11 in 2011: Go on a Day Hike/Picnic

Posted on August 8, 2011 by Diana

One of my Summer 11 in 2011 goals was to go on a day hike/picnic. Last week, I finally got around to it. Now there are some who will argue that walking around a boardwalk in a park isn’t real hiking, and while I admit that it’s not as challenging as the AT or hiking up a mountain, when there’s sticky Florida heat all around you, it’s still a good workout.

I took a trip last week with my mom, my brother’s girlfriend, and my two nephews to Lettuce Lake Park. Lettuce Lake is definitely one of my favorite nature parks in Tampa. I’ve been going there since I was a little kid, and there’s lots to do there. We chose to focus on the gorgeous boardwalk around the Hillsborough River and Lettuce Lake, but there’s also a bike path, hiking trails, canoe launch, shelters for cookouts, etc. We took advantage of the playground too We saw two baby alligators, a turtle, an owl, lots of ibises, egrets, limpkins, and of course, a ton of squirrels.

My nephew took this photo for me – he’s six. His little hands barely fit around my DSLR, but he’s a great photographer. I’ve let him play with my smaller (re: less expensive) digital camera before, and he takes great photos.

Of course, I packed a bento lunch for the picnic. There’s a turkey, muenster and avocado sandwich, spinach salad with olive oil, carrot sticks and some cherries. Awesome!

If you’re ever around Tampa, I highly recommend making a stop in Lettuce Lake Park. You won’t regret it!

New Bento Toys

Posted on August 4, 2011 by Diana

Personally, I think that one of the best ways to eat healthy more often is to make it fun. And what better way to do that than with fun bento accessories?

I got these at my local Asian supermarket. If you have one near you, check it out! If not, then try some of the shops listed on Just Bento. Many of them have a fantastic selection of fun bento accessories.

The ones I got are a cookie cutter set (mainly for veggies and fruit) and a crinkle cut knife. The cookie cutter is great for making cute flower shapes. So far, I’ve tried carrots and bell peppers, but I’m sure I’ll find more fun ways to use it. The crinkle cutter is great for making carrot chips.

It really doesn’t take much extra time to use tools like this while putting together lunches, but it makes the lunches so much more fun to eat. What do you do to make lunches more fun?

This week in bentos: 6-11-11

Posted on June 10, 2011 by Diana

*Welcome to This Week in Bentos! Every week, I post photos of one or more of my bento lunches from that week. I use a Laptop Lunches bento box and I love it because it helps me to reduce the amount waste I create, since I don’t produce a lot of extra garbage from throw away packaging. I also love how it creates perfect portion sizes. To learn more about how I pack and carry my bento, check out this post and this post too*

Fried egg with quinoa and red bell pepper
Spinach and tomato salad with dressing
Carrot sticks and ghouda
Yogurt with blueberries

Consider this an experiment that is a cross between making New York Style Chinese healthier and finding more ways of working vegetarian protein into lunch. I wanted some egg with lunch, but I was tired of eating hard-boiled eggs with salad. I fried up an egg with some seasoning and chopped it up, then added it to some quinoa that I had made earlier in the week. I added the red bell peppers for color and crunch. The result was pretty tasty, and pretty filling when combined with the veggies.

Sauteed mushrooms with red bell peppers and quinoa
Chickpeas with white chia seeds
Spinach with feta
Carrot sticks

I’ve started adding white chia seeds to my lunches a lot. They’re a great source of omega 3′s and fiber, and they add a nice crunch, so I’ve been alternating mixing them with salads and mixing them with legumes or grains. This particular lunch was super tasty.

Homemade veggie pizza
Chickpeas with white chia seeds
Spinach salad with feta and sauteed mushrooms
Cucumbers, carrot sticks

Homemade veggie pizza = delicious awesomeness. Enough said.

This week in bentos: 5-21-2011

Posted on May 22, 2011 by Diana

May 12, 2011

Spinach, orange tomato, sauted mushrooms, grabanzo sprouts and feta
EFA dressing
Whole wheat crackers
Carrots and sliced bell peppers
Apple

This is more or less a pretty standard lunch for me. Spinach salad with veggies and a source of protein, some kind of whole grain, snacking veggies, and fruit. What made this bento a little more special was the salad – it’s hard to see under all those tasty mushrooms, but check out those tomatoes: they’re orange! I like to try new fruits and veggies pretty regularly, so this was my first time eating orange tomatoes. They’re pretty good – a lot like red tomatoes, but a little less acidic.

