Often, bento lunches are works of art, and these types of lunches are most commonly seen online:

While these kinds of bentos are beautiful to look it, they are not the kind of thing I’m interested in making. Imagine the time and patience they must take! The reasons I love making bentos are much simpler:

• They are quick and easy to make.
• They taste delicious.
• It’s fun to know you have a homemade lunch waiting for you.
• The possibilities are endless, and they help inspire me to try new foods.
• It’s fun to try to pack the foods into the box–it’s sort of like a game.
• It’s easy to make them healthy.

I started making bentos last summer, and ate on for lunch on most weekdays. Sometimes, I would take them to work with me, but often I prepared them in the mornings before I went to my summer class and ate them for lunch when I got home.

Today, I made this bento for myself for lunch:

And it could be done in about 20 minutes! Here’s my step-by-step guide to making a basic bento box lunch:

The Night Before

First things first, let’s back up to the night before. I start my week of bentos by planning out what I want to make during the week. I use this weekly bento planner to help me decide what I need to prep ahead of time.

When I plan my bentos, I usually have 2-3 types of proteins, 3-4 types of veggies, brown rice and white rice on the agenda. My daily bento usually includes 1 cup of rice, 3-4 oz. of protein, 1/2 cup of veggies and some pickles. If there is room, I also add some fruit.

Some of the components of this bento can be prepared ahead of time. One of the things I make at the beginning of the week is quick pickles:

These are super simple to make. I just shredded a quarter of a head of cabbage and used a mandolin (our box grater has a little blade that works perfectly) to slice half of a cucumber. Then I used 1-2 tsp. of salt and massaged the vegetables with my hand until they started to go limp and give off moisture. They can stay in the fridge all week and be used for bentos!

I also make rice ahead of time, usually for dinner the night before. I make about 3 cups of extra rice, and I use our Food Saver to save it throughout the week. It stays fresh for a few days until I need to make more.

The night before, you can also wash and chop veggies for the week and store them separately so you can grab-and-go in the mornings. I also defrost chicken or fish if it’s frozen so it’s ready for me to cook in the morning.

Finally, if your dishwasher is full, run it the night before, because having an empty dishwasher makes clean-up a lot faster in the morning. It’s a lot nicer to throw dirty dishes in there than having to hand-wash everything.

The Morning Of

Ok, so when I wake up in the morning, I usually prep my bento first-thing. I first gather all of the tools and ingredients I’ll need for my bento:

Today, I made a chicken-and-pepper dish that I cooked in a small pot and a tamagoyaki (rolled Japanese omelette) that I prepared in a pan:

And I also need a cutting board and knife for cutting my veggies and chicken:

*Note* If you are cutting raw meat AND vegetables, use two different boards to prevent cross-contamination.

And, of course, I needed my bento box:

My box is about 500 mL, which is the size I aim for for my lunches.

It has dividers, but I didn’t need them today because nothing I made had a sauce I wanted to keep contained.

I also have a bunch of silicon baking cups that I use in my bento boxes. They are more flexible than the hard plastic dividers in my box and make it a lot easier to pack my lunch:

I also gather all of the ingredients I need before I get started:

I start by prepping the ingredients. I chopped the chicken, peppers and scallions and got my eggs ready for my tamagoyaki.

I used half of a chicken breast and resealed the rest of the chicken for another bento:

Then I got cooking! I did the chicken first and cooked my eggs simultaneously:

After my chicken had cooked, I took it out of the pot and let it cool:

I let the scallions heat through for about 30 seconds in the chicken pan (no need to clean it!) and then added the peppers. I finished them with a bit of soy sauce.

While my chicken, eggs and peppers cooked, I cleaned up as I went and put ingredients away after I’d used them. This helps make the bento-making process go much more quickly.

For the rice, I heated 1 cup of my leftover rice in the microwave for about 90 seconds. I spread it out in the box to cool while I cooked everything else.

It may seem silly to heat rice just to cool it, but the texture of the room-temperature rice is much better if it is heated first, then cooled, as opposed to just eaten cold.

I also put my pickles in their little cup:

After everything was cooked, it has to cool. You don’t want to pack a bento box with hot food because all of the condensation can make things less safe. I let everything cool while I clean up.

