Bento improvisation!

I can’t really count this as a Bento post, as it is only a picture of a snack Bento that accompanied soup and cheese toasties, but it included an ingenious idea from moi!!

This snack Bento included sliced cucumber, cherry tomatoes, sliced Quorn sticky fillet and a ‘cup’ of nuts. Have you noticed the cool idea yet? Well, I was round the BF’s, so I had limited Bento equipment (limited to only the Bento boxes D: but I needed something to put some nuts in. Hence the ‘cup.’ It is actually an old scoop for his protein powder stuff, and it was just sitting in the cutlery drawer, just waiting for a new purpose. Ta Da! Works just as well, if not better, than a silicon cupcake case!!!

How do you like my idea? Do you use anything different in your bentos that has been re-purposed from something else??

No-Bake Cookie Dough

Another one to cross off my Food Bucket List!!

I made No-Bake Cookie Dough the other day and it is DEVINE!

I’m not sure whether I will ever eat baked cookies again.

The recipe is basically a shortbread or sugar cookie recipe:

Which I’m not going to share with you 🙂 (family secret ;))

Add anything you want, like sprinkles, chocolate chips, raw cacao nibs or just eat on its own. It is amazing mixed with yoghurt!!

Sorry it’s a rubbish picture, It was so yummy!!

I baked some too:

Cookie cups!! Yummy!

The un-bkaed cookie dough was still superior 😀

Have you made raw edible cookie dough? And did you love it!!???

Bento No.7

Leftover day!!!

I made a monster of a dinner last night, for the whole family.

I made sweet and sour veggie store fry, with home-made veggie sauce, veggie tikka with pumpkin, mix vegetable cous cous and quinoa. Yes, overload of veg, but that meant leftovers for lunch!!

I REALLY love vegetables 😀

Todays Bento includes leftover quinoa, cous cous (arranged in two stripes :P) leftover tikka (at the top) and leftover sweet and sour stir fry (below). I also steamed some pre-cooked chicken from the freezer to add to the mix 🙂 Not too colourful, as the sauces make it mostly the same colour, but there is a lot of variety in there!

This is the BF’s bento as I felt like I have over eaten every day so far this week, so I’m on miso soup and smoothies today, to give my stomach a break. I don’t mean over eating as in stuffing my face, I mean just eating more than I’m hungry for.

It’s been quite a while since my last bento, I do apologise. I hope you’ve enjoyed my posts in between 🙂

Do you use leftovers for your lunch the next day? Or do you freeze portions for when you are rushed for time?

100 ways to a Healthier Lifestyle #1

I thought I’d start a string of posts related to changing to a healthy lifestyle. I know a lot of people consider what they eat to be healthy and balanced, but through my own families experience, I have realised that food we have always eaten and thought of as healthy, is not the best option for a ‘healthier’ lifestyle.

So #1 suggestion for working towards a healthy lifestyle is:

Eat more vegetables.

I know all the ‘experts’ say to eat at least 5 portions of fruit or vegetables a day, but what they don’t tell you is that is is better to eat more vegetables than fruit on a daily basis. That is down to all that fabulous sugar. Fruit, in moderation, will add to a healthy lifestyle. However, whenever we eat fruit, our blood sugar spikes, creating highs and lows, that with vegetables we don’t get. The blood sugar lows cause cravings for more sugar. The highs cause extra insulin to be produced. More insulin production, means the body starts to need more food (sugar) to break down. It ends in a not-so great cycle that could be prevented by eating more vegetables. Most vegetables contain a lot less sugar, and still lots of nutrients and minerals. Also, there is so much more choice on how to eat your vegetables! Fruit, mostly, we eat raw, whereas vegetables we can eat boiled, stir fried, roasted, raw, in a salad, in a curry, in a sauce, any way 🙂

I love my vegetables and would always choose to have more vegetables than fruit. Especially now that I am more aware of how sugar filled fruit is (and how bad it is for my teeth too!).

Oh, and by the way, tomatoes and cucumber are fruit, not vegetables 🙂 and so are olives! You learn something new every day!

Do you eat more fruit than vegetables? And how do you eat your fruit and veg? (Recipes/ways of cooking, etc)

Understanding Meatless Mondays

I am not a vegetarian. But yet, I do not understand why there are so many people (in the blog world) that go on about striving to participate in ‘Meatless Mondays.’ Who eats meat everyday?? Have you seen the price of meat! Maybe the ‘Meatless Monday‘ thing is not so prevalent in the UK, but I really cannot understand how people can afford to eat meat everyday.

Maybe it is because I am picky, or I like experimenting with new foods and recipes, but i can’t get my little head to comprehend it. I guess my Monday should be a ‘Must-Have Meat Monday‘, lol.

 

What are peoples opinions on this, I’m stumped?

Smoothie ideas

If you are new to smoothie making, here are a few ‘recipes’ to get you started:

Fill-Me-Up Breakfast Smoothie (serves 2)

– 1 banana

– 400ml soya milk (or almond milk – higher in calcium)

– 2 tsps almond butter

– 1 tsp chia seeds

– half an avocado (peeled and cored)

– 2 tbsps honey

– 1 tbsps raw cacoa nibs

– 1 tbsps flax seed (or flax seed mix)

Add all ingredients together and blend until smooth. The cacoa nibs, flax seed and chia seeds will blend totally, but cacoa nibs are so yummy!!

