bolognese bento

Pasta shells with bolognese sauce, parmesan cheese and a basil leaf, a kiwi fruit and some apricot balls rolled in coconut (yum!)

Calories: 475 (1989kj)

Unlike most of my bentos, this one isn't vegetarian. The bolognese sauce has beef and lamb mince (I meant to use beef and pork, but accidentally bought lamb... oops). It was still pretty tasty though. ^_^

Time & process:

1. Cook bolognese sauce - 1 to 1.5 hours, depending on how long your simmer it for.
2. While pasta is cooking, pack snacks in bento - 15 minutes.

kare raisu bento

Short grain white rice, vegetarian kare raisu, orange and diet chocolate mousse.

Calories: 476 (1988kj)

I made the kare raisu (Japanese curry with rice) for dinner. O.M.G... It was SO tasty! I loved it.
I made it loosely following Maki's recipe. Except, I'll admit I was too lazy to make my own curry roux, and used the S&B brand Golden Curry, the "hot" variety (which wasn't hot at all).
My kare is a vegetarian version, with a can of soy beans rather than meat.

It was still quite watery towards the end of cooking, so I thickened it by cooking a tablespoon of flour in a tablespoon of melted butter. When the flour has been cooking for about a minute, you stir though a cup of the sauce from the curry. Then stir the whole mixture into the curry. It thickened my curry almost instantly.

Time & process:

1. Make kare raisu for dinner - 90 minutes
2. Cook rice in rice cooker - 30 minutes
3. Place cooled curry and rice in bento box - 2 minutes
4. Remove peel from orange and place in bento box with chocolate mousse - 5 minutes

satay noodle bento

Udon noodles and vegetables with satay sauce, apple bunnies and salt and vinegar rice crackers.


Calories: 480 (2006kj)

The sauce was adapted from this recipe, I added some vegies, because I love 'em and tossed it through some udon noodles.

Time & process:

1. Prepare satay sauce as recipe above (adding vegies when simmering sauce) - 20 minutes
2. Follow directions on noodle packet - 2 minutes
3. Toss sauce through needles and place in bento box - 2 minutes
4. Make apple bunnies and place in bento box with rice crackers - 10 minutes

spicy enchilada bento

Vegetarian enchiladas, guacamole (hiding under lemon slices), a slice kiwi fruit, capsicum strips and hommus.

Calories: 485 (2029kj)

I love Mexican food,  these are some spicy chilli bean enchiladas with plenty of (low fat) cheese... Yummy!
I've also covered the guacamole with lemon slices and cling wrap (after I took the photo) in an attempt to stop it browning, I hope it works.

Time & process:

1. Make enchiladas for dinner - 30 minutes
2. Place guacamole in bento box and cover with lemon slices - 2 minutes
3. Slice kiwi fruit and place in bento box - 2 minutes
4. Cut 10 strips of capsicum and halve, place in bento box with hommus - 3 minutes

celery snack bento

Celery with peanut butter, rice crackers, mandarin and jelly.

Calories: 371 (1552kj)

I had a full lunch bento planned, but it was a bit of a soggy fail... oh dear.

vegetable soup bento

Vegetable soup, toasted English muffin, mandarin, jelly and Hello Panda.

Calories: 497 (2080kj)

It was a chilly, wet day today, when I was on playground duty I thought "soup for dinner, its a soup kind of day".


So when I got home I got busy with my mandoline and chopped some zucchini, celery and carrot, then hand diced some capsicum, chilli and onion then crushed some garlic.
Sauteed the onion and garlic, threw in some curry powder, then threw in the veggies. Cooked them for about 5 minutes then stirred through two tins of tomatoes, a tin of kidney beans and two cups of vegetable stock. Simmered that until the vegetables were soft. Yum.

Time & process:

1. Cook soup - 30 minutes
2. While muffin is toasting place mandarin, jelly and Hello Panda in snack box - 5 minutes
3. Place cooled soup and toasted muffin in bento box - 2 minutes

teddy bento

Teddy bentos for a Sunday picnic.
Made from nutmeat burgers, with peas, stir-fried carrot, rice crackers and a fig.

