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English muffin sandwich bento lunch

Bento lunches don’t have to include rice, in fact sandwiches are a popular item in children’s bento boxes in Japan as they’re easy for little hands to hold. You can use all kinds of breads to make interesting sandwich variations: mini bagels, English muffins, croissants, dinner rolls, sandwich bread cut into shapes, cocktail bread for teeny sandwiches, biscuits, regular bread roll-ups, or even focaccia or regular bread packed in a collapsible sandwich case. What’s your favorite sandwich bread to shake things up a little?

Contents of preschooler lunch: English muffin sandwich with herbed cream cheese on a lettuce garnish, crisp Fuyu persimmon slices, steamed broccoli, cherry tomato, hard-boiled quail egg shaped like a car, and diced mango.

Morning prep time: 12 minutes, using a molded quail egg from an earlier batch (stored in cold water in the fridge). In the morning I quickly made the sandwich (not toasted, as per Bug’s request), sliced the fruits and veggies, and steamed the broccoli in my microwave mini steamer. I shaped the quail egg with the yellow quail egg mold shown on the right: shell a hard-boiled egg while hot, quickly put it into the mold and close it up, then toss into a cold water bath for 10 minutes or so for it to take on its shape. If you don’t have an egg mold, you can use common ice cream sandwich molds to shape chicken eggs. (Click on any photo for a larger view.)

Packing: The mango went into a reusable plastic food cup to keep it contained, and a plastic food divider kept the sweet persimmon away from the savory broccoli (I cut the divider to size and reuse it after washing). I’ll cop a guilty plea for unnecessary garnish: I put the muffin sandwich halves on curly leaf lettuce for color contrast. If this were my lunch I would have thrown in a pre-filled sauce container with vinaigrette, and made a mini salad out of the lettuce after I’d eaten the sandwich. That, or put the lettuce inside of the sandwich itself and let it hang out of the sides for a similar visual effect. The lunch is packed in a three-tier 495ml bento box from Daiso (US$1.50) which unfortunately is a little tricky for little kids to put back together as the lids are not interchangeable. We practiced beforehand, but his teachers had to help him put this box back together. I may mark the lids and their corresponding tier with marker or nail polish to help Bug match them up by himself (self-sufficiency, hooray!).

Verdict: Too big. Bug ate both halves of the sandwich at preschool, but totally left the rest until afterwards. In the afternoon after playing he did eat everything but the persimmon slices, which had gotten a little warm from sitting too long and had stuck together. I should have left one half of the sandwich out, and just sent him to school with two tiers instead of three. (Click for details of the second lunch with curry packed with the “rice lid” method…)

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Published by Biggie on December 4th, 2007 tagged bento, curry, eggs, equipment, for kids, lactose free, poultry, rice, sandwich or wrap, thermal lunch jar | 23 Comments »

Pomegranate bento lunches

This was my son’s first pomegranate — Bug was asking for a snack the day before this lunch, so we sat together at the kitchen table with a big bowl filled with water and picked apart the pomegranate. We had fun watching the arils fall to the bottom and the pith float to the top, and Bug quickly started popping the seeds into his mouth. That snack was half play, half food, so packing the remaining pomegranate arils in the next day’s bento was a little reminder to him of the fun we had earlier.

Contents of preschooler lunch: Roast chicken, sauteed sugar snap peas, pomegranate arils and Puerto Rican yellow rice with alcaparrado.

Morning prep time: 8 minutes, using leftover yellow rice, chicken and pomegranate. In the morning I made the sugar snap peas, and lightly microwaved the yellow rice to restore the texture.

