Have you joined the bento craze yet?

My friend Jenn recently started a blog called Bento Yum. Frankly, I’d never heard of “bento” so I checked it out just to see what in the heck she was going on about.

Turns out, bento is basically an artistic method of packing a portion-controlled, healthy “brown bag” lunch that’s popular in Japan. Only there don’t appear to be any actual brown bags involved — bright colors and Japanese-style graphics abound.

Now, to be honest, you don’t have to spend the money on a real bento set. With some creative packing, you can create attractive and healthy lunches using nothing more than reusable snap-lid plastic containers (think Ziplock, Gladware, Rubbermaid or Tupperware) and an insulated lunch bag.

In fact, that’s what I’ve been doing for some time now. I just didn’t know it was bento. ;) And I don’t usually get quite as over-the-top artistic as true bento. Call it semi-bento. “Bento lite,” maybe. But it’s the same basic principle: save money, limit portion size and eat healthy.

So anyway, at Bento Yum Jenn and her friend Abigail offer genuine-from-Japan bento box sets and accessories, and Jenn shares photos of the truly impressive bento lunches she’s put together for herself, her husband and her two kids. Whether you plan to get (or already have) a real-live bento set or you’re going to keep on using your “plain Jane” domestic plastic containers, you can still get some great ideas for how to keep your and your family’s packed lunches from getting boring.

Even if you’re not planning to start carrying your lunch to work or school, it’s still fun to take a look at Jenn’s incredible creativity. And the Bento sets are pretty darned cute!

Check it out!

— Diane

I use this just as I would use store-bought baking mix for biscuits, pancakes, waffles… pretty much in any recipe that calls for Bisquick. Because of the whole wheat flour, I think it’s healthier, and my family really likes the extra “oomph” it gives the flavor.

Ingredients

• 2 C whole wheat flour
• 4 C unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2/3 C sugar
• 2 T Watkins baking powder
• 1 T baking soda

Instructions

Thoroughly mix ingredients together until they are blended uniformly. Store in a cool, dry location in an airtight container. Keeps for up to six months (but you’ll likely use it up long before that — this stuff is tasty!).

Yield: approx. 6 3/4 cups of baking mix.

Cheap. Fast. Good! is a cookbook by Beverly Mill and Alicia Ross, the authors of the Desperation Dinners cookbook and nationally-syndicated newspaper column. They specialize in family-friendly inexpensive dishes that you can whip up from ingredients you probably already have in your kitchen — in probably a half an hour or less.

I picked this recipe book up at a book sale sponsored by my son’s school. Frankly, I don’t read the newspaper regularly, and our local rag doesn’t carry the Desperation Dinners column, so I wasn’t familiar with Beverly and Alicia’s work before I bought this book. One of the things that attracted my attention was that they don’t just give you recipes, they also include shopping tips, kitchen hints and meal-planning ideas.

So anyway, I figured, I’m a cheapskate, and I’m always in favor of “easy,” and this book seemed to be right up my alley. So I gave it a try.

Now, I have to be honest. You’re not going to win any culinary awards with any of these recipes. This is not haute cuisine. If you’re a big fan of spicy or highly-flavored foods, or you’re a stickler for authenticity for ethnic recipes, you may be disappointed. These are definitely kid-friendly dishes, so they may tend toward the mild.

But if you’re a working parent like me, and you need to put tasty, nutritious, economical meals on the table quickly — preferably, meals your kids will actually eat — then Cheap. Fast. Good! could be a lifesaver.

— Diane

Okay, so technically this isn’t a cookbook. But it’s darned useful to anybody who buys food in bulk or who wants to preserve the summertime goodness of fresh produce or save money by stocking up on a great meat sale.

Putting Food By by Janet Greene, Ruth Hertzberg and Beatrice Vaughan is an astoundingly complete reference book on how to best preserve pretty much any kind of food you can think of.

There are directions on canning, freezing, drying, pickling, curing — basically any kind of food preservation technique you can think of. Even making jams, jellies and preserves. The book offers specific hints and tips for every type of food, including what methods work best, and which to avoid for each food.

I remember when I was a kid, we’d go to my grandparents’ farm and pick fresh blackberries. My mom would spend a couple of days after that making blackberry jam and jelly, baking blackberry cobblers to freeze and otherwise making sure we’d be able to enjoy those that great blackberry flavor year round.

In fact, “putting food by” is pretty much a way of life for my mom. I have never lived in a house without a big ol’ freezer on the back porch, in the basement or in the garage (we’ve got a 13 cu.ft. model in the garage now, as it happens). I’ve experimented with drying and freezing. Never tried canning, although I remember my mom lifting racks of jars of fruits or veggies out of a steaming bath of boiling water. My mom is a whiz at putting food by.

But ya know, I can’t call my mom for food preservation advice every time there’s a good sale on something. This excellent book is like having my mom standing right there, telling me everything I need to know. It’s divided up into chapters for each type of preservation and each type of food, so it’s really easy to find the best method for the kind of food you want to preserve.

So, now you can shop at the warehouse club, take advantage of sales and stock up at the local farm stand or farmer’s market… and feed your family foods free of preservatives, with no artificial flavors or colors, and great fresh flavor — year round.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I just have this feeling that it has to be healthier for us to avoid all those additives and artificial ingredients. And I love the idea that I can give my family higher quality food, save money and not sacrifice convenience, all at the same time.

