Bento #151... A new favorite or two!

Once upon a time my awesome foodie penpal, Jenny, from Blog for a New Year, sent me a package of grits... amongst other goodies.  I finally cooked some up.

Up until yesterday, my entire experience with grits was this...  Skip ahead to 1:40....

Great movie, yes?

Anyway, I was excited to try them.  All I really have to say is... Oh hell yes!  They were so awesomely tasty!  I had them with salt and pepper.  And then I went all sorts of wild and added a bit of sharp cheddar.  I completely approve!  And some of them made their way into my lunch.

I packed the grits in another new favorite... I picked up a batch of heart shape silicone cupcake liners on ebay for really cheap.  They are a much sturdier than I thought they would be, given the price I paid.  And the size is great.  

I packed some sauteed carrots and squash (leftovers from an ill-fated attempt at making carrot chips) with a turkey breakfast sausage patty.

The other layer has three types of plum, cherry and pear tomatoes, and yet another new favorite... chunks of smoked gouda on cute little skewers.

The colors in this bento were fairly monotone... and that's my fault.  I was just too lazy to slice up some cucumber or bell pepper to break up the reds and yellows.  However.  It was really tasty.  So there.

*****

Don't forget to enter my 150th bento giveaway HERE!  And stay tuned for my 5000 views giveaway coming up on Wednesday... and my 100th post giveaway sometime after that!

Bento #150... Giveaway time!

I apparently started this blog in January of 2010.  And it's taken me that long to get to 150 lunches.  I do need to work on that.  However.  Now that I'm finally here...  Wait.  I'll tell you after I show you my bento.

I finally decided to try a Maryland style crab cake from Sprout's market.  It wasn't too bad.  Not my favorite.  But now I know.  It's packed with a mini bell pepper, mini pear tomatoes, an applicot, and a lemon wedge for squeezing on the crab cake.

So this blog is about to hit three land blogmarks.

I'm 150 page views away from 5000!  That's a ton for a blog that doesn't get updated as regularly as I would like.  And I'm grateful for those who are interested enough in what I eat for lunch to drive that number up!

I'm 3 posts away from finally getting to 100 posts!

This is bento #150! Those are all awesome!

And I think they all call for giveaways!

And so... we'll start here.  At bento #150.

The first in a series of giveaways!  A package of cute bento picks (that... let's be honest... my lunches would benefit from), an adorable two tier bento box with a matching belt!

This is my first Rafflecopter giveaway, so... go to town!  Good luck all!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Bentos #148 and #149

Uber short post... lunch today for my LONG work call... cream cheese chicken salad with mini ritz crackers, mini sweet peppers with hummus, grapes, applicots, mini grapes and raspberry chocolates.

And a snack! Cute little tomatoes, goldfish, and pirouette cookies.

Bento #147...

Just a quick post before I head off to put the finishing touches on my show that opens tonight...  It's been an uber long week.  I had already worked 37 hours by Wednesday night.  And there's a holiday this week.  Which means my comp time will shoot way up.  That's ok.

That means I can take it easy for a few weeks.

Or fill my time with freelance work.

... I really should learn how to NOT be a workaholic.

Anyway.  Here's my bento for a late lunch today...

I've got leftover cashew chicken from my favorite little Chinese place along with some pan roasted brussels sprouts I found in the bottom of my fridge.

My method is easy... I drizzle a little olive oil in the bottom of my frying pan and then add sliced brussels sprouts.  Top with salt and pepper (and sometimes garlic and onion powders) and slap a lid on.  Stir every couple of minutes until they are as tender as you like them.  Brussels sprouts don't release too much liquid, so you get the lovely browned bits on the bottoms.  It's much faster than roasting in the oven.  If I'm feeling really fancy, I'll drizzle them with a bit of balsamic vinegar just before I take them off the heat.

The rest contains a few mini sweet peppers with roasted pepper hummus, champagne grapes, cherries, and raspberry chocolate balls.

Bento#146...

Some days I cook awesome things for family dinner at my mom's house.  And then I steal enough leftovers to make a loverly meal.  

Last Sunday I made the most awesome chicken.  I mixed a cup of plain greek yogurt with a cup of miracle whip, dumped in two or three cups of sharp cheddar cheese (who's counting?) and some dried onion (1 Tbs), garlic powder (1 tsp), italian seasoning (1 tsp), paprika (1 tsp), salt and pepper (to taste).  I slathered this amazing mixture over small cuts of chicken breasts, sprinkled them with bread crumbs, and then baked them for 20 minutes or so in a 400 degree oven.  I finished it all up by broiling them until the tops were browned nicely.  

They were fairly amazing.  I think you could use all greek yogurt, or all miracle whip, or use mayo.  And you could use regular breadcrumbs, italian breadcrumbs, panko... whatever.  And whatever kind of cheese you like the most.  The point is that this is splendidly juicy chicken topped with a heavenly, melty cheese mixture.

You should try it.

Anyway.  I took about six ounces of chicken home with me.

Yesterday morning, I also decided it was time to try the garlic cheese biscuit mix my foodie penpal, Jenny, sent to me last month so I could have them in my bento.  

And then I had to figure out what to have with biscuits. 

 And I realized I had that chicken in the fridge.

I don't keep regular chicken salad ingredients around my apartment.  I don't use mayo on a regular basis.  I was out of mustard.  I had no idea what to put in my chicken salad.

And then... lightbulb!

I ended up dicing my chicken and adding a small spoonful of fat free cream cheese and another of red pepper hummus.  Yummy!

So I packed some of the chicken salad in a silicone cup.  And topped it with sesame seeds.  Sesame seeds are like the paint spatter of bento.  I had a scenic painting teacher who always said, "Spatter takes crap and makes it look good."  Sesame seeds work like that.  It's great.

I also packed two of my little garlic cheddar biscuits and some mini sweet pepper halves for eating the chicken salad. The salad was good cold, but then I got the brilliant idea to microwave it.  (Who doesn't like warm, gooey cream cheese?)  And then the salad became perfection!

And then there's the silicone cup of champagne grapes and a few cherries.  I'm almost through the champagne grapes.  Which is kind of sad.  As they are adorable and tasty.

The little cup to the side has what are left of the praline pecans my foodie penpal sent me.