6/28/2011

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In this bento: brown rice, kelp with shiitake, beet soybean hummus, stirfried cabbage, stirfried zucchini.

Zucchini Lemon Bread

Another zucchini bread highlighted with lemon zest. It's common to have cinnamon when baking this type of bread but I do like the freshness by adding lemon instead cinnamon. The extra lemon juice somehow lights the taste of the bread. If you like zucchini bread, this is a good one. 

Beet Soybean Hummus

                                                                                                  I posted before about the beet hummus. This is a similar one but did add 1/2 cup of pureed soybean. Compare with the pure beet hummus, the soybean milds the flavor a bit while the hummus still keeps the sweetness from the beet. And the color is more pinky than the pungent red. If I don't forget to soak the soybean before making the hummus, this will be my go to version of beet hummus.

Wonton Style Ravioli

Wonton (or 餛飩) is the specialty of Shanghai. My mom is especially good at making it. It is the only dumping we eat at home long before we strat to make gyoza (or Jiaozi or 餃子). I made these wontons only because I wanted some ravioli this weekend but don't want to be labored of making the pasta dough. So the wonton wrap is a big time saver. And it doesn't make sense to me not making wonton since I have this square shape wrap available.
The filling is squash with cream cheese. I roasted a kabocha and mixed 4oz of cream cheese with pinch of salt and black pepper. The are quickly cooked in the boiling water. These wontons are light and fluffy with a subtle sweetness from the squash. The only thing I will change next time is to use the Shanghai style wrap which can hold the shape better than these Hongkong style wraps.

6/27/2011

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In the bento: brown rice, green beans, stirfried cabbage with shiitake, burger, kelp with shiitake.

Beet Soybean Hummus w/ Oyster Mushroom

A quick breakfast made with dinner leftover. 

6/25/2011

In the bento: quinoa with green beans, kelp with shiitake, stirfried cabbage, carrots, braised beef, stirfried oyster mushroom. 

6/24/2011

In the bento: quinoa with lima beans, kelp with shiitake, green beans, teriyaki chicken.

Beet Soybean Hummus w/ Avocado and Cheese

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I am addicted to homemade soybean hummus. This time, roasted beets were added to give the sweetness from nature sugar. I made this sandwich simply for the color combination. The beets don't look so vibrant after being mixed into soybean but shows a lovely hint of pink. With the green from avocado, it's like biting into spring!

6/21/2011

In the bento: pasta with baby lima beans, teriyaki chicken, green beans, stir-fried cabbage, catfish. 

6/20/2011

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In the bento: pasta with beet soybean hummus, baby lima bean with pecorino, chicken ham, balsamic glazed beets, green bean.

6/17/2011

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In the bento: chicken sandwich with beet hummus and basil, bokchoy with oyster mushroom, caramelized onion with egg, catfish, kelp.

6/16/2011

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In the bento: barley, catfish, kelp with shiitake mushroom, zucchini, oyster mushroom with eggplant.

Zucchini Apple Bread

The first time I heard and ate zucchini bread was in the graduate school. It was a complete new concept to me because I didn't grow up with any kind of quick bread. Though till now, I have baked and tried many different variations, the most delicious bite I can ever recall was still that first try. Zucchini is in season now, and baking using vegetable can't be easier and better than this. Hope everyone will enjoy this summer delight. The recipe I used is here.

6/15/2011

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In the bento: pasta with soybean hummus, kelp with shiitake, chicken ham, caramelized onion with egg.

Chicken Ham

For non-white meat eater, chicken breast is not a pleasant part to enjoy. Reasons are the meat is dry, tough, and no taste, at least I think in this way. So I made this ham with chicken breast hoping this way of cooking will magically turn the boring meat into a tender, juicy and flavorful delight. Well, the result is okay, but not impressive. Still, the breast can't get rid of it's toughness, but does have more flavor because of the marinade. It might be a good component in sandwich or salad though. The recipe is here, in Chinese.

6/14/2011

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Haven't been posting for awhile. I am eating, just not in a bento style. What features today's lunch: oyster mushroom with eggplant, salmon, home-made chicken ham, kelp with cabbage, quinoa.

6/6/2011

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In the bento: brown rice with job's tear (under the egg tomato), stir-fried tomato with egg, salmon, pig feet, cabbage. 

Lobster w/ Roasted Pepper Hummus

I was offered some lobster last night (thank you!) but it was too late to eat. With these delicious meat sitting in the fridge, i decided to make myself a lobster lunch sandwich. Luckily, a new batch of soybean hummus was also made last night, with a roasted green bell pepper. So today, I enjoyed this delicious sandwich with some fresh basil leaves from my herb pot.

Avocado w/ Roasted Pepper Hummus

I love avocado but morning is just not a good time to make guacamole. Since I still have my soybean hummus left, to sandwich sliced avocado with hummus sounds a good idea for a quick breakfast. I like the different green color in the sandwich. It fits the spring outside!

Caramelized Onions w/ Hummus and Cheese

After the raw onion sandwich, there was half onion left which I didn't know what to do. Also, I really want to give onion another try to save its reputation. So I caramelized it and toasted with some homemade soybean hummus and swiss cheese. It's way better than eating it raw!

Egg Onion w/ Peanut Butter

Raw onion is too pungent to eat on a weekday morning, though I wanted to try this interesting combination for a while. One Saturday morning I made it. Ur...it wasn't a very pleasant sandwich to me. First the egg and peanut butter didn't go well as it described. Then the onion was awfully strong to me. I can't stop tearing and drinking milk to mellow down the taste. But just my personal opinion. If you dare to try, you might like it though.

Banana w/ Nutella and Peanut Butter

Banana goes well with almost any single sweet spread to make a perfect breakfast sandwich. I am always greedy in the morning wishing to have both nutella and peanut butter. So one slice for each, problem solved!

Banana w/ Black Sesame Paste

I don't like eating banana plain. But it always tastes good when made into breakfast sandwich. This is one of the combinations I like.

Roasted Red Pepper w/ Avocado Tuna

This picture was taken 1 year ago. I finally figured out where to post so it fits into the right category.