Holiday Wreath Caprese Bento Box
Today’s featured bento box is vegetarian and I ‘m very excited that I was able to sneak in an insalata caprese salad in the form of a holiday wreath! I was worried that my creativity had stalled and there would be no more Christmas bento boxes and The Smallest Tree would be my only tribute for 2009.
The other factoid about today’s bento is the TVP, textured vegetable protein. It’s my first experience with this product. The directions were simple and cooking TVP was supposed to be similar to cooking ground meat. I used the dried type and soaked it in some veggie broth first before adding to a spaghetti sauce recipe. Easy enough. The results were like a meat sauce but the TVP I used was a very light color and so the sauce looks like it was made with ground chicken or turkey breast. It was tasty, which is important, however… yes there’s a however, my greatest reservation about this product is that it appears to be very processed. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t always eat 100 % healthy, but this TVP stuff kind of gives me the creeps. Even the name… T. V. P. sounds wrong. So the jury is still out. How about you? Any experience cooking with texturized vegetable protein? Please share with us your opinion or recipe.
Back to the bento. Half is filled with the TVP sauce over whole wheat linguine that had been tossed with crushed garlic, cracked pepper, olive oil, salt and a little bit of butter. Topped with some chopped fresh parsley in four distinct linguine circles.
The other half , the insalata caprese wreath create with fresh basil, “snowflakes” (mozza) and multicolored heirloom tomatoes. I must admit that this box and photo are a little sloppy, a rush job. And closer inspection will reveal badly chopped parsley, cheese crumbs everywhere, and horrible lighting. Well as the saying goes, especially during Christmas, “it’s the thought that counts”!
Looks very tasty! Don’t have any experience with TVP. What’s the texture like? It really does look like ground meat.
Hi sheri,
Before cooking, the texture reminds me of grape nuts. Hard. Then after soaking and heating it transforms to a more ground meat substance. It taste good, like how tofu absorbs surrounding flavors. In this case spaghetti sauce.
Thanks for stopping in and leaving comments. I appreciate it.
Happy Holidays!
TVP is new for me. Do you get it special from vegetarian grocery store? Lovely wreath, nice snowflakes, great bento as always.
From the perspective of a meat-eater who has more than a little bit of vegetarian and vegan experience, I prefer vegetarian proteins that don’t try to mimic the textures and flavors of meat. Vegan pepperoni? No, thank you. Boca burgers? Meh. I’d rather eat a grilled portabello cap or lentil burger, or just take my pizza plain. You get the point. However, I did have TVP once in a baked pasta casserole, probably similar to the “meat sauce” idea in your dish, and I enjoyed it a lot, which has led me to the belief that TVP and other processed meat masqueraders can be good when they’re not the front and center of a dish. I wouldn’t use TVP to make meatless meatballs, though.
On an entirely different note, this may sound silly, but I’ve never had a tomato that wasn’t red. Do the different colored heirlooms have different flavors than the reds? They certainly do look good!
Oh, I didn’t mention that my friend made the pasta casserole, not me, and this was back in college, so unfortunately, I don’t have the recipe
But you could probably do a pretty good approximation by just adding chopped up vegetables like onions, carrots and zucchini to the “meat sauce,” adding cheese or a cheese substitute on top (I know my friend used a substitute, I think nutritional yeast was in it somewhere?), and baking it as you would a baked ziti.
I have not yet tried cooking with TVP, and in part the highly processed-sounding name! This “rush job” bento looked nothing like one to me! It is delightful, appealing and full of hapa style:) Your caprese always glow, and I loved the birds-nest effect of the linguine…
I love this bento! It’s so beautifully put together with the caprese wreath and the yummy pasta! It doesn’t look like a rush job to me. Do you use a dressing on your caprese?
Hi Lia-This TVP brand is “Bob’s Red Mill” and I bought it in a mainstream grocery store, but in their “health food” aisle.
Hello Maria- I agree with you about meat masqueraders! Used in moderation, TVP can be useful for some recipes. I will give it a few more goes. Oh, and non-red tomatoes taste the same as the red ones, but it depends on the species. The yellow pear shaped ones in the summer…super sweet. Red grape tomaotoes… not so much.
Bentobird, Thank you for you nice words. I suppose the TVP is no more processed than tofu… and I love tofu.
Susan-Thanks, I love YOUR bentos so I coming from you… I’m honored. I do pack a separate small container of olive oil with a pinch of sea salt and cracked pepper. It’s tucked in the pocket of Saba Man’s lunch bag. He can drizzle it over the caprese right before he digs in.
I love your Christmas wrath ^-^ Because I love those colorful tomatoes
I don’t had TVP until now. But you can get some kind like that here in Germany, too.
Hi – I found this on Rachel Ray’s site. Very helpful information on your site.