New blog

Hello everyone! I just wanted to let my followers know I now have a new blog over  here!  It's mainly a baking blog, with cake pops/bites/ other sweet treats!

and the winner is.....

Congratulations Leslie! Your name was drawn out of the bag of 32 entries. Please contact me with your info asap! If I don't hear from you in a week I will draw another winner!  Please don't hesitate to send me an email at tayngene@yahoo.com!

One day left!

Just a reminder that the contest ends tomorrow at 12am eastern time! I will close off the comment section at that time so everyone knows that it has ended. Glad to see so many entries and good luck to all!

Bento Box giveaway!

Who would love to win this lovely blue sheep bento box? I think you do! 

   I would like to see how many bento packers there are who don't even own a bento box! This is open to everyone though, but you must be a follower of my blog and in your comment link a picture of your lunches packed in bento style in something less traditional. You can enter as many times as you like and I will put your name into a drawing and we will see who the winner is!  I will pick a winner on September 25th so that is 20 whole days for you all to get as many entries in as possible. Good luck can't wait to see all the lunch!

Steak and Pho noodle bento

Todays lunch has steak, and pho noodles (aka rice sticks) with corn, broccoli, and tomatoes! I guess the rainy dreary day inspired a boring bento. I promise some cuteness in the near future. Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Asian food Market!

After a long hiatus from the blog, my bento obsession was refueled by stumbling upon an oriental food market. I have really missed the bento scene, and hopefully I am back for good this time. I don't know how many of you in the states are from the East coast, but if you ever happen to wander down to Myrtle Beach SC there is a little store tucked in Socastee which is just out of the beach. No bento boxes but there is a great collection of foods and treats and cooking ingredients. I bought a lot of things that had to be eaten before I made my trek back home and unfortunately I did not get any pictures. I do however have a few pictures of the treats I bought! A assorted pack of mini jelly cups. These are a lot like jello. Some grape flavored gummies, a lychee and coconut jelly and some golden rabbit caramel. I also got some buckwheat soba, rice sticks or pho noodles, seaweed sheets, furikake, some bean paste filled things....They were covered with like a powder and kind of chewy with red bean paste inside...Should these have been cooked? I wasn't entirely sure. I also got some mochi ice cream, it came with chocolate, green tea, and vanilla. It was ice cream wrapped in mochi from what I could tell. I can't wait to start putting these things in bento! Hope to be hearing from you all soon!

Neat magnetic containers from wal-mart!

Found these super neat containers at wal-mart for 4 dollars a peice yesterday. They screamed "BENTO" when i walked by. They are pretty small, but big enough for all my picks, and paper cups and some punches to fit in. They have a strong magnet on the back, and stick right to the side of the fridge for easy storage and display. I am in love with them! I found them in the desk/office area.

I also apologize for the lack of posts. I have been so busssy! I did get a new camera though, and I am trying to get motivated to take photos of my bento from now on.  I am going to try doing them in a close up, then get the whole picture and collage them like so. Let me know what you guys think! Glad to be back.

Im back, with a low carb bento!

I am truly sorry for dropping off the face of the internet (again.) I decided that I needed to kickstart my self into a weight loss program, along with an hour+ excercise in the afternoon after work and ahhhhh! I had no time to take pictures of my bento creations. I promise I will be back on track soon. I am just having to schedule myself a little bit better.  In todays bento I have: Baked Tilapia, broccoli, cheese cubes, cucumber, and some avacado mayo mash wich I like to use for dipping.  It is abit like guacamole without the zestyness.                                                                                                        

On a side note, for any of you trying to watch your calories, or carbs, or weight watcher points or what have you you need to check out Fat Secret It is an amazing tool to help keep track of what you eat. You just enter your food into the easy to use calender and voila! It can show you all the nutritional values of your daily intake. 

Also while Im on here, be sure to check out Allthingsforsale the banner to the right. They have revamped their store, and have a 5% off sale ontop of their usual sales going on right now. They ship internationally!

Sorry everyone

I know, shame on me! I dropped off the face of the internet again. Spring has sprung and I have been so busy working on getting a garden together, visiting family, and spring cleaning. I have also added an hour of exercise into my routine so by the end of the night when I normally post im exhausted! My new carb low diet also leaves my bento lacking at the moment, but I promise I will post some up soon. Hope everyone is doing great!

Buckwheat noodles

Bento is actually for dinner to take to work tonight. I had ordered some buckwheat noodles a few weeks back so i finally decided to try them out today! So we have buckwheat noodles with bologna and cheese flowers, steamed cabbage, prunes, edamame, banana chips, and some broccoflower. Hope everyone is having a great day!

Make your own steamer

How to make a simply microwave steamer at home. This is perfect for making speedy bento, you don't have to wait for a pot of water or an electronic steamer to heat up. You also don't have to pay 3$ to order one offline and wait weeks to get it! The pictures are labeled 1-5 just follow along.

1. You will need two medium sized plastic food storage containers and 1 lid.
2. Cut along the side about 3/4s of the way down and then cut around.
3. You should get something similiar to this.
4. Cut/poke some vent holes in your newly cut container. This is going to be the platform.
5. Fill your non cut container with abit of water, then insert your cut container open side down until it is sturdy. Place your veggies on top and sit the lid on do not seal it up  just let it rest lightly on top.
6. Place in mircowave and heat until desired tenderness of your veggie!