Packing the bento box is the best part! I start with the rice and pack it as tightly as possible:

Then I add the chicken and peppers and pickles:

And finally pack everything together with two slices of tamagoyaki:

If there are extra spaces in your bento, you can use raw veggies to help act as a barrier. Broccoli florets and cherry tomatoes add color and help separate foods and keep things from moving around.

The last thing I added was an umeboshi plum. These little pickled plums are super salty and tart, but they are delicious.

I buy them at my local Asian market. They are in the refrigerated section:

Today I chopped one up (they have pits!) and used it to decorate my bento:

And that’s that! I just put the lid on and I was all done.

I enjoyed this bento for lunch, and it was so comforting and delicious. I can’t wait to make more bentos this summer!

Here is what you need:

• 1 Large Bell Pepper of your favorite color (You want it more short and fat, in contrast to one of the long skinny ones.)
• 2-3 eggs, depending on how hungry you are
• 1 Tbsp butter
• Salt and Pepper to taste

And here’s how you do it!

1. Slice the bell pepper into slices between 1/2 in and 1 inch thick.  If it is a narrow pepper like mine was, you’ll need thicker slices so your eggs don’t run over. (I learned that the hard way )
2. Melt your butter in a flat-bottomed pan.
3. Toss in your slices and cook for a couple of minutes, flipping once.  You want them to be starting to get tender.
4. Crack your eggs into the middle of the pepper slices.  Duh.  ;)
5. Salt and pepper!  I like LOTS of fresh cracked black pepper on my fried eggs.
6. Cook until the eggs are at your desired amount of done-ness.  It works best for over easy-ish.  If you like them cooked all the way through, it will still work but won’t be as pretty.  I’ll show you in my pictures

Here we go!

Slicey slicey!

Melt the butter in a pan and start cooking the bell pepper slices

Crack the eggs into the middle of the slices

Cook until it is at your desired amount of done-ness.  You like my fancy, official foodie speech?  Ha.  I wish.  Done-ness.

It works best for over-easyish done-ness.  And looks the prettiest.  However, if that freaks out you can pop the yolk and flip it half way through so it all gets cooked

Isn’t that just a fun idea?  I hope you love it!!!  It would be cute for entertaining too, cause they kind of look like flowers!  Totally just thought of that!  FUN!!!!

Work , again stressful and had various jobs to do after school. Got through the door at 7 in the end feeling uninspired for dinner and lacking energy. Whipped up eggs, beans and treated myself to a wholemeal bread bun. I NEVER HAVE BREAD. A massive cheat meal but with no chicken defrosted or fresh veg in the fridge I was definitely lacking inspiration. Note to self , keep that fridge full when trying to eat well!!

Knowing the gym closed at 9 , I downed my dinner chucked on my headphones and trainers and made it to the gym for a 50 minute session. I had second thoughts while I started to speed walk on the treadmill as to whether it was even worth me being there , especially as my dinner was barely digested. I persisted however , deciding on my walk / run that I would focus on legs , as I usually concentrate on core and arms. 150 calls burned in 20 mins I moved onto various leg weight machines and then squatted 15 kg for 15 reps of three sets. Then feeling brave I squatted a further 25 reps with 20kg bar.

Feeling the burn and with 5 mins left on the clock until me and all the other gym junkies were kicked out I jumped on a bike and sprinted out 50 cals. Finished with a sweat and the beginnings of cramp in my right calf. You know when it’s not fully cramped and you know it’ll creep up on you later with full force? Dread. Anyway, I’m home now. I’ve got my Slendertone on and going to bed soon as soon as its finished and after I’ve downed a few litres of water to keep this cramp at bay.

So another day and another okay ish gym session- got to remind myself it all counts. Certainly seeing results this week. I’m my lightest weight at the moment and it will all count towards what I know will be an indulgent weekend. Just gotta keep going !

Over and out x

Students: Bike.

Great. Next.

Students: Ear.

Good stuff. Next.

Students: Uhhhhhh…

Me: Come on, what is it?

Janis: Uh, a cup?

Me: What??

Gunita: Uh, a glass?

Me: Are you mad? What do you put into it?

Gunta: Uh, wine?

In an effort to keep from tearing my own hair out, I started stabbing at the board with my marker, ending up with something vaguely resembling a triangular egg sitting in a  warped egg cup. Triumphantly, I turned around and waited for the ‘aha’ moment from my students. Nothing.

