Showing posts with label boxed lunch. Show all posts
Showing posts with label boxed lunch. Show all posts

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Waffle Bento

You ever have those mornings where nothing sounds good?  Yeah.  Thursday was one of those mornings.

I told myself, "You don't have to pack a bento.  Just grab whatever sounds appetizing."  The only thing I could come up with was waffles.  So I stuck two in a plastic bag.  But then, how was I going to bring my toppings?

This is the resulting mini bento:


It contains:
  • peanut butter
  • maple syrup
  • red grapes
  • dried blueberries (space filler)
  • sesame seeds (garnish)



I was feeling a little sheepish about waffles for lunch, until I found out that my mom and aunt went to a place called Waffle Window for lunch this weekend.  

I put a knife (to spread the peanut butter) and a fork, along with a napkin, in the pocket of my bright pink thermal tote, and off I go!


Happy bento!

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Look, Ma: No Rice!

If you haven't jumped on the bento bandwagon yet, I am guessing you don't want to eat rice everyday. Or, you run through fast food for dinner on a regular basis, and don't have any extra McNuggets to make into a cute bento.  Fear not!  There are other options.

I present for your consideration, today's bento:


No leftovers, no rice.  A ham sandwich, some veggies and a little bit of hummus.  What could be simpler?

And who could say "no" to this face?


Add a couple of extras if you have a long day ahead of you.  I chose an apple and some ZFruit.


I put it into my new pink URU thermal tote:


 And it is all ready to go!


Happy bento!

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Bento Simplified


Now that you know how to pack a bento lunch, I'd like to convince you how simple it really is.  

Repeat after me:  Bento is easy!

It really is.  If you are a person who 
  1. eats dinner    -and-
  2. owns a container to store leftovers in
You can make a bento lunch!

First step, eat dinner.  I went with Pineapple Pork Chops and rice:



Second, pack your left-overs in a container.  To show how easy this is, I am using a Pyrex dish I picked up at Winco:


Embellish or garnish as you feel moved.  (This is optional!  You will still get the portion control, budget saving benefits without making faces on your food.  But it is kinda fun.)  Today I was feeling sesame seeds, cilantro, and a quick nori face.

Third, put the lid on and throw it in a paper sack.  Or use a reusable container like this thermal tote from Thirty-One Gifts:


Done!  You are ready to take your bento lunch to work or send it to school with your little one.  Now, wasn't that easy?

If you are inspired to try this yourself, please leave me a comment below.  I would love to hear about your first bento experience!

Happy bento!

Monday, September 17, 2012

How To Pack a Bento Lunch

After a number of my Facebook friends teasing me that I should come over and pack lunches for their children, and one indicating she was interested in starting to do this herself, I figured I would put together a simple "how to."

Now, please know that you can use whatever foods appeal to you and your children.  For this little demo, I will try to stick pretty closely to the 1/3 carbs, 1/3 protein, 1/3 veggie & fruit that I have read about in Kawaii Bento Boxes and seen around the web.

First, we start with carbs.  I am using steamed white pearl rice.  Pack it in.


Next add the protein.  For me today this is an egg and sausage bake.  It is shaped like a cupcake because I used my friend's Damarle at Home muffin tray to make it.  One of the reasons we are putting it in next is because it isn't going to fit easily into whatever room is left over.  If you were using lunch meat, you might wait till a later step.


Next we want to fill in the gaps.  Grape tomatoes are just one of the great gap-fillers out there.  Use something that you like.  These work great because they don't mix with anything nearby, but if you want to use a little bit of some sort of side salad (potato salad, for instance) you could put it in a mini cupcake paper and fit it in there.


I still see little spaces though, so let's keep filling them up.  Broccoli is pretty to look at and can be cut into any gap-filling shape you need.  Now nothing is going to jiggle around during transport.  Mission accomplished!


Next, add a little something "just for pretties."  I chose black sesame seeds and some dried savory.  I just sprinkled it on the rice.  If you want to go further, this is where you could make little faces and such.


But doesn't that little bit sprinkled on top just make it look so much more appealing?


Now, if you only have one tier, you are done.  Congrats!  If you have two... carry on.  I like to use dark lettuce leaves to fill the gaps in my upper tier.  So I just fill it with that to start.


Next you will want to put some fruit or veggies in there.  I skewered my grapes today on little party toothpicks and plopped them in there.


