1/18/2013

In the bento: brown rice+black sticky rice, sauteed snow pea, sauteed cabbage, steamed white fish, braised egg, kabocha

1/17/2013

In the bento: steamed brown rice with black sticky rice, sauteed cabbage with carrot, snow pea, green pepper, braised pork belly.

1/15/2012

In the bento: brown rice+black sticky rice, steamed white fish, sauteed snow pea, red pepper, sauteed celery, braised beef and shiitake mushroom.

1/14/2013

In the bento: brown rice, steamed fish, braised egg, sauteed cabbage, sauteed snow pea with red pepper

1/11/2012

In the bento: brown rice, sauteed onion with mushroom, sauteed red pepper, mushroom, braised egg, braised beef.

Ricotta Cocoa Cranberry Muffins

It is been so long since the last time I made myself some muffins for breakfast. I used a recipe that I liked with a twist of adding cranberry instead of chocolate chips. Well, I didn't expect that it turns out to be this boring. Yes, you see it right, boring. Flavor wise, nothing is particular exciting, while the texture is slightly chewy for reason I don't know. Maybe the this time it shows a sign of stop using this recipe.

1/7/2013

The first bento post in 2013, here starts a new year!
In the bento: boeuf bourguignon, sauteed broccoli, red pepper with shittake mushroom, snow pea, brown rice.

Baked Chilean Sea Bass

Chilean sea bass is a kind of fish that I don't cook very well. It's so delicate that I worry about overcooking it. I have tried steam, and pan-fry before but neither of them works for me. This time, I baked it with breadcrumb with knob of butter on top. It was perfectly cooked! The richness of the fish and the crispy top was like a symphony in the mouth.

Béchamel Sauce Baked Cauliflower

Thinking about the heavy meals I am going to have in days, today's lunch featured a light vegetable dish: baked cauliflower with bechamel sauce. It is a simple bechamel sauce but I added additional basil (frozen cubes from store bought) to perfume it a bit. It will be better to have some parmigiano sprinkle on the top, but I didn't have any at hand. So the dish was baked for 45 minutes. Next time, I will add few more minutes to brown the top.  

Sweet Potato Gnocchi

The last bit of fresh vegetable in the fridge was used in making this sweet potato gnocchi. I like the natural sweetness in the gnocchi from sweet potato. Also, I added ricotta, which provided a litter bit of richness. The cooked gnocchi tasted like airy pillow, yum!!

Boeuf Bourguignon

Should I say too much about this? I was thinking the Julie and Julia movie that when Julie said to the butcher "I am making boeuf bourguignon, Julia Child's boeuf bourguignon", how delight her face was.
And me too, when the aroma of the wine filled every corner of the house, my hair, and everywhere. Needless to say, this is good.

Assorted Goodies

As can be seen obviously, if possible, my breakfast always involves fish and avocado. Croissant with them, home-made bread with them, cheese with them, all possibilities. I can't stop wondering, how people originally found avocado eatable, and why smoked salmon?

Breakfast Duo

When there is abundant avocado and banana, then duo sandwich happens. For weeks, I have been keeping eating avocados that were bought too many from many trips of the grocery shopping. Bowls and bowls of guacamole, avocado milkshake, avocado pound cake, and so on. Still the speed of consuming is way slow than buying. For this duo, one is banana with peanut butter, the other is guacamole with smoke salmon.

Homemade Panini w/ Brie and Dark Chocolate

Nothing tastes better than melted cheese. I particularly like panini with melt brie and chocolate. When I got brie on sale, that's how I ate the entire thing. It is great for an afternoon snack, and breakfast with a cup of black coffee.

Honey Wheat Bagel w/ Avocado and Smoke Salmon

Have I said that bagels at Wegman's are amazing good? I always get a dozen whenever I go there and freeze them for a week's supply.
My favorite sandwich combination has to be avocado+ smoke salmon+ cheese. In the morning that I don't work, I will make fresh soy milk to enrich the home-made breakfast.
So here I had a comfy and delicious breakfast that gave me energy for the day. 

12/04/2012

This was lunch back to a while ago that I forgot to post. Lunch in a regular day: brown rice, sauteed cabbage, broccoli, bitter melon with hot paste, yogurt braised chicken

Avocado Banana Yogurt Cake

December has almost finished but I haven't been posting since late November! How time flies! It doesn't mean I stopped cooking or baking, just that I have cooked the same food again and likewise baking.
So end of the year...I start to clean the fridge for any food I left before leaving for the holiday. The first to go are fresh fruit and diary. The cake I baked was based on the Flour's Famous Banana Bread recipe and halved the all ingredients, with additional half of avocado, 3 tablespoons of yogurt and some azuki bean. The baked cake was DELICIOUS! Heavenly good!!
Bored with regular banana bread, I think this cake will now became my go-to recipe for a long time!

11/27/2012

In the bento: brown rice, bean curd braised pork belly, braised shiitake mushroom, bacon with cabbage, carrot with egg, sauteed broccoli.

Lime-Poppy Seeds White Cake

Lemon-poppy seeds cake has been on my to do list for long. The bag of poppy seeds was purchased at an Amish grocery store that I have always wanted to use it. The Thanksgiving provided an opportunity to complete this long-delayed project. The Nordicware cake pan has been used again to bake this beautiful white cake. I have used the recipe here and the cake turned out beautifully. The taste was a bit too sweet and boring to me, but I like how it looks like when converted to the plate. 

11/13/2012

In the bento: brown rice with carrot and mushroom, broccoli, eggplant with minced meat, miso braised saury.

11/12/2012

In the bento: steamed red quinoa, salmon sauteed with celery, eggplant with minced meat, miso braised saury.

Miso Braised Saury

Saury is a very nutritious fish while not as expensive as one kinds. Regularly the fish is pan-fried as a whole piece without moving the guts. I learned a new way of cooking it in miso so it can be cooked and eat in few days. The liquid tastes full of flavor while the fish keeps its only flavor. I shall now buy saury more often and cook it like this.

Pumpkin Cheesecake with Oreo Crust

The last bit of pumpkin puree from the crown prince squash has been used in this cheesecake. The texture and flavor of the kind of pumpkin is very similar to kabocha, which is a Japanese variety of pumpkin. It is very dense and almost no liquid coming out when drain. The color of the raw flesh is golden yellow. This kind of flesh is perfect for pie or cheesecake since not too much liquid in the filling will mess up when being baked. I like to use Oreo as a crust whenever possible. Plus, the color combination looks good, doesn't it?

Pumpkin Mac-n-Cheese

Mac-n-Cheese is such a cold weather staple that calls for people's craving whenever it wants. Fall is the season for pumpkin, all kinds of pumpkins. The flesh of the vegetable goes very well with mac-n-cheese. Weeks ago when on the way back from hiking, we passed by a local farmer's market, I got some crown prince squash, which I have never seen and used before. I am so glad I gave it a try. It was dense, dry and deep in flavor. It purees very well and goes by nature into all kinds of sauce. I used part of the puree in the pasta, and saved some for a pumpkin cheesecake. Next time if I see this kind of squash again, no doubt I will get as many as I can.

Matcha Red Bean Pound Cake

I received a new cake mode of Nordicware. It's a beautiful rose shape with 10 cups capacity. To welcome it join my collection, I made a pound cake with green tea powder and some home made sweet azuki bean. This has been the largest cake I have ever made. It un-mold easily with non-stick interior. With this new member I might bake more now :)