Me: WHAT IS IT?

Students: We don’t know the word.

Me: It’s an egg! An EGG! The egg goes in the egg cup!

Students: We don’t use egg cups in Latvia.

How could this be? What do Latvian people do? Chase the egg around the plate while thwacking it with a spoon whenever it rolls in the right direction? Was this some new form of madness?

The students explained to me (in a ‘humour the foolish Westerner’ sort of way) that Latvians like their eggs hard-boiled. This didn’t answer my questions. Just because it’s hard-boiled doesn’t mean it won’t submit to a pummelling from stainless steel. This however, is not the Latvian way. They pick the egg up in their hands, peel the shell off and eat it that way. Doesn’t it matter that the egg is very, very hot, I wondered? Literally boiling? Another ‘puny Westerner’ look.

Thinking that they might still be messing with me, I decided to ask another group the next morning. One student,  (amazingly) called Janis, told me that his mother actually used to give him his egg in an egg cup with a funny face on it when he was a child. Thinking that the egg cup was merely for decoration, he’d take the egg out and eat it with one hand while playing games with the egg cup with the other. Sigh.

I feel that I have moved one step closer to the mystery of why Latvians always look so miserable though. If you burned the tops off your fingers every morning, wouldn’t you?

Fresh cherries, 1 over easy egg + 1 egg white, 2 servings turkey bacon, english breakfast tea with almond milk.

Please don’t look at my spinach.

It’s embarrassing.  I got this beautiful, fresh spinach in my farm share box and I let it linger in my fridge too long.  It’s definitely not bad, but it’s not picture worthy.  It’s tired spinach.

But the good news is that even the weariest of spinach (or kale, or chard for that matter) is made new again with the addition of a little cheese and eggs.  All of a sudden, that sad leafy green is the perfect lunch.  Sitting here eating it is taking some of my guilt away.

I realize that I should save my vegetable guilt for more important things, like when I let the little guy watch two episodes of Curious George in a row while I fold laundry, or when I hide the girls scout cookies in the back of the freezer so my husband won’t eat them all.  What?! Who said that? I don’t do that.  (Note to self: Find new hiding place.)

Ok, back to this pie.  ”Pie” isn’t the best descriptor for this, but it’ll do.  It’s somewhere between a quiche and a fritatta and a something else.  It’s much easier than a quiche, of course, because of the lack of a crust, and it’s clearly better than a fritatta because the cheese is present in equal amounts to the egg.  When you’re pulling it together, you may think, “Is that right? Seems like a lot of cheese for four measly eggs.”  But it is right. So, so right.

Now, I can rarely get away with anything resembling breakfast for dinner around here (read: anything with eggs), but I’ve made this for all three meals, and it’s always been happily devoured.  It’s become one of our “fast food” meals, because I almost always have what I need to make it in the fridge, and there is a minuscule amount of chopping, peeling,  and dish-washing involved. I’ve made it with kale and spinach, with equally good results, so it’s not picky. I like to serve it with a cold, peppery salad with a tangy vinaigrette on top.  It might seem like a lot of greens, but it just works.

Even the baby liked it, which made me feel better about, you know, the whole hour-of-curious-george thing.  See how this guilt thing comes full circle?

Artichoke, Kale & Ricotta Pie 

adapted from this recipe

Olive oil
4 eggs
8 ounces ricotta cheese
4 ounces Parmesan, grated
1 cup marinated artichokes, roughly chopped
1 bunch spinach, kale, or other sturdy greens, thinly sliced (about 3-4 cups)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 400°F. Grease a 9-inch cake pan (or pie dish, or quiche dish) lightly with olive oil.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, ricotta cheese, and Parmesan. Roughly chop the artichokes and greens and add to the cheese and egg mixture. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Stir until combined.

Pour contents of bowl into the greased pan and drizzle with olive oil. Cook until custard is set, about 40 to 50 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for 5 to 10 minutes and serve.

excite-MINT

Guess what, people? Meltdowns are back! And since the official start of Summer is this weekend, it seems like the right time for it.

