Pumpkin and yogurt corn muffins
Classic buttermilk corn muffins

Bento contents:

3 medium sized Buttermilk Corn Muffins, 450 cal
1 serving Make Your Own Vegetable Soup Concentrate, 50 cal
Mache or lamb’s lettuce as background/garnish
Total calories (approx): 510 (how calories are calculated)

Time needed: 25-30 minutes to decorate the muffins (muffins are pre-made and frozen)

Type: Not Japanese, theme bento, vegetarian

This is a very simple, all-make-ahead bento. It consists of a vegetable-rich spicy vegetarian (vegan really) chili with kidney beans, plus healthy carbs in the form of homemade muffins. The basic pattern can be varied almost infinitely by changing the chili part and the muffin part. Here I have used non-vegan pumpkin yogurt muffins, but you could very easily make this a vegan combo by selecting a vegan muffin. And you could just as easily make this an omnivore’s feast by adding some lean ground meat to the chili.