the kat's bento corner
Recipes will be forthcoming... whenever I get around to it. Maybe thumbnails will come later as well, especially if i keep up with the bentos for any extended amount of time...
Bento #1
Contents: ginger curry chicken on brown jasmine rice, steamed broccoli (with a bit of the sauce from the chicken drizzled on top), and cherries.
Bento #2
Contents: leftover soba noodles in a sesame dressing with corn and peas (variant of this recipe, lightly tea-marbled egg, steamed chicken ginseng dumplings (store-bought, frozen), steamed broccoli, and strawberry poki.
Bento #3
Contents: build-your-own grilled chicken breast sandwich (well, half of a breast, since the ones we have are far too big for one hamburger bun) marinated in a hot mango ginger grilling sauce, cucumber slices, cherries, a couple dark chocolate orange jellies, and a few ginger cat cookies (the last two items from trader joe's).
Bento #4
Contents: garden rotini with garlic marinara (Trader Joe's), ground beef, and zucchini (and melted parmesan cheese on top... looks flat because we reheated it in the microwave with the lid mostly on, but still tastes really good). side container has honeydew wedges.
Bento #5
Contents: Stuffed bun with chinese sausage and chicken inside and toasted black and white sesame on top, green beans and egg (I know, most people do green beans and bacon, but my parents always did egg, and i didn't feel like thawing any bacon) with fried garlic on top, oatmeal strawberry jam sandwich cookie, made with whole wheat and lots of oats (that makes it healthy, right?), honeydew chunks, and Thai iced tea.
Bento #6
Contents: spring rolls contain chicken marinated in soy sauce and minced ginger, red leaf lettuce, cilantro, and rice stick noodles. top right corner is more honeydew pieces, because honeydew goes a long way in little containers. bottom right corner is a vietnamese dipping sauce (rice vinegar, fish sauce, honey, and a little red chili sauce aka rooster sauce).spring rolls contain chicken marinated in soy sauce and minced ginger, red leaf lettuce, cilantro, and rice stick noodles. top right corner is more honeydew pieces, because honeydew goes a long way in little containers. bottom right corner is a vietnamese dipping sauce (rice vinegar, fish sauce, honey, and a little red chili sauce aka rooster sauce).
Bento #7
Contents: cilantro lime rice and taco meat (ground beef with taco seasoning and a bit of southwest chipotle seasoning), with sour cream, cheese, and leftover guacamole on the right (the guac is a little oxidized, giving it some brownish streaks, but it tastes good anyways). above are a chili tortilla and a spinach tortilla (tortillas from trader joe's)
Contents: the same, except with Ed's homemade salsa verde instead of guac
Bento #8
Contents: fried chicken, biscuit (also leftover from dinner), and peeking out underneath is grilled zucchini with southwest chipotle seasoning (because i really wanted something green and vaguely healthy in lunch).
Bento #9
Contents: mac and cheese (aka kraft dinner) with peas, with octodogs and penguin-dogs on top; grapes and ginger cats (latter not shown) for dessert.
Bento #10
Contents: couscous salad with carrots, cucumber, celery, sundried tomato, ham, and chickpeas, seasoned with curry powder, five-spice powder, basil, and fried garlic; banana for dessert.
Bento #11
Contents: sundried tomato and green pea risotto with fresh romano cheese, corn, and octodogs; chocolate zucchini (banana) cake for dessert.
Bento #12
Contents: Thai Kitchen's Thai Peanut stirfried with green cabbage, carrots, and zucchini, with chicken ginseng dumplings on the side; grapes and more chocolate zucchini (banana) cake for dessert.
Bento #13
Contents: Cheddar perogies with sauteed onion, kielbasa, and stirfried green cabbage with butter, olive oil, and fennel seeds; even more chocolate zucchini (banana) cake and a banana for dessert.
Bento #14
Contents: red jasmine rice (garnished with carrot and edemame dragonflies), orange ginger chicken with zucchini and edemame, and a side of broccoli slaw salad (garnished with a carrot flower); ginger cats (not pictured) for dessert.
