Bento Blahs

You may have noticed that it's been a long time since my last bento post. You know why? It's because I'd been hit by a serious case of the bento blahs. It seemed that almost every bento I packed included a PBNFSM (Peanut Butter Nutella and Flaxseed Meal) sandwich. BOOORING! Thankfully, I discovered a new way to get some grains into the Boo's bento boxes: onigiri, AKA, rice squished together into a little ball (or fun shape) to be picked up with bare hands and popped into the mouth. I'd included plain onigiri in Benjamin's bento before, but they were met with little enthusiasm. I decided to add some flavor by quickly frying the sides in a mix of olive oil, sugar, mirin, and soy sauce, which he seemed to like. I'm sure the cute heart shapes appealed to him, too.

Benjamin liked the savory onigiri so much, I put a sweet spin on things and made some strawberry-flavored ones. I did this by making a ball-shaped onigiri, creating a little divot in the center with my fingers, spooning in a bit of strawberry preserves, and reshaping it.

He didn't seem terribly excited about the strawberry onigiri, so I made some with Nutella filling instead. I first tried it with plain Nutella, and when that went over well, I mixed in some flaxseed meal to give it some more nutritional oomph. I was worried that the texture of the flaxseed meal would turn him off, but Benjamin didn't seem to notice. His Nutella and flaxseed meal onigiri bento came back looking like this:

Mmmm! I don't know if you can tell, but it appears that he ate through the onigiri until he got to all the chocolate stuff. Smart kid, that Benjamin! Unfortunately, those smarts were stumped by...

I'm assuming that note was not written by Benjamin himself, but was dictated to his teacher Ms. Gisele. The kid is smart, but not that smart! Even so, I was surprised to receive that note. I mean, the kid can do this...


...but he can't figure out how to use his lunchbox? I'd like to think that the reason why is because he is driven witless by his excitement to eat the delicious lunch his mama packed him!

The Year of the Bunny

Happy Chinese New Year!

Bento Blahs

On the left: hard-cooked egg with some ketchup on the side; cubed baked yam; and PBN&FM sandwiches. On the right: hard-cooked egg with ketchup; PBN&FM sandwiches; and yogurt. YAWN!

I've been in a bento rut lately. Instead of branching out into exciting new bento territory (I am dying to try this carrot puree muffin recipe), I've been sticking to the usual suspects - egg (boiled or fried), PBN&FM sammies, and yams. Booooring! But don't blame me. Blame this guy:
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Benjamin's been going through a painfully picky phase lately, which means I've had to stick to putting things I know that he'll eat into his bento lunches. For example, he used to love fresh veggies. He'd eat frozen peas and carrots by the handful like they were candy. But then one evening, I served him his dinner of fried rice with chicken and veggies, and he started screaming, "No peas! NO PEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAS!!" My God, what did peas ever do to you, son?? Anyway, I started worrying that he wasn't getting enough veggies, so I had to get even craftier with how I snuck them into his meals.

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Left: PBN&FM sandwiches; tamagoyaki with bean puree added; clementine orange. Right: Yams; PB&J sandwiches; Trader Joe's Organic O cereal; tamagoyaki with pureed broccoli and cauliflower.

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I've found that an immersion blender does an even better job of getting veggies pureed into smooth nothingness than a food processor does. When I used my food processor, I'd notice chunks of whole veggies left in the mix. Granted, the chunks were really small - think the size of the head of a straight pin - but in his uber-picky state, Benjamin's tongue has developed the ability to ferret out any vegetable matter and cast it out with a disgusted, "Phblah!" Another upside to the immersion blender is that it's easier to clean up than all the different pieces that make up a food processor. We all win!

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Left: Christmas-inspired PBJ&FM sandwiches; banana and persimmon chunks; hard-cooked egg with some ketchup. Right: More sammies with tamagoyaki and baked yam.

