Mini Tuna Burgers

Yesterday, when I opened the can of soup to put into my bento, my cat came running into the kitchen and sat down at my feet.

She's not a big fan of soft food, and we've only ever given her the kind with the pop-top. What she was looking for was tuna water. Because I'm silly, I told her she could have tuna water later that night.

So, when it came time to make today's lunch, I settled on a mini tuna burger recipe from the just bento cookbook. Sure enough, as soon as I clamped the can opener onto the tin, the cat turned away from her water (from the brita - it's her usual 'treat' she goes crazy for it), and came to sit at my feet to wait quietly for her new treat.

Anyway, here's my bento:

Short-grain rice mixed with plum furikake

2 mini tuna burgers

I filled the remaining space with 1/4 of an apple, and some veggies. There are cucumbers under the tomatoes (tiny, tiny tomato <3 p="">

2 x Bento

Bento #62



This one was leftover sloppy joes made with ground turkey.
Served with slider flatbread rounds, green onion, and shredded cheese
For veggies we have celery and carrot sticks
And 2 chocolate covered macadamia nuts for a treat.

Sloppy Joe Recipe:
1lb ground turkey
1/4 c green pepper, diced
1/4 c onion, diced
1/2 c. ketchup
1 tbsp yellow mustard
a few dashes Worcestershire sauce
Spices to taste (I used chili powder, cumin, cinnamon, garlic powder, onion powder, pepper and a dash of salt)

Brown meat, breaking it up as you cook it. Drain. Add onion and green pepper and cook until just soft.
While meat is cooking, combine ketchup, mustard, Worcestershire sauce and spices. Add about 1/4 c water.
Coat the meat with the sauce (add more water if necessary), and simmer to reduce the sauce.

Serve on your favourite bread or buns (we used whole grain sunflower & flax bread when we had it for dinner) with toppings of your choice!

A lot of the recipes I found for sloppy joes called for brown sugar, and little to no spice. I didn't have any brown sugar on hand, so I skipped it, and added some of my favourite spices. This recipe had a nice slight sweet edge (ketchup already has sugar in it, and cinnamon is sweet), and just a touch of spice.

If you've never tried cinnamon in a tomato sauce, I highly recommend it. It adds such a rich flavour to the sauce. It works really well with meat sauces, but I often have it with just plain sauce. You only need a dash.

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Bento #63



Sorry, this photo is a bit blurry, I was in a rush that morning.
We have 3 round onigiri (l to r: Salmon Furikake, Plain (lightly salted), Umeboshi Furikake)
1 hotdog cut into 2 octopi and 2 crabs (black sesame seeds for the octopus eyes)
Mustard in the little blue container
Deviled Egg
2 apple bunnies

yum!

I haven't made onigiri in so long, and I forgot just how delicious they are - even just the plain ones!
I picked up some more furikake today: Veggie, Bonito and Egg.

I've never actually had an umeboshi ... I will admit that even though I'm all for trying new things, a pickled plum makes me hesitate. I like the umeboshi furikake though. I'm sure if the opportunity presents itself, I will try one someday.

Bento #36

First bento in my new house - we have no veggies!

Furikake Rice
Green Beans with Soy Sauce and Sesame Oil
Grape Tomatoes
Imitation Crab Salad
Cheese
Black Grapes
Mint
Apricot
Taro Mochi

I'm going to pick up some veggies and fruit tomorrow

I have to get used to my new stove - it's a flat top, and the temperatures are a bit different, so there is going to be some adjustment there. I nearly had a rice disaster.

Bento #29

New bento box! It's a tiny 3-tier one, but it holds just as much as the 2-tier ones I use. I can fill the bottom portion with a much smaller amount of rice than if I was to use the 2-tier one and dedicate the whole bottom to rice.

Furikake Rice
Deviled Eggs
Sugar Snap Peas
Baby Carrots
Mini Salmon Burgers
Mini Bok Choy
Grape Tomatoes

Mini Salmon Burgers
1 Can Salmon (I used the one that's the same size as a can of tuna, also boneless)
dill, salt & pepper to taste
2 tsp dijon
1 tsp lemon juice
1/4 c breadcrumbs
1 extra large egg
Mix all, form into patties, fry in a little bit of olive oil over medium heat until golden brown, flip, cook until golden brown.

Mini Bok Choy was stir fried with garlic in a little olive oil until it was just starting to wilt. Add a bit of beef broth (a tablespoon or so) and put the lid on to steam. Drizzle with a bit of sesame oil and toss.

Since we are moving in 2 weeks, we aren't really going grocery shopping and I'm kind of having to scrape together what I can.

Bento #19

Tomorrow's bento:

Rice mixed with Furikake
Deviled egg
Ham, Cheese and Olives on a toothpick skewer
1/2 an apricot
tart green grapes
grape tomatoes
mini cucumber slices - one with a heart cutout for the cute
green beans with a honey / soy / sesame dressing

This is a very orange and green bento!

The Mister's is almost exactly the same, except I omitted the furikake and sprinkled black and white sesame seeds on his rice instead, he gets an extra skewer, but his doesn't have any olives. I included some honey mustard for him too. Finally, instead of the tomato and cucumber (his two most hated veggies), he gets carrots.

I got the recipe for the green beans from the Kawaii Bento Book, changed out the sugar for some honey and added some chili flakes.
The skewers were a last minute space filler.

I really like cooking stuff for the bento along with dinner - we had green beans tonight, and I just cooked some extra.
Tomorrow will be the big test in that respect - I'm planning to turn two side-dishes from dinner into lunch stuff.