More fabulous food pics from the last 6 months

Turns out I have a LOT of old food pics.  And I like flooding the inboxes of my few followers. :-)  Don't you all feel special?

Fall Bento: Carrots, Celery, Dip, and snack mix of Teddy Grahams,
Rainbow Goldfish, and Harvest Mix candy corn

Spice cake cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and cinnamon chocolate leaves.

Spa-Day Breakfast: Chicken Sausage and sauteed peppers
with garlic cream sauce and fresh biscuits (I think...)

(Dante decided that I was too stressed out and planned a
spa-day for me.  It was quite awesome.  Love you, Dante!)

Spa-day dessert (by special request)

Chocolate raspberry pastries.  Puff pastry with sauce
made from fresh berries and dark chocolate.  Mmmmmm.

Honey pork heaven: Pork loin (I think) with honey mustard,

Prosciutto, and bacon. with pepper and parmesan pasta.

Homemade pasta (made with the Kitchen Aid pasta roller set
Dante got me for Christmas), Tilapia, and roasted asparagus with a
fried egg and low-fat hollandaise.

August Catch-up: Bentos 28 & 29 and Gnocchi Skins

Ok... are you ready for a flood of food blog posts?  Cuz I have like two and a half months worth of cooking to catch up on here! It will probably be done in increments, but anywho... here goes!

Bento #28: Salads and Chicken Nuggets

 Yeah, I know chicken nuggets are horrible processed high-fat/high-sodium, but darn it they're good. Got chicken nuggets, barbecue sauce (in the Spidey/Lightning McQueen dishes), graham crackers, and caesar salads.  Yum!

Bento #29: Mexican Dip

Mexican dip (refried beans, salsa, rice, and cheese), Tostitos, and a Lofthouse cookie

Gnocchi Skins?

So, we made up another batch of the amazing Gnocchi, but it seemed a shame to waste all the skins from the potatoes we cooked.  Thus were born the gnocchi skins.  Basically, after making gnocchi, we took the boiled potato skins and pan-fried them up with bacon bits and cheese, then had them for "breakfast for dinner" with fried eggs, apple slices, and Italian bread.  

They were delicious, if I do say so myself. ;-)

That wraps up the first of the catch-up posts, and I should really get ready for work now, but more to come later, including: The Chopped Championship (home version), more bentos, chocolate waffles, and more!

Happy Bentos, 

Rowan

Bentos #26-7: Mix n Match!

Bento #26:

My bento: Fried Rice and Stir Fry Veggies (frozen) with a soy sauce fishy, and frozen chicken nuggets, with a spidey-dish of sweet and sour sauce.  And yeah... Sweet Baby Rays in the background.  I didn't actually take any of that tho.  I got it out for Dante's box. It just showed up in my pic. 

Dante's, same, but with a Rice Krispies Treat thrown in, and the Sweet and Sour Sauce in a Lightning McQueen dish.  We're such grown-ups.  :-D

 Bento #27: 

Salad with mozzarella and craisins again, Mini-lasagnas (see earlier post), and graham crackers. 

By the way, I forgot to mention it in the last post, but Bentos 25-27 were all made (in duplicate, mind you), in less than 10 minutes.  And the photos were taken with my phone.  

Happy bentos!

Rowan

Bento #25! Hamburger Helper.... Mmmm.

25 bentos in the blog!!  That sounds like an achievement to me! (Achievement UNLOCKED!) Woo hoo!

Ok, now that the celebration's done, I suppose I ought to actually POST the 25th one, huh?  Make it for reals?

But first, I have to post a pic of the new boxes!

My Grandmother found these awesome boxes at World Market for $5.00!!  How amazing is that?!  So she bought two.  Then I bought two.  Then I picked up two for Mom.  Then I picked up two for Chloe.  They're out of the green ones now.... lol.  Anyway, they hold about 1100 mL by my measurement and have a built in silverware compartment.  And they snap closed, which is nice (don't have to find a band in the morning!).

