This challenge is now over as of April 30, 2010. Comments are now closed. Thank you to all that participated!
You’ve all heard me talk about my recent job change and busy schedule. You’ve heard me complain that I feel as though I don’t have enough time to bento. Or not enough time to cook. I’ve chattered on about trying to find a better way to manage my time, a better way to try to make my bentos, a better way to do this blog.
And I’m here today to admit, “Excuses, all excuses.” I know I go through phases and whims. I’m a fairly organized individual. Pretty stable and such. But there are times when I’m a wee bit of a flake…and it always comes in my personal life with things such as this. I’ll go off track, then get fed up with my own self, and say, “Enough. Time to get serious again.” That time is now.
I’m challenging myself. I’m challenging myself to do accomplish something I tell myself every month I’m going to do. Yet, I never reach my goal. It’s time to go public. It’s time to get serious and really try to do it. It’s time to stop taking the easy way ou and get back onto the daily groove of packed lunches and homemade dinners. This was so easy two and a half years ago when I first started NEB and was at the height of my motivation. Motivation has lagged lately, and that’s not something I am particularly pleased about. So in typical Jenn fashion when I let something lag too long and get fed up, I normally buckle down, get serious, and accomplish my task.
What exactly is that task? From April 1 – April 30, I’m challenging myself to eat out as little as possible, to pack a lunch everyday at work (save April 14), and to cook more homemade meals than I have in recent months. I wonder if I can actually accomplish this. I have not been successful in this venture to this point. And the struggle makes me wonder how many others out there have a similar issue.
It makes me wonder and ask, “Do any of my readers find themselves in the same bentoless spot?” How many of you out there sometimes think, “Oh, I’ll just buy lunch today. It’s easier.”? Would anyone else out there like to challenge themselves? And if so, shouldn’t there be a chance for a reward at the end? Because I bribe myself ALL. THE. DARN. TIME. And I’m not ashamed to admit that. I think it is a healthy way to motivate one’s self to accomplish tasks and goals. Plus, it’s loads of fun.
So, here’s the challenge. Decide what your bento goals are for the month, and post them in the comment area below. Then each day, come here to Not Exactly Bento and post how your goals are going for the month. Daily comments will earn you chances at winning the end-of-month prize (details on that a bit later).
Here’s my challenge to myself:
1. No eating out more than 3 days this month. And eating out must have purpose, not just because I’m feeling lazy or “too busy.” – You might find this a cheat, but I know I have things coming up this month that will force me to eat at a restaurant. I have a monthly meeting at work that involves an out-to-eat meal. No problem. That has purpose. I have family members visiting from California this month. This may require an eat-out-meal. Again, it has purpose. But no more than 3 days.
2. Eat-out meals are defined as fast-food, take out, or meals at a restaurant. They do not include going to a family members house for dinner. – Hey, it’s Easter time. Family time in my area with big meals coming up. However, each are homecooked affairs. So they fall in the realm of not eating out to my mind.
3. Make a bento for everyday that I work, including those that I only work in the evenings.
4. Post a bento picture Monday – Friday on this blog.
And that’s enough for me. That’s a good start and will be challenging enough. I’m ready to get started. I’m ready to see if I can finally do it.
What is your 30-Day Bento Challenge? For the month of April, what is that YOU want to try to do? It is the beginning of an amazing giveaway here at Not Exactly Bento! Here’s how it works…
1. Post your bento goals below. Do you want to make sure to pack a bento every day? Every work day? Every Friday? Do you want to pack healthy bentos? Cuter bentos? Fancier bentos? Whatever your personal goals are, list them below.
2. Come back each day (or however often you can) and let me know how the challenge is going. Feel free to post links to a picture of your bento or your bento blog. You may comment as much as you like. Please support one another. However, only one post per day will be counted as a chance towards the final grand prize.
3. Don’t let a mishap, setback, or other such thing get in your way. If you don’t do so well one day, don’t let it stop you. Start back the next day with your challenge and keep striving toward the end goal. (This is the concept I have to work the hardest at!)
Now, the nitty gritty of the giveaway:
1. The challenge takes place from April 1 – April 30.
2. Readers may comment as much as they like each day to encourage each other. However, only one comment will be counted per day towards the final prize.
3. Readers must include their country of residence in their post.
4. Two final prizes are offered. The first prize is a set of Laptop Lunches’ inner containers, two Urara blue bento boxes, a package of sauce bottles, and a tube of food picks. This first set is limited to United States residents only. The second prize is a Urara blue bento box (oval or rectangle, winner’s choice), a package of sauce bottles, and a tube of food picks. The second prize is limited to participants outside of the United States. This way everyone is included!
Want pictures of the bento boxes in question? Of course you do!
Now, let’s see if anyone else enters, or if I’m just kidding myself that other people than me have a bento-packing problem.
Be the bento everyone! It should be an amazing April! Oh yeah, and GOOD LUCK!
The bento boxes offered as part of this prize were purchased by Jenn of Not Exactly Bento. Not Exactly Bento has no affiliation with Laptop Lunches or any other store. All prizes, shipping costs, and other associated costs of this challenge are incurred by Not Exactly Bento.
Excellent contest! I think I’ll share it with a few other friends.
My challenge: to pack lighter bentos. I work long shifts, so I tend to panic and jam pack my poor Mr Bento or my tiffins with too much food. Then I either end up overeating (anxiety and stress) or wasting food. I think I should challenge myself to pack proper portion sizes, and to balance the food types- i.e., all hot or all cold, like Biggie would say for food safety.
And to figure out the best way to bento pack on a bike commute…
Bee, please feel free to repost and share the challenge. The more the merrier.
Also, thanks for joining. It was a delight to read your reponse. Not just because you are the first to join, but also because you bike to work. I never think of all the things others must consider when packing their bentos for a commute: subway trains, buses, bikes, etc. I’m looking forward to how your challenge works out.
I don’t know if it’s my place to give advice, but…
Back when I had long school days and a long commute, I packed a lunch to save money. I focused on shelf-stable food. A can of ravioli inside a plastic shaker mug was the favorite inhabitant of my backpack, as I could eat the rest of my food and leave the can unless I got really hungry. (I think the pre-sandwiched cracker packs, granola bars, and individual fruit cups were also part of my stash.)
To ease yourself into the light lunches, you could also carry a “stash” of food that will still be edible when you get home after your shift. Keep it out of sight until you’ve finished your bento, and then decide if you need the extra calories.
Thanks- the challenge is that I work 16 hour shifts, which cover both dinner and breakfast hours. I’ve stashed cereal and milk at the hospital where I work, but I serve in family support in the emergency room. The work can be extremely stressful. Trust me, after 16 hours of families that can be all over the board from normal to dysfunctional, many times, that set of steak fries and the egg sandwich look much more inviting than my healthy cereal in the morning!
I also try to avoid processed food as much as possible, which makes an extra layer of challenge. It could be worthwhile to stash a few Amy’s-style breakfast burritos. Maybe that would help?
I have actually been pretty good at packing bentos lately but the eating out is definitely getting to me! I was just thinking yesterday that I should not eat out for the rest of the month as a challenge to myself and my son (who can easily talk me into going out to eat). So that’s my challenge: to quit eating out so dang much! No more than once per week.
Good challenge Katie! I completely understand the eating out too much deal. Though, I have no one to share the blame with other than myself. My dogs would happily eat my sometimes okay, sometimes great, other times fail cooking attempts.
I usually pack a bento for my husband every weekday and very rarely stray from that regimen. We do occasionally eat out though on the weekends. I wonder if that’s ok?
