la la lunch!

jambalaya bento

Tue, 23 Jan 2007 04:16:49 GMT

top tier: jambalaya with a cheese-and-tomato flower and some green onion garnish.
bottom tier: bologna-and-swiss flowers (to go with the crackers in the seperate bag), a bonjour banana half (the nori letters are all messed up and silly-lookin'; sorry) and raisins.

and ... i stole some of majessa's vanilla yo-baby yogurt. :-X

previous bento: the bread got kinda soggy from the zucchini, but the hot dog plain was just as good (and less carbs!). everything else was as it usually is--and the cookies were my savior in logic class, when i started to fall asleep! hehe.

sleepy octopus bento

Thu, 18 Jan 2007 01:43:08 GMT

left tier: a hot-dog octopus all wrapped up in a warm toast blanket on a bed of carrots and zucchini pillows (with a slice of cheddar underneath) and some blueberry shortbread cookies at the top.
right tier: a bag of hello kitty fruit snacks, some pretzel rods, and a hello kitty sauce container full of ranch dressing.

previous bento: probably the best lunch i've made! everything was really tasty and as soon as i opened the outer, insulated box, i saw the (h)apple peaking through and it immediately made my day! ^_^

chicken bite bento

Tue, 16 Jan 2007 02:09:02 GMT

in my pink tinkerbell star case (probably not intended as a bento box, but it's so cute!): little chicken nuggets (with star-shaped cheese bites), zucchini with star middles, zucchini stars, cherry tomatoes, carrot sticks, an uncle pop milk-flavored rice snack, and a happle (hehe)!

tuesdays and thursdays are my easy days, so lunches for those days are usually pretty light.

previous lunch: the pizza was iffy; i think it was too cream-cheesy for my liking. but the spaghetti and especially the hello panda! cookies were soooo goooood.

pasghetti (:-p) bento

Fri, 12 Jan 2007 04:29:52 GMT

outside:

inside:

peter rabbit container: left side is ranch dressing for the carrots and the right side is parmesan cheese and pepper for the spaghetti.
top tier: baby carrots, snacku rice crackers, hello panda cookies
bottom tier: crescent roll-cream cheese-veggies pizza, a fried spam divider*, spaghetti nest of cherry tomato eggs.

*i have so much leftover spam that i don't know what to do with it. i don't want it to go bad, so i've been incorporating it into every meal. hehe.

yesterday's lunch: i wasn't very hungry today, so i ended up just eating the cheese. i picked at everything else, but once home, the bento pretty much still looked untouched.

beer bread bento

Thu, 11 Jan 2007 04:53:37 GMT

today, i used one of my favorites: my awesome pink tapioca bento box! the food contained therein isn't as exciting, but tomorrow is my off-day, so i decided to just pack it with some of my favorites.

top tier: fried spam and cheddar kabobs on little pink bunny toothpicks; chunks of homemade beer bread (sooo good!); cherry tomatoes.
bottom tier: sliced banana (on the bottom, so no one can see it browning. >_o); pineapple; raisins.
and a lychee-flavored jelly straw.

yesterday's lunch: was awesome! the rice in the spam musubi was still moist and the tomatoes were really good. the yogurt, however, is a no-go. it tastes like someone filled the container with 90% aspartame, 9% water, and 1% really gross strawberry scent. luckily, i was too full on the musubi to care. i just sipped it and threw it away.

spam musubi bento

Wed, 10 Jan 2007 05:45:51 GMT

outside:

my red usagi bento box, a cupcake-shaped container, this strange construction worker oshibori i found at a garage sale, a teeny tiny bottle of yogurt, and some soy sauce!

inside:

cupcake container: some yummy iced, oatmeal trail mix cookies; dried cranberries.
top tier: spam musubi, cheese cubes, halved cherry tomatoes filled with cottage cheese and nori heart cut-outs on top.
bottom tier: apple slices, raisins, more dried cranberries.
...and the little teeny tiny yogurt again!

spam musubi

Tue, 09 Jan 2007 14:48:32 GMT

celebrating my return to bento-ing, i decided to attempt something i've seen in quite a few bentos and since becoming a meat-eater again, desperately wanted to try: spam musubi !

i used mmmbento's super-easy recipe and i think that they turned out pretty well. i'm pleased anyway. they're not the prettiest, but my little sister (the queen of picky eaters) asked if i could make more for her lunch, so i'm going to go ahead and mark this one as a success.

and just for cuteness' sake, here's a pick of poodledoo (my niece, majessa) eating breakfast this morning:

(warning: a toddler's idea of hilarity follows...)

heh heh heh.

i'm baaaaaaaaaack.

