Last week, I had the pleasure of dining at Morimoto in New York – run by famed Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto.  I’m not sure said mom of two from the Boston burbs would ever be hip or chic enough to fit in with the restaurant’s usual dinner crowd, but since I went there for lunch, I blended right in.

Morimoto restaurant

I have several reasons for sharing my lunch experience with you. First and foremost was the food. It was simply spectacular. I ordered a Bento Box lunch with miso soup, salad greens with kabosu vinaigrette, vegetable and shrimp tempura, sushi, and roasted black cod.  This colorful sampling gave me a real taste for Morimoto’s cuisine (if you ever went to lunch or dinner with me, you would soon discover that I love to have a bite of everything).  If you’re not familiar with bento boxes, here’s a short description from epicurious.com:

Bento Box
[BEHN-toh]

A thin metal or lacquered wooden box divided into compartments. The bento box is used in Japan for storing separate small dishes that comprise an individual meal (most often lunch). In Japan, the bento lunch, which is commonly available at train stations, represents fast food elevated to high culinary art and design. Each of the country’s 5,000 stations sells a unique box lunch that reflects the cooking of the region. The beautifully designed bento boxes can take on myriad shapes including masks, tennis rackets, nuts, golf balls or other objects both traditional and whimsical. More than twelve million bento-box meals are sold to hungry travelers and commuters in Japan each day.

The second reason for telling you about my meal was what happened after I left the restaurant.  As I walked into the adjacent Chelsea Market, I ran into the chef himself!  Talk about an unexpected celebrity sighting.  While I had the opportunity to tell Morimoto how much I loved the meal, I regret not having my picture taken with him – not because I’m shy but because I didn’t have my camera with me! Oh well…

Chef Morimoto

As a Meal Makeover Mom, the whole fun, small portion bento box thing hit me over the head like a giant wok; it’s perfect if you have a picky eater at home and are looking for creative ways to introduce a broader array of colorful and nutritious foods.  After surfing the web, it turns out I’m not the only one who has had that same epiphany.  At the blog, Lunch in a Box, Biggie, a mom from San Francisco who formerly lived in Japan, shares an endless number of lunch combinations in the bento box – not just Japanese but Mexican, Thai, and Italian to name just a few.  And then there’s Laptop Lunches, a website featuring products, cookbooks, a blog, recipes ideas and more.

Bento box photo courtesy of laptoplunches.com

I’m amazed how one lunch in New York opened my eyes to a whole new style of eating.  Janice and I can’t wait to invest in a few bento boxes of our own.  The plastic boxes seem like a natural for packing school lunches, but we also plan to shop around for slightly fancier ones for serving family dinners.  If you have any favorites, please share them here on our blog. And certainly, the next time you’re in NYC or happen to be in the neighborhood of Morimoto, I highly suggest you step inside for lunch. The price for a NY restaurant was quite reasonable and the atmosphere warm and welcoming.  And hey, you just may have a celebrity sighting of your own while you’re there!

Last week, I spent seven magical days at Rancho La Puerta in Tecate, Mexico.  Just an hour’s drive from San Diego and a world away from my hectic, on-the-go life as a mom, I took advantage of all the amazing activities spa had to offer.  My days were filled with a wide variety of classes – yoga, body bar, dance, strength training, hiking, and even sculpting (I actually sculpted a head out of clay).  I also indulged in a few spa treatments and savored delicious meals featuring just-picked organic produce grown right at the Ranch.

One of the highlights of the trip was the two cooking classes I took at La Cucina Que Canta, Rancho La Puerta’s culinary center. The first was taught by dietitian pal, Carolyn O’Neil, my companion on the trip, and the second by La Cucina’s resident teaching chef, Ana Lorena Najar.  Anna’s recipes reflected her style of modern Mexican cuisine using locally-grown, seasonal and organic ingredients.  I prepared Arrozo a la Mexicana – brown rice with carrots, corn, onion and other ingredients picked from the garden — and watched as guests prepared Sopa de Tortilla, Shrimp a la Diabla and Ricotta Cheese Cake.

Carolyn O'Neil (center) and Chef Anna Lorena Najar (right)

Of all the recipes I tried at La Cucina, the one that jumped out as the most family friendly was the Ricotta Cheesecake with Seasonal Fruit.  It actually reminded me of our Mini Mango Cheesecake recipe.  If you try the cheesecake, let me know what you think of it!

Cheesecake with Seasonal Fruit

Makes 12 Servings

Crust:

• 3 cups corn or wheat flakes cereal
• 1/4 cup agave or maple syrup

Cheesecake:

• 3 large egg whites
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups cottage cheese*
• 8 ounces cream cheese*
• 1/2 cup sour cream*
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• Zest of 1 orange
• 3/4 cup agave or maple syrup, divided
• 2 cups ripe seasonal fruit, diced
• Lavender blooms (optional)

*I think you could easily switch to lowfat and reduced fat cottage cheese, sour cream, and cream cheese.

