Archive for the 'salad' Category

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Disposable lunches for airplane

I packed a couple of bento lunches in disposable containers for my in-laws’ airplane flight home after their visit. They’re a little busier than our normal lunches, but I’m pleased with the diabetic version for my father-in-law because of the limited food options for diabetics on airplanes. They tell me that they were the envy of the other passengers and flight crew. I usually appreciate the reusability of proper bento boxes, but this is the rare case when a disposable box was a better option — when the boxes won’t be coming home to me at all.

Contents of my mother-in-law’s lunch: Ham & cheese sandwich with mustard sauce on low-carb bread, TastyBite Jaipur vegetable curry, red bell pepper strips and poppy seed dressing, Swiss and Cheddar cheese slices, pink beans with sofrito, blueberries and pineapple, wrapped cheese triangle, and corn chips.

Prep time: 0 minutes the morning of, 15 minutes the night before (mostly spent staring at our assorted leftovers, trying to figure out what could go where and fill the gaps). The beans and pineapple were leftovers, as was the ready-made curry from a shelf-stable pouch.

Packing: Everything is disposable except the sauce container with salad dressing for the bell pepper. To keep the bread from getting soggy, I first toasted the bread and used cheese as a moisture barrier next to the bread so that the mustard sauce didn’t come into contact with it. The curry went into a disposable lidded condiment container. I rubber-banded the containers (3 for about $1 at Ichiban Kan in San Francisco), wrapped the two lunches together in a spare dish towel, then tucked two plastic forks into the flap on the top. I used the traditional bento box wrap shown on this illustrated how-to wrapping chart (Otsukai Tsutsumi). This kept the flimsy containers contained compactly so they could be thrown into carry-on luggage, and the dishcloth could be used as either a placemat or napkin.

Contents of my father-in-law’s lunch: This is the diabetic version of my mother-in-law’s, but with ham and mustard sauce solo (not in a sandwich), a salad with low-carb ranch dressing (by Eating Right), and Bengali smothered cabbage with mustard oil.

Packing: I used cheese slices as an edible divider to keep the ham away from the corn chips, and put the moist cabbage and mustard sauce in disposable lidded condiment containers. I now realize I wasn’t thinking enough about the restriction on liquids and gels when I packed this; my in-laws were probably lucky they didn’t have problems with the mustard sauce in airport security.

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Published by Biggie on September 26th, 2007 tagged beans, bento, curry, glutenfree, meat, salad, sandwich or wrap | 40 Comments »

Cheater’s tamagoyaki lunches

I finally broke out a picnic bento set and got practice making diabetic-friendly food with these lunches. I packed for four this past Tuesday as my in-laws were here visiting, and they joined us for Japanese playgroup. Also, I can’t say that I’m much of an Emeril Lagasse TV fan, but his creamed spinach recipe is excellent and my preschooler devours it like there’s no tomorrow — it’s up there with tamales and tofu in Bug’s list of favorite foods. The thickener proportions are off, though; it’s too thick as written. I use the normal roux proportion of equal parts butter and flour, and so changed the recipe to 4Tb of flour, 1.5 cups milk or more, plus Tabasco and Cajun spice to taste. I’ve mixed leftover creamed spinach with egg the following day and made it into spinach scrambled egg purses.

Contents of my lunch: Slices of cheater’s dashimaki tamago omelette (made in a round frying pan without creating layers: full tutorial here), fresh pineapple, blueberries, raspberry, steamed Chinese green onion bun, and Cajun creamed spinach. My mother-in-law’s lunch is identical to this one, so no separate photo.

Morning prep time: 17 minutes, mostly to make the 8-egg tamagoyaki for all four lunches. The tamagoyaki rests for 10 minutes on the counter, though, so during this inactive cook time I was able to pack the rest of the lunch using leftover creamed spinach, pre-cut pineapple from breakfast, and pre-packaged green onion buns that I briefly heated in my microwave mini steamer.

Packing: I packed all three adult lunches in a multi-person picnic set from Lock & Lock in an insulated case. I used the set’s removable food cups to pack the creamed spinach, and silicone baking cups for the fruit and Chinese bun. (Confession: the bun didn’t actually require a baking cup, I just liked the shot of color it gave.) I then stuffed frozen ice packs (cut from a flexible ice blanket) into the sides and top to keep everything cool for best packed lunch food safety. Each large square container is 870ml (click photos for larger views).