Fruity Lunchtime Treat (serves 2)

– 300ml Apple Juice

– 100ml cranberry juice

– 1 banana

– half and avocado (peeled and cored)

– half a tin of sliced peaches (or a whole fresh peach)

Add all ingredients together and blend until smooth. If having this smoothie with lunch, halve your lunch portion to accommodate the amount that the smoothie will fill you up 🙂

Detox Smoothie (serves 2)

– 1 banana

– 400ml orange juice

– 20 ml lemon juice (adjust to taste)

– 2 tbsps honey

Add all ingredients together and blend until smooth. This smoothie is so good after a long night out! Makes you feel so much better!!

Sunshine Award

Wow, I’ve been nominated for the Sunshine Award by Laurel over at BentoAmour!! Check her out! She’s all about Bento and encouraging the world to embrace the true simplicity and yumminess of Bento making! Thank you so much! I started this blog so I could share my thoughts on all things I love, and I am constantly amazed (and relieved) to hear from all of you that like the same things too 🙂

Right, I had to check on the rules because I’m new to all this award stuff, so here it goes:

Rules:

If you are nominated you must include the link in a blog, linking to the person/blog that nominated you. You must answer some questions and nominate 10 fellow bloggers and link their blogs in your post. Let the people you have nominated know that you have nominated them!

Questions:

1. Who is your favorite philosopher? Hmmm, me? I don’t know, I know there’s lots…

2. What is your favorite number? 4, or 7

3. What is your favorite animal? Dolphin 🙂

4. What are your Facebook and Twitter?  I don’t have a Twitter account and I currently only have a personal Facebook. More to go on the list!!

5. What is your favorite time of day? Weekends = mornings, Weekdays = straight after work

7. What is your favorite physical activity? Surfing 🙂 or Personal training sessions at the gym (includes cardio and weights)

8. What is your favorite non-alcoholic drink? Peppermint Green Tea, Original Mountain Dew

9. What is your favorite flower? Primrose

10. What is your passion? Bento making, cooking, baking and inventing 🙂

My Nominees:

Crave -Bek’s blog encompasses all I love reading about: food, cooking, health, exercise and general life. I love the way she is always positive and strives to do the best in the interests of her health and wellbeing.

Veggie Bento Love – I’m not vegetarian, but I am so intrigued at all the yummy and satisfying recipes and bentos that she posts 😀 and every Friday is cupcake Friday!!

Bentoriffic – Sarah is a wonderfully active mum who provides her kids with fantastic looking lunches! Her family eat a plant based diet but it all looks so scrum my, I’d go vegan if she made my lunches 🙂

Kidbite Lunches – A blog that started up in a need to fill kiddies bellies 🙂 A lot of the posts are bento related! And I love all the creativity!!

Bento Days – Started not so long ago to fill a need again! Newbie to Bento, but creates fantastic lunches, far better than mine! I need to take a leaf out of her book!

Daily Nibbles – I love everything about Japan, and this Blog is all about Sarah’s experience in Japan!! I wish I could speak more than one word in Japanese, maybe she’ll teach me?

Wellness By Tess – So in awe of her lifestyle and range of things on her blog! I love hearing about her fitness goals and recipes.

Healthy Cancer Chick – So inspirational. Kristen uses her blog to share her experiences with her change in lifestyle since her cancer diagnosis. She creates amazing food and I want to try every single one of her recipes!!

Oh!Bento – Keith is a fellow UK Bento fanatic 🙂 He is in the process of researching and starting up a Bento magazine! Go help him!!

All About the Kids – “Mama Tong” or Ah 4, writes about her fantastic life raising two young children and making Bentos 😀 I don’t have children yet, but I do have a strange affinity for Mummy Blogs 😀

Download 2013

I am going to Download Festival 2013.

I have booked my R.I.P. ticket (the small comforts!) I am going. Nothing and No-one will stop me.

Unless i grow a new gallbladder…

The only time I have been to Download was 2008, and that was SO GOOD!

BUT…

Yes, this year, I was all booked and ready to go, but then I got stuck in hospital, in Devon, the Sunday before Download, away from home, because of a stupid gall stone!!

I was in hospital for 4 days, had an X-ray, MRI and and ERCP (do not look up or click link if you are squeamish!!) and travelled home, ready to go to Download a day late, but ok with it, I’d still see the bands.

I didn’t go. I was soooo sick 😦 from the dye used in the ERCP and was in bed for another 4 days 😥

This year coming, with no gallbladder to stop me, I will go!

And it will be AWESOME!!

Took the words right out of my mouth…

There are so many websites and blogs and posts on bentos (or enough to explain to anyone what a bento is), however, I read something today that showed me that these sites are not enough.

Read this blog post over on Bento Amour. She describes what a bento truly means so wonderfully, I had to share it with all you bento (and non-bento) lovers. Sometimes I, as well as other bento-makers, forget the simplicity of the true explanation of what a Bento is.

“You don’t need any fancy gadgets or some perfect bento box to make a healthy, beautiful lunch. You just need the desire and a little creativity.” Bento Amour

Bento, for me, is and was a way of creating something healthy and interesting for lunch everyday.

And everyday, my bento is perfect for me 🙂

Bento No.6

I took this simple Bento to work for lunch the other week. It just shows how something simple can be so yummy!!

So colourful!

This Bento included leftover plain rice, green beans, tomato, veggie sausage, avocado, and leftover stir fry brown sushi rice (under the avocado). I added umeboshi and a soy sauce container to add to the rice at lunchtime 🙂

I love colourful and healthy lunches, they make the day that little bit brighter.

What did you have for lunch today? Did you save money by making and bringing your own to work, or did you have leftovers?