mini french picnic bento

i know it’s been over a month since i posted… seems like i was just talking about doing a proper spring bento, and now it’s almost summer! between bananas work travel and some family-related travel as well, i think i was away for 13 days of the month of april. needless to say, there’s been a lot of less-than-formal lunch-packing (think pre-portioned veggie sticks in zip-loc bags, ugly tupperwares of batch-made salad, and LOTS of yogurt)! that said, i’ve been doing well with sticking to my caloric and nutritional guidelines, and i’ve kept off the weight by following the guidelines set out by the tone it up nutrition plan.

one thing about dieting, though, is that sometimes you really need to allow yourself the non-diet foods you love. cheese is a total calorie bomb (particularly the creamy kinds i love), and that was a hard lesson for me to learn as a mostly-non-meat-eater who used to consider cheese a main protein source. dairy is also not a TIU-approved meal 3 ingredient…

but sometimes you have to let yourself have what you crave, and a great way to do that is with a portion-controlled version of your food vice. after landing at my home airport after one of my recent business trips, i saw these ile de france “brie bites” in the terminal’s snack shop. i grabbed a bunch before heading to the cab line, because these little gems are perfect for fulfilling my cheese craving in a sensible, binge-proof way.

tomorrow’s lunch has a delicious brie bite along with a mock turkey and ham sandwich. i made this with arnold’s new “pocket thins” flatbread (these are really moist and good!), dijonnaise, and butter lettuce. it’s just three slices of tofurkey smoked turkey and two of yves veggie ham, but i cut each round slice in half (forming a semi-circle that matched the shape of the pocket), and then i cut the filled pocket in half to form two wedges. i added two ripe mini-tomatoes on the vine, a mini-paper cup of blueberries, and five cornichons to complete the country picnic feel for this lunch, which i hope to enjoy outside! nutritional info and more lunch product tips after the jump.

vintage stamps bento

a recent trend in wedding stationary is to use a mix of vintage postage stamps for a unique and stylized look. i think this idea is really cute, but it can be cost-prohibitive (some vintage stamps cost up to 10 times their face value!).

inspired by the trend as well as cute bentos by akinoichigo and lucky sundae, and evolving the scottie dog “stamps” bento i made a few weeks ago, i made two vintage postage stamp sandwiches for tomorrow’s lunch. each stamp sits atop a sandwich of pumpernickel, vegetarian ham, cheese and mustard. the provolone stamps are topped with fish sausage roses, as well as green pea and nori accents and hand cut 12-cent demarcations.

posted in “what’s for lunch wednesday” — what are you having?

mini-key sandwiches

tomorrow at sundown marks the start of the jewish holiday passover.  for the eight days during which the holiday is observed, one refrains from eating leavened bread, as well as a variety of other foods that are seen as “rising” like leavened bread (depending on the regional tradition, this group of forbidden foods may include rice, beans, and other ingredients which expand when cooked).

although i won’t be strictly observing the restrictions this year, i will be saying goodbye to bread for the next week or so, which alas, includes sandwich bentos.  so as a fond (and temporary!) farewell, i made two egg salad sammies for tomorrow’s lunch.  super simple, with the cute addition of a cut-outs in the shape of keys.  the two breads i used, rye and pumpernickel, were nicely contrasting, and so i switched the keys (then both loaves went in the freezer to wait for the end of the holiday!).

this isn’t quite a bento, but i hope you don’t mind me posting.

speaking of “not quite a bento,” have you checked out the amazing wool/viscose play bento set that was recently posted as a bento4japan auction?  although you can’t eat this one, it would be the perfect gift for a cute child in your life… or for your own enjoyment.  bidding will definitely get heated on this one, so don’t miss it!

[as seen on epicute]

scottie dogs bento

tomorrow’s lunch has two “club-style” (triple decker) sandwiches made from health nut bread, garlic-herb cream cheese, vegetarian ham, and cucumber.  each sandwich is topped with a sort of scottie dog postage stamp.

in between the sandwiches is a steamed broccoli floret, a tamagoyaki slice, a purple potato dog bone, some pea pods, and one of the last of my israeli vine tomatoes with a yellow flower food pick.

if you haven’t done so yet, please check out the bento4japan charity auctions going on right now… i learned the hard way that i can’t bid on the cute shinzi katoh box that kir devries graciously donated and for which i’m hosting the auction (grrr)… but you can!  plus, there’s plenty of other great stuff for me to bid on!

farm sandwich bento

did i mention how excited i am to eat bread again?!

this past weekend during our hudson valley jaunt, we visited the farm center at blue hill at stone barns, where we checked out turkeys, hens, pigs and sheep, and ate delicious open-face sandwiches at the cafe.  the crisp autumnal setting and seasonal farm-to-table fare at the cafe inspired this farm-style lunch.

