Carrot & Zuchinni 'Spaghetti' - 164 calorie bento

When I was little my parents always said "don't play with your food". Funny, since for a while my parents made their living in the food business - restaurants and such. I vividly remember my Dad once making a pizza and sending the dough flying into the air - I would call that 'playing with food' - wouldn't you? hahaha

So, now that I'm a grown-up (or trying to be), it is oficially my turn to play -responsibly- with my food- hence the Bento making! This bento is definitely a fun one - I made some vegetable fake-out spaghetti. I used a spiralizer and had tons of fun - I am easily amused!

Bento Content:

• Carrot and Zuchinni 'Spaghetti' (15)


• Sausage and Roasted Red Bell Pepper (75)


• Goat Cheese Medallion (70)


• Celery (4)

Total Bento: 164 calories

Organic Black Bean Soup & Salami - 254 calorie Bento

I found an organic black bean soup at Trader Joe's during the weekend. I bought to give it a whirl and it was quite tasty. I like a little spice, so I added a little bit of hot sauce. Perfect!

Bento Content:

• TJ's Organic Black Bean Soup (130)
• Shredded Romaine Lettuce (4)
• Small Grape Tomatoes (10)
• Mini Sausage Rounds - cooked (110)

Total Bento: 254 calories

Yucca Squares & Broiled Chicken Sausage - 234 calorie Bento

If you have never tasted yucca, run to the store and cook some, pronto!

Yucca is a root or tuber. It looks like a tree branch, but usually it has a thin bark. Beware, some yucca types are poisonous, but the ones you get at the store are edible (they should be, at least!). Makes a great substitute to mashed potatoes!

So, I basically boiled the peeled yucca with a bit of salt. Then I mashed it with butter spray, and added a little bit of the yucca boiling water to facilitate the mashing. I added anis seed, salt and black pepper. I waited for the mash to cool down a bit, then molded into squares. Yucca mash, once cold, easily sets and stays molded - great for bentos!

I molded the tiny squares by using the packaging of crushed garlic from the refrigerated section at Trader Joe's. Works like a charm! I'm going to try molding rice with it too - it might work!

Bento Content:

• Yucca Squares (123)
• Broiled Grape Tomatoes (21)
• Broiled Organic Mild Italian Chicken Sausage (90)

Total Bento : 234 calories

Moro & Collard Greens w/Andouille - 279 calorie Bento

This turned out to be a very comforting meal for me. I made a 'Moro' - Dominican-style. Moro is basically Rice with Beans with a bunch of seasonings. In this case, I used long-grained rice with Cranberry beans. I found at our local vegetable place packets of fresh Cranberry beans. The beans came out very creamy. Very tasty.

I never used to like Collard greens - I had only seen them and tasted them done after hours of boiling down. Not my kind of thing. Then - I met Fernando - a Brazilian chef friend that showed me that collard greens don't have to be slimey! Brazilians eat collard greens a great deal, specially with Feijoada - kind of a thick black bean soup with tons of meat and veggies.

You just need to make a chiffonade from the collard greens (after cutting away the thick stems). Then you sautee with olive oil, crushed garlic and salt. I decided to add Andouille sausage to the mixture. Oh my, I am so hooked on this - and so is hubbie! I used precooked sausage, took out of the casing and zapped it in the Magic Bullet to get it all ground up and loose. The cooking on the stove for this dish took exactly 3 minutes. The cutting up of the collard greens took a little while, but was well worth it!

Bento Contents:

Moro Dominican-Style (128)

Collard Greens Chiffonade with Andouille Sausage and Garlic (138)

Strawberries (12)

Total Bento = 279 calories