Samples Lunch Box 2

White rice with stir-fried kailan and braised A1 emperor chicken spices with boneless and skinless chicken thighs

For me, making lunch box for my girl used to be saving money.  But now it is to ensure that she gets a healthy and balance meal.  She used to envy her classmates who get to eat in the cafeteria, but now she loves bringing her lunch box to school as her classmates would come and check on her lunch box (they are curious) and say things like it looks good, it smells great, oh are you eating spring rolls, that's the best thing ever, some even want to exchange her lunch box.  She gets compliments on her lunch box and I guess that changed her attitude towards it.  I do let her eat in the cafeteria when they are serving special meal such as Thanksgiving meal and Christmas special.

Bibim Naengmyun (Spicy Mixed Cold Noodle)

Bibim naengmyun or Korean mixed spicy cold noodle is so economical to cook at home.  Furthermore, we can add whatever ingredients we like.  The one sold in the restaurant mostly has cucumber, radish and boiled egg and they charge $9 for a bowl.  I would rather spend my $9 on some chicken/meat and side dishes.  A plus is this cold noodle dish is so easy to make and I calculated the cost to be less than $6 for 2 bowls.

If you have a craving for spicy mixed cold noodle, why not make it yourself?  One thing though, you got to be able to take the heat, as this is a SPICY noodle dish.  Those that cannot take spicy food, can try the naengmyeon, is a cold noodle dish serves in cold radish kimchi broth or clear beef broth (with crushed ice), suitable for hot summer days.

Chinese Watercress Soup

I made this soup occasionally so I thought I had posted the recipe in my blog, but when I went to search for it, I couldn't find it.  Only then I realized I haven't posted the recipe.  So, I shared it here for my record so that next time if my girls want to make it, they would know where to look for the recipe.

The health benefit of watercress is plenty and it has been dated since ancient time.  It is high in calcium, iron, Vitamin C, beta-carotene, folic acid, potassium, phosphorous and rich in fiber, iodine and anti-oxidants.  You can read more about it here.  It is also a cooling food for Chinese.

Black Porridge Dessert

According to the Chinese, black food is a golden food for the kidney.  And taking care of your kidney is very important as it can reverse aging and makes you look vibrant and younger.  A good kidney can erase the sign of aging, black spots and blemishes on your face, and even turn white hair into black hair.  If you maintain a strong healthy kidney, you will have strong bone and bone marrow, articulate, hear well, clear face and jet black hair. Other black foods that need to be noted are black fungus, black mushroom, kelp, seaweed, fermented black beans, black chicken, black lentils, blackberries, black grapes and etc.  Are you impressed?

So, I made a quick and fuss free black porridge for us, using a slow cooker (the idea came from a Chinese source).  I finally found another way to enjoy some black beans besides cooking it in soup.  Since this is sweet, it is enjoy by everyone, even my girls loved it.  Not only this is delicious, fuss free to cook but also extremely healthy.  For the real benefit, it was recommended to have a bowl everyday and you will see result in week 3 +.  I am not sure whether I want to eat it every day though, but probably once a week (good enough for 3 days) as I do cook with black sesame seeds, seaweed, mushroom and black fungus often during the week.

All ingredients can be found at the Asian supermarkets except walnuts.  If you don't see the black slab sugar, feel free to buy the brown slab sugar.  Dried lily bulbs can be found at the herbal aisle in the Asian store.

Samples of Evy's Lunch Boxes

Kimchi Fried Rice with Roasted Seaweed to wrap the rice

Turmeric Brown Rice with Stir-Fried Spinach and Chicken with Wood Ear Fungus and Tofu Knot

Turkey Meatballs Spaghetti

An easy dinner with the baked turkey meatballs that I made earlier.  I liked the whole wheat angel hair pasta because it cooked fairly quickly.  Since this was a quick and easy dinner, I used the Target brand traditional spaghetti sauce, added some chopped red onion and button mushrooms and lastly some spinach to make it more nutrition.

If you look closely, you can see a dollop amount of red chili paste on top of my pasta.  That was my extremely spicy chili paste (that's why a small amount was sufficient) to increase the appetite of this dish.  If you haven't tried eating it this way, try it next time, it's really delicious (given that you can take the heat to begin with).