Left over Lemon Chicken

The best way to speed through your bento making if you're in a hurry is to use left overs, here is some lemon chicken I made the night before and used it for lunch the next day. I made sure to separate the sauce so the chicken would not get soggy and I accomanied it with the usual veggies that are great for filling in those extra spaces and are also nutricious and delicious like broccoli and carrots. I made a little cucumber salad and cheesecake again for dessert. To add some color to the meal I added a red flower in the center of the rice made with paprika.

-Bento Chick

Simple yet Satisfying

Happy Holidays everyone!!

Here is a Bento DJ made before going to see her family for the holidays.

Rice balls with grape tomatoes, good for stuffing. For dessert the strawberry mochi and a gingerbread man cookie.

Perogies and Patties

Perogies are pretty much the dumplings of Europe. Usually found in the frozen section of the grocery store, these perogies can be made at home very easily, I will have the recipe posted for you to enjoy them as much as I did. I was feeling in a potato mood (not couch potato) and decided to make the perogies with a potato filling.

For the protien in the meal I made beef patties that went great with the caramelized onions also used for the perogies. The sqeeze bottle contained just enough ranch for the carrots. Last but certainly not least, infact I think I ate this first, is the vanilla cheesecake dessert with graham cracker topping. that meal was so satisfying and fun to eat!!

Sandwiches Anyone?

This Bento was pretty easy to make and pack, I had some left over Italian burger patties and peperoni in the fridge so I cut them up and made two Italian sandwiches with mozzerella cheese and onions. I also made a rice block with avocado and ham. they were all so happy the carrot even lost an eye it was so excited to come to work with me!!

Jalapeno Snack Rolls Recipe

These very simple to make snack rolls are delicious and fun to eat, they're also a great bento stuffer because they can fit snugly next to any other bento item. The recipe used to make these is as follows.

-California imported Jalapeno tortillas (or any found in the grocery store will do)
-Room temprature cream cheese
-Ham or any thinly sliced deli meat
-clean hands

First lay out the torillas and warm on a griddle then spread the cream cheese evenly over the torillas. Layer the deli meat over the cream cheese and start rolling at one end making sure it is a tight roll. Once rolled cut into bite sized pieces or desired lengh. Last step, fit into your bento and eat.

Recipe a courtesy of D.J.

Rolling Rolling Rolling Keep Those Bentos Rolling

Jalapeno tortillas with cream cheese and ham...Mmmmm... DJ also added some little LOVEly heart shaped cookies.

Broccoli Forest

Forest with broccoli makes for a good lunch...

Picnic Bento

This is my picnic Bento

I love how happy all my food is, the rice star and bear are having a ball (no pun intended... well maybe a little) and my mashed potatoes are just happy to be out of the freezer sitting under the broccoli tree. I made the egg frittata for the first time and it was delicious and convenient. I made ten of them and just froze the ones I wasn't going to use right away. I finally got my mini squeeze bottles so I filled one with ketchup for my potatoes to draw hair and stuff on them and I filled the other with furikake for the rice balls. I will post the recipe for the egg frittata later because I figured I should share the wealth and it was delicious!!!!

Enjoy fellow Bento-ers

-Bento Chick

Under the Sea Bento

Long time no post...
Well here is my second attempt at the Under the Sea Bento. I have a cute Octodog and Octocrab and they're smiling, now wouldn't that just make you happy to eat your lunch? To accompany the Octo folk I have an egg goldfish and starfish, and you can't forget the tomato clams, arent they cute?

Well I hope you enjoy this Bento.

-Bento Chick

Lazy Bento

Hello all,
Its been a while since I've posted one of my bentos. I was experimenting with my new bento toys and tried for an "under the sea" theme but it didnt quite turn out. First the eggs I used for the egg shaper were to small so nothing showed up. I ended up stuffing the egg shaper with rice and was able to make rice fish instead which I think turned out OK. I also made my first octo-dogs I think they turned out pretty cute! In the smaller compartment I tried to pass off the tomato slices as coral and the little jelly cup as a jelly fish. I realized to late that I should have made a star fish apple instead of a flower. Overall it was a lazy bento but it was still better than nothing and it was delicious!

