Fresh Bento

Here is the little bento I made for today:

I just went to the grocery store yesterday, so I have lots of fresh foods to cram into my little box...

• Dark green lettuce
• Kiwi
• Carrots (with black sesame seed eyes)
• Cherry tomatoes (from my yard)
• Grapes
• Broccoli
• Onigiri (rice ball) with nori face
• Turkey and egg swirl
  

I love this little guy. He looks like he's hiding, doesn't he?

The kitty cat onigiri was super easy to put together this morning, because I had pre-made the onigiri, and pre-cut the nori.

Happy Bento!

Related posts:
Making Onigiri (rice balls)

How to Cut an Intricate Design Out of Nori

First off, a disclaimer: I do not pretend to be an expert on this topic. I am not even sure this is a good way to do it. This is the first time I've tried cutting out anything at all complicated. But below I will show the steps I took to cut out Sally and Jack for my Nightmare Before Christmas bento.

First I found a simple silhouette online and printed it out the size I wanted. Next I cut the major portions with scissors.

At some point, it occurred to me that scissors were probably not the right tool for the job, and I switched to an Exacto knife.

When I had finished cutting out my model (I know, cheating, right? - but who's to say those "bento artists" I see online don't use gimmicks like this? Not everyone can manage things freehand, people...) I paper clipped it to a sheet of nori. (Again, not sure that this is a great way to do it - any suggestions people have on how to attach a guide to nori would be great!)

My first try, Jack's coat-tails broke off. My second try, Jack lost his head:

Not wanting to waste the Sally and landscape I had intact, I just cut Jack off and redid him by himself.

This seemed to work well, and on this, my third try, Jack turned out pretty well.

I would welcome any thoughts if fellow bento-ers have an easier way to do this. Otherwise, I was pretty happy with my first attempt at such a design.

Happy Bento!

Related posts:
Jack and Sally Bento

Jack and Sally Bento

I am so excited to share this next bento with everyone. I am very pleased with how it turned out.

But first of all, a little background info: I am already getting excited about Halloween. I had my "Trick or Treat" mug out this weekend and was sipping spicy teas from it; dreaming up designs for my jack-o-lantern this year. So it was only natural that my mind would turn to The Nightmare Before Christmas when choosing a bento to do for Monday.

(For my mom, who I'm sure will be shocked that this is now a favorite flick of mine, I must say, "It's not really about ghouls - it's a romance!")

I was at home feeling pretty puny all weekend, which gave me plenty of time to mess around with this bento and get it just the way I wanted it. And here it is:

Close-up of the love-birds:

All packed up and ready to go:

Contains:

• Steamed white rice background
• Usuyaki tamago (thin omlette) moon
• Nori cut out of Jack and Sally
• Iceburg lettuce filler
• Homegrown tomatoes (4)
• Carrot shards
• Filet mignon

Happy Bento!

Related Posts:
How To Cut Nori

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!

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!

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!

Teriyaki Chicken Bento

My husband spending more time grilling makes for tasty left-over bentos. Below is the result of teriyaki chicken and pineapple skewers. They have been "un-skewed" and are resting on some white rice. The other tier holds left-over red roasted potatoes. Yum!

Happy Bento!

Homegrown Tomatoes

Here are some cherry tomatoes from my yard:


I would say my "garden," but that term implies care - and I have really neglected my little plot of earth lately. Fortunately for me, tomatoes are hardy and determined!

Here they are nestled into a bento lunch:

Contents:

• Turkey sandwich
• Homegrown tomatoes
• Carrots
• Broccoli

This last photo is for those of you who feel that I don't eat enough. You will see that I generously round out my meal with hummus, an apple, and Silk yogurt.

Happy Bento!

Cedar Plank Salmon

To wind the summer down, Bryan has been grilling up a storm. On Friday, that meant cedar plank salmon. For this to work, you need to soak the plank of wood in water before-hand so that it doesn't catch on fire.

Put whatever salmon seasonings on that you prefer - or use butter, lemon juice and minced garlic if you aren't sure. Then just put the plank, fish and all, on the grill above your hot coals.

