Pandas in Hoodies

Brrrrr!  It was 27 degrees last night.  That's cold, y'all!  A-chan was desperately hoping for snow but the powdery white stuff did not make an appearance in our area.  Still - really cold.  And I thought these cute pandas could use some snuggly hoodies to keep warm in.

In the bento:  Panda inari zushi, an apple bunny, steamed broccoli, a carrot musical note, tofurky slices and cream cheese rolls,  and lovely chunks of plum.

The panda's faces were punched from nori and provolone cheese.  I used a tiny bit of ketchup for their cheeks, but not enough to affect the flavor.  The plum bits were arranged in a silicon container so that the juice didn't mix with everything else.  One of A-chan's new fav snacks is soy-turkey and cream cheese rolls.  They look so pretty in a bento!

I can't believe it's so cold already.  Stay warm out there!

Weekend Fun Bentos

This past weekend was amazing.  We had an incredible time at Anime Weekend Atlanta.  Then we went on to participate in the Color Run 5k with A-chan's godparents.  And there was a Fall Festival after lunch at The Flying Biscuit.  Eating lunch while covered in colors was just a bit strange but also kind of fun.

These bentos were for our lunch at AWA on Friday.  Inari zushi are easy to make and quick to pop into bentos when I'm in a hurry.  I wanted A-chan's to be cute.   I wanted mine to be more elegant.  There were plenty of egg sheets left over from making Vash the Stampede the day before so I used them for fans and flowers.  Everything in this bento was about being quick to make and easy to assemble.

In the bento:  Inari zushi, corn on the cob, grapes, black plum slices, carrot flowers, baby tomatoes and cream cheese soy turkey rolls.

The bunny faces were cut from provolone.  The butterflies were punched from nori with one of my fav nori punches.  It was bought at Michael's and I love it!  I use it all the time on bentos for myself.

After the Color Run

A-chan at the finish line

Failed Octopi

These guys were supposed to be Octopi.  They were great Octopi.  Until I put them in the box and then they became mountains?  Octopi are all about the legs apparently and if you can't see the legs...well, you know.   Oh well.  They were still fun to make and A-chan enjoyed eating them so they are still a success, right?

In the bento: Inari zushi, steamed broccoli, blackberries, baby tomatoes, mashed kabocha and veggie hot dogs. On the side is a container of ketchup for the hot dogs.

The Inari zushi mountains/octopi have hot dog cheeks, nori eyes and mouths with sesame seeds liven up their expressions.  On the inside of the inari was rice mixed with furikake.

Have a great Wednesday!

Totoro for Fall

Autumn always makes me think of Totoro.  I'm not exactly sure why since the movie is all about spring and summer, but that's the strange association my mind has made.  It's got to be the acorns.  This time of year we have beautiful, huge acorns all over the yard.  In another week we will be walking on a carpet of acorns to get to the car every morning.  Acorns = Totoro!

This cute little guy was not my idea, though.  It was inspired by Anna the Red and her Totoro inari zushi tutorial.  I am quite a bit jealous of her mad bento skillz!  My favorite of her Totoros were the ones with the green ears. Since I didn't have any green beans I improvised with edamame shells instead.   Also, I forgot the whiskers but didn't realize it until I put up the link a moment ago, lol.

In the bento: One Totoro inari zushi, a couple of plain inari zushi, carrot leaves, baby corn spears, steamed broccoli, steamed edamame, a cherry tomato, blackberries, a piece of apple and some soot sprites.

A fit of bentoing madness overcame me as I contemplated what to do with the slice of apple.  The decision to cut letters into it with my exacto knife was crazy!  Those letters took more time than anything else in this bento.  I think they turned out pretty well, though,  and was very pleased with them.  Exacto Knife is good.  Good exacto knife.

The soot sprites were made from provolone cheese and nori.  The nori was cut into a circle and then randomly trimmed with scissors to get the 'poof' effect.  The eyes were smaller cheese circles and smaller nori circles.

Sleeping Pandas

A-chan had asked for panda onigiri.  I had inari that I needed to use before they went bad.  We compromised and gave each little panda onigiri their own inari bed.  I wasn't sure how they would turn out, but I think that they are absolutely adorable!  This bento has way too much orange in it - I didn't notice how many carrots were there until looking at the pictures.  That's okay, A-chan loves carrots!

In the bento: Panda inari zushi/onigiri, steamed broccoli, carrot flowers, an apple bunny, baby corn, a pick of edamame,  a container of sesame carrots and two nectarine slices.

The inari skins were lightly boiled in a mixture of water, soy sauce, mirin and brown sugar for several minutes and then dried. I folded the tops of the opening inside and pushed the onigiri halfway into the inari pockets.  Then I added the nori, sesame seed and sugar dot details.

I use mustard seeds in cooking quite a bit, particularly Indian food.  It just occurred to me recently that they would make fantastic bento decorative touches!  I like how they look on these carrot flowers and loved the fact that they were easy to put in place and didn't require as much fiddling as sesame seeds.

Little Kittens

Today's bento is in honor of the three little kittens that are currently running our household.  They will be five weeks old tomorrow and have started learning how to cause mayhem and chaos this week.  Of course, they are the cutest things EVER!  Somehow it has been impossible for me to get a good picture of them, so here they are in inari zushi form.

In the bento: Three inari kittens, baby corn, carrot star, lemon slice, steamed broccoli (hidden behind the carrot star), a cherry, a checkered apple, half of a cherry tomato and a few green beans.

The kitten faces are made with white egg sheet and nori.  The whites of the eyes were 'glued' onto the inari skins with a tiny bit of mayo which was applied with a toothpick.  I squeezed the corners of the rectangular inari skins to make them resemble kitty ears.

