Japanese Egg Tofu with Minced Turkey

This here is my long overdue HELLO! It's hard to believe that my last post was in 2013. A lot of things have changed, but then again, not at all. It's funny how quickly we adapt to situations, and before we realize it, it's completed enmeshed into the fabric of our lives and becomes normative. Sorry for that mumble jumble.

To be honest, since 2015 began, I have not been doing too much cooking. The cooking that I did do was focused on making something that required minimal effort and time. You better believe that presentation was not great, definitely not photo-worthy. With the advent of food photographers everywhere, my skills are embarrassing in comparison.  Plating has never been my focus as taste was a priority and eating everything while it's still piping hot, but maybe it's time I look into making some changes. I mean, I am a total sucker for esthetically pleasing images of food. Anyways, here is my first recipe of 2015!

Japanese Egg Tofu with Minced Turkey

1 Tube of Egg Tofu (found at any Asian grocer)
1 Table Spoon of Olive Oil
2 Tablespoons of Chinese All Purpose Marinade
2 Tablespoons of Unsalted Chicken Broth or  Water
2 Table Spoon of Water
1/4 Pound of Ground Turkey
Green Onions 
S&P to taste.

Slice the tofu into 1/2 inch medallions. Pan fry the tofu in a nonstick pan until lightly brown and crispy on both sides. Remove from pan and place on plate. Satay ground turkey in olive oil until fully cooked, add marinade, water and chicken broth into the pan. Cook until liquids come to a boil. Toss green onions into pan and pour sauce/meat onto tofu medallions.

There you have it! Simple and tasty. Serve this over rice to sop up the saucy goodness.

The Holy Grail Of Chinese Breakfast

Have I ever shared with you my love for congee? Well, it's one of my favorite dishes. A childhood classic. Congee is a hot rice porridge that can easily be modified to include savory fillings such as chicken, scallops, pork and duck eggs, beef, and so forth. It is usually garnished with fresh green onions. It is a Chinese breakfast staple and goes wonderfully with deep fried crullers or steamed rice rolls. It is very popular on Asia and many breakfast restaurants will have it on their menu. There are restaurants dedicated entirely to congee and steamed rice rolls-sounds like heaven. For me, congee is one of the best breakfast dish to have in the chilly Canadian winters. It tastes so much better than oatmeal. As well, I tend to gravitate towards chicken congee when I am sick. There really is nothing quite as satisfying for me. 

Since it is predominantly made with white rice, a cup and a half, will yield a modest amount, I sometimes will replace it with brown rice. So next time you're out, give it a try. Your best bet is to order it at a restaurant that serves dimsum. 

Bah

Late night snacking and this is what I grab...

Rice cakes...😞

Cooking Binge

Been on a cooking binge today. My first time experimenting with Phyllo pastry resulted in a dark chocolate cherry strudel and eggs baked in Phyllo. I also have ribs slow-cooking for the past 5.5hrs. The irony is that I will not be around to eat all this today! 

Chocolate-Mint Cake - Coconut Flour

Bad weather seems to be directly linked to my appetite for all things sweet and chocolatey. Raining? Chocolate cupcakes. Snowing? Warm Chocolate anything. I swear, I am completely helpless. Right now, we are experiencing heavy rainfalls. The day is grey and sopping wet. I like to stay in and just chill out on days like this with indulgent goodies and either a good read or a movie. I am currently reading The Edible Woman ( how fitting) by Margaret Atwood. My mini convection oven is baking a new creation consisting of coconut flour, mint and chocolate. All the things I love! Okay, here's the recipe:

Chocolate-Mint Cake/Cupcake Recipe

1/2 Coconut Flour

3 Eggs

1/3 Cup of Milk

3 Tablespoon Brown Sugar

3 HEAPING Tablespoon of Coco 

1/4 Tablespoon of Baking Soda

1/4 Tablespoon of Cinnamon 

1/2 Teaspoon of Peppermint Extract **

I did not have Mint extract in the house so I subbed it with brewed mint tea (steeping it for a few minutes in 1/5 cup of hot water) , let it cool before adding to batter. 

Mix all dry ingredients then add the wet ingredients. Bake for 20 minutes at 375 degrees. Eat! 

