Convention Bento

My boyfriend and I are going to Anime Weekend Atlanta tomorrow, so I decided to pack us some lunches!

For lunch, Josh is having roast beef and cheddar on some home made pandesal that his mom made.  I also gave him some hard candies, a chewy bar, a cupcake,and some sun chips.  As you can see, there are no frills, just simple foods I know he'll eat.

My lunch however... Top left are sauteed greens (kale, chard, spinach) with carrot, asparagus, and a simple dressing made of soy sauce, rice vinegar, and mirin. In the bottom are: 2 fig bars, sweet omelets wrapped in seaweed and garnished with a grape tomato, and a pandesal filled with pimento cheese, garnished with a spinach leaf and a grape tomato.  The top right is filled up with sweets: hard candies, a shortbread cookie, dried apricots, banana pudding, and sprinkles!

I'll be wearing lolita tomorrow so I wanted to pay homage to the film Kamikaze Girls that got me into the style.  I decided to do so via my bento.  Idk if it is clear in the picture, but for Ichigo's side (top left), I did a sort of grungy, messy looking food and even tried to cut the carrots in the shape of skulls.  And then on Momoko's side (top right), well I just copied her own philosophy on food:

For the bottom portion of my bento, it's just stuff that I personally like--no theme.  Unfortunately I think I put too much soy sauce in the little omelets so they are more salty than sweet... I'll have to try to make them again another day and adjust the seasonings.

I went kind of quick and did not measure anything again so i don't really have any recipes to offer.  Sorry!

dad lunch

i started to make my mom a lunch but then she said she was going to work from home tomorrow?  So this is what dad is having:

salad shaker w blueberry balsamic vinaigrette 

cupcake, kind bar, hijiki salad (not fully rehydrated yet in picture so it looks kinda yucky!)
ants on a log, carrot slices, celery sticks, pimento cheese, and hummus

i didn't really measure anything for the salad dressing or the hijiki salad and those were the only things i really made from scratch for this lunch, so i can't really provide recipes?? oops sorry.

Frittata, Cupcakes, and Sausage

Thursday's Lunches

The primary part of tomorrow's bento is the broccoli-and-cheese frittata left over from dinner.  To fill space around the slice of frittata, i put a little piece of leftover sausage on a toothpick with a grape tomato, and snuck a piece of coffee candy in the other corner.  For mom's lunch, she wanted two portions of salad, so I gave her a mix of chard, kale, and spinach, with some blueberries sprinkled throughout.  I also gave her half of a kind bar for dessert.  For dad's lunch, he has triscuits and hummus, and for dessert, a cupcake and the other half of the kind bar.

Recipe for the Frittata:
1 cup of cooked broccoli

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

6 eggs

1/2 cup heavy cream

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 350F.  Grease a 9" pie pan with butter, oil, or cooking spray.  Spread the broccoli and shredded cheese evenly across the bottom of the pan.  In a separate large bowl, combine eggs, cream, salt, and pepper.  Whisk it together until it's very well combined, then pour it over the broccoli and cheese.  Bake for 30-45 minutes or until you can stab it with a knife and have it come out clean.

I used this recipe for the cupcakes, subbing in a mushed up banana for 1/2 cup of applesauce (the recipe itself calls for 1 1/2 cups of applesauce and i only had 1 cup and a banana that needed to be eaten).  I also made my own frosting in lieu of the cream cheese one given in the recipe.  Here is the recipe for my frosting:

8oz tub of Marscapone cheese
1 cup of powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice

Use the whisk attachment of a stand mixer.  Stir together the marscapone with half of the powdered sugar.  Gradually bring up the speed until it is just incorporated.  Reduce the speed and then add the rest of the ingredients.  Once again, gradually bring up the speed until you see soft peaks form on the end of the whisk when you lift it up.  Let the cupcakes cool completely before you frost them, and top with sprinkles, if desired.  This recipe should be enough for ~12 cupcakes, but you can prob stretch it to 16 if you're stingy with it.

Taco Tuesday and Pasta Salad Wednesday

Wednesday's lunch consists of blueberries, pili nuts, pasta salad, and a choice of frosted miniwheats or mixed greens.  The recipe for the pasta salad is as follows:

Ingredients:

1 cup uncooked elbow macaroni

1 tbs olive oil

a drop of lemon flavored grape seed oil

4 stalks of asparagus, cut into small pieces

4 grape tomatoes, each cut in half

4 chunks of marinated artichoke hearts, broken up

1 tbs of balsamic vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

Cook the pasta according to the directions on the package, drain, and set aside.  Do not rinse.  Meanwhile, heat the oils in a small frying pan, and add the asparagus.  Add a pinch of salt and a bit of pepper then saute until the asparagus pieces are bright green.  Once proper color is achieved, add the tomatoes, and saute until they are a bit soft and can be squished easily with a wooden spoon.  Remove pan from heat and scrape everything in the pan into a medium sized bowl.  Add the artichoke hearts, pasta, and balsamic vinegar to the bowl.  Give it a good toss and taste it.  Add salt and pepper as you see fit.  Let chill before serving.

