All in Good Food

This was lunch from Friday. Although it was very tasty I over cooked the egg noodles. I don’t seem to have a lot of progress with egg noodles. It’s always a hit or miss thing for me. Sometimes they come out perfect then others they are soggy and taste like paste. Oh well I’ll keep trying at it.

Ok let’s begin with the bottom part because that has the meal where as the top part has dessert/snack. The bottom part has salisbury steak that has been chopped into smaller pieces, the egg noodles mentioned above with brown gravy and sautéed broccoli.

Now the top part is filled with a bunch of grapes and a Rice Krispies Treats® that I cut in half and spread peanut butter on it. I then cut it in small bights. I think peanut butter on Rice Krispies Treats® is my now obsession but I will try Nutella next.

So until my next bento, Itadaki masu!

Now I am always up for a good giveaway and this one is a great one for any of my fellow bentoist out there. As I was going through the list of blogs I follow I came across the new post from Emily at Bentobloggy. She is having a giveaway of a wonderful bento set from AllThingsForSale.com. When she talked about the selection being great and the prices being very reasonable she wasn’t kidding. I went over there to check them out myself and have already made a mental list of things I want to buy. It is nice that they are here in the states and that your items don’t take forever to get to you. I have already bookmarked them myself under my bento accessories.

So if you are interested in entering this give away head over to Bentobloggy and while you are there check out her bentos I think you’ll like them.

So in my last post I had a picture of the herb packets that I had. I also told you that I was in the process of deciding what herb(s) I wanted to start with. Well I have been doing research on the internet and reading books to help me in my process (I will list them at the end of this post). I found one source that said to start by looking at the herbs and spices you already use and go from there. So that is exactly where I am going to begin. If you are familiar with any of my recipe or bento posts you will know that I love dill and use it a lot.

So I have decided that my first plant will be Dill (Anethum graveolens). I have been doing general research on dill and will begin doing specific research today. The seed packet I have is Dukat Leafy Dill. I’m not sure what the different varieties of dill are but as soon as I find out I will let you know.



I know I may be starting this project at the wrong time as it is fall and I am in Michigan but this is for an indoor herb garden and I didn’t think it would matter. I’ve been looking at the layout of my kitchen to see where I can set up this herb garden because I will have to use a grow light because my kitchen has no windows and I have a cat and I don’t want him chewing on my herbs when I’m not looking. Maybe I will also grow him his own herbs so that he will leave mine alone.

Well there is my update keep checking back to watch my progress.

Till then, happy growing.

My references so far:

The Garden Primer by Barbara Damrosch (Google books copy-read only) (Herbs Chapter 8-begin on page 383)

GardenGuides.com

Renee’s Garden (The seed packets are from Renee’s Garden)

I had to work yesterday and the weather was not the greatest here in Michigan. No we don’t have any snow yet but it was cold so I wanted a bento that was very filling. I meant to post this bento when I got home from work yesterday but was just too tired. I’ve been living in Michigan all my life but the cold air still wipes me out.

This was yesterday’s lunch and I must say it was very delicious and filling. It is made up of 3 small yaki onigiri. I think I love yaki onigiri better than regular onigiri but I have been experimenting with different flavors so maybe I can come up with some that I can make my go to flavors. Growing up I always put salt, pepper and a lot of butter on my rice so plain non-seasoned rice or rice only season with salt does not appeal to me. I know that may seem like a very American attitude but I do try foods from all over and then adapt them to my own palate. I feel food is not stagnate it is ever changing and that should be ok. We should always remember traditional recipes or ways of cooking but we also have to remember that people’s tastes are diverse and should be respected. Ok I just ran off on a tangent I do apologize.

Now back to the bento. I also had french cut green beans that were cooked in soy sauce. I first placed them in the microwave with a little soy sauce poured over them then I grilled them on my griddle with a small amount of butter. I was hoping I could come close to the taste I get when I sauté my broccoli but didn’t work this time. Next time I’ll try it in a skillet. I included a bunch of red grapes and that is what is in the top part of the bento.

In the bottom part I have tamagoyaki made with dill and cheese. I am going to have to invest in a real tamagoyaki pan. Right now I make it on my griddle and it seems to come out fine but to be honest I have never eaten one made with an authentic pan in the traditional way. So a tamagoyaki pan goes on my wish list. Lastly I added cut up salisbury steak left over from dinner the night before and there we are.

So until my next bento, Itadaki masu!

Today is my official blogiversary but there will be no bells and whistles going on here. Although I am happy to have made it through this past year and I have learned a lot in the process I don’t feel that this blog has lived up to its potential yet. All in Good Food will strive to do better in the coming year to fulfill the goals that I have set so stay with me and see the transformation and growth.

