It's Bento, For Breakfast.

I alwasy get hungry on Sunday mornings (We get to church at 8am to make coffee and don't get home till about noon.) and bento has come to my rescue.


Apple slices, grapes, a container of yogurt, a Lion king kiddy spoon, and a box of Lychee drink. All packed in my new Hello Kitty box that I got for 49 cents at Ross.
It took me about 5 minutes to throw it all together before we left.

Josh's Bento from the other day:


Bottom L-R: Napa cabbage, fried soy sauce onigiri and ketchup/hot sauce onigiri.
Top L-R: Nori seaweed in baggy (To keep it crisp.), green tea marshmallow and carrot slices.

This was really easy to put together. I had made a ton of the hot sauce and soy sauce onigiri and froze them. I put them in the microwave for a minute before packing them up. I adapted the hot sauce onigiri recipe from Lunch in a box.

Mom's and my bento today:

Top: White rice onigiri and meatloaf
Bottom: Trailmix (Raisins, chocolate chips, crispix cereal.), green tea marshmallow and corn.
You can see our salad boxes off to the left there. Mom and I shared the big box and each had salads in new green Hello Kitty boxes from the Dollar tree.

Salad is: Spring mix salad from Sam's club with dried cranberries, almonds, and a container of catalina dressing.

New box

I picked up this little baby at Storables last night. It has three containers that are all freezer, microwave, and dishwasher safe. It also comes with an icepack to keep the food cold. It was a great buy for $8.95.

I packed my bento in it today:

Top: Gyro skewers, white rice onigiri, and soy sauce.
Bottom: Peach yogurt with red and green grapes, olive man with carrot pieces and a hard boiled egg.

Quick tip, Leftovers: I had a gyro last night for dinner and didn't finish it, so I took it home. I realised that the bread would get soggy in my box so I took out the meat and put it on some bamboo skewers I had cut in half.

Dad's bento: More leftovers

Coleslaw, carrots, and barbecue ribs. (Not pictured: Brown rice and nori.)

Matt's bento: Fast and easy

This morning at the last minute I needed to make my little brother something for lunch, but it was no problem. 2 already made onigiri, a frozen burrito and some soy sauce makes for a quick and easy meal. Another tip: When you make something like onigiri, make some extra and put them in the fridge or freezer. It helps if you need to make lunch in a hurry.

Bento for the whole family

Well, not quite the whole family. :)

Josh's Bento: Classic favorite with an asian flair.

Ham and cheese on dinner rolls, pretzels, Lychees and salad(Bok choi, carrots, hard boiled egg and catalina dressing.).


My bento: Lovely Bento

Top: Soy sauce onigiri wrapped in nori, cheese cut outs, carrot slices, hard boiled egg chick(nori and carrot face) and heart and peanut butter and jelly on a dinner roll.
Bottom: Lychees in a heart cupcake paper, red grapes, wheat thins and cheese hearts.

I really like how this one came out. I knew I wouldn't eat very much at lunch, so I packed lots of snacky things that would keep all day in the fridge. And I got to use my cute box! ^_^


Dad's Bento: Planteriffic!

L-R: Red grapes, green olives, lychees, napa cabbage with coleslaw and a hard boiled egg.(carrot for the face.)
Not pictured: Brown rice with nori and two tillapia fillets.

Mom's Bento: Simply american

Double stacked ham and cheese half sandwiches, coleslaw and pretzels.

I'm beat after making all those bentos. I mixed the leftover rice with soy sauce and made onigiri and put them in the fridge.

Barbecue and Mr. Healthy Bento

Josh's Bento consits of leftovers again:

Cheese cut-outs, pork ribs, pickles, pepperoncinis, olives and a pluot.

Dad's lunch was more fun to make:

Top: Flower and triangle brown rice onigiri with nori seaweed, carrot cut-outs and a little container of balsamic vinegar and olive oil.
Bottom: Bok choi and carrot sald with a hard boiled egg and a pepperoncini on the side.

Tuna melt

Cheddar cheese and Tuna salad (canned tuna and mayonnaise.) on a toasted english muffin.



Not exactly a Bento, but it is food art! After taking the picture I threw it in the microwave for 30 seconds and it was perfect.

First Bento and box

I don't have a photo of my very first Bento, because my dad took it to work before I thought of it. But it was 3 egg onigiri (Riceballs), carrot and celery sticks, and 2 button mushrooms. Not the fanciest, but he enjoyed it.

As the posts move on I will have photos and more indepth info on what's in the Bento.


Today my mom and I went to the 99 Ranch Asian Market and the Great Wall Mall to shop for dinner. I love that place! We picked up some veggies, seaweed, some frozen dumplings, and fresh catfish. On the way home I asked if we could stop at the Anime store and mom said yes because she had to get something at Staples too. So I go in and am looking around for a Bento box and I find this pencil case:





I asked the woman at the counter if it would work for a Bento box and her eyes got really wide. She grinned and told me, "What a great idea! So creative. I should buy one too!" I told her that I was just starting to make Bentos and how I really enjoyed Onigiri and she told me that she makes Bento boxes for her daughter. We chatted for a while and she kept saying that she thought it was such a good idea. She was so sweet! I need to hang out over there more. ^_^

So tonight I took the leftovers from dinner and put together a Bento for my brother.

Maybe it doesn't look incredibly good, but it tastes good. When I make them for my self and my mom they'll be cuter. :D (The lighting is kinda bad too. I'll try to get better pictures next time.)

The contents are: A Catfish steak, bok choi and enoki mushrooms in a ginger, sesame and soy sauce and raw carrot half circles.

I then took the leftover rice and added golden raisins, cinnamon, and sugar and made sweet dessert Onigiri. They were delicious!


Sorry about so many pictures. There will be less in the posts to come.

Obento, starting out.

I'm just starting out on this, so I thought I'd put up a post with some info on Obento (Or bento, as it's more commonly called.), boxes, resources and other sites.

What is Bento?
For all difficult answers we turn to the internet! Check out this page on Wikipedia. It has lots of information on the origin and practice of the Bento box. This site also has tons of information about Bento and is also a blog about it. I really love this site.

Why are you making Bento?
Because it's such a great idea and I love good food for lunch on the go.

Ok, my answers plus those sites should answer any questions. On to the Bento-ing!