one bento last week :o

He has his usual salad w/ the ham, turkey and swiss pinwheels and a car shaped boiled egg (sliced to make it easier to eat), strawberries, pineapple, hummus and celery and carrot sticks.

This is one of Kat's bento from last week. One of my favorite meals is simply homemade guacamole and baked tostitos - yummy!

I use plenty of lime juice so that leftovers don't brown before the following day, so she was able to take some in this bento.

In the other tier she has a homemade apple and poppyseed slaw I had made over the previous weekend, edamame and plum.

The slaw was really good, though over the following days, it did get a little watery - but still tasted great (maybe because I use light and fat free products?)

The recipe for the slaw can be found here:

http://www.deliciousorchardsnjonline.com/archive/arc114.html

I used apple cider instead of the apple juice concentrate because that's just what I had.

This is another of Kat's bento from last week.

She has dumplings and sauce in the kiwi container, bean sprout namul that she made, strawberries and stuffed banana leaves we purchased frozen at the Asian market.

Below are some photos of bento we have packed over the last 2 months - I am going to forego the descriptions - at least for now, but wanted to get them on here :)

First, bento I packed for Rob:

And Kat's:

And Ahmetia's couple:

Stay tuned for that 50 Followers Contest! I plan to post that very soon! :)

OMG! I hit 50 followers in my adsence :o

2010-04-20T20:49:00.004-04:00

Hi everyone! And welcome to the new followers! I apologize for being absent for so long :( Between computer issues, sadly, a bit of a loss of inspiration etc etc, I didn't realize how long it had actually been since I posted! :o

So keep an eye out for a contest to celebrate reaching 50 Followers! Woot! :D

I think I will start small tonight before I go back and post a few bento from the last couple months - there were many days I didn't need to pack bento and still others that I was just bored with and didn't bother to photograph, but I do have a few and some that my girls packed to post.

April 16:

Fresh strawberries and blackberries, hummus and Curry Pumpkin Seeds :)

In the bottom Tier is a wrap cut into 3 pieces. It is Arugula Blend Salad, Goat Cheese, a drizzle of Olive Oil, Red Onion, Roasted Red Pepper and Sundried Tomatoes - yum!

He also has Pub Mix, red and green Bell Pepper strips and baby carrots :)

So, lately I have been trying to use less pre-made, processed foods - some of which started before I stopped posting, but watching Jamie Oliver has inspired me to try harder :) I grew up eating healthy foods - My Mom was into healthy, natural foods - and I grew up in WV! :P lol Not Huntington, but the Parkersburg are (Waverly, WV mostly).

Last week a friend of mine and a super Mom to two little ones posted on Facebook that she was making fruit leather - I just had to be a copycat and make some too! lol

I had strawberries and raspberries in the fridge that were still good, but not as fresh and beautiful as I'd like for eating fresh and packing into bento, so I decided it would make great fruit leather. I've mentioned before that I don't tend to measure, so I can't tell you exactly how much, but I pureed the strawberries and raspberries (probably between 2 and 3 cups), juice of half a clementine and a little lemon juice - maybe 1/2 Tbs and added maybe a tsp honey.

I have a food dehydrator that I have had for many many years, so I pulled it out, lined it w/ plastic wrap and spread in the puree.

The next morning, it was just about done:

and tore it into 3 and rolled them up! :)

It was pretty tasty and something I definitely think I'll do again :)

I also got the new appliance I have been eyeing for a while - but it ended up causing my poor, dear hubby a bit of work - lol :)

Can you see it? It's a triple frikkin' crock pot baby! lol

I don't know why I didn;t ask Rob to add a shelf to this table sooner - I always thought it needed one and really wasted that space...

Back at it :)

2010-02-17T17:21:00.001-05:00

Hey folks! Sorry for the absence - Rob was gone on a business trip to Texas, so I didn't need to pack bento all week :o But I'm back at it as of yesterday, so the posting will begin again :)

Last night for dinner, Rob wanted Harold's Deli - this is the same Harold's Deli that was featured on Man Vs. Food - you can see a YouTube video from the show here :)

So, anyway, he just wanted leftover deli today, but I couldn't just leave it completely plain, right?!

So, heart shaped sammies it was!

I just used the sandwich lunch container we've had for years.

So, he has Harold's Cole Slaw (I realized when I uploaded the photo, I could have done something creative on top of it, but I was feeling lazy :P)

He also has a new pickle and peppers from Harold's on the side.

At the bottom he has a pudding marshmallow, a kiwi gummy and just a little chex mix.

We'll be having Harold's leftovers for dinner tonight too - it's a lot of food, and being on Weight Watcher's myself, I don't eat a lot of the corned beef on my sammie!

OK, so the picks were too tall, so it was closed with them laying flat :P

Yesterday's bento was very quickly thrown together; uncreative, but colorful and healthy!

Here he has organic mixed greens w/ southwest chicken strips, shrp cheddar and baby carrot slices in the bottom tier.

In the top tier, he has curried pumpkin seeds (I love these things!), tri colored pepper strips and baby carrots.

Last Friday we took another run up to Mitsuwa - to my disappointment, they no longer had the flower kamaboko, so I had to just get the naruto kamaboko again :( Oh well, it's still pretty :)

They were also out of pink denbu :( We were told the small Asian grocery right down the road also carries it, so we'll have to check there soon - we must have missed it (it's pretty small, so we don't go there too often)

Ahmetia got a gorgeous looking slice of cake

:Drool:

I should have stolen a bite!

I also finally got the Tamagoyaki pan this trip - Yay!

Don't you just love the bottom? haha :)

This was Kat's first attempt at a tamagoyaki in the new pan:

Her second attempt for was much better:

While Rob didn't need any bentos this last week, the girls did pack a couple, but I'll start with Kat's for today. Apparently Ahmetia forgot to take photos of hers for today.

This is Kat's bento in her new set that I got her for Valentine's Day - I've included pics of the closed set below.

I got the set from ebay from a seller in Japan and she, of course, loves it :)

In the largest tier, she has rice, beautiful fresh raspberries that I picked up at Sam's yesterday and forgot to put in Rob's bento :o and her tamagoyaki I showed you above :)

In her second tier, she has some of the Harold's cole slaw, edamame, banana and sweet simmered sweet potatoes that she made this morning.

In tier 3 she has Harold's famous corned beef, shiitake mushrooms (I think also sweet simmered, but she may have done them differently this time - seems like she said something about it, but I was working...), and a pudding marshmallow.

In the 4th and smallest tier, she has half a clementine, a little more banana and sweet simmered black beans from her freezer stash.

Whew! Yes, that's a lot, but it is her lunch and dinner since they are on campus from 11am until around 8pm tonight.

This was Ahmetia's bento for yesterday. She has a fish sandwich on a wheat bun that she used black sesame seeds to make a face on, baby carrot sticks, ranch dressing in the container, kiwi and a pudding marshmallow w/ fruit leather flowers.

Just a close-up of her sammie...

This was Kat's lunch bento for last week.

She has sort of a Saboro bento here in the top tier - rice topped w/ egg, edamame and spinach namul.

In the bottom tier she has sweet simmered black beans, coconut jelly w/ blueberries (I think - if not, I'll come back and edit) and salad w/ dressing in the container.

This was Kat's dinner bento for her long Wednesday last week.

Looks yummy, doesn't it?!?

In the first tier, she has Kimchi, Chicken Teriyaki Pineapple Meatballs (they were giving out samples at the grocery store last week - a nice healthier alternative and she says they're very good, but a little pricey for my taste - they were also giving out coupons) on a lettuce leaf bed, edamame and clementine segments.

In the second tier, she has rice and stir fried veggies.

This was Ahmetia's bento last week in her new bento box for Valentine's Day.

I added pictuers of the set below.

She has teriyaki veggies and rice in the bottom tier.

In the top tier she has an Asian jelly, blackberries, 2 quail eggs and pineapple chunks.

Whew! That was a long one!

And I'm not done yet! lol

I gave the girls their Valentine's gifts early - As you already know, they each got a new bento set.

This is Kat's set - the boxes all nest inside each other and I also got her the matching chopsticks in a case :) As I said, this set was from an ebay seller from Japan.

(I also got some new Hello Kitty cutters and a new face punch, but we'll save that for another post!)

This is Ahmetia's new set. This one came from Very Asia and is on sale for $11.99 - That's a deal! Mitsuwa had this same set for $18.99.

It has a rice press/shaper and 2 dividers, a belt and a matching bag.

We also gave this set to their friend, along with the cute sandwich cutters she wanted :)

This set may very likely be the next bento giveaway when I reach 50 followers! :D

Happy Bento-ing!!

Bento roundup

2010-02-04T18:20:00.000-05:00

Sorry I have been absent the last couple days. Rob didn't need a bento on Tuesday, I was just plain too tired to post on Wednesday after having trouble sleeping without my hubby. Then yesterday, I managed to burn my hair while cooking dinner - Chicken Tortilla Soup - and was just not in the mood to post after that :o

I guess it's just been one of those weeks for me...

So, anyway, Tuesday night's dinner was Feta, Sun Dried Tomato and Spinach Stuffed Chicken Breasts - yum! I didn't use a recipe - just sounded good and I had reduced fat feta that needed used, had the bag of sun dried tomatoes from Christmas and had Chicken Breasts that I had to decide what to do with - it all just fell together :)

OK, I didn't have the Spinach, but I had Ahmetia pick some up on her way home from class :)

Doesn't that chicken just look delicious? I will definitely be making this again! :)

I was feeling tired and lazy, so it was nice to have the leftover chicken to add to the salad - and to make it pretty w/ no time investment, I added a few wheat gluten cakes to act as croutons.

