Bento Meals: 2/1/2011

Last night, my husband and I tried a new version of a chicken dish my mother has cooked a few times for Sunday dinner.  The recipe is called Brown-Sugar BBQ Chicken, and it is delicious.  Even my youngest niece and I tried it and loved it, though we were both avoiding chicken at the time.

My idea was to cut the chicken into nuggets, cover them in batter, and fry them.  Then we would combine the nuggets with the sauce.  Though my husband used a different batter than I intended, the recipe turned out well.  Very tasty!  We had it with sautéed french green beans and homemade french fries.  Delicious!


So, today's lunch bento is made up of the following:

Bottom Tier
Brown-sugar BBQ chicken nuggets
Sautéed french green beans

Top Tier
Onigiri rolls, the rice mixed with furikake
Cherry tomatoes
Sugar snap peas, cut in half

 As for my breakfast bento, I made mushroom mini quiches.  I had the idea when I woke up.  We had a bunch of mushrooms I wanted to use up, but also wanted to make stuffed mushrooms.  This fullfilled both needs, in a way.

I removed the stems from the mushrooms and gently scraped out the ribs and placed the caps on a tinfoil lined cookie pan.  Then I placed a small piece of cooked bacon in each mushroom, followed by some shredded Monterey Pepper Jack cheese.  My husband mixed an egg with a little whole milk, and I spooned this mixture into each mushroom cap, making sure to only fill the caps 1/2 to 1/3 full.

I then put the cookie sheet (with the mushroom caps) into my toaster oven, preheated to 400 degrees.  I baked them until they were done, checking every 5 to 10 minutes.

They turned otu great and my husband also enjoyed them.  Not sure how my son liked them, as I had to leave for work before he woke up.  I definitely plan to make these again, with different variations.

Bento Meal: 8/12/10

I haven't made a bento for a week or two. I mainly stuck to quicky stuff at work, like keeping a small container of crab salad in the work refridgerator to use with some bread from my desk drawer. I also had (have) some ramen in my drawer as quicky "emergency" meals. Lovely, no? Definitely not too healthy... so I hope to get back in gear, especially now that my baby bump is becoming a boulder and I'm starting to worry that it might be me packing on unnecessary weight due to these not-so-healthy choices. :-p

Today's bento was a quick "throw together" bento of various leftovers, but is also very healthy. The cherry tomatoes were grown in my mother's garden and are delicious. :-)

Notes on the food preparations are after the meal breakdown.*

Top Section:
sweet-tangy chicken, cut bite-sized
green leaf lettuce, torn

Bottom-Right:
steamed green beans
steamed carrot noodles
cherry tomato tops
white sticky rice
sprinkling of toasted black sesame seeds
monkey container of Dynasty Thai Spicy Mayonnaise

Bottom-Left:
spicy scallop stuffed cherry tomatoes
salted zucchini noodles

*To make the vegetable noodles, I use a julienne peeler. (There's actually a really nifty julienne peeler available in parts of Europe that I would really love to get, but so far, it doesn't seem available in the U.S.) After using the peeler, I take the resulting vegetable strands and salt, steam, or saute them according to the vegetable. The resulting noodles are great for infants and toddlers who can chew soft to semi-soft foods. (Salted foods should be introduced at the appropriate age.) These peelers are also great for cutting veggies for sushi or kimbap.

The spicy scallops were bay scallops that my husband steamed (though a quick saute would work too). After they cooled, I chopped them up and mixed them with a few spoonfuls of the Dynasty Spicy Thai Mayonnaise (to taste). This was part of our pre-anniversary dinner (spicy scallop kimbap rolls with home-grown scallions and vegetable rolls made of the lettuce, green beans, zucchini noodles and carrot noodles also seen in this bento. Yum!). I put one of the cherry tomatoes on top of one because, well, it was just too cute not to.

