Yummr

Yummr's Main Dish

Archives for Mar 2009

Bring Your Lunch In a Bento Box

Brown bags are so lame and so yesterday and not to mention, not environmentally friendly. Why throw a bag away per day when you can just bring your food in a box while making it look like an art piece?

I've been a fan of the bento box packed meal for over a year now and have decided to start doing this myself. Traditional Japanese bento box packing consists of rice, fish or meat and a pickled vegetable side dish. More recently, there have been many wonderful blogs showcasing this style of food preparation and packing and some preparers even go the mile and turn their food into cute animals, plants or characters. This style is known as kyaraben.

Bento boxes are great not only because of its aesthetic appeal but in a society where obesity is a growing concern, it's great for portion control. Taking the time out to carefully prepare your meal and know exactly what you'll be consuming can greatly help you monitor a healthy diet. Bento boxes are also a wonderful appeal for children's lunch boxes. For picky eaters, the cute animals and fun shaped pieces bring a whole new light to the healthy eats!

Some of my favorite bento box bloggers include:

Cooking Cute

Lunch in a Box

Posted Mar 19, 2009 by SuDoughName | Add a comment | Share It

Filed under: bento box

Green Greens All Month Long!

Yummr recently sent out a newsletter inviting our members to come check out our new activities, discussions and fun polls and quizzes and included a really wonderful photo from one of our very own members, coconutlime. Unfortunately, we failed to mention and give credit to the wonderful chef who created such a lovely dish. If you opened up your newsletter to a beautiful green dish of Pea Shoot Pesto, it comes from the wonderful kitchen of coconutlime! Make sure to check out her profile to view her other submissions and visit her personal food blog for even more yummy dishes! The Pea Shoot Pesto was one of the wonderful submissions to our fun Pesto-rific! challenge that we had a few months back. The amazing green hue of the pesto from this dish is something that would go really well on your St. Patrick's Day feast. Add a little zest next to those corn beef and cabbage platters!

Speaking of all this green goodness, we just posted up a new quiz for you to take where you can learn little bits of pieces about those healthy greens you love (or at times, loathe). What tasty green did the Romans think were poisonous back in the day? Check it out in our latest quiz!

Posted Mar 11, 2009 by SuDoughName | 1 Comment | Share It

Filed under: Healthy greens Pesto

Are You Munching on the Healthy Stuff?

I always find myself with a variety of munchies on hand to eat througout the day. I try to keep it healthy. If I'm craving a sweet chocolate treat, I usually get dark chocolate because I feel better about helping to fight heart disease. I hope this is true. I also like to keep green tea on hand by my desk. I feel healthier thinking that I've chosen foods and drinks that people say are healthy alternatives to the chips and soda but are they really?

I recently came across the same question from someone who was concerned about dried fruits and green tea. Dr. Melina Jampolis, Physician Nutrition Specialist, from CNNHealth.com helps to answer the question, "how healthy is decaf green tea and dried fruits?":

"In general, I'm not a big fan of dried fruit either as dried fruit is much more calorically dense than fresh fruit because of its significantly lower water content. And with the obesity epidemic in this country, keeping calories under control is just as important as choosing healthier foods. Fresh fruit is just as healthy as dried fruit and you don't have to worry about added sugar, fat or portion sizes, which must be more closely controlled when it comes to dried fruit." click here to read the full response.

Are there any other munchies that you are snacking on through out the day that you're having second thoughts about? Another one that I question is trail mix. Of course, moderation and portion control is key to a healthy diet and snacks.

Posted Mar 5, 2009 by SuDoughName | Add a comment | Share It

Filed under: dried fruits green tea