hapa bento

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.

Saba Man may or may not roll up this salmon salad with the accompanying whole wheat tortillas.  I packed a spork instead of chopsticks to make it easier for him to assemble a sandwich, if he decides to go that route.  Also in the tortilla compartment, are some sliced pickles and roasted carrots to complete the process.  Plain baked sweet potatoes  and roasted salt/pepper broccoli  are some of his favorites and they fill up the remaining containers.  It was another quick turnaround for us and this box design is perfect for speedy bento packing.  I don’t need to think to0 hard on the presentation and no required boran or cups. The inside containers feature pretty colors which highlight the food.  Very easy bento box to fill.

The salmon salad is a simple recipe… just chopped cooked salmon with mayo, salt and pepper and dried cranberries.  Mix and eat “as is” or with crackers, bread, tortillas…

Today’s featured bento box is one of Saba Man’s snack boxes.  I usually pack two daily bento boxes for him; a lunch box and a snack box, the latter is either a substitute breakfast or late afternoon “pick me up”.  In either case, the snack box is usually a leftover item from the previous day’s dinner or a “mini me” copy of the main lunch box.   He says that eating a second box helps him maintain his energy level throughout his busy day, and I think that using up the smaller bits of food keeps our kitchen stocks rotated and refrigerator uncluttered.

This snack box contains a salmon patty wrapped in  lettuce, roasted carrots, tamagoyaki with nori and roasted broccoli.  The broccoli is also seasoned with garlic.   We’ve been eating and enjoying the black wild rice.  It adds a nice nutty flavor to the brown rice mixture and with a bit of nutritional yeast, a vegan favorite, it’s absolutely delicious!

Salmon Wraps and Roasted Vegetables with Quail Eggs

Salmon is the main course in today’s featured bento box. Wrapped up in whole wheat tortillas with a “special sauce”… okay it’s just mayo, but I told Saba Man that it’s special sauce just for fun.  Also in the box is asparagus roasted with olive oil, garlic, sea salt and cracked pepper.  The sweet potato and goat cheese puree is a frequent bento box item; it tastes like autumn to me.  It’s a stick-to-your-ribs kind of goodness.  The recipe is described in a previous post , but this time I omitted the butter.

Before and After Quail Eggs

Kabocha is the other roasted vegetable, added not only for it’s deliciousness, but for  color and visual interest. Those white spheres are really quail eggs!  Just for kicks and giggles, I molded them in my hands while they were still warm, manually shaping them into a round ball.   I just kept them in a bowl of hot water while I manipulated them.  If you want to give it a try, just use a light touch to avoid cracking.  Easy peasy.

Blood Oranges and Salmon Patty Snack

Hi there! Just a quick post tonight to feature today’s bento box. It’s a little snack box for Saba Man who LOVES his fish, hence his nickname. Salmon is a common theme at our house. Luckily we live in the Pacific Northwest where salmon make their home too. His lunch contains the before mentioned salmon, in patty form,wrapped in leafy green lettuce. The little container is cranberry aioli, which must confess is a “lazy” aioli… pressed garlic mixed in mayonaise with added chopped dried cranberries. Some days I have it in me for homemade…this is not that day! This version is acceptable and is excellent on fish. The blood oranges add some Halloween flair and the star shaped sesame crepe was a last minute decision and I wish I would of taken more time with it. Not shown is a brown rice musubi (onigiri) in a separate container.  Together, they should be enough (I hope) to hold off his hunger pangs until he get home from work.

I just realized that Halloween is just a few more day’s away and I haven’t given much thought to creating a bento box to showcase the holiday.  The pressure is on…

I wanted to do something extra for this special day. No, not because of the triple 9; it’s the day that the NY Times article featuring one of my bento boxes is published. Here it is. The full article is here. Very exciting, so exciting that my bento boxes for tomorow are in super technicolor.