Bento #122 -

don't forget to enter the Lock'n'Lock giveaway! You have until Wednesday to enter.
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Thursday this past week was the first day I didn't work in the entire month of June. Plus the week before that.  What is that... 35 days straight? Its a good thing I don't have much of a life outside of work.
Anywho, I decided to go camping. I left Wednesday after work. Strawberry reservoir is the place I went last year about this time. Its close, about an hour away, and the fishing is supposedly good. I wouldn't know. I have yet to catch anything.

Dinner that night was cooked in tinfoil in the campfire.  In one packet I had onions and mushrooms wrapped up with a marinated chicken breast.  I also did a packet of potatoes, and one of apple slices and brown sugar.

I came to the sad realization while I was eating an amazingly tender, flavorful bite of chicken topped with a bit of sharp cheddar that I hadn't cooked anything so tasty in more than a month. I'm not sure I've even turned my stove on in that time, besides to steam a couple of zucchini. Everything else had been microwave food or takeout.

I resolved to cook real food at home this weekend. 

Which I just barely did.

And it was tasty.

And I put the leftovers in a bento.

I sauteed Greek chicken sausage with mushrooms, onions, and halved baby heirloom tomatoes and served it over spaghetti squash with feta.  The sausage provided plenty of flavor to the dish. I didn't even salt or pepper it.

My other box has grapes, cherries, grape tomatoes, and two dark chocolate Reese's cups.

Bento #121

Some days the internet is good. It tells you how to stuff an acorn squash with a filling so tasty, you could eat all four portions in one sitting. But you don't. Because you want to show off your wicked kitchen skills at work.

But some days... Some days the internet gives you shoddy advice. Like... If you microwave a spaghetti squash for a few minutes, it becomes much easier to cut in half.  And some days, your spaghetti squash explodes in the microwave. With enough force to open the microwave door and sling stands of squash ask over the stove. even though you were cautious and poked holes in it.  Some days.

The squash was still savable, by the way. I just pulled it the rest of the way out of the shell, put it in a baking dish, and microwaved it a little bit more. The microwave didn't sound happy for thirty seconds or so, but it evened out. :)

So lunch... Includes spaghetti squash, of course, covered in parmesan cheese. Also lil smokies. And a salad. Also I took a pound of cherries to work, and finished off most of them.

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Don't forget the giveaway!

Bento #120 - re deux... Our something like that

Forgive the short and tardy post. My phone provider decided they didn't approve of me tethering my phone to my computer, so i'm having to do this on my phone...  Not to worry though.  I've been telling my employees that as soon as I had my xbox fixed, I would get some real internet.  And I got it back two days ago.

Meanwhile. My lunch. You may recognize this as the exact same food from my last bento...

A baked red potato with sharp cheddar, zucchini, turkey lil smokies, cucumber, grapes, and to change things up, some heirloom cherry tomatoes.

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Don't forget! I'm giving away a Lock'n'Lock lunch box! You have until July 5th to enter.  If I could figure out how to link it with my phone, I would. But I can't.  Look for details on my last post.

Bentos #115-119... Priorities. I has them.

We're looking at... 6 months?  About?  Sounds right anyway.

I didn't stop packing myself healthy, delicious, in-your-fast-food-face lunches.  I just stopped writing about them.  I got really busy and really stressed.  Blogging is the thing that fell by the wayside.  Well... one of the many things.

I don't know that I'm having less stress now.  I'm working two jobs.  I worked 83 hours just last week.  Thankfully, that doesn't happen too often.  Usually I'm closer to 55 hours.  And, of course, there are other things besides work.

But here we are.  Here I am.  And here are some bentos that were here.  Until I ate them.

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Curried turkey tenderloin and broccoli.  This was accompanied by a few pieces of fruit.

Homemade gyoza, a frozen onigiri, and strawberry slices.

This one was from a long time ago... It has pasta with grey squash, peppers, and ground turkey... probably with Johnny's Garlic Seasoning.  It also has blackberries, pomegranate, kiwi, persimmon, cucumber slices, and a babybel cheese.  The thing I really remember about this bento is that I had it during a rehearsal and the dance company director declared, "You love yourself."  She seemed to be taken aback a little by the fact that I, or anyone, would take such care packing a lunch for themselves.

This one has the same stuff as the one above, plus a couple of grapes.  

