Friday, May 3, 2013

bento #22

hummus, mixed greens and kalamata olive sandwich with corn chips


Process: Spread hummus on gluten free bread. Layer on mixed greens and kalamata olives. Assemble, pack with corn chips.

Feedback: Delicious.

(kosher, gluten free, vegan)

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

bento #21

Steamed rice with tuna, sliced avocado, and tamari


Process: Steam rice. Fill bento with rice, top with sliced avocado and tuna. Drizzle with tamari.

Feedback: More, please

(kosher, gluten free, vegan)

Monday, April 29, 2013

bento #20

hummus w/ sundried tomatoes, chips, artichoke hears, hearts of palm, olives


Process: pack container with hummus, green olives, sliced hearts of palm, artichoke hearts, and corn chips. Eat up!

Feedback: loved it.

(kosher, gluten free, vegan)

Friday, April 26, 2013

bento #19

spinach + hummus sandwich, chips, olives





Process: Sandwich on gluten free bread of hummus and spinach. Serve with corn chips and olives.

Feedback: Really good, mom!

(kosher, gluten free, vegan)

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

bento #18

White rice, kidney beans, olives, and cheese


Process: Steam white rice and cook kidney beans in oil or butter. Fill container 2/3 with rice, then top with beans. Garnish with shredded cheese (omit for vegan) and green olives.

Feedback: More olives!

(kosher, gluten free)


Monday, April 22, 2013

bento #17

brown rice, tofu + vegetable stir fry, and pickled beets





Process: Steam brown rice, stir fry vegetables (carrots, snap peas, mushrooms, onions) and tofu in oil and tamari. Fill container with rice, mix in stir fry, and garnish with pickled beets.

(kosher, gluten free, vegan)

Friday, April 19, 2013

bento #16

snack bento: steamed rice and nori





Process: Fill a container with steamed rice. Pack in sheets of nori and season with oil, salt, and pepper.

Feedback: The boys requested this specifically, as they were just getting over an illness.

(kosher, gluten free, vegan)

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

bento #15

black beans, cheese, and rice





Process: steam rice, cook beans, fill bento 1/3 with rice, top 1/3 with beans and top with cheese.

Feedback: One of their favorite meals.

(kosher, gluten free)

Monday, April 15, 2013

bento #14

Snack bento: cheese, carrots, dolmas





Process: Pack bento with dolmas, mozarella, and carrot sticks. 

(kosher, gluten free)

Friday, April 12, 2013

bento #13

Seasoned brown rice, steamed vegetables, and nori with cashews and soy sauce.


Process: Steam vegetables and rice. Fill bento 2/3 with mixed vegetables and rice, top with nori and cashews. Drizzle on soy sauce. I tried to cut shapes out of the nori (that's a magen david in the upper left) but my cutters weren't a good tool with the dry nori.

Feedback: a little dry, but tasty

(kosher, gluten free, vegan

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Bento #12


 Steamed rice with spinach and falafel


Process: Steam rice. Slice up falafel of choice into bite-size chunks; warm in pan with some oil. Wilt spinach in same pan, mix all with rice and fill bentos.

Feedback: Tasty, but a little bland. Some sort of sauce next time.

(kosher, gluten free, vegan)

Monday, February 18, 2013

Bento #11

Steamed rice with mixed greens and black beans in tomato sauce.


Process: Steam rice. Warm beans in tomato sauce with some oil; season to taste. Fill bento halfway with rice, cover with mixed greens. Ladle over beans in sauce. Yum.

Feedback: Beans were a hit, some of the greens were not.

(kosher, gluten-free, vegan)

Friday, February 15, 2013

Short break

A family rotation of illness followed by work busyness prevented any bentos for a couple weeks, but Monday will be here soon, with a new bento. Happy weekend!

-nava

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Bento #10

Steamed white rice, pan fried tofu and wilted spinach


Process: Steam rice. Cut tofu to desired thickness and fried in light olive oil over medium-high heat with a splash of tamari until browned. Remove from pan and throw in handfuls of spinach. Stir briefly until wilted. Fill containers halfway with rice, top with spinach, tofu, and a drizzle of tamari. I normally like to jazz this up with spices or sauce, but we were getting over an illness so I kept it light.

Feedback: Can I have more tofu?

