Showing posts with label kiwi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kiwi. Show all posts

Brocoli Stoemp Bento

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Brocoli Stoemp Bento


Sakura bento again today and I carried the sakura theme into the food as well. My sakura cutter is my favourite of the bunch, simple but pretty. :o)

As for the contents of today's lunch, I have brocoli stoemp (for more info on stoemp, you can check out this old post), topped with cheese sakura. All around there : diced up chicken chipolata, the usual steamed vegetables (brussels sprouts, snowpeas, green beans, sakura carrots and mushrooms). The fruity vitamin section features grapes, apple, kiwi and clementine.

Bon appetit.

Terriyaki Beef Bento

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Terriyaki Beef Bento



Strange how despite the numerous amounts of bento boxes in my cupboard, I usually end up using the same ones over and over again. So unsurprisingly, I grabbed the M4SB again today.   I think what I like most about that box is that I can keep everything nicely separate, sometimes colour coordinated, but always looking neat.  Someone told me yesterday that I am a control freak with a longing for things to be square and orderly.  Maybe that's the reason that my bentos look the way they do. :o)

Anyway, today's bento has some boiled potatoes, an assortment of steamed greens (brocoli, green beans, snowpeas, asparagus), carrot sticks, a mushroom skewer and cherry tomato, terriyaki beef and a sweet section for dessert (golden kiwi, white grapes, apple slices and a piece of blood orange).

Hump day today ... and I am already starting to look forward to the weekend. :o)
Happy Wednesday everyone.



Bami Goreng Bento

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Bami Goreng Bento

Today I am trying out a new red two-tier box I got as a free gift with a bento cookbook. OK, I'll admit that the box was the main reason for buying the book ... I always live up to the marketeers' expectations ;o)

As for the contents of the box, I am not really excelling in originality. And although I do tend to eat with my eyes too, sometimes producing something tasty is just that tiny bit more important than delivering a picture perfect dish. So please bear with my rather unattractive bento.

The bottom tier has some leftover bami goreng from last night's dinner : stirfried noodles with chicken, omelette and assorted vegetables. The top tier has some carrot and cheese sticks in between slices of tuna cake and the usual fruity vitamins : apricot, nectarine, apple, kiwi gold and a strawberry.

Smakelijk !

Garlic Chicken Bento

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Chicken Bento

After a hiatus of a couple of months and lots of changes in my life, I am trying to get back into the bento groove and what better way to do that, than by just making one in the famous M4SB.

Obviously, I am a bit out of (bento) shape, so this new first one is relatively simple : some stirfried veggies (leek, bean sprouts, bell pepper and cabbage), potato salad and some ovenbacked garlic chicken. Quite a few fruits for dessert too : apricot, nectarine, apple, kiwi gold and strawberries.

Bon appetit !

Terriyaki Pork Noodle Bento

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Pork terriyaki stirfry bento

Works are being executed in the kitchen since last week and I think that at least for the rest of the week or so, I will be without a cooker. I only have the microwave, the oven and (lucky me) an electric wok to prepare dinner right now. As these works weren't really planned (gas leak), last week was a bit of a balancing act in the gourmet department and preparing bentos wasn't high on the priority list. Nevertheless eating sandwiches for lunch is becoming a bit boring, so I tried to make myself again a bento for the first day of the week.

As usual my two tier bento has a savoury and a sweet compartment. The savoury tier consists of a noodle terriyaki pork stirfry with snowpeas, yellow bellpepper, mushrooms and a bit of green cabbage with a cheese sakura for decoration. The fruity vitamins for Monday are white grapes, orange, pear and kiwi slices and a piece of apple with a sakura cutout.

So no special pink bento or hearts galore, but nonetheless I wish everybody out there a

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Crêpes salées aka savoury crêpes bento

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Crêpes salées bento #2 - 28.04.2010


I had crêpes salées at my parent's last week and as it had been a while since I last ate them, I kind of had forgotten how much I love them. So yesterday evening I decided to make some and then a few extra to pack in our bento. Moreover these are extremely simple to make, which of course is a lovely bonus :o)

So my bento has, the leftover savoury crêpes containing ham and zucchini topped with some cheese flowers, some carrot sticks, steamed brocoli and a cup of coleslaw. The fruits are the usual apple, orange, cantaloup, Belgian (!) strawberries, black and white grapes, nectarine and kiwi slices.

How to crêpes salées :

Ingredients :

- 8 savoury crêpes (bake them as you would sweet crêpes, just omit the sugar)
- 3 zucchini
- bechamel sauce (I used storebought one, because I ran out of milk, but with just milk and flour you can make your own)
- 200g diced ham
- 100g grated cheese (preferably gratin cheese because it melts evenly and colours nicely but any grated cheese will do)

Preheat the over to 200°C

Wash the zucchini, cut it into thick slices and cook them until tender with some water in which you have diluted a stock cube (elminates the need for more salt or spices down the line). Once cooked, drain.