This is what I had for lunch today... baked red potato with sharp cheddar, a pan-fried zucchini (the first one from my container garden this year!), turkey 'lil smokies, grapes, and cucumber spears.

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I've had guilt for the past six months about never hosting a certain two giveaways.  Please forgive me for not doing this earlier...

We're going to start with a Lock'n'Lock giveaway!  In celebration of winning the most awesome Lock'n'Lock prize ever with a review on this very blog!

What am I giving away?

A green Lock'n'Lock Mini Lunchbox!  It comes with a bag and a set of chopsticks.  I wrote a review here.  The review, by the by, is the one with which I won an awesome prize from Lock'n'Lock, which I used a part of for this giveaway, and other giveaways to come. :)

The basic requirement is that you be an official blog follower, which is as easy as hitting the 'follow' button on the sidebar.

There are two ways to enter:

1.  Leave a comment on this post about... something interesting.  Which is more than I've done for you in the past 6 months.  It can be about your own lunch.  Or your dog.  Or your new couch.  Or your priorities... Whatever.  Leave me a comment.

2.  Post about this giveaway on YOUR blog.  And then leave a comment here with a link to your post.

That's it!  It's easy!

I will choose the winner using random.org on July 5th and announce it here.  (I thought about doing it the 4th, but between running a 10k and whatever awesome gig I manage to pick up by then... it's not going to happen.  So the 5th it is.)

Bentos #111, #112, #113, #114... You know my greatest fear with this blog?

It's that I'll spell 'Scrumptious' wrong.  I have a mini panic attack every single time I type that damn word.

Anywho.  I had a lovely, busy week.  It started with a load-in of 'The Nutcracker' on Monday morning.  Bright and early.  Or maybe just early.  And definitely not bright.  The Covey Center actually does at least three 'Nutcrackers' every year.  And they start before Thanks giving.  And by the beginning of December, we all want to start pegging the 'Waltz of the Flowers' dancers with airsoft beads.  Not because they're not good dancers, or we dislike them in anyway.  But that song gets going through your head...

They actually loaded out on Wednesday night.  By which time I had 36.75 hours for the week.  This didn't stop me from taking a freelance gig on Thursday and Friday.  Because I get bored when I'm not working.  And I need the money.

My first issue is that I need some massive dental work done.  ... I look like a hobo right now.  Due to unfortunate circumstances, I need an implant and a few crowns.  And those babies aren't going to be cheap.  But, you know, then my face will be fixed and I'll have, to quote my oral surgeon, 'a movie star smile to go with my movie star eyes.'  Yeah.  He totally said that.

And then I found out last week that I need new tires on my truck.  Something about them being so cracked around the sides that they don't want to top off the air in them for fear they'll explode.  ...I love my truck, but I really should have taken a better look at it before I bought it...  Truck tires aren't cheap, although I may go to the Pick'n'Pull to see what I can dig up.

Oh.  And Christmas is coming.  And I already started getting gifts for the entire clan, so I can't back off and just get them family gifts now.  It's too late.

This week holds another 'Nutcracker' for me.  And NIMS training, because if something goes down around here, my theatre becomes the morgue, and I a morgue attendant.  Ew.  And hopefully a bit more freelance work over the weekend.  Busy, busy... but that's how I like it.

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For your enjoyment... or mine... I guess... I've packed turkey meatballs with broccoli and two onigiri from my freezer stash in the one layer, and carrots, hummus, cucumbers, blackberries, and kiwis in the other.

My basket last week contained cabbage, so I figured I'd make some Irish cabbage and noodles.  Which is what I did.  Just stir-fried cabbage with onion and peppers over egg noodles.  And then... I was out of Polish sausage.  And all I had that I could quickly top it with was some stir-fried beef.  Two flavor profiles that do not mix.  Lemme tell you...  Also I had lots of cucumber, kiwi, and blackberries.

This one contains a really good fall rice casserole thingy.  Apples, onion, peppers, cinnamon, nutmeg and sausages... It's such a good mix.  I've got it coupled with roasted delicata squash.  The other layer has kiwi, strawberries, cucumber, and a babybel cheese.

Last Sunday my little brother, who is a really good cook when he actually does it, made spinach manicotti.  Which is what that cheesy mass covered in carrot flowers is.  I've also got carrots and hummus, blackberries, and kiwi.