Bento: Kibi Filling (111)
Here’s my bento for Monday, June 30, 2008.
Doesn’t it look just yummy?! Not only am I way happy with the kibi filling recipe, I am SUPER happy with this bento. It’s the only bento I’ve ever packed that I feel looks like a real bento. Here’s what’s for lunch tomorrow.
Top tier: kibi filling in a lettuce leaf and rotisserie chicken.
Bottom tier: brocolli salad with vinaigrette dressing, grecian sauce, and blueberries on cute animal picks. I have some choco pb pretzels in the top part of the bento (not shown).
Be the bento tomorrow. I’m so glad to be back finally!
Recipe: Kibi Filling & Grecian Sauce
As I mentioned in my last post, I enjoyed the wonders of Greek-Lebanese food this weekend at a local restaurant. The dish I tried and liked the most was kibi. I especially enjoyed the filling. I decided to try my hand at making just the filling this weekend. Here’s a quick peek.
Delicious looking don’t you think? Keep reading for the full recipe.
Hello Again!
Well, it has been 9 days since my last post! I’ve missed you all. Summertime is my busiest time at work, resulting in way too many 10-12 hour days. Much of this time is spent on my feet presenting programs and helping patrons. This week has SUCKED big time when it comes to food. I have eaten absolute crud trying to just find sustenance while working nonstop. BLECH! I took Friday off because I got to a point where I absolutely needed some downtime. I saw The Incredible Hulk, which I highly recommend, and had dinner with my brother.
I contacted my brother for dinner because he has a much wider palate than I do when it comes to food. He’s also the cook of the two of us, never afraid to try some concoction and see how it comes out. I didn’t want to cook, but I wanted something that was filling and would stick to my ribs. My brother and I loaded into my car and off we went. As we drove leisurely, we discussed where we might go. I told him I wanted something filling, something that would stick to my ribs, and something that was “different.” At first, it seemed that we wouldn’t find anything. Then, he says, “What about Albasha?” “Where?” I said. He explained it was a Greek-Lebanese restaurant. I explained I’d never eaten Greek-Lebanese before. He looked at me like I’d sprouted a new head. Off to Albasha we went.
He suggested I order the Albasha Mez, which serves two. When he found out I’d never eaten lamb before, he gave me that “You’ve got to be kidding” look again. So we ordered a lamb kabob. Here’s my verdict on the food:
It was FRIGGIN’ AWESOME!
There was so much about this meal I enjoyed. The hummus was so different from what I bought in the store. I’m going to have to try to make my own soon. I didn’t care for the cabbage rolls too much. The groundmeat and rice stuffing was good, but I’m not much on cooked cabbage. The grape leaf rolls were delicious! It had a tomato, groundmeat, and rice stuffing that was delicious. If I knew where to get grape leaves, I’d try to make that dish myself. The gyros and the chicken schwarma were tasty too. But what really got me right in the kisser (pun intended) was the grecian sauce and the kibi. Oh holy cow! That stuff was abso-frickin’-lutely delicious. I had a wonderful time. Bro’, if you’re reading this, thanks for a great dinner.
This means there is a recipe to be posted tonight as well as a really awesome looking bento for tomorrow. I can’t wait! Get ready…here it comes soon!
There’s nothing quite like…
quickie french bread pizza when you’re in a hurry. Wednesday night’s dinner was slices of leftover bread with cheese and pepperoni baked in my trusty toaster oven.
Doesn’t it look tasty?
Don’t you just want to take a bite. I love making little “pizzas” this way. Very tasty!
Recipe: Egg Roll Enchiladas
Last night while searching for something interesting to do with some egg roll wrappers I’d purchased, I found this recipe. I’d never thought of baking the egg roll wrappers. I tried it out. I liked the result. Here’s what I did to make mine.
Here are the basic ingredients:chicken breast, black beans, garlic/pepper seasoning, salt (in the spice jar), egg roll wrappers. I also used cheese and corn in this dish.
