The Ninja Baker - Japanese bento

Super Bowl Bento, #SundaySupper

NinjaBaker — Sat, 01 Feb 2014 22:52:23 +0000

With the arrival of Super Bowl season, a spell seems to take hold of my husband. Like many American football fans, the TV mesmerizes him. He shouts, waves his hands and dances in front of the television. With all this expended energy, my husband needs nourishment. But man - especially a gluten sensitive one - cannot live by bread and football alone. So, I prepared a Super Bowl bento (Japanese lunch box.)

Super Bowl Bento:
Asian Sesame Chicken &
Football Rice Balls & Gluten-Free Touchdown Chocolate Brownies

Chicken and chips, I understand, are Super Bowl staples. To address my husband’s health concerns, I concocted an Asian Sesame Chicken recipe. Chicken is baked with a drizzle of soy sauce, honey and sesame oil. (Happy to report the result is succulent and super-delicious!) Sesame seeds provide a fantabulous crunch covering.

Asian Sesame Chicken

Sticky Japanese white rice shaped into mini footballs play well with the chicken. The yummy stripes on the football, by the way, are SeaSnax. (Non-GMO, gluten-free dried seaweed seasoned with spices and olive oil.)

Sticky Rice & SeaSnax

Bento making rules demand that every single nook and cranny of the lunch box is covered. (No blank spaces allowed.) So, of course, this Ninja Baker had to add a gluten-free chocolate brownie for the husband. Almond meal flour and fine chocolate melt into one touchdown brownie. The recipe is inspired by one of the England's baking royals, Nigella Lawson, (Only a bit of brownie is needed to shape into mini footballs for the bento. So there is plenty leftover for the baker to enjoy.)

Almonds and chocolate melt into one luscious gluten-free brownie!
(Photo Courtesy of Jerry Witt)

For more Super Bowl scrumptiousness, scroll down to see an inspirational buffet provided by #SundaySupper participants. (If you like to bake, cook and see families back together around the dinner table, please see the #SundaySupper info below.) The topic of discussion around the virtual table at tonight’s #SundaySupper on Twitter is…drum roll please…Super Bowl recipes.

The Ninja Baker's Sesame Chicken

Japanese fried karaage chicken is a bento lunch box staple. For my health conscious husband, I created this baked sesame chicken. Same crunch factor. Plus, the bonus of an assertive sesame flavor paired with a tangy soy and honey sauce.

Ingredients:

1/3 pound chicken tenders
¾ cup rice flour blend
1 ½ teaspoons onion powder
¼ teaspoon powdered lemon peel
3 pinches of salt
2 dashes of pepper
2 eggs
1 cup white sesame seeds
3 tablespoons of sesame oil
2 ½ tablespoons of soy sauce
2 ½ tablespoons of honey

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Line a 13 x 9 pan with parchment paper.
Cut the chicken tenders into finger food size pieces. (Or ask your butcher to do so.)
In a bowl, whisk the salt, pepper, onion and lemon peel powders into the flour.
Crack open your eggs into a separate bowl. Beat lightly.
Pour the sesame seeds into a third bowl.
Dip the chicken tenders into the flour bowl. (Cover well.)
Next drench the chicken in eggs, followed by a roll in the sesame seeds.
Place into the lined pan.
Drizzle the chicken with sesame oil, soy sauce and honey.
Bake for 23 minutes. (The bottoms will be darker than the lighter tops.)

Tip: If you prefer a uniform color, flip the chicken bits halfway through the bake.

Gluten-Free Chocolate Touchdown Brownies

Touchdown! My gluten-free chocolate brownies were a huge hit with my husband and his colleagues. No one missed the flour.

This recipe is adapted from Nigella.com.

Ingredients:

8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
1 cup of softened butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon coffee extract
¾ cup superfine sugar
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 ½ cups almond meal flour

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Line a 9 inch cake pan with tin foil and copiously spray butter flavored cooking spray.

Bring a pan of water to a boil. Turn down the flame so that it simmers.

