Two Bentos for the Price of One

One of our kitties has been very ill.  He had surgery to remove the tumor yesterday after two days of everyone freaking out in panic over it.  In celebration of his recovery you get two bentos today.  That's right, you get two bento pics today!  I've been away for three days - but I'm not giving you three pics at once, let's not get crazy here.  

In the top bento: A cherry tomato, steamed zucchini slices, pan fried tofu and green peas on picks, an apple bunny, blackberries, carrot stars, rice with furikake and cute little icecream cones.

The cones were cut from soy turkey slices with a triangular shaped cutter.  The icecream scoops were cut from apple peel and provolone cheese with a ufo shaped cutter.  Tiny circles were cut from strawberries with my food scissors and tiny leaf shapes were cut from lettuce with scissors as well.  Their faces were punched from nori.  The special cutters that I used are from the space cutter set and were bought from Ohayo Bento's store.

In the second bento:  Sesame carrots, steamed green peas and scrambled tofu on a bed of steamed rice, blackberries, starfruit and a huge cherry tomato.

Both of these cherry tomatoes were cut in half after the pictures were taken.  Dangerous school lunch eye injuries can be avoided by prudent tomato cutting techniques!  Tomato juice at high velocity is never fun. 

Happy Friday, everyone!  I hope that you have a fantastic weekend!

Pastitsio Bento

Ahhh, Monday.  The sun is shining but it is as cold as all get out!  I've never been exactly sure what that phrase meant.  My grandparents used it a lot as I was growing up and it is now part of my brain function whether I understand it or not.  Might as well use it, right?  Today's bento of leftover vegetarian Pastitsio is perfect for this weather and it's all for me.  Happy Meatless Monday!

The package of sesame leaves that I picked up last night is the excuse for making myself a bento today.  They looked so pretty and it's been a long time since I've done anything experimental food-wise.  These are actually Perilla leaves which are related to Basil and Mint, but are often marketed under the name Sesame leaves.  Since I'm allergic to Mint, today's experiment is very cautious.  If I have no reactions today I will be more adventurous later in the week.  I love how the leaf looks in the bento - can't wait to actually try tasting it!

A-chan chose Starfruit as her food experiment.  So far she hasn't liked it, but I am so proud of her for trying it!  And since she doesn't like it that just means more for me...

In the bento:  Vegetarian Pastitsio, Perilla leaf, an almond, baby carrots, a huge cherry tomato, blackberries, steamed broccoli, a slice of starfruit and an orange slice.

Pastitsio is a Greek meat and pasta casserole.  I adapted a recipe to be made with Morningstar Farms recipe crumbles.  The recipe is posted on my other blog so if you're interested, go check it out.  It makes a huge amount!  (And you can substitute real meat for the fake meat if you happen to be a carnivore.  Just sayin')