My first Falafel - success!

Inspired by this recipe, I decided to try making my own falafels.

I made a few changes, as usual.  On the whole, a resounding success.


1 cup of dry chickpeas
1 cup fava beans (lightly crushed and skins winnowed)

• Soak at least 24 hours with several changes of water.

1 leek
1 small onion
3 cloves garlic
2 teaspoons salt
2 Tbs flour
1 tsp cayenne pepper
pinch cardamom

Toasted whole then ground spices
3 pepper corns
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander

• Drain the beans, mash them up with all the other ingredients
• form into falafel shapes (which happens to be the same shape as a large spoon) and deep fry medium heat

Affordable?  Yep.  I can buy three falafels for a dollar in the shop, or I can make this huge pile of falafels for the same amount.

Baked Samosas with chickpea and leftover rice filling

My current culinary quest - to learn to cook and love Indian food.  Today's experiment: Samosa!

I found this recipe in Everyday Indian by Bal Arneson.  A very enjoyable author who has a great selection of Indian-Canadian dishes with a Pacific coast twist.  I have a couple of books by her and I like how she isn't afraid to meld indian flavour with West Coast ingredients.  

Some of my modifications were to half the salt, change up the fats, and completely alter the ratio of the filling to match the collection of leftovers in my fridge.  Basically I took some leftover rice, leftover chickpeas, leftover fresh cranberries, replaced some of the whole wheat flour with white... &c. and used her recipe as a guide.  

stuffing the samosa

I'm not going to post my recipe here because it's a book well worth reading.  Your local library should have it, and if they don't have it, they should and you should tell them that they should.

The red sauce is Pataks mango chutney, which turned out to be a bit sweet for this meal.  The dark dot is tamarind chutney (recipe from the same book as the samosa).  Tamarind chutney is extremely flavourful, and impressively spicy.  

I'm very excited to find out what else I can stuff in these triangles.

Affordable Cooking:  The filling today was purely leftovers and spices.  Since the chickpeas I used were cooked from dry (about 1/4 cup when dry), it brings the price down quite a lot.  Even if I was starting with ingredients bought specifically for this meal, I estimate it would be between fifty cents to two dollars for eight samosas.  

Bento:  This looks like the type of food that will travel well.  I'm definitely trying this in bento.

Even though it's my first time eating samosas, I'm filing this under comfort food.  It's just that good.

Allergy friendly:  I don't know how well it would be with different flour, but just about everything else can be changed up, from oils in the dough, to filling.  

Health:  Yes!  Arneson talks about this as the health 'lunch to go' food that she often cooks for her daughter, a highschool student.  Chickpeas, spices,  whole wheat flour, are all good things and in good ratios.  I can't find any fault with the healthy aspect of this recipe... except it's yummy and makes you want to eat a lot of them.

Vegetarian and vegans:  The original recipe looks vegan friendly, but I added some ghee when I made mine (to replace some of the flavour lost from cutting down on the salt).  But even still, it's vegetarian friendly fare.

Lunch for Spinning

Last weekend I went to an event called a Spin In.  It's a group of people, who gather in one room and spin yarn.  Most of us have wheels, some with spindles, everyone using circular devices to make lovely yarn.  In case you are thinking this is a unusual event, there were over 100 people there, just from our corner of The Island.

I wanted to give my lunch a round theme to go with the spinning wheels, so I used my tiffin and tried for things that were round, or that reminded us of round things.

The rice with the pickled plum (ume boshi) in the middle is like the wheel and hub.  The round cheese balls (lebneh I think it's called) and round tomatoes speak for themselves, the carrots and cucumbers, through round in their original form, are like spindle shafts for today.  Then the apple and cheese are there to represent... um, ... because they are yummy.

There were a lot of different wheels, all varieties and sizes, new and old.

I don't know how well this photo shows up, but there was snow, falling heavily outside in the park.  It didn't stick (that day) but it looked beautiful coming down.  Gave the day a magical feeling to be cozy inside, surrounded by wool and yarn, while winter displays its colours.

Bento: pasta and salad

I cooked about equal amounts cauliflower and pasta, then gave it a cream sauce.  It tastes way better if it has a chance to cook in the oven, but it didn't so all the cheese sauce sunk to the bottom.

But the salad was fantastic.  Little bocconcini (cheese balls) lettuce, cucumber, and this yummy homemade caesar dressing I found on Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution site.  What I like best about it is that we don't have to make/use mayo, instead it uses a yoghurt base.  I used fil mjolk instead, but it tasted great.

