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.

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.

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.

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.