Garlic Basil Shrimp Bento

Last night, when the kids were about to go to bed, Buddy looked up at me with the most precious happy-and-full-of-hope face as he asked me if I would be putting him to bed. It felt terrible to crush his hopes by telling him that I had to go food shopping, but I hadn’t done my weekly marketing yet. A cloud immediately rushed over his head and the pouting began.

It’s his fault, really. I asked him earlier if we could go grocery shopping after school and he adamantly said no. After all, “Shopping is bo-ring.” I needed stuff to eat today, boy!

Then, as if to add salt on his wounds, I realized that everything in today’s bento I already had in the fridge. Oops. I don’t think he needs to know this.

I’m finding that the biggest challenge with my eating now is that I can’t seem to find time for breakfast. Yesterday I packed up breakfast to eat at work and I did the same for today, only I forgot that I can’t really eat a grapefruit without a knife and spoon. Good job, me.

Anyway, I cooked the shrimp last night in garlic, olive oil, pepper, and a squirt of lemon juice. Last of all, I added chopped basil leaves. It smelled great! This bento took me about 5 minutes to pack, as all I did was boil the broccoli in my pyrex, add the rice, throw in the shrimp, tuck in the broccoli, tuck in the kale (for color), and slice three grape tomatoes and tuck them in.

Garlic Basil Shrimp Bento Points Calculation

~1/3 lb shelled and cooked shrimp: 3 points
1/2 cup broccoli: 0 points
3 grape tomatoes: 0 points
1/2 cup white rice: 3 points
herbs/spices: 0 points
1 tsp olive oil: 1 point

Total: 7 points

Snacks for today are: sweet potato, kale chips, banana, tangelo.

Fresh garden items used: tomatoes and basil

Last night, the whole family had a weigh-in and I was a baffling 159!!! I chalked it up to the massive amounts of water and tea I’d drank and sure enough, this morning I weighed in at 155.4. Whew! For a while there I was in a panic, haha!

Another angle:

Thanks to all the supportive comments I’ve gotten since yesterday! It’s great to hear them!