Bento for 6/26

Fabulous summer meal and each item features at least one locally grown/produced product. Polenta with corn, scallions (CSA), and parmesan (2), sautéed spinach (CSA) with garlic and cheese (2), chicken florentine sausage (local) (4, I'm guessing on points for this), fresh sweet pitted cherries (local and not from California, yay!) (1), salad greens & sugar snap peas, (CSA) with radishes (our garden), carrots, & tomatoes. I'll bring some bottled dressing with me, probably cilantro (1).

Bento for 6/25

Asian-style meat loaf "muffins", sesame roasted broccoli (from CSA), wasabi mashed potatoes, gravy, botan rice candy.

Bento for 6/22

Perfect start of summer Bento! California veggie burger (2), roasted red pepper spread (0), lettuce & avocado (1) on a whole wheat bun (2); sauteed supersweet corn with sliced baby striped summer squash and swiss chard (1); homemade cole slaw with cabbage from our CSA, radishes from our garden and carrots (1); cubed perfectly ripe mango (.5)

Bento for 6/19

So I made a really yummy dinner last night which I brought as my bento the next day. I made polenta with chicken stock and romano cheese and spread that on a plate in the middle, I then topped it with sauteed spinach with garlic and a touch of white balsamic. Next I put on a thin slice of chicken breast (flour dredged and then lightly sauteed in EVOO) topped with simple chunky tomato sauce and finished with a chiffonade of fresh basil and a smidge of locatelli. I also roasted veggies from our CSA and the depths of the produce drawer and scattered them around it. Behold!

Not quite so impressive in the bento but delicious noneless. It was a Core meal too (except for the flour). Flex points below based on what I figured in recipe builder.

Sauteed chicken in simple tomato sauce (4), sauteed spinach with garlic (0), polenta (2.5), roasted vegetables (1).

Bento for 6/18

I actually had this on Sunday afternoon at home and then brought essentially the same thing in my bento for lunch the next day (didin't take a picture). Ernie was cooking off burgers on the grill and I wanted something lighter so I had him grill up a couple of my new favorite Trader Joe's find; Chile Lime Chicken Burgers!

While he cooked them I washed up a mess of lettuce from our CSA, sliced up some radishes from our garden, grated some carrots, sliced some cukes and sprinkled on some sugar snap peas (I counted all the veggies as 1 point). I topped all that with some salsa fresca (0), some shredded cheese (2), the burger (2) and 2 T of TJ's Parmesan Ranch (1). It was A LOT of food for 6 points. Awesome!

Bento for 6/15

Yummy. Spice Rubbed Pork Chop (4 oz. serving) (4), kohlrabi cakes with minted yogurt sauce (1.5), cuban black beans (2), fresh pitted bing cherries (1)

Bento for 6/14

Well this looks familiar, LOL. It's a bit different than last week: Chicken Cordon Bleu (filled with procuitto and laughing cow) (6), boiled yukon golds (2), creamed spinach (made with greens from our CSA share) (1), strawberries (0). I also got a side salad from the salad bar at work and had some 0 point dressing on it (0).

B: Pomegrate Cranberry Bran muffin (1), small tub of very berry silken tofu (2), coffee (.5)
S: Banana (1.5), All-Bran crackers with 2 T of PB2 (2).

A: 40 minute brisk walk at work (Over 5000 steps) plus another 5000 steps during the rest of the day (earn 2)

Bento for 6/6

Whole wheat panko crusted chicken strips (4), spelt farrotto (2), creamed spinach (1), salad (0), roasted red pepper spread for the chix (1) and cilantro dressing (1) for the salad.

B: 1 cup of fat free greek yogurt(2), 1 cup of strawberries(0), 1 apple cranberry bran muffin(1)

A: 30 minute brisk walk after work, 10 minutes of stretching.

Bento for 6/4

Yahoo! We picked up our first CSA share of the season. We got so much beautiful produce! There was almost two pounds of my very favorite green, swiss chard so of course I had to make my favorite recipe: Swiss Chard Struedel! Flaky layers of phyllo wrap a savory mix of chard, super sweet and locally grown Walla Walla onions (so gorgeous I almost took a big bite out of one!), Jarlsberg & a bit of parmesan cheese. Mmmmmmmmmmmmm.

A generous serving of the chard struedel, grilled chicken apple sausage, cheesy corn casserole, and a packed-to-the-gills container of fresh sweet pitted cherries. I've been reminiscing California and this particular lunch really puts me in that West Coast state of mind...

Bento for 6/1

This picture came out so dark. It was quite delicious though...

Trader Joe's Stir Fry Veggie egg roll, pan seared scallops and tofu with stir fried vegetables and rice stick noodles, half a candy-sweet orange, hot mustard for the egg roll in the dip container and botan rice candy. Better than take out!

Bento for 5/31

Really, I have to say, I love leftovers!

This was so good and so easy! Grilled spice-rubbed pork chops from our pork share, cucumber salad, Trader Joe's Vegetable Jambalaya, half of a candy-sweet valencia orange. Yummy!

Bento for 5/30

Ah the bento that never was...

It was to be: coconut beef stew, whole wheat couscous cooked in beef broth (with tomato and olive garnish), steamed haricôt vert, and strawberries.

However, long story made short, Myster E. shot his finger with a nail gun and when he got back from the ER was wicked hungry and grubbed in the fridge with his big bandaged paw and knocked over my dear lunch onto the floor. Our golden retriever was the big winner that night.

Sooooo...instead I had:

Lunch jar with Caldo Verde, multigrain roll with butter and a banana. Not a bad substitute.

P.S. E's finger will be fine. He didn't hit the bone and should be molesting various stringed instruments someday soon.

Bento for 5/29

In all day training today. Had a melange of influences in today's lunch. Grilled turkey sausage from Mt. View Poultry (hot and green onion & pepper), asian cucumber salad, spicy asian pasta salad (awesome dressing on this), and strawberries and pineapple tidbits. Yum!

Bento for 5/25

I've had some really great lunches the past couple months since I last posted but life went too fast for pictures. Here's a recent one.

Roasted sesame green beans, panko crusted pork cutlet with ginger wasabi sauce, wasabi mashed potatoes, mandarin oranges.

Bento for 1/25

Marinated chicken breast, "princess" veggies*, nutty pilaf, freeze dried peaches, TJ 100 calorie cookie pack.

*oven roasted veggies, like ten different kinds, that I had made for a potluck last weekend. I had sprinkled diced roasted beets on top. When I reheated this in the wok everything turned a lovely shade of pink, much to J's delight. So we dubbed them princess veggies and she went back for seconds, yay!

Bento for 1/24

Crab & corn bisque, shrimp & gruyère quiche, salad with Annie's woodstock dressing and bruschetta crackers.

Bento for 1/19

Baked polenta (E. calls it placenta, har de har), pomodoro sauce, sweet Italian chicken sausage, mixed green salad. Romano on the side and green goddess dxressing.

Heavens this was tasty!

Bento for 1/18

Chicken mole enchiladas, black beans, spanish rice, salsa fresca and sour cream.

Bento for 1/17

Ham with dijon mustard, veggie mix, au gratin potatoes, homemade applesauce snack cake.

Bento for 1/16

Soup and salad. Sorry for the blurry pictures!



Butternut, white bean and bacon soup with kale.


Rainbow Israeli cous cous salad, white onion cheese crisps for the soup, red grapes.

For snack my homage to Ween, chocolate and cheese!

Bento for 1/3

This was awesome. Dos Arroz!

Arroz con Pollo, arroz con leche, mixed green salad with Annie's Woodstock dressing. I could eat this all day long it was so good!