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As a veggie I end up eating an aweful lot of salad. Unfortunately, I don’t care much for lettuce (well, at least the regular iceburg kind – I find it bland). So I try to be as creative as possible, or find a decent dressing. I brought this little spinach salad to friend’s house as my contribution to dinner. The salad is raw baby spinach, roasted almonds, strawberry and orange pieces, and on the side were parmasan bits to add. The dressing was equal parts balsamic and olive oil, with 2 tbsp orange juice. Simple, yes. Tasty, also yes. Leftovers, a resounding no.
When life takes over, its hard to keep up. I’ve missed my fresh tasting bento lunches and after making batches of ready-for-bento staples I was very exited to have this one for lunch. In the top tier are banana and kiwi flowers, blackberries, and apple rabbits. In the bottom tier is a sesame-soy whole wheat pasta salad.
Sesame-Soy Pasta Salad
- 2 cups cooked whole wheat pasta
- 1 carrot, diced
- 1 stalk celery, diced
- 2 scallions, sliced thin
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp sesame oil
- 2 tsp ground ginger
Mix all ingredients. Simple, no? What can I say, I like my lunch prep to be fast and easy.
Lately i’ve been in the mood for simple dinners: salads, sandwiches, and soups. Canned veggie soups are fairly limited in my local grocery store, and lets face it, fresh and homemade taste better anyways (even if some of them can be a pain in the butt to make). This one was, surprisingly, not a pain in the butt. Potato leek soup was something that was often on the menu at the cafeteria for my school in the UK, and it was just the thing to keep you warm and full in the winter. This recipe isn’t exactly what I remember, but it brings back great memories.
Potato Leek Soup
- 1 Leek, sliced thin
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp butter
- 4 potatoes, cut in small cubes
- 3 cups water (or milk)
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 1 tsp thyme
- salt and pepper to taste
In the pot, saute leek and garlic in butter. Add potatoes and liquid and bring to a boil. Cook until potato is tender. Blend until smooth. Stir in sour cream and seasonings. You can serve topped with cheese, green onion, and bacon (if you’re a carnivore like D.)
Two delicious bentos for two different people, all tied up in one photo! Its like a two for one, only better. And, my lunch was the best because of the tofu. After experimenting, i made grilled honey terriyaki tofu to great success at dinner, and it was even better with my soba. I used the same marinade/sauce chicken for D, but even he agreed the tofu was superior (score!).
In the yellow bento (my lunch) are soba noodles with sauce container, honey terriyaki grilled tofu, edamame, grapes, pomagranate arils, and kiwi slices. In the blue bento (D’s snack pack) are soba noodles with sauce container, veggie gyoza, grapes, pomagranate arils, and kiwi stars.
Honey Terriyaki Marinade/Sauce
- 1/2 cup terriyaki sauce
- 2 tbsp honey
- 1/4 cup rice vinegar
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp grated ginger
mix together. marinate for at least ten minutes. cook. yummy
It was so hot last weekend that it barely felt like October. I also didn’t feel like cooking (again – heat and overtime will do that to you), so this was perfect to put together: easy and cool. I made cold sesame noodles, miso marinated chicken for D, and heated up some cream cheese wontons and veggie eggrolls I had stuck in the freezer. It really hit the spot!
Miso Chicken (ala Maki from Just Hungry & Just Bento)
for every 1 medium chicken thigh…
- 1 tbsp white miso
- 1 tbsp sake
- 1/2 tsp brown sugar
Let marinate 10 minutes to over night in a plastic bag. I grilled them in a pan on the stove, flipping once. Being a veggie, I don’t eat them, but they keep D the carnivore happy.
I have a problem with ravioli. I’ve never liked your typical varieties, i.e. meat or cheese. They just always seemed heavy and fairly bland apart from the sauce they were drenched in. Maybe i just never had good ravioli.
I much prefer a savoury squash or vegetable filling, which I why I thought, why not use courgette? I scoured my recipe books and the internet and after coming up short, I deceided to do what I usually end up doing anyways, make stuff up and pretend that I know what i’m doing! These garlicy roasted courgette filled wonton ravioli were excellent, and the shallot-balsamic-olive oil sauce was a simple compliment. The only request from D was to make more next time!
Roasted courgette wonton ravioli
- package wonton wrappers
- 2 cups courgette (zucchini) in chunks
- 1 head garlic
- 1 cup sliced shallots
- 1/2 cup olive oil, plus
- 1/2 cup balsamic vinnegar
- 2 tbsp basil
- 1 tbsp sugar
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 tomatoes, chopped
Put chunks of courgette and cloves of garlic from a whole head in aluminum foil wrap with a drizzle of olive oils and roast at 345F for about 1/2 an hour until all is tender. Purree courgette and garlic with 1 tbsp basil and a little salt until smooth.
