A bit of a scare

Sorry for the radio silence, but we're having a bit of a scare with Kaylee right now. We're hoping it's just metronidazole toxicity, and not her liver giving out.

She's at home after we spent the evening with her at the vet's last night because she was having problems walking and was running into things. This morning she was running about like normal, but she still a little twitchy and runs into things more than usual (she's not a graceful girl to begin with, so it's a bit hard to tell :). And since none of us had a good night's sleep, she's pretty tired, too.

So forgive me if I'm not around much. We're just a little busy around here right now.

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Technorati tags: kaylee, sharpei

Who knew cauliflower was so good?

I didn't, but the cauliflower we got in our CSA share has totally changed my mind. This was wonderfully nutty and, well, actually tasted like something you'd want to eat without smothering in some sort of cheese sauce.

Brown rice; a stir-fry (also had fresh peas from our share); wax beans and sugar snaps fresh from the garden; peanuts and lime for the stir-fry and two buckeyes that were favors at the wedding we attended over the weekend.

I went to water the garden last night and discovered that my wax beans had decided to go bonkers. So yummy. And those are very close to the end of the sugar snaps. I'll yank them up this weekend and maybe try planting some more of them in late August for a fall harvest.

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Technorati tags: lunchtime, bento, mrbento

Wobbly tummy lunch

I was ill after a long and busy weekend yesterday, so no lunch except by best friend Mr. Nyquil. Today, my tummy is a bit wobbly, though I didn't realize it until after I'd packed my lunch. So this is not what I would have normally packed with a questionable stomach, but it seems to be staying where it's supposed to be at the moment.

Salad, rice with cucumber mango salsa, peas, and a raspberry lemonade cupcake with spare raspberries.

Rice and cupcakes are leftovers from a baby shower on Sunday. Peas and salad are from our CSA share.

Oh, and after Thursday, I'm off for 10 days, so probably no lunches next week. But, hopefully, lots of pictures of other, more interesting, things.

Weekend recap:

Loads of laundry: 4
Loads still in dryer: 1
Weddings attended: 1
Baby showers attended: 1
Cupcakes made: 16
Baby shower favors made: 11
Dog wounds attended to: 3
Dead rodents disposed of in trash: 2
Disappointed dogs: 3
Stuffed bunnies made: 2
Concrete pads poured: 1

So, busy. And no photos, not even of the bunnies. So sad.

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Technorati tags: lunchtime, bento, mrbento

Mmm... salad

I made myself a ginormous salad last night for dinner, in hopes of using up some veggies before I went to pick up our CSA share on Saturday morning. I cut up extras and had a salad for lunch, too. Perfect on a hot day.

Lettuce, a bowl of toppings (carrots, spring onions, tomato, snow peas and broccoli), another bowl of toppings (pickled banana peppers, asiago cheese and soy-ginger dressing), and brown rice with peach salsa.

The salad itself would have been plenty if this had been for dinner, but since lunch is my biggest meal of the day, I added in the rice and salsa to get me through the afternoon.

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Technorati tags: lunchtime, bento, mrbento

First day of summer lunch

Needed something quick to make and eat since I have a shortened day today. This easily fit the bill.

A salad with pickled banana peppers and curried noodles.

Poor man's bento boxes: reused takeout containers. These are what I usually use for Jeff's lunches, since he has a regrettable tendency to forget them in his office. Yuck.

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Technorati tags: lunchtime, bento

First day of summer

The cloud on top is slowly moving northeast, and the lower cloud is quickly moving southwest.

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Technorati tags: weather

Spring rolls!

Feeling ambitious last night, I made spring rolls for dinner and made some extra for lunches today. I was worried that they might dry out overnight, but I wrapped them in a damp paper towel and they held up just fine!

Two spring rolls, steamed sugar snap peas fresh-picked from the garden, the last of the roasted tofu, and steamed baby carrots. Not pictured is the container of sweet chili sauce for dipping that I barely remembered to add.