Wanna make the chicken? Here's the recipe:

Feta, Sun Dried Tomato and Spinach Stuffed Chicken Breast

4 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts

1 Pkg Fresh Spinach (or you can use frozen)

1 Tbs. EVOO

1 Tsp Garlic (I use the minced in a jar)

4 oz Feta (I used reduced fat)

2 oz Sun Dried Tomatoes (I used the bagged kind - no oil) - chopped

Dried Basil (fresh would be even better)

Salt & Pepper

Pound chicken breasts either between plastic wrap or in a food storage bag - I like to use a heavier freezer bag big enough to do all 4 at once - to about 1/2 inch thick or less

Saute spinach (stemmed and washed) in olive oil and add garlic

Mix feta, tomatoes and spinach in a bowl and season with salt and pepper and basil to taste

Divide feta mixture between each of the breasts and roll tightly. If needed, secure w/ toothpicks - I didn't find this necessary.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes, until chicken is cooked and juices run clear.

The leftovers were really good in a salad - I think it may have been even better cold the next day :)

In the top tier, he has Macaroni salad, Tabouleh, Sun dried tomato hummus and pineapple and blueberries.

He also had gummies for a treat in the lid and in his bag I added half a whole wheat pita for the hummus and tabouleh.

So, last night for dinner, I decided to make Chicken Tortilla Soup again (I made some a couple weeks ago with leftover roast chicken - not sure if I mentioned it here.) Anyway, I leaned over the pot to get a spoonful to tast and managed to singe my hair - I think it singed on the side of the pot, rather than in the flame.

Needless to say, my evening was ruined and I was not in the mood to post or to pack a proper bento.

The lack of sleep didn't help...

I didn't even remember that we had this Tupperware container. It came with a little condiment cup that sits in the lid, but I didn't use it here.

This is a whole wheat pita stuffed with lettuce, hummus, cucumber slices and tabouleh.

I bought a little set of Wilton Valentines cutters at the grocery store last week and used the double heart on the cucumber slices and the plain heart on the red pepper to at least make it look a little nicer.

He also had a small container with Macaroni Salad that is not pictured.

And in case you want it, this is the recipe for the Chicken Tortilla Soup. I didn't use a recipe and it changes a bit each time I make it, but this is how it was made last night and it worked out to 3 points per serving before adding shredded cheddar (1 oz 2%), fat free sour cream and a sprinkling of green onion.

Makes 6 servings

Tammy's Chicken Tortilla Soup

1 8 oz chicken breast

Chicken base & 3 cups water (or canned chicken stock)

2 c canned diced tomatoes

2 c. canned tomato sauce

1 small can diced green chilis

1 c salsa

1 small onion diced

1 c chopped bell pepper

1 can progresso black bean soup

2 Tbs chili powder (or to taste)

1 tsp cayenne pepper (or to taste)

2 Tbs hot sauce (or to taste)

1 Tbs minced garlic (or to taste)

Poach the chicken breast in chicken stock or water and soup base until cooked through and tender (I buy the base at Sam's Club - this was the first time I poached chicken breast - kept it nice and moist). Alternatively, you could use leftover cooked chicken or pre-cooked chicken such as tyson grilled strips.

I used a paper towel in a strainer and strained the stock into a large pot, chopped up the chicken breast and added it. Then add all the other ingredients into the pot, bring it to a boil and simmer until veggies are desired tenderness, taste and adjust spices as necessary (you may want to start with less cayenne and hot sauce and adjust from there)

I like this topped with reduced fat sharp cheddar, fat free sour cream and green onions.

I also cruch up lime tostitos into Rob's, but leave that out of mine to save the points.

This was Kat's dinner bento on Tuesday.

She has her homemade Bean Sprout Namul, Spinach Namul, Wakame Salad (purchased) and clementine segments.

In the other tier, she has steamed rice with an umeboshi and tamagoyaki.

These were Kat's lunch and dinner bento for Wednesday. They're on campus on Wednesdays from around 11am to around 8pm.

In the first bento, she has yakitori, rice and baby carrots and in the other tier, kiwi, pineapple and spinach namul.

In the second bento, she has rice, curry chicken & onions and sweet simmered black beans, blackberries, blueberries and more spinach namul.

Ahmetia also had a bento, but unfortunately the only photo she took of the entire bento was blurry...

Happy Bento-ing!

A very healthy bento after a very bad weekend!

2010-02-01T18:18:00.001-05:00

Oh, we ate horribly this weekend, we did! Friday was lunch at Chevy's for Mexican, along with beer for Rob and a Grande Mango Margarita for me :) Then way too much to drink Friday night - Have I mentioned that Rob makes the most awesome Hot Toddies ever?! Everyone loves 'em, but man are they a kick in the you know what :o

Then lunch Saturday was the leftover Chevy's and dinner was McDonald's - I did get the grilled chicken sandwich w/ no mayo, only 2 fries, just to taste - lol - but then I had to have a hot fudge sundae!

So, needless to say, it was time for healthy food today!

I picked up some tomatoes on Friday and on Sunday night made the Tabouli (I prefer the tabouleh spelling, but it looks like the other is more common?)

I started by making the pitas. This is my favorite way to have tabouleh - I place a piece of lettuce in to pita and spread it with hummus - Sabra is my absolute favorite - and place sliced cucumbers on the hummus and fill it with tabouleh - soooo yummy!

For the pictures, I have the pita standing up in the box surrounded by lettuce, but I put the halves in sandwich bags and stacked them before closing the box.

In the other tier is fresh pineapple, blueberries, red pepper strips and baby carrots.

In the lid he has the pudding marshmallow and Mango gummy for treats.

He also had a small container of lite hidden valley ranch dressing to dip the carrots and peppers.

How's that for healthy?!

This is a light dinner bento for Kat.

She lined this with lettuce and then put in her homemade pork bun, clementine segments from half a clementine, 3 quail eggs and the banana bottle is filled with dipping sauce for the pork bun.

Yum!

Happy Bento-ing!

We have a winner! :)

2010-01-31T12:51:00.000-05:00

OK folks! It's that time - time to announce the winner of the bento drawing :D

First, how I chose... I used random.org to give me a random number, then counted through the comments, skipping my own replies and the one second comment from the same person, just to be fair :)

So the winner is - drumroll please! ;)

abcicantcount

Please email me at tammy@robtammy.com with your mailing address and let me know which set you want and I'll get that sent out to you :) Congratulations! :)

Which came first... ;)

2010-01-28T15:02:00.003-05:00

The other night, I was watching some youtube videos and came across one where they did cucumber cups, so I decided to try doing one. In the video, they used more of an English cucumber than our typical fatter, shorter ones, but it came out ok and made a nice edible container for the hummus :) I will likely keep that in my bento repertoire for the future :)

I started by putting the last of the carrot salad into the food cup that came with this bento box. I then put in the cucumber cup and filled it with sun dried tomato hummus, then put in the oval foil food cup and filled it with pineapple and blueberries. I love these oval foil cups - they are thinner than the baking cups and very flexible to mold into the space I want them to fit. I ordered them from Ichibankan USA before they closed their web store. I'm down to only one package now and will be sad to use the last of them!

Next, I squeezed a mini valentines cupcake baking cup on each dise of the cucumber and filled one with those Wasabi Almonds (yes, again - lol) and used the other for a nut cake from a package I bought at the Hong Kong Supermarket last Friday. The cup provided a bit of a barrier from the cucumber.

I felt like doing something a little different with the egg for today, so I decided to do an egg chick :) The yolk stuck a little to the egg, but he's still cute, I think. Next time, I'll try letting the egg cool a bit more before I cut it and remove the top. The eyes are nori and the beak is carrot. I usually use black sesame seeds for the eyes, but with nori, I can add a dot of mayo and they stick nicely :)

I made a little nest of shredded carrot in the center of the mixed organic spring greens and put my egg chick into it and then put the rest of the egg white on the side.

The pinwheels are once again ham, buffalo chicken breast and provolone.

Happy Bento-ing!

Onigiri shaped egg for a no rice bento :)

2010-01-27T15:51:00.000-05:00

When I went to make the tabouleh the other day, I discovered that the package of tomatoes was bad - on the bottom of course, where it went unnoticed until the package was opened. So, no tabouleh yet...

Today's bento was a fairly quick one.

I started by getting the eggs boiling while I decided what else to put into the bento.

A while back, I bought a set of 3 egg molds that included the Onigiri, Pumpkin and Ice Cream Cone shapes. They were purchased on ebay, and although they were a bit pricey, I haven't regretted the purchase :)

I've recently been seeing Mickey Mouse, Winnie the Pooh and even Disney's Stitch egg molds - the Winnie the Pooh is a temptation, but so far I've been able to avoid the temptation! lol

I started by putting in the 3 heart shaped silicone cups. These are shorter than the Wilton heart shaped cups and are great for the shorter tiered bento boxes.

I filled one with the macaroni salad Ahmetia got at the grocery store (the one that isn't very good, but I feel was too pricey to just throw out - ugh, I may break down and throw it out anyway - life's too short to eat yucky food! lol).

