Rolled Omelete with Bacon and Nori Bento

This is a example of what I hope to make more of in the future: Paleo Bentos. What does that mean? It means this lunch has no grains, beans/legumes, sugar or dairy. I look forward to creating more bentos without rice (wonderful bento staple that it is,) even though it means I'll probably never master character bentos! If you've made a grain-free bento I'd love to see it, or challenge you to try creating one!

Top tier of bento: Lemon pickled persian cucumbers (lemon zest twists,) baked spaghetti squash with tomatoes, fried garlic, and herb olive oil (chard leaf, parsley leaf, plum blossom.)

Bottom tier of bento: Celery and chard stem kinpira, rolled omelette with bacon and nori (carrot flowers with nori,) broth simmered spinach.

My Bento Recipes

Baked Spaghetti Squash with Tomatoes, Fried Garlic, and Herb Olive Oil (1 serving as shown)

Fried garlic is wonderful. Not only is it very tasty, but slowly frying it infuses your cooking oil. These crispy little flavor chips also add to the presentation of any dish you'd add garlic to!

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon herb infused olive oil (or regular, use what you've got)

1/4 cup diced tomatoes (I freeze some in a large ice cube tray as you can tell from the picture)

1 clove garlic, thinly sliced

2 tablespoons chopped parsley, or other herbs

1/4 + 1/8 teaspoon sea salt

1 cup baked spaghetti squash

Directions:

* Heat the olive oil over medium low heat and add the garlic slices.

* When the garlic is beginning to look golden remove from the oil. It's easy to over crisp these!

* Add the tomato, parsley and salt and cook until heated through (or defrosted) and saucy.

* Mix the sauce into the spaghetti squash and top with the fried garlic.

* Cool before packing or make ahead of time and put in the fridge until needed.

Lemon Pickled Persian Cucumbers (2 servings as shown)

A little bit of lemon juice and some knife work transforms leftover salted persian cucumbers into a new side dish. I find that just a little change is enough to keep meals exciting when it comes to using leftovers.

Ingredients:

half recipe salted persian cucumbers, sliced
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

Lemon Zest Twists

 Celery and Chard Stem Kinpira (1 serving as shown)

This recipe works really well with a variety of vegetables. If you eat chard you're likely to have leftover  stems and this is a great way to prepare them.

Ingredients:

1 stalk celery, cut into 3" pieces and then into "matchsticks"

2 chard stems, ditto

1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

1 teaspoon coconut aminos (or tamari)

1/2 teaspoon maple syrup

1/8 teaspoon Japanese 7-spice (shichimi)

Directions:

* Heat the oil over medium high heat.

* Add the vegetables and saute for 5 minutes or until softened and a bit caramelized

* Add the tamari and maple syrup and cook another minute

* Sprinkle with the Japanese 7-spice

Rolled Omelette with Bacon and Nori (about 2 servings as shown)

I don't own a tamago-yaki pan, which is what is used to make Japanese style thin, rolled omelettes. So I got creative and made this using a square baking dish on the burner. I am absolutely amazed that I was able to pull off making this. Also, the end result looked a mess before I packed it into the bento!

Ingredients:

3 strips bacon
3 strips nori
2 eggs
1/4 teaspoon sea salt

Directions:

* Cook the bacon and remove from the pan while it's still a little soft.
* Beat the eggs with the salt.
* Use the bacon fat in the pan to cook the omelette, layering in the bacon and nori (check out this Youtube video so see how a Japanese omelette is made here.)