A Break from Liquid Lunch

I know I've been away for a while. School elections have basically taken over my life and my idea of lunch lately has been a smoothie from a place by my school. However, I do have tomorrow's bento here for you. In the green divider are butterfly crackers, bonbel cheese with flowers cut in the front, and two pepperoni roses. In the orange divider there are cucumber and cherry tomatoes. I have canned peaches in the blue divider, and some raspberry fig newtons and half a stroopwafel in the pink divider.

Spring Ahead

So the clock has sprung ahead, and so has the semester. For the long absence, I apologize. However, it's officially post-spring break and the bentos are flowing once again. Due to illness and impatience this one's a bit hurried, but the idea is there, just imagine it's nice to look at. So I have a lettuce bowl, with turkey rolls inside. A muffin tin full of peanuts, chocolates, and a lychee bub bub candy. Finally there's some cottage cheese and sliced pineapple which will go quite nicely together I imagine.

Snack Bento

So, all of my Bentos thus far have been reasonably healthy. This is the very first that is made up almost entirely of junk food. I have a 4 hour bus ride tomorrow from school to home for spring break and decided that I needed something fun to take along. I have milk pocky, broken up winter pocky, chocolate mushrooms, strawberry and kiwi high chew gummies, fizzing lychee bub bub candies, dunkaroos, and salted peanuts. And then, just in case I'm not in a sugar coma yet, I'm taking two apples along for a little fructose. There's another pic behind the cut with my two apples.

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Odds and Ends

With Spring Break coming up I am, once again, getting low on supplies. The nice thing about Bento is that odds and ends can be used without any problem. In the blue divider I have humus with paprika on top, and tortilla next to it. In the orange divider there's sectioned dates, celery, and carrots. In the pink divider is sliced kiwi. Finally in the green divider there are a couple of different things, pepperoni in the cupcake tin, peanuts to the left of the tin and dunkaroos to the right. For anyone who hasn't heard of dunkaroos they are little cookies with frosting (the frosting's that strange blue nub sticking up). In the corner, with the silverware I was even able to fit a lychee flavored bub bub candy.

Brisket and Flowers

Here is another bento with my very first attempt at a tomato rose. I hadn't realized how delicate it was, but I'm not too disappointed with my first attempt. Under the rose is raw broccoli and some baby spinach for leaves and a stem. I have a brisket sandwich, kiwi flowers, blood orange slices, fig newtons, and broken up pocky, milk and crush.

Butterflies

I apologize for my long absence. Stress and midterms have been keeping me from making lunches worthy of posting. However, in spite of the insanity that has taken over my schedule here is a bento I'm rather proud of. I've got pepperoni, baby carrots, and bonbel cheese. The nice thing about bonbel cheese is that if you draw a design on the wax and then cut over those lines with a knife you can create some great patterns. I stuck with the butterfly theme. I put in butterfly crackers, raw broccoli and cherry tomatoes some ranch dressing in a packet tucked between the dividers. Then I've got a sliced kiwi, sectioned dates, and some trail mix I whipped up. For the trail mix recipe just take a peak behind the cut.

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Ingredients:
Milk Pocky
Salted Peanuts
Chocolate Mushrooms
Craisins

Instructions:
Cut the milk pocky into small bite sized pieces. Mix all ingredients. This picture is without the craisins. I would have loved to throw them in if I'd had them in the house.

Cute Lunch

There's a scoop of tuna salad. On top of that is a round piece of American Cheese with black sesame seed eyes and strawberry lips. There are also some extra cheese triangles. I made ribbons out of whole wheat tortillas. I also have strawberries, peanuts and chocolate mushrooms. In addition I have celery and carrots, blood orange slices and a heart shaped piece of starfruit.

Tupperware

I decided to play with some Tupperware this morning rather than going for the same old sectioned lunch box I've been using. I have tuna salad garnished with paprika, butterfly crackers, with two chocolate turtles slid into the empty space, a cut up apple, a cut up kiwi, three kumquats, and some peanut butter in a muffin tin.

Eh-eh Lunch

I admit, I feel a little eh-eh about this lunch. It's fairly uninspired. However, I figured I'd share it with you anyway for anyone out there like me who is hungry for bento photos good and bad. I have an apple with peanut butter in the muffin tin, two chocolate turtles and a fruit by the foot, a cheese sandwich, and baby spinach with some lemon juice. It's a pretty American lunch.

At this point I'll share with you the fact that I'm lactose intolerant, I'll stick some tips for others out there who have issues with dairy behind the cut.

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I find that my difficulty with dairy can make packing lunch a challenge sometimes. I'll want to bring one thing but my condition will mandate that I find another way or spend a ton of time sick. Here are some alternatives for other lactose intolerant people.

