I currently visit a forum all about bentos. The women their make really cute bentos for their kids. I thought to myself, "It would be cool to have a Halloween bento tomorrow." Unfortunately, there was nothing to be found in the house to make such a bento. So, I have "regular" food for tomorrow.
Tomorrow's bento includes:
BBQ ribs with bones cut out to fit box
Pasta with green beans, carrots,a nd peas
Cucumber with french dressing
Pears & raisins
Chocolate (yum!)
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
Weekends aren't much of a bento-fest for me. I don't make bentos to eat on the weekends normally. However, I do tend to prepare things for my weekday bentos over the weekend. I had a great bento prep weekend so thought I'd share.
The first thing I did this weekend is start a large purge in my house. I've have too much "stuff" that is just useless. Much of it I have been given over the years by people who were trying to help me out when I first moved into my home. Now that I'm more established, I don't use many of these things anymore. This weekend, I packed 5 boxes and 9 garbage bags of "stuff" to bring to charity. And there is still more to go through.
One big purge was a kitchen cabinet where I keep various cooking and food storage paraphernalia. Here is a great pic of my cabinet now organized and ready for use! Notice the lovely Lock 'n Lock's on the lower right hand side. Don't they look so happy together?
Next came the freezer purge. Since starting bento, I've been keeping a very neat refrigerator section but the freezer hadn't been cleaned out in I don't remember when. So, I cleaned house and went to my local grocery store that had a huge meat sale this weekend (lots of buy one, get one free deals!). Now, I have a happy freezer as well as a happy cabinet. :)
In this happy freezer you will see lots of sealed and bagged meats ready to be defrosted and included in a bento. Whoo hoo, I'm so ready for this week! I love a neat freezer!
The last thing I have to share is a quick bagel panini (love that new pan!) I made with some of the chicken purchased this weekend. The chicken breasts were baked for 20 minutes on a preheated 350 degree oven. Before baking, each chicken breast was rubbed with 1 teaspoon of Colavita extra virgin olive oil and sprinkled with salt and a garlic/black pepper seasoning blend. The sandwich is one mini bagel, slices of baked chicken breast, and a piece of muenster cheese with a mix of dijon mustard / mayo for taste. YUM!
Lunch for 10/19/07:
Today, I used the new Clickety Clack bento box that I purchased. I originially purchased the set for some of the items in the set, not really for this bento box. It is a little too pink for me, but loads of fun use an actual bento box!
Today's bento includes:
Baked chicken with lime/basil dressing marinade
Sweet potatoes
Raw cucumber and carrots with dressing.
Grapes with ocean animals pick
2 Chocolate Pocky & 2 sesame candies for dessert
Lunch for 10/18/07:
The rest of the shredded BBQ pork tenderloin
Sweet potatoes, small container of cucumber
Steamed carrot chips & green beans
Dressing for cucumbers
Chocolate graham crackers
For a quick lunch this morning, I defrosted the other half other pork tenderloin, madea week or so ago. I then put it into a saucepan with a bit of BBQ sauce and made some shredded BBQ pork. Then, I tried to figure out what to do with it. As I was toasting my half of a mini bagel for breakfast, an idea came to me. I put some of the shredded pork on the bottom half of the bagel with cheese on top. A few minutes in the toaster oven and voila, a weird sandwich I don't know what to call.
Other items found in this bento include:
Steamed yam - Okay, we'll see how this works out for me. This is a new experience this time. I purchased some frozen yam patties at my local produce stand. I was told this was just straight yam. I think it is, but I steamed it for way to long. It ended up being a viscous (sp?) mass. Not too sweet though. I think I'm going to have to try this again and steam for less time.
Egg - Below the steamed yam is an odd looking thing to the reader. I've been reading Lunch in a Box and love the egg molds. But I try not to eat the yolk of eggs for cholesterol reasons. I eat EggBeaters instead. So in an attempt to combine Biggie's info on egg molds and quickie egg tamagoki (sp?), I cooked the Egg Beaters until cooked but still slightly moist and then pushed it all into the mold. You can't really tell I used the fish mold, but that's okay. The main goal is that it kept it all into a neat little package. I'll have to try this again soon.
Lastly, I have some salad to go with it all. Hopefully this all tastes okay together.
