Carnitas Bento

This bento was made with leftovers from a slow cooker carnitas recipe. One tip that I found really great was to spread out some of the pulled pork onto a cookie sheet and then broil it for a few minutes to get the meat a little crispy on parts. Ooo, yum!

Also in this bento: romaine lettuce, a tiny red bell pepper from Triple T Ranch, a green chile tortilla from La Tortilla Factory, and slices of tomato from Triple T Ranch. Have a great day!

Bento Beet Down

Today's bento features delicious beets from the Redwood Empire Farmers Market. I roasted the beets in the oven, and also used the beet greens in a delicious saute.

In this bento: goat cheese quesadillas made with Tortilla Factory Green Chile hand-made style tortilla, french feta cheese, roasted garlic, and wild arugula from Triple T Ranch, lightly steamed broccoli from Triple T Ranch, a carrot, slices of kiwi and orange, and sauteed beet greens with a slice of roasted beet on top. 

This is the 'bento' box I used, which I actually found at Target in their dollar bins. It was labeled as a snack container, but works very well as a bento box. :)

Another view of my tasty bento.

Measure Your Feet Day Bento

What the...?! Why yes, January 23rd is Measure Your Feet Day! A strange 'holiday' indeed. But a properly measured foot hopefully leads to comfortable footwear, so I guess I can understand why it is important. Did you know that your feet can grow after you turn 40? It's true! A combination of weight, loss of elasticity, and weakening tissues can result in up to a half-size growth every ten years after the age of 40. Bizarre! So go get your feet properly measured with one of those foot measuring contraptions, you know, this thing here.

To celebrate Measure Your Feet Day, and to keep the people at the Brannock Device company in business, I made this footsie bento! It contains a cheddar and German bologna sandwich with a cheese foot (not anatomically correct), a few blackberries, yellow pepper slices, carrots, and broccoli from Triple T Ranch. I finally made it to the farmers market this past weekend, so I will have some local produce in my next bentos, yay!

This is the one time I DO suggest putting your foot in your mouth.

This bento is also the 180th post on Sonoma Bento, which means I am making another donation to Redwood Empire Food Bank. Every 20th post I make a $20 donation to my local food bank. Not everyone has access to healthy food, or to the abundance that many of us enjoy. I encourage you to find a way to help feed your community as well!

Tamagoyaki Bento

Tamagoyaki is a japanese style omelette that is often found in bento boxes. I love having this convenient bit of tasty protein in my lunches. Sometimes I add herbs or wilted greens to it, but often I keep it simple like this one. I do season it with salt and mirin, and sometimes a bit of soy sauce and a pinch of sugar. I use a special pan for making tamagoyaki, but really you can make it in any pan you'd like. It is simply a rolled omelette.

Also in this bento: yakionigiri rice ball from Trader Joe's, steamed edamame, slices of armenian cucumber from Redwood Empire Farms, a mini apple rabbit made with a Pink Pearl apple from Triple T, grapes, orange cherry tomatoes from the Oakmont Farmers Market, and a few baby carrots.

Voting has begun for Hapa Bento's Back to School contest. You can visit her facebook fan page to vote and also get more great ideas for packing your own bento. Have a great Monday!

Mochiko Chicken Bento

A lovely visit to the Santa Rosa Original Certified Farmers Market yesterday means I can now fill my bento lunches with local veggies and fruits. This bento has items from a few different local farmers.

In this bento: lime mochiko chicken, a hard boiled quail egg, slices of armenian cucumber from Redwood Empire Farm, orange cherry tomatoes from Ridgeview Farms, padron peppers and a mini Pink Pearl apple from Triple T Ranch and Farms, and a yakionigiri rice ball from Trader Joe's.

I was super excited to try these gorgeous apples from Triple T Ranch and Farms. The interior has a bright blush of pink extending from the skin towards a white interior. Larry of Triple T helped me pick out a few small apples perfect for bento. Some of the apples in this photo have apple scab, which is just an outer flaw on the apple, it doesn't extend into the rest of the fruit. These are tart, juicy little apples. I just love them!

Shepherd's Pie Bento

Holy guacamole! It's been a long time since I posted. Can we call it senioritis? Lots of stuff has been happening behind the scenes: 20 year High School Reunion this summer, vacation to the Pacific Northwest soon, lots of web projects at work, getting ready for the Sonoma County Hot Air Balloon Classic, covering for coworkers who are having babies, covering for coworkers who got new jobs, covering for coworkers who are trying to get into the police academy... and so on.

