Vegetarian Omelete Scramble Bentos

These are some quick Omelet bentos with vegetarian sausage patties and vegetarian bacon. The egg kept falling apart, so mine ended up a scramble instead of an omelet.... hence the title of the page. lol

This one is my fiance's omelet bento.

• Omelet (Mushroom, Spinach, Shredded Mexican Cheese, and Eggbeaters)
• Smart Bacon (vegetarian)
• Morningstar Sausage Patties (vegetarian)
• Ripe Juicy Strawberry

Mine was soooo full of vegetables the egg never stood a chance. No wonder it turned into a scramble instead of an omelet.

• Summer Vegetable Scramble (Eggbeaters, Spinach, Onions, Mushrooms, leftover grilled Zucchini and Summer Squash)
• Morningstar Sausage Patty
• Smart Bacon
• Grilled Cherry Tomatoes
• Strawberry

So I know this isn't pretty, and it wasn't very well executed, but I wanted to post another bento in June before it was too late. lol See you all in July!

Italian Vegetable Stir-Fry Bento

Garden Vegetable Chicken Sausage and Italian Vegetable Stir-Fry in this bento! I also got to try out my new 3 tiered Tiffin and one of my new baran (food separators). I also used some leaf picks because they are super cute!

This is for me and my fiance to share, that is why there are two tiers of the same dish. The super yummy stir fry and our sides. I didn't pack any vegetables as a side because there were so many in the main dish.

• Italian Vegetable stir-fry with Chicken Sausage
• Strawberries
• Blueberries
• Pineapple
• Watermelon
• Sunflower Seeds

This one is my Fiance's! It's made with Chicken Sausage, Chickpeas, Summer Squash, Zucchini, Eggplant, Mushrooms, Spinach, Onion, Carrots, and Red Peppers. It is SUPER yummy!

And here is mine! See how many colors are in it? If I left the skin on the eggplant then there would be purple mixed in as well. There are red peppers, orange carrots, yellow squash, green zucchini and spinach, and purple eggplant. I should call it Rainbow stir-fry!

Isn't the baran adorable? The package came with 4 different grasses and 4 different animals. My favorite is the pig because pigs are one of my favorite animals, and it's soooo cute! I also love this grass because it has the cutest little bee on it. I love honeybees as well. If you want to see all the others, check them out here.

Pizza Lunchable Bento

I made another lunchable bento, but this time it's a Pizza lunchable made with pita bread cut into wedges. I even made this lunchable with a side of fruit and a dessert like the prepackaged version you can buy at the store.

• Whole wheat pita
• Pizza sauce
• Low Fat Mozzarella cheese
• Pineapple chunks
• Blueberries
• Chocolate Graham crackers
• Fluff
• Mini Semi-sweet Chocolate chips

Even though this seems like such a childish lunch I really enjoyed eating it. For some reason I have been thinking about my childhood lately, and having this for lunch yesterday really brought back memories.

If your kid is always asking for those pre-packaged (high sodium and high calorie) lunches, this is a great idea instead. Plus it will save you a LOT of money too!
It's also great to have the ability to choose what goes into the lunch instead of having to get the one's with candy or sugary juice boxes.
This is also something you can pack the night before and leave in the refrigerator, and because it's so simple to make you could make it the before school too, because it's quick and easy. I do recommend putting the sauce and the cheese into small sealable containers if you are giving it to you kid to bring to school (or if you are bringing it to work) that way it won't mix around and become a huge mess before you have a chance to eat it. Also having a small spreader or a plastic spoon would be good for spreading the sauce onto the pita.
Happy Lunching!

Quick Snack/Lunch Bento

This was a bento I made for me and my fiance to share last Thursday when we were out running errands. It's basically a bunch of leftovers and leftover ideas tossed together into one snack/lunch bento thingy.

The Top round container is Black Bean Corn Salsa and there is a bag of Blue Corn Chips to go with it.
The Middle rectangle container is a quick cheese and cracker lunchable thingy with:

• Kashi Pita Crackers
• Laughing Cow Garlic and Herb Cheese wedge
• Lettuce
• Salami swirls
• Pepperoni Slices
• Mini Light Babybel with a heart cutout
• Heart shaped Apple smoked cheddar cheese

The Bottom rectangle container is a fruit salad that was left over from my birthday party, but I also added Blueberries and Pineapple to it.

Not very glamorous I know. It was really quick last minute throw together bento, and I was debating posting about it at all. But I decided to anyway. Enjoy!

Vegetarian Chik'N Nuggets Bento

So I have another Vegetarian Bento for you today. (surprise surprise lol) This one is made with Morningstar (quickly becoming one of my favorite brands) Chik'N Nuggets. I hadn't tried these yet, but I've had their Buffalo Wings as well as their Chik Patties, and I loved both of those, so I got the Nuggets this time.
And boy was I happy, they were delicious in this bento.

