Features: Ham & swiss sandwiches, lettuce on the side, and grapes.

Just because sandwiches have become the lunchbox staple doesn't mean they have to be ugly, half-squished affairs. I actually used a new bento box for this that I've had for a while (it was $5 at my local asian grocery store!!) but have never gotten a chance to use and I've been too busy to upload pictures (I'll try to rectify that soon).

Sandwiches are so quick, I find myself making them a lot lately -- especially since I've gotten so busy. So, I decided to take a picture of one. I've found that there's some pointers to follow to make a pretty and tasty sandwich:

1. Keep the lettuce seperate, which guarantees it'll be crisp come lunch time!
2. Buns make a sandwich much more pretty and inviting than plain, sliced bread. Try looking for wheat buns.
3. Mini-buns (the kind I used here) are great for bento.
4. Mix up your spreads, you don't always have to use mayo. Try ranch, thousand island dressing, cream cheese spreads, etc.

Just thinking of that sandwich is making me hungry. ;)

Features: BBQ chicken, rice, Japanese-style egg, broccoli, and Medjool dates.

This bento was really a treat. The BBQ chicken was simple: just brush on the BBQ sauce (a simple kind bought from the store) and grill on my Hamilton Beach Indoor Grill, flipping it over after 5 minutes to repeat the process. The Japanese-style egg just adds sugar and soy sauce and I wisk it all together until there's a few bubbles on top; I then cut it into strips instead of rolling it. I love bentos which include chicken on a bed of rice, which is probably why I love places like Yokohomo Rice Bowl and Panda Express (although I can't eat there often since they're food is usually fattening -- but mine isn't!).

Now to take a moment to mention the dates. I love dates. I grew up with dates, my whole family would munch on dates and mangos if we wanted a dessert and the inclination has stuck. Medjool dates are easiest to find and most grocery stores will carry them when they are in season. Recently, my university has been trying to promote a farmers market on the campus every Friday and one of the vendors totes farm-grown, organic dates!! I didn't have any money the day I first saw it, but next time, I plan on buying quite a few.

Features: chicken parmesan, broccoli, and mashed potatoes.

These were the leftovers from last night. The chicken parmesan is homemade! It took a while, and it was baked instead of fried, which also added to the time factor -- but it was delicious! Unfortunately, I just realized that I *ahem* seem to have lost the recipe. Don't worry, I'll find it again (it probably just got misplaced in the packing/moving) and once I do, I'll post it here. :)

Features: pork curry, rice, and grapes.

The curry was made with the curry cubes you can get at asian grocery stores. I pre-cooked the pork with onions, microwaved some frozen carrots, and then made the curry (much like I'd make a gravy from mix), then simply added all the ingredients together. The rice is actually a mixture of two, from two different Chinese takeouts in the last week and a half. I needed to get rid of it so I added it to the bento, too. :)

Features: Garlic teriyaki chicken, rice with black sesame seed furikake, broccoli, carrots, and pig container of soy sauce.

*sniffle* It's so pretty! :wub: The garlic teriyaki sauce is Kikkoman's brand and I highly recommend it. I found it at Albertson's and I marinated the chicken overnight. It was delicious and went perfectly with rice. I simply grilled the chicken in my Hamilton Beach Indoor Grill, but the directions on the bottle suggest baking. Next time, I'll try that. ;)

Features: chicken ka-bobs, salad, Trader Joe's General Cho's as dipping sauce, Thousand Island dressing (not shown).

I grilled the ka-bobs in my Hamilton Beach indoor grill, and while they were grilling, I "painted" them with Trader Joe's General Cho sauce. But, just in case that wasn't enough, I added a little bit for dipping sauce. :) Note: I found the small bamboo skewers at my asian grocery store, and I made sure to soak them before grilling with them.

Features: homemade pasta salad, egg rolls, and mandarin oranges.

I'm not going to include the recipe for the homemade pasta salad this time because it turned out a little plain. I only put in light sour cream to try and make it healthier than if I put mayonaise. Next time, I'm going to try and make a combination of the two. However, if you want to try it for yourself, it's really simple: I added light sour cream, diced carrots, and diced celery to egg noodles and canned chicken that had been cooked and then cooled. The chicken had been flavored lightly with curry powder, too. :)

Features: Create-a-meal stir fry, cucumbers, and mandarin oranges.

In the Safeway freezer section, I found these bags of Create-a-meal stir frys, where all you needed to do was add meat (they even came with sauce packets!). There was a little bit left over from last night's meal, so it became my lunch. :)

Features: Chicken egg fu yong.

This is a really quick dish to make and is even quicker if you use one of those pre-cooked chicken bags. I had some eggs to unload, so egg fu yong it was! :) I think this is a recipe that needs a little work, though, so once I've perfected it (specifically so it doesn't look so much like scrambled eggs), I'll post the recipe.

Features: Morning Star veggie nuggets, Trader Joe's bismati rice, cucumbers, and a cherry tomato.

Unfortunately, due to a server move, everything after August 31st was lost, so I'm recreating this entry. :( If you left a comment and its now gone, I apologize.

This bento is made entirely of microwavable things--except for the vegetables, of course. I just didn't feel like making something from scratch so I rooted around in the freezer. There is a lot of protein in those veggie nuggets, they're pretty handy to have around. ;) I like dipping them in ketchup. Also, if I haven't said this before, Trader Joe's has some tasty stuff.