If you're lucky enough to have a boy that chooses to show his gratitude by cooking you a steak dinner there's no reason at all to scrape the leftovers into the trash. Just mix it all up together, throw on some sour cream,wrap that shit up and call it lunch.
After you add carrot sticks and tomatoes for color of course.
Pretty much the only reason to ever make meatloaf.
1. meatloaf sandwiches
2. mashed potato with ginormous slab of butter
I bought a little potato ricer at IKEA the other day that I didn't honestly really think I'd ever use since I have a big crank one somewhere collecting dust. Julie didn't try to stop me though, so I went ahead and got it and now I'm really happy I did 'cause it is SO easy to make just one mashed potato with that thing!
A few days ago a co-worker brought in a BBQ Chicken Salad from somewhere made with lettuce, corn, black beans, chicken and cornbread croutons. Cornbread croutons! Why didn't I think of that? Well, this salad isn't that.
This salad is just a mess.
1. lettuce
2. baked potato
3. some beans
4. pulled pork
It was still pretty damn good though. Even without any cornbread croutons.
It's pretty much my favorite fish. Which has nothing to do with me overcooking this particular piece of fish. By a lot. Really.
1. olive oil poached halibut
2. on top of a smashed yellow potato
3. green beans
4. freakin' delicious tomatoes
If I ever try this again, and I'm not sayin' that I will, I'm going to go with the oven method. Maybe.
Ikea, Ikea,
Lovely, dear Ikea,
From your flat packs to your anchovy treat,
There's nothing half so sweet,
As Ikea, Ikea, I-keet.
Oh, there are things of wonder,
Of which men like to sing.
There are pretty sunsets and birds upon the wing,
But of the joys of nature,
None truly can compare,
With Ikea, Ikea, she of wonders beyond compare.
And Swedish meatballs.
Okay, I totally ripped that off from Barney Fife. Don't judge me. I've been sick.
1. meatballs
2. potatoes
3. lingonberry stuff
4. brownie
1. roast chicken
2. potatoes
3. tomatoes
4. broccoli
5. bottle of jus
I love roasted chicken. I love pomegranate molasses. So when I saw this Serious Eats post about Perfect Roast Chicken with Pomegranate Jus I knew it was meant to be.
And it was.
You might have noticed that my breast is naked. That's because I ripped off the skin and ate it while it was still hot and crispy. Totally worth it.
1. salmon
2. potatoes
3. cute accessory
4. random pieces of romaine lettuce
5. blackberries and Greek style yogurt with honey
I poached the fish using a recipe from Simply Recipes subbing chives for the dill, cause that's what I had. Too bad I didn't catch the part about covering the pan - ended up spoon-sloshing the liquid on top to get it to cook :)
The potatoes are just quartered and boiled with some butter and chives. I put a little Caesar dressing in the chick.
Have I mentioned my new found love for the Fresh & Easy? Let me mention it again. See that salmon up there? Know where I got it? I'll tell you - Fresh & Easy. Ten ounces for $3.99 and as fresh as I'm ever likely to taste living here in the desert. Cooking and eating fish just isn't something I grew up doing. Where I'm from there's only one kind of fish, and that's catfish and you eat it dredged in cornmeal and deep fried and if you're smart you go out for it so you don't mess up your kitchen. And that - while delicious - is nothing like this. I don't know where I was going with that.
Anyway, Boo loves fish so I try to fix it for her at least once a week. Unfortunately she slept through dinner so the Boy snagged half of her fillet and the rest ended up here. This is just the sort of lunch that I love packing for work. So much better than anything I'd have time to run out for plus the added benefit of being very nearly free!
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.
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.
1. yellow grape tomatoes
2. steak
3. baked potato
4. green beans
5. red peppers
6. cucumber
7. vinaigrette in the red tomato
Bet you can't guess who had steak, baked potato, green beans and salad for dinner last night!
Where slow=lazy subtract uncooked rice and add hot dog bun.