This is my fiance's bento, packed in one of my 2 tiered piggy bento boxes. It also features my famous Black Bean Corn Salsa! I love making (and eating) this salsa!

• Blue Corn Tortilla Chips
• Black Bean Corn Salsa
• Baby Carrots
• Cherry Tomatoes
• Celery
• Morningstar Chik'N Nuggets
• Small Container of Light Ranch Dressing

And here is my bento, packed in my other 2 tiered piggy bento box. This is the one that is shaped like the piggy face, but I was silly and forgot to put the covers in the pictures, so you don't actually get to see the cute piggies. But if you want to see what the containers look like check them out Here!

I have all the same things packed in my bento except I have a bit of Lettuce as well as BBQ sauce instead of ranch dressing.
Yummy! This was certainly one of my favorite bentos this year. It's funny though, I didn't like chicken nuggets too much as a kid. I loved chicken tenders (chicken fingers), but I didn't really like nuggets or patties at all. Maybe it was the texture or the fact that you couldn't tell what part of the meat was in it, but for some reason I LOVE these Vegetarian Chik'N Nuggets and patties soooo much. I love the texture and the flavor, and there is no problem with it being mystery meat.... because there is no meat at all. lol I guess I'm just silly like that.

Birthday Presents Bento Gear 3 of 3

This is the last post of the 3 birthday bento presents posts.
This bento I got from my sister Melissa. She and her fiance and her daughter gave me an awesome 3 tier Tiffin set with a carrier bag.

A Tiffin is basically the Indian version of a bento box and it means 'to take a little taste of'' it was used primarily for a small meal or snack in midday. This box is great for a 3 course meal or a picnic, and it's perfect for soups (the top unit is the best for liquids), salads, rice or noodle meals, desserts, or snacks for sharing. The sidekick container is perfect for salad dressings.

This is three tiers with latches to keep it tight together. You can take it as only the top tier or the whole three tiers. It also comes with a small covered sidekick container for dressings or small snacks.

• 3 Tier Stainless Steal
• The Top unit has a 2 cup capacity
• The Middle unit has a 2 cup capacity
• The Bottom unit has a 2 1/2 cup capacity
• The Sidekick container has a 1/2 cup capacity

 The carrying bag is beautiful too, and is a great addition to the Tiffin Set.

• Made of Recycled Cotton
• Helps insulate the 3 Tier Tiffin to keep food warm
• Has an Adjustable strap
• Semi-Hidden pocket to hold a utensil set (perfect for chopsticks!)

I am looking forward to using this bento in the Fall! I can't wait to pack soups and stews and other hearty dishes that are difficult to pack in a plastic bento box. And it will be great to pack and bring on a picnic after Apple Picking. I imagine sitting down under a beautiful tree with it's leaves changing colors, while a cool breeze blows and we are eating out freshly picked apples and a hearty stew with some crusty bread. MMM, that's going to be a lot of fun!
Thank you Melissa!

Birthday Presents Bento Gear 2 of 3

This is the second post out of three.
This is the snack bento box that my friend Gina gave me for my birthday. It is super cute!

I love the cute little animals on this box. There is a deer, a bunny, a bird, and a squirrel, as well as little blue flowers on the clear cover over a yellow square snack sized bento box. The packaging says it is called Happy Lunch Box.

• 320ml capacity
• Tight fitting liquid proof cover with snaps.
• Engrish... "Tomo Tomo Let's enjoy a time with me."

This is a super cute snack bento and I'm alreadu thinking of all the yummy snacks I'll pack in this bento box. Thank you Gina!!!

Birthday Presents Bento Gear 1 of 3

So I got lots of awesome bento gear for my birthday this year, so I decided I'd post it in three parts so I could thank each person individually, and so there wouldn't be a billion pictures and explanations all on one blog post.
This is all the awesome bento gear my friend Julie gave me for my birthday.

She really went overboard on the presents... but I'm not complaining! :) I love it all!!!
First up in the bento box...

This bento is called the Triangle Rice Ball Box and the package boasts that it can hold two regular convenience store rice balls. This will be awesome for packing onigiri for my fiance.

You place the onigiri on the black platform and carefully place the cover on top.

Under the black platform is an area where you can put the rest of your meal. Vegetables to help round out the meal and make it balanced.

• Upper compartment is 550 ml
• Lower compartment is 230ml

 This is the Lunchbox belt that holds the bento together so it doesn't open up in transit.