In the next cup, I added the carrot salad I made the other day. Rob said he liked it, so I'm happy and it will likely become something I use on a somewhat regular basis :) In the final cup, I put in some fresh pineapple and blueberries. I love the colors together :)

I filled in the space between the 2 salads with wasabi almonds (I love those things!), then added the baby carrots (trimmed down to fit) and the red pepper strips and pea pods.

For the bottom tier, I put together his typical salad of organic spring greens, topped with the baby carrot slices from the trimmed down baby carrots, ham, buffalo chicken and provolone pinwheels and the onigiri shaped boiled egg with nori face :)

In the lid, I added a pudding marshmallow and a mango gummy.

Wednesdays are the girls long day on campus, so they each have bentos for today:

Kat was running behind this morning and didn't have time to make her rice, so she cooked up some pierogi in the microwave and put sour cream in the dog cup and filled the space with some ham (torn from the trimmings from the ham flowers in the single tier). In the bottom tier she has clementine segments and blueberries and some wakami salad in the heart shaped silicone cup.

Being a long day, she needs both lunch and dinner. So in the single tier, she decided to go with soba. She topped the noodles with some ham flowers and has a dashi soup base in the cup. She also has an ice cream cone shaped boiled egg that I did last night when I did the onigiri shaped egg.

To save time, I often do 2 eggs and store the 2nd in the fridge, left in the egg mold in a sandwich bad. I still set the egg in the ice water before putting it in the fridge. I find the moisture from the ice water helps keep the egg from sticking to the mold the next morning.

Ahmetia only packed one bento for herself, I hope she has enough food (Though she may have grabbed a lunchable or something...)

In the bottom tier she has a cheese omelet. I always think she overcooks them, but this is the way she likes them.

In the top tier, she has grapes, the last of the veggie samosas, california blend steamed veggies and a pudding filled marshmallow.

It's not a bento, but this was my lunch today - doesn't it look yummy!

I'm sure it's obvious, but it is a baked potato with a little fat free sour cream, chili and 2% shredded cheddar cheese and some green onion. Very satisfying!

Happy Bento-ing!

Not so pretty, but yummy, bento

2010-01-26T19:49:00.000-05:00

Rob didn't need a bento today, so I have one for myself - sort of...

About 15 minutes after Kat left for class, I noticed she hadn't put away the rest of the pork fried rice she had made for her bento, so I decided to finish it off - even though I usually try to stick to brown rice myself...

I also had leftover Cherchie's Spicy Southwest Bean Soup and wanted to get that eaten and out of the fridge. So, while I was getting some ground beef thawed out in the microwave for the chili I'm making in the slow cooker today, I pulled out the Hello Kitty tight sealed, microwave safe box we have and put the rice on one side and the soup in the other. The soup was thicker since it has been in the fridge a couple days.

I placed a heart shaped cookie cutter on top of the rice and put in some shredded carrot, pressing it down onto the rice for a little color and sprinkled the soup with about 1 1/2 oz 2% sharp cheddar cheese and some green onion - yum!

Now, here's what I love about this box - it's air tight, like it says, but has vents on the top that you press to open when you're ready to heat your lunch. I just put the entire box into the microwave and let it heat up while I browned my ground beef and got it into the slow cooker with the rest of the chili ingredients :)

The girls are on campus from 1:30 to 9:45 today for 2 classes each, so they needed a dinner bento each.

Ok, this picture looks funny - for some reason, every time I try uploading it, it turns on it's side - it doesn't look like this in the folder, but each time I upload it, it's back to this - Oh well, I give up...

Kat made her very first homemade pork buns yesterday, so she has one in her bento today on a lettuce leaf, dipping sauce in the banana bottle, pork fried rice using some of the pork she cooked in the slow cooker for the pork buns, shitake mushrooms, edamame, blueberries, daikon salad, bean sprout namul and for treats she has a White Lotus Moon Cake and a puddisg filled marshmallow - yum!

She took some pictures from making the pork buns, so I may post some later in the week :) Stay tuned!

Ahmetia made herself peanut butter toast rolls using light whole wheat bread and natural peanut butter, california blend steamed veggies and grapes in the first tier and pineapple, blackberries and a jelly cup in the second tier. What a healthy meal she has here!

I bought her this bento box on ebay last year. The listing said it was from Japan, circa 1950s :)

If you haven't already, don't forget to see Monday's post and comment to be entered into the drawing for a bento set! :)

Happy Bento-ing!

Indian inspired bento & CONTEST TIME! :D

2010-01-25T12:54:00.002-05:00

I know, I know - I really need to either make that lightbox I keep mentioning or find a better way to take my photos! :P I picked up the small white lidded cup at the Dollar Tree on Friday - the lids seemed to fit nicely too :)

For those of you packing bento for children, they also had the Disney ice packs, meant for little accidents, but would be great for chilling bento :)

I decided to go with the snapware lunch container rather than a traditional bento box for this one so that I could fit in the vegetable samosas I made without taking up half a tier in a bento box and.or smashing/breaking them. I also think it's a good idea not to get too caught up in having to have an actual bento box in order to pack a bento style meal :)

I actually was in a cooking mood on Saturday and took advantage of the feeling by making Indian food for dinner. Although I prefer the saucy Indian dishes that I can mix into the rice, Rob almost always orders the tandoori - and it's not difficult to make (especially with a jar of pre-made tandoori paste! lol).

Since I actually took photos of dinner for my FB food diary, I think I'll start by sharing that :)

Here we have the chicken ready for the oven and then right out of the oven - yum!

I marinaded the chicken in a gallon sized ziplock bag for about 7 hours - longer would have been better though. I had forgotten to score the breasts before marinading and did so before baking and rubbed a bit of the marinade into the cuts, then topped with onion and lemon slices and baked at 450 degrees until a meat thermometer registered 165 degrees - these breasts were huge, and with the red marinade, it becomes difficult to tell when the juices run clear, so I felt more comfortable using the meat thermometer. I was amazed how little bone there was on these breasts!

I usually buy frozen vegetable samosas, but since I haven't been to the Indian grocery in a while, I decided to make them. I had gotten dumpling wrappers at Hong Kong Supermarket on Friday, so I decided to use them for the samosas - so they look a bit like gyoza. :)

I didn't measure the ingredients, but the ingredients were:

Vegetable Samosas

3 smallish potatoes, boiled and roughly mashed

1/2 can garbanzo beans, rinsed and smashed up a bit

maybe 1/2 cup frozen green peas

a couple Tbsp fresh chopped cilantro

maybe a tsp or so garam masala

maybe 1/2 tsp each:

ground cilantro

curry powder

garlic salt

ground cumin

Just mix the potatoes, beans and peas and add all the spices to your taste, place a wrapper in the palm of your hand, place about a Tbs and a half filling (guessing, I didn't measure it) in the center and press a little with your fingers, have a small dish of water ready and use fingers to wet the edge of the top half of the wrapper and fold over the filling and press to seal. Or use a dumpling press, mine seems to have run away somewhere...

I brushed half with a little canola oil and baked in the oven with the chicken, turning occasionally and keeping an eye on them until nicely browned. The edges were a little crunchy, but I thought they were yummy :) The other half were deep fried in our deep fryer.

Rob's plate is on the left and mine on the right. I had found pappadum in a can at the grocery store and decided to give them a try. We also have brown basmati rice and grilled onion. In the sauce cups are cilantro mint chutney and a makeshift onion chutney for the samosas and pappadum respectively. It was a very good and filling dinner :)

When Rob saw that there were samosas left, he actually expressed an interest in seeing them in today's bento :) So, since he won't have access to a microwave today, I decided to use some of a tandoori chicken breast on a salad.

I topped the organic lettuce mix with the tandoori slices and then added tomato roses and thinly sliced carrot flowers. He has a ginger dressing (a vinaigrette style) to go with it.

In one side of the divided tier, I arranged the samosas that I had crisped back up in the toaster oven and the food cup of chutneys, then filled in spaces with the pappadum and pea pods and added a couple grapes just for a little color.

As far as plain boxes go, I have always loved this one. I love that it fits 3 silicone cups the way it does. Once I put the cups in, I filled the center one with carrot salad I threw together quickly. This was the first time I've ever made this. I've never had it, but a couple months ago, Rob bought some at Delicious Orchards and I had been thinking about picking up more. Since I had bought a bag of the shredded carrots at the Asian market, I decided to just make some myself - it was so easy, it would be silly to buy it :)

I added the red and yellow pepper strips to one cup and blackberries and blueberries to the other to finish it up.

Again, I didn't really measure, but here is the carrot salad recipe - adjust the amounts as necessary...

Carrot Salad

About a cup shredded carrots

1/8-1/4 cup raisins

1/4 of a good size apple - I used granny smith

1/2-1 Tbs lemon juice

1/8-1/4 cup mayo (I use a light mayo)

maybe 1 Tbs honey

Just mix it all together, tasting and adding lemon juice and or honey as needed.

OK - now on to what we've all been waiting for - The contest/drawing! :) lol

Here's what I've decided to do:

In the comments below this post, please share your favorite bento resource(s).

It can be specific blog(s), books, websites, sources for products etc. It can even just be your best tips! I just want you to share! And why it's a good resource or tip would also be great :)

The deadline for comments will be Saturday, Jan 30, so you have about 5 days. I will do a random drawing from the comments on Sunday and post the winner. Please check back to see if you've won - if you have provided your email address, I will also let the winner know by email, but I know not everyone wants to post that information.

Once the winner has been announced, they will need to email me at tammy@robtammy.com with the shipping information etc.

