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.
I’ve been looking around for small rolling suitcases, as I know my independent bitty fish would go nuts over them. However, cute + well-made = expensive. Today, I found what I’ve been looking for. These adorable American Tourister bags are normally $80 per set, but I found them on eBags through Amazon for $23 per set [and eBags has a free shipping promotion for any order over $25].
Twofish had been coveting her cousin starfish’s Ladybug suitcase, so I thought it would be a safe bet to get her the ladybird design. I let onefish pick out his bag design – I thought he’d pick the tiger, but he wanted the penguin! I guess he remembers Happy Feat fondly. I’m posting this with the thought that some of you might have bitty ones who would love these, as well.
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.
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.
Onefish’s lunch for tomorrow:
It has come to my attention that onefish gets way too distracted by preschool to eat more than a couple bites of his lunch. So, I put his favorite carbs (pretzels) and protein (Kraft slices) in the top layer and fruit (which he always gobbles up) int he bottom. As you may be able to see, the leftover cheese bits are padding under the pretty cut-outs.
Onefish is going to flip when he opens his new bento box tomorrow. Like so many three-year-old boys, there is nothing he loves more than trains. Planes land in third place, but only because “Harry Potter’s flying car” is firmly in the number two spot. In any case, I think he’s going to enjoy these turkey breast shapes (three layers on cheesy rice crackers, with nori accents and a pepperoni tower/station, riding on top of string cheese clouds/cobblestones) a great deal:
Though, after running around with his little friends all morning, he may be more excited about actually eating the second layer (halved grapes and orange slices) of his bento box:
And here’s his new Kamio Dreamy Friends frog bento box all ready to go:
I think I’m experiencing kawaii overload with these little boxes!
