American Bento

Today's bento does not include leftovers.  My family eats vegetarian twice a week: Wednesdays and Fridays.  Naturally, I couldn't include meat from tonight's dinner in tomorrow's meal.  I decided to make some staples to keep on hand today instead. 

Good morning!  I'm happy and chipper because for a second day in a row, I got to sleep in and have a leisurely morning (getting up at 5:30 seems like sleeping in to 10 right now). 

So, last night I prepared two bentos from dinner leftovers.  Dinner was:

This was recycled into a bento with some additions.  All told, bentos were made and cooling on the kitchen counter by 7:30pm; dishes were done at that point too.  While the bentos were cooling, the family played games and hung out - not a bad deal at all.


Layer 1:  The first course is actually pretty simple.  As we were making a salad to go with dinner, I sliced veggies for the bento.  So, here we have cucumber, tomatoes, carrots, and a butterfly cut from green pepper.  I also added a pinwheel sandwich of black forest ham, tomatoes, cucumbers, and mayo on a flat bread.  Between the two bentos, I used half a pinwheel roll, so I have enough for another day - easily.  I just thin sliced veggies and threw together the pinwheel as I was doing the other veg.  DH commented that he likes the lemon cake without the crunchy topping, so here it is served as dessert.  I added a lot of yellow and orange to this layer - and didn't notice until now.  There's orange slices, pineapple, and a strawberry. 

Layer 2: So here's the main course.  The leftover steak from dinner is thin sliced.  I've added some coleslaw (that I made over the weekend), sautéed onions and mushrooms (this I made specially for the bento), and as I was making potatoes for dinner, I added a few little ones for the bento. 

I think the end result today is rather pretty.  There's lots of color, variety of texture and flavor, and while dinner is refeatured, it's presented differently and side dishes are changed up. 

Portions are pretty small here.  I think there's about 2 oz (57 g) of steak, 1/4 cup of mushrooms and onions, the same quantity of coleslaw (if that), and 1.5 small potatoes.  That's one of the things I love about bentos: the tiny bits of leftovers that don't seem like they're enough to keep turn into meal.  Even layer 1 contains small portions.  There's 1/4 sandwich, 2 mini carrots, a few slices of cucumber, and some tomato.  The piece of green pepper is almost two small to mention.  Dessert is 1/4 of a small orange, 1/4 of a normal slice of cake, a single strawberry, and a tiny bit of pineapple.  Each item eaten on its own would be a ridiculous portion but the sum of the parts becomes substantial. 


With small portions and economy in mind, I have a bento challenge for you!  If you read my blog, I'd like you to go into your fridge and pull out the leftovers that have been stored in there for a day or two.  Take a good look at what you've got that's still reasonable to eat.  What can you make with it?  Tonight after dinner, instead of throwing out or pushing someone to eat that last spoonfull of veg or rice, save it!  Turn it into something special and take a picture or two.  Then please email it to me!  I'll post your bentos alongside my own.

My email:  fontevrault @  comcast dot net

Today begins my attempt to pack bentos the night before they are needed so that I hopefully get more time and a prettier bento as a result.  They are also a series of leftover bentos rather than packing completely fresh items.  If I'm packing these at night, I really don't want to add more dishes for us to do.  That would defeat the purpose. 

Sundays in our house are family nights.  While we always eat together, on Sundays we play games and spend the whole evening together as well.  As a result, this bento was a group effort.  DD sliced chicken, DH did dishes and put away leftovers as we went.  It is not an artistic triumph but I think we had fun as a family. :)

Layer 2: By now this should look familiar.  We roasted a whole chicken last night and so I took the juice and tossed it with some onion in the ramen noodles.  I topped that with half a chicken breast.  On the side is some broccoli, carrots, and cauliflower. 

Last night's dinner menu was:

It was reincarnated to some extent here.  I used leftover chicken and then cooked ramen and veggies in the steamer I had used for the broccoli.  It was a microwave steamer that served well as a bowl and strainer for the ramen.  - No extra dishes here.

I sliced the tomato and cucumber onto a plate (because it was smaller than the cutting boards).  This was the only extra dish I made last night - aside from a knife and a spoon.

Time constraints:  By packing the bento last night, I used the normal time it would have taken to put away leftovers to make the bento as well.  So, there really wasn't much of a time investment here.  And the best part was this morning I got to sleep in until 5:30!