Taco Tuesday Pasta Bake

ingredients:
1/2 lb ground beef

2 tbs of taco seasoning

1 lb of tricolor rotini

1 stick of butter

1 tbs of all purpose flour

3/4 cups of heavy cream

1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese

1 cup pico de gallo, drained of liquid

4 slices of cheddar cheese

1/2 cup panko bread crumbs

Cook the rotini according to package directions, drain, and set aside.  Do not rinse.

Heat a large frying pan over medium heat then add ground beef and taco seasoning.  As the meat browns, break up any chunks with a large cooking spoon.  Once mostly browned, add 1/2 cup of water and cover.  Let it finish cooking while you prepare the cheese sauce.

To make the cheese sauce, melt 1/2 stick of butter in a small sauce pan.  Whisk in the tablespoon of flour.  Once incorporated, add the cream.  Once incorporated, add the shredded cheese a little bit at a time.  Add a handful of cheese, whisk it until it's all melted and thoroughly incorporated.  Add more cream if it gets too thick. When the sauce appears homogeneous, stir in the pico de gallo.

In a large casserole dish, combine the sauce, meat, and pasta.  Stir it up to make sure it's all mixed together, then smooth the top so it will cook evenly.  For the topping, melt 1/2 stick of butter in the microwave and mix with 1/2 cup of panko.  Lay 4 slices of cheese down the center of the casserole, then sprinkle the panko mixture around it.  It should look like this:

Bake at 350F for approximately 30 minutes, or until the cheese on top has melted and the panko has browned a bit.

For a vegetarian option you could use some kind of meat substitute for the ground beef or just omit it completely.

Pierogies

Tuesday's Lunch

Tuesday's lunch consists of cheese-and-onion pierogies, grape tomatoes, a caramel sea salt Kind bar, and a salad mix of kale, chard, and spinach, topped with blueberries and grapes.

For the pierogies, I used this recipe for the dough, and for the inside I made a hella batch of mashed potatoes.  I made so many mashed potatoes.  I prob used 1/4 of the batch for the actual pierogies and I made hella pierogies with that dough recipe. I made a lot because I was going to serve the extra with dinner, but it still ended up being way too much mashed potatoes.  Like, I used 6 giant russet potatoes when 2 or 3 prob would have gotten the job done. I don't suggest using the measurements I used since it ended up being so much, but I will list the ingredients and directions in case you feel comfortable eyeballing it.

Ingredients:

diced onion

butter

salt to taste

potatoes, quartered

heavy cream

butter

sour cream

shredded cheese

pierogi dough 

Melt a small amnt of butter in a small frying pan and add diced onions. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt. Let cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are brown and caramelized.  In a separate pot, boil water and add lots of salt. Add in potatoes and boil until potatoes are v soft and easily punctured w a fork.  Drain and remove skins from the potatoes.  Put potatoes back in pot and add in the dairy ingredients.  Mash it all up, add more heavy cream, and whip the potatoes w a hand mixer.  Make sure the potatoes are already fairly smooth and very moist or you're hand mixer will start making weird noises and stop working.  Stir in your carmelized onions.

To make the pierogies, bring another pot of salty water to a rolling boil.  Cover a cutting board with flour and have a small cup of water nearby.  Grab a small chunk of dough and roll it into a ball with your hands, then, using a rolling pin, roll it out flat on the floured surface. Roll it out to a small oval.  Put about a tablespoon amount of the mashed potato mixture into the center of your oval, wet the edges of the oval, then fold it over and pinch the edges together to form a little dumpling.  Drop it in the pot and star tthe next one.  You'll know the pierogi is cooked when it floats to the top of the water.  It doesn't take long, maybe 3 minutes. When it starts to float scoop it out with a slotted spoon and put it in a bowl.  You can serve them hot and or cold, or fry em up later in a pan with butter.

Pierogies are a bit labor intensive and take a long time, but they are a good crowd pleaser and make great snacks for later.

Breakfast-- Saffron Rice

Saffron Rice w Salmon Furikake

Saffron Rice:
1 tbs of butter

1 tsp turmeric

2-3 threads saffron

salt to taste

cayenne pepper* to taste

1 cup of basmati rice

In a tiny cup or ramekin, soak the saffron threads in a tablespoon of hot or boiling water. Rinse the rice a few times and then drain as much water from it as possible. Melt butter in a small sauce pan.  Add in turmeric, salt, and pepper and let cook until fragrant.  Add rice and give it a good stir, letting it saute for a minute or two.  Add 1 cup of water and the saffron. Stir. Cover and let cook over medium heat, undisturbed, for 7-10 minutes or until water is completely absorbed.  Top with furikake before serving.  A fried egg might also be good but i'm too hungry to wait~

Ham & Cheese

Monday's lunch consists of soybean salad, coffee shortbread, and ham sandwiches.

For the sandwiches, I used sliced cheddar cheese, sliced deli-style ham, rosemary mayo, and onion bread.  To make the rosemary mayo I simply chopped up some fresh rosemary and mixed it into some mayonnaise.  I used to volunteer at a vegetarian restaurant that made the best sandwiches with rosemary mayo so I wanted to try to make some at home.  The onion rolls are from my sister's work but the cheese and ham are just from the grocery store.  I cut the edges off so they would fit in the bento box.

For the soybean salad, I thawed frozen soybeans and then made a dressing with soy sauce, mirin, rice vinegar, and sesame seeds.

You can find the recipe for the cookies here.

A quick, simple lunch!