Here is a picture of the kittens nursing on a very frazzled mama cat, lol.  A-chan and I have a difference of opinion in names.  She had already given them names five minutes after they were born.  The one on the left is Stripey according to the 7 year old, while I prefer Jewel.  The middle kitten is Cloudy or Quartz.  The black one is either called Brownie by A-chan or Onyx by me.

One owl, two owls, hoot hoot hoot!

It's a beautiful day with bright blue skies and amazing sunshine.  I learned with this bento that owls are not as easy to make as I expected.  In fact, the idea of 'owl' in my head does not resemble the real thing very much.  That's okay because these guys will be very tasty no matter what they look like...or don't look like!

In the bento: Two inari zushi owls, a mashed kabocha ball, steamed broccoli, corn on the cob, orange slices, apple slices and provolone cheese flowers.

The owls were made from provolone cheese, nori and carrots.  I used a leaf shaped cutter for the wings which would have been better if it had been just a smidge smaller. A-chan reminded me that owls have ears so I remedied the lack with more provolone cheese hastily cut out and attached.

Singing Friends

Wow ~ this morning was tough!  Spring break was wonderful but the return to reality is just so...realistic.  Today's bento was very simple to make and nice for my poor muddled sleepy brain to figure out because I'd  remembered to plan the night before, yay me!

In the bento:  Three inari zushi, a cherry tomato, two picks with blueberries, kabocha, steamed broccoli, strawberries and orange slices.

In the past I've recommended cooking the kabocha and the inari skins in the same pot because they are both very yummy using the same ingredients.  However, I can't recall if I've said which order to cook them in.  Definitely cook the kabocha first and then add the inari after the kabocha pieces are removed.  This morning's mixture was my favorite flavorings: water, soy sauce, mirin, brown sugar.

The middle inari has cooked kabocha mashed and mixed into the rice.  I think it tasted divine and hope that A-chan thinks the same.

Puppy Inari

I think that A-chan might be out growing this bento box.  She complained that there wasn't enough food in it!  What am I going to do when I can't use my favorite box any longer?  I'm sure that I will find another favorite, but darn it I love this one.

In the bento: Besides the inari there is a container filled with nectarine chunks, steamed broccoli and cara cara orange wedges.  There are also a couple of provolone cheese flowers.

I absolutely love finding new ways to decorate inari zushi and these two cute little doggies were easy to make!  I simmered three inari skins in water, soy sauce, mirin and brown sugar for 4 minutes, then dried them off and filled two of them with sushi rice.  The third got cut up to make the doggies' ears using my handy dandy food scissors.  The faces were cut from nori and the pupil highlights from provolone cheese.  Voila - puppy inari zushi!  

4 Star Inarizushi

A-chan is staying home sick today.  She woke up with bright red cheeks and a fever.  I suspected something was amiss last night when she didn't feel like finishing her Valentine's Day pancake at dinner.  That has never happened before!  Her bento had already been made so she gets to eat it at home.

In the bento: Carrot ribbons, a piggy containing feta cheese, steamed broccoli, a bunch of grapes, a container of raspberries and four inarizushi with carrot stars.

Carrot ribbons are one of the fastest, easiest ways to pack carrots in a bento.  They fit into whatever space is needed and they just look cool.  I love looking at the fabric reflected on the contours of this box!

Inari and a Pear

Yesterday's lunch had a Pikachu inside it so I decided to turn things around and pack today's lunch inside a Pikachu.  We don't use the Pikachu bento box very often because it is awkward for A-chan to open and close.  There isn't anything very messy in there today so I've got my fingers crossed that it will be okay.

In the bento: A container of sesame carrots and baby corn, steamed broccoli, Rome apple slices, inari zushi with furikake, a tiny pear and a few teeny carrot flowers.

After seeing the tiny pear in a beautiful bento on Ohayo Bento's blog, I had my eye out for some at our local grocery store.  This weekend we managed to nab some and A-chan has been gobbling them up.  Yesterday's pear was forgotten since it wasn't in her bento and she had to eat it for snack at home.  Today's pear had to go inside the box!  One great advantage of the Pikachu bento is that the top tier has a lot of room for vertical food.  Once the pretty picture had been taken I removed the core of the pear so that A-chan wouldn't have to worry about the seeds.

Pirates Say Arrrr!

The new kitten certainly helped A-chan to wake up bright and early this morning!  And because she was up before I started decorating her bento she got to choose the theme.  I was all set to make cute little girls with flowery hats out of these onigiri and inari, but she decided on pirates instead.

In the bento:  Two adventurous pirate onigiri with inari hats, steamed broccoli, a lemon slice, a huge carrot flower, chunks of black plum, tomato slices and simmered orange cauliflower.

A-chan tried the orange cauliflower the other day but wasn't impressed.  Today I simmered some along with the inari in water, soy sauce, mirin and brown sugar.  We will see what she thinks!  Behind the huge carrot are more carrot slices nicely hidden because I didn't have time to make them pretty.

The pirate faces are made with provolone cheese, nori and tomato skin for the mouths.  They bear an X on their hats - I wasn't prepared to make skulls this morning with no warning!  Large golden earrings show off their previous plunder.

Our new kitten is installed in our bathroom for the nonce while we work on getting it acclimated to humans.  It is still a bit feral though we did get to pet it once this morning.  We are still not sure if it is a girl or boy.  Discovering that all important fact is my task for today.  Luckily no one lost any blood during the capture of the little one who at the time was intent on stalking a possum in our front yard.  Yikes!