Bento #2 - lunch for two

Tuesday evening and it was time to get thinking bento again.  M was scheduled to work the next day so I knew I was going to be doing lunch for her as well as for me.  My plan (based on what was in the fridge and needed to be used up) was for a mixture of tuna and feta for the protein portion of the meal.  Thankfully I ran this past M, who pointed out that tuna in a staffroom of people she didn't know was probably a bad idea.

So, I hit the JustBento.com website and searched for something I could cook with what we had in the house, that would be a sufficient source of protein.  And what I found was quinoa with green peas and dried sausage.  I subsituted frozen peas for fresh (because that's what we had) and ham for the dried sausage (ditto).  And I note that the recipe made far too much and I'll be eating it for a week.)

I cooked the quinoa up on Tuesday night, so Wednesday morning all I had to do was assemble the two boxes.

I have a smaller appetite than M.

The menu was the quinoa (decorated with snow peas), sweet pepper and onion confit, sesame green beans, raw snow peas as the divider, and grapes.  (We have some really, really good grapes at the moment!)  Putting together both boxes, including washing up afterwards, took no more than fifteen minutes, and was probably closer to ten.  (Cooking the quinoa the night before was 40 minutes at most, start to finish, mise en place to all dishes washed.)

Neither box is full to the brim, which does mean there's room for shifting in transit (which is not optimal).  M's box is 900ml, but I probably only filled about 700ml.  My box is 650ml (filled to 450/500), and I probably really could do with a smaller one.  I will probably look around for a smaller one with a decent seal in the future.

M's verdict was "awesome!" and apparently some of her friends who saw her photo on Facebook were similarly impressed.  I'll certainly keep going with this bento plan for the rest of the week and into next...