Bento #49

It's been a year, but I'm back! FinallyFINALLY stopped and took a photo, haha. :P Penne pasta with mushroom-y tomato sauce and parmesan. Carrots, orange, and strawberry. Mmm...

I'll do my best to keep up with this. I've actually missed it! I have been bentoing, but I've (obviously) been extra terrible with updates. Reward to me - two weeks of posts at least 3x per week = new bento item of my choice...so, I have to keep up with it now! XD

I love this little bento box - it's a Floream bento box, and has awesome little (removeable!) compartments. And, it's microwaveable. Perfect, since you can just pop out whichever compartment you want warmed. :D

Bento #44 - Josh-made bento.

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

Bento #42 - MORE leftovers.

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.

Bento #41 - Fruit and leftovers.

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!

Bento #37 - Rotini with Meat Sauce

This should probably be titled Rotini with Meat Sauce + Encore. :3

I actually made it last night, but was too tired to upload my picture at the time. It was actually my own fault this time - I stayed up til midnight, playing Final Fantasy XI. I hadn't played in a while, so it was nice. :P

So, hubby's lunch roundup: Fish sticks, crinkle cut fries. Animal cuppies of ketchup. Wavy cut cooked carrots. Rotini with meat sauce, leftover from dinner, that dad made. And the last three perogies. >_< We go through them so fast, because they're sooo good, and better than any other option around the house these days. Goodbye, perogies. :( lol

Bento #29 - Bowtie Pesto Pasta

Back to work time for hubby tomorrow, so time for more bento!

Top tier has baby carrots, red grapes, and a couple sprigs of lightly steamed broccoli. Bottom tier has bowtie pasta with sundried tomato pesto.


Side dish - you can actually see my baking now! @_@ A few tiny peanut butter cookies, and some mini corn muffins.

Bento #15 and #16 - Picnic Bentos

Hubby and I took Kaia to the park today. It's late September, and it's absolutely gorgeous outside - yay global warming? Seriously bizarre. A few days ago, it felt like it was going to snow, and now it's shorts weather again. Not that I'm complaining, it was so nice to spend time in the sun again!

Top bento is hubby's. Mini burgers with a few hot pepper rings on top. Bowtie pasta with sundried tomato pesto, with a little parmesan on top. Concord grapes and kiwifruit on the right side, with a little dolphin food pick and Hello Kitty containers of ketchup.

I got my eBay package in, can you tell? ^_^ Lots of cute food picks, Hello Kitty condiment containers, cute soy sauce bottles, an apple-print Putifresh kinchaku, and this:


Grape Putifresh bento box! Top tier of bowtie pasta with sundried tomato pesto and a little parmesan. Bottom tier of "banana sushi", with kiwifruit and a little penguin food pick.


This is it closed. Gotta love the Engrish.


Kaia, eating her snacks. She was good and stayed on the blanket while she was eating her snacks, but then she decided she was full (or bored) and attacked my bento box (by then it was closed, at least). Then, she decided she was going to attack the camera:


And then? She took off on the grass, grabbing dry leaves. She tossed most of them, but every once in a while, she'd find one she decided was edible, apparently, and tried to eat it...

Was a fun afternoon, though. ^_^

Bento #12, 13, 14 - Pasta with Pesto

Bentos for myself and hubby, for when we get home from work, and a snack bento for my break at work. ^__^

Top: Hubby's bento. Two small pieces of fried chicken (unhealthy, I know, but dad gave it to me and I'd feel guilty wasting it), tricolored fusili with sundried tomato pesto and chopped fresh tomatoes from the garden. Sidedish with fruit salad - kiwi, and the last of the blueberries and strawberries. Time to buy more...


Above, bento for me: tricolored fusili with sundried tomato pesto, and top tier of kiwi and sugar snap peas.


Snack bento for me at work: Last of my sugar snap peas (edible, but don't look so great anymore...), cucumber slices, and kiwi and strawberries on the other side of the divider.


My snack bento box closed. It's a 450mL Usahana bento. Perfect size snack box, and perfect size for my little one. She's already claimed it as her own...if I leave it out in the open, she lugs it around with her.

Looks like my eBay package of new bento supplies isn't making it here this week, so I should see it next week.