I still had plenty of room, so I added a couple slices of banana, with the peel still on.


I got carried away and added blueberry embellishments, before I remembered I was showing how to fill the box up before you decorate.  Oops!


To fill the last bit of space, I cut a couple pieces of carrot into some flower shapes and wedged them in there.  Then I finished of the banana with a couple sesame seeds, just for fun.


And that's it!  Now you have a tasty, healthful lunch to take to work or send with your little ones.


Need a second opinion?  Check out what Biggie has to say on the subject over at Lunch in a Box.  Or take a quick peak at how it's done at Just Bento.  And/or Not Exactly Bento.  Think a slide show might be more your speed?  Hapa Bento has one for you.

Happy bento!

Friday, September 14, 2012

Ho-hum Bento

Not sure what it was about my lunch this morning, but I really just wasn't liking the way it turned out.  But I am trying to post consistently, so I will show it to you anyway:


This is one of those things where I have to wonder what made this lunch different than the past few.  I am using pretty much the same colors/ingredients - so why am I not thrilled?


Looking at the pictures, I think maybe it has something to do with balance.  The bottom tier (with the meatballs) just feels off kilter some how.  And when I couldn't get that to look the way I wanted, I hurriedly threw my top tier together.


This bento contains:
  • porcupine meat balls
  • red & yellow pepper
  • tater tots
  • broccoli
  • grape tomatoes
  • dark greens
  • carrots
  • a strawberry
The good news is, it was tasty and filling.  There are the left over bits of carrot and pepper (after I cut out the shapes) hidden underneath the spinach in the top tier.  Anyway, that was today's lunch.

Happy bento and enjoy your weekend! 


Thursday, September 13, 2012

Colorful Leftovers Bento

Today's bento looks like this:


A little less childish, but still kinda whimsical.

This bento contains:

  • brown rice
  • porcupine meat balls
  • roast chicken
  • lettuce
  • red pepper
  • black pepper sprinkles
  • grape tomatoes
  • carrots

Here it is all packed up and ready to go.

Happy bento!

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Fish Bento

This morning, my lunch looked like this:


This bento contains:
  • roast chicken
  • fresh rosemary
  • brown rice onigiri
  • cajun spices & nori accents
  • carrots
  • grape tomatoes
  • broccoli
  • a plum
  • red grapes
  • a strawberry

I felt that yesterday's strawberry was a missed opportunity for a big grin, so I made that happen today.  Oh, and that plum is out of my co-worker Janelle's garden.  Thanks, Janelle!


I liked how the rosemary sort of looked like seaweed.


That is all.  Thanks for looking.

Happy bento!

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Tuesday's Bento

Call it childish if you will, but I love having a lunch that smiles at me when I open it.  


My windowsill is certainly getting more attention lately than it has for a while.


This bento contains:
  • porcupine meatballs
  • tater tots
  • red pepper
  • broccoli
  • grape tomatoes
  • carrots
  • lettuce/spinach
  • red grapes
  • a strawberry
  • black sesame seeds
  • nori


This is a large strawberry and huge grapes.  Please don't worry that I am not getting enough to eat!


 Here is my lunch ready to be packed away.  I took a blueberry (soy) yogurt with me today as well.


All ready to go in my Thirty-One thermal tote:

Happy bento!

Friday, September 7, 2012

First Friday Bento

Hooray for making it to Friday!  I work in a middle school, and the first week back can be a killer.  A student once asked me, "Did you cute your lunch today?"  Yes, today I did.


This bento contains:

  • spaghetti topped with parsley, garlic and cajun spices
  • chicken my husband grilled, seasoned with a flavorful baja citrus marinade
  • broccoli florets
  • red pepper decorated with black sesame seeds and a pepper seed
  • my aunt's homemade applesauce (in the top tier - not pictured)

I cooked the spaghetti this morning, because I didn't have any left over rice in the fridge.  I am so out of practice at making bentos!  I don't even remember what I like to have on hand and ready.  But I'll get back in the swing of it.

Here is a close up of the little character from my bento today.  I'm calling her "little miss hot lips."


Happy bento!

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Colorful Veggies

So, the last time I posted a bento on this blog was in 2010.  Occasionally I will bring my lunch (or part of my lunch) in bento form, I just haven't been good about photographing and sharing.


