These were the last food remnants of 2016. It was a really colorful and largely successful week that included a day off at the beginning, so there’s only four but I think quality over quantity any day, right?

Chicken Stew, Rice, Spinach Salad

Arincini, Red Pepper Sauce, Carrots, Salad with Walnuts

Chicken Dumplings (Gyoza), Spinach salad, Soy Sauce, Apple, Mandarins

Baked Chicken Tenders, Green Beans and Cherry Tomatoes, Challah, Apple

Last week we both caught mild colds so half the week Andrew worked from home which means that two of these are not actually bento. One can argue that actually none or all of them are bentos though so I’m going to take my credit for making lunch while sick and just run with it either way.

Savory scone (goat cheese, pear, pepper), tomato and cucumber salad, boiled egg, apple Taco Bowl (rice, salad, turkey, peppers, onion, tomato, corn, sour cream) Turkey, Brie, and Cranberry Chutney Sandwich (there’s pickles and oranges on the plate too) Broccoli-Cheddar Soup, Rye Bread, Mandarins, Apple Vegetable Pot Pie, Side Salad (very sad looking), Apple, Mandarins

Trying out some new recipes this week but somehow falling in to a pattern anyway. Oh well, at least we got fed right?

Vegetable Miso Soup, Rice with furikake, boiled egg, apple

Vegetable Pot Pie, Salad, apples and bananas Dum Aloo, Rice, Salad Pasta with meat sauce and roasted Vegetables, side salad, rye bread, apple Chicken Goulash, rice, apple

Oop, the latest WordPress update almost broke my recipe card plug in but thankfully it seems to have fixed things. This week I tried not to just make boring salads every day but it’s not always the easiest to do that.

Tortilla soup, crackers and cheese, boiled egg, terrible lighting

Chicken noodle soup, bread for dipping, salad, apple

Curried lentils, rice, salad

Turkeyloaf, pasta with cream sauce, spinach/tomato salad, italian mandarins

Vegetable couscous, roast potatoes, side salad, apple

Some weeks you just get to a weird theme (or really, a rut) which is why this week there is just so much rice going on. Especially in the winter it’s hard to resist the siren song of carbs but hopefully next week will be more interesting carbs at least!

Leftovers from Georgian restaurant (minced chicken liver with spices, cheese dumpling), rye bread, side salad Vegetable Quiche, Salad, Grapes Honey and Soy Chicken, Rice, Green Beans with Yellow Pepper, Apple Chickpea and Vegetable Curry, Rice, Side Salad Trash Casserole, Salad

Andrew requested that I try to add a salad to every bento so you’re going to get sick of seeing all these side salads but I’ll try to keep things a little interesting at least so I don’t get bored either.

Vegetable Stir Fry, Side Salad with Cherry Tomatoes

Japanese Style Chicken Curry, Rice, Side Salad, Apple

Pelmeni, Caprese Salad, Apple

Chickpea Curry, Couscous, Side Salad with Chicken

I don’t know how but Thanksgiving really snuck up on me this year so this is the last week before I totally buy every food on Earth and cook a ridiculous meal for just the two of us (they don’t do Thanksgiving here). Enjoy the week’s lunches in picture form in the meantime.

Double bean chili, cornbread, apple Aloo Puff, Salad, Apple, Carrots and Hummus Turkey Burger, Green Beans, Roasted Potatoes, Apple and Hot Sauce Chicken and Dumplings, Green Beans, Rice with Zucchini Turkey Burger, Spiced Potatoes, Green Bean, Chocolate

Last week has a huge downer and I feel like you can actually see that in my food. Even though I managed to make a whopping all five lunches I feel like they’re less cute and less interesting than they had any right to be. Also, so many apple. So many.

Caramelized Onion and goat cheese tart, side salad, tomato soup, apple Baked Chicken with Apple and Rosemary, Spiced Rice, Carrots and Hummus, Kiwi Lentil Falfel, Yogurt Sauce, Couscous, Apple Vegetable Lasagna, Side Salad, Apple and Kiwi Squash and White Bean Saute, Cornbread, Apple

This week the theme was basically just nice hearty comfort food to herald in the cold weather. There’s plenty more delicious comfort foods in our future, chicken and dumplings comes to mind but that’ll have to wait for another week.

Breakfast Roll Up, Roasted Sweet Potato, Side Salad, Apple

Homemade Spaghettios with meatballs, salad, bread, apple

Baked Chicken, Green Beans and Tomatoes, Spiced Rice, Chocolate and an Orange

Spinach Mac and Cheese, Sliced Orange, Coleslaw

Just a few simple ones from the week. Sometimes you gotta just keep things easy and moving I suppose.

Pasta with vegetable sauce, side salad, rye bread, apple

Mini homemade vegetable pizza (zucchini, pepper, onion), chocolate, carrots and hummus

Chicken tikka masala, rice, grapes

Minestrone, side salad, white bread