Maybe since I always make them for hubby I should start making them for me too! I’m a stay at home mom right now so I usually pick throughout the day but making a bento for myself might be beneficial. I think that will be my main goal this month! Thanks Jenn!!!
It’s your challenge to yourself. If eating out is in your meal plan, don’t stop! Packing a lunch for yourself sounds like a good plan. How about a picture or two to share as well. HAHAHAHAHAHA! That’s pure selfishness on my part.
I’d like to pack healthy and well balanced bentos for my husband, that he’d actually eat. It’s a struggle, toeing the line between healthy and easy, and trying to add just the tiniest bit of cuteness, without making it so cute he won’t touch it. Sometimes the daunting task of sneaking past veggies into his bento are so daunting, I give up before I begin. But I just recently returned from Florida where my Dad is recovering from a stroke, so I know first hand the effects of bad nutrition. So I challenge myself, healthier bentos and home cooked meals, and hopefully playful enough that my husband loves them as much as I do!
~Dawn
Dawn, first let me say, best wishes to your father’s recovery after his stroke. Something like that does certainly hit home and makes one think about changes in one’s nutrition.
My family has serious issues with diabetes and heart attacks. Fun stuff (not). It’s what keeps me dedicated to trying on the bento lunch packing front. And something that helped spur on this challenge as yet another member of my family goes in for heart testing (blockage worries).
Good luck on your challenge. I’m going to look forward to how you meet the challenge of packing for your hubby. That in itself is a challenge!
Dear Jenn,
Thank You for all your encouragment! Seeing how nutrition can effect our lives really does spur on the drive for better bentos!!! And who can resist such adorable sauce bottles and cutters???
Best of wishes on the family doctor visits, I know how stressful those are. But don’t lose faith, my Godfather had a quadruple heart bypass and he’s back to rebuilding classic cars to their original glory, a physically challenging business.
~Dawn
My challenge will be to only eat out once a month for lunch during the work week and 3 times a month for after church. I usually take leftovers to work so I’ll try to make them more bento-y (new word?) this month.
I also will try to challenge my preteen to make a more balanced lunch to school. She recently started packing her own lunches (yeah!) and doesn’t seem to be getting a good balance IMO.
already used up my lunch in the work week. Forgot I didn’t bring anything today!
Hey, I completely understand. But that’s okay. You’re going to do well. I hope we all are!
Does anyone have a bit of advice on how to keep your husband from forgetting his bento? He leaves so much earlier than I wake up, which is saying something! And although not often, I do feel bad when he forgets his bento and has to resort to fast food.
~Dawn
You could leave a note tied to his keys, or attached to the door handle on the front door so that when he is about to leave he gets reminded to get his bento out of the fridge.
Put his keys in the fridge on top of the bento.
Asfora and Wendy, those are both GREAT ideas, and I think I will impliment them both! Had to chase him outside and halfway down the driveway this morning!
But I caught him! Alas, tomorrow, he won’t be able to get into the car WITHOUT his bento! Thanks!
LOL! Awesomeness Dawn. I’m glad to read that you’ve found a solution to your dilemma. Creative thinking gets me out of alot of bento trouble too.
Back on track. Bento for today is chopped romaine salad topped with extra baby carrots and a large side of chicken salad with grapes left over from Easter. Yummy!
Daughter was out the door before I had a chance to quiz her on what she packed so it is probably her usual Sun Chips and pack of flavored almonds. I don’t see how a 10 year old can eat so little! She doesn’t seem to be dwindling down to nothing and she still eats like a healthy horse at home most of the time.
Ooohhh, chicken salad. Something that has, surprisingly, become one of my favorite things since I couldn’t stand that stuff as a kid.
Today is less of a bento and more of a regular packed lunch. I wasn’t feeling particularly alert today so I packed bread, a pack of lunch meat, a slice of cheese, accidentally forgot the lettuce and I’ll make a sandwich at lunch. i also packed some gorgeous strawberries I washed last night. Sprinkled with a little Stevia to brighten up the sweetness. Yum!(I snitched one while I was packing.)
Side note- got my daughter to add a fruit to her usual lunch! WIN!
I like put together lunches like that. I used to pack items for a tortilla wrap andput it all together at lunch time. Made for a fun lunch. And kudos for getting the daughter to pack a bit of fruit in her lunch. WIN indeed!
Hmm, it’s difficult to pinpoint something that is a challenge to me, but still doable.
We’ve budgeted for my husband to go to Subway for lunch about once every 1-2 weeks, but I don’t think I’ve had to rely on that at all this month. It’s a little unrealistic for me to move completely away from the “box full of casserole” lunches, though I might be able to work with more cold salads now that the weather is warm.
We already don’t do take-out, and going out to dinner is already something we do deliberately and less than 3 times per month. Most of our pre-packaged convenience food comes from a monthly fundraiser for food pantries, and still needs to be eaten, but I don’t buy any extra.
For the challenge, I will go without using the Subway safety net again this month, and pack a lunch for every meal that he can’t eat at home. Including a piece of fruit in every lunch is also easy and something I was trying to do anyway, but still a noble goal. (Still counts if I chuck an entire apple or orange into the carrying bag. The man was left to his own devices to warm up some leftovers, and he ate half a cantaloupe for dinner.)
I suppose I could add something unnecessary to the challenge. 3 times this month, I will make myself a lunch with the same amount of effort that I put into his lunch, and not on a “box full of one thing” day. Also, 3 times this month, I will make him an actual fancy bento.
I was planning on spending several days at my mother’s house this month. If that does happen, I don’t consider it a failure if my husband goes out to eat while I’m not there, and instead I’ll be packing the boxes for my mother’s tastes.
Sounds like you have a plan for yourself. Good luck, and don’t forget to come back and update us on your progress.
Well, trying to be fancy this morning almost completely screwed me up. I almost forgot about making brunch, my husband actually wanted my attention this morning, and we had an unannounced errand.
I threw some frozen meat patties into a frying pan, quickly whipped up some french fries. (I was already making sweet potato fries, so that worked.) The bento wasn’t cooperating and I ran out of time, so he got my half of brunch for his evening meal, plus a salad and a whole apple. For my brunch, I got a handful of leftover sushi rice, a few scraps of ham, an most of an orange. The sweet potato fries are my snack later, they just looked burnt.
Time to start meal planning before I go grocery shopping, and then wrestle with the sushi again, tomorrow is a pack four meals day.
Okay, screw fancy. The sushi isn’t working, I don’t own food markers (and find some of their uses distasteful,) I don’t have egg molds or fancy punches, I’m just going to go with nourishing as the primary goal and appealing as a side-goal. (I just tried to make a chili-powder design with a cookie cutter on a casserole, and it didn’t turn out.)
I’m back to my core goal of a lunch every meal with a piece of fruit every day. I will still try to make myself 3 good bentos, but I am not touching pretty because it’s going to cause my ruin in actually packing good lunches for the rest of our time at this location.
I forgot to vinegar the rice, but I got a little bit better with the next batch. I think the cream cheese and carrot ones that I made first turned out a bit better than the mashed avocado and carrot, or the cream cheese and canned salmon. I don’ t think I’ll subject him to my attempts at sushi too much, though the rice tastes very good with British curry.
Smoke-z,
I understand the difficulty with creating pretty bento lunch boxes. I don’t have an artistic bone in my body on the end of drawing/decorating which is what you need for such a bento box. Plus, I don’t find I’d want to eat those. While I look at pictures of such bentos and admire the workmanship, I have no desire to eat one made like this for a few reasons. (1) I keep wondering what some of the stuff is made of and when I find out I realize it is something I don’t care for or am not willing to try at this time. (2) It takes so much work I don’t want to eat the bento. (3) I don’t find it visually appealing for me.
