A Cheer for A-chan

A-chan was feeling a tad nervous about her school play today.  She confessed this to me yesterday as we picked mulberries from the tree in the backyard.  Her bento this morning was an attempt to encourage her and help her get rid of the butterflies in her tummy.  She did a great job, all of them did.  And the play was fun to watch with lots of singing and even some dancing!

In the bento: Garlic and basil couscous, green peas, carrot heart and carrot sticks, a strawberry, mulberries and a tofu heart.  Hidden underneath the tofu heart are the awkward pieces from the heart cut out.

The girl is made from provolone cheese (I'm sure that comes as no surprise, lol) as well as the letters.  The sign was cut from a baby spinach leaf.  Her hair is inari, her face is nori and the little beret is part of a black olive with a soba noodle pinning it into place.  The tofu heart was sauteed in sesame oil to give it a bit of a crunchy coating.

If you aren't familiar with mulberries, they are very similar to blackberries but grow on trees instead of bushes.  They can be a little more tart than blackberries.  We love to eat them straight off the tree, but we gathered a lot yesterday so that she can have them in her bentos.

Just a Little Mouse

This little mouse is full of curry.  Even healthier than normal vegetarian Japanese curry to be precise.  I'm very proud of this particular curry because I managed to sneak baby spinach into it by cutting the spinach into fine strips.  I don't think A-chan noticed.  She certainly ate every bite last night so I'm considering this another triumph for nutritious eating!  So far I've managed to sneak kabocha, cauliflower, zucchini and spinach into our curry.  Only one at a time, though.  The next challenge is to add two or more and see if she balks, hehe.  I have been enjoying these small changes to our regular recipes.  Even though they are not large portions of extra vegetables, my philosophy is better some than none.  We are eating a little healthier every day!

In the bento:  Bread and curry rolls, carrot flowers, black olives, corn on the cob, a huge strawberry and steamed broccoli.

My favorite parts of the mouse are the corn kernel earrings.  Her face was made with provolone cheese, nori, ketchup cheeks and a pick for the nose.  The large carrot flowers were decorated with black sesame seeds, the small flowers have either a sugar dot or a tiny provolone cheese circle.

The filled bread rolls are inspired by Bentolicious.  Lia has a fantastic tutorial on these cute bento sandwiches!

Black and White

This bento unintentionally became a study in black and white.  After I finished packing it and stood back to take the picture I had to laugh.  Although I often think of pasta as being 'white', in reality it is more of a yellow color.  I am always surprised by this when I try to make pasta from scratch and make it different colors! Again it is a very simple bento instead of a charaben, but it contains some of A-chan's favorite foods which makes both of us happy.

In the bento: Penne pasta with black live slices and a carrot flower in one tier.  The other tier holds matzo crackers and butter cheese, a container of quick cucumber slice pickles, carrot slices, strawberries and mango chunks.  Not shown is a container of freshly grated parmesan cheese for her to sprinkle over the pasta.

The quick pickles are extremely simple to make and are a great way to introduce pickles to kids who aren't fans yet.  (Though mine is a huge fan of pickles and would eat the whole jar and then drink the juice if I would let her!)  You can use any veggie, but some like carrots or cauliflower are better if blanched and dried first.  With only a few ingredients you can make them while you're getting the rest of the bento packed.

Quick pickles: This makes just enough for one bento.

3 slices of cucumber, cut into strips
Salt to sprinkle
2-3 TB Rice Vinegar
Black sesame seeds

Optional ingredients:
Sugar to sprinkle (for sweeter pickles, either regular sugar or brown sugar)
Cayenne powder or flakes (for hot pickles)

1. Spread the veggie slices out in a single layer on a plate or in a bowl.
2. Sprinkle with salt and let sit for 5-10 minutes.
3. Pour the Rice Vinegar on top and let soak for 5-20 minutes. The longer they soak the stronger the pickle.
4. If you want to add any sugar or cayenne, mix it into the rice vinegar before pouring onto the veggies.
5. Sprinkle with black sesame seeds.

Note:  You can dry them before packing.  Or you can leave some of the vinegar as long as you pack them in a container such as the panda above.

Beyond the Stars

Getting back into the groove of things after spending the end of last week with A-chan's class at camp.  With my infinite bento wisdom I deduced that a simple bento might be best to start out the week.  Space themed bentos are always fun because they give me excuses to make up little alien creatures.  I love the little pea alien dude today!

In the bento: Rice with a tofu soboro asteroid belt, carrot rocket and planets, green pea rocket trail, a huge strawberry, steamed broccoli, apple with star cut outs, carrot sticks and an alien pea dude.

Black sesame seeds provide details for the rocket ship and the alien's eyes.  Alien pea dude's mouth was cut from carrot.  Instead of my regular background of curly leaf lettuce, I used baby spinach leaves to cushion the fruit.

Happy Monday!

Nice and Simple

One of my bentos, woohoo!  It's not nearly as cute as the ones that I make for A-chan, but it's still delicious.  I love that I look forward to eating lunch.  This one is very simple with only 5 ingredients and took about 7 minutes to make.

In the bento: Rice with pickled ginger shreds and radish sprouts on top, a huge cherry tomato, sugar snap peas, orange slices and Morningstar Farms Chik'n Strips.

The rice was already cooked and in the fridge, it just needed a minute in the microwave to warm it up.  The Chik'n strips were lightly sauteed in a little olive oil and garlic.

Butterfly Fans

Ahhh, the glories of Spring!  Everywhere we look there are butterflies and flowers.  And the fruit, don't forget all the delicious incredible spring fruit.  There is a farm nearby that allows people to come and pick huge buckets of strawberries.  Soon, very soon, we will be in strawberry ecstasy.  But until then I decided to stick with butterflies, flowers and an apple bunny.

In the bento: Two peanut butter and sugar sprinkle sandwiches with fan decorations, sesame carrots, corn on the cob, steamed broccoli, carrot flower petals, steamed sugar snap peas, an apple bunny and mango chunks that are hiding behind the apple.  (You can see a hint of the hiding mango because it has the circular pick stuck into it.)

The fan shapes were cut from provolone cheese, the butterflies were cut from nori, the tiny flowers are carrots with snap pea leaves and sugar dots to add some color.  I would love to be able to say that I had cut the butterflies by hand, but alas I cannot make that claim.  The source of their magnificence is a scrapbook cutter that I purchased at Michael's the other day.  Though I attempted to refrain from the purchase, my bento greed won out!

A-chan never gets peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for school.  Not only is there too much sugar in jelly but it has a potential for incredible messes.  Instead I use sugar sprinkles (normally used on cookies, cupcakes, etc.) because they give the hint of sweetness that she loves without the mess or the sugar crash.

Pancake Flower

Breakfast for lunch was a grand idea.  I heartily applaud whoever first thought it up.  American breakfasts don't usually contain vegetables, but I added just a few in my ever increasing wish for healthier meals.  Of course it's pretty much the same as all of the pancake bentos I've made over the years which always included the odd vegetable or two - the difference is only in my perception.  I used to think of it in terms of the Five color rule of bentos, making sure that I was adding broccoli for green and carrots for orange.  Now it's half and half decisions made by health conscious thinking as well as by color.

In the bento: Three miniature pancakes with a cheese flower on top, blackberries, roasted baby potatoes, soy bacon, broccoli and a carrot flower with sugar snap pea leaves.  More pieces of bacon are hidden underneath the rolled piece and the carrot.  A container of strawberry icing is on the side to help sweeten the pancakes.

The cheese flower consists of provolone and cheddar cheese petals, a center cut from a sugar snap pea and a sugar dot on top.

Happy Monday, everyone!