But I have been making the occasional bento, I just haven't had time to post them. Here is a leftover remake: shepherd's pie!

In this bento: cherries, radish cut with a star shape, carrots, cucumber, steamed edamame, and a mini shepherd's pie. I made this pie with leftover garlic mashed potatoes, leftover burger from a restaurant called Bruno's on 4th, leftover sauteed rainbow chard from Triple T Ranch, and leftover grated parmesan from the La Vera Pizza we ordered. I made 6 of these and froze the other ones. Bento stash!

Have a great day bento buddies! I promise it will not take me another 2 and a half weeks to post the next bento.

Fava Bean Bento

Fava beans are now in season at the farmers markets in Sonoma County. They do take some effort to prepare, but they taste so good that I will usually give it a go a few times each spring.

In the top tier: fava bean and ricotta cheese puree with a fava bean butterfly on top, garlic crostinis, an apple rabbit, and walnuts from the Santa Rosa Original Certified Farmers Market. In the lower tier: pulled pork wrapped in a red lettuce leaf from Triple T Farms, cucumber slices, baby carrots, radishes, and a yakionigiri from Trader Joe's.

Preparing fava beans requires shelling them from their pods, blanching them and quickly cooling them, then removing the outer skin from the bean. Then you still have to cook them. So it's a bit of an effort. But super delish, and the essence of spring! I bought these favas from Triple T, but lots of vendors at the Sonoma farmers markets have favas right now. I also used a garlic scape (another amazing spring veggie) from Middleton Farms in this recipe.

Fava beans in their pods from Triple T.

Garlic scapes from Middleton Farms.

Fava Bean and Ricotta Puree with Garlic Crostini

a little over 1 pound of unshucked fava bean pods

olive oil for sauteeing

1 tablespoon minced shallot

1/2 tsp italian seasoning

2/3 cup whole milk ricotta cheese

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 garlic scape, chopped

salt and pepper to taste

1 baguette, sliced thin

1 garlic clove, sliced in half

2 tablespoons olive oil

fresh goat cheese (optional)

Prepare the favas as described above. Reserve a few fava beans for garnish. In a sautee pan, heat about 1 or 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat. Sautee the shallots for about 1 minute, then add the fava beans and the italian seasoning. Cook the favas for about 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. While the favas cook, arrange the sliced baguette on a cookie sheet. Rub each slice with the side of the garlic clove. Discard the clove. Brush each piece of baguette with olive oil, then broil until the edges of the baguette slices just start to turn golden. Remove bread from oven and set aside. Remove the fava beans from the heat and allow to cool for about 2 minutes. In a food processor, combine the favas, ricotta, olive oil, and garlic scape. Pulse to combine. Use a spatula to push the mixture back down (without the blade running!) to make sure the favas and cheese are well mixed. Turn the mixture out into a bowl and season with salt and pepper. Top garlic crostinis with fava mixture and an individual fava bean. You can also put a small bit of goat cheese on each crostini. Makes about 30 crostinis.

Delish with a nice chianti. Ffftftffftftfftftf....

DON'T FORGET: You still have time to enter to win my fun bento kit in celebration of one year of Sonoma Bento. Enter now by clicking here and leaving a comment! Drawing is on lucky Friday the 13th of May. :-)

Easter Egg Bento

Hello Bento Peeps! (Ha ha, I said peeps!) I thought I would sneak in one last Easter themed bento. I tried my hand at dying these quail eggs, and the ratio of food color was a bit strong, so the egg turned out more mauve than the pinkish purple I was going for. Oops!

In this bento: udon noodles tossed with a soy vinaigrette, two little quail eggs from Triple T, orange cauliflower, slices of cucumber, baby carrots, two teriyaki chicken meatballs from Aidell's, snow peas from Triple T, two french radishes from Ortiz Farms, and a few green grapes.

I don't normally use picks, but these little chick picks were perfect for an Easter themed bento. They are soooo cute! The soy vinaigrette has: soy sauce, mirin, rice vinegar, freshly grated ginger, lime juice, toasted sesame oil, sugar, pepper, and Persian Lime Olive Oil from Stonehouse Olive Oil. Really yummy! 

