Korean Bento

A Re-Purposed Lunch

Did you ever wonder what happens with dinner leftovers in most household nowadays?  Tell you what, most re-purposed them in many different ways. For the kitchen ingenious, they create a total different dish out of it.  For working moms, they may pack them for work the following day.  And still for the some, may even freeze them to serve on lazy days. Now which one are you?

We are the people who either re-purposed them for work lunches (yes! We eat the leftovers), or freeze them for any lazy days.  Now that the kids are older and are less picky, they share the chores with us to consume whatever is left.  And they don't mind at all.

The secret to that is the bento-style lunches.  Nothing cute looking anymore, but I make sure they look appetizing and good.  If I need additional compartments, I make use of silicone cups sold mostly at any local Daiso, or online by Bento USA.

Today's lunch is a leftover dinner from our Korean Restaurant dining.  We always order a little too much to what we can actually consume.  Aside from the hefty servings, my daughter was a bit full from her snack before we went to church last late Sunday afternoon.  I like to pack foods in to-go boxes.  I feel it's a great excuse to skip cooking for half a day or so.

Korean dishes is one of our favorites.  From appetizer to dessert, it's all delectable.  So for this bento, I packed Vegetable Kimchi, Chap-chae glass noodle, Beef Bulgogi with Spicy Chicken on a half cup of steamed rice.  To finish the meal, oranges to neutralize all after tastes.  All in on our Easylunchboxes.

 
For my boy, on his Fit & Fresh Bento Lunch Kit, he had a 3/4 cup of steamed rice, half cup of Beef Bulgogi, and oranges with plum for dessert.

 
Lastly, my girl brought in warm steamed rice on her favorite thermal kids' funtainer from Thermos. She also had a half cup of non-spicy Korean Chicken teriyaki to go with her rice, and plums to snack on for recess.  All klip it plastic containers by Sistema.


Hope you enjoyed today's post.
Happy 1st of September!

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Bento Weekly Round 4

Monday (11/7) for Teriyaki Beef served over steamed rice, some oranges
to neutralize the beef flavor after meals, and some edamame
for the greens.

Tuesday (11/8) for mini corndogs with ketchup and mustard on those
mini smidgets, snowflake Ritz crackers, and some sweet red grapes.

Wednesday (11/9) for romaine & broccoli florets salad with  real bacon bits,
raisins, crab sticks, and cheese.  Dino nuggets on the side
and young corns on a toothpick for easy finger-eating.
Ranch and BBQ sauce on the smidgets.

Thursday (11/10) for fried eggrolls that has been drained and
 blotted off really well to prevent it from being soggy later.
Lined it with lettuce strips to help sip up the grease.
With red grapes and baked cheese crackers on the side.  Ketchup on smidgets.

Friday (11/11/11) for Veterans Day Holiday!
No school to honor all those who served
for our country.
Thanks a bunch!!

See you next week!
c",)

Bento Weekly - Round 1

This is the start of the week of my Bento Weekly Meals.
As stated on my weekly calendar, I have prepared as planned.
Hoping I'd go on till the last days of the school-year.

This is Week 1 for Oct 17-21.

Oct 17 (Monday): Japanese Bento

Seafood sushi rolls, breaded pork nuggets

with ketchup, carrot slices with bacon ranch.

Everything home-made except for the  ranch dressing and ketchup.  I sealed it with press and seal since the lids that came with my smidgets are so tight that even I find it so difficult to pop it open.  If you need help to make sushi rolls, click here.  Other questions, simply jot me a message.

Oct 18 (Tuesday): By Special Request

Chili topped with Quail Eggs served with

steamed rice.

I'm glad I was able to store some of our Chili leftovers in the freezer.  I knew he would ask for it anytime.  And he just did today.  He was supposed to bring a new dish, but opted for his favorite Chili.  This is actually one of my regular bento items.  I added a few quail eggs for a new look and I hope he'd consume it as well.

Oct 19 (Wednesday): Korean Bento

Korean Beef Bulgogi served over steamed rice,

Oyster Broccoli on the side,

Nectarine & Kiwi as dessert.

It's another change of menu.  I could tell my son has becoming more accepting of oriental dishes for school. This is one of his favorites but when it comes to packing for school, forget it!  This was our leftover last night and he suggested that he'd have this for  school the following day.  Nice!!

Oct 20 (Thursday): High Protein Bento

Cheese Pizza Bagels, Baby corn on a cob, roasted edamame

This is an example of mix & match bento items.  When you're running out of inventories,  just try to put together whatever's left.  This day the whole bunch of edamame came back because he couldn't take off the shell.  What shell, sweetie?  It's been shelled already.  Obviously, he wasn't familiar of these veggie and was still exploring with me.  So he was still a bit hungry and took a hamburger from the school's cafeteria.

Oct 21 (Friday): Shrimp & Sushi Galore

Shrimp with Mayo, sushi rice, kiwi and pears

He loved the shrimp and mayo idea last night at the dinner table.  He said he wanted another round for his school lunch today.  So I packed it with some of his favorites.  Hope he'd have a hearty lunch today.

See you next week!

c",)

Exploring Korean Dishes

My husband is craving for Korean foods last night.  So this is what we've prepared together.  Everything is home-made.  Nothing compared to Korean Restaurants.  They're still the best, but we were able to replicate it at home when we're just too lazy to dine out.  We made Beef and Pork Bulgogi, Seafood Tofu Soup, Jap-Chae and Kimchi.  We're not Koreans, but it's one of our favorite dishes that we feast on from time to time.  I got the recipe from a friend who happen to be a good Korean cook.  And this was all he  packed for his brown-bag to work today.

Jap-chae

Radish KimChi

Pork Bulgogi

Beef Bulgogi

Disclosure:  Korean photos are not mine.  Didn't get the chance to photograph my dishes as they went all-gone as I served them off the grill.  The kids started chowing on the bulgogis and noodles.  I didn't bother halting them so as not to destroy the good appetite they had last night.  And I thought I wouldn't do justice on the foods if I capture the too little leftovers. It wouldn't look as appetizing as these :-)