Yowzah. Well, anyway. Let me show you what I've been up to! I think this is going to be a food entry, because that's what I have the most available photos of at the moment.
So, a while back I made some ADORABLE onigiri. For those of you who don't know, onigiri are Japanese rice balls. Sometimes they have filling, sometimes they're just seasoned on the outside with a light flavoring. The Onigiri FAQ on Justbento.com has a lot of great information.
So, when I make mine, I use a bit of an unconventional filling. I sautee chicken, carrot and onion in soy sauce with a bit of brown sugar and just a dash of lemon juice. When it's all cooked, I put it through the food processor so it's chopped fine and I can spoon it into the center of the onigiri while I'm making them.
I make them by hand, because I'm hard core like that. You have to keep your hands wet with salt water, otherwise the rice will stick. These are the traditionally-shaped ones, and some egg-shaped ones:
The black-looking stuff on the outside is nori. It's toasted seaweed. I have a bad habit of adding mine after I make them instead of waiting until I'm going to eat them... so the nori gets soggy. It's way better when it's crisp. But they look so cute with their little nori wrappers! Onigiri are so delicious. They're a comfort food - a really basic staple in Japan, and they're surprisingly filling! 3 of these puppies is plenty for a meal.
They also make great bento box foods. I didn't put any in this one, but this was one of my favorite recent bento boxes:
Let's see if I can remember everything that's in it. On the bottom left we have a spicy soy sauce carrot salad. I just sautee the carrots in sesame oil and soy sauce with a bit of hot pepper paste melted in (got the recipe off of Justbento!), they're sitting on a bed of lettuce, though you can't see. They're surrounded by raw green beans, cut to fit. Bottom right has vanilla yogurt with frozen raspberries and blackberries. It's covered in saran wrap so it doesn't spill. Top has sticky Japanese rice with wavy-cut red peppers, sesame seeds, and a hardboiled egg molded into a flower and cut width-wise. The little fishy has plain soy sauce - I didn't end up using it. The carrots were plenty flavorful enough.
Here's the whole setup. I apologize for blurry pix.
I have my lid with my favorite chopsticks taped to it, and a Kashi granola bar that I crumbled over the yogurt. That was a very, very good lunch. Extremely filling, and super healthy! I love my bento boxes.
Ok so this one isn't terribly exciting, but I made homemade iced tea! I was at the drug store and I saw some Arizona Iced tea, which is a big weakpoint for me. It's full of sugar and high fructose corn syrup but it's SO YUMMY. Brandon talked me out of it, and when we got home, I set out to make my own. I put it in these lovely oversized mason jars and chilled it in the fridge. So heavenly:
So, I just took about 4 or 5 green tea bags and 1 lemon tea bag, and boiled them in a pot on the stove. I added some white sugar, palm sugar and honey. Not much, really. Just a bit of each. It was perfect.
Alright, that's a lot for now. I'll try to remember to get some photos if I fry up any of those potstickers. I really wish I'd had a working camera when we were making them - the setup I use to make them is sort of elaborate. They're a big project.
I'm pretty proud of myself for cooking more, eating at home more, and just eating healthier overall. I think food is a great project - it's good to be in control of what you put in your body.
Ta ta fa na!
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