quinoa falafel halloween bento

tomorrow’s lunch is a holiday-themed, healthy twist on a few dishes i love: falafel balls and greek rice. for my falafel, i used a mix from earthly choice brand, and added some middle-eastern flavor (cumin spice and smoked paprika).  the balls are baked instead of fried.  for the “rice,” i used powercakes’ rice-free recipe, pulsing raw cauliflower in the food processor with other raw vegetables and kalamata olives for the briny zing. a cute carved jack-o-pepper with a spider pick gives some halloween flair to the lunch.  click through for details.

roasted eggplant soba bento

a quick lunch tomorrow (in my new bento & co. “origami bento,” bought on karaimame’s brilliant suggestion), made up of leftovers from batch dinner cooking i did earlier this week, plus a pantry item.  recipes and calorie count below.

april showers bento

the  past couple weeks have NOT been spring-like here in NYC, with the exception of this past weekend.  today it rained again, and honestly, i’m getting pretty tired of it — i want to break out cute spring skirts and shoes!

tomorrow’s lunch has umbrellas and rain drops as an homage to the current weather system.  my umbrellas are made from carrot (cut with a tiny fondant cutter), and are affixed with somen to two mixed-rice-and-ume onigiri.  the box also contains steamed broccoli, fish sausage “rain drops,” purple potato, cute strawberries, pea pods, and a silicon cup with a kabocha gratin.  i have a sesame-flavored soy milk drink for a sweet accompaniment.

hope you all had a nice wednesday, and are furiously bidding away on the bento4japan auctions, including the adorable shinzi katoh box which i relisted today!

spooky cat onigiri bento

last halloween bento, as we are away this weekend for a friend’s wedding…

another salmon-and-wasabi mayo onigiri, this time in the shape of a spooky cat, with purple-food coloring-dyed egg sheet, cheese head, takuwan-sesame eyes, and nori nose/mouth.

from top left: carved jack-o-lantern mini pepper, simmered kabocha squash with edamame on a pumpkin food pick, two fish pajun (korean pancakes), carrot-sesame flowers, “BOO” quail eggs (nori letters), snow peas, and purple broccoli in a silicone food cup.

[as seen on just bento]

spider muffin bento

top left: kabocha sqash made with maki’s delicious recipe, recently posted on at “just bento”, topped with some fiore pasta.  top right: hard boiled egg ghost with red grape tomatoes.  bottom left: jalapeno-cornbread muffin with spider nori accent.  middle right: purple cauliflower and vegetarian “ham”-cheese-okra rolls.  bottom right: pickled radish (from another maki recipe!) and checkered apple.

[as seen on murdered secret and if you were a booger, i’d pick you first]