Typical Sushi Lunch

This is a typical fast school lunch. I can put this together in about 5 minutes in the morning. Today's sushi is simply carrots and cucumbers, but I do vary the vegetables. I've used asparagus, bell peppers, tofu, rolled up spinach leaves. If I have it on hand and it can be stuck into a sushi roll I've probably tried it. She's eaten it all, but she wasn't as fond of the leaves. She likes spinach in salads and smoothies, but apparently it's not sushi appropriate. 

Also included are blackberries and blueberries. I stuck a Cascadian Farms chocolate chip granola bar in the center as a divider. This LunchBots container is different from the one yesterday in that it is just one open container with no dividers. That brand of granola bar is one of the only varieties I've found that does not contain tree nuts. 

I've been making sushi for the last year, so it's just as easy to throw these together as it would be for most people to make a pb&j.

I make a pot of brown rice once or twice a week and keep it in the fridge to have on hand. To give it the "sticky" quality needed for sushi, I simply add a little more water than called for and cook it for maybe 5 minutes more. Typical sushi rice recipes call for rice vinegar and sugar, but Sweetpea seems to think that makes the rice taste like lemonade. Maybe I just haven't quite figured out the right ratio. For now I just sprinkle a little vinegar in the rice. She seems fine with that. 

Special Bento for Starting Third Grade

Hello, Blogworld! I'm sorry I've been MIA, but I do have a fairly good reason. Last year Sweetpea announced, "I love sushi! If you make me sushi every day in my lunch I'll eat every bite."

Who was I to argue? I was a little disappointed that she didn't expect me to make charaben every day, but it was really easy to get into the routine of making her a vegetable sushi roll every morning. They were in bento boxes and the lunches could be quite colorful. Usually I made her a carrot and cucumber sushi and varied the fruit and treat. I even took a few photos. But how much can one really say about sushi day after day?

At the end of the year, she asked, "Why don't you make me cute bentos anymore? I love sushi, but I didn't mean for you to NEVER make special lunches."

Well, okay then. Thanks for clarifying.

Today was her very first day of third grade. (Yes, I actually typed 'first' grade before I realized my mistake.) I know it's a total cliche, but I'll say it anyway - I can't believe how quickly the time has passed.  

For her first school lunch of the year, I chose to make a Hawaiian themed bento in remembrance of our recent vacation in Maui.

I'm a little bit out of practice, but I don't think it turned out too bad. On the left side is a carrot and cucumber palm tree standing on a blackberry black sand beach. On the right is a brown rice turtle surrounded by pickled ginger flowers. After I took the photos, I remembered that I had some paper cocktail umbrellas among all my bento stuff so I tucked it in next to the metal separator. She plans to skewer the cucumbers and blackberries with it.

Aloha!

An early Valentine bento

I usually start the grocery list on Friday night so it's ready for a trip to the store on Saturday morning. One Saturday morning recently, I got the rare treat of sleeping in. sweetPea decided to help out by planning the meals and finishing the grocery list for me. I had to add a lot of ingredients she left off, but all in all, she did a pretty good job. 

One meal she chose was Beets & Greens Risotto. It's actually one of her favorites, as odd as that may sound. It's kind of a pain in the butt to make, but once I realized I could use my food processor to grate the beets it got a little easier. Risotto is especially nice because it can be shaped just like sushi rice. Plus, it's got a lovely creamy mouth feel that is accomplished without the addition of cream. 

I didn't use any kind of special shaping equipment to make the hearts. I simply put a few tablespoons of risotto into a piece of plastic wrap and manipulated it into roughly the shape I wanted. Then I used the back of a butter knife to make the indentation at the top of the heart. I added little nori hearts more for color than anything else. In the back container is a simple garden salad. I should have cut the watermelon radishes into heart shapes, but I was short on time and the salad was already made. 

She ate pretty much all of this lunch. 

 

Holiday Bentos

I made several cute holiday bentos that I never got around to posting. They're still cute, even if they're a little late. 

This first one is supposed to be a Christmas tree. I think I was a little late that morning and threw it together as quickly as possible. I got this idea from a friend who made a big veggie appetizer tray shaped like a Christmas tree. I figured if you can do it in a large size, surely you can make it smaller. This lunch includes broccoli, celery (for the stem - you can barely see it), red bell peppers, cauliflower, dried cranberries, and a BabyBel cheese shaped into a gift.

