Food swap!

There won't be any lunches here for this week and the next. We are at midterm and have exams coming up, so it's all studying at home these weeks. So instead I'll show you a lot of exotic stuff! At least it's exotic to me… :)

A few weeks ago I had a comment on my blog from The Student (now turned Doctor - congratulations!) at Food for dissertation. She had seen my lunches featuring strawberry cream and was intrigued by this.

This kind of cream has nothing to do with dairy, it's fruit or berries boiled with water and sugar and thickened with potato starch so it gets a creamy consistency, almost like yoghurt, but it's clear. We serve it in a bowl with some milk or cream on top, or just plain. We eat it for dessert or as a snack meal in the afternoon. In the summer when it's hot I like to eat it for lunch with a sandwich or some snacky food and veggies for sides.

Anyway, The Student was curious and I offered to send her some so she could try it. This offer of mine then turned into a food swap with both of us sending stuff. I sent typical Swedish stuff, as well as the strawberry cream (it comes in a powdered version!) and I received a package full of American stuff. I told her I was curious about the crispy snack peas I've seen in a lot of bentos and that some friends and I had discussed salt water taffy.

This is the box when I opened it. There was a card on top as well, but I forgot to put it back to take the picture. Opening and unpacking all this felt like christmas!

Here are all the things I got! The taffy was cleverly used as packing peanuts, so I gathered them in a bowl when I unpacked. I had to try it right away! I was surprised when I didn't taste any salt, I expected them to be a tiny bit salty, but no. Just sweet and a bit sticky. The purple ones scared me a little, it looked like polymer clay and not like something you should put in your mouth. But it tasted good.

So, I got a few kinds of tea, Fig Newtons, Candy corn, Charleston chew, Rice Krispies treat, some very pretty jellies, Minnie Mouse jelly beans, three different kinds of Almond butter and two lollipops. Candy corn and Fig Newtons are things I've seen in movies and on TV, but never tried so I'm extra excited about them!

Some more of the stuff I got: Dark chocolate peanut butter, Moon pies, the taffy, three different kinds of Cream Wheat, Ranch dressing mix, Sloppy joe mix, Chili mix and Taco seasoning mix. We do have peanut butter and other kinds of nut butters in Sweden, but they are relatively new here and are found on the health food section in the stores and they DON'T come in chocolate flavor! The Moon pies made me giggle, me and my boyfriend are big fans of The Big Bang Theory and Sheldon's grandmother calls him Moon pie, but I had no idea what it really was! But now I do, and I get to taste it too!

I'm also excited to see if there is a difference in taste in the spice mixes, if American taco mix taste like Swedish taco mix, and the same with the chili.

I also got Onion dip mix, Corn muffin mix, mini taco boats and some very, very orange pumpkin marshmallow candy (at least I think it's marshmallow, it felt soft when I poked it through the plastic cover).

Inner peas, I love the pun in the name! I'm really curious about these crispy pea snacks, they seem so good! Also a closer picture of the taffy and the moon pies (there is a vanilla one underneath the chocolate one). You can also see the pretty card I got in the package.

Thank you so much to The Student at Food for dissertation for sending me all this American food, snacks and candies!

Bentos of week 43

So, the bentos on this blog are not really coming at regular intervals. A lot of the days in school I only have one class, either in the morning or in the afternoon. On those days I eat lunch at home and don't pack any bento boxes.

But this week I have some to show you!

Monday's lunch:

I've packed my Laptop lunches box with greek yoghurt (there's some honey in there too, but it decided to hide in the bottom), carrot sticks, grapes, homemade tsatiski, a meat filled Burtek (eastern European savory pastry) and a few leftover potato wedges.

It turned out that I packed a bit too much and the yoghurt and the grapes ended up being my afternoon snack instead of lunch.


Wedensday's lunch:

So yesterday I went with a tapas style lunch: apple wedges, olives and feta cheese in olive oil and spices, tomato and olive tapenade in the yellow heart cup, half a multigrain baguette and some almond butter in the small container. There is a nakd berry bar in the side of the box, but I never ate it.

I packed this lunch the night before and the photo is taken at lunch time. I dipped the apple wedges in lemon juice and they really do not brown, even after about 16 hours!


