No Computer :(

Sorry I haven't posted in a few days, My fiance's computer died, and it is off getting fixed. Luckily it is covered by warrantee so we don't have to pay anything. But we won't have a computer for up to 2 weeks. :( My friend Julie is nice enough to lend us her computer every once and a while, but I will not be able to pose any pictures until our computer is back and working.
I promise to get lots of posts done when the computer is back, to make up for lost time. I already have a picnic post planned, with lots of pictures!
I hope everyone is enjoying the wonderful weather!
Thank you for being patient with me
~Kat

Meatballs and Tamagoyaki

I got these Chicken Meatballs the other day and I decided to try them out ion bento today. They are Teriyaki Ginger Chicken Meatballs with pineapple. They were really tasty, so expect to see them in the next few bentos.

• Teriyaki Chicken Meatballs
• Edamame
• Pea and Carrot Tamagoyaki
• Fresh Spinach
• 1/2 Strawberry
• Watermelon Hearts
• Honeydew Flowers
• Pineapple Chuncks
• Grape Halves

My fiance has the same exact bento as me.

I used the little bone picks in the meatballs, I think it looks really cute! I also used the Balloon string picks in the grapes. I should have used a whole grape, but I had already cut them in half before using the picks. oh well.
This bento lunch was packed with protein with the meatballs, eggs, and edamame! So very yummy. I used egg beaters for the tamagoyaki, I like the texture and smoothness of the egg beaters, and it's really easy too. I also like the fact that it's less calories too.
I really packed the vegetables in to the tamagoyaki! It was a little difficult rolling the omelet because it was so full, but it turned out great, and I love it filled with vegetables. I also don't add sugar or anything to the egg like most tamagoyaki recipes call for. I don't want it to be sweet. Feel free to make it however you like and with whatever fillings you want.

Summery Cookout Bento! (and Birthday plans)

The weather is warm, and the garden is thriving, and I have a cookout bento to celebrate! Last night I made a very summery meal of marinaded steak tips, corn on the cob, Basil herb pasta, and fresh cut fruit including watermelon!
Before sitting down to eat dinner I quickly put aside enough food for bento, or else there wouldn't have been any left! lol

• Half a Strawberry
• 2 Blackberries
• Pineapple chunks
• Watermelon hearts
• Cantaloupe flowers
• Grape halves
• 1/4 Corn on the cob
• Marinaded steak tips (the yummiest ones I've ever had, I keep buying them because they are soooooo good)
• Fresh Spinach leaves
• Basil and Herb pasta with tomatoes (it's like a pesto pasta salad)

My fiance got all the same foods. Note the cute bone picks in the meat and the leaf picks in the grapes. I also used a grape half to cover the ugly end of the corn. I've seen in my bento cookbooks cheese or carrots cut out and placed on the end of the corn, but I didn't have either of those things on hand, so grape half it is. lol

The weather is very nice today, a little more humid then I like, but it's great after so many days of rain and cloudy weather. I'm going to do a little gardening today while I still can, don't know what the weather will be like tomorrow. That's New England for you!
Tonight we are having Chicken Hot Dogs for dinner. Another summery food!
I am also planning my birthday party. My birthday is in less then a month, and I'm starting to get excited. I always throw fun themed parties for my birthday and last year was 'Save the Bees' where I had a bee themed party with foods that were pollinated by bees, and honey bbq chicken, as well as a honey tasting and a lot of stuff from Burt's Bees!
This year I am having a Nature Walk/Picnic Birthday Party with a photo scavenger hunt. Then we are going out for ice cream instead of having a cake. I hope the weather will be nice for it.

Easy Mock S'mores (my new favorite snack)

You don't need a campfire in order to make these S'mores! Only consisting of 2 ingredients found at any grocery store. Chocolate Graham Crackers and Marshmallow Fluff!

It's so simple, but really very tasty! All you have to do is spread the fluff onto the graham cracker and you have a yummy snack you can enjoy anywhere no matter what time of the year.

A few of my friends and I went on a small road trip yesterday to see some Wolves at a plce called Wolf Hollow. And I brought snacks for the ride. This is the result of being hungry and wanting something sweet and easy to eat in the car. Everyone loved them!