Happy Easter weekend, friends!

New (Kind of) Bento Box Bento

I am debuting my new pink "Floral Time" bento box today! It's not technically new, since I purchased it from someone on eBay who was selling her gently used bento box. I have been trying to win some of the awesome bento boxes that are part of the Bento4Japan eBay auction, but I keep getting outbid. WHICH IS AWESOME! :) I'll keep trying though, lots of great things are up for auction. Make sure that the Bento4Japan auction you are bidding on is donating 100% of the final sale price to the Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Fund - a GlobalGiving Project. There are (sadly) some people trying to profit from the Bento4Japan auction. You can easily tell if a bento auction is legit, because it will say that 100% of the final sale price is going to the Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Fund - a GlobalGiving Project. Find Bento4Japan items by clicking here.

In this two tiered bento: leftover udon noodles with veggies and leftover chicken, a few turkey and provolone cheese rolls, and slices of radish. In the lower tier: a char sui bao from Trader Joe's, steamed edamame, a few slices of red bell pepper, steamed Okinawan sweet potato (cut in a flower shape), and a little carrot from Triple T. The leftover noodles have some asparagus from Triple T (first of the season!!) and green garlic from the Santa Rosa Original Certified Farmers Market.

And here's my cutie patootie new(ish) bento box. I just love it. PINK! And the flowers on the lid are so adorable. Have a great Monday, bento friends!

Mother Daughter Bento-ing Part Three

We had a really stormy weekend in Sonoma County, and my step daughter and I were stuck inside all day on Saturday. My hubby had to work, so it was just us girls. We decided to make some fun bentos and work on decorating her new bedroom. We didn't have all of the supplies for her bedroom, so I had to finish it up on Sunday. The bentos turned out great though!

My bento has easter egg-shaped pink onigiri (one decorated with nori, the other plain), greens from Earthworks, baby carrots, a chicken drumstick, hard boiled quail egg and red carrot from Triple T Farms, small tangerine from Schletewitz Family Fruit Stand, pepper jack cheese butterfly, and a few slices of red pepper.

My daughter's bento includes: more pink onigiri, chicken drumstick, pepper jack duckie and butterfly, baby carrots, greens from Earthworks, tangerine from Schletewitz Family, and hard boiled quail egg from Triple T.

And this is her room! We are still looking for a different bedspread to go with the underwater theme. We did the 'waterfall' of tulle, ribbon, and fabric together. We also worked on the fabric wall stickers together (with an idea that I saw posted by ChantaleP ~thanks!), but the fusible web I got initially didn't work so well. I had to go back to the craft store and get a different kind.

The Bento4Japan eBay auction is still going on with new items added! Please bid or put up your own items for auction to help.

Home Is Where The Heart Is Bento

Whew, that was a lot of work! We finally are in our new place, but still have boxes everywhere. I have pretty much located all of my bento gear, but I am sure I will continue to discover things here and there as we go through the boxes and put stuff away. Today's bento is my first one in 12 days! I missed it, and the yummy food for lunch. My hubby and I have been eating a lot of take out (which he is thrilled about) but I really long for homemade stuff.

In this bento: rice, a pepperoni heart with a cheddar cheese house, steamed broccoli from Triple T tossed with soy and black sesame seeds, sauteed shrimp marinated in lemon, soy, and honey, baby carrots, and radishes. I haven't been to the farmers market in two weeks, so I hope to be able to go this weekend and stock up the fridge with seasonal goodies.

I've included this bento in Shannon's What's For Lunch Wednesdays blog. Check it out for great bento ideas! I missed you guys!!!

Moving Is Hell Bento

So I am days away from the first official day of my move. Me and Mr. Sonoma Bento are moving to a larger apartment in our complex, so I am really looking forward to more space, but NOT really looking forward to all of the boxes and cleaning that await me in the next week. Yuck. Yesterday I spent two hours scrubbing the oven. :-( So this will be the last bento for a little while, until I get everything unpacked and am not worried about cleaning an appliance again so my landlord can inspect it.

In this bento: Yakionigiri from Trader Joes (love these!), baby carrots, a mandarin orange, a few cherry tomatoes from Trader Joes (not very flavorful this time of year), leftover salmon from Sam's For Play Cafe (dinner last night), and steamed broccoli shoots from Triple T tossed with a mustard and chili flakes vinaigrette.

