Raw Bento

I’m sorry to say this but I will stop posting on Raw Bento indefinitely. I am just way too busy and it’s really hard maintaining three blogs that are good. I have made the decision to focus on my Beauty Box blog and will move all future food posts there in the shape of an occasional food and fitness journal.

Thanks for subscribing and commenting on this lil’ space of mine, but alas I’m moving on, not just from blogging, but from the concept of calling myself “raw” or “raw vegan” or “mostly vegan”. I’m just a veggie lover.

There are days which I am pretty raw but then there are days which I’m hardly raw — I have just eased into eating whatever I feel like (within reason; I’m still pretty health conscious!). It’s just that I’ve stopped taking such an obsessive interest in making raw food.

In fact, I would like to try and move away from having such a microscopic focus on food. It’s part of my lifestyle but I just don’t want to talk about it at length anymore — I believe in eating as much fresh, raw produce as possible on any given day but that’s it. I no longer feel the need to share so much of this part of my life anymore.

I don’t even read many raw blogs anymore because I think I’ve exhausted all the ways to make the kind of raw food I like. I just keep eating the same stuff I like which makes for very boring content.

I’ll still keep this URL till it expires so you can look into the archives for recipes if you like. Sayonara….

Keep on eating raw, ne

I’ve been neglecting my hemp seeds lately so I decided to put them to good use in an alternative way — in a salad dressing!

Recipe (in a food processor; makes two servings):
1 tbs hemp seeds
1 handful basil leaves
1 clove garlic
Juice of half a lemon
2 soaked dates
1 pinch sea salt
1 dash black pepper
1 tbs olive oil

I love the chunky bits of basil and I would add more lemon to cut through the dense flavour of the hemp and dates.

I think this would go well with raw zucchini pasta too.

I know I said no desserts for this little while but I do let myself have a sweet snack in the afternoon before a work out. I still think eating before bed is a major factor in my weight struggles so I decided that I would have treats in the daytime rather than at night. But I’m still not doing raw ice-cream because it has plenty of calories, raw or not, especially this raw banana split made of walnuts (apparently it is 1700 calories according to one of my readers *gasp*).

But having said that I still don’t count calories and I think moderation is key so I savoured two small Raweos I bought from The Raw Food World and a glass of chilled unsweetened raw almond milk (here is the recipe for a sweet version) “squeezed” by moi earlier in the day. I love pouring the lot into a big jug and it looks eerily like dairy milk. Love it though!

Whenever I’m in a raw food rut, I try to get out of it by eating “chewable” raw lunches. Life gets so busy sometimes that it’s easy to fall back on raw soups and smoothies but I tend to go a bit stir-crazy and would crave cooked food more because I feel like I’m not really eating if I’m not chewing.

So here are a couple of “chewable” and yummy raw lunches I’ve been enjoying…

Simple guacamole and carrot sticks with a glass of green juice. I love my guac more when I use red onion, as opposed to white onion (recipe here), and I make the effort to chuck in coriander leaves and cherry tomatoes. This is a very satisfying lunch and I don’t feel I need something more after.

It has been such a long time since I whipped up raw gazpacho and I made this recipe even simpler if that’s even possible. I just used two plump tomatoes, a clove of garlic, a pinch of salt, and a tbs of olive oil that I whizzed up in my blender. I didn’t even need water because tomatoes are very moist. Then I chopped up cucumber, red capsicum, apple, and avocado to make a chunky soup. It was so fresh and simple though the only thing I would change is the amount of salt I used. I forgot that tomatoes can be naturally salty so I would be less heavy-handed with it next time.

What’s your fave raw lunch lately?

I’m trying to be more careful about consuming nuts because I’m on a mission not to gain weight before my wedding. I’m not trying to lose weight, but if I do, I’ll be a happy bunny. Other things that I’m tweaking are no desserts but I would indulge if I’m out with friends on the weekend, no eating after dinner no matter what (even if my stomach grumbles — I’ll just drink some water and go to sleep), cutting down on carbs to 3-4 times a week as opposed to every single day and I’m trying my best to eat till I’m satisfied and not-bursting-at-the-seams full.

