Shrimp Scampi Bento for Three

This is a very simple lunch.

You cook 1 oz dry pasta per serving.

You cook 3 shrimp per serving in a pat of butter with a touch of garlic.

Then you top the pasta with the shrimp and butter.

I have served my husband's (the bear / custard pick) and mine (cat / ice cream cone pick) with a carrot and half a pear each. My friend Brittany (the bunny lunch) has peanut butter and 2 carrots. I decorated mine and Brittany's with some bell pepper cut-outs I made with some cutters I bought a while back; I made the cut-outs ahead of time and froze them. (my husband hates bell pepper).

The ones for my husband and I are 299 calories apiece.

add 190 on to that for Brittany's.

Finally got a new camera, so here it is- the power protein bento!

At 902 calories, this is a HUGE lunch.

Here's the break-down of the calorie content as calculated by myfitnesspal.com-


As you can see, this is about HALF your calories for the day, if you live a sedentary lifestyle. If you are living a very active lifestyle, however, this may only be a third or a quarter of your daily allotted intake.

This bento is actually for 2 meals for me, so at 451 for each half, that's not nearly as scary.

The "taco pasta" is simply taco seasoning and ground pork that I made last night, tossed with tomato and penne.

I make huge batches and freeze uncooked crab rangoons, to bake later (the recipe I will post later today). There are four in this lunch.

There is also light yogurt, applesauce, fruits, and veggies.

I added one decorative touch today. A cat/ice cream cone bento pick. It has a practical use as well, I can use it to pick up the pear pieces without using the fork that was in the pasta.

On a Slight Hiatus

I had my gallbladder out yesterday, and I won't be able to do any real cooking for about a week and a half.

PB&J- Reworked

Peanut Butter and Jelly.

What can be more classic than that?

Well.... When peanut products are banned due to student allergies, there's really no having a PB&J, is there?

How do we rework this into a healthy alternative that still tastes good?

First off- try sunflower seed butter instead of peanut butter- it's tasty, tree-nut free, and generally accepted at tree-nut free schools.

Second- toss the sandwich bread. It's highly caloric, highly processed, and doesn't taste all that good. (switch to pretzels (I like stick pretzels best) or plain pita chips instead)

Third- go with whole fruits. That mashed boiled sugar flavored to taste like fruit is not good for you. Go with sliced strawberries, whole grapes, quartered apricots, diced peaches, sliced apples (dipped in lemon water to hinder browning), or any of your child's/teen's/husband's/wife's/life partner's favorite fruits.

I doodled a quick mockup of one- (this would be in an 5.5 inch x 5.5 inch) container:

Contents are as follows-
2 tablespoons of sunflower butter in a silicone muffin cup (to keep things less messy) - 200 calories
1/2 cup sliced strawberries- 27 calories
2 apricots, cut into quarters- 58 calories
1 medium sized carrot, cut into sticks- 30 calories
and 1 and 1/2 ounces of prezel sticks (about 80 pretzel sticks)- 150 calories.
That's a lot of food for 465 calories. And you get a LOT of vitamin A, some low fat carbohydrates, some good protein,  plenty of fiber, and it tastes good to boot.

Doing all of this, including slicing the fruits and veggies, might have taken me at most, on a bad day 25 minutes for two of these.

And doesn't even my terrible drawing look more appetizing than a PB&J thrown together on white bread?

The Word Bento Sounds Intimidating Doesn't It?

It's really not.

Put simply, it's a boxed lunch.

Sure there are plenty of cute, intricate boxes and accessories out there, but what 24 year old man (my husband specifically) wants to be caught with a pink, rabbit-themed lunch?

Sure there are masculine/gender neutral themed stuff out there, but it's kind of hard to find, when "cute" things are all the rage.

For people who are intimidated by over the top intricate bento lunches, who would like to make a lunch like it, that's just not japanese, not rice based, and/or not cute, you have come to the right place.

As soon as I get a new camera (mine broke a few months back and I have been unable to replace it). I will upload pictures to go with the posts.

I do like "cutesy" bentos, and once in a while I will make one for myself.

But I promise, any decorations can be omitted, or changed to make less challenging, or incorporated directly into the food.