Let’s continue our “bento-stash” series with seitan or as some folks call it “wheat meat”. However, for today’s bento… I’m calling it “pseudo spam”!
While I was out and about yesterday, I unexpectedly found this cute box in the infants section of the Nordstrom RACK!
I’ve heard that Americans celebrate this holiday with more gusto than the Irish living in Ireland! 
With that said, here’s my tribute to the “Emerald Isle” all the way from the “Emerald City”
… a lucky shamrock bento box! Read the rest of this entry →
Today’s featured bento demonstrates the use of cucumbers to separate your food items.
I thought that when the holidays were over, I would be able to relax a little and catch up with all the “stuff”… nope! So today’s post is a quick one! Read the rest of this entry →
Did you receive a bento box as a gift this past holiday? I got two new boxes, a pink Hakoya and a brown Yamanaka given to me by my mother who currently lives in Hawaii. She asks the “Christmas Wish” question on Thanksgiving Day every year. Like clockwork. This year she gave pause when I requested new bento boxes, it was a shock that I actually gave her a real answer instead of the usual “anything”. Then she questioned, “Don’t you already have a lot of obento bako?”
“Yes Mom, it’s my addiction”
“Oh… ok, I’ll go look”. “What kind do you like?”
“I like them ALL Mom, I like them all”.
Today’s featured bento box is vegan. Sounds pretty healthy huh? On the “straight and narrow”? Well, on closer inspection you’ll see that the nori wrapped musubi is made with white rice! Not that white rice is bad or anything; it’s just not the best choice for optimal nutrition.
Today’s featured bento box is another re-used holiday box. This particular box is an especially good one to re-use because it doesn’t have Christmas specific designs. The box is red and the lid is a pewter color so it could be utilized for other holidays. Read the rest of this entry →
Once in while I’m able to pull off a pretty nice lunch using only grains and vegetables. So today’s featured bento box is vegan! The main tier is filled with sweet and sour seitan, brown rice and a broiled pineapple ring garnish. The second tier is roasted broccolini, which I just learned is a hybrid of broccoli and gai lan (Chinese broccoli), and fresh tomato slices.
Normally, carrots are included in the sweet and sour recipe, but I didn’t have any and there was raging storm last night so I skipped the carrot part.
2 cups of bit sized pieces of seitan
1 cup of shoyu
1/2 cup of unsweetened juice from canned pineapple
grated fresh ginger to taste, about 1 teaspoon
grated fresh garlic (optional)
2 tablespoons of brown sugar syrup
1 cup of pineapple tidbits or chunks
Mix all the ingredients except the pineapple chunks and simmer in a pot until most of the liquid has reduced. Add the pineapple and remove from heat. Drain liquid and cool before packing in the bento box.
I must note that the pineapple is usually cooked a bit more than what’s shown in the photo, but without carrots, the meal needed some color contrast! It’s a very versatile dish and totally optional to add bell peppers, water chestnuts or other crunchy veggies. If you’re not a vegan or vegetarian, it’s okay to use beef, pork or chicken instead of seitan. Have fun with it!
Quick post to feature a fun and yummy bento filler. Baby potatoes! These were roasted in olive oil, salt/pepper, then topped with flakes of nutritional yeast.
These little cuties could be used in many ways… baby potato salad anyone? Skewered with roasted carrots, zucchinis, or eggplant, the possibilities seem endless.
Hi! My name is Debra and I'm passionate about nutritious and fresh bento box lunches.
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Contact me:
debra@hapabento.com
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