Chili and Cheese

Don't be hating on my cell phone photo. This was from early 2007 and I didn't own a camera back then. Not that having one now has taught me much.

Anyway, I'm recycling some Bento Lunch posts I made long ago on Flickr so that I can group together recipes that are in my regular rotation. This recipe was the first time I was ever moved to make my own chili, and I was so glad I did. It was very unique, and is very tasty.

So about my lunch:

This Mr. Bento Jar toted the day's vittels:

A bowl of chili
A bowl of shredded cojita cheese for the chili (looks like rice, but it's cheese)
A tiny dish of wasabi peas (vegetables!)
A tiny dish of toasted corn kernals (vegetables!)
Mandarin sections
Cucumber slices with sesame seeds
Sugar free egg nog taffy.

I can tell this was from those days when I cut my cucumber slices all purty like and arranged my fruit slices "just so." That isn't the case anymore. I just combine good colors and tasty things. To heck with the cute shapes.

I've misplaced the link to the chili recipe but I think it's from "Half Assed Foodie's Mom" so shout out to her. Found it! Mom's chili by Random Dictates of a Half Ass Foodie!

Here is her Mom's recipe:

HALF ASSED FOODIE'S MOM'S CHILI

1 lb. hamburger
4 pcs bacon, chopped
1/2 ring Portuguese or Keilbasa Sausage
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 small onion, chopped
1 can kidney beans
1 can condensed tomato soup
1 T chili powder
2 T brown sugar
1 t curry powder
dash of salt

Fry hamburger, bacon, sausage, garlic and onion. Add kidney beans, tomato soup, chili powder, brown sugar, curry powder and salt. Simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Serve over hot rice.

I didn't serve over rice, I used Brown Sugar Splenda, and for the sausage, I used linquica. EXCELLENT.

In Flight Snacks Available for Purchase

I put my mother on a plane today, after a lovely layover of a few days during her journey from her home in Hawaii, to see her sister in Baltimore, Maryland.

She's flying United for the entire trip, and for the first time in her many decades of flying, she's learned that everything is now alacarte -- from luggage to peanuts. She paid for every piece of luggage checked ($25.00 per bag), and, her ticket prominently stated "in flight snack available for purchase." The in flight snack typically consists of a miserable turkey sandwich, bag of chips, and commercial granola bar or cookie, and roughtly costs betwen $5.00 and $7.50 depending on which airline you're on -- some of the better United flights do offer a boxed kit with a bit more substantial and varied fare, including applesauce cups and more.

I've followed Biggie's blog for years, and recall her packing delightful bentos for her family to take on flights. She has some terrific tips for packing your own carry-on food. Even so, I hadn't thought of packing a bento for my mother, until she remarked how sweet and handy it had been, for the first leg of her flight from Hawaii to California, that my younger brother packed her a lunch bag. It was if the child was sending the parent off on a school bus, and as he took her to her plane, gave her a bag with cheese, crackers, and a steak sandwich.

For my mother's flight today, I said a silent thank you to my brother for packing her a lunch and reminding me that even though I can't send her on her way with a juice box or even a bottle of water, I CAN send her with a nice packed lunch that meets airline standards.

She wasn't in the mood for much protein -- but said she'd enjoy some sweet and savorable nibbles. Pity I didn't have time for a photograph, but in my mother's plastic disposable bento box, which I tied close with a nice raffia string, I packed:

2 slices of dark brown bread and butter
(chewy, dense squaw bread thickly buttered with unsalted butter and cut into strips)
Extra Sharp White Cheddar Cheese (sliced into small strips)
Sesame Seed Crackers
Salted, cured olives (2 cracked green olives and 2 kalamata olives)
A handful of walnut halves
A baby Fuji apple (cored and sliced, and sprayed with lemon juice)
A condiment packet of peanut butter
A bar of dark chocolate

I tried to assemble an interesting array -- a bit of cheese, olives, and crackers, a bit of bread of butter, a bit of fruit and nuts, and a piece of good, dark chocolate for dessert. I hope she enjoys it. Safe travels, Mom.

How are you packing for travel these days? Buying on board, buying at the gate, or packing snacks?

(Photo by USAToday)

Eat the Rainbow! BLT and Fruit

I was going to back a bento lunch today which had a Harriet the Spy style homegrown tomato sandwich, but then I remembered I had some pre-cooked bacon, and that was all she wrote.

Fruit Salad (Berries, Nectarine, Tangerine), 2 cubes of sharp cheddar cheese
Bacon
Lettuce
Mayo
Toasted bread
Slice of homegrown beefsteak tomato


I'm reminded that a B L T is the best sandwich. Ever. Even without homegrown tomatoes. WITH homegrown? It's almost sexual. Don't even try to deny it.

Barefoot Bloggers: Pasta, Pesto and Pea Salad

For my first participation in the fairly new Barefoot Bloggers group, we made Ina Garten's Pasta Salad with Pesto and Peas.

