Bento if the week 1

I love packaging bentos (japanese lunchbox), lunchboxes, dosirak's (korean lunchbox), etc. First off, I use the same 2 containers for lunch, so I know how to portion out by eyeballing them, taking out a lot of guesswork. Second, they are so easy to put together. If you have ever opened the fridge that belongs to a Korean family who cooks at home, you will find various containers full of banchan, which are side dishes. I'm sure you've seen these at any Korean restaurant. This bento would be vegetarian except I used ebi fume furikake, which contains shrimp. I don't fill up on rice, I try to fill up on vegetables first, which is what the sea tangle is for. My mom forages for this in the Pacific Northwest, but I'd advise going with a seasoned forager or expert, never assume wild seaweed is safe to eat unless you are sure of it. Also, be aware of seasons and changing waters, as they can contain many toxic waters.

I didn't have a banana for scale, but this box seems fairly small. It's actually the size of my hand, and the chopsticks are kid sized. I got them both from Daiso, and they fit perfectly in a bag I also I got from Daiso, a Japanese discount store.

I won't leave instructions on how to make each individual item, I just wanted to leave a description of what I used in the box. Sorry for the mixed measurements below, I just happen to know them off hand, but they don't match...

100 grams of steamed short grain rice

1 TBSP of furikake

100 grams of sea tangle

3 oz of pan fried extra firm tofu

1 TBSP spicy soy sauce mix

1 oz cucumber kimchi

Stir Fry Tempeh Salad

Tempeh is one of things "scary" vegetarian/vegan foods that people are afraid to try, including myself. I did a 30 day vegan challenge last year that led me to try tempeh. After all, when you are trying new things, why not try new things. I purchased one from Central Market, and health food store in Shoreline, and one from Trader Joes. Both had a beigy/grey color to the tempeh out of the pacakge, that looks pretty unsatisfying. It has a slight smell it as well, related to the fermented soy beans. I heated a frying pan and added a little oil and fried sliced pieces until browned on one side before flipping and browning the other side. The result is a flavorful looking piece of protein. Adding a little soy sauce adds a lot of flavor, but I decided to give this vegetarian mushroom flavored stir-fry sauce a try with it, and resulted in almost a teriyaki flavored protein. It was really good. I dare you to try tempeh, you'll be pleasantly surprised! Even my mom gave it a try and like it.

I used the tempeh in a salad along with some steamed vegetables. For dressing, I could have used any asian flavored type of dressing, but I tried it with ranch and it tasted fine. I found the Vegetarian mushroom flavored stir-fry sauce at a local asian superfood store.

STIR FRY TEMPEH SALAD

makes 2 servings

1 package of tempeh

1-2 TBSP EVOO, separated

1-2 TBSP Vegetarian Mushroom Flavored Stir-Fry Sauce

Mixed salad greens

steamed or stir-fried vegetables

1. Open tempeh package and slice into even number.
2. Heat a frying pan to medium high and EVOO.
3. Add sliced tempeh to heated pan and stir fry, allow it to brown on once side before turning, about 3-4 minutes each side. Add stir fry sauce and flip once more.
4. Cool the tempeh and put together salad portion: steam or stir-fry vegetables such as carrots, broccoli, onion, and snap peas. 
5. Once all ingredients are cooled, put salad mix on the bottom of container, along with the vegetables and then top with tempeh. Use any dressing you'd like.

Pizza Margherita

 

I had a sudden craving for pizza on Sunday, and instead of waiting for dinner time, we decided to have it for lunch. A quick drive over to Trader Joes, and 20 minutes later, we had fresh whole wheat pizza dough ready to be used. The dough comes in a plastic bag, and already wet. You can find it in the refrigerated section, usually around the vegetables and dips section. Let the dough settle out of the bag for 20 minutes and its ready to use. We split half the dough and made a pizza for two, and used the rest to make twelve mini pizzas for snacks later. I stuffed the flattened mini pizza dough into muffin tins and added the same toppings. They crisped up better and we are definitely going to make them for the next potluck we go to.

 

The last photo on the right shows lots of extra cheese, which is a result of a fiancé who loves cheese more than he loves me and he sprinkled a handful of shredded mozzarella on top of everything, something purely optional to do.

