5/11/11 - Sleeping Cat

Not really proud of how this one came out, but I tried!

Below is bowtie pasta with tomatoes, and above is a sleeping cat cut out from mild cheddar cheese and pepper jack cheeses with cucumber detailing.

This morning I was laying in bed thinking about switching the time on my alarm clock again because I think it’s getting me up too early. I actually ended up just laying on the bed for about half hour more because I didn't want to get up. I thought about a nap, and so came the napping cat.

This was hugely impromptu. I had the image in my mind of a yellow cat with a white tail and white ears sleeping soundly. So I cut up some cheese. If I had more time, I probably would’ve made it more presentable, but all in all, this took a good half hour to prepare (including making breakfast). Maybe I’ll retry it again later when I feel more confident.

Thanks for the get-well wishes!

5/10/11 - Potato Medley

I'm still alive! Wow, I had never been that sick in my life, or for that long, so that absolutely threw way too many things off the window. I was in a cooking ban for a rather longer time than I'd like to admit, but I am hoping that's now in the past. It's so hard to get back into a routine when it has been shaken upside down.

Yesterday it was a no-cook day, as I only ate empanadas I had made a few weeks prior. Those things are so forgiving, and they last so much. Either as dough or as finished product, they can sit for a good week and still be perfectly good.

As for lunch today, I still havent finished inspecting the damage of the two weeks being sick (bye bye rice, again!), nor finished making a complete grocery shopping run, so I have carrots and broccoli with a potato vegetable medley microwavable side.

4/27/11 - Week/end recap

Trying to figure out when to start. Last Wednesday I wasnt feeling well. Also, we got lunch at work, so I didnt pack anything. In addition, I didnt eat dinner either. Thursday, same thing. Bought some pizza at the local pizzeria and called it quits. Got home, fell asleep, skipped dinner.
Friday, we didnt work, so I tried to make breakfast (pancakes), called it quits and went to my parents' house. Worked Saturday, zombie'd around on Sunday, and Monday, I packed a sandwich at my parents' house before heading in to work.

Tuesday, I THOUGHT we were back to regular schedule. I made lunch. I made dinner. It wasnt the best, but it was edible.

Lunch included pasta noodles with veggies, and some more veggies on the side:

Then today for lunch, we have potatoes, boiled eggs, and some broccoli to fill in the gaps:

I am feeling majorly like poop. I took a nap yesterday, woke up totally wiped out, went back to sleep a few hours later, and spent about 3 hours in the AM awake tossing and turning with a sore throat, a fever and a headache. Fell asleep at about... 3:30am. Lucky me. So yeah, right now I am in survival mode. I want to make my lunches filling. I'll worry about making them presentable some other time...

4/20/11 - Green snacks

I just noticed just how much green was inolved in this bento...

This is actually just a snack/pre-lunch bento, since we're getting lunch at the office. It has juicy pears, carrots, cucumbers and broccoli. I added yogurt for the pears and ranch for the veggies in separate containers.

4/19/11 - Cheesy Potatoes & Eggs

Nothing fancy, again. :/

Potatoes with cheesy sauce, two boiled eggs, mixed greens salad with egg bits. It was more of a I-need-to-buy-food lunch.

I've found it is hard to make messy food look good... or any sort of potatoes.

4/15/11 - Carbs

Pretty simple lunch; pasta salad and roasted potatoes with broccoli. Can you say, carb overload?

I am really liking these one-tier boxes. They're a lot easier to organize and look more put together. I packed this meal yesterday just as I finished dinner, because I think that the warm weather is messing up with my sleeping schedule and I end up hitting the snooze button too many times before rolling out of bed.

I think that what I am needing is a bit of guidance... so I might go bento-book shopping soon. Before I started playing with bentos, lunches would be straight from leftovers (like this one). So the thought of cooking two different meals for, well, two different parts of the day is sinking in, but very slowly.

Anyone got any recommendations? I know slovakiasteph has been checking out Yum Yum Bento Box, and that's definitely on my list.

Rice stars and coleslaw

Kind of funky looking photo, but I also took one with a real camera and will probably upload it tomorrow or tonight. This lunch contains a boiled egg, cheese fence sticks covering the eggs, two rice stars topped with cheese flowers, coleslaw, and broccoli to secure everything in place.

I have been really craving coleslaw, so I went ahead and made some with the last of my cabbage. I ended up with too much shredded carrot (not that it is a bad thing), but it doesnt look like the typical coleslaw. It also doesnt have the same sauce, as most recipes I found had either too many ingredients, or different ingredients throughout the different recipes. So I stuck with the most prevalent ingredients, didnt measure (as usual) and it came out interesting. It was a little tangy from the vinegar and chopped onion, but overall, pretty good.