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Just to let you all know that I have moved my site over to a new site. Please visit me at http://susanyuen.wordpress.com/ . :) Thank you!

Bento Class

Today I taught two bento classes for Paige's after school enrichment program. The kids (myself included) had a great time playing with food and making bentos. Pictured are some of the sample bentos that they modeled their own bentos after today. Unfortunately, even though I left my camera right by the door, I forgot to bring it with me to take pictures of the kids and their creations! :( Waah! The kids were great, so creative and just lots of fun to spend the afternoon with. Thank you Jenny for letting me come and hang out with you all! :)

Soba with Gyoza, Bacon Croquette, and Miso Soup Bento

The croquettes that I made the other day finally made an appearance in today's bento! For Paige's lunch I made cold soba with veggie gyoza and a heart shaped bacon croquette. I also packed a thermos with hot miso soup since the weather has been a little cooler these past few days. Finally a tiny bit of winter weather has come our way here in Hawaii! :)

This afternoon I am helping Paige's teacher for the after school program to do a couple of bento classes. As a kid food/cooking projects were always the most fun and memorable for me. I can vividly remember making clam dip for chips, cookies, jello, ants on a log and so much more for school projects or for show and tell. Even as a kid I was always a foodie. :D Then as a teenager, my family was very brave and often would let me cook dinner. I liked to experiment with cooking and sometimes the food would turn out pretty awful. Well at least all of my experiences laid a foundation for my cooking skills and helped to cultivate my love for it. :)

Tortellini with Meatballs Bento and Making Croquettes

Last night we had a few friends over dinner and I made spaghetti with meatballs. Paige wanted the meatballs for lunch today, so I packed some in a thermal container to keep warm. I also packed cheese tortellini with a few fruits and veggies.

Yesterday, I also worked on making potato croquettes using various rice molds. I thought it would be fun to make the croquettes into different shapes by utilizing the different rice molds that I have. I made a simple potato base of a mashed potato, cooked bacon, onion, salt, and pepper. Then I let the mixture cool and molded them with the different shaped rice molds. I used really simple shapes so that it would be easy to mold and bread.

After shaping the potato base, I dredged them in four, egg, and then panko. I covered the croquettes with additional panko and froze most of them for later use.

Here's a pic of the molds I used and the finished product. I fried a few of the croquettes today and they held up really great and tasted wonderful. The croquettes are the perfect size for a bento and also serves as a wonderful side.

Sean's Snack Bento and Utilizing Bento Leftovers

Sean and I had a lot of errands to run yesterday, so I packed up a small snack bento for Sean to take along. I made him a musubi stuffed with seasoned kombu and decorated it with a precut nori motorcycle. I also packed a few chicken nuggets with a side of bbq sauce in the bottom tier.

Javapot tagged me with the topic "Bento leftovers, what to do with them?". Well, I try to utilize everything in some way. Luckily I have a few "garbage disposals" besides myself, namely Sean and our bunnies (Caramel, Chloe, and Buddy). Sean likes to watch me make bentos or watch me cook because he likes to sample as well as eat whatever scraps (like cheese, fruit, kamaboko, egg, and the list goes on). Our bunnies are the fruit and veggie scrap disposal and because there are three of them, they eat a lot! They also take care of a lot of our cuttings in the yard too. :)

At the beginning of summer Paige and I started an herb and cherry tomato garden. The herbs include two types of basil, two types of oregano, parsley, thyme, rosemary, bay leaves, and shiso. By growing my own herbs, it won't go to waste if I don't use it right away. I just pick what I need to use for my bentos or for cooking.

Bread- with leftover bread, like the crusts, I store them in the freezer until I need to use them. I mostly use them for things like meat loaf, hamburgers, or meatballs. You can also find the pasta with meatballs recipe here. I also sometimes pulse them in a food processor and use them for breadcrumbs.

Cheese- I use the leftover cheese in grilled sandwiches and omelets.

Meats or kamaboko- I use them in omeletes as well as fried rice.

Coffee grinds- I know this is not a bento leftover, but I drink coffee every morning and I sprinkle the grinds on our lawn or leafy shrubs because it makes everything nice and green. However, don't sprinkle on flowering plants because they won't flower.

I am tagging Sherimiya from Happy Little Bento.

Once you accept the tag, the rules are simple.

1. Please link back to the person who tagged you and add your name to the 'tagged list" below.

2. When you have answered the question (which can be in any style/format you like), nominate another (one will do) fellow blogger (who is not already on the list) and pass the tag to your nominee.

3. If you (the selected nominee) has already answered the question in an earlier post (well done) then your job is very easy- just link the tag to your earlier post and pass the tag on as per item nos. 1 and 2 above. Alternatively you can update it (if you wish).

Have fun :)

Tagged:

1. javapot

2. susanyuen

3. Sherimiya

Home Sweet Home Bento

I was pressed for time this morning so Paige's lunch today was simple. Chicken nuggets, rice, and veggies with a slice of Forelle pear. I got this Rilakkuma bento box at the Marukai Sakkura Zakka store the other day. It came with two inserts for the container, but I just used one today. Sorry for the short post but we have to run. :)

Korean BBQ Beef Stuffed Musubi Bento

Stuffing a musubi is a fun way to change up your bento and the choices are endless. You could stuff it with things like ume, salted salmon, seasoned kombu, fried chicken, fried shrimp, and so much more. Stuffing your musubi will not only give it texture, but tons of flavor as well. Today I stuffed Paige's musubis with thinly sliced Korean barbecued beef and decorated it with precut nori flowers. The rest of her bento included vegetable gyoza, a few grapes, and veggies.

Korean BBQ Beef Musubi