So anyway, drum roll please...

Bento #25

Our boxes side by side so you can see how awesomely huge Dante's is.  The top layer's shallow tho, so it looks bigger than it is.  Inside, we have Cheeseburger Macaroni Hamburger Helper (YUM!), Salad with mozzarella and craisins with Raspberry Pecan dressing, and Dante has some fried rice up in the top. 

Ok, 'nother post coming in a minute, so until then....

Happy bentos!

Rowan

Dante may be a genius

Really.  Check out this brilliant idea from the mind of Dante:  Cheater (non-deep-fried!) Donuts.

They're amazing.

And easy.

And awesome.

Super-easy:  Take a white hamburger bun.  Make a chocolate frosting sandwich.  Add marshmallow fluff if desired.  Top with chocolate frosting.  (add sprinkles if desired).  Enjoy!

Bento Mini-lasagnas: Spaghetti, Cottage Cheese, Mozzarella, and pasta sauce in silicone cups.

HOMEMADE GNOCCHI!  SOOOOOOOOO GOOD!!! 

It's delicious.  Really.  Recipe from Mario Batali's Simple Italian Food cookbook. 

(Recipe paraphrased/modified here)

Basic Gnocchi:

3 pounds potatoes

2 cups flour

1 egg

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup oil

Boil the potatoes until soft, about 45 minutes.  Peel and pass through a vegetable mill (or strainer.  or just mash em).  Add flour, egg, and salt and stir until smooth.  Knead for 4 minutes or until ball is dry to the touch.  

Cut the dough into 6-8 pieces and roll into ropes approximately 3/4 inch wide.  Cut into 1 inch pieces.  "Flick the pieces off of a fork to score the sides" (didn't necessarily master that last part). drop into boiling water and cook until they float to the surface, about 1 minute.  Use a slotted spoon to pull out the cooked gnocchi and transfer them to a bowl.  Serve with sauce of choice.  We used Ragu Garden Combination and some seasoned burger Dante cooked up.  

Anywho... DELICIOUS GNOCCHI.  You should go make it.  Now.  Really.  and give me some.  :-D

Happy cooking!

Rowan 

Food Catch-up, August Edition

ok, so got all caught up on the (2) bentos this morning.  Now for some other food catch-up.

Modified Tom's Chicken Soup

So we found a recipe called "Tom's Chicken Soup" in one of my cookbooks that looked really good.  But, being me, I couldn't just FOLLOW the recipe... So this is my version.  It's got Chicken, Fake Bacon, Potatoes, Shallots, Garlic, Chicken Stock, Mushroom Stock, Milk, and "Cream" (reconstituted dry milk at high concentrations...).  It was good and hearty. Served with Italian Herb and Cheese biscuits.  Yum.  

 Mini S'mores Bears

Fourth of July.  No marshmallows, Hershey's bars, or graham crackers anywhere in the apartment.  What's a girl to do? Pull out the chocolate frosting, marshmallow fluff and Teddy Grahams!!  Cute and tasty!

 Coffee Baked Alaska

This was the one specific food request Dante made for his birthday.  And I was only too happy to oblige.  This is pound cake and coffee truffle ice cream covered in coffee-flavored meringue, baked for just a couple mins, and drizzled with chocolate sauce and mini chocolate chips. 

Red Velvet Pancakes 

These were the breakfast part of Dante Birthday celebrations!  They have cocoa powder and such in them.  Found the recipe online here: http://cookingequipment.about.com/od/breakfastrecipes/r/Red-Velvet-Pancakes-With-Cream-Cheese-Glaze.htm  Mine turned out rather PINK instead of red, but... it takes a LOT of food coloring to get them even this red.  And I was using paste colors.

I think that's all of the highlights, at least that we have photos of.  Hope you enjoyed!

Happy bentos!