I'll have to ask my mother for the chicken recipe, as this is one of the best I've tasted. It's so good, that the first time my mother made it, when the idea of chicken made me sick, I actually gobbled down a drumstick with no "ew" reaction. My youngest niece, who also didn't eat chicken, also gobbled some down (she eats chicken now). My 2 year old son practically picked his drumstick clean. If/when I get the recipe, I will try to post it. :-)

Savory Spinach Ricotta Crepes

The crepes that are seen in my bento today was made by my husband. He wanted to make crepes for a dinner, to test out a recipe in one of our gluten free cookbooks, and I wanted something that would be fast for him to make and which our son might actually eat. My poor boy is teething again, so something soft would be great, but preferably not too mushy or hot. (He's also been steering away from cold things, so obviously we needed something just warm enough.)

So I figured, why not make some spinach-ricotta crepes. While figuring out our grocery list the other day, I did some research on different savory crepes. I didn't want nutmeg in it and wanted a decent amount of spinach AND ricotta.

There's a few factors to keep in mind:
1. My son has entered that stage of not wanting to eat most green veggies.
2. My husband and I aren't into the idea of "Sneaky Chef" type recipes. We want our son to be aware that he's eating veggies and fruits and get accustomed to their look, texture, and flavor in different dishes.
3. I wanted it to be quick and easy, regardless of whether my husband made the filling or I did.

All in all, the crepes were a success. My son devoured his, as long as they looked like they were coming off of my plate. After all, the food on Mommy's plate must be better. We were relieve and excited that he not only ate a decent amount, but he knowingly ate green!

This is definitely a family favorite now. The recipe below was written up by my husband.


Savory Spinach-Ricotta Crepes
1/2 pound frozen spinach, thawed, and finely chopped
1 cup ricotta
3 tbs grated parmesan
3 tbs grated romano
1/2 cup chopped onions
1 tsp minced garlic
2 tbs olive oil
Crepes made from recipe in "Gluten Free Baking Classics" by Annalise Roberts

Cook onions in olive oil until translucent, add garlic, add spinach and cook out majority of water. Add salt and pepper to taste. Mix ricotta, romano, and parmesan together then add spinach. Mix thoroughly and spoon about 3 tbs into crepes, roll, place in microwave safe dish and heat until crepes are warm.

Bento Meals and Recipes: 6/30/10

I'm so excited about today's lunch, I'm having trouble waiting till later! Of course, I now eat two meals at work (if I don't pack a breakfast) because my pregnancy is making me hungry more often (though I usually can't eat as much throughout the day). I eat one meal around 11am and the second around 2 pm. I know I call one tier of my bento "snack" at times, but it really is a rather nice sized "snack", sometimes nearly as much as my actual lunch!

You'd think I'd be gaining a lot more weight given the extra eating and the growing baby, but I'm not. My weight gain has been perfect according to my doctor. Most of the weight is very obviously in the "baby bump". Of course, eating healthy and not using the pregnancy as an excuse to over indulge is helping, though it would be very hard to over indulge when I can't eat much and my unborn seems to reject a lot of sweets, treats, and fried junk! Sadly, even decaf coffee is on the "No You Don't, Mommy" list. People thought I hate pretty healthy before, but it's even more so now!


Top Tier:
chopped and sliced cucumber and tomato
roasted pepper and curry salad dressing (in the monkey container)
vanilla yogurt
blueberries and halved seedless red grapes

Bottom Tier:
spicy fishcake stirfry (uhmook bokkeum) w/ sliced onion and julienned Portabella mushrooms
veggie fried rice


Now for a few recipes!
I apologize in advance, since I tend to use base recipes and then do my own thing with them, oft times, not noting the small changes I make or the amounts of other items I added. I usually eyeball these things each time I cook the dish. I will do my best to estimate how much I used of things. :-)


Spicy Fish Cake Stir-Fry (with onion and Portabello mushrooms)
To see Maangchi's original recipe, which I use as my base, click on the following link: http://www.maangchi.com/recipe/uhmook-bokkeum

1 package assorted fish cakes, each ball cut into half
1 medium onion, sliced (white or sweet preferred)
1/2 to 1 cup baby Portabello mushrooms, julienned (measured after being cut)
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1.5 to 2 Tbsps gochujang (korean hot pepper paste)
1 Tbsp sugar

1 green onion, chopped
1 Tbsp of vegetable oil
sesame oil, approx 1 to 2 tsps
toasted sesame seeds, to garnish

Heat vegetable oil in a wok (or large skillet).
Add the fish cakes to the wok. Stir until they begin to turn golden, watching the wok's temperature so they don't brown to quickly or burn. Mix in the onion, garlic, and mushrooms and stir fry for a couple minutes.

