Short On Groceries & Time Bento

This is what happens when I am running late and low on groceries! Curry seasoned chicken, edamame and steamed rice. Nothing extravagant or special here. Just very basic!

Tamagoyaki and Rice

Tamagoyaki with cute animal picks, steamed rice in a bear shaped cup with a nori smiley face, edamame, fresh pineapples with a cute leaf pick and a juicy stawberry to top it off!

Tamagoyaki & Rice

This morning I made tamagoyaki in my new tamagoyaki pan! It was so much easier using a pan that is made specifically for making tamagoyaki! Today the kids have steamed rice with furikake sprinkled on top, tamagoyaki, edamame, red grapes and a cherry tomato. Of course my sons bento does not have the tomato. I did not take a pic of his because my camera batteries died on me while I was making his.

Lazy Sunday Afternoon Snack Bentos

I usually do not post bento on the weekends but today I made the kids a couple of snack bentos just for fun! Something healthy for them to nibble on while watching Nemo for the millionth time! LOL!!!Snack Bento Contents: Raw edamame, cheddar cheese hearts, mikon oranges and sliced fuji apples!

"In The Garden" Bentos

Today my daughter had her 2nd vegetarian bento for the week. A "garden" of flower tangerines, flower carrots, carrot crumbles, cheddar and monterrey jack cheese flower, apple flowers, edamame bushes and a rice cloud that I colored with organic all natural food coloring from Seelect.com
My son's "garden" had tulip hot dogs on edamame "grass" and chopped apples. Then he has steamed rice with a edamame and tangerine flower on top!

Edamame AKA Soybean

The Japanese call it edamame (beans on branches), but for the non-Japanese, it is sweet beans, vegetable soybeans, beer beans, green soybeans, garden soybeans, immature soybeans and even edible soybeans. But one thing for sure, when it comes to soy, edamame is the real thing.
In Japan, edamame is a popular snack food. But it was only recently that America came to learn about the wonders of these beans. The combination of great taste, ease of preparation and excellent nutrient value is making it popular with people of all ages. Now, we are bringing it to Manila with fresh edamame.
Edamame's many health benefits is also something which is worth looking into. The soybean is a complete protein containing all of the amino acid building blocks. It also provides an antioxidant boost from plant chemicals called isoflavones.

High quality soy foods with their high quality protein can serve as a good source of a complete protein for the critical years of child growth and development. Since children do not compromise on taste the key to making them eat soy food regularly is making them as tasty and as familiar as everyday foods and snacks so kids are willing to replace the junk foods with empty calories with great tasting everyday soy foods.Recognizing the value of soy protein in promoting children's health, the USDA in March 2000 made a ruling that "soy protein" can replace meat or other animal sources of protein in 100% of school lunch programs.

Turkey, Turkey, Turkey

Here we have my sons bento for Thursday this week. He has rolled turkey bacon on cute little animal picks surrounded by sliced turkey franks, cup of shelled edamame and steamed rice. Also he had a side car of chopped apples (not pictured).

As you can see, my son is our meat eater. He is not big on veges at all. THANKFULLY he does like edamame and mushrooms:) I can also get him to eat green beans from time to time:p

Star Fruit Bento

This was my daughters bento on Thursday. I love this one! It was SUPER easy and took all of 10 minutes to put together. I already had the rice pre-made, so all I really had to do was shell some of the edamame and cut the star fruit then assemble! My daughter would much rather eat fruits and veges any day rather than meat of any kind so this bento was right up her alley!

Fast, Easy, Cute!

The kids lunches today were SUPER SIMPLE and FAST which was really important this morning. It was a busy morning and I needed to put together their bentos as fast as possible without the CUTENESS factor suffering too much! So behold the star shaped chicken nuggets and An Pan Man potato faces from my local CO-OP supermarket! I just popped them in the oven this morning for about 10 minutes and they were ready to go. I already had the rice made so it was just heat and go! Of course the edamame is easy, no preparation there, straight from the bag to the bento box!

What is HIJIKI????

Hijiki may be the most versatile seaweed of all. It's also extremely high in fiber - about 40% of it in dried form is fiber. Hijiki is not commonly seen on the menus of Japanese restaurants since it's used mostly for homely home cooking. It comes in dried form, as do most other seaweeds (except for salted 'fresh' wakame). It's usually soaked for about an hour beforehand, then rinsed, before use. If you're in a hurry though you can blanch it for a couple of minutes in boiling water, which hydrates it quite fast. Hijiki when reconstituted swells to about 5 times its original weight, so don't use too much! A serving is usually 1 or two tablespoons worth at most. Hijiki is known to be rich in dietary fibre and essential minerals. According to Japanese folklore, hijiki aids health and beauty and the thick, black, lustrous hair of the Japanese is connected to this regular consumption of small amounts of hijiki.

The traditional way to cook hijiki is to stew it in dashi stock flavored with soy sauce and often sugar, together with vegetables like carrot or lotus root, or fried tofu (aburaage). Since it's fairly neutral in flavor, it can be used in salads, or stir fries and such.

My kids LOVE edamame and I have been trying to put together new ways for them to eat their edamame. So I discovered Edamame Salad @ our local commissary here on Okinawa at the little sushi area. I bought one package and tested it out on them and whad'yah know they liked it! Ureeka! The edamame salad has Hijiki in it which they love as well. Due to the price of the small container of the salad I decided to make it myself from now on. It is very simple! Just oil,sesame seeds,hijiki, edamame and a tad of soy sauce!

Above you will see pics of Nico's bento for today and you can see the edamame salad along with a salmon onigiri, red grapes, chopped apples w/a dipper of peanut butter and a tiny container of caramel. Kids love dipping and sauces so when I can I try to throw in a dip or sauce.