First Day of Summer Camp

Happy Summer!  We had a great time being lazy and catching up with friends for our first week of summer break.  This week is A-chan's first summer camp of the year at a nearby Nature Center.  Since I was pretty sure that lunches would be jumbled around at camp, I packed her bento very tightly with extra lettuce and kept the cuteness to a minimum.

In the bento: Two miniature homemade vegetarian hamburgers, lemon slices, carrot flowers, two onigiri, steamed broccoli, a cherry tomato and two picks of cheddar cheese.  On the side is a container of ketchup for the hamburgers.

This was an extremely quick bento to put together.  I already had rice made and waiting in the fridge to be microwaved and made into onigiri.  The triangular mold made it easy and speedy.  The mix for the hamburgers was also waiting in the fridge - I formed them into patties and cooked them in a small pan with a tiny bit of sesame oil.

Flatpie is Awesome

It's been a while since I've had a chance to post due to sickness, traveling and homework.  The school year is over and it's finally summer.  We're savoring the weather which is cooler than normal.  Now is a good time to rhapsodize over the glory that is flatpie.  A crisp biscuit crust wrapped around garlic and tarragon seasoned potatoes and onion, topped with melted cheese is one of the best foods on the planet.  I often make them the size of a medium pizza and we eat them in slices with cheese dripping off the sides.  The miniature version is perfect to freeze and keep ready for bentos!

In the bento: Miniature flatpie, blueberries, checkered apple, vegetarian hot dog flowers with green peas, steamed broccoli.  On the side is a container of ketchup for the hot dogs.

Acorn Sammies

Whew!  I am so happy to be back to posting.  My sickness is finally over and I am human again with only a little bit of coughing and no fever :)  Last week was rough.  This week is exciting though - today is my first day of school!  And we're going to San Jose, CA later in the week.  I would love suggestions about things to do while we're out that way.

In the bento: Acorn sandwiches filled with peanut butter and sugar sprinkles, blueberries on picks, an apple bunny, corn on the cob, steamed broccoli and a container of carrot hearts.

The acorn sammies were cut with a Wilton cookie cutter.  Their cute caps were cut from the heel of the loaf and I used scissors to shape them to the right size. My carrot peeler was dirty this morning (I have a huge backlog of cleaning to attend to from being sick all last week) so I cut slices without peeling the carrot and then used a tiny heart shaped cutter to cut from the centers.  The rest of the carrot got scooped up to go into the compost, peel and all.

Happy Monday, everyone!

Elephant Twins

This bento started off with the bowl of aluminum foil.  I used a large sheet doubled over and crumpled on the top edge to give it a lot of support.  The tiny cheese ravioli were boiled, drained and added into the foil bowl with layers of garlic tomato sauce and grated parmesan cheese. Then the bowl was put into the oven for 8 minutes as a finishing touch.  The coolest part was not having to get a pan dirty - the foil bowl was the pan!

In the bento: Tiny cheese ravioli bake, steamed broccoli, baby corn, orange slices and chunks of black plum.

The cute little elephants were cut from soy turkey slices using a Wilton cookie cutter.  The blankets on their back were cut from pear peel and tiny bits of baby corn.  Also they have nori eyes and more of the garlic tomato sauce for cheeks.

My cooking motto is: Use what's at hand.  After finding out that the can of tomato puree I thought I had was either a myth or invisible, I grabbed a can of tomato soup to use instead.  With a little cornstarch to thicken it and tons of garlic and basil to make it yummy, I ended up being proud of my unexpected cooking experiment.

Dressed Up Sammies

One of the most fun ways to eat carrots is slurping up carrot ribbons.  They are still a bit crisp but also long and curly.  I use the carrot peeler that my Mom had in her kitchen when I was growing up.  Every time I do, I give a little sigh of thanks that she gave it to me.  It's one of my all time favorite kitchen tools and if it were ever lost I would be desolate.

In the bento: Carrot ribbons in a silicone container, steamed broccoli, half a cherry tomato, corn on the cob, grapes and pear slices are in one tier. The top tier has two soy turkey and cheese sammies and the other half of the cherry tomato.

The sammies are pretty basic but a provolone cheese flower and green onion wrapping makes them dressy and elegant.  The green onions were plopped into boiling water for 3 minutes, drained and dried before being cut in two lengthwise and knotted around the sandwiches.  The boiling made them pliable and shiny at the same time!

Caterpillar

Have you ever typed or written a word and had it look completely wrong even though you're sure you know how to spell it?  That happened with 'Caterpillar' today.  This cute guy was inspired by a caterpillar in the Yum-Yum Bento Box book.  It was just so cute!  Plus, A-chan is obsessed with caterpillars right now.  She has to stop and pet them and save them if they are in danger of being trod upon.

In the bento: Four plain rice balls, fried tofu, grapes, a cherry tomato, checkerboard cucumber slices, a tiny lemon wedge, an orange slice, and baby corn flowers.

For the caterpillar's face I used nori for the eyes and mouth, lemon peel for the nose and gari (pickled ginger) for the cheeks.  White sesame seeds help decorate the eyes and black sesame seeds decorate the body.  The baby corn flowers have cucumber peel leaves and orange peel centers.

I should have remembered to cut the cherry tomato in two in order to avoid potential eye injuries, but I totally forgot!  I'll just have to keep my fingers crossed.

It's Monday

Today is another case of the Monday blahs.  Although I think it was because of the lack of groceries than the Monday.  Whatever the reason, I had no theme and no charaben in mind this morning.  It still has all the important ingredients, like food.  Food is important.  It has carbs and protein, veggies and fruit.  It also has my favorite homemade furikake sprinkled over the rice!  In fact, I'm very tempted to make a clone of this bento for my lunch today.

In the bento:  Rice with tarragon, salt and toasted sesame seed furikake, a silicone container of shredded cheese, halved cherry tomato, baby corn spears, grapes, tiny orange wedges, steamed broccoli and three pieces of soy sauce tofu.