The return of Mr. Bento...

I fell in love with Mr. Bento in 2007. I had unhealthy lunch habits and he inspired me to make healthier (and more attractive) decisions. I used Mr. Bento frequently and even joined Flickr groups for Bento lovers. After I left my job as managing editor for a magazine to work in politics (lunch was usually carrot salad and grilled chicken from the Chic-fil-A next to the campaign office, if I had time to eat) and later, worked from home, I got out of my Bento habit.


Tuscan white bean & tuna with cottage cheese, fruit, mixed greens.

Now that I have a regular schedule again (and have had one for almost four months), it was time to break out the Bento from storage (the cabinet above the fridge where no-one ever looks) and stop eating lunch like a 12-year-old. Yes, Lunchables are an affordable and easy way to control calorie intake, but turkey + cheese + crackers - any green vegetables EVER = an ass that doesn't fit into my skinny jeans. I have also gotten into the habit of shopping for produce at farmer's markets on the weekends and saving all of that healthy stuff for home eating just wasn't practical.


Spicy noodles, yogurt and fruit, granola, avocado.

So I'm cooking again. I made a Tuscan white bean tuna salad last weekend (and even soaked the beans overnight and cooked them myself). I made spicy whole wheat noodles yesterday. I have a list of Bento-friendly recipes to try. My goal is to Bento my lunch every day between now and the end of the year. Two days in, I already feel healthier. My ass expects to wear my skinny jeans around the end of next week. And I have lovely, lovely lunches that I'm not embarrassed to break out in front of coworkers. Proud of me!

Real quick...

'cause I'm busy (busy stuffing my face with salad). Margaret was kind enough to offer to pick up lunch and asked me what I wanted and from where...I wished out loud for the salad I saw on a tv commercial last night. Margaret said she thought there was a Zaxby's on James Island and told me to Google it - there is! So she went and got a lovely "Zensation"* salad for me.

It was like magic: see something on television, want it, get it.

Yum. Happy day. How tasty is this salad? Shut the hell up, that's how good it is.

*Note: this is definitely not a low fat salad. I can tell because I'm eating it and the fat cells on my thighs are cheering.

Learning to love canned salmon...

I'm working the Perricone Prescription this month, which means giving up the chicken, the red meat, and any form of processed food whatsoever. That's the easy part. The thing I worried most about was eating salmon five times a week. Not just any salmon - it has to be wild Alaskan. If you can find it fresh, it's uber expensive. Dr. P recommends canned and I found the brand he mentioned in his book at a local grocery for under $2 a can.
A. It's gross. You have to dump it into a bowl and pick out the skin and bones.
B. It looks and smells like cat food.
C. I was glad I had fresh lemons because I needed them to get the salmon reek off my hands after digging through the mess.
D. Eating it plain? Ew.

So last night I decided to try one of the healthy recipes: little bit of lowfat cream cheese, little bit of eggless mayo, horseradish, green onion, dash of Worchestershire. Mix it up, add crumbled up canned salmon. Spread on low carb whole grain wrap, add fresh blanched asparagus (asparagi?). Roll it up. Eat.

It was tasty and I must have done a pretty good job of bone removal, because the only crunch was from the green onion. I made a second wrap to bring for lunch today, thereby hitting my five times a week salmon goal. Yay, me!

Finally making use of the Bento...

I've mentioned Mr. Bento before, and I bought him in April, but it's taken me this long to work up the energy to put him to work. After seeing myself in recent wedding photos (see previous post), I decided it was time to make grocery shopping for healthy food and actually cooking it part of my regular weekend routine so I can bring lunches to work that include more than packaged cheese sticks, sliced turkey, canned soup, or Kashi bars (because I am apparently one of those few people who can gain weight on eating 1500 calories a day). The secret for me is eating more calories at regular intervals, which usually means six small meals a day. And bento dining is perfect for that.


This is today's Mr. Bento lunch: Salmon with dill and lemon, black-eyed pea and corn salad (also known as "Texas Caviar"), and berries with cottage cheese. I made everything myself - none of it is from the Earthfare deli (though I'm not above cheating with that from time to time). And since Mr. Bento keeps food cold (or hot) for six hours, I didn't even have to try and squeeze him into the tiny fridge at work. The salmon and half the Texas Caviar was lunch; the other half and berries I saved for a late afternoon meal.

Now I can join the Mr. Bento Flickr pool, instead of perusing the photos when I'm hungry and wishing I was the kind of person who makes a healthy, tasty home-cooked lunch every day. Because now I am.