To my mind, I feel it is all about what is appealing to you or to whoever you create bentos for. For me, color is what I really like and what makes me really want to sink my teeth into the bento I’ve packed. If I look back on my bentos and pick those I think were some of the best, it is normally those that have a wider range of colors from the natural food spectrum than those that have all one color. When I pack my bento, I look at what the colors of food are, what colors I might be able to add in naturally, and if it all looks good against the color of bento box I chose to pack in that day.
I’m not suggesting you try again with the fancier bentos. I am suggesting though to think about what you find appealing by way of food and possibly consider that as your “pretty” bento. What’s pretty to you rather than traditional bento standards?
Guess the box is getting a bit too deep, guess I’ll start a new post for next week. These are the more photo-worthy of my boxes. http://www.flickr.com/photos/48040456@N03/
PangolinsZoo and gfbentomom have appealing boxes that I think I could emulate, except that Zoo seems to be working with far less calories. I guess the big element is that they have three distinct foods, where I either go with a box full of casserole or sometimes manage to divide it into two parts. When I do a taco-based box, the cold parts stay separate in packing, but get mixed together at meal time. I guess I’m afraid of making portions too small, I want food types to last for more than two bites.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hapabento/sets/72157617070315517/ seems to go “pretty” without going overboard about it.
Dear Smoke,
I don’t know if this will help, but you said your curry taste very good with the sushi rice. If you put a layer of the rice in the bottom of your bento box and up the sides, then fill in with the curry, your box won’t be stained! This works with Tupperware to Gladware to Kawaii Bento boxes! And avacodo has NEVER appreciated my attempts at sushi making either! LOL.
~Dawn
I did think of that, but I load the rice with tumeric, which is worse than the curry spices. I was actually thinking of “dyeing” a box with tumeric, but they’ve successfully resisted either that or paprika, and mainly they just get oil scars. (I guess I’m going to have to keep only cold food in proper bento boxes, since my husband doesn’t get the concept of the box being microwave safe while the lid isn’t.)
That’s how my poor monkey mink bento box got all warped. Sniffle. And I tried EVERYTHING to de-warp it, to no avail. However, lowering the lids into boiling water, then stretching them over the boxes, securing with rubberbands, (lots of rubber bands) and storing overnight in the fridge helped. It didn’t completely return the original shape, but with two bento bands and not too much jostling, I can still get a little use out of my favorite bento box. >_<
~Dawn
I think I’ve found that I’m pretty close to my limits as far as packing lunches, but I’m declaring my challenge passed. Things I’ve learned…
I need to step away from the “pretty” and perhaps even go far enough to have the box lunches not even look like bentos. Packing for myself isn’t so feasible because I’m often finishing up bits of leftovers that don’t go together well. Also, I’m never declaring fast-food as off-limits again. I might not send him to subway next month, but stuff happened and I almost needed that option open this last month.
Great idea for a challenge! And I am usually up for a challenge! I have to go abroad for a week next week, but I will try to join in with this once I get back, God Willing! Goals for making would include trying to always have something green in the house ready to go in there, making some bento stash items ready to go in instead of making from scratch for example I could pre-boil veggies and eggs and have them waiting in the fridge, to make bento making easier and quicker.
Pre-cooking veggies and eggs does make bento packing easier. When I remember to do it, I always thank myself. LOL!
Have a wonderful trip. See you back soon and ready for the challenge.
You can premake ongiri too! Just use very hot rice when you mold it, and wrap immiediatly. It seals in the moisture so when the frozen ongiri drfrost in your bento it doesn’t dry out.
A super quick way is to lay out square out saran wrap, about five inches square or so, and place the portion size of rice you’d like in the center using freshly made sticky rice. Gather the ends and TWIRL. A perfect little ball of rice is formed you can press down slightly to make a patty shape.
Now just line up on a cookie tray and pop into the freezer still hot. When completely frozen, you could move to a ziploc to take up less space. And when you’re in a hurry, an ongiri is already!
Before twirling you could add a filling to the center, but plain ongiri freeze for about a month, and filled ongiri depend on the filling used. Hope that helps.
~Dawn
Great idea! I will have to give this a whirl! Thanks Dawn!
What what amazing instructions Dawn! That even makes me want to give it a try. I’ve had some pretty disastrous attempts at onigiri in the past and have since just given up on the concept.
If you REALLY want that triangle ongiri, you could try another trick I found online:
1) turn a plastic sandwich baggie inside out
2) dip the corner into salted water with your hand inside the bag
3) now mush a corner into your loosely fisted hand, and fill with an appropriate amount of warm rice, as if you were filling a pastry bag with frosting
4) (if wanting filled ongiri, half fill with rice, mush it along corner walls, dab in some filling in the well, then top well with more rice)
5) now mold the warm rice into a CONE or TRIANGLE shape with your hands manipulating the plastic baggie
6) when satisfies with shape, pull off inverted baggie, which should unstick easily if it was dipped in salt water. But even when dipped in just plain water, that seems to help it unstick as well, just not QUITE as easily.
TADA!!! Triangle ongiri!! And you didn’t have to buy/find/clean an ongiri mold.
I love youtube.com!
I just use a plastic drinks tub with a lid. Scoop hot rice in, put the lid on and shake, shake, shake. Voila, a nice firm round onigiri rice ball. Feel free then to smoosh it into the traditional shape
Here’s a link from my blog where I made them if you don’t believe me :p
http://arkonitebento.net/2009/10/07/omg-it-really-works/
OH!!!!!!!!!!! I do that sometimes, with this little Jelly Belly tub that the candies came in. I think I need to shake harder though, because sometimes they tend to not be all that firm….
Thanks!
I’m going to check out your link and see if I can figure out what I’m doing wrong.
~Dawn
I don’t think I’m going to sign up, but I think this looks like a fun challenge! I’ll live vicariously.
Will my visit and possibly going out for dinner mess up your challenge?
Nope your visit won’t mess things up. I have you scheduled into my challenge.
I think this is a good challenge, but I already don’t eat out for lunch, it would be for my husband’s lunch! He already has the guys he works with say, hey if I had a lunch like that I wouldn’t buy my lunch next door! That’s the other challenge, his shop has a restaurant conected to where he works. The third thing is I already have the long blue dragonfly bento! That’s so funny, what are the odds?
This challenge sounds great!
Thanks Lyndsey. You make your challenge whatever you want it to be if you choose to participate. Good luck.
Okay, I’m creating my own challenge. I have to make 3 lunches. My daughter and I had last week off for spring break (I work in an elementary school). My husband has Mondays off, so I don’t make his on that day. I didn’t catch a pic of his lunch yesterday. I will get better, it’s hard when I have to get everything done and run out the door to work. But no excuses!
That is going to be a challenge. But you can do it! We’re here to encourage and help. Will look forward to see how your challenge goes.
I’d like to start the 30 day challenge if I may?
I’ve gained some weight and need to shift the pesky pounds! So far I have managed to move 12lbs and need to move about another 15 to maybe 20lbs, those will be the hard ones!
We as a family don’t eat out on a regular basis, we’ve just never been that way. Nor do I but a load of ready meals or snack foods. My main problem for the weight gain has been illness and inactivity as a result. Bento packing went by the wayside and now I’m paying the price for it!
