Enoki Mushroom & Ground Pork Bento

Bone broth (after 3 days in the slow cooker! This is just a portion of it) – froze them in cubes for easy reheating and cooking.

Chicken Karaage Bento!

Making Nom Nom Paleo’s bone broth!
http://nomnompaleo.com/post/3615609338/slow-cooker-beef-bone-broth

This Paleo Chocolate Cake is pretty good! The texture is so light and moist it ends up tasting a bit more like a mousse, especially if you chill it.

To make the chocolate glaze, melt 1 cup chocolate chips with 1 tablespoon grassfed unsalted butter. Then add a couple tablespoons of whole milk, a tablespoon of raw honey, and a dash of vanilla extract. Stir, top the cakes, then chill the cakes to allow the glaze to harden.

Salmon Sashimi

Craving salmon sashimi…

Feeling Warmer

The weather has finally started warming up, so I made chicken salad last night and packed it in my bento for today. Normally when it’s cold I probably wouldn’t think about having a cold salad for lunch.

I got these silicone muffin liner things from Jbox too, and decided to try them out today. They’re just barely the right height for the bottom portion of my usual bento box, and I think they definitely wouldn’t fit in my new smaller bento box. One nice thing it does though, is help with portions. As I was filling them with blueberries this morning, I thought “wow these don’t hold alot” but as i’m eating my lunch now I realize the whole bento is probably more than enough and i’m starting to feel full already. Sometimes the eyes just have a bigger appetite than the stomach, you know? I may just be bad at estimating quantities too.

Today’s Bento:

Chicken Salad (chicken breast, carrots, red onions, cucumbers, mayo)
Blueberries
Grape Tomatoes
Half of an Avocado (not pictured)

Prep Time: 10 minutes (mostly filling, then trying to put the lid on, and them removing/shifting things to make the lid close!)

New Bento Box!

Finally received my new bento box in the mail yesterday from JBox. Ooo pretty… it is slightly smaller than my other bento box though, but the lunch I packed today in it was still pretty filling.

Today’s Bento:

Glazed Chicken Legs (bones removed, these were seasoned with ranch dressing powder, garlic powder, salt, and lawry’s, they kind of just ended up glazing themselves as the seasonings melted)
Carrots
Grape Tomatoes
Cucumbers

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Oh Monday…

I tried making the Parmesan Chicken recipe with chicken legs last night, but I think it really works better with chicken breasts. It just tastes too… oily (?) with dark meat. I still used it in today’s bento though, and it wasn’t bad cold.

Today’s Bento:

Parmesan Chicken Legs (bones removed after cooking)
Mini Cucumbers
Clementine

Prep Time: 5 Minutes

Monday is over… phew. Busy day at the office today; i’m always glad I packed my lunch on these busy days, and the bonus of a bento is that you don’t need to reheat anything, especially if the office microwaves are far away (my office’s microwaves are 8 floors below).

Here’s to a good week though!

 

Hello Weekend

Finally… it’s Friday. Today’s bento was all made in the morning since we didn’t have leftovers from dinner; shrimp with a little salt and pepper, and Tamagoyaki (egg “omelette”). I sauteed the shrimp in some olive oil first, and then while it was cooling on a plate, I made the Tamagoyaki (2 eggs + 1 tablespoon water + pinch of sugar and salt). For the small amount of sugar in this, I don’t really sweat it, because I can control how much I use. You don’t need very much to lightly flavor the egg either. Then as the Tamagoyaki was resting wrapped up (wrapping in plastic wrap after it’s cooked helps it hold its shape), I sauteed the carrots in a little bit of water just to soften.

Today’s Bento:

Shrimp (cooked in olive oil + salt & pepper)
Cherry Tomatoes
Radishes (I tried to cut them like this, but yeah… fail)
Tamagoyaki (instructions here*)
Sauteed Carrots

Prep Time: 20 Minutes (Tamagoyaki probably took most of the time, but this is often a bento staple people make ahead of time and freeze, so that could cut some time off if you made it ahead of time)

*Note that for the Tamagoyaki, I use a very simple recipe with just egg, water, and sugar (sometimes a little salt). I also cook it in a normal round pan, but the idea is the same, you bunch the first layer to one side, then pour egg to the left of it, roll it up when that layer is cooked, and keep repeating on the next side until you’re out of liquid egg. Then I wrap it in plastic wrap tightly to help it keep its shape, and then slice.