Stuffed Eggplant Bento

Something has happened to my general attitude towards chickens. Having grown up with hens and roosters at my house and Grandma Mu’s house, I know first hand just how freaking ANNOYING AND LOUD they are. There were so many Saturday mornings that I would be woken up at Grandma’s house by this incessant scratching noise accompanied by, “cuuuuh cuh cuh cuh cuh… cuuuuuh cuh cuh cuh cuh… bukbukbuk ba-CACK!”

Holy crap did I want to go outside and punt them. If only I wasn’t such a tired and lazy teenager. Then there’s roosters. Forget everything you “know” about them crowing at dawn when the sun comes up. Trust me, they don’t know sunrise from pitch blackness. I’ve always hated chickens and insisted upon telling people right away how stupid I think they are.

I know that makes me sound like a horrible person, but I’ve never actually done anything to a chicken except harbor ill feelings. And eat them.

So, when Mr. Pikko said he wanted to get two chickens, I immediately protested. He tried to sway me by saying he’d name one after me. Since I find their intelligence levels to be woefully low, you can imagine how this backfired. But eventually, I relented and two little baby chicks entered our home. Now that they’re almost 2 months old, tame enough to pet, and joined at the hip to each other, I can’t help but feel protective and attached to them.

Sadly, they’re still stupid. Mr. Pikko found them stuck on the top of a 3 rung ladder last night and they had no idea how to get down. But at least they’re my stupid chickens now.

Today I’m having leftover shrimp stuffed eggplant, which is what I cooked for dinner last night. You can read about my alterations to the original recipe on Learn 2 Cook. It was very tasty and something I’ll be making again!

I lined the box with lettuce first, then added 1/3 of a serving that I’d saved from last night. Next I put in a little bit of Gen-ji-mai brown rice, which actually looks almost white! If you aren’t familiar with it, Gen-ji-mai is a “quick cook” brown rice with the same nutritional value. It’s softer and fluffier than regular brown and so if you have a hard time eating brown rice, give Gen Ji Mai a try.

Next I put in a cauliflower floret and added a purple kale leaf (can you tell I’m addicted?) to separate my fruits from the rice. See the strawberry? Plucked from our strawberry patch! 🙂 See the mango? A hayden picked from our tree yesterday!! Oh mama, the Hayden is like the king of mangoes to me. I brought the rest in a bag for a snack. SO good!

Stuffed Eggplant Bento Points Calculation

1/3 serving Stuffed Eggplant with Shrimp – 5 points
1/3 cup brown rice – 2 points
fruits and veggies – 0 points

Total: 7 points

Snacks: apple, mango, lemon ball

Weight: 150.9 lb

Woo, almost half a pound down! Maybe I can breach 150 by next week?

I know people are probably thinking, “Lady, stop starving yourself!” Truth is though, I eat a lot of healthy snacks to supplement my bentos and I also drink a ton of water and tea to help keep myself full. I tend to go easy at lunch because I’m a big dinner person, so I want to save up a lot of points for that one last meal of the day. Baby Girl on the other hand, inhales food during breakfast and picks at dinner. It all depends on what you prefer.

After about 2 1/2 weeks of small lunches, I’ve found that my stomach has shrunken down to a pretty good size where I can eat much smaller meals at dinner. Whereas last year I’d have been able to eat 2 full tonkatsu pieces and almost 2 cups of rice, I now feel pretty good after 1 piece and half a cup of rice. I just had to stop stuffing myself and eating for the sake of taste. That’s like the worst way to eat!

I’m pretty happy with PointsPlus so far. When I was on Weight Watchers in 2007 it used to really piss me off that I had to count baby carrots as points if I ate more than a cup. Carrots! And apples! I know, I know, the sugar. At least now though, WW isn’t just about calories. In fact, they don’t even ask for calorie info on new foods now!

If you haven’t already done so, don’t forget to enter my giveaway for The Just Bento Cookbook! I’ve got 155 entries logged down and the deadline is tomorrow. The book is out of stock again on Amazon, so this is your chance to get one!