Friday, October 17, 2008

Yoooooo hoooooo, Remember me?

Again, major catch up post. I will get myself organized, I promise! We've been taking a lot of shortcuts with food these last few weeks, and didn't have as much leftovers. I'm working at reorganizing myself so that I can cook more everyday.

This is two weeks worth of bentos, but with a 5 days vacation in the middle.

Sunday October 5th:

I had to bring breakfast/lunch to work, and I had leftover Cinnamon Apple-Pear Kebabs, so I used that.

So on the right you have the apple and pear pieces, top left there's a hard boiled egg that I sliced (somehow they taste better sliced ;op) and in a little cup, I have a bit of Quaker Life cereals. That was a very filling breakfast!

Monday October 6th:

I was working in Sonoma, so there was no way I could come home for lunch.

Top tier : I had Turkey meatloaf (frozen leftovers) with Zesty Spanish rice (Weight Watchers).

Lower tier: I had steamed broccoli, a sliced tomato (a member at WW gave me some veggies from her garden, OMG sooo tasty!) and 1/2 sliced apple that I coated with lime juice (it works!).

It was a fairly long day and I was afraid of getting hungry before this end so I added a soup to my bento and a yogurt for snack.

That little Lock & Lock container is perfect for soup, leak proof, it holds about 1/2 cup!

My husband had a similar lunch that day:

I added a pack of carrots to his box and his faithful Mini Babybel light cheese. I also sent him off with a soup:

The soup is a leftover from the previous night, the Spicy Black Bean Soup found in Best Eat, the latest Weight Watchers cookbook. It is DELICIOUS!

The rest of the week, I didn't make any Bento. My husband took Thursday, Friday and Monday off, so we took the week easy.

Tuesday October 14th:

I was subbing again, here in town. I had a "custy curse attack so I played around with my food a little.

Top tier (shown at the bottom of the picture): I had left over steamed veggies from the night before, I added to that steamed shrimps (with Mirin in the water, try it, it's worth it!) under the whole thing there's a bed of lettuce to make it look more full. That box is a little big, so I cheated.

Lower tier (shown on top of the picture): I had leftover couscous, which I put in the smaller tier of a different bento box (cool huh?) and I added baby carrots around it. I used heart and star cut outs that I had made in a Nori sheet.

The whole thing is awfully simple, but I like the look of it. It also tasted very "fresh".

Dan isn't a big fan of seafood, so I had to come up with something else:

On the left: He has steamed broccoli, a clementine all segmented out, baby carrots and his trusty Mini Babybel Cheese (I think he might be getting sick of that one. I'll have to think of something else).

On the right: he has couscous and falafel. We bought those falafel at Costco and they are very tasty! We ate a few and froze the rest of them in packs of 4. Bento ready!

Wednesday I worked morning only, no need of Bento.

Today 10-17-08:

I'm not working today, but I'm planning on a shopping expedition. Since I didn't know when I was going to start, I made a bento for myself and for my husband. I had leftovers, so I got 2 bentos made, pictures taken and everything in 9 minutes. Am I a pro or what?

I was looking at my box collection, wondering which box I hadn't used in a while, so I picked this one:

Top left: I have couscous (just plain ol' couscous) and lentils.

I had leftovers steamed lentils (TJ) that had been in the fridge just a little too long, so I decided to cook them last night. I sauteed onions, added curry powder, broth and the lentils, boiled for a few minutes, et voila. Delicious!

Top right: I had leftover roasted chicken, so I shredded some in there. The container has some store bought hummus. I know, I'm getting lazy, it's been a weird few weeks!

Bottom: I have cut cucumber and red bell pepper, and leftover carrots that were sauteed with a little garlic oil, whole cumin seeds and honey.


My husband has the same exact lunch (plus the Mini Babybel light cheese) :

He does have a little more of everything. He's 6'2", he needs more calories than I do!

So that's my Bento making of the last 2 weeks !

Happy Bento everybody!