Kawaii Cookies Bento

I saw some super cute cookies on Instagram the other day made by Ming of bentomonsters.com and I wanted to make some of my own. Now remember, I am not the most confident of bakers, but sugar cookies are relatively easy. And the amount of dough needed for these tiny guys is small enough that I can store the rest of the dough in the freezer for when the baking mood strikes me again (RARE).

In this bento: a tiny clementine, a cornbread muffin with a slice of jalapeno baked into the top, two deli rolls of steamed green beans inside of german bologna, cucumbers, some Lamb Chopper cheese cutouts (the cheese is from Cypress Grove Chevre), a few yellow cherry tomatoes, and my little kawaii sugar cookies.

Close up of the little cookies. I don't feel so bad about including these since there are really tiny. I used a stamp (like a stationery stamp) to make the face in the dough, but you could totally use chopsticks to make the eyes, and maybe half of a plastic straw to make the little mouth. 

Smiley Egg Bento

Here is a bento I made for breakfast (I get up stupid early for my work) that features an egg from my coworker's chickens, as well as little yaki onigiri (grilled rice balls).

In this bento: half of a hard boiled egg with nori face decorations, slices of cucumber, two teriyaki chicken meatballs from Aidell's, carrots, yellow cherry tomatoes, and three little brown rice yaki onigiri. 

I made the yaki onigiri using a recipe by Rachael of La Fuji Mama. She serves hers with bacon and avocado, uh, YUM!!! I need to try that! Mine are little mini onigiri I made with a small onigiri mold. 

I have added this bento to Shannon's What's For Lunch Wednesdays. Check it out for lots of great lunch ideas. Happy bento-ing!

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!

Game Day Bento

I made this bento this past weekend when all of the exciting championship games were on... holy cow, those were some exciting match ups! Except for the Patriots game, snooze fest.

In this bento: edamame, a mandarin orange, olives on Game Day picks, a football-shaped PB&J with cheddar cheese stitching (aka lid decoration, ha ha), cucumber slices, carrots, and blue cheese dressing.

I got this really cool bento box during my last trip to Seattle at The Container Store. It has a built in ice pack in the lid to keep your meal cold. The size of this container is actually REALLY large for a bento, but would work okay as a sandwich container. 

And check out the top of the box! It has a goal post and a foam rubber 'football' so you can poke your eye out, er I mean, have a fun game while you eat your lunch.

See, the goal post swings up and locks. Pretty fun! I know there is a comment in here about the Seahawks/Falcons game and field goals, but I just don't have the heart to make it. WHY?! Why did Coach call a time out!?!? Ug. (Insert sad Charlie Brown music here.)

I have added this bento to Shannon's What's For Lunch Wednesdays feature. Check it out for more great bento ideas!

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!

Roasted Pork Ramen

I got my husband Ramen bowls for xmas! So we have been on a ramen kick. Here is one I made yesterday with roasted pork, carrots (should have done matchsticks, not diced), green onion, spinach, togarashi spice, and sriracha.

Happy New Year!