3 Bento #246 - Quesadilla, Pico de Gallo & Lime-Cilantro Crema

Sunday evening I made my delicious Baja shrimp tacos (and if you haven't tried them yet, you don't know what you are missing!)  For E's lunch I packed a small cheese quesadilla on a toasted corn tortilla, along with a small handful of chips.  Yummy and also vegetarian, and gluten-free.

Accompanying it is lime-cilantro crema, fresh cilantro and homemade pico de gallo, (roma tomatoes, white onion, cilantro, garlic, jalapeno, lime juice and salt.)  Dessert is raspberries!

All packed up.

Bento #246 - Corn cheese quesadilla and chips, raspberries, cilantro, lime-cilantro crema and pico de gallo.  Snack - Clementine and yogurt stars.

0 Bento #218 - PB&J Rolls & Bell Pepper

Enter the Bon Ami Giveaway!

The PB&J roll that I made in the post the other day made it into this yummy bento lunch.  

Bento #218 - PB&J roll, yellow bell pepper, dip, fresh raspberries & an octopus mozzarella stick. Snack - Apple carrot Crusher and banana muffin.

0 Bento #203 - Hello Kitty Onigiri & Thai Chicken Peanut Salad

My version of Thai peanut chicken salad was soooo good!  I made enough for lunches for all three of us.  I picked up some Amylu Caramelized Onion Chicken Burgers for the first time, and they are delicious!  They are all-natural, gluten-free and excellent.  I cubed a couple of patties and sauteed them in a bit of canola oil, along with some ginger-garlic paste, fish sauce, toasted sesame oil and a small handful of halved roasted peanuts.  In about 7 minutes I had a savory-sweet salad topping that everyone loved.  I had initially planned to do lettuce wraps, but I realized that all my lettuce was small-leaf variety.  This would be awesome on Boston/Bibb/Butter lettuce.

I also made a Hello Kitty onigiri of plain, cooked rice.  She is decorated with a few decorative sprinkles to liven up her appearance.  I also froze a container of vanilla yogurt, in lieu of the ice cream they allow the kids to have on Fridays.

Bento #203 - Thai chicken peanut salad over fresh artisan lettuce, rice onigiri, and frozen vanilla yogurt.  Snack - organic baby carrots, dip, multi-vitamins, and fresh raspberries.

0 Bento #201 - Steak Salad & Hello Kitty

Craaaaazy busy day yesterday!  I suffered mild sunburn all in the name of toxic shower curtains.  My local chapter of The Mommies Network was contacted by the Dr. Oz show and asked a bunch of us to come down with our old shower curtain liners and film a segment about their toxicity.  We filmed from 10am to 12:30pm!  I have several speaking lines, though who knows if my bit will ever make it on TV.  It was fun, and the show should air soon, during the next season which starts September 12th.

Goodness, my bento boxes are looking really stuffed lately!  I guess it's that snack.  This lunch consists of sliced steak and a little bit of mac n' cheese leftover from dinner and a whole lotta Hello Kitty.  The panda holds dip, and the little chickie holds two iron vitamins.  I finally found some without aspartame!!  Bluebonnet Rainforest Vitamins.

Bento #201 - Sliced steak, artisan lettuce, ranch, mac n' cheese, iron multi vitamin, and slushy applesauce. Snack: raspberries & granola bite.

8 Bento #139 - Veggie Rice Salad

The other night I made a batch of jasmine rice for dinner...and then realized I didn't have a major ingredient I needed (don't you hate that?)  I pulled it out of the fridge last night and thought I could make something good with it, and all these wonderful fresh veggies I have.  Maybe a rice salad?  I have to admit, I don't think I've ever tasted a rice salad, let alone made one, but when I get a food idea in my head, I just have to try it.  I started by finely dicing carrots, celery, asparagus, julienned some cucumber and chiffonade some baby spinach.

I tossed it with the rice, along with some freshly cracked black pepper and sea salt, a few dried cranberries, and tossed it all with a pinch of Pecorino Romano cheese, and about 1 tsp of salad cream.  It tasted wonderful!  It's mild enough for a kid, but if I was making it for myself, I'd add some really good brined black olives, diced tomatoes and a hard boiled egg or two and a splash of cider vinegar to give it more body and depth.  The raw veg gives it this fresh, crisp texture, and the cranberries are sweet and give it a nice chewy bite.

Bento #139 - Jasmine rice salad with organic carrots, organic baby spinach, celery, asparagus, cucumbers, and cranberries, mini meat balls and fresh raspberries.

0 Bento #132 - Mac and Italian Chicken

Ahh, mac n' cheese, a perennial kid favorite.  I've quartered an Aidells Italian chicken meatball for some extra protein (on drumstick skewers!) as well as the edamame, which also has great protein.  Fresh frozen raspberries for dessert, and that's what I call lunch!

By the way, that orange cup?  It's from a pack of multi-colored egg cups (aka, egg "chairs") I picked up at Tuesday Morning a few weeks ago by Zak! Designs.  It's a really neat size and shape.

Bento #132 - Organic mac n' cheese, Italian chicken meatball, organic edamame, and frozen raspberries.

5 Bento #106 - Chicken Cilantro Wontons

These are the yummy chicken cilantro wontons from Trader Joe's, we love them in soups, with noodles or lightly pan-steamed and eaten all by themselves.  Today we have some on a bed of lettuce!