Even after making 8 different flavors of ice cream last year (plus 1 sorbet and 1 gelato), I didn’t make one of my favorites: mint chocolate chip. I’m really glad I did now, because the combination of herby mint and rich, dark chocolate is one of the best flavors ever. I wasn’t going to add food coloring, but my brain couldn’t process “mint” without that traditional green hue. But I do like the way the brown chocolate blends with the minty green in the finished product. Tastes pretty good too.

Mint Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream
4 cups (1 quart) of half & half
5 large egg yolks
3/4 cup of sugar
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1 ½ teaspoons of mint extract
Green food coloring (optional)
3 oz of dark chocolate mini chunks

In a large saucepan, heat the half & half over medium heat. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally.

Whisk the egg yolks in a large bowl until smooth. Gradually add the sugar and salt, and whisk until the mixture is pale yellow and thickened, about 3 minutes. Slowly add a little of the heated half & half into the egg mixture and whisk together. Pour the egg-half & half mixture into the saucepan and continue cooking over low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens and can coat the back of a wooden spoon, about 5 minutes.

Remove from the heat and pour through a fine mesh strainer into a large bowl. Stir in the vanilla and mint extract, and about 4 drops of green food coloring, if using. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until cold or overnight.

Place the mixture into your ice cream maker and freeze according to the machine’s instructions. Most machines take 20 to 40 minutes to make ice cream. When the ice cream is thick and creamy, add the dark chocolate mini chunks to the machine, or stir them in by hand. Place into a freezer-safe container (with piece of parchment paper between the ice cream and the lid) and let it harden for a few hours. Let it sit at room temperature for a few minutes before scooping, and then eat.

]]> http://eyechow.com/2013/05/22/five-leaves-moroccan-scramble-brooklyn/ Wed, 22 May 2013 19:18:17 +0000 eyechow http://eyechow.com/2013/05/22/five-leaves-moroccan-scramble-brooklyn/

Last week my friend Danielle and had a spontaneous lunch / brunch in Brooklyn. Since I have a car, we drove down from Queens and found parking right near our restaurant of choice: Five Leaves. I’d read a lot about the place and had tried to eat there before, but the wait was always too long for my level of hunger. On this sunny weekday, the wait was only about 15 minutes for an outdoor table for two.

Well worth the wait, Five Leaves serves a mix of Mediterranean and American dishes. They offer many homemade aspects – such as the homemade ricotta, which I still need to try – as well as a unique cocktail menu. After seeing someone else receive the Moroccan Scramble, I knew I had to have it. It includes scrambled eggs with spiced chickpeas and merguez (sausage), on top of grilled sourdough and crushed avocado. This was all topped with slivered peppers and a handful of fresh herbs; I was in heaven and can’t wait to go back.

Five Leaves

Open: 8:00 a.m. – 1:00 a.m. 

Location: 18 Bedford Ave. Brooklyn NY 11222 Phone: (718) 383-5345

Ingredients: The eggs are poached to perfection (no bias, honest!) and the ham is flash fried.

A bird’s eye view of the finished product: poached egg nesting on a bed of lettuce.

Drink it in: poached eggs, lettuce, flash-fried ham, on a toasted English muffin. Delicious and nutritious!

Check out what others are eating every Wednesday:

Happy eats, everyone!

- J

I know, that sounds crazy, but trust me on this one. This open-faced sandwich will have your taste buds going wild. The combination of that earthy kale and savory garlic with a thick, runny egg atop crunchy buttery toast smothered in rich, sweet honey… omg. You’re welcome.

Garlic Kale & Egg on Honey Buttered Toast

Ingredients

Instructions

1. Cook chopped kale, minced garlic and pepper in an oiled sauté pan until wilted, about 3 minutes.
2. Prepare the egg however you prefer — I like sunny side up with crispy edges.
3. Thoroughly butter a slice of toast and smother with honey.
4. Layer kale on the toast, followed by the egg. Serve as open-faced sandwich.

Note: You could mix of substitute any leafy greens in place of kale for this such as mustard greens or swiss chard!

The first part of this project will start next month (June 1 to June 14). The first part is the collection period where I will be taking contributions via google plus community for ideas. People can suggest whatever they would like whether it’s names, places, skin color, what car someone drives, the accent they have, rules for the novel like every chapter has to start with a B or whatever else anyone can come up with.

More details will be coming soon!