Because I went with a higher fat content in the dressing, the salad was very filling.  I would more than gladly have just that for lunch, and leave the pasta at home.

Healthy, probably.  Affordable, yes - maybe a dollar or two for the salad, about the same for the pasta.  Vegan, nope.

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Bento: Two lunches in a hurry

I still have a dodgy tummy from being sick over the holidays, so not much motivation to cook, or even shop for food.  Bento lunches have been rather hodgepodge lately.  

Lunch one: two ume onigiri with some raw veg, tomato soup and in the under section, some crackers and shredded cheese for the soup.

Lunch two, tuna and ume onigiri (rice balls) with gingersnaps.

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Bento in a rush, pork with potatoes

Being half an hour late for work is not a good time to learn a new recipe.  I had planed on some simple tonkatsu (breaded fried pork) but I had no bread or breadcrumbs.  So I grabbed my Just Bento cookbook and found a recipe for fried ginger pork with potatoes.

Quite tasty, but I think next time I'm substituting bacon fat for the butter.  Butter made the potatoes taste too sweet.  Also, I think a dash of chili or hot sauce would be nice with the potatoes.  Also in the lunch some lightly boiled broccoli and shredded raw cabbage.  Have to make certain everything is cool enough before adding the cabbage otherwise it's wilt city.  But it's a good idea to let the bento cool before putting the lid on it anyway, as it reduces condensation and keeps it from spoiling.

The only thing I didn't like about it is that the rice and the potatoes were both a starch, which was a bit much even for me.  I think next time, make a larger amount of the main dish and leave the rice at home.

Sorry for the poor quality of the photos.

Healthy, yep
Affordable, about 2 to 3 dollars for the ingredients


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Bento: one pot beef-yaki

I found some flank steak on sale and thought it would make some fantastic beef bento dish (which I can't remember the name of - probably something-yaki which means something-fried).

The recipe is from the book 10 Minute Bento. I don't normally eat beef because it gives indigestion, however, when it's cooked this way with sake, something changes in the beef making it easier to digest.

I put some more of those daikon pickles (really starting to like them), but there was still something missing.  So I put some tiny tomatoes on it, and look, a lovely christmas coloured lunch.

Allergies:  I substituted the mirin for vinegar, the sugar for honey and the soy sauce for rice based soysub.

Affordable?  This is about 2 oz of beef, so basically you are getting a lot of flavour for a small portion of meat - my favourite kind of meal. It also tastes good with other red meats like goat or lamb, depending on what you have at hand.   But make sure to slice thinly and across the grain or things get tough to chew.  Other ingredients include frozen peas, onion, veg, rice... although I don't remember how much the cost of the beef was, the rest of the ingredients were about $1 to $1.50.

What I really like about this recipe is that it is fast food.  The book suggests we can make this in 10 minutes, however, that's only if you are super-mum.  Prep took about 5 min, cooking and assembling, 15 min.  But 20 minutes for a complete and completely delicious bento is well within my happy range.

As for Healthy: I'm going to go with yes.  Meat is full of all sorts of things that are good for your body, and having it in small quantities like this is great.  Though I thought while eating it, I wish I had put a bit less rice and a lot more veg in it.  Next time I'll try a different way of assembling the dish that includes more veg.


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Bento: Shiokoji chicken, rice, tomatoes, cabbage and pickled daikon

Today's bento was rice, shio koji chicken, tiny tomatoes, cabbage kimpira and those pickled radishes I told you about the other day (very tasty, if a bit spicy).

The little triangles contain raisins and toasted almonds for emergency energy.

For tea, I combined some green tea with some herbs I gathered and dried during the summer - gunpowder green tea, sage and mint.  Brew it, strain it, put it in my to-go mug.  yum.

Affordable: probably 3 to 5 dollars for the entire lunch, depending if the veg and chicken are on sale or not.

Healthy: yep, though I maybe don't need such a large portion size, as packing this lunch box averages 750 calories, nearly half my daily intake.  But if we aren't counting calories, then everything in here is yummy and good for me.

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Bento: chestnut rice with miso squash

Quickly, as I run out the door, let me show you today's bento lunch.

Chestnut rice with adzuke beans instead of sweet potato.

