Grown-up Lunch Box

Homemade avocado roll, broccoli & strawberries

So it’s sort of weird writing about the healthy lunch boxes I’ve packed, considering I am in the middle of finals week and about to head out for a big bagel. (The stress gets to me and the only remedy is a pint of vegan ice cream – seriously I ate an entire pint last night.)

I had been looking for bento boxes to start bringing lunch to the museum. I found a lot of cute ones, but they were all made of plastic and I’ve read enough about the potential side effects to just steer clear of it entirely.

Well, I ended up stumbling upon a stainless steel food carrier, also known as a tiffin. So I order the three tier model, which holds the perfect amount of food for one. You can click here for the link:  http://www.amazon.com/Ware-Tier-Stainless-Steel-Carrier/dp/B001KNO1PG

Rock & Ro… okay, enough of that.

Wish I had better lighting in the kitchen.

I had to write a paper today for a class I am taking on Medieval Manuscripts, but I still set aside the time to make a healthy dinner (and to post about it apparently, since it still isn’t done). Anyway, I put together a sweet potato & avocado roll, made with brown rice. I roasted the sweet potato, which had been cut into 1/2″ wide strips and simply rolled it up. With no mat or seran wrap, mind you.

Oh and I served it with tamari, or wheat-free soy sauce since I may be allergic to gluten. Still trying to figure it out.

So, wish me luck on this paper. Only two pages left!

Guilty Thieves

We took this recipe for stuffed portobello mushrooms from the blog, Guilty Kitchen.

We followed the blog author’s suggestions and served it over tomato sauce and quinoa. Except that we served it over my favorite pink sauce! And of course, we didn’t add the cheese that was called for in the recipe. Instead we sprinkled some bread crumbs over the mushrooms.

All in all, a very successful meal.

-Anita

Tostones

who needs plates?

Richard has proven himself to be a master of the tostone. Just wanted to put that out there.

They are amazing. (More posts coming soon!)

-Anita

Those Crazy Kids & Their Polenta Pie

Parfait!

Rounding it off with a salad

So, I decided that I would try my own inexperienced hand at the polenta pie. I used the pink sauce as the base, which was not a good idea because it ended up drying up and you could hardly taste it. Next time, I’ll do it like the pros and spoon it on afterward.

Lesson learned! But all in all, it was really tasty. Richard prepared a salad, which I dressed a la Gna, and it felt like I was at home.

I definitely have some kinks to work out, but it’s a pretty good job for my first time! I’m a really self-assured vegan.

-Anita

On A Roll

This picture does not do the roll justice.

I used some leftovers I had (butternut squash and brown rice) and decided to revamp them, with the help of my savory little friend Nori and what resulted was pure scrumptiousness.

To make it, I just roasted some 3/4 inch wide strips of butternut squash in the oven until they were tender. Then I just pressed the brown rice onto the nori sheet, added the squash and rolled it up with the grace of Masaharu Morimoto (at age five).

Served with some shoyu and a large house salad from the local Japanese restaurant (didn’t have the ingredients for ginger dressing). Perfection!

The Superhero Diet & Self-Discovery

The best meal of the day: Fried Udon Noodles

Today was my first day on the Kind Diet’s superhero meal plan. I can’t say that I enjoyed most of the dishes (actually I wasn’t ecstatic about any), but I did learn about my personal tastes.

I now know I do not like pine nuts. I also learned about parsnips.