Chinese Inspired Vegan Bento

I love a stir-fry as it's a great way to clear out the vegetable crisper at the end of a week! And my husband loves dishes with black bean sauce. His favorite is a Thai-style stir-fry with eggplant and Thai basil. Here I took a more Chinese-style approach by using black bean sauce with crisp sauteed mixed vegetables. 

Top tier of bento: Rice, Green Tea Pickled Radish, sliced snap peas, Chinese 5-spice Fried Tofu, raw carob and spiralina trail-mix square. Garnish: cilantro, tiny carrot cut outs.

Bottom tier of bento: Mixed Vegetables in Black Bean Sauce (asparagus, celery, onion), Carrots with Fresh Ginger, sliced snap peas. Garnish: carrot and radish flowers, grated ginger.

My Bento Recipes:

Green Tea Pickled Radish
This is an easy and refreshing pickle. The green of the green tea looks beautiful over the white and red of the radish slices.

Ingredients:

3 radishes, thinly sliced
1/4 teaspoon green tea salt*

Directions:

* Sprinkle the radish slices with the green tea salt and let sit and soften for 30 min. 
* To make green tea salt mix equal parts fine sea salt with either matcha powder or green tea leaves ground into a fine powder in a spice/coffee grinder. I also use this salt over simmered pumpkin with coconut milk, and it's also great on popcorn!

Carrots with Fresh Ginger
A simple and warming side dish

Ingredients:

1/4 cup cut carrots
stock (use vegetable stock to make this vegetarian/vegan)
1/4 teaspoon fresh ginger juice
pinch of sea salt

Directions:

* Simmer the carrots in stock until tender but not over cooked (about 4 minutes.) 
* Drain the carrots but save the stock as it's still good! 
* Grate fresh ginger (I use a zester) and squeeze the grated ginger until you have 1/4 teaspoon of its juice. 
* Sprinkled the ginger juice and a pinch of salt over the carrots and mix. 
* Garnish with a dap of grated ginger.

20 Minute Bento

A balanced bento in under 20 minutes? You bet. Usually I make my bentos the night before since my husband works bakery hours (crack of dawn.) However, last night we went out with his folks, who are visiting, so I definitely was not in the kitchen.  This morning I got up with the hubs and in the time it took for him to make a cup of coffee and enjoy it I got this ready:

Top tier of bento: Spanish rice with corn and salsa, cut raw asparagus and radish with cilantro pesto.

Bottom tier of bento: Boiled chili-lime chicken patty and lime-avocado "sammies," lettuce with cilantro pesto, red onion and radish salad. Garnish: lime slice, radish slice, cilantro.

Here's the play by play:

1. Take frozen chili-lime chicken patty from freezer and put on a buttered baking sheet. Broil for 6 min.
2. Meanwhile, heat spanish rice (pulled from freezer night before) with frozen corn and a couple spoonfuls salsa in a pan until mixed and defrosted. 
3. While that's heating: pull out a bento and line it with tin foil (I'll be putting in warm/hot food.)
4. Cut veggies (radish, asparagus, lime, lettuce.)
5. Mash 1/4 avocado with lime juice and salt.
6. Flip chicken patty and broil the other side for an other 6 min.
7. Pack bottom tier of bento with rice mixture and cut veggies.
8. Blend a handful of cilantro (stems included), EVOO, sea salt, 1/2 clove garlic and some sunflower seeds until smooth in my mini-blender. Spread some of this on the veggies with a clean finger.
9. Pull chicken patty from the oven, cut into 4 pieces. 
10. Grab leftover red onion and radish salad from fridge and put it in a divider in the top tier.
11. Spread mashed avocado on two pieces of chicken patty and top with the remaining two pieces to make "sammies."
12. Finish packing the bento: add sammies, lettuce, a little cilantro pesto, and cut garnishes.
13. Close it up, toss a couple icepacks in the bag and hand to husband! SCORE!

I think it's important to show that putting together a healthy homemade lunch doesn't have to be a big production. I could have put the sliced chicken patty over rice and put salsa on a little salad, but I was feeling strangely inspired for 4:30 in the morning. 

If you love cooking, rock out with your pots out! But multiple sauces, sides, and cut garnishes aren't necessary. 

No matter what, you can pack food for your loved ones, food that won't cause them any reactions, and that will keep them satisfied. 