Now for the fun part! The prize :) I am giving the winner a choice between 2 bento sets - the winner needs to choose one or the other:

Each set includes the box, belt and bag and the bunny and bear egg molds and the cookie cutters. The clickety click bunny set will include matching chopsticks and case, while the tenmari set will include the penguin sauce bottles. I know, it's a tough choice! :)

International folks, if you win - I will send via the slowest, cheapest boat out there - but you will get it :)

I plan to do another contest when/if I ever get to 50 followers which will be a nicer set, so keep 'em coming! :)

Thanks again to all my new followers and readers!

Happy Bento-ing!

20 followers?

2010-01-23T01:11:00.001-05:00

So, I forgot that my daughter is on my followers twice, so the question is, do I still consider it 20 followers, or do I wait for 21...? :P

UPDATE! I am now at 23 followers, so I will officially be doing a contest - stay tuned for the details (probably Monday) Thanks and welcome to all my new followers :)

Bunny Eggs make me happy :)

2010-01-22T19:40:00.000-05:00

Now that we're stocked back up on some grocery staples, Rob's bento includes his usual salad :)

The bottom tier contains his typical organic lettuce blend with ham, buffalo chicken and provolone pinwheels, grape tomato roses, carrot flowers and a bunny shaped boiled egg :) I still love the shaped boiled eggs. This time I decided to add some black sesame seeds in the impressions of the face to bring them out more. I still haven't gotten more food markers, but last time I used them on egg, Rob said it looked unappetizing, so maybe it's a good thing - lol

Unfortunately, when I put leafy lettuce on the grocery list, I forgot to remind Ahmetia that I did not mean romaine :( Maybe now that we've had this miscommunication twice, we'll remember next time. Oh well, I'll make the best of it :)

I also had put macaroni on the list so I could make more macaroni salad, but Ahmetia thought I meant macaroni salad and bought it premade. It was a different brand than we have ever purchased before and unfortunately isn't very good. And she got a 3 lb tub of it... Rob says he'll eat it anyway (I'm not a big fan of macaroni salad myself, nor would I eat it being that it is not WW friendly...)

Once I had added the macaroni salad into the romain lettuce in the box, I then added the organic baby carrots and the small valentines cupcake cup that I filled with blueberries. In the last of the space, I added 2 clementine segments (one of my favorite fruits, can you tell? lol - I ate the rest) and a single grape.

I then sliced the kamaboko and broke off a piece of dill and added it on top of the macaroni salad.

I also stocked up on some Asian ingredients at the Hong Kong Supermarket in East Brunswick, NJ today, including the purple sweet potatoes that I can't wait to use - I just have to figure out how I want to add them so that Rob will like them! :)

I had the girls and their friend do most of the shopping while I was next door at the DMV renewing my license and registering Kat's 'new' car (pics in post from the other day). I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to do both in about an hour or so :)

I am not at 19 followers - one more and I will need to come up with some sort of contest :) I think the prize may be the bento box shown in this post. I just have to order it! (or get it at Mitsuwa...)

Stay tuned!

Speaking of bento contests and prizes, Debra over at Hapa Bento is running a contest right now - Hmm, maybe I shouldn't share the news and decrease my own chances of winning ;) Haha :)

Click here to check out the contest!

Happy Bento-ing!

Lovie Dovie Bento :)

2010-01-21T15:30:00.003-05:00

Ahmetia is grocery shopping as I type this, so this bento represents the last of the bread, the macaroni salad, the tuna, the clementines and the red pepper :o Thank goodness she's shopping :)

I didn't want to do the same bunny, bear and flower sammies or the flower I did the other day, so today's has a heart shaped sandwich and a triangle from the rest of the bread.

I put the macaroni salad in first then the sammies, using baran food dividers to keep any tuna from getting on the other foods.

I then queezed in the Valentine's cupcake cup and filled it with the chex mix, then added the clementine wedges and the veggies as I cut them up. I didn't want too much baby carrot since I already had plenty of orange in the bento.

It took some rummaging around the kitchen and fridge to come up with first the wasabi almonds and then the smoked Gouda to fill in around the heart shaped sandwich. I specifically chose a smaller bento box knowing

that I only had a little macaroni salad left etc.

The sammies looked so plain, so I grabbed a slice of cheese (poor Rob was stuck w/ fat free since that's what I had...) and used the bear sandwich cutter to make a cute little cheese bear to plop on top of the triangle shaped sammie (I think this is the same one used by Pikko for her breakfast bento for her TV appearance the other day - her awesome blog can be seen at http://adventuresinbentomaking.com/).

At first, I was going to just cut a smaller heart to place on top of the heart sammie, but then saw my letter cutters and decided to do our initials like you'd see carved in a tree :) Last, I added the nori accents and was finally done!

This fairly simple bento ended up taking me probably 45 minutes just because I didn't really have a plan (though I rarely do) and was low on so much.

Tomorrow's bento will likely once again have a leafy green salad - at least the low groceries forced me to do something different for a few days :)

On another note, someone I went to High School with who I reconnected with on FB has a daughter who also loves all things Japanese. A while back I sent her a package of bento goodies. Anyway, she just did a Social Studies project on Bento and won first place!

Congrats to Kaylin!! :)

The girls had their first day back to classes yesterday, which happens to be their long day between the 2 of them, so they each packed themselves bento for yesterday.

I'll start with Kat since she does them more often and has been doing them the longest. She has a lunch and a dinner bento.

Here she has an onigiri decorated with Pink Denbu, egg flowers and pea pod - This onigiri is from the Kawaii Bento Boxes: Cute and Convenient Japanese Meals on the Go.

Also in the tier are 2 quail eggs, Octodogs and shitake mushrooms.

In the bottom tier she has edamamme, bean sprout namul baby carrots, grape tomatoes and soy sauce in the bottle. The namul recipe (for both the bean sprouts and spinach) is from Personal Trainer: Cooking for Nintendo DS. I think she uses this more than any actual games - lol.

For dinner she had a sabboro bento. Over the rice, she has Pink Denbu, Egg and Shitake mushrooms with some of the pretty kamaboko slices. Then in the bottom tier she has edamame, kimchi and daikon salad. There's soy sauce in the bottle for her sabboro.

Now for Ahmetia's bento. She packed one large bento for lunch and dinner and still brought some back home.

In the first tier, she has rice noodles topped with a veggie stirfry. In the second tier she has peppermint bark, broccoli and cauliflower and pierogies. She needs to work on the photography :o

whew! that was a long one!

Happy Bento-ing!

More sammies :o

2010-01-19T20:18:00.000-05:00

I still haven't gone grocery shopping, so I packed the cute min sammies again and this time tried dipping the press side in hot sauce first - They aren't perfect, but I like the addition of a little color :)

We bought Kat a used car today, so I *still* haven't gone grocery shopping, which means if I pack Rob a bento for tomorrow, it'll be tuna sandwiches again and the last of the macaroni salad & not sure about fruit...

At least I get a break from the reg salad! ;) lol

I started by adding the macaroni salad to the cup in the top tier. I opted to leave it undecorated this time - can you see the purple? :)

I then added the clementine segments and cut up the red pepper and the pea pods and put them in.

Next I made the sammies, cutting out the shapes then dipping the press part in the hot sauce and pressing it onto one piece for each sandwich. I'm completely out of lettuce, so I used a baran food divider behind the sammies and some dill for a little more color.

I then opened a Little Debbie heart shaped brownie, put it in a Valentines cupcake cup and wedged it in at the other end, filling in w/ the grape tomatoes, chex mix and some nuts.

Voila - A better bento than I expected when I started to search for stuff to put into it :)

He also has an apple and a Kiwi gummy in the lid and a side cup of lite Hidden Valley Ranch dressing to dip the veggies.

And in case you're curious, here's Kat's 'new' 2000 VW Cabriolet:

Not bad for her first car IMHO :)

Happy Bento-ing!

(If you missed it, yesterday's post included a tutorial on my ladybug tomatoes)

Ladybugs :)

2010-01-18T14:45:00.003-05:00

So we finally went and saw Avatar yesterday in Imax :) LOVED IT! :)

After the movie we went to dinner at Bonefish Grill - yum! So by the time we got home and I finally got around to packing Rob's bento for today, my intention was to just pack a speed bento and be done with it, but then I chenged my mind and decided to do the ladybugs as originally planned :)

The ladybugs are nothing new, but still one of my favorite cute things to add to his bento. The first time I did them, they took friggin' forever without a small hole punch. I soon after made the purchase of the small hole punch and now they're not too time consuming :)

I always think the ladybugs have to have a little greenery to munch on :)

Flower kamaboko makes another appearance here - still loving it :)

I started by putting the clementine segments into the box, then added the foil cup and filled it with macaroni salad, added the hummus and topped it w/ sundried tomatoes, then added the chex mix.

I added the salad to the bottom tier and got an egg boiling while I made the ham, buffalo chicken and provolone pinwheels and cut the red pepper flowers.

Then I decided to add the nori eating utensils :)

Once the egg was boiled, molded and cooled, I sliced it (Rob finds it easier to eat pre-sliced) and added it. I decided on the black sesame seeds later as I was about to take pictures, remembering that it seems to help keep the egg from washing out in the photos.