So, for the second day back to work, I decided to do a little bento for myself.  I brought an individual sized hummus along too and dipped the veggies in that.

Contents:
  • red pepper
  • broccoli
  • lemon cucumber (from my sister-in-law's garden)
  • black sesame seeds
I am thinking of getting a bigger bento box that would fit all the food I want to take for my lunch.  We shall see...

Happy bento!

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Time to Blog?

The last few days it hasn't seemed like I've had much time to sit down, at the computer or elsewhere, my time has been so tight. So blogging hasn't really happened.

Today, before I rush out the door, I thought I would give you a glance at my lunch:


I forgot, while I was packing it to take pictures. So this will have to do. :)

Take my word for it that inside is a salad, apple, and rice with a bit of BBQ sauce on it. Not exactly bento - but I am hoping maybe tomorrow...

Have a great Wednesday!

Friday, January 8, 2010

3.5 Bento

Did anyone else have the misfortune to get on the scale after the holidays? I knew I'd been eating a bunch of junk, but it is always a shame to find that those foods have "gone to waist," if you know what I mean.

So I decided I would "hit the reset" button, so to speak, on my eating habits by counting Weight Watcher points for a couple weeks. Always a good idea to remind oneself what a serving looks like, and so on.

So here is my 3.5 point bento (according to the old Weight Watchers plan from about 5 years ago which is the one I am familiar with, since I used it to help me lose 30 pounds):

The bread is Sara Lee Delightful. It is remarkable in that you can have two slices of bread for one point. Yay! Inside is 3 deli slices of ham (for half a point), some lettuce, and low-cal no-fat condiments.

The Z-Bar, surprisingly, is only 2 points. The carrots, according to the package, have few enough calories that I can have two carrots for zero points. Any more than that, and I would have to start counting them, though.

Happy Bento!

Thursday, January 7, 2010

A Break From Soup

Lately, I have been taking a small container of homemade soup for most lunches. Chicken noodle, vegetable beef, potato, "tortilla"... and it has all been very tasty. But it hasn't lent itself to much bento blogging.

But yesterday, I took a break from soup and made myself a little bento:

It has simply,

  • Rice
  • BBQ Beef Little Smokies
  • parsley
  • margarine & sugar (on the "sweet rice")
Happy bento!

Friday, September 18, 2009

Smiling Sandwich

Today I made a straight-forward sandwich with a smile:

The face is made of nori, with mayonaise for the whites of his eyes. Wet ingredients were again kept off to the side, so the bread wouldn't get soggy by lunch time.

This time, I managed to fit my hummus into a bento container. I get these little single-serving hummus (what is the plural for hummus anyway? Hummuses? Hummi?) at Costco.

Happy Bento!

Thursday, September 17, 2009

A Bento for Bryan

Tonight I steamed some rice and spruced up our left-overs to make an appealing bento lunch for Bryan to eat tomorrow. Dioji was near at hand during the photo shoot, which was held (uncustomarily) on a diningroom chair to catch the last rays of the setting sun.

Sorry the picture is dark, like I said, it is just the time of day the photo was taken:

Bryan's lunch contains:

  • Steamed rice (sprinkled with poppy seeds)
  • Grilled teriyaki chicken (sprinkled with sesame seeds)
  • Pineapple skewers
  • Seasoned almonds
Here, again, is Dioji pretending he's not interested:

Happy Bento!

Kitty Bento

Here is the first meal with a face I've made all year:

Bento lunch contains a turkey sandwich on flatbread, with tomatoes and pickles to add on.

Kitty's face is made of turkey. Nose and ears detail is ham. Wiskers, eyes, and paw detail done with nori. Mouth drawn on with food coloring.

I was a little disappointed with how the mouth turned out. The moisture from the meat caused the ink to spread out more than I would have liked. But that's okay. Live and learn, right?

Happy Bento!

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Chicken and Veggie Medly

The teriyaki chicken bounty continues and so do the bento lunches:

Contains:

  • Teriyaki Chicken
  • Pineapple
  • White Rice
  • Carrots
  • Broccoli
  • Black Olives
One of my co-workers came over expectantly as I opened the vegetable tier of my lunch. She was considerably disappointed that there wasn't any "food art" to behold. Thought I was doing well just getting back to bento... but I guess I will have to kick it up another notch. Not feeling real inspired here. Any ideas?

Happy Bento!