Ground Beef Teriyaki

This isn't a bento recipe yet, but given the praise for this dish that I made up because we have very little to work with in the house means that it will be making an appearance in bentos at one point. I have no pictures because the entire thing was eaten up pretty fast. As far as I know, there isn't another recipe for this, so here is what I did.

Teriyaki sauce:
1/2 cup of soy
1/2 cup of white sugar (yep, it is a lot, this is sweet and salty)
2 tablespoons mirin
2 teaspoons grated ginger (fresh or frozen, it keeps in the freezer a long time)
1 good sized clove of garlic
1/2 teaspoon cornstarch

Mix together well and set aside

The "stir fry":
1 pound ground beef or pork or turkey, whatever you like
4 carrots (mine were medium sized)
Handful of edamame beans (they are a pain to shell btw so use frozen if you have them)

Cut the carrots into sticks. Mine were a couple inches long and fairly narrow.
Shell edamame beans if you are using fresh.
Cook ground beef in pan chopping it up until in small pieces
Drain in colander and set aside
Put carrots and edamame into the pan and add about 1/2 cup of water. Cover and let steam about 5 minutes until you can just pierce the carrots with a fork, time will depend on how small you cut the carrots. I suggest trying to have the carrot and edamame finish at the same time.
Take off cover and allow last of liquid to dry up and stir fry briefly. Get the carrots as brown as you like them.
Add ground meat back into the pan and stir together.
Stir the teriyaki again until well incorporated and add to pan.  Reduce heat and allow to simmer a few minutes.
Serve on top of rice.

Not only did my eldest and husband like it, but even more amazingly my youngest loved it too and was even asking for it this afternoon, but there was none left. Carrots and all! This will definitely make it into a bento in the near future. It is perfect to make the night before because letting it soak in the sauce will only make it better.

Quiche

I made some mini hamburgers and froze those, but I figure that everyone knows what they look like, no real chore there. Today though was a job of love. For the first time in my life I made quiches (or as my daughter likes to say kweeshes). I used a frozen puff dough and rolled it out thin. Then I made rectangles and layered them in muffin tins. To prebake I used some aluminum foil (which is not very thrifty or eco friendly, but they are getting recycled at least) balled up and put inside the cups. They baked for about 5 minutes, then I filled them with the egg mixture and topped with some cheese, and back into the oven for another 25 minutes total. They are not the prettiest things, but they should go nicely in a bento box. Next time I will do better.

I will top them with some chopped chives, green onions or herbs for presentation to break of the pale colors. I am not sure whether I will simply thaw them or bake them the morning of, so that will be an experiment either way. In this picture they are on a tray destined for the freezer so they will freeze individually for packaging.