National Static Electricity Day Bento

January 9th is National Static Electricity Day, so my lunch is particularly shocking. Ha ha! I used my LunchBots Trio bento box to make today's lunch:

In this bento: leftover mushroom couscous with two bolts of static electricity (provolone cheese), piece of chicken thigh (marinated in soy sauce, honey, pepper, lime, olive oil, and Peruvian Chile Lime Seasoning from Savory Spice Shop) on a bed of arugula with pomegranate arils, a few blackberries, broccoli, carrot, and cucumber. 

Now go run around on the carpet in your socks and shock someone you love. *ZAP*

I have included this lunch in Shannon's What's For Lunch Wednesday group. Check it out for other great bento lunch ideas!

Recipe Contest Bento

Hi bento pals! Sorry I have not posted in a while. I got sick last week and am still trying to get over the sniffles and cough that are SO annoying. This is my 160th bento post, and that means another donation to Redwood Empire Food Bank! Every 20 posts I make a $20 donation to Redwood Empire Food Bank. They provide meals to literally thousands of hungry people in the North Bay every day. As a food blogger I have the luxury to buy the foods I like and take time to make them look pretty, as well as share my bento lunches with my friends. For some people in my community, lunch may not be an option every day. They might have to pay the rent instead of buy groceries. This is my way of helping my community feed itself. I encourage YOU to make a similar commitment. Find a charity you can get behind and let your blog help those who need help the most!

Ok, now for the fun part. It's GIVEAWAY time!

Here is my bento for today: slices of garlic rubbed steak, a kalamata olive, roasted baby potatoes, broccoli spears, orange cherry tomatoes from The Patch, a small gala apple from Twin Peaks Orchard, and a few baby carrots. I decided that for this bento giveaway, I would encourage you to share a recipe for a simple bento ingredient. Your recipe should have no more than five ingredients, like the roasted potatoes in my bento. I will share my recipe for the potatoes at the end of this post. Here is what you can win:

The bento prize pack has a green two tiered bento box, a handmade bento box strap (the little fishy made by me!), two punches for cute nori designs, a set of vegetable cutters, and a cookbook!

Here is the bento box you will win. It has two tiers and the upper tier has a fitted lid so you can add saucy items and they won't spill on everything else.

There are two fun craft punches: one is a frog shape, and the other is a smiling face shape. These are great for punching little details out of sheets of nori (dried seaweed) and adding interesting details to your bento box lunches.

I love these vegetable cutters for adding quick cuteness to bento box lunches. There are three flower shapes in this set of cutters.

Here is the cookbook you will win. It is filled with great, simple recipes that will work in bento lunches. The recipes focus on fresh, seasonal ingredients. I really like this cookbook and have a copy that I use at home quite often!

Now for the promised roasted potato recipe. I used a spice blend from Savory Spice Shop in Santa Rosa, but feel free to use whatever spice blend you would like to flavor your version.

Roasted Baby New Potatoes

1 to 2 pounds of small new potatoes, washed and scrubbed

olive oil to coat potatoes

1 to 2 teaspoons of Vietnamese Sweet Lemon Curry

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Arrange potatoes in a baking dish in one layer. Drizzle potatoes with olive oil. Sprinkle potatoes with seasonings and then gently mix the potatoes around in the oil and spices to coat all potatoes. Place baking dish in the oven and roast for 40 mintues to 1 hour until potatoes are cooked through and their skins are a bit wrinkled. Cool before adding potatoes to bento. Can store in the refrigerator for 4 days.

NOW it's your turn! :-) I would love to find out your simple recipes for bento ingredients! To enter the contest, simply fill out the form below. Please try to keep your recipes to 5 ingredients or less (salt and pepper do not count as ingredients) so that the recipes will be easy for anyone to try. You can also enter the contest simply by being a follower of this blog. You don't have to send in a recipe, but I would love to see what you like to prepare in your bento lunches. You can get extra entries in the contest by following me on facebook, twitter, and by following my new nail art blog at sonomanailart.blogspot.com. That makes a total of five possible entries per person. And yes, this contest is open INTERNATIONALLY! I will select a random entry from all entries on Wednesday, October 5th, 2011 at 6pm Pacific Time. And I will share all of the recipes sent in on a special page on this blog, so everyone can enjoy your ideas and try them out.

Thanks so much for following my bento adventures and GOOD LUCK!

Edamame Xmas Tree

O Edamame Tree, O Edamame Tree, How Lovely Are Thy... Beans? Hmm, gotta work on that one. This is a quick snack sized bento I made this morning with edamame beans.

In this bento: snowy white rice, edamame beans in the shape of a Christmas Tree with a bit of apple for a star (apple is from Lambert's Apples), a pork patty, cucumber slices, and radish "ornaments". I packed another patty and the rest of the apple to go with this bento, since it is pretty tiny.