Susan, I understand the dilemma. I hope you’re feeling better. Set whatever goals work for you and come back and report from there. I’m looking forward to seeing you around (and welcome back too!)
Thanks Jenn!
My first box for the 30 day challenge was packed today and I also managed 2 new to me foods as well. Nifty eh!
Oh and I’m off work tomorrow so my day 2 bento will be posted up tomorrow night for work on Friday. I’m road-testing a thermos two tier bento this weekend so you’ll see that too
It only arrived in the mail today ( I HAVE to stop buying bento boxes, I will be divorced otherwise! )
I was a little behind in my blog reading, so I just found out today. I’ve been in a bento rut, so this is perfect encouragement. I’m going to join the challenge! I’ll photograph whatever I make (even if it’s not kawai or even remotely attractive). I will also note the Weight Watcher points if known. Thanks
BentoBelle:
Thanks for joining. LOL! Your comment did give me a little chuckle though. My bentos are never kawaii. I never quite seem to get there. LOL!
I’ve always wanted to have a Flickr account, considering the amount of time I spend there drooling over other bentos, but never had the drive to actually set one up. Well for this challenge, I realized I needed a link so others could see my bentos I was making, and I wasn’t sure how to accomplish that either! Then the lightbulb went off, and I made a Flickr account! I can’t wait to upload all my bentos~! So far I’ve uploaded the bentos from the last three days, today’s being a simple bento for Jay’s short day at work. I hope you all enjoy looking at mine as much I enjoy seeing yours!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/48914192@N05/
~Dawn of the USA
Heh, I’m kinda jealous of how pretty some of those are. My hubby’s food does get noticed enough that I can’t get away with getting too cute. (His mystery pie did spark a conversation.)
Wow! Your bentos are just amazing Dawn. I mean just absolutely amazing. I never seem to be able to pack a bento quite like that. It’s going to be so much fun to see your bentos as you post them.
Smoke-z: Okay, you’ve caught my curiosity. What is mystery pie?
I’m actually not sure what mystery pie is. We get Angelfood, which is a cheap way to get some of our groceries and a fundraiser for food pantries. The pies are not labeled, but we narrowed it down to either pumkin or sweet potato. It was a custardy and overly sweet filling, kind of like butterscotch pudding.
Thank you everyone for your kind comments, and now I’m curious about mystery pie too! Huh, butterscothy and pumkiny, wow…that is a mystery!
I mentioned your 30 day challenge on my new blog post!
) x x x
Awww, thanks Asfora. The more the merrier.
I think I will take up the challenge. I have been making poor food choices for lunch recently. So I want to make myself a bento 4 times a week. I started Monday, but your challenge will make me more likely to stick to it.
I live alone, so my bentos are for me alone. And my dinner is usually something reheated. I am going to try to get back in the habit of a menu planning sheet that I make my grocery list from so nothing goes bad in my firdge.
I want to get back to my routine of cooking food for the week on Saturday and Sunday. Then I will have containers of bento and dinner ready foods in my fridge and freezer. However I get lazy around dinner time and don’t even feel the energy to reheat something.
I have one more goal. I’d like to have a day every week where I eat in the bento mindset. Perhaps a fruit bento breakfast with yogurt, a lunch bento in the traditional style, and a dinner meal from my pre-made stock of meals.
I’m excited, thanks for the accountability. It will help us all to encourage each other.
Bina,
Those sound like great goals, and I identify with alot of what you say. I too live alone and my bentos are for just me. Good luck with your goals. I’ll be excited to see you post and see how you progress. Thanks for joining the challenge.
mealsmatter.org has free menu planning available with free signup for the site. I started using it last month and it is helping me keep from using heat and eat meals so much.
Love the idea of a challenge. My goal is to pack bentos every work day for my partner, except when she is already planning something over lunch. I just bought her a really swell bento box set with a couple of fun things for me to use in doing them, such as little condiment bottles. I work from home so my bento for myself may be a little less interesting. On the eating out side, I am not making commitments since this is the perfect time of year to start sitting at outdoor restaurant patios. But my goal is to be sure there is always healthy food in the fridge for snacks and for any meals we make.
I’m so curious, what does the bento set look like?
~Dawn
Sounds like a good plan! Thanks for joining in on the challenge and I look forward to hearing about your progress.
Hi Jenn,
I love challenges! I always try to challenge myself because that’s an easy way for me to get stuff done. I’ve been pretty good at cutting fast food like McDonalds out of my regular diet, stopped drinking soda and sugary drinks and try to eat more fruits and veggies. Been going great so far! I used to count calories but I don’t have time anymore due to school. Unfortunately, I quit one of my jobs so I will be packing much fewer bentos.
My goals:
1. Pack cuter bento boxes rather than my laptop lunch box so I eat smaller portions and so I can practice making pretty bentos.
2. Make a small bento freezer stash (small because there’s not much space in my family’s freezer).
3. Try more bento recipes.
4. Continue to not buy unhealthy snacks because I won’t eat it if I don’t have it lying around! I’m also trying to clear out the junk food stash.
Thanks for the motivation! I’ll keep you updated. I’ll also post this on my blog.
-Eula
Dear Eula,
There’s a restaurant in New York City that cuts up Little Debbie cakes to look like sushi, and serves it with warm chocolate sauce and chopsticks for dipping. They just cut the little cakes on the bias, and suddenly, they become sweet sushi rolls and standing spring rolls! So maybe to help clear out the junk food stash and increase the cute bento making, you could slice up a few of those snack cakes and pack them in a sushi tray or shallow sandwich box. ((I resuse all my sushi tray boxes from eating out until they literally fall apart. When I was visiting my mom, she must have though I was batty.)) And wouldn’t it be fun to eat little Swiss Roll slices with a food pick or chopsticks? Hope it helps. And keep up all the good work!
~Dawn
Eula,
Please come back and share what you make for your bento stash. I’m always intersted in what people use, because I never seem to really make one. Or keep it up when I do have a few things. It’s something that I definitely need to get better at.
Thanks for the post on your blog. It is most appreciated. And if Little Debbie’s are part of your junk food stash, I feel the frustration. Those are a big temptation for me as well.
Thank you everyone for all the encouragement!
okay, I really did intend to make an Easter bento today, but my doggy Peanut had her litter this morning. And with this being my absolute FIRST time around anything going into labor, I was a nervous wreck! But thankfully my best friend Nikki came to the rescue, and with Peanut and her very healthy four babies all sleeping peacefully, I threw together a bento with all leftovers. I was WAY too nervous to leave the house to go grocery shopping. So the left over black rice became three little crows with sunflower eyes. They sit on a bed of saute’d green beans and are surrounded by chicken dumplings. There’s a doggy sidecar of applesauce and an entire box of Pocky. This bento isn’t unhealthy, but certianly not as healthy as most. But hubby works an extra long shift tomorrow, so this will be a celebratory lunch and snack to our healthy Peanut and her litter of four!
~Dawn
http://www.flickr.com/photos/48914192@N05/sets/72157623639582287/
oops! forgot to add that!
~Dawn
Congrats on the little of puppies. I can only imagine how nerve-wracking that must be. And kudos to keeping to your challenge when you were facing your own challenges in the midst of it all.
I’ve been making roasted chicken and steamed veggies all this week, so today I though I’d make a yummy roasted turkey loin instead, basted in my homemade raisin rum.
It was lowfat but delicious, and made more than enough for dinner and bento.
