Bentos #67, #68, #69, #70. Catching up.

Who here is a slacker?

*Raises hand...*

This past month has been... interesting... But. It's over. And here I am.

I've got my 'garden' in. There's a row of 12 gallon totes outside my front door. I gave up on the starts I had. They'd get so far and then something horrible would happen to them. Like my cat, Poe, would knock them off the cupboard. Or the cucumbers would start molding. Or ... I dunno. Just bad things.

I ended up buying starts from a greenhouse. Which ended up being a lot more fun. I have three different kinds of peppers, three different tomatoes, strawberries, sweet peas (ok... those actually were seeds I planted), and lemon cucumbers. The tomato plants all have blossoms coming on. The peppers have blossoms, and one of them has a few little tiny veggies on it. There are lots of strawberries already. I wonder how long it will take for them to get ripe?

Until then, I'm still picking up my Bountiful Basket every week. And I figured out what to do with the lettuce that's there EVERY SINGLE WEEK. I found a lettuce soup recipe. And it's yummy. And very green. This is the first time I've ever actually eaten all the lettuce.

*****

So. Bentos.

The hot layer has pasta with ICBINB and an incredibly awesome garlicky cheesy seasoning. I just found it. Way back when I was a young teenager, my mom came home with a big bottle of this stuff. I ate it with everything. I thought it was amazing stuff. And then it was gone. My mom didn't like the stuff much, and, you know, it was her money. So when it was gone, it was gone. Until a few weeks ago when I found it at Costco. It is called Johnny's Garlic Spread and Seasoning. And I love it. It's like old times.

There are also turkey meatballs, broccoli, and since there was room... I sliced up a single mushroom and sauteed it. The other layer has cucumber, cantaloupe melon balls, pineapple cubes, string cheese, and m&ms. Note... the bag of m&ms with the juicy fruit layer wasn't such a good idea. They got sticky. Also note. Those are pretty good looking melon balls. And the $3 I pent on a melon baller was totally worth it.

The top layer has Santa Fe chicken with rice. There's also a cup of tomatoes tucked into the rice to mix in with everything. The other layer has honeydew melon balls, some massive blueberries, carrots and hummus, and grapes.

There's more Santa Fe chicken and rice with green beans. The bottom has the cup of tomatoes to mix in, honey dew and blackberries. The carrot cake in the other cup is courtesy of my little brother's birthday.

I made a quiche. I got a bunch of rainbow chard in a basket and didn't know quite what to do with it. But I had eggs. And I had milk. And I had cheese. So I mixed it all together and I baked it. And it was good. So there's a piece in my lunch. There's also some green pepper strips, Some baby red baked potatoes, and some summer squash.

The other layer has honeydew melon balls, blackberries, orange slices, and more carrot cake.

*****

On another awesome note. I'm working on putting together a giveaway. It should have been for my 100th bento, but since I've been a slacker for the past month... well... I see no reason to punish you. So. We'll make it for the 75th bento. And I promise I'm back on the bento horse, so it won't take another month to come around.