Monochromatic Green Bento

I thought I would try my hand at a few monochromatic bento box lunches. One of the rules of bento is to include 5 different colors. This makes sense, to insure that your lunch has a variety of foods. However, sometimes you gotta break the rules. I present: Green Bento!

In the left container: steamed broccoli, cucumber slices, steamed green beans, fried bamboo rice with edamame, and kiwi slices. In the right container: fried bamboo rice with edamame topped with pan fried turkey cutlet and herbs.

While this bento does not have 5 different colors, I do have protein (the egg whites in the fried rice, as well as the edamame and turkey cutlet), starch (rice), vegetables, and fruit. 

I made a marinade for the turkey cutlet using Italian Parsley and cilantro, and reserved some of the marinade (before I put the turkey in it!) to put on top of the poultry after I pan fried it. The marinade also contains olive oil, salt, pepper, a drop of sesame oil, and Yuzu Ponzu sauce.

Bamboo rice is a light green rice that has been infused with bamboo extract. It does retain a slight green tinge after cooking and it is very pretty. I used Yuzu Ponzu sauce when frying the rice so as not to turn it brown with regular shoyu. I also added fresh parsley to the egg white in the rice, for more green color.

Here is the bento box I used for my green bento. This is a fun two tiered bento box in the shape of a frog. And I would say the best thing to pair with this bento is the Austrian wine, Grüner Veltliner. (Grün is German for Green!)

Happy Bento-ing!

Fake Strawberry Bento

I am playing with your mind in this bento! What looks like a strawberry is actually a slice of watermelon radish! Moohoohahaha! I guess it would have been even more subversive if I had cut it in the shape of a watermelon, huh?

In this bento: corn from the Santa Rosa Original Certified Farmers Market, bbq pork from G&G Supermarket in Santa Rosa, slices of armenian cucumber from Redwood Empire Farms, the crazy strawberry shaped watermelon radish slice (from Orchard Farms), tamagoyaki omelette made with an egg from Hector's Honey, a bit of Violet Queen Broccoli (so pretty and tasty) from Orchard Farms, and lightly steamed green beans from The Patch. Super local bento!

And here's a look back at the bento I made a year ago today. Quite fun, it's got an ant made from olives and nori, plus teeny tiny deviled eggs made from hard boiled quail eggs. Tee hee!

Sorry I am not posting so much right now. I am covering the morning show again for coworkers, so my bento making is not happening as often (if I tried to make bento at 4am when I have to get up, they would be very ANGRY bentos), and when I do make them, it's mostly leftovers. Not so inspiring. Only 3 more weeks of covering the morning show! Zzzzzzzz....

Ham Hock n' Beans Bento

Note to self: if coworker ever offers some of her pig products again, be sure to take her up on the offer! I am a lucky duck! One of my coworkers has chickens, pigs, and lamb on her property, and she had some left over cuts of meat that she was trying to get rid of. She asked if I would like to take some smoked ham hocks off her hands. Hello?! Um, YES!

I used the ham hocks together with some heirloom dried beans from Crescent Moon Farms to make amazing ham and beans. I am not sure if I have ever made anything tastier! My hubby and I ate this for dinner, and there was enough to have some for left overs for a few days. And bonus, I still have two pieces of ham hock in the freezer, so I can make this again!

In this bento: ham and cheese sandwiches on baguette slices, a mandarin orange, watermelon radish 'flowers' from Wild Rose Ranch, boiled new potatoes, carrots, and steamed green beans. In the background is the small container with the ham hocks n' beans.

Closeup of the delicious ham hocks n' beans. The beans kept their beautiful speckled markings.

Happy me with my frozen smoked ham hocks!

If you see jars of these beans (or other dried varieties) at Crescent Moon Farms at the Santa Rosa Farmers Market, be SURE to snap some up!

