hapa bento

Today’s Meatless Monday bento features, fried then simmered tofu!  I buy the already fried tofu from one of my favorite shops in The I.D … I’m fortunate to have access to many tofu sources…then I simmer them in the usual teriyaki-type sauce.  They’re full of flavor yet remain light and very un-greasy!

Along with the tofu…hapa-rice, simmered bok choy, sweet pototo, lotus root and a broccoli-tomato salad.

Hope everyone had a nice weekend! We finally had a warm and cloudless sky here in Seattle yesterday…but don’t be jealous…we are back to normal with gray skies, rain, low temps and a bonus…thunderstorms!

Have a Happy Meatless Monday!

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I love sweet potatoes!  And it doesn’t matter how they’re fixed.  Baked, mashed or french-fried… they’re oh so yummy.  But whenever I have extra time I like to eat them like this…caramelized.

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Saba Man fields comments and questions about his bentos daily so he asked me to pack an extra large bento so he could share it with co-workers.  I honored his kind gesture with this creation.

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Today’s featured bento is a “hodge-podge” of  items.  A  sampler of  bento-stash,  fresh fruit,  and bento staples. Read the rest of this entry →

Our schedules, Saba Man’s and mine,  have been pretty wacky these past weeks and keeping up with packing our lunches at odd times throughout the day and night was a challenge!  And truth be told, Saba Man ended up *whispering* ” buying a lunch” last week!  But now we’ve re-grouped, timing has be re-calibrated and we are back on the bento bandwagon!

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Salmon Salad Wraps, Mashed Sweet Potato and Coconut , Turkish Apricot Garbanzo Beans

Try as I may, I’ve never been able to stop Monday from coming!  Here it is, Sunday night. Again. With Monday looming in a few more hours I cannot decide which is worse!  Sunday night or Monday morning?  The former being the night when I can no longer procrastinate, amongst other things, the ever growing pile of laundry.  It is the last call to get my “act” together.  But how does it compare to Monday morning?  My Monday morning attitude is directly linked to Sunday night’s production level.  We shall see…

Tonight is no exception to the flurry of activities, and building a bento right now, on this Sunday evening, seems a daunting task.   So… for today’s featured bento box, it’s the one I made last night. 

It’s filled with my favorite PCC salad, Turkish Apricot Garbanzo!  I can’t eat enough of it and I’m always surprised that there’s a bit left for a lunch box.   Also in there, a repeat of salmon salad with cranberries.  Saba Man called me at work after eating that day’s bento to say that he  enjoyed the salad and to request “more, please”.  Feedback is a good thing, it makes my bento box packing life WAY easier. 

The mashed sweet potato is a recipe that I sneaked copied from tasting a sample from the same PCC deli counter.  Coconut milk and cilantro!  Who would of “thunk”?  I usually have all three of those in my kitchen so I went for it.  Wow, it was really good.  Here’s how I made it.

Coconut Sweet Potato Mash

1 large sweet potato or yam, baked or roasted

3/4 cup of canned coconut milk

2 tablespoons of chopped fresh cilantro

Pinch of chili flakes

While the potato is still very warm, mash it while adding the coconut milk and keep mashing until evenly mixed.  Add cilantro and chili flakes to taste.  Eat and enjoy!  

There  are probably a few more ingredients in the PCC version.  The next time I’m in that store, I’ll look at the label  for other elements then revise my recipe as needed.   It’s sneaky, but frugal.