Let's not starve!

Hi everyone! Beni here and welcome back to Let’s Not Starve! Thank you for joining us again! Please enjoy part two of today’s double feature. <3

DOUBLE FEATURE – CONGEE & TEA FOR TWO

For this bento Lady J was in the mood for soup so she made a chicken congee. The chicken in the cogee has been marinated in five spice, white pepper, soy sauce, salt, and pepper then stir fried in olive oil to keep a clean flavor. The congee broth has been made with a sakura houji tea. Green onions and a bit of seaweed top the congee while pickled red ginger, edamame, and soy sauce have been placed on the sides as garnishes.

The desserts are a canelé (brought back from Montreal, Canada) and a sakura cream mochi (bought at a local Japanese sweets shop). The canelé is a French pastry that has a crunchy, caramelized crust with a soft spongy center. It is slightly sweet and pairs perfectly with a cup of floral tea. The sakura mochi is a Japanese pastry that has a sakura infused cream ball surrounded a layer of sakura flavored bean paste and wrapped in a fresh sakura flavored mochi. The mochi has a light refreshing flavor that is slightly sweet and again pairs brilliantly with a cup of tea.  

Hi everyone! Beni here and welcome back to Let’s Not Starve! Today we wanted to say thank you of your patience by giving ya’ll two posts on the same day. We hope you enjoy today’s double feature. Both of the dishes you will see today were made using tea and floral ingredients so the dishes have their own “double feature” too. :D

DOUBLE FEATURE – SPICE TEA PORK

For this bento Lady J made a ginger flower and honey tea marinated pork. The pork was sliced thinly and marinated in a ginger honey tea, white pepper, powdered ginger, garlic, salt, and soy sauce. The pork was stir fried in sesame oil with freshly steamed edamame beans added at the end just to give it a nice nutty crunch. The dish is then topped with sesame seeds. 

The side dishes consist of ginger flower tea infused rice. The rice was cooked in a ginger flower tea with cut green beans and crystallized ginger to add an extra hit of ginger to the rice.

お~~皆さん! #Beni です! Welcome back to #LetsNotStarve! For today’s dish, Lady A made curry to kick off our FLOWER MONTH. Flowers are everywhere!!!!! Cherries are blooming, plums are blossoming, Magnolia is a beautiful crimson… so much beauty in all the places! So to celebrate, Lady A made one of her favorite dishes in the world: japanese curry haha. Who’s not surprised? Everybody…. BUT~ she cut all the veggies into adorable flowers and put a nice sunny egg on top because it was a sunny day with petals floating through the sky :)

Hi everyone! We apologize for the unannounced hiatus but Beni is back and welcome back to Let’s Not Starve! For the month of MARCH we are working with TEA! Everyone’s (well, many) slightly bitter yet wonderfully fragrant beverage is going to take center stage this month. Enjoy!

TEA - OCHAZUKE PARTY

Lots of people who aren’t native to Japan may not know about Ochazuke (お茶漬け), but it is a common dish for them! It involves two main ingredients: tea and rice. Lady A first learned about this delicious treat when staying with a friend who lives in Tokyo. She is a native japanese girl that welcomed Lady A into her home for a week and cooked delicious homestyle meals. Ochazuke was one of them! Although in Japan, it is commonly made with instant packets now (at least if you’re lazy like us), but Lady A decided to make it from scratch this time!

If anyone who is Japanese notices that Lady A made a mistake, please feel free to send a message. She wants to make it right!!!

For the bowl, Lady A used shirataki rice because she is still trying to cut back on carbs but USUALLY you will use shortgrain rice. She topped it with slices of Ahi tuna, broccoli, sliced shiitake mushrooms, and crispy shallots. Lady A used dashi seasoning and a oolong tea in the seeper because she thought it would give a richer flavor to the broth (it did!). On the side we have some super yummy and so so juicy prawns ;)

Pour the hot broth over the rice and toppings to lightly cook the tuna and it is a very delicious and very healthy meal. Please try this and let Lady A know if you had success~

Hi everyone! Beni here and welcome back to Let’s Not Starve! Lady J would like to apologize in advance for this post. She knows it's super lame and will make it up to us next time. PROMISE!!!

