Cuttlefish Bento!

I'm racist.

2009-04-09T20:18:00.000-07:00

About eggs at least.

This post has no photos or anything like that but It's something!

Today I went 5 minutes outside of the little farm town I live in, to get eggs from a farm. Not really a farm, actually, it was someone's house. Driving up it was sort of endearing, the yard was poorly tended and a badly made "brown eggs" sign was sitting against a dead tree stump. Normally people would run and hide from this place, but not me! I went up to the door and knocked and a tall man in overalls, covered in paint opened the door for me and said to come on inside. Sitting at the table in this very old fashioned, faintly musty kitchen was a man easily in his 90's. He raised chickens in his backyard and sold eggs for extra money. $1.25 a dozen. Now at the supermarket they are around $3 a dozen for mechanically screwed with eggs, all of the same shiney white, same size and shape. Here, he grabbed some old egg cartons and 3 dozen mishapen, off colored brown eggs and stuck them in a bag for me. I thanked him profusely and left. Once I got home I sat down in the kitchen floor to inspect the eggs like a child with a new toy. Not a single one was uniform in size, shape or color. Some were speckled and dark brown and others were pale brown and a bit lumpy. But to me, they are the best eggs you can get. Something fresh from the chicken and with real flavor.

I made 6 of them into scrambled eggs and they have to be some of the best I've ever had.

So yes, I'm racist. But only when it comes to eggs.

(just say no to store bought white eggs!)

Dinner and Banana Pudding Cake! <3

2009-02-21T14:05:00.001-08:00

After much deliberation Akari and I decided to have Chicken Tacos for dinner. I'm not the best chef as I prefer to bake above anything, but! Chicken Tacos it was. When I am forced to cook I make the simplest stuff ever.

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground chicken
1/2 packet of taco seasoning (you can use more to suit your taste!)
a pinch of salt
a pinch of pepper
a pack of tortillas

Extras (all are optional):
Mexican cheese (shredded)
Refried beans
Sour cream
lettuce
tomatoes

I fried up the ground chicken in a skillet on low with about a tablespoon of vegetable oil to keep it from sticking and mixed in half a pack of taco seasoning.

It's pretty much touch and go from there. I used refried beans, Mexican blend cheese and sour cream and that was it! You can put just about anything on them of course!

It was really simple to make, quick and cheap but it was SO tasty that I've decided to never eat at Taco Bell ever again!!!!

Now for the good part!

I recently found a recipe for Banana Pudding Cake and it was a dream come true! I adore bananas and cake, plus baking is definitely my forte. So I ran to the store and grabbed everything I didn't already have and was off!

It was incredibly simple to make and baked much quicker than I expected.

And here's how to make it!!!

Banana Pudding Cake

Ingredients:
- 1 (18.25 oz.) package of yellow cake mix
- 1 (3.5 oz.) package of instant pudding mix
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup water
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 3/4 cup mashed bananas (I needed 2 medium sized bananas)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Grease pan

3. In a large bowl stir together cake mix and pudding mix. Make a well in the middle and pour in eggs, water, oil and mashed bananas. Beat on low speed until well blended. Scrape sides of bowl and beat on medium for 4 minutes.

4. Pour batter Into pan. (I had to use a spoon to scoop it in because it had gotten thick!!)

5. Bake for 40-55 minutes. I had to keep an eye on it (and I never go by time)

6. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes before turning out on wire rack to cool.

Now here is where I improvised with what I had on hand. I had planned on making a triple layer cake with pudding in between each but I didn't have any milk! So, I improvised by making a thick banana mousse!

Ingredients-

1 box instant banana pudding
Aprx. 3/4ths a cup of extra creamy cool whip

All I did was mix these two together until they got very thick. I mixed water in as needed to regulate the texture. It, paired with the cake was fantastic.

I hope you guys enjoyed this post!!!! More to come soon <3

restarting as BENTO #1

2009-02-21T09:20:00.000-08:00

This is /not/ my first bento. Not by a long shot! But since I haven't posted anything new in what seems to be ages I figured I would restart at number 1. (it has after all been since june!)

Well, I made lunch this morning for my brother and he just LOVED it, so I figured I'd post it here!

In this one is-

A checkered Fuji Apple, Sweethearts, Hazelnut/Chocolate Tree Candy Thing, Garlic Potatoes and a crunchy Peanut Butter Sandwich.
Simple, but tasty!

For valentines day I made Chocolate Cinnamon Cake and it was FABULOUS. I was hoping to upload a photo I took of it, but it came out terribly blurry and I had to scrap the idea. If anyone is interested in the Recipe for this cake just let me know and I'll post it!