and the winner is.....

Congratulations Leslie! Your name was drawn out of the bag of 32 entries. Please contact me with your info asap! If I don't hear from you in a week I will draw another winner!  Please don't hesitate to send me an email at tayngene@yahoo.com!

One day left!

Just a reminder that the contest ends tomorrow at 12am eastern time! I will close off the comment section at that time so everyone knows that it has ended. Glad to see so many entries and good luck to all!

Bento Box giveaway!

Who would love to win this lovely blue sheep bento box? I think you do! 

   I would like to see how many bento packers there are who don't even own a bento box! This is open to everyone though, but you must be a follower of my blog and in your comment link a picture of your lunches packed in bento style in something less traditional. You can enter as many times as you like and I will put your name into a drawing and we will see who the winner is!  I will pick a winner on September 25th so that is 20 whole days for you all to get as many entries in as possible. Good luck can't wait to see all the lunch!

Steak and Pho noodle bento

Todays lunch has steak, and pho noodles (aka rice sticks) with corn, broccoli, and tomatoes! I guess the rainy dreary day inspired a boring bento. I promise some cuteness in the near future. Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Asian food Market!

After a long hiatus from the blog, my bento obsession was refueled by stumbling upon an oriental food market. I have really missed the bento scene, and hopefully I am back for good this time. I don't know how many of you in the states are from the East coast, but if you ever happen to wander down to Myrtle Beach SC there is a little store tucked in Socastee which is just out of the beach. No bento boxes but there is a great collection of foods and treats and cooking ingredients. I bought a lot of things that had to be eaten before I made my trek back home and unfortunately I did not get any pictures. I do however have a few pictures of the treats I bought! A assorted pack of mini jelly cups. These are a lot like jello. Some grape flavored gummies, a lychee and coconut jelly and some golden rabbit caramel. I also got some buckwheat soba, rice sticks or pho noodles, seaweed sheets, furikake, some bean paste filled things....They were covered with like a powder and kind of chewy with red bean paste inside...Should these have been cooked? I wasn't entirely sure. I also got some mochi ice cream, it came with chocolate, green tea, and vanilla. It was ice cream wrapped in mochi from what I could tell. I can't wait to start putting these things in bento! Hope to be hearing from you all soon!

Neat magnetic containers from wal-mart!

Found these super neat containers at wal-mart for 4 dollars a peice yesterday. They screamed "BENTO" when i walked by. They are pretty small, but big enough for all my picks, and paper cups and some punches to fit in. They have a strong magnet on the back, and stick right to the side of the fridge for easy storage and display. I am in love with them! I found them in the desk/office area.

I also apologize for the lack of posts. I have been so busssy! I did get a new camera though, and I am trying to get motivated to take photos of my bento from now on.  I am going to try doing them in a close up, then get the whole picture and collage them like so. Let me know what you guys think! Glad to be back.

Im back, with a low carb bento!

I am truly sorry for dropping off the face of the internet (again.) I decided that I needed to kickstart my self into a weight loss program, along with an hour+ excercise in the afternoon after work and ahhhhh! I had no time to take pictures of my bento creations. I promise I will be back on track soon. I am just having to schedule myself a little bit better.  In todays bento I have: Baked Tilapia, broccoli, cheese cubes, cucumber, and some avacado mayo mash wich I like to use for dipping.  It is abit like guacamole without the zestyness.                                                                                                        

On a side note, for any of you trying to watch your calories, or carbs, or weight watcher points or what have you you need to check out Fat Secret It is an amazing tool to help keep track of what you eat. You just enter your food into the easy to use calender and voila! It can show you all the nutritional values of your daily intake. 

Also while Im on here, be sure to check out Allthingsforsale the banner to the right. They have revamped their store, and have a 5% off sale ontop of their usual sales going on right now. They ship internationally!

Sorry everyone

I know, shame on me! I dropped off the face of the internet again. Spring has sprung and I have been so busy working on getting a garden together, visiting family, and spring cleaning. I have also added an hour of exercise into my routine so by the end of the night when I normally post im exhausted! My new carb low diet also leaves my bento lacking at the moment, but I promise I will post some up soon. Hope everyone is doing great!

Buckwheat noodles

Bento is actually for dinner to take to work tonight. I had ordered some buckwheat noodles a few weeks back so i finally decided to try them out today! So we have buckwheat noodles with bologna and cheese flowers, steamed cabbage, prunes, edamame, banana chips, and some broccoflower. Hope everyone is having a great day!

