Spanish Omelette Bento

I often use leftovers from the day before when making my bentos. It makes packing a nutritious lunch very easy when you have some dishes and sides already on hand. Here I made use of leftover mashed potatoes and spanish omelette.

Top tier of bento: Champs, sauteed creminis, easy radish pickles, the last of my miso BBQ onion and red pepper (btw, they are spicy!) and a tender raw asparagus tip.

When packing the Champs I pressed a silicone cup into the middle of the taters to create space for the Sauteed Creminis!

Bottom tier of bento: Spanish omelette with red pepper tapenade and parmesan hearts, beet greens in creamy celery sauce.

I packed the leftover half of a spanish-style omelette on opposite sides with a vibrant raw salad in the middle. The tapenade sauce was made from an ounce or so of tapenade I bought from our grocery store's bulk olive bar. I blended it with a little olive oil in my mini blender to make it more uniform for spreading. 

Pressing some Trader Joe's hormone-free parm into a heart shape cutter created the final touch! Feel the love!

My Bento Recipes:

Spanish Omelette (2 servings)

Ingredients:

1 small red potato, thinly sliced using a mandolin
1/4 onion, thinly sliced using a mandolin
4 eggs
2 tablespoons half and half 
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
Coconut oil or butter for greasing the pan
1 tablespoon grated parmesan

Directions:

* Put the potato and onion slices in a small pot with salted water and bring to a boil.
* Simmer for 5 minutes (or until soft) and drain. 
* Beat the eggs with the half and half and salt. 
* Grease a small pan and layer the slices of potato and onion in it. 
* Pour the beaten eggs over the layers and gently shake the pan to ensure the the eggs get around! 
* Put the pan on low heat and let it cook until the top is almost set, but still a little runny (about 12 minutes on my stove.)
* Now the fun part: sprinkle the parmesan on top and put the pan under the broiler on low to finish cooking and brown the cheese. This should only take a minute or two so don't walk away!

Note: I find that using coconut oil is the BEST for cooking eggs. It's a non-stick miracle in our Teflon-free kitchen!

Champs (North Ireland style mashed potatoes)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup mashed potatoes
2 scallions, green part thinly sliced
2 teaspoons butter

Directions:

* Saute the green onions in the butter until soft, about three minutes. 
* Mix them into the mashed potatoes. Easy! 

Note: make a batch of mashed taters and freeze portions for an easy quick-grab gluten-free starch!

Sauteed Cremini Mushrooms

Ingredients:

4 creminis, de-stemmed and sliced
1 1/2 teaspoon butter
1/2 tamari
fresh cracked pepper

Directions:

* In the pan used to cook the green onions add the butter. 
* Saute the mushroom slices for 5 minutes over medium heat. 
* Right before they are done add the tamari and shake the pan to coat the slices. 
* Crank the pepper grinder a couple times over the mushrooms to finish.

Beet Greens in Creamy Celery Sauce
Beet greens are tender and tasty like spinach so when buying beets look for bunches that include the greens.

Ingredients:

2 beet greens (or spinach or chard)
1/2 rib celery, chopped
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/8 teaspoon sea salt

Directions:

* Wash the greens well and pat dry and chop into small pieces. 
* In a mini blender (so useful!!!) blend the remaining ingredients until creamy-creamy.
* Massage the dressing into the greens to break them down a little bit before packing.

Note: I always try to include raw veggies along with cooked veggies in my bentos!