Irish Flag Bento

I made an Irish Flag Bento for my breakfast today. Although I ate this for breakfast, it was more like a lunch. Oh well, it was delicious, and it had my newest invention, The Carrot Cake Sandwich.

• Carrot Cake Sandwich (Recipe Here)
• 'Irish Flag' (Carrot, Cream Cheese, Celery)
• 8 Green Grapes (Sliced in Half)
• Shamrock (Sugar Free Lime Jello)

This will probably be my last St. Patrick's day bento this year. I had a lot of fun making them, and I hope you liked them!
Happy St. Patrick's Day (tomorrow) Everyone!

Carrot Cake Sandwich

If you love carrot cake like me, then you could eat it all day long. But since it's not the best thing for you I decided to make a healthy sandwich that tastes like carrot cake. You can eat this sandwich for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack or dessert. It's That good!.

YUM! I loved this sandwich. I found a similar recipe on a different blog, but I found that recipe to be very bland and did not taste like carrot cake to me. So I changed it and made it so much yummier. I ended up lightly toasting the whole sandwich in the toaster oven to warm the whole thing and make the cream cheese a little softer and give the bread a nice crisp outside.

 Ingredients:

• 2 Slices of Bread (I used Udi's GF Multigrain bread, but other good options would be cinnamon raisin, whole wheat, multigrain, or a sweet or nutty bread. I do not suggest plain white bread because it won't add much flavor.)
• 2 Tbsp Light Cream Cheese, Softened ( I used the spreadable kind. You can also use a vegan version or the whole fat version if you like that more. I prefer the light.)
• 1/2 Tbsp Ground Cinnamon (more if you like it. I used about 1 Tbsp)
• 1/2 tsp Ground Nutmeg
• 1 Packet Stevia (You can use whatever sweetener you like, but I prefer Stevia because it is natural and 0 calorie, and it blended into the cream cheese without being gritty.)
• 1-2 drops Vanilla Extract
• 1/4 Cup Chopped or Grated Carrot
• 1 small box Raisins (or a 1/2 - 1 Tbsp)
• 1 Tbsp Chopped Walnuts (I used Sliced Almonds instead because I like them better and they are much lower in fat then walnuts)

 Add softened cream cheese, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, and stevia into a bowl and stir until fully combined.

 Spread the cream cheese mixture onto both slices of bread. Make sure it's spread evenly so each bite will have the same amount of cream cheese.

 Spread the carrot evenly over one slice of bread.

 Top the carrot with the raisins.

Top that with chopped walnuts. (I used Sliced Almonds).

Place the top slice of bread on the sandwich (Cream cheese side facing in!) then you can lightly toast the whole sandwich in the toaster oven if you want to eat it warmed. I like the slight crisp texture of the toasted bread, and the warm gooey filling.
I hope you enjoy!

Green Snack Bento

I quickly threw together a green themed snack bento to eat with my Split Pea Soup for dinner. I have been eating more protein lately because I started exercising again, so that's one of the reasons I have been eating so many nuts. That and I love nuts. I hope you all enjoy!

In my bento I have:

• Green 100 Calorie Pack Almonds (Natural/Raw)
• Green Grapes
• Green Pepitas (Unsalted Pumpkin Seeds)
• Green Pistachio Nuts (Unsalted)

And as you can see I ate this with a huge bowl of Green Split Pea Soup! Yum! I made this soup using my crock pot... one of the most useful Christmas presents I got last year.

Quick Sandwich Bentos

I had to run out of the house early for an appointment, so when I came home I quickly threw together some sandwich bentos for me and my fiance to take with us on out errands. They aren't super decorative, but they were yummy, and did the job. lol

 Here is my fiance's bento:

• Turkey Sandwich (Turkey, Mayo, Cheese, Spinach, on Whole Wheat)
• Baked Kettle Chips (White Cheddar)
• Organic Raw Coconut
• Strawberry

 Here is my Gluten Free Bento:

• Pickle
• Cherry Tomato
• Almonds (100 Calorie Pack)
• Organic Raw Coconut
• Strawberries
• Blueberries
• Turkey Sandwich (Turkey, Mustard, Spinach, Shredded Carrots, on Udi's GF Multigrain Bread)

Here they are all packed and ready to go. I have water and mt fiance has Apple Juice. The juice turned out to be expired and gave her a stomachache. Next time I will be sure to check the date on anything that I get from the basement.

