If you’re anywhere in the Northern hemisphere right now, it’s probably hot and sticky outside. So why not cool down with a tasty, healthy snack? Right now, I can’t stop munching on frozen fruit, particularly frozen grapes. I pop a bowl in the freezer for at least half an hour, and out come delicious, frozen tasty bites. Keeps me from reaching for ice cream too often too. What’s your favorite summer snack?
I have been chipping away at my 11 in 2011 project. I’m still trying one new recipe a month, although some months are simpler than others.
For April, I tried out a recipe I found a the blog of a local health food store, Rollin’ Oats. I’ve since started making this almost every week, varying the vegetables depending on what I have, and usually serving it cold over spinach.
Quinoa is ridiculously easy to cook
Shelling edadamame – yum
I chop the carrots in my food processor because I’m lazy like that
Everything all mixed together = delicious awesomeness!!
For May, I decided to make up my own recipe, sort of. I tried a sample of some raw pumpkin seed brittle at my favorite health food store, and it was amazingly good. The price however ($12 for a tiny little package that might last a few days), not so good. The ingredients seemed simple, and it’s raw, so I figured it would be easy to imitate.
Ingredients: pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, almonds, dried cranberries, agave nectar
I basically just mixed everything together in a bowl until I got proportions I liked. I used a lot agave nectar to hold it all together. I found that this tastes best cold, because it sticks together more. And I eat it with a spoon (or with yogurt!), because it can get a bit messy.
*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.*
This week I packed my bento with:
I tried this salad at a party once, and I liked it so much that I grabbed my notebook, wrote down the ingredients and promised myself that I would make it when I got home. It took me a couple of months to get around to it, but I finally made the salad today.
Anyone who thinks that meatless salads are boring should try this one out. It has a nice combination of flavors and textures. I don’t have proportions specified here, because really with salads, it’s all about finding you preferred combination.
Combine:
Top with some fresh balsamic vinaigrette and voila! Super tasty salad. Yum!
I had a working training last week, which gave me the perfect excuse to pack a delicious bento box lunch full of nutritious foods. I packed my bento with:
Sometimes when the food supplies are running low, you get creative with your choices for lunch. I had no lunch meat or leftovers this day, but plenty of eggs, so I made a tasty omelette with veggies and cheese.
In my bento I packed:
Even though I wasn’t going anywhere, I decided to make an at-home bento last week. Placing my food into bento containers helps to me watch my portion sizes, and it makes lunch a little more fun.
I packed my bento with:
Last week, I had to attend an all day work training. I wasn’t sure what the food situation would be like, so I packed my bento and thermos full of filling, delicious foods. I also took some homemade trail mix to snack on (not pictured)
I packed:
Corn on the cob
Spinach and Feta Salad
Olive oil dressing
Mixed fruit salad
Refried beans
Whole Wheat Crackers
I think that I’m going to keep making bento box lunches during the summer, even on days when I’m not working (at whatever summer job I manage to find). I love putting bentos together. I love the delicious, perfect portions they create. I love how balanced and colorful bento meals are. I love my bento.
Welcome to my first recipe post! I make a variation of this salad at least once a week, and it’s a delicious and filling salad, that’s also vegetarian.
Originally, I wanted to call this “Sunshine salad” because of the cheery yellow bell peppers, but then I realized that name was already taken. I decided that Sunspot was close enough.
2 cups Lettuce (or spinach)
2 tbsp Canned Soybeans, drained
1 tbsp Feta
1 tbsp Flax Seeds
1/2 Rosemary sprig, chopped
1/2 Yellow Bell Pepper, sliced
While I list exact measurements here, the fact of the matter is that I usually tend to just wing it, and see what proportions I like best. I take all of the above ingridients, and mix them all together. I tend to try different things all the time, so some days I’ll use red bell peppers, some days I’ll have spinach instead of lettuce. It’s all about what I feel like having that day, and what ingredients I have prepared. Bon appetit!