Bento #106 - Pan-steamed chicken cilantro wontons, artisan lettuce, goldfish crackers, and fresh frozen raspberries.

5 Bento #105 - Grilled "Sushi" Rolls

First of all, I received my new Cuisinart Griddler right before we left for the weekend and only now have broken it out of the box.  It's awesome!  I don't know why I didn't have one of these before.  Oh wait, yes I do - space!  I still don't know where I'm going to store it.

So anyway, I was racking my brain trying to decide what to make for lunch today, looked in my fridge and saw kosher beef franks, cheese and ... flour tortillas?  How about pigs in a blanket...hot dog cigars...I've got it - SUSHI!  By the way, you want to know where my cheese cutout leftovers go?  Into things like this.  It's just a large flour tortilla, cut in half, two beef franks and some cheese, rolled up and grilled panini-style until melty.  Simple.  I'm sure E will love the idea of sushi.  I mean, the girl eats raw sashimi and nori like a pro!

Bento #105 - Hot dog & cheese "sushi" rolls, yogurt star biscuits, frozen raspberries, carrots and snap peas.

3 Bento #104 - Spinach & Artichoke Deviled Eggs

Whew!  I literally just woke up again.  After carpool this morning I had to go right back to bed.  I have either a cold or a really bad allergy episode, and I just couldn't hold my eyes open another second.  Three days of this has exhausted me, which is sad since we have big weekend ahead of us!

Today we have deviled eggs, and I made them very quickly with some really good spinach & artichoke dip I had in the fridge, and nothing else - it had all the flavor I wanted without needing to add anything extra. I topped each with a sprinkle of paprika and a cheese flower slice.

Bento #104 - Spinach & artichoke deviled eggs, colby cheese flowers, baby carrots and fresh lettuce, fresh raspberries and granola bites (not shown.)

6 Bento #103 - Samosas & Granola Bites

A few nights ago I made a snack of tandoori chicken samosas (have you figured out by now I love stuffed foods?!) and E begged a bite.  She fell in love with them (which surprised me a little because they are slightly spicy) and asked me to pack some in a bento for her, and that is what we have today.  I actually made them early this morning, then wrapped them lightly in a paper towel, then in foil to help keep them warm until lunchtime.  I also made a batch of granola bites with apricots and dates, and those are in here too.  If you haven't tried the granola, you do not know what you are missing!  There are no veggies in this bento because I brought class snack today which was an enormous veggie tray, (cucumber flowers, grape tomatoes, baby carrots, cauliflower and broccoli) so she'll definitely be getting her veggies.

Bento #103 - Tandoori chicken samosas, fresh raspberries, granola bites, rice crackers and marble cheese.

3 Bento #86 - Eggy Flowers

When I cut out the cucumber flowers, I keep the outer cutouts because it seems like such a waste to throw them away, and since they are also in flower shapes, they are cute to boot!  The eggs are sprinkled with a tiny bit of sea salt, paprika and cumin.

Bento #86 - Hardboiled eggs, carrots, cucumbers, raspberries and ranch dip (not pictured.)

1 Bento #85 - Octopus Party

So right about now my husband and I are driving a few hours north to enjoy the anniversary present I gave him back in April.  We will be taking a 70 mile country tour in a Lamborghini Gallardo, a Porsche 911 Turbo and a Nissan GTR a BMW M3.  He will be driving, and I will be doing my best to keep my mouth shut.  ;)  We're going to try to hit a winery tour beforehand, because the drive isn't until 4pm.  I'll make sure the alcohol consumption is kept to the bare minimum.  Don't drink and drive, kids! (and especially not in cars that cost in the six-figure range!)

But for now I give you the bento I made yesterday for Miss E.  An octopi party!  Is there anything better than an underwater shindig?  I think not.  I used the big veggie cutters for the first time, and the cucumber flowers turned out beautifully!  But all E wanted to know was where the octopus eyes were.  I'll get right on that.

Bento #85 - Kosher beef octopi hot dogs, mozzarella octopi, "sea" cucumber flowers, Goldfish crackers, fresh raspberries and ranch dip.

0 Bento #42 - Ham & Cheese

I tried making this look as much like a smiley face as possible, though I think it looks like an old man!  She ate everything but the goldfish.  My strange child declared she doesn't like them anymore, which makes her the only child in America that doesn't!

Bento #42 - Ham & cheese sandwich, crinkle carrots, raspberries, and goldfish crackers.

0 Bento #26 - Spinach Ravioli

Bento #26 - Spinach ravioli with herb parm, raspberries and broccoli florets

0 Bento #5 - First Day of School! Gyoza

Bento #5 - Ella's first packed school lunch, chicken gyoza (potstickers), fresh raspberries, celery & dip, and ABC cookies (E-L-L-A)

School started today! This was Miss E's requested lunch.

0 Bento #2 - Animal Rollup

Bento #2 - Okay, I fully admit it - I have no idea what kind of "animal" this might be, but Ella liked it. It consists of bacon mac n'cheese (leftover from The Nook the other day) with sliced chicken nuggets rolled in a small flour tortilla. Raspberries and sliced chicken nuggets for ears, nose and tail.




I know this isn't REAL bento, but it will be more so once she starts school next week and I start packing it in her lunch box ;)

A few days ago I took Ella to the Dollar Tree, and then to Ikea to buy a bunch of bento supplies - cookie cutters, neat cups, pretty toothpicks...fun!