I *still* haven't made that lightbox :o

Then I started on the ladybugs

As I was preparing to sit down and blog, I decided I wanted to do a quick tutorial for the ladybugs - so I made another one real quick and got some pictures of the process :)

Here are the tools I use:

First, I take a sheet of nori and punch out the dots and then the face w/ the pink nori punch you see in the picture. I got the punch in this set: Nori Face Punches - I love the face punches and definitely recommend them if you're looking to do cute bento :)

Then I take my half grape tomato and dot it with honey using a toothpick:

Once the tomato is dotted w/ honey, I use my dedicated bento tweezers to place the nori spots onto it:

The next step is the 'face' - I use only the eyes from the face punch that I punched earlier:

Cut the eyelashes off each as shown:

Next, I get them wet to make them more pliable - otherwise they don't want to bend around the tomato, and then use the tweezers and my fingers to position them as shown:

The last step is to add the sesame seed eyes. I put another dot of honey on each side of the face and carefully place a sesame seed on each side using the tweezers:

And that's it! I decided I needed 2 more dots and added them after the eyes - and here's your finished product :) Wasn't that pretty easy?

To give it the wing effect, you could also add a strip if nori down the center, but I never felt the need :)

I should have had a manicure before I did this! :P lol

Happy Bento-ing!

Picnic Bento Box - Hope Rob's hungry! :)

2010-01-15T14:33:00.006-05:00

Today Rob has an admittedly large bento for one person - I just had to do it! lol

I've been wanting to use this box for such a long time, and once I had decided I wanted to do a wrap, this was the opportunity. None of the other boxes we have could accomodate the wrap without smushing it.

I bought these tortillas at Target because they are a healthy version and only 1 point on WW - they are not the big burrito size, but more like a fajita size (maybe just a little larger). Since I had never bought this brand before, I didn't realize how soft/delicate they are - I just hope it holds up ok.

I have had these wrap pockets in a drawer for probably 2 years now and finally remembered them for this bento :) Seemed like a perfect way to add color and interest to Rob's bento :)

So, the wrap is a Buffalo Chicken wrap:

3 oz Deli Buffalo Chicken Breast

2 Tbs. Marie's Lite Bleu Cheese dressing

1 Tbs Archer Farms Buffalo Bleu Cheese dip

Organic Spring Lettuce Mix

Shredded Cheddar

Hot Sauce

This wrap is something I often do for my lunch - using the deli chicken and using less dressing or no dip and adding a tsp. olive oil makes it a good lunch on WW - When I make it for myself (on the larger 1 pt La Tortilla wrap), I mix the lettuce w/ the dressing/dip and the olive oil so I can 'shrink it' a bit to fit a good 2 cups or more onto my wrap.

Once I had the wrap placed into the box, I added the salad on each side, then the shredded carrots and red cabbage and topped it with a couple wheat gluten cakes I got on our last trip to Mitsuwa - aren't they pretty? :)

The second tier contains my homemade Macaroni Salad (I'm loving the purple in it), a clementine on a little more lettuce, yogurt topped w/ a frozen strawberry. Lite Hidden Valley Ranch dressing in the cup topped w/ black sesame seeds, Wasabi almonds, 2 Hi Chews and White Chocolate covered pretzels (left over from Christmas) --- Whew - that's a lot!

I just spoke to him - he ate every bit of it :o I really didn't think he would.

On to other things - I was lucky enough to have this award passed on to me by both Angi at Bento Junkie and Gamene at bento zen

The award comes with a couple rules:

Copy the award image into a post. List 10 things that make you happy. Tag 10 bloggers who brighten your day. Put in a link to their blog. Notify the award receivers. Recipients should link back to the sender's blog.

So, 10 things that make me happy - in no particular order:

---Horror Movies - yes, I thought of this first after reading Gamene's - I watch a ridiculous amount of them and love to watch them on Friday nights when Rob is gaming and have no problem watching them when he's on a business trip either :)

---Chocolate! What woman isn't made happier by a great piece of chocolate - The BEST chocolates are from Holl's Chocolates - I am not an affiliate for them - I'm just a huge fan! :)

---My Keurig! One of the best purchases we ever made - I do LOVE my Keurig - we have this one: Keurig B70 Gourmet Single-Cup Home Brewing System

---My family :) Even when I complain about them, I know I am lucky :)

---I am thankful that we have Asian markets available in our area :) I wish we had an Ichibankan and a Daiso, but I know we're lucky to have what we do close to us :)

---The Internet! Seriously, how did we ever live without it!?

---Bento (of course!) - Bento has given me a creative outlet when I need it and it makes me happy to know Rob is eating better. He used to eat a ramen style Tom Yum soup every day - all that sodium and bad fat! He seems to have the 'afternoon crash' much less often since he's been eating better too :)

---Tazo Chai Concentrate :) I hate milk and this has given me tasty way to get that milk in - sometimes I get so tired of yogurt, and I typically don't want a cold yogurt in the winter...

---Working from home. While there are some downfalls to working from home, I do love it. I miss the socializing and being able to communicate more easily and stay 'in the loop', but not the commute etc.

---My Sodastream :) Nothing like never having to worry about being out of seltzer when I want a vodka and seltzer or some juice and seltzer :) Sodastream Jet Starter Kit

And now for 10 of my favorite blogs :) I know many of you already got this award so won't actually be doing it again...

Again, in no particular order :)

http://onabentofrenzy.blogspot.com/ -- bento pet

http://bentozen.wordpress.com/ -- Gamene

http://www.hapabento.com/ -- Debra

http://bentobird.blogspot.com/ -- bento bird

http://happylittlebento.blogspot.com/ -- Sheri

http://www.aibento.net/ -- Pikko

http://lianmamabento.blogspot.com/ -- Lian

http://disposableaardvarksinc.blogspot.com/ -- veganf

http://verbento.blogspot.com/ -- Kathy

http://distractedgourmet.wordpress.com/

http://mixmingleglow.com/blog/ -- Robyn

Thanks to everyone for reading my blog - I can't tell you how happy it makes me to know that it's being read at all :) I think when I reach 20 followers, I'll come up with some sort of contest or something :)

Happy Bento-ing!

More Chicken Salad

2010-01-14T15:56:00.000-05:00

Today's bento is another chicken salad sandwich. This time I used a flower shaped cookie cutter after 3 more failed attempts with the Pampered Chef Press 'n Seal - Ugh, what a waste of $9... I tried putting a lot less filling this time and it tore less, but still tore, so I wasted all that bread too - I guess it's possible that it could be the Wonder Kids bread Rob likes. Maybe at some point I'll give it one more try with different bread - maybe 3rd time will be the charm :)

So, once I finally had the sandwich made, I used pieces of red leaf lettuce from my lettuce mix again and lined that part of the bento box and stuck the sandwich in. Then put in a oval foil food cup, my favorite one - thinner and very flexible - and added macaroni salad. I noticed the red cabbage and possibly the red onion have bled a little purplish color onto the macaroni is spots :)

I placed a flower shaped food cup on the sandwich and sprinkled on some paprika to add some additional color and help it show up better in photos and topped the macaroni salad with kamaboko flowers and dill to make it all pretty :)

I then stuck the clementine segments in and added a few grape tomatoes for filler and stuck in a couple cute food picks.

In the bottom tier is a mixed green salad, to which I added some shredded carrot and grape tomatoes and then some ham and buffalo chicken 'flowers'. I've seen these in other bento on the web, but just wasn't happy with the way mine were coming out. Rob said he thought they looked fine, so that's good :) I then rolled up a slice of provolone and cut it in half and put half on each side of the salad.

You may have noticed the addition of j-list to my blog - I am now an affiliate and any purchase you make via those links will help support my bento habit and give me more to blog about!

Happy Bento-ing!

Cute mini sammies :)

2010-01-13T12:56:00.000-05:00

For dinner last night, I roasted a chicken. I love chicken and roasted chicken is one of my favorite things - and really easy to do :)

It was a nearly 8 pound chicken, so we have leftovers for dinner tonight and I used a little to make chicken salad for today's bento. I didn't measure anything, but I used maybe 3/4 cup torn up chicken, some kewpie mayo and light miracle whip, chopped red onion and celery, salt, pepper and a little lemon juice. It tasted delicious for such a simple recipe :)

For today's bento for Rob, I felt like being a little cutesier :)

At first I was going to attempt using the Pampred Chef Cut 'N Seal again, but then remembered these cute sandwich cutters I bought for Kat probably almost 2 years ago that I think she's only used once :o

Well, if she's not going to use them, I will! lol :)

The tops work like a cookie press - you cut the bread and then press the top part onto it to put the impression into the bread. Aren't they adorable!?

I still really need to make that lightbox - I may even do it today - I just couldn't get a good picture of the bento for today and I was so disappointed since I really was pretty happy with it. I get tired of my bento always looking pretty much the same, so anytime I do something a little different, it brings out the kid in me - lol :)

If I weren't out of my light wheat bread, I'd pack a bento for myslef for lunch today and do it again. Only next time I want to try dipping the press into a little hot sauce to see if I can add a little color to the imprint - and hot sauce w/ chicken salad sounds like a winner to me - yummy :)

I didn't have leaf lettuce, so I picked a few larger pieces from my pre-packaged Arugula blend and tore them in half and arranged in the box to line it for the sammies. I used a couple small pieces on the sammies to add a little color and a little more freshness to them. I did two of the flowers simply because I thought they seemed to have a little more surface area and put them in first, then placed the bear and bunny in front of them, or besdie them, depending on how you look at it :)

I then put in the clementine sections. I wonder if Rob is getting tired of seeing them in his bento since I haven't bought more fruit yet - and likely won't until next week. Then I went looking through my silicone food cups to find one that 1) wasn't pink and 2) would fit in the little area I had left, oh and 3) was silicone and flexible :) I filled that with jellied cranberry sauce from dinner, cut into little pieces. I then filled it in with a few grape tomatoes and added some cute food picks, just because I felt like it :)

The bottom tier is my typical decorated macaroni salad. I was originally going to do ladybugs, but thought they might be too tall for the small tier, so I went with the carrot flowers with some rosemary & dill.

