Click on the picture to enlarge.What's in it:
In the left top compartment:
Carrots, celery, and radish slices, radishes turned so their nice red edges show. I didn't slice these up special, a dinner guest had brought a relish tray and left it with us. I just pulled out the veggies and arranged them by color.
The vegetable dip is in a small muffin paper, yellow also just for the added touch of color.
Dessert, top right compartment: is half a slice of éclair cake (an easy company recipe- but a whole slice was too big to close the container, a couple mini snickers left by another dinner guest, and two mandarin orange slices in a purple mini muffin paper (for more color).
Main Compartment
At the right edge of the main dish compartment we have a few artichoke hearts and some basil pesto for color, and because a pickle is always a nice thing to have in your lunch. The main dish is brown rice topped with creamy poppy seed chicken (I almost NEVER buy Ritz crackers, so our poppyseed chicken is made with oyster crackers, which we get for .99 a large bag, or with croutons, which we get for free).
I used the craft punch you see in the picture to make several green leaf shapes out of a sheet of nori (seaweed paper) to scatter over the top because I thought the dish needed a dash more green in it. The artichokes are picked artichokes, and there was on small red pepper in the jar and I fished it out and put it on top of the main dish as a garnish.
Color balance is really what I struggle with the most with these lunches, and it's what takes me the most time, too. I am just not very good at it. I often get an entire lunch made in five minutes and then decide it needs more color and spend half an hour scrounging through the fridge and pantry looking for just the right dash of color to add. It's easier in the summer when fresh fruits and veggies are more readily available.
This is not a genuine bento lunch- bento box lunches should not need to be reheated or kept cold, as poppyseed chicken clearly does. Since my husband works at a grocery store, he has easy access to large coolers, and there is a microwave in the break-room.
No doubt there will be more meal related tips or laughable moments when y'all come back on March 18th to tune in to our full day of live blogging with four moms, 35 (plus) kids!Y'all are coming back, right?
This post is entered at DIY at A Soft Place to Land
as well as Tasty Tuesday. Pin It
I really struggle with lunches and am always looking for new ideas. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteA beautiful arrangement! And, I definitely need to try that Poppyseed Chicken! YUM!
ReplyDeleteWhat a pretty lunch....love the Bento idea and have been trying to do this every once in a while. Thanks for the inspiration! ;)
ReplyDeleteHey, I have that container too! I recently found disposable Ziploc containers that are a divided rectangle. They fit perfectly in my son's lunch bag. I try to do fun things for him too. I bought a heart-shaped sandwich cutter and I try to include a sweet treat too.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful presentation!
ReplyDelete