Squash (well, Japanese pumpkin) and sweet potato simmered in a homemade, homemade, soy-free miso sauce.  Homemade twice because I made the sauce at home AND I made the miso paste.  More on that later.  Now I need to get moving.

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Bento: Chicken Karaage (Japanese fried Chicken)

Last weeks bento was cabbage kimpira and leftover karaage chicken.  Simple meal, but super-yummy.  I used an extra cabbage leave to separate the chicken from the rice.  The little chicken sauce dish is closed before the main bento lid goes on so that the sauce doesn't spill.

When I make karaage chicken, I often use pickled ginger instead of fresh (the bright red julian ginger, but sushi pickled ginger will do in a pinch).  That way I can add the ginger liquid to the marinade and I get the bright red colour from the ginger.  I wonder how they make ginger into delicious bright red slivers.

This is a traditional style wooden bento box.  The main thing about this box is that it allows the food to breath, which in my opinion keeps the rice much nicer.  As with all bento boxes, allow the food to cool completely before closing the lid (and heat up any leftovers before putting them in the box to extend their keeping power).  It seems weird to heat then cool, but have a read of this bento safety post by Just Bento.  She's fantastic and has a blog full of yummy recipes.

The only problem with this wooden box is that I don't have an elastic to fit it, so I fall back on the Japanese tradition to tie it up tightly with a colourful cloth.

Tea, bento, an orange for snack,
and chopsticks in a cute cat container.

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Check out some amazing bentos people made on What's for Lunch Wednesday.  I love browsing through the site for lunch ideas.

Bento: spicy tuna and whatever was in the fridge

This is one of those last minute, I didn't have a chance to go shopping, bento lunches.

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Here we can see spicy tuna and cucumber rolls, as well as cucumber and cheese rolls, in the top container, and for the bottom, I have cucumber salad, with a side of homemade kimchi and a bit of a soy-free chocolate bar.

Inside the red onigiri container are toasted almonds and raisins for high energy pick-me-ups.

As you can see, the little yellow divider has red pickled ginger and a little fish shaped container of sauce.  This isn't soy sauce, it's soy sub made from rice.  You can buy the empty containers from places like jlist and fill them up with whatever sauce you like.  It's perfect for lunches on the go.

Homemade Tikka Paste and Chicken Tika recipe

I am very fond of curry.  Though, I must admit, not too spicy.  But that's the great thing about homemade curry, you can make it as are-you-certain-this-is-curry-mild or as call-the-fire-department-hot as you like.  If you don't like chicken in your tika, try lamb, or shrimp.  If you don't like coconut then omit, or try a Tablespoon of Kechk powder instead.  There are so many choices, and it's hard to do wrong when it comes to curry.

Increasingly these days, there is a problems with curry.  A Lot of curry pastes sold in stores, contain soy, or nuts, or other potential allergens.  Vegans have a similar problem, as often these jar pastes will contain animal products like butter.  Thank goodness it's easy to make your own curry paste, especially if you have a food processor at home, but you can also do it by hand, just give yourself more time.

When I'm making my own curry paste, I like to put it together the day before I cook a curry, that way, the flavours blend together better and, in my opinion, make a nicer curry.  But other people like to make it up fresh each time, so it's really a matter of personal taste.  

Tikka Paste

1 super hot chile
4 cloves of garlic
half an inch of fresh ginger
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 Tbs smoked paprika
2 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbs oil
one small tin tomato paste
1 tsp ajwain (whole)
1 tsp fennel (whole)

• In a dry fry pan, toast the ajwain and fennel on medium high until they start to change colour and smell fantastic.  Remove from heat, allow to cool a bit then grind to a fine powder.
• Combine all the ingredients in a food processor or blender and blitz until well blended.  Add more oil if needed.  
• Keep in an sealed container in the fridge for a couple of weeks.

Chicken Tikka

2 to 4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1 large sweet onion
1 chile fresh or dry (optional)
1/2 inch fresh ginger
olive oil
1/2 cup tikka paste
1 can diced tomatoes
water

• Slice the chicken into 3/4 inch strips (or cubes if you like), put to one side
• Finely slice the onion, chili (optional) and ginger.  In a heavy bottom pot (my favourite is the cast iron, stove friendly dutch oven) heat a few glugs of oil and fry on medium heat, the onions, chili and ginger until onions start to turn golden.  
• Add the curry paste, give it a stir, then add the chicken.  Cook, stirring frequently, until the chicken is seared on the outside.
• Add the tomatoes and then fill the tin about 3/4 full with water, and add that.  mix well and bring to a boil.