I had a lot of ideas for holiday bentos, but the season got away from me. So I included several ideas into this one lunch: a gingerbread sandwich with raisin buttons and a nori face, some white cheddar cheese stars, a BabyBel peppermint candy, and some broccoli and carrots scattered around. I found the food picks at Joanne's Fabric & Crafts.

School reconvened on January 2 this year so I sent her with a special Happy New Year's bento. In the back is left over slaw from a local restaurant. In the front section are strawberries and blueberries. I decorated it with cheddar cheese cutouts. 

Gobble, Gobble!: #61

A few weeks ago I was invited to help a group of Girl Scouts make bentos of their very own. Since it was so close to the Thanksgiving holiday, I thought turkeys would be a fun and easy shape to make. Plus, the colorful turkey tail allowed the girls to mix and match from a variety of vegetables and fruits.

Above you can see my "demo" bento. Since I was working with 24 young Girl Scouts, plus a sibling or two and my own sweetPea, I wanted to be prepared. In order to expedite the process, the leader and I washed, sliced, and chopped the vegetables in advance. In the bento above are red and yellow bell peppers, carrots, red grapes, broccoli, and a whole wheat bread and cheese sandwich. The turkey's eyes are made from nori, its beak is cheese, and its waddle is a little piece of red bell pepper.

The girls could choose from peanut butter or cheese to fill their sandwiches. They took the basic instructions and ran with it, which is really what bento is all about. I really loved spending time with them and seeing their creative lunches.

Here are a few I was able to photograph before the girls began departing:

sweetPea wanted me to photograph her bento separately. She was pretty proud of the very first bento she constructed on her own. She took hers and the one I made for lunch on consecutive days. She said they held up well, but the one I made came back with the sandwich untouched. Apparently it got a little soggy after sitting for a few days. 

Bunnicula: #60

For our Mother-Daughter book club this month, the choice was Bunnicula: A Rabbit Tale of Mystery. It's a very cute story and a quick read. In fact, she had me read it to her twice. I wouldn't consider it scary and P is fairly sensitive to that kind of thing. Bunnicula is a bunny who was found in a movie theater during the screening of Dracula. He was taken home by a family with two boys, a cat, and a dog. Soon the family notices that their vegetables are mysteriously turning white. What follows is an entertaining story centering on the cat attempting to convince the dog of the bunny's vampire status and to warn the human members of the family.

Needless to say, it was an appropriate Halloween read. This bento is made up of a cheese sandwich in the shape of Bunnicula. He is a white bunny with black markings (strangely in the shape of a cap) on his back. The cape is made of nori and the photo makes it look more wrinkly than it really was. He has a red Craisin eye and several drained vegetables in front of him made out of cucumbers. Behind him are some broccoli pieces that he has yet to drain. Underneath the cucumbers are red grapes that he has yet to find.

Three Little Jack-o-lanterns: #59

The three pumpkins are made out of rice and roasted butternuts squash with a little cinnamon and brown sugar. Their features are nori with raisin stems. In the back section are purple grapes, Babybel cheese, yellow tomato slices, and cucumber slices cut into pumpkin shapes.

Soccer: #58

Today's after school activity is soccer. She has a provolone cheese sandwich with nori details. For some reason, the nori kept wanting to curl up on me. I saw another soccer bento here and I think the way she put hers together would probably be easier. I used a clipart soccer ball as my inspiration.

Also included are roasted green beans from our CSA, a cherry tomato from our garden, and a zucchini coconut chocolate chip mini muffin.

During the days she stays longer after school I add a separate snack. It's usually a banana with the word "SNACK" written on the peel so she doesn't forget and eat it for lunch. She did that one day and was quite irritated with herself.

Gathering Nuts:57

We've been enjoying watching the squirrels in our yard gathering nuts for autumn. We have a chestnut tree that they particularly seem to like. The nuts have a thick, very prickly, exterior that pop open after a few days revealing the meat inside. It keeps them distracted enough to keep them out of the bird feeder.

This little bread and cheese squirrel is gathering a particularly oversized acorn. He's standing in a field of dried cranberries, orange carrot leaves, and homemade brown peach leather leaves. Also included is a muffin cup filled with homemade pear sauce and two zucchini coconut chocolate chip mini muffins.

Chess Bento:56

As a first grader, sweetPea has the option of participating in several extracurriculars this year. Chess Club meets once a week for an hour after school. I'd like to say that she's learning lots of strategy, but mostly I think she's just having fun playing chess.