If you have some leftover meat in your fridge from another meal, you could use that instead of cooking some up specifically for this dish. I didn’t have any leftovers, so I had to make some. 
Cut your chicken into chunks and season liberally with any concoction of spices you prefer. I used a garlic-pepper blend with some salt mixed in.
Make sure all the pieces are well coated.
In a pan, place 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
Place the chicken into the pan and cook until white through the middle.
In another pan, take 2 cups of frozen corn and heat in a skillet with a can of black beans. When the corn is heated through and no longer frozen, add about half a 16 oz jar of salsa (or spoon it in until you are satisfied with the result). Cook until the salsa begins to bubble. Take off of heat.
Once the chicken is cooked, dice it into small bits. You’re ready to fill the wrappers.
Lay out an egg roll wrapper. Fill the middle with chicken, corn/black bean mixture, and cheese. Wrap it up. Place them into a pan sprayed with non-stick spray. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, or until brown on top. Take out, flip over to the other side, and bake for another 20 minutes, browning the other side.
Here is one of the wraps cooked and cut in half so you can see a cross section. Tasty looking huh? It was.
And here is last night’s dinner: Chicken Enchilada Egg Roll Wraps with broccoli salad. I had a very happy tummy yesterday. YAY!
Bento: Egg Roll Enchiladas (110)
Okay, this one is a little odd, probably. Last night, I had some egg roll wrappers that I needed to use before they went bad. A little cooked chicken, black beans, and corn backed in the oven and voila…dinner, as well as today’s bento.
Today’s bento includes: egg roll chicken enchilada, pistachios, broccoli and carrot salad, choco pb pretzels.
A while back on my blog, broccoli was one of the foods I’d retried and still didn’t care for. This week, work held it’s annual potluck lunch. One of my bosses brought a broccoli salad that was very tasty. I realized I like broccoli raw with the stems cut off and the green bushy part cut up small. So, today I have some broccoli salad. Yay me.
Be the bento!
New Things in My Kitchen
What’s this sandwich you ask? It’s a new-to-me concoction. Here’s how things worked out yesterday.
Pita bread, hummus, and avocado aren’t normally found in my kitchen. This weekend, I went to the grocery store with the goal of purchasing something that I don’t normally eat. I haven’t tried a new-to-me food for awhile. While purchasing some deli-sliced turkey breast, there was a refrigerated area with pita bread and hummus. “Hmmmm….hummus,” I thought. This is something that I haven’t tried before, so a container of sweet roasted red pepper hummus found its way into my shopping cart along with the multi-grain pita bread. I thought it all might go well with the turkey breast. I was going to complement it all with some nice, cool cucumber, but unfortunately, the cukes at the grocery store were looking a bit on the wilted side. I picked up an avocado instead. Here’s how it all turned out.
Fairly yummy tasting don’t you think? I must admit it was. I even tried a bit of the hummus on a plain tortilla chip afterwards. It’s pretty good. Will take me a little while to get used to it, but I think it is a flavor I’m really going to enjoy. I’ve tried using it in place of mayonnaise on sandwiches today. I liked it. And I’m pretty sure it is much better for me than mayo.
Making The Sandwich
Cut a piece of pita bread in half, resulting in two large circles.
Let a pan heat with a bit of butter or margarine in a skillet on the stove.
While the pan heats, begin building your sandwich.
First, sprinkle on some shredded cheese of your choosing. If you have cheese slices, that’s great. I didn’t.
Then, place two slices of turkey on the sandwich.
Use a knife to spread on some hummus.
Add the diced avocado.
Lay two more slices of turkey over the avocado.
Top it with the other circle of pita bread.
By this point, your skillet will be heated and the butter melted. Make sure the butter doesn’t brown too much.
Place your sandwich in it, and brown both sides. Use a spatula to press down on the sandwich to everything warms up nicely and smashes together in a panini-reminiscent style.
Cut into wedges and serve with chips, cucumber, slices, or some other side of your choosing.
Enjoy!
