O is for Octopus and Okra Bento Lunch

I’m a strong believer of the old adage “You learn something new every day”. Today I learned that not all Okra are the same! I also learned that if you’re looking for Okra for tomorrow’s lunch, don’t do it the night before!

I knew that day O was going to be Octo-Dogs. They’re super cute, and easy, and the kids love them! Even hotdog hating Madison. The side O dish however I was not so sure on. After seeing Okra posted on other blogs I decided to give it a try. After all, I’d seen it a million times at the grocery store… Ya… Three grocery stores later and you think I can find any “normal” Okra?

Nope.

All I could find was this GIGANTIC cucumber looking thing. Turns out it’s Chinese Okra… Still not sure what the “other” Okra is, but I guess it doesn’t matter now! Chinese Okra is a good 6 inches in length and not at all what I was looking for, but as a habitual procrastinator, I’ve learned to roll with the punches! Yes… I’m fully aware that I’m that mom that will be up until 2am paper macheing volcanoes when my kids hit elementary school. So, off I went with my huge Okra, home to figure out how the hell I was going to cook this thing!

I took the easy road and pan fried the Okra with some virgin coconut oil, pepper, garlic, and smoked paprika. Turned out great… I guess… If you like a mushy quasi tasteless zucchini/cucumber type veggie. Luckily for me, my kids aren’t terribly picky eaters and I knew that with the swift punch of a flower cutter the kids would gobble it up. Ok… So that was actually just a lucky guess, but the kids did gobble it up and claimed to loved it! I don’t know that I’ll be rushing out to pick up more of this strange vegetable anytime soon, but come the day that the only thing in season at the grocery store is Chinese Okra I’ll be good to go!

This lunch consists of Okra and corn, a cookie, octo-dogs, yogurt covered raisins, crackers, and cheese. In keeping with the theme they also had O shaped cereal for breakfast!

Have you had Chinese Okra before? If so, how did you cook it?

Things I used to make this lunch:

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