Dribble Delights are delighted to announce their presence at this year’s West End Festival! We would like to invite all of you to our stall on Sunday the 9th of June 2013 where we will be promoting our ebook and future range of baby food and toddler snacks. Do come along for competitions, samples and a fresh outlook on delicious, nutritious food made without gluten, wheat, soya, dairy, lactose, egg or nuts!

The festival has been hugely popular in previous years. Set against the beautiful backdrop of Byres Road and the iconic Ashton Lane, what could be better than milling around the stalls of Glasgow’s front runners in art, culture and cuisine?! Hopefully the sunshine will be in attendance too.

We would also urge you to keep your eyes peeled on Reporting Scotland and BBC Scotland as Dribble Delights will be featuring soon! CEO Cheryl Ryder will be baking with her children and discussing her own personal experiences with food allergies and intolerances – the frustration, stress and how Dribble Delights can improve this for parents in similar situations. Stay tuned!

In the meantime you can find out more about the West End Festival here: http://www.westendfestival.co.uk/

And you can also purchase our ebook – crammed full of nutritious recipes which tick all the vitamin and mineral boxes – here: http://www.lulu.com/shop/cheryl-ryder-and-charlotte-stirling-reed/allergy-friendly-baby-food/ebook/product-20987319.html

Here’s a welcome entrance in Las Vegas.

And, here’s the LA version.

Here’s a visual display in Vegas…

And, here’s LA…oh my!!!

Yesterday afternoon was spent at The Getty Museum in Brentwood…home of O.J., Reese, Ben, Marilyn and Arnold. I guess there’s enough drama with their personal lives that the design doesn’t have to be.  Well, that’s not fair.  The design is dramatic but at the complete opposite end of the spectrum.

Here are some architectural shots of The Getty.

And the gardens…

 And, the sculpture of Calder…

And, Henry Moore.

Between J. Paul Getty and Fran & Ray Stark the museum offers an amazing range of works.  But, like my notes about Zarkana in Vegas…the art is arguably upstaged by the architecture and horticultural design.  However, the harmony is clearly evident.  One has to rely on their own aesthetic to bring all of the elements together.

As for food…while I’m so thankful for The Memphis Farmers Market I have to say everything tastes more fresh in California; it’s just amazing.

CANDLELIGHT SUPPER

WEST at Hotel Angelo offered:

Crispy Egg Salad…Braised Pork…Mac and Cheese with Lobster and Truffles…Vanilla infused Scallops with Sweet Pea Risotto

SUNNY BREAKFAST

WEST also offered Lox with all the trimmings and Eggs Benedict…wake up!!!

SIMPLE SUPPER

Monsieur Marcel at The Farmers Market offered:

Santa Barbara Viognier in a really cool “Bag of Ice”…Moules…Coquilles and Frites…Roasted Chicken

Hotel Angeleno et al were lovely and a very relaxing time was had by all!!!

My go-to protein in the morning are eggs. This usually means a couple of fried eggs with some sautéed spinach, but when my apartment is 70 degrees by 6am the last thing I want to do is stand over a hot stove. Luckily, I have time Sunday nights to hard-boil enough eggs for breakfast all week. With part of my breakfast already made in the morning I have more time to spend on other things…like sleeping or making coffee.

As well as being inexpensive, hard-boiled eggs require little effort, cooking skills and equipment. Start by placing eggs in a single layer on the bottom of a stock pot or soup pot. The correct diameter of pot depends on how many eggs you would like to make, but be sure it is deep enough to allow the eggs to be covered by 2 inches of cold water. Place the pot, uncovered, on a stove over high heat. Once the water comes to a full rolling boil, remove the pot from the stove, cover it and  let them sit for 12 minutes. After the resting time, drain the eggs and cover them with cold water. Repeat this a couple of times and let the eggs sit for another 30 minutes. Once the eggs are cool to the touch, just spoon them into a container and store in the fridge.

I prefer my hard-boiled eggs either sliced, atop of a bed of fresh greens, or plain with some salt and pepper. For a more complete dish, I like to spread hummus on toast and top it with spinach and a greek yogurt based egg salad. Most people think of egg salad as a mayonnaise filled dish between two thick slices white bread, but it can easily be made into a healthier option for breakfast or a quick snack.

