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 #214 - Bacon Sandwich & Peaches

I am so excited, we finally purchased a gas grill for our deck!  It's been 6 years since we sold our house in Maryland and my husband decided to leave our grill.  So sad.  We've been limping by this summer with a very inadequate charcoal grill which I was fearful would burn our deck down.  This weekend I had the entire family over for grilled beer brats.  This thing is awesome!  So happy I can now go outside to grill.  What's funny is that I never actually grill steaks; I always use a cast iron skillet so that I can get a great crust on the exterior when it sears in its' own fat.  And now I can use the side burner on the grill outside and not gunk up my kitchen cabinets with airborne grease. Thank you!!

My mother-in-law brought over a bag of garlic bread sticks last night, and I thought they would be a convenient size and shape for a sandwich.  We had leftover bacon from brunch (scrambled eggs with cheese, fried tomatoes, potatoes & mushrooms, baked beans and toast!)  which fit perfectly inside one of the bread sticks, split down the middle.

There is a little bit of some black bean and corn couscous which I picked up in the fresh section at Super Target.  It's really flavorful!

I also peeled and quartered a fresh Georgia peach (just like little Miss E.)

Bento #214 - Bacon & Colby cheese sandwich, black bean couscous and a peeled fresh peach.  Snack - Apple Carrot Crusher and Kettle chips.

11 Rainbow Leaf Chips

If you think that this picture is of a prop from Swamp Beast, you would be mistaken (a little?)  Nope, these are leaf chips, and you can make them from just about any hardy leafy veg.  I happened to have a bunch of organic rainbow chard from my CSA, and I wondered what I was going to do with it.  Let's face it - it's sort of a hard sell.  I mean sure, it's got that enticing "rainbow" right in the name, but it doesn't fool anyone for long, especially not discerning 30-something 5 year olds.  These leaf chips are crispy, salty and most importantly yummy.  Not only that, but chard packs a powerful vitamin K punch.

You'll need:

Bunch of hardy leafy greens like chard, kale or even spinach

olive oil

sea salt

cracked pepper

Parmesan cheese (opt)

Preheat the oven to 300 F.  Thoroughly wash the leaves (watch out for the sand) and pat dry with paper towels.  

Remove tough stems and tear (if needed) into large pieces and arrange on a non-stick baking sheet spritzed with a little bit of cooking spray or olive oil.

Next, lightly spritz or drizzle olive oil on the leaves.  Cover with sprinklings of fresh cracked sea salt and pepper, and cheese, if using.

Bake for about 20 minutes until crispy

and then devour.  

The chard becomes super crispy and about shatters when you take a bite.  It's got a bitter note which I really enjoy, and the saltiness which counterbalances it.  I'm dying to try this with the big bag of fresh spinach I have in the fridge.  They're ridiculously quick and easy to make, give them a try!

You'll need:

Bunch of hardy leafy greens like chard, kale or even spinach

olive oil

sea salt

cracked pepper

Parmesan cheese (opt)

-Preheat the oven to 300 F.  Thoroughly wash the leaves (watch out for the sand) and pat dry with paper towels.  Remove tough stems and tear (if needed) into large pieces and arrange on a non-stick baking sheet spritzed with a little bit of cooking spray or olive oil.

-Next, lightly spritz or drizzle olive oil on the leaves.  Cover with sprinklings of fresh cracked sea salt and pepper, and cheese, if using.

-Bake for about 20 minutes until crispy, and then devour.  

1 Bento #78 - Eggs, Cheese & Sprouts

More eggs!  E begged me for the hard cooked eggs I was eating with my salad the other night.  I always make about a dozen, so I had plenty extra for her lunch.  I decorated them with sprinkle dots for "eyes" but then ruined the whole "eye" effect with sprinkled paprika, haha!  I ended up giving everything a good dusting of paprika, it was so pretty.  Anyway, I was actually at school with her today (preschool play and then the teacher appreciation lunch I volunteered for) and wouldn't you know, she decided that today wasn't an egg day after all.  But she did eat all her sprouts, go figure.

Bento #78 - Hard boiled eggs, alfalfa sprouts, colby-jack cheese cubes on picks, tortilla scoops and craisins.