In the picture below, Dioji looks on from our newly finished deck.

This filet is on its way to being done. Yum!

Enjoy!

First Day of School Bento

Here is the bento I packed this morning for my first day back to school with students:


Contents:

• BBQ turkey meatballs
• mashed potatoes
• broccoli
  
• carrots

I plan to eat my veggies with a little hummus. Yum!

Happy Bento and hope everyone is enjoying Back To School season!

Chocolate Drop Cookies

Two days ago, I found my recipe book on the counter opened to Chocolate Drop Cookies. These cookies are my husband's absolute favorite. He says they are "texturally superior" to most all other cookies. So go preheat your oven to 350* and let's get started, shall we?

Mix together 1/2 cup of butter and 1 cup brown sugar:


(See the goo on the edge? I accidentally put the egg in there before mixing these together, and decided to remove it and do it right.)

Add the egg (or re-add the egg, in my case)

and beat well.

In a separate bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups flour and 1/4 teaspoon each salt, baking soda & baking powder.

Here is something that makes this recipe extremely unusual for me. It uses milk.

But not just milk...

Curdled milk.

To prepare your own 1/2 cup of sour milk (come on, you know you want to!) add 2 Tablespoons of vinegar and stir. Yummy!

Incidentally, when my husband first found out the secret ingredient in his favorite cookies (walking into the kitchen once while his mom was making them) he was completely grossed out and wouldn't eat them for like, a year.

He has since gotten over it. ;) Alternately add 1/3 of the dry ingredients and then 1/3 of the sour milk to the bowl w/ sugar/butter/eggs (you know the drill) and mix well.

Next add 6 Tablespoons of cocoa powder to the bowl.

And blend.

What you have will resemble chocolate pudding.

Drop spoonful sized onto baking sheet (please note: if you use a cookie sheet the cookies will be too thin)

and put them into your preheated oven.

Bake them for 10 - 12 minutes.

When they are done they will probably look a little flat to you.

Do not despair! I am told they are DELICIOUS.

Go ahead and have one or two warm from the oven. But the recipe is not finished yet...

For best texture... after the cookies have cooled, place them on a plate covered with Saran Wrap over night.

Enjoy!

Broccoli Salad

This is a picture of the salad that I made and took to Easter. (Okay, I admit it, I'm a bit behind on my blogging.) It was my first time making it, and it got rave reviews. The recipe is my mom-in-law's:

BROCCOLI SALAD
( 4-6 servings)

• 2 Broccoli Heads - cut into bite size pieces
• 2 medium Tomatoes - de-seed and dice up into bite size pieces
• 2-3 strips of Crisp Bacon broken into small pieces (I use the microwave kind, so there's no mess!)
• 2 bunches Green Onions
• Sunflower Seeds - salted - amount is up to you
• 8-10 small Mushrooms - sliced

You just put all the ingredients into a bowl, coat them with lemon juice (half a lemon is plenty) and then add a bit of mayonnaise and mix it up.

Thanks again, Leslie, for the tasty recipe!

Homemade Convenience Foods

When I am in the middle of working on a play, as I am now (stage managing Steel Magnolias at Magenta Theater, whoo!) I tend to eat whatever I have on hand that I can grab and go. So I took an evening and made up what I think of as homemade convenience food. I prepared a number of veggie trays with little snack hummus packs that I got at Costco. See:

I made up a bunch of them and then when I was on my way out the door I could just grab and go!

What are some of your favorite grab and go snacks?

Growing My Own

Here are a few snapshots of my garden as it is right now. The promise of strawberries...

And veggies...

They are growing in my backyard in the square foot garden that my husband built for me a few years ago. This Spring I just added some compost, and planted my seeds.

The strawberries, now in their third year, look like they will produce quite a few berries. Yay! And, they are the ever bearing variety, so once those bees get to work pollinating them, we should have strawberries all summer long. Come on, bees!

(For a glimpse at my edible gardening escapades of days past,
click on any of the links above.)