Today I have a little bento surprise for you. If you’ve been visiting here for the past year or so, you’ve likely noticed that most of what I get around to doing with any consistency is posting pictures of my baby, and posting photos my bento lunch.

Some of the feedback that I’ve gotten on these posts are, “I’d wish you’d post a recipe for your bento boxes.” Message received.

In the box on the left I’ve nestled kiwi and grapes with collard green wraps filled with sliced turkey, spinach pesto, shredded carrots, and baby spinach. On the right, two bento building blocks: roasted cauliflower with cumin and dry cured olives, and roasted beets, dressed with lemon and olive oil.

Everyone in my family likes beets, and they like them diced and with a touch of acidity to cut thought their sweetness. I roast my beets at 400 for 1hour 20 minutes, depending on their size. I like to buy them loose, pick’em small, roast them in a foil pouch poked with a fork a few times to let steam escape.

Once they are roasted through, I pull the pouch and let the beets cool, before removing their skin and chopping them into a medium dice. They find their way into a mixing bowl with lemon zest, good olive oil, and a pinch of fancy pants sea salt. For this salad, I like to use a zester, not a micro plane to remove zest, for something a little meatier to bite into. I mix that together and, ka-pow, a side for dinner, and bento blocks for a few lunches to come.