Home-made: Seafood in butter + Veggie stir-fried and egg

 

Squid, shrimp and cthulhu in butter and parsley, Chinese stirfry of broccoli, kale, pumpkin, purple cabbage and carrots, on Japanese brown rice and a sunny-side up.

Home-made: Slow cooked beef & kale stew

Combined effort bento lunch that we prepped over the weekend: Slow-cooked beef, kale and sweet potato stew! Tastes even better after sitting in the fridge overnight, especially when accompanied by a crusty baguette to sop up the yummy gravy...
She prepped the ingredients and chupalang recipe, the husband did all the cooking! One word: DELISH! And healthy too!

Home made Bento: Baked Halibut & Grilled Chicken Breast

 

Baked halibut

 Bento Lunch Prep Done!
Two styles this week. First off we have baked halibut in herb crust, stirfried veggies and a sunny side up, accompanied by baked baby sweet potato wedges.
Version two is couscous (made up with the last of my post-Christmas turkey bone broth) topped with grilled chicken breast and assorted vegetables (choysum, carrots, tomatoes, onions).

Grilled Chicken with cous cous

Chef's tips on baking fish:
Rub a bit of butter on the shiny side of your foil and plop the fish skin side down (I do skin side up for salmon to get crispy skin). I usually bake at 220 degrees Celsius for around 15 mins and give it a poke in the middle, if it flakes it's done. I find it's okay to slightly under-cook fish since it continues to cook after coming out of the oven.

Note: I don't usually thaw my fish fully before baking since I generally use dry rubs on it (eg Lawry's salt-free steak herb mix). If you use fully thawed fish, perhaps just 10 mins for a thin fillet would do? Try baking with frozen halibut, it's pretty cheap and fairly forgiving as it is a slightly fatty fish (yummy texture and rather neutral flavour that absorbs seasonings well. Try it with pesto and scatter with toasted pine nuts and torn basil leaves)!

Home-made Bento: Pork Collar and Cabbage with Sweet Potato Chips

This week we have broiled pork collar marinated in apple juice, dijon mustard and balsamic vinegar, accompanied by cabbage done two ways (red with carrots, bacon and onion in a balsamic reduction; green braised with granny smith and Reuben apples and homemade stock).
On the side, some oven roasted beetroot, white and sweet potato "chips".

Home-made Bento: Green Lentil Stew & Spaghetti Primevera with Pumpkin-pesto Sauce

 

Bento Lunch Prep for the week done! Two types this week.
Had a massive craving for lentils so first up is green lentils stewed with linguica sausage, peppers and lots of onions, accompanied by a variety of grilled vegetables (broccoli, zucchini, fine beans and pumpkin) and buttered red potatoes! Second type of bento comprises spaghetti primevera with pumpkin-pesto sauce (pumpkin makes the sauce creamy without need for dairy), topped with a Mediterranean sausage.

Home-made Bento: Turkey Sloppy Joe on Wholemeal Wrap

Bento lunch tmr is turkey sloppy Joe on wholemeal wrap with a side salad of baby spinach and arugula.

Home-made Bento: Lean Chicken and mash avocado salad

Something simple for this busy festive season - got to eat them greens before the feasting begins! Hearty salad of romaine, zucchini, peppers, tomatoes, carrots, cukes and radishes and topped with lean chicken and mashed avocado!

Chef's Insight:
Most of the time, I don't use recipes, I just try to recreate a particular taste with healthy ingredients, or just combine stuff I think would taste good together... A.K.A 'agak-agak' method... or some say, 'rojak' method.

Home-made Bento: Chilli Con Carne & Beef Spaghetti

Chilli con carne with steamed watercress and sweet potato

Something easy for a busy weekend.
First bento is chilli con carne accompanied by steamed watercress and sweet potatoes.
Second bento is beef & bean wholemeal spaghetti (with additional zucchini and mushrooms).

Beef & bean wholemeal spaghetti

Home-made Bento: Two Japanese bento lunches!

We have two Japanese bento lunches for the week!

First variation is cold soba with sides of seared salmon and halibut, bundles of spinach goma-ae, dashi-simmered mushrooms and blanched carrots.
Second bento comprises hot soba (broth packed separately) topped with halibut, assorted vegetables and katsuo-bushi.

Home-made Bento: Beef Bibimbap-don & Assorted Mixed Bento

Bento 1

Bento Lunch Prep for the Week Done!
For the first bento we have some bibimbap-don thing of cubed/julienned beetroot, carrot, endive, baby bokchoy and yellow peppers, beef soboro and a Hawaiian sausage on black rice.

Bento two comprises more black rice, stir fried baby bokchoy and corn, sausages and a sunny side up. =3
—

Bento 2

Chef's Health Tip:
Must try to eat as wide a range of colourful fresh fruit and vegetables daily, when possible! For all their different nutritional benefits.