I wasn't expecting this to be an interesting dish for me -- pasta and pesto and peas -- eh, it's okay. For that reason, I actually made a couple of salads tonight, to take to work for my lunch tomorrow. While I wasn't wowed by these traditional flavors, I was pleased with the result of combining traditional pesto with spinach, lemon and mayonnaise. The heavy, oily flavor of just straight pesto on pasta was made more light and lively by mixing in pureed spinach and adding a bit of lemon juice and mayo. I liked it well enough to use it as both a dressing for leaf salads in the future, and a more lively-than-pesto pasta sauce.

Original recipe here, but I modified it by removing a fair amount of the fats (I didn't toss the pasta with oil, and used much less mayo than called for, and I note most of my Barefoot Bloggers did the same), and I could easily scale the recipe down for two persons by just eyeballing it. Finally, rather than tossing it with additional pine nuts, I used chopped walnuts.

My lunch tomorrow: A trio of salads, including Shrimp Louie, Pasta with Peas, and Broccoli Coleslaw, with a few crackers and tangerines.

About this challenge:
The Barefoot Bloggers join forces and cook or bake recipes by Barefoot Contessa Ina Garten each month, chosen in order by members, and present them for discussion on two Thursdays each month. Our Next Challenge: Ina's Parmesan Chicken. Hungry? Please join us at the table!

Soup and Salad Bento Lunch

No cooking or baking posts, so here's a peak inside my Mr. Bento Box for tomorrow. Typically, this will represent breakfast (the fruit), lunch, and sometimes a wee bite in the afternoon.

Beluga Lentil Curry soup
Tuna Salad with Lite Mayo and Chives
One slice of toasted brioche
Wee Brie
Vanilla Wafers
Strawberries and Grapes

Bento Lunch: Tea Sandwich, Cheese and Crackers

Zucchini Bread with Vanilla Bean Quark and Strawberries
Cottage Cheese
Sharp White Cheddar and Rye Flax Crackers
Edamame

Bento Lunches: Comfort Food

A Thanksgiving-Esque Comfort Food Bento (from my archives / older blog). I have about a dozen different Bento Lunch Boxes or Kits, and this is the Zojirushi brand "Mr. Bento." Each container stacks on top of the other and are housed in a thermal jar which keeps the food quite warm, or quite cold.

Braised Southern Greens (Emeril)
Chicken and Stuffing Casserole
Homemade Corn Muffin (Small Batch Baking)
Cranberry Relish
Clementine

Verdict: Always delicious
Skill: Moderate. Takes some time to braise greens properly.
Repeat: The greens appear almost weekly in my house.

Soot Sprite Yogurt

This bento lunch is humble fare -- some roasted turkey, salted edamame pods, tomato soup, and greek yogurt. But, the whimsical little face which greeted me was a chocolate soot sprite. I love all things Studio Ghibli -- especially the soot sprites. Cute, but how does it look when you get to work, you may ask? Surprisingly, not much changed. He faded just a tad, but was otherwise completely intact. Greek yogurt is sturdy enough to hold up to decorations. The method for making the perfect soot sprite is to dot the eyes, first. Soot sprites are cross-eyed for the most part, so I used a squeeze bottle of chocolate sauce and dotted the pupils close together. Then, drew two circles around those, to make the whites of his eyes. From there, it's just a matter of quick jagged lines to make the body, and I was all set.

I took him to work, admired him, and then I ate him.

(Originally posted in my Flickr set)

Bento Lunch Series - February 2008

I love packing an attractive and well-rounded "bento box" lunch. I have a collection of a great many different style Japanese Lunch Boxes, and belong to a host of photo sharing groups on Flickr, which gives one great inspiration for packing a portable meal.

Very often, my packed Bento Lunch Jars are for breakfast and lunch, together. The model you see here is a "Mr. Bento" jar which contains four seperate containers which are generally leak proof, and slip into an outer jar which retains heat, or cool, exceptionally well. From time to time, I'll post pics of my Bento Lunches, which are always, ALWAYS more interesting than what I can buy at the cafe in my office building.

Pineapple, Pom Seeds, Tangerine and Lime Salad
Tomato Basil Soup
Pretzel Crackers and Soft Cheddar Cheese Spread
Greek Yogurt with Key Lime Curd

I am a manufacturer's dream. If I see "new" on a shelf, I gravitate right toward it. I saw these crackers, new, and got a box. Now I wish I'd bought them all. After Ak-Maks for health and "a plain canvas" these may be my favorite cracker ever. They are like a soft Ritz cracker, buttery, but one side is a thin pretzel skin. Not like the hard pretzel skins you can buy (I adore pretzels for some reason, not the thin skin crackers). They are called Pretzel Flips. One side cracker, one side pretzel. It's like the thinnest coating, like the thin crackly coating you get on a freshly baked brownie. I love them.