Mon, 08 Jan 2007 09:15:49 GMT

lucky you.

after an embarassingly long hiatus, i've returned to the world of bento-ing and livejournal-ing.

this last semester of school was a hard one for me and both studying and holding down a job as a cook at the local co-op was just too draining. equally, working in a kitchen for much of the day led me to boredom and exhaustion in my own kitchen. now, i've got a stress-free and fumes-free job at the library, am doing well in school, and ready to hop back on the bento bandwagon!

this christmas, when i received a multitude of culinary goodies (food processor, sushi set, my very own set of dishes, a baking set, etc.) i realized how important cooking and putting my homemade meals on display is for my mental fortitude (haha).* not only is it a way of relieving stress, but it keeps me healthy and--as other bento-ers have noted--is an awesome means of creative expression!

though i've changed a bit since we last saw each other (i'm no longer vegetarian, for example), i hope you'll find my creations interesting and delicious(-looking).

i'm back, with baby quiches, wontons, and ravioli in tow.

thanks,
lala!

* i also can't help but admit that i've felt really inspired looking at the recent entries in the bentolunch community. keep up the good work, guys!

PS--for a glance of what i've been into lately:

(that's my kitchen after a late night cooking session.)

curry chard (?) bento.

Fri, 09 Jun 2006 05:52:38 GMT

i picked up my first co-op paycheck today ... and promptly spent half of it at the co-op. when i came home with all my new goodies, i suddenly found myself in a rut: "i can make anything i want!" stuffed mushrooms called my name, as did blueberry muffins. but i ended up just giving in and throwing something random together. something i like to call "curry chard."

i steamed swiss chard and a few cremini mushrooms in my handy-dandy steamer, while saute-ing red onions, three cloves of garlic, and some leftover tofu. i threw paprika, curry powder, rice, and a near-negligible amont of soy sauce in the mix. and when the chard was done, threw it all on a plate and mixed it together. it's actually pretty good, though not the prettiest thing i've made.

bento: curry chard stuff, avocado, grapes.

veganized ispanakli borek bento. (try to say that three times fast!)

Thu, 08 Jun 2006 08:08:08 GMT

tomorrow is my first venture into veganism. i've noted some symptoms of allergic reactions to dairy products in the past month and so, i'm going to see if eliminating possible problem foods will make me feel better.

tonight, i made veganized ispanakli borek from rasmussen's veggie works vegan cookbook.

ingredients:

1 onion
1 tbsp soy oil
1 pinch salt
2 cups spinach – steamed
2 blocks tofu – course, crumbled
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp nutritional yeast
1 box filo pastry – thawed
½ cup soy margarine – melted

directions:

Chop up onion and saute in preheated oil, with a pinch of salt. When onions are finished, combined them – in a bowl – with lightly steamed spinach. In another bowl, mix coursely crumbled tofu with one tbs of salt, garlic powder, onion powder, and nutritional yeast.

Using a pastry brush, grease a large casserole dish. Using two sheets of thawed out filo pastry, paint a thin coat of melted margarine on top of each double-layered sheet. Repeat this process with four more (two layer) sheets, placing each basted sheet on top of the other.

Take half of the spinach and onion mixture and apply it evently to the surface of the four layers of pastry. Next, take half of the tofu mixture and crumble it over the spinach and onion layer.

Repeat above process with four more sheets of filo pastry then another layer of fillings. Top with 3-4 more double layered sheets of filo pastry. Pre-heat oven to 400F and bake casserole 30-35 minutes or until golden brown.

what i changed: instead of using the big sheets of filo, i opted for little filo shells (so cute).

tomorrow's lunch is a total hodge-podge, because i did the worst thing you can do ... make a bento when you're hungry.

left: peach and strawberry crumble, celery with almond butter.
right: ispanakli borek shells, kale with braggs (underneath.)

miffy salad bento.