 

I wasn't really taking measurements so the amounts listed below are best guesses. I couldn't find the baking instructions for the dough on the Trader Joes bag, so I guessed 400 degrees F and baked about 15 minutes, maybe a few extra,. until the dough had turned a little brown and the cheese had a few brown spots and was completely melted. Another option for making pizza is throwing it on a gas grill. This is a really easy way to bake your pizza without getting your home warm during the summer time and the crust always turns out amazing. If you do grill, throw the dough on the grill first, giving it time to bake, and then put the ingredients on top to melt together.

 

PIZZA MARGHERITA

 

 

 

1/2 bag of Trader Joes whole wheat pizza dough

1 cup canned tomato sauce

1 TBSP tomato paste

3 TBSP basil, julienned

1/2 roma tomato, sliced

5 slices of fresh mozzarella cheese

drizzle of olive oil

few turns of freshly cracked black pepper

 

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Prepare the pizza dough by letting it settle for 20 minutes at room temperature.
3. Prepare the pizza sauce by mixing the tomato sauce with the tomato paste. Set aside.
4. Prepare basil, tomato and mozzarella and set aside.
5. On a floured surface, roll out the prepared pizza dough, moving from the center out. Make the dough as even as possible.
6. With a large spoon, scoop the pizza sauce on top of the dough, moving from center toward the outer edge. Leave about 1/2" space between the edge of the pizza dough.
7. Lay tomato slices, and then some basil, and then the mozzarella, in that order. Sprinkle remaining basil on top.
8. Drizzle a little olive oil on top of everything and add some freshly cracked black pepper.
9. Bake the pizza for at least 12-20 minutes, depending on the strength of your oven and thickness of your dough. For crispier crust, bake until the edges turn a light brown and the cheese has a few brown spots.

 

 

Kimchi Ramen

Do you know what Koreans love to eat? Ramen. Spicy broth, wavy noodles, bits of vegetables and sometimes and egg. It's a bit chilly in Seattle today, so the soupy goodness goes well with the weather. The great part about ramen is that you can add almost anything you want to it. Normally I will an egg to the pot while its still bubbling, and give everything a quick stir. This will make the broth a little creamy in consistency. Today I decided to poach the egg instead, just for fun. I used the Food Networks instructions to poach the egg, found here.

The stone pot used here is used for soup and stews in Korean cooking. You can find one in a Korean market for about $5. Get the tray that is usually sold separately. This pot gets REALLY hot and I have burned through a couple pot holders on accident. 

This recipe can be made vegan by omitting the egg and using cubed tofu instead. If using the poached egg, start the egg water at the same time as the soup broth.

Check your kimchi to see if any fish products were used to make it (shrimp paste, fish sauce, etc). Vegan kimchi is often found on refrigerated store shelves, even in American ones.  If using kimchi (kimchee), the trick to well flavored kimchi food is making sure its fermented well. Normally, store bought kimchi is fermented yet still considered "fresh". If you let it age a little, the flavor deepens and the cabbage gets a little softer. In the fridge it can take a week or so, so if you are in a rush, take out some kimchi and leave it in an air tight container (don't use plastic, the smell will never come out) in the kitchen. It'll usually age in a day or so. 

Here, I halved the ramen noodles from a Neoguri package. Shin Ramen noodles also work really well. The noodles in these two packages are a little thicker than the kind you usually see in American stores (think Top Ramen). If you look at the nutritional information on the ramen packages, you'll notice that one package is for two servings, therefore I halved the noodles for this recipe. You can toss the flavoring package or give it someone who likes using it. The flavoring package normally contains some sort of meat flavoring product.

KIMCHI RAMEN

2 CUPS of water

1 tsp vegetable base

1 tsp garlic, minced

1/4 CUP aged kimchi, sliced

1 serving of ramen noodles

1 stalk of green onion, sliced

1 medium or large egg (optional)

1. Bring water to a boil. If using stone pot, bring the water up to medium heat first before going medium high. 
2. Once water is boiling, add the vegetable broth and garlic and bring to boil again. 
3. Add the noodles and kimchi to the broth. 
4. Once the noodles soften, add the green onions and egg.

Avocado Egg Quesadilla

Sunday mornings means there is a little extra time to spend on things you enjoy. Some may use this time as a recovery period for Saturday night's antics. Today I want to take the time to enjoy breakfast, but since my breakfast didn't take very long to make, I have more time to do something else I enjoy!

