Stress Relief Bento

I got a pretty stressed out call from my best friend last week. I can't blame her for wanting to yank out her hair out by the fistful... she's a full time student finishing her masters, a full time mom and full time planning her wedding. Any one of those could at different times warrant a massive breakdown that leaves you in a pile of soggy tissues and empty candy wrappers. She wasn't quite that bad, but I did immediately begin trying to think of some way to be helpful.

As usual, I turned to food. It seemed far more reasonable than going all Edward Cullen on her and standing over her to make sure she sleeps. (someday I will treat you all to my full anti-Twilight rant... but today is not that day) And there's not a darn thing I can help her with relating to her class work, not if I want to help her pass. BUT, she loves Japanese food perhaps even more than I do, so making her a bento was a no-brainer. And I swear, one day soon I'll get a real camera.

Grapes - Avocado - sliced cucumber -
baby carrots - onigiri

Potentially Not Obvious How To Elements:

• Onigiri (rice balls): The method I used is from Just Bento, but I didn't put any filling in them. I wasn't sure how long she'd have to carry it around in her backpack, so I figured just rice was good. I decorated them with seaweed and black sesame seeds.
• Avocado: Sprinkled with lemon juice and a tiny bit of salt and wrapped it in plastic wrap to keep it from going brown too fast.

Stress Relief Miracle Cure

Remember how I said I would be lighthearted most of the time? Now I'm going to prove it to you! I've been interning with a congressional campaign in my district. The primaries are tomorrow which means it's way past crunch time and I've been a little stressed today. I'd love to share all the crazy details that go into coordinating a grassroots campaign with youth volunteers... but the competition might spy out this post. :) Finally at the end of my day, tired and gross feeling, I flopped into a chair to have dinner.

Still waiting for the light-heartedness? Here we go.

After a plateful of pasta primavera, I found my last Oreo truffle waiting for me in the freezer! I'm not sure where to begin describing this fantastically easy dessert... it's something like "hmmmm....nom nom nom....sigh"! I'd like to share it with you in all its chocolaty glory...

Ingredients:

1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened

1 pkg. (or 3 sleeves if you buy a family sized box:) of finely crushed Oreo cookies

2 pkg. (8 squares) of baking chocolate, melted

Just crush up your Oreos finely - I like to put them in a large ziplock bag and take a rolling pin to the bag! Then take your softened cream cheese and mix it and the cookie crumbs into a batter. Then roll it into little balls and set them aside. Melt your chocolate and dip the truffles in the chocolate, coating them fully and evenly. Using two forks to hold the truffles works best for me. Then set them on a pan, pop them in the freezer and let them set for at least an hour.

If you want to get fancy, drizzle them with melted white or dark chocolate, sprinkle them with extra cookie crumbs, coffee grinds, or whatever you want! Also, try making the whole batch with Mint Oreos.

WARNING - These Oreo truffles are highly delicious, incredibly rich, and disturbingly addictive. However, they are the best stress cure I know and go great with girls nights!