Fri, 02 Jun 2006 02:02:40 GMT

the co-op is having a sale on annie's organic dressing, so i bought the flavors i haven't tried. tomorrow, i'll be testing out annie's organic green garlic dressing.

the foreground tier is a salad made from: greens from my sister's garden, extra spinach, carrot, tomato, red onion, mushroom, and a mozzarella miffy!

the background: a ball of sushi rice with some vegetable furikake, carrots, and a red onion halo. and on the right are grapes and a necco "banana split" candy.

that red, circular container on the left is actually a pill box, but i use it for condiments. the big compartment has the dressing and the other two hold pepper and parmesan cheese.

and of course, i'll be using my spiffy miffy napkin.

palak paneer (kind of) bento.

Thu, 01 Jun 2006 05:51:13 GMT

anyone who's ever been out to eat with me knows: i'm a sucker for doggy bags. it doesn't matter if there's just garnish left on my plate -- i'll take it home.

that's why tonight i was able to make some crazy good stuff for lunch.

my sister and i went to a new indian restaurant down the street and got tons of palak paneer. there was only a little bit left over, but when i got home, i sauteed spinach, tofu, red onions, mushrooms in olive oil and threw in the leftovers. i also made some make-shift naan and packed lunches for majessa, caleb, and me.

caleb's lunch. i put a couple of spinach flowers on top and the white container is full of yogurt and carrots with a spinach face.

majessa's. palak paneer stuff and yogurt with carrots (and a spinach face) in the sesame street bento box. apple sauce. make-shift naan. banana. and her adorable sesame street fork set.

mine closely resembles majessa's but in a plain ol' pink and green bento box.

"i left my camera at my boyfriend's" bento.

Sun, 28 May 2006 06:19:52 GMT

clearly, i took a break from bento blogging for a while. this was a for a number of reasons: my job leaves me exhausted every night, we just went to the grocery yesterday for the first time in a month, i've been with caleb in stamping ground for a while, etc.

but today, i decided would be my return to lalalunch! and after slaving in the kitchen for half an hour, i realized ... my camera is at caleb's. damnitdamnitdamnit.

this just means i need more detailed descriptions.

tonight, i made "raw food paté" from Mark W. Rasmussen's Veggie Works Vegan Cookbook. i found it as a torrent file late one night, but there are probably more legal ways to obtain it. it's not the best cookbook I've ever seen, but it does the job.

raw food paté

ingredients:
1 head romaine lettuce
6 ozs field greens
1/4 cup sunflower seeds - raw
1/4 cup nuts
1 avocado - ripe
1 lemon - juiced
1 carrot - grated
1 celery stalk - chopped
4 tbsps olive oil
1/2 tsp cajun spice blend
1/4 tsp thyme - powdered
(to taste) salt and black pepper

directions:
wash lettuce and discard inferior leaves. remove best inner large crisp leaves and set aside. put other ingredients into a food processor and process into a course paté. stuff saved romaine leaves with paté and serve as hor d'oeurves.

what i changed: i didn't use the romaine leaves, because i ended up putting the paté on some awesome, vegan, flax pita pockets i found. i also avoided adding the sunflower seeds and nuts, because ... well, i'm not in the mood for crunchy stuff. and since i don't have a food processor, i just used a blender. heh. i also ended up adding a lot of pepper.

i put the paté on the pita pockets, along with some spinach leaves. i garnished with grated carrot and a spinach smiley face. for dessert, i blended banana and peaches with a little cinnamon and stuck it in the freezer.

yumyumyum.

finally, i know this is not a personal journal, but i can excuse the following pictures as being the biggest reason i haven't been bento blogging. as of last week, caleb and i are now parents!

meet baron von munchausen (named after the terry gilliam movie):

caleb's holding him while he sleeps:

caleb calls him "munchie" and i call him "dr. m." he'll never learn his name.

he's half-chihuahua and half-yorkshire terrier. he's really too young to be away from his mother, but we assume it's better that he's with a loving family than being neglected by a six year old, because his mommy is nowhere to be found.

<3<3<3

asparagus and mushroom frittata bento!