May 16, 2011

Rainbow Chard
Quinoa and edamame salad
Broccoli, bell peppers, snap peas
Hummus dip
Strawberries and blueberries
Vanilla soy yogurt

The lovely Katrina of Pugly Pixel e-mailed me awhile back, asking if I’d be interested in some bento boxes from Japan that she didn’t have the space for anymore. Of course, I was more than happy to take them off her hands I usually use them for snacks, but this was my first time putting together a lunch in them. I love how it creates lots of little servings of different tastes. And they pack up quite nicely and fit perfectly in my Built by NY lunch box.

May 19, 2011

Kourma Chicken with whole wheat noodles
Broccoli, red bell pepper and feta salad
Carrots
Watermelon

Okay, so I know that I said that I was becoming a lunchtime vegetarian, but there are exceptions to every rule. Like when you need to use up leftovers before they go bad. Or when you make some kick-ass Indian Kourma and want to eat it again for lunch. For the record, I did eat a vegetarian dinner this day, so I’m still balancing my meat intake.

This week in bentos: 5-14-11

Posted on May 14, 2011 by Diana

I’ve been taking lots of photos of my bento boxes lately, and I’ve been working on finding more creative ways to get healthy and delicious food in my lunches. So I’ve decided to start including pictures of all my bento boxes from the week. And I’ve removed the Saturday part of my bento post titles because that made me feel like I could only write about bentos on Saturday. Now, if I have time to write a bento post on some other day of the week, I can go ahead and post it without feeling like I’m cheating.

Whole wheat spaghetti with grilled tofu, broccoli, and hoisin sauce
Carrot Sticks
Strawberries

Snacks:
Gala Apple & peanut butter
FAGE 2% Yogurt w/peach

4-20-11 : Okay, so this bento isn’t technically from this week, but I hadn’t posted it yet, so I’m throwing it in there. I love creating bento versions of noodle bowls. I use whole wheat spaghetti to get some delicious whole grains in there, combine it with a steamed veggie like broccoli, and then a protein source, like tofu, tempeh, steak, etc. Since I keep my lunches vegetarian, I went with grilled tofu that had been marinated in soy sauce. I added a little bit of hoisin on the side to make it sweeter, and to dip a few carrots in. By the way, the sauce container that Laptop lunches sells is pretty much the perfect serving size for dips and sauces. A proper serving is one tablespoon, which is what fits in this container. In most restaurants, you get a lot more dressing/sauce than that, and that piles on a lot of unneeded calories and fat.

Whole wheat spaghetti with spinach, stir fried bell peppers and mushrooms, olives, garbanzo beans and feta
Cantelope
Steamed Broccoli
FAGE 0% yogurt with honey

5-11-11: When looking for vegetarian sources of protein, beans should never be overlooked. They’re delicious in salads, and have tons of healthy fiber and protein. They were fantastic in this salad/noodle bowl. The only problem I have with beans are their *ahem* other side effects. I’ve noticed that this is one problem with a semi-vegetarian diet. Does anyone know of a good supplement or natural remedy for the gassy-ness induced by some popular vegetarian foods? I know Beano works, but I’m looking for something a little more natural.

Bento Box Saturday: 4-11 & 4-14

Posted on April 16, 2011 by Diana

*Welcome to Bento Box Saturday! Every week, I post a photo of one of my bento lunches. I use a Laptop Lunches bento box and I love it because it helps me to reduce the amount waste I create, since I don’t produce a lot of extra garbage from throw away packaging. I also love how it creates perfect portion sizes. To learn more about how I pack and carry my bento, check out this post and this post too*

Whole wheat pasta salad with spinach, red bell pepper, black olives, garbanzos, feta
Carrot sticks
Grapes
(not pictured: FAGE 0% yogurt with honey)

Lately I’ve made two changes in the way that I prepare my bentos in efforts to be a little bit healthier.

