Bento Blast!: More Than 150 Cute and Clever Bento Box Meals for Your Kids

by Li Ming Lee

Overview

The lunchbox reinvented: transform the boring routine of your children's packed lunches into cute, edible cartoon characters!

Packing school lunches for fussy children can be a chore. Parents are bored of making the same old soggy sandwiches every day, and your picky eaters don’t even show any appreciation when they return their lunchboxes with uneaten veggies and scrappy bits. What if you could entice your children to eat balanced lunches every day? Even better: how do you transform the routine of unoriginal packed lunches into a joy for yourself?

Inspired by the Japanese tradition of the bento box, a home-packed meal served in a box with compartments containing different food, Bento Blast! reinvents the concept of the stale packed lunch. Learn to make your very own creative bento boxes and turn the law of don’t play with your food on its head by reimagining dishes as colorful cartoon characters. Entice your children with:

• Teddy bear-shaped mini pizzas
• Hot dog buns
• Scrambled egg chicks
• Porky pastas
• Panda bamboo
• And many more edible critters!

With more than 160 step-by-step tutorials on how to assemble balanced bento boxes, create food art, and cook individual recipes that bridge the East and the West, Bento Blast turns food preparation into an art and makes eating fun again for both parent and child. Soon, your children will boast to their friends about their lunches, and your spouse might even ask for his or her own takeaway lunch! Lunchtime, or dinnertime, will never be the same again.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781631584664
Publisher:	Racehorse
Publication date:	08/20/2019
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	67 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	16 - 18 Years

About the Author

Li Ming Lee is a stay-at-home mom who first began making character bentos when her sons started school and had problems adjusting to their mother's absence. She started documenting her bento adventures on Bentomonsters.com in 2011, and has since created nearly one thousand different bentos. Her character bentos have been featured on the New York Post and the Huffington Post, and her Instagram, instagram.com/bentomonsters, has more than 250,000 followers. She lives in Singapore.

Table of Contents

Introduction vii

What Is Bento? 1

Bento Boxes 2

Bento Making Tools 5

Bento Making Techniques 10

Bento Packing Basics 18

Be Creative! 22

Bento and Food Art Tutorials 23

Rice-Based Bentos 23

Piggy Onigiri 24

Sheep in a Meadow 26

Relaxing Panda 29

Ice Cream Buddies 32

Baby Bear 34

Bunny and Sunflower 36

Penguin Onigiri 38

Baby Pandas 40

Puffer Fish 42

Soboro Lion 44

Scrambled Eggs Clown 46

Ninjas 48

Baby Inari Sushi 50

Witch 52

Sleeping Kitty Cat 54

Hot Dog Bear Sushi 56

Scrambled Eggs Chick 58

Tomato Ladybugs 60

Piggy Spam Musubi 62

Koala Onigiri 64

Bread-Based Bentos 67

Bear Sandwich Rolls 68

Penguin Sandwich 70

Piggy Pocket Sandwich 72

Snail Sandwich 74

Mashed Potato Duck Sandwich 76

Animal Bread Balls 78

Chicks in Bread Cup Nests 81

Hot Dog Bunnies 84

Bunny Carrot 86

Seal Sandwich 88

Mermaid 90

Sleeping Teddy Bear Sandwich 92

Cat and Yarn Pita 94

Piggy Chicken Wrap 96

Bread Car 98

Tiger Bread Buns 100

Hot Dog Bread Bun 102

Owl Bread Buns 104

Dog Burger 106

Astronaut 108

Salad and Noodle Bentos 111

Sleeping Bunny Salad 112

Cow Salad 114

Quail Egg Mice 116

Pesto Pasta Frog 118

Meatball Pasta Bear 120

Shrimp Snail Pad Thai 122

Special Occasions 124

Sushi Birthday Cake 125

Mother's Day Hen and Chicks 128

Father's Day 130

Christmas Santa 132

Wintery Snowman 134

Spooky Halloween 136

Halloween Monster and Mummy Sandwich 138

Easter Chicks in Bunny Suits 140

Valentine's Day Rose Wrap 143

Back to School 146

Seasonal Bentos 148

Spring Sunflower Bee 149

Summer Girl 152

Fall Squirrel 154

Winter Girl 156

Raincoat Bear 158

Sunny Day by the Beach 160

Night Time 163

Food Art 167

Curry Polar Bear 168

Swimming Ducky 170

Ham Piggy 172

Puff Pastry Soup Bear 174

Soup Kitty 176

Tomato Soup Owl 178

Pizza Bear 180

Animal Tortilla Chips 182

Bonus Food Art Recipes 185

Hot Dog Bread 186

Steamed Chick Cake 189

Bunny German Cookies 192

Steamed Piggy Buns 194

Bear Cream Puff 197

Recipes 201

Meat 201

Seaweed Pork Rolls 202

Japanese Beef Curry 202

Chicken Nuggets 203

White Wine Chicken Stew 203

Chicken Veggie Roll 204

Chicken Teriyaki 205

Pork Nuggets 205

Veggie Pork/Beef Rolls 206

Chinese Pork Chops 206

Ketchup Pork Chops 207

Brown Sauce Pork Chops 207

Grilled Chicken Balls 208

Cajun Spiced Grilled Wings 208

Chicken Carrot Stir-Fry 209

Chicken Salad 209

Chicken Tofu Patties 210

Chicken Milk Stew 211

Ground Pork and Potato Stir-Fry 211

Lemon Chicken 212

Tonkatsu 212

Black Pepper Chicken 213

Chicken Veggie Stir-Fry 213

Honey Chicken 214

Meat Soboro 215

Crispy Chicken Fillet 215

Pork Carrot Patties 216

Pork Cabbage Stir-Fry 216

Japanese Hamburg Steak 217

Seafood and Egg 218

Ketchup Shrimp 219

Fried Salmon Belly Fingers 219

Garlic Shrimp 220

Crispy Fried Shrimp 220

Salmon Mayonnaise 221

Cheesy Fish Fillet 221

Salted Salmon 222

Lemon Soy Sauce Salmon 222

Lemon Dill Salmon 223

Cheese Baked Shrimp 223

Scrambled Eggs 224

Green Bean Omelette 224

Tamagoyaki 225

Vegetables 226

Sesame Broccoli 227

Zucchini and Tomato Baked with Cheese 227

Bell Peppers Stir-Fry 227

Squash Stir-Fry 228

Sriracha Asparagus 228

Potato Salad 228

Broccoli Pasta Salad 229

Green Beans and Mushroom Stir-Fry 229

Butter Mushrooms 230

Broccoli and Carrot Stir-Fry 230

Soy Sauce Okra 230

Sesame Spinach 231

Pea Shoots and Mushroom Stir-Fry 231

Asparagus and Corn Stir-Fry 231

Noodles and Soup 232

Chicken Carbonara 233

Seafood Aglio e Olio 233

Meatball Pasta 234

Chicken Bolognese Pasta 235

Pad Thai 236

Pesto Pasta 237

Curry Pumpkin Soup 237

Asparagus Soup 238

Tomato Soup 238

Glossary 239

Templates 246

Acknowledgments 247

About the Author 248