Place the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl over the simmering water. Stir with a heatproof spatula until melted. Take off the heat. Briskly stir in the extracts and sugar. Let the chocolate mixture cool for a few minutes.

Whisk in the eggs to the slightly cooled chocolate and sugar mixture. Incorporate the almond meal.

Pour into the prepared pan.

Bake for 325 degrees for 15 minutes. Increase the heat to 350 degrees and bake for another 20 minutes.

Tip: With aluminum foil, tent the edges of the brownie pan if you see the edges turning black at the 15 minutes mark. Also, please note a darker and/or coated pan may need less baking time.

Our host of today's Sunday Supper is the phenomenal Heather of Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks. By day, Heather is a special education teacher. By night, she creates recipes which have won awards and appeared in numerous publications.

Allow me to introduce you to a few more inspirational bloggers aka creators of sensational Super Bowl recipes.

Game Day Appetizers:

Honey Mustard Pretzel Crunch from Shockingly Delicious
Salt and Vinegar Wings from Casa de Crews
Saucy Wings and Thighs from Hot Momma's Kitchen Chaos
Macaroni and Cheese Spring Rolls from Jane's Adventures in Dinner
Steak Rolls from Cravings of a Lunatic
Alpine Sliders from Manu's Menu
Hellfire Wings from Yours and Mine Are Ours
Easy Nacho Bar from Momma's Meals
Jalapeno Popper Taquitos from Curious Cuisiniere
Skinny Game Day Guacamole Potato Skins from Daily Dish Recipes
Buffalo Chicken Lasagna Cups from Alida's Kitchen
Spinach-Stuffed Jalapeno Poppers from La Cocina de Leslie
BBQ Veggie Mini Burgers from Happy Baking Days
Spicy Roasted Corn Shrimp Dip from Food Lust People Love
Honey-Sriracha Pigs in a Blanket from Hip Foodie Mom
Beer Cheese Fondue from Melanie Makes
Cheesy Artichoke and Garlic Bread from La Bella Vita Cucina
Whole Wheat Pepperoni Pizza Bites from Meal Planning Magic
Personal Chili Pots from MealDiva
Italian Spring Rolls from Noshing with The Nolands
Mexican Meatballs with Queso Blanco from Cooking on the Ranch
Parmigiano Crisps from The Not So Cheesy Kitchen
Buffalo Chicken Potstickers from Peanut Butter and Peppers
Mediterranean Nachos from The Little Ferraro Kitchen
Chinese Barbecue Wings from girlichef
Mini Veggie Quesadillas from Cindy's Recipes and Writings
Roasted Tomato Hummus from The Wimpy Vegetarian
Cashew Baba Ghanoush : Roasted Eggplant Dip from Sue's Nutrition Buzz
Buffalo Chicken Wing Dip Potato Skins from Family Foodie
Lemon Bay Pan Roasted Shrimp from A Kitchen Hoor's Adventure
Honey Sesame Seed Crackers from Kudos Kitchen By Renee

Game Day Entrees:

Super Sloppy Joes from The Foodie Army Wife
Buffalo Chicken Chili from Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks
Mini Meatball and Mozzarella Sandwiches from Cookin' Mimi
Super Bowl Bento from Ninja Baking
Vegetarian "Chorizo" and Black Bean Chili from Foxes Love Lemons
Twice Baked Chili Cheese Potatoes from Neighborfood
Barbecue Chicken Sloppy Sandwiches from Cupcakes & Kale Chips
Easy Vegetarian Chili from Delaware Girl Eats
Game Day Chili from Bobbi's Kozy Kitchen
Dr. Pepper Turkey Chili from The Texan New Yorker

Game Day Desserts:

Heavenly Hash Cookies from The Foodie Patootie
Cookie Dough Billionaire Bars from That Skinny Chick Can Bake
Chocolate Streusel Bars from Magnolia Days
Coffee Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake Squares from Desserts Required
Microwave Caramel Popcorn from Pies and Plots
Mini Coconut Cups from Basic N Delicious
Triple Chocolate S'mores Brownies from Take A Bite Out of Boca
Cracker Jack Candy from What Smells So Good?