--> if the batter is too wet, then the consistency of the cake will be very soft - closer to a chocolate mousse. Presentation may look off but it is still damn tasty! To remedy this, jus reduce the liquids or add more flour. 

The End 

I'm Back!

Sorry for the lack of posts in about forever.

I have an exciting new recipe coming up. A protein vegan gluten-free brownie recipe to be exact, wordy but wonderfully healthy, so stay tuned!

This is so cool!

http://m.9gag.com/gag/5456424

Squash Days

I currently have some cubed butternut squash roasting in the oven. It was easy to season but hella difficult to prepare. I thought my fingers were going to be axed while trying to cut through the squash. It's dense but not as thick as the other types of squash available in the season.

I plan to serve it with white fish cooked with lemon juice, garlic, and chili flakes. Just working with what I got! Back to the squash, I have one tray seasoned with olive oil, salt and pepper. The second had cinnamon and will be sprinkled with brown sugar closer to the end of the cooking time. Fingers crossed that it turns out tasty.

Here's the final product - my healthy (and very simple) meal. Plating isn't the best but that's never been my strong suit. I skipped the brown sugar all together. It was sweet enough for me. The meal taste wise was delicious!

Dinner for one

Salmon cakes with a vinegary cucumber salad.

The hughlight on this meal was dessert! I made a lemon cake/loaf and really did not have too high expectations for it as desserts are not my forte. However, it came out better than I expected! The picture dies not do it much justice but it was moist, light, and mildly sweet. Delicious and a keeper!

Taking it slow baby

First time making pulled pork tacos. All it took was 8 hours in a slow cooker ;)

Sad face

I stopped going to the gym a month ago and lost 5lbs. This is bittersweet because I have been aspiring to lose those last 5lbs for a very long time but my body has been stubbornly hanging onto it. I joined the gym in hopes to tone up and lose a little weight but instead, my weight remained stable. What did happen was that I started become more defined and developed some muscle throughout my body and I started to feel much stronger than I ever have. It was great despite my weight being stable. During that time., I gained muscle and lost fat which is why my weight remained stable. Now that I've stopped working out, I lost muscle mass = weight loss. This also means it will be more challenging burning fat! I need to be more cautious of my "yum yum cravings," hah! So the moral of the story? Work out more to eat more and feel better!!!!! If I had to choose between weightloss or muscle gain, I would choose muscle 100%.

P.S. I froze my gym membership because I thought I would be leaving home for 6 months next weekend but my departure date has been pushed back to end of September. I've been doing ghetto workouts sans gym. Not quite the same as the grunts and moans of fellow gym goers motivates me!

I'm a creep

Long weekend over here in Canada so here's some music to tie you over for the time being! 

Easy Peasy Egg Salad

Ingredients:

5 Hardboiled eggs
1 Small finely diced onion (red or white)
2-3 Tablespoon of mayonnaise
2-3 Tablespoon of white vinegar
Pinch of salt, black pepper, red chili pepper

Add everything to a bowl and start rough chopping the hardboiled eggs in the bowl. Once it is in small chunks, mash with a potato masher or fork. Give it a few stirs to ensure everything is thoroughly mixed. Serve on bread or melba toast crackers.

I served mine on tiasted miniature ciabatta buns.

*I did not have any at this time but I usually like to add finely diced red peppers for a nice pop of colour.

Pizza Night

This was for dinner tonight - Wholefoods freshly made pizza. Whole wheat dough, parmesan/mozzarella cheese blend, pepperoni, mixed peppers and jalapeños, plus lots of garlic and chili flakes. Semi-healthy, right?

Lady and the Tramp

Delicious homemade Friday night dinner.

Spaghetti and meatballs. Portobello mushrooms and onions in the sauce, with a light lemon/oil dressing for the greens.

Going Abroad

Hi all,

Hope everyone is having an enjoyable summer so far. I generally try to limit any personal posts about me to a minimum but this opportunity that I have been presented is too big to ignore. I have always wanted to travel overseas for a work/volunteer project but my crazy school schedule prevented me from doing that. However, now that I have graduated from university - this opportunity seemed like such a perfect fit. I am excited, nervous and eager to go. The thing is, I literally found this out yesterday and I depart in early September, less than 2 months from now. I am required to fund-raise a minimum of $3,200 for this exchange, the costs are to help support the organization and send youths on the exchange. In conjunction with a Canadian team, we are also paired up with an international team. Together we will volunteer in my home country and their home country for 6 months together. I would appreciate it if my readers can help support me in this cause.

