greek inspired pita bento

Wholemeal pita bread (x1, halved) with diced cucumber and meat balls (x3, halved) served with carrot sticks and spiced yoghurt.

This dish was loosely based on the Greek dish Souvlaki-Pita, which is meat served in a pita with various vegetables and tzatziki...

I was worried it would get soggy by lunch time, but it hadn't and was really, really tasty! (Despite the resulting garlic breath...)

I have been thinking you could quite easily make a vegetarian version if you replaced the meatballs with falafel or a lentil patty type thing (which I may try one day).

Calories: 413

Oh and by the way, I did manage to get the lid on my bento box!

oatmeal pancake snack bento

A plum, an oatmeal pancake and some maple syrup for dipping...

The recipe for the pancake was adapted from the Vegan Lunch Box book. Oatmeal isn't a thing here in Australia, so I don't know where you would get oat flour. Instead I used some rolled oats whizzed up in my Tupperware Smooth Chopper. They're a bit tricky to make, the pan has to be hot enough or they are impossible to flip! But they are very tasty, so it's worth it.

Calories: 273

apple and peanut butter wrap bento

Mission brand wrap (lite) spread with light crunchy peanut butter and slices of apple. With some spicy capsicum dip and celery sticks.

551 calories.

I think I over did the peanut butter.... Hmmm...

bento with x.o. beans

Teriyaki tofu, X.O. beans, baked sweet potato, grapes and nectarine and pretzels.

Snack box: strawberries, Wallaby Bites and air-popped potato chips.

X.O. beans is my favourite dish from my local Chinese restaurant, I can't get enough of it. It's spicy and garlicy and generally delish!

A friend who lives in Melbourne bought me a bottle of vegetarian X.O. sauce so I could make my own at home. To make the dish you stir fry the sauce with some garlic and then add the beans until lightly browned, it's very easy. This version tastes pretty good, but not as good as from the restaurant (it's a bit salty).

The calorie round up:

Main box: 517

Snack box: 261

afternoon tea bento

Wallaby Bite, half and orange, pretzels, strawberries and French vanilla almonds

There are a couple of really tasty treats in this bento. In the to left you can see a little chocolate morsel, it's a Wallaby Bite, and at the front right you can see some drool inducing French vanilla almonds.

I get the almonds from the local supermarket, they are so good it is really hard to stop eating them once you start. I HAVE to portion them out, or I'd eat the whole bag!! They are sweet and vanillary with a little bit of salt... yum!

Two Bentos

I have two bentos for you today...

Above there is some natural yoghurt with blueberries, water crackers and cheese and some Wallaby Bites. (Calories: 437)

Here is some poached chicken with teriyaki sauce, broccoli, roasted sweet potato and pumpkin, a banana, pretzels, corn dip and two Wallaby Bites. (Calories: 351)

Because I am looking to keep the fats in my diet low, I've been poaching chicken, rather than frying. For flavour I added some teriyaki sauce to the chicken in the lower bento.

A common factor for both bentos is Wallaby Bites. They are a tasty little treat! Seeds, dried fruit and puffed rice coated in dark chocolate... Yum! A little chocolate hit to keep me going at morning tea!

Pearl Couscous Bento

I know I've said this before, BUT, I'm back! I have the bento itch again and I really, really want to get back into bentoing on a regular basis.

So with a new year here I am.

A snack bento on the left and lunch on the right.

For a snack I've got some hommus and vegie dippers, some strawberries, sugar free dark chocolate and some baked wheat pretzels.

For lunch I have a yummy roasted vegetable couscous made with pearl couscous. I really like the larger pearl version of couscous, I think it's better than the smaller version.



Calories:

Snack bento - 344
Lunch bento - 394


Should be enough to get me through my first day back at work....