-Bento Chick

Funky Panda

This should be called "Leftovers in a Hurry" - it was very tasty but could have been arranged a little better! Next time I will take an extra minute to make a better arrangement. I had leftover chicken and vegetables and I put some little grape tomatoes in for color.

The Bunny Twins Bento

Is it possible that rice tastes better when shaped like a bunny? I think so! I enjoyed this bento lunch with leftover steamed zucchini, feta stuffed grape tomatoes, rice bunnies with furikake, grapes and heart shaped cheddar cheese slices. Just looking at the picture makes me wish I had prepared a bento lunch for tomorrow!

Starry Meadow Greek Salad Recipe

Here is the recipe for the starry meadow greek salad that appeared on my first bento post. This recipe can also be found in the Bento recipes section.

Ingredients
-Leafy greens, preferably romaine lettuce
-Red Onion
-Cucumber
-Kalamata Olives
-Feta Cheese
-one small pepperoncini pepper
-A good greek dressing(I used Kraft's)

Tear the lettuce leaves to desired bite size. Cut cucumber slices and cut out the flowers. Take one onion layer and cut the stars. I used a fondant cutter that I bought from Michael's Arts and Crafts store for the cut outs. Slice the Kalamata olives into thin rounds. Assemble pieces on top of bed of lettuce and crumble feta cheese over top. I used a small container that is usually used for Ketchup at fast food chains for the dressing since I am still waiting for my order of sauce bottles.

Enjoy this delicious and beautifully romantic salad!

-Bento Chick

Bunnies Love Trees Bento

Bunny wanna take a stroll down the park?

Broccoli makes the perfect tree! My little bunny egg looked plain all alone so a bed of mint leaves helped and it smelled good too.

Happy to see me Bento

Another awesome Bento by DJ!

My Bento loves me!

I was so happy to see that my bento loved me so much to fill my tummy with delicious food. Today I had rice with furikake under that loving egg that I made by cooking it on a flat pan like a pancake and left-over chicken. Of course I had to add those cute little stuffed tomatoes, this time I stuffed them with feta cheese...mmMMmmm.. so good! I also thought of skewering my cucumbers this time like a cute little skewered flower garden hehe. I can't forget my bunnies which I try to use as often as possible since an apple a day keeps the doctor away, right? well its cute and delicious anyway.

-Bento Chick

Cherry tomato stuffers Recipe

Here is the recipe for the tomatoes I used on my first bento.

This is a great filler for your bento stuffing. It's nice for squeezing into the corner or your bento and it tates great too!!

You'll need cherry tomatoes and whatever you like with your tomatoes. I used ground beef and cheese but you can use anything that will fit in there.

-Cut the top of the cherry tomato like a hat.
-With a small spoon scrape out the insides
-Cook the beef until done with salt and pepper
-Stuff the tomatoes with the beef and cheese and place under a toaster oven or nuke it in the microwave for a few seconds and you have a delicious bento stuffer thats cheesy and delicious.

Enjoy!
-Bento Chick

Panda Bento

I loved this couscous but I did not realize how filling it would be. Next time more veggies! I had some delicious leftover chicken. I am discovering the joys of leftovers when it comes to my bento lunches.

First bento

Hey all,

This is one of my first Bentos to be posted. This whole bento started with the eggplants I got from someone at work who picked them from their garden. I made the eggplants into noodles and then cooked them in a home made marinara sauce and it is served in the green cup with italian cheeses sprinkled on top. Next you'll see the cute cherry tomatoes filled with ground beef and cheese. Finally the cottage cheese with pink salt and pepper is served in the pink cup. On the bottom part of the my bento I made myself a greek salad with red onion stars and cucumber flowers. I'm still waiting for my little sauce bottles that I ordered from jlist so in this one I had to put my dressing in a separate little container which is not posted. I enjoyed eating this one so much that I can't wait until tomorrow to make another one. Wish me luck I hope it's a cute one!

-Bento Chick

First Post!!!

Welcome to Bento Nuts! For everything Bento and Japanese!!! Keep checking back, we are going to fill this blog up with GOODIES!!