It’s almost summer and I’m getting the itch to go back down to the Keys. Hubs and I are planning a diving trip off Key West and I can’t wait to go! This bento reminds me of the islands a little with the flowers and all of the greenery. I sent it to work with Hubs today and I hope it takes him on a mini vacation.

In the bento: ham, greens, and pickle rolls, a hard boiled egg, corn, strawberries, jicama flowers, snow peas, cucumber, a carrot rose, and a sprig of boxwood basil.

What wonderful things do you have planned for the summer?

Happy Bento-ing!

Tags: bento, lunchbots, low-carb

To do tacos or burritos in a bento, they almost have to be DIY. I’ve tried making them ahead of time, but by the time lunch hits, the tortilla is soggy and just falls apart. Yuck! Plus, I think it’s fun to have to assemble them at lunch. Yeah, I know, I’m a dork. :)

These tacos come with seasoned taco beef, refried beans, cheddar cheese, sour cream, and some homemade avocado salsa. I love making this salsa! It’s so simple and wonderfully delicious. I’m going to try my hand at posting an actual recipe for it at the bottom. Cross your fingers for me!

Anyway, enough of the taco talk already! We have giveaway winners to announce! In total, there were 244 entries in the Happy Birthday giveaway! Wow! I’m so impressed! I had so much fun reading all of your comments. Thank you all for entering.

The winners were randomly chosen by Punchtab (the program that organized the giveaway). And they are........ drumroll please.......

Lori and Evelyn!

Yay!!! ^_^ You’re packages will be heading out soon!

I had a few people email and ask if they could purchase the giveaway as a bundle if they didn’t win. Unfortunately I’m super low on some of the inventory, but I did post the bundles in the bento store if you’d like to pick one up. I also added a couple of Open Box items to the clearance section.

Avocado Salsa Recipe
Avocado Salsa Recipe w/o Picture

Avocado Salsa

Author: Heather Lovelady of Ohayo Bento

Prep time: 20 Min Cook time: 0 Min Serves: 4

This simple avocado salsa is perfect for hot summer days. The lime, tomatillos, and cilantro give it a light fresh flavor. It’s fantastic eaten with a spoon, tortilla chips, or on tacos and burritos.

Ingredients
2 medium to large tomatillos
2 avocados
2 plum tomatoes (deseeded)
3 green onions
1 jalapeno (deseeded and deveined to remove heat) optional
1 piece of jicama (roughly 1”x1”x4”) optional
Juice and zest (optional) of 1 lime
Small handful of fresh cilantro
Salt and pepper

Procedure
1. Chop tomatillos, avocados, plum tomatoes, and jicama into approximately 0.5 inch pieces and place in a large bowl.
2. Finely chop the green onions and jalapeno and add to the bowl along with the lime juice, cilantro, and a few pinches of salt.
3. Gently toss to coat and salt and pepper to taste. You may also add the lime zest if you want more of a flavor kick.

Variations
1. Try adding chopped mango, pineapple, or other fruit.
2. Use yellow and/or red tomatoes.
3. Add a small amount of grated ginger for a different flavor.
4. Try using avocados that are at different stages of ripeness. I usually use one very ripe avocado because of the softness and one that’s just barely ripe to give you something to bite into.


Happy Bento-ing!

Tags: bento, lunchbots, burrito

Who doesn’t love ginger? Freshly cut ginger always smells so fresh, crisp, and clean. I’m half tempted to rub it behind my ears. ^_^ But, for as wonderful as it smells, it can get a bit overpowering when you use too much. This ginger beef had just the right amount of ginger flavor but without too much of the ‘heat’ that fresh ginger gives. The trick is cutting the ginger in large chunks and cooking it in the pan with everything else. Then, just before serving, pull the ginger pieces out of the pan. If it isn’t quite enough flavor, do what I did, and put those cooked juicy ginger chunks through a garlic press to extract the juice. It’s like liquid gold.

Hubs is still on his “I don’t like rice” kick. *sigh* So I paired the ginger beef with wild mushroom couscous. But please, don’t let anybody know it came from a box. Haha! For lunch, I added blueberries, a plum tomato, and marinated mozzarella.

I’m so impressed with how well the Happy Birthday giveaway is going! If you haven’t entered yet, you still have 5 more days to do so! Here is the giveaway link. I’m raffling off 2 bento starter kits! Oooh it’s so exciting!

Mother’s Day is coming up this weekend. Do you have any special plans?

Happy Bento-ing!

Tags: bento, lunchbots, couscous

I made this bento for Hubs last week and he said it was his favorite bento of the year! Awwww! Don’t tell him, but, it was also one of the easiest. I’ll keep it my little secret though. It has spinach and ham rolls with parmesan flakes, pickles, sweet potatoes, cucumber and tomato salad, a mini-Babybel cheese, and sweet and spicy shrimp.

The shrimp were unbelievably easy to make. I keep a stash of cooked, peeled, and deveined shrimp in the freezer for a quick snack or appetizer. Usually I just serve them with cocktail sauce but I didn’t think that would translate too well to a bento. I needed a sauce that would coat the shrimp and not leak all over the place... honey. I mixed some tupelo honey with Sriracha and a dash of salt and tossed it with the warm shrimp. The taste was surprisingly complex for such a simple sauce and the heat didn’t hit until the very end. I’m definitely going to be making this again!

Don’t forget to enter the Happy Birthday giveaway! :)

Added to What’s for Lunch Wednesday!

Happy Bento-ing!

Tags: bento, lunchbots, shrimp

Tags: giveaway