The dessert box has a mini apple pie topped with pastry bunnies and sprinkle eggs. It sits on a bed of coconut flakes and is surrounded by blackberries and two gummy frogs. And I added Hubby’s Easter surprise, a container of Jelly Bellys! The salas tier is a bed of shredded lettuce, with Granny Smith apple wedges, slivered pickle, and skewered dried cranberries, with a bottle of vinegarette. And the main entree bento hides a layer of Easter roasted Turkey, hidden beneath Pesto alfredo sauce. This is topped with pasta noodles I shaped into flowers and lilys. I finished it off with cheese flowers. The animal crossing box took me a year to buy for my husband, and this is it’s maiden voyage!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/48914192@N05/4490865829/in/set-72157623639582287/
Happy Easter everyone!
~Dawn
neat pasta! i was craving apple pie today too.
Dear Eula,
Thanks again.
The pasta is called “Mother is Law’s Tongue” by Torino. Isn’t that hilarious? I bought my box at the World Market, but I’m sure it’s also sold at other specialty shops. Since you don’t need a lot in a bento box, you really get your money’s worth out of a box, bento wise.
~Dawn
I was really good today. Didn’t buy any junk food from the market and made stuff for bento and bento stash. I made meatloaf for dinner so I’m going to wrap a big slice and put it in the freezer. I also baked mini earl grey tea muffins (from Just Bento’s website) to pack for my bento. Yum!
Here’s the meatloaf recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/good-eats-meat-loaf-recipe/index.html
Ooh, I’ll have to give those muffins a try!
Yay for a most excellent day Eula! I haven’t trid those muffins but I remember the post. For those interested, here is the link: http://justbento.com/handbook/johbisai/earl-grey-tea-muffins
I make bentos for my best friend Nikki sometimes. She’s returning to work tomorrow after having Easter weekend off, so I thougt this would be a great way to start her week!
The larger bento box has dried fruit and lettuce salad on the left, topped with a halved hard boiled egg heart. The right side holds vanila cream gelatin and blackberries. There’s a hidden carrot with powder candy and a hazenut chocolate on top of that. The smaller bento box has two Thai Peanut rice balls hiding beneath cheese bears. There are five little spring rolls dotted with asparagus, and a little soy sauce bottle. There is also a Hello Kitty bottle of Ginger dipping sauce.See More
http://www.flickr.com/photos/48914192@N05/4494507249/
Oh sweet to pack for a friend. I wanted to say that the bentos are lovely, but I especially like the box with the spring rolls alternated with the asparagus spears. That’s just the sort of bento I like to look out. Not so much charaben type stuff that I feel I can’t make it, and laid out in such a way that everything looks so appealing.
Thank you Jenn, sometimes trying to make everything cute just gets so stressful. And Bento should be fun! So it’s nice to take a break from molding and dying each little thing.
Then I can go back to the cuteness when inspiration strikes. 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/48914192@N05/4498038741/
For Hubby’s bento, I was running desperately low on groceries. Ever since the litter was born, I’ve barely left the house. So I suppose it’s off to the grocery or risk starvation in the very near future. To the right is a simple salad brightened up with some bell peppers I found hiding in the back of the freezer. To the left is his favorite dumplings, an ongiri, green beans and frozen peas. There’s a little bottle of soy sauce and a bigger bottle of salad dressing, although the little lier is marked honey. It’s a simple bento, but it’s filling and healthy. And how can Hubby resist his favorite dumplings?
And I’ve been placing hubby’s car keys on top of his bento, inside the fridge, everyday. I am most happy to report he hasn’t forgotten his bento once! He grumbles a little about cold car keys, but he admitted it was nicer than going hungry at lunch time! So thanks for the great idea, it’s working!
HAHAHAHA, I’m glad the key thing is working. Though you might have been low on groceries, that lunch still looks great.
Simple is my motto. More leftover chicken salad and a yogurt with the last of the strawberries.Add a granola bar and I’m done!
Daughter took granola, almonds and clemintine to school.
If only I could convince my husband this was good for him!!!!
Sounds like things are going well Wendy. For you and your daughter.
Well Hubby didn’t need a bento and my fried Nikki is coming over to eat dinner at our place so she didn’t a dinner bento either. I can’t remember the last time I was home and wasn’t making a bento!
Tomorrow will be the fist day I actually leave the newborn puppies with their mom alone while I go grocery shopping, so I’m really excited to go spark my imagination!!!
And with no bento of my own to make, I’m off to Flickr.com to droll over others!
~Dawn
PS~almost forgot, I found a new bento technique.
Take one package of yellow cheese slices and one package of white cheese slice. They must be the slices indivually wrapped. This is a very important step. (My inner tree hugger cringes, but you don’t need to incorporate this technique often)
Unwrap all the slices and alternate them in a stack: yellow, white, yellow, white, etc. Build as HIGH as you need WIDE.
Now lightly give a little MUSH to your stack. This should seal them all together into a BLOCK since the wrapped slices (such as Kraft) are a bit tackier than the unwrapped slices (Such as Sargento)
Now take a very sharp knife and cut off slices from your block, minding the thickness you want.
You now have a cool cheese pattern you can cut out with cutters, or just make cool and ham and cheese with. You can also wrap your new slices up and freeze them for future use. TADA!
Can’t wait to see what your imagination comes up with! Nice bento technique too. Thanks for sharing!
This challenge has been great so far. I am paying greater attention to what I’m eating and cutting out sugar and adding fruit/veg. servings. I feel better and my pants are fitting better. May have lost a # or 2 but mostly just lost some belly bloat!
YAY! That is so wonderful to hear. It is certainly exciting, isn’t it?
How fun is this! I’m almost two weeks late to join (I’m late for everything, you’ll find), but my goals are:
1. Bento for the rest of the month at work (we’re on spring break now).
2. Create and post pictures of the bentos to a flicker account (which means learning about flicker, lol)
3. Update my own newly-created blog with my progress.
Yikes! The bentos I can probably do – 2 & 3 will take some effort…
Wish me luck,
Joan
Good luck Joan! Those are some great goals for the month.
Thanks! Raided my favorite asian market today, so I’m in high gear. I’m craving bibimbop for dinner, so I guess it’s a good start. I also created my flickr acccount – now just need to add some pics!
I LOVE Asian Market Days!
Great pics; thanks for posting. They are inspiring. I have a few I need to get up here, but the computer isn’t cooperating!
oohh, I hate when my computer won’t cooperate. It is always at that time that I realize how hopelessly addicted to it I am.
Wererabbit gave me the inspiration for this Kiss Band Bento. And after watching a filmed concert on TV with my husband, I was really in the mood to see if I could make one! The ongiri are surrounded by mandarin orange chicken, mandarin orange slices, brocoli, asparagus, and a little soy sauce bottle. It all sits on a bed of lettuce. I had to use REALLY tiny scissors for the facial details, but whew, I am really proud of this one. Aside from cutting out the nori, the bento was very easy to put together, and I cut the nori pieces while the chicken cooked. The entire bento took 23 minutes to make, which inlcudes four minutes of hunting down this Hello Kitty bento box.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/48914192@N05/4504187928/
lol – Love it!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/48914192@N05/4504942559/
I didn’t like how pale the ginger came out, so a quick dip later, and this is much nicer to look at I think. Lesson learned, don’t be afraid to change it at the last minute if it means you’ll be happier in the long run!
QUOTE……….[3. Don’t let a mishap, setback, or other such thing get in your way. If you don’t do so well one day, don’t let it stop you. Start back the next day with your challenge and keep striving toward the end goal. (This is the concept I have to work the hardest at!)]
This was me today, my bento looked nice. It wasn’t.
