Bento Meals: 2/1/2011

Last night, my husband and I tried a new version of a chicken dish my mother has cooked a few times for Sunday dinner.  The recipe is called Brown-Sugar BBQ Chicken, and it is delicious.  Even my youngest niece and I tried it and loved it, though we were both avoiding chicken at the time.

My idea was to cut the chicken into nuggets, cover them in batter, and fry them.  Then we would combine the nuggets with the sauce.  Though my husband used a different batter than I intended, the recipe turned out well.  Very tasty!  We had it with sautéed french green beans and homemade french fries.  Delicious!


So, today's lunch bento is made up of the following:

Bottom Tier
Brown-sugar BBQ chicken nuggets
Sautéed french green beans

Top Tier
Onigiri rolls, the rice mixed with furikake
Cherry tomatoes
Sugar snap peas, cut in half

 As for my breakfast bento, I made mushroom mini quiches.  I had the idea when I woke up.  We had a bunch of mushrooms I wanted to use up, but also wanted to make stuffed mushrooms.  This fullfilled both needs, in a way.

I removed the stems from the mushrooms and gently scraped out the ribs and placed the caps on a tinfoil lined cookie pan.  Then I placed a small piece of cooked bacon in each mushroom, followed by some shredded Monterey Pepper Jack cheese.  My husband mixed an egg with a little whole milk, and I spooned this mixture into each mushroom cap, making sure to only fill the caps 1/2 to 1/3 full.

I then put the cookie sheet (with the mushroom caps) into my toaster oven, preheated to 400 degrees.  I baked them until they were done, checking every 5 to 10 minutes.

They turned otu great and my husband also enjoyed them.  Not sure how my son liked them, as I had to leave for work before he woke up.  I definitely plan to make these again, with different variations.

Bentos from Parenting Magazine

I always find it super spiffy when I see neat lunch ideas or containers that are obviously inspired by or at least similar to bentos. Usually, it's the containers that are seen more than actual examples of what to pack.

Lately, I've been going through my old magazines. When I get a new one, I go through it immediately. I save the pages I want to keep and recycle the rest, because they just take up too much space (and xeroxing the pages I want before donating the magazines just never seemed to actually happen).

A week or so ago, I saw in my newest copy of Parenting Magazine a mention of packing bentos. They actually used the term (which sometimes happens, but not often), and had a very cute example of a bunny. They gave a quick description and said that you can go to their website for more information. Of course, I had to do it and I'm glad they did. There are such cute ideas on there that I haven't seen before or for a while. They also give a "how to" in making the key elements. Here's some of the photos and ideas I liked the best. (Click here to go to the website.)

Jelly sandwiches... I would not have thought to make them like this! Thought I don't know how well gluten free breads will work for these.

A pizza sandwich and "cake" sandwiches. Now this is something I can make with the gluten free breads and I'm sure my son would love them. I also really like the mash potatoes in the secont bento's top tier.

I'm actually more impressed by the green peas "roll" and the cheese mouse, but the cat is very cute too.

Not too fond of the bear, though I'm sure kids would love it. I do like the use of the grapes. I tend to pack halved grapes often enough, so seeing them used like this, in so easy and yet pretty a manner really caught my attention. Only one draw back... less packed grapes! And note the cute cherry tomato with cheese slices in the center. How cute and interesting is that?

Obviously, I think the hedge hogs are adorable and a great idea. I also like the deli meat and egg ribbons gathered together like that. For the cute tiger... I've seen this done before, but still love the idea. The main thing I like in this second bento, though, is the idea of cutting a meatball in half and placing sliced cheese between the halves. Very similar to the cherry tomato idea above.

Onigiri cows... I mean, really! That's adorable!!! (And oddly, it reminds me of my husband.)

The main thing I like in the following bentos are the chicken nuggets. No need to pack dips if you cut the nuggets in half and put a dab of dip between them. That is an excellent idea! Of course, the spaghetti nest with mozzarella ball birds is very cute too.

And lastly, mini "hamburgers". Meatballs, halved like before, with lettuce, cherry tomato slices, and whatever else you wish on a nice pick... to make bento perfect mini hamburgers. :-)

Hope you all enjoyed. Definitely check out the website and the "how to" guides. I definitely plan to implement some of these ideas in future bentos (and maybe as nice touches to regular meals).

Today and Fun Egg Faces from BentoLunch Blog

First, here's a link to a Egg Faces Tutorial. Shannon from BentoLunch shows how to make these without the use of nori. The picture is from her tutorial.

Second, I didn't pack a 'real' bento today, per se. I grabbed one of my bento containers and put a bunch of cantaloupe in it for a snack. My lunch is going to be a packet of ramen noodles (drained and mixed with less than half of the seasoning and maybe some toasted sesame oil). I didn't pack my lunch last night because we didn't have any leftovers from our meal and I didn't get around to prepping food. This is all probably for the best because my tummy isn't too happy today. I think the coffee (decaf) isn't settling well, given that I almost never drink coffee now and I have an extra large cup I've been working on since this morning. Ugh... (I be a glutton for punishment, me thinks.)

Tomorrow, I might not have a bento either since I have the day off of work and will be going out to lunch with my mother and nieces... and I almost never pack bentos over the weekend (though we have a small Renaissance Faire we'll be going to, so I might actually pack us some stuff to nibble or have a picnic with).

Today's Lunch and How to Egg Sheets

Today's lunch was not really that pretty, but it was tasty enough for a stomach that isn't too happy. I will try to add a picture of it later, but if that doesn't happen, here's what it was.

