Bento Boxes & Mason Jars

What fun lunch assembling I had this evening! I took a bit of a shortcut this evening and grabbed dinner from the freezer section. What lovely choices they have these days. With the magic of only having to boil water, we had Grilled Vegetable and Goat Cheese Agnolotti, and it was quite saucy so I was able to stretch it by adding in a sliced leftover grilled chicken breast. I'd love to share the recipe, but ummm.. It's a family secret... Anyways, it left me plenty of time to get some lunches packed and the kitchen organized for the week, can't beat that!

I'm testing out this snazzy little bento box, this is my first attempt at preparing one. I plan to do one each day this week and will update pictures. I loaded up at the grocery store on green beans to steam, baby cucumbers, grapes, strawberries, bananas, mini whole wheat bagels, deli meat and cheese, frozen peas and perhaps some other things that are escaping my mind... It makes preparing healthy well-rounded lunches so much easier when there is a variety of items to choose from, especially when there's a fun container to put them in! 



Bento Box



There's rolls of oven-roasted deli turkey and muenster cheese, half-moons of baby cucumber, half of a mini whole wheat bagel and in a Wilton silicon cupcake liner, an assortment of clementine segments and strawberries. I hope Lou enjoys it! I think I would surely enjoy it!

And, for the grown-ups of the house, Mason Jar Salads. Mason jars right now and possibly for always are my new favorite thing, as well as the favorite of many others. I dream of one day being organized enough to spend weekends canning, but for the time being, I will happily use the jars as tart pans, salad containers and vessels in which to hold my morning oatmeal.



First, I must give credit to Fat Girl Trapped in a Skinny Body, her blog is where I found this idea. I love her idea of using quinoa and plan to do so, but it didn't make it into this edition. I also pretty much used the vinaigrette recipe she gave and boy, is it delish! So our salads are packed and in the fridge waiting for tomorrow. It sure is easy to eat healthy when you plan ahead!

Mason Jar Salads

Vinaigrette:

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons maple syrup or honey

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

Salads:

3 green onions, sliced

a handful of baby portobello mushrooms, chopped

1 baby cucumber, sliced

a handful of grape tomatoes halved

1 small carrot, shaved into ribbons with a vegetable peeler

deli turkey, chopped

deli cheese, julienned

Spring mix salad greens

In a small bowl, whisk the vinaigrette ingredients or combine in a blender. Divide between two 1-quart mason jars. Add salad ingredients in the order shown; cover and refrigerate. When lunch time rolls around, just empty the contents onto a plate.

It's gotta be 12:00 somewhere!

p.s. If you have a super cool sister like I do, then you may also have this awesome vinaigrette spinner, this is how I prepared the above recipe and it does such a charming job. Next time, I'll fill er-up as it's such a nice dressing, you'll want to keep it on hand!