Fancy Tea Sandwiches Bento Box Lunch

This weekend I took our niece out for tea, and it reminded me how fun and savory those little tea sandwiches can be! So I went all out and made herb butter with dill and chives to go on egg salad sandwiches with turmeric, celery seed and mayo/mustard, and prawn and dill sandwiches (also using the herb butter). They came out really cute and I'm totally making these for a picnic we're taking to a concert later this week!

The rest of the lunch is fresh strawberry tomatoes (from the Farmer's Market, of course) and organic carrots with goma shabu dipping sauce (Japanese sesame sauce) in the little pig container, some organic green grapes (so sweet!) and string cheese. Simple and easy.

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! 

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!

Tea "Sandwiches"

When we have guests over now, I'm finding it easier and easier to make up little appetizers, thanks to my daily bento-ing. For this one, I cut thick slices of cucumber (I used English cucumber but in retrospect I think Persian cucumbers would have been better since they have less seeds), and using a sharp paring knife, made little hollows in the middle. Be careful not to cut through the other side, though! 

I let them sit on paper towels to drain away as much liquid as possible, and dabbed the hollows with paper towels as well. When they were mostly dry, I spooned a little of Trader Joe's smoked salmon dip (any crab dip, spinach dip, etc. would totally work) into the center, and sprinkled on some chopped dill. They came out really pretty (although the pic is a little blue-ish since it was an overcast day)!

Unfortunately, most of the people that came did not like smoked salmon. Bummer! Next time I might cut the cucumbers a little thicker and do a shrimp gazpacho-inspired dip in the middle. YUM.

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.

Getting Crazy With The Bento

I received some feedback from Mike about my past two lunches, so I'll post those as "reviews" to each post going forward, so we can keep a log of what works and what doesn't! :) I imagine this will be an ongoing learning process.

I made today's bento for Mike in a simplified way, just making the cute part the top! Here I've decorated chicken salad (with celery and carrots) with black sesame seeds (which add calcium, always a good thing) and red pepper letters. I kept it separated from the rest of the bento with carrot cut-outs that are pressed into the side (you can just barely see them). My chicken salad is not runny or drippy, so it should be fine. 

Just in case, though, I put the fruit (blueberries and pineapple) into little silicon cups, with animal picks for easy eating. There's clementine segments at the back and sugar snap peas flanking the cups (it's important to make sure everything is pretty tightly packed so it travels well). I also made him a Greek yogurt/brown sugar fruit dip, which is in the dip cup in the back. This bento box is from the website Fab, which we love. It comes with two insertable containers that both have lids (only using one today), and the top, which locks down, also has a spot to store a fork. Perfect for today's lunch (which is gluten-free)!

I also made a lunch for my coworker, whose birthday is this week and I am missing her birthday dinner celebration. She loves Asian food so I made her a soba noodle nest (soba noodles are Japanese buckwheat noodles that can be eaten cold or hot) with quail eggs, and those are shitake mushroom slices I tucked into the corners, for added sustenance. On the side is a salad with tomato hearts, star carrots, and little red bell pepper pieces for color.

The other little box has flower toasts with cream cheese sprinkled with chives, and a smoked salmon flower. They came out pretty cute and I would totally make these for an afternoon tea! Close up:

My own lunch was a pocket sandwich with turkey, smoked gouda and cucumbers. I learned you should not overstuff pocket sandwiches...and maybe just put the cheese on top as a decoration. It's much better that way. My pocket sandwich wouldn't stay sealed. I also made myself a fruit salad with yogurt dip - yum. Very colorful and cute even without fun shapes:

Whew! That's it for today. It did take me awhile to prep stuff last night because I made three  different bento lunches with completely different items. That will be the last time I do that! From now on Mike and I will eat similar or the same food each lunch, which will make the lunches quicker and easier. 

REVIEW: Mike ate everything in his lunch except one cup of blueberries (there were two). So it was a success! My coworker loved her lunch, too, but wasn't able to finish all the noodles - too many. I used one serving size (they come packaged that way) of noodles, which I usually eat for lunch alone, so with all the sides I think it would be best to cut down the amount of noodles and maybe add more condiments, like nori seaweed or an extra egg.

Mike's First Bento Lunch

Day 1 of bento! Honestly, I spent a couple hours on Sunday prepping food, which I realize most moms may not have the time or energy to do. However, I also experimented a lot and played around, so if you stick with basic shapes and stuff, I think you could make a bento lunch in about 15-20 minutes a day or less, if you prep at some point. Prepping fruit or veggies for the week really helps, so you can just throw things together. And if you prep extra egg salad or tuna salad, or have deli meat ready on hand, you could do this during the week in 10 minutes or less. It's all in the planning!

Today's meal has three kinds of sandwiches - turkey/smoked gouda with mayo/mustard on rye (both the top and the bottom sandwich), egg salad with celery on wheat, and tuna with celery and relish on potato bread (We ate all the trimmings and extra pieces for dinner). After putting the sandwiches in the box, I realized they were super bland looking, so I thinly cut some bell peppers as "dividers." I had leftover tuna AND leftover egg salad for later this week.

Mike needs some crunch with his sandwiches, so I threw some baked cheese crunchies from Trader Joe's into a silicone heart cup (to separate them from the veggies), but in the future I think I'll get some bigger dividers; he'll be bummed there's so few in there! There's Brianna's all natural ranch dressing in the little bear, and bell peppers, celery sticks, and carrot/cucumber flowers. Those were a sudden inspiration - I was cutting Persian cucumbers and realized that the cutout would be all seed - yuck! But the outside was perfect. Then as I threw them into the tupperware I saw that the carrot cut outs would fit inside them...ta da! Also, note that you don't have to cut everything cute - the celery and bell peppers are cut normally. Save yourself some time!

Under the bear is a mini package of Orbit gum that I saw, last minute, at the grocery store. Cute, small, and perfect for the bento box (especially with stinky sandwiches like tuna and egg). Plus, the combo of the plastic on the gum and the silicone bear helps keep it gripped in place while transporting this lunch to work. I later added in two of those sugar snap peas on either side to brace the bear, although he didn't move at all when I shook the box.

P.S. this bento box only cost $7.00 at Marukai Market and it came with the divider, which is very convenient!

REVIEW: Mike says this lunch was delicious but too many veggies and not enough sandwich (all four of those sandwiches = one sandwich). Also the cheese crunchies got stale when I put them in the fridge the night before. Whoops! You can only prep so far.