Packing: I made a couple of fatal errors in packing this lunch. The key to packing a bento that will survive rough treatment in transport is packing it tight, with no gaps. At first glance this lunch would seem to be fine, but the pomegranate seeds and yellow rice are very loose and need to be contained. In an effort to do just that, I covered the pomegranate arils with a bear-shaped â€œsurprise animal capâ€ and put an antibacterial lunch sheet over the rice before putting the lid on. This might have been fine, but walking into preschool I watched my son drop his whole lunch bag upside down as he was putting it into his cubbyhole, then pick it up and drop it again on its side. Ouch! Had it been a normal lunch it might have withstood this dropping, but it was a little on the fragile side to begin with, so the rice and pomegranate both jumped around in the box. Pomegranate arils are packed in a heart-shaped reusable plastic food cup from Daiso, and the whole lunch is packed in a 360ml Disney Cars bento box with one sub-divider removed to accommodate more food.

Verdict: Not so great. Once the rice mixed with the pomegranate, Bug didn’t want to eat either, so he just ate the chicken and sugar snap peas. If I were to re-pack this, I’d either use a different box like the Lock & Lock one below, or securely cover the pomegranate and rice with either plastic wrap or Glad Pressâ€™n Seal.

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Contents of my lunch: Salad of spring greens, pomegranate arils, and pine nuts with a black fig vinaigrette. Yellow rice, kiwifruit, wrapped cheese, and roast chicken. I got the black fig vinegar from the Hop Kiln winery in the Russian River Valley a while back — a picturesque winery with a lot of Zinfandels.

Morning prep time: 5 minutes, using leftover rice, chicken and pomegranate. In the morning I just made the salad, threw in a pre-filled sauce container with vinaigrette to save time, and cut the kiwi in half to eat with a spoon. The rice got a brief spin in the microwave to restore texture.

Packing: This was the right way to pack the loose yellow rice — in a 700ml Lock & Lock bento set with built-in dividers that come right up to the lid (no room for rice to jump compartments, even if dropped).

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Published by Biggie on November 21st, 2007 tagged bento, for kids, glutenfree, lactose free, poultry, rice | 2 Comments »

Mother & son bento lunches with pasta

Contents of my lunch: Stir fried snow peas and red bell pepper with Thai oyster sauce, roast chicken, crisp Fuyu persimmon slices, and penne all’arrabiata with sun-dried tomatoes and pepperoncini. Not shown: a drink container filled with blueberry juice mixed with water. I also could have made a pasta frittata using the leftover pasta, instead of packing the leftover pasta as is.

Morning prep time: 12 minutes, using rotisserie chicken from Costco and leftover pasta that my friend Debbie made. In the morning, I restored the texture of the pasta by microwaving it briefly with a splash of water, cut the persimmon crosswise for visual appeal, and quickly pan-fried the vegetables with this recipe (but with fresh peppers instead of roasted). I like the persimmon cut like this; this lunch is even prettier with a full slice.

Packing: After packing the bento box, I let the lunch cool with the lid off while I finished getting ready for the day. This reduces condensation inside the box for maximum bento food safety. With two growing and feisty kittens in the house, though, it’s become more difficult to just leave lunches out to cool — there’s a very real risk of finding a curious cat trying to sneak a snack. (Hooray for squirt guns for discipline!) Lately I’ve taken to putting the boxes on top of the refrigerator behind the knife block where the cats can’t get at them. Lunch packed in two 350ml tiers of a Lock & Lock bento set, with handy drink container and insulated carrying case.

Preschooler lunch: My son’s bento contains the same food as mine, minus the persimmon.

Packing: The flavors of the chicken and vegetables were complimentary and my son isn’t very picky about food touching, so I dispensed with food dividers (edible or plastic) and separated the snow peas and bell peppers for a nice color contrast. (Confession: If I weren’t taking photos and blogging this, I probably would have just dumped the stir-fried veggies in together without worrying about color contrast…) Packed in two tiers (180ml and 100ml) of a 4-tier Thomas the Tank Engine nesting and stacking bento box set.