Mix the zucchini and the ham dices in the bechamel sauce. If you like you can keep some of the sauce aside to pour on top of the crêpes before adding the cheese, but I didn't this time.

Grease an oven dish. Spoon some of the zucchini mix in a crêpe and fold it up (I just make rolls) and put it in the dish. Repeat until the dish is full. Sprinkle the grated cheese on top of the crêpes and put the dish in the oven for 20 minutes. And there you go ... bon appetit :o)



Crêpes salées bento #1 - 28.04.2010


Sweetie's bento has the same ingredients, minus the broccoli and with some diced ramiro pepper. The ramiro pepper should have been in my bento as well, but as I don't like raw peppers that much, I tried grilling them. Tried being the keyword here. But cooking and watching Cold Case on TV at the same time isn't really a match made in heaven (multitasking fail). The carbonised pepper ended up in the bin instead of in the bento ... Lesson learnt? We'll see :o)

Back to bento

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Back to bento

Due to some family issues (I don't want to get further into), the last two weeks have been kind of an emotion rollercoaster, draining all our energy and leaving us mentally and physically exhausted every single evening. Not the best circumstances to put a bento together. So both our lunches have consisted of sandwiches from a nearby snackbar for the last 10 working days. And although the snackbar near my office makes a delicious "boursin méditerrannée" sandwich, after eating those for such an extended period ... you can indeed have too much of a good thing. :o)

Now that things are looking up on the family front, I felt the urge to make a bento again for lunch. For my first day back "on the job", I didn't strain myself : orzo, grilled veggies (eggplant, zucchini, bellpepper) and some souvlaki skewers I had to take off the skewers to get into the box. The dessert section has lots of different fruits today, as the return of sunny days (24°C yesterday !) calls for this colourful sweetness : cantaloup, orange wedges, apple, black and white grapes, kiwi, strawberry, nectarine and plum. I am really longing for some blackberries but haven't seen them in ages. I wonder when they'll be in season again.

My "back in bento" will be relatively short by the way, because I will be on a plane to sunny Turkey for a week on May 5. I just hope that Icelandic volcano with the unprounceable name doesn't act up and doesn't spit out another ashcloud in my direction, because I am really looking forward to this break and don't want to be grounded like so many other travellers last week. This is a new hotel we'll be staying in, but if it is anything like the one from last year, many food pics on my flickr will make up the lack of bento pics. :o)


I am also seizing the occasion to show off my new round two tier box. I found this one at a discount (8,99 EUR) the day I made my last bento and I couldn't pass up on this purple goodie. They had a few other colours as well (included a hot pink one), and if they still have them when I come back from vacation, I might be tempted by an additional box. I like the metal handle, which makes it rather sturdy and very picknick-like. It makes me feel like a schoolgirl, instant rejuvenation minus the pimples :o)

Garlic mushroom bento

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Garlic mushroom bento  - 31.03.2010


How time flies. The blink of an eye and it's already the middle of the week again. And this time there is a three day weekend urging me on, as a carrot on a stick. :o) I really look forward to it, as I have so many pending projects I would like to start on. If the weather decides to finally give in to spring and the rain and wind would subside, this would indeed be a perfect break. Fingers crossed that the sun will be quicky rerouted to my part of the world. :o)

Back on the bento front, there isn't anything special today. I have been thinking of making a bunny/Easter themed box, but don't seem to be able to come up with something nice ... maybe tomorrow, maybe (don't get your hopes up).

Anyway, my bento has sausage slices (left over from last night's dinner), some white rice with cheese sakura, fresh carrot kinpira (made a whole new tupper of it yesterday) and baby mushrooms sauteed with garlic and shives. A cucumber baran separates main course from dessert, being the usual fruit selection (orange, plum, nectarine, grapes, apple and kiwi).

Mediterranean stirfry bento

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Chicken sesame bento #1 - 30.03.2010


I love stirfries : they are easy to make, quickly done, the veggies keep more vitamins than by cooking/boiling them and as you only use a wok, the amount of dishes to be done afterwards is also reduced to a minimum.

The only downpoint, as you can tell by looking at this picture, is that it looks so downright messy in a bento,which everything poking out in every possible direction, as if the greens were hit by some kind of natural disaster. :o( Luckily the taste didn't suffer from this lousy presentation.

Back to the contents : for today, I packed balsamic sesame chicken pieces and a mediterranean stirfry composed of green beans, red and yellow bell pepper, zucchini, potato wedges and baby carrots. For dessert, there are grapes (black & white), strawberry, nectarine, kiwi, orange.