There's no better defense than offense right? A balanced lunch from home (and subsequent full belly) is the best way to avoid grabbing questionable food while out and about. It can be cheap, easy, and done in under 20 minutes.

Savory Egg Custard Bento

You'd be all set for a day in your hippie van following The Dead with this flower-power lunch box! 

What's that? Jer-bear's gone? Bummer man! But thanks to a baked protein dish and my trusty rice cooker putting this bento together was no freak-out.  

Top tier of bento: Rice, rice mixed with a little carrot juice and wrapped with nori,  Savory Egg Custard with Crab, Asparagus and Peas. Garnish: flower made of radish and carrot, sliced asparagus stem and tip, boiled carrot slices.

Bottom tier of bento: Spinach with Sunflower Seed Dressing, seasoned boiled carrots, left-over radish and red onion salad with cilantro. Garnish: sunflower seeds flowers with sliced asparagus.

Notes: You know how the fat end of a carrot is perfect for cutting cute shapes? Well, what about the skinny half? It's good for juicing, slicing for salads or pickles, and also for boiling and dressing up as a side!

Here I boiled the carrot bits in stock and then seasoned 'em with EVOO, S&P. A minute before they were cooked I threw in carrot slices to use on the sides of the bento. I used a slotted spoon to remove all the carrots and then added the frozen spinach to the hot stock to defrost it.

My Bento Recipes:

Spinach with Sunflower Seed Dressing (2 portions)

Using frozen spinach is easier and cheaper than using fresh so half the time I do. A flavorful sauce or dressing is all it needs. This dressing is based on the traditional Japanese dressing made from toasted sesame seeds.

Ingredients:

1 lb bag frozen spinach, defrosted
1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds
2 tablespoons tamari
2 drops stevia extract

Directions:

* Toast the sunflower seeds in a large pan until lightly browned and fragrant. 
* Roughly grind them in a mortar-pestle or food processor. There should still be some bigger pieces, you don't want seed-butter.
* Squeeze the excess liquid from the spinach. I used a cloth bag sold for making nut-milks and it worked great.
* Add the tamari and stevia (or sweetener or your choice) to the ground seeds. 
* Mix the dressing into the spinach. 
* Garnish with sunflower seed flowers.

Savory Custard with Crab, Asparagus and Peas (2 servings)

This recipe is modified from one by Nancy Singleton Hachisu in her super-dreamy book Japanese Farm Food. Her's is a very traditional Japanese dish made with stuff I just didn't have on hand. It also featured spinach with crab instead of peas and asparagus. But to quote Sinead O'conner (who was surely quoting someone else): "I do not want what I have not got!"

Ingredients:

2 eggs
1/3 cup stock
1/4 cup frozen peas
2 asparagus stalks, tender part sliced on the diagonal
1/4 cup canned crab
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
2 drops stevia

Directions:

* Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. 
* Line a Pyrex glass container or small bread pan of your choice with tin foil and set it in another oven-proof container that is slightly larger.
* Put the frozen peas and asparagus slices in the stock in a small pot and bring to a boil. 
* Boil for 30 seconds.

* Strain the vegetables and reserve the hot stock. Add the salt and stevia to the stock.

* Put the vegetables and crab in the tin foil lined container.
* In a kettle or an other pan start heating some water until nearly boiling.
* Beat the eggs. 
* Now that the stock has cooled a bit add in the eggs and mix.
* Strain this through a fine sieve over the crab and vegetables (push comes to shove the strainer from a teapot works well!)
* Pour the nearly boiling water around the foiled dish until it comes up 2/3 of the way. 
* Cover everything with another piece of foil and put in the oven.

* Bake for 1 hour.
* Remove the foil and broil on low for 5 minutes or until fully set and starting to brown a little.
* Let cool for before removing from the foil and cutting. 

Ta-da! The great thing about this is that after the initial prep it's in the oven, doing it's own thang, for an hour. Also great: I chose a container to cook the custard in that I knew would make it just the right size for the bento box I was using. You can do the same!

Chinese 5-Spice Fried Tofu Bento

The tradition of Ayurveda encourages warming spices on colder days to help digestion. This bento features curry powder, Chinese 5-spice, and fresh ginger so it's just the thing to warm you up, even when eaten cold.

Top tier of bento: Curried Rice and Millet with Cilantro, Thai-style Red Onion and Radish Salad, radish flower, pickled carrot flower.