my sandwiches are made on some hearty whole-grain/pecan bread, with farm-grown tomatoes (which we picked up at stuart’s fruit farm), frilly lettuce, and thick slices of creamy brie.

alongside this rustic sandwich i have a petal-cut deviled egg half, and a cute baby apple with a lemon slice.

happy weekend everybody!

sandwich bow bento

last night i attended a lecture and then caught up over a bottle of red wine with a good friend, so i got home too late to bento; i threw some leftover chili in a tupperware on my way out the door this morning and that was that.

tonight also feels rushed, so another quick one:  just a few mini egg salad sandwiches with a salami “bow,” a lotus-cut baby carrot, a steamed broccoli floret, yellow and orange tomatoes, a strawberry and a fig.

what have you got for lunch this wednesday?  find out what everyone else is eating, at shannon’s blog.

milk bread bento

have you ever heard of milk bread?  well, i hadn’t — that is, until last week’s visit to paris baguette, a new bakery in koreatown.  i saw the softest, fluffiest loaves of bread ever, labeled 우유식빵, literally, “milk bread.” the green loaf has green tea in it, and tastes slightly sweeter, but both are like a more decadent, moister, thicker version of wonder bread.  growing up, my mom never stocked our house with white bread, so occasionally it’s a real treat for me.

i cut two slices of white and one of green each in half, and made three half-sandwiches with some basic egg salad (just boiled eggs, mayonnaise, gulden’s deli mustard, salt, pepper and garlic powder) and, in the white halves, frilly lettuce.  this box just barely holds these puffy sammies, but there was room for four pretty pear-shaped baby tomatoes.

a sidecar filled with red and yellow raspberries, a halved lady apple, and kiwi berries completes this super simple work-day lunch.

polka dot birdies bento

i’m still catching up on all the bento blog posts i missed during my break, but one of the things i saw recently that inspired me was this adorable polka-dot bird at e-obento.  too cute, right?  i put my own spin on it by cutting a bird template from paper and tracing two birds out of cheese with a toothpick, and then applying polka dots made from orange and green soy paper, along with little cheese-and-soy-paper wings (cut with my smallest teardrop cutter).

i used my birds as toppers for two tea-sized club sandwiches (“club” only in the sense that they are three layers each of bread, and two of filling) — vegetarian ham, cheese, and mustard on dark pumpernickel bread.  the rest of the box has a steamed broccoli floret, the last (phew!) of my okra, a grape tomato, a piece of steamed corn, two pea pods, and some blueberries on a pick.

for more polka-dot inspiration, check out piewacket, food gal, and oh joy!, as well as etsy, where there are tons of great finds (including this bird headband that served as another model for my sandwich toppers).  wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

“picnic for one” bento

today, if the weather holds out, i’m planning on taking the dog to the park for lunch.  i’m still exploring my new neighborhood, and the dog is a chubster who needs to walk more, so this is killing two birds with one stone.

i wanted to bring a simple and easy (and mostly recyclable) lunch with me — i’ll still need to worry about bringing the actual box and the little dip container home, but both of those have lids, so any food residue stays pretty self-contained.  the food cup, wax paper “baran” and recycled wood silverware will all go in the appropriate bins.  and the food itself is mostly finger-friendly: summer veggies i can dip and munch with one hand, and tea-sized sammies that are really only two bites each.

the sandwiches are vegetarian ham, cheese, and butter lettuce on sourdough with mustard; i topped them with two flowers stamped into potato bread (actually, leftover potato burger buns from a BBQ last weekend — these work well for impressions because potato bread is sooooooo soft).  the vegetables are ripe grape tomatoes, quick-steamed corn and brussels sprouts, and raw asparagus (there’s ranch dip in the container).  a paper-lined foil cup with grapes, strawberry quarters and a mint garnish, and i’m all set.

wishing all my bento pals a tasty weekend!  i’m in new orleans tomorrow through tuesday, so no bentos from me for a bit, but maybe some beignet pictures on twitter?

[as seen on more design please, apartment therapy, and re-nest]

squirrel sandwich bento

sunday nights are always lazy, and tonight i’m watching the giants-cardinals game… so, just a quick sandwich bento for tomorrow’s lunch.

my sandwich is a vegetarian “chick-n” patty (spicy flavor!) on sourdough with mustard, baby spinach leaves, avocado, and cheese.  i wrapped it with brown wax paper and washi tape, and topped it with a squirrel cut from white bread.

the remaining space in the bento has a paper food cup filled with thai-style soy ginger carrot salad (a tasty frozen item from trader joe’s; it’s great for my bento stash because it adds a pop of bright color and requires zero prep) and a vine-ripe tomato with a squirrel pick from this cute set, plus a few clementine slices.

hope everyone had a sunny, fun, and restful weekend!