Another Bento LOL Cat

I can't resist these kitties:


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The Simpsons Bento and Recipe for "Indian Blintz"

This bento was created for the LiveJournal Bento Challenge "Under the Sea." Once again I chose to go pretty simple. Using wax paper I cut the fish shape out of a piece of veggie cheese (see Tutorial on using wax paper here). Under the fish is what I call an "Indian Blintz." It is a cross between a blintz and a samosa.

Recipe:
Blintzes are an Easter tradition in my family and consist of a crepe filled with a potato and cheese mixture, folded up square, and fried in butter and onions. Learning to make crepes can be tricky, but once you have the technique down, you can whip them up pretty quickly. In this variation I filled my crepe with mashed potatoes which were seasoned with a generous amount of garam masala (a super yummy Indian spice mix). I folded it up and baked it for a few minutes so it retains it shape. I whipped up a simple spicy sauce (not pictured) out of ketchup, cumin, garlic powder, and cayenne pepper. Usually bento lunches are served room temperature, but I warmed the blintz up because I had access to a microwave.

Adorning this blintz are some Morningstar Farms Chick Nuggets and Mini Corn Dogs, as well as some fresh-from-the-garden tomatoes. Underneath the tomatoes a small Burger King Hot Mustard cup for the nuggets and dogs is hidden.

Chick Lunch

Chick Lunch
Originally uploaded by JB Doodles

The theme of today's lunch is Chicks! I chose this because of the LiveJournal Bento Challenge "Winged Creatures." Now, I know that chicks don't fly, but they do have wings!

On the right side of the large box is a salad with tomatoes, mozzarella, and fresh basil on skewers sitting on top. The chick sauce container has balsamic vinaigrette in it. The left side has Morningstar Farms fake buffalo wings (Wingettes) with cute bone picks. An omelet with fresh basil, and a Trader Joe's Vegetable Bird's Nest. The Vegetable Bird's Nest and Chick sauce container were my inspiration for creating a chick bento. I used veggie cheddar "cheese" for the chick (roughly cut by hand). I added a nori eye and an orange beak made of orange Soy Sushi Wrapper.

The smaller box on the top right contains a whole wheat mini-bagel with tofutti fake cream cheese, a Trader Joe's fruit leather, and a bag of Bear Cookies. The small closed container (top middle) has some salted cashews.

As is usual, my first priority is making myself a healthy balanced lunch. I then add the character or theme later. Often the lunch I make doesn't mesh well with cuteness, but I think this one works pretty well. The salad and whole wheat bagels are good and healthy. The egg, wingettes, and Veggie Birds Nests are moderately healthy and the cookies are just plain bad.

FYI Sometimes out of habit I call Morningstar Farms Buffalo Wings "Wingettes." I didn't correct myself today in order to explain. It is a nickname and I will probably slip and write that again in the future. They are my absolute favorite food (well, maybe a close second to ravioli) and they will often feature prominently in my lunches.

Happy Lunch!!

Feedback

I am looking for a bit of feedback on the content of this blog and this site. It has been evolving since its inception a little while back. My lunches have gotten better (in my opinion of course) and I feel that I have a bit more to offer the bento community now. My question is, what are my readers (all six of you) looking for? More Charaben tutorials? More recipes? Maybe you only like to look at pictures, and want me to stop blabbering on about what is in the box!

I feel that sites like Lunch in a Box and Just Bento have covered a great deal of information and are fantastic resources. I don't want to step on their toes, I want to provide additional information. So any suggestions would be great! I would also like to hear any suggestions about site layout. Is it too crowded? Not enough supplemental information on the sidebars?

Thanks in advance!

Pikachu Bento

Pikachu Bento
Originally uploaded by JB Doodles

Today's bento is Pikachu themed. He is made from a scrambled egg, with nori details. The rosy cheeks are ketchup. Underneath him is my first attempt at vegetable fried rice. It is fairly easy, but I find my version bland. I used pre-cooked Trader Joe's brown rice, scallions, asparagus, carrots, peppers, and soy sauce. This is also my first attempt at fresh spring rolls. I thinly sliced pepper, scallion, cucumber, carrot, and cabbage. I then rolled them in rice paper sheets. Under the dog divider is peanut dipping sauce. Edamame and tomatoes included as accents.

I think Pikachu came out fairly cute, but I wish I got the egg more scrambled because the white spots detract from the image.