Blueberries and Cream Cheese Piggy Bagel #115

I was recently contacted to be a part of the giveaway/review of CSN products. CSN has an incredible array of products, over 200 plus stores to choose from!  Really, there is anything you could ever ask for. From clothing, toys, a Dutch oven, and kitchen accessories. You can find just about anything you could ever want!  I will post the contest, which will include a $30 gift certificate, in just a few days so don’t forget to check back soon!

Now on to today’s bento!  Bagel Thins are on the menu again, this time in the form of a piggy.  The piggy is made from a Bagel Thin filled with cream cheese and fresh blueberries.  His eyes are made from cheese and olives, snout from whole grain bread, and ears from cheddar cheese.  The rest of the box is filled with grapes, sliced star fruit, strawberries, and blueberries.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Strawberry and Cream Cheese Owl Bagel #114

Today’s bento is a bagel owl made from a Bagel Thin filled with cream cheese and sliced strawberries.  I love these bagel thins because they are the perfect size for a sandwich box!  For the owl’s eyes I used whole grain bread, Swiss cheese, and olives, and finished him with a strawberry for his beak.  I filled the rest of the container with grapes, sliced star fruit, and more strawberries.

Stay tuned because within a week I will have a contest for a $30 gift certificate from CSNStores.com up for grabs!  Just in time for some back-to-school shopping!

Pizzette Bento #113

I’m sorry for the lack of posts but the past few weeks has been busy for me with family activities and my Mom visiting.  We always look forward to my Mom coming and time just seems to fly by when she’s here!  I definitely have a lot of catching up to do with everyone’s blog posts that I have missed.

This past week we made pizette or small pizzas.  I bought whole wheat pizza dough from Whole Foods and the nice thing about fresh dough, is that you can freeze it and pull it out to use anytime.  When I freeze the dough I divide it into single serving size portions, roll it into a ball and then flatten the dough like a large hamburger patty.  After that I individually wrapped each patty in plastic wrap and store in a freezer bag.  When the dough is wrapped that way, it thaws really quickly!   To make the pizette, I placed the dough between two pieces of parchment paper sprayed lightly with non stick spray and rolled it out until it was about a 1/4 inch thick.  I put the dough in the freezer for about 15-20 minutes until it was semi frozen, which made it easier to cut.  Then I used cookie cutters to cut out shapes and laid them on a pan lightly brushed with olive oil and sprinkled with cornmeal.  Finally the pizette were topped with marinara sauce, cheese, and assorted veggies.  I also sprinkled the veggies with a little bit of olive oil which helped them to cook nicely without drying out. In a preheated 450 degree oven, I baked them on the bottom rack for about 12 minutes.

These were car shaped pizzette that I made last week.

Silly Summer Peaches Bento #112

Continuing on the Pillsbury buttermilk biscuit posts that I have done, I have made one more bento!  I had some of the leftover biscuit dough and filling that I made for yesterday’s bento and used it up making these goofy looking peaches.  The leaf picks came in handy for this bento, but if you don’t have those kinds of picks, Bento Zen has a tutorial on how to make your own washi tape leaf picks.  You should give it a try!  I used the 1/4 inch sugar eyes for the peaches and cheddar cheese for their smiles.

A lot of readers have been asking where I buy the sugar eyes from and what sizes to get.  If you live on Oahu, the Executive Chef at Ward carries them both in 1/4 inch (120 pieces for $2.50) and 1/2 inch sizes (50 pieces for $2.50).  For the peaches I used the 1/4 inch size and for the others like yesterday’s bento I used the 1/2 inch size.  If you don’t live here, you can find them on Amazon- 1/2 inch and  1/4 inch.  They are also available at ShopBakersNook.com .

Pillsbury Buttermilk Biscuit Bears and Bunnies #111

When it comes to Pillsbury ready made doughs, the possibilities for using them in bentos are endless.  I made these bears and bunnies using Pillsbury buttermilk biscuits.  To make them, flatten out a biscuit and spoon some of the filling into the center.  Bring the edges to the center and crimp together.  Roll gently into a ball and place the crimped side down on your prepared pan.  I used a silpat, but parchment paper works just as well.  From another biscuit take small pieces to roll into balls (for the bears) or oblong (for the bunnies) shapes for the ears.  Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for about 12 minutes until golden.

The filling contains rotisserie chicken, sun dried tomatoes, Monterey Jack and cheddar cheeses.