BECAUSE SOMETIMES YOU JUST CAN'T COOK

For today’s #bento Lady J wasn't able to cook because work decided it needed her full and undivided attention. So we will be enjoying some cup noodles from Japan. This is the original flavor that we picked up from a 7-Eleven. If you are ever in country I would highly encourage you to try them. They are very tasty and great in a pinch. :)

Hi everyone! Beni here and welcome back to Let’s Not Starve! For this week’s bentos we are enjoying more delectable desserts from the Ladies! For today Lady A has put a few buns in the oven. JUST KIDDING. They’re bunnies!

DESSERTS - Bun(nies) in the oven.

For this dessert, it a simple and MOIST chocolate cake inside little bunny ramekins. Her best friend love chocolate cakes so this week is a little treat for her. Lady A and her each drew and cut out a template to give the bunnies some personality. Hope you like it :)

Hi everyone! Beni here and welcome back to Let’s Not Starve! This week Lady J is continuing the theme of turkey through the month. Please enjoy!

WANT SOME PIE???

For this bento Lady J decided to make something with the leftover turkey so we enjoying mini turkey pot pies. The pot pies have been stuffed with left over turkey from thanksgiving, a heaping spoonful of green beans, and a dollop of gravy. The top crust is a layer of mashed potatoes that have been formed into a patty.

Hi everyone! Beni here and welcome back to Let’s Not Starve! We are wrapping up our month of desserts with a simple post from Lady J. Hope ya’ll enjoy! :)

DESSERTS - A TRIO OF TARTS

For this bento Lady J decided to make a trio tarts. The tarts have a fresh based pie crust. The filling is a whipped cream and cream cheese base with three different flavors to enjoy. The dark chocolate, vanilla, and matcha tarts pair perfectly with tea.

Hi everyone! Beni here and welcome back to Let’s Not Starve! For today’s bento Lady J decided to try to make a dessert that is known to be as light as a cloud. We were first introduced to it in Japan and have been obsessed with it ever since. We hope you enjoy it too! :)

DESSERTS - PARTLY SUNNY WITH A CHANCE OF CHEESE CAKE

For this bento Lady J decided to make a soufflé style cheesecake. This cheesecake is fluffy and lightly sweet. It pairs perfectly with fruit and a dollop of whipped cream. If you haven’t ever tried one check out Tasty Japan they have an amazing recipe for it. :)

Hi everyone! Beni here and welcome back to Let’s Not Starve! For this week’s bentos we are enjoying more delectable desserts from the Ladies! For today Lady A has gone all out creating a dessert tasting that everyone can enjoy!

DESSERTS - TIERS OF JOY

For this bento Lady A decided to make a two tiered bento full of delicious dessert options! For the first tier we have Raspberry Shortbread cookies made homemade freezer jam. (BENI COOKING TIP: Freezer Jam is a type of jam you can make without having to boil the fruit. It is made by crushing the fruit, mixing it with gel pectin, and storing in the freezer for 24 hours. It’s low effort and if you have a lot of fruit or berries I would recommend you give this recipe a try).

The shortbread is paired with Lady A’s super secret chocolate chip cookies (they aren’t really super secret but they only turn out this tasty when she makes them, trust me, I’ve tried ‘.^ ).

For the second tier we have some healthier options for those who are preparing for swimsuit season. For our first option we have keto brownies. They are low carb diet friendly and SUPER tasty! I don’t do diet ANYTHING and I love when Lady A makes these. They are amazingly moist and chocolatey and you’d feel like you were almost cheating ;)~~~~

We also have some keto friendly cinnamon sugar mini muffins to round out this tasty dessert tray. Both desserts are made with fine ground almond flour and alternative sugars like stevia or monk fruit sweeteners.These natural alternative sweeteners are a great choice for dieters that are sensitive to the “fake” sugar after tastes like Lady A is. Good luck everyone!! :)

Hi everyone! Beni here and welcome back to Let’s Not Starve! We are continuing our month of desserts with a bento friendly dessert. This dessert can be a little tricky but once you figure out the trick to these little treats you can easily adjust the recipe to make almost any flavor you could imagine.

DESSERTS - MAKIN’ MACAROONS

For this dessert Lady J decided to make macaroons. She made three different fruit flavored macaroons for us to enjoy: Mango, Strawberry Banana, and Tropical (Banana, Pineapple, Mango).

To make sure these macaroons had an intense fruit flavor Lady J took pieces of freeze dried fruit and ground them into a fine powder to mix into the batter.