1) I’ve decided to become a lunchtime vegetarian. I’m not ready to go full veg yet, and I don’t know if I ever will. But I’ve decided to limit my meat consumption primarily to evening dinners. I’ve started being very intentional about including a good amount of vegetarian protein in my bento lunches, such as edamame, garbanzos, tempeh, tofu, peanut butter, eggs, etc. This is also important for environmental and economic reasons. Meat takes more energy to produce, which takes up more of our planets resources. I prefer to buy organic meat, which is also much more expensive than most veg protein option.

2) Every lunch must include a serving of whole grains. I’ve known about the importance of whole grains for a long time, but I’d stopped being very intentional about including them in my meals. I ate a lot of whole wheat crackers, but I rarely took the time to prepare other types of whole grains for my lunches.

Quinoa with spinach, grape tomatoes, olive and edamame
Carrot sticks
Grapes
FAGE 2% yogurt with strawberry

In order to accomplish these two goals, I’ve started doing some lunch prep work on the weekends to make it easier. I cook at least two types of whole grains in a large enough amount for the week and store them in the fridge: generally quinoa and whole wheat pasta. I cook and store at least two veg protein options, such as edamame, tofu, or tempeh. I also try to make some kind of veggie stir fry that I can mix with any of the above items to make a delicious salad. This method worked fantastically this week, and I felt healthy and well fed every day. Yay!

Bento Box: Special Edition 2

Posted on April 9, 2011 by Diana

Ginger-soy pork and noodle salad
Carrot sticks
Red Bell Pepper sticks
Whole wheat crackers
Pear
Dark Chocolate

At the beginning of every bento box post, I include a link to a post explaining how I pack my bento. I thought it was time to post an update to that, since I’ve changed my methods slightly. My primary bento box that I use for lunch every day is a Laptop Lunches bento box. I use it with a set of Bento Buddies from the same website, which is where the salad size bento box comes from. Some containers have lids and some don’t – I vary which ones I use depending on food. As long as there’s nothing really loose (like granola) or liquid, I’ve found that either style of box works fine.

I generally like to pack a few extra snacks along with my bento. Once I get lids on everything that needs them, I close it up.

I used to use a lunch box from Laptop lunches to carry my bento box. It’s great if you only want to carry your bento and a small bottle of water. I found that I wanted to carry more snacks with my, so I bought a Built Gourmet Getaway lunch bag, and I love it! I holds my bento in place, and has room for an ice pack and several snacks, like a piece of fruit, yogurt container or some crackers.

Everything fits in nice and snug, and I’m ready to go. Bon appetit!

Bento Box catch-up

Posted on March 27, 2011 by Diana

I did actually photograph an outfit this week, but my pictures didn’t turn out well, so I thought that I would catch up on my bento box pictures which I’ve been neglecting since January. Look out for a Bento Box special edition post on Saturday!

Spinach salad with grape tomatoes, walnuts, feta and balsamic dressing
Carrot sticks and cheddar
Whole wheat crackers
Chobani strawberry yogurt

Red beans and yellow rice
Spinach salad with olives and feta
Carrot sticks and red bell pepper sticks
Roasted sweet potato

Chicken Kourma and rice
Cucumbers
Grape Tomatoes
Feta, olives and red bell pepper slices
Whole Wheat crackers
Clementine

Bento Box Saturday: 1-13-11

Posted on January 22, 2011 by Diana

I’m trying to find more ways of adding protein to my diet, so I re-learned how to hard boil eggs last week. It’s really not that hard to do, and it’s such an easy (non-meat) way to get some extra protein into my day. For this bento, I crushed up the hard boiled egg over my salad right before I ate. Very yummy!

The Babybel cheese was inspired by Cute Food for Kids. Adults’ lunches should be fun too

Bento Box Saturday: 1-10-11

Posted on January 15, 2011 by Diana

Usually I like my bentos to have several, separate elements to give me a well-rounded lunch. Lately though, I’ve been trying out mixed bentos, where I mix all the elements in my bento into one big dish. I take all the small compartments out and dump them into the bento box itself. That’s what I did this week, with some super yummy taco salad.