Today's lunch:

This lunch was packed in a new bento box that I just got (ordered it online and it took almost two months to get it in the mail, Japan is far away!). It's a really cute retro Mickey Mouse box and I loved it right away! I packed it with a meat filled Burtek, yellow cherry tomatoes, tiny little meatballs and some grapes. It was really easy to pack, a perfect size for me and it's soooo cute! This box will most likely show up a lot on this blog.

Laptop lunch

This is my lunch for today. I had a similar lunch this monday, but I forgot to take a picture of it… I was too hungry. I'm a bad food blogger for that reason. I'll ohh and ahh over beautiful food when I got to restaurants, but I always forget to take a picture! And then when I'm finished, or half way through, I'd think "oh, I should have taken a photo of this!".

But today I remembered, so here is my lunch (not the sharpest picture, but I realized that too late):

It's packed in my Laptop Lunches system and starting from en top left and going clockwise I've got kiwi berries, carrot sticks with caesar dressing, frozen mango, a meat filled Burtek (eastern european savory pastry thing) and yellow cherry tomatoes.

I was really excited to find kiwi berries in my grocery store this week! I've seen them on a few blogs and I was really curious about them. I like kiwis, and anything mini is always fun. They do taste just like kiwi, maybe a little bit sweeter. I liked them! I might not buy them very much, they were expensive and I like to buy organic fruits and veggies.

No bentos for a while

There have been no packed lunches for the last two weeks. Last week i was out on my placement school, where I will practice being a teacher out in the real world. I'm placed on a cute little school with just under 100 students from kindergarten to year 3, so between 6 and 9 years old.

In Sweden all elementary schools offers free lunches to every student, and it's always a hot meal with bread and veggies at the side. And I'm lucky enough to be placed at a school that lets all the teachers eat for free too, including me!

Also, the after school program, which most of the kids attend, starts with a healthy snack meal. It's different every day and can be yoghurt with muesli, sandwiches or fruit salad and always has veggies as a side. The snack is also free for teachers and for me!

This week only had haft days in school, so I had lunch at home every day. But the coming week will bring a few packed lunches.

Bentos on parade #2

Well, I've been really bad at blogging my lunches for a long time. I started school this month while still working part time, so life has been stressful. But from now on it's just school for me, so probably more time for blogging my lunches. I won't be bringing lunch every day, since we don't always have full days at school. Some day we have classes just in the morning or in the afternoon, and I'll have lunch at home.

But to keep up I'll post a parade of bentos here:

Vegetarian lunch packed in my Laptop Lunches box. Going clockwise I have corn on the cob, haloumi with a panda pick, a peach with another panda pick and strawberry cream - I don't think there is a good word for this in english, it's strawberries boiled with water and some sugar and thickened with a potato starch to semi-liquid thickness. It's a common thing here in Sweden and it can be made with all kinds of berries and fruit, it's eaten as a snack or light meal, often with milk or cream. I have some milk in the small container by the side.

This is a really unhealthy vegetarian lunch! I have some kind of spinach and cheese bun called Burtek (I think that's what it's called, I think it's polish or hungarian…). I tried to cheer it up with some panda baran. I also have pineapple chunks, some caramel waffles and blue crispy M&M's. All packed up in my blue polka dot bento, a small tupperware box and a cute little heart shaped box.

Leftover lunch! I have boiled new potatoes and some pork tenderloin. I have tomato and herb flavored creme fraiche and pineapple chunks. I put a tomato baran and two tomato picks in there for some color. This was packed in my favorite red bento box.

Sorry for the bad photo here, the light was really bad and the colors are all over the place. But I packed green pea soup in a thermos and in my happy parade bento box I had carrot sticks with caesar dressing in the clover container. I also had a wrap with hummus, smoked ham and sunflower sprouts.

A vegetarian lunch in my Laptop Lunches box: strawberry cream with milk, carrot and cucumber sticks with caesar dressing, a kiwi and a caprese salad (tomato, mozzarella cheese, basil and olive oil). I tucked a cereal bar in too.