1. Preheat oven to 325ºF.
2. In a food processor, combine the corn flakes and agave or maple syrup. Pulse until coarsely ground. Firmly press the crust into the bottom of an oiled 9-inch springform pan or a cake pan with a removable bottom.
3. Cut a piece of parchment paper to line the sides of the pan, and fit the paper snugly around the edge. Brush the paper lightly with oil (this helps release the cheesecake from the pan).
4. In a food processor or blender, combine the eggs, cottage cheese, cream cheese, sour cream, vanilla, zest, and ½ cup agave or maple syrup. Process until completely smooth. Pour the cheese mix over the crust.
5. Bake 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Cool on a rack for 30 minutes, then release the cheesecake and remove the paper. Chill, uncovered, until completely firm.

To serve: Set the cake on a serving plate and top with the fruit. Drizzle the remaining 1/3 agave or maple syrup over the fruit and decorate with lavender flowers or other edible flowers.

For more recipes from the Ranch, be sure to check out Cooking with the Seasons at Rancho La Puerta: Recipes from the World-Famous Spa, written by spa founder, Deborah Szekely.

During the show, Janice had an opportunity to talk about our trip to Chicago for the annual meeting of the American Dietetic Association. During the conference, she met up with former college professor, Katherine Musgrave, for dinner.

Janice & Katherine

Janice told our listeners, “Katherine, now 88 years young, is the reason I became a dietitian. I was a microbiology major at the University of Maine when I took Intro to Food and Nutrition as an elective my sophomore year. After the first class I asked her to be my advisor since I knew that food and nutrition was the major for me. Katherine’s enthusiasm, passion and energy inspired me then and inspires me today. She has been retired for over 20 years yet she still teaches and counsels patients and remains active in the dietetic association. I feel blessed to have her as my mentor.”

To watch a video of this amazing woman, visit the University of Maine’s website.  Who are the mentors in your life?  We’d love to hear about them.

This week, Janice and I are attending the Mediterranean Diet Conference in Cambridge, MA sponsored by a group called Oldways. Fifteen years ago, I covered Oldways’ first Mediterranean Diet Conference for CNN (in my pre-Meal Makeover Mom life, I was a nutrition producer and reporter for CNN). Back in 1993 the group got together to talk about the taste and health benefits of eating the Mediterranean way – a lifestyle approach to healthful eating filled with fruits, vegetables, fish, beans, nuts and whole grains as well as olive oil, rich in good-for-you fats.

Some of the same people who spoke 15 years ago are at the meeting this week including cookbook author, Nancy Harmon Jenkins. I was excited to see Nancy because I’ve been cooking from her book, The Mediterranean Diet Cookbook, since before Josh was born! One of my favorite recipes in the book is Risotto Alla Zucca (Risotto with Pumpkin or Squash).

Whether you’re a huge fan of risotto – a rich and creamy, traditional northern Italian rice dish — or have never made it before, I think you and your kids will love Nancy’s recipe. Sometimes I use sweet potato instead of the squash.

Risotto Alla Zucca

Makes 6 to 8 Servings

(Adapted from The Mediterranean Diet Cookbook)

• 6 cups all-natural chicken or vegetable broth
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 medium yellow onions, halved and thinly sliced
• 1 small butternut squash, peeled and coarsely chopped, 2 to 3 cups
• 2 cups Arborio rice
• 3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1 teaspoon salt or more to taste

1. Heat the broth to a bare simmer and keep simmering very gently while you prepare the risotto.
2. In a large Dutch oven or saucepan, gently sauté the onions in the oil over medium-low heat until the onions are thoroughly softened but not browned, about 15 minutes. Add the squash and stir well to coat the pieces with the oil. Cover and cook for 5 to 10 minutes or until the squash is soft enough to be broken up with a spoon. If the squash starts to scorch, add a little water or broth. The squash should be very soft, almost a puree.
3. When the squash is soft, add the rice and stir to mix well. Add a ladle or two of the simmering broth and stir. As soon as the rice has absorbed the liquid, add more, and continue adding simmering liquid, ladle by ladle stirring constantly. There should always be liquid visible in the pan. Do not add all the liquid at once; this will produce boiled rice or pilaf instead of risotto. The rice is done when it is al dente, with a bit of a bite in the center. Each grain should be well coated with brilliant yellow sauce, which should be dense and rather syrupy looking. When it is done, the risotto should be thick enough to eat with a fork. You might not need to use all the liquid. Total cooking time varies from 20 to 30 minutes.
4. When the rice is cooked, remove the pan from the heat and immediately stir in about ¼ cup of the cheese and the pepper. Let stand for 5 minutes or so, to settle the flavors, then taste and adjust the seasoning, adding salt as needed. Serve immediately and pass more cheese at the table.

By the way, the reason I’m at home right now posting to the blog rather than hanging out with Janice tasting olive oil is because Simon woke up sick today. Luckily Tim was able to come home from work this morning while I spoke at the conference (more on my talk as well as Janice’s when we post again later this week). In the meantime, if you have a traditional Mediterranean dish you and your family love – something from Greece, Morocco, Italy, Spain, etc – feel free to add it to the comments section of this post, and by all means, let us know if you try this recipe.

~ Liz