Make your own steamer

How to make a simply microwave steamer at home. This is perfect for making speedy bento, you don't have to wait for a pot of water or an electronic steamer to heat up. You also don't have to pay 3$ to order one offline and wait weeks to get it! The pictures are labeled 1-5 just follow along.

1. You will need two medium sized plastic food storage containers and 1 lid.
2. Cut along the side about 3/4s of the way down and then cut around.
3. You should get something similiar to this.
4. Cut/poke some vent holes in your newly cut container. This is going to be the platform.
5. Fill your non cut container with abit of water, then insert your cut container open side down until it is sturdy. Place your veggies on top and sit the lid on do not seal it up  just let it rest lightly on top.
6. Place in mircowave and heat until desired tenderness of your veggie!

Make sure you use a microwave safe container. You can cut holes in the top aswell but letting it rest on top does just the same. I haven't tried it with rice, but im guessing it would probably work if anyone uses it for anything else let me know! Hope this helps out. I know it is usefull in my kitchen when i prepare bento for only myself. I can quickly steam up some veggies to throw in my box.

Changing the layout

Changing the layout so please don't be alarmed if something goes missing! I want to find something simple, but elegant. Any ideas?

Bento find + Panko chicken

Bento for the day! Rice, panko crusted chicken, grapes, carrots, banana chips, and broccoflower with steamed cabbage. My panko chicken is super yummy, I add the panko, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and abit of onion powder to the crust and is is awesome. I also wanted to share with you guys me newest bento find right here at my local Dollar Tree.  I was so excited when I saw these I grabbed them up and prayed they would fit into the boxes and they did! They are mini tuberware like containers and they fit with the lid on and everything! Not the cutest things in the world but they will be a big help.  I also started some seedlings and look what has sprouted up I am so excited to see some movement in the little green houses. I've planted peas, carrots, lettuce, a variety of bell peppers, squash, and two types of tomatoes. Is anyone else planting a garden this year? This is my first attempt. Wish me luck!

New box!

Hey everyone! Got my new box today, so I celebrated by packing it up and sharing it with you all! This new skater bunny box came with the dividers, and a rice press. I love the way it gives an immediate elegance to the box by being so neat and tidy. I also ordered some furikake it's seaweed, shrimp and egg flavored. So in the box we have rice, grapes with kumquat slices, bologna flower, broccoflower, grape tomato, carrots, dried apricots and bananachips. We are getting more snow today, so hopefully there will be more bento tomorrow while I play in the kitchen on my snow day!

Happy Hedgehogs!

 The rain/snow/slushy is making it a terribly nasty day after such a beautiful weekend. Hope everyone is having a great day!  Some comfort foods for today, a barbeque chicken steamed bun, tamagyaki, kiwi slices and a edamame, broccoli, and grape tomato salad. It has itailen herbs sea salt and a little garlic tossed with olive oil. Its simply but yummy. Have a great afternoon everyone!

Thank goodness for cling wrap

Turkey, mayo, and cheese sandwhiches with banana chips, dried mixed berries, dried apples, and dried apricots (I love dried fruit...did ya notice?) and some carrots.  I started wrapping my sandwhich halfs up because the wheat bread was getting way to dry and stale when it would sit in there. But a heads up to all you bento gals, spring time= colorful saran wrap! Yayy! I normally can't find any cute colored cling wrap any other time of year, so I will be stocking up. Hope you all are having a great Friday!

I'm back! (and I brought some food with me)

I have been shamefully lazy, I apologize. I have been making bento, but forgetting to take pictures! I also had two days off in a row so I was lazing around the house. I am back now, and hopefully back on the picture taking, blog post making bandwagon :P.  I am sure you all missed me terribly (haha) Hope everyone had a great valentine's day! I will be making rounds tonight and post up comments for the past few days that I have missed.  In the bento for today we have mini dog puppies, swiss soft cheese, brocolli, and dried apples. The bottom teir has chocolate cake with cream cheese icing, dried prune, clemintines, and some strawberry all natural applesauce. Hope you all are having a great week!

videos for your veiwing pleasure

Sorry I have been MIA everyone. This work week has been super busy, and I had been making bento but unfortunatly no pictures were taken before they were devoured. So, this morning I have been lurking on youtube for abit, and decided to share a few cute bento related videos hope you enjoy!

