This was Penelope's bento today. It is also my first entry into the Bento Blog Network weekly themed bento contest. This weeks contest theme is Birds.

Granola with chocolate covered raisins, 2 hard boiled eggs, open faced turkey and cheddar bird sandwich on flatbread, mixture of watermelon, honeydew, and cantaloupe, gummy worms.

I am no where near as talanted as some of these bento artists.

Check out my green onions after just 10 days!
She chose Marigolds, Asters, Onions, and Parsley to plant. We will definitely be visiting the yurt again soon.

Here is Penelope's lunch for today.

So I was finally convinced to take a peek at Pinterest and while checking it out I came across this post about growing your own green onions. This peaked my interest because it claimed to be a way to never have to buy green onions again. I use green onions a lot in my cooking and while you people down in the lower 48 can get them pretty cheap (my mom says 4 bunches for a $1.00!) they cost us sometimes up to $3.00 a bunch. What?! Seriously when my mom was visiting last summer she refused to buy green onions at the grocery store because of their price. Anyway, I learned that if you save the bottom white parts of the onions along with the roots once you've used up the green parts, and put them in a glass with a little water they will continue to grow. (I never knew this!)

You gotta keep them in a sunny window which can be a little difficult here at times so I will let you know if I have any luck with this. The prospect of having free green onions whenever I need them sounds nice. So much so that I think I am also going to plant an indoor herb garden with Penelope this summer. Stay tuned for that!

The letter of the week at Penelope's school is X. She was very excited about playing the xylophone at school today. She said she tried and tried to play Mary Had a Little Lamb but she couldn't find the notes. She said she just needs to keep practicing.

Top Tier: Chocolate covered strawberry that we made a couple of days ago, pistachios, ranch
Bottom Tier: Baby carrots to dip in her ranch, X and O ham and cheese sandwiches.

For the last couple of weeks I have been craving a Cheese Steak sandwich. But not any 'ol Cheese Steak sandwich, the kind made from Steak-umms! You know Steak-umm the frozen wafer thin beef you buy in a box at the supermarket. I swear these make the best Cheese Steak sandwiches. Unfortunately you can't find Steak-umm in Homer Alaska. *sigh* Last night I really wanted a Cheese Steak though so I went to the supermarket and bought some thinly sliced roast beef from the deli instead. Let me tell you, my Cheese Steak made with roast beef was awe-some! It totally satisfied my craving.

Slice up some onion, bell pepper and mushrooms and saute in butter until the veggies start to caramelize. Lower heat and add your slices of roast beef, salt and pepper and mix. Spread meat mixture and veggies out and cover with slices of provolone cheese. (No Cheez Whiz here) Put on roll that has been slathered in mayo. This makes one tasty sandwich.

Made some delicious filling for tacos the other day. I love my slow cooker!

Chipotle Slow Cooker Shredded Beef

3 lbs. Beef Chuck Roast
2 tbs. Minced Garlic
1/2 Cup chopped Onion
2 tbs. Lemon Juice
1 Cup of Water
2 Bay Leaves
1tbs. Cumin
1tbs. Oregano
3 Chipotle Peppers
Salt & Pepper
Oil

In a food processor puree the garlic, onion, lemon juice, cumin, oregano, and chipotle peppers. Set aside. Generously salt and pepper the beef. In a large pan heat some olive oil and sear the beef on both sides to seal in the juices. Place beef in crockpot along with the pepper puree, 1 cup of water and bay leaves. Cook in low for 6 hours. Once finished remove meat leaving juices in crockpot and shred in a bowl. Add salt, pepper and cumin if needed and then put back in crockpot with juices and simmer for another 15 minutes.


Serve in warm corn tortillas with mashed avocado, sour cream, and cheese.

We had meat leftover so the following night I made Enchiladas using the shredded beef as the filling.

I also made my own Enchilada sauce instead of the canned I usually by. It was so much better then the canned stuff I am no longer going to purchase.

Enchilada Sauce

In a large glass bowl whisk together 1/4 cup of corn, canola or vegetable oil, 2 tbs. flour, an 8oz can of tomato sauce, 1/4 cup of chili powder, 1/4 tsp. garlic salt, 1/4 tsp onion powder, 1/4 tsp. cumin, 1 1/2 cups of water, and salt to taste.