Join the #SundaySupper conversation on twitter every Sunday! We tweet throughout the day and share recipes from all over the world. Our weekly chat starts at 7:00 pm ET. Follow the #SundaySupper hashtag and remember to include it in your tweets to join in the chat.

Check out our #SundaySupper Pinterest board for more fabulous recipes and food photos.

Would you like to join the Sunday Supper Movement? It’s easy! You can sign up by clicking here: Sunday Supper Movement.

Wishing you delicious fun on Super Bowl Sunday and always!

The Ninja Baker

© ™ Watkinson 2012

The Ninja Baker has guest blogged and contributed recipes to numerous food sites. These additional recipes can be found here.

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Strawberry Chocolate Bento, #Chocolate Party

NinjaBaker — Mon, 06 May 2013 08:54:49 +0000

Bento lunch boxes – from Hello Kitty and polka dots to somber and simple – are seen in school lunchrooms, corporate cafeterias in Japan. Most every Japanese home has one.
The demand for the stylish lunch boxes in the U.S. seems to be on the rise; more and more supermarkets and internet sites in the U.S. are selling the stylish lunch boxes. Americans are picking up on this Japanese custom of fixing bento boxes for lunch.

Hello Kitty Bento Box with a Veggie Sandwich

Roxana’s Home Baking Chocolate Party gave this Ninja Baker the perfect excuse to create a dessert bento box. Roxana, the gracious hostess of this monthly soirée asked partygoers to bring something with strawberry and chocolate.

So I filled a bento box with strawberry chocolate onigiri (Japanese rice ball), and chocolate cupcakes with strawberry banana pudding centers topped with pink chocolate ganache. Mini strawberry chocolate pies were also added.

The Ninja Baker's Strawberry & Chocolate Dessert Bento Box

This bento box is not recommended for a child’s school lunch. But it is a fun little box of sweets to share with friends and family.

Strawberry Chocolate Onigiri

A typical onigiri rice ball contains a pickled red plum in the center and is wrapped with seaweed. So, I wrapped black licorice rope (instead of seaweed) around 4 Hello Kitty strawberry marshmallows (which substituted for rice.) In the middle a red M & M was placed for the pickled red plum.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Strawberry Banana Pudding Filling
& Pink Chocolate Ganache

Chocolate Cupcakes:
I brought out Ann Byrn’s The Cake Mix Doctor and followed her instructions for Basic Buttermilk Devil’s Food Cake. Heavenly bites of light, moist chocolate cake ensued upon baking cupcakes from her recipe.

With a melon baller the middles of the chocolate cupcakes were scooped out.
The pudding mixture was gently spooned into the hollow centers. Pink white chocolate ganache was frosted on top.

Strawberry Banana Pudding Filling:In the blender, frappé 1 cup of milk plus defrosted and chopped frozen strawberries. Whisk until combined, 2 ½ ounces of banana pudding mix with 1 ½ cups of the blended strawberry milk. Cover with film and place in the refrigerator for 5 or more minutes before scooping into the hollowed out cupcake middles.
Pink Chocolate Ganache
Adapted from HipFoodieMom

Boil ¼ cup heavy cream until little bubbles emerge around the pan. Pour over 6 ounces of white chocolate which has been chopped. Add pink food coloring intended for candy making. in powdered form Stir from the center out. Make sure all ingredients are completely combined before frosting the cupcakes.

Mini Strawberry Chocolate Pies
Into mini muffin tins, spray a massive amount of cooking spray or until well coated.

Roll out a piecrust. (If you prefer homemade to store bought, my friend Jeanne Sakamoto’s apple pie crust recipe is the best!)
Cut out circles (1” – 1 ½ ”) to fit the mini muffin tins. Bake at 400 degrees for 5 minutes or until golden. Immediately drop 2 chocolate chips into the bottom of each mini pie crust. Spread the melting chocolate with the back of a small spoon.