You really owe it to yourself to check this book out!

— Diane

I always look forward to summertime, because that’s when fresh berries are available in my area. Strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries — I love ‘em all! I mean, they’re low in calories, high in fiber, and a good source of antioxidants. What’s not to love?

(And, of course, thanks to the miracles of modern freezer technology, we can enjoy berries year round nowadays. W00t!)

Blackberries

Calories per cup:

46

Nutrients:

Vitamin C, fiber, C₃G

How to select:

Should be richly colored. Inspect container to be sure berries are free of mold (hint: shake the container to make sure the berries can move freely).

Storage:

Store in refrigerator up to three days.

To freeze: sort and gently wash blackberries. Drain thoroughly and pack in a freezer container, leaving 1/2 inch headroom. Alternatively, spread blackberries on a cookie sheet and place sheet in freezer. When berries are frozen, transfer to resealable freezer bags. You can then remove only the amount you need and return the rest to the freezer. Freeze for up to 12 months at zero degrees F.

Blueberries

Calories per cup:

84

Nutrients:

Anthocyanins, fiber

How to select:

Should be richly colored. Inspect container to be sure berries are free of mold (hint: shake the container to make sure the berries can move freely).

Storage:

Store in refrigerator up to five days.

To freeze: sort and gently wash blueberries. Drain thoroughly and pack in a freezer container, leaving 1/2 inch headroom. Alternatively, spread blueberries on a cookie sheet and place sheet in freezer. When berries are frozen, transfer to resealable freezer bags. You can then remove only the amount you need and return the rest to the freezer. Freeze for up to 12 months at zero degrees F.

Raspberries

Calories per cup:

45

Nutrients:

Vitamin C, gallic acid

How to select:

Should be richly colored. Inspect container to be sure berries are free of mold (hint: shake the container to make sure the berries can move freely).

Storage:

Store in refrigerator up to three days.

To freeze: sort and gently wash raspberries. Raspberries are delicate, so handle with care. Drain thoroughly and pack in a freezer container, leaving 1/2 inch headroom. Freeze for up to 12 months at zero degrees F.

Strawberries

Calories per cup:

47

Nutrients:

Vitamin C, fiber, folate

How to select:

Should be richly colored and fragrant (those with little to no scent will have a bland flavor). Inspect container to be sure berries are free of mold.

Storage:

Store in refrigerator up to five days.

To freeze: Sweetened strawberries keep better than unsweetened. Prior to freezing, wash and hull berries, and (optionally) crush. Add up to 3/4 cup sugar to 1 cup whole or crushed berries and mix thoroughly. Pack with 1/2 inch headroom in a wide-mouth freezer container. Freeze for up to 12 months at zero degrees F.

— Diane

Delicious, inexpensive, easy and quick! My husband and my six-year-old son both love this (and it’s a sneaky way to get them both to eat peas). Around the holidays, you can substitute 2 cups cubed cooked turkey for the chicken. Makes a great way to use up some of those turkey leftovers! If you’ve got leftover stuffing, too, skip the step of moistening the stuffing mix with butter and water, and just mix the onions into the prepared stuffing for even easier prep.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 stick (1/2 C) butter, melted
• 1 1/4 C boiling water
• Approx. 4 C (or 1 8-oz bag) herb-seasoned stuffing
• Approx. 1 1/2 C (or 1 small 2.8-oz can) french fried onions, divided
  (I use Wal*Mart’s Great Value, but Durkee works well, too)
• 1 can (10 3/4 oz) cream of chicken soup
• 3/4 C milk
• 1 can (12.5 oz) premium chunk chicken breast
• 1 tsp Watkins poultry seasoning
• 1 package (10 oz) frozen petite peas

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Combine butter and water. Pour over stuffing and mix until stuffing is moistened.

3. Stir in one half of the onions (approx. 3/4 cup).

4. Spoon mixture into 1.5 quart casserole dish. Using the back of the spoon, spread and press the stuffing into the bottom and up the sides of the dish to form a “pie crust.”

5. Filling: combine soup, milk, chicken, poultry seasoning and peas. Pour into stuffing shell.

6. Cover and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees F. Remove from oven, remove cover, top with remaining onions and bake uncovered for an additional five minutes.

Yield: four to six servings

This recipe is a slight variation on the traditional hummus that I’ve given a bit of a twist. My husband’s opinion: the more garlic, the better. This makes a fairly thick hummus; if you prefer a thinner texture, add more water and/or olive oil as needed.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cans garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
• 1/3 C tahini
• 1/4 C lemon juice
• 2/3 C extra virgin olive oil
• 1 C water
• 2 cloves garlic, minced (or more, to taste)
• 1/4 C dried parsley
• 1 tsp Watkins lemon peel
• 1/4 tsp Watkins paprika (or more, to taste)
• salt and Watkins gourmet black pepper to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

Combine all ingredients in the bowl of a food processor with the chopper blade in place, and process until smooth.

May be served cold or at room temperature. Serving ideas:

• Dip with crackers (Multi-Grain Wheat Thins or Triscuits are family favorites), toasted pita bread triangles or veggies
• Sandwich spread
• Entree topped with roasted or grilled cubed chicken or beef
• Let your imagination run wild and come up with new ways of using this versatile food!

To store: place in covered container and keep refrigerated.

Yield: approx. 16 servings (1/4 cup each)

Copyright © Diane Aull. All Rights Reserved.