This is a single tiered bento box for DD.  She was rushed yesterday morning and needed something simple and easy.  So, here we have it!  One tier meant that I could get her out the door quickly this morning and give her a fairly healthy lunch nonetheless.  There are no snacks to accompany this meal, but that's OK because the portions are rather large.

This is the ultimate 5 minute bento.  There's ramen noodles on the bottom of this bento that I've tossed with some butter and Parmesan cheese.  On top of that I layered snow peas, carrot, cauliflower, and dried cranberries tossed in a little butter.  Then I added some sliced chicken.  It's a rather "no frills" meal that still gets the job done. 

First thing I did was boil water.  While the kettle was heating, I took some ramen and put it into a bowl with a colander already in place.  I poured the boiling water over the ramen and let sit for 3 minutes or so. 

While the ramen was cooking, I pulled the veggies together and cooked them.  I also threw a roasted chicken breast into the microwave for a quick reheat. 

I then began layering items into the bento.  By the time I'd tossed the ramen with butter and parm, the veggies were cool and I loaded them into the bento next.  Last thing to do: slice the chicken and put that in as well. 

I left the bento box open while I poured a cup of coffee and made some breakfast.  By the time the family sat down to eat, lunch was completely cooled and in lunch boxes for the day.

What did DH have for lunch?  Well, his wasn't this pretty looking.  I had some leftover tilapia from the night before that I'd preloaded into a bento box with a little rice.  It was very monochromatic and ugly - even when I added some of the veggies I made for DD.  Oh well!  They can't all be winners.

What was the lesson learned from this?  I am definitely a make the bento the night before kinda girl.  That's what I'm going to try to do next week.  After dinner, I'll assemble the bentos for the next day and see if that goes any more smoothly.

Wow!  Getting up early is rather painful.  The second day was harder than the first and thus my bento is rather sad.  I could have done more - if I had packed it the night before.  I really need to start doing that because early morning bento making is just too hard.

My goal today was to create a meatless bento that would be filling and easy to eat.  DD eats twice in her day: layer 1 around 10 am and layer 2 around 1 pm.  This grazing means that I wanted a carbohydrate on both layers - a little tricky.

Layer 2:  This is a main course of leek quiche, sliced potato with herbs, and a cucumber and tomato salad.  The quiche could also make a nice breakfast.  You could make it in advance and reheat in the morning for a quick meal.  - Hmm . . .  Yummy idea! :)

Yesterday was DD's first day of her senior year.  Getting up at 5 am was hard and I didn't pack her bento until the morning, so this project was completed while I was half asleep and caffeine free.  It's a pretty simple meal.  We'd had Subway sandwiches over the weekend and I used the leftovers here.  She had gone out to lunch with her boyfriend and brought home some chicken tenders.  I used those leftovers too.  :) 

You will notice that there is little dessert and a lot of protein here.  DD has a job for the school year and will be on campus from 7am to 6pm every day.  I wanted to make sure she had enough to eat and protein fills you up more than sweets ever will.

I'm sorry that I haven't been posting in the last 4 days or so.  DH didn't have training on Friday, yesterday was Labor Day, and today is the first day of school.  So, as you can imagine, we spent the weekend as a family, just hanging out.  There were no bentos needed - well, except for last night.

We decided to have a picnic in a local park last night, hang out, and play games.  It was a nice way to end our weekend and begin the school year.  We had planned to pick fresh veggies and fruit at a local farm as well but it was closed for the holiday.  It's too bad because in order to go again with DH and DD, they'd have to take time off from school and that's not going to happen.

So, last night's bento was a dinner bento.  I used some neat containers I picked up at Albertsons years ago.  I thought they were for veggies and dip until I saw another site where someone used them as bento.  It's a great idea because the little cups allow you to serve each person.  The meal contains things you've seen before - not that exciting.  But, this bento was a family project.  Everyone helped to make it.

We packed a lot of food here because DH enjoys a solid dinner and everyone had been running around all day.  We finished it all too.  :)  There are mozzarella caprese skewers with balsamic vinaigrette, veggies and dip (DH's responsibility - he didn't think they were very pretty) and pasta with roast chicken.  DD made the caprese skewers, I did the chicken and pasta. 

