68.

for dad.

Left: BBQ nachos
Right: salsa, babybel cheese, salt in the apple, pineapple, blackberries, chocolate chip cookie, grape tomatoes for filler

67.

mine!

Lid: Chocolate pocky
Top: Blackberries, pineapple on skewers, sour cream, babybel cheese
Bottom: Pepperoni hot pocket
Sidecar: Tangerine, babybel cheese, turkey pepperoni, bunny egg, salt in the apple

65.

for dad.

Left: Octdogs, broccoli, sweet potato + butter, mustard in the watermelon cup.
Right: Lettuce, bleu cheese, heart egg, salt in the apple, ranch in the orange cup, blackberries, watermelon, grape tomatoes, orange
Outside: A note for my dad to PLEASE not microwave/throw away/anything of my sauce cups/divider cups, etc.

44 - 45 - 46

Mine!

Lid: Chocolate Pocky
Top: Carrots, green beans, orange
Bottom: Potstickers
Tight seal: Sweet and sour pork, sticky rice

Sort of a version of the one I made for dad last night. And especially since I haven't had any second helpings of the sweet and sour pork until now. Meaning, I only had it when it was originally served for dinner.

mine.

Left to Right: 2 Steak and cheese taquitos, 2 beef and cheese mini tacos, green bean divider, orange segments
Bowl: Refried beans with cheese and sour cream for the taquitos and tacos.

Just a quick dinner bento I threw together while I was making my dad's dinner tonight. I had subway at like 4, and I wasn't hungry until not too long ago. And my god, that subway was AMAZING. One of the best i've had. But also, most of these were leftovers or stuff from the freezer.

daddy's!

Top: Mini cherry pie, Chicken noodle soup with rotini noodles and carrots
Main box: Mayonnaise, orange segments, salt, corn, roast beef, green beans
Outside bottom: Shepherder bread

I felt like doing a soup and sandwich bento for my dad. Yes, I know this is a lot of food, but my dad doesn't eat dinner with us most nights, unless we have dinner early for him [around 3pm or so]. My mom found that little cherry pie at Wal-Mart and thought it would be perfect for his lunch. And I thought so too. (:

38 - Salad + Sandwich bento

for dad.

Left to Right: Cinnamon sugared apple pieces, oreo cupcake w/ coarse sugar sprinkles. bleu cheese, tomato and bacon bit salad, salt and pepper in their respective labeled containers, mayo in the third unmarked dixie cup
Outside the box: Shepherder bread [went in a ziploc bag], and bleu cheese dressing in the lock&lock

I like making the salad/sandwich bento for my dad. He absolutely LOVES it! Hopefully it goes over well tomorrow, and I hope he likes the cinnamon sugared apples, since I got one of the ideas from the ladies at the lj community, bentolunch.

37

for daddy.

Main [ large ] dish: fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy
Side: Corn with butter and salt, grape tomatoes, banana muffin

This was dinner on Friday, and mom plans ahead for lunches, so she made some extra fried chicken. There were thighs and drumsticks, so I took those off the bones for him, put those in there, made some instant mashed potatoes, put some gravy over top that. Then I took a small lock&lock container and a bit of a can of corn and put it in there, put a pat or so of butter and some salt on that, threw in the banana muffin and then used the grape tomatoes as a filler.

St. Patrick's Day! [ 30 + 31 ]

for erika.

Clockwise: Bunny and star eggs, star peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, kiwi slices, tangerine

Yup, that's right. My best friend Erika went to school with me today. It was pretty rockin'. Although she just ended up eating the yolks of the eggs and I ate the whites. Since she didn't really want eggs. I did get some red white and orange in for St. Patrick's Day though, which I am quite proud of!

my bento today!

Main tier [ right ]: Hot dog chunks, ketchup in the kiwi sauce cup, salt in the apple for the eggs and avocados, craisins, fruit by the foot
Side car [ left ]: Avocado chunks, bear and heart shaped eggs, tangerine, grape tomatoes for fillers

Unfortunately after class, I was still hungry, so Erika and I ended up going to the Subway on campus and getting lunch and I got coffee [ I was falling asleep in Psychology AND World Religions ]. I wish I could get my bentos to be more filling. Any ideas would greatly be appreciated.

twenty nine.

my dinner (:

Top tier: Tangerine, apples, tuna salad
Bottom tier: Romaine leaves, heart egg, bear egg, grape tomatoes and salt in the apple.
Bottom left corner: Chunky peanut butter for apples

Well, my mom had hard boiled some eggs and I finally got the chance to use my egg molds today! I was so excited, because they were so cute! I hate to eat them though. But, they are eggs after all. I felt like bentoing for dinner tonight, and so I did, except I didn't make one for Erika, since I kinda just didn't feel like it. I just put her food on a plate and such.

I didn't plan on eating the lettuce, really. I just wanted a filler, but I ended eating it with the tuna salad. It was pretty dang tasty.

twenty-eight.