My father-in-law’s lunch: This is the diabetic version of my lunch, with leftover salad and a tiny container of low-carb, low-fat ranch dressing replacing the steamed bun. The salad dressing is by Eating Right (distributed by Lucerne Foods, I picked it up at Safeway), and I can’t tell much difference between it and regular ranch dressing.

Preschooler’s lunch: Packed in one 350ml tier of a Lock & Lock lunch set, Bug’s lunch is the same as ours, with a little plastic Anpanman food divider keeping the egg from touching the fruit. Everything got wolfed down except the steamed bun, which was sub-par as it hardened up after steaming/packing. They were much better right out of the steamer.

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Published by Biggie on September 22nd, 2007 tagged bento, dumplings or buns, eggs, for kids, salad, vegetarian | 10 Comments »

Broccoli rabe & sausage penne box lunches

Broccoli rabe (a.k.a. rapini) can be tricky to cook with — my husband generally isn’t fond of it because of its bitterness, even though he loves broccoli. This penne dish has managed to break down his aversion, though, by balancing the bitterness of the rabe with the savoriness of the Italian sausage. I got the recipe from The Classic Pasta Cookbook by Giuliano Hazan (son of renowned Italian cookbook author Marcella Hazan). I’m finding that I like oil-based pasta sauces in bento lunches as leftover pasta doesn’t get mushy after sitting, and doesn’t need a separate little container of sauce to re-dress the pasta just prior to eating. So it’s also slightly faster to pack in the morning.

Contents of my lunch: Penne with broccoli rabe and Italian sausage, cheese wheel, strawberries and blueberries, and spinach salad with hard-boiled egg, grape tomatoes, red onions, cheese, mushrooms, bacon and poppy seed dressing.

Morning prep time: 7 minutes, using leftover pasta and Costco spinach salad. In the morning I sliced the strawberries, arranged the salad, and put the dressing into the purple sauce container.

Packing: I used the Laptop Lunchbox to pack today’s bulky salad and penne. The little blue container and lid for the yellow container weren’t actually necessary, but I used them for kicks to keep everything contained and symmetrical. We ate our lunches outside so they were at room temperature, but if we had access to a microwave I could have lifted out the penne container and warmed it.

Contents of preschooler lunch: The same as mine, with some white nectarine.

Morning prep time: 4 minutes, using leftover pasta. In the morning I sliced the nectarine and threw the pasta and fruit into the box.

Packing: Although Bug did fine with the penne as is at dinner, if I were to repack this lunch for him to eat on his own I would cut each penne in half so they were more bite-sized for a preschooler. To keep the cut nectarine from turning brown, I dipped it in lemon juice mixed with guava juice to cut the sourness (see other ways to prevent fruit from browning here). I put the berries into the box’s hard plastic sub-container so that they wouldn’t be bruised in transit. Packed in a 350ml Power Rangers bento box.

(NOTE: The cookbook and Laptop Lunchbox links are affiliate links; using the links to buy anything from Amazon or Reusable Bags supports Lunch in a Box.)

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Published by Biggie on September 12th, 2007 tagged Laptop Lunchbox, bento, eggs, for kids, meat, pasta or noodles, salad | 9 Comments »

Silicone baking cups & salmon box lunches

Silicone cupcake liners work well as removable food cups in packed lunches, separating foods to keep different textures and flavors from mingling. Because the cups are made of silicone, they’re flexible and fit into odd spaces, with the added benefit of being reusable. They come in all sorts of fun shapes, sizes and colors to fit a variety of food and containers (click for a representative sample of silicone baking cups). Housewares, kitchen, and crafts stores such as Michael’s often sell them — if you find a coupon you can bring down the initial cost as well as save on the cost of disposable paper cups down the line. I finally found the large ones for a good price at Bed Bath & Beyond and used a 20% off coupon. Hooray, I’m finally a little greener!

Contents of husband’s lunch: Slow-cooked salmon (simple recipe here) with a container of sweet-hot Nonya sambal sauce, chicken fried rice, blueberries, and salad with mango, strawberry tree fruit (a.k.a. arbutus berries) and poppy seed dressing.

