Shrimp Pad Thai Bento

  Ever since I got the October 2012 issue of Clean Eating magazine, I’ve been wanting to try their recipe for Shrimp Pad Thai. I’ve never even had Pad Thai before, but the article made it look so intriguing that yesterday I made a trip to the Asian market just so I could get the fish sauce and tamarind seasoning I needed to make it. I cooked it up yesterday afternoon to pack in our bentos for today’s lunch. It is SO good!!!  Here’s how it turned out, but keep in mind, my pictures really don’t do it justice at all:

I really, really cannot wait to eat my lunch today! I’ve never tasted anything like this before – it has a combination of flavors that are really unique. I have to admit, when I opened the bottle of fish sauce to see what it was like, I thought the smell was nasty. But the lady in the asian market assured me that fish sauce is only good when you cook with it, so  I took a chance and tried it out. The sauce in this recipe is made from fish sauce, red pepper flakes, tamarind paste ( which I couldn’t find, but I did find some tamarind powder) and sucanat – and has a flavor that is really savory and SPICY!

Whenever I find shrimp on sale, this is what I’ll be making for dinner!

And here’s what else I’ll be having to eat today:

breakfast – oats and quinoa with sliced banana, milk, and 1 tsp. honey:

morning snack – raw veggies and crackers dipped in cottage cheese sprinkled with Salad Supreme, shown here in one of my favorite snack bento boxes:

This little two-tiered bento is so cute! It’s just the right size for a snack. You can buy one here.

lunch – the Shrimp Pad Thai bento shown above, which has  the pad thai made with shrimp, carrots, sugar snap peas, and some mini mushrooms; 1/2 cup cantaloupe and kiwi, and a boiled egg… which I doubt I’ll eat really. I just needed to fill space in my bento box I’ll probably give the egg to my son, since the lunch will be filling enough without it!

afternoon snack – greek yogurt with mixed berries:

dinner – I’ll be making some Potato Soup with ham. I love when it gets chilly enough outside that soup for dinner is a welcome treat! Along with that, I’ll be serving up salad from my Personal Salad Bar. I came up with the idea for that salad bar in June, and I have used it every single week since then. I’d say it’s one of the most useful things I’ve ever made!

Here are some things I used to make my food today, and good places to buy them ( click on the pictures) :