1. Find other yellows and oranges to bring color and life to your bento: lemons, bananas, oranges, carrots, squash, and others.
2. Find a creative way to pack a lactaid pill. Some are sold in packaging that allows them to be broken into single serving pills easily. They can be stuck between dividers or put in condiment cases.
3. Dry cheeses are generally safer than moist cheeses that haven't been aged.
4. Substitute margarine for butter, this is also a healthier alternative.
5. Some soy products can be stored out of refrigeration until opened and can be a nice safe addition to a meal.

Leftovers

Tomorrow I've got mashed sweet potato, leftover stir fry, star fruit, cut up strawberries, and chocolate.

Fruity Lunch

I know it's been a while considering the holiday, however, I present to you a homemade lunch with food I actually cooked and some nice fresh fruit. In the orange divider I have a stir fry. I'll list the details behind the cut. I have a sliced up blood orange with a sectioned strawberry in the green. In the blue are strawberries and two truffles, the first of many that will be making an appearance due to all the post-Valentine's Day sales. Finally I have some nice plain soba noodles with black sesame seeds as garnish. For more information on the stir fry feel free to take a look behind the cut.

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General Stir Fry

Ingredients:
Snow Peas
Baby Carrots
Baby Corn
Bok Choy
Water Chestnuts
Stir Fry Sauce
Salt
White Pepper
Wok

Instructions:
Boil water, once boiling put carrots in water. Boil until soft. Place all vegetables in wok and pour in enough stir fry sauce to lightly line the bottom of the wok and coat the vegetables. Turn on medium heat and mix continuously until vegetables are cooked. Add salt and white pepper to taste.

Meat, Shrimp, Poultry, Tofu or Shiitake Mushrooms may be added if desired.

Simple Wednesday Lunch

This one's pretty basic and straight forward. Yet, since it's healthy and took no time at all I decided to post it anyway. So as for the contents, that's a peanut butter and honey sandwich. I cut off the crusts to make it fit. There's organic apple sauce with kiwi beside it. I have a some cucumber slices and baby carrots in the pink divider, some organic Caesar dressing in the little blue condiment cup, and alongside that I have raspberry fig newtons and a cola flavored candy.

Confetti Lunch

Here is a lunch that looks like it was scattered with confetti. I've got some nice apple slices, with kiwi, and organic frozen blackberries. Then I've got some white rice with furikake. Another leftover cupcake my friend made me. Finally, something quick I whipped up: canned beans, with turkey, oregano, minced onion, garlic salt, a little pepper, and cheese.

Post Birthday Bento

So February 8th is my 21st birthday. That cupcake is an awesome leftover from the party. In addition to that I have some kiwi and apples, cucumber with Caesar dressing, and white rice with shish kabobs. The shish kabobs have Swedish meatballs, tomato, onions, and a Jack Daniels honey brown sugar glaze.

Speedy Lunch

I attempted tea eggs, and failed miserably, hence the salad that's in my box. I will however, try to make tea eggs again and when they are a success I will be sure to post pictures.

But regardless of that I do have a lunch for show. There is a chicken breast sandwich with mustard and lettuce, a salad of baby spinach, tomato, and cucumber, organic apple sauce with some cinnamon on top, gummies, and in the condiment cup some ketchup for the sandwich.

First February Bento

So here it is, my first Bento for the month of February. There are some baby carrots and celery sticks in the orange divider. I cut a tortilla wrap into strips and folded it to make that ribbon pattern, and on the side of that is some humus. The fruit for this one I'm particularly excited about. It's blood orange slices and starfruit. Finally I have a strange take on worms in the dirt. In the side on top of my silverware is a mini fruit roll up. It's perfectly Bento sized.

For more info on an improvised worms in the dirt and an up close of my funky fruit slices click below.

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So I had this great bag of half finished gummy worms and one empty section left in my bento box. Here's the only problem. I had no pudding and no cookies. That would ordinarily kill the worms in the dirt idea. However I did have half of a mint three musketeers lying around and some ghirardelli squares. So I cut up the three musketeers, the only thing is for anyone who has tried the mint kind, the inside is white. So I cut up a couple of ghirardelli squares into chunks and sprinkled it on top of my gummies and three musketeers. So here is a worms in the dirt alternative for anyone who isn't fond of pudding or can't afford to put anything too moist in their bento box.

Sandwich Sushi

There will be more interesting bentos after my weekend grocery shopping, I swear! I'm out of pretty much everything. I must admit however, that I was quite pleased with my sandwich sushi. It contains turkey, shredded cheddar jack cheese and spinach. I've got some sliced baby carrots in with my sandwich sushi. I have some sliced tomatoes in lettuce. I also have some homemade cinnamon chips. I'd run out of almost all my fruit so that purple stuff is blueberry oatmeal (which wasn't nearly as good cold as it had been hot, will definitely not do that again).

Leftovers

This is a totally lazy bento. I've stuck in some left over chicken breast that I cubed and put some black sesame seeds on top of inside a lettuce leaf. The orange divider has a mixture of soba noodles with baby spinach, mushrooms, sesame oil, extra virgin olive oil, and some soy sauce topped with toasted white sesame seeds. There's a kiwi flower and apple cubes in the blue divider. Then I have some skittles and milk duds in the pink divider. Finally I threw a little extra soy sauce in the blue condiment cup for dipping.

