For Father’s Day, I got bluefish one of these. For its maiden [lunch] voyage, I packed it with some refreshing summer fare – a pasta salad [just throw together, shrimp, chicken, rotini, olive oil mayo, celery salt/season all, peas & grated carrots] and avacado & cucumber rolls [with pickled ginger & soy sauce]. I think may have made bluefish’s co-workers jealous.
This is one of my favorite bento staples, as it’s both fresh and filling. I got the idea from the lovely ladies over at Laptop Lunches, but this is my variation on a theme. You can use tuna fish or chunk chicken, and I like to use olive oil mayonnaise. As for the cucumbers, pick out ones with a wide girth – it makes it easier to scoop bowls for filling. I cut pieces about 2 & 1/2 inches long and use a grapefruit spoon [a paring knife works, too] to hollow out the cuke, leaving the bottom in tact [note: if you're using an end piece, just cut a bit off the end so it has a base]. I also use the same batch of chicken salad to make a sandwich, as I’m usually feeding a grown man with this lunch.
As for the containers I use for bluefish bento, I have the New Wave Enviro Stainless Steel Food Container and the LunchBots Pico Stainless Steel Lunch Container, the latter fits two halves of a sandwich perfectly.
Last Monday, bluefish started a new job. You know what that means? [Besides the fact that I've had almost no time to post new entries.] You guessed it – I’ve started making bento lunches for both of my boys! This was my very first dual lunch spread:
For bluefish: Steak over rice with hard boiled egg [car-shaped] on greens and fresh avacado. For onefish: Steak over rice with boiled egg [bunny-shaped] on cheese and baby carrots. My guys seem to thrive when they load up on protein.
To make the steak extra tasty [they would both be eating in chilled, after all], I pan-fried good cuts of steak in canola oil [with a little salt and pepper]. Once it was done [just slightly pink in the middle], I sliced it right out of the pan and dipped each strip in a combination of soy sauce and walnut oil then laid it directly on the bed of rice. YUM.
… three times the fun.
[carrot flowers, avocado slices, herb roasted turkey, sliced apples and spiced apple muffin]
Because, sometimes, dessert needs its own bento box.
Not the b00bies. The bakeware. I love it. Silicone cups are wonderful for separating foods and flavors in bento boxes, but you can also use them to serve snacks [to the bitty ones or as mixed nut cups]. My favorite use for them, however, is actually, well… baking.
You cook at a lower temperature and for less time; saving energy and patience. And, you can bake healthy muffins in appealing wrapping. But the best part is that wrapping is recyclable! What’s not to love?
As I mentioned in my previous post, I put together a couple bento sets for my niece [starfish] and both of my sister-in-laws. I actually had my camera in hand when starfish opened her gifts, and I was glad because she really liked them!
The nori cutter is from my own humble bento gadget collection. The only reason I didn’t include a nori punch in the gift sets is, well… seaweed [even decorative happy face seaweed] sometimes scares people who aren’t used to Japanese cuisine. But, they are so cute! [A sad side note: all three of my bitty bento cutters have gone MIA. I'm sure they are somewhere tragically obvious. However, until I find them, I will have to hand cut my nori faces.]
In case you want to give the give of bento [to yourself or someone else] I’ve put together a list [with links] of ideas which includes some of my favorite things:
[affordable] bento boxes, travel utensils & bags [jbox]
kids [taining] chopsticks [jbox]
egg shapers & rice molds [daniel's house storefront]
Japanese citrus peeler [daniel's house storefront]
Small cookie [for meat & cheese] cutters [amazon]
cute bento systems [laptop lunches]
vegetable cutters [a fave of mine!] [happy japan]
nori [seaweed] cutters/punches [happy japan]
mini soy sauce bottles [bento crazy]
gel-cool bento boxes [i love obento]
I love bluefish. He works hard day in, day out and never expects meals to be made for him. However, I do enjoy feeding him and making things he likes to eat. So, it’s been a pleasure to see him devour almost everything I’ve made since I started this blog. One thing he loves [but doesn't make for himself because of his work schedule] is fresh cut vegetables. So, today I gave him some veggie flowers:
They were not hard to make. I just peeled and cut some carrot sticks, cut up some avocado for the “grass”, used my flower veggie cutter for the blossoms [Xan enjoyed some carrot blossoms today, as well!] and I served it with a side of sweet honey Catalina dressing. And, don’t worry about the leftover carrot being wasted. I enjoyed those pieces while I was fixing the snack!
I’ve been having so much fun with my vegetable cutters, I thought I’d try them on potatoes. They worked like a charm, so I also tried using some small bear and bunny cutters (a bit more challenging, as they were plastic). Then I preheated the oven to 450 degrees, sprayed a them (and the baking sheet) with some Pam, and then sprinkled the potatoes with the magic ingredient:
I cooked them for about 20 minutes, and then my fishees and I enjoyed fresh, hot, homemade spicy chip-fries:
Both of my kids snarfed them down. In fact, I had to give them to twofish one at a time or else she’d shove them all in at once! And, lest you think I was a tater-waster, bluefish and I enjoyed the “crusts”:
There are so many combinations you can make with these cutters. I have both “A” and “B” cutters so I can do big and little shapes of each (pictured below). The big cutters work on bananas like a charm – you hardly lose any banana in the shaping. I use Trader Joe’s dried fruit bars for the center flower (small flower cutter) and their honey roasted peanuts (half of one) for the very center. It’s like a peanut butter and banana and jelly sandwich! Without the bread, of course. If you (or your bitty one) is allergic to peanuts, you can use a candy button (or just about anything) for the center piece.
