Heart Sandwich Bento Box - Who Doesn't Love BBQ Pulled Pork?

We made BBQ pulled pork in the slow cooker this week, and before any Southerners jump all over me, we know it's not true smoked BBQ, it's just BBQ sauce that's on it. :) But it was delicious and the leftovers make a really good sandwich. Today's bento has those leftovers in between two slices of wheat-oat bread, which does not cut very easily. You'll find that those cute bento sandwich presses and cutters work best with crappy low-fiber, totally processed white bread, unfortunately. While that's ok once in a long while, Mike and I prefer healthier, heartier whole grain breads, and therefore have to settle with slightly-shoddily-cut sandwiches.

Heart Shaped Pulled Pork Sandwich Bento Box with Veggies, Ranch Dip and Fruit Salad

Here's a bird's eye view of the bento and how everything is laid out. 

Around the sandwich I placed a few potato chips for crunch. Below that, we have veggies (red bell peppers, celery and carrots) with ranch dip (hiding in the cute panda), and a mini fruit salad - watermelon stars, kiwis and pineapple, which all go really well with BBQ!

I've been using my silicone grass and leaves a lot lately because they add a nice color aesthetic, and they're reusable. Some bento-ers will tuck lettuce leaves around each section, which is gorgeous, but wasteful for our purposes, since Mike won't eat the garnish. 

In the end, I also decided to just put the potato chips back into the bag and attach it to the bento by squishing it in between the lid and the box. This effectively keeps them from getting stale or spilling out, and now Mike won't forget them!

And a final pic of our super adorable panda container. I just love this bento accessory! This product came with a little piggy and a chick as well. Haven't had a chance to use the chick because it's so small, but the piggy and panda get used very frequently.

Super Cute Panda Bento Accessory!

Garden Party Bento - Butterflies and Flowers!

Mike's a dude, but I can't help making the bentos pretty (and sometimes a little feminine). Who are we kidding? I'm sort of making these for myself. :) Today's bento is no exception. I was cutting up the pineapple and thinking, these look like butterfly wings! So it became a butterfly and the rest of the bento just built itself around that.

On the left, we have a butterfly with pineapple wings and a kiwi body. Below that we have watermelon flowers, accented with my favorite reusable silicone leaves and a little pineapple center (I used my tiniest circle cutter). On the right, we've got a turkey sandwich on wheat-oat bread, decorated with a little fruit roll up flower. There's organic hummus in the little panda and celery and carrots on the side. I just love the panda/pig/chick set I got, it's so useful and they are adorable!

Pineapple Butterfly with Kiwi body, Watermelon Flowers, Turkey Sandwich with Fruit Roll Up Flower

Close up of the watermelon flowers:

Watermelon Flowers made with Bento Flower Sandwich Cutter and Stainless Steel Vegetable Cutters

Cucumber Sandwich Bento

No Easter bento today! Guess I got all Eastered out. Instead, I made a cucumber cream cheese sandwich and some Nutella style sandwiches (but with Trader Joe's cocoa almond spread), and fruit. I think we are getting tired of the PB&J and tuna already, so I've been trying to switch it up a little (yesterday I did hummus/avocado, which was well received). There's tortilla chips under the sandwich (for a little crunch), and our usual variety of fruit. It wasn't super cute after I'd put everything in, so I dressed it up with a fruit roll up heart, and I used my silicone leaf dividers in between the chocolate sandwiches for a little color. I also tried to arrange the pineapple/oranges in a cute way...

Then I decided to put in the fruit picks, and you can see how easy it is to just make the lunch a little more special!

If you're intimidated by bento, don't be! It's so easy. Today's sandwiches are just cut into rectangles. It's the arrangement and the added decorations (silicone dividers/animal picks) that make it cute. It's fun, and everyone deserves a lunch that makes you smile.

REVIEW: the chocolate sandwiches only got an "ok." Mike really hates almonds, so I guess that must be it. Fruit got all eaten, as well as the cucumber sandwich, but the tortilla chips got stale really quick. It's hard to keep crispy things crispy in a bento! 

Easter Duck and Bunny Sandwich Bento!

I put a little more effort into today's bento to make up for yesterday's quickie bento. Today we have a duck/chick tuna salad sandwich, and a bunny hummus and avocado sandwich. I used egg whites and nori for the eyes, fruit roll ups for the bunny nose/mouth, and carrot for the beak and feet. I also used the same cutters for the sandwich bread on the avocado, so that it would fit perfectly onto the bunny shaped bread. In retrospect, the bunny body looks a lot like a turtle, so I might have to try that sometime in the future! How fun would it be to decorate a turtle shell?

Since Mike's had two days of veggies, we went back to fruit for today. I had cut some Caracara oranges yesterday, and peeled a kiwi, so we have oranges, kiwi and pineapple, dressed up with a bunny pick. 

Here's what it looks like all together:

I hope he likes it!

REVIEW: Hummus and avocado was a hit, probably because it's something new! And it was plenty of food. Yay.

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!