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About the author
Gordon Rock is the author for hundreds of cookbooks on delicious meals that the 'average Joe' can attempt at home. Including, but definitely not limited to, the Amazon Prime bestseller "Smoking Meat: The Essential Guide to Real Barbecue".
Rock is also known for other well-known titles such as "Making Fresh Pasta", "Hot Sauce", "The Paleo Chocolate Lovers" and "Vegan Tacos", just to name a few.
Rock has been nominated for various awards and has recently been offered a 'Question & Answers' column in Food and Wine Magazine that will give him a greater medium to respond to all the queries readers may have after attempting his recipes. He has also been honored by the Institution of Culinary Excellence for his outstanding recipes.
Gordon Rock grew up in the outskirts of Los Angeles in California, where he graduated from the Culinary Institute of America with honors. He still resides there along with his wife and three kids. He operates a non - profit organization for aspiring cooks who are unable to finance their culinary education and spends practically all his spare time either in the kitchen or around his desk writing.
For a complete list of my published books, please, visit my Author's Page...
http://amazon.com/author/gordonrock
You can also check out my blog at: http://grodon-rock.blogspot.com
Or my Facebook Page at: https://www.facebook.com/ChefGordonRock
Table of Contents
Introduction
Laziness is a major factor that leads to an unhealthy lifestyle. Laziness is not only restricted to one aspect but can be defined in many ways. Neglecting your health and making poor choices is also one of the forms of laziness. Commonly when it comes to debating about an unhealthy lifestyle, the poor choices are concerning everyday meals.
Lunchtime is that time of the day when the majority of people eat unhealthy snacks. The easiest choices to make are greasy doughnuts, hotdogs, fatty burgers or anything available at the cafeteria. What happens after eating so much greasy food? You become sluggish and lose interest in your work.
What is the easiest way to adopt a healthy lifestyle? Making small but right choices is the first steps towards your wellbeing. Do not rush into anything; you cannot just end a lifestyle that you have been following for ages. Take baby steps and see yourself transform within no time.
First of all, start eating healthy. Wake up a few minutes earlier than you usually do in the morning and prepare your and your familys lunch. Bento lunch boxes are a great way to portion control. The best part is that you can pack healthy and nutritious meals in your bento box.
This bento cookbook will introduce you to ways you can pack your bento box and the meals that you can take with yourself. This Bento cookbook is a complete set of bento box recipes and single sideline bento recipes that you can mix and match with other recipes of this book and complete your lunch box.
1. Chikuwa Cucumber
Chikuwa are long fish cakes popular in Japan and are part of Japanese cuisine. Stuffing these long fish cakes with cucumber pieces makes a quick and easy side dish for your bento lunch box.
Servings: 5 fish cakes
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Ingredients:
- Japanese/English cucumber, 1
- Chikuwa (Japanese fish cake), 1 package
Method:
Slice the edges of the cucumber to make it the same length as chikuwa and peel off the skin.
Slice the cucumber crosswise into 5 pieces and scoop out the seeds from each piece.
Now put each cucumber piece inside chikuwa and slice it into medium size pieces.
2. Cheeseburger Cups
These mini cheeseburgers will fit perfectly in a bento lunch box. This recipe is simple and can be made in the morning if you have enough time. Just prepare the dough and beef overnight and do the baking next morning.
Servings: 6 burgers
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Ingredients:
For Burger Mix:
- Ground beef, 1 pound
- Brown sugar, 2 tablespoon
- Mustard, 1 tablespoon
- Cheese, shredded
- Ketchup, cup
- Worcestershire sauce, 1 cup
For Biscuits:
- All-purpose flour, 2 cups
- Shortening, 5 tablespoons
- Baking powder, 2 teaspoon
- Milk, cup
- Salt, teaspoon
Method:
Preheat the oven to 400 F.
Combine flour with salt, shortening and baking powder. Pour milk gradually and form smooth dough.
Dust some flour on counter board and roll out the dough into a smooth ball.
Cut into 6 pieces and flatten each piece using a rolling pin and place in a greased muffin tray.
Now cook beef until no longer pink. Add all the remaining ingredients and cook well.
Top each section of the muffin tray with beef mixture and add cheese.
Pop the tray in the oven and bake for 15 minutes or until nicely brown.
3. Lemony Basil Orzo Pasta Salad
This recipe is a perfect summer treat and includes all the exotic flavors of summer. For more texture, add a can of feta cheese, mushrooms and grilled chicken cubes. This salad is supposed to be served cold so you can conveniently make some extra for next days lunch.
Servings:
Preparation time: 9 minutes
Ingredients:
- Orzo pasta, 1 pound
- Roasted red peppers, cup, chopped
- Lemon zest from 2 large lemons
- Fresh basil, 1 package, chopped
- Olive oil, cup
- Salt, cup
- Fresh flat leaf parsley, cup, chopped
- Yellow and red grape tomatoes, 2 cups, halved
- Green onions, cup, cut only green part
- Lemon juice, cup
Method:
Cook pasta in salted boiling water for 9 minutes. Drain and set aside DO NOT rinse.
While the pasta is cooking prepare the dressing by combine lemon juice, zest and olive oil together.