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.

4 Bento #200! First Day of Kindergarten Flower PB&J

Aaaand 200!  I asked Miss E what she wanted for her first day of Kindergarten lunch, and she was very specific.  She wanted PB&J, carrots, broccoli (which I don't have, so she settled for celery), dip, and an Aussie apple. This year parents are sending snacks every day, rather than depending on a class snack.  It works for me because I can control exactly what goes in her belly and make sure it's healthy.  She asked for a granola bite and a slushy applesauce (frozen applesauce which is slushy by the time lunch rolls around.)  Your wish is my command!

Bento #200 - Organic peanut butter and organic strawberry jam on 15 grain bread, organic carrots and organic celery, ranch dip, homemade granola bite, frozen apple sauce and an Aussie apple (not shown.)

So, what are you guys planning for your kiddos for the first day of school?

4 Bento #123 - Chicken Sandwich & Cucumber Flowers

First of all, my wonderful husband just installed a new kitchen light fixture for me with four 50-watt halogen bulbs, so I finally have much needed brighter lighting in there!  However, I now need to play around with the picture-taking a bit so things don't look crazy washed out.

Second, I have something awful - a phenomenon known as "Pine Mouth".  Sounds very strange, but apparently quite harmless unless you're the one suffering from it.  Everything I put in my mouth tastes bitter and metallic!  I started Googling for possible causes of such a terrible symptom, and after checking off liver disease and diabetes, discovered that pine nuts, yes, beloved pignolias, one of the star ingredients in the pesto I made the other evening, can cause a bitter taste for up to two months!  Anyway, I'm taking my half-used bag of pine nuts back to TJ's and getting my money back.  I really hope this is a short-lived disruption of my sense of taste.  I thought I was going... err...nuts while making tomato sauce last night.  Have you ever heard of  this?

As for the lunch today, we went out to eat yesterday and E had one chicken tender left, so I made a sandwich of it on a toasted bun.  I seriously cannot stand to waste food.  And yes, that is my granola bite I bought from the bake sale yesterday. ;)

Bento #123 - Mini chicken sandwiches, organic banana chips, tango lettuce, cucumber flowers, homemade spinach and onion dip and a granola bite.

3 Sweet Potato & Maple Pecan Bread Pudding

Well, that sounds like an unlikely concoction, doesn't it?  I challenged myself to come up with a recipe that showcased the wonderful sweet potatoes harvested from the organic garden at E's school.  I volunteered to make a dish that people can sample made with produce from the garden at the Fall Festival today.  I tell you what, I think it turned out wonderfully!  It is definitely a keeper recipe, and it's very simple to make.

You'll need:
1 loaf cubed French or Challa bread (about 6 cups)
2 cups vanilla almond milk (or use heavy cream)
3 eggs
2 cups cooked and mashed sweet potatoes (I always salt them to taste while mashing.)
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup dried cranberries
3/4 cup chopped pecans
3/4 cup maple syrup

First, these are the sweet potatoes in the raw, during trimming.

And here's E helping me wrap them in aluminum foil for baking.

Okay, for the bread pudding recipe, preheat the oven to 375.  In one large bowl toss the bread cubes with the almond milk until everything is coated and moistened and set aside for about 30-60 minutes (long enough to make a pot of tea and do the next bits.)

In another mixing bowl, beat the eggs and then add the sweet potato, brown sugar, spices, vanilla, and salt.

Mix well.  Try to smooth as many of the lumps of potato out as you can.  It really helps if the sweet potato is at room temp when you begin.

Now, add the cranberries and fold into the sweet potato mixture.

Add the cubed bread to the large bowl and fold together until all the cubes are coated.  I must admit, I tried pouring the batter over the bread cubes already in the baking dish...not so easy to mix it well.  Make sure you use the large bowl.  Then you can put the entire mixture into your greased baking dish (I used cooking spray, but you can also happily use butter) and even out.

Top with handfuls of chopped pecans....