Once cooled, use an icing spatula to gently slide the mini crusts out of the tin.
Fill with whipped cream. Garnish with strawberry flowers. (Made by using
a mini cookie cutter or bento veggie cutters.)

If you’d like to participate in the Chocolate Party fun, here are a few guidelines.

1.) Blog about your chocolate treat. Your recipe must include the two ingredients we choose. It can be a simple no bake treat or a sophisticated layer cake, the complexity level of the recipe is totally up to you.
2.) Include a link back to a monthly round-up or the Chocolate Party page. Optional, add the Chocolate Party logo in your blog post or on your sidebar.
3.) Your recipe must be published during the current month. Please do not link old recipes, they will be deleted.

And of course, feel free to simply peruse the virtual buffet table (below) of strawberry chocolate treats concocted by talented bakers like Roxana.

Wishing you strawberry fields, forever blissful as rich chocolate.

The Ninja Baker

© ™ Watkinson 2012

The Ninja Baker has guest blogged and contributed recipes to numerous food sites. These additional recipes can be found here.

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The Ninja Baker's Cookie Bento

NinjaBaker — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 07:09:14 +0000

“Think what a better world it would be if we all-the whole world-had cookies and milk about three o'clock every afternoon and then lay down with our blankies for a nap.” So said Robert Fulghum, author of All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.

Amen! Right? And we want to make sure these cookies are full of wholesome and delicious ingredients.

Never too old for chocolate chip cookies and milk.

Wishing only well-being and good health to all kids, little and big, I do my best to use good-for-you ingredients in my baking -- like the ingredients from the Immaculate Baking Co. which “uses only the best natural ingredients.”

Immaculate Baking Company's Vanilla Sugar Cookies
are perfect compliments to afternoon tea.

In their honor, I created The Ninja Baker’s Cookie Bento. (A Japanese-style lunch box.) You can check out the how-to here. Laurie of Immaculate Baking has featured the recipe on her blog, Better Cookies.

The Ninja Baker's Cookie Bento

Complete transparency: The only compensation I’ve received is a coupon. Plus the promise of another one. I want to support and spread the good news about Immaculate because I want kids of all ages to have a fighting chance in a sometimes-challenging world. And it all starts with good health. In addition to using health conscious ingredients in their products, the Immaculate Baking Co. supports non-profit organizations, which foster creativity in kids. (See Cookies for Causes on the Immaculate website for more info.)

Wishing you nourishing and delectable cookies, mugs of milk and catnaps.

The Ninja Baker

The Ninja Baker

© ™ Watkinson 2012

The Ninja Baker's recipes are also available at:

BlogHer Food Editor's Pick of the Day
(27 December 2012)

Allrecipes.com:
The Ninja Baker's Japanese Plum Sweet Memories and Recipes

Bob's Red Mill:
Almond Oatmeal Apple Cookies

Bob's Red Mill:
The Ninja Baker's Gluten-Free Breakfast Cupcake

Wholesome Sweeteners:
The Ninja Baker's Gluten-Free Coconut Chocolate Cheesecake Minis with Espresso Cream

Wholesome Sweeteners:
The Ninja Baker's Gluten-Free Double Chocolate Cupcakes with Champagne Glaze & Optional Lemon Peach Marmalade Filling

Tags:

Japanese bento

Immaculate Baking cookies

healthy recipes

Trick Your Kids and Treat Yourself to a Lovely Halloween

NinjaBaker — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 07:55:53 +0000

The Hallowed Eve month of children acting like monsters is upon us. However, there is no need to endure the scary sugar-highs and lows of October. Make the Ninja Baker’s bento boxes and your kids will remain their almost angelic selves eating lunch at home or school.

Japanese bento lunch boxes and thermoses are treats in themselves. Visual delights designed to cater to the varied interests of children.

Whilst tricking your kids into thinking they are gobbling treats for lunch, their little bodies and minds will be properly nourished. And that will secure them scholarships to Ivy League colleges, loads of money and comfort in your old age…Well, yes, point two might be a bit of an exaggeration. But you will have healthy, smiling kids.