Add the gochujang (hot pepper paste) and sugar, mixing until the vegetables and fish cakes are coated, only a couple minutes. Gochujang tends to burn, so turn down the heat right before adding it.

Turn off the heat and remove the wok from the hot plate (if possible). Stir in sesame oil and green onion. Transfer the food to serving dish or individual plates and sprinkle with the toasted sesame seeds.


Veggie Fried Rice
I had a number of veggies and some cooked rice I needed to use. So why not a quick, easy, healthy, fun fried rice dish? Measurements here are nearly non-existent. Sorry.

Leftover cooked rice, appox 3 cups worth
1 medium onion, chopped (white or sweet)
1 small head of raw broccoli, chopped, approx 1/3 to 1/2 cup
1 small to medium yellow summer squash, shredded, squeezed of liquid, approx 1/3 to 1/2 cup
1 to 2 Vegetable oil
Sesame oil
salt

Heat vegetable oil in a wok. Add onion and broccoli; stir-fry a few minutes until onions and broccoli soften lightly. Add shredded squash and mix for veggies for a couple minutes. Add rice and mix in until each grain looks lightly coated in oil and separated from eachother. Add a small amount of sesame oil and salt, to taste. Transfer to a serving dish or on individual plates.


We had our uhmook bokkeum and veggie fried rice with a large slice of cantaloupe. :-)

Ddukbokki (korean spicy rice cake stirfry)

This dish is incredibly easy, inexpensive, and delicious. It is a family favorite in my household and with the addition of extra veggies and the tofu, it becomes a healthy, complete meal on it's own! There's usually enough leftover a second set of meals (or our bento lunches!).
If you are new to this dish, be sure to taste your dish, with clean utensils, as you cook it so you can adjust the seasoning or cooking times, if necessary, and check the veggie consistencies.

Ddukbokki (korean spicy rice cake stirfry)
1 lb pkg of cylindrical rice cakes (dduk), thaw if frozen
Vegetables, cut to bite sized pieces (sliced or diced)*
2 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsps Korean red pepper paste
½ tsp Korean red chili pepper powder (optional)
2 Tbsps sugar
2 Tbsps sesame oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed or finely minced
1 pkg extra firm tofu, drained, lightly pressed, and either cut into cubes or crumbled
Olive oil or vegetable oil

Cut the dduk (rice cakes into bite sized pieces), between 1 to 2 inches. Boil water in a medium sauce pot and cook until they are soft and chewy, about 5 minutes. Drain and rince in cold water. (If you forget to cut the rice cakes before boiling, don't worry. You can cut them after... which is something I end up doing more often than not.)

In a small to medium bowl, mix soy sauce, red pepper paste, red pepper powder (if using), sugar, sesame oil and garlic. This sauce will have the consisency of cocktail sauce. Depending on how much veggies you put in the dish, you may need to make a second batch.

Stir fry the vegetables in a large wok (or frying pan) with a small amount of the cooking oil until the veggies are a consistency you prefer. If using harder vegetables like carrots, you may want to start them first and then add the faster cooking vegetables as the harder ones soften.

Add the sauce, tofu, and the dduk to the vegetables and stirfry, coating and heating everything evenly. Transfer to a serving dish and top with toasted sesame seeds, if desired. Serve with rice.


*Veggies that I typically use are sliced carrots, onions, green onions, and rehydrated shiitake mushrooms. I plan to use spinach some time soon as well. :-)
**You may add a crushed beef bouillon cube to the sauce, if you want. This adds a deeper roundness, but is not necessary.

Panda Bear Bread!

Too cute! Recipe is located at Perfect Pandas. Hopefully, my husband and I can try this out with gluten free bread recipes. I can see our son loving these when he gets older. :-)

Bento for 2.11.09, breakfast thoughts, and quiche recipe!

One thing I have a tendency of doing, especially of late, is making breakfast bentos. I honestly have been making these more often than I do lunch bentos (mainly because my husband and son have been bringing me lunches he's gathered for "workday picnics"). Here, you can see some of the quick breakfast items I will make while getting ready for work.

