Roast Pork Tenderloin (Bento #46)

Take a look at this; it will absolutely make you salivate! This roast pork tenderloin recipe was so delicious an expletive escaped my lips every time I took a bite. It was uber-easy too. I highly recommend trying it. All you need is about 6 basic spices, an oven, and the tenderloin.
This vision of beauty became....


part of today's bento! Woohoo. This is gonna be tasty. This bento includes:
Roast pork tenderloin slices
Carrots & green beans, steamed lightly
Orange with blueberries
Chocolate covered pretzels

This post brought to you buy...Butternut Squash (Bento #43)

Now, doesn't this look just yummy?

Before you ask, the yellowy orange stuff is not sweet potato. It is butternut squash. You might wonder what made me pick up a squash. First, I've never eaten any type of squash before this moment. In the interest of trying new foods, squash has been on my "Foods to Try" list, albeit on the low end. Then, Pioneer Woman posted a new recipe in her recent Thanksgiving dish series: butternut squash puree. Now, I'm not one for food the consistency of yogurt or pudding; so, puree isn't my thing. However, Pioneer Woman made butternut squash sound so tantalizing (and the romance story was hilarious) that I decided to move it to the top of the list when I found it at the produce stand yesterday.

I brought my one lovely yet smallish butternut squash home, sat myself down, and searched Recipezaar for something good to eat. I decided to look for a recipe where you would roast the squash in the oven. I thought this might be a good way to start. I found a recipe that looked absolutely tasty and tried out Herb-Roasted Butternut Squash and Sausages. This was the perfect dish to try out the squash. The squash seemed to take on a little of the sausage's flavor, but I could still taste the sweetness of this new food. I highly recommend the recipe!

I decided while I was at it I'd try a new green bean recipe too. Steamed green beans are getting a bit old lately. I have them alot in my bentos. I tried a recipe where after steaming you toss the green beans in a mixture of heated sesame oil, soy sauce, and sesame seeds. The verdict is still out on this for me. I'm not sure how much my taste buds like the soy sauce/sesame oil mixture. It seems a bit strong in flavor to me.

Tomorrow's bento includes:
Roasted sausage & butternut squash
Sesame seed green beans (recipe here)
Fish-shaped boiled egg
Pocky & Hello Panda treats for dessert

More Pomegranate with a Little Steak Mixed In (Bento #42)

I'm so excited about this post and its accompanying bento, I'm nearly giddy! Tonight for dinner, I decided to try out the Pomegranate and Pine Nut Pilaf Recipe I found while searching for things to do with the original pomegranate I had purchased. I used the last of that pomegranate for the chicken recipe in the last post. However, this pilaf recipe called to my taste buds and required the purchase of another pomegranate. So here was tonight's supper:



The leftovers have become tomorrow's bento. Not only do I have one smokin' rice pilaf (that stuff is TASTY!!), but this bento also came out really well I think. Wheee! I think I'm finally getting the hang of this somewhat.

Tomorrow's bento includes:
Leftover sirloin steak with pomegranate pilaf
Steamed carrots and green beans
1/2 a hard boiled egg
1/2 a blueberry muffin

The blueberry muffin and the hard boiled egg I cut in half to fit into the bento. What did I do with the other half you ask? Well, the muffin I was forced to eat. The egg went to two very grateful dogs that live in my house and clean my kitchen floors.

I hope this post made you hungry!! It certainly made me hungry again. I think I need a blueberry muffin.

The Word is Pomegranate (Bento #38)

When I started this bento adventure 2 months ago, I made myselfa promise. That in order to keep this from getting boring quick with my limited culinary palette, I would either find a new food to eat or a new recipe to eat at least 2x per month. November has started out as a great month for this. Last week was black beans and discovering I liked them.

Tonight at the grocery store, I found pomegranates. I've never eaten one before; however, I've seen them mentioned recently on the Adventures in Bentomaking blog (see link to left). After finding a great Youtube video that shows how to easily peel a pomegranate, I peeled and tried my first one today. This is a deliciously tangy and sweet fruit. I can't believe I've missed out on it for so long.

Tomorrow's bento includes:
2 mini hamburgers with steamed carrots & green beans
Cucumber slices, tangerine, and pomegranate seeds.
The stop of the bento box has ketchup packets for the hamburger and 4 Pocky for dessert!
(I had to take out the Hello Panda treats. It was too much for the top of the box!

Lots to Report (Bentos #36 & #37)

Whew! I have lots to report today for bento enthusiasts. I have been a bit underweather (again!) with a cold/asthma problems. So, not much bento making this weekend. I'm feeling better now and have some great bentos to share. These are for tomorrow (lunch & dinner).

First, I know these bentos are a bit orange/brown in color. But that's just the way things worked out.

