Chicken Tikka Pasties

I took out some ground chicken to thaw for dinner, but then I realized I didn't have all the stuff I needed for the things I usually make with ground chicken. Oops.

I started looking up recipes for ground chicken or beef, and I came across a recipe for these biscuit cup things, which suddenly reminded me of Cornish pasties.

Then I wanted to see what people did with chicken in a pasty.
After a bit of google searching, I found a few recipes for chicken tikka pasties. I had a jar of pre-made tikka masala sauce, so I glanced at the recipe, then decided to come up with my own version with what I had on hand.

I made large ones for dinner using a hand pie press that I picked up a while ago.
Then I made some mini ones - I used a crumpet ring to cut the pastry (about the same size as an egg ring), and then crimped them closed with a fork

Here's my lunch with two mini pasties, some salad, apple, and a deviled egg:



Recipe!

1lb ground chicken
1 large russet potato
1/4 white onion
Jar of tikka masala sauce (I used this one)
1c frozen peas

Peel and dice potato (about 1cm pieces), boil until just done (stick a fork in, or cut it with a butter knife, if it's easy, it's done)
Cook ground chicken almost completely through, drain,
Dice onion, and add to the pan, cooking for a bit longer until chicken is cooked through and onion is soft.
Add enough sauce to coat the meat, fold in potato and peas. Add more sauce if necessary.

This will make about 9 large pasties... and a whole lot of mini ones (I have no idea how many - hah!)

I used this recipe for shortcrust pastry - it makes 3-4 pasties, depending on how thin you roll it. and about 6-8 mini ones.
If you want the pastry to be more golden, you will need to use an egg wash, but because I was doing such a small batch last night, I skipped it.

You can fill the large ones with about 1/3c of the filling, and the small ones take about 1tbsp.

I only made 2 large and 4 small pasties, so I have enough filling left for at least 2 more dinner/lunch combos, maybe more.

If anyone wants to do it completely from scratch, here is the recipe that inspired me.

Pasta Salad and Cocktail Sauages

I've been on a Greek salad kick - cucumber, tomato, pepper, onion, olive. So simple, so delicious.
Yesterday's lunch was packed in 15 minutes in the morning, and it was a full-sized version of the salad I had on Thursday, with the tomatoes cut in, and some olives added.

Today's bento incorporates the same flavours into a pasta salad, dressed with a feta salad dressing.



The pasta is one of those 'smart' ones, fortified and all that jazz.
The main protein today comes in the form of cocktail sausages (weiners!). I did 3 cut in half, and a 4th cut into an octopus, because it's hard to resist doing. There is a grainy mustard and mayo dip in the container.
I also have a tamagoyaki in there as a secondary protein. I didn't season it with the usual soy sauce and sugar - I used seasoned pepper instead, which is amazing on eggs.
Filled the space with 1/4 of an apple (not bunnified today, the other slice is hidden), broccoli and matchstick carrots.

Salad Bentos and a Cat

I forgot to take a photo of yesterday's bento, but it was just leftover taco fixings arranged into a salad, with some tortilla chips on the side. Yum!

I wanted to take a photo of both mine and my husband's bento boxes for today - they're essentially the same, but you can see where I've changed things up to accommodate our slightly different tastes.




Mine is on the left, his is on the right.

The main component in each is a salad - the base is spinach and romaine, then I've topped it with various other veggies. I get cucumber and red pepper, he gets snow peas and matchstick carrots.
I have salad dressing, but he likes his plain.
We each get a deviled egg, 3 chicken nuggets, and 1/4 of an apple - sliced into bunnies, because I can.
For the space filler, his is entirely broccoli, and mine is tiny grape tomatoes and broccoli.
Aren't the tomatoes so cute?

I take my photos on a bamboo slat placemat set on our kitchen table.
When we're not using the table, the cat likes to sleep on the edge of it up against the windowsill, so when she spotted me over there, she had to come see what I was doing:



Thankfully she doesn't like people food.

Bento #56

Here we go!