The chess board is a cheese sandwich topped with white cheddar and nori squares and orange cheddar chess pieces. Also included are some early fall cucumbers, broccoli, and the very last of the peaches for the season (sigh).

Beet Hummus Bento: #55

This bento contains Red Beet and White Bean Hummus, blue corn chips, a chocolate chip coconut zucchini mini muffin, yellow tomatoes, carrot sticks, and a small red apple. This isn't a particularly "cute" bento, but it's colorful and packs a lot of nutritional punch.

I know I've mentioned it many times, but I'm not a big beet fan. Plain roasted beets bring back memories of canned lunchroom beets slopped on my tray in childhood. They make me gag, to be honest. However, when we became CSA members years ago, I was determined to find uses for them that were palatable to me. Plus, they're packed with lots of good nutrition. This hummus combines the protein power of white beens with the added folate and antioxidants of beets. It's pretty darned tasty.

The apple is a cute little Rome that is pure white inside. sweetPea had fun picking this variety last Sunday. She called them her "prize apples". The little yellow tomatoes came from a friend's garden. And you might notice a bit of frost on the muffin. Often when I make baked goods, I'll make small versions and freeze them for use in a bento. 

Apple Picking: #54

Today's bento includes a garden salad leftover from a Labor Day picnic, tiny cheese sandwiches in the shapes of apples, and an individual apple pie. I also included dressing for the salad and milk.

Early September never used to remind me of apples, but for the last few years we've been picking apples at an orchard called Hidden Hollow. They do use a small amount of spray early in the season, but it's the most natural apple orchard I've seen in the area. They have what seems like an infinite variety of apple trees and a lot of them have already started ripening. We were able to pick over a bushel of apples in very short order.

The first dishes I made with all those apples were two beautiful apple pies for our family's Labor Day picnic. While those were cooking, I put together miniature apple pies for sweetPea's lunches. All I did was put a small amount of crust in the bottom of some silicon cupcake containers, cut some of the apples from the pie filling into smaller pieces, and top with streussel. I then baked them for about half the time of the full-sized pies.

I only made three as a test, but I think I'll make more and freeze them to pop into her lunch for a special treat now and then. I also think I should have cut an apple shape out of crust for the top of the little pies. Anyway, I think they turned out awfully cute.

Shikai Maki Sushi Bento: #53

Since I first saw this beautiful bento, I've wanted to try to make shikai maki. I had some leftover rice from making the ladybugs earlier in the week and I thought the rich red jewel tones from the beets would work well here. 

My first attempt was a disaster, but sweetPea was generous enough to eat it for dinner last night. I tried to add cucumber to the roll like in the bento zen blog example, but I couldn't figure out how to make it work. This roll, where I've only used rice and tofu, turned out much better. I've also included some sliced cucumbers, cherries, and a mini zucchini coconut chocolate chip muffin. 

Here's a view from above. sweetPea especially liked that the tofu makes a diamond in the center. 

Ladybug Garden: #52

Last Sunday I taught my first ever bento making class. I was nervous, but it was great fun getting together with a group of women (and one 10yo) to discuss making healthy lunches in creative ways. The bento above was the inspiration (because no way was I walking into a room to show people how to make something I'd not tried myself).

I thought it would be fun to show variations on a theme. In other words, you can make the same thing out of many different food items. We started with some simple ladybugs on a log (celery with strawberry cream cheese and dried cranberries), then moved on to onigiri.

The two rice ladybugs are dyed with beets. The red one is made with pureed beets. The purple one is made with beet dye. I simply poured some boiling water over shredded beets and let it steep for 60 seconds. Then I poured off the water and added a bit of baking soda. That turned it a lovely lavender.

Then we made a babybel cheese ladybug and squished everything together so it wouldn't move around. We packed in steamed broccoli, cherries, cherry tomatoes, carrot flowers, and purple podded pole beans. I even took it upon myself to create a ladybug out of a cherry tomato, some nori and cream cheese (for spackling the nori in place).

It turned out okay, but my poor tomato ladybug was a little sad.

Here are some of the creations made by the rest of the class. It was really fun to see how they all turned out. (I was hurrying, so unfortunately some of the photos turned out blurry.)

Purple Podded Pole Beans: #51

This bento was so simple, I almost didn't bother to post it. But I wanted to showcase my beautiful purple podded pole beans that we grew in our garden this year. I love these beans. They're really gorgeous on the vine and very tasty. When you cook them, they turn green just like any other pole bean.