This is a brand new bento box (well, kind of brand new) that I picked up at Border's bookstore. They carry products from Paperchase, and this is one of a set of four bento boxes. I really love these boxes because they are so cute, and with four different sizes for one low price, they are really versatile. Plus the lids seem to fit really well.

Wish me luck with the move! See you around mid March. :-)

Good Husband Bento

Ok, so all that whining I did about my husband breaking a bento box, I take it back. Oh, he still broke a box, but he just spent an exhausting 4 days dealing with snot-nosed, coughy, achy, whiny, lethargic, sick me. I got WIPED OUT by this latest bug. Seriously, I spent all day on Sunday just sleeping, coughing, and sucking on cough drops. I think I mentholated my brain.

So to make up for it, now that I am finally back to a somewhat-healthy state again, I made a Good Husband Bento. No silly stuff, it's not cute, and I even put it in a plain bento box. But it's filled with yummy stuff and will hopefully be a good lunch for him at work today.

In this no nonsense, Good Husband Bento: baby carrots, frozen edamame, Aidell's Teriyaki Chicken Meatballs, steamed broccoli from Triple T Ranch tossed with a soy sauce vinaigrette, a few walnut halves from the Santa Rosa Original Certified Farmers Market, half of a mandarin orange from De'Santis Farms, and a plain salted onigiri rice ball. The poor man even slept on the couch (mostly so he wouldn't get the plague, but also so I wouldn't have to worry about keeping him up all night with my hacking and sniffling)!

My bento is similar, although with better lighting. I have a 'side car' bento filled with the other part of the mandarin orange, a few blackberries, walnuts, and dried apricots. Also broccoli and baby carrots. You may have noticed my BRAND NEW Hello Kitty Thermal Jar. Heh heh! Got it while I was in Seattle at Uwajimaya. Today is her first trial run, and I am pretty impressed. I packed it with pretty hot jook at 8:30am (using a recipe from Sheri at Happy Little Bento), and it's still nicely warm at 1pm. I will try to eat earlier when I pack the thermal jar, just to be on the safe side.

Oh you wanted to see inside the jar? Here you go!

Lots of love to my hubs for being a good guy, who only accidentally ends up in the dog house for breaking something, but mostly deserves yummy bentos. I couldn't wish for a better Valentine.

I shared this on Shannon's What's For Lunch Wednesdays. Check it out to see what other bento buddies are whipping up!

Conversation Hearts Bento

CasaBento is having another contest on their facebook page, and this was my second entry for the contest. Sadly, they had so many great entries that mine didn't make it into the top eight. But it sure is fun to check out the other great bentos. You can vote now for your favorite Valentine's Day themed bento on Casa Bento's facebook page. Good luck to all of the finalists!

This bento was made with some help from my friend CocoCarina who suggested the "Bento Love" verbage for one of the conversation hearts. I thought "Bite Me" would be fun and playful for the second heart, since you do actually eat this and biting is encouraged. :) The "candy hearts" are actually made from egg sheet (I used Lia's great tutorial on Bentolicious to make the egg sheet) and alphabet pasta colored with food coloring pen for the words. Also in this bento: rice, edamame, char sui bbq pork, a blackberry, steamed broccoli from Triple T, french breakfast radishes from Ortiz Farms, and baby carrots. The doily in the photo was actually made by my husband's mom, Phyllis.

Happy Almost Valentine's Day!

A 'Hearty' Bento

Ha ha, puns are the best! This 'hearty' bento is one of my entries for CasaBento's Valentine's Day Bento contest. If I have time this weekend, I will make a second entry. My buddy CocoCarina helped me think up a fun idea for another heart themed bento. Entry deadline is February 6th at midnight (GTM+1).

In this bento: jasmine rice scented with clove and cardamom and topped with a chipotle cheddar heart, steamed broccoli from Triple T with little soy paper hearts, baby carrots, french breakfast radishes from Ortiz Farms, and broiled flank steak that I marinated in lots of yummy stuff (leftover from dinner last night).

The marinade I made is similar to one my mom makes for flank steak. It's so delicious. I used soy sauce, vegetable oil, toasted sesame oil, sliced scallions, powdered ginger, crushed dried rosemary, sriracha, worchestershire sauce, rice vinegar, and mirin. I was in a rush last night, so it only marinated for about an hour before I cooked it, but the marinade works even better if you let it sit for about 8 hours in the fridge.

