new magazine feature

just a quick update to note that my bento have been featured in the march 2013 issue of Manichi oBento Hiyori, a quarterly publication in japan known as a “mook” (magazine-book).  it’s a lovely issue on spring bento, with lots of recipes for individual dish components for packing bento, as well as some instructionals on packing (i don’t read japanese and was still able to glean a great deal of valuable information just from the detailed photographs).

the piece in which my bento are displayed appears to be about bento-makers in other countries besides japan; shirley wong of little miss onigiri (singapore) is featured, and so is cocyte from mon bento vegetarien (france).

the magazine is available for purchase from bento & co., and if you are in the states, you can probably find it at kinokuniya or one of the book-shops at mitsuwa.

as always, i’m delighted to have my work recognized!

 

lentil-walnut meatballs (aka “amazeballs”!)

earlier this year for a date night, the hubby and i walked over the williamsburg bridge (which is pretty close to our apartment) and headed into the lower east side for dinner at the meatball shop.  the concept of this restaurant is that you order whatever kind of meatballs you want (beef, pork, chicken, veggie, and a variety of often-kooky daily specials, like a reuben-sandwich-flavored ball), and then get to choose from a variety of “bases” (mashed potatoes, greens, etc.) and sauces (tomato, pesto, etc.) to build your own dish.  i had the “vegetable meatballs,” and at the time, i was doing the #plantPOWER challenge — so after a long discussion with my server, we agreed that my dish would be prepped without the standard shower of parmesan cheese that normally tops the balls, in order to keep it plant-based.  i should have realized, but did not at the time, that the mixture for the balls also had an animal-based ingredient: eggs.  oopsie.  my #plantPOWER intentions were good and i thought i was covered!  but then i found a new york times article publishing the recipe, and i realized i had gone astray.

last night, in the face of the unbelievably cold weather we’ve been having in NYC, i was in the mood for some plant-based comfort food, and i decided to modify the meatball shop recipe so that it would be completely plant-based.  click through for the modified recipe!

healthy blog recipe night

last night i had my friend jeannie over for dinner; we planned in advance to cook healthy recipes from some of the blogs i’ve been obsessed with lately.

the butternut & white bean patties are adapted from healthy happy life‘s “toasty pumpkin chickpea fritters” recipe, and the baked apple is pretty faithful to for the love of kale‘s version.  both recipes turned out AMAZING, and it was such a fun night!  (disclosure: two bottles of red wine were also involved.)

click-through for my cooking notes and the nutritional information…

chili-cherry protein brownies

i wanted to share a recipe that i’ve been perfecting over the last few weeks… what a rough life i lead, having to make multiple batches of brownies to taste test! in all seriousness, though, i’ve finally got this recipe down, consistently producing the texture and flavor that i personally think is the ultimate in deliciousness.

i was inspired by chocolove’s “chilies & cherries in dark chocolate” bar, but wanted to create a protein-packed brownie that would be lower in calories and higher in beneficial nutrients. i tweaked a few of the black bean brownie recipes floating around on the web, and added my favorite protein powder, and after adjusting the ratios a couple of times, i’ve got these fudgy babies…

click through for recipe!

quinoa falafel halloween bento

tomorrow’s lunch is a holiday-themed, healthy twist on a few dishes i love: falafel balls and greek rice. for my falafel, i used a mix from earthly choice brand, and added some middle-eastern flavor (cumin spice and smoked paprika).  the balls are baked instead of fried.  for the “rice,” i used powercakes’ rice-free recipe, pulsing raw cauliflower in the food processor with other raw vegetables and kalamata olives for the briny zing. a cute carved jack-o-pepper with a spider pick gives some halloween flair to the lunch.  click through for details.

easy, low-sugar crockpot apple butter

this past saturday i went apple picking with some friends at stuart’s fruit farm… i get apples as part of my CSA share every other saturday, so even though i eat an apple almost every day for my mid-morning snack, they are starting to stockpile up in my fridge. i still wanted to take part in the apple picking fun, so i resolved to find a recipe that would use up most of my haul and keep for a while. apple butter is perfect — it’s kind of like a super-reduced apple sauce, so you get highly concentrated apple flavor, but without the volume of the apples you start with. stored properly, it keeps for over a year. this batch made 12 1/2-cup jelly jars’ worth, so i will be giving some out to friends and family, and storing some in the pantry. it’s great on toasted raisin bread, and i plan on using it to top pancakes and waffles as well. i could also see it being delicious in greek yogurt, or being a great dip for a banana, or even being incorporated into other baked goods (swirled in a cheesecake, maybe?). my super-simple recipe is below!

o-tsukimi bento

my dear twitter friend lisa recently educated me about the japanese holiday o-tsukimi… as a fanatic for all things autumnal, i was eager to try my hand at a bento celebrating this lovely tradition.  but being a bit out of practice with kyaraben, i turned to the best for guidance on how to interpret the themes of this celebration (the harvest moon, bunny, mochi, and fall foods such as squash/pumpkin) into a bento.  hippomum is a bento-maker whose work i have admired ever since i started making my own bento boxes, and looking back through her archives, i found several o-tsukimi-themed bentos.  specifically, these examples from 2009 and 2010 were just the inspiration i needed.  i followed her model of a cheerful rabbit with a mochi pyramid atop a ceremonial stand, and a partially-clouded-over moon against a night sky, switching out only the ingredients.

eggplant & kale nooch bowl

as some of you may know, i’ve been attempting to shift to a more plant-based diet.  i’m not ready to commit to being vegan (and not sure if i ever will be!), but i had already pretty much limited my animal-based food intake to fish and dairy, and have now found that further reducing the amount of dairy in my diet gives me less digestive issues and higher energy.  exploring vegan pantry staples has been a fun exercise for me — for example, nutritional yeast (nicknamed “nooch”) is a go-to product, but was totally new to me.  this simple dinner satisfied my craving for earthy, umami flavors and hearty (almost “meaty”) textures, but was entirely plant-based… filling, but surprisingly light.  cooking method after the jump.

ZICO & perfect fit “coco-butter monkey cups”

this week i’m participating in tone it up’s “beach week” — a week of scheduled workouts and slim-down meals designed to make the most of the last few days of summer.  karena and katrina have teamed up with ZICO to host an exciting contest; the best recipe incorporating chocolate ZICO and perfect fit protein powder wins a 3-month supply of both of those products!

i legitemately use perfect fit almost every day, and ZICO is one of my favorite special treats… so, needless to say, i got really excited about this contest.  the result of my frantic brainstorming was these “coco-butter monkey cups” — they are dairy-free, gluten-free, and vegan.  recipe and details below!

grilled eggplant quinoa salad

another day, another quinoa salad, right?!  lately i feel like i have been obsessed with quinoa… but in all seriousness, it’s so tasty, and so good for you compared to other rice-y/grain-y options!

a while back, i received a few bottles of chile olive oil because of my participation in an HGEats twitter chat.  although i have significantly reduced the amount of oils i use in my cooking, there is always room for some good “healthy” fat, and i knew i wanted to save these samples for something special.  this past weekend, my parents came over for a combined birthday brunch (my mom’s birthday and mine are just five days apart!), and i whipped up this salad with veg from my CSA share.  it’s TIU-approved and is actually quite versatile — delicious with the veggies still warm from the grill, still delicious chilled in the fridge the next day.  click through for the recipe and olive oil review.