Two choices here

1. simmer on the stove with the lid on, for about 20 minutes, string often to make certain nothing burns on the bottom.  OR...
2. Put the lid on the pot and put it in the oven, at 325 F for at least half an hour, and up to 2 hours.

• Serve with rice and optional a dab of yogurt on top.

This recipe is (heavily) modified from Jamie Oliver's book Food Revolution.  He has a nice selection of easy to make curry pastes, from super-spicy Vindaloo, to a nice everyday Korma paste.  Each of these pastes lasts one to two weeks in the fridge, and in my mind are just as good as any commercial curry paste. If you end up getting that book, I highly recommend the Vegetable Bhajis as a side dish to the chicken tikka, served with a simple salad and a bed of rice.  His Aloo Gobhi recipe is a fantastic vegetarian (omit the butter for a vegan friendly) curry.

Another source of curry recipes is 1000 Indian Recipes by Batra.  There are some fantastic recipes in this book, but I find it a bit difficult to use.  Most recipes include well over a dozen, in some cases up to 3 dozen, ingredients, and often refer you back to other recipes, that require yet other recipes... and so forth.  But for someone truly enamoured with Indian cooking, it's a fantastic reference.  The flat breads are especially yummy and even nicer when adapted to use sourdough yeast.

Affordable?  Yep.  If you have the tikka as a main, then you only need about 1 chicken breast per person, however, if you keep it as a side dish with rice and a vegi dish, then you can feed 2 or 3 people per chicken breast.

This is exceptionally yummy in bento.  Reheat leftover Tikka and pack with fresh rice.  Allow everything to cool before closing the lid.  The spices in the tikka help keep the meat fresh longer at room temp, but of course, always use your common sense if keeping meat at room temp for more than a few hours.

Radish Leaf Rice Spice (Furikake) Recipe (no soy)

In Japan, they have this amazing thing.  It's a mixture of random things, dried and put in packets or jars, that you sprinkle on top of rice.  It's called Furikake and it is exceptionally delicious.  It transforms a regular bowl of rice into something extra-ordinary.

You will find these highly addictive rice spices in just about every grocery and convenience store in Japan, and it comes in a huge assortment of flavours from seaweed, to shrimp, to desiccated egg, to my personal favourite, salted salmon.

I don't know how old the idea of Furikake is, but in the book Black Rain, a book describing the events of a family surviving Hiroshima at the end of the Second World War, the woman cooked up something very like this using an assortment of ingredients.  If I remember correctly, radish leaves were one of them.

Most people in the West don't consider radish leaves a food, many go so far as to say they are toxic, which I suspect they may be if you eat too much of it - but that's true of just about anything, including water.  In small quantities these greens are delicious and nutritious.  But using otherwise discarded veggies like radish and carrot tops as a garnish is an affordable way to add flavour to a dish.

The problem is that most commercial made Furikake is full of ingredients like soy and MSG, and other things that aren't necessary good for a person.  Thankfully it's quite easy to make at home, and by doing so you can change the ingredients to accommodate different allergies or other dietary needs (like low salt or veganism).

My recipe changes each time I make it, depending on what is in the cupboard and how I'm feeling.  I seldom make a vegan version, but if you like, there is a great vegan radish leaf rice spice recipe here.  It comes from my favourite blog, Just Bento, and my rice spice is heavily inspired by her Furikake no. 1 recipe.

Radish Leaf Rice Spice (Furikake) Recipe

A large bunch of radish leaves (about 2 cups after blanching)
1/2 cup sesame seeds
1/2 cup bonito flakes
1/4 cup dried mini sardines or shrimp
1 super-hot chili (fresh or dry) or 1/2 tsp of dry chili flakes
2 Tbs Fish sauce (or to taste)

• Chop the chili as fine as possible and put to one side.  If you like, you can finely chop the sardines/shrimp at this time. If you cannot get very-tiny sardines, you can get the dried larger version, and chop them fine.
• Wash the radish leaves really well.  Bring a large pot of water to the boil and blanch the leaves for about 3 minutes.  Strain leaves, rinse under cold water, and squeeze the leaves to remove as much moisture as possible.  Chop leaves fine.
• In a large skillet or wok, dry fry the leaves on medium heat until most of the moisture is removed.  Stirring almost constantly.
• Add the sesame seeds, bonito flakes, dry sardines/shrimp, and chili, mix well.
• Mix in the fish sauce and continue to fry and stir until things start to dry out.  
• At this stage you can cool completely and wrap into individual size bundles to freeze... or you can do what I did and dry them in the dehydrator or oven. 

