New LunchBots Bento!

I am so excited about my new LunchBots bento box. It is beautiful and I was thrilled to be able to find it for sale here in Sonoma County! This past weekend I went on a scooter ride with my pal Carina. She JUST got her scooter, so this was a really fun adventure for us. We went out to Sebastopol to go to the farmers market there and to have lunch and shop. I found a whole bunch of awesome LunchBots bento boxes at Silk Moon, which is a store on Main Street. It is such a fun shop, I also got some really cute monster chip bag clips, I will have to show them to you in another post. So on to the bento!

I got the LunchBots Trio, which has three compartments. It is really pretty and came with either a silver lid or this red lid. I like red because it is super dramatic (like me!) so that's the one I chose. In my bento" slices of peach from Twin Peaks, a chicken salad with artichoke hearts and green beans from The Patch, and an undressed caprese salad with tomatoes from The Patch. I did the math and this whole bento only came out to 311 calories! Yay for me!

Here you can see the lid of the LunchBots bento box. It fits really snugly, and nothing spilled into the other compartments, even when I put my bento in my backpack and scooted into work today. Woo hoo!

Here is the super delicious lunch I shared with my friend Carina on Sunday at the Sebastopol Farmers Market. We got this 'fritada' from Mateo Granados' Yucatan Kitchen, which has an awesome booth at this market and other markets. The egg 'fritada' had potatoes, onions, and squash in it and was really delicious. It came with olive oil toasted bread, a creamy aioli, quick sauteed market vegetables, and a black bean puree. If you get a chance, be sure to try food from Mateo at the farmers markets. He sources many of the ingredients from the market that day. :)

Here's Carina and I showing off our delicious food at the Sebastopol Farmers Market. They are now open year round from 10am to 1:30pm at the plaza. 

Chicken Salad with Artichoke Hearts and Green Beans

Meat from 1 roasted chicken thigh (skin removed and meat roughly chopped)

1 oz marinated artichoke hearts, diced

10 green beans, chopped into bite sized pieces and steamed

1 tablespoon greek vinaigrette dressing

freshly ground pepper

Combine ingredients and chill. Serves one. 

Pasta Salad and Watermelon Bento

Temperatures have been climbing in Sonoma County lately, so this is a bento made from leftovers from last night's cold foods dinner: pasta salad and watermelon!

I added sliced olives, fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, onions, and sliced pepperoncini peppers to bow-tie pasta and dressed it with greek salad dressing and a bit of pepper. In the other container are chunks of watermelon sprinkled with a bit of sea salt accompanied by a lime wedge. (If you are having an after hours version of this melon dish, add a little splash of tequila and simple syrup to the watermelon, it's sooooo good!).

I added this bento to What's For Lunch Wednesday! Check it out for great bento ideas. Stay cool bento pals!

Simple Quesadilla Bento

Often I am in a bit of a rush, and I need something quick and easy to throw into my bento box. I had two tortillas from La Tortilla Factory leftover in the bread box, and it wasn't enough to make a meal for myself and my hubby, but it's just enough for a bento!

I thinly sliced pepper jack cheese and took a slice of deli turkey meat and placed that between two tortillas in a pan over medium heat. I flipped it after the cheese got melty, then let it cool while I added the grapes and carrots to the bento box. Then I cut up the quesadilla and popped it into the box. A simple bento, and still tasty.

Chow Mein Bento

Leftovers are a great bento ingredient! I had a bit of pork chow mein leftover from our dinner the other night, so I added it to this bento for a tasty lunch.

I actually think chow mein is just as tasty cold as it is hot, so this one works as a summer bento too! Also in this lunch: steamed edamame, carrots, grapes, and a little red radish. 

Happy bentoing!

Spanish Tortilla Bento

Today's bento features a Spanish dish that I was first introduced to in Germany, ha ha! I was on exchange there and some other girls also on the same exchange (but from Spain) cooked up this meal for us called "Tortilla". Now this tortilla is different than the one most of us in the US are used to, namely the corn or flour breads we eat with tacos.

This tortilla is a potato filled omelette. I found a great recipe/tutorial here for making this Spanish staple. You can eat it hot or cold. I had most of the tortilla for dinner with my husband, and used the leftovers in this bento. I added onions and a bit of red bell pepper to the tortilla. Also in this bento: kalamata olives, carrots, prosciutto, jalapeno jack cheese, and grapes, with a little sprig of parsley. 

Pulled Pork Bento

The weather turned a little cool today so it was perfect for this lunch of leftover pulled pork.

I doctored the pulled pork a bit with some sriracha sauce and bbq sauce, and a bit of cheddar cheese. Ooo, tasty! The crackers are some quite ones that are kind of like little breads, so not super crispy. They are a Spanish brand and apparently Rafael Nadal loves them (his pic was on the package). I also have slices of green pepper and cauliflower, plus a little Snickers bite. Happy bentoing!

Yogurt Chicken Bento

This is a leftovers bento I made for lunch today. I had prepared a kind of Indian supper for me and the hubs this past weekend (perfect for St. Patrick's Day, right?!?) and I assembled it in a small Tupperware to take to work.

In this bento: yellow lentil dahl, white rice, cilantro, chopped tomato, and yogurt spiced chicken. I prepared the chicken thighs using some plain yogurt, salt, pepper, and a lemongrass sweet curry spice mixture that I picked up at Savory Spice Shop in Santa Rosa. I let the chicken thighs marinate for a bit in that mixture, then seared them in a pan for a few minutes on each side and finished them in the oven for about 20 minutes. They were quite tasty, and also made great leftovers. 

Happy bentoing!