All posts tagged: lunch

Under The Sea Bento

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I put this one together last night, I made dinner and her bento at the same time. Nothing too crazy here, sautéed shrimp, boiled mini sausages, corn, rice, and fruits. I added organic, no chemicals (or anything weird) added food dye to the rice to make it blue. I found that all the stirring required to spread out evenly the blue made the rice extra sticky (even though I took care not to smash the rice). I don’t know how I feel about that, I might try just adding it to the water when cooking the rice next time. No real recipe this time. Just sharing the cute little fishies and showing off baby A.’s new bento box (a yumbox).

Friday Easy Bento

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After yesterday’s very labor intensive bento, I just wanted a very easy lunch that I could throw together in the morning with minimal fuss. Therefore today baby A. got an easy sandwich bento. The sandwich is made of brioche bread, home made hummus, ham and lettuce. I used a cutter to turn into a cute little piggie. As a side I made mini sausage “octopi” and just threw some berries in the container and called it a day. The hummus is what took the longest out of everything, and I threw that together fairly quickly the night before. I found these cute little cans of chickpeas that are perfect for making a smaller portion of hummus. I also made a very simple recipe since it was for a five year old, here it is: – 1 8oz can of garbanzo beans – 2 Tbsp of tahini – 2 garlic cloves – The juice of half a lemon – 1 green onion – salt and pepper Blend all of the above in a food processor, add …

Sunflower Bento

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The things we do for our children!! So yesterday, after a full day of work and a workout I headed to the kitchen to cook dinner. I knew today baby A. was heading back to class and I had sort of planned a bento in my head. After cooking the components, which were fairly easy, all I had to do was assemble it. I debated whether or not to wait until very early this morning to put it all together like I did last time, but decided I would just go ahead and leave it ready. After we finished dinner I went back into the kitchen and what proceeded was a two hour bento assembly. I had to cut each little petal by hand, then set it all so it would look like a sunflower. Then I had the great idea of making a cherry tomato stuffed with a creamy cheese filling which I had dyed blue, just to have baby A. try it and say she didn’t like it -_- so that got scrapped …

First Day of School Character Bento

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Today our eldest goes to school for the first time ever. We are excited but also a little  nervous, since a whole new stage of our life just started today. To commemorate such an occasion I decided to get back to writing in this blog, even more since I made this cute little character bento (kyaraben) for her first lunch at school. While it required a little assembly, it was a very easy lunch to put together and can be prepared the night before, so the next day is just the assembly. Components: Hard-boiled egg turned into a hatching chick (I followed this tutorial from HGTV). Sliced strawberries. Cherry tomato. Ham flower (bend ham slice in half, make several cuts around folded edge, and roll until it looks like a flower. I thought this was a great explanation on how to do it, but my husband says that after reading it he still does not know how to make it -_-, so here is a great tutorial from Just One Cook Book). Soy sauce noodles: …

Curried Chickpea Wraps

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This is one of the easiest, yummiest lunch or dinners you can put together. It is a vegan recipe, however it is extreme filling and satisfying. I recommend you save this recipe for a really busy night. You know, one of those when you get home late, and dump all your things on the floor, and just stand there with a glassed look in your eyes, starring at the kitchen and thinking of ways of setting it on fire so that you don’t have to cook, but opting not to since it would be too much work in the first place… Or is that just me? Regardless of this is the perfect meal for one of those nights. Very little effort, big rewards. Curried Chickpea Wraps Ingredients 1 can chickpeas rinsed and drained 1 Tbsp curry seasoning (several options out there, just choose your favorite) 1 tsp cumin salt & pepper to taste 1 tsp minced garlic 1 Tbsp sesame oil 1/4 cup coconut milk Spinach or any other leafy green Pita bread or Naan …

