Bento Summer School - Week 1
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The First Of The 10 Week Beginner Bento Series
Welcome to Bento Summer School! For our first official bento class in this weekly series, we'll be learning some basic bento recipes that don't require any unfamiliar ingredients or special tools to prepare. The best part is that these recipes can be cooked in advance and frozen to build a bento stash for busy mornings!
You'll also find a tutorial to create a full bento box meal using one of the featured recipes!
Don't forget to check out the homework section where you'll find a few simple projects to complete throughout the week.
You'll also find a tutorial to create a full bento box meal using one of the featured recipes!
Don't forget to check out the homework section where you'll find a few simple projects to complete throughout the week.
Bite-Size Bento Lesson
Bento foods do not have to be Japanese.
A great way to get started with bento is to incorporate familiar flavors and trusted recipes into your bento box along with a few new flavors each day. The recent popularity of bento boxes in the Western world has brought a fun new trend among blogging moms who have added their own twist to the idea of Japanese lunchboxes. Muffin tin mania has created a whole new way cook portion-controlled, single-serving meals for families and weight watchers.
The great thing about using muffin tin recipes for bento is that you can plan ahead! Cook and freeze a whole week's worth of single serving lunch portions one day. On busy mornings, you can just grab and go!
Featured Lesson
by Briton
Please note: All of the recipes and foods in this bento box design were created using simple ingredients and supplies that are inexpensive and easy to find at most craft stores. Because this is an example for beginners who probably don't have a bento tool kit yet, I didn't use any extra accessories that were imported from Japan. I hope this helps to show how readily available, simple supplies can help you get started with bento, even on a small budget.
Click here to go to the featured lesson!
Muffin Tin Tips
Spray muffin tins or silicone baking cups with cooking spray to prevent sticking.
After baking, let your muffin tin meals cool and set for a few minutes before removing from the pan.
Muffin Tin Recipes
by Shannon Carino
- Stuffed Muffins - East Mix
- Savory muffins with fillers, easy mix.
- Stuffed Muffins - Homemade
- Homemade savory muffins with fillers.
- Quiche
- If you use a muffin pan, it yields close to 12 quiches, so I freeze them. When they are frozen, I take them out the night before, put them in the bentos in the fridge and they are defrosted by lunch the next day.
- Sweet Potato Cupcakes
- They are mini-cupcakes/muffins but topped with a bit of cream cheese icing and a few sprinkles for color, just the perfect size for a bento, or for little hands.
- Saturday Night's Muffin Mania
- Because I have nothing better to do on a Saturday night, I opted to bake for lunches.
- Shannon Carino's Blog - What's For Lunch At Our House
- Our bento lunch adventure--from kindergarten onwards.
You can cook these in muffin tins too!
- Tuna Loaf
- Mini tuna loaves.
- Chile Relleno Pie
- I make them, eat some and freeze them for later in the week.
- Mushroom-Sausage Quiche
- Brown sausage, mushrooms, green onions and green peppers together.
- Muffin Pan Meatloaf Recipe
- My mother always made this yummy simple and moist recipe for us when we were kids.
- Zucchini Meatloaf
- Mini muffin-size meatloaf made with ground turkey and zucchini.
- Simple Turkey and Cheddar Flower Biscuit Bento
- I used the Pillsbury Biscuit dough that I had on hand and make biscuit muffins filled with cheddar cheese and turkey.
Vegetarian
- Mini Frittatas
- Fill loosely with vegetables. Add egg mixture just to top of the vegetables.
- Mini Frittatas
- Fill loosely with vegetables. Add egg mixture just to top of the vegetables.
- Curry Asparagus Mini Frittatas
- Springs iconic vegetable is back in business. Perhaps no veggie requires more patience than asparagus.
- Curry Asparagus Mini Frittatas
- Springs iconic vegetable is back in business. Perhaps no veggie requires more patience than asparagus.
