Airplane Bento II

A year later, the airplane bento post remains my top hit. So when we went on vacation this summer, I knew I had to outdo myself. We had a 5 1/2 hour flight in the afternoon, so I "brought it" by increasing the size of the tupperwear container. I wanted to feature my favorite snacks and airplane purchases while adding some novel items in. It also helped that Target had a snack station where I could purchase smaller versions of tasty treats.

In this bento we have:

- 2 fun packs of peanut M&Ms
- Pretzel Crisps
- Pepperoni Stick
- Chocolate Chip Chewy Bar
- Individual Hummus
- Babel Cheese wheel

Airplane Bento

Something about being 30,000 feet in the air makes everything better. That's why I'm saying this is my best bento ever. No matter how much I ate in the airport, I always want to buy the in-plane snacks. They look so tasty! However, I hate spending $3.00 on a pack of M&Ms or $7.00 on a cheese tray that is hardly big enough for a child. So I've started to make my own airplane snacks that include the foods that I am tempted to buy.

In this bento we have:
- 2 fun packs of peanut M&Ms
- Pretzel Crisps
- Pepperoni
- Chocolate Chip Chewy Bar
- Red Pepper Hummus
- Laughing Cow Cheese
(Plastic knife not pictured)

This bento accompanied us to while flying from ATL to SLC. 

No bento box required

I was working late and asked my husband to bring me a snack. The result was a reminder that you don't always need a bento box to make a big impression with food displays

One bento, two ways

So when you go to awesome bento sites like Adventures in Bento Making (http://www.aibento.net/) or Ohayo Bento (http://www.ohayobento.com/index.html) I always notice the boxes. They always seem so nice, so fancy, so perfect for bentos. And I felt like I was at a disadvantage with my lack of boxes. So today I'm here to show one meal done two ways: in my bento and in Tupperware for the hubs. Check it out and I hope be inspired!

Being Souper

I love soups! My husband, not so much, but my lunches are for me! And with my new awesome bento box it is even easier for me to enjoy them during lunch. The challenge is that I love cream soups which directly conflicts with the 4-hour body diet.

So my new challenge to myself is to find soups that are 4-Hour friendly but I enjoy. My top two lately have been:

Edward & Son's Miso soup - This one can be found in most supermarkets (because if my Kroger has it, so does yours) but it hides in the organic section. It has 7 grams of Carbs and you can make with hot water from your office coffee maker. I'm also a sucker for Miso Soup

Gazpacho - There are like a million different ways to make this, but either way you blend it (ha!) it's just veggies in a food processor. Tomatoes can get your carb count up (I saw from 4g to 7g on the web per serving) so make sure you incorporate plenty of other veggies like peppers and cucumbers so you don't end up with more carbs than you planned. 

Cool Cucumber Soup - It's hot in Georgia so I need some more cold options. This is the most cheater of the soups because of the yogurt but I've learned to let Greek yogurt slide into my diet because it's very high in protein (for 9g of carbs, you get 23g of protein) and it is a perfect sour cream substitute. I use the Healthy Foodie's recipe for this soup.

She's alive! and she's changing things up

This year has not been a good blogging year for me. Maybe it's because I've been so happy (and busy) with my life I'm not getting around to it as much as I should. I still have been making lunches in my new bento box, but I would not use "pretty" to describe them.

So I'm taking a page from Brandi who runs Brandi Nell the Southern Belle to make my blog more of what I am doing and loving but still keeping the bentos in them. You'll still see my attempts at bentos and healthy options, but look for more of my other love - hiking.

Today I want to share a recipe that I found on Dirty Gourmet that is excellent to go on hikes and in bentos, Grit Cakes.

They're great for hikes because you can pack them along for a morning bite and great for bentos because of all the shapes you can make them. I hate grits but I love these grit cakes.

This past weekend, my husband and I warmed up by hiking up Stone Mountain. I wish I had these cakes along to enjoy at the top!

He told me I wasn't looking happy enough at first, so here's my top of the mountain dance. 

Halloween Bentos

Halloween is the funniest time to make bentos! I have not started any of mine yet, but I've got some good ideas to go off of. Here's one from Bento Anarchy that I love!

More to come!

I'm back! and with tuna cakes!

Maybe it's the new job or a fancy new toy or knowing that AWA is around the corner, either way I'm back and motivated to get going again!

Today I'm showcasing my "Tuna Cakes". Think a poor man's crab cake or the 4-hour body friendly crab cake. I would suggest combing with some green beans and either a small salad or Cole slaw


TUNA CAKES

Ingredients
~canned tuna (I used two cans for six cakes)
~mustard
~mayonnaise (skip if doing a strict four hour body diet)
~green onion
~seasoning to taste (I use salt, pepper, garlic and light lemon juice)
~walnuts


The directions are simple: make tuna as you normally do to your liking, just make sure to prepare it on the dry side so the tuna can be shaped into balls.

