Sunday 7 July 2019

Menu: Lunch Box Adventure Menu from Vegan Lunch Box

Vegan Lunch Box is a book full of, no surprises, lunch box menus for kids. But you don't have to be a kid to have fun with it. (Also, if you do have kids, you don't have to make fancy lunch boxes for them to take to school every day.) In my previous posts, I have mostly been making and presenting the menus to take as lunch for myself. But meh, effort. So for this one I decided just to make it for dinner and serve it on a plate. An excellent idea! This menu comes from the Lunch Box Adventure chapter of the book.

Musubi: I made a half recipe of this, and got three big rice balls out of it - two for me and one for my dad (who had a big lunch so only wanted a light dinner). The book suggests stuffing them with an umeboshi plum or peanut butter. I didn't have any whole umeboshis, so I did some umeboshi paste and that was a very strong flavour! I also did one with peanut butter, which was fun. I would have preferred a bit of seasoning in the rice itself, as they were very large and a little more flavour would have been good.
Rating: :)

Musubi


Adzuki Beans with Pickled Ginger: This is a quick and easy bean based salad, with lots of chopped picked ginger in it (including the pickled ginger juice, which forms part of the dressing). I left out the scallions in it, but did add a bit of chopped celery for texture. I had some leftovers after dinner, and I mashed them up with some mayo to make a nice beany sandwich filling.
Rating: :)

Adzuki Beans with Pickled Ginger


Japanese Spinach: I've made this sort of recipe before from other books, but this one was sadly lacking in seasoning. It needed a bit of salt, or a lot more soy sauce. I only made half a recipe using one bunch of spinach, which was enough for two.
Rating: :|

Japanese Spinach


And here is the final plate! It also includes a nashi (aka Asian Pear), as suggested by the book. But I also added some miso soup as well (just from a packet) to round it out. It made a nice dinner, not to heavy but not too light.

Musubi, Adzuki Beans with Pickled Ginger, Japanese Spinach, Nashi, Miso Soup


Cute Kitty Photo of the Post

Gizmo portait


As promised, this is where I put Gizmo's beautiful portrait. This is the bookshelf in my bedroom, an don the shelf below you can see her urn (and Sahara's next to her). I love looking at this beautiful piece every day. I've been in my new bedroom for several months now, but it is a slow work in progress with filling and decorating it. I want everything to be just right for this room. My old bedroom is now my study, so that has all the rest of my stuff in it (including a lot of beautiful art as well), so I can take my time with deciding what I want in my new room.

5 comments:

  1. I tried adzuki beans once and didn't care for them, I thought they were a little sweet. But that salad looks divine!!!
    I love the shelf where you put Gizmo's beautiful portrait!!

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    1. I enjoy them but they are definitely best in specific circumstances as they are a bit sweet.

      I am very happy with the home for the portrait, I love looking at it.

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  2. I know that book! I haven't made anything from it but it was one of my first real encounters with vegan cookbooks, long before I was vegan myself. That's too bad about the musubi. I agree that the rice should be seasoned. I bet if you made it with seasoned sushi rice it would be a lot more appetizing!

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    1. I assumed it was going to be seasoned until I re-read the recipe right before making it. Next time I'll go with my gut!

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  3. I have the sequal book, International Vegan Lunch Box. It is pretty nice since the recipes are quick, but sometimes too kid friendly. Like there was an eggplant sandwich and the filling was way too sweet. And I've found with my kid, sweeter doesn't always equal tastier.

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