-Rowan

Bento Catchup, August Style

Long time no post... Hope all (3) of you weren't TOO miserable without my witty blog posts to keep you entertained all summer..... he he he.

Two weeks.... ha!  Try two months.  But sadly, I thought it might have been more than that.  Glad to see I was wrong.  So, the summer completely got away from me.  Been SUPER busy and haven't really been packing bentos.  At all.  I think I have two bentos to post from the entire two months.  And they're both kinda cheater bentos.  *Ashamed look*  BUT!  I am resolved to start packing bentos and updating this blog again.  Let's see if I stick to it.

Ok, Bento #23:

In super cheater style, it turns out a Hot Pocket fits REALLY nicely into the top layer of my bento box...

Then there are Teddy Grahams and chocolate frosting.  Mmmmm.  Homemade Dunkaroos!

Bento #24: 

Today's bento: Stir-fried steak and zucchini from dinner last night, with a layer of brown rice underneath and a soy sauce fishy.  It's super tasty, if I do say so myself.  *eyes the clock, wondering how long til lunchtime...*

Anyway, that's it for bentos folks.  Look for another post soon with other food/life/etc updates.  

Happy bentos!

-Rowan

Bento Catch Up!

Bento #20

First in a set of less than creative bentos... EL Fudge Cookies, goldfish crackers, and Lady Alice Apple

So..... cuz Dante's AWESOME, we got to go see BON JOVI!!!  it was Legen.... wait for it.... DARY.  (I've been using a lot of Barney-isms lately...) And since our road trip took us through Chicago, we decided to stop in at Gino's East for some amazing pizza.  Chicago-style deep dish with patty-style sausage and load of deliciousness.

Saturday morning, we ordered room service for breakfast.  Pricey, but DELICIOUS.  Seriously.  Dante got Crab Eggs Benedict (Made with jumbo lump crab meat) with seasoned potatoes, which was amazing.  As was my apple french toast, which was made with locally-grown apples.  Mmmmmm.

Bento #21

Zoo pasta salad with black forest ham and chunks of colby jack cheese, with a fresh strawberry

 Bento #22

Spring Mix with dried cranberries, shredded cheddar, raspberry pecan dressing,

and a fresh strawberry

I know there were a few other bentos in there, as well as an AMAZING cheese board that we (I) forgot to photograph (d'oh!).  It had, I kid you not, 10 kinds of cheese.  Everything from Mango Ginger Stilton to Smoked Gouda, and loads of awesome deliciousness.  But no photo.  Darn it.  You'll just have to trust me that it was awesome. 

Anywho... Happy Bentos!  Hopefully post again in LESS than 2 weeks this time...

Rowan

Bento #19- Apple Pecan Chicken Salad

No bento for Weds.  Went to lunch with my Grandmother at a chinese place near work.  Decent Sweet and Sour Chicken, but no leftovers! lol

Weds night, we picked up dinner at Wendy's.  I decided to skip my standard fries (gasp!) cuz it was SOOOOOO nice out Weds.  Got an Apple Pecan Chicken Salad instead, and oh my goodness.... DELICIOUS!  Seriously.  So when I went to the store to pick up ice cream later that evening,  definitely picked up the stuff to make my own.  I think they turned out pretty well, too! 

I used Romaine Hearts as the base, because I have a bag that needs to be used up.   In the original, I think they used a Spring Mix or something similar.  Anywho... Baked chicken breast, seasoned lightly with Tuscan Seasoning Blend, a tart, crisp apple cut into bite sized chunks (don't remember which kind exactly...), crumbled light bleu cheese, and roasted pecans (I bought plain pecan chips, tossed them with a little Olivio and sea salt and baked em at 350 for 5 mins or so- worked quite well).  Topped it all with a Fat Free Raspberry Vinaigrette (Wendy's: Pomegranate Vinaigrette).  The Wendy's version also had a couple dried cranberries, I think, but I forgot to add those to mine and didn't really miss em.

