Cooking Up a Storm

Here's the latest baon I made for this week. Do you see the limp looking lettuce in the bottom? That's my attempt at making cabbage wraps. Except I used lettuce. Here's a recipe from a fave bento maker.

Ever since I got this box I've had to get pretty creative in what to pack for lunch. I never realized it's so small! All my previous baons were dishes that wouldn't fit in the space allocated in the new box. I can't stomach the thought of filling the bottom case with anything carb-heavy, like pasta, my usual go-to for baons. So anytime I have carbs in mind they have to fit in only one of the slots of the top tier.

I'm a big lover of pasta but lately I've been opting for vegetables more and more. Maybe it's the lackluster progress I've made with my weight goals that's determining my food choices. Maybe it's a desire for more fresh produce and a turn for a more healthier lifestyle. But, lately I've been really loving salads and have swapped my traditional chips for crunchy veggies. I still get my salt fix through wheat crackers & cheese but I'm so happy I'm no longer hung up on chips! (Well, not much anyway.) Yay!

A little bit about my baon routine. I usually cook a big batch on Monday evening and parcel off the dishes to the chiller in my fridge that would then be doled out throughout the week. In the case of the lettuce wraps, I cooked around 12 wraps out of 3 longganisa pieces I got from Legaspi Market. Each sausage was topped with sauteed minced garlic & chopped red onions before getting wrapped. When you consider that I can finish all 3 sausages in one meal, being able to spread out the 12 wraps over 4 days worth of lunches is a real winner! (I had to make the wraps really small to fit the box.)

I only do one to two big cookouts in a week's time. This shaves off precious minutes I'd have to take if I prepared my lunch fresh daily.

For my salads I usually get the precut vacuum packed version at the grocery store but this weekend's visit to Legaspi Market found me buying fresh produce by the bunch instead of by the plastic bag. So much cheaper!

Here's some outtakes from my girls day out last Sunday at Legaspi Market.

Mini wooden masks the size of my palm with magnets on the back. I got 3. Looks totally cool on my fridge. The ivory Buddha was surrounded by dark clay antique knick knacks. He looked so out of place yet completely at home and soooo cute! I couldn't resist a shot. I also bought an antique silver bangle from the same vendor for only 500 bucks. It was the last of it's kind so the vendor offered a very friendly price for it. Whee!

Next is a shot of a colorful box of lipbalm. Don't they just make you burst with cheer? Beside it are freshly jarred honey with a honeycomb of live bees behind it. It made me think of Chuck of the now defunct show Pushing Daisies. (Oh the irony!) In my eagerness to get them all on camera it slipped my mind to check them out properly. Now that I look through the photos I think...I'm in need of new lipbalm.

This visit to the market was supposed to be a girls only affair but my roomie's guy wanted to tag along so I brought along my guy as well to even things out. One other girlfriend was arriving alone. I got really guilty for bringing in the guys when she's going stag. I used to hate that when it happened to me before. But since the plan included makeup shopping afterwards, we ditched the guys when lunch was done.

So, back to baons. Another thing I noticed, I get reluctant to go out and pick out snacks from the convenience stores near my pad and office. When I get peckish before, I wouldn't think twice about heading out to grab cookies and chips. But every since I've upped my time spent in the kitchen, I don't like processed food as much anymore.

It pays to know exactly what is it I put in my body. I'm more mindful of the amount of oil I use to cook with so I thought I'd change up my routine a bit and broke out my bamboo steamer for the first time with the lettuce wraps. And it's so much cheaper! I'm not entirely successful with the 100 Peso Lunch Challege set by Victoria (the large cup of coffee I have daily is 105 bucks >_<) but I don't spend hundreds of pesos for lunch anymore! When I think about it, each baon I pack comes around to about 70 bucks. Not counting the yogurt cups I have while in the office, that's still pretty neat.

I'm becoming slightly obsessive with the calorie counting and have gone so far as automatically doing mental calculations when I look at food. Egad! Aaaaaaaannnndd, today I got on the scale.

Pause.

I lost 4 pounds.

Allllrriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiggggggghhhhhttt! Woooooooooot!

But.

I'm not doing a happy jig yet.

See, though I've lost 4 pounds, these are pounds I've regained from a month ago. (I rue my binges! Big time!) So I can't move my weight counter just yet. But still. Yay!

I've been testing my mental control by keeping a jar of cookies on a shelf. This jar was a gift from a grateful client for a catalogue I designed. It was filled with divine homemade double chocolate cookies that crumbled in your mouth. Mmmnn.

The jar has been sitting empty for awhile now and though I love that I'm being more healthy with my food choices, seeing it looking so empty and forlorn made me feel deprived. Sob.

So, I got a bag of cookies and challenged myself to make it last in the jar as long as I can. I can finish an entire bag of Keebler's Original Chocolate Chips in one sitting. Shhhh...

My first bag lasted for a week. This week, I got some Chips Ahoy Originals (they don't have as much calories) and am waiting them out for atleast two weeks or more. So far, so good.

I've come to call it my hairshirt, after the real hairshirts priest would wear for penance, fasting, or whatever godforsaken reason. I don't feel deprived anymore. The jar looks more homey and merry now that it's filled to the brim but everyday is a test of my self-control. Haha! A masochist if ever there's one.

Above is a photo of my typical dinner; chili soup with some cheese & stone-rolled wheat crackers. Below that is a photo of a small cup of truffle chocolate ice cream cookie sandwich. Did I forget to add that on top of the jar of cookies, I have a tub of truffle chocolate ice cream cooling in my freezer?

I am crazy.

 

FOOD LOG

THURSDAY (Sep 2)

BF:: Pan-fried chicken + half slice wheat bread, large black coffee

SN:: Plain yogurt + bellpepper slices

LN:: Mixed salad + lemon-olive oil dressing, 3 strips bacon, gruyere sticks

SN:: kiwi, walnuts, cherry tomatoes, half slice wheat bread

DN:: 5 cookies >_<

FRIDAY

BF:: Sardines & feta pandesal, large hot cafe mocha (CBTL)

SN:: cup of plain yogurt

LN:: caramel affogato yogurt

SN: 1 slice bacon & gruyere sticks, half slice wheat bread

DN: 6 cookies T_T
 

SATURDAY

BF:: homebrew coffee

SN:: half cup of low-fat strawberry yogurt

LN:: bolognese pasta with 2 garlic sausages, steamed veggies

SN:: 2 cookies

DN:: 1 square of Magoos pizza (the one with olives)

DS:: 1 teacup truffle chocolate ice cream cookie sandwich

 

SUNDAY

BRUNCH:: aussie beef pie, half can wheat beer, coffee with a dash of milk

SN:: Qoola yogurt with chocolate bits topping

DN:: half pack of Jalapeno Cheetos

MONDAY

BF:: medium banana, homebrew coffee

SN:: 3 chocnut bars

LN:: wheat crackers, half cup chili soup

SN:: 3 chocnut bars, wheat crackers, cheese

DN:: mixed salad, plain yogurt

TUESDAY

BF:: medium banana, homebrew coffee

SN:: yogurt, broccoli, carrot slices, wheat crackers & gruyere sticks

LN:: mixed salad, 3 sausage lettuce wraps

SN:: 8 chocnut bars (work stress!) T_T

DN:: Fiesta Adobo (Binalot)

WEDNESDAY

BRUNCH:: Banana, 2 cookies, half cup chili soup, wheat crackers

SN:: 1 large hot cafe mocha (CBTL)

DN:: Qoola yogurt with chocolate toppings