The one area in which I have been able to do some experimenting is with the shapes I cut the sandwiches into. Oh, my goodness, has there ever been a more housewifey (or grammatically clumsy) sentence uttered? Anyhoo, check out my Christmas-inspired bento above. The little "trees" broke up the visual, if not gustatory, monotony of my recent bento. Guess I'll have to wait until the next holiday to get creative again. That would be Chinese New Year, and this year, it's going to be the Year of the Rabbit, which is my sign. According to my mom, this means that I have to wear red underwear on Chinese New Year's Eve. Who knew my peeps were so kinky? Anyway, maybe I can pack some rabbit-shaped sandwiches in his bento. Or how about some sandwiches shaped like red underwear? Wait, I'm sure that would warrant a call to CPS. I'll stick with rabbits.

Tamago-yummy!

I've been trying to change up Benjamin's bento lunches lately. For example, the above bento contains something new - sliced persimmons. Mmm! But it also contains two things that are found in about 90% of all of his bento: PB&J sandwiches and eggs. I began feeling guilty about how often I was sending him to school with PB&J, so I've attempted to healthy things up. Now, instead of PB&J sandwiches, I send him to school with...
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PBN&FM Sandwiches!! PBN&FM = Peanut butter, Nutella, and flaxseed meal. So maybe Nutella is just chocolate in sheep's clothing, but it is healthier than jelly. And flaxseed meal is super-duper healthy! It's rich in fiber, lignans, and Omega-3 fats (don't ask me what a lignan is - I'm just copying what was printed on the flaxseed meal bag). Best of all, once sprinkled on top of peanut butter, it's virtually undetectable to picky preschool palates, so it goes down without a fuss. Everyone wins!
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These two bento feature my new sandwich concoction. The one on the left contains banana chunks, cubed yam, cheese, and PBN&FM sandwiches. The one on the right has yogurt melts, a hard-cooked egg with a little ketchup on the side, and PBJ&FM sandwiches. Yup, that's right - peanut butter, JELLY, and flaxseed meal. You're catching on!
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Eggs are a significantly less guilt-inducing food to feed your kid, but I still felt a little bad about packing it in Benjamin's bento all the time. Besides, I think he was getting bored of eating all those hard-cooked eggs. Many of them were coming back with one or two little bites taken out of them. If there's something a Chinese mother hates, it's watching food go to waste. Ai-yoh!! So to mix things up, I tried my hand at making tamagoyaki. Tamagoyaki is a Japanese bento and sushi staple made of a mixture of egg, soy sauce, mirin, salt, and sugar. It's fried in thin sheets and rolled up. The resulting product is slightly salty, slightly sweet, and totally delicious.

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I had a hell of a time trying to make my first few tamagoyaki. You're supposed to fry it in a nonstick pan in an even, thin sheet. As it cooks, you roll it into a narrow little tube, add more egg, and repeat until all the egg is gone and you have a many-layered roll thingy. Well, my tamagoyaki wouldn't cook in a thin layer. Instead, I wound up with a fat, lumpy pancake looking thing. It probably didn't help that I added pureed carrots, broccoli, and cauliflower to the egg mixture in an attempt to squeeze in as many nutrients as possible.

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Fortunately, even though my tamagoyaki looked more like a tamago-yucky, it still tasted pretty good. Benjamin polished it right off!
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And so did Calliope! The success of my lumpy, veggie-filled concoction made me wonder what else I could hide in a tamagoyaki. Turkey? Tofu? More flaxseed meal? Who knows? The world is my oyster. Aha! OYSTERS!

.Persimmon slices, PBN&FM sandwiches, steamed carrots, and tamago-yucky - no oysters!

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Stay tuned for more adventures in bento-making!

