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.

Summer-y bento

Yesterday's bento was not the most well planned one, I had to raid the fridge and cupboards to find anything to put in my lunch. But I did get to play with new cutters! I tried for a summer theme for this lunch, but I don't think I made it all the way… 

I had sandwiches with tuna and mayo, cut and stamped to look like strawberries! The stamping didn't come out so well one the sourdough bread, it was a bit to bouncy to work with the stamp. I put lady bug and bee picks in the sandwiches to make them a bit more colorful. I also had a kiwi split in half, cheese hearts with another ladybug pick and some small pieces of dried papaya. 

I used my favorite bento box. I love the dark red color and the cute little flowers and butterflies.

This weeks bentos

Well, my plan to blog my bentos every day didn't really work out. So I'll give you another little parade of bentos here. This week was the first time I've actually made bentos every day to bring to work and I've learned I need to plan a little bit better for them. You'll see, they are not very inspiring… But I'll do better in the future!

So, this is the Wednesday bento, packed in my Laptop Lunches box:

 I had cold left over new potatoes. I like the new ones both hot and cold, but only the new ones! I also had cauliflower, left over herbal yoghurt sauce, some diced smoked ham and a nectarine. I poked a flower pick into the ham to make the lunch a tiny bit cuter.

Thursday bento, also in the Laptop Lunches box:

I had cold meatballs with some hamburger dressing in the rainbow container and a small wedge of blue cheese. I also had cauliflower and carrots with hummus in the panda container. I had nectarine wedges and blueberry quark for dessert. Flavored quark is really popular here in Sweden and it's great! It's creamy and sweet, but with very little fat and sugar and lots of protein. Perfect snack or dessert!

Friday's lunch was packed in my favorite bento box:

I love this pretty red box with flowers and butterflies on it! It is also a good size and easy to pack. I had meatballs with hamburger dressing in the clover container, a small piece of dessert cheese (cream cheese with pineapple and chopped almonds), lots of cauliflower with hummus for dipping in a silicone cup. To make my brown and white lunch a little more colorful I poked a few veggie picks in it: a carrot, a tomato and two peas. I also put a piece of pea bar an on top of the hummus to make sure it stayed in the cup. I packed a nectarine and a chocolate stick for dessert.

Lots of cauliflower this week, but it's one of my favorite veggies. I buy a whole head of it, and I'm the only one who eats it, so I have to pack it every day. Meatballs are good "emergency food" to have in the fridge for weeks like this one, when I don't plan enough to have tasty leftovers.

Very uninspired bento

So, this is what I had for lunch today. I woke up late, so I just threw the first things I could find in my blue polkadot box. It's a rather large box, about 775 ml, so I didn't pack it very tight.

I had some mini pizzas for dinner last night, and the leftovers became lunch. I put some cauliflower in too. The little pig has hummus and I had a cut up nectarine in silicone cups to keep them from making the pizzas soggy. Not the most balanced lunch, way to much carbs and fat in the pizzas, and too few veggies. But it was a nice lunch and it got me through the afternoon fine.

The box is really cute, I love the polkadots! It builds together as a cube and fits nicely in a bag.

Bentos on parade

I've been dabbling with making bentos for about half a year, and I've shared a few on my Instagram. I'm going to try and make lunches for me a bit more regularly, and I thought I'd join all other bento makes and share them on a blog.

So, for this, my very first bento blog post, I'll just give you a parade of Instragram photos of my bentos. Enjoy!

Heart shaped sandwiches, broccoli, hard boiled egg, cherry tomatoes, salami rollups, Babybel cheese, grapes, dried blueberries and pineapple chunks. Cute panda picks and a heart shaped silicone cup.

To the left: cauliflower, hummus in the little panda, kiwi and cherry tomatoes. To the right: leftovers: oven baked pancake with bacon bits in i it, lingonberry jam in the little container.

Kiwi, carrot sticks, Babybel cheese, caesar dressing in the star container, salt for the eggs in the little panda, diced smoked ham with lemon pick in a silicone cup, mushrooms, broccoli, hard boiled egg and some carrot stars. The faces on the eggs are made from nori.

Grapes, blueberries, pineapple chunks with panda pick, Babybel cheese, cauliflower, rye bread sandwiches, broccoli, cherry tomatoes (hidden underneath) and a hard boiled egg.

Leftover Spaghetti Carbonara, diced smoked ham with panda pick, cherry tomatoes, broccoli, grapes and blueberries in a heart shaped silicone cup.

Crepes cut into butterflies and little stars, broccoli, jam in the rainbow container, cottage cheese with butterfly baran, carrot sticks, Babybel cheese and fried zucchini with flower pick in a heart shaped silicone cup.

Cauliflower, broccoli, cherry tomatoes, kiwi, hummus in the panda, cous cous and some left over pork tenderloin.

Cauliflower, hummus in the little pig, cherry tomatoes, broccoli, rolled up roast beef and cous cous.