Make sure you use a microwave safe container. You can cut holes in the top aswell but letting it rest on top does just the same. I haven't tried it with rice, but im guessing it would probably work if anyone uses it for anything else let me know! Hope this helps out. I know it is usefull in my kitchen when i prepare bento for only myself. I can quickly steam up some veggies to throw in my box.

Changing the layout

Changing the layout so please don't be alarmed if something goes missing! I want to find something simple, but elegant. Any ideas?

Bento find + Panko chicken

Bento for the day! Rice, panko crusted chicken, grapes, carrots, banana chips, and broccoflower with steamed cabbage. My panko chicken is super yummy, I add the panko, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and abit of onion powder to the crust and is is awesome. I also wanted to share with you guys me newest bento find right here at my local Dollar Tree.  I was so excited when I saw these I grabbed them up and prayed they would fit into the boxes and they did! They are mini tuberware like containers and they fit with the lid on and everything! Not the cutest things in the world but they will be a big help.  I also started some seedlings and look what has sprouted up I am so excited to see some movement in the little green houses. I've planted peas, carrots, lettuce, a variety of bell peppers, squash, and two types of tomatoes. Is anyone else planting a garden this year? This is my first attempt. Wish me luck!

New box!

Hey everyone! Got my new box today, so I celebrated by packing it up and sharing it with you all! This new skater bunny box came with the dividers, and a rice press. I love the way it gives an immediate elegance to the box by being so neat and tidy. I also ordered some furikake it's seaweed, shrimp and egg flavored. So in the box we have rice, grapes with kumquat slices, bologna flower, broccoflower, grape tomato, carrots, dried apricots and bananachips. We are getting more snow today, so hopefully there will be more bento tomorrow while I play in the kitchen on my snow day!

Happy Hedgehogs!

 The rain/snow/slushy is making it a terribly nasty day after such a beautiful weekend. Hope everyone is having a great day!  Some comfort foods for today, a barbeque chicken steamed bun, tamagyaki, kiwi slices and a edamame, broccoli, and grape tomato salad. It has itailen herbs sea salt and a little garlic tossed with olive oil. Its simply but yummy. Have a great afternoon everyone!

Thank goodness for cling wrap

Turkey, mayo, and cheese sandwhiches with banana chips, dried mixed berries, dried apples, and dried apricots (I love dried fruit...did ya notice?) and some carrots.  I started wrapping my sandwhich halfs up because the wheat bread was getting way to dry and stale when it would sit in there. But a heads up to all you bento gals, spring time= colorful saran wrap! Yayy! I normally can't find any cute colored cling wrap any other time of year, so I will be stocking up. Hope you all are having a great Friday!

I'm back! (and I brought some food with me)

I have been shamefully lazy, I apologize. I have been making bento, but forgetting to take pictures! I also had two days off in a row so I was lazing around the house. I am back now, and hopefully back on the picture taking, blog post making bandwagon :P.  I am sure you all missed me terribly (haha) Hope everyone had a great valentine's day! I will be making rounds tonight and post up comments for the past few days that I have missed.  In the bento for today we have mini dog puppies, swiss soft cheese, brocolli, and dried apples. The bottom teir has chocolate cake with cream cheese icing, dried prune, clemintines, and some strawberry all natural applesauce. Hope you all are having a great week!

videos for your veiwing pleasure

Sorry I have been MIA everyone. This work week has been super busy, and I had been making bento but unfortunatly no pictures were taken before they were devoured. So, this morning I have been lurking on youtube for abit, and decided to share a few cute bento related videos hope you enjoy!

Chili & Sandwhiches

Hope everyone had a great weekend! Sorry for the boring bento, but it has been a super busy work weekend for me. I actually made this friday, and haven't had time to post it until now. It was a pretty simple bologna, swiss and mustard sammie with clemintine, soft cheese, and chili! It's not a traditional chili by any means, it is more like a spicy vegetable soup but it was super yummy through all this cold weather!

Steamed bun recipe!

Okay, since I can't figure out how to neatly place my photos around my text I apologize if the pictures are out of order. My recipe is not exact either, so you may have to tweak it yourself at home. Recipe: 1 cup of Hungry jack pancake mix, (Extra light and fluffy is what I used) add about half a cup of water and mix until it looks like pancake batter. Then add a pinch of salt, and get some all purpose flour out.  You are going to want to add AP flour until you get a nice firm non sticky dough. I don't know how much it took, but it should look like the roll in the first picture. Knead for about ten minutes to get all the lumps and bumps out. This also helps give you a uniform color.  Roll into a baguette shape and cut into four peices.  I didn't take photos of me shaping any buns, sorry! I also want to explain the tin foil in the pot. I don't have a proper steamer, but to keep the buns from sitting in water I just balled some tin foil up. Set it in the pot and it keeps them elevated and the steam can get to all sides. 

                                                       

I filled the buns with a chicken and brocolli mixture and let them steam for about 20 minutes. I did cook the chicken through before steaming, just because raw chicken in dough could cause some serious contamination. I shaped them into a hedgehog, pig, bear and one was a traditional pleated bun.  Its really easy, like working with playdough.  Sorry the recipie isn't exact! But working with the pancake mix cuts out the need for yeast and letting it sit 2 hours to rise. There are several really great recipies online, but this is my own quick and easy version. If you try it out, let me know! I'm sure you can use any other kind of pre packaged pancake batter, but the light and fluffy seems to work the best for me. Hope you are all having a great weekend!