Monbento Original #54 (Double Tier)

 

I decided to go in an Asian direction with my leftover cranberry meatballs, so I added more soy sauce to the cranberry sauce and had the meatballs with rice and my go-to veggie stir fry: Onions, mushrooms, tomatoes, and spinach. Alongside that I had a protein-hefty edamame salad (based on this recipe from Recipe Runner) and a fruit salad of bananas, pineapple, mango, Cara Cara oranges, and kiwi.

The cranberry meatballs went really well with this treatment! Be warned if you make them that they do get crumbly as leftovers, so it's best, as I did here, to just put them in the bento cold, then heat them in place at lunch (or eat them at room temperature), and accept that by then they'll be more of a nice little mushy bit of vegetables and quinoa than balls that hold up to even the gentlest poking with a fork. But I liked them that way and also they were pretty so that was what mattered to me.

I liked the concept of this salad more than its execution, but I'd like to see if I can find my own way to make an edamame salad. Still, I did enjoy my meal. There are lots of colors and flavors here!