Thu, 18 May 2006 04:44:32 GMT

i took a long nap today and woke up in a pretty bad mood. the solution: cooking.

i made asparagus and mushroom frittata with the few ingredients i have in my fridge. the only change i made was cutting the servings down to two AND instead of cooking the asparagus and mushrooms in oil and butter, i just steamed them.

i accidentally broiled it on "high" and the cheese got a little too browned, but it still tasted really yummy.

and just for cuteness, i added some spinach stars on top.

i put half in my pink bento box and garnished it with pecans. tangerine pieces and applesauce are in the background tier. to the side is a packet of peppermint tea and pepper.

the box itself is really cute, but i'll post more about it later.

spinach and falafel bento.

Wed, 17 May 2006 03:45:02 GMT

i got a job as a dishwasher in the cafe of my local co-op. i've been a shopper there for a while, so it's nice to have a job there, because i get a 20% discount, the pay is awesome, i get to snack on all sorts of yummy, organic vegetarian and vegan foods on my break, and it's locally owned and operated. the cafe is fairly new, so it's pretty hectic in the kitchen. but it's still a fun work environment.

foreground:
sunflower sprouts on the bottom,
falafel and spinach patties in the middle,
mushrooms,
tomato sauce.

background:
pineapple and orange chunks,
cottage cheese,
strawberry.

cold sesame noodles bento!

Mon, 15 May 2006 04:13:55 GMT

my mom was too tired to do anything for mother's day, so my little sister and i went to a local chinese restaurant and grabbed forty bucks worth of take-out to bring to her. for the rest of the day, we all gorged on noodles and rice and veggies and watched dennis quaid movies. (because my mom is a fifty year old woman and fifty year old women love dennis quaid.)

while my sister was in rite-aid dropping off prom pictures, i snagged some pictures of our food in the car.

everybody else's stuff. the typical: beef and broccoli, sweet and sour chicken, egg rolls, etc.

my amazing, giant container full of vegetable bean curd soup! (if no one can tell, i've been on a soup kick lately.)

super-yummy cold sesame noodles. complete with a lettuce bed and some tomatoes! my noodles got their own bag, because all the other food was really hot. also: check out my sweet new running shoes.

i had a lot left over, so i packed some of the noodles for lunch. they needed more vegetables, though, so i steamed a bunch of broccoli and some mushrooms and added 'em to the mix. i also generously sprinkled more roasted sesame seeds on the noodles. in the upper right hand corner is some tomato. and to the right, yogurt and strawberries.

the rest of the soup will probably end up being a two a.m. snack. ^_^

UPDATE: ... or a three a.m. snack!

pumpkin soup and pita bento!

Mon, 15 May 2006 03:55:24 GMT

i made saturday's lunch on the run, because mid soup-cooking, caleb drove up and was like "c'mon! you're coming home with me!"

that's also why the picture is so bad. i'm pretty sure i was actually running out the door when i snapped this picture.

aqua tier:
whole wheat pita with cream cheese, avocado, and broccoli inside.
a little bit of nutritional yeast-sprinkled popcorn.

pink tier:
apple sauce and strawberries.

cinnamoroll thermos:
pumpkin soup. (canned pumpkin and veggie broth simmered with mushrooms, garlic, raisins, green onion, cinnamon, a lot of cayenne pepper.) i ended up eating it with some leftover spicy rice mixed in. sooooo goooooood.

sadly, i couldn't think of anything to put in my new car condiment container.

veggie couscous bento

Fri, 12 May 2006 05:54:45 GMT

when i made the pizza last night, i ended up olive-oil-ing way too many veggies. today, i mixed the leftovers with some hodgson mills whole wheat couscous [with milled flax seed and soy], nutritional yeast, and broccoli. the background tier holds tangerine and strawberry. and hello kitty holds even more nutrtitional yeast. just for calcium's sake, i packed a little sharp cheddar [rectangle] too.

veggie pizza!

Fri, 12 May 2006 05:29:29 GMT

at about midnight, caleb and i got superduperhungry. ok, i take that back. caleb was tired and i was superduperhungry. so, i left him upstairs to wallow in bed and reread a philip k. dick book, while i puttered in the kitchen for thirty minutes.

and lucky him, i came back with pizza!

it's not the prettiest pizza, but i was proud. i used a modified recipe i found in the reviews for another yeast-free dough recipe on allrecipes.com.