Home-made Bento: Seared Cod, Mini Shrimps with Baked Veggies and Purple Playdoh

Seared cod and mini shrimps, assorted baked vegetables (beetroot, cauliflower, broccoli, butternut squash, mushroom, eggplant) and Magic Awesome Purple Playdoh (mashed purple sweet potatoes)!

Diner's comment: "How can healthy food taste this good??"

Chef's suggestion on how to pan-sear cod without losing the skin to the pan:
I usually use a nonstick pan with no oil, let the pan heat up till sizzling hot, then place the thawed fish skin side down. Once I hear the skin sizzle I'll turn the heat down and let the skin crisp. I only flip the fish when it auto releases from the base of the pan by itself with just a nudge of the spatula. Usually I notice people try to flip it too soon before a nice seared crust forms, so it will stick. Technique seems to work for oily fish and most meat cuts, at least for me. 

The food prep process.

Home-made Bento: Simple Salmon & Quinoa

Something simple on the menu this week.

Pan-fried salmon, stir-fried assorted local veggies and mushrooms, sunny-side up and some plain quinoa! I seared the salmon in a really hot, dry pan and it ended up releasing a fair bit of oils, so I used it to fry the eggs and veggies subsequently. No fuss no muss!

Home-made Bento: Baked Mini Egg Frittatas & Afternoon Lunch

Afternoon Lunch of Baked Mini Frittatas

On the menu this week - Baked Mini Egg Frittatas stuffed with a myriad of julienned veggies and turkey breast, roasted vegetables and mushrooms, including some delicious Australian asparagus, and curry spice-rubbed sweet potatoes.
Produced so much food that we ended up eating some for lunch straightaway! And used the extra egg yolks (we used only 7 yolks and 12 whites to make 12 mini frittatas) and some chopped spinach to make eggy pudding for the three doggies at home.

This is the bento.

Egg pudding for the doggies!

Home-made Bento: tricolour quinoa, chinese-style stirfried veggie & pan-seared beancurd

 

On the menu this week - Tricolour Quinoa, Chinese-style Stirfried Veggie Assortment, and Pan-seared Beancurd (mix of regular and black bean taukwa) topped with Stewed Eggplant, Shrimp and Mushrooms.
Curious dog is not included as part of the bento lunch...

Home-made Bento: Meatloaf Muffins

On the menu this week - veggie-filled Meatloaf Muffins stuffed with a surprise centre (and sweet BBQ sauce), radish-celery-cabbage slaw dressed with tahini and Greek yoghurt sauce, and mashed sesame sweet potatoes to round off the meal! homemade meatloaf is da bomb!
— feeling in a frenzy
 

Home-made Bento: Low-carb Lasagna

On the menu this week - Low Carb "Lasagna", which replaces the traditional pasta sheets with thinly sliced zucchini layers. Stuffed with ground beef, finely diced peppers and carrots, and herby cream cheese! Yum!

 

With special guest appearance by our (unhelpful) kitchen assistant Roxy

  

Home-made Bento: Cold Chicken Pasta Salad

Really easy to put together - poach skinless chicken breast in simmering water (flavoured with your choice of herbs and spices) and when almost done, dump in carrots and a head of broccoli to steam till just tender (and mostly still crunchy).
Remove everything from the cooking liquid (now a tasty stock) and chop.
Next, cook wholegrain pasta in the stock you made earlier.
When cool, toss everything together, along with corn kernels, kidney beans, Greek yoghurt, herbs, a few spoonfuls of chicken stock and lots of parsley!
DONE. chill and enjoy!
— feeling hungry

Home-made Bento: Iron Isles-inspired Fish Stew

Sadly, this version may not please the true Ironborn, given heavy cream is replaced with low fat milk, but the myriad seafood therein still present tasty morsels, all in a light broth better to soak your black bread in. Though House Greyjoy proudly proclaim that they "do not sow", the fish stew is sided by some lightly stirfried greens, to keep scurvy and other seafaring ills at bay.

Hollow out your trenchers and eat hearty! Monday is coming...
— reading A Game of Thrones - A Song of Ice and Fire by George R R Martin

Home-made: Baked Salmon in Honey Citrus Sauce with Black Quinoa

 

Weekly bento lunch prep is done! On the menu: Black quinoa, grilled asparagus, salmon baked in honey citrus sauce, kale and carrots braised with raisins and topped with flaked almonds! Boom!




 

Note: Black quinoa can be ordered from iHerb.com.  

Home-made: Low-carb Cottage Pie

Weekends are for cooking and eating!!! Next week's bento comprises low-carb cottage pie (topped with mashed cauliflower) accompanied by kale done two ways - stems panfried in butter and the leaves braised in beef stock. ♡ Currently in production - kale chips! ♡ —