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.

Bento #35

After the gym last night, I knew I was too tired to come home and cook. I stopped at Izzo's Illegal Burrito to get a quesadilla. Of course, it was too much. Half of it makes today's lunch leftovers.

Today's lunch includes:
Quesadilla, steamed carrots, boiled egg, raisins, sesame seed wafer, and hello panda cookies.

Cashew Chicken II (Bento #34)

One of my earliest posts in this blog was the Kylie Kwong's cash chicken recipe. I've been craving that dish, so I decided to make it again for this week's bentos. It came out MUCH better this time around. I learned a few lessons the last go around and I very much like how this one came out.

Tomorrow's bento includes:
Cashew chicken with cucumbers
Carrots with dressing & lady apple
Sesame seed bars & 3 Hello Panda treats.

Bento #33: Chicken & Black Bean Rice

Sometimes, lucky accidents happen. That's the term I'm using for tonight's dinner which turns into tomorrow's bento leftovers.

In my quest to eat healthier and try new things, I purchased some black beans at the Asian food store. While searching for recipes, I found a few that mentioned mixing the black beans with jasmine rice. Here's what I did.

First, I boiled the black beans for about 2 hours, periodically adding water to ensure they were covered at all times. I also stirred them alot ot make sure nothing stuck to the pot. They cooked up very nicely. My only complaint is that I should have thrown in some onion or garlic with them to give them some flavor. The salt I threw in the pot didn't do much for them.

Then, I cooked some jasmine rice. Once done, I thre it into a large skillet with a bit of melted margarine to sort-of-but-not-really stir fry the rice. I added in the black beans and then some toasted black sesame seeds. I also added a garlic black pepper seasoning blend. All in all it was tasty enough, but needed more seasoning.

This is included into tomorrow's bento with balsamic vinaigrette chicken, mashed sweet potatoes, sliced cucumber, and sesame seed candy.

Jambalaya Recipe

Kim suggested I share my mother's Jamabalaya recipe. So here it is...

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups of rice
2 cups of water
1/2 lb of sausage, chicken, or pork
1 onion, diced
1/2 bell pepper, dice this too
1 teaspoon of table salt
sprinkle of Tony Chacere's seasoning
Drizzle of kitchen bouquet (very light just for color)

Instructions:
In a large sauce pan, brown meat, onion, and bell pepper.
Once brown, drain grease ingredients and return to sauce pan.
Add to the pan 1 1/4 cups of rice and 2 cups of water.
Bring to a boil.
When it comes to a boil, add remaining seasonings.
Let water boil almost completely down.
When water is just about gone, lower heat to simmer and cover.
Cook on a low heat for 45 minutes. At 30 minutes, uncover and stir the rice very gentle. Recover and check it in 15 minutes.

Note: On a gas stove you can lower heat and cover on the same burner. On an electric stove, change burners when lowering heat or your rice will scorch.

Bento #32

Tomorrow's lunch is tasty too! I decided to make one of my favorite comfort foods tonight: jambalaya. YUM!

Tomorrow's bento includes:
Chicken & sausage jambalaya (thank you mom for your recipe)
Steamed carrots
Hard-boiled egg, mini cornbread muffins, cubed cucumber
Almond pocky & sesame seed candy for a dessert!

It is all packed in my one and only true bento box. A clickety click one that I adore. I'm not overly fond of the pink color, but I love my bento box!

Bento #31

Today's lunch was delicious! I'm getting the hang of this bento thing I think ;)
For today's lunch, I tried something I've never made before: pizza crescent rolls. I made these using the garlic buttern Pillsbury crescent rolls found near the biscuits in the grocery store. It was the only kind of crescent roll available. I was worried the taste would be too strong because the rolls smelled heavily like garlic when I took them out of the can. However, they tasted just fine.

In this bento, we have:
Two pizza crescent rolls. The rolls were stuffed with pepperoni slices and mozzarella cheese.
A lady apple & fish-shaped hard boiled egg.
Raw carrots & cucumber. Grapes too!