Last night, my husband and I tried a new version of a chicken dish my mother has cooked a few times for Sunday dinner. The recipe is called Brown-Sugar BBQ Chicken, and it is delicious. Even my youngest niece and I tried it and loved it, though we were both avoiding chicken at the time.
My idea was to cut the chicken into nuggets, cover them in batter, and fry them. Then we would combine the nuggets with the sauce. Though my husband used a different batter than I intended, the recipe turned out well. Very tasty! We had it with sautéed french green beans and homemade french fries. Delicious!
So, today's lunch bento is made up of the following:
Bottom Tier
Brown-sugar BBQ chicken nuggets
Sautéed french green beans
Top Tier
Onigiri rolls, the rice mixed with furikake
Cherry tomatoes
Sugar snap peas, cut in half
As for my breakfast bento, I made mushroom mini quiches. I had the idea when I woke up. We had a bunch of mushrooms I wanted to use up, but also wanted to make stuffed mushrooms. This fullfilled both needs, in a way.
I removed the stems from the mushrooms and gently scraped out the ribs and placed the caps on a tinfoil lined cookie pan. Then I placed a small piece of cooked bacon in each mushroom, followed by some shredded Monterey Pepper Jack cheese. My husband mixed an egg with a little whole milk, and I spooned this mixture into each mushroom cap, making sure to only fill the caps 1/2 to 1/3 full.
I then put the cookie sheet (with the mushroom caps) into my toaster oven, preheated to 400 degrees. I baked them until they were done, checking every 5 to 10 minutes.
They turned otu great and my husband also enjoyed them. Not sure how my son liked them, as I had to leave for work before he woke up. I definitely plan to make these again, with different variations.
I've tried encouraging my son to try different types of food, especially vegetables, while also teaching him that even though he may not like certain items in one form, he may like them in another (like he may not like steamed carrots, but he may like diced carrots in his stir fries). I'm happy to see that he's been more receptive of late. I am also trying to make some of his meals cute, especially with food items he may be hesitant about or may have tried once and wasn't willing to try again. I'm actually impressed by how many things he has been willing to try and even likes (more often than not, anyways). The breakfasts below were inspired by my efforts.
By the way, the bananas a the top of the page were decorated using a tooth pick and a fork tong. All you do is lightly draw your design on using a tooth pick (or fork tong, or whatever else you think may work), and the drawing will show up within a few minutes. The messages on the above bananas were a day or two old. :-)