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.

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 

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.

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
   

Sheeesh - Creamy Mushroom Soup

Alright, I admit that this site has been severely neglected. I apologize but this summer has been a busy one for me and blogging has been pushed aside. I have a creamy mushroom soup recipe that I would like to share with you lovely readers out there. I for the majority of my life, up until 2 weeks ago, have been opposed to mushroom soup. It just looks gross, goopy and grey! However, I decided to make some after buying too many organic mushrooms and was pleasantly surprised. 15mins and no more!

1 container of white mushrooms
1 onion (white or yellow)
1/3 cup of beef stock
1/3 cup of water
1/2 cup of milk
1/4 cup of flour
dash of chilli powder
salt and lots of freshly cracked pepper

Finely dice mushrooms and onion [this negates having to puree the soup] while pot is heating on stove with olive oil. Toss both in and saute until well cooked. If sticking to pot, add dash of broth or water (your choice) to unstick everything. When well cooked, add water and broth to pot and bring to a boil. Combine milk and flour in a separate boil and whisk until well mixed. Turn down heat to med-high (max) and combine milk-flour mixture to pot. Whisk until soup begins to thicken up. Once done, add seasoning and there you go! Simple and 10x better than the canned stuff.


*Pictures will follow in next post.

No Brainer Soup (Veggie Styles)

Prep + Cooking Time: 30 minutes

1 Carrot
3 Celery Spears
1 Onion
1 Cup of Frozen Corn Kernels
1 Tomato
3 Potatoes
1 Can of Mixed Beans 
1 Cup of Chicken or Vegetable Broth [I like to mix packaged broth with water to decrease the sodium content in my meal)
3 Cups of Water
3 TBSP of Paprika
Sprigs of Parsley
Salt & Pepper

Bring water and broth to a boil. Add roughly chopped potatoes, onions and carrots to the pot and turn down to medium. Boil for 10 minutes and add diced tomatoes, corn, celery, and mixed beans to the pot while cooking for another 10 minutes. Add paprika, salt, pepper and parsley. Stir and turn off stove.

*This recipe was created after I spent a better part of the day craving soup so I finally caved by making this at about 9pm for dinner. Initially, the craving was for a cream based soup but this was healthier and very satisfying alternative. The ingredients in the soup are not perfect as I actually didn't write down the ingredients that I used and am basing this on my memory of what I thought I put in.

Would you like MSG with that?

Here's a super fast recipe for: Egg Drop Soup

3/4 carton of chicken broth
1/2 cup of water
1 can of creamed corn
1 egg
2 sprigs of green onion (cut into pieces)
2 sprigs of cilantro (cut into pieces)
salt & pepper

Combine broth and water in a pot and heat to a boil. Add entire contents of creamed corn. Whisk egg in a bowl and season with a little salt. Turn heat to medium and slowly add spoonfuls of egg into pot. Whisk it into soup as soon as it comes in contact with broth (I used a fork). Add onions and parsley. Season with salt and pepper as desired.

The entire cooking process should take about 5-7 minutes.

Note: you are welcome to omit the water and add an entire carton of chicken broth. I did this to reduce the sodium content in the soup. I had a fritatta for lunch today so I wanted to go easy on the egg by adding only one but the recipe can stand for a second egg. Additionally, you can thicken the soup up with a tablespoon of cornstarch or flour with about 4 tablespoons of water or broth. Just add the mixture after the ingredients have been added to the soup.

Super quick and easy. It beats those canned soups or MSG ridden soups at restaurants.