Long time no see bento...

I've been quite busy lately so haven't made any bento, but I decided that is no excuse because it doesn't actually take that long. Plus, I didn't have much food for lunch without going to the supermarket, and what I did have fitted well into a bento, so this was an easy option!

Today's bento is white rice with an umeboshi on top (I ate the bento right after making it so I didnt need the umeboshi for keeping the rice fresh, but I thought it looked a bit plain otherwise. With that is just canned sundried tomato and basil flavoured tuna which I warmed in the microwave. The other container has a bed of alfalfa sprouts which you can't really see. On the left are the mini quiches I made ages ago and had in the freezer (the rice was from the freezer too - I make heaps and bag it up), in the penguin is sweet chili sauce, then on the right is just Watties frozen chunky carrot/broccoli/cauliflower mix that I just picked out the broccoli and carrot from and heated them in the microwave.

Because everything except the tuna was frozen all I had to do was heat everything up. This made for a very quick bento.

This works out as five weight watchers points (2.5 for the rice, 1 for the mini quiches, .5 for the sweet chili sauce, 1 for the tuna).

It's my birthday next week so I am going to do some baking for work (I'm thinking of making Cadbury Cream Egg cupcakes, although haven't decided how, maybe like marble cake with chocolate on top - any ideas welcome!) so check back for that if you are into baking too!

Another non bento post...

My blog is still a bento blog but I saw the post that Marisa at All in Good Food had made and thought I had to try it. I changed it a bit so it was weight watchers friendly/what the supermarket had (went to New World Metro so not much choice). This was sooooo delicious!

125grams penne pasta

3 tablespoons light cream cheese

1/4 can of light evaoporated milk (maybe just under 100mls)

a 50g packet of tomato paste

lots of salt and pepper

a couple of handfulls of beans

half an onion

a courgette

half a capsicum

two chicken breasts (the packet I got was 240 grams and when cooked they were both 80grams)

Firstly I put the chicken on to bake (but changed to grill near the end). While the pasta was boiling I sauteed the onion, then added the beans, courgette and red capsicum. Once they seemed cooked enough I added the evaporated milk and the tomato paste, and then the cream cheese. Mixed it around a bit and then added the cooked, drained pasta and ground on lots of salt and pepper. Then, served it with the chicken on top (obviously, since there is a photo). I worked out that it would be eithe 7 or 7.5 weight watchers points (hard to be sure with the rounding).

This only took about 20 minutes to make so I'm going to try making another one now for lunch, but using sundried tomato and basil tuna (lower points for lunch).

Sorry the pic is a bit rubbish but I was very hungry!

Not quite a bento...

This blog is about my bentos but I loooove airplanes so can't help but post these pics. I've seen the A380 at Auckland before, but only parked up and it doesn't look so big at the far away gate made especially for it. Seeing it on the runway was another story though!

Coming in to land the wings looked so thick! I think unless you have another plane to compare it to, its shape actually makes it look smaller than it really is (something about the bump in the 747 seems to make it bigger). I will add more pics to my facebook airplane album in case anyone wants to see more.

The Emirates A388 just touching down at Auckland, with two Air New Zealand 733s and not sure what the Qantas is.

Huuuuuuge wing span!!!!

The 733 I went home on with the A388 in the background - makes the 733 look tiny!!

The A388 with the Emirates A340 just landing - not sure what series the 340 is sorry but shows how big the A388 is compared to what is already a decent sized aircraft!!

Airplane food...

I'm off to Auckland for work tomorrow - have to leave home just before 6 for a 7am flight, then have a meeting until 1pm, then flight back at 2:30. This has potential to be very un-weight watchers friendly so I decided to make my own version of eki -ben.

I made english muffin pizzas for breakfast to have with a banana. They look a bit weird but have a pickle/chutney thing, mushrooms, capsicum and red onion.

Morning tea is yoghurt with blueberries, rockmelon and a kiwifruit. I think lunch might be once we get back to the airport or on the plane, so I made tuna pasta salad. I've never made it before but had a look at what the deli at the supermarket had, then went back to the vegetable section to get what they used. It has tomato and basil tuna, red onion, celery, red capsicum, weight watchers mayo and pasta. I'm guessing that I'm not going to need afternoon tea until I get back to Wellington, so I'm going to just leave a banana in the car to eat when I get back.

Breakfast is four weight watchers points, morning tea is two points and lunch is five.

This is what it looks like all packed up.


The text on the top of the lid is written in romaji - in English it says "there are lots of animals in the forest isn't there. How many names can you say?". Hmm.

I haven't had a flight since December so I can't wait to go. I've just put my camera battery in it's charger so hopefuly I will be able to post a couple of photos.