I made the pork patties with leftover meat from the meatloaf I made this weekend. I don't have an exact recipe, but I used ground pork, two saltine crackers, an egg, soy sauce, pepper, toasted sesame oil, grated garlic and grated ginger, chopped parsley, and Sweet Lemongrass Curry spice mix from The Savory Spice Shop. Meat patties make great bento stash, just freeze them and then pop them into bentos for an easy protein source.

Willi's Wine Bar Bento

Dang, I love my job. Working in radio means cool people come in to talk about cool stuff all of the time. And sometimes they bring GOODIES. Yesterday, Mark and Terri Stark of Willi's Wine Bar came in to talk about their amazing flagship restaurant. Mark and Terri also own 3 other restaurants in Sonoma County: Willi's Seafood and Raw Bar, Monti's Rotisserie and Bar, and Stark's Steakhouse. Their food and service are both phenomenally good at each and every location, but not so expensive that you can't afford to go there a few times a year. I used to go about once a month to one of their places, but I've got to be more budget conscious these days. And so you can imagine how excited I was to see them at the station with goodies to share! They brought Moroccan Lamp Chops (which my coworker refused to share, and I don't blame him) and crab tacos. There was enough leftover crab mixture to use it in my bento today. Yesss!

I topped the crab filling with a bit of Chimayo Mild Chile Powder from The Savory Spice Shop in Santa Rosa. Also in this compartment: cold soba noodles tossed with olive oil and toasted sesame oil as well as a little splash of seasoned rice vinegar. I topped the cold soba noodles with green onion, julienned carrots, and julienned cucumber. For decoration, I added black and white sesame seeds.

In the lower compartment: steamed edamame, cherry tomatoes from Ridgeview Farms, watermelon 'flowers' from Ridgeview Farms, a slice of lime (for the watermelon) and a fish container of soy sauce for the cold soba noodles.

As you can see, I had to decorate one of the orange cherry tomatoes with a little face. He looks kind of like a Jack O'lantern! A Jack O'tomater.

So yummy, thanks Mark and Terri for your awesome restaurants. Feel free to bring goodies by whenever you want! :-)

Ready for Fall Bento

Dang, it's been nearly a week since I posted a bento. I did make three bentos on Friday for a trip to Movie Night in the Park last week, but didn't take great pictures of them. We were too excited about watching the movie. :)

Fall is definitely on its way, and I have to stop thinking we might still have an actual summer in Wine Country. Oh well. But fall is such a great time of year! To get myself into the autumn mood, I made a bento filled with leaf-shaped roasted potatoes. Yum!

In the upper compartment: an heirloom tomato salad made with lime juice, mustard seeds, cumin seeds, and basil, corn on the cob from the Santa Rosa Original Cerified Farmers Market, and steamed edamame. In the lower compartment: roasted leaf-shaped potatoes, greens from Offerings of the Land, and cherry tomatoes from Triple T Ranch and Ridgeview Farms. I used small leaf shaped cookie cutters to make the potato 'leaves'.

A closeup of the cutie little cherry tomatoes and the roasted potatoes. I tossed the taters with olive oil, salt, and Chat Masala, a spice I picked up at The Savory Spice Shop. It's kind of tangy and spicy at the same time. Really yummy!

The tomato salad was made with tomatoes grown by Larry Wagner of Sebastopol. Larry is always one of the big winners in the Kendall-Jackson Tomato Growing Contest each year. I believe this salad I made contains his Japanese Black Trifele tomatoes. I was lucky enough to take home a few of Larry's tomatoes after out broadcast at the Kendall-Jackson Heirloom Tomato Festival this past weekend. Despite some technical difficulties, it was a wonderful broadcast. And this weekend we will be at the Santa Rosa Original Certified Farmers Market for their bit Tomato Tasting! I love, love, LOVE tomatoes!

I included this bento in Shannon's What's For Lunch Wednesdays blog. Take a look for more inspirational bento ideas.

Pear Crostini Bento

Yesterday I could not wake up and felt kind of dizzy. I think our three days of 90+ and occasionally 100+ weather did me in. Today I am much better and out of that weird funk. Rest and gatorade did the trick.

I was able to stop by the Santa Rosa Original Certified Farmers Market, because I'd pretty much have to be dead to miss it, and picked up a perfect pear from Reenie at Ridgeview Farms. Reenie is the greatest, I love her veggies and fruits, and she has the most gorgeous flowers arranged in coffee cans. I also got a basket of little orange cherry tomatoes, so sweet!

I thought about the pear all day yesterday, while I was alternately resting and zoning out on the couch. When the heat finally broke around 8pm, inspiration hit! Little pear crostini!

In this bento: pear crostini made with a perfect pear from Ridgeview Farms, edamame, and slices of Aidell's sundried tomato chicken sausage with a little panda pick.

In the upper compartment: arugula from Triple T Ranch, walnuts from the Santa Rosa Original Certified Farmers Market, a few little slices of red onion, and cherry tomatoes from The French Garden and Ridgeview Farms. I'll toss this with some olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper for a little salad.

The sweet orange cherry tomatoes I got at Ridgeview Farms.