Almost as easy as hard-boiling the eggs, a basic egg salad requires eggs, plain greek yogurt and seasonings. Mix them together in whatever ratio you prefer; for me that’s 1 tablespoon of yogurt per egg, a squeeze of spicy mustard and a couple dashes of salt. If I’m out of spinach I’ll add finely diced bell peppers, grated carrot or celery, but most vegetables can be incorporated just fine. The seasoning options are also endless. I’ve added curry powder, adobo pepper sauce, wasabi and everything in between. Obviously egg salad isn’t a breakfast-only item but the fact that it can be made the night before makes it ideal for a summer morning when prep time and motivation are lacking.

A friend of mine has a book by a chef, a certain mister Ottolenghi – whom I apparently should have known, but didn’t. She told me how exciting his recipes were and made me have a look. And in fact it was pretty exciting! The pictures were really pretty, the food looked good and every recipe had a wee introduction. Pretty good stuff. One recipe in particular drew my attention, because it was a breakfast recipe with eggs, and I really do like both breakfast and eggs, especially combined. I gave it a shot there the other day and really liked it, so it’s going on the blog! Rocket with eggs and garlic yoghurt, according to Ottolenghi.

However, I’ve made some minor changes. Monsieur Ottolenghi says so put it in the oven and to make a separate pepper and sage butter sauce. That’s too much hassle, in the morning anyway. Much as I enjoy cooking, breakfast should be fast-ish and require relatively little effort. So instead of putting it in the oven, we’re making a frying pan exclusive version. Instead of making a butter sauce, we’ll incorporate the butter into the dish straight away. Much easier, just as tasty.

I had three eggs by myself because I’m a dirty greedy.

For 2, you will need:

•  150 gr rocket
  
• 4 eggs
• a few leaves of fresh sage (like 4 or so, just little ones)
• 1 dried chili, crushed
• some olive oil
• 50 gr butter
• 6 tbsp greek yoghurt
• 1 clove of garlic

Put the butter in a frying pan, melt on medium heat. Add the crushed chilli and the sage leaves, chopped or torn into bits. Gently fry for a while so the butter can soak up the flavours. Now add the rocket, washed and dried, add some salt an fry for a while until wilted. Now add some more oil so the eggs won’t stick, and crack the eggs, making them a nice wee nest with the rocket. Leave to fry until they’re to your desired state – I like mine soft-ish with the yolks still runny.

Whilst the eggs are cooking, put the yoghurt in a bowl with the garlic, crushed (it needs to be really fine, so I’d say that chopping isn’t gonna cut it this time – use a garlic press if you have one). Mix well.

Serve the eggs with the yoghurt sauce, some strong coffee and a glass of juice.

But seriously, I find cooking can be just as therapeutic as coloring, taking pictures, or blogging. And it’s actually very easy. If someone ever tells you they can’t cook, then you must assume they also cannot read and should perhaps invest in some sort of accelerated English program at the local community college. So ladies, if your man ever tells you he cannot cook, he is both lazy and a liar. Alright, now that’s settled…

Because I have no one to cook for (ah I think I hear the world’s smallest violin playing ever so quietly in the distance), I find myself unable to use an ingredient in its entirety before it spoils. For instance, eggs. Yeah I know Harris Teeter sells them in cartons of six but Target is a lot more convenient. So, I’ve been experimenting with egg dishes. This led me to the wonderful, versatile world of the frittata. Frittatas are great because you can fill them with pretty much whatever you want. Except chocolate. That would be gross. Stick to savory ingredients like meat, cheese, and vegetables.

The recipe below is my own for individual frittatas. It is a vegetarian version, mostly because I used whatever was lurking in my freezer and refrigerator at the moment. Because they are individual, it is easy to control portion size and they refrigerate and freeze well. Remember that just because this is an egg dish, you don’t have to limit it only for breakfast. Eggs are a great source of protein and energy, making it the perfect pick-me-up lunch. If you are conscientious about cholesterol use only egg whites. Feel free to use the recipe as a jumping-off point to making your own unique versions!