Top: Roast beef, oreos, mayo in penguin, chocolate dipped strawberry, clementine segments for filler
Bottom: Salad with bleu cheese, bacon bits, grape tomatoes. Salt for sammich in the sauce bottle
Outside box: Bleu cheese dressing for salad, whole wheat white bread.
Not pictured: 3 musketeers mint fun size bar.

twenty-five.

another for my papa.

Left to Right: Salad with bleu cheese, grape tomatoes, and bacon bits. Rolls of roast beef for sandwich, salt for sandwich, pepper for salad. Mayonnaise in the third dixie cup for sandwich. Shepherder bread, kiwi, craisins, string cheese. Bleu cheese dressing and apple.

So, when my dad started taking his lunch to work [ vs. going out to eat every day, cheaply of course since this damn economy sucks ] my mom would make him a sandwich, an apple, and a cookie for his lunch. And that was also his dinner, but he'd snack on some pistachios or something after he got home if he was hungry. And then I volunteered to start making his lunches, and he appreciates it every day that I do. So this is somewhat of a spin on what my mom would make him.

I mean, the same thing for lunch every day gets a little boring after awhile, doesn't it? I know it does for me, especially since I pretty much did the same thing throughout middle and high school. It sucked.

bentos 20 and 21

mine, for lunch today

Top: Pistachios, broccoli, grape tomatoes, ranch in lemon cup
Bottom: Shell noodles with butter, garlic salt, nutmeg and parmesean cheese, banana
Lid: Spoon, fork and string cheese.

To make the shell noodles:
My brother (or his girlfriend, most likely) a couple of weeks ago made macaroni and cheese from scratch, and they left half a box of shells, so I totally took them and threw them in the cupboard. I cooked them in boiling water with salt and some olive oil to just past al dente (I don't like chewy noodles) and then cooled them, and then put in a ziploc bag and threw them in the fridge. Then this morning, as I was making my lunch, I put some butter down in the pan, threw the noodles in and sprinkled in some garlic salt and nutmeg (I unfortunately couldn't find the whole nuts, so I used ground) and then let it cook for a minute, moving the pasta around so it wouldn't stick. Then I saw some parmesean cheese in the fridge and sprinkled that over, and let it heat up in the pan and stirred it around.
I would honestly eat these hot, since I don't have a microwave source at school, I cannot easily do that. But, tasty nonetheless.

I'm trying to eat healthier bentos (yeah, I know butter isin't really THAT healthy, but it IS healthier than margarine, ick) and I thought this was a good start to it. I got a good portion of fruits and veggies. I just need to have more meat/protien in it, I think. My mom is always complaining that I dont eat enough salads and veggies. I mean, I like them and all, it's just a hassle to prepare them a lot of the time.

for my dad for tomorrow's lunch.

Left to Right: Cake balls, salt, pears, chicken in a white wine cream sauce, asparagus and spinach in white wine cream sauce, shell pasta.

Now, for the chicken and veggies, I kind of did what I normally do when making Chicken Florentine at home. Although I didn't feel like chopping up fresh onions and garlic, I just threw some dried onions and sliced garlic into the wine and soaked it before I put the wine in the pan. I cooked the chicken (pan frying -- dredging in flour+salt+pepper -- in butter) and then took the chicken out of the pan and threw the white wine mixture into the pan, let that reduce, threw some cream in (eyeball it -- god, I sound like Rachel Ray) and let that reduce some more until you get a nice thick sauce, and then throw the chicken back in and coat it in the sauce.
For the asparagus and spinach I pretty much did the same thing, except a bit differently. I took the asparagus, cleaned them up and threw some butter into the pan, then sauteed the asparagus for a minute or two. Then came the wine. I just splashed enough in to help the asparagus cook a bit and then I reduced the wine and then added a bit of cream, and then I saw some baby spinach in the fridge, so I put a bit of that in there also and let the sauce reduce down even more into a nice thick sauce. Then I put the asparagus mixture over the chicken and noodles.
HOPEFULLY I will get a good report on this one tomorrow. It should come back empty, as per usual (since my dad will eat just about anything) and it's nice that he gives me suggestions and stuff to work on my recipies if he has any qualms with them (I think he wants me to be an awesome cook for whoever I marry, hahahaha).

bento 19

for my papa.

Left to Right: Chicken Fajitas, Refried beans w/ cheese, kiwi and apple, salt, flour tortillas and a chocolate chip cookie

bento 12 + 13

for me! (:

top: grapes on food picks, potstickers
bottom: white rice, broccoli beef stir-fry stuff with carrots.

So I just made this at home and ate it there because I didn't have class or anything, nor did I have to go anywhere! It was very lovely.

bento 13 for my dad.

Main dish of leftover pot roast with boiled potatoes, cooked baby carrots and gravy
Salt in the dixie cup
Starred kiwi fruit, grapes as fillers
Tucked in beside the fruit, pepperonchinis
Chocolate chip cookie