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="">

Bento #55

So sorry, long time no post!
It has been beyond hectic at work and I am burning out. Thankfully I have a week off starting Sunday.
Lately I've just been throwing lunches together from leftovers, or making salad and running out the door.
This is my first bento in a little while ...



Leftover Tofu Curry (tofu, potato, carrot, onion and Glico Curry Mix)
Leftover Rice
Miso Soup Ball (from Just Bento)
Snow Peas
Cucumber
Strawberry
Apple Bunny
Mini Fruit Jelly

I hope the miso soup ball works out, I've never made miso soup before.

I have made three promises to myself when planning dinners:
I will serve fish at least once per week
I will have a vegetarian dinner once per week
I will serve salad with the majority of dinners (I have been doing this for a while already)

I have already cut out the majority of red meat - we really only eat it if we are eating out, and even then, it's not often.

Bento #18

For tomorrow's bento, I made it mostly with the just bento cookbook. I changed a couple of things, because I didn't have some of the ingredients or wanted to try something different, but inspired by her recipes. Some of it came out a little small, so I packed in some fruit and snow peas to fill the rest of the space.

Rice with mixed veggies
Dwarf Bok Choy stir fried with garlic and tossed with a dash of sesame oil (yum!)
tamagoyaki
ham roll filled with chive whipped cream cheese and cheddar
strawberry
grapes
snow peas

I printed out the "weekly meal planner with bento lunch box" from the just bento website and slid it into a plastic page protector. I used a grease pencil, which wipes off the plastic very nicely, and wrote out this week's meals, planning the veggies and sides so I can use them for the bento lunches the next day. I stuck it to the side of the fridge with magnets for handy reference. (the wire basket has index cards with recipes in it)



Let's see how well I follow it!
I'm going to try and remember to take photos each day.

Finally, I went to the farm market and picked up a whole bunch of fruit and veggies for a great price. I want to make it my goal to try something new when I spot it at the market. This time around I got some enoki mushrooms, which I will be using in a bento later this week.
I guess the bok choy sort of counts too - I've eaten it before, but I've never made it myself - and these ones were so tiny!

Garlic Bok Choy Recipe:
large handfull of Bok Choy
1 tsp olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tbsp beef broth
1 tsp sesame oil

heat oil and garlic, add bok choy and stir fry until leaves just begin to wilt - ensure garlic gets spread evenly . Add beef broth and quickly cover the pan, steam for a couple of minutes until heated through. Drizzle with sesame oil and toss.

Bento #15

I bought the Just Bento Cookbook and the Kawaii Bento Boxes books for my birthday.
Amazon.com has some sample recipes from the Just Bento Cookbook on their site, so I decided to make one last night.

Chicken and Three-Color Pepper Stir-fry (I only had 2 kinds of pepper - haha)
Instant Cabbage and Cucumber Pickles
Basic White Rice
Cherry Tomatoes, Carrots and Snow Peas (the original called for broccoli, but I didn't have any on hand, so I replaced it with the carrots and snow peas)

I sucked it up and bought some fresh ginger for the very first time to make the chicken recipe. It smelled absolutely delicious while it was cooking. I munched on a couple of pieces of the chicken this morning, and it was amazing!
My husband is okay with peppers, and I'm not too sure how he feels about ginger, so I told him if he doesn't like it I won't make it for him again (but I certainly will for me!) I didn't make the pickles for him, because he generally dislikes pickled things.

I like the JustBento website a lot, so I'm really looking forward to this book. (I've wanted the book for a while, it's just impossible to find locally, I've been looking in bookstores for a few months now)
I hope the Kawaii one has some good stuff in it too.