1. leftover chicken curry on a hot dog bun
2. cherries
3. potato salad
4. tiny bean filled cake
I have to admit this made for a suprisingly tasty sandwich. Good enough to repeat on purpose, though my first choice for bread probably wouldn't be an Aunt Hattie's potato bun.
Other than my family there ain't a whole lotta stuff I miss about Arkansas. Catfish would be one thing, good barbecue would be another. Oh the barbecue. And when I say barbecue I mean pork. Pulled pork. With a vinegary sauce. And cole slaw. Put in on bread and it's a sandwich, put it on a spud and it's a Shack Tater. I do big pink puffy heart love the Shack Tater.
I still can't get catfish here, but thankfully Joe's came along or I might've had to move back. Joe's pulls some good pork, and makes a real nice sauce, but I sure do wish they'd learn to make good slaw. I've learned to love a slaw-less sandwich, but the tater? Needs the slaw. Sometimes, when you want it done right, you just gotta do it yourself.
1. baked potato
2. pulled pork
3. coleslaw
4. butter and sour cream
5. bbq sauce
Radishes are not a traditional accompaniment but do a fine job of filling up an empty space.
1. barbecue beef
2. Southwestern potato salad
3. cole slaw
4. barbecue sauce
5. watermelon
6. bread (not shown)
We eat a lot of potato salad - so sometimes I like to mix it up. Get a little crazy. Walk on the wild side. Sometimes I run blindfolded right towards the edge and make Southwestern potato salad. You're probably thinkin' I must be some kind of gourmet chef - and you'd mostly be right. This ain't no amateur hour. Oh, forget it. I'm tired of the charade. Mix up some chili powder, like a tablespoon in about 3 tablespoons of your finest Dijon mustard. Let it hang out there in the bowl while the potatoes cook. Loosen it up with a spoonful of hot potato water then mix it in with your normal potato salad stuff. Boom. Southwestern potato salad. Try it!
In other news I am truly disheartened at the lack of response to my new Justice League sandwich box. I was almost as excited about it as I was about my new "Pink Lemonade" lemon tree. Almost.
Okay - it wasn't that bad, we did get brownies with pink frosting. But I seem to have lost the ability to take a decent photograph, and that's makin' me pretty freakin' cranky.
If you squint you can kinda see what we had for lunch. 
1. baked potato (salted and peppered)
2. heart-shaped containers of butter and sour cream
3. little tomatoes
4. brownie 
1. shrimp
2. cocktail sauce
3. chili lime toasted corn
4. cheese
5. brownie
1. shrimp
2. cocktail sauce
3. chili lime toasted corn
4. steak bits on picks
5. brownie
The picks are strategically placed to keep the brownie from getting stuck to the lid and also to keep the steak out of the frosting. I normally don't get too concerned about "food safety" with our lunches but with these I took the added precaution of adding a layer of frozen reusable ice cubes on top of the shrimp right before they head out the door.
1. rice balls with world's best furikake
2. little potato
3. littler apple
4. sugar snap peas
5. persimmon slices
6. custard ball (sounds so appetizing, no?)
I know it's kind of mean to proclaim something the "world's best" and then not give any other info. All I can really say is that it came in a pink envelope. And cost more than the other (lesser) furikakes. As soon as I get this whole reading Japanese kanji down I'll post more info. Please, stop holding your breath. It won't help and it makes me nervous.
We don't bento on weekends. But we do eat. Lots. Here's an example...
Potato Tikki
1 clove fresh garlic (smashed with salt)
1 tiny bit of ginger
1/2 t. Garam Masala
1/2 t. mild curry paste
small jalapeno (tiny diced)
6 small Yukon Gold potatoes (shredded)
vegetable oil for frying
Peel and boil the potatoes in salted water until soft, drain. When cool grate them into a boil. Add in the garlic, ginger, peppers and spices. Form by hand into little logs (think long tater tots) and brown (in batches) in a small amount of vegetable oil over medium-high heat. Drain on paper towels and serve hot with mango chutney.
Makes 12.
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