I woke up to several avocado toast recipes on Facebook and knowing I had two avocados who were "no longer useful beyond a spread", according to my fiance, I knew I needed to incorporate avocado's this morning. We don't usually buy loaves of bread, but we still have tortilla wraps left! I think eggs and avocado are amazing on a large, thinly sliced piece of bread but this will do. Creamy avocado and a fluffy egg with a few turns of the pepper mill, along with a mug of green tea was a great way to start the day.

AVOCADO EGG QUESADILLA

1/2 ripe avocado

fresh cracked black pepper, to taste

1 medium or large egg

1 Don Poncho Ancient Grains tortilla wrap

1. Wash the avocado skin and cut avocado in half. Remove the avocado from the skin and spread onto half of the tortilla. 
2. Add freshly cracked black pepper to the top of the avocados.
3. Fry an egg on medium heat until fully cooked. Add cooked egg on top of the avocados.
4. Fold the tortilla in half and lightly press with spatula. Allow to toast on this side for 10 or more seconds and flip, repeating on the other side.
5. Enjoy it cut or whole, with your favorite morning beverage.

Breakfast Quesadilla

My mom is a forager, this means she will collect wild edibles for our family's consumption. She was out in the Oslo area when she came across an egg stand selling organic eggs. They were so colorful and our family consumes a lot of eggs, so she bought two dozen and brought them home. It's kind of a waste to use them in something that I end up freezing, but I used a few to make one of my favorite breakfast meal preps: the breakfast quesadilla.

Normally I make 8 of these at a time, but I stuck to 3 this week. Just learned from work we are going on furlough, so we'll be working less hours per week to keep the company afloat. This is definitely the time I should be saving money by preparing food from home. Good thing I already do! I like to fill up on protein and fiber during breakfast, and eggs are one of the easiest ways to fill up on protein. I get whole wheat wraps to get the fiber. 

BREAKFAST QUESADILLA

2 eggs per quesadilla

1 oz cheese per quesadilla

1 Don Poncho Ancient Grain Whole grain tortilla

1. Crack 2 eggs into a heated skillet right next to each other, on medium low. Break the yolk in the center and once whites have set, flip the eggs together. 
2. Once eggs have cooked completely, lift the eggs together with a flat spatula, and place the tortilla in the heated pan. Flip the tortilla after 10 seconds and sprinkle half of the cheese on half of the tortilla. 
3. Place the eggs on top of the cheese and sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top of the eggs. 
4. Fold the tortilla over the eggs and cheese and press. Heat for at least 10 seconds and flip the quesadilla, pressing and cooking at least 10 seconds on the other side.
5. Move the quesadilla to a clean plate and allow to cool. Continue with other quesadillas. 
6. Wrap the cooled quesadillas in plastic so no air is in the package. Freeze and enjoy for up to 3 weeks.

Breakfast Wraps - Southwest style

I'm not sure what happened to my post, but I wrote one for this breakfast wrap and its missing! oh well. 

Long story short: Making breakfast wraps in bulk and freezing them will save you a lot of time. Most of my breakfast foods come in either dry or frozen form to guarantee it doesn't go bad in the near future and I'll have a steady supply with me to eat at work. 

I rotate between several types of breakfast wraps, depending on my ingredients on hand and what might be on sale at the store. You can add black beans for added protein and fiber, different kinds of cheeses or vegetables to keep your taste buds guessing and your stomach happy in the morning. 

I'm leaving instructions here on the bulk recipe to make a total of 8 frozen wraps. 

BREAKFAST WRAP - SOUTHWEST STYLE

16 medium or large eggs, scrambled

1/2 red bell pepper, diced

1/2 yellow bell pepper, diced

1/4 large onion, diced

handful of baby spinach/kale

1/2 cup Mexican blend cheese, shredded

8 whole wheat tortilla (Don Poncho Ancient Grain 100 calorie wraps)

