I have to admit that many days I am just hungry but uninspired. Today was was of those days. The bento is filled with healthy stuff but of the wrong color palate for inspiration. Missing are the red, and orange colors. Difficult to see from this picture the veggie straws are actually orange and the inside of the meat roll is red. Oh well...you win some and you lose some.
It's finally Friday bento is ready for school. It's been a long 5 days. Inside this adorable set of Ms. Red Riding Hood boxes I have placed homemade white pizza with Alfredo Sauce, steamed snap peas, cinnamon goldfish cookies and a shiny red apple. Very autumn like don't you think?
As a child in New York State, our family was able to go to apple farms and pick our own apples off the trees. I know most families up North have this shared experience and it somehow defines Fall. In Miami, the Avocados are still forming and it's still hot outside. The closest I can get to apple season from New York is this tiny bag of apples I found at Whole Foods. They are delicious and trigger sweet memories of family fun.
Saturday was my day to bake up a storm. Although it is still warm outside mid-September triggers the desire for me to bake bread, quick bread, and all things bread like in form. It all begin with mini-muffins and now we have moved on to mini-scones. Inspired by bento sized objects my goal was to create tiny bite sized scones to pop into my boxes. These little goodies are cranberry-orange scones with glaze. I intend to store them in the deep freezer and thaw one at a time when needed or should I say desired.
I am working on my colors and packing this week. There is always room for improvement in this area of my bento boxes. This bento is filled with purple potatoes, turkey/cheese rolls, and corn with furatake. The second tier is two fat-free blueberry mini muffins, sliced cheese bits, green grapes and carrot slices for my snack bento. Since I stay at school from 7 until 5 three days a week I often pack a snack bento to hold me until supper at 7. The purple potatoes are a real treat. I sprung them on my family for supper the night before with limited success. One teen tried them and ate two little ones. One teen could not get past the color. My husband stated that they were not bad if you pretend their not purple. Personally, I thought the flavor was really good. They have a thin skin like a new potato and they are sweet like a red potato. Just goes to show you how powerful color is to our taste palate. I tried them out on my faculty today and most of the women were pleased with the taste. The male member couldn't consider eating a purple potato. He just turned up his nose and walked away. 
Today's lunch was filled with more leftovers. The bottom tier meat ravioli in red sauce with lounging panda bears. The top layer was filled with diced papaya and the side car has bunny mix. The little panda box is from the Paper Chase line found at Borders Books. When I first purchased this box it felt really small, but I find it holds a great deal. Maybe I am learning better portion control. See I can be taught!
Every where I turn this season I see green. Apparently, I am on a green swing since it is now the color of my newest bento and seems to satisfy my palate too. Todays lunch is diced honey dew melon, sliced pear, a peanut butter/jelly sandwich on pain de mie bread and bunny pretzel mix. This tower of food is actually lunch and after-school snack. The box performed well but will leak if packed with very moist foods. It fits very nicely into my lunchbox with room for a water bottle and icy.
I found the Pain de mie pan at William and Sonoma Cookshop over the weekend. I always look. I almost never find...except this time really unusual things in the store. Things I am willing to pay full dollar for that is. If I won a shopping spree that would be an entirely different story. I was very pleased with the pan and how it performed. Since I do not have an internal temperature probe to check for doneness I have to rely on the tap test. I feel confident it cooked through although I will allow it to brown a little more next time. The crumb was perfect and dense. The recipe makes great toast and sandwich sturdy slices. I used the recipe from the King Arthur Flour website. I love that site for recipes and to drool over the nice tools.
Thanks to one of my favorite bloggers I have gone on a mini muffin rave. Over the weekend I made this batch of fat free cranberry orange muffins (mix) and stashed them in the freezer for lunches. I love the little size for bento and portion control. Yesterday I made banana nut muffins. They started out as a low fat recipe mix until my DH asked me to add walnuts. Oh well, I tried...Today he packed his banana nut muffins for lunch. Does packing six muffins at a time count as portion control. I know they are little but that's ridiculous. 
My daughter made this beautiful cake in her graduation class from the Wilton Fondant and Gumpaste Course. It was a labor of love that I share with you on Labor Day. God Bless!
I found these cups in the clearance rack at my local kitchen supply store. They were part of a kit designed to make a butterfly out of cupcakes. The shapes are great additions to my bento collection. Who knows maybe someday I'll need to make a butterfly out of cupcakes. I am always on the lookout for products that re-purpose for bento. These cups are made by Wilton.
I packed this bento the night before school with the hopes that the food would stay fresh and crisp until the morning. I packed the tortilla with chicken salad but layered the tortilla with fresh spinach leaves first. I loosely wrapped the sandwich with wax paper and sealed the sandwich box. To my surprise everything stayed crisp and fresh the next day. I did not dare add the steamed pea pods to the box that would really be pushing my luck.
