(#168) Fried rice with quail eggs

We had dinner out tonight and I was thinking maybe I can skip tomorrow's bento and make something simple instead. It was a little too late, and too lazy to do anything in the kitchen when your tummy is full. But thanks to hubby who always help the kids before they went to bed.
So I decided to made some simple, quick and easy fried rice with some vegetables. I love fried rice, it's not only that easy to fix but the boys love it too.
I had some quail eggs already dyed with turmeric powder diluted in some warm water. I actually was gonna make bee bento yesterday. But the eggs weren't yellow enough, so I just stored it in the fridge.
Other than that I put some carrot sticks, kiwis and strawberry. Speaking of which I was surprised to see such size of strawberry, I keep looking at the box again and again, trying to make sure if it is really organic, and it is!! never seen big sizes of organic strawberries before until now :P

I always take many pictures to be posted here, because I made two bentos everyday, even though most of the time are identical bento (only different color) but it's always nice to keep them for an archive :P

(#167) Brown rice with meatballs

Tomorrow's bento features meatballs again :D I know ... but I still have some un-cook leftovers meatballs that sitting in the fridge. This time I paired it with brown rice medley from Trader Joe's. A delicious blend of long grain brown rice, black barley and daikon radish seeds. I hope the boys would eat it! :P

On top of the rice bed I put a cheese bunny and tulip just to add some cuteness ^__^

The rest is half of sweet peppers stuffed with sour cream. Slice of lime just for baran/garnish.

Inside the next tier are some fresh and dried fruit for snack, strawberry, Mandarin orange, kiwis and dried apricot.

Here are another pictures :

I hope you are all enjoying your memorial day weekend ^__^

(#166) Meatballs

These are the last bento of the week. I made some meatballs topped with flowered cheese and green pea. On the first box the meatballs are still a little too hot, so the cheese got melted messily, I hope the flower shape still visible. But I am sure B will like it. I stole the idea from Gamene.
The rests are steamed broccoli, boiled lotus roots and fried potato.
On the next box are some plums, Mandarin orange and strawberries.

D is left his lunch box at school today, so he'll have to bring the tiffin lunch box. And I am not so good arranging food inside the tiffin, even though it is not that BIG but it still very challenging.

For a snack I packed them some dried Turkish figs, dried mangoes, dried apricots and some raisins. It may sounds so much but I really pack a little bit of everything.

Have a fabulous weekend everyone!!!

(#165) Egg sandwich

Just a quick post for tomorrow's bento. I feel a little upset with B because he did not eat his lunch today :(( I am okay if there's only a little leftover but this time seems like he did not eat at all... *sigh*
So for tomorrow I just made a very quick simple egg sandwich on brown oat bread. The rest are grape tomato, Mandarin orange, plums, Persian cucumber topped with flowered carrot, fresh strawberries and dried apricot.

I also packed some banana chips and mixed dried fruit for a snack, not pictured.

(#164) Harvest grains blend

Tomorrow's bento features a harvest grains blend from Trader Joe's. It's a savory blend of Israeli style couscous, orzo, baby garbanzo beans and red quinoa. I cooked it exactly as directed on the packaging, but add a little twist by adding some Italian herb, smells sooo good!!!
For D my oldest son I packed BBQ salmon patty (also from Trader Joe's ...love it!!), steamed carrots, grape tomatoes, and cucumbers.

For B, since he doesn't like salmon and any other fish ..*sigh* ... I made some tamagoyaki instead. The rest are the same.

They also each got one box of these yummy snack : Mandarin orange, plums, strawberries and dried apricots.

(#163) Fried rice with turmeric

This yellow rice is not the same as a regular yellow rice like I've made in the past, where I cook the rice in some coconut milk, turmeric and other spices.
This one is actually  fried rice with some fresh turmeric roots and kencur or kaempferia galanga. It's very simple to make. If you are interested you can check out the recipe HERE.

Back in my childhood time my mom always made this whenever I complain I have a stomachache. Later in life I learned that turmeric and kaempferia galanga is great for your health. So this is awesome right? not only because of its unique taste (in a good way off course)! but also benefits your health! hey I am all for it!!!
So I would love to introduce this traditional dish to my kids. And they LOOOOOVEEE it so much!

Inside the box : bunny onigiri (fried rice with turmeric and kaemferia galanga), omelet noodle, carrots, cucumber, grape tomatoes, broccoli, and Indonesian style fried chicken. Inside the circle box are some fresh plums, cara-cara oranges, strawberries and dried apricot.

Here are another pictures :

(#162) Rice and chicken

Just a quick post for tomorrow's bento. I am so ready for the weekend! according to the forecast, weather should be nice and sunny .. yaaaayyyy!!!

Inside the box : Jasmine rice topped with flowered carrots, steamed carrots, grape tomato, steamed broccoli and baked chicken.
Next box : gala apple, strawberries and cara-cara oranges.

Another pictures :

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!!!

(#161) Stir fried rice noodle with Korean BBQ tofu

Another GAMENE inspired bento for tomorrow :

Inside the box are stir fried rice noodle with carrots and cabbage topped with strawberries made out of hotdog and sesame seeds. Next to it are Korean BBQ tofu, strawberry and cara-cara oranges.

(#160) Korean BBQ Chicken

I am so tired with the rain and cloudy days here in Bellingham, it really effected my moods, I need sunny days so bad. Can't wait to grow my garden and have a good time doing some outdoor activities. We've got couple sunny days but then the rain is back for days and days like today, it's raining from the morning till now :(

So for tomorrow's bento I made this, it's inspired by GAMENE at http://bentozen.wordpress.com/

Inside the box : jasmine rice topped with umbrella and some rain drops from carrots, steamed broccoli, Korean BBQ chicken.

Inside the next box : Navel oranges, kiwis, strawberries and dried apricots.

Another pictures :

(#159) Ravioli and sweet corn

Up for tomorrow's bento I prepared something simple (as always :D)

Inside the 1st box are : Cheese and chicken ravioli, and underneath that is a thin layers of sweet corn.
Another box contents some fresh strawberries, kiwis, tangerine and some dried apricots. I think they would have enough, but will see tomorrow if I need to pack them some extra snack for just in case.

Here's another picture :

(#158) Rice, egg and potato

Before I start with the bento, I'd love to give a little update regarding our missing chick I mentioned in my previous post. She has been found right the next morning with some pretty bad wounds. But we took good care of her and she's doing fine now. Thanks all for your concerns.

Another thing I'd like to mention is that I changed the title of this blog, I am not sure if this is important or not but in case anyone wondering why, it's because I created a cooking blog since October 2010 and I named it simply delish. And this morning I was thinking ... hmmm simply delish and simply cute sounds just right. So here we go my bento blog title is now SIMPLY CUTE ... so "for the love of bento" is no longer used even though my love for bento will never ends ...LOL

Speaking of which, up for tomorrow's bento I prepared for the boys some rice, hardboiled egg and fried potato dough. If you are Indonesian you wont be surprise I paired rice with potato, but if you aren't Indonesian then you might be curious. It is very commons for Indonesian to eat rice along with some potatoes, we seasoned the potatoes really well so it tastes more like savory side dishes.

Anyway, here are the pictures :

There are also some carrot sticks and steamed green beans. In the next tier I packed some fresh pineapple, kiwi, strawberries, black berries and dried apricot.

I did such a lousy job in cutting the egg mouth, it's way too big LOL ...

Have a great day everyone!