- Spinach Quinoa Cakes
- Verdant spinach is one of the gastronomic highlights of spring - and it's one of the most nutritious foods you can send down the gullet.
- Spinach Quinoa Cakes
- Verdant spinach is one of the gastronomic highlights of spring - and it's one of the most nutritious foods you can send down the gullet.
- Meatless Meatloaf - Vegetarian & Vegan Recipes
- Kitchen alchemy at its best!
- Leftover Vegetable Gratin Cup
- This vegetable gratin in a cup is a great way to use up leftover vegetables in a tasty way. It only takes a few minutes to assemble too.
- Bento Sized Mini Quiches
- These mini-quiches are a tasty and healthy freezer staple for those times when boiling an egg or making tamagoyaki seems like too much effort.
- Mashed Potato Cupcakes
- Last night I decided to put my old piping bag to healthier uses.
- Cous Cous Cakes
- At first my kid wasn't so sure if he'd like these because of the amount of spinach we dumped into them, but after giving it a try he polished it right off and asked for seconds.
Muffin Tin Blogs
Great resources for muffin tin meal ideas and recipes.
- Muffin Tin Mania
- It all started with a writing assignment to come up with a batch of recipes using the iconic muffin tin. But with one catch. None of the recipes could be muffins. With relief, I quickly learned you can make all sorts of appetizers, mains and desserts using this ultra-versatile cooking tool. That is as long as you don't have a fear of a little recipe experimentation. The article turned out great and a new admiration for the muffin tin was cemented.
- Muffin Tin Mom
- Official Home of Muffin Tin Meals/Muffin Tin Monday: the American version of the Japanese bento box meal - a meal served in a muffin tin (or cupcake pan) for kids.
Featured Tutorials
Learn how to pack a bento box.
Videos by Debra at hapabento.com
curated content from YouTube
Bento Packing Tips
Basic packing tips: Portion suggestions, gap fillers and more!
When packing food that will be served warm, place hot food in a thermos or insulated container.
Box lunches: Hot or cold?
Another option is to use a microwave safe container and pack the food to be reheated separately.
Food safety for packed lunches.
If you are not using a thermos or insulated container, let the food cool completely before packing it in your bento box.
Keeping your bento lunch safe.
Basic Bento Supplies
An overview of the basic beginner bento items.
See the first bento lesson as an example of how to make food cute without any fancy equipment.
If you want to start putting together a bento toolbox, I've made a list of basic bento supplies along with some fun accessories that you may want to add to your wish list!
Bento Boxes
Don't have a bento box?
No worries, any shallow food-safe container with a tight seal can be used to pack bento meals.
Look for containers that have no PVC, phthalates, bisphenol A (BPA), or lead.
Sometimes you can find cute bento boxes locally in places that you never expected.
Borders bookstore occasionally gets some really cute ones in stock!
Homework - Week 1 Assignments & Projects
1.) Adapt a favorite recipe to a muffin tin meal.
Extra credit: Share your muffin tin recipe on a Kawaii Bento Club page or blog post. Then leave a comment below with the URL.
Bonus Points: Pack a bento box meal using your recipe!
Please feel free to post any links and photos from your Bento Summer School projects to the Facebook wall and Flickr group!
2.) Start a bento journal.
A fun part of your weekly Bento Summer School lessons is going to be keeping a diary of your adventures and class assignments. A bento journal is a great way to organize ideas, recipes, sketch designs and store clippings and articles for inspiration. As you become more experienced, you may want to start saving stencils and patterns too.
There are lots of options for creating your bento journal:
There are lots of options for creating your bento journal:
- A blank journal or simple notebook from your favorite book or craft store.
- A 3-ring binder with index dividers.
- An online blog.
- Kawaii Bento Club pages.
- You may even want to do more than one of the above journal ideas. For example; Use a binder to keep all of your recipes and ideas handy with your bento supplies for your personal use and then post your journal entries online too. Sharing photos of your bentos can be a great way to connect with others and it's always fun to show-off your designs. You can also use a blog or Kawaii Bento Club pages to bookmark your favorite recipes and bento blogs.