Look at that ooiey gooey marshmallowy goodness, and there is no heating required!

Today I didn't really feel like making bento, so my fiance put together some things for lunch. It turned out to be a mock bento! It was pretty tasty too.

• Salami
• Bread
• Baby Carrots
• Goat Cheese
• Hummus

Looks like a face with salami hair doesn't it? That was not on purpose. lol!

Sneeky Fruit Snack

I didn't think I would get a chance to make a bento for Thursday, but SURPRISE!!!! I did make a fruit snack bento. A RAINBOW fruit snack bento. ;)

• Strawberries
• Cantaloupe
• Pineapple
• Honeydew
• Blackberries

And this is going alongside what I made for dinner tonight. I had to quickly pack some away for my fiance and I to share tomorrow, because it's goes really fast in this house.

It's CCCSSSS or 3C4S! Carrots Chickpeas Chicken Sausage Spaghetti Squash Spinach.... also had onions garlic italian seasonings and black pepper. It's soooo good, and everyone in the house gobbles it up, so before dinner, I filled a good size container for me and my fiance.

I still don't have a good name for it yet, I've been calling it the chiken sausage thing with spaghetti squash, but that doesn't sound very exciting. I came up with 3C4S today, but that sounds weird. Oh well.

Meaty Meat Bentos

We have lots of leftover meats from dinners so I had some leftover Shepard's pie like yesterday and my fiance has leftover Steak Tips.

• Steak Tips over Brown Rice (cute little bone picks)
• Mixed Vegetables
• Pineapple Chunks
• Blackberries
• Strawberry
• Honeydew Melon

•  Shepard's Pie
• Mashed Cauliflower
• Cantaloupe Flower (on flower stem pick)
• Pineapple Chunks
• Blackberry
• Strawberry
• Honeydew hearts

Tomorrow will be very busy, so I don't think we'll have any bentos at all, but I might try to make a fruit snack bento for us to share while we are out. So I guess It'll be a surprise for both of us.

I'm sorry for all the leftover bentos, Since our recent loss (read about it here), I haven't felt very creative or energetic in making bento. I hope that will change soon though.
I also hope we will have some nicer weather soon. I do love rain and storms, but they aren't so nice when you have to be out in them... on they happen every day.

Shepard's Pie Bento

Today's bento's are made with last night's leftover Shepard's pie and mashed cauliflower. If you've never tried mashed cauliflower you should do so right away, It had the same consistency and appearance of Mashed Potatoes but it is more nutritious and has less calories. I also think it has a milder taste then potato.

I also decided to use my piggy bento boxes today because shepard's pie makes me think of the country side and farms, and so do piggies. So here they are.

• Shepard's Pie (Ground Beef, Fat Free Beef Gravy, Edamame, Corn, Peas, Green Beans, Lima Beans, Carrots)
• Mashed Cauliflower
• Pineapple Chunks
• Blackberries
• Strawberry
• Cantaloupe and Honeydew (flowers and hearts in a flower stem pick)

My fiance has the same except no Mashed cauliflower because she didn't feel like it today. Oh and a lot more pineapple... Can you tell it's a favorite fruit in our house?

Rise & Shine its Breakfast Time!

I made myself a bento for breakfast because I felt like I haven't had one in a while. I used a different bento box for this because my usual breakfast bento box was dirty. And I also wanted to try a different look instead of the same old same old for my breakfasts. So here it is...

• Very Vanilla Light Yoplait Yogurt
• Sliced Strawberries
• Milled Flax Seed heart
• Newman's Own Honey Flax Flakes cereal
• Blackberries
• Strawberries on a leaf pick

Then for lunch my fiance and I decided to have the rest of the Frittatas from the freezer. I also cooked some MorningStar Sausage Patties (vegetarian). I cut up a ton of fresh fruit and my fiance cut some of it with my mini cookie cutters, so we had hearts and flowers. Then my fiance and I made our own bento lunches. I am so happy I got my fiance into making bento with me. It's so much fun together.

