Friday, January 8, 2010

Stay at Home Bento - BOMB Bento #1


I noticed Hapa Bento was having a B.O.M.B. bento challenge . While I'm still a novice at the whole bento thing, I figure this is about having fun and eating healthy, not having the most beautiful bento in existence. Even though tomorrow is not a work day, I roasted some veggies for dinner and didn't want to miss out on an opportunity to make a "roasted" bento. My lunch consists of a black bean burger on honey wheat, raspberries and blueberries, roasted Brussels sprouts and roasted sweet potato. I hadn't ever had Brussels sprouts before a couple years ago, but they've become a household favorite. I simply toss the cut up vegetable with a little bit of oil and kosher salt, plus some brown sugar to downplay the bitterness and bake at 400F for about 20minutes. I love it! If the Brussels sprouts are popular, the sweet potatoes are pure heaven to the taste buds. My son is such a huge sweet potato fan, but still has no teeth, so I had to mash up a bowl of the stuff just for him. We couldn't feed it to him fast enough!

Color Code Score
  • Brussels Sprouts - 10 pts
  • Sweet Potato - 10 + 5 pts
  • Blueberries and Raspberries 10 + 5 pts
  • 5pt bonus for eating from all 4 color groups!

This bento is worth 45pts.

Back to Work Bentos


Part of my 2010 plan for improving my eating habits includes experimenting with whole grains beyond wheat. This bento, from Jan 4th 2010, includes red quinoa flavored with miso, a clementine, scrambled egg whites, and raspberries and blueberries. The stars are made from Tofutti cheese. I'm embarrassed to say, this bento never got eaten. *hides in shame* When I got to work, a plain old whole wheat bagel seemed so much more appealing. I'm not sure if it was due to the fact that I was so tired from being off the work schedule for awhile or if I was just being a bit too adventurous for the early morning hours.


Since time in the morning is at such a premium, I pack my food the night before. Most days, lunch consists of leftovers from dinner. As you can see, we'd had piles of squash. I always make a large quantity of veggies, so I was stacking as I cut in order to save room.


Lunch was roasted yellow squash, zucchini, and onions; black beans; carrots and hummus; plus some avocado. This is a pretty typical meal for my family. It's simple and tasty!

Color Code Score

Breakfast - 30pts (If I'd eaten it!)

  • Raspberries & Blueberries 10 + 5 pts
  • Clementine 10 + 5 pts

Lunch - 35pts

  • Yellow Squash and Zucchini 10pts
  • Carrots 10 + 5 pts
  • Avocado 10pts (usually this would be 10 + 5 bonus, but the amount seems to small to justify that)
  • 5pt bonus for eating from all 4 color groups.

If I'd eaten both meals, this would amount to 70pts.

Last Bentos of 2009

Usually, I take the entire week from Christmas Eve to New Year's off, but this year I became a mom. As any parent knows, kids wreak havoc on every aspect of life, especially anything you've precisely planned out. The week before Christmas, Senorcito ... aka the slobber machine ... aka my baby boy ... ended up sick with croup then I had the flu. Thankfully, we both recovered, but I ran out of PTO and had to go in to work to make up some time before the end of the year. These bentos are from Dec 30th, 2009 ...


Most weekday mornings, I don't have an extra minute to sit down and eat breakfast before I go to work. I am definitely not the type to skip meals (I think I'd pass out!), so a portable breakfast is a must. On this morning I packed an apple, cheerios, and pistachios. I also had a bottle of soy milk, not pictured.



Lunch was a small green salad with poppy seed dressing, a clementine, and vegetable gyoza from Trader Joe's with soy sauce. I was a little disappointed with the gyoza. The recipe seems different than it was in the past. It was a bit too gingery for my taste, but edible none the less.

My afternoon snack was carrots and my favorite hummus (the original stuff from Trader Joe's).

Color Code Score
Breakfast - 10pts

  • Apple 10pts

Lunch - 35pts

  • Mixed Greens 10pts
  • Clementine 10pts + 5 bonus
  • Mixed Veggies 10pts

Snack - 15pts

  • Carrots 10pts + 5 bonus pts

The bentos total 60pts.