Frushi! Otherwise known as Fruit Sushi, with a Bunny Sandwich

We were out of town this past weekend so I apologize for the haphazard postings and missing Friday Review. I will post a review soon on another awesome (or un-awesome) bento product! In the meantime, I have figured out how to get posts to self-publish, so in the future we will have full bento coverage when we're on vacations. Yay!

On Sunday I played around with fru-shi, which is sushi composed entirely of fruit! It is super cute and fun. I made the rice with coconut milk (just substitute the exact same amount of light coconut milk for water in the recipe) and a little bit of sugar (about 2 tablespoons per cup of dry rice). Be sure to use light coconut milk, otherwise your rice will come out way too creamy and it won't stick together properly. You need to make it sticky Asian rice style, not Latin rice style (use a pot, not a pan, and don't use oil).

Next, you just cut up any type of fruit you want, into sticks (to put inside rolls) or into "sashimi" to lay on top of rice, like nigiri. Fruit roll ups make the perfect "nori!" Other helpful tips: use the sharpest knife possible, and wipe it with a damp towel after every cut. Dampen your hands before handling the rice, so that it won't stick (but don't dampen too much because you'll get your fruit roll ups all soggy). Also refrigerate your rice; it's easier to mold when it's cool (opposite of regular rice), due to the creamy texture of the coconut milk.

Frushi would be adorable for an afternoon tea, or as appetizers/desserts. It is also gluten free! My Sunday efforts included pineapple "rolls" and Caracara orange "nigiri":

For this morning's bento I didn't make nigiri, I just did pineapple and orange "sashimi" and mango-coconut rice "rolls." I love that I have silicone grass dividers for the frushi! I'm also trying to do an Easter theme for this week, hence the PB&J cut-out bunny sandwich. 

REVIEW: Everything got eaten, which is always a good thing. I've noticed the times that things don't get eaten is when it's a repeat, or there's not enough variety. So no fruit for tomorrow since there was an overload of fruit today!

Bento Snack

Mike is coming home from work early today, so I just made him a bento snack. PB&J flower stackers on whole wheat - they're two pieces of bread with PB or J in the middle and the other on the top, pretzels, and a fruit salad with kiwis, pineapple, and strawberry hearts! Obviously this fruit lends itself easily to the heart shape (I swiped these strawberries from my fruit tray at work and brought them home to use in the bento). 

REVIEW: Mike loves PB&J and fruit. Put those two together and we have a winner. Plus this snack had sweet and salty - which is lots of people's favorite taste combo! 

Practice Makes Perfect!

For lunch today I wanted to try making something more traditional-ish, with rice. I've always loved onigiri, the Japanese rice balls, but they are usually wrapped with seaweed, which Mike hates. So I purchased some soy wrappers at the local Japanese market (also readily available online), which come in rainbow colors - perfect for bento! Onigiri are also traditionally plain or filled with simple salty things like bonito flakes or salmon or tuna, or pickled plum (also all things Mike dislikes). So I just cooked some chicken tenders really quick with some bottled teriyaki sauce, and chopped it up small, intending on making chicken teriyaki/rice onigiri. Yum!

I had some trouble getting the rice spread onto the soy paper evenly, until I learned the "wet hands" tip. If your hands are wet, the rice won't stick. But they can't be SO wet that you make the soy paper soggy, because it'll tear. I ruined a couple papers rolling things up too tightly, too. The teriyaki didn't cooperate and kept spilling out the ends. Then, when I tried to cut the ends to make them all nice and neat, the soy (or my knife) wasn't cooperating. So, after a ton of effort, I ended up with two soy wraps of different lengths. I was a little disheartened, but hey, it's only my second day making bento lunches, so I'll keep practicing. Also, I think in the future I will seal the teriyaki inside the rice instead of doing a roll (more like a traditional onigiri).

Also, I had made these tiny sandwiches and stamped them with bunny/bear/frog faces, but since I use real bread instead of super processed white bread, the stamps didn't come out very cleanly. The shapes were ok, the faces, not so much. So frustrating! In the future, I think they'll work better as open-faced sandwiches with pretty herbs decorating them.

So how to put this whole mess together and still make it look cute? Food picks! Luckily I have a whole mess of adorable animal food picks, so I just used a bunch and here's what the end result looks like:

The fruit on the left side is composed of kiwis, pink lady apples, and pineapple. The picks will also come in handy as eating tools. The right side has the green and yellow soy paper wrapped chicken teriyaki rolls, and two turkey/muenster cheese sandwiches (it's hard to tell, but they're in the shape of flowers).

I also have been keeping an eye out for small "desserts" for bento boxes, and so far, here's what I've found! Mini gummi bears, mini Ritter chocolates, and mini Orbit gum. It adds a nice fun touch and they are really small (the chocolates are the size of a half dollar).

REVIEW: Mike ate everything but said the teriyaki rolls were too dry. Next time I'll probably include a mini bottle of extra sauce (I got these cute mini bottles that fit into the bentos, that are reusable).