French Dip Bento

This bento has a slightly French theme (yes, I know that a French Dip Sandwich is not really French; that's why I said "slightly").

Contents

French Dip Sandwich: This is deli roast beef with horseradish cream sauce on a whole wheat mini bagel spread with mayonnaise. These are small, so I usually include two.

Mini Container Beef Consomme: From a can. For dipping the sandwich in; that's why they call it a "dip" (stop that snickering!).

Medium Container Steamed Green Beans in Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing: Steam the green beans for about 10 minutes. Here's the recipe for the vinaigrette dressing.

Small Container Baby Carrots

Mini Container Dijonnaise: That's just Dijon mustard and mayonnaise mixed together, for you puzzled Brits. For dipping the carrots in.

Brie Wedge

Cornichon: That's a French word for "kosher dill gherkin".

Small Container Grapes: AKA raw wine, for you raw-food fanatics.

Gingerbread Muffin: I ended up not liking this as much as I thought I would, so in future, I'm replacing it with a French pastry from the Most Interesting Convenience Store in Omaha.

Creative Sushi Bento

This bento is based on the concept that I got from Pinterest that you can make "sushi" from flattened bread and fillings, rolled up and sliced. These are basically based upon regular sandwiches, but making them sushi-style is a twist that I find to be quite tasty and fun to eat.

This bento is "creative" in the sense that I came up with a bunch of different "sushis" that you can mix and match to make the bento. I haven't tried all of them yet, but here they are, to give you ideas. The bento in the picture has Egg Salad Sushi, Indian Curry Sushi, Smoked Salmon & Cream Cheese Sushi, and Pistachio Chocolate Banana Sushi.

Contents

Choose 3 main dish sushis and one dessert sushi to make for this bento.

How to Make Creative Sushi

1. If using regular bread, remove the crust from the bread and flatten it with a rolling pin (or you can use an unopened can of something if you don't have a rolling pin handy). After you flatten the slice, pick it up off your work surface before adding fillings, to make sure it doesn't stick to the surface and be difficult to roll. Lay the bread landscape-style on your work surface.
2. If your filling is a spread, spread it on the bread. If it's flat and thin, like deli meat, just lay some on the bread. If it's not flat, than arrange some on the bottom third of the bread. Less is more with the fillings.
3. Roll the bread slice up so that it is seam-side down. Take a sharp knife and cut it into four slices (this is for a regular slice of bread; if using a tortilla or some other flatbreads, it will be longer and you can cut more slices).
4. Lay the slices cut side up in your bento container. Now you have sushi!

Main Dish Sushi

Egg Salad Sushi: Make some simple egg salad with chopped hard boiled eggs, mayonnaise and dijon mustard. Put it in flattened rye bread with some cucumber strips and shredded carrots.

Indian Curry Sushi: Mix a drained can of chunk chicken with some mayonnaise and a little bit of curry powder. Put it in whole wheat naan with some cucumber strips and shredded carrots. When I tried this, I had trouble rolling the naan, so next time I will try flattening it first.

Mexican Sushi: Spread some soft cream cheese on a whole wheat tortilla. Add some salsa along the bottom third, along with some avocado strips and chopped green onions. This can be cut into 8 pieces, instead of 4.

Smoked Salmon & Cream Cheese Sushi: Spread flattened rye bread with soft cream cheese. Add Chicken of the Sea Smoked Salmon, from a pouch, avocado strips, and cucumber strips.

Tuna Salad Sushi: Mix some canned tuna with mayonnaise and a little dijon mustard. Put this on flattened whole wheat bread, along with cucumber strips and shredded carrots.

Dessert Sushi

Berry Crepe Sushi: Get some pre-made crepes from the deli or produce department of a supermarket. Spread a crepe with strawberry cream cheese and arrange some raspberries and blackberries on the lower third.

Lemon Raspberry Crepe Sushi: Spread a crepe with lemon curd and add raspberries.

Melon Raspberry Spring Rolls: Dip a spring roll wrapper in water to soften it, then fill it with cantaloupe and watermelon strips and raspberries. This doesn't get sliced; it's just a spring roll.

Pistachio Chocolate Banana Sushi: Follow the link for the recipe.

California Cobb Salad Bento

This bento has a sunny California theme. It is based on my personal recipe for Cobb Salad.

Contents:

Cobb Salad: This salad is made from lettuce (preferably romaine, but I'll use any that I get a deal on), grilled chicken strips, sliced mushrooms, sliced avocado, halved cherry tomatoes, sliced cucumbers and a sliced hard boiled egg.

Mini Container Ranch Dressing: This was the only item that didn't fit in the box.

Small Container Crackers

Clementine: I got a bag of tiny mandarins at Aldi, so I included two of them.

Mini Container Orange Chocolates: I was aiming for something made with dark chocolate and orange, like maybe chocolate-covered orange peels, but I couldn't find anything like that. The closest I found was Brookside Blood Orange & Peach Chocolates, which are in the bottom of the box, under the mandarins.