In my bento box:

• One mini vegetable Frittata (cut in half)
• One MorningStar Vegetarian Sausage patty (cut in half)
• Fresh Spinach leaves
• Ketchup 'blood' with 'bone' picks sticking out
• Strawberries
• Pineapple chunks
• Honeydew and Cantaloupe Flowers and hearts (with flower stem picks)
• Blackberries

 In my fiance's bento box:

• Two Vegetable Frittatas (cut in half)
• One MorningStar Vegetarian Sausage patty (cut in half with bone picks)
• Fresh Spinach Leaves (underneath)
• Cherry Tomato on a Balloon pick (for color)
• Pineapple Chunks
• Honeydew Flowers and Hearts (on fun picks 'heart ring, flower with leaf, and umbrella')
• Blackberries

So it's a breakfast food kind of day today! Yum!

Science Museum Picnic Lunch

My friend Julie brought me and my fiance to the Science Museum yesterday, so I made a Picnic Bento for us to share. We ate it in the museum cafeteria, but it was a picnic bento nonetheless.

White Box on the Left

• Baby Carrots
• Strawberries
• Blackberries

Green Box in the Middle

• Hummus
• Mini Babybel Light
• Goat Cheese Medalion
• Raw Almonds
• Salami, Capicola, Prosciutto
• Laughing Cow Cheese (Creamy Swiss and Garlic Herb)

Pink Box on Right

• Late July Mini Crackers with Cheese in the middle
• Late July Chocolate Sandwich Crackers

Yellow Box on the Right

• Kashi Roasted Vegetable Crackers
• Whole Wheat Melba Toast
• Cherry Tomatoes on leaf picks

We had a lot of leftovers because Julie brought so food too and I brought some other snacks as well, so we ended up having way too much food. I ate some of the leftovers for dinner and snack that night as well.

The science museum was fun, but there were WAAAAY too many children there. That, and pushy teenagers too. Ugh, I guess everyone was there because it was a rainy day.

In Loving Memory

Earlier this morning my fiance and I had to put our cat Todd to sleep. He was a very good cat and he will be sorely missed. I wrote a little obituary for him.

April 1st 1996 - May 13th 2011

In Loving Memory of Todd Johnson.
He passed away peacefully early May 13 2011 in the arms of his loved ones.  Born April 1st 1996, Beloved Cat and Companion, he was blessed from the start. Being the runt of the litter, and having many medical issues including a heart murmur, the vet did not believe he would live past 5 years. He was a Miracle Kitty, living more than 15 years and touching the lives of everyone who knew him.
He had a good life surrounded by loving family and friends. Learning how to box at a young age he liked to surprise attack his family’s legs when they were least expecting it and he enjoyed jumping and chasing ribbons. Being very playful and also an escape artist, he was able to jump tall gates as a kitten, and enjoyed two ventures outside. Since he was an indoor cat he enjoyed looking out the window and watching the birds and squirrels, and every time we left the house he would watch us from the window. He could hear the car coming up the driveway and he would run back to the window meowing and greeting us at the door.
Despite his health issues and his age, he acted like a young kitten and he will be sorely missed by his Mother Kellie, his Adopted Mother Kat, His Grandmother Kathy, his Great Grandmother Ann, and all his friends.

Plowman Bento Lunch

Meat and Cheese and Bread OH MY! Put it all together and it makes a Plowman Bento Lunch! I picked up some cute individually wrapped goat cheese medallions at Trader Joes as well as a pack of three Italian deli meats (Salami, Prosciutto, Capicola). And decided to make a plowman's bento with them.
Here is my Fiance's bento

• Whole Wheat Melba Toast
• Salami, Prosciutto, and Capicola
• 1/3 of a Yummy Sub Roll
• Laughing Cow Creamy Swiss
• Goat Cheese Medallion
• Kashi Roasted Vegetable Snack Crackers
•  Apple Smoked Cheddar Cheese
• Apple Rabbits
• Strawberries
• Baby Carrots
• Cherry Tomato
• Fresh Spinach Leaves

And here is my bento, slightly different then my fiance's

• Whole Wheat Melba Toast
• Salami, Prosciutto, and Capicola
• 1/3 of a Yummy Sub Roll
• Laughing Cow Garlic Herb Cheese
• Babybel Light (With a cutout shape)
• Kashi Roasted Vegetable Snack Crackers
• Apple Smoked Cheddar Cheese
• Apple Slices
• Strawberry
• Baby Carrots
• Cherry Tomato
• Fresh Spinach Leaves
• Good Belly Probiotic Juice Drink

It was super tasty and I think I will definitely make this again, maybe change it up with a few different items. It's a bit high in calories because of all the meat and cheese, but that's ok once and a while.

