Vaca Frita & Moro - 273 calorie Bento

So, I went Cuban for this one. I made the Vaca Frita - literally 'Fried Cow' - and accompanied by Moro de Habichuelas Negras (Rice with Black Beans).

I was kind of shocked when I looked at the calorie counts some websites have for Vaca Frita - most in the upper 700-range per serving. When I looked closely at their recipes, I noticed the amount of oil they are using. I have never used that amount of oil even when I was not trying to watch my fat intake. Needless to say, my version is WAY less in calories than those I found on the internet. Yay!

Bento Content:

• Moro de Habichuelas Negras (106)
• Vaca Frita (153)
• Cantaloupe (14)

Total Bento : 273 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