Wednesday - Using Up Those Leftovers!

No time to buy a new light for the hood above the stove (the stovetop is the only place in the kitchen that I have enough light to take a picture of the bentos), so once again I haven't got any pics for today. Plus I cut my finger, due to reduced visibility. Argh!

Yesterday's lunch was pretty much a flop. Let's hope today's goes a little better:

Potato purses. Leftover mashed potatoes, formed into purses by placing a spoonful of mashed potatoes in a small square of plastic wrap, pulling all the corners/edges together, & twisting the plastic wrap until the potatoes compress into a sort of ball. Then leave it in the fridge overnight, & unwrap just before packing. When possible I use food wrap from something we ate at suppertime to cut down on waste.

Round steak on skewers. I salted some leftover round steak strips that I'd cooked & frozen a couple of year or two ago (yes, those vacuum freezer bags make a huge difference!) and then browned them for a minute or two in a few drops of canola oil. After they'd cooled on a paper towel, I threaded some of them in "S" shapes onto little decorative toothpicks; the rest I just cut up into tiny cubes.

Doctored-up, Doctored-Down Ponzu Sauce for dipping steak. Over the weekend, I'd made a dipping sauce for some potstickers by doctoring up some store-bought ponzu sauce (it's basically japanese soy sauce with a citrus-fruit zing) with jarred fresh ginger root & garlic, plus a dash of white pepper. The family had enjoyed it but it was "too lemony" for BunnieB. So I "doctored down" a bit of the leftover ponzu by mixing it with an equal amount of Worcestershire sauce, to make what I hope is a more child-friendly dipping sauce for the steak.

Sugar Snap Peas Glazed w/Doctored-Up Ponzu Sauce & Balsamic Vinegar. While cutting up the steak, etc, I threw some frozen organic sugar snap peas into the hot saute pan, dumped on a few tablespoons of the ginger-garlic ponzu sauce, added a big splash of balsamic vinegar, and a pinch of sugar. Then I let that bubble away into a glaze for the sugar snap peas while I put everything else together. It doesn't look as attractive as I would hope, because the sauce stained the peapods brown, but it's really delicious, and I actually managed not to overcook the peas! Squeezed out a few of the bright green peas onto the glazed peapods in hopes that they would subconsciously convey to miss picky that the vegetables are not "burned" or "rotten."

Julienned Carrots & Jicama. Cut a handful of washed baby carrots into matchstick-sized julienne pieces. Then did the same with a small amount of jicama. Put the orange carrots on end around the outer edge of a silicone muffin cup, and put the creamy-white jicama on end in the center. Very pretty. Thought about including some ranch dip but that's usually a waste. Over the weekend I did some "pre-marketing" by mentioning how lots of people love jicama and eat it like carrots. We'll see....

Applesauce cup. I had planned on include a nice big apple with today's lunch, but discovered that we were out of them (that's rare!). Had to resort to the pre-packaged cup.

Pudding cup. Decided to "go with the flow" and included a pre-packaged pudding cup as dessert. It will overnight in the freezer so it can serve as "ice" for the lunchbox.

Juice box. Once I fell off the re-usable containers wagon, I guess I fell all the way off! Actually, BunnieB forgot her reusable jar at school so I didn't have one. Harris Teeter has finally started carrying "Apple & Eve" organic juices in the little boxes, and they were on sale last week. I don't want to make a habit of it, but it is handy to have a few around for times like this. The juice box, too, will overnight in the freezer so it can serve as "ice" for the lunchbox.