eirenical | Entries tagged with bento

OK, I totally need to re-upload all my Fruits Basket icons. Or rewatch the series, because I'm totally in the mood for it, now. ^_^ Ah well. Whenever cooking/baking is involved, Ijyuin Akira is always a good standby. ;D

*pause* Huh. I wonder if my sudden desire to make bento has anything to do with the fact that I recently downloaded and started to rewatch CLAMP Campus Detectives... OMG. First CCD. Now FB. Holy-oh-my-goodness! Is my love of anime finally having a resurgence? :D :D :D YES!! *fistpump*

*coughs* OK. Movingonnow. *sheepish grin*

Bento #7... Go!
So, I got home from class tonight and was so pleased with yesterday's bento and how it actually kept me full all night, I decided to prep one for today. I might end up hanging out at school all afternoon and I wanted to be prepared. *nodnod* ^_^ So... here we go!

As a random side note, in addition to keeping me full, doing this gave me one other major positive thing: after eating this bento, I didn't then go on to crave processed carbs all night long. I didn't think I'd ever break that cycle. ^____^ Here's hoping that continues to work that way.

( More bento pictures behind the cut! )

Totals:
I think I did a little better this time. ^_^ Then again, this is only intended to be lunch+snacks, not lunch+snacks+dinner. ^_^ The break-down as follows (again in WW PtsPlus, sorry)...

One Onigiri with Salmon: 3 PointsPlus -- <1 protein
Six Spicy Lentil Snacks: 4 PointsPlus -- 1 protein, 1+ fruits/vegetables
One Large Pear (~1 cup): 0 PointsPlus -- 2 fruits/vegetables
Two Clementines (~1 cup): 0 PointsPlus -- 2 fruits/vegetables
1/2 cup sweetened, fat-free ricotta cheese: 2 PointsPlus, 1 protein, 1 1/3 dairy

Total: 9 PointsPlus -- 2-3 protein, 5 fruits/vegetables, 1 1/3 dairy

(Oh, and for comparison's sake... according to the WW good health guidelines, you're supposed to have at least 1 serving of protein with every meal, and 5-6 fruits/vegetables and 2-3 servings of dairy per day.)

Not too shabby, eh? ^_^

Current Mood: chipper

*cracks knuckles* Are you ready for this? Really? ^_^ I was beyond ready. I've been kind of plateauing lately at WW and with less than 10 lbs. to go... that's beyond irritating. What's the problem? Too many damned processed carbs. Why? I sit in class and nosh on 100 calorie packs all night, that's why. :-P And why do I do that? Because I'm not packing my lunch/dinner like I should.

Re-enter bento. ^_^ I have missed making bento, you don't even know how much. I miss making my little Japanese foods like onigiri (OMG, the sheer comfort level of that comfort food... *_*), and making my cute pretty little colorful boxes packed with all kinds of little goodies that I love. I miss it.

Yesterday, I tested the waters. I made 2 eggs worth of tamagoyaki and had it for breakfast, just to see if I remembered how to make it. I did. ^_^ Cute little folded eggs. I have a picture from the very first bento I ever did over here. And they were tasty. And it was good. ^_^ Then I went and rediscovered my favorite "food" website, justbento.com and all the awesome bento and recipes that she makes. And, OMG, she wrote a cookbook. *dies* WANT!! *_* *coughs* Moving on. Of course, all my favorite recipes were still on the site and I was browsing and plotting like mad. Problem: haven't been shopping lately. :-P Well, I knew I had sushi rice and lentils in the cupboard, smoked salmon in the freezer (Lucky!), and an onion in the refrigerator. With that... I could at least make my two favorites. ;D And so...

I did.

Another view of the bento
A close-up of the "box" itself. Just a typical 2 cup (?), flat Pyrex container, but it fits perfectly in the bottom of my lunchbox. ^_^

( Detail pictures and totals behind a cut tag to avoid spamming f-lists. ^_^ )

*satisfied smile* Damn, but I've missed making bento posts. Here's to many more to come! :D

Current Mood: excited

*beams* Been a while, ne? ^_^ Well, I've been a busy lil' chibi this morning! I've been cooking since 8:30 AM trying to get stuff ready for the coming week... and to take my mind of the fact that I may be an aunt by Friday. @_@;;; I'm not ready! *flails*

( *coughs* Anyway... On to the bento. ^_^ )

For the calorie count:

Poached Frozen Tofu (6 oz) -- 270 calories
5 Spicy Lentil Snacks -- 225 calories
Baby Carrots (3 oz) -- 35 calories
1 plum -- 30 calories

Total calories: 560

Current Mood: chipper

Been a while, huh? ^_^ I have been cooking and actually trying to monitor calories and such, just haven't been posting picture, as I haven't had time or been using my little bento. This lunch was actually from a few days ago, but I figured I'd post for inspiration's sake. ^_^

( And behind the cut tag we go, again to avoid picspamming... )

And there you have it. ^_^ For the calorie count:

Fragrant Chicken with Creamy Almond Sauce (1/2 cup chicken mixture -- According to the recipe book I used...) -- 150 calories
1/2 cup white rice, cooked -- 133 calories
5 large strawberries -- 43 calories
1 cup blackberries -- 62 calories
1 Jello Pudding, tapioca -- 100 calories

Total calories: 488

Current Mood: hyper, and not in a good way

OK! Here we go, again. ^_^ Trying to get back on the bandwagon, because I majorly fell off it this week. *sigh* So, I got my rear out of bed early this morning and actually put some stuff together. I made my rice this morning and froze it, as I wasn't going to use it in today's bento. *sweats* Hopefully that'll work out OK... *nervous look*

*cracks knuckles* Here we go!

( And the rest of the pictures behind a cut, to avoid major picspamming. ^_^ )

And there you have it. ^_^ For the calorie count:

Chicken Curry (~6 oz of white meat chicken cutlet and taking a completely wild guess as to how much sauce is in there -- 'cuz I didn't make it... ^_^) -- 210-250 calories
2/3 cup whole wheat couscous, cooked (again a guess -- 1/3 cup uncooked is 220 cal, so I'm guessing this is about right?) -- 220 calories
1 egg tamagoyaki, made with Splenda instead of sugar -- 83 calories
5 Radishes -- 4 calories
1 pear (not pictured -- I figure you all know what a pear looks like ^_^) -- ~96 calories

Total calories: 613-653 calories -- *sweatdrop* OK... So, a little high on the calorie count, today... but I really want the pear, and my fridge is scarily bear of veggies! ;_; Will go shopping tonight, I promise! ^_^

And, finally... I leave you with kitty pictures! O_o;;; Gabriel decided that the laundry just looked like fun this morning... *falls over*

( Because I can, that's why! ^_^ )

Current Mood: chipper

Last night was the first night of Passover (and yeah, I eat rice over Passover, so sue me ^_^) and my mother sent me home with a ton of leftovers. ^_^ So, I thought I'd change it up a little today. Leftovers are our friends! I had the broccoli and onigiri (made two days ago) in my own fridge, the rest is all from dinner last night! ^_^ And I even managed to keep it close to the 1:1:1 ratio (carb : veggie/fruit : protein)! Tomorrow I'm going to do something with the sweet potatoes... ^_^

Total calories in today's bento: 500

( Bento #2! )

Current Mood: awake

So, in an effort to trick myself into eating healthier and, thus, losing weight, I have decided to start packing my own bento for lunch. ^_^ I'm finding it to be tremendous amounts of fun and have decided to post pictures of some of them so you can enjoy them, too! ^_^

First Bento!: