Blueberry Coconut Breakfast Cookies

This is one of those recipe that I pinned on Pinterest but forgot about it. Once I re-discover it and baked it, we are hooked.

The first time I made these breakfast cookies, I made it with macadamia nuts. The coconut oil, macadamia nuts, banana, and vanilla baking in the oven smelled incredibly delicious. I have since tried with almonds and pecan, but the macadamia nuts version is the favorite in the household. Kaydn, usually is not impressed with "healthy" treats, but he'd eat these up straight out of the oven! I have to fight him off if I want to give some away.

Dry ingredients:

1 1/2 cups gluten-free rolled oats

1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes 

2 tablespoon golden flax seed meal

3 table spoons hemp seed

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cups coarsely chopped nuts (pecans, walnuts, almonds, or macadamia nuts)

1/2 cup dried blueberries

Wet ingredients:

3 ripe regular size bananas, mashed

1/4 cup coconut oil, warm enough to be liquid

1 tablespoon raw honey or agave

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degree.

In a large bowl, mash the bananas and add all other wet ingredients and stir together until blended. Add the dry ingredients to the bowl and mix until well combined. (Note: The mixture will seem a little dry once the coconut oil cools down and solidify but the cookie should hold the shape when it's removed from the cookie cutter.)

Line the baking sheet with parchment paper or spray with cooking spray. Press mixture into round cookie cutter (2 1/4 inch or 2 1/2 inch) and place on the cookie sheet. You can also use square or triangle baking pan. 

Bake 350 degree for 25 minutes or until golden. Let cool on cookie sheet. It's best when they are still warm and toasty and crunchy on the outside. Yield about 15 cookies. Store in a airtight container, reheat in toaster oven to serve.

Original recipt for the blueberry-coconut-pecan-breakfast can be found on http://www.kumquatblog.com/2012/03/blueberry-coconut-pecan-breakfast.html

Coconut Lime Cilantro Cashew Chicken

When I got home from the gym yesterday (Kaydn had swim and I went to Zumba), the only thing I had done for dinner was taking some chicken breast from the freezer to the fridge to thaw. It was one of those evenings that you wish dinner was already prepared . . .  or a little better planned . . .  oh well.

After thinking over all of options of a chicken dish and to use up whatever is in my fridge, I came up with this coconut lime cilantro cashew chicken, and it was surprisingly good. I love the coconut, lime, and cilantro combination!

3 chicken breast, thinly sliced
1 onion, half and then sliced
1 cup sugar snap peas
1 red pepper, cut into thin strips
1 yellow pepper, cut into thin strips
1 zucchini, half and then thinly sliced
1 cup cilantro
1/2 cup cashew (I used raw cashew since that is what I have in the house)
1 can of coconut milk (I used about 2/3 can that was left over)
1 - 2 Tbs shoyu or tamari sauce
juice of 1 lime
1 Tbs agave

Sauté onions with some olive oil until slightly softened, add the sugar snap peas, stir and cook for a couple of minutes, add peppers and zucchini and stir. Sauté until vegetables are cooked but still crunchy. Remove the vegetables from pan and set aside.

Sauté chicken with olive oil. When chicken pieces are almost cooked, add the vegetables to pan. Add the seasonings and stir to make sure the sauce covers the chicken and vegetables evenly. Add cilantro and cashew, stir lightly, remove from heat and place  in a serving dish.

Smoothies

Cassidy & I have been on a alkalizing detox program for a little while. She did it to improve her health and lose some weight; I did it to support her and also to get a start with my new gluten free eating plan. I think gluten has been giving me digestive trouble so I decided to removed it from my diet, along with dairy and sugar which I gave up a couple of year ago. The 21 days alkalizing detox plan is basically gluten free, dairy free, and sugar free plus lots of other restrictions. Some days I feel like a rabbit while I'm munching on baby carrots, cucumbers, and celery sticks. . . .
The best thing that we learned from the detox program is that I discovered some really yummy non-dairy smoothies. We started the program at the beginning of December; what a terrible time to embark a new eating challenge! I felt like there was no way I could help Cassidy to get going since December was the busiest time of the year for me but I managed to come up with a plan.

