My new bento box and furoshiki for the school year. It is from the Edge series, and purchased from www.bentoandco.com my favorite site. I am not an affiliate of any of the stores I purchase from. I just love their stuff. This box is huge (over 1000ml.) All I have in this photo is two tiers but it actually has a third tier for those really long days at work. I usually fill the bottom with protein, rice and vegetables. The top I fill with fruit. Many lunches to follow in this box.
These babies are destined for the freezer as the beginning of my Back to School Bento Stash. They are made with grated fresh zucchini and basil thanks to the recipe I borrowed from JustBento.com. I did substitute high heat organic safflower oil for the olive oil in her recipe since they bake at 425 F. Recent recommendations suggest that olive oil may degrade when cooked at high temperatures and should be reserved for low temperature cooking and marinades.
Meet my new picnic tiflin. WoW, I should have read the fine print before I hit purchase. This beauty is 1.3 liters large. It is way to big for a lunch or supper bento for one. Now I have to plan an outing to break in this container. Perhaps a quiet afternoon under a tree with a good friend and a good book. Maybe when the tropical storm force winds blow by later this weekend.
My back to school lap top is filled with teriyaki chicken, mixed salad greens, mandarin oranges and corn. My bento tip for the day is to add frozen corn in the morning and it is sweet and crunchy by noon. I do not cook it at all. Think of it as a corn salad so to speak. The new carrier works great, no spills or surprises at lunch. Makes me yearn for the larger 2.o version of the laptop lunch set and the bento buddies. Oh how easy it is for me to get carried away with gear. I have to restrain myself and get my value out of this set first. The stuff is tough. I think it will be nearly impossible to wear it out. I just wish the original set came with more lids. I like to eat a lot of sloshy stuff. Is sloshy a word? Spell check doesn't seem to think so...but spell check doesn't like the word bento either.
This is my new laptop lunch bag. The laptop lunch bento was the first bento I purchased in my quest for the perfect box. Although I loved the fact that the little boxes were portion controlled I did not like the design of the carrier. It required the food to be stored sideways when carried. Disturbing things would happen to my food that way and I was surprised to see what stayed in place be lunch. I quickly moved on to other systems despite my investment in laptop. While playing online I found this new addition to their collection. A thermal bag that holds the container upright during transport. The top section still has plenty of room for a side car, snack bento, napkin, water bottle or what ever else your little heart desires. As with all of the laptop lunch products, the bag itself is very durable looking and feels like it will wear like steel. I am so happy that the owners of laptop lunches have continued to work on their design features. This bag is a great success and has renewed my desire to use their bento system. (www.laptoplunches.com).
First day back to school for the teaching staff and I am really excited about the new school year. Not only did I buy myself some cute little bento goodies to celebrate new beginnings but the school purchased a Promethian Interactive Board for my classroom which will bring lots of technologic exitement to my science curriculum this year. Last night my husband and I celebrated our 23 year wedding anniversary by going out to Shibui in South Miami. Shibui is a lovely little authentic Japanese restaurant with very good food. Unable to limit my options I ordered a combination of dishes and ended up with this tasty leftover just perfect size for my new edge bento. It is filled with chicken teryaki, brown rice, cherry tomatoes, mixed lettuce salad, olives and catalina salad dressing. It is sitting on my new furosaki from Bento and Co. Unlike many blogs I have no commercial affiliations with bento sellers. I just love the stuff that Thomas at Bento and Company sells. Now that his site accepts US dollar it is even more tempting.
Practicing my scone making skills learned at Balleyknocken House near the Wicklow Mountains, I present raspberry bit scones. They were a big hit at my house for breakfast, snack or dessert. I apologize for the quality of the photo, I could not manage to control the amount of yellow in this photo. Over exposed? Under exposed? It's a mystery. If I had unlimited funds I would set up a photo booth for the blog but it is not in the cards. Too many college tuition's to contend with at the moment. Besides that would mean less budget for bento, lets get real.
The tour director instructed all of us to jump out of the bus and buy a quick sandwich to take over to Garnish Island for a picnic in the gardens. Are you kidding? a sandwich in Ireland when I could have this baby for lunch.So much for counting calories and it was hot just out of the oven. The inside was stuffed with a slow cooked beef and potato stew. The only thing missing was a nice cold Guiness but that would have been totally inappropriate for the moment-too bad (besides I would have fallen asleep and missed half the tour for the day.)
Words cannot express how delicous these peaches were to consume. In keeping with my desire to eat our national produce I paid lots of cash for these beautiful summer peaches. Although I am trying to buy food as local as possible we don't have the proper climate to grow peaches in the tropics. South Carolina is local for peaches for me. They were sun ripened and ready to eat immediately. No problem for us.
I don't mind rain. I live in the tropics. I only mind Hurricanes. I think a nice cold frothy Guiness would be good for those too.
Sandwich roll ups are a grab and go basic for "Back to School" in my bento recipe box. They look a little like sushi rolls when they are tucked away in the corner of the box but are quick and easy to roll in the morning.These rolls are on a low fat, high fiber spinach tortilla with goat cheese and baby spinach leaves. I have also tried whole wheat tortillas with peanut butter and banana slices.
This summer I am trying out new low fat recipes for use during the school year and in bento lunches. This recipe is from the HUNGRY GIRL cookbook series by Lisa Lillien called "300 under 300. I treated myself to her latest cookbook yesterday at the bookstore. Each portion is less than 200 kcal and chunk full of lean ground turkey, mushrooms, onions, fat free ricotta cheese and spinach. The mock noodles are wonton wrappers. They were a great success at our dinner table and will definitely make their way into our lunch routine.
I apologize for the long absence from blogging but it's been a very busy school year. I have continued my committment to creating bentos everyday but have not had time to photo document. Walking through Borders the other day, look who I found looking up at me. She is an adoreable sushi bento girl. She is part of a new Borders collection. They look like paperchase made specifically for Borders. She has a little hashi set that includes, spoon, fork and chop sticks. The bag is bright with sakura design. She will be a nice addition to my Back to School gifts from me to me. I need something to keep me motivated year after year. Eleven years teaching middle school students, that's alot of packed lunches.
I made this bento at 6 am this morning for my first day back to school. I was so hungry by lunch time that it dissappeared in a flash. Time to celebrate well over a year of bento making and lots of healthy food choices. Now that the vacation is over time to buckle down, up the fruits and vegetables and deep six the excessive sweets. But it was a joy to consume while they lasted. This bento is filled with chicken slices, cucumber slices, whole wheat bread, cherry tomatoes, clementine orange and papaya. Yum, Yum.