Bears and bunnies before baking.

After baking and cooling, I stuck in jeweled picks for the bunnies’ noses and hat picks for the bear’s noses.  If you don’t have picks, just use raisins, a chocolate chips, or something similar for the noses.  Then I used the 1/2 inch sized sugar eyes and attached them with a tiny dab of peanut butter.

Kawaii Bento Club’s Bento Summer School, Week 5

Easy Bread and Sandwich Bentos

Cute bread and sandwich bentos can be a snap to make!  Check around your kitchen to see what you might already have to brighten up your sandwiches. Things like fun bags, cute picks, or brightly colored muffin cups will add some excitement to your lunch with minimal effort.  Another way to change the appearance of a boring sandwich is to cut them into bite-sized finger sandwiches or use small dinner rolls instead of sliced bread.

Cookie Cutters

Don’t forget about those old cookie cutters (both large and small) that you have tucked away in the kitchen cabinets!  They make great tools for cutting sandwich bread, deli meats, cheese, and for fruits and veggies too!

This type of cookie cutter will not only cut out your bread, but will leave an imprint on the bread as well.

When choosing a cookie cutter try to find one that will utilize the whole slice of bread, thus minimizing waste.  Check out these sandwiches that were made with cookie cutters!

Make a Face!

Don’t forget to make a face… on your sandwich that is!  What kid wouldn’t want to open up their lunch and see their sandwich smiling or making funny faces back at them?  Use things like nuts, seeds, chocolate chips, jelly beans, dried fruits, marshmallows, cupcake decorations, sugar icing eyes, fruit strips, cereals, cheese, deli meats, and nori to liven up your child’s lunch.

Make Your Own Sandwich Bento!

Here’s a sandwich bento that you can make using just one tool!  That’s right, you’ll only need one cookie cutter.

A bear cutter is shown, but you can use whatever animal shaped cutter (even a gingerbread man is okay too!) that you have on hand.  Cut your bread and assemble your sandwich.

Then decorate your sandwiches with cute faces!  I used chocolate chips for the eyes, raisins for the noses, and a heart and star shaped cake decoration for each sandwich.  ”Glue” the decorations onto your sandwich using a tiny dab of peanut butter, jelly, or even icing will do the trick.

Place the sandwiches in a lunch box and then fill the empty spaces with fruits, veggies, and other snacks.

Voila!  You have yourself a kawaii sandwich bento!  :)

And the Crusts?

Last but not least, don’t throw those crusts (or stale bread) away!  Store them in the freezer and use them for recipes that require bread or breadcrumbs.  Make a bread pudding, croutons for soups or salads, and put them in meatballs or hamburgers just to name a few.  Here are a few recipes to start you off!

Garlic Croutons for Soups and Salads:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cut 2 cups of leftover bread with small cutters or in to 3/4- 1 inch cubes. Melt 2 tablespoons of garlic butter and drizzle over cut bread. Toss well and spread evenly on a sheet tray. Bake for 10 minutes and then toss the croutons around so that they will brown evenly. Bake for another 5-10 minutes until croutons are golden.

Garlic Butter recipe:

1 pound salted butter softened (at room temperature)

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

¼ cup minced garlic

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

1 tablespoon minced parsley

Using an electric hand mixer, whip butter on high for about 2 minutes. Then in a food processor, mince the garlic, olive oil, pepper, and salt together (If you don’t have t a food processor just minced the garlic very small and then add the rest of the ingredients to it.). Add the garlic mixture to the butter and whip together until well incorporated, about 1 minute. Then add in parsley and mix again until evenly distributed. Store butter in small containers in the freezer and pull out one when you need to use it.

This versatile garlic butter recipe is great for croutons, garlic bread, as a steak butter, for sauteed vegetables, pastas, shrimp scampi and so much more!  Give it a try!

Garlic Bread instructions:

To make garlic bread, take a piece of bread or baguette and brush with melted garlic butter.  Sprinkle with parmesan cheese if desired and toast in toaster oven or
under a broiler until golden.