Spring rolls were filled with bean threads, roasted tofu, radishes from the garden, carrots, spring onions, broccoli stems and leaves, snow peas, cilantro and mint. The broccoli stems and carrots were lightly steamed. I hadn't made them for a long time but they were ever so simple. Took a while to cut things up, but it was worth it when you consider I got dinner and two lunches out of it (Jeff got a pair with a pork bun and cookies for his first lunch at the new job).

I was worried that this lunch might not be filling enough, but I'm quite satisfied.

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Technorati tags: lunchtime, bento

Stir-fry lunch

Brown rice; a stir-fry with roasted tofu and some really yummy baby broccoli and snow peas from our CSA; a simple lettuce salad from our CSA; and pretzels and banana crisps.

(Small photo today because I had to use the crappy camera...)

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Technorati tags: lunchtime, bento, mrbento

Roasted tofu

Ingredients

1 lb. firm or extra-firm tofu
3 Tbsp honey
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp mirin (optional)
2 cloves minced garlic
1 tsp minced fresh ginger

Directions

1. Drain and lightly squeeze excess water out of tofu.
2. Slice the tofu into 8 slices across the short width, then cut each slice into four peices
3. Mix together remaining ingredients to make marinade.
4. In a large container, arrange tofu in a single layer, then pour marinade over tofu.
5. Marinate for two to three hours or more in refrigerator, flipping the tofu at least once.
6. To roast, preheat oven to 350°.
7. Drain tofu and arrange in a single layer on a cookie sheet covered with foil and lightly sprayed with canola oil.
8. Roast for 25-30 minutes, until dark brown, flipping the tofu once halfway through.
   

Tip: use the leftover marinade for a stir-fry sauce.
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Technorati tags: recipes

Roasted tofu

Ingredients

1 lb. firm or extra-firm tofu
3 Tbsp honey
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp mirin (optional)
2 cloves minced garlic
1 tsp minced fresh ginger

Directions

1. Drain and lightly squeeze excess water out of tofu.
2. Slice the tofu into 8 slices across the short width, then cut each slice into four peices
3. Mix together remaining ingredients to make marinade.
4. In a large container, arrange tofu in a single layer, then pour marinade over tofu.
5. Marinate for two to three hours or more in refrigerator, flipping the tofu at least once.
6. To roast, preheat oven to 350°.
7. Drain tofu and arrange in a single layer on a cookie sheet covered with foil and lightly sprayed with canola oil.
8. Roast for 25-30 minutes, until dark brown, flipping the tofu once halfway through.
   

Tip: use the leftover marinade for a stir-fry sauce.
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Technorati tags: recipes

Congratulations Nikki & Jason!

Nikki is my cousin, my mom's younger brother's older daughter. She and Jason have been dating since high school, and they've graduated from college now and just got married on Saturday.

It was a beautiful wedding and a wonderful time seeing lots of family.

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Technorati tags: family

Use-It-Up Week lunch #4

The last photographed lunch of the week is, like yesterday, a little odd.

Two baby cheese and mustard sandwiches on pumpernickel with baby pickles to match; broccoli slaw with the ubiquitous soy ginger dressing; orange segments; and a star-shaped spring onion frittata.

Our fridge was getting nice and emptied-put until Jeff brought back two pizzas from his parents' house last night. Sigh. At least I have dinner for tonight.

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Technorati tags: lunchtime, bento, mrbento

Use-It-Up Week lunch #3

OK, now we have a bit of a weird lunch.

The last of the mini faux-corndogs, a harboiled egg that didn't want to peel neatly (though its brethren shed their shells perfectly), and a lone chicken nugget I found in the back of the freezer inhabit the top row. On the bottom, there's sweet chili dauce for dipping the top row, thumbelina carrots and sugar snap peas (Hi, Fiona! They were good! :) from the garden, soy sauce for the peas and carrots, and rice with veggies and a soy-ginger dressing.

A little random, but tasty. And I cleared two boxes out of the freezer. Plus, everything tastes better when you make a picnic of it. I walked down to the main library and ate out front before I picked up my reserves. Very nice.