Calories: 612 (2557kj)

Time & process:

1. Make and cook nutmeat burgers (chop carrot while burgers cook) - 20 minutes
2. Stir-fry carrots with sesame oil and soy sauce - 2 minutes
3. Microwave frozen peas and cut face shapes for bears - 5 minutes
4. Place peas and bears in bento box with stir-fried carrots - 5 minutes
5. Slice figs in half and arrange with rice crackers - 2 minutes

The nutmeat burgers were very easy to make. Process half a can of nutmeat to resemble minced beef.  Mix with half a grated carrot, two sliced spring onions, 1/4 cup of bread crumbs, 1 egg and a squirt of tomato sauce.
Form into burgers and fry in a little oil for two minutes on each side.

snack bento

Rice custard with cinnamon and nutmeg, mango jelly and rice crackers.

Some foods to nibble on tomorrow.

Calories: 358 (1490kj)

salisbury not-steak bento

Vegetarian Salisbury steak, rice, diced capsicum, carrot sticks and dried fruit medley.

I got the idea for the vegetarian Salisbury steak from a cookbook, its made with vegie burgers rather than beef and is pretty tasty, but next time I might use a little less Dijon mustard. Also, when the recipe said it was done cooking, the colour of the dish wasn't very appetising, sort of a pinkish grey, so I added some kecap manis (dark sweet soy) to improve the colour, we eat with our eyes as well as our tummies!

Calories: 475 (1986kj)

Time & process:

1. Cook the Salisbury steak for dinner - 30 minutes.
2. One cooled pack with half a cup of rice and some diced capsicum - 5 minutes.
3. Peel and chop carrot, pack in bento box with dried fruit medley - 5 minutes.

chilli bean rice bento

Chilli bean rice, spring onion, mandarin, French onion dip and water crackers.

I made chilli bean soup for dinner, it was delish! To make it a bit more filling for lunch I mixed it was rice for bento.

Calories: 450 (1877kj)

Time & process:

1. Cook chilli bean soup for dinner - 30 minutes.
2. Peel, remove pith from mandarin and separate into segments - 5 minutes.
3. Pack mandarin in bento box with French onion dip and water crackers - 2 minutes.

baked bean jaffle bento

Diet blueberry yoghurt, baked bean jaffle (white bread, baked beans, low fat cheese), grapes, almonds and macadamias.

I felt like a jaffle when I woke late this morning... Yummy, face meltingly hot cheese and baked beans (it's not a good jaffle if you don't get some kind of burn) cooked inside buttered bread in my Breville.

Calories: 681 (2845kj) Eep, pretty high... Not really a diet friendly breakfast.

Time & process:

1. Turn on Breville (to heat up), butter outsides of bread, spread with a layer of baked beans, add a slice of cheese. Assemble and place in Breville (remember, buttered sides of bread out) cool till the green light indicates it's ready - 2 to 3 minutes.
2. While the jaffle is cooking, place the yoghurt, grapes and nuts in bento box - 1 minute.
3. Place cooked jaffle in bento box - 1 minute.

vegetable pie bento

Sweet potato topped vegetable pie, mandarin, grapes, jelly cup and almonds hiding under apricot delight and an instant miso.

The pie is a whole heap of vegies stewed, put in a baking dish then topped with mashed potato flavoured with parmesan cheese.

Calories: 433 (1808kj)

Time & process:

1. Make pie for dinner (the chopping and stewing takes some time) - 60 minutes.
2. When pie is cooled pack in lower tier of bento box then place snacks in upper tier - 2 minutes.

frittata bento

Sorry there was no post yesterday, I was ready to go and Blogger just wouldn't work for me... They seem to have sorted things out though, so here we go...

Frittata with onion jam, mandarin, strawberries, mini-jelly and crackers.

Calories: 477 (1992kj)

I am cooking frittatas at work with some of my classes, the first group did their's today and I was inspired to make an easy dinner. I made this basic frittata mix (with light cheese and milk rather than cream) and added what ever I could find in the fridge, tomato slices, vegie sausages, parsley and onion.

Time & process:

1. Make frittata for dinner - 50 minutes.
2. Pack frittata with onion jam - 2 minutes.
3. Pack snacks - 3 minutes.

You'll also notice that I have... another... bento box! Shaped like a cute ol' strawberry, too cute!

pasta bake bento

Pasta bake, half a mandarin, crackers and apricot delight.

The pasta bake is left over from last nights dinner. It's my own reproduction of a dish my Nanny made for my sister and I when we were little, pasta bake with chips crumbled on top, they make it super crunchy. I had a craving for it, but I spruced it up with some veggies and cherry tomatoes.