I'm really liking the homemade macaroni salad, so I think I may continue to make my own for a while. I just have to remember to purchase more mayonnaise and macaroni on the next grocery trip. Hopefully I can find the new pasta that has a serving a veggies in each serving of pasta - I really want to give that a try.

Happy Bento-ing!

Yakitori is yaki-yummy :)

2010-01-12T15:46:00.002-05:00

Kat made us yakitori for lunch and since Rob didn't need a bento today, I decided to pack mine into a bento. Back in October, I rejoined Weight Watchers and have been trying to get back on track after the week of Christmas and New Years - after all that eating and drinking for a week or so straight, it's hard to get myself back on plan!

This bento came out to 9 points - a little more than I usually like to use for a lunch, but it gave me all my all my fruit and veggie servings for the day and an oil (ok, WW doesn't list sesame oil, but I count it anyway - for no more than 1 oil in a day).

I also would have preferred to have brown rice, but Kat had already made medium grain white rice. C'est la Vie! Maybe next time (and I actually prefer brown rice).

First I added 1/2 cup rice and then added the Green Giant Teriyaki vegetable to which I added a tsp spicy szechuan sauce and a little soy sauce.

I drizzled a teaspoon hot sesame oil over the veggies and rice and sprinkled on a little shiso fumi (beefsteak) furikake - I love the purple color of this furikake :)

In the other tier, I first added the Japanese pickled cabbage that Kat made a couple days ago, then trimmed down the skewers of the yakitori to fit into my box. I put those along each side and added another couple cabbage pieces to cover the skewer ends.

I then stuck a Valentines cupcake cup for the clementine so that the sauce from the yakitori wouldn't get all over them.

Just to fill in the little bit of extra space, I added an apple and a kiwi gummy - though I didn't end up eating them.

I then sprinkled a little carrot on the cabbage just to add a little bit of extra color.

Kat opted to have hers on other Japanese dishes rather than a bento box:

She had sweet simmered sweet potatoes and no teriyaki veggies.

Yakitori is made with what is essentially a teriyaki sauce. Kat didn't just use a bottled teriyaki sauce - No way! lol

Here is her recipe:

Teriyaki sauce

1/3 c sugar

1/3 c sake

1/3 c mirin

1/3 c soy sauce

garlic and ginger

1/2 tsp Hon-Dashi Bonito Fish Soup Stock

(almost like a boullion powder)

She doesn't measure the garlic and ginger, but uses maybe about a tsp of each

Everything's coming up roses...

2010-01-11T13:56:00.004-05:00

I went to the grocery store on Saturday, but the only fruit I got was clementines... I had meant to get some kiwi or berries, but completely forgot :o Oh well, so clementines will be making many appearances this week - that's ok :)

I didn't want to do the kamaboko for another bento in a row, so I settled on tomato roses :)

I had thought I would do a Simpsons bento again for the 20th avviversary, but alas, discovered I only had fat free cheese slices - ewww! Rob would never go for that! lol

First I had to make some Macaroni Salad - I bought some shredded red cabbage and shredded carrots to help boost the nutrition, along with the usual celery, red onion and bell pepper - both red and green. I didn't measure any of the veggies, but the recipe I used follows:

Macaroni Salad

8 oz. macaroni, prepared according to package

1c. Light Miracle Whip

1/2 c Kewpie Mayo

1 Tbs prepared mustard

2 Tbs. red wine vinegar

salt and pepper

1 celery stalk, diced

diced red and green bell pepper (maybe 1/4 c)

shredded carrot

shredded purple cabbage

diced red onion

I also packed him a salad - he's told me it's a little difficult to toss the salad together with the dressing in the bento boxes, so for today's I put it in a separate box and packed it more loosely - not sure I'll stick to that; really not happy with the way it looks...

Jan 11 --

Bottom Tier: Homemade Macaroni Salad w/ grape tomato flowers w/ wakame stems, pea pod leaves and black sesame seed ground

Top Tier: Peapods, red pepper and green pepper strips, curry pumpkin seeds and clementine segments

Apple and kiwi gummies in the lid

Single Tier: Salad w/ pumpkin egg and ham, buffalo chicken and provolone pinwheels

More than just a bento :)

2010-01-08T15:00:00.003-05:00

I admit it, I suck at coming up with the subject line for my entries!

The bento groceries are getting a little low, but at least that meant I had to come up with something other than the cute shaped boiled egg and ham, turkey and cheese pinwheels for his salad today :)

My original plan was to use my cute Onigiri bento box with the macaroni salad in the small tier and a tuna sandwich pocket, clementine etc in the onigiri tier. It was silly of me to try this, never having used the tool from pampered chef before, when I only had 2 slices of bread left. Live and learn I guess!

As you can see, it was an utter failure. I think I just put too much tuna into the sandwich. It was a little difficult to remove as it stuck a little to the edges. Once I do the grocery shopping (or send my personal grocery shopper - my daughter, Ahmetia), I'll have to try it again...

I would have liked to have added some nice bright red pepper to Rob's bento for today, but alas, I had used the last of it in the macaroni salad. The little bit of red sundried tomato will just have to suffice.

Jan 8 --

Top Tier: Macaroni Salad (homemade) w/ nori face and black sesame seed mane, clementine sections, hummus w/ sundreied tomatoes on top and wakame salad

Bottom Tier: Mixed Greens Salad w/ a few baby carrot flowers, tuna in food cup topped with kamaboko flowers w/ wakame stems and edamame leaves

Kiwi and Mango gummies in the lid

He also had Rosemary and Sage Brushette Toasts for the hummus and to use as croutons for his salad and a little lite hidden valley ranch dressing

I'm thinking now that I could have bought the naruto kamaboko (or another variety) in addition to the flower kamaboko. Thinking that Kat wouldn't be using it since she doesn't have classes until the 20th, I didn't think we'd go through it very quickly, but it's half gone already. Guess that means the next trip to Mitsuwa will just have to be that much sooner! :)

The following aren't bento, but since Kat has been home, she is treating herself well at lunchtime! :) They are such attractive lunches, I just thought I'd share - you'd think she were Asian :)

Now tell me that doesn't look good!

Udon Soup, a side of Japanese pickled cabbage (that she pickled herself) and her sweet simmered black beans

And her tea of course :)

She used a package of plain Udon noodles and made Dashi w/ soy and mirin - then topped w/ the egg, shiritake, scallions and green onions - looks yummy! :)

And she didn't even make her dear old Mom a bowl :(

;)

She got such a great shot of the kamaboko, I just had to share it!

Wednesday she made herself a Chicken Don (Torinikudon?) - Basically Gyudon, but with chicken instead of beef - miso soup, sweet simmered sweet potatoes, wakame salad and of course, tea :)

Once again, Mom was left out! :P

Happy Bento-ing!

FYI - I just added Amazon to the side bar and signed up for an Associates Account with them.

Hey, you never know :)

Kawaii Bento Boxes: Cute & Convenient Japanese Meals on the Go review

2010-01-06T18:42:00.009-05:00

Kawaii Bento Boxes: Cute and Convenient Japanese Meals on the Go

The Onigiri above has an umeboshi inside (another had pickled ginger for Kat's friend - they needed a pre-shopping snack!), formed into a ball with hands wet with salt water placed on top of pink denbu, egg sheet cut with a flower cutter and edamame on plastic wrap, which was then wrapped around the rice ball so that the toppings were pressed onto the rice.

You may choose to leave the plastic wrap around the onogiri until ready to eat so it stays moist.

She also made them tamagoyaki and threw on a couple edamame pods - What a treat for the eyes and tummy :)

Months ago I was sent a review copy of Kawaii Bento Boxes: Cute & Convenient Japanese Meals on the Go -- I am finally getting around to reviewing it, with the help of my daughter, Kat, who made the Onigiri pictured here. As you can see from the cover of Kawaii Bento Boxes, she has been inspired by the Onigiri in this book.

I think the cover represents what you'll find inside fairly well. There is no shortage of kawaii (Japanese for cute) bento in the book, but there are also simpler bento and even speed bento.

I want to show you just a few pages from the book so you can see what it looks like and get a feel for what it has to offer. A few more pages can be seen on Amazon.com.

This shows the page with the onigiri Kat's was based on, packed into a bento, still wrapped in plastic wrap.

These pages have some very cute onigiri ideas - two of which Kat has used already - the boy and girl and the panda. It really makes me wish Rob would like onigiri in his bento - so adorable! One of these days I may just have to sneak a small onigiri into his bento - hehe :)

Here we have snipets of pages dedicated to giving you some ideas for bento foods to help you get those 5 colors into the box. There are 2 pages for each color shown above. I think this could be useful especially to newer bento packers :)

Now tell me the pages above don't make you just squee ;) The cuteness continues on the next 2 pages. Plus all the other cute ideas throughout the book.

While the bento I pack are filled with predominantly typical American lunch foods, you may have noticed that I slip in Japanese ingredients here and there. If you don't have an Asian grocery in your area, some of the things in this book may be difficult for you to locate. Some are available online, some may not be.