And I didn't mention dessert.  Give the size of the meal, we packed a very small sweet.  It's just enough for a taste really.  But, it's yummy nonetheless.  In the middle of the bento, there's chocolate cake cut into little cubes and topped with frozen strawberries.  DD had made the chocolate cake the day before.

What did it look like when we got to the park?  Packing for density does have an advantage - nothing moves around much and the meal looked just as good as it did in my kitchen.
Dinner was packed into a shopping bag along with three small bottles of soda, a table cloth, silverware, napkins, and two games.  The only major change in the bento is that when the strawberries defrosted, the juice melted into the chocolate cake.  I think you'll agree that this was a yummy change.

How did I serve the food given that there were 3 people on the picnic and there are only two containers of chicken and pasta?  Well . . .  I had already placed a little pasta underneath the chicken.  I pulled out a portion of chicken, added some more of the pasta and then topped the original pasta container with chicken.  So, DH got a whole container of chicken and almost a whole container of pasta while DD and I shared the other.  DD stole a little more pasta from DH toward the end of the meal.

Here's the family at the park.

DH surprised me by coming home for dinner last night.  We got to spend a lovely evening together and he brought me flowers!  Does it get any better?  Nope.  :)  But that does leave him with an already made bento and nothing to talk about this morning.  Am I sad, no.  He's a sweetie!

So what can I talk about today?  Well . . .   how about the most important meal of the day?  Do you wonder what I serve for breakfast in my house?  That's our topic.

This is only Greek yogurt and fresh fruit.  What makes it so "bento"?  Well, you could pack it into a bento easily (a smaller bento than I use for lunch).  You could also set it up in advance and cover with plastic wrap.  But, the part I like is that it is deliberately pretty (if I do say so myself).  It took just moments to slice the fruit and arrange it nicely - and I made 2 of these this morning. 

It's also a whole lot healthier than Eggo Waffles, a breakfast sandwich, or cereal.  The Greek yogurt is packed full of protein and calcium.  Fruit always goes down easily. 

Well, that's all I've got this morning.  I hope you have a wonderful day! 

What did I order last night?  If DH ordered artery spackle, then what would I call my meal?  Insipid steak, potatoes, and overcooked veggies.  Applebee's didn't do well last night with my meal but I remade its leftovers into something a bit more flavorful.  It's DH's dinner, since he's going to be at school and isn't coming home until after the "festivities" are over.

First course: a mushroom cap stuffed with herb dip, carrots and bell peppers for dipping.  Dessert: fruit (after lunch he's going to need the nutrients) orange slices, grapes, and of course, chocolate.

Main course:  Steak (leftover from my dinner), roasted tomatoes stuffed with panko breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese, and herbs, and one small potato topped with herbs.  I guarantee that it tastes better than what I was served last night because it's seasoned with rosemary, garlic, salt, pepper, and onion powder. 

The end result: a dinner that is much, much healthier than lunch. 

My darling husband took us out to dinner last night.  Our daughter had been baking in the kitchen all afternoon and simple seemed best, so off to Applebee's we went.  Today's lunch bento is the leftovers of DH's artery spackle appetizer platter with added veggies.  Yes, folks, he ate deep fried everything and tells me that he was sure to eat the celery that came along with it (as if that makes the dinner selection healthy).  LOL  I want the junk out of the house and today is a good day to do it since he's going to be at school all day and most of the evening.  Tonight is "Back to School Night" and I suppose a little deep fried food may give him the fortitude to get through it.  Boy am I glad we don't eat this way often!

So, as you can see, I can't claim ownership of anything but the veggies.  He's got a bacon cheeseburger slider, a single boneless wing, ranch dip, and celery, carrots, tomatoes, and yellow pepper.  None of it is good for you because even the veggies have ranch dip - just in case there wasn't enough fat in this meal as it was. 

I guess it could be worse: he could be eating fast food for lunch every day!

My daughter is going on a picnic with her boyfriend tomorrow and wanted me to pack her a special bento lunch.  It's actually quite touching that she asked since she's 17 and could certainly have packed something herself.  I think she wanted to see what I would do.  :)  Since she's leaving the house before 8 am, I wanted to make sure it was done early, so here it is - 12 hours ahead of schedule!

