Rice & More Portable Food

I made a great lunch today to take to work. It's funny that the more effort I put into making my lunches, the more excited I am to eat them at work (and the more satisfying they seem)...
And one basic rule I'm learning about healthy eating is this:

Make your rice at the beginning of the week!!!

Every sunday I make a big container of rice to keep in the fridge for the week. (Don't forget to sprinkle it with a few spoonfulls of water each day to keep it from drying out) There's so much you can do with a big container of brown rice:
* add a few spoonfulls to soup to help thicken it
* make rice pudding
* spoon into a tortilla with beans & veggies to make a burrito (portable food!)
* mix with sauteed onions, mushrooms, and herbs then stuff in bell peppers and bake
* open a can of beans, drain, season, and pour over the rice
* rice + avacado + diced tomato + black beans
* rice + lentil soup + jack cheese
* rice + green peas + cheesy sauce (real or vegan)
* rice + broccoli + cheesy sauce
* rice + baked tofu + sauteed bok choy + teriyaki sauce
* INARI!!!

This sunday I spent the morning in Chinatown here in Philly. I went with no plan other than just to peek around at all the great food. While there, I picked up some aburage in an Asian grocery store. Aburage are seasoned fried tofu skins that you can stuff to make inari sushi. If you are not a fan of sushi, you might still enjoy inari, because you can really make it your own (no raw fish). Here's a basic recipe for inari. I use brown rice, which is not nearly as yummy or sweet as white rice, but I'm use to it. I know there is such a thing as sweet brown rice, and at some point I will experiment with it. The aburage I found was frozen (it also comes canned), and came with the rice seasoning packet--very convenient!
Making the inari isn't very time consuming if you take a few steps to prepare things the night before (like make your rice). Thaw the packets in the fridge overnight, and have a vision of what you want your entire meal to include. Inari can also be eaten as a snack, but I like to take it to work for lunch because it is PORTABLE FOOD!!

My delicious lunch today contained:
* 4 inari (made with brown rice, grated carrot, a little bragg's liquid aminos, and sesame seeds)
* Quick pickles (from an earlier post)
* Lentil ginger soup (canned lentil soup, pureed in the blender w/ fresh ginger, cumin, and corriander)

(Keep the inari at room temp for the morning at your office, and throw the rest in the fridge till you're ready to eat)

And I love that the inari is pocket-like, keeping with my accidental theme this week!