Chicken Teriyaki meatballs
Corn Salad
Carrots
Snow Peas
Deviled Egg
Lemon Spinach Couscous
Chocolate Coin

The couscous is from a box mix. I was a bit pressed for time, because I was being much too lazy again, and I have to work early tomorrow. It's still a healthy one though - no unpronounceable ingredients >_<
The Mister just gets plain corn, because he absolutely loves corn and he's not a fan of sauces and spices. He does like the corn salad, but I figured he'd appreciate the plain corn much more.
The deviled egg is a bit too creamy - I used only a tiny bit of mayo, but I went overboard with the dijon.
The chocolate coin is tucked down beside the corn for the purpose of the photo - I had to use flash, and it was too bright. It was packed right on top of the corn.

.

I'm trying to be good -
I've planned out this week's lunches and dinners!
Pardon my messy writing - it's awkward writing with a grease pencil, and I'm left-handed. I need to hunt down some wet-erase markers.



I'm off Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, but I'm still going to make bento boxes for The Mister on at least Wednesday and Thursday, so I'll make the same food for my own lunches those days. The Mister normally goes out with co-workers on Friday for lunch.

Bento #36

First bento in my new house - we have no veggies!

Furikake Rice
Green Beans with Soy Sauce and Sesame Oil
Grape Tomatoes
Imitation Crab Salad
Cheese
Black Grapes
Mint
Apricot
Taro Mochi

I'm going to pick up some veggies and fruit tomorrow

I have to get used to my new stove - it's a flat top, and the temperatures are a bit different, so there is going to be some adjustment there. I nearly had a rice disaster.

Bento #28

Salad Bento - I made it last-minute in the morning, using the water from boiling the egg to also boil the hot dog.

Bagged salad with mushrooms and mini peppers added
grape tomatoes
snow peas
black grapes
hot dog cut into an octopus, a fish and a crab
deviled egg
rice crackers
honey mustard and salad dressing in the containers on the side (they fit into the box over top of the hot dog and grapes)

I used the Mister's large bento box so I could pack a lot of salad.
My manager at work loved the octodog - her roommate has a small child and they are trying to get him to try hot dogs, but he won't. She thought fun shapes might work, so I drew up a quick cutting guide to make one hot dog into the 3 sea animals and gave it to her :)

I haven't really had time to make lunches this week, because we've been so busy getting ready to move. We're almost done packing, so I hope next week will be better.

Bento #27

a bit of a mish-mash - I was running lower on rice than I thought - at least I have a stock of veggies!

corn pasta with taco-flavoured meat sauce, cheese, tomatoes, olives and green onion.
imitation crab and cabbage salad with mayo and black sesame seeds
pepitas (pumpkin seeds) with seasoning salt
black grapes and half an apricot

dinner post

I had to take a photo of dinner, because it was so pretty (dinner doesn't normally look like this, I promise you).
I was planning on serving rice with it and making some imitation crab maki sushi, but the rice did NOT cook properly (it was mush on the bottom and crunchy on the top). I took the imitation crab and mixed it with some cabbage, mayo, sesame seeds and pepper to make a salad.
The sausage slices are a honey garlic smoked sausage cooked with a bit of garlic and some teriyaki sauce.
Frozen veggie dumplings with homemade gyoza sauce.
And finally, the part I am most happy with is the Cha Soba (green tea buckwheat noodles) - served cold, I lightly toasted some nori over a burner and cut it into thin strips, made some soba tsuyu (dipping sauce) and served it with some wasabi and green onions (as per several websites when I was looking up how to serve the cha soba). I mixed the wasabi and green onions into the dipping sauce and dipped the noodles in before eating them. The noodles are so refreshing and the wasabi complimented the flavour so nicely.

I always wondered about all the different sauces they serve at Japanese restaurants, and once I started incorporating some of the cuisine into my cooking, I learned that those sauces are all pretty simple and only require 3-4 main ingredients used in different combinations.
My next goal is to make gyoza from scratch! I'll probably wait until we're moved in to our new house before tackling that.

Bento #23

A very veggie / fruit heavy bento - I wanted to use stuff up before it wilted.

2 mini sandwiches - blackberry jelly with a penguin cutout and underneath that is a ham & cheese with a bunny cutout.

