Lunch Bucket Bento: October 2008

White Beans & Collard Greens

>> Thursday, October 30, 2008

1. ham and beans
2. collards
3. jalapeno corn bread

Oooops! Looks like you caught me with my culinary heritage showin'! I don't remember the first time I had beans or greens, and I sure don't remember the first time I had them actually liked them, but I know I sure can't get enough of 'em now. Especially greens...mmmmmm...greens...with bacon...and pepper sauce...and corn bread...Hold on, I'm drooling, sorry.

Daring Baker #11Shouldabeen Pizza Dough

>> Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Shoulda, coulda, woulda, but I didn't. Don't be hatin' on the under-achievers! Rosa of Rosa's Yummy Yums hosted, and she, of course, actually completed the challenge. Click here to see the Daring Baker blogroll.

Sweet Potato Pie

>> Monday, October 27, 2008

1. grilled spicy raspberry and chipotle pork chop which tasted of none those things
2. itty bitty teeny tiny squash
3. half of a big ass roasted sweet potato relieved of it's skin

I love roasted sweet potatoes more than sweet potato pie. There. I've admitted it.

Boobie Cookies!

>> Wednesday, October 22, 2008

I promised to send something to my husband's work for a breast cancer awareness month bake sale. So I did.

Classic Toll House cookies with pink M&Ms instead of the chocolate chips. These turned out as expected and looked cute in their little bags tied up with pink ribbon.

Then I made these Cream Cheese Cookies from a recipe I found here, but instead of rolling them out I just used my large scoop to plop out mounds of dough that baked up nice and round. Then I topped each one with a big pink melty mint.

Boo was horrified and refused to have any part of it. The Boy? Not so much. So what do you think? Tacky or cute? I lurved them :)

Marshmallows! Oh, and a sandwich.

1. turkey & cheese sandwich
2. raspberries & melon
3. M&Ms
4. marshmallow

Just another quickie lunch. But. See that marshmallow? I made that. Sunday. It's the last one (and a half). Who the hell knew? I had no idea it was so easy to make your own marshmallows OR that they would taste so freakin' good. I used Martha Stewart's corn syrup recipe (there's also one that uses egg whites) but only used 2 packets of gelatin because that's all I had on hand. I want to make these again and cut them into ghost shapes. Or maybe pumpkins and roll them in some orange sparkly sugar!

Who Needs Onigiri?

>> Monday, October 20, 2008

Who needs onigiri when you have bacon? Yeah, that's right, bacon. I don't know what sort of Armageddon this signifies but we had leftover bacon. Something I'd heard about, but never actually seen.

1. bacon, onion, tomato and cilantro sandwich
2. mac salad, dill pickles and grapes

And here's a gratuitous pet picture from Sunday afternoon. Sophie's not really dead in this picture, just bored to tears from watching football.

Newbie Bento Contest @ O-Bento Lunch For Kidz

>> Sunday, October 19, 2008

Newbie Bento Contest @ O-Bento Lunch For Kidz

Prizes! Recognition! Fame!

It's the last day to enter so quick -- Do it now!

Make-up Food

>> Thursday, October 16, 2008

1. chicken fried chicken
2. green beans
3. sliced tomatoes
4. mashed potatoes
5. gravy

If I had really been sorry I would have made banana pudding for desert.

Not Pumpkin Curry

>> Wednesday, October 15, 2008

1. chicken korma curry
2. rice
3. http://lunchbucketbento.blogspot.com/2008/05/lunch-bucket-o-curry.html
4. grapes
5. garlic naan (not shown)

Yeah, the curry? Not so good. I bought that same stupid Patak sauce that I didn't like the last time I bought it. And I still don't. Like it that is. You know what I do like though? La Fuji Mama's Pumpkin Palooza series. It's seriously awesome, nothing like that stupid korma, trust me.

The Omnivore's Dilemma - Want a free copy?

>> Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Slightly used. I did more than just eat myself sick on vacation, I also caught up on some reading. And it wasn't all vampires all the time either. Yes, I buckled. You may call me easily influenced if you'd like, (it would probably be better than a lot of things I've been called) but dude. I loved the Twilight book. And New Moon. And I probably would have loved the others too if I'd had the foresight to go ahead and buy them. And I totally can't wait for the movie even if the actor they've chosen to play Edward looks NOTHING the way he was supposed to look. Ahem. Anyway. So I also read this book.

And I liked it. Yeah, I know - always the last on the bandwagon, but surely some of you haven't gotten around to reading it yet either, so there ya go.

If you'd like to have it, just leave a comment between now and 10/18. No haiku necessary! I'll pick the winner (random.org) and mail it out relatively quickly. Hopefully.

Click here to order The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals from Amazon. If you buy using this link I get 3 cents. We're all about the full-disclosure here at lunchbucketbento.

we’ll be playing and having fun

1. macadamia nut crusted mahi mahi
2. black beans
3. fruit salsa
4. coconut rice
5. papaya and grapes with a wedge of lime

I decided to make a nice islandy dinner for the kids to make up for going to Hawaii and not taking them and then not buying them anything while I was there. I'm nice that way.

The fish was prepared using Alton Brown's method - but I didn't use NEARLY the amounts suggested for the "crust" and still ended up with plenty. And I didn't use butter, because I didn't have any. How can it be that we have no butter? Un freakin believable. Did you hear me? WE HAVE NO BUTTER! Oh, sorry. Anyway.

The beans were a loose approximation of these beans only with canned beans instead of dried.

The coconut rice is just plain old rice but I subbed half of the water with coconut milk and sprinkled some toasted coconut flakes on top.

Back to the Mill with Pork Chops & Potato Salad

>> Monday, October 13, 2008

1. barbecued pork chop
2. potato salad
3. green beans & red peppers
4. Greek yogurt with honey
5. granola in Kitty's head

Adorable little long-eared wonder pup? Or insidious Sanrio virus causing grown women to crave tiny anthropomorphic plastic products? Either way, I was powerless to resist. I saw this tiny Cinnamoroll bento box at the gift shop at Maui Tropical Plantation. $4.95 and 40% off. So I had to buy it. Not just because it was cheap though people. I had to buy it because I remembered that I had THIS!

Sucker.