Bottom tier of bento: Carrot and Celery in "Peanut" Sauce, Chinese 5-Spice Fried Tofu, lettuce.

My Bento Recipes:

Curried Rice and Millet with Cilantro (2 portions, I freeze half)

Millet is a great gluten-free grain but on it's own it lacks the "sticky" power of white rice that is so well suited to grubbing on the go. Solution: mix millet with rice! Adding minced cilantro stems is a great (and thrifty) way to add a little more nutritional pow.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup millet
3/4 cup white rice
1 1/2 teaspoon curry powder
1/4 + 1/8 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 cup minced cilantro stems (I used kitchen scissors to snip-snip the stems into tiny pieces)
water

Directions:

Put everything in your rice cooker or pot and cook as you would rice.

Chinese 5-Spice Fried Tofu (2 portions)

Ingredients:

1/2 block firm organic tofu
1 teaspoon Chinese 5-spice
2 tablespoons rice flour
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
oil for pan frying (I used coconut)

Directions:

* Press the tofu between two plates with a can of veggies (or something of equal weight) set on top of the top plate for 1 hour. This will squeeze out some of the extra water out of the tofu.
* Cut the tofu into 3 slices and pat dry.
* Heat the oil in a pan.
* Mix the Chinese 5-spice, salt, and rice flour and sprinkle on a plate.
* Coat the pieces of tofu in the seasoning mixture.
* When the oil is quite hot add the tofu pieces one at a time and pan fry for 1 minutes on each side.
* Put the fried tofu on some paper towels to blot excess oil.
* Cut into pieces to fit your bento.
* Serve with a dipping sauce if you like. A tamari-ginger sauce is wonderful!



"Peanut" Sauce for Veggies (1 portion)

Peanuts are an other food we avoid. Luckily there are many nut and seed butters on the market now which work just as well in most recipes. We enjoy a sunflower seed butter from Trader Joe's which is also free of hydrogenated oils and added sugar! Bonus!

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon sunflower seed butter
1/2 clove garlic
1 slice fresh ginger
1 teaspoon tamari
1 teaspoon lime juice
1 teaspoon water (to blend)

Directions:

* In a small blender blend until smooth.

* This sauce makes any veggie a treat so steam up whatever you've got and enjoy!

Crab and Asparagus Salad Bento

I looove to load up the veggies. This bento features 8 different vegetables. Best part? Pickled chard stems. Ain't nothing going to waste (sorry compost bin, no food for you!)

Top tier of bento: ginger rice, Crab and Asparagus Salad, radish flowers, sliced mushrooms with tamari-dipped nori.

Bottom tier of bento: Carrot and Hijiki Stir-fry, Cabbage and Red Onion in Garlic Butter, pickled chard stems, chard leaves, pickled carrot flower.

My Bento Recipes:

Crab and Asparagus Salad (1 portion)
This recipe makes canned (affordable) crab shine! Fancy stuff!

Ingredients:

3 asparagus stalks, sliced diagonally
1/3 cup canned crab 
1/4 cup stock
1/2 teaspoon tamari
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon butter

Directions:

* Boil the asparagus pieces in the stock for 2 minutes, or until tender.
* Drain well.
* Toss with the butter while still warm so it melts. 
* Add the remaining ingredients. 

Cabbage and Red Onion in Garlic Butter (1 portion)
A head of cabbage is a great, cheap vegetable so I like buying it. Then there's a lot of it though! I'm always picking my brain about new ways to cook it up. This recipe was a winner.

Ingredients:

1/8 red onion, thinly sliced
1 cup roughly chopped green cabbage
1 cup stock
1 clove garlic, sliced
1/2 tablespoon butter
pinch salt and pepper

Directions:

* Cook the cabbage and onion in boiling stock for 3 minutes with the lid on.
* While that's cooking heat the butter in a pan over medium low heat and add the garlic slices. 
* Cook them for 1-2 minutes or until golden and remove from the butter. 
* Now you've got tasty garlic butter and even tastier fried garlic: win-win.
* Remove the lid from the cabbage and cook another 3 minutes or until soft (my hubs likes it soft) and the stock has reduced. Stir as needed.
* Drain the cabbage and onion and toss into the butter. 
* Mix well. 
* Season with salt and pepper. 
* Top with the fried garlic slices.

Easy Pickled Anything (like chard stems)
I love the show "Portlandia." There's a sketch in one episode about a couple that pickles everything. Eggs, broken CD cases, everything. No matter what it is they smile cheerfully and say "We can pickle that!!"

