Fresh Bento: Affordable, Healthy Box Lunches Your Kids Will Adore!, written by Wendy Thorpe Copley, features a whimsical collection of over 45 American-style lunches using a variety of seasonal ingredients and flavors. Themes range from Astronauts and Jellyfish to Numbers and Colors. I will also be sharing her recipe for a Red Bento Box following the review.
Disclosure: I received this book from Tuttle Publishing in exchange for my honest review. All comments and opinions are my own.
Wendy Thorpe Copley
Wendy Thorpe Copley first started creating bento lunches after her husband gave her a bento box for Christmas a few years ago.
She was immediately hooked and now enjoys continuing to design lunches for her whole family in Northern California while sharing her adventures on Wendolonia. Wendy is also the author of Everyday Bento.
Fresh Bento
Wendy begins Fresh Bento with a short introduction and a few tips to get started. She shares some basic techniques, different types of boxes, various equipment and accessories, and make-ahead notes.
At the end of the book, Wendy has also put together a list of sources for supplies and boxes to use at home.
Chapters are divided based on theme: Alphabet Bentos, Number Bentos, and Color Bentos. The contents page has a list of included boxes with page number for easy reference.
Every single bento is paired with a quarter to full size photo of the finished box. There are also multiple step-by-step photos to demonstrate specific techniques such as cutting bread into a house shape and making a rainbow from bell peppers.
Exact measurements generally aren’t given, but are listed in US Customary and Metric when there is a specific recipe. Each box has a headnote with background information, variations, equipment, other food ideas, and helpful tips.
Red Bento Box
Today, I am sharing the recipe for Wendy’s Red Bento Box! This red-themed lunch is packed with salami, fresh raspberries, cherry/grape tomatoes, dried cranberries, red bell peppers, and a decorated apple.
Best of all, there is no cooking involved. The longest part is cutting the apple with the alternating triangle design- which adds a fantastic contrast, but can be simply sliced if you are short on time.
I had Back-to-School season in mind when I was putting this book review together, but the Red Bento Box would also work well for Valentine’s Day- particularly if you arranged the salami in a more rose-like shape and used holiday-themed picks/decorations.
A Few Red Bento Box Tips
Wendy used a Yumbox Panino with a couple of red round silicone baking cups to create the separate compartments. I assembled everything in a standard 650 milliliter bento with a rectangular silicone baking cup and two smaller muffin cups. With this, I did not personally have room for the beet chips.
To keep the exposed part of the apple from oxidizing, Wendy mentions sprinkling the surface with a little Fruit Fresh powder. I used a little freshly squeezed lemon juice since that is what I had on hand.
Other red food ideas include cherries, strawberries, watermelon, pomegranate seeds, ruby red grapefruit, blood oranges, radish, beet crackers, and red fish crackers.
More Bento
We also made M is for Meatballs, U is for Udon Noodles, Number 5 Stars, and Brown Bento Box.
For the Letter M, there is a meatball-themed bento! This was Evan’s favorite. Meatballs are arranged with mini mozzarella balls, mini muffins, mango (he opted to swap for melon), mini marshmallows, and mouse-shaped crackers (swapped for mini crackers).
Claire decided on the U is for Udon Noodles. Udon noodles are coated in a honey-sesame sauce (original recipe also has edamame) and are paired with tenkasu (crunchy tempura bits), cucumber, and blackberries (she swapped for cherry tomatoes). I happened to have the exact same unicorn pick that was featured in the book and it was such a fun addition.
For the Number 5, the theme is Stars with their notable five points. I packed this box with five skewers of chicken apple sausage and apples pieces, five cherry tomato halves (swapped from the original five tomato slices), star-shaped cheddar cheese, five pretzels, and star-shaped kiwis.
The Brown Bento Box is an exciting way to enjoy breakfast for lunch. A bear-shaped pretzel bagel (not available so I went with a regular bagel) is filled with a chocolate hazelnut spread and banana slices, then placed over two slices of bacon. It is also paired with Medjool dates and additional pear slices (since the grocery store was actually out of pears the day I went shopping, I swapped the pear slice for apple and added a few peanut butter pretzel bites).
Fresh Bento is a fun pick for those interested in easy and creative lunch box options. This book has been developed with younger families in mind by pairing early letter, number, and color lessons with themed lunches and snacks to bring everything together. Many of the recipes only take minutes to prepare or can be assembled ahead of time and are often no cook/bake.
Most of the ingredients are readily available in larger American grocery stores. Multiple substitutions are offered based on preference and/or allergies.
Red Bento Box Recipe
Excerpt from Fresh Bento
Red Bento Box
Ingredients
- raspberries
- dried cranberries
- beet chips (I did not have enough room in my box for them)
- sliced salami
- grape/cherry tomatoes
- red bell pepper
- red apple
Instructions
- Place raspberries in one of the medium sections of the bento box. Top with a red robot (or other red pick) decoration.
- Add cranberries to the smallest compartment.
- Place a red cup in the corner of the largest compartment of the lunch box. Fill with beet chips (I personally did not have room for this).
- Fold salami slices in half, and then into quarters. Add them to the remaining red cup with the point side down until the cup is full. The salami should have a ruffled appearance. Add the cup to the large compartment of the lunch box, opposite the chips.
- Thread a few tomatoes onto the decorative crayon (or other red) pick. Fill one of the empty spaces in the large section of the bento box with some more tomatoes and then top with the pick.
- Cut a large slice off the side of the red pepper. Use a small heart-shaped cutter to make two or three heart shapes. Chop the rest of the pepper into bite-sized pieces and fill the rest of the empty space in the large section of the bento box. Add the heart-shaped pieces on top.
- Cut a large piece off the side of the apple, then trim it to fit into the remaining empty compartment in the lunch box. Use a small sharp paring knife or craft knife to score the skin of the apple into a triangle pattern. Be careful that you don't cut too far down into the flesh of the apple! Your goal should be to only cut through the skin.
- Gently slide the tip of the knife under one of the triangles you've cut into the apple's skin. Keep the knife parallel to the flesh of the apple as much as possible and slide it around the edges of the triangle until the skin pops off. Continue removing every other triangle of skin from the apple until the entire surface is covered with the pattern. If brown apples bother you or your child, sprinkle a bit of Fruit Fresh powder on the top of your design to preserve the white color.
- Cut some more slices of apple and place at the bottom of the apple compartment. Top with the decorated piece of apple.
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