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.

“summer chill” quinoa salad bento

quinoa — which is actually a seed, not a grain — is a superfood that i’ve used before (see exhibit A and exhibit B).  but since getting on the tone it up nutrition plan, which requires me to avoid starchy foods in the evenings, i’ve been turning to it more frequently as an accompaniment to lean proteins or as the base for refreshing salads.  the salad in today’s lunchbox is a perfect “summer chill” concoction, full of fresh seasonal veg and piquant flavor — i made it for some girlfriends coming over to hang out and drink wine on my roofdeck.  click through recipe and nutrition info.

mitsuwa bento

my sweet husband surprised me last week with a new bento box (he saw it at a store when he was looking for something else).  wanting to use it, and finding ourselves with more time on our hands than usual due to the three-day weekend, we decided to take a trip to edgewater, nj to go to the fabulous mitsuwa marketplace — a veritable wonderland comprised of a full-sized japanese supermarket as well as a food court and a number of specialty shops and stands.  more on our trip, after the jump.

happy matryoshka bento

tonight for dinner i made an awesome pan-seared cod dish, served with shitake-miso-arugula-quinoa salad (recipe below) and a fat slice of oven-roasted beefsteak tomato.

for tomorrow’s lunch, which is my last passover lunch for the year (YAY!), i packed some of the cod beneath a layer of the quinoa salad, topped with a cheese-and-nori matryoshka.  the side portion has steamed broccoli, a fish sausage heart, steamed asparagus, sweet potato “doilies”, pea pods, and a lettuce border.

quinoa has been a controversial grain for those observing passover — because it was not a part of the diet of the jews who fled slavery in egypt, it was never placed on the list of forbidden passover foods, even though it expands like rice and other forbidden grains.  that’s good enough for me, and because quinoa is protein-packed, it’s a nice change from rice.

the basic recipe is simple, and the number of potential add-ins is infinite.  here’s the combo i came up with tonight:

shitake-miso-arugula-quinoa salad (if you can come up with a better name, let me know!)

• 1 cup of quinoa
• 8 medium shitake caps, julienned
• 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• olive oil to coat a medium skillet
• 2 cups water
• 2 tbsp. shiro miso paste
• 3 big handfuls of arugula
• pepper to taste

1. coat your skillet with olive oil and heat it up.  add the sliced garlic and julienned shitake caps, and sautee until golden.
2. add the quinoa to the pan and stir until it’s evenly toasted but not burned.  (this is the same process you would use when making risotto and toasting the arborio rice prior to adding liquid.)
3. in a separate pot, bring 2 cups of water to boil, and then whisk in the miso paste.
4. add the quinoa-shitake-garlic mixture to the boiling miso broth, cover and reduce to a low simmer.  allow to cook for 10-15 minutes until all liquid has been absorbed and the individual quinoa grains are plumped.  turn off heat and leave lid on to steam for an additional 2 to 5 minutes.
5. transfer the quinoa-shitake-garlic mixture to a mixing bowl, and fold in the arugula.  it will steam/wilt in this process; make sure fold until it’s evenly incorporated.

that’s it!  it’s good hot or cold, and very nutritious.

cucumber maki bento

tomorrow’s lunch was simple and easy to speed pack — which was perfect, since i went to happy hour with a friend and came home ready for bed!

i have one fairly thick cucumber maki here, rolled with rice that i mixed with shiso powder. in the bamboo box i also have two fat slices of a tamagoyaki that i pre-made the other night. a few citrus segments in the side box and i’m all set for a light and refreshing mid-week lunch. they can’t all be kyaraben!

i may steal mils’ idea for miso-soup-on-the-go to add to this, too… wouldn’t a nice mug of hot miso be great with these chilled maki pieces?

farm sandwich bento

did i mention how excited i am to eat bread again?!

this past weekend during our hudson valley jaunt, we visited the farm center at blue hill at stone barns, where we checked out turkeys, hens, pigs and sheep, and ate delicious open-face sandwiches at the cafe.  the crisp autumnal setting and seasonal farm-to-table fare at the cafe inspired this farm-style lunch.

my sandwiches are made on some hearty whole-grain/pecan bread, with farm-grown tomatoes (which we picked up at stuart’s fruit farm), frilly lettuce, and thick slices of creamy brie.

alongside this rustic sandwich i have a petal-cut deviled egg half, and a cute baby apple with a lemon slice.

happy weekend everybody!

“strawb-inari” bento

we’re still getting temperatures in the 70s this week, but i have a feeling it’s the last dose of summery weather.  so let’s have one “last hurrah” summer bento, no?

three inari pockets filled with furikake rice and topped with beni shoga and edamame, steamed broccolini, fried chicken with a lemon slice, a baby tomato with a lovely “jewel” pick (from a sweet friend — thank you!), and a few lemon-peel swirls make a simple chilled lunch for tomorrow.  i added a few sweet, summery strawberry accents:  printed wax paper, a little berry-shaped baran, and a vintage embroidered napkin.

starting at a new job has meant a bunch of lunch dates with new colleagues over the past week, but i’m hoping to be more regular with my posting soon.