Another reviewer, Pikko over at http://adventuresinbentomaking.com/ pointed out that the musubi in the book is shown with uncooked spam (though it is fully cooked in the can) and found this unappetizing, as you would never actually see it that way in Hawaii.

(Note: I read her review back in Aug/Sept when the book was about to be released - I have not re-read the review so that I would not be overly influenced in writing this one - to read Pikko's review: http://www.aibento.net/2009/06/29/kawaii-bento-boxes-review/)

I was a little thrown myself by the Scotch Egg (using a cute little quail egg) in the book wrapped in ground beef - Being a Scottish family, we would have to use sausage! :)

I am also unsure of the times shown for the bento packing. Perhaps it is accurate for a seasoned bento packer, but I feel for a novice, the times may be way off. It seems cooking time may not have been included in the times for the box? Perhaps the times shown are only for packing the bento.

The recipes Kat's tried have been simple enough and her results were good.

Overall, I really like the book and think it is well worth the $12.89 Amazon.com has it listed for (note: added Associate link for the book on Amazon.com, just in case you plan to purchase it anyway). I'm not sure I would pay the $18.95 list price, but maybe I would, after all, I've paid more for a few of our bento boxes...

I included the picture above from a previous bento I packed simply because the radish carving was from this book. And come on, isn't that bunny egg just adorable too? ;)

Happy Bento-ing!!

Homemade Macaroni Salad this time :)

2010-01-05T20:13:00.001-05:00

My daughter's car has died, so I have therefore lost my personal grocery shopper :( So, I decided to just make homemade macaroni salad. I don't know that I have ever made it homemade before - If I have, it was many years ago.

Now we get to try and figure out how to buy them a car to drive before classes begin on Jan 20 - fun, fun right after Christmas...

Anyway, the next post may be a few days - Rob will be working with other people and they will likely order or go out for lunch.

On New Years we drove up to Edgewater, NJ to Mitsuwa to catch the Mochi pounding demonstration. It was crazy busy! Couldn't see a thing :( I think Kat saw a very little bit of it at least.

The trip wasn't a loss though - never! lol I was happy to find they had added some new Kamoboko and just couldn't resist the two pack of the flower bento I used in Rob's bento for today - Isn't it pretty!!?? I had intended to buy the naruto kamaboko, but opted for just the one package since it had 2 in it and I was afraid, especially with Kat being out of school until Jan 20, that it wouldn't be used in a timely manner.

This is a pretty small bento for a grown man, but he said he thought it'd be enough. He took a packet of cup-o-soup and said with that it was just enough.

Jan 5 --

Top Tier: My homemade macaroni salad (I used about 1/3 kewpie mayo and 2/3 miracle whip light) topped with flower kamaboko, dill and kombu for the 'ground'

Bottom Tier: Artichoke & Spinach Hummus, Clementine, Nuts, pea pods and carrot sticks

Peppermint bark in the lid

Kat wanted to pack herself a New Years Bento even though she was home. She does a lot more cooking than I do and has a bit of a freezer stach going. The sweet simmered black beans are frozen in little individual servings :)

Kimchee, Sweet Simmered Black Beans, Sweet Potatoes, Bean Sprout Namul, Rice w/ Umeboshi, Tamagoyaki and mushrooms

Halloween bento - only 2 months late! :P

2010-01-04T18:23:00.004-05:00

A very late posting, but better late than never right?

We had re-purchased the Nightmare Before Christmas the week before I Halloween (on Blu Ray), so that gave me a little much needed inspiration :)

This was Kat's favorite movie growing up and is still a favorite of hers :)

I realized when I got the pictures off the camera that I could have done Zero w/ the daikon - Darn it! That would have been better than the skulls :( I'll have to remember if/when I do Jack again. I will likely do it again at some point considering it was really not difficult to make a sandwich into Jack Skellington :)

To keep the macaroni salad from spreading into the vegetables, and not having a food cup that was the right size and shape for this box, I used aluminum foil and created my own 'food cup'. You may have noticed that I have done this in the past, but I don't think I ever mentioned it. Foil food cups are great - I love that they are fairly inexpensive and are pliable, and very quick, but don't snub the aluminum foil for a great way to separate your moister foods - and who doesn't usually have a roll on hand? :)

Oct 29 ---
Tier 1: Mixed spring green salad w/ daikon skulls and Jack Skellington Sandwich - ham, salami and provolone w/ red pepper and daikon santa hat - faces done w/ nori
Tier 2: Cucumber, baby carrots, grape tomatoes, kiwi pumpkins and macaroni salad topped w/ black sesame seeds, daikon ghosts and carrot jack-o-lanterns
Light Hidden Valley Ranch in the container for the salad and veggies

The salad could have used more color around, but this was enough for one night :P lol

Don't feel like you must have a pretty bento box to get started!

2010-01-04T17:43:00.003-05:00

I think this is a good spot to separate the catch-up posting to comment on the bento you see below.

As much as I love my pretty and cute bento boxes, it's important to mention that they are not necessary. This box was purchased years ago at probably Target or someplace like that. It's gotten a lot of use over the years, but not as attractively as this :)

Rob has gotten used to the smaller, more compact bento boxes and commented that this ended up really being too much food.

I have purchased other lunch containers that are more of an everyday style like this from Organize.com - Please note that I have no affiliation with them other than having ordered from them.

Oct 19 --
Top: Ham, Turkey, Salami and Swiss sandwich w/ kiwi and mango gummies
Bottom: Mac Salad w/ carrot and dill flowers, baby carrots, pepperoncinis, dates, baby kiwi and an asian jelly

Rob wanted something that would be easier to eat at a desk - says sometimes the salad can be a little messy - He'll be driving up to Albany, NY tomorrow and back home in the afternoon...

Oct 16 --

Top Tier: Baby Kiwi, Dates and Mac Salad
Bottom Tier: Mixed Baby Spring Greens, Ham Turkey Salami and Swiss Pinwheels, grape tomatoes and a bear shaped boiled egg

We saw the baby kiwi in Sam's Club and just had to get them! :)

Unfortunately, Rob ended up going out for Mexican w/ coworkers and this bento went to waste :(

Oct 15 --

Bottom Tier: Mixed Spring Greens, Ham Salami Turkey and Swiss pinwheels, grape tomatoes and car shaped boild egg
Top Tier: Mac Salad w/ black sesame seeds, cucumber slices, checkered apple and pomegranate seeds
Apple and Muscat gummies in the lid

Who needs lunchables!? :)

Oct 12 --

Tier 1 -- Mac Salad w/ black sesame seeds, raisins, kiwi flowers, pineapple and pomegranate seeds
Tier 2 -- Crackers, Sharp Cheddar, Jarlsberg, Ham and Salami and Mayo & Deli Mustard in the mini bento
Raisinets :)

Just a couple Kat bento :)

2010-01-04T16:55:00.003-05:00

I haven't been packing many bento the last couple months, and some I did pack, I didn't photograph. One of my resolutions is to get back to bento and posting!

To start, here are a couple Kat packed herself for the days she had classes all day. More posts to come of a couple I packed for Rob and Kat's New Year bento etc.

A few of Kat's bento:

Dec 7:

Spinach Namul, Tea Dyed Egg, Broccoli and Rice

Kimchi, Clementine and Sweet Simmered Black Beans

Kat got a little inspired for something cute :)

Nov 29 --
Top Tier:
Kat has Onigiri filled w/ Tuna w/ Chung Tzzy Sauce - w/ nori to make a panda - Turkey and cranberry sauce
Bottom Tier:
Spice Roasted Butternut Squash w/ Onions, Salad and raspberry vinaigrette in the kiwi container

Wow, it's Oct already!

2009-10-01T16:33:00.006-04:00

I don't know about the rest of you, but I can't believe it's October already! :o

Yesterday my glow bracelets arrived for Halloween - yay! I decided to 'upgrade' this year and went with the bicolor bracelets instead of the single color. Looking forward to my favorite Holiday :D

I ran out of salad, so I had Ahmetia (my 20 year old), stop on her way home from class and get a bag - unfortunately, I knew as soon as I picked it up that it wasn't good. It felt heavier than it should have felt if the lettuce were still fresh and good, so no salad in his bento for today. Ahmetia took the bag back and got a new one today, so hopefully it's good (I haven't checked it yet) for tomorrow's bento.

For today's I decided to use my pretty floral bento box. Since I rarely pack a bento for myself, it hasn't been used much, so I felt like using it :)

Oct 1 ---
Bottom Tier: Baby carrot sticks, Pine nut hummus
and macaroni salad w/ black sesame seeds
Top Tier: Pineapple, Kiwi flowers, globe grape halves
and pomegranate seeds
Apple and Muscat gummies in the lid

A Glut of Bento...

2009-09-30T17:14:00.013-04:00

Holy cow do I suck at keeping up on my blog! :P

I keep up with putting them on my Facebook account, after all, I'm on there every day, but have really slacked off keeping this updated. I think a lot of that stems from being a little bored with packing almost the same thing the majority of the time - at least the salad. I need to expand the hubby's horizons whether he likes it or not ;) I do sneak in things here and there that are a bit out of the norm for him, and he rarely complains, but the daily (with rare exceptions) salad is getting really boring for me. Oh well, C'est La Vie!