My rice was hard, I dropped my tamagoyaki, the veggies had gone soggy. *arggggghhhhhh*
I forgot to photograph it too, maybe just as well?
It happens to us all. But tomorrow is a new day!
Good for you for keeping your chin up!
~Dawn
Whew! Another rare evening of Hubby not working tomorrow and neither is Nikki! So with so much spare time I spent the day with the puppies and made a quick dinner of sticky rice and salmon.
And tomorrow I make up my favorite bento recipe for a party, Split green pea burgers. I’ll post the recipe, they modify well and freeze great! The original recipe is from Alton Brown, I modify them to make them vegetarian, and then I modify the flavoring. I’ve made them sweet, spicy, and my all time favorite, Mexican! 
~Dawn
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/split-pea-burgers-recipe/index.html
So tonight I’m going to a Potluck Party, and I’m bringing my favorite Bento dish with me, Alton Brown’s Split Pea Burgers. I substitute the chicken broth for vegtable broth, and I bake the patties instead of fry them. I add different flavorings to them, tonight is TexMex. And instead of using a food processor, I use a webbed potato masher to mash to the consistency I want. It’s a lot easier to clean up!
So for tonight’s recipe, I used a packet of taco seasoning instead of the given seasonings, and just before forming the mini patties, I toss in frozen corn and a can of drained black beans. I bake them at 350 for about fifteen minutes or until they brown slightly.
Tonight I’m making mini burgers on sweet rolls, with a smudge of refried beans on each!
The best thing about this recipe, it’s versatile and makes a lot, freezes great, and when I go to a party, vegetarian or not, it’s always a hit! And even my Hubby who’s a die-hard carnivore, loves to see these in his bento.
If anyone else comes up with another variation, I’d love to hear!
~Dawn
Ooohh, thanks for sharing that recipe Dawn. I’m always one for a new recipe for a vegetarian burger. I really need to set some time aside and make some lentil burgers again. Seriously need to do that.
Had a busy day saturday so Bento making was sloppy but necessary. Daughter and I had a 2 hikes to do-one training and one with the Girl Scout troop. We had a quick sandwich, fruit, granola bar lunch in between.
Today I have a peanut butter sandwich that I’m going to add a banana to and some yogurt.
Sounds great Wendy! And kudos to you for hiking!
HI everyone! I am off to knitting camp! So today’s bento is for me!
I made two small pb&j snadwiches, a side car of applesauce, and a salad topped with dried fruit and clementines.
It’s all packed into my vintage tupperware lunchbox! I’m so excited!
I get back tomorrow and hopefully I can post a pic then!
See you soon!
PS~If you make those split pea burgers, they form better if you have the time to chill them beofre baking.
Hope it helps!
And I’d love that lentil burger recipe link if you have it!
~Dawn
Have fun at your knitting camp! I’m trying to learn to crochet. It’s an interesting process.
Here is the link for the lentil burger/cakes. well, more of a process than a recipe really. http://nebento.com/?p=2090
Are you a member of Ravelry.com? If not you should look into it. Members help each other out and there are free patterns. Also, there is a Bento Group!
I have heard of the site, but haven’t checked it out yet.
Knit camp was great! We started renting out this two story house next to a pottery business, and it is just amazing. It’s just a little country house the potters lived in beofre moving on to something bigger, and now they still own it next to their shop for entertaining and such. And they are so sweet to let us take over for two days.
There was lots of food and lots of coffee and lots of “Now what is that on your needles? Oh it’s a baby hat!!!!!!”
I brought the cameral along to take pictures and lost all my battery power just as I was snapping up a pic of my lunch.
But I’m home again with lots of batteries so I’ll get to post tomorrow’s lunch!
One of our knitters, Scotty, made roasted vegatable crepes withe chedder cheese sauce and it was divine. So maybe that will appear in one of my bentos soon.
And thank you for the link, I can’t wait to give it a try!
~Dawn
Those crepes sound divine!
April 12 – Well, I managed to bento on my first day back to work after break. Not overwhelming, but other than the miso, not bad. Here’s the link below…
http://everydayjoan.blogspot.com/
Let me know what you think. Anyone have suggestions for travel friendly, quick miso soup?
Cheers!
Thanks a great looking lunch Joan, even if it didn’t turn out quite as you’d hoped. Great job on making lunch after a long spring break. I find getting back in the groove after a hiatus to be one of the toughest things to do.
Jenn- you may have a food allergy to peanuts. You are describing how peanut butter affects me and several years ago I was having myself tested for seasonal allergies and I popped positive for a very mild peanut allergy.
On a more challenge related note- today I packed a divided Rubbermaid container with salad on the large side and a boiled egg, laughing cow cheese and clemintine on the other. I have crackers at work already for the cheese.
You know Wendy, you might be right. I have other food allergies, but they most of them make me itch, so I didn’t really think that this might be along the same lines. Only one other gives me such issues, and that is really fresh tomato products. I think I’m going to have to steer clear of peanut butter. Maybe it is time to finally try sunbutter.
Oooo! Sunbutter? What is that. Sounds good.
It is sunflower seed butter. I’ve wanted to try some for ages, but just haven’t yet.
Well, I was talking about giving up and not stressing if I’ve got to make him buy his lunch, but he’s behind me on this. I guess it’s not a challenge if you’ve found your sustainable groove and are staying in it.
I did a fancy box on Sunday, British curry with star-shaped rice patties. Would have been nicer if the curry hadn’t been the same shade of yellow as the tumeric rice. The other box had a dish of mashed sweet potato, chunks of ham, and fried pineapple chunks.
I’m just going to declare the fancy box portion accomplished. I don’t care for the “too pretty to eat” style anyway. Now if I could only get myself a box packed instead of throwing it in a bowl.
Sounds like things are doing well, even if the idea of a “pretty” bowl isn’t working out as first planned. I will say that what you first state is the exact reason I’m hosting this challenge: to turn something that is a challenge for me into a sustainable groove. That’s my personal goal anyways.
Victory today! I managed to make the (albeit altered) miso power breakfast inspired by the book Japanese Women Don’t Get Fat or Old…and today’s lunch was better than yesterday’s! Also, my adventures in freezing inari zushi turned out to be successful – score! Pics at the link below…
I was hoping to have leftovers from dinner tonight for tomorrow’s lunch, but destiny worked against me. Think I’ll be raiding the freezer again, lol.
http://everydayjoan.blogspot.com/
Cheers,
Joan
Oh that’s awesome! I’m glad your bento went your way today!
~Dawn
Awesome looking lunch Joan, and yay for the victories. Inari zushi something I still haven’t tried.
So in a hurry at lunch today. Packed a leftover casserole bowl and greek yogurt. Gotta be something I can wolf down if 5 minutes or finish at my desk. Thhpt!
At least you packed something! It is days like the one you describe when I convince myself to go out to eat after work. That has been the hardest so far.
Packing a lunch that is designed to be inhaled is a noble thing. Would you rather pack something that is healthy and cheap and not taste it, or do the same thing with something that cost a bit more yet has less taste and less nutrients?
I put more effort into the former. My hubby has enough time to enjoy what I feed him, barely, yet I see in meals at home that his training to wolf down crap in 12 minutes still sticks.
I’d rather fix every meal as if it’s a way to kill time than to keep track of the syncopation between eating for calories and eating for the hunger that comes in the middle of a period of boredom. However, if you are willing to keep better track of this, you can at least optimize health vs need to chew in your meals.
Packed both Jay and Nikki a Chicken Parmisian Bento for tomorrow.
