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.

1 Bento #161 - Dim Sum

Enter the AllThingsForSale bento giveaway here!

I haven't had a lot of bento boxes to post in the last few days, mainly because E has been out of school with her typical wintertime cold/asthma/ear infections/fever (naturally they go hand-in-hand with one another.)  Yesterday's lunch was yummy dim sum from Trader Joe's.  Some pan-steamed shui mei pork and chicken cilantro wontons with some ponzu dipping sauce I made.  Oh, and I found this tray (one of two new ones) at Target in the $1 bins!  It's got a really cute robot/space design.

Bento #161 - Pork shui mei, chicken cilantro wontons, ponzu sauce, red grapes and lettuce.

4 Bento #158 - Spinach Ravioli & Clementine

We have one of E's favourite lunches - spinach ravioli, on a bed of spring mix lettuce.  The cute kitty container holds some herb Parmesan cheese she can sprinkle on the ravioli if she wants.  Today she'll be getting extra treats during morning centers, because I'm doing a mini rice cake snowman activity with the kids, which they will be able to decorate using cream cheese, dried fruit, Cheerios and sunflower seeds.  Yum!

Bento #158 - Spinach ravioli, organic spring mix lettuce and organic clementine.

3 Thai Lettuce Cups

It's been a while since I've posted a recipe, but I've been doing a lot of new recipes lately for my no carb/no sugar diet and last night I made the most amazing Thai-inspired beef.  I was going to do chili, but my husband wanted something different.  I had a bunch of cilantro that needed to be used, and the ingredients popped into my head from there.  There is nothing about it that screams "diet."  For me, this recipe makes 4 servings, so two go with my husband for lunch, and the other two make two meals for me.

Please forgive the messy bowl.

1 lb ground beef (I use 90/10 grass fed beef)
5 cloves minced garlic
1.5 tsp of grated ginger (more or less to taste...I like more, and I get a jar of ginger from TJ's and keep it in my fridge)
1 tbs soy sauce
1 bunch chopped fresh cilantro
1 tbs fresh chopped basil (or I used two cubes of frozen Dorot basil.)
red pepper flakes to taste
salt and pepper to taste

In a dry pan over medium-high flame, brown the ground beef with some salt and pepper.  After it's all browned, add the garlic.

Sautee the beef in the garlic, and also add the ginger and red pepper flakes, and stir well so that they can cook a little and release all those delicious flavors.  Add the soy sauce and cook until no liquid remains.  Add the cilantro and basil towards the end, cook until they are just wilted.  Taste test and adjust salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with lettuce cups like Boston lettuce or the beautiful ruffly purple and green Petit Oak, which is what I used, and some fresh lime wedges for that bright citrus flavor that pairs so well with those ingredients.

The cool crunch of the lettuce is the perfect pairing with this flavorful beef.  Yum!!

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.

2 Organic Lettuce!

I was so excited the other evening when my friend brought me some delicious lettuce from her organic garden!  I just had to share a picture of these gorgeous leaves.