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Monday, February 28, 2011

Not Ready For This Week

I have a huge exam that I have been spending every waking hour studying for tomorrow. As a result of that and the stress of losing a tenant I haven't been sleeping. This is not a good mix. Basically, this is my excuse for completely phoning it in this morning. I do intend to use up the bulk of my freezer stash and refridgerator stash this week though. I have bits of different things here and there and it is time to finish them up.
Today I thawed a pig in a blanket, cooked some frozen glazed sweet potatoes, fried up some potstickers (which will be seen a bit) and made a purple cabbage salad. With this she had rice and soy sauce as she likes it.

Friday, February 18, 2011

Called It In Today

This was a planned lazy day. I am so exhausted by Friday that I just can't think of anything to do. Still, it came out pretty nice without a tremendous amount of trying. There are two dinosaur cucumber sandwiches filled with baby cucumbers and a mayo and paprika mixture. I colored the outside of the bread a little with food safe markers to try to get some of the detail out. I am not sure I succeeded. All around them are "trees and shrubs" that are carrot sticks and cucumber sliced on a rotating bias. In one of the cups is some Smart Food popcorn which she loves (and yes, I realize it is not better than chips) and some frozen mango in the other container.

This picture was taken in my laundry room where we do get a little natural light. Besides the blah background, I like the way the picture turned out. Very crisp and pretty. I also used the Lock and Lock container which is my go to for sandwiches.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Couscous and Tofu Patties

Today I made three bentos, one for Pippy, one for my eldest daughter and one for me. Since Cat and I have horrible school schedules today, I thought that making a lunch would be a good idea.
I am trying something a little different and that is couscous. This is one of those foods that really will not do well with the slippery chopsticks in the boxes, so they will be using forks for this one.
The tofu patties were from the Just Bento Cookbook, as before except this time I made them as per directions but without the edamame because I couldn't find ours. Also made the night before was some potato salad.  To fill out the kids' boxes I used some frozen peas, but it is not likely that they will eat them.
Pippy liked her bento yesterday for the most part, but the ham roll ups from the cookbook were a no go. On the other hand, her friend chomped them down, so it wasn't that it was a bad recipe.


Yep, I don't have any filler, so my box will probably be a mess by lunch time. I just can't find anything in the house that I both like and will not get mushy or something before lunch. I despise peas.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

A Just Bento Bento

I took out my trusty The Just Bento Cookbook and made ham roll-ups. So far she is liking all of the recipes I have used with the small complaint that the chicken yesterday was cut too big. That is easy enough to fix. I made the roll-ups the night before as was suggested. I was a little worried that the spreadable cream cheese that I used wouldn't firm up enough, but it was easy enough to cut through with a serrated knife. The tamagoyaki is how I normally make it, not with the recipe provided for this lunch. I also made the spinach that surrounds it all with a little bit of soy. There is also rice in the other box, but I didn't decorate it like it was suggested in the book because I couldn't find the carrot I had used and didn't want to cut up another.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Chicken Kara-age

Here is another bento courtesy of the Just Bento Cookbook. On the top is the chicken kara-age, which I think tastes delicious, but will have to wait on Pippy for the final verdict, laid upon a leaf of green oak lettuce with a flower container of cooked spinach with a little butter and sprinkled with sesame seeds. On the bottom is rice decorated with pickled ginger and some kiwi which is currently her favorite fruit. I had planned on more, but although my husband heard my alarm go off at 5, I slept through it and stayed in bed until 6! Love that man, but geesh.
The soboro yesterday was a hit, and she ate the whole thing. They won't let her sit with her friends at lunch anymore because now everyone sits with their homeroom because things get loud otherwise, the horror! Because of this, her friends were not at hand to help her eat it.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Soboro!

Last night I made a delicious turkey soboro for today's bento. This morning I cooked the carrots as the Just Bento cookbook did, except I cut the carrots into hearts rather than thin sticks. I was dubious about the eggs because when you "over cook" scrambled eggs they tend to exude liquid, but it worked out fine. I also used the Just Bento recipe, a dash of salt and a little sugar. The green beans were called soboro in the book, but were easily made as they were simply chopped up and simmered in salted water. All of this was layered with rice that I had in the freezer. I do wish I had a slightly smaller one tier bento, as I had to nearly double the serving for the turkey and used two eggs instead of one. Pippy self regulates pretty well though, so I will either get a lot back or she will share with her friends. I sliced up some kiwi for her in the container that came with the ecolunchbox.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Twin Bentos

Since she didn't try the beansprout stir fry the other day, I made it again for today's lunch. When I asked her about it she said it was good. There was also her favorite standby of potstickers and of course rice. I also added some pickled radish for a nice splash of color. The twin part? I made another just like it for my eldest daughter. I also added a shot of her new lamb bento box that we got from Ohaybento.


Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Lemon-Butter Shrimp

Today's new dish from The Just Bento Cookbook is lemon butter shrimp. My shrimp were precooked, so I didn't have to cook it as long as the recipe called for, but it should be good anyway. The bean sprout and bell pepper stir fry from the last bento was not touched, but she was sick so I am going to try that one again soon. Also featured in this bento is a fried rice with egg, carrot sticks (because I forgot to plan a vegetable) and red seedless grapes and an eggroll from last night. This was all put in her favorite bunny bento.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Hummus

I have learned that Pippy has an affinity for hummus, so today she is getting a simple meal of hummus with pita chips and grapes. I decided to not take a picture of it because it really is simple.
She did eat some of her bento from yesterday and said that it was good, though I don't know if she touched the vegetables at all.
I really should make a bento for myself as I have a very long day ahead of me, but I can't think of anything to bring. I am sure that I will regret that decision when lunch time rolls around.

Monday, February 7, 2011

Hearts

Today's bento has a heart theme. The container which holds the pickles (both a cabbage one from the The Just Bento Cookbook and the prepackaged burdock root pickle) and some pretty white and purply red ones on the rice. I heated up some pre made meatballs that I had in the freezer and made a sprout and red bell pepper stir fry that I also got from Just Bento. The tofu patties that I made from that cookbook were a success, so if these two go over well I will probably do a nice review for the book when I get a chance. In with the meatballs are some cut up red grapes. The meatballs are a little sweet, so it should work nicely together.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

These are a Few of Her Favorite Things

Today I picked up some leftovers that she liked and added that to the omelet roll. She loved the tofu nuggets, so those were re-fried to get them crispy again. The omelet is made with two eggs, some soy and mirin. I blanched the broccoli because it looks so pretty that way and added the last of the burdock root salad that she said she liked. There is also rice and some soy sauce which is not shown.