The Next Bento: Impossible

For my second installment of Bento: Impossible, I used another cookbook index and randomly chose Beets, Cucumber & Pizza as my ingredients.

Here is the final bento with
a slice of the unique pizza
tucked in there on the left,
along with some striped
apple chunks, peanuts &
raisins, & blueberries.

I made the pizza by first
preparing a whole wheat
crust & topping it with a thin
layer of red sauce. Then I
sauteed some onion until
carmelized, adding some
strips of cucumber near the
end. I had already roasted
some beets, so I peeled one
and sliced it thinly, adding
that to the pizza, followed by
the onion & cucumber. I
finished it off with a little crumbled firm tofu, then baked the pizza for another 8 minutes.
My husband isn't a fan of
beets, but even he tried
a piece. I thought it was
pretty good! I'm not sure I'd
use beets on pizza again.
But the cucumber was
actually yummy, especially
with the onions.

So for the next issue of Bento: Impossible, the theme with be Harry Potter. Hopefully that will get a few people interested in posting besides myself!

Bento: Impossible

So I started a new bento challenge group on Flickr called Bento: Impossible. It's just for fun, no prizes or anything (at least not yet!). But check it out if you're interested. I picked the first challenge quite randomly on purpose to challenge myself. If you have some ideas for challenges, join the group...once you've entered a bento photo for 1 challenge, you are welcome to offer topics for future challenges!

Ryan's lunch: Zen Soy vanilla pudding; cucumber salad; purple grapes; soba noodles; cashews; blanched spinach w/sesame seeds.

First Food!

First a leftover from friday...I think I'm finally figuring out this new camera, sigh.
Ryan's lunch: julienne sesame salad over udon noodles; green beans; peanuts; carrots; mini creme cheese & jam sandwiches.

Saturday was AJ's 5th
birthday party.
He asked for a chocolate
cake with chocolate
frosting & chocolate
chips!!! It's a good thing
most of it got eaten at the
party because chocolate
cake is my favourite!
His party was at the
Discovery Children's
Museum in Acton.
I just couldn't face
a party of 10 boys
at our house in the
winter.


Here's Maia waiting patiently in the car for everything to be loaded for the ride home again.

Sunday I took Maia's
"day before 6 months"
photos. I have photos
of all the kids at this
age in black & white
in our bedroom.


She loved playing with
toys on the bed. She
also loves the flower
rattle that I had when
I was a baby.




Monday:
Ryan's lunch: leftover burrito & guacamole from Acapulcos (from AJ's birthday dinner on sunday); broccoli; honeydew melon.

AJ had his first turn
the class bear "Coop
Bear" from preschool.
He was very happy to
dress him in his pjs &
introduce him to his
giraffe at bedtime.

Tuesday:

Ryan
stayed
home
"sick",
which
I later
figured
out
was
his
attempt
not to
miss
Maia's
first
try of
food,
even
though I'd told him I'd wait until he was home.
AJ's snack (in his new Mario bento): mushroom pizza; mini pumpkin muffin; honeydew melon; Simply Booty.
Nate's
lunch:
a pickle;
mini
pumpkin
muffin;
a carrot;
broccoli
& onion
pizza;
honeydew
melon.







I steamed part of our last butternut squash from the farm for Maia's first taste of food...

"So where are the toys?"










"What's this stuff?"








"Um, I don't know about this."











"You want it, help yourself."








"Please take this stuff away!"








Apparently gnawing on a
banana is right up her
alley though. Sigh.

And for those of you
without kids...banana
comes out the other end
looking like little red/brown
worms in the beginning...
eeeew!


Wednesday:

Ryan's
lunch:
apple-
sauce;
chocolate
peanut
butter
sandwich
rolls;
grapes;
mini
pumpkin
muffin;
carrots;
peas &
corn;
honeydew
melon.
AJ's snack: Tings;
creme cheese & jam
snowflake sandwich;
grapes; carrots;
honeydew melon.




Thursday:
Ryan's lunch: mini banana blueberry muffin; carrots; rice triangle; grapes; cucumber salad; peanuts.

AJ's
snack:
grapes;
cucumber
salad;
mini
pumpkin
miso
muffin;
rice
flower.

Nate's
lunch:
mini
banana
blue-
berry
muffin; mini pumpkin miso muffin; grapes; cucumber salad.

Here's my version of cucumber salad that the boys all ask for:

Cucumber Salad

2-3 large cucumbers (I prefer the long thin english variety, or fresh from the farm, because there's no wax coating)
2 T. soy sauce
1 T. rice vinegar
1 tsp. grated ginger
1/2 tsp. mirin or agave nectar

Slice cucumbers thinly (I like to use a mandoline). Mix remaining ingredients in a small bowl. Pour over cucumbers.

Friday:
Ryan's lunch: spicy baked tofu over rice (with a snow pea garnish); yellow mini gel cup; carrots; mango slices; broccoli.

The boys go bonkers for my spicy baked tofu...feel free to double the amount of tofu & increase the sauce by 50% if you're serving a table full of tofu hounds!

Spicy Baked Tofu

2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
2-3 scallions, chopped
2 tsp. grated ginger
1/2 tsp. hot sauce (I make my own from fresh hot peppers in the summer, but bottled will do)
3 T. soy sauce
2 T. cooking sherry
2 T. rice vinegar
1 tsp. balsamic vinegar
1 T. sesame oil
1 tsp. chili oil (optional)
1 package water-packed tofu

Prehear oven to 400 degrees.
Mix all but the tofu in a glass baking dish.
Cube tofu into small bite-sized pieces. Toss together with the sauce.
Bake for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.