Simple Bento

Leftover rice and frozen bento staples made this a very easy bento to prepare. Most bento box lunches I make are simple like this one. I didn't even turn the rice into an onigiri rice ball, just wasn't feeling it today.

Of course, simple does not mean that it doesn't taste good. :) In this bento: leftover rice with a sprinkling of black sesame seeds, two teriyaki chicken meatballs from Aidell's, steamed broccoli spears from Triple T in Rincon Valley, french breakfast radishes from Ortiz Farms, baby carrots, and steamed edamame.

Mini Pork Buns Bento

This bento uses frozen mini pork buns that I picked up from Asia Mart in Santa Rosa. I love freezer stash items, because they make it really easy to put together an interesting bento without much fuss.

In this bento: fried rice made with char siu bbq pork from G&G Supermarket and baby chard from Triple T Ranch and mini pork buns. In the second compartment: more slices of char siu pork, cucumber slices, a Sonoma Jack wedge of cheese (strangely it's actually from Wisconsin!), walnuts from the Santa Rosa Original Certified Farmers Market, and sections of ruby red grapefruit from De'Santis Farms.

I included this bento in Shannon's What's For Lunch Wednesdays blog. I love seeing what other bento makers are up to each week!

Inarizushi and Sausage Bento

Made this bento before I headed to the F-F-FREEEEZING farmers market today. My poor little fingers were in pain from the scooter ride there, even with gloves on. This bento is a little light on veggies, so I really needed to make that trip to the Santa Rosa Original Certified Farmers Market.

In this bento: steamed edamame, inarizushi (fried tofu pouches filled with rice), Arkansas Black apples from Walker's Apples, and italian chicken sausages from Aidells. This was the first time I tried doing a checkerboard cut on an apple, and it worked pretty well. :) I only spent about 2 minutes on the pattern.

Here's my haul from the farmers market today: baby chard and a kabocha squash from Triple T Ranch, garlic from Armstrong Valley Farm, a ruby red grapefruit from De'Santis Farms, and some dried sweet melon slices from Neufeld Farms. There are lots of great things at the market during the winter season. Don't miss out! The Santa Rosa Original Certified Farmers Market is open every Wednesday and Saturday from 8:30am to noon right next to the vets building.

I included this bento in Shannon's What's For Lunch Wednesdays blog. Check it out for great bento ideas. :)

Last Bento of the Year

It feels like ages since I made a bento! I had to make one this morning, even though it cut into some of my prep time for the two hour talk show I've been doing this week. I was having bento withdrawal, hee hee.

I actually woke up dreaming about bento ingredients, so I knew I had to take the time to make one today. Magic Round Bentos are always good to help boost your bento assembling confidence. Everything just fits better in a round bento.

In this bento: steamed edamame, tamagoyaki with chopped wild arugula from Triple T Ranch, two pork and veggie gyoza (I think they are Annie Chun's brand), a hand formed onigiri rice ball, and two rabbit apples carved from Walker's Apples Arkansas Black apples.

I bought these apples from Lee Walker himself, the patriarch of the Walker family, who have been apple growers in Sonoma County for many generations. Lee is awesome and loves all kinds of apples, but he will tell you straight out which varieties he can do without. Pretty awesome. The Walkers are often at the Saturday Santa Rosa Original Certified Farmers Market.

Have a safe and happy new year! See you in 2011!

Oh My Stars!

My mom is originally from the midwest and one of her favorite sayings is "Oh My Stars!" It cracks me up. And since I get to see her this weekend in Seattle, I thought I would make a starry bento.

This bento has cherry tomatoes from Ridgeview Farms and Triple T Ranch, corn from Duffy at the Santa Rosa Farmers Market, star shaped onigiri rice balls with black sesame seed accents, and a few grapes from Schletewitz Family. In the lower compartment: another star onigiri, baby carrots, steamed edamame, and chicken prepared kind of like karaage (Japanese style fried chicken) but with a glaze.

I have to head to the airport soon, so I'll try to come back and post the recipe while I am waiting for my flight. Have a great weekend Bento Buddies, and maybe I will run into you in Seattle. :)