Shamrock Snack Bento

Here is yet another St. Patrick's day Bento to celebrate with. This time I made a high protein and fiber snack bento. I ate this and a slice of Spinach & Feta Pie for lunch. YUM!

Here is my Snack bento: I made a sandwich with two rice cakes and filled it with yummy high protein and high fiber foods. To see the filling scroll down.

• 2 No Salt Plain Rice Cakes
• 2 Tbsp Chunky Teddie Peanut Butter w/Flax (1 Tbsp died green w/ food coloring)
• 2 Strawberries
• 1/2 Banana (cut into 7 thick slices)
• 1/2 Tbsp Unsalted Pepitas (Pumpkin Seeds)
• 1/2 Tbsp Sliced Almonds

Here is the inside of the 'sandwich' I spread peanut butter on one rice cake, topped that with sliced banana, and then sprinkled on the almonds and pumpkin seeds.

To make the top of the sandwich, I dyed the peanut butter green, then I places a Shamrock cookie cutter on top of the rice cake and carefully filled it with the green peanut butter. I made sure the peanut butter was spread evenly, then I carefully pulled away the cookie cutter. I think it came out really well, but If I do something like this again, I should use creamy peanut butter so it doesn't look so messy.

4 Leaf Clover Bento

Every Day, St. Patrick's Day get's closer! And I am celebrating with some St. Patrick's day inspired Bentos.
Check out today's 4 Leaf Clover Bento!

•  4 Leaf Clover (Kiwi)
• Clementine
• Coconut Chia Pudding (Recipe Here)
• Shamrock (Cheese colored with foodsafe markers)
• 1 Strawberry
• 1 Blackberry
• 5 Blueberries
• 1/4 Cup Edamame
• Gluten Free Spinach & Feta Pie (Recipe Here)

 To make the 4 leaf clover, I peeled a kiwi and cut it into 4 thick slices. Then I used a heart cutter on each of the slices. I took two green picks and put the hearts together to make a clover.

 I cut a clover out of a piece of cheese using a larger cutter. then I colored it with foodsafe marker.

I decorated the bottom tier of the bento with shamrock picks and a leaf pick. I love how Green this bento came out. I love Green!

Coconut Chia Pudding

This Coconut Pudding is very easy to make and it's also Healthy! Vegan, Sugar Free, Gluten Free, as well as High Fiber, High Protein, and 25% of your daily Calcium! It has the texture of tapioca pudding, so if you do not like that texture then you probably won't like Chia pudding. Also, don't let the look of it scare you. Chia pudding is delicious, and it's something definitely worth trying.

 Ingredients:
(makes 4 servings at 104 calories each)

• 1/4 Cup Chia Seeds
• 1/4 Cup Finely Chopped Raw Coconut (you can omit if you can not find raw coconut)
• 2 Packets Stevia (or sweetener of choice)
• 1 1/2 Cups Chilled Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Coconut Milk (or just vanilla almond milk, or just coconut milk with 1/2 tsp vanilla extract)
• Shredded Coconut or Sliced Almonds for Garnish (optional)

1. The night before you want to eat your pudding, Combine first 4 ingredients in a medium covered container.
2. Let sit for 5 minutes, shake or stir again.
3. Let sit for another 5 minutes, before shaking one more time then putting it in the refrigerator to sit overnight.
4. The next day, after the pudding has thickened, Stir and serve with optional shredded coconut or sliced almonds on top.

This is what it looks like without the shredded coconut on top. Tastes just as good, but I think the garnish helps to take away from the strange look of the Chia seeds.