Verdict: Pretty good over time. Bug ate all of the pasta and snow peas, and most of the chicken at preschool. After school he ate the rest of the chicken and one of the peppers (and the sliced persimmon from my lunch!). I was surprised that he downed the spicy pasta at dinner the night before; it seemed to be fine as long as he just stuck with the pasta itself and didn’t eat the add-ins (sun-dried tomatoes, pepperoncini, etc.). If I hadn’t seen him wolf this down earlier I would have hesitated to pack something spicy that he might not be able to eat.

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Published by Biggie on November 12th, 2007 tagged bento, for kids, pasta or noodles, poultry | 14 Comments »

A trio of kid bentos

Looking back, I realize I haven’t been packing as many adult bento lunches lately as I’ve been focusing on cranking out Bug’s daily preschool meals in time to run out the door. Over the past month I’ve gotten more comfortable with our new morning routine, though, so I think I’m about ready to restart making my lunches in conjunction with his. Today we have a backlog of three of my three-year-old’s lunches; stay tuned for more of the mother/son lunches, the variations adjusting for different appetites and cuteness levels.

Contents of Wednesday preschooler lunch: Mac and cheese with grilled red peppers and green onions, wasabi and green onion smashed potatoes, grilled mushrooms, pineapple sausage, and sliced persimmon. This meal is too carb-heavy for my liking, but there you go.

Morning prep time: 7 minutes, using all leftovers except sausage and persimmons. A friend had left some mac and cheese at our house from feeding her one-year-old, so I nuked this with a splash of water to restore texture, chopped some leftover grilled peppers and green onions (scallions), and packed. I sliced and heated the sausage through in the microwave for maximum food safety.

Packing: I used a plastic food divider to separate the savory sausage and mushrooms from the sweet persimmon slices. (You can also use edible food dividers, or wash and reuse the plastic food dividers.) The lunch is packed in a 360ml Disney Cars bento box, which in turn went into an insulated Shinkansen lunch bag with a wide base designed to carry bento boxes flat, not tipped over on the side. I got the lunch bag at the Sanrio store in Stonestown Mall in San Francisco for US$15. (Click any photo for a larger view.)

Verdict: Good over time. Bug left a third of the mac & cheese, and half of the mashed potatoes. I guessed his body knew when to stop on the carbs!!!

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Contents of Thursday preschooler lunch: Pork tamale with husk removed, slice of crisp Fuyu persimmon, and apple wedges. No vegetables, though — I fell short.

Morning prep time: 6 minutes. I used frozen tamales, so was able to cook one quickly in a microwave steamer and slice the fruit in the morning.

Packing: To make the tamale as easy to eat as possible and avoid lunchtime frustration at preschool, I removed the corn husk wrapper before packing and cut up the tamale in the box. At home Bug usually likes some crema or yogurt with his tamale, but because his preschool has an allergy policy ruling out liquid dairy (milk, yogurt, etc.) I skipped the sauce altogether. While Bug is unimpressed with persimmon when it’s cut into wedges, for some reason he’ll eat it up when it’s cut crosswise like this to showcase the inside pattern (go figure!). I dipped the apple wedges in lemon juice mixed with Splenda before packing to keep the fruit from browning, and perched the persimmon slice on top. The lunch is packed in one 350ml tier of a Lock & Lock lunch set, and a 150ml Anpanman side dish container.

Verdict: Thumbs up. Bug ate everything but a couple of apple wedges at preschool, then downed the apples at a playground afterwards as a snack.

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Contents of Friday preschooler lunch: Chicken drumstick, frozen spaghetti cup, grilled mushrooms and red bell peppers, grape tomatoes, and green beans with vinaigrette.

Morning prep time: 9 minutes, using leftover roast chicken from Costco, frozen pasta from my emergency freezer stash, and leftover mushrooms/peppers. In the morning I made one dish in the mini microwave steamer: the green beans.