Luckily sweetPea likes to eat them raw as well as cooked. She took this lunch with some ranch dressing for dipping.

Leftover Bento: #50

I am behind in posting. I wish I'd had a more fantabulous bento to show for the 50th bento, but I figure I'll do better on number 100. Anyway, it gives me an excuse to talk about the Thermos Food Jar. (Note: I am not affiliated with this product in any way. I have received nothing from the company. I just think it works well.)

I didn't do the best job in planning out lunches this week and it shows. Usually when I make the grocery list, I start by writing the days of the week and listing the dinners I'll make every night. Then on the back, I'll sketch my bento ideas for the week. I'll usually just have maybe 3 ideas or so and then I'll fill in with whatever strikes my fancy. Only then will I start adding the ingredients to my list.

This bento was actually consumed on Thursday 8/25. The night before we had roasted broccoli and Spanish Style Quinoa. She was willing to eat her broccoli cold, but she wanted the quinoa in her "heater". In the morning, I put some very hot water into the Thermos and let it set while we ate breakfast. Then I heated up her quinoa, poured the water out of the Thermos and put the quinoa inside. At her request, I sprinkled cheese on top. Then for lunch, her quinoa was still toasty warm and the cheese was melted.

You can also use the food jar as a "cooler", too. Then you simply add iced water first.

sweetPea's Choice: #49

I usually plan several bentos before we do the grocery shopping, but I also leave room for making up some as I go along. Today, I was particularly uninspired so I simply asked what she wanted for lunch. "Hmmm. Carrots. Cherries. Cheese and crackers. And cut the carrots into flowers."

That was pretty good actually. I mean, cheese and crackers aren't exactly a paragon of nutritional virtue, but she didn't ask for potato chips and HoHos either, you know?

So I pull out the fresh bag of carrots to choose one for peeling. Lo and behold, we got an extra special bonus prize. In the bottom of the bag of ordinary Kroger organic carrots, I saw a beautifully bright yellow carrot. I looked at the package to make sure it wasn't some kind of "special" bag, but it didn't indicate that we were getting anything special. We had to taste it. Pea proclaimed that it was harder, but extra sweet.

I made a bed of yellow and orange carrot sticks with carrot flowers on top. Then I threw in some cherries. I added some Wheat Thin crackers and cut butterflies into the BabyBel cheese. Voila!

Birthday Bento: #48

Yesterday was sweetPea's sixth birthday. She wanted to stay home from school today to play with her new toys. I didn't let her do that, but I did send her with a special birthday bento as a consolation prize. In this bento she has carrot sticks, broccoli, cherries, and watermelon balls.

The cupcake is a cheese sandwich covered with provolone and cheddar cupcake cutout. I used cream cheese to get the sprinkles (yes, real sugar sprinkles) and the tomato "cherry" to stick. I didn't have any cookie cutters to use for this one, so I borrowed the idea from a post on Bentology and hand cut out the shapes. It was actually pretty easy. A paring knife and a pair of kitchen sheers made short work of it. 

The Bounty of Summer: #47

For her second day of school, I used the smaller box. She has a big Tomato Bread Salad with the olives picked out and with fresh mozzarella chunks added. I love kalamata olives, but she just hasn't developed a taste for them. She also has some lovely cherries (on sale from Whole Foods) and my attempt at Peach Fruit Leather, which turned out more like peach crisps. I think I over cooked them, but they're still really tasty. To the basic recipe, I added some ginger and cinnamon. The house smelled divine while they were drying.

She ate almost all of this one. A few pieces of the salad came home, but everything else was eaten.

First Day of First Grade: #46

This was actually her first FULL day of first grade. She had three half days, then Thursday she went for a full day. It's her school's way of easing the transition from the lazy days of summer to the hectic school year.

Clockwise from top, she had steamed broccoli and tomatoes, watermelon and cantaloupe balls, carrot sticks and a Babybel cheese with the number one cut out, and mahogany rice with a red rice and nori ladybug. The ladybug is colored red with beets.

Unfortunately a fair amount of this lunch came back. I packed her an especially large one because she was so concerned about not having enough food. Last year they had fruits and vegetables sitting out for the kids to snack on throughout the day. In the grades they no longer have that option. I still think she would have eaten more, but one of the older children baked chocolate chip muffins and sweetPea ate two of them. I think it's great that the kids can cook in school, but broccoli just can't compete with chocolate chip muffins.