Individual Frittatas

7 eggs

½ c. small curd ricotta cheese

_2/3 c. half and half

¾ c. frozen peas

_2/3 c. frozen green beans

1 c. fresh spinach (make sure to remove stems)

1 tbsp. olive oil

1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

½ tsp. pepper

½ c. grated pepper jack cheese

Makes 12 individual frittatas

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Thaw the peas and green beans in the microwave. Heat the oil in a skillet on medium heat. Add peas, green beans, and spinach (I like to rip the spinach into smaller pieces) and season with pepper. The spinach will cook down a lot. While those are cooking, prepare the egg mixture.

Whisk the ricotta cheese and half and half into already-beaten eggs. You can also use low-fat milk, as well. I like ricotta because it’s low in fat and calories and high in protein. Great for building muscle! Feel free to use any kind of grated cheese you want, such as mozzarella. I also like heat, so I add crushed red pepper flakes.

When the vegetables are cooked down, usually after about 5 minutes, add them to the egg mixture. Portion the mixture into a greased, twelve cup muffin tin. Bake between 22-25 minutes, or until the tops are set and no longer runny. They’re going to puff up really big, but don’t freak out. They settle back once they are taken out of the oven.

Sprinkle frittatas with pepper jack cheese (again, use whatever cheese you’d like) and place under the broiler just until cheese starts to bubble and turn golden brown (usually takes only 1-2 min).

**Not all recipes I share will include egg and dairy products, so stay tuned for delicious vegan recipes! (Seriously, they’re actually really good. I wouldn’t post them if I didn’t like them haha)

Brunch! Did I say unique, tasty and eye awakening plate! A combination of the perfect golden cheesy bread with grilled lamb sausages and eggs sunny side up with crispy home fries to frame it. Blue Collar is where to go for brunch or whenever you are ready for a good meal.

See you!…cp.

Photo Credit:Janet Cho

I am in love with Korean Cuisine and one of the dish that I always love to have is Bibimbap or Mixed Rice in English. It’s a simple but yet delicious dish. It’s a combination of meat and veggies so it’s definitely healthy. Having Korean food in authentic Korean restaurants can be really expensive and being a practical mommy, I used my resources and asked my Korean students about the different food they can recommend and then I went ahead and search YOUTUBE!

Photo Credit: Sweet Cherry Pie

So as I try different dish, I also learned how to adjust and experiment and try different things to add some twists and make it my own. This is something that my kids dont enjoy so it’s not practical to buy beef (which I dont normally have in the fridge). So I thought, why not buy cooked Beef Tapa (Smoked Beef)  from Tapsilogan. It’s a lot cheaper than buying raw beef and prepare marinade for it.

So here’s my own Bibimbap with a twist easy recipe.

If you have a lof of extra veggies in your fridge, this will be cheap and easy bibimbap recipe.

What you need:

Cooked Tapa
Carrots (julienne)
Cucumber(julienne)
Spinach
Onion
Green Onion
Sesame Seeds
Seaweed Laver ( a.k.a.  Nori in JP and Gim in Korea)
Cabbage Kimchi
Egg (raw or fried)

Sauce: Chili Paste,Oyster Sauce,sugar,cruhed or minced garlic, sesame seeds. (Normally I would add sesame oil, but since I ran out, I live it as that)

What to do:

Prepare the sauce by mixing all the ingredients together based on your taste.

Cut the seaweed into thin strip or you can just torn it apart.

Saute the veggies separately in olive oil and then add a little bit of salt. Cook for 2-3 minutes per vegetable. You can saute the onion in butter if you wish to and cook it longer.

In a big bowl, place a cup of steaming hot rice. Keep in mind that you’re putting a lot of veggies so you might want to lessen your normal serving.

This is optional but once you place the rice, press your spoon in the middle of the rice carefully and it will create a room to place the raw egg. Remember to do this as quick as you can. If you dont like raw egg, then you can just use the fried one.

Once you got it covered, you can place the vegetables around the yolk of the egg.

Be creative and place all the ingredients carefully. Top it off with the sauce, torn seaweed laver and sesame seeds.

Take a photo

Mix..

and VOILA!! Instant Balanced Diet in a BOWL!

Notice that I didn’t put any measurement on the ingredients. Because really, you can add as little and as many as you want. Everything will depend on your taste and preference. As for me, I like to add beansprout as well.

Let me know if you try to make this recipe or tried Bibimbap differently. I would love to hear your Bibimbap experience.

Related articles

• Bibimbap: Korea’s Perfect Meal (hungryandfit.com)