(gluten-free, vegan, kosher)

Monday, January 28, 2013

Bento #9

Vegan Spring Rolls and Popcorn with Thai Peanut Sauce


Process: Cut up carrots and cucumber into long, thin matchsticks (about 4" long), and slice up avocado. Soak 1 spring roll wrapper (mine are made from tapioca) at a time, until soft. Place a layer of spinach along the center, then a line of carrots, a line of cucumber, and a line of avocado. Roll up. Repeat until done making rolls. Slice. Pop some popcorn. Toss with olive oil and garlic. Serve with Thai Peanut Sauce (I make my own. Regular peanut sauce uses fish sauce, which is not vegan. As far as I know, there is not a regularly available kosher fish sauce either). This is not a quick lunch, unless you make the wraps (and sauce) ahead of time.

Feedback: Delicious!

(kosher, vegan, gluten free)

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Bento #8

Tomato soup with drop biscuits and cheese


Process: Cook up some tomato soup of your choice. We love Pacific Naturals brand, both the creamy tomato and the roasted red pepper and tomato. So delicious. Garnish with chunks of mozzarella and some gluten-free drop biscuits.

Feedback: Soup everywhere. "More cheese please!"

(gluten free, kosher)

Monday, January 21, 2013

Bento #7

Steamed white rice, garbanzos in tomato sauce




Process: Steamed rice. Warmed a can of garbanzos and a can of tomato sauce on stove with butter and salt. Fill container 1/2 with rice, 1/2 with beans & sauce. Serve with napkins.

Feedback: Is there more?

(kosher, gluten free, veganizable)

*substituting olive oil for butter would make this vegan.

Technical issues

Clearly I have not figured out how to schedule my posts, but if all goes well there will be a new one up at 8pm PST, and I'll go from there. Yay!

-nava

Monday, January 14, 2013

Bento #6

Steamed brown rice, black beans, sauteed chopped vegetables


Process: Warmed up the leftover brown rice from the previous day and filled bentos halfway. Warmed veggies and beans in some oil. Placed cookie cutter in each, filled with veggies and surrounded with black beans. Removed the cutters before eating, so the boys could mix everything together, but the shapes were completely lost without them in there, so for the picture they stayed in. 

Feedback: Can I eat it can I eat it can I eat it?

(kosher, gluten free, vegan)

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Bento #5

Sauteed mushrooms and garbanzo beans, carrots, and avocado slices






Process: Sauteed mushrooms in butter, then added garbanzos and continued to cook until warmed. Filled bentos halfway with mixture, topped with rough cut carrots and some ridged discs of avocado made with a cookie cutter. There was supposed to be brown rice in here but it took too long to cook and we were hungry, so we went ahead without it.
Feedback: I love avocado!
(kosher, gluten-free, vegan if using oil instead of butter)
 
I meant to post this a lot earlier, but I'm still getting the hang of scheduling these things. As in, I need to figure out how it actually works.

Monday, January 7, 2013

Bento #4

Steamed white rice, tuna, steamed vegetables


Process: Steamed rice and the cut vegetables. Mixed rice with canned tuna and filled containers halfway. Placed veggies in rows on top; broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots. Later added some tamari, as boys selected that rather than butter or oil. Quick, simple bento, and easy on the stomach.

Feedback: none, but they did eat all of it :)

(kosher, gluten-free, vegan)

Friday, January 4, 2013

bento #3

gluten-free challah and peanut butter sandwiches, toasted nori, carrot sticks, raw fudge


Process: Sliced up our leftover gf oat challah and made peanut butter sandwiches. Took 7 sheets of nori, folded in half, and placed beside sandwiches. Cut up one large carrot and divided between the two, finished off with one piece of raw fudge in a (candy? mini cupcake?) wrapper.

This bento was quick and super simple; I usually prefer to toast sandwiches but the boys were happy with them as is. They did eat the fudge first, and stretched out eating these for about two hours, but it was a successful bento, if somewhat plain.


Feedback: Can I have more fudge?

(kosher, gluten-free, vegan)

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Bento #2


Leftover pizza dinosaurs and leaves, leaf cut carrots, spinach




Process: Filled the containers halfway with spinach leaves. Took leftover anchovy + mushroom pizza and used cookie cutters to punch out dinosaurs and leaves. Used leaf cutter to cut out more leaves from sliced carrots. Placed the dinosaurs (triceratops, fyi) to browse through their leafy jungle.

This was more of a snack bento than a full lunch, as the boys were not very hungry. The pizza was leftover frozen pizza that had everything going for it (GF, kosher dairy, okay price point) but the taste. Too bad. Next time I will use plain pizza for the cutouts, as the toppings obscured the shape a bit. Also, need to use a tastier pizza.

Feedback: Wow! Also: Mmmm, I love carrot trees! I mean leaves!

(kosher, gluten-free)