Recipe for Ham Hocks and Beans

1 cup dried beans (best to use this year's batch!)

water

1 smoked ham hock

1/3 cup chopped onion

1/4 cup chopped carrots

2 minced cloves garlic

2 bay leaves

Pick over beans to make sure there are no pebbles or other debris in them. Place beans in a pot and cover with cold water by 2 inches. Put pot over high heat and bring to a boil. Boil beans for two minutes, then cover pot and remove from heat. Allow beans to soak for 1 hour. Pour off soaking liquid. Add thawed ham hock, onion, carrots, garlic, and bay leaves. Add water to pan to nearly cover ham hock. Bring water to a boil, then reduce to low heat and simmer for 1 hour. Check beans to see if they are done. Carefully pick meat from ham hock and add to beans, discard leftover ham hock bone and grisle. Serves 4 to 6.

Salad Nicoise Bento

I just received my prize from the Food Ninja contest ("It's a Major Award!") and I am thrilled with it. It's a ManPans frying pan with a lid. This puppy is really well made and heats up super fast. I decided to break it in with a Martha Stewart Everyday Food recipe and it came out really well. I made steaks with baslamic dijon sauce, boiled new potatoes with herbs, and steamed green beans with lemon and butter. Today's bento uses leftovers from that meal (not the steaks, we scarfed those down).

In the large container: a hard boiled egg, tuna in oil, boiled new potatoes with herbs, and steamed green beans. In the smaller container: a mandarin orange, walnuts from the Santa Rosa Original Certified Farmers Market, and a Ghirardelli chocolate. The bento boxes are from a set of four that I picked up at Border's Books.

Here's the ManPans frying pan in action. It heated up really fast and kept the heat well. Normally my burners have cool spots in the middle, but this pan heated up evenly across the surface. And the sauce came together in a flash.

Here's our dinner. This sauce was really tasty and super easy. I recommend checking out Martha's Everyday Food section for easy dinner ideas. And big thanks to La Fuji Mama, Bella Limento, and Salty Seattle for hosting the Food Ninja contest.

Food Ninja Bento

Today's bento is my entry into the Food Ninja contest. Three bloggers (La Fuji Mama, Salty Seattle, and bell'alimento) have put together a fun contest in which we get to show off our mad ninja skills. I chose to make a video with a trip to the Farmers Market (naturally), a stop off at Asia Mart, and then a big reveal of my Food Ninja Bento. It's quite silly with Japanese subtitles, ninja poses, and a (forced) cameo by my husband. I'll reveal the video soon. Heather of La Fuji Mama asked me to do a guest post about my Food Ninja Bento, and I was delighted to comply. Check it out here.

In this bento: a star onigiri, a quail egg ninja with radish weapons, slices of boiled lotus root, steamed yellow beans from Orchard Farms, edamame, cherry tomatoes from Middleton Farms, boiled purple potatoes from Orchard Farms, steamed broccoli, teriyaki chicken meatballs from Aidell's, and a few fried padron peppers from Crescent Moon Farms.

A special shout out to the AMAZING Sheri of Happy Little Bento for her ninja egg inspiration. I am sure many bentoists like me admire Sheri's crazy Food Ninja skills. You too can enter the Food Ninja contest! Entry deadline is October 24th at 10pm PST. There's awesome prizes, too!

Caterpillar Bento

Two posts in one day?! I am actually catching up over the weekend. Yesterday I tried out traditional bento ingredients like inarizushi and a mango rice cake. Today I am using an idea I saw on KidsDreamWork.com in which you mix purple sweet potato into rice to make purple rice! It worked really well.

In this bento: three hand shaped purple onigiri with slices of olive for eyes, a red pickled ginger mouth, and spaghetti antennae, a piece of steamed corn, steamed romano green beans from Crescent Moon Farms, cherry tomatoes with a CUTE leaf pick, and fried padron peppers also from Crescent Moon Farms. If you are wondering where to get purple sweet potatoes, I suggest checking your local asian market. I found the potato used in this bento in San Francisco's Nijiya Market, but today I discovered the same kind of purple sweet potatoes at the Asia Mart on Guerneville Road in Santa Rosa. They may also be called Hawaiian Okinawa Sweet Potatoes. They are white skinned with a deep purple flesh.

To make purple rice, simply mash some cooked purple sweet potato and them mix it into cooked rice. Shape it using a piece of plastic wrap covering your hand, so that it doesn't stick to your fingers.