Mediterranean stirfry bento #2 - 30.03.2010


Exact same ingredients as the previous one, so nothing to add :o)

Cajun Turkey Bento

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Cajun Turkey Bento - 22.03.2010


A very simple and straightforward bento for Monday's lunch because I just didn't have the time nor energy to come up with clever ideas last night : my parents returned home after a small vacation and I had to pick them up. Between driving to the airport, waiting for what seemed an eternity (their luggage didn't make it to Brussels so they had to do some paperworks), driving them home and having a little holiday debrief, it was already passed midnight when I finally saw my kitchen again.

So today's bento just has whatever was leftover from last night's dinner, which had been "quick & easy" also. I went to Stonemanor last Friday and while strolling through the aisles looking for novelties, I came across the Discovery Food range. The packaging looked appetizing, so I grabbed the Cajun and Creole stirfry sauces for those times when you need a quick turnaround to get dinner on the table. I used the Cajun sauce and spices last night and it turned out really good. I was afraid it might be a bit too spicy but it was just perfect. (Completely off topic, but I also found for the first time Reeses pieces at Stonemanor's, oh boy, after sour skittles I feel a new addiction coming up ... I only wish my addiction involved readily available candy, instead of me having to depend on my friends abroad to get my candy fix :o( )

Anyway, I disgress. Back to today's bento which has brown rice, cajun turkey and a cucumber baran separating it from some grapes, orange, kiwi and plum slices and an apple piece.

P.'s bento has the same items but my camera battery gave up on me before I could take a pic of it. It looked quite simliliar though :o)


ETA : I got a shunshine reward from MyBentolicious (thank you Lia !!) and I will upload a post dedicated to this award later tonight or tomorrow. I'm still thinking about the blogs I want to nominate for this award. Stay tuned :o)

St. Patrick's Day bento

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St Patrick's Day bento #1 - 17.03.2010


Not a drop of Irish blood is running through my veins, nor is Lá Fhéile Pádraig celebrated around these parts, but any holiday involving drinks, food and having a jolly good time in general is worth dedicating a bento to :o)

In my pursuit of using green items, I clearly went "a bit" overboard but the sun is shining, trees are budding, the birdies are singing to their heart's content and they even announced a peak of 18°C for tomorrow, so I think I am entitled to some green euphoria :o)

My Paddy Day bento has green rice (coloured using Maki's technique posted on JustBento.com) with a cucumber peel shamrock in a green lettuce cradle, brocolini, asperagus, baby pak choi, brocoli sprouts, leftover sausage covered with snowpeas, goat cheese maki and a orange bell pepper heart for that dash of colour. :o)

The fruit section is equally green with granny apple, grapes, kiwi slices and kiwi berries, separated from the rest with cucumber baran. And for the final touch, as Easter is nearing, pistacchio Easter eggs :o)


St Patrick's Day bento #1 - 17.03.2010


Sweetie's bento is also ... green, what did you expect? :o) It has as usual roughly the same ingredients : green rice with a cucumber peel shamrock, leftover sausage, snowpeas & sugarsnaps, goat cheese maki, carrot slices and orange bell pepper hearts. On the other side of the cucumber baran : granny apple, grapes, nashi, kiwi slices, kiwi berries and a little Easter egg.

Baby pak choi & stuffed eggplant bento

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Baby pak choi & stuffed eggplant bento #1 - 15.03.2010


I went to the Asian supermarket last Friday and for once I found some baby pak choi in the fridge. I guess that the regular Asian buyers get them all before my normal shopping day i.e. Saturday and that's why I never saw them before. I also encountered some white thai tomato eggplants, and couldn't wait to put these in our bento.

So for Monday's lunch, I packed carrot kinpira, steamed pak choi (quickly tossed into the pan I made the kinpira in), stuffed mini eggplants, a plain rice onigiri, the remainder of the stuffing, cherry tomatoes and mashed sweet potatoes seasoned with parsley and coriander.

The sweet department features clementine, white grapes, nectarine, red and yellow plum and some kiwi slices.

How-to stuffed mini eggplants :

For the recipe of the eggplants, I'm going to refer you to Chubby Panda's recipe, as that was the one I used to make these. The main difference is that I didn't have thin-sliced beef in the fridge and used beef mince instead.

I could copy the recipe here, but that would deprive you of the mouthwatering pictures her post contains. So, check it out :o) Hers ended up looking way better than mine anyway :o)


Baby pak choi & stuffed eggplant bento #2 - 15.03.2010


Same ingredients in P.'s bento, except for the sweet potato mash, which is without any additives in this one and the extra slice of nashi.


And then the main news of the day ... the M4SB arrived :o) Can't wait to fill this baby up (although I'll have to think of some cool colour coordinated ingredients for its inaugural lunch :o)).

I present to you ...