Well so can I and so can you! I keep a container of unpasteurized pickle brine in the fridge and add whatever bits of veggies I have to it. After just a couple of hours I have pickles that are alive with healing probiotics. It's easy and it's just the thing for a happy tummy!

A Valentine's Day Fiesta Bento

This bento says "I'm hot for you!" with its South American inspired dishes. I feel pretty good about it not be too cutesy, but sort of a manly Valentine's Day lunch. I didn't go with all pink foods and kissing bunnies...but I could have. Maybe next year?

Top tier of bento: Spanish Rice-balls with Lemony Avocado Filling, raw cheddar cheese hearts, nori, and Mexican Street Salad. The "I" is made from red onion, the heart from carrot and the "U" from radish. 

I used bits from the salad which had softened a bit (like pickles) which made cutting the shapes a sinch with my paring knife.

I used a metal heart shaped mold (shown with my Mexican street salad recipe) to make the "rice balls", laying rice, then the avocado mix, and the more rice. I added a little extra tomato paste to the tops to redden them. Cut nori helps the heart shapes to pop. Then I surrounded the rice-balls with the Mexican Street Salad, packing it in carefully.

Bottom tier of bento: Caramelized onion and beet salad, chili-lime chicken patty (thank you Trader Joe's) cut into heart shapes over a lettuce salad with orange-miso dressing. Dividers: chard and lime slices. Garnishes: lime slice and pickled carrot flower. 

The Xs are cut from red radish and the O from a carrot slice. I used a large straw to help with the O.

My Bento Recipes:

Here you can see the Spanish Rice-balls with Lemony Avocado Filling before I packed them. 

Spanish Rice (2 portions, I froze half for another time)

Ingredients:

1/4 cup onion, small dice
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup rice
1 tablespoon butter
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh oregano (or 1 teaspoon dried)
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoons tomato paste (which freezes excellently in an ice cube tray!)
stock to cook the rice

Directions:

* Saute the onion and garlic in the butter on medium heat for 5 minutes. 
* Add the rice and cook another 3 minutes or until it looks a translucent and begins to brown. 
* Put everything in the rice cooker or cook on the stove top as you know how.

Lemony Avocado Filling

Ingredients:

1/2 avocado
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
a good pinch of sea salt

Directions:

* Mash everything until a semi-smooth paste using a fork. 
* The lemon will help the avocado to not brown!

Mexican Street Salad (2 portions)

This seemed like a lot when I was first making it but it shrinks down quite a bit. I based this recipe on Jamie Oliver's Mexican Street Salad (which looks gorgeous) and an other recipe for an El Salvadorian Cabbage salad. I was looking for a way to use up some green cabbage: jackpot. So here's the love-child of those two recipes:

Ingredients:

1/8 red onion, thinly sliced
1 cup shredded green cabbage
1/2 carrot, thinly sliced (I then cut those into wide strips)
2 radishes, quartered and then thinly sliced
2 tablespoons roughly chopped cilantro
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1/8 teaspoon cayenne
1/8 teaspoon cumin
4 drops stevia extract (or 1/2 teaspoon maple syrup)

Directions:

* Chop and slice your way through the list of veggies.
* Mix in the remaining ingredients. 
* Gently massage the salad with your hands (discovering any paper-cuts you might have!) until it breaks down a bit.
* Top with fresh cilantro leaves.

Roasted Vegetables and Chicken Bento

This bento is full of healthy comfort foods. I roasted the potatoes, carrots, and chicken breast in the oven at the same time while I put together the rest of the bento. Pre-planning like this makes filling a balanced lunchbox a snap.

Top tier of bento: Garlic roasted potatoes and carrots, creamed spinach. Garnish: sliced mushroom dividers (around the potatoes and carrots) and a mushroom smiling face (used a nori punch for the first time: awesome.)

Bottom tier of bento: Baked chicken breast (I used a brown rice flour base for the seasoning), raw asparagus sticks with lemon-tahini dip, raw carob and spiralina trail-mix squares (got these bulk at the health food store), pickled carrot flowers, beet greens.

My Bento Recipes:

Garlic Roasted Potatoes and Carrots (2 portions)
Um, yum. I doubled this and served some for dinner.