Workin On a Saturday Bento

Actually, I work on Saturdays pretty often. When I have two days off in a row, it is a really big deal! I put this bento together in 10 minutes with bento stash (the biscuit) and some fresh veggies and fruit. In this bento: a biscuit filled with Fra'mani Rosemary Ham and Duqqah from The Handmade Pantry topped with a piece of provolone cheese cut into a floral shape, cherry tomatoes, cucumber slices, a hunk of Valley Ford Cheese Co cheese, steamed Romano green beans from Crescent Moon Farms, and some blueberries.

I didn't make it to the Santa Rosa Original Certified Farmers Market today, but it is a great resource for bento supplies. If you are trying to eat healthier and include local foods in your diet, head to your local farmers market!

Bastille Day Bento

Vive la France! Yesterday was Bastille Day, celebrating the fall of the Bastille prison in 1789 and the beginning of the French Revolution. As the daughter of a French teacher, I feel a patriotic kinship to mes amis francais! Plus they have so much delicious food, so what's not to celebrate?

I made a bento filled with a composed salad called Salad Nicoise, which lends itself easily to a bento presentation. The traditional elements of this salad come into debate, but the main things are anchovies, nicoise olives, artichoke hearts, tomatoes, and lettuce. I am not a huge fan of anchovies, so I went for tuna in oil, and added cherry tomatoes, a quarter of a hard boiled egg, blanched green beans, olives, and boiled potatoes. I made a vinaigrette of dijon mustard to go over the salad, and put it in a little plastic container in the bento box. My hubby also ate this, but refuses to eat it out of a bento box, so I had to put it in a bowl. Sigh...

If you get a chance, check out one of my favorite blogs, The Daily Nail. The blogger there makes a new manicure each day, and she took my suggestion for a Bastille Day theme! I love these nails!

I included this bento lunch in the What's For Lunch Wednesday post. Check out all of the creative bento lunches on Shannon's blog!

Wine Pairing Suggestion: I had a sparkling wine from the Alsace region of France, and it went really well with this salad. You could also opt for the very French aperitif called Pernod, which takes some getting used to. I enjoy it with a bit of water poured over ice. The strong anise flavor is very refreshing.

Oceanic Bento

On a recent trip to the supermarket, I found these crazy cool dolphin and whale shaped chicken nuggets! They are called Banquet Ocean Adventures and each is 50 calories, so they are a tasty and not too high-calorie addition to a healthy bento lunch, although not low fat. There were also dinosaur shaped nuggets made by Tyson, too cute! I packed them into my favorite Hello Kitty lacquered bento box.

In this bento: Banquet Ocean Adventures Dolphin and Whale shaped chicken nuggets, provolone cheese stars, a cherry tomato, and blue tinted udon noodles (I got the idea for tinting the noodles from Shannon at What's For Lunch At Our House!) tossed with Stonehouse Lime Infused Olive Oil.

In the lower compartment: blanched green beans from Crescent Moon Farms, cherry tomatoes and blueberries from the Sebastopol Farmers Market, cherries from Hamlow Ranch, a few raspberries and a cute little flag pick I got in Seattle.

This lunch has been added to What's For Lunch Wednesdays. It's fun to check out the creative lunches posted there. :-)

I saw today on Just Bento that blog author Maki had emergency surgery yesterday. I know that all of us in the bento community are wishing her a quick recovery, and are sending supportive thoughts to her family.

Gender Bento

I am finally using up the last of the bread, bologna, and cheese from our camping trip last weekend. These two happy sandwiches are hanging out with red pepper slices, cherry tomatoes from the Sebastopol Farmers Market, steamed romano beans from The Patch in Sonoma, two cherries, and a few blueberries, also from the Sebastopol Farmers Market.

I had a great Fourth of July celebration with friends, complete with BBQ and pool time. I brought along these steamed green beans topped with a lime infused olive oil and basil dressing. They turned out great!

Recipe for Green Beans with Basil-Lime Olive Oil Dressing

3 pounds of green beans, rinsed and trimmed

1 cup lightly packed fresh basil leaves

2 garlic cloves, grated

1/3 cup lime infused olive oil (I used Stonehouse Olive Oil, based in Berkeley)

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Steam green beans for 7 to 10 minutes. Run beans under cold water to stop them from over cooking. In a food processor, combine basil, grated garlic cloves, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Blend dressing. Spoon dressing over beans. Serves 10 as a side dish. *If you don't have lime infused olive oil, use regular oil and add a bit of grated lime zest and a tablespoon of lime juice.