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Technorati tags: lunchtime, bento

Use-It-Up Week lunch #2

Lettuces from our garden with soy-ginger-sesame dressing; salad toppings, including walnuts, spring onions from our share, red pepper, banana peppers, baby radishes from the garden, and shredded carrots; whole wheat pasta with just-made pesto; and strawberries and dried fruit for dessert.

OK, so I made the (truly decadent) pesto fresh last night, so technically, I did put some stuff back into the fridge and freezer. But pesto is not a problem. It disappears really quickly in our house. And I did have to go out to the garden to get the lettuce and radishes, too, but I made a dent in the other veggie toppings!

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Technorati tags: lunchtime, bento, mrbento

Use-It-Up Week lunch #1

I've declared this to be Use-It-Up Week at our house. We're going to be eating up what we have and not buying food this week. Our freezers and fridge are full and we need to reclaim our space. So there might be some weird lunches this week, though this one isn't.

On the left is a salad with a combination of stuff from our garden, our CSA share, and random leftovers in the fridge. Also, the last of a bottle of sweet and sour dressing - reclaimed some space - yay!

On the right is cooked portabella mushrooms, red peppers, and onion with sour cream and salsa to make a wrap with the tortilla in the corner. For dessert, strawberries from our share. Some of the best strawberries I've ever had, let me tell you!

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Technorati tags: lunchtime, bento

Took a break

Sorry - decided to take a break from stuff for a few days. The gigantic, horrible project at work is finally done (phase one, anyway...), so I needed some time off - from everything, even, sorry to say, blogging.

However, I have some photos to make up for the absence.

First of all, there was a vet visit, where Indy decided to take responsibilty for Kaylee (and her leash). Both of them are fine.

BUGS!

We hatched some praying mantis egg cases to help with pest control in the garden. These babies were about the length of a dime.

The front yard is turning out nicely. The lavender is taking over the front steps.

The elephant ears are coming up quite happily in the tubs with the cannas.

This asiatic lily was found by Jeff, hiding amongst the safflowers under the bird feeder. We didn't plant it. Jeff moved to it the front yard and it's obviously quite happy.

A purple lily in the bog. I forgot the type. But pretty with the morning dew on it.

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Technorati tags: dogs, gardening, flowers

Lunch

(Yeah, I couldn't come up with a snappy title. That's harder than making the damned lunch, you know!)

Stir fry with three tofu puffs; brown rice with soy sauce and cilantro; the last of the kale from the garden until fall; and a snack of faux-pepperoni, string cheese, and baby pickles.

I've been leaning a little to heavily on the veggies lately, which, while both tasty and good for me, don't quite fill me up enough. Hence the snack. Man, are those little pickles good! Polish dills, which are just a tad sweet. Yum!

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Technorati tags: lunchtime, bento, mrbento

Almost a fingerfood lunch

If I hadn't brought the salad, it would have been all finger food...

Mini faux-corndogs and faux-chicken nuggets with ketchup for dipping; lettuce from our garden topped with carrots and banana peppers; cucumber with ranch dressing for dipping (and the salad); and three pineapple and strawberry skewers.

I love faux-corndogs. Especially the mini ones - more coating. I almost never buy them, since I could easily eat the entire package in one sitting. But I was in the mood for comfort food, so I got 'em. So, so yummy!

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Technorati tags: lunchtime, bento

A super-wholesome lunch

A plethora of foods either from our garden our our CSA share today!

A frittatta with eggs, asparagus and spring onions from our share, with some added goat cheese and leftover whole wheat pasta; thumbelina carrots and radishes from our garden; kale soup using up the last of our kale until fall (it's ugly, but good); and fruit salad, featuring strawberries from our share, oranges, Fuji apple, kiwi, and pineapple leftover from making pineapple-coconut ice cream this weekend.

So wholesome I feel I need to find some candy to balance it out. =)

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Technorati tags: lunchtime, bento, mrbento