1 Bento #244 - Spring Ribbons & Flowers

First day of Spring bento!  I had some lemon pepper pappardelle noodles left over from dinner last night (sans tuna and sauce) and I tossed them with a little extra-virgin olive oil and diced sweet Italian sausage.  On top are raw sugar snap peas and a few carrot "flowers."

Fresh blackberries with leaf picks.

Root veggie chips - these are delish!!  They are from Trader Joe's and made from sweet potato, taro, batata and parsnip pieces.  Just the right amount of salt, too.

Bento #244 - Lemon pepper pappardelle noodles, sweet Italian sausage, sugar snap peas, carrots, blackberries and root chips.  Snack - Nectarine.

0 Bento #223 - Flower & Berry PB&J

I hope my readers who just enjoyed a nice Fall break had a great one!  Today we have a Lunch Punch flower PB&J surrounded by fresh blackberries.  

Accompanied by Mr. Panda and some sliced bell pepper.

Bento #223 - Organic peanut butter & strawberry jam on whole wheat, fresh blackberries, orange bell pepper and ranch dip.  Snack - Banana

3 Bento #208 - Beef Stir Fry Noodles & Veg

So we are in the middle of our third week of school!  It's a bit of an adjustment (OMG, waking up at 6ish am every morning is KILLING ME) but we are excited about what the year holds.  I volunteered to be room mom again, so I have some work cut out for me, but since I'm crazy and love all that organizational stuff (charts, calendars and to-do lists) I think I'll do okay.  Once or twice a week I let Ella get school lunch, which is amazingly healthy, for the most part.  Yesterday they had a fruit/yogurt/peanut butter plate and salad as a choice.  Love it!  Takes a little pressure off me.  

Today's lunch is delicious.  I made my Korean barbecue stir fry with carrots, bell peppers and spring onions. 

Bento #208 - Korean stir fry with noodles, organic carrots, yellow bell peppers and spring onions, frozen blackberries, and multivitamins.  Snack - Applesauce and spiced nuts.  

1 Bento #195 - Duckling Sandwiches & Berries

Whew!  I've had some technical difficulties in the last week.  Boring stuff, database corruption, blah, blah, plus a lot of work at my regular job.  All fixed now.  We are preparing to go on our big vacation!  I'll hopefully be posting pictures while I'm there, as long as I can find some free Wi-Fi.

By the way, I actually won 1st place in a cook-off this weekend with my Andouille & Cilantro Paella!  I won a $50 gift certificate!

This lunch was an adorable pair of ducklings, made from whole wheat bread, cheese and ham, with some ducky friends for company in the berries.

Bento #195 - Ham & cheddar sandwich on wheat, organic spinach, fresh blackberries and ranch dip.

0 Bento #189 - Rainbow Farfalle & Romanesco in Garlic Butter

Today we have some simple (but beautiful) all-natural rainbow farfalle which is tossed in some cauliflower, romanesco and garlic butter.  

I'm also using a new stainless steel container from Greentainer!  In fact, I will be doing a Greentainer giveaway in the next week or so.  They have some awesome and versatile lunch containers made of stainless steel that are really easy to use and care for.  I'm loving them so far!  The one I used above is a two-tier variety.

Bento #189 - Fresh frozen blackberries, organic cucumber slices, rainbow farfalle pasta, cauliflower & romanesco.

1 Bento #187 - Royal Wedding Bento

I am unapologetically enthusiastic over the royal wedding today (I draw the line at the collectibles, however.)  I did a quick bento with a [regal] nod towards the festivities, with small sausage wieners in puff pastry canapes (complete with tiaras and top hats) and a little Wills & Kate in the berries.  I was too tired to do anything any more elaborate, since I woke up four hours later to watch it all over at a friend's house - we are having canapes of our own, plus some mimosas.  Yum!

Bento #187 - Pups in blankets, organic celery sticks, and fresh blackberries.

0 Bento #185 - Turkey Omelet & Baby Bok Choy

I can't believe there is only one month of school left!  Today we have a simple bento of an omelet with a little cheese and some roasted turkey inside.  I also sauteed a bit of garlic ginger paste with some baby bok choy.  They had it at Costco, which is a first for me to see it.  I was looking for brussels sprouts, but found these instead.  

Bento #185 - Tukey & cheese omelet, baby bok choy and fresh blackberries.