Details: The organization I will be going with is CANADA WORLD YOUTH which is a non-profit organization promoting intercultural cooperation and education.

From CWY:

Canada World Youth has been running its programs for 40 years. It is a non-profit, non-governmental organization that offers international educational programs to youth between the ages of 17 and 29. Canada World Youth's mission is to increase the ability of people, and especially young people, to participate actively in the development of just, harmonious and sustainable societies. Canada World Youth is not just about travel. CWY programs make it possible for young people from all around the world to live and work in different communities in an active way, learning more about community and international development.



Thank you so much for the continued support!

Society Pages

Something about me is that I love to read, it has always been something that I have thoroughly enjoyed throughout my life. When I am not currently reading a good book then I spend much of my reading time preoccupied with online news stories and blogs. I especially enjoy blogs pertaining to food and fitness. I feel that blogs provide a very personal insight of one's experience and perception. However, be mindful to take everything with a grain of salt because the opinions and information content expressed in blogs can be very biased and not necessary the absolute truth. A sleepless night has lead me to this fascinating website: The Society Pages. It offers a critical lens into society and encourages us to challenge those embedded social notions that have within ourselves.

There here is an article that I found particularly interesting on the website. It is part 3 of a series of articles focused on the sexual objectification of women in society, and offers witty advice to combat it - the advice offered offers comedic relief from the seriousness of the subject. I am currently making the ways through the articles in the series in a backward order.The themes and issues brought up in these articles are very reminiscent of my social science courses taken in university. Reminiscent is a funny word to use considering I only graduated 2 months ago! I myself will be reading more articles from the site until I can fall asleep, 4:30am! Anyways, I have linked the article below for your reading pleasure.

I hope you will enjoy it as much as I have.

Link to article: Sexual Objectification (Part 3)

Lemon Squares

I was looking for a summer appropriate dessert and found this  recipe from the Allrecipes website. I decided to use it for my lemon squares based on the high percentage of positive reviews and its relative simplicity.I have added asterisks besides the points that I have modified to the original recipe.

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour*
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 lemons, juiced**

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a medium bowl, blend together softened butter, 2 cups flour and 1/2 cup sugar. Press into the bottom of an ungreased 9x13 inch pan.
3. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until firm and golden. In another bowl, whisk together the remaining 1 1/2 cups sugar and 1/4 cup flour. Whisk in the eggs and lemon juice. Pour over the baked crust.
5. Bake for an additional 20 minutes in the preheated oven. The bars will firm up as they cool.*** For a festive tray, make another pan using limes instead of lemons and adding a drop of green food coloring to give a very pale green. After both pans have cooled, cut into uniform 2 inch squares and arrange in a checker board fashion.
                                                                  http://allrecipes.com/recipe/the-best-lemon-bars/
   
   *I used an 8x8 baking pan and found it to be too much crust so if you plan on using any pans smaller than the recommended 9x11inch pan then make sure to cut down the flour by 1/2-3/4cups if you want to avoid the dense crust layer.
   **It will be just as effective if you use lemon juice concentrate, you would need about 3/4cups worth. I used about 1/2cup of concentrate and a freshly squeezed lemon as well. It produced a little over 3/4 cups of juice - I did this to ensure that the tartness would be preserved. (Tip: Microwave the lemon for about 20 secs to extract the maximum amount of juice from it)
   ***I added icing sugar to dust the tops of the squares for presentation - make sure to cut the squares first then ice it, otherwise, it will be very messy and there may be smudged prints on the lemon squares.
   
   I hope you all will enjoy this recipe. It was my first time making lemon squares and I was pretty pleased with the final results. A fairly simple recipe for novice bakers and a great dessert to share with others. ENJOY
   

Soon enough

Upcoming post on a recipe for lemon squares very soon.

BTW, Summer is finally here. Smiles all around :)

What's wrong with what we eat?

This video is a little more serious than what I usually post but I recommend that you give it a watch. We all love food but maybe it's time we spend a little more time thinking about what we're eating and the consequences of our food choices, it affects more than just our body.

http://www.ted.com/talks/mark_bittman_on_what_s_wrong_with_what_we_eat.html