Chili & Sandwhiches

Hope everyone had a great weekend! Sorry for the boring bento, but it has been a super busy work weekend for me. I actually made this friday, and haven't had time to post it until now. It was a pretty simple bologna, swiss and mustard sammie with clemintine, soft cheese, and chili! It's not a traditional chili by any means, it is more like a spicy vegetable soup but it was super yummy through all this cold weather!

Steamed bun recipe!

Okay, since I can't figure out how to neatly place my photos around my text I apologize if the pictures are out of order. My recipe is not exact either, so you may have to tweak it yourself at home. Recipe: 1 cup of Hungry jack pancake mix, (Extra light and fluffy is what I used) add about half a cup of water and mix until it looks like pancake batter. Then add a pinch of salt, and get some all purpose flour out.  You are going to want to add AP flour until you get a nice firm non sticky dough. I don't know how much it took, but it should look like the roll in the first picture. Knead for about ten minutes to get all the lumps and bumps out. This also helps give you a uniform color.  Roll into a baguette shape and cut into four peices.  I didn't take photos of me shaping any buns, sorry! I also want to explain the tin foil in the pot. I don't have a proper steamer, but to keep the buns from sitting in water I just balled some tin foil up. Set it in the pot and it keeps them elevated and the steam can get to all sides. 

                                                       

I filled the buns with a chicken and brocolli mixture and let them steam for about 20 minutes. I did cook the chicken through before steaming, just because raw chicken in dough could cause some serious contamination. I shaped them into a hedgehog, pig, bear and one was a traditional pleated bun.  Its really easy, like working with playdough.  Sorry the recipie isn't exact! But working with the pancake mix cuts out the need for yeast and letting it sit 2 hours to rise. There are several really great recipies online, but this is my own quick and easy version. If you try it out, let me know! I'm sure you can use any other kind of pre packaged pancake batter, but the light and fluffy seems to work the best for me. Hope you are all having a great weekend!

What weird looking onirgiri...

Using my new bento box! Two bologna and cheese "onigiri" sandwhiches, grapes, banana chips, and carrots with ligh ranch in the cup. Hope all is having a great day, the snow if finally melting here so everything is back in full swing around my town. Made some steamed buns today, will post up recipie tomorrow. It was quick and simple, and tasted amazing. Definitly something worth making everynow and then. Hope you all have a great day!

New bento goodies!

I got a package today! I was waiting patiently (okay...so not very patiently) for my new bento box to arrive. Last time we got a bad winter storm the USPS was not running and our mail was about 3 days late. So, considering hubs was off today due to bad road conditions I was a little bummed about the chances of my box arriving but it did!I also took the time to take some shots of my ever growing collection of bento boxes, and etc. Just a few pictures showing the size and how the box collapses and goes up.

When the box is collasped it's a little bigger than the bottom teir of a normal sized bento. You then unfold the sides up, and inside each corner is a ridge where you snap the box together. I tried taking a picture so you could see how it snaps together. Once it's expanded it's a little larger than my urura box.

Putting pictures up behind the break so it's not so time consuming to upload!

Snow and penguins?

So, since I've been seeing a bunch of penguins around I decided to jump on the bandwagon. We have a larger penguin made from bread, nori, carrot beak and bologna and swiss inside, The little baby pengu is made from a dried prune, leftover swiss and carrot beak. There is dried apples, carrots, banana chips, black berries, and grapes filling in everything else. I surely felt like a penguin coming in from playing with the dog outside in the 6 inches of snow (and still coming) She had so much fun in the snow.  Hope you all are having a warm, and wonderful saturday!

Please excuse my terrible southern accent, and my goofy voice talking to the dog.

Waiting on the snow bento

Well, while the whole town was buzzing about our expecting snow storm I unwillingly drug myself to work. I knew it would be a long slow day at the salon so I packed a snack also to ward off any snicker bar temptation. No one seems to know what to do when they call for snow except fill their grocery carts full of milk, bread, and eggs and rush the pumps for gasoline at the last minute. Luckily I was ahead of the curve and did my shopping earlier this week. As we speak the snow is drifting down quite swiftly and my yard is covered in a soft white sprinkle of fluffy snow. So! onto the the food shall we? Black berries, grapes, carrots, dried apples and banana chips were the raw fruits and veggies I packed. I also threw in some ham and swiss cheese rolls and cooked up some edamame, potatoes,  and shrimp in olive oil with abit of sea salt. Nothing fancy, but delicious on a cold day. In the snack is more banana chips, and two clementines.  Hope everyone is having a great night, and I will see you all tomorrow with pictures of the snow.

attempted egg sheet fail!