Top tier: halved red grapes.
Bottom tier: personal pan crustless onion-mozzarella quiched (halved and stacked), 2 slices pan-fried mushroom-onion polenta (stacked).
Lid: Prenatal Multivitamin (not pregnant; breastfeeding)

Unfortunately, I didn't get pictures of the breakfast sushi rolls I made earlier this week. They consisted of a seasoned flat omlette (sliced, seasoned with a little rice vinegar, sugar, soy sauce, and salt), bread and butter pickle slices, and sushi rice wrapped in nori. Very tasty and filling!

My breakfast food choices can sometimes be described as eccentric, but I feel it's just more interesting and possibly healthier that way. There's nothing wrong with putting eggs on top of rice with some pickled veggies and eating that for your first meal. I've also been known to eat smoked fish with a side of a quick avocado-salsa mix. Honestly, I don't see why that's all that strange. :-)

So here's a quick recipe for personal sized crustless onion-mozzarella quiches.

Ingredients
4 eggs
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup milk (we used skim)
shredded mozzarella cheese
sliced onion
a couple tsps butter
cooking oil (olive oil or veggie oil)

Directions
Preheat toaster oven to 425° F.

Heat pan with butter. Toss in onion sliced and cook until somewhat soft and translucent. Set aside. Take mini pie pans and coat lightly with oil to reduce sticking. Place onions in the mini pie pans, filling them about 1/2 way. Add cheese to 1/2 remaining space (or slightly more, leave room at top of mini pan for expansion). Do not press down to pack tightly.

Beat the eggs and mix with the milk/cream. Pour over the cheese in the mini pie pans until it is just a little higher than the bulk of the cheese surface.

Place pans in toaster oven and cook until the tops start turning a light golden color (check after 5 minutes, and every 5 minutes after that... this doesn't take long). Turn down the heat to 350° F and cook another 15 to 25 minutes until done (check every 5 minutes after the first 15, but remember to keep watch as all toaster ovens are different). If toothpick is poked in the center and comes out clean without liquid filling the hole it left, than the quiche is done. Remove from toaster over, let cool slightly, remove from pan and serve (or put into bento!).

Like I said, I can make these while getting ready for work, and it only gets faster the more practice you get. Also, you can use muffin tins, which has sped up the cooking time for me in the past. I just love mini quiches!!!

Pan Fried Buttered Skate

I ate skate...

It was gooooooood!

Thursday, I bought a skate wing at Wegmans (after eyeing them up for a while), asked the fish person how to cook them, and did a quick search online for more skate cooking ideas. I finally opted to cook it my own way.

Recipe
Last night, as our late dinner, I took said skate wing, rinsed it off, patted it dry, and cut it into long slices across the muscle grain (which I don't think was necessary, but worked fine). In a large cast iron pan, I melted several (approx 4) Tbsps butter. I mixed some cornstarch, salt and pepper in a bowl and coated the skate slices before gently placing them in the pan. I turned the piece when the meat started turning opague and the bottom was a light golden brown. After the other side was browned, I removed them from the pan. (This only took a couple of minutes.) I placed them on separate plates and spooned some of the remaining butter on top. They were served with leftover our leftover Oven Roasted Green Beans and Tomatoes side dish from earlier that evening.

Review
The skate wing was tender. Very tender. Like a mix of flounder and cooked crab meat. The flavor was delicate like that of crab or lobster. It was almost disconcerting to eat something that you know *should* have a different texture and taste but doesn't (because... well... who would think a skate would taste or feel like that?!?). Some people do more to season the meat, but I wanted to get a good feel for the actual flavor. Hence why I used only butter, cornstarch, salt and pepper.Would we eat it again??? Hell yeah!!!! I'm already thinking about different stirfries to try with it!Too bad I missed when they were selling the eels... Guess I might have to make an order some time.

Rice Buns a plenty

I've heard of rice buns for a while now, well over a year. Not buns made with rice flour, but buns made with glutinous (sticky japanese) rice. Glutinous rice does not contain gluten. It's called glutinous due to it's sticky nature. I wanted to make some, but I never got around to it for whatever reason.

Well... I finally made some.

If you ever made onigiri, the concept is very similar. The steps are as well.

