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Yes, I am alive. I actually HAVE been making bentos fairly regularly, but just haven't had time to take and post pictures lately. Anyone want a toddler? :P
In this bento for hubby - main layer, leftovers! Buttered cooked carrots, stuffing, turkey. Fruit layer - kiwifruit, blueberries, blackberries. Under the lid - Welch's fruit snacks.
I'll try to keep up with this again, I've missed the bloggy-ness. >_<
I also have a new Floream bento box en route for me, hurray! The dividers look awesome, so I'm totally looking forward to it!
I had no idea what to make him for lunch. I had two small tortillas leftover. Solution! Random wraps! There is cheddar cheese, turkey breast deli meat, lettuce mix, and Miracle Whip in them, for the curious. Fruit layer is mango and kiwifruit. Monkeypick for company!
I know, meh, but it's healthy! :P
Yay, finally using my new little Winnie the Pooh bento box. ^__^
A simple tossed salad with French dressing is hiding in my blue bento box, and cucumber slices, cheese cubes and blackberries are in the other. Healthy, and simple - simple is good, considering I threw this together just before having to head out the door (I'm leaving now!).
Bye! :P
...so it's late and I don't feel like cooking, ok?! Haha, no meat in this one - it's already 10:30, and I'm not staying up much longer, so it'll have to do. :P
Top tier of mango and blackberries, with a little green monkey food pick for company. Bottom tier of banana sushi sprinked with raisins, and a tiny bit of cubed cheese...needed to get SOME protein in there somehow! ^^;
I blame hubby - he told me not to cook the chicken I had thawed for dinner today, so there was no deliberate leftovers for bento. At least it's healthy?
On a totally not-bento-related note - my daughter is setting out to give me snow white hair before I hit 30 years of age, I swear! Today, I heard her giggling her "I'm up to no good!" laugh, so I turn around...and she's standing on the coffee table! x_x
Yesterday, she pulled her little activity table out of her room, took the top off...and climbed onto it and sat there. Then, she tried standing on it, and I took her off and hid it from her. She was very thrilled with me, as you can guess. ("DUMB! DUMB!" she says. She has a knack for picking up bad words!)
18 month old kid, free to good home. Haha, anyone want a teething toddler? :P (Seriously, she has -7- teeth coming in at once...no wonder she's so cranky!)
That's right, hubby put together his own bento this time around, for the first time - in his new bento box.
He said it looks like vomit and fruit, lol - it's leftover Hamburger Helper, with some blackberries and kiwifruit in the other tier. He asked me if he had to peel kiwifruit, and sighed when I told him yes, you reallyreally should, unless you want to eat furry fruit! He ended up halfass peeling it and cutting it in half - but he made his own bento! I'm impressed nonetheless. I think he really wanted to use his new box, but he also wanted his leftovers, so he made the two work. Hopefully it doesn't leak! This'll be a good test. ^^;
I really love this thing! It's a good size for him - 780mL, I think?, and nice and solid without being heavy. I'm glad I splurged and bought the darn thing. I had been putting it off for a long while - shipping on men's size bento boxes sucks! - but hurray, hubby finally has his own proper bento box! ^__^
It comes with chopsticks in the lid, but he'll never use them. I'll probably pick up Pocky, and stick some in there instead. :P
And yes, we're well again, so I'll be back on the bento train! :D
Hubby and I both came down with whatever stomach bug our daughter had. He had to call in sick on Friday, I've had to call in for both today and tomorrow, as I know I won't be well enough by then to function.
Hubby's previous bento is still sitting in the fridge. He says he's scared to eat it. I don't blame him.
So, no bentos for a few days, until we're up and eating again. Bleh.
So I had some skinless, boneless chicken to use. My old standby is parmesan + italian seasoning, but I decided to try something else.
That's right - chicken, meet panko. I added some seasoning salt, pepper, parsley and oregano. Mixed in a tiny bit of oil. Wet the chicken, roll it in panko mix of doom. Pat on more, so it's nice and crunchified. Bake at 350F til cooked!
I was pretty happy with the way it looks, and hubby said it tasted good, too - he requested this piece make it to his lunch, and so, it did. I didn't try it, myself, as I wasn't in a meat mood. I'm probably going to bake another piece or two tomorrow, though - I want to try it now! :P
I also made bread today. The house still smells good! I love homemade bread. Mmm. Anyway, I turned it into weirdo rolls - 3 balls together - but then realized that I need to buy another muffin pan. Normally, I'd toss them into muffin cups, but that wasn't an option, so they ended up on cookie sheets. They didn't hold together as well as I'd like, but hey, they still taste good!