7 Bento #171 - Turkey Bacon Panini and Snap Peas (Oscar Night Atlanta Gala 2011)

Coming off an exciting weekend!  I didn't have a bento for Monday because I didn't make one.  Ella spent Sunday night with her aunt and uncle who made her a yummy lunch and packed her off to school.  My husband and I attended the Oscar Night America charity gala event here in Atlanta, which was exciting.  We got all dolled up and walked a [small] red carpet.  Here's a picture of us as we were dropping E off at my SIL's house.  You have no idea how many pairs of Spanx I'm wearing.

I think all I'm missing is a corsage! It was fun sitting in the big theatre and watching the Academy Awards on a huge screen, enjoying cocktails, perusing the silent auction items and noshing at the hors d'oeuvre table (and might I add, they had a mighty tasty lemon/fennel/rosemary roasted veg tray. Delish.)

About today's bento. Sugar snap peas are back! I haven't seen them in a while. I also haven't had blackberries in some time, but I snagged some of those, as well as mango, pineapple, pears, strawberries, apples, bananas and grapes. Just call it a fruit salad. I'm going to be grilling the pineapple for tonight's dinner with teriyaki chicken.

The bread is something new [to me] from the Costco bakery. They are mini square rolls of chunky whole wheat, the perfect size for little hands (and I guess large ones too, since I packed this exact same lunch for my husband as well, sans cute accessories.)

Bento #171 - Turkey, bacon & cheese on whole wheat, Goldfish crackers, fresh blackberries, fresh sugar snap peas and Vidalia onion dressing.

5 Bento #95 - Blackberries & Sugar Snap Peas

First of all, someone needs to take me out of the running for Mother of the Year (ha!) after this morning.  First [half] day of Pre-K, right?  I'm so frazzled about this!  We left at last year's normal time to get to school on time.  Well, Cobb County decided to resume road work on the road we take to school.  Hello Mr. Flag Man and your giant work trucks blocking the road!  And every single traffic light.  Folks, we weren't two or three minutes late.  We were eleven minutes late.  ELEVEN.  Carpool was totally over and I had to walk her in myself.  Talk about embarrassing.  But E didn't even notice, she's old hat at the whole going to school thing.  She had a great day, by the way.  I hid out at my mother-in-law's house reading until it was time to pick her up.  *smacks head*

So, today's snack - again, not a bento, but a snack plate. The snap peas are among her favorites.

Bento #95 - Sugar snap peas, blackberries, vidalia onion dressing and sunflower seeds.

14 Bento #92 - Eggies & Salad

This was a simple bento lunch.  E specifically asked me for scrambled eggies with cheese, and what a great choice, they are packed with protein and good fat (as are the macadamia nuts!)

Bento #92 - Scrambled eggs with shredded cheese, salad greens, tomato-basil dressing, macadamia nuts, frozen blackberries.

10 Baked French Toast, Revisited

Last night I had the urge to bake, and since I eschew the kind of baking that calls for a lot of precise measurements, I decided to do something simple.  I had that gorgeous unsliced sourdough loaf I got from the Mennonite bakery, and since I have so much other sliced bread on hand, I hated to freeze it.  I resolved to cube it up and do the baked French toast recipe again.  I didn't really do anything differently except I added both blackberries and blueberries, but next time I do, a friend suggested I might use peaches - what a great idea!

I cannot tell you how good this smelled!

Voila!  Perfection.

Maple syrup is gooooood.

Oh my gosh!  Seriously.  The topping makes it's own caramel that melts into the top, and drizzles down when you cut into it, fresh out of the oven.  There was nothing left to do except serve up a couple slices for the fam, then pack up the rest for my husband's office.  If you were one of those people, I hope you enjoyed it!

1 Bento #89 - Grilled Cheese & Veg

Miss E asked for carrots AND cucumbers today.  I ran out of my favorite Publix White Mountain Bread (the only white bread I buy, it is so delicious) and pulled out a multigrain wheat bread round that is very thin.  I'd never grilled with it before (it really doesn't lend itself to grilling since they are already browned on both sides) but it's all we had on hand.  It looks a fright, but E really liked it with the melted Colby cheese and chopped bacon.

Bento #89 - Grilled Colby and bacon, blackberries, cucumbers, carrots and ranch.

1 Bento #80 - Mini Gyoza & Lettuce

 

Ahh, bittersweet!  This was the bento I packed for E's last school lunch of the year.  Her last day is today, but since it's a half day, no lunch.  It's a little reprisal of the first school bento I packed for her.

Bento #80 - Mini pork & leek gyoza with soy sauce on a bed of organic lettuce, tomato wedges and blackberries.