UPDATE: At the 42nd & Grover Mega-Saver, which I've officially awarded the title of Most Interesting Convenience Store in Omaha, I found a box of Mella Dark Chocolate Covered Orange Jelly Chocolates, which I can't wait to try the next time I do this bento.

New Lunch Kit Found at Family Fare Dollar Zone

I found this lunch kit at the Dollar Zone at Family Fare. Cost: one buck.

It comes complete with cutlery in the lid.

This should be the perfect box for my California Cobb Salad Bento.

Mexican Bento

This is a Mexican-themed Bento. It's also vegetarian, and vegan if you substitute a vegan cheese substitute for the cheese in the quesadilla.

Contents:

Whole Wheat Bean & Cheese Quesadilla: Spread half of a whole wheat tortilla with refried beans and top with shredded cheddar (or jack or marble jack or Mexican Blend, or...) cheese. Fold the tortilla in half and stick it in the microwave for a minute, just till it gets hot and the cheese melts. Cut it into 4 wedges with a pizza cutter.

Mini Container Salsa: I used the little container in the chips & dip container for my salsa.

Small Container Guacamole: Mash up 2 ripe avocados in a bowl with a potato masher. Add one 4 oz. can of diced green chiles, the juice of one lime, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and stir it all together.

Small Container Tortilla Chips

Medium Container Rice & Beans: Mix together in a bowl one package of ready-to-serve brown rice, one drained 15 oz. can of black beans, one drained 10 oz. can of diced tomatoes & green chiles, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt.

Medium Container Corn Salsa: Mix together one thawed 12 oz. bag of frozen corn, 1/2 cup chopped green onions, 1 minced garlic clove, 1 chopped poblano pepper (if you can't find poblano peppers in your store, substitute a red bell pepper), 1 minced jalapeño pepper, the juice of one lime, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt.

Small Container Cantaloupe Balls & Kiwi Slices

Dark Chocolate Squares: I usually just throw in a Dove Dark Chocolate Bar.

The guacamole, rice & beans, and corn salsa recipes will make lots more than what you will put in this bento. Just fill the suggested containers, and save the rest for later.

Here's how it looks all packed up the the Dollar Tree cupcake container. Not all of the containers fit, so two had to ride shotgun.

Comfort Food Bento

This bento is on the theme of favorite, comforting foods.

Contents:

6 Tuna Puffs: These remind me of tuna casserole, but they're portable. You'll find the recipe here.

Medium Container of Roasted Baby Potatoes: These are just 4 baby red potatoes, quartered and placed in a baking pan, drizzled with a little olive oil and sprinkled with salt, and roasted in a 400 degree oven for about 30 minutes.

Mini Container of Ranch Dressing: For dipping the potatoes in.

Medium Container of Sesame Steamed Green Beans: Steam some fresh green beans for about 10 minutes, then toss them with a little bit of sesame oil, rice vinegar, sesame seeds and salt.

Medium Container of Pea & Cottage Cheese Salad: This is my favorite thing to make at a salad bar. It's just cottage cheese, thawed frozen peas, ranch dressing, and sunflower seeds mixed together.

2 Watermelon Wedges: The ones in the picture look yellow because they are yellow. Yellow watermelon was on sale at Hy-Vee that week. Regular watermelon works, too.

Miracle Cinnamon Crumb Muffin: Get the recipe here. "Miracle" is my name for these. They are made from all healthy ingredients, wheat-free, refined sugar free, and are only sweetened with a little bit of maple syrup and a little bit of honey. And they taste exactly (and when I say "exactly", I mean EXACTLY) like cinnamon streusel coffee cake. They have coconut flour, coconut milk, and coconut oil in them but do not taste at all like coconut. They also have a banana in them, but don't taste like banana. I substituted stevia nectar (at half the amount) for the maple syrup because I don't like maple, and I substituted regular coconut milk from Dollar Tree for the coconut cream, and they still turned out completely awesome. Seriously, folks, you need to try these.

Here's what it looks like all packed up in the Dollar Tree cupcake container:

The Box

OK, so you start with this:

It's a cupcake holder from Dollar Tree. Cost: one buck.

You can find a whole host of different small containers to go in it, such as a snap-top sandwich container...

a veggie & dip container...

icepack-lidded containers in two sizes...

cups with lids...

smaller condiment cups with lids...

and snap-top containers in many sizes.

You can even get a cool bento-looking set of cutlery in the kids' dishes section. This matches the red of the box exactly and the fork and knife even snap together! How cool is that?

I was able to get several different combinations to fit in the box so that the lid would still go on it.

You do have to mess with the lid quite a bit to get it to go on right, but once you have all four sides clipped, it holds together quite well.

Here's a pic of my packed Mexican Bento. I couldn't find room for everything, so two containers had to ride shotgun.

Recipes and meal plans for what goes into the Dollar Tree Bento will come in later posts.

What This Blog Is About

This is a companion blog to my Omaha Walks blog. I've enjoyed making healthy bento box lunches so much for that project that I've started to come up with bentos of my own, which I will post here. It's also about my discovery that you can create a nice bento box container from stuff you can get at the Dollar Tree. See below for more.