Holiday themed bentos

We love to add creativity to meals, especially bento time! Chef Johnny (a.k.a hubby) heads that department around here. Check out previous nummy posts here and here.

 

Halloween Bento

Mandarine orange pumpkin with seaweed face and a green bean for stem, sushi rolls with egg and veggies, and rice colored with carrots

Thanksgiving Themed

Rice Turkey: Seaweed eyes, cheese nose, apple skin gobble, pretzel legs, and candy corn feathers

Christmas Themed

Rice Snowman: Seeweed for buttons and face, pretzel arms, and gardetto's rye chip for hat

Rice Candy cane: seaweed for stripes

I should add, these are John's perfect versions (that man has a gift) and these are mama's ideas of fun kid food: pancakes with marshmallows and grapes! That's fancy right?

Bento day is back!

Ladies and gentlemen, bento Friday's are back in session now that the little (and now little-s) are in school. Last year, we started a tradition of creating special bentos for school lunches for Nevaeh. Here is a recap of some of last year's bentos!

Chef husband Johnny has time and patience that baffles me but here is what he did to kick of the first  Friday:

The frog is insanely cute!  Like so cute I want to kiss the little froggie! 

We try to use all natural dyes- beets, celery etc can be boiled down or even added to the rice while boiling in fine pieces. BUT when you are in a hurry and have to get up early to make sushi rice and and and... a drop of food coloring works just as well as you can see! Can't wait to share what's for lunch here and there along with some tutorials. Stay tuned =)

Bento Friday

Tomorrow Jasmine will be 7 weeks (pics coming soon)!!!!! Where has the time gone? It's been amazing having time at home with the girls and even John had a few weeks off to celebrate as a family. One thing we started doing was adding some creativity to lunch time or should I say chef Johnny adding creativity by making each Friday into "Bento Friday" (Since it's spring break I can get away with posting this on a wednesday right?).

BENTO FUN

 This bento was a hit at school with Nevaeh and she was eager for the next Friday to see what we came up with. We came up with the bunny grape idea from the olive bunnies we did for easter last year! Aren't they cute?

The octopus's were made with hotdogs for the body, seaweed for the neck, sesame seed eyes and cheese noses. Toothpicks were placed in the center of each one to help them stand. These were so fun to eat!

OCTOPUS HOTDOGS

Note: Add a little mayo to the surface of the hotdog so the eyes, nose, and seaweed will stick easily

PIGGY SUSHI

To create the pink rice add beet juice to your cooked sushi rice. Ham was used for the ears, sesame seeds for the eyes, and cheese for the noses!

CHICK & A BEAR

Trick: use a dried pasta noodle to hold together the different body parts on the egg to create the chick

 KITTY SUSHI

Use a beet for the cute little bow

The possibilities are endless! It's cute to see how excited kids get over this stuff. Trust me when I say- lunch time will never be the same =)

Holy eggs

Yeah I know. Eggs two weeks in a row. First, plastic ones for our anti-bored jar and now real ones! With easter right around the corner tis the season. A staple to every holiday and easter growing up has been deviled eggs. Just the thought of saying deviled eggs makes me laugh as growing up my mom (bless her heart) made us refer to them as "angel" eggs. For real. But for now I will be a heathen and call them what they are. Let's pretend for a moment that I cook all the time, enjoy cooking, and have the patience for it ok? As much as you strained to imagine this as I, your moment is up. I have just enough patience to boil water and even that's pushing it. I'm working on it. In the realm of cooking I'm super excited to begin sharing John's recipes and food ventures here and there with you guys whether you have a passion for cooking like he does or simply want to learn...Someday I just might.

Anyhoo, his twist on traditional deviled eggs is so over the top and amazingly tasty I had to share it! We started out by snagging some great fresh produce like beets, blueberries, radishes, and cucumbers.

The beets were coarsely chopped while the blueberries were kept whole while boiling.

  (1 beet per 1 cup of water & 1 pint of blueberries per 1 cup of water)

After several minutes (boil to desired color), they were strained and the natural "dye" that was left over was placed in bowls to cool.

 Soak your boiled eggs AFTER you remove the shells until you have the desired color. The longer they soak of course the brighter the hues. Now your ready to make the filling!