Well today I was attempting to make an eggsheet in the mircowave...and it turned out terrible. I think maybe because the plate got stuck at one point it made the edges bubble up and out and the center was almost completely void of egg.  So I rolled it up and tucked it shamefully in the corner of my bento. Also packed in some bacon chedder chicken paninis, dried plums and apples, and edamame. The bottom teir has obviously baby carrots, black berries, and grapes. I finally restocked my fridge and cabinets mainly because of the storm they are calling for in my area tomorrow ( 6-12 inches of snow!) That's a lot for my area and I'm sure we will be off work if we do actually get any accumalation. So I may be making some snow day bento! Hope everyones having a great wenesday!

Bought bento lunch

This was the lunch I bought from our local asian eatery! I thought for 5.50$ I would get a nice compact bento sized lunch. I am afraid they sent a picnic bento haha. It was aloot of food for one person. I was abit dissapointed in the Salmon rolls, they were not rolled very good and the rice was just plain steamed white rice   =( but all in all it was really great. It came with egg drop soup, 6 salmon rolls, spring roll with carrot underneath, pad thai noodles (don't you love that great pink color?) and some more rice. Took half of it home and will eat it for dinner tonight! Hope you're all having a great week!

The bento that started it all....

This box was the original reason I ever got into bento! I saw it online one day and thinking it was so  adorable I had to order it right away! Those cute little strawberries inspired my whole new addiction. I actually got my blue urura box first (I think that was just shipping issues) but I thought that bento was small. You should have seen the look on my face when this one came in! It's actually alot smaller than my other bento. Both of these teirs fit down inside the smaller teir of my Urura and other boxes. I'm guessing it's more for children, but If I pack something hearty in it it keeps me full all day. 

Pb&j bento

Not one of my typical bentos. I'm not a big bread fan, but I was craving a simple pb&j. I couldn't find any of my cutters that were big enough for a sandwhich that would fit in the box, so I just used the actual box for a cutter.  Tossed in some strawberry applesauce with walnuts and dried fruit around the sides.  The brussel sprouts were cooked in abit of bacon, so the crumbles are tossed in with them and the broccoli. I also threw in a few baby carrots.

I normally am fine with out a snack, but I worked a long shift yesterday so I threw a quick salad with tomatoes, walnuts, romaine, and avacado and some ranch in the cup.

No bento, but a game!

Found this super cute game on the internet. It is really addictive so beware! It will open in this window, but try opening it in a seperate window so you can get the full screen.

Chicken nugget lunch

Boring chicken nugget bento, but it was nice and comforting on a cold day. I attemtped to make some of those flowers out of meats, but it was a huge fail! Also had some edamame, tomatoes, dried apricots, cheese, cherries and carrots with ranch!  Hope everyone is having a great week!

California rolls.

  Sorry for the lack of posts. I was terribly ill yesterday I'm guessing I got a stomach bug off my sick goddaughter earlier this week. So for lunch today even though I am home I decided to make a bento to share with everyone. We have california  rolls again, string cheese, soy sauce, brussel sprouts, carrot chips, cherries a mini jelly sandwhich ( I needed something sweet!) and some light ranch in the cup. Not anything fancy, but definitaly yummy.  I can't decide weather or not I like the more elegant style bento or the cute style. I boderline on both I guess. I really like the cute elements, but than again the nice neat elegant bento really appeal to me. I guess I will just have to mix it up. Sorry there hasn't been much variety lately. Since Hubs can't eat raw fruit and veggies I try to buy things that I can use before they go bad. I had gotten some mung bean sprouts, but they spent two days in my refridgorator and turned into mush. I don't know why they went bad so fast. Is that normal? Hope you guys are having a great weekend!

5 Minute sushi bento.

Applause is in order for this amazing feat. I managed to whip up a bento in 5 minutes while changing clothes, brushing my teeth and getting myself together for work. Spent the morning again at the hospital. Baby was discharged Thanks for the get well wishes. Came home to change and wasn't going to make a bento but I was up to the challenge. So here we have the 5 minute sushi.   Not the best filled box ever, but cut me some slack it only took five minutes.