A bid bento packed for a long day at school, so supposed to cover both lunch and a couple of snacks, so I used a big bento box I found at a kind of dollarstore here in Sweden. I packed a wrap with hummus, smoked ham and sunflower sprouts, rice, bean salad, a Babybel cheese, mini meatballs, carrot sticks and caesar dressing in the small white container. At the side I have a banana and some yoghurt in the green tupperware box.

A star themed lunch packed in my strawberry bento box. Star shaped sandwiched with hummus and smoked ham, grapes, carrot sticks and bean salad. The star container has caesar dressing and I cut some tiny stars to decorate the sandwiches and the beans. This lunch was eaten outside on a really sunny day, as you can see.

This weeks bentos

It's been a while, two weeks, without any bentos. Last week I was ill, I had a fever and had to stay home, so no bentos. It was a weird experience to have a fever in the middle of summer, I was huddled in a bit sweater and a blanket most of the time and it was about 28-30°C both indoors and outdoors.

This weeks bentos will be pretty much the same. I forgot to take a picture of my monday lunch, but it was almost identical to tuesday's, so…

Tuesday's bento:

I packed one layer of my favorite box with diced avocado and herbal salt in the little mouse container. The other layer had homemade tuna salad (tuna, mayo, lemon and black pepper, super simple), a hardboiled egg and two little apricots. The little panda has salt for the egg. The small containers are supposed to be for soy sauce and things like that, but I use them for spices instead. I put a piece of rainbow baran an top of the tuna to keep the box from getting to messy. I also packed a small tupperware container with Skyr (Islandic yoghurt, naturally very low in fat and high in protein) decorated with a few sprinkles.

I always take my photos at lunch time, I don't have time in the morning, so this is what my food looks like after transport and sitting in the cooler bag for a few hours. The sprinkles in the yoghurt has melted a little, but it still looks cute and colorful.

Wedensday was a day of for me. I went to a bit shopping centre with my boyfriend and two friends. It's about two hours drive so it was a whole day outing. No packed lunch, the store has a restaurant!

Thursday's bento: 

Thursday is almost the same as tuesday. Diced avocado and herbal salt in the top layer and the bottom has a salami rose (inspired by Wendolonia!), hardboiled egg, salt and a flat peach. Love the flat peaces, so easy to pack and also less messy to eat. I found almond milk at the store and wanted to try it, since I love almonds. It was way too sweet, but if I found unsweetened I think I will like it. I had Skyr this day too, but it's still in the cooler…

Friday's bento: 

Different box, but pretty much the same food. Diced avocado and herbal salt. Salami rose, hard boiled egg and salt and some cucumber slices. Left in the cooler is a peach and Skyr.

My neighborhood store had bags of avocado for a very good price, and it's one of my favorite veggies, so that would explain the avocado based lunches. Next week will probably bring more avocado, I have a cuple left...

This weeks bentos

Well, once again I forgot to blog my bento each day. So here is a little parade of bentos.

Wednesday's bento:

I used my Laptop Lunches system and the bistro set up with the big container from the Bento Buddies. I packed salad with mixed lettuce, carrot, cucumber, purple cauliflower, whole wheat, smoked ham and cheese. It was very yummy! I also packed caesar dressing in the smallest container, some hard bread crackers and honey flavored rice cakes.

Thursday's lunch: 

I made a little too much salad for wednesday, so i put the left overs in the bottom layer of my strawberry bento box. I put caesar dressing in the little chicken, and put a panda baran on top to cheer it up a bit. I the top layer i put cold diced potatoes with a little salt and butter in a silicone cup, some smoked ham and cheese in sticks and a few baby carrots. I also put in a couple of rice cakes and separated them from the rest with panda baran to keep them from getting soggy. The potatoes have a little panda pick.

Friday's lunch: 

I packed my own version of Salad Nicoise: lettuce, cucumber, purple cauliflower, cold potatoes, tuna and hard boiled egg. I put it in a box from IKEA. The little Tupperware container holds the ever present caesar dressing.

Lots of salads this week, but it's been very, very warm here in the south of Sweden, over 30°C. Salads are among the few things I can stand to eat in such heat. Cold and fresh food is what I need, I don't have much appetite in hot weather.