Just added the fish sauce
I'm making a lot more than two cups worth today

to dry on a dehydrator, I covered half of each try with tinfoil
Each try was 1/3 turn from the last,  to encourage airflow

If you are going to dry them and keep them at room temp, then make certain they are completely dry, cool completely and add one of those 'do not eat' packets you sometimes get in food - silicon or some such in them, that absorbs moisture - I found mine in packets of seaweed.  Keeps in the freezer for about 6 months, or at room temp for about 2 months.

I usually make this recipe if I have a crop of radishes that didn't bulb up for one reason or another.  Maybe the weather was too wet, maybe worms got in at them, whatever.  I harvest them just as the first plants are starting to bolt.

Fall Fair Bento

Every year for the local Fall Fair I spend a day demonstrating fibre arts.  It's a whole day surrounded by excited people, barns full of animals, colourful exhibits, the sound of fair rides, and the smells of food stalls.

It always starts with the smell of frying onions, about 10 o'clock in the morning.  The international food stands arrive first, as most of their cooking is from scratch on site, with a few dishes made the night before at home.

Next is the smell of things frying in oil, I know the more 'traditional' - or should I say more modern - cooking has arrived.  Frozen food heated in deep oil, or sometimes fresh food heated in deep oil like my favourite smell, the doughnut stand.  He has a gooey mess of fresh batter and this antiquated machine that transforms gooey mess into fried mini doughnuts, for sale by the half dozen.  Sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar.

Then the smell of spices compete with the smell of charred meats on the BBQ.  A deep breath and I can just about feel the crunch of the grilled Bratwurst break open in my teeth, the juices running down my chin, the toasted bun sopping up the juices, and the sauerkraut....mmmm, sauerkraut on hotdog!

All these wonderful smells are pure torture for someone with food allergies and sensitivities.  There are days when I would rather have my toenails pulled out with a pair of pliers than to have to walk through a food court - especially one with good quality, freshly made food like the stalls at the Fall Fair.


The only way to tolerate this torturous tantalization is to bring a lunch just as delicious as anything that can be bought at the fair.


This is a three layer Bento, well actually a Tiffin container from India.  Bottom layer contained rice, ume, and a cute little chicken container filled with Spicy Rooster (I don't know what it's actually called, but it has a picture of a rooster on the bottle and is exceptionally spicy) sauce.  The next layer, some boiled broccoli, a cherry tomato from the garden, and chicken Kara Age.  The chicken is marinaded over night, coated in cornstarch, fried in about half an inch of oil, then marinated again.  It's exceptionally yummy!

The top layer is fruit:  Apples, grapes, and a selection of cheese.

Everything except for the fruit layer, is packed hot and allowed to cool - this way the moisture can evaporate and the lunch will keep from spoiling in hot weather.  Of course, the chicken always gets eaten first, as it is so delicious.


Affordability?  It's about $1 worth of chicken plus everything else, I would say about $2 for the entire lunch.  Maybe less if you can find some of the items on sale.  All in all, not too shabby.

Kim Bop for dinner

This is one of my favourite Korean foods.  It's a bit like Japanese Sushi roles, but it's distinctly Korean.  Just about everything in it is cooked before rolling.

Takes a lot of prep time, but well worth the effort.

Today's lunch, imitation crab, cucumbers  cheese, carrots, and chard - hmmm... all starting with a C.  that's a strange turn of events.

Because everything is cooked prior to rolling up, this makes a great bento food.  It's affordable and also a good party dish, where each person can make exactly what they want.  Allergy friendly, and a healthy balance of ingredients.

Recipe: Simple Sourdough Crackers (including a blue cheese sourdough cracker recipe)

Once you have a sourdough starter, it's very easy to have too much sourdough starter.  It is for that reason that I hunted high and low for a simple, affordable, and healthy sourdough cracker recipe.

If you don't have a sourdough starter already, you could get some from a friend, or start your own.  I keep a rye starter going in my kitchen but you can use whatever type you like.

To me, these crackers have a distinctly sour taste, which is quite pleasant  but rather different than anything you would buy in a store.