Bento-tastic

And now, for your bento viewing pleasure...
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Here's a bento I made for Benjamin that had four different foods in it: apple chunks dipped in lemon juice; mini-PB&J sandwiches; edamame, and hard-cooked eggs sprinkled with paprika. I had high hopes for this bento, but it came back only half-eaten. I think that I got overeager and tried to cram too many things into that one tiny box. As a result, the Boo just ignored it all.
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This bento had only three things in it - baked yam cubes; egg, parmesan, cauliflower, and pea frittata; and edamame. Since I'd had great luck with giving him edamame before, I thought I'd try upping the portion. Smart thinking, right? Wrong! The fickle Boo suddenly decided that he no longer liked edamame ("Mama, too furry!") and didn't eat any of it. So the next time, I decided to...
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...pull the little suckers out and mix them in with some peas and carrots. This time, Benjamin ate all the veggies - except for the edamame. Foiled again!
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Finally, here's a bento that he did eat: thawed frozen berries; avocado dipped in lemon and sprinkled with a little kosher salt; and my old standby PB&J. Well, there were a few berries left over as well as a bread crust, but all of that avocado was gone. You know what that means, right? I'll be packing him avocado slices, avocado sandwiches, and avocado frittatas until he decides that avocado has gone the way of edamame and he's over it. Who knows what the reason might be this time? "Mama, too green!" "Mama, too bumpy!" "Mama, too packed with vitamin E, carotenoids, and folate!" Whatever the reason, it's his prerogative to change his little toddler mind. Just not until after he's finished that crate of avocados I just bought at Trader Joe's.

Obento, My Bento

Redwood Village is big on fostering independence in its young charges. As such, they prefer that parents prepare uncomplicated lunches kids are able to feed to themselves. Concerned that my petite Boo might not get enough from many kid-friendly American options like PB&J and mac 'n' cheese, I decided to go bento.

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Bento is Japanese in origin, and it means "meal in a box." Traditional bento have a 2:1:1 ratio of carbs/rice, meat/protein, and veggies. I don't go out of my way to adhere to this rule, but I find that many of the bento I prepare end up following these guidelines anyway. Bento-making seems to lend itself to healthy eating because it encourages you to include a variety of foods in small portions. Aside from being healthy, bento are also just so damn cute! I know this sounds ridiculous, but I love admiring my finished bento in all their kawaii glory. No, looks aren't everything, but what can I say? This is LA, baby!

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Preparing bento lunches is super-easy. It is, however, very important to follow proper food prep and storage guidelines. I've found the website Just Bento to be a huge help in this area. As far as tooks are concerned, you don't need much. You can find a wide variety of bento boxes in any Japanese market, but the Sassy containers available online or in Babies R Us are just fine, too. Fun extras are silicone baking cups in different sizes and egg molds. Oh, and don't forget something to pack it all in! I like to use an insulated lunchbox (with an ice pack, of course) in which I can place the finished bento flat so that it stays nice and pretty.

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So what do the Boo's bento look like? Here are a few recent ones...

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Hard-cooked egg (molded in an egg mold to look like a teddy bear); goldfish crackers; peas and diced carrots; and PB&Js cut into little heart shapes with mini-cookie cutters.
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Frittata of pureed cauliflower and broccoli, mozzarella, and egg nuked in a silicone baking cup; cantaloupe chunks; and whole wheat toast squares with dip made of peanut butter, honey and a little water.
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Cut-up cheese stick; goldfish crackers; PB&J; hard-cooked egg molded to look like a rabbit and tinted with a little dark soya sauce.
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Fried egg and turkey ham cut into strips and rolled together; plain onigiri (rice balls) with turkey ham in the center; baked yam cubes; and apple spears brushed with lemon juice.

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Frittata of egg, cauliflower, carrots, cheese, and peas; wheat crackers; banana; and cantaloupe chunks.
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Edamame; onigiri; cantaloupe chunks; and hard-cooked egg (molded to look like a car) tinted with dark soya.

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You've probably noticed there are several staples: rice, eggs, fruit, pureed veggies, and yes, even PB&J. I find that by offering Benjamin smaller portions of a variety of things he's more likely to eat what he's been given. I try my best to incorporate as many unprocessed, whole foods as possible. I'm also big on raw fruits and veggies. But at the end of the day, what are my favorite bento? The ones that come back looking like this:
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