Calories: 466 (1947kj)

Time & Process:

1. Pack cold pasta salad in bento box - 1 minute.
2. Peal and remove pith from mandarin, place in bento box with crackers and apricot delight - 6 minutes.

carrot fritter bento

Carrot fritters, mango yoghurt dipping sauce, grapes and cracker mix.

I had another go at carrot fritters, they turned out a bit better than the ones I made in March, but they were still missing something. They had parsley in them (which was all I had on hand) maybe another herb would be better?

Calories: 448 (1872kj)

Time & Process:

1. Make fritters - 20-30 minutes.
2. Place cooled fritters in bento box an make yoghurt sauce by mixing natural yoghurt with mango chutney (so yummy) - 2 minute.
3. Place grapes and cracker mix in box alongside dipping sauce.

cabbage roll bento

Cabbage roll, carrot and radish salad with balsamic dressing, mandarin, cracker mix and apricot delight

I saw a picture of cabbage rolls online somewhere last week, and knew I had to make them. I found this recipe and decided to adapt it to make it vegetarian.
I replaced the pork with 350g crumbled firm tofu, the rice with two grated carrots and the beef broth with vegetable stock.
I am so glad I went to the trouble and made them for dinner, they were delicious!

Calories: 461 (1921kj)

Time & process:

1. Cook cabbage rolls for dinner - about 1 hour.
2. Place cooled roll in bento box, chop radish and carrot and place in lower tier - 2 minutes.
3. Peel mandarin and remove pith, place in bento box with cracker mix and apricot delight - 6 minutes.

baked omelette bento

Baked omelette, peas, radish flowers, cabbage salad, carrot flowers, balsamic dressing, mandarin, strawberry, crackers and apricot delight.

Calories: 406 (1691kj)

Time & process:

1. Defrost frozen peas under hot water, drain and place in bento box with baked omelette - 5 minutes.
2. Place bought cabbage salad in box with dressing, cut flower decorations and place on bento - 5 minutes.
3. Peel mandarin and remove pith - minutes.
4. Place mandarin in box with strawberry, crackers and apricot delight - 2 minutes.

I made the baked omelettes for dinner, adapted from this recipe. They're made in muffin tins.
They were easy and yummy and you could put anything in them. I put diced vegetarian sausage and capsicum in mine, very nice!

eggplant curry bento

Eggplant, zucchini & sweet potato curry, tortilla & hommus, half an apple (with checkerboard pattern), gherkins, blueberries & Swiss cheese flowers.

This was a hard bento to make and it too for ages. Because we are a bit low of food (we're doing the shop tomorrow) and absolutely no planning went into it, which is a BIG no-no if you are time poor.

Calories: 429 (1794kj)

I'm not going to bother with the time and process, it involved a lot of scrounging, searching the fridge and scratching my head.
But, I will say it took about 10 minutes for me to do the apple, it was my first go at it (don't look too closely!)

This bento is served in yet another new bento... I am getting quite a collection! This one ties two of my loves together, bento and Blythe (I collect Blythe dolls).

It is very cute, but a bit smaller than I expected, I am terrible at visualising the sizes given when bentos are sold, especially when they only give dimension and not how many mls the box will hold.

I have around 6 bento boxes now, and I confess I bought another on Ebay yesterday... So, I expect my collection to grow (and rapidly at this rate)... Eep!

pizza bento

Pizza bento in my new Tupperware Sandwich Keeper Plus, which I thought would be great for bento when I saw it in their catalogue, the photo even showed it was sushi in it!

Any way, it's holding an orange, Lebanese bread pizza (topped with basil, kalamata olives oven roasted tomatoes and cheese), strawberries, blueberries and Japanese rice crackers.

Calories: 448 (1871kj)

Time & process:

1. Make pizza - 10 minutes
2. Cut orange and arrange in box - 2 minutes
3. Fill right compartments with fruit and crackers - 1 minute

 The Lebanese bread is a tasty quick dinner, or bento in this case.
Grill one side of the bread under a grill till crispy, put desired toppings on ungrilled side then place under the grill again till the toppings are cooked. Enjoy!

**It's very important that you place the toppings on the ungrilled side, or your pizza will end up looking like this:

Oh dear!