bento #41 & egg salad

When I got my square Urara Lube Sheep box a couple weeks ago, I also got what I guess is supposed to be an onigiri box. But I usually don’t eat more than one with a bento (I like them as a side, but not as a main dish). It’s pretty high though, and I thought it would work for diagonally cut sandwiches. And it does! Although my sandwich looks a little mangled here… I should have used firmer bread, or toasted it. I think I’ll toast it for the rest of the week (I always eat the same bento for each week).

This week I have an egg salad with bacon sandwich. I really wanted watercress on this, but that’s hard to find, so I settled for butter lettuce. Essential to keep the egg salad from touching the bread, or it would be hopelessly soggy by lunchtime.

The bottom part conatins:

• Pickled cipollini onions
• Fresh rasberries
• A Babybel cheese
• Lemon tea cookies

Egg salad:

Finely chop half a dozen cooled-down hardboiled eggs, and mix with 1/4 cup mayo, 1 tsp. Dijon and 1/2 tsp. regular yellow mustards, and 1 tbsp lemon juice. Add a few chopped green onions and, if desired, a few crumbled bacon strips. I usually do desire, because bacon is awesome.

bento #40 & hawaiian meatballs

I made these meatballs a few weeks ago, and I don’t usually repeat myself so soon… I just wanted an excuse to use my new bone picks!

Bottom:

• Sweet & sour meatballs.
• Vegetable samosa (cut in half).

Top:

• Cherry tomatoes.
• Snapea crisps.
• Laughing Cow cheese bits.
• Kumquats.
• Mushroom cookies.

The cheese and cookies are leftovers from last week. No sense letting them go to waste.

My recipe for the meatballs:

Mix 2 lbs. lean ground beef, 1 8 oz. can water chestnuts (drained and finely chopped), 2 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp brown sugar, 1/2 tsp each onion and garlic powder. Form into golf ball-sized balls, space at least 1/2″ apart on a baking sheet, and bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.

Mix 1 cup apricot preserves and 3 tbsp apple cider vinegar, then toss the meatballs so they’re well coated. Return to baking sheet and oven, cook for another 5 minutes. Makes about 3 dozen.

I can’t take credit for this recipe, but I don’t remember where it came from. Probably allrecipes.com.

bento #39 & bacon-wrapped tofu

Lots of green again this week! Better a lot than too little, I say.

I have new equipment for this bento. I bought the picks at Ichiban Kan on Wednesday. And I bought one of the square Urara Lube Sheep boxes at Daiso on Saturday. I was curious to see how they compare to the usual rectangular boxes. I like it. It probably holds the same amount of food, but the deeper tiers seem easier to pack.

Bottom:

• Bacon-wrapped tofu.
• Vegetable gyoza.
• Snow peas.

Top:

• Pepperoncini.
• Laughing Cow cheese bits.
• Apple slices with caramel sauce.
• A couple of those mushroom cookies , also purchased at Ichiban Kan. Haven’t had any luck finding them at Ranch 99 in the East Bay.

To make the bacon-wrapped tofu, simply drain a block of firm tofu, cut into chunks, wrap in bacon (regular thickness), and fry like you would normal bacon. Delish!

bento #38

Last week I was irked that I had no green in my bento. This week I appear to be making up for that!

Top:

• Pinwheel sandwiches made with lavash flatbread, cheddar-horseradish spread, roast beef, and organic micro greens.
• Boiled egg–with smiley face!
• Jumbo green olives stuffed with garlic cloves.

Bottom:

• Green grapes.
• Mini milk chocolate-peanut butter cups.

Lid:

• Edamame.

bento #37 & ham & cheese korokke

Large Box:

• Strawberries.
• Hardboiled egg with flower cutout.
• Peach gelatin.
• Belgian endive with red wine vinegar.
• Vanilla yogurt.

Small Box:

• Ham & cheese korokke with sweet & sour sauce. My recipe for korokke can be found here. This time I used panko for the outside bread crumb coating, which I recommend.

It kind of irks me that there’s no green in this bento. When I was planning it I guess I thought of the endive as green, but it’s grown in the dark, like mushrooms, and actually has very little color!