6 Baked Cinnamon, Pecan & Blackberry French Toast

I admit, I got the idea to make this from the Pioneer Woman blog.  Her pictures are amazing.  It looked so yummy, I thought it was the perfect dessert to make for my movie party with all the leftover bread trimmings I had from making party appetizers (I used a leaf-shaped cookie cutter, toasted them and served olive tapenade and bruschetta.)  I did change up the recipe a little, as I tend to do.

1 loaf of your favorite white bread, (trimmings are just fine) torn or cubed
8 eggs
2 cups milk
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup sugar
2 tbls vanilla

topping:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
2 dashes allspice
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick cold butter, cut into pieces
1 cup chopped pecans (candied are great!)
1 pint berries, sliced or whole if they are small

First, butter a large baking dish, about 9x13.  I have a large oval dish that I love, so I used that.  As an additional insurance policy, I like to lightly spray to corners/creases of the dish with cooking oil, just in case I missed anything.

Toss in all the bread and arrange fairly evenly around the dish.

In a large mixing bowl combine the eggs, milk, cream, vanilla and sugar.  Mix well.

Now, pour all the liquid over the bread in the dish.

At this point you can cover it with plastic wrap and store in the fridge until you're ready to bake it, from a couple hours to overnight.  It's a great recipe to prepare ahead of time!  You can also prepare the topping ahead of time.

For the topping, combine the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, allspice and salt, and stir with a fork.

Then, add in the cold butter pieces.  Now, of all the cooking accoutrement I own, I do not have a pastry cutter, so I have to make do with a plain fork.

Mash up the cold butter into the dry mixture until it starts looking like pebbles (or as close as you can get it with a fork, in my case.)

Now you can cover the bowl and store it in the fridge until you're ready to use it.  It's important to keep it cold until then.

When you're ready to bake, heat your oven to 375, and sprinkle the chopped pecans all over the top of the dish.

Next, place your berry of choice on top.  I had a lot of blackberries, so that's what I used.

Finally, spread the crumb topping mixture evenly over the top, and pop the whole thing in the oven.

The smells coming from your kitchen should be calling all the boys to the yard after about 45 minutes in the oven.  For a firmer, less bread pudding consistency, bake for an hour or longer, just make sure the bottom doesn't burn.

It is SOOO good.  The entire dish was gone by the end of the evening.

Serve it with generous drizzles of real maple syrup on top.  Yum!!

Peach variation:

Ingredients

Custard:

1 loaf of your favorite white bread, cubed                                                                                                    
8 eggs
2 cups milk
1 cup heavy cream or almond milk

¼ cup white sugar

½ cup brown sugar
2 tbls vanilla

15 oz can of peaches in light syrup

Topping:

½ cup all-purpose flour

½ cup packed brown sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

2 dashes allspice

½ tsp salt

1 stick cold butter, cut into pieces

1 cup chopped pecans (candied are great!), opt

Instructions:

Grease a 9x13” baking dish.  In a large mixing bowl combine the eggs, milk, cream, vanilla and sugar.  Mix well then add the peaches with juice and stir to blend.  Pour all the liquid over the  cubed bread in another large bowl and toss to combine, and transfer to the baking dish, and press evenly around.  Let stand at least 30 minutes, or cover and refrigerate overnight.

To bake, preheat oven to 375.  Prepare topping by combining all ingredients except pecans, if using, and using a fork or a pastry cutter mash up the cold butter into the dry mixture until it starts looking like pebbles.  You can make this ahead of time, but keep it cold.  Sprinkle pecans and cinnamon topping all over the top of the bread mixture, and bake for 45 minutes or longer for a firmer consistency.

3 Bento #77 - Spinach Ravioli Pinwheel

Another bento plate (you will probably be seeing more of these when school lets out.  I know, I know, it's not "bento" but you know, naming conventions and all....)

E specially requested this spinach ravioli for lunch today.  This is a versatile family favorite of ours, since it can be prepared in a variety of ways - boiled (as I did today), my so-called quick "dumpling method" which gets them a little crispy on bottom (little bit of oil in a fry pan, add ravioli and 1/2 cup water, cover and cook on high for 6-7 minutes) and you can even bread and pan fry them as appetizers.  We like the Pasta Prima brand we get at Costco.  I toss it with a fruity extra-virgin olive oil and the included cheese and spice packet, which has lots of garlic and Italian herbs.  I also like it with bruschetta.

Bento #77 - Spinach & mozzarella ravoili, sugar snap peas, marinara sauce and blackberries.