Field of Flowers Bento Box Salad

Mike didn't need a lunch today, so I made one for myself. Below is an example of a super quick bento, using only one tool and a knife. The salad is romaine lettuce and cilantro, with mozzarella and bell pepper flowers, and a few black olives. Very simple. Dressing is in the bottle to the right. In retrospect I should have added some nuts for additional protein, but I've got pita chips and Greek yogurt at work, so it should be a filling lunch.

Stay tuned for Friday's review and bento, I've got a super cute one planned for tomorrow!

Camping Bento Box...Campfires, Tents and Bears, oh my!

One of our favorite activities in camping, and so when I saw a camping bento online (click here to see it our Pinterest page), it totally inspired me to make my own! 

I used red, orange, and yellow bell peppers to make the flames, celery for the logs, and black olives for the fire circle. Carrot shreds are the heat and embers coming off the fire. Sorry about the crappy picture today, it's gloomy and raining in Southern California, so I had no natural light.

On the right we have "Berry Mountain," complete with little bear friend! 

And a peanut butter and apple jam tent. I used fruit roll ups for the tent outline and opening. 

The full camping bento!

Mushroom Bento

Mike and I both love mushrooms, but Mike doesn't like to eat them, he just likes the way they look. Inspired by the ones I saw online, I made Mike a salad with tomato and string cheese toadstools. I hollowed out sugar plum tomatoes for the tops, cut up a piece of string cheese for the stems, and put a tiny bit of ranch dressing on the top, which acted as "glue" for a sprinkle of parmesan cheese. They came out pretty cute!

On the left we have a salad with carrot flowers, sliced sugar snap peas, smoked gouda stars, "toadstools," and "chicks" made from quail eggs with black sesame eyes and carrot beaks. I threw in sunflower seeds to up the protein factor a little. On the right we have a fuji apple, blood orange and green grape salad, a heart shaped tuna sandwich on squaw bread, kumquats, and some chocolate covered sunflower seeds for dessert. I inserted a little bottle of ranch dressing after I took the picture; it fit right on top of the heart sandwich.

This is the first mostly veggie/fruit bento I have made for Mike, so I hope it is filling enough. I prepped the whole salad and the fruit last night, so this morning all I made was the heart, and cut up some kumquats. Which was a good thing, because I woke up late with the time change. I miss my sunlight in the morning!

REVIEW: Mike loved the salad and even ate the tomato tops of the "mushrooms" which is weird because he hates tomatoes. I would like to think it has something to do with the cute factor, but I think it's probably because they were hollowed out, then coated in ranch and parmesan. :) 

Also, chocolate covered sunflower seeds were a huge hit with both of us! They are like mini M&Ms. I love the pop of color they provide.

Daylight Savings Bento

Since an hour of sleep was stolen from me this weekend, I made sure to prep things on Sunday for bentos today. It's hard to get out of bed when it's still dark! Even my pictures are a little darker, unfortunately.

I cut up kiwis, green grapes and blood oranges, marinated some sugar plum tomatoes with fresh mozzarella balls, made tuna salad, and rolled up some ham/muenster cheese in a tortilla with mayo/mustard. 

Today I made two bento boxes, one for Mike and one for another coworker's birthday. I know I said I wouldn't make different things for everyone again...I did make these just slightly different:

Mike's bento has a half tuna sandwich on squaw bread (it's a delicious, slightly sweet dark bread from The Bread Man at the Hollywood Farmer's Market), rosemary ham/cheese roll ups, Trader Joe's baked cheese crunchies, and on the right, cut up string cheese, kiwis, blood oranges/green grapes, and a few Bunny Gummies and Friends (these all natural gummy candies from Trader Joe's). 

I am using lots of these new bento toys I found this weekend at Daiso Japan - the Japanese version of a dollar store. I got 6 silicon flower cups and 6 silicon square cups for $3.00! And the silicon "grass" that you normally see on sushi trays was only $1.50 and totally reusable, which I like. There's tons of paper/foil/plastic disposable things for bento boxes, but I try to minimize my trash in the world, so I really love these reusable dividers.

My coworker's bento has fruit salad on the side, tomato/mozzarella balls (under the parsley leaf) with crackers on the side, a few ham and cheese roll ups and an open faced cucumber/dill cream cheese/squaw bread heart sandwich. I also found a bunch of kumquat bushes outside a strip mall this weekend and plucked some! The kumquats add a nice color pop around the heart sandwich. Plus, it is important to try and fill gaps around the food, so there is not too much movement during transport.

The bento heart sandwich looks like it took a lot of time, but it's not that bad. I just cut up the cucumber nice and thin (you can do this quickly with a mandoline or any small, sharp knife) and laid it down overlapping each other on half a paper towel (to soak up extra moisture). Next, I cut the heart out of the bread and spread it with cream cheese. I used the exact same heart cutter to cut the cucumbers and removed all the excess cucumber around the edges. At this point you just fold the rest of the paper towel over the heart and flip it over. Open the paper towel, put your heart bread on top and flip it back, and voila!  

REVIEW: Mike loved everything in his lunch but the baked cheese crunchies were still stale, even though I put them into the box in the morning. We probably won't use them again in bentos, which is fine because they're not really that healthy anyway, and I'm pretty sure they use GMO corn, even if all the products in it are "natural." The crackers in my coworkers lunch stayed fresh and crispy, even after sitting all morning in the fridge at work. I have been making a habit of putting things that should be crunchy into the boxes in the morning, rather than prepping everything the night before.

Bento Bear

Last night we had dinner with our neighbor, and managed to get home by 9:30pm. We go to bed at 10pm, and our nighttime routine includes taking care of our fish, frog, 4 cats, and rabbit. So you can imagine I was pressed for time and needed to create a bento that was quick and easy! Here's what I came up with: peanut butter/jelly bear (there's extra jelly under the nose), bear shaped muenster cheese with crackers, a pretzel "nest" with smoked gouda birds, and a salad with ranch (I got these nifty little bottles at the Marukai Market). I put a clementine on top of the box for him to take along, too. I'm not sure if it'll be filling enough for Mike, but it'll tide him over until he gets home. Oh yeah, there's a package of gummy bears hiding under the peanut butter bear, for dessert. 

The bento bear is easy, I used a water glass for the face, then a circle cutter for the rest - the ears were pressed into the remaining bread I had left after making the face, I went right off the face circle, which is why they fit so nicely. The entire bear is about 5 inches across.

REVIEW: This was Mike's favorite meal so far, and he ate all of it. Which is amusing, because it took the least amount of effort. Let that be a lesson to me! To improve the healthy quotient of this lunch in the future, I might try to add a protein/fruit like yogurt with strawberries, or some quail eggs and a fruit salad, and take out one of the carbs (the crackers or the pretzels).