Bento #68

I woke up and wanted to cook something, because I've been eating frozen dinners at work for a while. I've just been so tired, and I hate it.

My mom gave me a bag of chicken strips - she had found a whole bunch of frozen breaded chicken on sale, so she stocked up.
I decided to make easy chicken tonkatsu with them. Since I've never made tonkatsu before, I had no sauce in the house. I used this recipe minus the allspice, because I don't have any of that either.

I made a bento for my cousin as well - he got hired at the same office as me a few weeks ago, and we're working the same shift tonight.



We each get:
Rice
Chicken tonkatsu (2 chicken strips with sauce)
Deviled egg
Carrot sticks
Edamame

I had some leftover rice, and I made 2 more chicken stirips than what I needed, so I threw a bit of food together for my husband to eat later. Instead of just plain rice though, I gave him bonito flavoured onigiri. I had already decided to make a deviled egg for him, because he loves them.

Bento #67

Today I had ...
2 onigiri with furikake (plum and salmon)
deviled egg
marinated mushrooms
coleslaw with mandarin orange sesame dressing
carrots

smaller today, but delicious :D

Bento #66

I'm working the late shift at work this week - 3pm to 11pm!
My bentos will be a little larger this week, because they are for dinner instead of lunch.



Today's Bento is

Chicken karaage (I cooked it a little too long, so please excuse the burnt bits - but the chicken was still juicy and delicious!)
Gomae (spinach salad with sesame sauce)
Onigiri with plum furikake
Coleslaw mix with mandarin orange sesame dressing
Tamagoyaki
Carrots and snow peas

The chicken and spinach were from the Just Bento Cookbook. I had to make the sesame sauce from scratch, following the recipe in the book - and even then I had to improvise. I really need to invest in a mortar and pestle.

2xBento

Bento #64



Chow mein with snow peas
Cheesy Spinach (from Kawaii Bento Boxes Cookbook)
Hot Dog Octopi and Crabs with Dijon mustard (underneath in a blue container)
Deviled egg

This was from Monday - I threw it together in the morning before I left for work.
The Chow mein sauce was just chicken stock, oyster sauce, soy sauce and a bit of corn starch to thicken it.

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Bento #65



This one is another Ramen bento.
There is a layer of noodles lightly dressed with sesame oil (to prevent them from sticking, and to add flavour)
Then Frozen Corn, Frozen Peas, half a hard boiled egg (sliced) and two mini smoked sausages cut into fish and an octopus. Topped off with green onion and a dash of shichimi tōgarashi
The orange container has dashi granules in it and the bunny has soy sauce, to make the broth.

This is for today - I threw it together this morning. I'm working the late shift at work this week and next week, so I will have time most mornings to make my lunch.

oops!

I totally forgot to take a photo of today's bento, and I don't have a camera with me now ...

I used my usual 2-tier blue URARA dragonfly bento box

Bottom Tier is:
3 onigiri (egg furikake, veggie furikake and a 'sushi rice' one topped with black sesame seeds)
a hot dog cut into fish shapes

Top Tier is:
3 tuna patties (recipe below)
Corn
Cheesy Spinach (from the kawaii bento box cookbook)


Mini Tuna Patties:
(makes 6 or 7)

1 can tuna drained
1 tbsp breadcrumbs
1/2 tsp dijon mustard
1/2 tsp hot sauce
1 tbsp and 1 tsp mayo
1 tsp parsley
salt & pepper to taste

mix all ingredients well. Mold patties with your hands, pressing firmly to keep the tuna from falling apart. Place on parchment paper.
Heat up about 1tsp olive oil in a frying pan, cook patties until golden brown on both sides.

2 x Bento

Bento #62



This one was leftover sloppy joes made with ground turkey.
Served with slider flatbread rounds, green onion, and shredded cheese
For veggies we have celery and carrot sticks
And 2 chocolate covered macadamia nuts for a treat.

Sloppy Joe Recipe:
1lb ground turkey
1/4 c green pepper, diced
1/4 c onion, diced
1/2 c. ketchup
1 tbsp yellow mustard
a few dashes Worcestershire sauce
Spices to taste (I used chili powder, cumin, cinnamon, garlic powder, onion powder, pepper and a dash of salt)

Brown meat, breaking it up as you cook it. Drain. Add onion and green pepper and cook until just soft.
While meat is cooking, combine ketchup, mustard, Worcestershire sauce and spices. Add about 1/4 c water.
Coat the meat with the sauce (add more water if necessary), and simmer to reduce the sauce.

Serve on your favourite bread or buns (we used whole grain sunflower & flax bread when we had it for dinner) with toppings of your choice!

A lot of the recipes I found for sloppy joes called for brown sugar, and little to no spice. I didn't have any brown sugar on hand, so I skipped it, and added some of my favourite spices. This recipe had a nice slight sweet edge (ketchup already has sugar in it, and cinnamon is sweet), and just a touch of spice.

If you've never tried cinnamon in a tomato sauce, I highly recommend it. It adds such a rich flavour to the sauce. It works really well with meat sauces, but I often have it with just plain sauce. You only need a dash.

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Bento #63



Sorry, this photo is a bit blurry, I was in a rush that morning.
We have 3 round onigiri (l to r: Salmon Furikake, Plain (lightly salted), Umeboshi Furikake)
1 hotdog cut into 2 octopi and 2 crabs (black sesame seeds for the octopus eyes)
Mustard in the little blue container
Deviled Egg
2 apple bunnies

yum!

