#18 Alfredo Bento

Top Tier: Shrimp fettuccine alfredo
Bottom Tier: Butter beans tossed with olive oil, salt, and pepper on a kale leaf, strawberries, raspberries

Shrimp Recipe:
Heat up some olive oil in a frying pan around the medium setting. Wash off your shrimp, and pat them dry (if you don't do this, then your shrimp will end up rubbery and not crisped. Sprinkle with any seasoning you prefer (I have a seafood spice that I like, which includes salt, white pepper, garlic, red pepper flake, and some other stuff). Fry about 2-4 minutes on each side.

Alfredo Recipe:
If you're making the shrimp variety, remove the shrimp onto a plate and put the pan back on the heat. Add a little olive oil, and several splashes of cream. Deglaze the pan, while also making sure to stir constantly. If left alone, the cream will boil extremely quickly, and then you'll have a big mess on your hands. If you're not using shrimp or any other meat or veggie, just heat up a pan with a little olive oil and add some cream. Once the cream has reduced a little (about 3-5 minutes), add shredded cheese a little at a time, while stirring to combine. I used a mix of Pecorino Romano and Parmesan cheeses, but you can use whatever you like. Add your shrimp back in to heat up, and you're done!

#17 Squash Bento

Bottom Tier: Roasted half of a tiny acorn squash, sitting on top of some almonds
Top Tier: Manchego cheese cubes, chocolate raspberry sticks, strawberries, 2 halves of a Seckel pear

Roasted Acorn Squash:
Cut the squash in half and remove the seeds and gooey bits. Put about 3/4 of an inch of water into a baking pan, and put the squash in skin side up (so that the "meat" of the squash can get steamed by the water). Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. Then, dump the water and flip the squash. At this point you can go one of two ways: (1) Add some butter, cinnamon, sugar, and little nutmeg, or (2 [this is the one I did]) drizzle with a little olive oil and sprinkle with salt, black pepper, garlic powder, and herbs. Bake for another 20 minutes or so.

#16 Salad Bento

Top Tier: Salad with purple cabbage, carrots, and English cucumbers with ginger dressing underneath
Bottom Tier: Cubes of Manchego cheese, roasted almonds, strawberries, blueberries

#15 Take-out Leftovers Bento

Top Tier: Leftover calzone from Tennessee Gyros, with lamb, tomatoes, spinach, feta, and garlic
Bottom Tier: Tzatziki for the calzone in the cup, celery, strawberries, blueberries

I've found that bentoing helps me with portion control of takeout food, because I know that I need to save some for the next day's lunch, and that if I don't, I'll have to make something later. The threat of doing any work is usually enough to make me stop eating, even when the food is as delicious as this calzone was.

#14 Stir-Fry Bento

Top Tier: Stir-fry with jasmine rice, tofu, garlic, carrots (from the garden!), spinach (from the garden!), and fresh dill on top
Bottom Tier: Celery, roasted almonds, blueberries, chocolate covered raspberry sticks.

We've been prepping the garden for Spring planting, so the carrots had to come out. They were a little small, but sweet and delicious! The spinach came from our cold frame.