To make Rice Buns: Cook glutinous rice as usual. (Methods are slightly different depending on whether you are using a rice cooker or not. There are many websites that explain how to cook rice in each instance.) Let rice cool enough that you can handle it without burning yourself. Fill a bowl halfway with water and add some salt. Stir until the salt is mostly dissolved. Take a handful of rice and press into a bun shape, making sure to apply an even, firm pressure. Basically, the same thing you would do with onigiri, except you are making a bun shape. Keep rewetting your hands with the salty water as you work or the rice will stick to your hands and become hard to manage. Heat some oil in a pan, just enough to lightly coat the pan. Add the rice buns. Gently turn the buns over after a minute or so. There should be a light crispy coating forming. **If you want to add some flavoring and color, you can brush the cooked side with some soy sauce while the other side is cooking, turn the buns over and brush the freshly cooked side with more soy sauce and finish by toasting that side again as well.

Do NOT broil the buns or try toasting them in the oven. This draws too much moisture out and makes the texture unpleasant. I have yet to try toasting them on my kitchen grill.

Rice buns are so easy and inexpensive to make. We have had them with hamburgers, egg sandwiches, tuna fish salad, peanut butter and jelly, and even cream cheese and jelly. I actually prefer these over baking or buying gluten free bread, if for no other reason than the low cost, neutral flavor, pleasant texture, and how easily I can throw them together. I plan to try flavoring them in other ways, by adding other sauces as glazing or by adding herbs. Maybe add a little food coloring to make them look more like bread buns.

They don't store incredibly well, but I've used older, cooked, unformed glutinous rice with great results. Some people freeze them until ready for use, but I have yet to do that. I usually eat them fast enough that there's no concern. ;-)

Blueberry Daifuku

Tonight was my first attempt at making Daifuku.

Daifuku is basically a mochi dumpling that is stuffed with a sweet filling. Usually the filling is an anko paste (a sweet red bean paste), but they aren't limited to that. Daifuku is a popular treat in Japan.

My husband and I aren't used to mochi or its consistancy though we've tried it in a few forms. I know this might be an acquired taste, so we are going to give it more time. These were pretty good, given that we are still adjusting to the texture and that it was my first attempt. I didn't really bother with a recipe. I simply did a bit of research to get an idea of how they are made and then gave it a try. The consistancy felt right (from what I know about mochi) and the base ratios were correct. My husband liked that tang from the blueberries. This recipe is easy enough, I can see using it as a base for more different types of Daifuku.

So... I'm going to post the recipe with a few notes of changes I might try next time.

Blueberry Daifuku

1 cup glutinous rice flour (like Mochiko sweet rice flour)

1 cup water

1/4 cup sugar, plus extra for covering

1/8 tps vanilla extract

1 drop food coloring (we used green)

Frozen blueberries

Potato starch, for dusting

In a sauce pan, heat the water on medium-high heat. Add the sugar and stir to dissolve. Add the vanilla extract and the food coloring. When water is at a boil, turn down the heat to medium and add the rice flour. Stir to blend until smooth. If it gets too thick to stir, add a couple tablespoons of water.

When the rice flour in fully incorporated, transfer it to a cutting board or other flat work surface with a spatula. Don't use your hands as the mixture will be very hot. You may dust the surface with potato starch before putting the rice flour mixture on it, which may help with sticking. A thin layer of the mixture will stick to the pot. Don't worry about scraping it all off. Spread the rice mixture evenly on the flat surface to promote even cooling.

Dust your hands with potato starch and start pulling pieces off of the dough. Roll them into balls (about as big as a quarter all around), then flatten into disks. Take a blueberry and put one on each of the mochi disks. Pinch the edges of the disks together and seal shut. Gently roll the dumpling in the sugar and set aside to eat. When finished, serve immediately or freeze.

*Notes: Next time, I want to used a fresh fruit or harder filling. Defrosted frozen blueberries were a bit soft and runny. Thickened blueberry pie filling might work well, but it would need to be a paste-like consistancy and would need to be set in the freezer to harden. I would also use some of the final sugar more in the process. I would like to see how these would turn out if they were lightly baked or cooked further in some other method. I do have to say that it was pretty good for first try and for something we just aren't quite used to.