And It Stoned Me

Weird title for the post, I know. I am referring to the Van Morrison song, not because there are any psychotropic drugs in this bento, but rather because it has stone fruit in it, some of the best stone fruit I have ever had! There is a great fruit vendor at the Santa Rosa Original Certified Farmers Market called Hamlow Ranch. They are out of Stanislaus County and have the best stone fruit (cherries, nectarines, peaches) right now. I picked up two varieties of nectarines, and a few of the last cherries of the season.

Packed into this bento: a simple tomato-mozzarella salad, roasted green beans wrapped in prosciutto, cucumber slices, and a few kalamata olives. In the lower compartment: cherries and nectarine slices.

If you get close to your computer screen, I think you can actually smell the ripeness of these nectarines. (I'm kidding, don't do that. You'll look silly.)

Wine Pairing Suggestion: Seghesio Family Vineyards in Healdsburg, CA is one of the oldest Sonoma County wine families. Their 2008 Home Ranch Zinfandel is jammy and rich, and would go well with the prosciutto, tomato-mozzarella salad, kalamata olives, and cherries in this bento box lunch.

Happy Heart Bento

Today I busted out the Magic Round Bento for a simple bento lunch. I used green beans (blanched) from Crescent Moon Farms, baby carrots, watermelon "flowers", a piece of lime, a few cherry tomatoes from Triple T Ranch, two teriyaki meatballs from Aidell's, and a heart-shaped onigiri. The face on the heart is made from black sesame seeds, nori (toasted seaweed), and a piece of pickled ginger. Hidden underneath it all are a few slices of cucumber, also from Crescent Moon Farms.

If you haven't yet, you should really check out the Santa Rosa Original Certified Farmers Market. I normally go on Wednesdays, because I work a lot on weekends. They are open year-round, rain or shine, and it's the perfect place to find hyper local food, and great artisan products. Today there was a big group of kindergarteners on a field trip. They were jumping around and just super excited to check out the market, so cute. And if you go to the Santa Rosa Original Certified Farmers Market this Saturday, you can enjoy FREE red, white, and blue shortcake! They will have mini shortcakes topped with whipped cream and local berries. YUM!

On a side note, I am trying out a few new items in my bento box lunches, namely pickles. I got some takuan (pickled daikon radish), umeboshi (pickled plum), and beni shoga (red pickled ginger). So far, I have only tried the beni shoga. I like it!

Also, I am featuring this bento box lunch on the What's For Lunch website. Fun!

Leave The Gun. Take The Cannelloni.

A week ago when I went to play trivia at The Cantina in Santa Rosa, I won a really cool prize: a Godfather Gift Basket! It was filled with fun goodies like Francis Ford Coppola wine, crystal stemware, pasta, canned tomatoes, chorizo sausage, peppers, garlic, onion, and a copy of The Godfather Part 2! What a freakin cool prize. So this bento box lunch was inspired by that prize.

I used the line from the first Godfather to create this bento box lunch. In the scene, Clemenza instructs Rocco, who has just shot and killed Paulie, to, "Leave the gun. Take the cannoli." Cannoli are italian desserts that are shaped like tubes and filled with whipped cream or other sweet stuff. The pasta that was in the basket of goodies was tube shaped, so I though I would try a play on the line, and switch it up to cannelloni (stuffed pasta shells).

In this bento box: a "donut" peach, cherries from the Santa Rosa Original Certified Farmers Market, and a tomato salad made with fresh mozzarella cheese, chives and chive flowers, and tomatoes from Triple T Ranch. In the lower compartment: tomatoes, stuffed pasta shells, roasted green beans wrapped in proscuitto, and olives.

These are chives (and chive flowers), and a basket of the first tiny tomatoes of the season from Triple T Ranch.


Check out this pile of delicious, tender green beans from Crescent Moon Farms. I roasted these in the oven with olive oil, salt, and pepper, then rolled them up in prosciutto. So easy and yummy!


And I really recommend checking out the Quizmaniax Pub Quiz, currently held on Thursday evenings at The Cantina in Santa Rosa. Find out more about Quizmaniax on their Facebook page.