And tomorrow night, my friends Nikki and Hannah are coming for Dinner. I have just a LITTLE vegetarin burger mix left, so I’m deciding if I should use that up for tomorrow dinner’s or use the marinated Turkey Loin in the freezer. I can’t decide! 
Hubby is picking me up a fresh pack of batteries too so I can go back to snapping up pics.
~Dawn
Sounds like you have alot of delicious heading your way today Dawn. And I’ll be happy to see some more pics soon too!
I should have made my challenge to keep bread in the house. Buying it isn’t so simple when you’ve established that it’s easy to make. (I even have a bread machine around here somewhere.) I finally got the confidence use the “randomly throw things in a bowl and end up with something that can go in the oven” technique that my husband was using.
It had gotten bad, where I think we went 2 weeks without being able to make a sandwich.
No hard and set rules about my bread habits, I do better with “I should” than “I must” as long as I’m feeling well.
Oh, I did this awhile back. Wouldn’t allow myself to make bread b/c I was going to make my own loaves. That never really gelled for me.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/48914192@N05/4524422959/in/set-72157623639582287/
I hosted a fun dinner for two of my friends, and when the dinner went to 11 at night, I had to rush to make a bento for the next day. So out came my smiley bento box! The two blue cups hold Honey Chicken, the upper yellow cup holds stewed apples, and the lower yellow cup holds ginger brocoli and green beans. In between is a bed of sticky rice with black sesame seeds. I meant to use the Hello Kitty cut out as a stencil, but the stencil wasn’t as clean as I would have liked when I tried to lift it up. In the end I thought it was just prettier leaving it on, and then I finished the bento with a tiny bottle filled with soy sauce. I just love that little bottle! And even though the bento ended up being all leftovers from dinner, it still met Hubby’s requirerments of needing lots of carbs and proteins in his lunch. So I think I’m okay with my little seven minute bento today. Now tomorrow, I’m thinking maybe crepes?
~Dawn
Whee, leftovers make the tastiest lunches In My Opinion. I’m jealous of tiny bottles. My smallest containers are about the size of a large egg, but I was in the habit of using the 1-cup bowls. Now he has his own bottle of ketchup, mustard, and salad dressing in his work fridge. I still had to pack soy sauce today, and heaven help us if any other seasonings are needed.
Oh, that’s my kind of bento box. Everything looks so tasty.
Hey, I was good. Or I was trying to be. But the boss ordered pizza for everyone today and I didn’t want to seem rude.
LOL! We’ll give you a free pass on that one Wendy! Not being rude to your boss trumps lunch!
Good luck Jenn!
I must admit that recently I often feel like this and stop even posting frequently on my blog, my excuse is pregnancy… I rather go to the park or go sleep that cook or spend time on the computer nowadays…
But I also promised myself I will do better and won’t give up making lunchboxes and healthy family meals because of being tired.
Well, pregnancy is a MUCH better excuse than mine normally are. My excuses tend to be laziness or “I’m too busy.”
http://www.flickr.com/photos/48914192@N05/4529927904/
Hubby is working a short shift so he asked for a smaller bento this time around. So I make a bento fish and chips basket! There’s the sliced fried fish, and the roasted sliced potato with dill, and although I would have used malt vinegar, Hubby asked for tartar sauce. Then there is a simple side salad with vinegarette, that I still might toss some dried cranberries into.
When I make myself bentos, the more veggies the merrier. But with Hubby, I’m lucky he eats the green beans. He did have baby spinch salad at a friend’s house recently to be polite, and then told me he was surprised he liked it. So I think I’ll try to sneak some baby spinach leaves in soon! 
~Dawn
those are adorable bottles! where in the world did you find them? seems great for dressings since i only have tiny bottles for sauces.
Dear Eula,
Those are little honey bottles that are sold at Big Lots for 25 cents apiece. They were a little promotional item from that animated film “Bee Movie.” I bought a whole box! Which in reality was only eight dollars I think….. But when you’re done with the honey in the bottles (I packed a LOT of tea bags into my bentos after I bought those!) you can fill them with any kind of sauce. And they are a really good size for salad dressing! And when you pack a rice bento, it gives you that extra soy sauce! I normally leave the wrappers on because I think the bee is adorable, (you can see it on my Flickr account) but since I was packing two bottles I took the wrappers off so Hubby wouldn’t have to flip them over.
But go check out your closest Big Lots, I’ve seen them off and on for about a year, and I only make it into that store about once a month or so….
~Dawn
Dawn,
oh dear, i have no idea where the nearest big lots is in nyc! it may be in NJ which is too far for me to get to. oh well. thanks for letting me know!
Eula
I have a lot, want me to send you a couple?
~Dawn
Awesome looking bento and I like the fish and chips concept. My question though is what do you do with all the honey that comes in those little bottles? I’m not much of a honey user (it normally lasts me forever). A curious mind wants to know.
If you wants to use up a lot of fast, make Chinese Honey chicken! YOu can do it a couple of ways.
1) you need tidbits of chicken already fried. So you could fry up some strips, wings, or nugget sized pieces in tempora batter or your regular batter. OR you buy the bag of already made and frozen tempura chicken.
2) While the chicken is hot, pour as much honey over it (while in a big pan) as you dare, giving it a good stir to get it all coated. Then cook it on 250 degrees for about fifteen to twenty minutes, giving it a good stir every now and then.
You want the honey to get sticky and to soak into the fried coating. And this is a great recipe for when your honey does that strange crystalization thing! The honey isn’t spoilt, just…..odd looking….until you heat it up and it melts back to being honey!
If you let the chicken completely cool first, it packs well into bentos. So sometimes I make this from scratch, sometimes with a shortcut first, and then I save a few pieces when I’m serving dinner for bento the next day.
Sorry, Italians are long-winded!
~Dawn
so this is where everyone’s been posting! oye i’ve been missing out on everyone’s updates because I was posting on Jenn’s other blog posts. oops! I hope they’re still counted in the challenge.
They are still counted in teh challenge Eula. On the individual blog posts is where I had asked everyone to post, however, this post has taken off and is going strong. I’ll count comments from either the individual posts or from this post at the end of the month.
I feel positively LAZY about this bento!
Every few weeks Hubby and I go to my friend Allison’s house and we have a Webkinz party! Her and her husband have accounts, and so do their two children. We each hop on a computer and we visit each other and share arcade advice, it’s a lot of fun. But we haven’t gotten together for a few months with me being away so tonight we finally had our get together! With the weather cooling up, we dragged the computers outside and set up a bonfire and had a BBQ.
But Hubby and I didn’t get home until 10:30, so his bento for tomorrow is some pulled BBQ pork from the some of the ribs I set aside, sliced boiled potatoes and kernal corn. There’s a side salad that didn’t make it into the shot and two sauce bottles, one vinegaret and the other is extra BBQ sauce.
It was quickly assembled, but I think Hubby will like enjoying the last rib all to himself at work tomorrow!
I’ll post pics in the morning.
~Dawn
Hey that’s okay Dawn. A quickly thrown together bento is still a bento! Sounds like you had alo tof fun with your friends too.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/48914192@N05/4545960646/
I don’t know what is up but the boss just announced he is buying us all takeout again today! I may never get to eat the soup I brought in my bento Friday at this rate!
Oh no! Well for the bento. Not for a generous boss. Enjoy the meal!