Frogs and Food Coloring

I'm rather pleased with this one. I had a pretty good time with food coloring here. In the orange divider are two onigiri with salmon inside. The rice is dyed green, there are little black sesame seeds along the edges and the nori in the center is frog shaped. The green divider has a salad topped with some more salmon, mixed with a little red food coloring to make it pinker. Then there's some fruit salad, pretty basic: apples, kiwi, and blueberries. Finally some strawberry and kiwi gummies.

A nice closeup of the onigiri behind the cut:

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Stars

There are certain times when I can have a pretty good idea in advance that it's going to be an aggravating day. I usually try on such occasions to give myself something to look forward to. Last semester it was breakfast at Dunkin Donuts. This semester it seems it's going to be special lunches. So with that said, here is my special lunch. I somehow wound up with a star theme along the way here.

In the big orange divider I've got a spinach salad. It's got tomatoes, raw mushrooms, cucumber, and (obviously) spinach. The white thing slipped between the large dividers is a packet of dressing. In the green divider I have a nice thick layer of rice with furikake and sesame seeds. On top of that's some sliced chicken; the green stars are nori. In the pink divider is a fruit salad with star shaped kiwi, star shaped apple, blueberries, and mini green stars out of the apple skin. The blue divider contains a lemon poppy seed muffin. Finally in between the green and pink divider that brown package is a little piece of chocolate.

There are some additional pictures behind the cut, as well as some information on the tools used to create those fun stars.

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The little mini stars that are cut in the nori and apple skin are made using a punch. They are technically made to cut paper, but they do a great job on anything thin. They come in many different shapes and can be purchased at arts and crafts stores.



The apple and kiwi stars are made using a cookie cutter. The trick is getting a cookie cutter that's small enough to cut something smaller like fruit. You'll also want something small enough to fit in your bento box. The cookie cutters I use are plastic but I would suggest metal. They tend to cut things more cleanly.

Dilemma Lunch

I know it might sound odd that something as simple and mundane as packing lunch might present a dilemma. However, for me this evening as I went to pack the lunch I'd half planned I found myself frozen in front of the fridge. I'd cooked dinner with the intent of packing the leftovers as lunch. However, I'd decided that I wanted something light and refreshing as I should have time tomorrow morning for a decent breakfast. What I'd made for dinner was burgers and homemade french fries, not exactly a light dish.

So here's the compromise I've found. Instead of packing something heavy like rice or something in a sauce instead I packed a large fruit salad with kiwi, blueberries, and apple bunnies. In between the larger dividers I slipped a prepackaged slice of cheddar cheese. I packed the burger, but instead of a bun to accompany it I packed cucumber. I went easy on the cookies (They're Hello Panda cookies by the way, and absolutely delicious. I'd highly recommend them). The condiment container has some organic ketchup, and I packed my homemade bento-sized fries. For the simple french fry recipe click the link below.

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This recipe is unbelievably simple and convenient for days when you don't have a lot of time to prepare for lunch.

Ingredients:
Vegetable Oil
Raw Potato
Ground White Pepper
Kosher Salt
Sharp knife
Nonstick pan

Cut the potato into whatever shapes you like. For the purposes of this lunch I cut the potato in half before making it fry shaped as I knew that the divider I would be putting it in couldn't accommodate long fries. The only thing to keep in mind is that thick pieces won't cook all the way through. Keeping it thin is best. Put the vegetable oil in your pan and set on medium heat. Once the oil is hot fry the raw potato on the pan turning once it turns a golden brown on the first side. When the fries are done to your liking take them off the pan and put them on a plate with paper towel laid out on it. Dry the fries and sprinkle lightly with ground white pepper and kosher salt.

Sushi and Sweets

Contained within tomorrow's lunch is some homemade sushi with crabstick and cucumber in the green and orange dividers, packed in with sugar snap peas and baby carrots. The pink divider contains blueberries, and in the little blue condiment holder is some ranch dressing for the peas and carrots. Finally the light blue divider has some unusual sweets. To get some more info just click on the cut below.

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Here are some great unusal treats for anyone with a sweet tooth. First the pink box are Kancho from the Lotte company. These sweets are little biscuits with chocolate cream inside. Each one has a design stamped on the front of the cookie. The individually wrapped candies below are all hard candies in various flavors. The green is melon flavored, the pink lichi flavored, the blue is cider flavored, and the red is cola flavored (my personal favorite).

Puppy and Chicken *

In the orange divider are sugar snap peas, carrots, and chicken stir fried in a mixture of teriyaki and oyster sauce. In the green divider are three dog shaped rice balls with stars for the eyes and noses. In the blue divider there is some sliced kiwi, and in the pink divider there's a broken up almond cookie. In addition I have a nice water bottle full of cranberry grape juice (not included in the picture)

* No actual canines were harmed in the making of this lunch.