Post Links To Your Week 1 Projects Here
Bento Summer School comments and questions go here too!
Please feel free to post any links and photos from your Bento Summer School projects to the Facebook wall and Flickr group!
Some of our sponsors are curious to know how many students are currently participating in our weekly classes, so it's time for ROLL CALL: Leave a comment if you're here! *Participation is the only way to qualify for any prizes or graduation competitions (hint, hint), so please keep posting your homework projects for us to see!
Bento Summer School Questions & Comments
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Ashalee
Aug 5, 2010 @ 4:06 pm | delete
- I am so excited to try this. I have been doing bento on my own for a while now but muffin tin's is a new one. Can I still enter or am I to late?
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enslavedbyfaeries
Aug 5, 2010 @ 4:27 pm | delete
- Ashalee, Latecomers are always welcome to jump in and join the fun! Be sure to check out the fun contest for Bento Summer School students sponsored by ECOlunchboxes: http://www.squidoo.com/ecolunchbox-bento-contest
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Ivonne Boscaino
Jul 1, 2010 @ 8:08 am | delete
- I'll try to post, but nothing appear...
I'll try another one:
http://bentoenonsolo.wordpress.com/2010/06/30/bento-summer-school-prima-lezione/
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Ivonne Boscaino
Jun 30, 2010 @ 12:09 pm | delete
- Here my homework for the first lesson. I hope you'll like it.
http://bentoenonsolo.wordpress.com/2010/06/30/bento-summer-school-prima-lezione/
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Pat
Jun 30, 2010 @ 4:00 am | delete
- Here's my very delayed entry: http://bit.ly/9FPwCS
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lasertek
Jun 28, 2010 @ 9:23 pm | delete
- This is very helpful.
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bentoboxuk
Jun 21, 2010 @ 4:01 pm | delete
- My Homework for week 1 of Bento Summer School - I used a Muffin Tray to make a Muffin Tray meal: Bun Tin Beans
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Kristin
Jun 21, 2010 @ 10:39 am | delete
- I posted mine on Flickr in the Bento Summer School Group and on my blog: http://thecraftyhomemaker.com/2010/06/bento-summer-school-week-1/
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Lil'chan
Jun 20, 2010 @ 2:57 am | delete
- Hi!
I decided to join this great school, too!
And I made a lot of Homeworks ;)
You can see them at:
http://lilys-kleiner-bentoservice-en.blogspot.com/2010/06/bento-summer-school-week-1.html
or, if you want them in german at:
http://lilys-kleiner-bentoservice.blogspot.com/2010/06/bento-summer-school-week1.html
I made a vegetable casserole muffin-tin recipe. Hope vegetarian is welcome, too.
I'm looking forward to the next homeworks!
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VegetusMaximus
Jun 16, 2010 @ 10:56 am | delete
- I used a basic turkey burger recipe to make muffin tin burgers. I tried a couple other things, too, but those did not keep shape. It's been a challenge to figure out how to make a muffin-tin recipe without all the stuff my kid is allergic, too. More experimenting is necessary on my part. At least the turkey burgers worked :) My homework bento can be found at my blog page: http://vegetusmaximus.blogspot.com/2010/06/muffin-burgers-monday.html
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Questions & Comments
-Briton Donahue aka: enslavedbyfaeries
Bento Summer School Organizer / Kawaii Bento Club Leader
-Briton Donahue aka: enslavedbyfaeries
Bento Summer School Organizer / Kawaii Bento Club Leader
The Kawaii Bento Club
Where art meets lunch and they go out to play.
Bringing bento enthusiasts together to share, discover, teach and learn the adorable, edible art of creating nutritious boxed lunches with a playful twist. We are reinventing the way we feed our kids and families by preparing healthy, homemade food, making it cute and packing it in reusable, eco-friendly containers. Lunchtime has never been this much fun!
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