Pork Chop Bento

This is yesterday's bento, I just didn't have a chance to put it up until today. My fiance is in the last week of collage, and I made this bento while she was studying. It's the night before's leftovers, and I didn't try to make it pretty or anything, but I wish I had done something to make it look a little cuter.

• Seasoned Pork Chop
• Parmesan Couscous
• Cherry tomato
• Green Beans
• Mushroom
• Strawberry
• Blueberries
• Apple Smoked Cheddar Cheese Heart

I didn't have a bento because I wasn't very hungry, so all I ate for lunch was some dry cereal and a Kashi snack bar.
Sorry for the blah-ness of this bento. I hope today's bento comes out much nicer looking.

May Flowers!

My fiance was having leftovers for lunch, and it was a bit more then I could fit into a bento, so I only made one bento today. I have been trying to use up the rest of the taco meat from Cinco De Mayo. It's surprising how sometimes we hardly have any leftovers and other times we have way too much but I always make the same amount to begin with.

Anyway, I used my flower cookie cutter and my new leaf and flower stem picks to dress up this bento. It's been really pretty out with all the flowers and the gorgeous weather, and Yesterday was Mother's Day, another holiday where there are a ton of flowers everywhere. So I decided to make my bento flowery too.

• Flower Shaped Cucumber
• Flower Shaped Babybel cheese on a flower stem pick.
• Cherry Tomatoes on a double leaf pick
• Fresh Spinach
• Chopped red Onion
• Turkey and Black Bean taco meat
• Cutie Mandarin Orange with a leaf  pick
• Whole Wheat Pita bread
• Baby Carrots
• 100 Calorie pack Wholly Guacamole
• Cucumber Flower on stem pick

I love my new bento accessories soooo much!!!! And I love those little cutie mandarin oranges. I am glad my fiance doesn't eat citrus fruit because now there are more for me!

Wrap It Up!

Today I made Wraps for bento lunch. My fiance wanted a burrito type wrap with the leftover taco meat from our Cinco De Mayo dinner last night. So I made that and added some fresh fruit and some cheese on the side. Not to mention one of the cute new picks I have.

• Strawberries
• Cantaloupe
• Honeydew
• Blueberries
• Apple Smoked Cheddar Cheese
• Burrito Wrap (Whole wheat tortilla, Ground turkey, Black beans, Homemade taco seasoning, Shredded cheese, Sour cream, Fresh spinach)
• Cherry Tomatoes (On a leaf pick)

I didn't feel like tacos so I had a PBJ Wrap. I also went a little overboard with the picks.... But I wanted to use them all. lol

• PBJ Wrap (Whole wheat tortilla, Crunchy peanut butter, Red raspberry preserves. I sliced it and used my bone picks to hold them together)
• Cherry Tomato (on a balloon pick)
• Cutie Mandarin Orange (with a leaf pick)
• Cantaloupe (on leaf picks)
• Strawberries
• Babybel light cheese (Cut into a flower and put on a flower pick)
• Blueberries (under the cheese)

All together I used 10 picks in these two lunches..... Maybe next time I should use a little less so it won't be so busy. lol. But I had a ton of fun using them!

Leaf Picks! And Breakfast Bento

The other day my friend Julie came over to drop off the rest of my present. Really cute Leaf Picks!!!! I love them so much, and I couldn't wait to try them out. Unfortunately I wasn't able to try them out until today because yesterday was a very busy day.