Once formed, crush whole walnuts by placing in a zip lock bag and smashing with a frying pan. You can then gently toss each tuna cake in the walnuts so it is barely covered. And bam!

Makin' (candy) sushi

For valentine's day, my husband and I like to do small, almost gag, fun gifts.This year,  he got me this make your own candy sushi kit! It's not bento or 4 hour diet friendly- it's just fun and I had to share our results.

Where do you find something like this? He saw it in a YouTube video and then found a website, White Rabbit Press, that will find any product in Japan for you from just a picture or video.  If you want to see the full process, then check out this YouTube video. Below is our adventures with it!

We start with the kit and its pieces....

Then we start to mix stuff up!

And we're still mixing

The fun part was making these little balls.

We also had to make and form all the rice!

And volia! Sushi candy!

It tasted yummy (like red and yellow if those were flavors). 

I'm already looking forward to getting another kit!

Two lunch double punch

While cleaning up some files, I cam across some lunches I never posted from the pre-4hour days. The nice thing about these lunches is that they can *easily* become 4-hour body diet friendly by changing the side items.

Lunch 1 - Turkey Kielbasa Salad

 The salad on your right is slices of Turkey Kielbasa with spinach and cheese. I would suggest adding in some green peppers if you have them. On your left is a tasty blend of grapes, walnuts and raspberries in greek yogurt. If you wanted to make this 4hour body friendly, remove the cheese from the salad and substitute with some diced pepper (red would look hot but green is more my speed) and maybe add some broccoli. For the snack, remove the fruit, add some beans but keep the walnuts in limited number.

Want to make it cute? Use a cookie cutter for the turkey to make it flowers, cars or stars.

 Lunch 2 - Beef Salad

 Clearly I was on a salad kick. Once again, the salad with its beef, spinach and almonds is still 4hour body friendly, though I would suggest adding something in to make it more interesting. The snack isn't too bad either. The picture shows grapes, celery and (my fav) non-fat greek yogurt. The only thing I would remove is the grapes!

Link day!

I want to get back into the bento mix (and I have a few lunches to share down the road!) but before I make my sad little attempts, I wanted to share the sites that inspire me with you. Let your eyes enjoy these cute sites!

Bento Anarchy - http://bentoanarchy.blogspot.com/
The original inspiration. The person who runs this blog hosts a panel every year at AWA. I attended her panel the past two years and it's great every time! Not to mention, these are the cutest and most beautiful lunches you will ever see. I bet everyone kid in her daughter's class is jealous.

Just Bento - http://justbento.com/
These bentos are more adult than Bento Anarchy, but equally beautiful. I also want to get my hands on their book.

Bento Box! - http://www.airandangels.com/bentobox/
Don't know anything about bentos? Start here. It tells you everything you need to know. (And I totally remember that episode of Sailor Moon the images on that website come from.)

All Things for Sale - http://www.allthingsforsale.com/
This is where I like to shop for supplies as they are both cute and affordable.

Work Lunch Boxes - http://www.laptoplunches.com/
And other sites like this...they sell easy bento boxes because it's already divided. Separate compartments also make it easy to clean in your dishware- a top priority for me. 

Mediterranean Platter

Food items: Salami Sandwich using Pita bread & humus, olives, pickles, pita slices, humus,
Tools: fish and car cheese cutter, multiple silicone cups
Time spent: way too much time, but totally delicious
Notes:  This took longer to make because I wanted to cut out cars in salami and fish in cheese (I like to play with my food!). Saw a Mediterranean plate lunch in Women's Health and wanted to make a bento version of it. I think I should have made one more salami sandwich because I devoured my snack - greek yogurt- shortly after lunch.

Turkey Wrap up

Food items: turkey wrap (leftovers), grapes, walnut, cucumber slices, ranch dressing
Tools: small cup for dressing
Time spent: 10 minutes, maybe
Notes: This looks delicious and cute and it was very tasty

Flower power!

Food items: Fried Rice (leftovers), chicken tossed in Thai seasoning, cucumber slices, ranch dressing
Tools: small cup for dressing
Time spent: 10 minutes, maybe
Notes:I didn't even mean for this to happen, but once I noticed I made a flower for the snack, I had to snap a pic. Also started a bunch more bentos this week so I'll have some blogging material!

Popeye would love this

Food items: Spinach, oil & vinegar dressing, cheese, kielbasa. Not Pictured: cottage cheese, apple slices
Tools: fish cookie cutter
Time spent: 10 minutes
Notes:Just got some supplies in so I was eager to use them. The cheese cutter works awesome and the silicone cups do the job for dressing, but I wish they were larger. They can be used for dips or dividers, but are too small of a serving size for most foods.