To assemble ravioli, brush two wonton wrappers with water. Put about a tbsp of filling in the center of one, placing the second wrapper on top. press down edges, trying to get as much air out as possible. seal edges by applying pressure with a fork. Drop in boiling water for about 5 minutes until done.
In a sauce pan carmelize shallots in a little olive oil. Add tomatoes, basil, and sugar. Mix in balsamic vinnegar, olive oil, and salt and pepper. Drizzle over finished ravioli
More free courgette (aka zucchini) from a coworker, means an excuse to make even more courgette dishes, and some again! Last night I made baked courgette fries again as a side dish for with the hotdogs (and tofu pups!) we had for dinner. This can only mean one thing… courgette fries for bento!
In the top tier of D’s bento are baked courgette fries with honey mustard dipping sauce. The bottom tier has sliced mango, dates, and pie glazed pecans (no, really! they taste like pecan pie!). Again, this proves that leftovers are perfect fodder for bento. Actually, leftovers are perfect fodder for any meal (I had some for breakfast, too).
Originally uploaded by mosli
Nothing tastes more like childhood to me than grilled corn on the cob. Every summer my gramps and gramms, my dad, Gpa and Gma, and everyone else would go to the state’s fair. We’d see the animals and exhibitions, browse the games and rides, and take a lap around all the food options before making that final decision. One thing that always made the list was fresh, smokey, roasted corn on the cob (brought to you by the Lions club). Holding the stripped back husk like a handle, that first bite of sweet and salty corn cannot be duplicated.
Grilled corn on the cob
Select as many cobs of corn with the husks intact and soak them in a bucket of water until they are fully saturated and no longer float. Place them on a medium grill with the lid down and turn them every 10 minutes for 30 mintues, keeping an eye on the husks so that they do not burn. To eat, peel back the husk and enjoy. I like them with the standard butter and salt, but they are also delicious with garlic salt or balsamic vinegar and olive oil. yum!
Originally uploaded by mosli
This one was a fun challenge for me. I don’t have much experience preparing African foods, even though I love the flavours when I’ve had the opportunity to try it. The only thing from this dinner that i’ve made before is the fried plantains (sooo good and the perfect sweet accompanyment for the spices and savoury of the other dishes).
Placed on top of homemade injera (sort of), clockwise from the bottom is groundnut stew, fried plantains, red lentil stew, and spiced green beans with almonds centered around steamed rice.
Using this recipe from Congo Cookbook as a guideline for the Groundnut Stew, I made a vegan version.
- 2 sweet potatoes, cubed
- 1 medium aubergine (eggplant), cubed
- 1 bell pepper, chopped
- 1 onion, chopped fine
- 1 chili pepper, chopped fine
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped fine
- 1 inch ginger, chopped fine
- 2 tomatoes, chopped
- 2 tbsp oil
- 1 tsp corriander
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 1/2 cups veggie broth
- 1 cup natural unsalted peanut butter
- salt and pepper to taste
Steam sweet potato chunks and set aside. in a large pot saute onion, garlic, chili, ginger and tomato until all ingredients are well mixed and onions are translucent. Mix in spices, salt, and pepper. Mix in aubergine, sweet potato, and green pepper. Add veggie broth and bring to simmer. Once aubergine begins to soften, stir in peanut butter and simmer over low heat until all vegetables are tender. Serve with rice or injera.
Peanut… peanut butter, and spinach! I’m all for finding new ways to use my favourite spreadable food. I peanut butter in cookies, breads, grits (no, really – my Zimbabwe friend got me into that one), and as a pasta sauce. I guess that’s another reason why I love this new dish of curried peanut butter spinach. The influence is kind of African, and its darn tasty.
On the right is some steamed rice with furikake. On the left are mango chunks, steamed potatoes and carrots, and curried peanut butter spinach
Curried Peanut Butter Spinach
- 1 lb spinach
- 1/2 onion, sliced fine
- 1/2 cup coconut milk
- 2 tbsp peanut butter (natural, unsweetened works best)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 tbsp curry powder
- 2 tbsp oil
Wash spinach, removing stems. Roll tightly and make fine cuts so that you are left with ribbons of spinach. Fry the onion with salt, chili, and curry powder in the oil over a low-medium flame until the onions are translucent. Add spinach and cook until wilted. Mix together peanut butter and coconut milk, then stir into spinach. Once the spinach and sauce begin to bubble, its ready to serve!