These are weiner shapers and picks for making shapes with mini hotdogs. It comes with:

•  A shaper that turns a mini cocktail frank into two tulip flowers and a butterfly.
• 2 flower stem picks
• 2 mini cutters to make confetti (heart and star)
• A pick to help push the food out of the cutters and the shaper, so nothing sticks too badly.

 These are silicone cups that are shaped to fit into all the difficult spots in a bento box. It has:

• 1 Orange semi circle cup
• 1 Pink rectangle cup
• 1 Blue long rectangle cup
• 1 Green square cup
• 2 (1 Pink 1 Orange) mini curved triangle cups

 This is an onigiri (Rice Ball) shaper. It makes two triangle onigiri. Perfect for the triangle  onigiri bento box.

These are super cute reusable food separators. They come with 8 fake grass sheets and 8 animals. The animals can slip onto the grass sheets or you can use them separately.

• 2 Light Green grass with White flowers and a Bee
• 2 Dark Green grass with Yellow flowers and a Ladybug
• 2 Light Green grass with Mushrooms and a Butterfly
• 2 Green grass with Strawberries and a Snail
• 2 Pig
• 2 Monkey
• 2 Panda Bear
• 2 Bear

 

Alphabet and Number food cutters. Perfect for cheese, deli meats, fondant, tortillas, etc. Comes with:

• ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ (capital letters)
• 0123456789 (numbers)
• ! (an exclamation point)

Thank you Julie for these wonderful bento goodies! I can't wait to use them!

Birthday Bento

So my 24th birthday was June 16th, and I wanted to make a bento to celebrate (Although I made this bento a few days before, because I had other plans on my birthday). I wanted to make a sandwich look like a cake, but I didn't have round cookie cutters, so I cut the bread to make it look like a slice of cake instead.

• Whole wheat bread
• Layer of Nutella
• Layer of Peanut Butter
• Another Layer of Nutella
• Fluff as the frosting (I warmed it in the microwave for a few seconds so it would be easy to spread and it would dry hard enough to touch without getting messy)
• Chocolate sprinkles

 It's easier to see the layers in this picture

No Birthday cake is complete without a candle

• Cake sandwich
• Strawberries
• Balloon Grapes
• Apple sauce in a present shaped silicone cup (with heart cinnamon)
• 24 Baby carrots (one for each year)
• Spinach (can't really see it)
• Hummus

Here you can see the present detail better, and the grapes and strawberries weren't cut off from the picture.

Happy Birthday!!!

Vegetarian Pita Pocket

One of the bentos I made this month was a small dinner consisting of a pita pocket sandwich and some sides. It was super delicious and very colorful, so I decided to add it to my blog. Sorry the picture is kind of dark/blurry. I like to use natural lighting in my pictures, so since this was dinner there wasn't as much light as I get for my breakfast and lunch pictures.

•  Whole Wheat Pita, Hummus, Spinach, Tomato, Cucumber, Carrot, Pickles
• Light Babybel Cheese with a heart cut out
• Grapes
• Pineapple Chunks
• Apple Sauce mixed with Cinnamon

This was a very delicious dinner. I have made this sandwich before, but I am unsure if I have posted it on the blog before. And I'm too lazy to look through and see for myself. lol

Snack Bentos

Here are two snack bentos I made this month. One is my favorite cereal snack, and the other is a fruit bento I made for my fiance to bring to work.
This cereal snack is the best snack in the world because it can be made a billion different ways. I prefer it to be a healthy snack though, made with whole grain cereals that are low in sugar, and preferably with as little preservatives as possible.

 This particular cereal snack consists of:

• 1/4 Cup Rice Chex
• 1/2 Cup Kix
• 1/2 Cup Fiber One (Original)
• 1/4 Cup Fruity Cheerios

I have been trying to cut back on the super sweet cereals that I used to eat, and I have been finding it easier to cut back on them and switch to better cereals for me by mixing the sweet sugary cereal with the healthier ones. I gradually decreased the amount of sweet cereal and increased the other cereal, and now I sometimes don't need or want the super sweet cereal anymore.

This fruit bento I made for my fiance to bring to work. She asked for mostly Pineapple (because pineapple is the best!) so I did my best to incorporate as much pineapple as I could while also using a ton of other fruits and colors as well.

• Pineapple Chunks
• Blueberries
• Raspberries
• Blackberries
• Strawberry
• Watermelon Hearts
• Honeydew Chunks

Lunchable bentos

You know those horrible lunchable things you can find at the grocery store? I remember begging my mother for them when I was a little kid, and I am so grateful that she only let me have them once in a while, like maybe 1 or 2 a year. I knew kids who brought them in every day. WTF? Do parents know how horrible those things are for their children? I am glad I grew out of the lunchable phase pretty fast, I always brought my lunch to school, and I'm glad my mother helped me pick out some healthy things to eat as well as the other junk that was tossed in too.
Anyway, I was thinking about them recently and I decided to make my own lunchable using much better ingredients and it would actually taste good too. This is what I came up with.

