Thursday's Bento...a Day Late!

Yep...I'm late but what can I say?!  Rich had a pretty simple bento yesterday.  He is a tad bit picky so it's tough at times.  I love him no less, though!!  Hubby took the pic at work so I apologize for anything you can't see very well!  Here we go....

Starting in the large compartment in my $1 lunch container with built-in utensils on the lid:  Heart and flower shaped cukes with a cute heart pick in the white silicon muffin cup (Dollar Tree - huge pack for a buck), a Tony's Ham & Cheese stuffed Sammie (I wrote his nuking instructions on it w/ marker so he'd know), bunny rabbit-shaped boiled egg.  Filling in the spaces around it all are 2 Hershey's Kisses and a handful of mixed nuts.  In the smaller compartment I put a cut up Gala Apple (sprinkled with lemon juice to prevent browning - and it held up nicely from the previous night when I made it) and a little container of Cookie Butter underneath to dip the apples in.  All topped off with a cute flag/star pick from a big pack of stuff from Big Lots!  Cheap is good!  Rich loves to have a boiled egg each day....I'm happy to oblige because it is great, lean protein!

There ya have it!  :)  Oh, I'm going to include a cute pick from a couple of weeks ago.  My niece, Taylor, and I decided to try our hand at homemade sushi.  I really wish I liked it!  Tay and Rich thought it was yumm!

It's pretty, though!  It had avocado, cucumber, and red bell pepper in it (if I am remembering correctly)!

Have an awesome weekend!!  Oh, btw, my birthday is coming up on Monday...know what I want for my bday?  More followers!  Help a sister out!  :)

Peace!
Joy

What's Rich's Bento??

I crashed Tuesday night!  Hendrix (my youngest lab) snuggled up to me and we were out!  I woke up at around 4amish and realized I had not made Rich's bento!  Being the wonderful wife I am, I got up and made it so he would have it for breakfast/snack/lunch!  Check it out!  I am always, always looking for new, simple bento ideas...please lend me your creativity in the comment section!

Large section: Cute lil' guitar container w/ 4 Hershey's kisses in it, a Teddys Grahams soft paw cookie/muffin thingie with a mini homemade granola bar underneath, homemade flour tortilla half with ham and cheese inside. The smaller sections: top- a few GINORMOUS grapes with heart-shaped cucumber slices underneath.  And finally, a homemade blueberry/cream cheese muffin. I Used the last precooked boiled egg yesterday (which Rich usually has in these for protein), but I am boiling more today! ♥  I try to boil 8-12 at the beginning of each week to use for lunches.  I didn't this week bc I still had a few leftover from last week...there are more now!  They were mint and olive green eggs!  These are laid by Easter Egg Chickens!  ;)

Weekly Meal Plan via the SMARTSHOPPER!

I follow a couponing/deal blog on WRAL.com hosted by a friend of mine and local celebrity, Faye Prosser.  This lady rocks!  She teaches you how to coupon the RIGHT, ETHICAL way!  We call her the "SmartShopper" and her blog is called that too!  Anyway, I just posted my weekly menu plan there so I thought I'd post it here as well!  Hopefully, I will be able to incorporate a few bentos as well!  What do you think??


Monday - Homemade "Hambone Veggie Soup", blueberries/strawberries
Tuesday - Corned Beef Brisket, carrots, potatoes, cabbage (St. Patty's Day again - will be making corned beef hash for breakfast Saturday)
Wednesday - Leftover soup and our fave grilled ham n' cheese topped with a thin slice of tomato (produce box) and fresh basil leaves (YUMMM)
Thursday - Cheese enchiladas (with homemade sauce put up last year), corn on the cob, salad (weekly produce box)
 Friday - my version of Sesame Chicken, broccoli (weekly produce box), roasted new potatoes (produce box) Saturday - HUGE Sea Scallops (Trader Joe's has the BEST), garden peas (produce box), new potatoes (box) and strawberries/blueberries (also from box)
Sunday - Sounds like a great day to use a GROUPON at Backyard Bistro!!
Wow...didn't think I had it in me! Sounds like a yummy week...if I follow through!

Soup is always a win in our house!  Leftovers for lunches!  :)

Bargain Recipe: Ham & Pasta Skillet...YUMMY & EASY

I sit here and type with a full belly and ponder about how slack I've been when it comes to updates about the Pantry Challenge.  I will hopefully be able to sit down and update tomorrow since it IS the beginning of week 3.  I do apologize!  That thing called work keeps getting in the way!  In the mean time, I have to share a new recipe with you.  That is one part of this challenge that I am DEFINITELY enjoying:  Trying new things.  I love trying new things but hubby is not quite so adventurous.  He has been the past couple days because he wants to eat!  :) 

In my stockpile in the freezer I had 3 packs of sandwich sliced ham.  I had gotten it marked down because the sell by date was 2 days away from the date I bought it.  I paid .49 for a 12oz pack of lean ham...name brand at that!  The negative is I should have opened the packages and put 2 pieces on wax paper to separate for sammies.  Since I was so close to the sell by date, I don't dare leave the package in my fridge after defrosting for more than a day.  Rich has already been food poisoned by a ham sammie his sister made for him...years ago, but he won't let her live it down!  Anyway, I needed a recipe that I could chop up the whole pack in.  So, I turned to my friend google.  Those of you who know me well know that I can never make a recipe exactly as directed...that's boring!  So, I'm going to give you my version of the recipe because it was good!  I'm not a huge meat eater and could totally enjoy it without the ham...in fact, my dogs ate the ham out of my serving.  Hubby loved it! Oh, by the way, I was in the kitchen from start to finish for 20 minutes (not counting clean-up...hubby does that).

Ham & Pasta Skillet
all measurements are approximate - I don't usually measure - except for the liquids
 
10oz chopped, cooked ham
1 med onion, chopped (I used red)
3/4 c frozen, green peas
8 oz of cooked pasta (I used penne, org called for egg)
1.5 c fat free half n' half (the original recipe called for light cream)
4 slices (thin) swiss cheese (org. called for .5c cheddar)
3oz cream cheese, cubed
1-2 Tbsp butter
1 tsp dried parsley
fresh cracked black pepper to taste (recipe called for salt but I didn't use any and it was perfect)

In a large skillet on med/high, saute onion in butter until the onion is soft.  Add chopped ham and stir.  Add peas, half n' half, cheeses, parsley, and pepper.  Reduce heat to low/medium and simmer until the sauce has started to thicken (this only took about 5 min).  Stir occasionally so it won't scorch.  Add warm pasta and stir....DONE!!  :)  Whoohoo!  ONE dish...love it! 

I had 3 hamburger buns that needed to be used so I put a tiny bit of butter, garlic powder, and italian seasoning on it and stuck it under the broiler.  I took it out when it was almost done and added a little cheese and placed it back in the oven, turned off.  Because the rack is so close to the burner when you're broiling, be sure NOT to catch your mitten on fire when getting the baking sheet out...NOT that I did this or anything.  ;)  And now for the finished product w/ my crappy cell phone...

Don't be jealous of the fine china plates!!  Give this a try and let me know what you think.  It was a winner here!!

Dreading 5:20 am,

Joy