I haven't made onigiri in so long, and I forgot just how delicious they are - even just the plain ones!
I picked up some more furikake today: Veggie, Bonito and Egg.

I've never actually had an umeboshi ... I will admit that even though I'm all for trying new things, a pickled plum makes me hesitate. I like the umeboshi furikake though. I'm sure if the opportunity presents itself, I will try one someday.

Bento Backlog!!

I haven't been as on-top of this as I wanted, but ... I'm still doing it!

First off, The Mister's co-worker was asking him to find out how I make miso soup at home. I thought I'd share ...

Let's start with the supplies:



Hon-Dashi granules
White Miso
Extra firm tofu (optional, not pictured)
Green onion (optional, not pictured)

Make Dashi stock as per instructions - 1tsp to 3cups water, bring just to a boil.
Add as much or as little Miso paste as you want and mix well. Reduce heat and keep warm.
Cut tofu into small pieces and finely chop the green onion - place into a bowl.
Pour dashi/miso mix over the tofu and green onion.
Ta-da!

Anyways ... on to the bentos!

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Bento #58



This is leftovers from one night:

Egg noodles
Veggie stir fry
Tofu in oyster sauce
Mini oatmeal muffin
Chocolate coins

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Bento #59



Egg noodles
Wontons
Wonton soup mix (in the blue strawberry)
Mini Bok Choy with sesame oil
Mini smokies cut into various shapes.

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Bento #60



Omurice (mushroom rice wrapped in egg), topped with HP sauce
Snow peas
Carrots
Hot dog octopus and fish (under the octopus)
Corn

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Bento #61



More leftovers - from dinner tonight!

Egg noodles with sesame oil and soya sauce
Sesame tofu (tofu fried crispy with sesame oil, soya sauce and sesame seeds)
Edamame
Miso Soup ball (just add water!)
Carrot sticks
Apple bunny
Cheese
Taro mochi

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Phew!

Bento #57

huh ... apparently flickr is down right now.
*edit* I spoke too soon - huzzah!

Anyways - I was planning on doing this as a deconstructed taco, but I really didn't have the time.
So:
Whole wheat tortilla filled with a mix of refried beans and ground turkey, lettuce, tomatoes sour cream and salsa.
Bottom tier is pretty simple - corn, carrots and snow peas.

The Mister and I had a 'date night' tonight.
Went to Wendy's and then saw "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo"
Wow, I am SO glad I knew at least a little bit of what to expect. That was one intense movie.
(also, I am a cheap date - fast food and half price movie tickets - oh yeah!)

oops!

Furnace stopped working, so I ended up spending most of the evening on the couch huddled up under blankets while The Mister called his out-of-town friend who's a heater repair guy to figure out if it was an easy fix or a big fix.
Thankfully it was easy(ish).
Only drawback is I had just finished making and setting out dinner when we had noticed, and our house (being 120 years old) doesn't have much insulation. So it got pretty darn cold - and so did dinner! (thankfully it was only tacos)
Now I am sore (I have a bit of arthritis from coming off of some medication) and it is my beditme.
I'm going to try and throw something together tomorrow morning (I was planning on leftovers anyways), and grab my camera on the way out the door.

Bento #56

Here we go!



Chicken Teriyaki meatballs
Corn Salad
Carrots
Snow Peas
Deviled Egg
Lemon Spinach Couscous
Chocolate Coin

The couscous is from a box mix. I was a bit pressed for time, because I was being much too lazy again, and I have to work early tomorrow. It's still a healthy one though - no unpronounceable ingredients >_<
The Mister just gets plain corn, because he absolutely loves corn and he's not a fan of sauces and spices. He does like the corn salad, but I figured he'd appreciate the plain corn much more.
The deviled egg is a bit too creamy - I used only a tiny bit of mayo, but I went overboard with the dijon.
The chocolate coin is tucked down beside the corn for the purpose of the photo - I had to use flash, and it was too bright. It was packed right on top of the corn.

.

I'm trying to be good -
I've planned out this week's lunches and dinners!
Pardon my messy writing - it's awkward writing with a grease pencil, and I'm left-handed. I need to hunt down some wet-erase markers.



I'm off Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, but I'm still going to make bento boxes for The Mister on at least Wednesday and Thursday, so I'll make the same food for my own lunches those days. The Mister normally goes out with co-workers on Friday for lunch.

Resolution?

I feel absolutely terrible.
I have been neglecting this poor blog, and neglecting my bento cupboard.
These last few months have not been fun.

I'm off the medication that was causing me to gain weight, but part of the withdrawal from that medication is joint pain, so I've found it difficult to spend a lot of time on my feet. I've also been sick a few times (because my immune system is compromised due to other medication), so I've been sleeping a lot.
This means my lunches have been from the freezer (still trying to choose healthy ones), or leftovers thrown haphazardly into a tupperware container ...

This needs to stop.

Tomorrow is a potluck lunch at work (for which I am making Japanese style potato salad from JustBento.
Then I am going to suck it up and start back up with my bento lunches.

I really do miss opening up my bento boxes at lunch time - just seeing how pretty they look, the variety of food and flavours, and knowing that I've put effort in to make food that is good for me.