My salad, in one of my Hello Kitty bowls.  I put the chicken in a silicone cup so I could take it out and warm it up in the microwave, which worked quite well..

Dante's:  Same salad, plus a baked chicken breast.

Anywho... that wraps up the bentos for this week.  Didn't take one Friday. 

Have a great weekend!

-Rowan

Bento #18- Zoo pasta salad, etc

Ok, so a partial repeat of Monday's Bentos, Tuesday's bentos were still VERY tasty!

My bento: Top Layer: Zoo Pasta Salad with Ham instead of Burger.

Bottom Layer: Goldfish Crackers and a Mounds Candy Bar.  Mmm.

Dante's Bento: Top Layer (shown on bottom in the pic): Zoo Pasta Salad

Bottom (top) layer: Mounds, Goldfish Crackers, and an octodog.  ^.^  he he he.

I think next time I have to bring a salad-type dish for a potluck, this Pasta Salad might just be it.  I'm really happy with how it turned out! 

Bento #17- Mini-Burgers and Pasta

Pre-emptive post!!  woo hoo! 

I actually made our Bentos tonight, AHEAD OF TIME!  Go me!! So I'm posting them now,  instead of letting the pics sit on my camera for a few days first.  ^.^  They're not by a long shot my most impressive bentos (I think those may have been my first ones... decided to peak early!), but I'm hoping they'll be tasty (I havent actually tried the pasta yet.  Already brushed my teeth.  oops!).

Mine: In one of my new Hello Kitty bowls. 
A little bit of Zoo-shaped pasta with a mini-burger and Chopped Tomatoes.

Dante's: The same, in a tupperware.

So... yeah.  All the regular bento boxes were dirty and I didn't feel like doing dishes at 1 AM, so... Dante's is in a tupperware.  It was either that or Hello Kitty. 

The pasta is Zoo-shaped pasta from World Market (super cute!) tossed with a little bit of truffle-infused olive oil and ground Tuscan seasoning blend, with chopped tomatoes on top.  The Mini-burgers are just what they sound like.  I seasoned up some burger last time I wanted Chaos tots and made 12 mini patties from a pack of extra-lean burger.  The way I make burgers, they've got lots of chopped garlic, green onions, seasonings, Worchestershire (sp?) sauce, and Italian bread crumbs.  They're very tasty, if I do say so myself.

Anywho, Have a happy Monday and a fantabulous lunch!

-Rowan

Bento #16- SPEED Bento

So, the second (and last...) Bento this week was for Weds.  Sorry it took so long to get up.  oops!

Thurs I went to lunch with a co-worker who's leaving (graduating!) and got a HUGE turkey club with waffle fries.  It was delicious, but wow... I wish I'd had my camera to take a picture of this thing.  So I had that for lunch on Thurs AND Friday. 

Anywho... back to bento... I packed this one on the way out the door, so it was super-rushed.  And my top layer was leftover from Monday, so it was looking a bit less pretty, so I just took a pic of Dante's.  And it's blurry.  This is a very winning post. lol.  But hey... it's a post. 

Rice and Veggies, Fishie Soy Sauce,

"Sandwich Sushi"- Ham and cheese rolled in wheat bread, and Fruit Snacks

ALSO... I bought some Hello Kitty containers at Target (they were a DOLLAR!).  They hold about 500 mL each and are super cute!  I might use one of these tomorrow.... yay! (Picture below)

So.. that wraps up the last week in bento. 

Hope to see you back here this week for more bento posts!

-Rowan

Bento #15- Rice and Veggies

Ok, starting the week out right with some awesome bentos!

Dante's bento: (With the super-cool chopsticks I got him for Easter!) Instant rice, frozen stir fry veggies, soy sauce fish, Star Wars fruit snacks, graham crackers, and colby jack cheese.  The fruit snacks and cheese are in the separators I got for Easter!  Awesome, huh?