     There is california rolls made from precooked than frozen rice. I really like to cook a batch for the week, wrap it up in saran wrap while it's still warm and freeze it.  Two minutes in the microwave bring it right back to life. Some cherries, string cheese, carrots, edamame, and ranch are hanging out in the rest of the lunch. I do like edamame, but if I eat too many beans they start to taste a little weird so I am working myself into them slowly.

Thanks Angi for the award!

Angi over at Bento Junkie left me this award. It says list 10 things that make you happy, than pass it on to 10 blogs that make your day!

1. My hubs makes me breakfast almost everyday!
2. Talking to my mom.
3. Cooking anything new
4. Jack Johnson's music.
5. Fuzzy socks
6. New bento boxes (Duh!)
7. My family get togethers
8. Having good health
9. My amazing friends
10. Warm towels

Now for 10 blogs! (in no particular order.)

1. New2Bento
2. lilys kleiner bentoservice
3. lian mama bento
4. I am running out of blogsss... So I will edit this later! Most blogs have been tagged by this award already :P! Hope everyone has a great night, and keep the people of Haiti in your thoughts.

Salmon Lunch bento

Sorry for the lack of updates, I have had a crazy schedule the past couple of days.  This was a rushed lunch bento. I spent all morning in the hospital with a sick baby (My goddaughter) and her mother. I dropped by the house to throw this together before work.  We have Salmon, and broccoli in the top teir. Edamame, carrot chips, ranch and cherries! It was super yummy. The Salmon was awesome! I let it marinade overnight in olive oil, white vinegar, garlic and some McCormick all purpose seasoning. Then let it roast in the oven for about an hour.  Hope everyone is having a great week!

Lunch bento 1.9.10

lunch bento with brocolli,shrimp,cheese, wontons, edamame, and corn.

sushi lunch (yes you can be jealous =p)

As promised, here is my lunch of the day! I am pretty proud of how this came out, I really like how it all came together.  So here are way to many photos!

Smoked salmon, shrimp (prawns)  and my ice cube tray molded rice

My poor fishy...He gave me the stink eye the whole time I made lunch.

Done sushi. Okay...The shrimp went nuts. I couldn't get the bend out of them so they wouldn't lay nice and flat...the first one was too far gone lol.

And finally the finished product. Top teir has my smoked salmon sushi and lone shrimp sushi (or sashami? i have no idea what the difference is.) Corn, and edamame. Bottom teir has carrot flowers, corn, apple bunnies and mixed dried fruit. Hope everyone has a great day!

ATTN: TOFU EATERS

I need your help! I have tried several different ways to eat tofu, and I just cannot do it. I am not trying to go vegeterian or anything, but rather introduce some healthier protien into my meal. Tofu is just yuck to put it bluntly. So, I was wondering if you any of you had any recipies or ways to fix tofu in your favorite fashion so I can try it. I would appreciate any help/links/recipies etc!  Lunch post following shortly.

Bento on Good morning america featured on Yahoo!'s front page news

School%20Lunch%20Masterpieces%20-%20ABC%20News

Just thought I'd share this with everyone. It was featured on Yahoo!'s front page today. Congrats to Kai!

Comfort foods

Chicken nugget, mac n cheese, brocolli, and corn. Comfort food on a cold day!

I'm back!

I missed you all! Sorry the holidays had me on a slight break, but I am back and with new bento gear! Hope everyone had a great new year.  Two lunch bentos first, than some of my new stuff!

We have miso soup in the small container, terryiake tofu, shrimp and some stir fry noodles. The top teir has dried apricots, carrot chips, apple wedges, and some garlic and herb cheese. I also found some soy bean edamame? and ranch in the cup.

Bento for today. Edamame, crab rangoons, and some shrimp on skewers. Bottom teir has fruit cocktail, apple wedges, and a cheese. Boring, but light and tasty after the heavy eating holidays.

My new bento boxes! They came in a set of three with matching belts.

I got this bag to go with my bunny bento, and it's the perfect size for a bento and a bottle of water.

Mini forks and spoons. I am in love! I am super clumsy with chopsticks and these are small enough to fit right down into the bento.

Then I got this as a free gift with my purchase and I adore this little container. I've been taking my oatmeal breakfast with me in it along with fruits and things. The air tight lid is great for messy foods.

Anyone set any new years resolutions?  I decided that I am going to try to be a dedicated blogger, and post hopefully 5 days a week at least. Please forgive me if I don't, to err is only human. ;P   See you all tomorrow!