Look! I really did get a perfect pear. :)

A close up of the pear crostini. Besides the perfect pear, there's bread from La Brea Bakery (I keep a bag of their frozen mini baguettes on hand: ten minutes to crunchy on the outside, soft in the middle hot bread!), butter, Honey Powder from Savory Spice Shop, and crumbles of Point Reyes Original Blue Cheese.

Recipe for Pear Crostini

1 mini baguette, sliced thin

butter

1 small pear, cored and sliced thin

Honey Powder

2 ounces Point Reyes Original Blue Cheese

On a cookie sheet, arrange baguette slices. Spread a small amount of butter on each slice. Top baguette slices with pieces of pear. Sprinkle Honey Powder on top of pear slices. Top each crostini with a bit of blue cheese. Broil crostinis for a few minutes, until cheese melts and crostinis just begin to get toasted. Makes about 10 small crostinis.

Beverage Pairing Suggestion: We have an amazing cider maker in Sonoma County called Ace Cider. They make a wonderful hard cider called Ace Perry Cider. It's very refreshing and would go so well with these crostinis.

Italian Black Truffle Salt Bento

OMG, I am in love with this Italian Black Truffle Salt I got at Savory Spice Shop. I posted about this new shop in downtown Santa Rosa and I am just getting to trying out the goodies I purchased. I pretty much made a beeline to the salt section and went straight for the sample bottle of Italian Black Truffle Salt.

Heaven. Complexity. Earthy. Sensual. Perfect!

And the bottle I purchased was very reasonably priced. I thought I would try it in this bento box lunch, using eggs from Hector's Honey. Hector is at many of the Sonoma County farmers markets, and his eggs are highly sought after, for good reason. I urge you to find eggs from a local farmer and compare them to the ones you get at the grocery store. Such a difference in quality and richness!

In the upper compartment: pita bread slices and grapes from De'Santis Farms. In the lower compartment: my own version of tamagoyaki (a rolled up omelette with spinach from Offerings of the Land in Glen Ellen and a tiny pinch of Italian Black Truffle Salt), steamed broccoli, carrot flowers, cherry tomatoes from The French Garden in Sebastopol, and steamed edamame.

I used this new bento box that I picked up at Daiso for 6 bucks. Unfortunately, I didn't notice that the top of the box has a crack in it, and apparently I bought it that way. Sadness! But it's just the cover that is damaged, so I will still use it.

Recipe for Italian Black Truffle Salt Omelette

butter for the pan

1 farmers market egg

3 leaves of spinach, cut into a chiffonade (thin strips)

a tiny pinch of Italian Black Truffle Salt

Crack egg into a bowl and then add the spinach. Whisk until combined a little frothy. Heat a pan over medium heat. Add butter to pan and let butter melt. Add egg mixture and cook, while shaking and tilting the pan so that the eggy mixture fluffs up a bit. Alternately, you can use a spatula to move the egg curds towards the middle of the omelette and let the runny parts of the egg move to the outside. Once the omelette is nearly set, sprinkle the truffle salt along the middle. Use your spatula to roll up the omelette. Remove from pan and allow to cool. Cut into segments and place in bento. Makes enough for one serving.

Don't forget to enter my big ol' 50th bento post giveaway!

Starry Spice Bento

My hubby and I finally went to visit a new spice shop in Santa Rosa called Savory Spice Shop. It is part of a franchise based in Denver and the new shop here is just a few months old. They sell online if you aren't near one of their shops.

Oh. My. God. It's like Disneyland for Foodies! We went a little crazy because my husband likes to make spice rubs and I was trying hard to show some restraint when browsing the curry aisle. I gave in and bought this wonderful mix called Vietnamese Sweet Lemon Curry.

I also ended up with Honey Powder, Italian Black Truffle Salt (!), Vanilla Bean Sugar, and Medium Yellow Curry. So much for restraint! Ha! I used the curry to make more turkey patties for bento stash.

In this bento: an orange bell pepper, grapes from De'Santis Farms, cherry tomatoes from Ridgeview Farms, a turkey patty topped with cheese stars, a mini purple rice onigiri decorated with nori stars, a radish from Triple T, cucumber slices, and a few more cherry tomatoes 'cause they taste so good.

I used a punch to make the nori stars and wrapped a strip of nori with a star hole in it around the mini onigiri. I think it turned out really cute!

Recipe for Vietnamese Sweet Lemon Curry Turkey Patties

4 oz ground turkey

1/2 tablespoon Vietnamese Sweet Lemon Curry blend

a few grinds of pepper

1 tablespoon minced onion

1 grated clove of garlic

1 egg yolk

a few drops of toasted sesame oil

1/2 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon corn starch

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Heat olive oil in a pan over medium/medium high heat. Shape mixture into small patties. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes in oil until browned, then gently flip patties and continue cooking until patties are browned on both sides and cooked through. Watch the heat and turn it down if the patties are browning too quickly. Makes 4 or 5 small patties.

A Big Thank You to everyone who has been following my bento adventures on this blog. Tomorrow look for a cool giveaway to celebrate my 50th Sonoma Bento post!