Cucumber cream cheese salad - which I topped with grape tomatoes after taking the photo.

Snow peas crammed in between everything

Enoki mushrooms sauteed in a little butter with some garlic

And finally, a strawberry, apricot and pineapple fruit salad.

Bento #20 (x2)

Tomorrow's bento boxes - The Mister and I get slightly different ones ...
a) because I didn't make enough broccoli and cauliflower tonight, and I made too many green beans last night
b) because he doesn't like certain things.

Red bento is his:
Pan Fried Risotto cakes
tart green grapes
snow peas
broccoli and cauliflower with parmesan herb seasoning
carrots
hot dog fish
honey mustard (in the yellow bear container)

Blue bento is mine:
Pan fried Risotto cakes
Carrots
Cucumber cream cheese salad
Green beans with honey / soy / sesame dressing
grape tomatoes
hot dog fish
honey mustard (in the green cat container)

I'm lame and I only just discovered that my cheese grater has a slicer on it - use it from the back and you get super thin slices, from the front you get wavy slices. I used it to cut the cucumber.

coming in at a calorie count of around 450

Bento #4

I haven't forgotten about this!
I've still been making health conscious choices every day, and I've been avoiding fast food and restaurant foods.
Researching food and actually comparing nutritional facts in the grocery store.
Portioning things out (I have actually taken the time to divide some packaged mixes in half, so I won't be tempted to serve the whole thing and won't have that extra to waste), and substituting.

I gained back 3 lbs and I've been hovering at 194.
I have started walking 10k every Saturday morning.

I am working a late shift this week, so my meals are all messed up, I don't get a proper lunch and dinner, but I'm still trying to keep everything balanced.

Breakfast
English Muffin with Egg, Cheese and Turkey Bacon - 393 calories
Chocolate Soy Milk - 140 calories



Lunch/Dinner
Spinach Wrap with Turkey, 1/2 slice Turkey Bacon, Lettuce, Mustard, Creamy Cucumber Dressing and Cheese - 324 calories
Corn Salad (1/3c corn, 1tsp onion, basil, salt, pepper, 1/2 tsp olive oil, 1/2 tsp red wine vinegar) - 66 calories
Carrot Sticks - 12 calories
Homemade Tortilla Chips (spinach tortilla, olive oil, salt) - 70 calories
Peach Salsa - 7 calories
Turkey Pepperoni Stick - 50 calories
Fruit & Gelatin cup - 90 calories
"Deliciously Red" Fruit and Vegetable Juice - 90 calories

Snack
Banana - 105 calories
Peach - 40 calories

Total: 1387 Calories

Bento #2

breakfast
2 egg omelette with havarti, tomato, corned beef and green onion, topped with salsa - 278 cal (cooked in a non-stick pan, so no oil/butter/etc needed)
1/4 pesto garlic tortilla - 50 cal

We had a BBQ at work today that included a burger, samosa, chips and pop.
I packed a salad, carrot sticks and fruit to eat as well.
I brought the fruit bar, but didn't eat it.

lunch / dinner
Salad made with 1c romaine lettuce, 1/2c mixed cabbage, 4 grape tomatoes, 5 snow peas and 1/4c cucumber with 2 tbsp calorie-wise italian dressing - 96 cal

1 large strawberry - 6 cal
8 grapes - 24 cal
4 baby carrots - 16 cal
1 apple - 74 cal

burger with cheese, mustard and relish - 541 cal
Samosa - 156 cal
potato chips - 150 cal
can of grape crush - 160 cal

water.

1551 calories total.
I'm still within that range I'm aiming for - yay!
Tomorrow is the last late day at work this week, so we will see how I do with preparing and portioning dinners at home.

Another 20 minutes of Yoga (I'm easing myself back into it - my left leg is weak - I have a bad knee, and I sprained my ankle earlier this year, which threw everything off)
Did about 5km of walking today. Apparently one should aim for 10,000 steps per day on a pedometer, I was at 7581 today. I need to work 2500 more steps in and I'm set! (according to the pedometer, I burned about 390 calories with that walking ... hm!)