Bento #15
Contents: Hard salami, pepperoni, and baby swiss tortilla wraps, with celery and spicy peanut butter on the left (for Tod) and leftover red jasmine rice, tossed with (currently frozen) edemame and corn, seasoned with parsley and a few drops of lime oil (for me... celery and peanut butter and braces are not the brightest of ideas); very ripe bananas (not pictured) for dessert.
Bento #16
Contents: Gingery hoisin chicken skewers with green bamboo rice (purchased from West Side Market) baby carrots, and Thai basil garnish; dessert includes a fruit salad of cantalope, honeydew, and grapes, dark chocolate orange jellies (Trader Joe's), and a green tea mochi (Tink Holl, an asian grocer in Cleveland)
Bento #17
Contents: Snack "bento" of green tea mochi (Tink Holl), flavored tootsie rolls, dark chocolate orange jellies (Trader Joe's), and ginger cats (Trader Joe's) in a Hello Kitty snack bag (Target), with a green coconut flavored paste filled sweet bun (Tink Holl) for breakfast. Yesterday morning's sweet bun had purple filling, so I'm finding the surprise colors quite entertaining.
Bento #18
Contents: Another polish bento, this time with haluski (cabbage and noodles) and kielbasa flowers; a few fresh unpeeled lychees (Tink Holl), green tea mochi, orange flavored tootsie roll, and dark chocolate orange jelly stick for dessert.
Bento #19
Contents: Because this is entirely composed of leftovers that I didn't make, I can't really give names to what most things are, much less give recipes. That said, there's ground pork-shrimp Vietnamese kabob type things on the far left of each box, yellow rice (glutinous rice with each grain coated in ground yellow mung beans) garnished with a Thai basil leaf, and deconstructed steak kabobs with bell peppers and onions (the full kabobs were far too big to fit into the boxes) on the right; a kimchi type thing is on the bottom of tod's lunch, and a chicken and shrimp carrot salad thing on the bottom of mine. For dessert, green coconut glutinous rice with sesame seeds on top, and a mung bean filled fried sesame ball.
Bento #20
Contents: Basil pesto Parmasauce on fresh spinach and egg tagliolini, tossed with broccoli and chicken, with a side of rosemary ciabatta garlic toast, all garnished with freshly grated pecorino romano cheese; 7/8ths of a pluot (the last 8th wouldn't fit into the container... honest!). Parmasauce, fresh tagliolini, and rosemary ciabatta bread from Gallucci's Italian Foods in Cleveland, OH.
Bento #21
Contents: Black beans over cilantro lime rice, with a cheddar pacman and a couple mini-weiner ghosts (the little blobs of rice are supposed to be the dots pacman eats); a side of cucumbers with salt and rice vinegar and pluot wedges for dessert.
Bento #22
Contents: Angelhair with Mama Galluchi's pasta sauce (from Galluchi's... disappointingly unexciting for the price, though), fresh grated romano, pre-grated parmesan cheese, and slices of hot italian sausage tucked in the corners; dessert is mandarin oranges (ignore the lack of green in this bento... i was lazy and had a big test the day we ate these bentos).
Bento #23
Contents: Chicken rice with thai basil (essentially just jasmine rice, chicken broth, diced chicken, and thai basil tossed into the rice cooker and cooked until done), with peas and hard-boiled eggy eyeballs; plums and nectarines for dessert (the bottom one has small pieces because the nectarine wedges wanted to break into small pieces instead of coming off the pit in whole wedges).
Bento #24
Contents: Salad with parmesan cheese and italian dressing in the little bottle, sushi rice with hoisin chicken on top, inarizushi with wasabi peas, and mandarin orange wedges, packaged in my party mini Japanese bento and my mini party Korean bento clone.
Bento #25
Contents: Chicken shish-kabob un-kabobified in order to better fit into the box (made by my daddy, so i don't know the exact ingredients), jasmine rice with black sesame, edamame in silicone muffin cups (still frozen, but it'll cook when we heat our lunches up) and a little bottle of soy sauce, packaged in my divided keepers (from the Container Store). Not shown is the Stonyfield yogurt for dessert.