BENTO!

Ok so this Bento craze of mine started when my husband and I were planning a small trip to San Francisco to get away for the night. We settled on a quirky hotel in Japan Town and I set to work researching places to visit when we got there. I was on Yelp.com reading reviews of places within walking distance of our hotel and I kept seeing people referring to Bento Box supplies. I became curious and had to google it. Turns out that this was one of those moments when a small impulse leads you to a great thing. According to Wikipedia:::

Bento (弁当, bentō?)[1] is a single-portion takeout or home-packed meal common in Japanese cuisine. A traditional bento consists of rice, fish or meat, and one or more pickled or cooked vegetables, usually in a box-shaped container. Containers range from disposable mass produced to hand crafted lacquerware. Although bento are readily available in many places throughout Japan, including convenience stores, bento shops (弁当屋, bentō-ya?), train stations, and department stores, it is still common for Japanese homemakers to spend time and energy for their spouse, child, or themselves producing a carefully prepared lunch box.




Bento can be very elaborately arranged in a style called kyaraben or "character bento". Kyaraben is typically decorated to look like popular Japanese cartoon characters (anime), characters from comic books (manga), or video game characters. Another popular bento style is "oekakiben" or "picture bento", which is decorated to look like people, animals, buildings and monuments, or items such as flowers and plants. Contests are often held where bento arrangers compete for the most aesthetically pleasing arrangements.

According to Google images this is what Bento is................

These are some elaborate examples for sure but I knew right away I had stumbled onto something that could tip the scales in my favor when it comes to the battle of eating GFCFSF and healthy! By the time our weekend getaway came around I was armed with a list of must see stores that sell Bento gear and was off to finally lay eyes on a real Bento box. I was surprised to find that not only are Bento boxes and accessories super cute but they are super cheap too! I'm talking $1.25 to $3.50. There were mini cookie cutters to cut shapes from lunch meat, egg molds to mold hard boiled eggs, rice molds in cute shapes, little silicone cups shaped like animals and even a few things that I didn't know what to do with. Needless to say that I was in hog heaven and quickly set to dragging my poor husband to every nook and crannie tourist trap in Japan Town. He was a good sport, I think he's growing accustomed to my hair brained plans.

By the end of the weekend I was knee deep in Bento gear and began to present my son with various Bentos for Breakfast, Lunch, and snacks. I was really surprised by the fact that it didn't take me that much longer to put together a Bento vs. a normal lunch plate. While I enjoyed the little creative outlet this provided me, my son was enamored with this new style of eating. In the first week my GFCFSF boy was trying more and more new foods(even veggies), eating more varied than ever before, sitting at the table longer, and really just enjoying meal time much more than before. The Bentos promoted joint attention, creative play, speech, opportunities to improve and work on eye contact, fine motor skills, and also helped some sensory issues. His food is now fun and since it looks so appealing half of the battle of trying new foods is already won. Autism is highly visual . It's widely known that many children on the spectrum will benefit from the incorporation of picture schedules and visual reminders. This is just another really fun and very visual way to present new GFCFSF foods and encourage healthy diets. I see all kinds of help in these little boxes and food picks. My son is now eating a variety of foods on a daily basis and we focus on trying to "Eat The Rainbow" everyday. He's never been so clear, engaged, and healthy in his entire life.

So my baby might not be able to eat that cheesy pizza but he's still the envy of the lunch room and he's truly loving the food he eats. Check the resources page for links to Bento blogs and inexpensive suppliers of Bento gear and see for yourself how fun and easy it is. I especially think this is a great way to sell the new GFCFSF Diet to the little ones and an easy way to get them interested in helping in the kitchen. My boy loves to help fill and place the cups, and always wants to pick out which bento box we use.

So I'll be posting pics from time to time on this blog to update you all on new recipes I've tried and to fill you in on our latest bento and meal ideas. See the Links page for recommended bento blogs and retailers.

The following are some examples of GFCFSF Bentos I've made. Notice all the little cups and accessories I picked up in Japan town. Mini forks, animal picks, mini sauce bottles etc....

(Rice and bean Nori rolls, egg, corn and black beans, mandarin oranges, olives, pickle, almonds) The Bob the Builder Bento box was bought at the Dollar store in Anderson. Lots of things can be made into Bento boxes.

(Scrambled eggs with ham stars, frozen blueberries, kiwi, strawberry, corn,black beans, and a Octopus hot dog)

(Coconut rice and Thai beef leftovers, mandarin oranges, carrots and cucumber stars with creamy honey mustard dressing, and a mini lime bottle for garnish.)

A snack size Bento.

(Strawberry,almonds, crasins)

Some examples of the cute accessories available for Bento.....The Penguin is a sauce cup and it has a small spoon spreader attached to the beek in the inside.

Sauce Bottles. I fill with Syrup or lime juice or dressing. Little man loves to garnish his dishes himself. Excellent oppertunity for him to practice fine motor skills, and listening skills while also upping the cuteness and fun factor to epic proportions...all for $3.00. Sold.

These Bento Box sets are like 4.00 a pop! We have the second set and it came with divider, band, and matching chop sticks!

Egg Molds...so fun!

Sandwich cutter transportation theme Look close it cuts the sandwich into 4 vehicles and removes crust at the same time?? $4.00.

Dividers to keep flavors separate.

Salad with creamy mustard dressing, Star shaped Rice ball from the freezer (I made these with sticky rice and leftover Thai beef and refried beans for filling. Then I just zap in microwave for 30 seconds.) Frozen blueberries, corn and black beans, strawberry, and macaroni with meat sauce.

Baby chick shaped toast, raspberries, kiwi, frozen blueberries, sausage balls from the freezer and scrambled eggs.

Star shaped carrots, green olives, salad with dressing, homemade baked yam chips, blackberries, Quinoa "sand" and octopus hot dog.

Pineapple, mini corns, frozen blueberries, almonds, chicken nuggets, ketchup, heart shaped rice ball with beef and bean filling from the freezer, blackberries.

Kiwi, almonds, frozen watermelon shaped like baby chick (slice then cut into cute shapes then freeze), pancakes, sausage, crasins, and little pig is filled with real syrup. He loves to use the little bottles.

Frozen blueberries, butterfly shaped sandwich (I just hide the parts of the sandwich that are cut off under the butterfly he eats them no problem), kiwi, carrots, lays potato chips.