Kids "Sushi Bento" Lunch Box

For my daughter's first day of 5th grade, I decided to make her a surprise lunch. She loves sushi and her and I enjoy having girl's sushi night out since the boys in our house are not big fans of sushi. So, her lunch was a sushi themed bento box :)

These are tortilla pinwheels made with spinach tortillas, ranch cream cheese, turkey and olives (Amelia loves olives).

On the side, are cucumber rolls (cucumber slices rolled around sticky sushi rice and carrot sticks) and fruit skewers (green grapes and blueberries).

The sushi rice was from Alton Brown's recipe (from Food Network):

Ingredients
2 cups sushi or short grain rice
2 cups water, plus extra for rinsing rice
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon kosher salt

Directions
Place the rice into a mixing bowl and cover with cool water. Swirl the rice in the water, pour off and repeat 2 to 3 times or until the water is clear.

Place the rice and 2 cups of water into a medium saucepan and place over high heat. Bring to a boil, uncovered. Once it begins to boil, reduce the heat to the lowest setting and cover. Cook for 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and let stand, covered, for 10 minutes.

Combine the rice vinegar, sugar and salt in a small bowl and heat in the microwave on high for 30 to 45 seconds. Transfer the rice into a large wooden or glass mixing bowl and add the vinegar mixture. Fold thoroughly to combine and coat each grain of rice with the mixture. Allow to cool to room temperature before using to make sushi or sashimi.

This was very easy to make and the rice was really tasty all by itself. It's perfect for any recipe that may call for sticky rice.

The dessert sushi were Little Debbie blueberry creme rolls sliced and rice krispy treats with swedish fish and fruit by the foot to resemble sashimi.

The chopsticks are stainless steel chopsticks that I found at Lee Lee's (local Asian supermarket).

It was super fun to make, but far more time consuming than packing school lunch should ever be. It's Pb&j the rest of the year :)

"To my favorite sushi partner: Have a great first day of 5th grade! Love you, Mom"

Happy back to school everyone!





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