I've picked up a new hobby this year,
bento making! To me bento's require use of both sides of the brain: left-brained work with fitting the pieces together, right-brained work in creating something of beauty. My bentos tend to be more on the functional side rather then works of art, but I do try to add in aesthetics. Below is a gallery of some of my bento creations (note: they're all vegetarian!).
Greek yogurt with strawberries, goat cheese on a bed of kale, millet bread and tofu egg salad. I took this with me on an airplane. I got looks of envy from the flight attendants.
Brown rice sushi, tamago, soy sauce in the little red container, seaweed salad "nest" with the penguin in the middle (who has wasabi inside), and cantaloupe.
Squash on brown rice, brown rice crackers, veggie and soy chicken stir fry, and greek yogurt with cinnamon on top.
Polenta fries with fresh basil garnish, pickles, ketchup in the orange container, tofu pups, roasted asparagus, an apricot and brazil nuts.
Mini cucumbers with goat gouda inside, buckwheat noodles stirfired with soy chicken and veggies (and a cucumber "flower" on top), cantaloupe, brazil nuts, and two colored green beans.
Homemade and sugar free Boston baked beans with tofu pups, sugar free gluten-free Boston brown bread (tasted amazing, don't let the adjectives scare you!), kale, figs, butter in the orange container for the bread and brazil nuts.
Grilled veggies on a bed of lettuce, brown rice with fresh basil, grilled tofu with layers of tomatoes, fresh cantaloupe.
Fennel grapefruit and radish salad, seaweed salad, peanutty tofu on brown rice, baby bel cheese with almonds.
Figs, buckwheat noodles stir fried with veggies, and soy chicken, topped with a "marbled" hard boiled egg.
My first ever successful attempt at brown rice sushi, with mini cucumbers stuffed with cream cheese, tamago and extra brown rice.
I make this one often, it's so easy, a do it yourself burrito bento! Brown rice tortilla, cheese on top of black beans, sour cream and salsa mixed, cantaloupe, and peanut bars.
This was done using a Mr. Bento, which is an ingenious bento theromos that can keep food hot for you all day, the layers stack up, four in a row. Buckwheat banana bread, almonds and cheese, soup made with soy chicken and squash, kale and brown rice.
Tamago nigiri,
seitan stir fry, brown rice and
tvp onigiri, kale with a carrot heart garnish and cashews and baby bel cheeses. (I'm an adveturous eater so I included lots of links to definitions of what some of these things are).
These two bentos have exactly the same food, but were put in separate boxes to have for lunch for two days. Brown rice with morrel mushrooms and soy sauce in a tiny Hello Kitty container, tofu and peas cooked in coconut milk, almonds, baby bel cheese, and half an orange.
I took this bento lunch with me when I had jury duty earlier this year; I wanted to be properly fueled for the day. Vegetarian chicken salad on whole wheat bread, almonds, salad dressing in the orange container, kukmquats, baby bel cheese, apple sauce, and cucumbers.
This was my first bento ever! I made this as a breakfast to take along with us on our drive to Florida last year. I knew we'd be up before the rest of the house so I wanted to have something ready to eat without making a rukus. This is a two tiered bento box, very cute, and very small. I haven't used it since. Pieces of banana, hard boiled eggs shaped and dyed, grain sausage pieces; more grain sausage pieces, and oatcakes.
My second bento box ever, this one was pure function and color. Stir fried buckwheat noodles, tofu fingers with mustard dipping sauce, broccoli, and strawberries.
I think it's a good thing to keep playing with ones food! Don't you? :)