My bento: Basically the same things, but with Phineas and Ferb fruit snacks! :-)  Again, fruit snacks in a silicone separator from Mom.  My cheese is in a mini paper bake cup though.  Ran out of appropriately sized separators, though I still have some in other sizes.

Heading to my brother's tomorrow so he can fix my car (YAY!  Thanks bro!), so probably no bentos tomorrow, but look for some bento awesomeness on Weds!

-Rowan

Bentos #13 and 14- Waffles and baked potatoes

Ok, so... between being sick Tues and Weds, Super busy Thurs, and heading home Friday, I packed a grand total of three bentos last week, all for Monday!  Oh well.  Hope to do better this week...

Breakfast bento: I actually packed two of these, one for Dante and one for myself.  Homemade waffles (leftover from Easter and frozen), Maple syrup (Sugar-free Praline flavored syrup for Dante, regular for me), ham, and underripe mango (tart, but still good).

Lunch bento: baked potato slices with ham and cheese, hard-boiled egg, kumato tomato, mini cake, and salt in the cute little carrot at the bottom. :-)

Anywho... that pretty much sums up last week!  lol.  BUT... I did get some cute bento accessories from Mom for Easter.  Look for those to show up in this week's bentos!!

-Rowan

Bento #12

Ok, so to follow up my "Wow, Poot's Bento is AWESOME, I need to step it up a notch!"  I made super-boring bentos on Friday! (I was in a hurry and running late for class...)

Both bentos: PB&J, Leftover Roasted Sweet Potato, Salad (mine has tomatoes)

Very exciting, no?  It was tasty tho. :-)  That's what matters in the end.

On to post about today's breakfast!

Rowan

Bentos #10/11- Tortellini with Garlic Cream Sauce

Tuesday's dinner was pretty darn good if I do say so myself.  I bought prepackaged (I know, lame...lol) Chicken and Prosciutto Tortellini and made a Garlic Cream sauce to go on it.  I modified this recipe from food.com.  Basically, I used fat-free half and half, added Parmesan cheese, added some orange pepper when sauteeing the garlic, and added spinach and chopped prosciutto in the last step.  Then took sub rolls and sprayed them with some Olivio, added garlic salt, Italian seasoning, Parmesan, and Mozzarella and popped em in the toaster oven for a few minutes. 

 

See?  Tasty...

And, as is the theme around here, tonight's dinner becomes tomorrow's bentos (which I think is a very good thing.  I'm already noticing we throw away less food this way!)

My bento: Actually not as much leftovers as Dante's.  I have: Tortellini in the red silicone cup at the end (those things are so gosh darn handy!!), Colby Jack Cheese, Ranch dressing, Whole Grain bread, and salad (spinach, romaine, and grape tomatoes).

 

Dante's bento: Leftover Tortellini and Garlic Bread, apples, and Cheddar Babybel.  (The apples don't look quite so nifty since they're in a plastic bag, but I packed these the night before.)

And since I didn't make bentos today (it was early, I was tired, and our boxes were dirty!), I think that catches me up!  woo hoo!!

Happy Bento-ing!

Rowan

Bento #9- Fishy Business

Monday night's dinner was pan-seared tilapia with rice and asparagus.  Guess what Tuesday's bento was...

Did you guess?  It was pan-seared tilapia with rice and asparagus!  And apples and graham crackers.  Still beige.  I like beige foods apparently.  Need to get more colorful.

Dante's bento

My bento

Since they're EXACTLY the same today, I didn't bother labeling them separately.  Deal with it.  :-p lol.  

And since I have more to post, I'm going to leave this one at that and move on. 

Missing!

Have you seen the following
Bento Accessories?  

Last seen April 16th, late evening.

If you know there whereabouts of these items,
please let us know! 

I'm Joking.... although it is true.  Anyway, I gave these bento accessories to Mom and Poot for their bentos, but they have since gone missing in the hussle and bussle.  So, hopefully they'll be found soon, but in the meantime, I wanted to show off their groovy awesomeness.  :-)