Holy Cheesy Deviled Eggs

3/4 Cup Mayo

1 TBS Mustard (stone ground)

1 TBS Gorgonzola Cheese (or blue cheese as substitute)

1 Tsp Sea Salt

* Mix key ingredients and preferably, use a piping bag to distribute the filling. This recipe is good for a dozen eggs

Ingredients for NERDY GARNISHES

Radishes 
Olives
Cucumbers
Paprika
Parsley

Radish Flowers

 Cut fine slits in the top of the radish lengthwise

 then turn the radish around halfway and repeat.

The "flowers" were then soaked in 1 1/2 TBS of vinegar & 1 1/2 TBS of Sugar to soften them and bring out their natural colors


Bunny Olives

Cut a slice off the bottom of the olive

Then cut out a v to create the ears

After making a slit in the top of the olive, insert your "ears"

Grass

Lastly, use the cucumbers to create your bed of "grass" by cutting them up finely. Assemble your eggs and garnishes as you wish & sprinkle your smoked paprika, parsley, and gorgonzala cheese crumbles as a finishing touch.

Your easter platter of cheesy holy angel deviled eggs are now ready!

Sukiyaki Night

Sukiyaki has become a tradition that we have woven into our little Karraker family throughout the years and have by far created the most memories around the dinner table. Which translates into lots of happy hearts and tummies!

Perhaps I should explain...Sukiyaki night isn't just a meal for us...it is an event. Unlike most dinners, this one is a process and coming from the heart of a very impatient person,  I can tell you it is always worth the wait to make new memories. The best ones start out with a trip to the local farmers markets to get loads of FRESH ingredients. I have to say we are far from being on an "organic" kick and never pay a penny more at the store to invest in organic food but the truth is picking out your produce is fun and that much tastier.

Then comes the making of the noodles. When the time permits, John and the tykes bond over pasta making (someone has to take the pictures!).

Fast forward a few years...and the tradition is still going strong.

Then funnest part is cooking each ingredient right in the middle of the table in a community "hot pot" including your raw meat and sukiyaki sauce.

For those of you that want a play by play you can check out this basic recipe http://japanesefood.about.com/od/beef/r/beefsukiyaki.htm.

Don't forget you will need one of these- a table top gas burner. Just make sure you have a large room and ventilation with windows and your set!

Best meals and memories ever. Now I'm hungry...

Projects 101...Sake anyone?

Ok. I lied. There's not a drop of sake left but I promise we enjoyed it for you! When I think of sake I think of many nights of amazing conversation over sushi and unforgettably when we took our daughter Nevaeh to our fave Japanese restaurant for her first solid foods as a baby which involved a california roll, noodles, and a traditional bowl of miso soup. Perhaps this is the one area as parents I feel we are doing right- introducing our little ones to different foods and cultures. In turn, they have acquired quite the palate and will chomp on sheets of sea weed for a snack or try anything from duck to chicken feet (as Nev calls "paws" ) or other unique delicacies often from a dim sum house. Notice I haven't discussed table manners which do not apply to our 20 month old!

But back to Sake. Even if you are not a fan like I had been- keep reading with an open mind. Surprisingly, Sake has a variety of flavors and boldness that even a wine snob like myself can't deny. The real moment for me was at Sakeone's tasting room in Forest Grove, Oregon. 

We first went there on a whim and I was honestly just there for the intriguing tour they offered as a sneak peak into how it was actually made other then the failed attempts in my kitchen (fermenting rice is quite an odd household smell). In my firm opinion, I thought Sake's all tasted the same. But after tasting their Momokawa Asian Pear Sake, I am now a believer.

 I'd like to think that we are connoisseurs and not merely lushes but we definitely have had had our share of samples. So to pay homage to my sake memories, I decided to show you what I've done with the bottles throughout the years....

What You'll Need:  Empty bottle, Paint, Mod Podge, & Scraps

For inspirational scraps I cut out pictures from a Japanese Bargain book and paper I had previously stamped

After painting the bottle and letting it dry, modpodge the scrap/s on 

*Note: when applying the layer of mod podge over the scrap, it will go on completely

white but rest assured, it will dry clear

YOUR RAD BOTTLES ARE READY TO DISPLAY

 So share your heart over some sake. If you still end up not liking it at least you now know what to do with the bottle!