Bento #19 June 27, 2008

I have a long day at work today, so I made myself a pretty big bento for lunch. I made it in the theme of the sea, with octopus smart dogs and a little apple fishy. Sadly the fish is hard to make out in the picture.

It has vegan mac & cheese with peas, raw spinach, 2 mini octodogs, green apple, and some almonds. This morning I remembered I still have some edamame in the freezer, so I cooked some of that up and added it with the spinach for an extra snack (so it’s not pictured).

I have already eaten most of this bento and it was really good. I’m really liking my new Lock & Lock bento too because it’s easy to take part of it out to heat up with is very convenient.

Bento #18 June 26, 2008

Yesterday Jason and I went to an oriental market that we had never been to before. It was large and I found lots of interesting things there and even got a few! I got some loose jasmine tea (my favorite), kimchi pot stickers, all sorts of canned mock meats (I thought they’d be interesting to try), and a Lock & Lock bento box. I even talked my boyfriend into getting one so I could make bentos for him and he wouldn’t have to worry about using one of my cutesy ones. So of course I had to them to make us bentos for lunch today.
So here they are! Jason found a ginger drink he wanted to try so I added that to the picture. Sadly is has honey so it’s not vegan, but it looks cool anyways.

I made matching bentos for us, they both had brown rice with furikake, kimchi potstickers, black beans, and avocado. I just got finished with mine and it was very good. The Lock & Lock boxes are much larger than I’m used to though, so I couldn’t finish everything like usual. It was nice being able to heat my food in the microwave though, my other two boxes aren’t microwave safe.

And here’s a closeup of the ginger inside the bottle.

Quick and Easy Black Beans June 26, 2008

Yesterday evening I wanted a simple snack, but I hadn’t been at my apartment in a while so there wasn’t much to choose from. When I found a can of beans I knew I was in luck since they’re my favorite type of bean.

Here’s how they turned out.

Quick and Easy Black Beans

1 can whole black beans
1/4 onion, chopped
1/4 bell pepper, chopped
1/2 tsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 tsp paprika
1/8 tsp cayenne *optional

In a medium saucepan, add olive oil and chopped onion and bell pepper. Once they have softened some, add the can of beans including the juice. If you want more soupy type beans, add a can of water, if not, just add half a can of water. Add spices and cook down until it is hot and becomes the desired consistency.

I ate mine with a piece of pita and it hit the spot!

One Dish Wonder June 24, 2008

Whenever I’m craving something really healthy and filling, I always turn to this dish. It’s called one dish wonder because it’s so healthy and very easy to make.

One Dish Wonder

1 cup rice (brown is the best)
1 can stewed tomatoes
1 can black or kidney beans
1/2 small onion
1/2 bell pepper
1 garlic clove
1 tsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
cayenne to taste (if you like spicy food)

Get the rice cooking. While that’s going on, cut up your onion, garlic and bell pepper. In a medium/large sizes skillet heat up some olive oil and throw in the vegetables you just cut up. Once they are soft, drain the beans and add them in. When they are heated up, add the rice and the can of stewed tomatoes (with juice). Add spices and cook down until the liquid is gone.

This recipe is also nice because it is very easy to add whatever you like and have on hand. I’ve made it with corn, lentils, and anything else that seems like it would go well with the rice.

Bento #17 June 24, 2008

I had my 21st birthday this weekend, so I didn’t have time to make any bentos, but today I needed one for lunch. I used some leftovers from last night (as usual) and made a fruit salad to go with it. I also found some Smart Dogs hiding in the freezer, so I thawed those out and fried one up. Then I cut it into a little octopus (quadpus?). I think the fried part looks like the texture of an octopus too.

On the right there’s mashed potatoes, peas, garlic bread and a smart dog. On the left there’s a fruit salad with grapes, cantaloupe, and strawberries. There’s also a little container with raw almonds.

Bento #16 June 20, 2008

I used leftovers again for this bento. We had leftover vegan mac n cheese and asparagus so I added that in. I cut up some apple and put some raw almonds and dried fruit in there to accompany it. After I put everything in I realized it probably would have worked out better if I put the mac and cheese and the asparagus together and the apple with  the almonds/fruit, but I didn’t want too much asparagus so I guess it worked out fine.

Bento #15 June 19, 2008

Here’s the bento I made last night for my lunch today. I used some leftovers from dinner and then made a fruit salad to accompany it. I added some furikake that I found that is vegan on the noodles and put some baby lima beans and cut some corn off the cob from dinner. For the fruit salad, I used some fresh strawberries and cantaloupe and put some dried fruit and raw almonds in a baking cup. Raw almonds are so good, when I went to the store the other day I had to get some to go with the dried fruit.

It looks really good and I can’t wait for lunch to come to eat it!

Bento #14 June 18, 2008

I made this bento for my lunch on Monday, but I’ve been busy and haven’t got to post it until now. I have a bento made already for tomorrow, but I shall post that in the morning.

For this I found some old onion and potato pierogies in the freezer that needed to be eaten. So I boiled some water and threw 4 in and some edamame. I really like snacking on the edamame, I was crazy for never buying some before. While the pierogies and edamame were cooking, I cut up a carrot and some apple and put some hummus and ketchup in the bento.

I didn’t warm this bento up when I ate it for lunch. The pierogies were okay cold, but they would have been better re-warmed. Everything else was great room temperature though.

Bento #13 June 16, 2008

I made lunch for my friend/coworker and I on Saturday. We normally have lunch provided but I think it would be nice to have a yummy bento instead. They’re a little different because my friend doesn’t like many foods.
First here’s hers

It has green beans, edamame, carrots, hummus w/ sesame seeds on top, and sliced apple.

And here’s mine

It has a little more because my friend was also going to eat a sandwich. It leftovers from the cool noodle salad I made, edamame, apple, carrots, hummus, and green beans. The little container on top has some dried fruit that we shared.

Noodle Salad June 12, 2008

Last night I over indulged in alcohol, and therefore am still kind of blah. I wanted to make something for Jason and I for dinner though. So I came up with this cool salad to help combat the heat and our hangovers. Jason doesn’t really enjoy pasta salads, but he said it turned out good.

Noodle Salad

2 servings of noodle (your choice, I used asian style noodles)
1/4 cup bell pepper, diced
1/4 cup onion, diced
1/2 cup sweet snap peas
1/2 cup chickpeas
1 tsp sesame oil
salt and pepper to taste

Boil noodles. While they are cooking cut your bell pepper and onion and get the other ingredients together. Once noodles are cooked, drain them and rinse them with cold water until they cool. Once all the water is drained off, add the all the other ingredients and mix well. You can use other beans/veggies depending on your taste.