St. Patrick’s Day Extravaganza — Nutty Soda Bread

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Soda bread is a great thing, because it is so incredibly low maintenance. It does not require yeast, which can take quite a bit of work to prepare. You can literally mix the ingredients together, throw it in the oven and fuggetaboutit! Which allows you to have fresh, homemade bread at dinner without spending ten hours kneading, letting it rise and such. Soda bread is also extremely versatile. You like sweet bread? add more sugar, or honey, and raisins. You like herbs? Add rosemary or thyme. Like nuts? Add whichever one you like. The bottom line is that soda bread is very forgiving, which gives you room to experiment without it turning into a disaster. I particularly like walnuts, and thought that they would be great in soda bread. Well, they are! Here is the recipe — Ingredients: -2 cups whole wheat flour -2 cups self rising flour -1 1/2 tsp salt -1 tsp baking soda -1 tsp baking powder -3 Tbsp sugar -3 Tbsp honey -1/3 cup melted butter -1 cup buttermilk -1 egg …

St. Patrick’s Day Extravaganza — Colcannon

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I love St. Patrick’s Day! It is a day we get to celebrate the culture of another country… and by culture I mean FOOD. Glorious corned beef, soda bread, potatoes, good beers, and whiskey… It brings a tear to me eye! Therefore I have decided that for the next couple of days I will give you some of my best Irish food recipes. The objective is to have a full Irish food spread by the end of this series, so you can impress your loved ones this weekend with your culinary know how of Irish cuisine! We will start with an Irish staple; the potato. Just like the Hispanics and Asians have the rice, the Irish have the potato. A gloriously versatile and delicious tuber that truly does not mind taking the backstage to other ingredients, or being the star of the show, and today it is the star! I could have made a simple mash, but why be boring? Mashed potatoes is something we are ALL familiar with. So for today’s recipe I went with …

Bento Series #14 — Healthy Joes

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I love sloppy joes. They are a no frills, delicious food that is pretty fun to eat since the whole purpose of it is to get sloppy with it 😉 Another huge benefit of it is that you can hide any veggie you want in it. Have a picky eater, such as a child or a husband? Then don’t fret, you can hide a lot of goodness in here and your fussy eater will never find out, neither will your child. This recipe in particular has a lot of vegetables so I renamed it “Healthy Joe.” Bento Components Healthy Joe Strawberries Tamagoyaki Healthy Joe — -1 package ground beef -3 carrots shredded or grated -1/2 zucchini diced -1/2 onion diced -1 small squash diced -1/2 red bell pepper diced -2 garlic cloves minced -1 cup ketchup -1 cup tomato sauce -1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce -1 dash hot sauce -1 Tbsp lemon juice -1 Tbsp brown sugar -1 tsp garlic powder -1 tsp onion powder -1 tsp cumin -salt and pepper to taste In a pan add …

Bento Series #13 — Potato Chip “Fried” Chicken

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This bento is a little bit mysterious… a little tricky… The reason being that potato chips are unhealthy, and fried chicken is unhealthy… but this meal is still super healthy. How did I manage to pull that magic trick? Let me explain. First off it is oven “fried”, second of all the oil used is coconut oil, which we all know is the cure for all ailments in the world O_O. The last part of this magic trick is that I don’t actually use potato chips, I use potato starch flour which can be found at any Asian market. The amazingness of this “fried” chicken is that the potato starch makes it super crispy and adds a delicious potato chip flavor to the chicken. Nevertheless if you can not find potato starch then you can use panko or flour instead. Healthifying (is that even a word o_O) a meal: 1- Always try to oven “fry” things when possible. A lot of the time you will get that delicious crunch without getting all the calories of …

Bento Series #12 — Salmon Fillet

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I am very proud of this bento, it is one of the prettiest I have made to date! Lets take a minute to admire my beautiful creation… admire… admire… admire it, I say! For all of its beauty it is actually pretty simple to make. Bento Components: Salmon Fillet Sushi Rice Fried Okra Baby Carrots Radish Flowers with Parsley Leaves Salmon Fillet– Ingredients: -salmon fillet (1 per person, seasoning per fillet add more if more than one fillet) -1/4 cup soy sauce -1 Tbsp sake (or white wine) -1 clove of garlic -1 tsp grated ginger -1 Tbsp olive oil -1 tsp sugar -salt and pepper to taste Mix all the ingredients in a resealable bag and place the fillet in it. Marinate the salmon for at least 30 minutes before cooking. In a frying pan saute the salmon with a little olive oil. Leave the skin on the fillet, cook the flesh side down for a minute, then skin side down for five minutes. Do not over cook, salmon can get pretty dry if …