This is a single layer bento meant to be shared.  I could have made two separate bentos but that just didn't make sense.  There's a lot of food here and only one container for my daughter to worry about bringing home. 

On the left we have piccolini pasta tossed with butter, olive oil, rosemary, garlic, salt and pepper.  To that I added carrots, zucchini, tomatoes, and yellow pepper.  I put a terrine de volaille on top as the protein.  Then I added more tomatoes, yellow peppers and chives.  I decorated it with two hearts cut from red peppers and sprinkled on some Parmesan cheese.

On the right is dessert: two mini cupcakes (yellow cake) topped with a chocolate ganache and some frozen strawberries.

Here's the recipe for the turkey terrine I made tonight.  By the way, this was dinner and I put the leftovers into my daughter's bento.  I actually made 3 lbs of turkey and will be making mini meatballs with the rest and freezing them for later lunches.

Ingredients:
1 lb of ground turkey or chicken  (I like to buy some white meat and dark meat and blend them.)
0.25 lb of ground pork (This can be omitted - I didn't put it in today.)
1 egg
1 shallot
1 onion
0.5 cups of white wine, sherry, or cognac
thyme, parsley, salt, pepper

Finely dice the onion and put it in a bowl with the turkey and pork. Add the egg, white wine, and herbs &spices. Combine like meatloaf. But into a loaf pan and bake at 400 for 25 minutes or until cooked through but still moist.

DH ate what I had intended for his lunch - yesterday as a snack!  Crappola!  What do I make this morning?!?!  We had gone away for the weekend and I didn't go grocery shopping.  Desperate times call for desperate measures!  A horrible discovery of cucumbers that had spoiled while we were away didn't help.  Crisis!  Should I tell him to order pizza or go out to lunch???  No . . . if we're spending money eating out, I'm going to enjoy it . . . darn it!

I'm tired this morning and I woke up with a headache.  As a result, I was a little more frustrated with this bento than I really should have been.  It is almost entirely made of leftovers.  The only thing I cooked this morning was some ramen.  To be sure, I dilly-dallied with it a bit.  I was slow and didn't have much of a plan.  Nonetheless, I think it turned out rather well. 

As you can see, we are back to the larger bento because DH snacked quite a lot yesterday.  To be honest, he was a bit of a piglet. This is the healthier option - a large lunch rather than a small lunch followed by a snack of burger, roll up, cheese, and later a full dinner including ice cream for dessert.  I think I'll spend less on groceries if I pack him the larger bento. :)   It's rather cute - he's looking ashamed of himself as I type this.

As promised, I'm using two differently shaped bento boxes today. 

I've been a little unwell and haven't posted for a couple of days.  Sorry about that folks!  But, rest assured that I am feeling better and ready to go.  So back to our regularly scheduled programming . . .

The tried and true American favorite lunch food, the sandwich, is a rather bland and boring creature.  And yet, we all eat them.  For school children and adults alike, they are the go to lunch, thrust into a brown bag or perhaps a used plastic shopping bag, further encase in a plastic sandwich baggie and by the time lunch hits, relatively uninspired. Sure we can go to Subway or Quiznos and get a massive hoagie with chips and a drink but it is still an inelegant lunch bereft of character and excitement.  It is still wrapped in paper, shunted into a baggie, and no matter how many sauces we add, is still a sandwich.  In Japan (as here in the States) they have cute little cutters designed to cut children's sandwiches into interesting shapes and make them more appealing.  But what about changing up the inside?  Well, that was the mission today - a pretty bento containing a sandwich with an a-typical filling.  Here it goes!

• homemade fries (oven baked with only a little Pam, salt, pepper, and garlic)
• a salad of cucumber slices, tomatoes, and a red wine vinaigrette.

• herbs - anything you like together  (Here I have cilantro, chives, sage, dill, and parsley.)
• salt, pepper, garlic, and ginger to taste
• lime juice

Blend the whole thing until smooth (a food processor is your best bet here).  I make this in advance and use it as a veggie dip, sandwich filler, salad dressing (just add a little more acid - lime juice, lemon juice, vinegar), or even a filling for roasted mushrooms and the like.  But, remember don't eat a lot at once.  It's still basically artery spackle - and not a health food (no matter how many herbs you put into it).  :)