The basic cracker recipe is Vegan Friendly when made with olive oil, however the blue cheese version of this cracker is not.  If you are cooking for your vegan friend you need to leave off the butter (both steps) and reach for the olive oil instead.

Not necessary, but it really does go great with wine.

Simple Soudough Crackers

1/2 cup sourdough starter or sponge
about 1/2 cup flour plus more for dusting
2Tbs olive oil (for the vegan version) or better still melted butter (not-vegan)
pinch salt
more olive oil or butter for brushing
a bit more salt for sprinkling on top

Please note if you keep an excessively stiff starter like I do (I'm talking can stand a spoon in it one evening and it will still be exactly where you left it the next morning - kind of stiff), you may need to add 1/8th cup water to the mix.

You can start with the sourdough starter at room temp (best) or even at fridge temp (takes longer to 'age')

• Combine starter, (optional water, see note above), salt, flour and oil (or butter), to make a very stiff dough.  Kneed till smooth and elastic.
• Cover and set aside at least 1/2 an hour at room temp, although the longer the better.  I usually leave it for 2 hours at room temp before moving on to the next step.  Although over night in the fridge will also work.  I've had times when I was interrupted half way through making these, banged the remaining dough in the fridge for 3 days, then made the crackers - the result was a bit more sour than usual, but still quite yummy.
• This ageing the dough is an important step for melding the sourdough flavour and it also helps to break down elements in the wheat that can be hard to digest.
• Roll out the dough very thin on a lightly floured surface.  The thinner the more crisp the crackers will be.  Use cookie cutters or a sharp knife to cut the dough into desired shapes.  In my case I like long strips, about 1/2 an inch wide.  Be creative but not fussy.  Rustic is the name of the game.
• Place on a baking tray and brush the oil or butter on top.  Sprinkle VERY lightly with salt.
• In the oven at 350F for about 10 min.  But keep an eye on them, they could be ready in as little as 5 min if you made small thin crackers, and as long as 20 min if you made thick, large crackers.
• When done, take off the rack and cool before eating.

Sourdough Cracker Verriations on the Basic Recipe

Blue cheese

about 2 Tbs blue cheese crumbled and at room temperature

• When you get to the part where you roll out the dough, roll it out fairly thin.  Sprinkle the crumbled blue cheese on one half of the dough, and fold over the dough to make something like a sandwich - dough, blue cheese, more dough.
• Roll out the dough again until it's very thin.  Then cut into shapes, place it on the cooking tray, brush with melted butter.  Sprinkling salt is option as the cheese is quite salty.  Cook as above

cheese sprinkled on half the dough

fold the dough over
(sorry, I know the photo din't come out all that great, but you get the idea)

rolled out thin again
with the cheese sandwiched between two layers of dough

Other variations I've tried include herbs like rosemary and thyme, and toasted sesame seeds.

Although easily enjoyed on their own, these plane crackers go great with hummus.  Very impressive when served at a dinner party.  Will keep for about 4 days in an air tight container at room temp.


Affordable cooking? Oh yah!  This makes several dozen crackers for next to no cost.  I'm actually not sure how to price it out.  I normally make this as a way to use up too much sourdough starter or sponge that would otherwise go in the compost.  1/2 cup of flour, plus some more for dusting - well, I'm guessing it costs between 1 to 25 cents depending on the flour you use.  Another few pennies for salt and melted butter.  And as for the cheese, I only add that if I have a bit of blue cheese that got pushed to the back of the fridge and is far too pungent to eat on it's own.

So, I'm going to guess an average of 15 cents for the ingredients, another 50 cents to $1 for the oven.  So, about 75 cents and as high as $1.50 for about 6 to 10 dozen crackers.

These are Bento Friendly, just don't pack them next to wet food or they will go soggy.

Allergy friendly?  Mostly.  Beware of yeast and flour sensitivities; also dairy if you choose to use butter and/or cheese.

Healthy?  I think so.  Not only does the sourdough help to render the wheat more digestible and make more nourishment available to your body, you can also control the amount of salt you use.  The recipe is easily adjustable to suit your health needs.  You can even grind your own flour (if using coarse flour, let the dough rest longer before rolling it out) or include sprouted grains.

Earth Friendly: When compared to commercial made crackers that are made with dubious ingredients and shipped long distances, this is an earth friendly food.  Of course, you could go all out and grow your own grain, grind your own flour, &c.

I like to make half plane and half blue cheese and cut them different shapes so I can quickly tell which is which.