Now at this point you can cover and refrigerate and bake the next day if you want, like my Baked French Toast recipe.  When you're ready to bake, pop the dish into your 375 degree oven for 40-50 minutes.  It should still be slightly creamy in the middle and the top slightly crunchy.  If you like it firmer, continue baking for another 10-15 mins.  While it's still warm, drizzle maple syrup generously (or honey!) all over the top, and let stand for at least 30 minutes.

Voila!  It's sweet and moist, and you get a nice chewiness from the cranberries, and a satisfying crunch from the pecans.

YUM.

I was also busy yesterday afternoon packaging my wooonderful Granola Bites for the bake sale.  The recipe is found here.  I did one batch of dates & cranberry with orange and yellow ribbons...

 ...and another of dates and apricot with green and brown ribbons.

Took forever, but I thought the effect was quite pretty. =)

If you tried any of these goodies at the Fall Festival today, please tell me how you liked it!  Any other favorites you had, or any new recipes you are planning on trying soon?  Do tell!  If you are a new visitor to Bentobloggy, please click the Follow button in the upper left corner of this blog, and you can also find me on Facebook here.  Thanks bunches!

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.

5 Granola Bars

Ladies and gentlemen, these might be not only the best granola bars you've ever had, but also the easiest!  Bonus, they are pretty darn healthy as granola bars go.  They are miraculously both crispy and chewy at the same time.

You'll need:

1.5 cups rolled oats
1.5 cups Special K Berry cereal (or something like it, even Rice Krispies, or just use all oats)
3/4 cup sunflower seeds
2/3 cup slivered almonds (or other nut)
2 tbls whole flaxseed (opt)
1 cup chopped dried mango and craisins (or whatever dried fruit you like!)
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup peanut butter (I always use no-added sugar, so if you use PB with added sugar, you might want to cut back on the brown sugar a bit.)
1/2 cup honey
4 tbls butter
1 tbls vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Roughly chop the dried fruit

On a lipped dry cookie sheet combine all the oats, seeds, and nuts (except cereal.)

Toast for about 12 minutes, stirring every 3 minutes.  Keep an eye on it so it doesn't burn.

Meanwhile, prep a small square or rectangle dish, about 11x13 or 9x9 for thicker bars.  Line it with wax or parchment paper, and lightly spray with cooking oil.

After about 12 minutes it'll be toasty brown, but make sure you don't take it too far because it will continue to brown on the sheet pan once you take it out of the oven, so give it a stir once or twice after you take it out too.

At this point you can put everything into a large mixing bowl with the dry cereal and fruit, and toss gently together.

In a non-stick saucepan combine the sugar, butter, vanilla, honey, salt and peanut butter until it just comes to a simmer.

Take it off the heat, and pour the sauce over the dry mixture.

Mix everything really well until everything is coated - if it's not, it will fall apart later.

Now, turn the bowl over into the square dish and distribute the mixture as evenly as you can with the spatula. Then, take another sheet of parchment paper and press down very hard all over (like Rice Krispie treats) so it is very compact.  Make sure the edges are as even and straight as possible.

Now here's the hard part...you have to wait at least 3-4 hours for it to cool completely.  It may even take longer.  But, if you don't wait, it will not have had enough time to "glue" together, and it will fall apart, and you don't want that!  Also, do not even think about putting this in the fridge to help it along.  I did that once.  It tasted amazing, but it fell completely apart.  Let it cool at room temp.

Are they cool yet?  Good!  Gently turn the granola out onto a large cutting surface.

Gently peel back the paper

Nice!

Take your longest, sharpest knife and cut carefully, but firmly straight down (don't saw.)

Now you can either cut them in half for long bars, or in thirds for small bars, or even in one-bite sized pieces.  I went the small bar route.

I wrapped all the remaining bars in individual parchment wrappers.  They'll last about 2 weeks or longer I'd guess at room temp, or you could certainly freeze the extra and take them out when needed.

Seriously folks, these are so good!