Packing: I wrapped the end of the drumstick in decorative aluminum foil to make a clean â€œhandleâ€, and used a little cow-shaped reusable plastic food cup (from Daiso) for the mushrooms/peppers. A reusable silicone baking cup squished into the remaining available space to held the green beans, and I plugged the gap with little tomatoes to keep the lunch stable during transport. Lunch packed in a 470ml Afternoon Tea box without the removable divider, to accommodate the drumstick.

Verdict: Too much food, and Bug burned out on the mushrooms and bell peppers that keep reappearing in his lunches. He demolished the chicken, green beans and most of the spaghetti, but left the mushrooms, peppers and tomatoes. If I were to redo this lunch, I could have done a leftover remake with the mushrooms and peppers by putting them into a mini gratin, mini frittata, fried rice, mashed potato or squash. Having at least one big divider in the box would have helped contain leftovers for after-school snacking, though — his leftovers slid all over the inside of the box, making them unappetizing.

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Published by Biggie on November 9th, 2007 tagged bento, corn tortillas or masa, for kids, lactose free, meat, pasta or noodles, potatoes, poultry | 14 Comments »

Curry and lamb stew lunches

This was the first time I sent Bug to preschool with the insulated bento set on his own, which is able to keep hot curry hot and cold veggies cold in the same lunch. The full set has a 240ml thermal food jar and two 160ml side dishes that fit into a larger insulated bag, but that’s just too much food for a three-year-old (see bento box size guidelines). Instead, I left out one of the side dish containers and used the extra space to pack a deep spoon in a plastic baggie and a cute oshibori (wet hand towel) in its case. The thermal bento set is handy in that the lid of the thermos lifts off instead of unscrewing, so itâ€™s easy for little hands to open (i.e. Bug can’t open the food jar that I used for my lunch below). Although similar sets sell here and here for about US$43 (ouch), you can duplicate this setup on the cheap by using a thermal food jar and separate bento box packed in an insulated lunch bag to take both hot and cold foods at the same time.

Contents of preschooler lunch: Japanese curry (Vermont brand) with chicken, potatoes, carrots, onions and mushrooms. Rice, grapes, tangerine, cucumber, and red bell pepper with ranch dressing for dipping.

Morning prep time: 6 minutes, using leftover curry and rice from dinner. In the morning I preheated the thermal food jar with hot tap water while I microwaved the curry and rice, and sliced the vegetables.

Packing: I used the “rice lid” technique described in this post to pack both hot curry and rice together in the same thermal container — after taking the photo I covered the rest of the curry with a layer of rice. This kept both warm without getting the rice all soggy, as it would be if it were packed underneath the curry. Packed in the insulated bento set described above.

Verdict: Thumbs up. Bug ate all of the curry, cucumber and tangerine. After I picked him up he ate the grapes but passed on the bell pepper. I probably could have packed twice as much curry rice and he would have inhaled it — he’s got a bottomless pit for this kind of dish (hot curry or stew with rice).

My lunch: The contents are the same as Bug’s lunch, but the curry is packed under a layer of rice in a larger 300ml food jar by Nissan Stainless. The fruits and vegetables are packed in a 240ml bento box by Asvel, and the ranch dressing is in a little Clickety Clack mayonnaise cup from Ichiban Kan.

Contents of preschooler lunch: Bulgur pilaf with toasted noodles, packed in a layer over autumn lamb stew with squash, lemon, and mint (bulgur pilaf and Turkish Gaziantep stew recipes from Paula Wolfert’s award-winning cookbook The Cooking of the Eastern Mediterranean, click for my lamb stew recipe adaptation). Side dish holds a tiny Lady apple, tangerine slice and raspberries. (Click on any photo for a larger view.)

Morning prep time: 5 minutes, using leftover stew and pilaf. In the morning I just preheated the thermal food jar with hot tap water while I microwaved the stew and pilaf.

Packing: Packed in two containers of the insulated bento set described above, with the lamb stew packed underneath a layer of bulgur pilaf with vermicelli. Continue reading for the lamb stew recipe…

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