1. Crack all 16 eggs into a medium bowl and mix well. Heat a large skillet to medium and add oil. Pour entire egg mixture into pan and scramble - push the bottom layer of egg that cooks aside before it stiffens too much and allow uncooked egg layer to cover the bottom of the pan. Do this until all eggs are cooked. Set eggs aside in clean bowl to allow to cool.
2. Stir fry vegetables in large skillet over medium high until tender and moister has evaporated. If any water collects on bottom of pan, remove it at the end and move cooked vegetables to clean bowl and allow to cool.
3. Once ingredients have cooled, arrange the wraps. Lightly warm the tortilla wrap until soft in a skillet, move tortilla wrap to clean surface. On top of tortilla, add several baby kale/spinach leaves,   2 large spoonfuls of egg, 2 regular spoonfuls of vegetables, and a sprinkle of cheese.
4. Tightly wrap everything burrito style. Take a plastic wrap and tightly wrap everything, Repeat until all ingredients are used. 
5. Place the wraps in the freezer overnight. 

To Heat: Place wrap on microwave safe dish, heat 2:30 minutes. Heat another 1:30 minutes and allow to cool a little before eating.

Veggie Patty Burger Salad

Meal prepping will save you time, but some recipes take longer than others. This is a quick go to meal I create on Sunday evening and simply love. I try to not to make more than I can eat in three days, since most of the components are made of fresh ingredients. I consider this one of the unhealthier things I eat because the patty's are store-bought (sodium!) but you could make your own pattys and freeze them for use later. I do most of my grocery shopping on Saturday or Sunday so my veggies are fresh for the upcoming week. You can easily make this salad vegan by using vegan cheese and dressings.

Large salad boxes are cheaper at wholesale stores such as Sams Club, a store I frequent nearly weekly. I spend about $4.48 on a 16 oz (1 lb) box of organic baby kale mix, versus Fred Meyer where a 12 oz box might go for $4.99. Since they are already cleaned and prepared, they are great to have at home. 

For the salads pictured below, I purchased Morning Star's Spicy Buffalo Chik'n patty, and their Spicy Black Bean Burger patty. My fiance loves the Spicy Chik'n one's the most, he thinks they taste better than the real thing!

I purchased the black to-go looking containers off of Amazon and they are great for meal prepping. Make several meals and you can grab and go in the morning, or trade meals if you have someone else who likes to meal prep too. Ingredients below pertain to 3 salads. Separate ingredients between the salad containers.

VEGGIE PATTY BURGER SALAD

handfuls of salad mix (kale or spinach is best)

1/2 cup red cabbage, thinly shredded

1/4  cup onion, thiny sliced

1/4 yellow bell pepper, sliced

1-2 roma tomato, sliced

1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese

 veggie patty of choice

2 TBSP of light ranch per salad

1. Add a layer of salad to the bottom of the container.
2. Add the rest of the vegetables in layers, sprinkling the top with the shredded cheese.
3. Cook the patty's to the package instructions (we pan fried them) and allow to cool before slicing.
4. Placed sliced patty's on top of vegetables and add some dressing to the top if eating the same day or in a separate small container if eating on a later date.

Steamed Eggs and Kale

I'm seeing a lot of posts about anti Cinco De Mayo celebrations today. It's the hats, maracas, people drinking and eating tacos with no idea what the day is actually about. I'm still educating myself about it and I encourage you to as well. Sometimes we just go through the motions of holidays and celebrations for the festivities but we forget about the origins.
I DID throw a little salsa on top of my eggs this morning, but that was because we made some homemade salsa the other night (completely unrelated to today) and I think salsa tastes great on eggs.

Here's a quick breakfast recipe, something I don't write about often. I really believe in getting a good breakfast to set the foundation for the rest of the days eating. Since I'm home today, I can make breakfast fresh, but normally I meal prep a week or two's worth of AM meals and have them ready for me at work. This way it's a no brainer to have breakfast and I don't have to stress about it every morning!

STEAMED EGGS AND KALE

1 TBSP EVOO

2 cups baby kale mix

2 medium or large eggs

1 oz shredded mozzarella cheese

Salt and pepper to taste

Water to steam

1. Heat a frying pan to medium heat and add EVOO.
2. Stir the kale and let it wilt. Add drops of water to steam kale.
3. Crack each egg on top of bed of kale, allowing the bottom to set a bit. Once the bottom looks like it's set, add cheese to top of eggs and add more water to the pan and cover with lid, allowing the eggs to steam. Add more water if tops of eggs are not set and continue to steam.
4. Once tops of eggs have set, remove lid and slide kale and egg to plate.
5. Serve with some salt and pepper, or top with homemade salsa and a side of fruit.