The person she ordered them from online was late sending them out, so as an apology she sent two packages instead of one. So Now I have two packages of adorable leaf picks! Aren't they so cool?
All together I have:

• 6 Dark Green Leaf Double Picks
• 4 Light Green Leaf Double Picks
• 4 Dark Green Leaf Single Picks
• 6 Light Green Leaf Single Picks

I can't wait to have a big picnic where I can use all these picks. That would look really cute, and it makes eating fruit a lot easier then having a set of chopsticks for everyone at the picnic.

Here are some ideas for what you could skewer using the leaf picks:

• Cherry Tomatoes
• Olives
• Melon (cubes, balls, or cut into shapes like flowers)
• Cheese
• Grapes
• Cherries
• Strawberries
• Blueberries (if they are large ones)
• Citrus Fruit (Small Clementine, Mandarin Orange, etc.)
• Vegetables (cut into shapes like flowers)
• Quail Eggs
• Meatballs
• Tamagoyaki (Rolled Omelet)
• Mini Hotdogs (cut into tulips or other flowers shapes)

Here is my breakfast today. I had my usual yogurt, fruit and cereal, but I dressed it up with one of my new leaf picks!

• Sliced Strawberries
• Small Strawberries (on Double Leaf Pick)
• Newman's Own Sweet Enough Honey Flax Flakes Cereal
• Yoplait Very Vanilla Yogurt Light
• Milled Flax Seeds (I tried to shape it into a flower, but it failed. I guess it's not a good shape to try with flax seed. The hearts and stars I've done before are much easier and nicer looking)

Teriyaki Steak Bento

I had saved some steak from last night's dinner, and today I chopped it up, mixed it in a frying pan with mixed vegetables and some teriyaki sauce. It was very yummy, and made the whole house smell good. I actually made too much, so we have enough for tomorrow too.

• Cutie Mandarin Orange
• Honeydew and Cantaloupe (Cut with flower cookie cutter, and used a Flower Stem pick)
• My New Chopsticks
• Steak and Mixed Vegetables Teriyaki
• Garden Delight Pasta
• Cherry Tomato with a Balloon pick
• Spinach (under it all)

The melon was so fresh and sweet and juicy. I had eaten a ton of it while I was cutting it up... I just can't help myself when there is fresh melon. It's my favorite.

My fiance has the same thing, except no cutie and mac and cheese instead of garden pasta. She doesn't like citrus fruits very much.... except Pineapple. She LOVES pineapple. (I do too, so we sometimes have to fight over the last of it. lol) And she wanted the leftover Annie's Mac and Cheese.

Aren't the picks awesome? I can't wait to use them again. I also love my chopsticks (come with a clear case) They were the perfect fit in my hand, and I loved the texture. The tips of them were a bit rougher to help pick up foods. I love that!

New Picks!!!! And Cuties!

Yesterday my fried Julie dropped by to give me some presents. She had given me piggy bento boxes a few weeks ago, and she also ordered some food picks that I have always wanted. The picks didn't come in time, so she's been waiting to give them to me. Some of the picks still haven't come (super cute leaf picks!!! I can't wait!!!!) But the others ones did. So she brought them over. Also she knows how much I have wanted to try the little oranges I have been seeing. And she had a bunch, so she brought a bunch of them over too! They're called cuties.

A bag of cuties, and 12 amazingly adorable food picks!

• 2 Balloon picks
• 2 Flower Stem picks
• 2 Umbrella picks
• 2 Ring picks
• 4 Bone picks

I was so excited I was jumping up and down. I couldn't wait to try them out in my next bento. I also couldn't wait to try the yummy looking tiny cuties!

I took a lot of pictures because I was so excited! I had to go through them all and get rid of a lot of pictures because I took too many. Lol. I couldn't help it because I was and still am super excited.

The cuties are delicious!

• I loved the size of them, Perfect for bento box. It fit right in without a problem and I didn't need to rearrange anything to fit them into my bento box.
•  They were easy for me to peel, but I have pretty long nails, so someone without nails would need a knife to help peel them.
• And like I said... they are delicious. They are sweet but still have a citrus tang to them.

 

New Chopsticks!!!

My Friend Alysse came over today bearing gifts! She had already given me Two 2 tiered bentos, a snack bento, 3 condiment containers, an insulated bento bag, and a matching napkin all from the Natural Lunch bento line. And today she brought me Chopsticks in a carrying case!