"I did make a few changes...I used 1 1/2 cups flour, 1 egg (not two) and added 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil, 1 1/2 tbsp baking powder, 1 1/2 tbsp cold water and 1 tbsp basil" (allrecipes.com user: mizwhite)

i rolled out the dough, put it on a cookie sheet, and baked it for about five minutes. when i took it out, i drizzled it with olive oil and put spinach, mushrooms, tomato pieces, and A LOT of onions. i drizzled it with olive oil again and added just a bit of parmesan and some garlic powder.

i got the original idea from a recent post in the vegetariancooks community. obviously, i didn't follow it very well, but it provided me with the inspiration to make my own yummy pizza! (mine's not vegan, though, as his was. the dough has an egg in it. however, i'm sure that part could be VERY easily veganized.)

even though caleb looks like he's going to kill me in this picture -- when i came upstairs with the pizza, he was asleep! -- i think he really liked it. i kind of wish i'd added more cheese, but he claims to have liked it as-is.

chickpea-greens soup bento

Thu, 11 May 2006 02:53:45 GMT

my sister contributed to today's lunch, as well. she brought over some leftover garbonzo bean/spinach/kale soup (in my cinamoroll thermos,) and even though that's probably filling enough, i packed some dates with cream cheese, avocado, and tomato slices in my little ultraman tin.

chili bento

Wed, 10 May 2006 02:53:03 GMT

last night was my sister's first night as a baker at the local co-op. and lucky me, i woke up to a bag of muffins that she baked for my family. i snagged one of the non-carob ones for my lunch. i'm not exactly sure what's in it, but it tastes like it's chock full of herbs and probably wheat flour with a vegan "cheese" topping. on its own, it tastes kind of strange, but when i was grocery shopping today, it hit me: CHILI! it would make the perfect companion for some homemade, spicy chili.

for the chili, i just threw garbonzo, pinto, and kidney beans into a pot with diced tomatoes, some tomato juice, onion, three cloves of garlic (yum!), a lot of cayenne and some chili powder. i simmered it for thirty minutes or so, fixed myself a bowl for dinner and put some in my new cinnamoroll thermos! once it cooled, i added nutritional yeast to my dinner bowl and it was grrrrrrrrrrr-eat. in the smiley face container are slices of the herb muffin and jicama and apple "flowers."

and just because i love it so much, another shot of my cinnamoroll thermos:

the knobs on the side are for a detachable, pink handle! so cute!

rice and vegetable furikake bento!

Tue, 09 May 2006 00:03:50 GMT

foreground:

rice with vegetable furikake.
stir fried mushrooms, carrots, tomatoes, broccoli, onions, green pepper, peanuts, sesame seeds with egg.

background:
the old tried-and-true favorite: apple sauce with blueberries on top.

firstdayofsummerbreak bento!

Mon, 08 May 2006 09:08:00 GMT

tomorrow is the first real day of summer break, so i decided i needed something free-spirited. ^^

foreground:
red bean paste bun with a nori peace sign on top.
steamed asparagus and broccoli with dijon sauce.
red tomato flowers with peppercorn centers and nori shapes.

background:
pink lady apple slices (so sweet!)
raisins.
orange slices.

yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

spinach and lentil bento

Fri, 05 May 2006 03:57:47 GMT

i've had a bag of lentils hanging around my pantry for a good month now, so i decided to make use of them tonight.

i cooked up some spinach, white onions, garlic, ginger, and green onions and mixed it up with the lentils. in the foil star container are some smart dog stars, and then, some really yummy tomato slices with pepper on top. and then, because tomatoes just don't taste the same without it, cottage cheese. ^_^

pasta salad bento

Thu, 04 May 2006 03:59:15 GMT

i honestly think that aside from the sudden abundance of my favorite fruits and vegetables at the local grocery store, the best thing about summer is pasta salad. also, wraps. you really can't eat cold pasta salad or wraps at any other time of the year and enjoy it as much. with that in mind, tomorrow's lunch features my own variation of pasta salad!

the pasta is made from
wacky mac (a really delicious vegetable pasta,)
lightly steamed asparagus (yeah, you'll see a lot of asparagus in the coming week. i bought soooo much of it at the grocery!)
little chunks of tomato
one minced garlic clove.
and some low-fat ranch dressing.

i garnished it with broccoli and a poorly cut tomato star.

on the right:
strawberry slices
blueberries
some pink lady apple pieces

one more test and i'm done with my freshman year of college! yipee!