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.
eggplant & kale nooch bowl
21 09 2012Comments : 11 Comments »
Tags: arugula, boca burger, eggplant, kale, nutritional yeast, plant-based, scallions, tomato sauce, vegan
Categories : other food, recipes
grilled eggplant quinoa salad
30 08 2012another 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.
Comments : 7 Comments »
Tags: arugula, basil, eggplant, lemon, olive oil, quinoa, tomatoes
Categories : other food, product recommendations, recipes
salmon yuzu rice bento
10 06 2012a bento inspired by two dear friends i wish i saw more of — mira, with whom i had dinner at our fave edo sushi on friday night (providing salmon leftovers for the main dish here), and rupal, currently in shanghai but who left me this pretty bottled lemon drink which i knew i would use as a bento prop.
Comments : 6 Comments »
Tags: broccoli, carrot, eggplant, rice, salmon, tomato, yuzu
Categories : bento
roasted eggplant soba bento
7 02 2012a quick lunch tomorrow (in my new bento & co. “origami bento,” bought on karaimame’s brilliant suggestion), made up of leftovers from batch dinner cooking i did earlier this week, plus a pantry item. recipes and calorie count below.
Comments : 21 Comments »
Tags: cucumber, eggplant, kabocha, miso, noodles, salad, scallion, soba, soup, squash
Categories : bento, recipes
little post, big news
1 11 2010hey everybody! my apologies for going off the grid during the past couple of weeks… i was on a crazy wedding diet, and i couldn’t eat delicious bento, so looking at all of your mouth-watering creations became torture for me, and i had to just bow out of the bentosphere for a little while.
i’m back, and i’m a mrs.! woo hoo! my stomach is still regaining its full capacity after the home stretch of basically starving myself to try to fit into my wedding dress, so i’m still packing fairly small lunches this week. but it’s so nice to have carbs again! rice, pizza, noodles, potatoes, yum!
tomorrow’s lunch has two brown rice onigiri mixed with vegetable furikake and topped with takuwan maple leaves, as well as a vine tomato and some mixed fall veggies (eggplant, pumpkin, and mushrooms). we saw so much beautiful fall foliage on our mini-honeymoon this past weekend, so the maple leaves were inspired by those views. i hope to be able to post some city hall wedding and hudson valley honeymoon pictures soon!
p.s. HOLY SH!T GO GIANTS!!!!
Comments : 21 Comments »
Tags: brown rice, eggplant, furikake, mushroom, onigiri, pumpkin, shiso, takuwan, tomato
Categories : bento
new birdie bento
14 01 2010all japanese flavors in tonight’s bento… clockwise from left, going in a spiral: two pan-fried gyoza (studded with fish cake flowers), carrot sticks, some steamed broccoli, enoki mushrooms, two pieces of tempura fried sweet potato, cherry tomatoes with two steamed sweet potato stars, miso-sesame-honey eggplant made with a variation of hapa bento’s excellent recipe, a sesame mochi, and some kamaboko slices.
on top of the steamed broccoli is a beautiful takuwan bird, cut with a new handmade cutter, which was a present from my pal sherimiya — thanks so much sheri, i love it! i think i’ll try cutting something thinner next time, so that the intricate shape of the cutter is reflected more crisply (this was my first time using it, so any flaw in the bird was with my technique, NOT the cutter!!).
i’m looking forward to the the end of the workday tomorrow… i filed a massive brief this week, which had me up working late several nights, and i’m exhausted. hope you all have a wonderful and restful weekend!
Comments : 19 Comments »
Tags: bird, broccoli, carrot, cutter, dumplings, eggplant, enoki, fish cake, kamaboko, miso, sweet potato, takuwan, tempura, tomatoes
Categories : bento
happy acorn bento
30 09 2009celebrating the start of fall! top tier: steamed rice with sweet potato acorn (nori face, eggplant “cap”), nori oak leaf, and takuwan border. bottom tier: tofu and vegetable pajun (korean savory fried pancakes), eggplant and radish slices, pickled radish in a silicone food cup.
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Tags: eggplant, pajun, radish, rice, sweet potato, takuwan
Categories : bento
ping’s dim sum bento
27 09 2009leftover fried eggplant and sesame ball from dim sum at ping’s, yum! filled in with cherry tomatoes, carrot sticks, melon and pepper flowers, and carved sunburst radish. top tier has steamed rice with tomato rose and cilantro leaves.
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Tags: carrot, dim sum, eggplant, pepper, rice, sesame, tomatoes
Categories : bento