To save time, I peel and cut up the fruits in advance (approximately 1" chunks), measure and store them in zip lock bags in the freezer. Since I always make two large smoothies, each bag contain 16 oz of fruits.
When I make smoothies, I just pull out one zip lock bag, break up the frozen fruits a bit, dump them in our VitaMix Blending Station blender, add almond, rice, or coconut milk beverage to 16 oz mark and start blending. Usually a little more liquid is needed to keep the blender going until the frozen fruits and non-dairy milk are blended smoothly. I prefer the coconut milk (Silk PureCoconut original) with my smoothies but almond (Blue Diamond Almond Breeze Vanilla, unsweetened) or rice milk (Kirkland Signature Organic Ricemilk original) works well also.

Below is a list of smoothies flavors that we love.

Mango Pineapple
8 oz mango
8 oz pineapple

Pineapple Kiwi
3 large kiwi
enough pineapple chunks added to make 16oz

Pineapple Peach
8 oz pineapple
8 oz peaches

Pineapple Raspberries
10 oz pineapple
6 oz raspberries
1 Tbs agave

Raspberries Peach
10 oz peaches
6 oz raspberries
1 Tbs agave

Blueberries Raspberries
8 oz blueberries
8 oz raspberries

"Frosty" smoothie treat
1 cup Vanilla Almond Milk (Blue Diamond Almond Breeze sweetened, or other brand) place in ice tray and freeze into ice cubes
2 Tbs baking cocoa
1 Tbs agave
1/2 cup Sweetened Vanilla Almond Milk

Breakfast Green Smoothie
1/4 cup almond meal
1 piece of fresh ginger, 1/2' thick
1 cup fresh baby kale
1 cup fresh spinach
8 oz mango
8 oz pineapple
6 oz coconut water

Pumpkin, Apple, and Chive Biscuit and other variations

I am not sure if it is "old age" or my liver is no longer functioning well, gluten has been giving me digestive trouble. Couple of year ago I removed dairy and refine sugar from my diet and now gluten is gone. At this rate, pretty soon I will not be eating anything . . . maybe only veggie and fruits. . .  :-(
With my new eating plan, I've been on the lookout for gluten free recipes and I discover a blog called The Urban Poser by Jenni Hulet and absolutely love just about everything. Everything looks so yummy delicious and it's mostly dairy free and gluten free. I almost pinned every photo onto my Pinterest.

The original recipe is called Pumpkin, Apple, Bacon, and Chive Biscuit from The Urban Poser but since bacon is not on the alkalizing detox plan which is  dairy free, gluten free, and sugar free and Cassidy thought the biscuits are too "eggy" (can anyone tell that she doesn't like eggs), so here I am changing recipes.

Dry ingredients:
1/2  cup coconut flour (original recipe called for 1 cup coconut flour, the biscuit is very falls apart easily)
1/2 cup gluten free flour
1/2 tsp baking soda (original recipe calls for 1 tsp baking but I think the final product tastes too much of baking soda)
1/4  tsp salt

Wet ingredients for pumpkin biscuit:
1/2  cup coconut oil, softened
2/3  cup fresh roasted pumpkin puree (butternut squash, acorn squash...)
4-8 Tbsp of coconut milk beverage (depending on the moisture content of the squash)
1 egg
2 Tbs chive chopped, thinly sliced (or dehydrated)
1/4 cup very finely chopped tart apples
(1/4 cup bacon pieces)

Since there is no added sweetener in this recipe, I came up with a different version of the biscuit - apple cinnamon - to be enjoyed while we are on the detox challenge. It's very yummy! Cassidy likes it better than the pumpkin version.

Same dry ingredients as above and add 1/2 tsp cinnamon and a pinch of all spice for apple cinnamon biscuits. 

Wet ingredients for apple cinnamon biscuit:

1/2  cup coconut oil, melted
2/3  cup unsweetened apple sauce
1 egg

1/4 cup very finely chopped tart apples

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F.  Combine dry ingredients, shift, and set aside.

In a separate bowl combine the coconut oil, pumpkin puree (or apple sauce), coconut milk (for pumpkin biscuit only), egg, and beat till smooth.  Add the flour mixture to the batter and mix well until no lumps. Add apples and chives (or apples for apple cinnamon biscuit) and mix well. The batter should not be too thick, a little on the soft side but still be able to hold together. Add more liquid if needed as it may vary depending on the texture of the pumpkin puree. Use an ice cream scoop to scoop and drop batter onto the oiled or parchment paper lined baking sheet.Makes about 8-10 scones.

Bake for about 20-25 min or until slightly golden. Do not over bake of they will be dry. Best eaten same day or while still warm. Can store in airtight container and reheat in toaster oven or microwave before serving.

Gluten free flour recipe from The Art of Gluten Free Baking:

1 1/4 C (170 g) brown rice flour
1 1/4 C (205 g) white rice flour
1 C (120 g) tapioca flour
1 C (165 g) sweet rice flour (also known as glutinous rice flour or under the brand name, Mochiko)
2 scant tsp. xanthan gum

Raw Vegan Chocolate Cream Cake

I found this recipe on Pinterest a long while ago from http://www.pure2raw.com/2012/02/raw-triple-chocolate-cheesecake-recipe/. It perk my interest because the picture of the little chocolate cheese cake looked so good and it is dairy free! I have  developed lactose intolerance recently (the last couple of years) so I immediately wanted to try the recipe. I was a little skeptic about how good it would taste since it is raw and vegan. But I was in heaven when I had my first bite. It has become one of my favorite treats, right up there with Alicia Silverstone's chocolate peanut better cups. This chocolate cream cake is smooth, rich, and creamy; so good!

By the way, I am so glade that Roland purchased the Vitamix blending station (the same thing at Jamba Juice). We always make fun of his obsession with blenders but I sure love using it.

Crust
Ingredients:

1 cup almond meal (original recipe called for pecans)

3-4 medjool dates

1/2 Tbsp maple syrup

1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
pinch of Real Salt

Directions:
Place all ingredients in a food processor and pulse till combined. The crust material should slightly stick together. If it is too dry, add a little more maple syrup. Scoop the almond chocolate crust into mini cheesecake pan and press down with fingers to form the crust firmly into pan. Set aside and make the filling.

Filling

Ingredients:
2 cups cashew pieces
1/2 cup maple syrup (or agave)
1/2 cup water (use half or less if you soak the cashews for a long time)

2 teaspoons vanilla
3/4 cup raw cocoa powder (or regular cocoa powder)

1/2 cup coconut oil, melted into liquid

Directions:
Soak cashews for about 10-15 minutes (optional), rinse well and drain. Place cashews into blender with maple syrup, vanilla, and water, and cocoa powder and blend until creamy. Add in the coconut oil  (make sure the coconut oil is in liquid form) and blend till smooth. Scrape down the sides if necessary so the filling is nice and smooth.

Scooping the filling into mini cheesecake pans and fill to the top. Place the chocolate cream cake into the freezer to set for a few hours before removing from pan.

I like the vegan chocolate cream cake as is but it is fun to have some optional toppings such as chopped almond and chocolate ganache (1/2 cup vegan semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips and 1/8 cup coconut beverage or any nut milk,  melted over a double boiler).

Coconut and Macadamia Puffed Cereal/Granola

This is a Somae Foods recipe from the family whom Kim nanny for. My kids are not big granola fans but are cereals lovers. So I replaced the oats and WW flour with puffed grains and it was a hit: lightly sweetened crunchy grain puffs with bits of coconut fakes and chopped macadamia nuts. The last time I made the cereal, we finished the batch in less than 8 hours. I made it again the following morning and we ate them all again in less than 8 hours. I can snake on this cereal all day!

Wet Ingredients:

2/3 cup pure maple syrup

6 Tablespoons coconut oil

1 teaspoon real vanilla

Dry Ingredients:
pinch of salt
3/4 cup chopped macadamia nut

1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes or shredded coconut

12 cups of puffed grains; Arrowhead Mill makes puffed corn, kamut, millet, rice, and wheat with no added sugar, salt, and preservatives. We usually use a blend of corm, kamut, miller and rice.

In a sauce pan melt the coconut oil on medium heat, remove from heat and add the rest of the wet ingredients and stir to mix. In a large bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients and then add the syrup/oil mixture. Mix until the cereal are coated evenly with the syrup/oil.

Spread the cereal mixture onto two or three large baking trays lined with parchment paper. Bake each tray for 21 minutes; turn or stir the cereal every 7 minutes. Cool completely before serving and store in airtight container.

Original Recipe
4 cups rolled oats
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
3/4 cup chopped macadamia nuts
salt to taste
2/3 cup pure maple syrup
6 Tablespoons coconut oil
1/2 teaspoon real vanilla extract


Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Blend the oats, flour, coconuts, nuts and salt together in a bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together maple syrup, coconut oil, and vanilla until well blended. Stir in oat mixture. Place the mixture on a large baking tray lined with parchment paper. Bake for 30 minutes. Turn or stir granola halfway through baking to avoid burning. Cool completely before serving. Store in airtight container.

Cupcakes with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

Kimberly and Cassidy wanted to bake something during the winter holiday so I suggested trying out the recipe "My Favorite Cupcake" from The Kind Diet. I loved the cupcakes; it reminded me of the light, springy, and not very sweet cakes from my childhood. However, Kaydn did not give a favorable review of the cupcakes. He was all excited when he saw the cupcakes with the pretty frosting, but after he took one huge bite he declared that it was the worst cupcakes he had ever tasted. "It is not sweet at all!" he said. A neighbor asked me about my blog one day and a couple of days later Kaydn told me that he feel sorry for his friend because his mom is going to cook some vegan food and it was all my fault. I had a great laugh about it; I seemed to always get into big trouble with the kids (mine and other people's kids) when I start to talk about healthy eating.

Since I "mess around" with recipes all the time, I can't help but increase the ww flour/flour ratio and replace the original frosting recipe with a chocolate cream cheese frosting that I derived form my favorite cream cheese frosting recipe.

Dry ingredients:
2/3 cup all purpose flour
2/3 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt

Wet ingredients:
2/3 cup hemp or soy milk
2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
2/3 cup maple syrup or agave nectar
1/3 cup safflower oil
2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Frosting:
3 oz Tofutti milk free cream cheese
1/2 cup vegan butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup agave nectar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
          
Mix all dry ingredients together in a large bowl and set aside. Combine the milk and the apple cider vinegar together in a medium size bowl and set aside for at least 5 minutes, the mixture gets a bit lumpy.  Add the rest of the wet ingredients to the milk/vinegar mixture and stir to mix. Add wet ingredients to the dry mixture and mix well until there is no lumps. Pour the batter into lined muffin tin (the batter makes 12 cupcakes) and bake at 325 F for 18 - 20 minutes or until a inserted tooth pick comes out clean. Set on a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

Frosting:
Whipped all ingredients together until fluffy.
This frosting is not very sweet; the original cream cheese frosting recipe called for 2 cups of powder sugar so the sugar has been drastically reduced. If a sweeter frosting is desired, increase the agave nectar to 2/3 cup or add some powder sugar. For a frosting that taste milk chocolate rather than the dark chocolate, increase the agave nectar to 2/3 cup, use 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder and 1/3 cup non-fat milk powder or soy or coconut milk powder for non-dairy frosting.

Brownie with Chocolate Ganache Glaze

Since I become lactose intolerant and pretty much stop eating milk products, this dessert has become one of my favorites. It's quick and easy and not too sweat so I don't have to feel guilty about eating it. Roland can eat a whole pan by himself in one evening; I think he must believe that low in sugar + whole grain = no calorie. The original recipe is called "Coffee Fudge Brownies" from The Kind Diet. Since I don't like coffee flavor of anything, I modify the recipe to be just brownies and changed the glazing to a less fattening chocolate ganache glaze. I was going to call it "Healthy Brownies" but healthy and brownies just did not sound right together.

Dry ingredients:
3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 cup brown rice flour (I grind the rice flour in my wheat grinder but I am sure you can get them in the health food store)
1/2 cup unsweetened coco powder
3/4 cup date sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

Wet ingredients:
3/4 cup rice milk or coconut milk beverage
3/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup safflower oil or other types of vegetable oil

Optional:
1/2 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped

Chocolate Ganache Glaze
1 1/2 cup grain sweetened chocolate chips
1/4 cup rice milk or coconut milk

Preheat the oven to 325 F and oil a 8x13 baking pan.
Mix all dry ingredients together in a large bowl and set aside. Mix wet ingredients and add to the dry ingredients. Stir and mix well and then add the walnuts if desired. Pour the batter into an 8x13 pan and bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a a toothpick inserted in the center of the pan comes out clean. Place the pan on a wire rack to cool.

Melt the chocolate chips and the rice milk using a double boiler, stir continuously until the chocolate chips have melted the the sauce is smooth. Spread the ganache evenly over the brownies and let cool completely. If you don't have a double boiler, you can use a medium sauce pan and a large glass or stainless bowl. Bring one cup of water to a soft boil in the medium sauce pan. Place the chocolate chips and the rice milk in the glass bowl and set on top of the sauce pan to make the ganache.

My favorite alternative for the ganache during the Christmas holiday is to use the chocolate truffles dusted in coco powder from Costco instead of the chocolate chips ( about 24 truffles with 1/4 cup of coconut milk). Yum!!! My kids wanted to eat the truffles but I hid them deep in the freezer so I can use them on my brownies a little longer.

Valentine's Treat

Kimberly and I wanted to make some treats for our friends for Valentine's day so we made these cute white and dark heart brownies from smitten kitchen /http://smittenkitchen.com/2011/02/white-and-dark-hearted-brownies/. It was really fun to cook with Kim; I never thought she would turn out to be so interested in domestic affairs; I mean the measuring, the mixing, and cutting duties. She was always interested in helping so she can sample her way through the cooking process. ; - )

It was not so easy to cut the brownies into the exact same size; we wonder if the smitten kitchen had rulers and squares rulers on hand to measure and cut. I also decided that we need a "thicker"heart shape cookie cutter; our cookie cutter is not quite as tall as the thickness of the brownies and it was a trick to cut all the way through and remove the cookie cutter from the middle of the brownies. However unevenly our brownie squares were, they turned out pretty cute. The kids love the brownies; I did not have any since I am not suppose to eat milk product or cane sugar. It was fun to give these Valentines away!

Cashew Chicken - 腰果雞丁

Cashew Chicken in Taiwan looked and tasted very different than the ones in the United States. My kids like the American version since they are not too excited about cucumber or celery. This recipe is loosely base on the cashew chicken dish from the Mandarin Restaurant in Bountiful, Utah (from Good Things Utah on Channel 4). I heard people rave about this restaurant but have never ate there. We did ordered take-out once while we were at some kind of family gathering in Bountiful, but I was not particularly impressed. I should give the restaurant another try sometime; but it is just hard to drive more than 30 minutes to get dinner when I "think" I can produce pretty good Chinese food in my own kitchen.

Chicken

2 chicken breast halves cut into 1" pieces
1 teaspoon cornstarch
pinch of white pepper
2 teaspoon of brown sauce (see the blog about Stir-fry Seasoning or use equal parts of soy sauce and water)
Marinate chicken pieces with corn starch, white petter & brown sauce for 15 - 20 minutes in a bowl.
Sauce - mix all ingredients together in a bowl and set aside

1/4 cup of chicken stock or water
1 tablespoon of ketchup
1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
1 tablespoon of brown sauce
1 teaspoon of mushroom soy sauce

Spices & others ingredient
a pinch of chili pepper flakes (optional)

1 clove of garlic, crushed, and chopped

1 teaspoon of ginger, grated

1/2 cup of cashew, roasted, unsalted or lightly salted

2 teaspoons of cornstarch + 2 teaspoon of water mixed in a small bowl

Vegetables
1 small or medium onion, cut into 1" cubes
1 red bell pepper, cut into 1" cubes
1 small carrots, thinly sliced
a handful of water chestnuts, cut into large slices
a handful of sugar snap peas or snow peas
3 - 4 asparagus, cut into 2" pieces on the diagonal (optional)
I usually stir fry the vegetables separately. Kimberly always complain that this make the dish more oily. Alternate way is to blanch the vegetables briefly, strain, and then stir fry them. Be careful not to blanch them too long since each vegetable requires different length of time to reach the desired tenderness/crunchiness.

Heat wok to med-high, add 2 teaspoon of safflower oil and coat the wok evenly with oil. Sauté the chicken until almost cooked. Remove the chicken to it's original bowl. Lower the heat to medium, wipe the wok clean, and add 2 teaspoon of oil to coat the wok evenly. Sauté chili pepper flakes, garlic, and ginger for 10 seconds and add the onions. When the onions start to soften a bit, add the red bell peppers and stir fry for 1 minute, and then add the rest of the vegetables. When the vegetable are almost done, add the chicken and the sauce and stir gently to mix well. Add the water/cornstarch mixture and stir until sauce thickens. Add the cashew to the wok and stir just until cashew is mix in. Transfer to a bowl or serving plate and serve.

You can adjust the vegetables depending on your preference or what is available. The two vegetables I always use are onions and red bell pepper; the others I add them if I happen to have them.

Beef and Broccoli - 芥蘭牛肉

Even though this is a highly praised dish from my friends and family, I never can guaranty that it would turn out exactly the same every time. The official instruction from my trusted Chinese cookbook always give instructions to blanch the vegetables for the stir fry. I never bother with this step unless I am making a big batch for a party. I just sauté the vegetables with a little bit of oil and add a little water if needed until the vegetable is cooked to the desired tenderness.

1 bundle of broccoli, or 1 pound of broccoli crown, cut the floret into smaller pieces

Blanch broccoli in boiling water, remove, drain and rinse in cold water, drain, and set aside

1/2 pound flank stake, slice across the grain in 45 degree angle

1 teaspoon of corn starch

2 teaspoon of soy sauce

2 teaspoon of water

Marinade beef in the above ingredients

1 1/2 tablespoon Oyster sauce

1 teaspoon sugar

Heat wok to medium-high heat and add 2 teaspoon of safflower oil. Coat the wok with oil evenly. Sauté the marinated beef for a few minutes until it's almost cooked. Remove beef and set aside. Sauté the broccoli for a minute or two until the desired tenderness. Add beef back to the wok, add the oyster sauce and sugar and stir until beef is cook. Do not over cook the beef so it does not get tough. Transfer to a serving plate and serve.

Spareribs Cooked with Rock Sugar - 冰糖排骨

Since February 3, 2011 is the Chinese new near, I thought I'd share the recipes of a few of our favorite Chinese dishes this week.
Everyone in the family loves this dish; I have to confess that these ribs alone can persuade me out of wanting to be a vegetarian. Kimberly always complain that it's kind of fatty, which Cassidy usually echos, but we never have any leftovers. . .
Spare ribs is usually less expensive than back rib but it's a little more fatty and less meaty. According to the Wikipedia, the spare ribs is more tender than back ribs because of the fat content. I used to ask the butcher to saw the ribs into two or three sections and then I cut them into "riblets" at home. Nowadays I'm too lazy or too busy to ask the butcher to cut the ribs so I serve "longs ribs" instead of the shorter ribs you see in traditional Chinese dishes.

1 1/2 lb. pork spare ribs (side ribs) or back ribs, cut into riblets
2 tablespoons rice wine or cooking wine
2 tablespoons or 1 oz rock sugar (can substitute with regular sugar)
3 tablespoons of rice vinegar
4 tablespoons of soy sauce

Wash the ribs and pad dry. Place them is a medium pot and add the all of the ingredients. Bring to a boil and then cover with lid and turn the heat down to low to simmer for about 40 minutes or until the liquid has almost completely evaporated. Stir occasionally to prevent the ribs from burning. If the liquid has not almost completely evaporated after 40 minutes of cooking, turn the heat up to high and stir until the liquid has almost completely evaporated.

Simply Cioppino

I had forgot about this delicious and simple soup for a long time. It was from the April 1994 issue of Better Homes and Gardens Special Interest Publications - Low Calorie Recipes. Kaydn went snowboarding with his school on Tuesday and it was a cold cold day. He had a great time snowboarding even though it was his first time and he loved it.  I was surprised that he snowboard the whole day!!! When we went skiing, he was ready to be done for the day at 11am even though we started at 10am.  Any way, when he came home, he wanted soup for dinner and I had to think of a soup that was yummy and can be made in a very quickly. Needless to say, this soup saved the day. Kaydn loved the seafood and the flavor, not so much the peppers and tomatoes, but the rest of us enjoyed every byte of it.

4 oz fresh or frozen cod, thaw if frozen, cut into 3/4 in cubes
1 14 1/2 oz can Italian style stewed tomatoes
2 table spoons prepared pesto
1/2 of a medium green pepper, cut into thin bite size strips
6 oz peeled, deveined fresh or frozen medium shrimp

Stir together tomatoes and pesto in a medium saucepan. Stir in green pepper, shrimp, cod and 1/2 cup water. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer 2 to 2 minutes or till shrimp turn pink. Serve in bowls. Make 3 servings.

Mango Chutney

4 pounds fresh mangos, ripe but not too soft, peeled and dice to 1/4" pieces
2 table spoons olive oil
1 teaspoon chile flakes
2 1/2 cups red onion, diced
1/4 fresh ginger, minced
1 cup red bell pepper, dice to 1/4" pieces

Seasonings: combine and set aside.
8 oz unsweetened pineapple juice
4 oz cider vinegar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons mild curry powder, can use hot curry if prefer spicier chutney
Ssalt and ground white pepper to taste.

