avid cook, speedy lunch packer, mom in San Francisco, & former expat fluent in Japanese.
Archive for the 'review' Category
(Chronologically Listed)
Glass bento boxes & microwaving
A common concern with microwaving (or even packing) lunches in plastic containers is the potential of carcinogens or hormones from the plastic to leach into the food. I’m not here to lecture anyone on the relative danger or safety of plastics and the microwave, but I did come across some interesting material when reading up on the subject.
Some say not to worry: the FDA says microwaving in plastic is fine, Snopes says a viral e-mail about the dangers of microwaving or freezing in plastic is an urban legend, and the FSDA has info on cooking safely in the microwave. The Natural Scientist blog has a couple of interesting science-oriented entries on the safety of microwaving plastic wrap with respect to dioxins and phthalates. On the more conservative side, Green Living at Care2 has a clear list of good and bad plastics here; combine that with the chart of plastics symbols on Reusable Bags’ FAQ on lunch gear health and safety issues and you’ve got a way to identify what kinds of plastics you have in your home and act on your own conclusions. I’m coming up short on authoritative material about the dangers; if you know a reputable article or source please post the URL in comments. For lunch packers, I’ve written previously about metal bento boxes, but their downside is that they can’t go into the microwave. (Click to read the full post with a sample preschooler lunch…)
Published by Biggie on February 11th, 2008 tagged bento, meat, pasta or noodles, recipe, review, tips | 70 Comments »
Dinosaur sandwich cutter & lunch
With this lunch I tried out a little DynoBytes sandwich cutter that my friends Dana & Jeff sent me from their local Bed Bath & Beyond. I’d seen these in my local supermarket before but hadn’t splashed out for one, so this was a guilt-free way of trying one out (thank you!). Essentially a specialized cutter, it removes the crust and creates two cut-out sandwiches of the same size and design, with minimal waste. This particular one is dinosaur-shaped (perfect as my son’s been studying dinosaurs in preschool lately), but I’ve also seen bear- and somewhat heart-shaped cutters. To use, the manufacturers tout making the sandwich first and then using the cutter to create the shapes and seal the edges, but I find that the sealing of the edges produces a sandwich that’s too dense for my personal taste (your mileage may vary). Cutting each piece of bread separately yields better definition and lighter bread if you have the patience for it, but I can see that this would be a pain if you’ve got multiple layers of fillings like cheese, veggies or meat. I tend to make Bug’s sandwiches with spreads, so it’s fine for my needs. Large cookie cutters would serve the same purpose, but probably with more waste as this is optimized for sandwiches. Here are some ideas on what to do with the leftover scraps.
Contents of preschooler lunch: Dinosaur-shaped sandwiches of cream cheese and Marmite yeast extract spread (sold here
Morning prep time: 7 minutes, using leftover snow peas. In the morning I just made the sandwiches, reheated the snow peas in the microwave, and cut the fruit open. (Click to read the full entry with Asvel bento box review…)
Published by Biggie on February 5th, 2008 tagged bento, for kids, parenthacks, review, sandwich or wrap, tips | 42 Comments »
Bento love for convection toaster ovens
Please don’t tell my husband that I’ve fallen in love — with our new convection toaster oven. Our seventies-era wall ovens are a serious energy suck, and the electricity bill reflects this whenever I do a lot of cooking or baking in them. We’ll probably wind up replacing them eventually, but in the meantime we splashed out for a cool convection toaster oven from Krups that won Cook’s Illustrated’s top ranking in their product testing (the FBC512 in white, but black is cheaper even with the free shipping). Convection ovens have a fan that circulates the hot air evenly throughout the oven for faster and more even browning at lower temperatures than conventional ovens, and that extra speed was the deciding factor for me in shelling out for convection. The drawback to toaster ovens is that they take up more counter space than regular toasters, but I’ve made my peace with that tradeoff for the sake of versatility. Amazon carries a variety of convection toaster ovens
When I lived in Japan, it was unusual for a kitchen to have a proper oven, and most people had toaster ovens that they used for cooking, baking and making bento lunches. They’re perfect when cooking lunches for one or two people, as I don’t hesitate to reach for the toaster oven when I wouldn’t fire up a full-size oven in the morning. I’ve been experimenting with cooking other dishes in it for our lunches, broiling small pieces of fish, vegetables, little gratins in the extra-thick aluminum baking cups, eggs, etc. Expect to see more food made in toaster ovens from me, often using the multi-broiling speed bento technique.
Today’s lunches show the first of my toaster oven fun, using frozen puff pastry appetizers that I picked up from Costco. I’ve been having good luck exploring the different frozen appetizers at Costco, including the spanakopita, mini crab cakes, meatballs, etc. The San Jose Mercury News recently did a tasting round-up of Costco frozen appetizers that gives a thumbs up to the appetizers below, among others (free registration required to view the article. EDIT: use bugmenot.com to avoid registration if you like). Have a favorite toaster oven dish? Share it in comments.
Contents of preschooler lunch: Tamagoyaki rolled egg (my tutorials here for both traditional and shortcut versions), teriyaki pineapple chicken meatballs (Aidells brand, my favorite), orange wedge, cheese cube, steamed broccoli and red bell pepper, and puff pastry appetizers with sweet sauteed onion, sage and Gorgonzola cheese (review below).
Morning prep time: 20 minutes, using frozen appetizer pastries and ready-made meatballs. In the morning I popped the frozen pastries into the toaster oven while I made the tamagoyaki. Because the toaster oven is convection, I set it 25 deg. F cooler and 4 minutes shorter than instructed on the package to avoid burning. I used my microwave mini steamer to quickly make the broccoli, and the bell pepper was leftover from this lunch. (Click here to read the full post with product reviews and an additional lunch…)
Published by Biggie on January 26th, 2008 tagged bento, eggs, for kids, meat, phyllo or pancake or other, review, tips | 42 Comments »
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