Ingredients:

3 small red potatoes, diced
2 carrots, diced
2 cloves garlic
1/8 cup olive oil
1/4 teaspoon sea salt

Directions:

* Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. 
* Blend the garlic cloves with the olive oil and salt and coast the veg with it. 
* Bake the vegetables for 30 minutes. 

Notes: I baked the chicken breast at the same time after rolling it some boxed GF seasoning. Also: Using a mini blender really helps with the small portions. If you don't have one you could also mince the garlic and add that to the oil.

Creamed Spinach (2-3 portions, cut recipe in 1/2 if only for a bento)
Normally creamed spinach uses some flour to thicken it. I avoided using flour by using blended spinach with the cream!

Ingredients:

1/2 lb frozen spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry
a generous 1/8 teaspoon sea salt
pinch of pepper
pinch of nutmeg or 3-4 fresh gratings 
2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup half and half

Directions:

* In blender blend 1/4 cup of the spinach with the half and half, cheese and seasonings until smooth and creamy. 
* Mix this with the remaining spinach and sprinkle with a little more cheese to top.

Vegetable Rice and Grilled Yellowtail Tuna Bento

If I hadn't planned ahead this bento wouldn't have happened. Luckily, the day before I went through my fridge and whipped up some veggie sides. This made putting a bento together in a hurry quite easy!

Top tier of bento: Mixed vegetable rice (aka leftover "bits" rice, heh heh), grilled yellowtail with citrus-tamari sauce, beet greens, lemon slices, pickled carrot flowers

Bottom tier of bento: Caramelized onion and beet salad, asparagus bundles wrapped in tamari dipped nori, green salad with lemon-tahini dressing. Garnish: pickled carrot flower with parsley leaf

So after taking a peek in my crispers I saw that I had small amounts of various veggies, lettuce, 2 small beets, and 1/2 an onion. It was time to move into Iron Chef Bento mode! 

The veggies and salads I all made in advance. I also chopped the veggies for the rice and put them in a tupaware so the next day all I had to day was dump them on top of rice and hit "cook" on the rice cooker. Phew!

                               My Bento Recipes:

Carmelized Onion and Beet Salad (2 bento portions)
I created this because I had beets and onion. It's a wonderful combination that adds a sweetness to the bento.

Ingredients:

2 small beets, diced
1/2 onion, cut in 1/2 and then thinly sliced
2 teaspoons butter or ghee
2 teaspoons maple syrup or honey
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 + 1/8 teaspoon cumin

Directions:

* In a small pot add beets and water to cover and bring to a boil.
* Meanwhile, heat the butter over medium heat and add the onion and sweetener. This helps the onions to caramelize. 
* Continue to let the beets boil as the onion caramelizes.
* Cook both for 10-12 minutes, stirring the onions only once or twice, until they are golden brown.
* By now the beets should be soft so drain well. 
* Mix with the onions and add the salt and cumin.

Mixed Vegetable Rice
Salads are a great way to use up the bits of veggies I have leftover after making a few bentos. This rice is an other way so use whatever you've got! Get creative!

Ingredients:

The white ends of 3 green onions, sliced on the diagonal
3 mushrooms cut in 1/2 and then sliced
1 carrot, shredded
1 tablespoon tamari
1/2 cup rice (I use a rice cooker cup)

Directions:

So I have a rice cooker. It was a gift and I love it. I put everything in the rice cooker (with water) and let it work it's magic. Rice Cooker: you're the best. 

Gluten-Free Croquettes Bento

A Happy "Friday" bento! I try my hand at GF Japanese style croquettes. To off set the fried factor I loaded up on raw veggie sides and pickles.

Top tier of bento:
My first attempt to replicate panko! This is a recipe in progress, but here I used leftover millet that I baked at 250 degrees for 1 hr and 15 minutes (so easy to do while enjoying a couple episodes of 30 Rock!) It fried beautifully and was great while hot, but the hubs reports that the crispy coating hardened some in the fridge overnight. Hmmm....panko, I will create you without wheat!!!

Also going on: Quick Pickled Carrot, romaine with lemon juice and S&P, lemon-tamari dipping sauce and a coffee truffle (Happy "Friday!") Garnish: green onion slices.

Bottom tier of bento:
Turkey-Wrapped Savory Tofu, Cremini Slices in Tamari-Nori, Beet and Radish with Sweet Mustard. Garnish: beet greens, parsley, thyme, cutesy animal picks.

