Italian Lite 2
I went with a light italian themed box today, had to really keep things simple since I had guests over and needed to put together something fast . I don't think I was quite as successful this time with a record breaking bento production time so I couldn't call it a "quicky bento". It took me roughly two hours this time (with prep), granted I did handicap myself by making breakfast at the same time for my visiting family. Quite a few additional fails too. I didn't get a good picture of the box and I missed taking a picture of the lasagna, guess I was a little distracted trying to entertain folks. As I've mentioned in the past, if you want to get thru a dinner party (or bento in my case) it pays to be organized. That means prep in stages and much like you see on TV every dish they put together magically has all the ingrediants chopped and ready to dump into a pan. This really beats trying to run from chopping block back to pan and then back to measuring out this that or the other. Do yourself a favor on your next multi-course dinner, break everything apart from preparation to execution and try to group stuff together, it'll save you a bit of time. That and if you have an audience watching you cook you look like one of those fancy TV chef/cooks that somehow make it look effortless.
Had I gone with a gluten free lasagna noodle I would have gotten away with a gluten free box today, but I was already running into budget issues so I went with some whole wheat pasta to at least get a little bit of a healthy edge. These spinach lasagna rolls are a great way to create single portion lasagna instead of the giant pan and serving strings of cheese across your plate and table as you try to get the pasta from baking dish to plate. By far I got the best compliments on this dish. There's probably a billion different versions of this on the web, I just put a few together that grabbed the best of cutting calorie corners (or simply avoid bad fat, and bad carbs). I doubled up on the spinach from any of the recipes I was working with because looking at the volume it just seemed like a whole lotta cheese for so little of the good for you green stuff. In a most of the spinach lasagna that I've had at restaurants the spinach has often taken a back seat and been more like Lasagna (with spinach) if you know what I mean. I really really regret not having a photo of this dish. (guess I'll have to do it again)
Ok, no box this next week I need a minor break. I've still got a few more themes that I'm working out minor kinks on but there's definitely more to come. Thanks for dropping by.
Box Contents
- Chicken Romano
- Spinach Lasagna Rolls
- Cannellini Beans with Pancetta
- Caprese Salad on a Stick
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