So, here we go with all the Bento for the last 6 weeks or so:

Sept 30 --
Bottom Tier: The usual Mixed Spring Greens w/ bunny shaped boiled egg, ham, turkey & swiss pinwheels and home grown cherry tomatoes
Top Tier: Hummus w/ pine nuts (Sabra Hummus is the best ever!), Kiwi and Mac salad w/ black sesame seeds
Apple and Muscat gummies in the lid

Sept 29 --
Bottom Tier: Pulled BBQ Pork (leftovers from dinner - BBQ sauce recipe from my Mountain Measuers cookbook - A collection of WV recipes :), Pineapple, strawberries and pomegranate seeds, macaroni salad w/ carrot and parsley flowers
Top Tier: The usual Mixed Spring Greens w/ car shaped boiled egg, ham, turkey & swiss pinwheels and home grown cherry tomatoes

Sept 28 --
Top Tier: Macaroni Salad w/ black sesame seeds, Roasted German Almonds (from Celtic Fest on Sat :), Chex Mix, Pineapple and Pomegranate Seeds
Bottom Tier: Mixed Greens w/ Star shaped boiled egg, cherry tomatoes and ham & swiss pinwheels (used up my turkey making us club sandwiches for lunch yesterday - hadn't had one in years and it was so good, but forgot to save a slice or two for the bento)
Muscat, Apple and Mango gummies in the lid

Sept 25 --
Botom Tier: Mixed Greens w/ Ham, Turkey and Swiss pinwheels, carrot flowers and a heart shaped boiled egg ♥ ♥ ♥
Strawberries, Purple Peapods!! (Aren't they awesome?!), Carrot Sticks and Hummus
Muscat and Mango gummies in the lid

Sept 23 --
Bottom tier: Mixed Spring Greens w/ Strawberries, Pomegranate Seeds and Pecans (he had Lite Raspberry Vinaigrette instead of his usual Lite Ranch dressing for this :)
Top Tier: Kiwi, Babybel, Edamame, Chex Mix and Macaroni Salad w/ black sesame seeds
Muscat and Apple Gummies in the lid

Sept 17 --
Tier 1: Mixed Spring Greens w/ carrot flowers, cherry tomatoes, ham turkey and swiss pinwheels and an ice cream cone shaped boiled egg
Tier 2: Cucumber, Macaroni Salad, Carrot sticks, Clementine segments, Strawberry, Blueberries and Peaches

Sept 16 --
Top Tier: Wasabi Almonds, checkers Apples, Black Bean Orzo Salad
Bottom Tier: Mixed Greens w/ cherry tomatoes from our garden and ham, turkey and swiss pinwheels
Apple and Muscat gummies in the lid

Sept 15 --
Tier 1: Mixed Spring Greens, pumpkin shaped boiled egg, carrot flowers, cherry tomatoes from our garden and ham, turkey and provolone pinwheels
Tier 2: Macaroni Salad w/ carrot flowers, Fruit salad of raspberries, peaches, blueberries and clementine

Sept 14 --
Bottom Tier: Mixed Spring Greens w/ Southwestern Chicken Breast strips, carrot flowers and cherry tomatoes from our garden
Top Tier: Macaroni salad w/ fresh cilantro and carrot flowers, sundried tomato hummus w/ carrot flower ring, peach slices and blueberries
Mango and Muscat Gummies in the lid

Sept 11 --
Bottom Tier: Japanese Mochi Cake, Muscat Gummy and Brown Sugar White Gourd Candy, Strawberries and Black Bean Orzo Salad
Top Tier: Heart shaped Ham, Salami, Pepperoni and provolone sandwiches, baby carrot sticks, bold chex mix and pecans in the center for filler

Sept 10 --
Top Tier: Cottage cheese w/ blueberries (from a cottage double) and black bean orzo salad (yes, I made that - finally, something not store bought in his bento ;P)
Bottom Tier: Salad w/ cherry tomatoes, star shaped boiled egg and the usual ham turkey & swiss pinwheels
Side Car: Strawberries and bananas - a popular cut in bentos done on the bananas - ends treated w/ lime juice to minimize browning
Apple and Muscat gummies in the lid

Sept 9 --
Bottom Tier: Salad w/ carrot flowers, ham turkey & swiss pinwheels and bunny shaped boiled egg (I was a bit annoyed when a litle chunk got taken out of it there...)
Top Tier: Bold Chex Mix, checkered apples, strawberries, cherry tomatoes filled w/ shredded mozzarella, basil and italian dressing that Kat made and mac salad w/ a couple more carrot flowers
Apple and muscat gummies in the lid

Sept 4 --
Bottom Tier: Mixed greens salad w/ car shaped boiled egg, ham turkey and swiss pinwheels and carrot flowers
Top Tier: Olive hummus, babybel light and curry pumpkin seeds for filler, mac salad w/ carrot and cucumber flowers
Muscat gummy and japanese snack cake in the lid and he had pita for the hummus

Sept 3 - horrible photo...
Bottom Tier: Mixed greens salad w/ ham turkey and provolone pinwheels, baby carrot slices and bunny boiled egg
Top Tier: Mac salad w/ black sesame seed and nori face, peaches and olive hummus
skittles in the lid :)
He also had pita for the hummus

I hadn't grocery shopped since we got back from camping, but here is what Rob ended up with for his birthday Bento for aug 27 :)
Top Tier: Clementine sections, Bold Chex Mix, Mac Salad w. Carrot I ♥ You, Wasabi almonds and reeses pieces in a mini paper valentine's cupcake cup :)
Bottom Tier: Iceberg salad (from a bag), shredded cheddar, cherry tomatoes from our garden, southwest chicken breast and Happy ♥ Birthday carrots :)
Grape and Mango gummies in the lid

Now here are Kat’s Bento since she started college  She is an Art major, so we decided it made sense for her to attend community college for her first 2 years (as Ahmetia, my oldest daughter is also doing – though she’s in her 3rd year there – partially due to her doing a term in Scotland last year)

They are on campus for over 8 hours 2 days a week and on those days pack lunch and dinner bento. Kat forgot to take photos a few times and Ahmetia forgets and hasn’t packed them as religiously as Kat has. Kat tends to be much more conscious of spending money on food at school.

I am going to need to get them the small soft sided coolers like Rob uses for those long days, though the hotter days are over, so it’ll be something we need to remember to get before the weather heats up again.

Sept 30 -- Dinner
Top Tier: Rice w/ Furikake (rice seasoning) in the monkey, tea marbled quail eggs and spring greens
Bottom Tier: Baby Carrots, Tamagoyaki and Kiwi slices

Sept 30 -- Lunch
Bottom Tier: Pineapple, Pickled radish and strawberries
Top Tier: Tamagoyaki, Ginger Onigiri and baby carrot

Sept 24 -- Dinner
Top (Onigiri) Tier: Cherry tomatoes from the garden, Asian Jelly cup, Broccoli, Umeboshi Onigiri and baby carrots
Bottom Tier: Strawberries, Apples and grape halves

Sept 24 -- Lunch
Top Tier: Tuna and Umeboshi filled boy and girl onigiri, baby carrots and broccoli
Bottom Tier: Apples, Green Tea Cake, Kiwi, Grap halves and Spinach Namul

Sept 8 Lunch Bento -- First day of classes for Kat and she was stuck on campus from about 9:15am until 9pm :o
Top Tier: Clementine sections, apple slices and strawberries
Bottom Tier: Tamagoyaki, rice and cherry tomatoes from our garden stuffed with shredded mozzarella, basil and italian dressing

Sept 8 --
This was her dinner bento...
Top Tier: Banana, PB&J with flower cutout, broccoli and cheese dog cut up
Bottom Tier: Salad w/ craisins, walnuts, raspberry vinaigrette in the dog cup, mac salad and sweet simmered black beans she made

Now are the 2 days worth of Bento that Ahmetia packed and remembered to photograph 

Sept 9 --
Bottom Tier: Broccoli, Asian jelly and strawberries
Top Tier: Baby carrots, twice baked potato from Omaha steaks and peanuts

Sept 8 Lunch Bento --
Top Tier: Cheese Omelet, Rice w/ Furikake
Bottom Tier: Baby carrot sticks, Asian jelly, Muscat gummy and dragon fruit

Sept 8 Dinner Bento for her very long day on campus --
Bottom Tier: Baby Carrot sticks, Asian jelly and dragon fruit in cup of the peel
Top Tier: Ramen and broccoli stirfry

OK, For those of you who get the email update, I think I got all the pictures corrected. I'm too lazy to resize them :P

Happy Bentoing!

Ahmetia's Bedroom Redo

2009-09-29T20:21:00.003-04:00

We recently had friends come in for a visit from North Carolina and decided to finally redo Ahmetia's bedroom before their arrival. I wish I had thought to take before pictures - so if I find any, I'll add them :) After all, she's 20 now and the room was more like a 12 year olds (she was 10when we moved in and decorated it originally and we still had the hearts and flowers border on the wall :o)

It's not bento, but I'm really happy with the results and just thought I'd share some photos :)

A quick travel bento for my Mom :)

2009-08-13T18:06:00.002-04:00

Just a little Bento I packed for my mommy for her drive back to WV when she visited in July :) - and now she has this (and another) bento set for packing them for herself :) I didn't want anything that she'd have to worry about spoiling and that would be easier to eat if she wanted to snack while driving.

She has a Fruit salad in the thermal container in the center
Side cup 1 - Sundried tomato hummus, peanuts and cashews w/ a melon gummy on top
Side cup 2 - Dried banana chips and dried papaya
She also had pita in a sandwich bag for the hummus