My Bento recipes:

Mini Gluten-free Croquettes

This recipe is best served fresh and hot. If putting in a bento let cool completely, but refrigeration makes the crispy coating harden. I will work on creating a recipe that is better for bentos.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup mashed potatoes
1 tablespoon grated parmesan
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
1 egg, beaten
2-3 tablespoons GF flour for coating
1/3 cup or so slow baked millet (or other GF bread crumbs)
Oil for frying (I used coconut, shout out to Costco!)

Directions:

* Mix the potatoes with the salt and cheese. 
* Divide into 4-6 formed shapes. 
* Roll these in the flour, dip in the egg, and coat with the crispies/crumbs.
*  Deep fry one at a time in hot oil (you'll know when you drop a crumb in and it quickly floats to the top.) It took less than a minute a piece for them to turn golden. 
* Drain on paper towels and serve while still hot!

Turkey-Wrapped Savory Tofu

Ingredients:

add 1/8 teaspoon and 1 teaspoon chopped parsley to the remaining beaten egg from above
2 slices organic baked tofu
2 slices turkey deli meat
1 tablespoon oil (I re-used a bit of the coconut oil from above)

Directions:

* Fold the turkey in half around the slices of tofu. 
* Dip these in the beaten egg and cook over medium heat  in a pan with the oil until all the egg is cooked and golden (about 1 or 2 minutes per side.) 
* Cut in half and let cool before packing. 

Cremini Slices in Tamari-Nori

Easy: slice a mushroom and cut some strips of nori. Dip the nori strips in a little tamari and then wrap them around the slices.

Potato-Millet Cakes and Crab Salad Bento

I'd often seen bacon wrapped veggies in bentos. This is my first time incorporating them! What a hit!

Top tier of bento: Potato-millet cakes with red-pepper tapenade for dippn', beet salad with sweet mustard, and bacon wrapped asparagus. Garnish: cheese and salami flower, carrot flower, lettuce, parsley.

Bottom tier of bento: Leftover cabbage and crab salad, organic savory baked tofu slices (thanks Trader Joe's, I do make my own but not this time) and salt and pepper peas. Garnish: lemon slices, carrot flower, cheese and salami flower, parsley, easy pickled radish.

 My Bento Recipes:

Bacon Wrapped Asparagus, Salt and Pepper Peas

Ingredients:

5 stalks asparagus, tough bottom 1/3 removed, remaining stalks cut in 1/2
2 slices nitrate-free all natural smoked bacon (I went to the deli and bought just 2)
1/4 cup frozen peas
sea salt and fresh cracked pepper

Directions:

* Steam the asparagus for 3 minutes. 
* Stack 5 pieces of asparagus onto the middle of one slice of bacon, roll up, and pin closed with a toothpick. 
* Repeat with remaining asparagus pieces. 
* Over medium heat cook the bacon, turning as it browns (about 6-7 minutes total). * Remove from the pan. 
* Add the peas to the bacon fat still in the pan and cook until defrosted. 
* Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Beet Salad with Sweet Mustard

Ingredients:

1 small beet, shredded
1 1/2 teaspoon prepared mustard
1/2 teaspoon maple syrup
a pinch brown mustard seeds to garnish

Directions:

* Mix all the ingredients.
* Garnish with a few brown mustard seeds.

Potato-Millet Cakes (makes 6, or enough for a bento after 3 get snacked on!)
I was inspired to make this next recipe after looking over a Millet and Potato Pancake recipe in the book "The Just Bento Cookbook" by Makiko Itoh. If I'd had all the ingredients I likely would have tried her recipe. Check out her amazing bento blog at www.justbento.com

Ingredients:

3/4 cup cooked millet
1/2 cup leftover, cold mashed potatoes
1 egg, beaten
2 tablespoons grated parmesan
2 teaspoon chopped parsley
1 clove garlic, minced (I use a zester)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon butter

Directions:

* Mix all the ingredients except the butter in a bowl. 
* Shape the mixture into 6 patties and cook them over medium low heat 6-7 minutes per side in the butter. They should be golden brown and cooked through. 
* These are fluffy little cakes so be gentle or add some GF flour if you wish for a doughier texture.

Potato and Cheese Turkey Pockets Bento

This bento was inspired by my wondering "what else can I do with mashed potatoes?" Also I almost never have deli meat in the house so I was excited to get creative with sliced turkey!

Top tier of bento: Potato and cheese turkey pockets, cabbage and radish pickles, salami stars, turkey-nori rolls (I used the cut away meat from the turkey pockets!) and saucy simmered chard and carrots.

