After seeing one of those Bento lunchboxes on a friend’s blog last night (why have I never seen these before?!), I made it my mission today to find one. Of course it had to be PINK:

I am always toting a gazillion containers and plastic bags to work (which makes my food always taste like plastic, ugh), so this is my new favorite toy! I feel like a little kid getting a new lunchbox for school I even found out there is an entire flickr group dedicated to Bento lunches…and I am totally checking them out for lunch ideas like cool kid I am!

Okay, so we aren’t really snowed in, but in the South we get REALLY excited when a few snowflakes start falling because everything seems to shut down

Since it is cold, snowing and I am battling the flu, I decided to make one of my favorite things: Panera’s Black Bean soup. This stuff is so yummy and perfect for cold, dreary weather.

I started with carrots, onions and celery from our weekly organic produce delivery:

Onions, Carrots, Celery

I tossed this in a big pot with some olive oil, garlic, and roasted red pepper and let saute for about 5 minutes:

Saute

Then add half a can of black beans, cumin, salt, and bouillon cubes (veggie or chicken) and water, or just add straight up chicken or vegetable stock and simmer for 10 minutes.

Once all ingredients are thoroughly heated, blend together with an immersion blender, then add the remainder of black beans, lemon juice and some cornstarch and heat until thickened.Serve up with some cheese, sour cream, crusty bread and a nice frosty beverage if you choose.

YUM

Panera Bread Black Bean Soup Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 celery ribs, finely chopped(I also added 2 carrots, finely shredded)
• 1/4 large red bell pepper, finely chopped(I used roasted red peppers)
• 2 small chicken bouillon cubes (you could substitute stock instead of bouillon/water)
• 1-1 1/2 cup boiling water
• 2 (15 ounce) cans black beans, undrained
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 lemon, juice of
• 1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch

Directions

1. In a pot, combine the first six ingredients; simmer for 10 minutes.

2. Add half a can of beans, salt and cumin; cook for 5 minutes.

3. Puree soup (I use an immersion blender which makes it easy to do it right in the pot).

4. Add the rest of the beans to the soup.

5. Combine the cornstarch with 1 1/2 tablespoons of water.

6. Add the lemon and the cornstarch to the soup; cook until thickened.

Enjoy!

I hope all you ladies out there are enjoying the Red Carpet right now as much as I am! I have already seen some B-E-A, beautifuuuul dresses. I will keep you waiting in anticipation for the recap and fashion review tomorrow. Looks like jewel tones (esp. RED!!) and white/cream are the colors for the night. In honor of the Oscars, which are held at the KODAK Theatre at Hollywood and Highland, I thought I would include a few photos I found today of me outside the theatre:

Dreaming of me in a beautiful gown on a red carpet

KODAK Theatre

I wanted to sneak in so bad!

Hubby and I stayed in today and relaxed, so I decided to cook a nice, comforting dinner. I received my first Organic produce delivery on Thursday from Absolut Organics (thanks to Diana for the recommendation!)  that included Red Chard, so I chose a Red Chard Risotto:

Raw Ingredients

Cooking it up

YUM

This was a very easy and delicious recipe, and also very filling! I served it up with a mixed green salad with green leaf lettuce, broccoli and cauliflower from our organic delivery:

I am sure you could also substitute other greens for the chard, spinach, collards, etc. I would also suggest adding in some mushrooms, because that would have made it even better!

Recipe (courtesy of Epicurious):

Ingredients

• 5 cups canned low-salt chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 1/2 cups arborio rice or medium-grain white rice
• 4 cups (packed) coarsely chopped red Swiss chard leaves (about 1 bunch)
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• Additional grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

Bring broth to simmer in medium saucepan. Cover and keep warm. Heat oil in heavy large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion and sauté until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add rice and chard and stir until chard begins to wilt, about 3 minutes. Add wine and simmer until absorbed, stirring occasionally, about 2 minutes. Add 4 1/2 cups hot broth. Simmer until rice is just tender and risotto is creamy, stirring frequently and adding remaining 1/2 cup broth by 1/4 cupfuls if mixture is dry, about 20 minutes. Mix in 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese; season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer risotto to medium bowl. Serve, passing additional Parmesan separately.

Hope you enjoy Oscar Night!

My hubby is always getting upset because I make goodies (cupcakes, cookies, muffins, brownies, etc.) for work, but he never gets any. So to be a good wifey, I decided to make him some breakfast muffins for the week. Since hubby is also trying to be healthy, I went with my healthy version of banana bread muffins. They are made with Whole Wheat Flour and Splenda, but you can always sub in for the not so healthy version. This recipes is actually my own creation based on several different ones I have tried before:

Ingredients

1 c. WW Flour, 1 c. AP Flour

3/4 c. Splenda (or Sugar)

1 tbsp brown sugar

1 tbsp honey

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

3-4 ripe bananas

1/4 c. fat free milk

1 egg

1tsp vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 350.

Mash bananas, then add egg, milk, and vanilla.

Mix all dry ingredients in a seperate bowl, then whip together with wet ingredients.

Optional: mix in walnuts, dried berries, or any nut of your choice.

Separate into mini-muffin pan and bake for 18-20 minutes. Makes about 40-50 mini muffins.

Whippin' up the batter

Before...

...and After

Of course I had to taste one for quality control purposes They are good, but the “unhealthy” version is so much better!

And now Tillman’s bloggie debut…

Look what I found in the dryer while I was cooking:

Tillman

This is Tillman, our 25 lb. crazy cat. He climbed in the dryer to try to get the treats that are on top of the dryer. He’s such a little piglet!