The filling is a fluffy cream cheese icing to finish off this dessert just perfectly.

Hi everyone! Beni here and welcome back to Let’s Not Starve! We are starting a new month which means we get to kicking off a new theme. For the month of February, the ladies and I wanted to create some desserts themed dishes to do something a little different (plus who doesn’t want to eat dessert as a meal anyways ;P ).

DESSERTS - PIGGING OUT ON CAKE!

For this week, Lady A decided to make a Chinese New Year’s cake! Chinese New Year (Lunar New Year) is on tuesday Feb 5th and it is year of the PIG! Let’s do this!

For the cake layers, Lady A make a honey flavored sponge cake.

The moist cake layers are separated by an anko filling (sweet red bean paste). The frosting for the cake is make by whipping red bean paste and heavy cream together to make a beautifully fluffy topping.

The cake decorations are made with red fondant flowers and a perfectly cut out pig. The pig design is based off traditional chinese cut paper art. If you search for ‘chinese zodiac cut paper’, you’ll be astounded by the beautiful creations people have made out of thin red paper!

Next, the fondant decorations have been accented with edible gold glitter for a finishing touch to a delicious cake celebrating this Chinese New Year’s zodiac animal, the Pig.

Hi everyone! Beni here and welcome back to Let’s Not Starve! For the final bento of the month Lady J wanted to do a twist inspired by the most important meal of the day, breakfast. Granted we all know that the REAL most important meal of the day is dessert but we’ll just keep letting breakfast think it holds that title. ;)

SUSHI - BREAKFAST SUSHI: AMERICAN STYLE

For this bento Lady J decided to make a sushi inspired by an american breakfast. For the filling we have layers of bacon paired with fluffy scrambled eggs. (BENI COOKING TIP: If you want super fluffy scrambled eggs mix the eggs first before putting them into a pan and add a splash of milk. It helps the eggs to keep a fluffy creamy texture.)

The eggs and bacon are on a bed of steamed rice mixed with sharp cheddar cheese and wrapped in a special seaweed that Lady J’s friend JooJoo brought her all of the way from South Korean! SO GOOD!!!!

Hi everyone! Beni here and welcome back to Let’s Not Starve! This is last week of our sushi themed month so the Lady A is pulling out all of the stops. The roll she made today is inspired by the past holiday season and is definitely one to be thankful for. ;)

SUSHI - SUSHI-MAS

For this bento Lady A decided to make a Christmas dinner sushi. For the filling she prepared an oven roasted turkey in a fanciful brown sugar and herb brine, candied sweet potatoes, and bacon for a nice crunch. The rice has been replaced with mashed potatoes and wrapped perfectly in a sheet of seaweed.  

For the top tier we have a couple of traditional sides to go with the inventive take on the meal. For this first side we have a hearty country bread and mushroom stuffing. The bread was homemade and dried over the course of a few days and gives the stuffing a nice firm and satisfying texture! To bring everything together we have a little dish of whole cranberry sauce to give a tart element to the dish.

Hi everyone! Beni here and welcome back to Let’s Not Starve! For this week Lady J is going back to the basics. (Truth be told Lady J totally forget to buy sheets of nori to make sushi rolls so she had to make it work with what she had. Just smile and nod for this one friends. ;P)

SUSHI - BACK TO BASICS

For this bento Lady J decided to make a deconstructed tempura sushi roll. The top layer of the bento has tempura shrimp pieces. For these Lady J cleaned, deveined, and shelled about a dozen shrimp. The shrimp are then lightly coated in flour, dipped in a tempura batter, and immediately fried until golden brown. After the shrimp have cooled they are diced into cubes with a couple tails added for decoration.

The bottom layer is a bed of jasmine rice topped with a nori and salmon furikake for a splash of color and flavor. :)

Hi everyone! Beni here and welcome back to Let’s Not Starve! For this week we certainly have a bento to TACO about. :D Get it! TAC-O ‘BOUT . . . :D  Trust me, it’s just as tasty as the title is punny. ;)

SUSHI - I WANNA TACO ‘BOUT SOME ROLLS

For this bento Lady A made a sushi roll with taco ingredients. It’s a taco you can eat with chopsticks! Classic taco seasoning in the meat and mexican blend cheese. Add in some diced tomatoes, caramelized onions and rice (we used bistro blend rice because its healthier and have whole grains), you got yourselves a meal~!!!