Deli Skewers

Pippy is staying home today. She has been showing signs of pretty bad allergies, but now has a sore throat and I don't want to have her walking home in the cold rain if she doesn't need to. Also, it is only a half day, so she won't be missing much.

Nonetheless, I did make up a bento before making this decision. We don't get deli often for two reasons. The biggest is expense, that stuff is expensive! The second reason is because it has a lot of salt and nitrates in it, and even though you will see what seems to be a lot of soy sauce in her lunches, that is at least controlled. You never know how much is in the deli meats. Also, it is a treat.

In the top section is some naan leftover from our dinner of chicken apple sausage the other day. I sprinkled some grape tomatoes to give it some color. On the bottom are a bunch of star shaped carrot slices and some rolled ham, turkey and provolone cheese that has been sliced and put on a skewer that fits the box perfectly. The brown things on the bottom are dried figs. She likes dried fruits normally, so I thought I would give these a try. Don't forget that they have a pit. I sliced and took them out to avoid choking or dental disaster.

Shooting Star

Okay, it isn't the best shooting star every, but you work with what you have. We had some rice in the refrigerator which makes perfect fried rice to which I added cut up snowpeas and some carrot along with the mandatory egg. The only protein in the dish is the egg, the rest is vegetable and fruit.

As you can see, the fried rice at the top is quite colorful. You don't need a lot of soy for flavor like you get at Chinese restaurants, just a bit will do. I also add mirin for some depth of flavor. On the bottom are some apples and broccoli. One apple slice is cut like a star and there are streamers of sliced snow peas and apple to make is a "shooting" star. One thing that I didn't notice was the bare spots under the apple. This is usually a bento no no, so I should be more careful. Paige thought that it was pretty though, so I guess that is all that really matters since she is the one eating it.