One Tier: Brown rice mixed with leftover lasagna cheese filling, topped with basil cheese tomato sauce and shredded mozzarella and a side of corn. I also packed some spicy cucumber banchan for my ramen noodles, but don't think I'll be eating that today.



Now for a nice "How To" found on MyBentolicious. For her instructions, click on the following link: http://www.mybentolicious.com/2010/04/tips-009.html

I usually make egg sheets a bit more simply, but I want to try this method out, since mine don't look nearly as pretty as hers! And do I see another use for my tamago pan? Why, yes I do!

Carved Carrot Flowers!

I found this 3D carrot flower carving technique on Bento Zen. The carrot flowers are amazingly cute and I love how they are steamed, making them more vibrant, easier to carve, and easier to eat! The image on the left is from her entry.

Click the following link to read the entry and instructions:

http://bentozen.wordpress.com/2010/04/27/carved-carrot-flowers/

I've Been Negligent!

I've been packing my lunches diligently, but haven't been taking photos as much as I could or should. What can I say? I have so many time constraints of late that unless the bento is especially pretty, I don't take the photos. I'm not talking about just charaben (or the cute bentos with characters, flowers, and animals), but just generally photo worthy bentos. I'm sure I have a few I took pictures of, and will have to post them soon. Normally, I just scoop a bunch of leftovers into my containers in the morning and run out the door, or I pack it the night before and toss it in the fridge. Ah, such is the life of a mommy, wife, and full time employee! No complaints here, since I am very satisfied with both. :-)

I have been looking at wonderful ideas for cute bentos and nummy recipes. I would claim that it's for my son, who does get an occasional one for his trips to Grammies and such, but it's also for me because attractive food just seems to taste better. At the very least, it makes a tiny piece of me smile.

So... some examples of cute foods from various websites, and at least one interesting blog entry regarding bentos.

From Just Bento

These are corn muffins with tiger faces. (entry here)
I can see it working with little quiches too!

"What is a bento anyway, redux: It's not just about cute charaben" from Just Bento . This blog entry gives an idea of the realities behind bentos in Japan, especially the charaben.

From Martha Stewart

Peppermint Meringues with Chocolate Filling (recipe here)

By jokergirl on the livejournal Bento Lunches community.

Panda Bear Bread!

Too cute! Recipe is located at Perfect Pandas. Hopefully, my husband and I can try this out with gluten free bread recipes. I can see our son loving these when he gets older. :-)

Eye See You!

I'm going to make some fake eye balls for my mother's Halloween dinner this Sunday, for a bentos this week, and for our smaller, but scarier dinner on Halloween night.

One idea I had was using Daifuku or sweet red bean filled mochi. The red filling with the mushy sweet outside would be a wonderful treat, and I could try using food coloring to paint on details (if it works). Dango (boiled mochi balls without fillings) was another option.

The other idea I had was for a more savory treat. My husband and I made some "Go Bulgogi", as he likes to call it. Basically, you make bulgogi (korean grilled marinated beef) using ground beef instead of strips. This made it easy to stuff into Onigiri and was darned tasty. So, for the savory Zombie Eyes, we were thinking about making the "Go Bulgogi" into meat balls before cooking. Then we would wrap the cooked meatballs in the mochi dough much like the red bean paste is wrapped in the mochi dough, though I'm not sure if I would use a plain flavor or a sweet. (I think the sweet mochi casing would be a nice compliment to the savory sweet meat filling!)

Here's one sweet recipe my mother sent me. It looks good and was very different than what I was originally going to do. Enjoy!

From About.com:
http://thaifood.about.com/od/thaidesserts/r/scaryeyeballs.htm

Chocolate Rib Cage

I found this last night, during my search. A chocolate rib cage! Couldn't you just die?!? The original project on the website was to fill the ribcage with organs made of cake with a filling that oozed out when the organs were cut. Pretty nasty looking, but a great idea! Click on the link at the bottom of this entry to see the full cake. Definitely worth looking at! (And then check out the zombie head cake!!!)

I fell in love with the rib cage part more so than the rest and it looks easy enough. I'm thinking about making this for my mother's Halloween Dinner this Sunday, though I might make it smaller. It's tempting to try to make it large so it can hold the Bone cookies, but we'll see. A smaller one might be cool and easier. We'll see if I have the time!

Hm... I wonder how chocolate bones would work in bento... Or if I can make one to work in it... hm...

Anyways, here's the link for the cake. The ribcage instructions are on page two: http://www.theyrecoming.com/extras/pumpkinfest03/

Halloween searches and Bone Cookie Recipe Link

I'm working on finding Halloween recipes to make for my family. Of course, any that would work for bentos are doubly nice. So many cute ideas, and so many that can be altered to work for lunches. Ooh... the possibilities.

I'll definitely post the websites as I find them with my top pick from their selection (even though there might be a few from the site). Hopefully, I'll be able to make a few and post pictures too, along with a review. If I can't, at least some of you might be able to enjoy the spoils of my research. So, to start you off...

Bone Cookies from "How Stuff Works": http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/meringue-bone-cookies-recipe.htm

Family Fun: Strawberry Ladybugs and other ideas

A friend of mine on one of my other blogs gave me a link to Family Fun when she was telling me about some adorable strawberry lady bugs that she makes her girls.

She uses a number of the website's tips and ideas to make her daughters' lunches and noticed that her children are much more likely to eat these cute food items. Seems to be the case, as many parents who bento have come to learn.

I took a quick look at the different sections and found them pretty nifty!!! Even the normal looking "kids foods" looked very tasty and bento friendly. (Like the Pickles in a Blanket.)

Anyways, here's a link to the basic Family Fun: Cooking With Kids section. http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/kids/

All images in this particular post are copyrighted and belong to Family Fun. Thank you.