Monday sandwich bento

 
Pita, ham, cheese, celery, hummus, tomato, carrot, yogurt..our first bento where we counted calories. This week we are eating more fresh vegs and counting calories. Wonder how well we will do? It does look pretty. X and O are cut out of cheese. Of course, I put a fortune (folded paper) in hubbies bento, LOL.

No bento today, I participated in the MLK March

San Antonio's MLK march is the largest in the nation, about 100,000 people usually attend. This year, from the top of the hill near the end point, when looking back I could not see the where the march ended! The march route is 3 miles long.







It was fun to see old friends marching with various groups, and to make new friends too.

Busy, busy, have not posted...here's the last few

Left over apple/turkey sausage and rice, green beans and tomatoes, cherries, and my oatmeal with lingonberries.











Turkey sandwich, cherries, sweet pickles, my breakfast oatmeal and V8 juice.

Ok, I seemed to have gained about 3 pounds so it's either the rice or the quantity of food in the bento box. I need to come up with something else.
Learning as I go along. I may dig out my WW stuff and see what I can figure out.

Behind on posting bentos

Ah yes, late again. The story of my life. Too much to do, and too many events to attend to.
Photos to be posted Sunday. May all your bentos be beautiful.

Bento box #2, a little more involved

First, I had to cook the food, so I used my rice cooker (which is missing it's steamer basket) and my bamboo steamers.















Then, I got out my new find, Lundberg wild blend rice, which is beautiful...see?


I read about this rice in my bible, The Ultimate Rice Cooker cookbook by Beth Hensperger and Julie Kaufman.









Then, I got my green beans ready to steam and added my marinated chicken breasts to the steamer.



Ok the chicken looks ugly, but it tastes good. The recipe is from my rice cooker cookbook. The chicken is marinated in Dijon mustard, red wine vinegar, lemon juice, garlic, herbes de provence and olive oil. Green beans are self explanatory, I guess.





So, the steamer gets put together with the beans on top so I can take them off once they are crisp-tender.
















Here is what the steamer looks like all put together. And, the most astute of you will note that I don't have a wok. My house has a way of "disappearing" items of clothing, cooking tools, socks, homework, and sundry other items. Where the wok went is anybody's guess. Obviously, I need to drive into San Antonio (tedious drive) and get a new one, or order one online. Small town living is great except when you need "stuff."
















Now for the green beans. They are steamed and ready for step 2. Again from my rice cooker cookbook, they are sauteed in a small amount of butter and olive oil with onion, celery, parsley, basil and bell pepper.














Final step, making the gingered tomato relish.












So, dinner was great! Now to put the leftovers in the bento box. Complete with a fortune cookie fortune stashed in hubby's lunch to make him smile! Working in the hospital can be so stressful that something to make him smile is a something I feel is most important. We have been married for 35 years, so we have learned just a few things here and there. Besides, using a bento box and fixing his lunch gives me a chance to do more than leave him a nice note on the back door telling him to have a nice day, love you, etc. [He gets up at oh dark thirty in the morning, I don't, so I stay up later than he does.]

This one is pretty, with lots of color. We'll see how I do with the salmon that I have planned.















I have had a great time so far, and we both love our lunches. Our motivation is spurred on by the fact that my sister and her husband both got food poisoning (Salmonella) from a TV dinner. Their illnesses were so severe that they were hospitalized. It motivates me even more to make ALL my food from scratch. I have mostly made everything from scratch from the time my children were born, but in my older years got a bit lazy, but not any more!

My first bento box

 
Not fancy, and not pretty, but it worked. Left over Farmhouse macaroni and cheese, our favorite turkey meatballs, cherries, baby bell cheese, weight watchers snack cake (for my husband's sweet tooth), and a green salad. I also included left over home made waffles and syrup for breakfast.
For me, it was too much food, but my hubby loved his, which also included some juice. Since he works 12 hour shifts, he needs more than I do.
As I was making these, I was talking to my sister and explaining bento boxes to her. I thought she would remember them since she was a teenager when we lived in Japan, but evidently she was too interested in boys to pay attention to some things (lol).

Delay in posting first bento box

My Aunt Eleanor, is gravely ill tonight, She is nearly 90, and has pneumonia. They took her off the ventilator tonight, and she will likely pass away shortly. My excitement about my first bento box takes second fiddle to my feeling of loss. I will post pictures tomorrow, I just can't do it tonight.
My Auntie was a Veteran of the US Navy, a nurse, and a kind and gentle woman who was devoted to her collies. She maintained our family home and the family farm in upstate NY.
A picture of a portion of the farm, by my cousin Carol:



Dearest Aunt Eleanor, we love you, and you will be missed.