Meatballs with Angel Hair Pasta:

2 cups bread cubed

1 cup milk

1 pound ground beef

1 pound ground pork

1 large shallot minced

3 cloves of garlic minced

1/4 cup of parsley minced

1 extra large egg

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

2 jars (1 pound 9 ounces each) of Original Prego (or your
favorite bottled pasta sauce)

1 1/2 pounds of angel hair pasta cooked

In a large bowl, combine the bread cubes with the milk and let sit for 5 minutes. After the bread has soaked up all of the milk, mash the bread with a fork a little to help break up the bread. To the bread mixture add in the beef, pork, shallots, garlic, parsley, egg, salt, and pepper, then mix together. Form mixture into balls (we like them big) and then pan fry in a little olive oil on medium high. The meatballs will be a little soft so turn them carefully with a pair of tongs to get all sides browned. At this point they will be only half cooked. Transfer to a sauce pot and cover with pasta sauce. Bring to a boil, lower heat to a simmer, cover and cook for about 30 minutes. Serve over cooked pasta. Enjoy!

Don’t forget to check out all of the other fun classes going on at Bento Summer School!

Mini Owl Biscuits Snack Bento #109

Biscuits seem to have taken over our bentos lately and here’s one more.  I made mini biscuits stuffed with cheddar cheese and ham and then turned them into owls using cheese and 1/2 inch sized sugar eyes.  And you can tell by how often I use them, I just love those sugar eyes!   The rest of the bento contains strawberries, slices of golden kiwi, and a few animal crackers.  The mini owls were inspired by a larger version of an owl sandwich that I made in my new cookbook.

To make the mini biscuits, preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  Stuff Pillsbury buttermilk biscuits (the smaller can and not the Grands) with shredded cheddar and sliced ham and place in mini muffin cups.  Bake for 10-12 minutes until golden.

Pac Man Sammy #108

Okay gang, think back to when you were a kid !  Now can you remember the first video games that you played?  Well Pong was the first video game that I ever played and the second was Pac Man!  I figured Pac Man made for a more interesting bento than Pong, so I made that for Sean’s bento today.  Sean and I actually shared this one because it was far too much for him  to eat.  He ended up eating the grapes, strawberries, the trail mix (minus the almonds) and the three cheese ghosts, so I ended up with the Pac Man sandwich and a salad (not pictured).

Anyway, Happy Aloha Friday and I hope that you all have a great weekend!

The Biscuit Madness Continues…

Today’s post is a non-bento post since we stayed at home to eat lunch today.  The sandwiches were quick and easy to assemble because I had made the biscuits earlier this morning before we went out for our walk with our dog.  I was planning on putting them into a bento and going to the park but I was too exhausted by the time we got home.  We live on a pretty steep hillside so we usually walk down the hill to warm up and then walk back up to exercise Macky.  About a third of the way up our hill Sean managed to kick off his shoe which hit the side of a parked car and then found it’s way into the gutter. O_O  Soooo, I had to pick Sean up and gave him a piggy back ride up the hill to our house.  It actually wouldn’t have been so bad if Macky wasn’t with us, but I had to hold on to his leash and carry Sean at the same time.  Paige had offered to hold on to Macky but he weighs just as much as she does now and probably would have pulled her into the street or something.  Oh well, at least I got my workout today!

Anyway, the biscuit sandwiches are filled with sliced honeyed ham, cheddar cheese, lettuce, sliced tomatoes, and mustard.

BTW, check out all of the bentos at What’s For Lunch Wednesday on Shannon’s Blog, What’s for Lunch at Our House!

To make the biscuits, preheat your oven to 375 degrees and prepare pan by spraying it with non stick pan spray.  Open a can of Pillsbury buttermilk biscuits (the smaller can and not the Grands) and place two biscuits in each opening.  Press the dough evenly into the pan to shape it.  Bake in oven for about 20 minutes or until biscuit becomes golden.  Slice in half and prepare your sandwiches to your liking!

Simple Turkey and Cheddar Flower Biscuit Bento #106

After the long weekend, it’s definitely time for me to restock the fridge!  I didn’t even have bread for sandwiches today, so I decided to improvise and use the Pillsbury Biscuit dough that I had on hand and make biscuit muffins filled with cheddar cheese and turkey.  The best part was that it was really super simple to make!  I took the package of Pillsbury  Grands Butter Tastin’ Biscuits, stuffed them with sliced turkey deli meat and shredded cheddar cheese, and then put them in a silicone flower cup to bake.  After 18 minutes (at 350 degrees) they looked like this…

I put them in a basket along with a few slices of nectarines and a package of fruit snacks. I also added a little cheese lady bug on top of the biscuit and a flower pick to decorate the basket.  Now it’s time for me to go grocery shopping and I hope you all had a great 4th of July weekend!