Last bento post before I head in to the hospital tomorrow to pop sprog #2!

Tofu burger on the left (cut into bite-sized pieces), carrots, bananas, edamame, and onigiri with egg and nori furikake.

In Japan you stay in the hospital a week or more for a C-section (with my first son it was 9 days), so I won’t be seeing you guys for a while…don’t have too much bento fun without me!

Mr Bento Pork Chop Lunch

Originally uploaded by Jennifer Laycock

Only seemed fair to pack a bento lunch for the hubby too.

Top let: skin-on redskin mashed potatoes
Top right: pineapple and strawberries
Bottom right: oven baked pork chop with mushroom gravy
Bottom left: spinach salad with cheese and bacon bits.

Toddler Bento

Originally uploaded by Jennifer Laycock

A bento for my 3 year old.

Top left: Strawberries and a grape fruitabu
Botton let: ketchup, cooked carrots and a chicken nugget
Right: mac n cheese

Toddler Bento

Originally uploaded by Jennifer Laycock

A bento lunch for my 19 month old for school today.

Macaroni and cheese with a few smoked sausage coins, fresh pineapple and strawberries, two dino chicken nuggets, some cooked baby carrots, a packet of ketchup and three organic oreos.

Mango’s place bento dinners

Originally uploaded by Jennifer Laycock

Was heading out with my husband for a belated birthday dinner and decided we’d drop the kids off at Mango’s Place where they go for preschool.

Thankfully, you can take dinner along with you on Saturdays, so we didn’t have to worry about feeding them before hand.

Identical bento boxes for each of them.

Mac n cheese and chicken dinosaurs in the top tier, cottage cheese, strawberries and two oreos in the bottom tier. There were ketchup packets in the lids.

They each also had a sippy of apple juice and a Fruitabu fruit strip.

I love it when bentos are for me! Me, me, me.

This was a bento I took when we met up with some friends at a park (some of the friends who first inspired me in the bento department).

I packed rice with black sesame and umeboshi, half a tofu burger hiding under the star tonkatsu (fried pork), little round omelets with ketchup, carrots in the holes, and edamame, along with a packet of Japanese traditional sweets to satisfy my sweet tooth.

Matthew Bean is not really into food lately (and definitely not the past few days when he’s had a temperature above 39 C (103 F) from a viral infection that’s just now going bye-bye, finally), so I don’t think he actually ate much of this bento! He goes for orange foods, so I think he liked the carrots and mikan (tangerines).

We were going to visit some friends who just moved to a new condo on the side of a mountain, and we had lunch in the new garden down by the river. Beautiful place. I packed some leftover goulash, mashed potatoes, sauteed carrots and onions, and fresh pineapple and tinned mikan.

We got a new digi cam recently and I’m still trying to figure it out, so the colors here aren’t exactly what I’d like–oh well.

This was a mommy bento because we were going to a friend’s house for a picnic lunch (she just moved to a new “mansion” –condo–and they have a lovely garden down by a river). For dinner the night before I made chicken in the skillet with olive oil and lemon juice, couscous with chickpeas, and a cumin/coriander/garlic yogurt sauce (thanks, Nigella!) to go with. I sprinkled a bit of paprika on the yogurt and had some broccoli alongside as well.

I don’t know if you can tell what the fruit salad is because the colors are so wonky, but it was canned mikan (tangerine) soaked in its own juice, and fresh honeydew melon and pineapple along with a sprig of mint.

Pretty bento yummy!

If you’re wondering where #77 bento is, look no further than here.

Anyway, folks, I’m popping #2 sprog on May 1 (Lord willin’ and the creek don’t rise any earlier than that) via C-section, so I’m feeling the need to get my nesting in order (which includes catching up on some bento posts that have been waiting in the wings).

This one was another for hubby (spot his beloved glass dish), using leftovers (as I usually do). My British Baby loves his bangers and mash, and these were some pretty darn yummy bangers (olive and basil sausages). I always add full-fat milk (nicked from my toddler’s stash in the fridge), a dash of nutmeg (a la Nigella), salt, white pepper, and margarine to the mashed taters, and boy howdy, are they luscious and totally more-ish.

For the veggies (carrots, cabbage, and onions), I just sauteed them with olive oil and garlic. Also added in a few Kathy Broccoli trees. (I guess from that reference you can automatically infer I’m getting a bit slap-happy!)

In the white bento were the hubster’s infamous Kit Kats in triplicate, and a food cup with bean salad (just made a marinating sauce with olive oil, vinegar, and seasonings).

That’s all, folks!

When I want to cook something fast that I think my toddler will eat as well, I pop open a can of mushroom soup (I hate that it has MSG, but oh well, shohganai), thaw some chicken, and go from there. I hardly ever use my (toaster-sized Japanese) oven, and for a quick meal, my skillet is my friend. I never make this the same way twice, though, so I hope I can remember how I did it that time. I’m pretty sure it had spinach, corn, milk, and of course, mushroom soup. Sometimes I add basil and a bit of lemon juice, or go for a cheesy theme instead. I’m always trying new veggies with it, too, so I’ve used carrots, broccoli, etc. in the past. The saucy chicken was served over rice.

The other bento box had kabocha pumpkin, carrots, olives, natto (one of hubby’s faves), and a Mars caramel Easter egg that was a present from the UK. Yum.