Morning prep time: 7 minutes, using leftover salmon, fried rice (from San Francisco’s popular Ton Kiang restaurant), torn lettuce, and a pre-filled sauce container with salad dressing to save time. In the morning I just cut the mango and arbutus berries, briefly microwaved the fried rice to restore the texture, and packed everything together.

Packing: The silicone baking cup kept the fried rice away from the salad and blueberries, and was tough enough to stand up to salad dressing once the salad was dressed (more durable than a paper cupcake liner). There are two layers of salmon, one on top of the other. Packed in a 650ml Leaflet box with movable divider (similar to the 500ml version below), and both sauces in small containers.

Equipment: The standard-size silicon baking cups (Wilton brand) were 12 for US$6 at Bed Bath & Beyond (use their omnipresent 20% off coupon and it gets even more reasonable). I got the four pastel mini cups as a set for US$1.50 at Daiso in Daly City (Japanese dollar store with branches internationally).

Contents of my lunch: Same as my husband’s, but with pesto sauce instead of sambal, and no salad.

Morning prep time: 5 minutes.

Packing: A little Clickety Clack sauce container holds the pesto sauce, and the lunch is packed in a 500ml Leaflet box with movable divider.

Contents of preschooler lunch: Roast chicken drumstick, chicken breast, strawberry tree fruit, mango, blueberries, and fried rice. I wrapped the end of the drumstick in decorative aluminum foil to create a clean “handle” (similar lunch and foil details are here).

Morning prep time: 5 minutes.

Packing: I included a small Anpanman pick for the chicken breast and mangos, and packed a spoon on the side for the rice. The silicone cup squished nicely into the available space to hold the fruit without touching the chicken. Packed in two tiers (280ml and 180ml) of a four-tier nesting Thomas the Tank Engine bento box set.

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Published by Biggie on September 8th, 2007 tagged bento, eggs, equipment, fish or seafood, for kids, poultry, rice, salad | 39 Comments »

Chicken drumstick box lunches

My preschooler actually gets distressed if his hands get messy when he eats, so I used some decorative aluminum foil to create a clean “handle” on a chicken drumstick for him. Success! He dove right in and grabbed the chicken leg without complaint, gnawing happily.

Contents of preschooler lunch: Roast chicken drumstick, strawberry tree fruit (a.k.a. arbutus berry), mango, blueberries, and pasta salad with roasted corn, cherry tomatoes, cilantro and chipotle chiles (recipe from Cookâ€™s Illustratedâ€™s The New Best Recipe).

Morning prep time: 5 minutes, using store-bought roast chicken from Costco and leftover pasta salad.

Packing: In addition to using decorative foil to make a clean “handle” on the chicken, I also used plastic sushi grass to keep the sweet fruit away from the savory chicken. The pasta salad is packed in a disposable condiment cup with a lid, although I forgot to put the lid on and some of the corn escaped the cup in transit (oops!). The entire lunch is packed in a 350ml Power Rangers bento box.

Equipment: A while back I picked up some yellow and pink aluminum foil from Daiso in Daly City (Japanese dollar store with branches internationally) for US$1.50 each (click on the photo for a larger view). It’s Ciao! brand, which puts out a popular line of bento lunch accessories such as food cups, rice ball wrappers, picks, cutter, dividers, antibacterial lunch sheets, etc.

Contents of my lunch: Smoked hamburger that my husband the grillmaster cooked over the U.S. Labor Day holiday weekend, red-leaf lettuce, container of poppy seed dressing, and the same fruit and pasta salad that Bug ate.

Morning prep time: 5 minutes, using leftover smoked hamburger and pasta salad. In the morning I just cut the fruit and hamburger.

Packing: I used red-leaf lettuce as an edible food divider to keep the sweet fruit away from the savory burger, and cut the burger into bite-sized pieces to avoid in-box cutting. I grabbed a pre-filled sauce container with salad dressing from the refrigerator, and used it to dress the lettuce as a mini-salad after I ate the burger. Last week I filled three little sauce containers with leftover salad dressing from a store-bought salad, which speeds things up when I pack lunch on the fly in the morning. Packed in a 500ml Leaflet box with movable divider.

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