Main: Moroccan spiced chicken breasts with basmati rice.

Sides: Roast brussels sprouts and sauteed onions and peppers.

Fruits/Vegetables: Strawberries and orange chunks.

Snacks: Cottage cheese with pineapple jam.

Today’s bento was an exercise in just how long a bento can take if you don’t have a plan before you even start. I realized at about midnight last night that I hadn’t put together this week’s menu plan and I had no leftovers around which to plan Monday’s lunch. Eep.

Richard saved my bacon by starting the rice before I’d even woken up. (One of the few up sides to being on call, I suppose.) Even so, today’s bento took well over an hour to prepare, cool, and assemble.

I had some chicken marinating for tonight’s dinner, but opted to cook it up this morning instead. While the chicken cooked, I halved some brussels sprouts, tossed them with a bit of olive oil and sea salt, and then set those up to bake in the toaster oven. Next, I sliced up an onion and a pepper, and got those cooking in another pan.

Side Note: I’m pretty proud of the cottage cheese and pineapple jam presentation. I used our smallest cookie cutter to keep the cottage cheese and jam separate until I’d filled the container, and then slowly removed the cookie cutter while pushing the jam back down into place. It worked out just the way I thought it would, which is always nice when that happens.