The last point is definitely something I struggle with because I don’t have a sweet tooth so cutting desserts from my diet more strictly is seriously not a big deal to me. I tend to let daily busyness get the better of me and I tend to binge at dinner (two helpings, carbs etc).

Cutting down on carbs is proving a little easier than I imagined as I’m a carboholic but I’m enjoying alternating rice/noodles with beans/quinoa. And I’m sure alot of you veggie lovers out there can relate to this especially if you don’t like having beans or quinoa every single day. I like them both but I cannot eat both or either every single day. Apparently quinoa is highly caloric so I’m cutting down on that too. I used to eat quinoa 2-3 times a week but now just once a week or not even.

On top of all that, I’m trying to work out at least four times a week for at least an hour each session. I do struggle with this sometimes because time is always a constraint but I’m working on this.

Anyway, let’s stop the diet ramble and start on the recipe for this chocolate chia pudding without nuts (recipe with nuts is here). Even if I’m not being weight conscious, I think I would move in this direction, cutting down on nuts. I still eat avocados, buckwheat, pumpkin, and sunflower seeds but lately I’ve had no cravings for even raw ice-cream. Seriously, it feels so heavy to me that I have lost my appetite for it. I made a raw lemon cheesecake and there are still leftovers in the freezer because I am just not into it anymore. Weird, eh?

Recipe (in a high-speed blender):
2 tbs chia seeds
1 cup hazelnut milk
1 tbs cocoa powder
1 tsp raw cacao
1 tsp maca (optional)
3-4 soaked dates
Splash of vanilla essence

After I blitz this concoction, it would be this silky smooth gel-like chocolate soup. I topped it with bananas, Lydia’s Sprouted Cinnamon Cereal, and Japanese cherries that look like cherry tomatoes. They are more subtle in flavour than American cherries but delicious in their less sweet way.

I felt really satisfied after this breakfast and before that I had a glass of green juice. I love raw brekkies….

My taste buds are weird right now: I’m craving more cooked food in this bloody hot weather! It was like that last year too. With the onset of summer, I relished raw food and even wrote about it here. But something’s been up with my cravings this week.

The temperatures are as high as 34-35 degrees C and I’m surprised I want stir-fried noodles and rice as early as lunch time. I’m trying not to feel bad about it and I know from experience it is better to eat instinctively than force myself to have something you should have.

Do you ever check with yourself what is going, in relation to your food choices? Well, I try to be analytical and honest with myself. I am sure I’m not depressed, in fact, I’m happy with all areas in my life, I’m not bored as I’m actually busy, but I’m working out alot so I do feel a bit more tired than usual, so I’ve been a bit less motivated to make food. I scoffed cooked dinner leftovers for lunch two days in a row.

What’s up with that? I think I’ve got other things on my mind other than food preparation. I even wished someone would come into my house to make me fresh healthy food for free and to make it exactly the way I like it, but of course, that was wishful thinking. I got my act together and made a huge salad for dinner and had it with some brown rice, stir-fried veggies, and a fried egg. I think my period may be approaching too, hencewhy the wonky food choices.

So while we are on the topic of cooked food, I went to one of my absolute favourite joints for vegan food — Chaya Macrobi Cafe. They state all their ingredients and indicate if it has dairy or fish. They only have one fish dish at the moment but everything else looks vegan on the menu.

This burger was made with soy meat and a delicious savoury sauce that I couldn’t put my finger on what was in it. It was a bit like ketchup with a hint of mustard…Big YUM.

It came with a minestrone soup and the set cost 1,300JPY (USD16.50). It was a filling lunch but I didn’t feel like I was bursting at the gills.

Chaya Macrobi is located in B2 of Chanti, a shopping mall in Ginza (info here). The menu is seasonal and they change it up quite a bit except the veggie curry which is a main stay. I once had a vegan lasagna and loved every bite.

I’ve been juicing a lot lately though and am loving this…

Recipe (in a high-speed blender):
1 grapefruit
1 carrot
1 celery stalk (including leaves)
1/2 head of chicory leaves
1 cup water

Add ice and slurp this baby up.