This is for me and my fiance to share, along with the fruit and the water bottles. Great idea for a road trip bento, or a quick snack/lunch while out running errands.

• Salami Hearts
• Pepperoni
• Cheese hearts
• Garlic and Herb Laughing Cow cheese wedge
• Whole wheat cracker rounds
• Kashi Pita crackers
• Strawberries
• Peach
• Water Bottles

Here is a close up of just the lunchable bento.

Since my fiance and I enjoyed our mock lunchable so much, and I still had a bunch of ingredients left, I decided to make us another lunchable bento to share.

• Salami Stars
• Pepperoni
• Cheese flowers
• Creamy Swiss Laughing Cow cheese wedge
• Whole wheat cracker rounds
• Kashi pita crackers

And here is a closeup of this lunchable bento too.

I was thinking of making the mock pizza lunchable too, Those were my favorite as a kid, but this time I'll use real ingredients. Whole wheat pitas, real sauce, real cheese etc.

Soboro Bento

So I tried making Soboro for the first time, and It turned out delicious. I did change it though because I didn't want to add the seasonings that the soboro recipes called for, so I just made the meat and the egg plain. I tried out a few different ways of packing a soboro bento, but I didn't attempt any cute pictures like I've seen in other people's bento pictures. Maybe one day I will.
Anyway, here are my soboro pictures!!!!

This is the soboro bento I made for my fiance.

• Cheese hearts (Colby Jack, and Swiss)
• Apple Rabbits
• Brown Rice
• Sugar Snap Peas
• Grown Beef Soboro
• Carrot matchsticks
• Egg Soboro
• Sauteed Mushrooms

This is my Bento

• Brown Rice
• Sugar Snap Peas
• Ground Beef
• Carrot Matchsticks
• Egg
• Sauteed Mushrooms
• Peach
• Apple Rabbits

And here I added Ketchup to my soboro..... very tasty!

And here is my version of a tricolor soboro. I sectioned out the brown rice the beef and the egg, and then I added sugar snap peas to help separate the colors and to add some contrast.

And here is another one, the rice is underneath and I added more sugar snap peas because they are very tasty!

Breakfast Bentos of June

I took all the breakfast bentos I have made this June and put them here for your bento viewing pleasure. I love making breakfast bentos and I realized I made a lot of them this month.

Sorry I can't turn the pictures. I am not using my computer yet, and I have no idea how to turn the pictures on my friend's computer like I usually do. I have a PC and she has a Mac, so I have a lot of trouble using her computer.
Anyway, this is a frittata breakfast bento.

• Morningstar vegetarian sausage, mushroom, spinach, onion, frittata
• Colby Jack cheese hearts
• Pineapple chunks
• Strawberry Slices
• Honeydew Flowers

Yogurt and fruit breakfast bento

• Vanilla yogurt
• Milled flax seed heart
• Fiber One cereal (the original)
• Pineapple Chunks
• Strawberry Chunks
• Watermelon Hearts

Oatmeal Breakfast Bento... Just add water

• Instant plain oatmeal
• Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Vanilla extract, and Milled Flax seed (mixed in)
• Sliced Almonds, Raisins, Brown Sugar (to mix in)
• Fruit Salad (Watermelon hearts, Pineapple chunks, Honeydew flowers)

This is with the cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla extract mixed in with the hot water. I like my oatmeal very dry (the consistency of cookie dough). I don't know how people can eat it watered down or with a bunch of milk in it... yuck. To each their own I guess.

And this is with the mix ins mixed in... Super yummy!

Cereal breakfast bento. I like my cereal dry, but this would work with milk too, just add milk. lol

• Rice Chex, Kix, Multigrain Cheerios, Fiber One
• Apple Sauce (With a cinnamon star)
• Fruit Salad (Pineapple, grapes, raspberry, blackberry, watermelon heart, honeydew flower)

French Toast Bentos... I made three because one was for me, one was for my fiance and one was for my friend Julie who is letting us use her computer while ours is getting fixed.

My bento has:

• French Toast Triangles with powder sugar
• Strawberries
• Apple Sauce with cinnamon

My fiance's bento:

• French Toast triangles with powder sugar and maple syrup
• Strawberries

My friend's bento:

• Frech Toast hearts with butter
• Strawberries

So there you have it, lots of breakfast bentos. I tried to switch it up a little with the breakfast because I was getting sick of having yogurt every day for breakfast. But this shows that breakfast bento can be made from lots of things. I hope you enjoy.