Italian Wedding Soup

I've been a LITTLE busy last couple years, working on becoming a RN. As a result, I've neglected this little blog that no one reads. I still eat a primarily vegetarian diet,  but I've toyed more with veganism in the process. I even went vegan for a whole month sometime in 2015! It was huge learning curve and I enjoyed the many things I've learned from that experience. I continue to get surprised today as I find more delicious vegan recipes and learn that there are a lot of people interested in the world of veganism.

Recently, I was reading Brunette Ambition by Lea Michele, who plays talented Rachel Berry on Glee and herself in her whirlwind life. Lea and I have a lot of eating similarities, we eat as vegetarians/vegans most of the time. She was kind of enough to include some tasty recipes in her book, one of them I tried right away. Her Italian Wedding Soup is vegan (without the parmesan cheese sprinkled on top at the end) and is full of flavor. You won't even notice its vegan because its so hearty. I may want to try this recipe later with some barley added in.

I made about 8 servings out of this recipe, two were eaten for dinner and the rest was frozen for lunches later in the week. Please be sure to fully cool the soup before bagging anything. Scoop portion into freezer safe ziplock bag and lay flat to freeze. They hardly take up any space this way. I'm big on meal prepping now: it saves time and resources, I get to eat good food, and it's much healthier than anything from the shelves at the supermarket. This soup is super easy to make, freezes well and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Yay for Lea!

The recipe below was slightly modified to work with what I had in my kitchen.

VEGAN ITALIAN WEDDING SOUP

3 TBSP extra Virgin olive oil

4 carrots, chopped

4 stalks of celery, chopped

4 cloves of garlic, minced

1/2 large onion, chopped

8 cups vegetable broth

1 to 2 pinches of salt

1 to 2 pinches of pepper

1 to pinches of red pepper flakes

Juice of 3 lemons

3 to 4 unpeeled russet potatoes, cubed

1 bunch of kale, de-stemmed and chopped

16 oz dried green lentils (or 2 cans of 15oz prepared lentils)

Water to cook lentils

parmesan cheese (optional)

1. Cover bottom of a pan with olive oil and heat to medium.
2. Add the carrots, celery, garlic, onion and a pinch of salt and pepper and saute until vegetables are soft and tender, about 5-10 minutes.
3. In a separate pot, bring vegetable broth to a boil, then reduce heat to low. 
• I used about 6 TSPS of Organic Better Than Bouillon Vegetable Broth
4. Add the sauteed vegetables to broth and cook on low for 30 minutes.
5. Add a bit more salt and pepper, pepper flakes, and lemon juice to taste.
6. Add the potatoes and cook for 15 minutes.
7. If using dried lentils: The lentils will swell so be sure to account for that in the pot size.
• Wash and rinse the lentils. Add double triple amount of water to lentils in the pot and bring to a boil. Lower heat to low and let it simmer and absorb the water until fully cooked, about 15-20 minutes.
8. Stir in the kale and cooked lentils and cook for an additional 15 minutes.
• I prefer buying dried lentils and cooking them, but you can substitute with 2 (15 oz) cans of prepared lentils.
9. (optional) Top soup with parmesan cheese.

I'm Back!

Long story short, life happened. I'm in finishing up my RN program and posting to blogs really took a back seat. During the time I was missing, I continued to cook and think veggies. A huge focus toward fulfilling daily nutrient needs in addition to eating more vegetables became my daily routine. With the lack of time, I gravitated toward meal planning and it's really been a life saver. How can I learn and teach about health when I'm not taking care of myself? I can't thrive on protein bars and vending machine food.

In the process, I've really stepped up my veg-food game. Does this mean I'm torching veggies over hot coals and climbing mountains to locate a rare spice? 

No. Nobody has time for that. I've simply altered my cooking style to easy, pretty, tasty, healthy and usually just fun. I hope it reflects in the following posts from now on. 

Looking back on some of the recipes, I definitely have grown as a cook and as a (mostly) vegetarian. I'll be uploading posts more regularly and hope you get some benefit out of them.

A fun photo of a friend who volunteered with me at the 2016 Veg Fest in Seattle. We were the black bean dip girls.