These Natural Lunch Chopsticks come in the light green color I love, and have a clear plastic carrying case.

Here they are in the case... a perfect fit!

All closed up and ready to go!

I'm super excited to start using them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My bento collection is growing and I am so grateful to my friends for supplying me with such wonderful bento accessories. Thank you!!!!!!

More Vegetarian Bentos

I must be on a vegetarian kick because I have been making a lot of vegetarian bentos lately. I don't mind though, I love the feeling I get after eating such good food. I feel happy and healthy and energetic, not bogged down by a heavy meal.

Anyway, here is a snack bento I made yesterday and I didn't get to load until today.

• Hummus
• Baby Carrots
• Whole Wheat Pita Bread
• Cherry Tomato (for color and because it's yummy)

This is my fiance's bento. She asked for a grilled Cheese Sandwich, and Hummus... So here it is!

• Grilled Cheese on Whole Wheat bread
• Fresh Spinach
• Cherry Tomatos
• Baby Carrots
• Hummus
• Whole Wheat Melba Toast crackers
• Strawberry

And here comes my bento. It's so ugly. I realize I could have made it so much prettier, but it was too late to try after I dumped everything in and shook it up. Oh well. Next time I'll know to line everything up to look appealing. At least it tasted amazingly delicious!

• Fresh Spinach, Celery, Cherry Tomato, Red Onion, Cucumber, Baby Carrot, and milled Flax Seed salad
• Hummus (instead of dressing)
• Whole Wheat Pita bread
• Light Babybel cheese (cut into a flower and placed on top of the hummus)
• And my attempt to make it prettier with the babybel wax flower on top of my pita...

Next time I make this I am going to line everything up so you can see the colors better instead of have it all mixed together and hard to see.

May you be a Vegetarian?

My fiance wanted to have a Frittata bento, and I had leftovers I wanted to eat, so our bentos are different from each other today.

• Spinach, Pepper, Onion frittatas (made in cupcake tins and frozen)
• MorningStar Vegetarian breakfast sausage (my fiance is a meat lover, but absolutely loves these morningstar vegetarian things. I'm glad because it's healthy to eat more vegetarian foods then meat.)
• Cherry Tomatoes and Fresh Spinach
• Apple Rabbits

That's all she wanted so that all I made. Not a bad looking bento, but I do think the upper half could have been nicer looking if it wasn't just apples... oh well.

I had leftover fried rice that I wanted to eat, but I ate all the vegetables out of it, so I added some frozen mixed veggies.

• Vegetable Fried Rice over fresh spinach
• Orange Slices
• Cherry Tomatoes
• Apple Rabbit

So at first I couldn't find something these bentos had in common to use as the title.... but half way through writing this blog I realized they were both Vegetarian.... Duh!
Sorry for the stupid title, I couldn't think of anything better. ;)

Picnic Day

Yesterday my fiance and a friend of ours went for a picnic. I was running late in the morning so I had to quickly assemble the bento with the help of my fiance.
Here it is before we left the house

• Orange slices
• Strawberries
• Canatloupe cubes
• Annie's Bunny Fruit snacks
• Baby Carrots
• Celery sticks
• Turkey rolls
• Fresh Pineapple
• Light Ranch Dressing
• Hummus
• Kashi Crackers (7 Gain and Roasted Vegetable)
• Whole Wheat Pita strips
• Laughing Cow cheese wedges (Creamy Swiss and Garlic and Herb)
• 2 Mini Babybel light cheese
• Late July Cookies

It was delicious. We all have a great time because the weather was gorgeous and the park wasn't very crowded. There were some issues with allergies because of the pollen, but it wasn't too bad.

This is right before we dug in! The center of the cookies got melty from the sun, but they were still delicious. One of the Bunny snacks is missing in this picture because my fiance snatched it right away. lol I guess she couldn't wait any more as I tried to get a good picture.

After eating we tried to fly kites... but there wasn't enough wind. Good for picnics... bad for kite flying... lol

I hope everyone is enjoying their spring!