I am back from my trip and I’m a latecomer to the challenge but better late than never right?! Here are 2 bentos, one from yesterday and one from today! http://blog.bento-box.org.uk/654/chicken-seasoning-bento-with-chicken/ and http://blog.bento-box.org.uk/560/kawaii-mushroom-sandwich-bento/ Well done for sticking to your challenge Jenn, I mentioned you in this Squidoo Lens : http://squidoo.com/bento-box-catch-up
sorry that last link is meant to be http://squidoo.com/bento-catch-up
Thanks for the mention Asfora. Both of your bentos are lovely, but I especially love the chicken salad bento. I’d eat that in a hearbeat!
Jenn,
Everything going okay?
Eula
Oh Eula, thanks for asking. Life got away from me a little as it normally does around the middle of the month. My goals are still intact on the eating end, just not on the picture taking end.
glad to hear. =) yeah, life is busy for me too. luckily i got to relax a bit these past 2 days. too much stress is so bad for people!
Hi everyone! I was scrolling through comments and noticed the bento I posted two days ago didn’t post, so I’ll re-post it tonight. WHEW, that was a mouthful!
Hubby only worked three hours yesterday, so no bento for him.
But since today is his long day I made a B-I-G bento of Tuna Salad and packed him off with it. Wednesdays are not only long but labor intensive and we try to pack lots of protien in that day.
It wasn’t very exciting looking, just a smiley faced bento box packed with freshly made tuna salad, so I didn’t snap a pic.
But I will repost Monday’s bento, so a bento pic is coming soon!
~Dawn
Sounds like you’re doing really well with your challenge Dawn. Will look forward to Monday’s bento picture.
Packed leftover ribs my husband made the other day with an apple and steamed broccoli today. To full to eat the apple but wow! Can my hubby cook! He made the ribs for the guys at work and saved me a couple. Tender and great flavor but now he can’t remember how he seasoned them.
Oh that sounds just lovely Wendy! YAY for such a good hubs!
Yeah, Daughter and I got home from yoga last night to find him cooking tiny steaks and veggies for us. Told him he is now in charge of dinners!
So Hubby has been working short shifts, and doesn’t want a bento on his short days. Pout. But tomorrow I go to a birthday party, and I get to bring some baked goods. I’m hoping to post a pumpkin trifle recipe.
Hubby goes back to working regular shifts Sunday night, so yippy! I get to make a bento Sunday morning. 
~Dawn
For pumpkin trifle:
Mix one can of pumpkin with one box of spice cake mix. Bake according to box directions. Allow to cool.
Bake one box of devil food cake according to directions. Allow to cool.
Cut the cakes into cubes.
That part is kindof fun, eating all the “not quite square” pieces…..
Now this is the yummy part, whip a pint of whipping cream, remembering to add about tablespoons of powdered sugar, a teaspoon of cinnamin and lots of fresh grated nutmeg. This is what gives the dessert it’s YUM factor.
Layer the pingriedients into a trifle dish, pumpkin cake, whipped cream, chocolate cake, whipped cream. You could also layer in some slivered almonds, but hubby isn’t a big fan of nuts.
Chill and serve! Enjoy!
This is a really easy recipe, ecspecially if you find a chocolate cake mix that bakes at the same tempature as the pumpkin cake. And as for the whipped cream, the more the merrier!
~Dawn
For today’s bento, hubby got spagetti and meatballs, with a sidecar of sliced strawberries and a spinach and artichoke salad. He called me during his lunch break and was actually eating the salad!!!!!!
Saints be praised!
Since he works later tomorrow I want to do something a little more complicated……. Hmmm.
~Dawn
PS~If anyone would like any of those honey bee bottles, just send me an email NEREIMD@AOL.COM
I am more than happy to share.
Bento today is the last serving of a yummy homemade chicken pot pie and side of applesauce. I OD’d on fresh pineapple this weekend.
Yum! Fresh pineapple!
I used to grow them in little pots on my back porch in Florida, but the little foxes always ate them before I could. If you save the “crown” of the pineapple, just bury that about an inch deep and water well and you could grow one too. 
~Dawn
A cute little bento to start the week! For today’s bento hubby gets green froggy rice ongiri, several baked coconut shrimp, steamed veggies, and mashed sweet potatoes. There is a bottle of soy sauce and a bottle of mango chutney, and not shown, a sidecar of sliced fresh strawberries. A good way to start the week off right!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/48914192@N05/4554564325/
Totally cute – my froggies never turn out so cute! You are so creative!
Thanks Joan, but I have to admit, I got the idea on Flickr. Someone had used the teddy bear face rice mold to make frogs, using the “ears” as the “eyes.” I loved it so much, I copied. I always like to find a new way to use a Bento tool I already have.
And to cut out the cheese, I used an oversized straw as my punch tool. 
I’m really addicted to Flickr!
~Dawn
I come to this topic too late
Only four days left in the challenge. My goal would have been to bento everyday, and day 1 of this new regime went tastily with pork/cabbage dumplings with rice and broccoli, grapes, swiss cheese cubes and a tiny muffin cup of wasabi peas.
Next time gadget.
That sounds yummy.
That sounds like a lovely bento.
For Hubby’s bento today, he gets grilled chicken, black beans and rice.
And since I made green rice frogs just the other day……Yep, his black beans are over a bed of green rice! But today is his work extra crazy hard day, so I packed lots of protein and meat. Not cute enough to spend precious memory space on Flickr with, but very filling and healthy.
I just may have to go ahead and get an upgraded Flickr account. I think by my calculations you can only upload 20 pictures a month or so???
~Dawn
Dawn,
If I’m not mistaken, it depends on the size of the pictures you are uploading. I think you’re only allowed a certain amount of MB uploaded per month on a free account.
I have run out of leftovers (which I can’t remember ever happening before!) and forgot to go to the store yesterday. So today I took the only thing left in my fridge – lettuce and applesauce. boring!!!! Ah well. I guess I could have cooked what was left of the crabcake mixture my 10 yr old experimented with yesterday but I hate crab. I’d rather ignore my challenge and have a burger from a fast food joint. Actually I’d sooner eat the mystery leftover that has been at the back of the fridge for a month at my office. Ok, I’m rambling a bit today. Time to go get more coffee!!!!!
Coffee fixes everything!
Wendy, please forward any unwanted crab my way!
I have Glorious news!!!!!!!!!!! After working for his company for ten years, my Hubby got a promotion and we’ll be moving soon.
I’m just so proud. So last night we had a little celebration with friends, and today’s bento was leftovers.
I packed a spinach and mandarin orange salad with vinegarette. Then there’s a bed of sticky rice with mandarin orange salmon sitting atop. To the side is steamed brocolli and black mushroom dumplings. Then to be extra special, I packed a square of chocolate frosted devil’s cake.
It’s his first day at the new position, and until we move, he commutes and hour each way. But hopefully today’s bento puts a smile on his face.
~Dawn
Yay!!! Congrats and way to prolong the celebration thru Bento. BTW – thanks for the cute comment yesterday. Just one of those wacky days.
Wonderful news Dawn. Congrats!
Today’s bento is leftover Cajun Pasta with Chicken. I love this stuff! And since I like to end with sweets I threw in an applesauce. Happy Bento today!
That sounds GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/48914192@N05/4564632610/
A little heart themed bento for my Hubby. In the mushroom bento box is a heart shaped brownie, Japanese jello and Japanese fruit gummies. In the main bento box I hid a layer of mini meatballs below a bed of noodles. I topped those with parmisian cheese, then a layer of basil marina, that lastly I topped with cheese hearts.
Well this helps ease a weekend workday!
~Dawn
that’s adorable!
Awwww, too cute.
last day of challenge! congrats to everyone who achieved their goals and to those who made the effort!
It was Fun! Thanks!
Congrats indeed!