Now to the first project of the year for All in Goof Food and that is the Herb Project. What is the Herb project you might ask? Well I realized that I work so much better with goals and deadlines I have created this project to help me learn more about herbs and spice I may or may not be using in my recipes. I find that in my area I am hard pressed to find some of the herbs I need for cooking so I thought why not grow them myself. So is the birth of my Herb Project. I haven’t come up with a catchy name for it yet but I’ll be working on that.

So here is the project. I will be researching, planning, planting, harvesting and creating recipes with the herbs I will be growing. As I have never grown herbs before I am researching what are the best herbs for me to grow and as I live in Michigan I will need to grow them indoors for now. I want to get some plants to start with but they will be hard to find at this time of the year. However I was recently given some seed packets so I will start with them. This project will take you through every step on my process, good, bad and ugly. I will be taking notes as closely as possible so that I may learn from my mistakes as well as my triumphs.

So I ask you to stay with me on this journey and any advice from those who have grown herbs before are welcomed and encouraged, I just ask that you be respectful and positive, nastiness is not necessary or welcomed here at this blog. With that said I already have a plan in mind and will share that with you in the next post.

Till then.

Here is another simple bento I had for my lunch yesterday. I took a steak filet and sliced it into thin slices and then I cut the slices into bit sized pieces and grilled them on my griddle. I cooked the egg noodles in brown gravy that was left over from the Salisbury steak we had for dinner Thursday night. I just added a little water and added the noodles and let them cook till they were soft. I then topped it with two small pieces of bacon that had been wrapped around the steak filet that I cooked along side of the steak. I also had butter sauté broccoli. I love my broccoli this way because I love the roasted taste.

So until my next bento, Itadaki masu!

This was the simple bento I had for lunch yesterday.

Here are a few bentos I managed to take a picture of after my computer crashed. Just thought I’d share them with you.


Bento #18

Bento #19

As I was trying to decide what my next post would be I looked up and realized that as of November 10th it will be 1 year since I began this blog. Wow how time flies. When I first began I wasn’t quite sure where to start, what to write about, or what was my culinary passion. I have to admit I floundered for a bit until I found a niche which was posting the bentos I had been already creating. But I thought to myself I don’t want to stop there so I began to post my experimental dishes and creations and that felt good.

Cooking I have found has been an evolution of sorts. As I learned more about food and ingredients I became a better cook. When I was younger I dabbled a bit in cooking but other than pastry or dessert dishes I never pursued it seriously. Well now my time has come. No I don’t want to be the “Next Food Network Star” or work in a 3 or 4 star restaurant but I do want to cook the best food I can for me and my family.

I think when I am passionate about something I get very focused and intense about it. That is sometimes a good thing and sometimes not. Cooking requires you to be very focused but flexible at the same time and the key to good cooking is finding that balance. So in this new year I have decided to pick 4 key things and focus my efforts on them.

And they are first of all making balanced bentos. I have been creating bentos for about 3 years now and the process has helped me immensely in understanding portion control and balance in my meals. I have struggled a bit but with struggle comes progress. It also helps to have a strong bento community that I am involved with. I have learned about different foods, recipes, techniques (for aesthetics purposes) which is one of the keys to the appeal of bentos. I must also say this community is very supportive and helpful which is great.

My next endeavor is in baking. As a young girl I wanted to be a pastry chef and make all those wonderful delights that most everyone loves, but I think I let fear stop me from pursuing that path but no more. At this point in my life I am not sure if I am up to going to a formal school to become a patisserie but this is the information age and I think I am good at understanding information that I find in books, TV shows and the internet. Don’t get me wrong I do want to go study under some good teachers but I feel that a more intimate and personal setting is for me. I have fallen in love with the Cooking Channel show Rachel Allen Bake. When I watch her I understand what she is telling me. Eventually I want to sign up for her cooking school and keep going from there.

This new year of my blog I am also starting a 365 project. I decided I want to learn more about herbs so I am going to take in the next year and work on my 365 Herb Project. I will also be studying spices and their uses as well. As I want to give this project its fair turn I will wait to explain what I am doing in its own post.

Lastly I will be focusing on my time management. Yes I know that this may not seem to be directly related to cooking but I assure you it is. Without time management foods can burn or not be cooked enough, pastries and desserts can become disasters and over all chaos in the kitchen will ensue. Ok that last bit was a bit over dramatic but as we all know we can never get time back once it is gone so we must use it wisely.

Well that is the update to what is going on here at All in Good Food. As many of you know I had not been posting for sometime because my lovely computer decided it wanted to crash on me. So now that I finally have my new one I will take this opportunity to start a new. New year (blog year), new me. With the understanding I have gained from blogging and cooking I hope to have new and exciting posts for all of you to read. So here’s to a new year.

乾杯 (Kanpai)