A Week's Worth (or More) of Vegan Bento Creations

Japan's bento culture has always fascinated me. I love the creativity put into it but I know it will take a lot of effort especially if you're a beginner. I have experimented a lot with making my own bento before but deciding what food items to prepare and put on my bento still boggles my brain. But practice makes perfect so here is a glimpse at some of my attempts.

When staying at home, I use different sized bowls for my food items. 

Take note that I veganized my food items and also bought some ready-to-cook vegan meat alternatives to go with my veggie food items. So these are all vegan bento creations. I did not create them all in one week but I picked my favorites to share with you.

I Went Vegan for a Month and Here's What Happened

Wanting to start the year right is always part of our goals when January turns around. Having positive thoughts and maintaining a positive outlook is also one of my goals for this new year. This is why I am sharing here a positive experience I had a few years back. I decided to switch to eating vegan and I did it cold turkey.

I started a vegan diet cold turkey and I'm still loving it.

I had started researching about healthy eating when my grandmother started getting sick. I particularly looked for articles which offered information on how to reverse diseases and this is how I came to know more about vegetarian and vegan eating.

My DIY Kawaii Bento!

Many a chef would tell you that people eat with their eyes first so food has to be plated to look appetizing. For home cooks who live a busy lifestyle however, that may not always be the case. But it is undeniable that visual appeal do influence us to try out something new. So I experimented with making my food pretty by arranging it like a bento.

If I can make this bento cuteness for lunch, you can too!

The Japanese lunch box or bento is one way of preparing and arranging food on your container so it still looks appealing. Japanese moms have been making these for their kids at school to encourage them to eat a variety of foods to ensure that they get their much-needed nutrition. They make them look so cute and pretty that even adults love them, me included! So I made one for myself with a few, simple items.

DIY Potato + Tofu Croquettes and My Misua Cravings Satisfied

It's the middle of summer weather but there are some days when the nights are cold. On one of those nights, I had this intense craving for misua soup but I didn't know where to get myself a bowl of one. So I decided to make my own version.

My meat-free misua soup with tofu+potato croquettes.

Misua is one of those types of food that remind me of my childhood. My grandmother used to cook misua with patola and although I wasn't a fan of the patola, I still savored slurping the thin noodles with the flavorful soup. My version doesn't have any meat on it and I made the soup quite thick so I didn't even need rice to eat this with. Am sure most of us know how to cook misua. This post is about the meat alternative that I used to go together with my soup.

Purple Morning Smoothie

Word of the benefits of juicing fruits and veggies are all around the internet and I very much want to be part of the juicing community too. However, if like me, you can't afford a good juicer just yet, there is a cheaper alternative in the form of smoothies. For this one, you're blender becomes your best friend.

Here's a brightly colored and delicious smoothie to start your day!

The original recipe is actually for a juice but I made mine a smoothie. I saw it on my Facebook news feed but it came from this page where you can read more about the benefits of this juice.

Workout of the Month: Cardio Ballet Workout

We all want to feel good. Feeling good also usually means you like what you see in the mirror. That's why I've been experimenting with different exercise routines. I'll be trying out different ones every month.

Source: ClubFitnessLC

Since I'm liking the results of my experiments so far, I am sharing with you guys my favorite workout routines. Now, I'm no fitness expert but I am passionate about keeping myself healthy so hopefully my experiments also benefit you.

Veggie Pancakes and Tortilla Wraps for Lunch

Sometimes I grow tired of eating rice and I want something as filling but not rice. The same feeling struck me one time at home when preparations for lunch time was already beginning. I didn't want to eat rice again because I'm sure I'll be eating it again for dinner. So, I took a quick survey of my makeshift pantry and checked out possible alternatives. I was happy to have found one, two in fact, from the previous dinner's leftovers.

My vegan lunch!

I had some mock meat made of beans and some tortilla wraps. I also had some carrots and potatoes and some wholewheat flour. So I turned my beans into filling for my tortillas adding just a dollop of mustard when I reheated it to amp up the flavor. I've also tried this with tomato ketchup and with hot sauce so choose the level of kick you like.

Pizza Morning

On a lazy Thursday morning, I was craving for pizza. We have a pizza shop near our place but it was raining and I didn't want to go out in the cold. So I decided to make pizza my own at home but the easy way - without the dough.

Luckily, we had some Gardenia bread, some tomatoes and cheese. I also bought parsley from my last grocery trip so I had something green to top my pizza off.

My Little Korean Treat

With anime, we glimpsed the culture of Japan and all the cute and functional stuff that await one in Daizo and Saizen and Japan Home. Now that K-pop has landed on our shores, bb creams and several Korean cosmetic brands are also now in our malls and of course, just like Japan before, Korean food has also acquired an audience here.

I remember a couple of times when I was surprised to find a huge crowd in the Trinoma activity center with a lot of girls holding placards in Korean. Turns out they were fans of boy bands who visited the country to perform for them. The fans were really enthusiastic and appreciative of their idols.

Colorful Fried Rice

Going grocery shopping isn't always easy for me. Sometimes, I tend to buy more than I can cook in a week. This leaves me with a lot of left over ingredients that I don't know how to use up.

This was my predicament one Sunday. I had left over veggies composed of green peas, corm and chopped carrots. I also had left over rice and some luncheon meat from a previous dinner.

Spam & Eggs Breakfast

I'm a busy, busy girl and sometimes breakfast becomes a luxury only rarely indulged. I know this is not good for my health, so one time, I decided to indulge for my breakfast by adding something I've been craving for on my grocery list: SPAM. This is delicious and expensive so it was indeed an indulgence for me.

The next morning, I could not wait to taste my slice of spam and of course my other favorite, scrambled eggs. I fried and I assembled my breakfast with gusto. Luckily, I had enough self-control to snap a picture before I devoured it. Here's my reason for drooling that morning.

Mini Pizza from Left Over Ingredients

I can't believe I haven't written anything here for more than a month. Just shows how busy I am with other stuff right now. Stuff that I will be posting here as soon as my schedule clears up a little. In the mean time, here's a little something I whipped up from left overs from a previous meal.

Sunday it was and at noon I found myself all hungry and feeling lazy. So I went through the food stuffs and saw some left overs. Hunger lighted a spark of creativity in me I guess, because I came up with this little treat.

Pasta Cravings Satisfied

Yey! My first post for this blog. It's been such a long time when I last wrote anything on a blog so I've decided to share some thoughts on one of my all time favorite food groups -- Pasta!

Photo from one of my favorite blogs with this spaghetti meat sauce recipe.

Work was pretty much stressful last Wednesday, not to mention that I spent half of my morning going back and forth from home to my uncle's condo. Then in the afternoon, I had to attend a not so stimulating meeting.