A little jasmine rice is hiding under the chicken, and cucumber is keeping some leftover meatballs at bay. I know, not particularly colorful, but hey - it'll taste good! ^__^
Yay for leftovers? Hey, at least I'm making bentos again. :P
Last of the cheesy pasta, some perogies with butter, and homemade meatballs in sauce. Green container with salt and pepper mix.
The perogies are frozen, not homemade like my last round a few months back...so they aren't nearly as good, but at least they're perogies!
Meatballs...yes, they look pretty ick, but Josh was happy with them. It's the first time I've ever made meatballs, so I'm happy that they turned out ok. I just kind of threw the sauce together with random things I had kickin' around. Soy sauce, alas, was not one of them. He gave them a 7/10, and said they'd be 8/10 if there was soy sauce in the sauce. Not bad, for a first attempt. (He's a harsh critic, though not a particularly picky one - only steak and "very VERY good pizza" are worthy of a 10, for the record. He's not picky in that he'll eat most foods...but he's harsh, in that next to nothing makes it past an 8.5 or so.)
The meatballs - ground beef, 1 egg, salt and pepper, minced garlic.
The sauce - water, brown sugar, flour, orange marmalade, vinegar, and a TINY bit each of ketchup, BBQ sauce and teriyaki sauce. Oh, and a dab of oyster sauce, too. Next time, there'll be soy sauce in there. :P
I formed the meatballs, and put them in a baking dish, covered with foil, in the oven at 325F for about 20 minutes. Then, I took them out, poured the sauce over them, slapped the foil back on, and cooked them for another 15-20 minutes or so. Voila, easy peasy saucy meatballs! (I drained as much grease as possible out before I added the sauce - NEVER AGAIN will I be cheap and buy medium ground beef. Ick! Greasy to the extreme!) The sauce was just the right consistency once it came out, so I was really happy with that, too - not too thin, not too thick. Yay! Considering I never tasted them, and am not a meat eater, I'm always somewhat thrilled when a meat dish I make from scratch turns out even reasonably well. ^_^;
I need to pick up more fruit and veggies. Hubby was not keen on the raw carrots I had in his last one...in fact, he didn't eat them. He'll eat cooked, though...so you'll probably be seeing some soon.
Mmm, fruit. This is the last of the strawberries and kiwifruit, sadly. Maybe not so sadly - yes, they're colorful and yummy, but maybe you're sick of looking at them by now! Hubby likes them, though, as do I - I was munching as I was preparing. ^_^;
The other halfish of this bento is made up of leftover pasta with cheese from dinner. I lined it with plastic wrap, as I don't want to risk my favorite bento box getting tomato-stained! Sure, it's dark blue, but I'm not risking it period! :3
Not pictured, due to meh factor - two small pieces of cheese pizza, and a vanilla pudding cup. I'm not a pudding fan, but my aunt gave it to Kaia, and I'm not feeding it to her! She's crazy enough from fruit juice and blueberries, so the last thing she needs is pudding. Hubby gets it instead. :P
Speaking of Kaia, she has several teeth cutting at once right now - one tooth right beside her middle left, and 3 molars, poor kid. At least once that's done, I'll be able to start using her bento box for her lunches? She loves it, but has never used it - she carries it around, stuffs her snacks in it, eats them right away, and gives it back when she gets bored. She'll be 18 months old already on the 17th of April. Time flies!
Looks familiar, ne? This is part of hubby's lunch for tomorrow - strawberries, a kiwifruit, cubed cheese, baby carrots, and some dip. The rest of said lunch consists of a tuna sandwich, and two huge sugar cookies. (Not pictured, obviously. They just aren't photoworthy at all!)
I've ordered a few bento goodies from evilBay, to help get me back into the bento-in' life - fish and car egg molds, a Winnie the Pooh bento box, and a bento box for Josh! Yay! I can actually make him properly set-up bentos soon! The lock&lock container I have been using works ok, but doesn't allow for any real variation in setup, since it's so deep. The new one is two layers, so it'll be shallow enough that I can do more with it, but still have enough food in it for him. ^__^
I need to pick up some cherry tomatoes, and then I'll be trying a yummy-looking pasta recipe for lunch! Mmmm...pasta goodness.
Also, starting tomorrow, I'm officially back on my quasi-diet. I don't calorie count or anything; I just portion control, eat only until satisfied, not full, and aim to eat only healthy foods, and making bentos regularly will definitely help with that! The big thing for me is to cut out pop - I'm a total Pepsi addict. I'll manage, though...I think. ^^; Wish me luck!
Oh my goodness...I'm alive! Sorta. :P Jiffy bento I threw together for lunch yesterday - strawberry and kiwi, diced. Sliced cucumber, and some marble cheese cubes. Exciting, hmm? At least I actually put something together again.
(Yes, Adam - I updated sometime this year! :P)
Trying to get back into the swing of bento-ing again...wish me luck!