Contents of Bento #36:
Pineapple Chicken over steamed sweet potatoes
Sweet potato/black bean "burritos" using soy wrappers (Thank you Brosti!)
Steamed carrots & green beans
Boiled egg

The pineapple chicken and burritos are new recipes from www.recipezaar.com. They are absolutly delicious recipes!! Here are links in the event you want to try one:
Pineapple Chicken
Sweet Potato & Black Bean Burritos

This is one ugly bento. But I ran out of things I wanted to put in it. So there is lots of space and nothing really all that beautiful. But it will be tasty and edible. That's all I'm looking for at the moment.

Contents of this bento:

Tamale with melted mozzarella cheese

Steamed carrots & green beans

2 soy wrapped burritos: sweet potato & black bean

Chocoalte candy

One last thing to share: a bento bag I purchased from a woman on a Delphi Forum. Whoohoo! This thing is awesome. Not only is it stylish, but it holds everything very compactly and nothing shifts around. I have all my bento boxes in there: morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack. I also have room to add in utensils.

Two Bentos for 1 Post (#28 & #29)

Since I go to the gym tomorrow, I have two bentos to share. One for lunch & one for dinner.

Bento #28:
Bake pork chop with honey dijon dressing for flavoring
Pineapple
Mini cornbread muffins (container has pat of margarine for muffins)

Bento (#29)
Hamburger with ketchup packet
Sweet potatoes
Tops of 2 mini muffins
Steamed carrots & green beans
Fruit salad: peaches, grapes, pineapple, plum, & pear

Chicken with Carrots & Green Beans (#22)

Bento for 10/14/07:
Sauteed chicken pieces with steamed carrots and green beans.

Chicken with Carrots & Green Beans
Originally uploaded by bluefrogj

Okay, I am working on a new format for posts. Future posts will list the bento with picture first. Below that, I will list anything I have to say beyond the bento. And today's post will have some info for you, my dear but few readers.

First, the title of this post has a number after it. I've decided to keep a tally of the number of bentos I make. This particular one is #22.

The bento above is actually leftovers from the dinner below.

This was a yummy dinner. The only thing is that I'm still having a little trouble getting my paninis right. But it has been a fun process. Instead of making a sandwich for the bento, I just place the leftover cutup chicken in the bento.

Today, I met a friend at the gym. Afterwards, we had lunch at P. F. Chang's. I have noodles and fried rice leftover. You'll shall see these as a side item in bentos over the next few days.

Finally, I got a note from the post office that the package I've been waiting for has arrived from Japan. Wheeee! I purchased a few bento supplies online, as well as my first ever true bento box. I'm not sure how much I will use it, but I was ready to have 1 bento box that was from Japan.

That's all for now. More to come later I'm sure :)

Some Assembly Required

I've been intrigued for some time now by the concept of a rolled sandwich using tortillas or flat bread. Today for lunch, I tried one and enjoyed it so much that I decided to bring one for lunch tomorrow. I didn't preassemble my sandwich. So I brought all the ingredients in the Fit 'n Fresh box I purchased at the same time I purchased my Lock 'n Locks. This is it's maiden lunch voyage.

In the bottom tier we have all the stuff to make our sandwich: a rolled piece of Flat Out honey whole wheat bread, some deli smoked ham, a container of Harry & David's Champagne Honey mustard (yum!), carrots, cucumber, and baby spinach too. A small piece of Dove chocolate is included for dessert.

Now for the upper tier. That Fit 'n Fresh has two large sized upper trays that I was trying to figure out what to do with. This is going to be one awesome lunch, but boy did I use alot of muffin cups in this one! I need some regular size silicone muffin cups. I hate the thought of using so many in one lunch!

The upper tier includes steamed green beans, homemade applesauce with dried cranberries and golden raisins, pistachios, and a small amount of bbq chips. A word about the applesauce: This stuff is delicious and super easy! I got the recipe for cinammon applesauce from the October 2007 issue of Everyday Cooking. I added the raisins and cranberries myself. This stuff is tasty tasty. Try it if you're looking for something fun. I used 2 gala apples and it only took about 7 minutes in the microwave to cook the apples. Fun!

Lovely Leftovers

Whew! After this weekend, I have bentos for the
next day and a half of meals. Wheee. Leftovers are great. So here goes.

Bento #1:
Leftover chicken from lunch with a friend.
Leftover boiled Dungeness crabmeat (yum!) from family get together.
Steamed green beans made to go with the bento. Carrots, grapes, and a bit of chocolate in the aluminum foil. The little blue cup holds dressing for the carrots.

Bento #2:

Leftoever boiled Dungeness crabmeat.

Stirfried noodles with greenbeans and carrots made to go with this bento.

Watermelon.

I added a small packet of aluminum foil with a bit of chocolate after I added the picture.

There is a third bento that looks just like this with boiled shrimp substituted for the crabmeat.

The next day and a half are going to be YUMMY!