Bottom tier of bento: Ginger spaghetti squash (with cinnamon and bee pollen), curried beet stems,  lemony celery and asparagus. Veggie dividers made from cremini mushroom slices and beet greens. The squash is in a tin foil container. 

My Bento Recipes:

Potato and Cheese Turkey Pockets 
So here's another leftover mashed potato recipe! Husband says "Really, really good lovee! You're gunna make it again right?"

Ingredients:

4 slices cheese, about 1 1/2" X 3" (I used the pepper-jack we had but sharp cheddar would be dee-lish!)
1/4 cup to 1/3 cup mashed potatoes
4 slices turkey deli meat
1 teaspoon butter

Directions:

* Mound the mashed potatoes equally upon the slices of cheese and shape to fit the rectangular shape of the cheese. 
* Place each slice on a piece of turkey with the cheese slice face up. 
* Trim the sides of the turkey as needed and fold the turkey over the cheese. (Save these pieces for Turkey-Nori Rolls!)

* In order to seal the turkey I added a little piece of cheese in the fold... (it works it's adhesive magic when heated)

* Heat the butter in a large pan over fairly high heat. 
* Sear the pockets on both sides until the meat is golden and the cheese has just started to melt (30 seconds or so per side.) 
* Remove from the pan and let cool. The cheese will stay creamy if the pockets are pulled just as it's getting soft! These did stick to my pan a bit, so if you have one, use cast iron!

I packed these in, side by side, over quick salt pickled cabbage and radish pickles and topped with star shaped salami slices! To make little Turkey-Nori rolls just roll up pieces of turkey and seal with small slices of nori.

Saucy Simmered Chard and Carrots
It may not look it, but this recipe is full of rich flavor thanks to the reduction sauce.

Ingredients:

4 leaves chard, ripped into small pieces
1/2 a large carrot, cut in 1/2 and sliced on the diagonal
about 1 cup stock/water
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon butter
1/2 clove garlic, minced (I use my zester, it works great!)

Directions:

* Bring the stock/water to a boil in a small sauce pan. 
* Add the carrots and boil for 4 minutes. 
* Remove the carrots and add the chard. 
* Keep stirring the chard as it cooks down. 
* After four minutes or when it has cooked down and is soft and bright green remove the chard and shock it in ice water. 
* Let the cooking liquid continue to cook down until it is just enough for a sauce (about 3 tablespoons). 
* Add the salt, garlic and butter and turn off the heat.
* Add the carrots and the chard (squeeze dry first) and coat with the sauce. 

Ta-da! None of those valuable nutrients get lost in the cooking liquid this time!

Lemony Celery and Asparagus
Pureed celery makes a creamy and low fat sauce!

Ingredients:

1 rib celery, sliced on the diagonal
2 stalks asparagus, sliced on the diagonal
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon lemon zest (use an organic lemon)
1/2 teaspoon tamari

Directions:

* Saute the celery over medium heat in the olive oil for 2 minutes. 
* Add the asparagus, lemon juice and lemon zest and cook 2 more minutes. 
* Add the tamari, stir to coat, and turn off the heat. 
* Remove from the pan and let cool before packing. 
* Garnish with a little extra lemon zest.

Curried Beet Stems
I love a good challenge. Like what am I going to do with these beautiful red beet stems? Boiled and curried? Why not! (Beet stems are also great for juicing or adding a splash of color to salads.)

Ingredients: 

3 beet stems, small dice with a sharp knife 
1 teaspoon yogurt
1/8 teaspoon curry powder
a pinch of sea salt 

Directions:

* Boil the beet stem bits for 3 minutes in water to cover. 
* Strain and let cool. 
* Add yogurt, curry and salt and mix until well combined and evenly coated. 

Gingered Spaghetti Squash

My husband is gluten free. I have been totally grain-free as I'm more sensitive and healing from a G/I disorder. Most days I have winter squash for breakfast and I cook it often (and also blend it!) Here the hubs got some of my spaghetti squash before it hit the Vita-Mix :)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup cooked spaghetti squash
1/2 teaspoon fresh ginger juice
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
5 drops stevia extract
cinnamon and bee pollen "sprinkles"

Directions:

* Mix the ginger juice, stevia extract and salt into the spaghetti squash.
* Sprinkle with cinnamon and bee pollen.