One of the stealthiest Ninja Baker moves is swooping up only organic, non-GMO and
non-BHT dairy products into the shopping cart. Scary Fact: Japan, Australia and members of the EU have banned BHT and GMO foods. Since the late 70s, however, America has allowed the toxic stuff.

Pictured: Preservative-free bakery bread and organic cheeses.
Click shopping easily for healthy ingredients for more info.

Also, if you want to win a $25 gift card from Wholesome Sweeteners for using their organic Fair Trade products, visit the Contests page at WholesomeSweeteners.com.

Perhaps one of the reasons I always felt nourished by my grandmother, Nona’s, baking and cooking was because I was eating chemical-free farm-fresh food. (Our family used to own farms in Colorado.) Of course, she poured many cups of love into her meals, too.

Click here for the photo credit.

Lucky for us, a new crop of young, conscious cooks like Lindsay Nixon of Happy Herbivore, are springing up and educating thousands. Featured below in cat form is the Happy Herbivore brownie. Although, Lindsay Nixon, the genius behind the recipe never uses sugar, I did decorate the black bean brownie cat with a teensy-weensy bit of frosting.

The Ninja Baker’s Happy Healthy Halloween Bento Lunch

Using preservative-free bread and BHT-free cheddar cheese, I put my pumpkin cookie cutter to work. The organic cream cheese “tomb” (behind the open-faced sandwich) is sprinkled with grated veggies. And apples compliment the Happy Herbivore brownie cat.

In addition to food, costumes are a huge part of the American celebration of Halloween. With the worldwide popularity of the Japanese manga cartoon, here’s a bento lunch box homage to Sailor Moon.

Sailing away to the manga cartoon world of Sailor Moon.

Sailor Moon’s sage cat is an omusubi rice ball. The crescent moon and other distinguishing features were created by piping whipped cream cheese The omusubi rice ball cat was purchased from Santa Monica’s always-crowded Sunny Blue. Under the video tabs at NinjaBaking.com, you can see the interviews with owner, Keiko Nakashima, in English and in Japanese.

Behind the edamame green soybeans (which my nieces and nephews love to pop out of their shells) are two tiny circles of cream cheese with pineapple triangles. Yes, it’s kid-friendly food and it’s a nod to the circular odango hairstyle which Sailor Moon sports. The heroine’s real name translates to Rabbit Moon-Field (?????: Usagi Tsukino) so there is also a hard boiled bunny egg. (You can order the easy to use egg imprint contraption through J-List or check your local Japanese market.) For a touch of sweets I’ve added crystallized golden gingers as a nod to the gem caper in the first Sailor Moon manga.

For kids inclined more towards pirates, you can fix a Shiver Me Timbers bento lunch box.

Shiver Me Timbers: Happy Herbivore’s Creamy Carrot Soup accompanied by a pumpkin muffin, sliced apples, caramel dip and a treasure chest of organic almonds.

Hopefully you can now put Halloween food concerns away. I’d love to feature your creative and healthy take on bento lunch boxes at NinjaBaking.com

While you wait for the cute parade of princess, pirate and super-hero costumes, get that long-deserved mani-pedi or game of golf in. Need one more nudge to help you relax and stop worrying about sugar blues? Visit Halloween Candy Buy Back. The site is designed to allow kids to share their sweet selves and be of service by sharing their trick-or-treat candies with members of the U.S. military.

Wishing you a week free of stress and Halloween scares.

The Ninja Baker

The Ninja Baker's recipes are also available at:

?Allrecipes.com:
The Ninja Baker's Japanese Plum Sweet Memories and Recipes

Bob's Red Mill

Wholesome Sweeteners:
The Ninja Baker's Gluten-Free Coconut Chocolate Cheesecake Minis with Espresso Cream

Wholesome Sweeteners:
The Ninja Baker's Gluten-Free Double Chocolate Cupcakes with Champagne Glaze & Optional Lemon Peach Marmalade Filling

?LifeKraze

Tags:

Japanese bento

healthy kid friendly recipes

Japanese lunch boxes