What are your fave veggie eats in this stinking hot weather?

Hey guys, I thought it would be interesting to see what my readers think are the top 10 fave posts here at Raw Bento. I wasn’t surprised that the coconut-frosted brownie came out tops….;-)

#1 Raw Coconut-Frosted Brownie

#2 Raw Vegan Bibimbap

#3 Raw Pad Thai

#4 Raspberry Chia Pudding

#5 My Favourite Chia Seed Pudding

#6 Raw Lemon Cheesecake

#7 Overnight Oats: Where have you been all my life?

#8 My Pre-Workout Smoothie

#9 A Korean Vegan Affair

#10 High Raw Salad + Quinoa

Yup, it’s the time of the year where it is just perfect to eat raw and not feel an ounce of effort. I have just been enjoying all my raw eats through the day but I still eat a cooked meal in the evening. Though I have been finding, I would keep a bit of my salad lunch and have it as an accompaniment to my dinner.

These dishes have been inspired by Choosing Raw — I constantly stalk Gena’s blog for food inspiration because she keeps it so simple that I can always find the ingredients in my fridge or pantry….and her food tastes good.

I wouldn’t say this was a duplicate at all of Gena’s chickpea avocado nori spread but the idea of having a simple platter of raw veggies plus a dip was totally what I needed on a busy hot day.

I made a simple guacamole dip (avocado, cilantro, cherry tomatoes, white onion, lemon) and ate it with romaine leaves, carrot sticks, and cucumber slices. No fussing or machinery involved!

And Gena talked about how she improvized on a cucumber mint dressing by adding tahini, so I made my own cucumber tahini dressing (without the mint) and it was so lovely with my salad.

Cucumber tahini dressing recipe (in a high-speed blender; 2 servings):
2 tbs tahini
1/2 cucumber
Juice of one lemon
Pinch of dried dill
Dash of cayenne pepper
Dash of sea salt
Dash of black pepper
Splash of water

But I followed her Cinnamon Cherry Blast to the letter…..It was very yummy and rich. I would highly recommend it if you are in a hurry but need a filling smoothie to tide you over several hours.

I just love it when it’s so easy to be raw….

Hellooooo, hisashiburiiii (it’s been a long time in Japanese)….

Life is so busy right now but I’m sure things will get back into a regular rhythm soon. I just flew to Singapore for a week to settle some wedding stuff, and before that, work was pretty crazy as well. My eats were extremely simple and I’ve come to realize that it’s what my body craves at the end of the day.

Of course I was delighted to indulge in some cooked vegetarian eats in Singapore — I had a veganized version of a local dish called mee pok (it has minced mushrooms, crunchy cubes of lard, minced pork, fishballs, fishcake mixed with flat egg noodles and a spicy vinegar sauce) at Loving Hut in Suntec City Mall and it was truly a lovely vegan rendition on something I used to have regularly while I was an omni.

I know it doesn’t look like much but it was really delicious!

When I hauled my tired ass back to my Tokyo apartment yesterday, I whizzed up a Sun Warrior brown rice protein shake with frozen bananas and strawberries to which my body just gave a silent sigh of gratitude.

Today’s lunch was a yummy salad with a basic raw dressing that is something I always go back to time and time again.

I loaded up my salad bowl with micro-greens, romaine, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, apple, avocado, coriander sprigs, green onion and a big scoop of cooked quinoa with a generous sprinkle of black pepper.

Dressing recipe (in a high-speed blender):
1/2 cup macadamias, soaked
Juice of half a lemon
1 clove garlic
1/2 tbs nutritional yeast
Pinch of sea salt
1/2 cup water

The end result was a creamy white alfredo-looking dressing which paired beautifully with my huge salad. It was so big that I couldn’t finish it — great, more for later with dinner!

…in terms of time….Don’t you think it takes a while to chop everything up into nice bite-sized pieces? That’s why I only tend to have fruit bowls for breakfast on the weekend…

This one has raspberries, apple, strawberries, blueberries, and banana. It was so yum…