In a saute pan with medium heat, heat the oil and add the chile flakes for a few seconds to flavor the oil. Do not burn the chili flakes. Add the onions and cook until onions are soft. Add the ginger and bell pepper and saute for 1 to 2 minutes. Add the mango and cook for 1 more minute. Add the seasonings to the pan and stir to combine. Bring the mixture to a simmer and reduce for about 30 minutes. Stir frequently. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

This recipe make about 3 - 4 cups of mango chutney. I store the extra chutney in my freezer. I use this chutney in my curry tofu salad. When I googled how to use Mango Chutney, here are some of the suggestions:
Serve as topping to vanilla ice cream
Serve over chicken or fish
Mix with mayo on chicken or turkey burgers
Serve on top of rotisserie shredded chicken in a pita
Serve on top of smoked pork lion
Serve with chicken or lamb curry
Serve with grill lamb
Mix with mayo, curry powder, salt and pepper for curry chicken salad and sweet and white potato salad.

Scallion Pancake - 葱油餅

Yesterday I had a craving for scallion pancake; I think the root cause of the sudden Chinese food craving was that I had a fun conversation with a friend about all the yummy food you can enjoy in China and Taiwan from street vendors. I decided to make this snack even though I know I would not have time time to finish it until the evening. I did the prep-work in the morning, chopped up the scallion (green onion) and made the salty scallion mixture and set it aside (since it's best to let the salt has time to soften the scallion). After we return from Roland's nephew's wedding last night, I started to mix the dough at 8:30pm. Roland was wondering if I was still hungry. Of course it had nothing to do with hunger. Anyway, I finished panfrying the last pancake at about 10:30pm and went to bed with way too much food in the tummy but very happy!

Traditional Chinese cooking always uses white flour and white rice (my understanding is that only poorer folks ate brown rice is the olden days so it's a social status thing).  I made this pancake with whole white wheat flour and coconut oil for healthier ingredients.

Dough:
3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (from white wheat)
1 cup hot water
1/4 - 1/4 cold water
* For softer scallion pancake, use more hot water and less cold water.

Scallion mixture:
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cup scallion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup safflower oil or coconut oil

Stir together the hot water and the flour until the dough is partly mixed. Add the cold water and mix until all flour are incorporated into the dough. When the dough is cool enough to handle, kneed the dough until smooth. The consistency of the dough should be firm but soft. That sound contradictory but let me explain; I mean you should be able to make a indention in the dough very easily by gently pressing the dough with you finger. Cover the dough and let rest for 1/2 hour.

Mix the scallion, salt, and oil and a small bowl and set aside.

Divide the dough into 4 portions.

Lightly dust the working surface and roll out one dough ball with rolling pin into a large flat circle.

Spread 1/4 of the green onion and oil mixture evenly over the dough.

Starting at one side of the circle, roll up the dough into a long cylinder shape, pinched the end closed.

Wind the long cylinder dough into a circle. Tuck the end under and press to make sure it is firmly attached.

Roll the dough with the rolling pin gently into a pancake; about 1/2 inch think. This step always make a mess; scallions and oil will seep out of the dough. Be sure to clean up the oily mess before you start the next pancake. The pancake is now ready to be pan fried.

Bring a frying pan to medium heat and add a little oil to a frying pan. Place the pancake in the frying pan and fry both side until light golden.




Cut into 4 to 8 slices and serve when warm. You can save the left over in a air tight container or ziplock bag in the fridge. Be sure to warm up the pancake before serving.

Curry Tofu Salad

When I was running errands one day stopping at Whole Foods to get a few things, I all of sudden became very hungry. I was so hungry that I thought I could not continue without putting some food into my stomach. Even at Whole Foods, there are limited things you can grab that are low in sugar and dairy free. I ended up getting a curry tofu salad and it was so delicious! I came home, study the label, wrote down the ingredients, googled curry tofu salad recipes, made a couple of batched of it, and came up with my version of curry tofu salad. The only issue I have with this dish is that I can't stop eating it! I think this recipe can also to turn into a wonderful curry chicken salad.



Tofu, 14oz, firm or extra firm, cut into 1/2" cubes

1 -2 tablespoon Olive oil, for pan frying or baking tofu

1/2 cup Green bell pepper, diced into 1/2" pieces

1/2 cup Red bell pepper, diced into 1/2" pieces

3/4 cup Carrots, shredded
2 Green onions, finely sliced

1 Tablespoon Cilantro, cut

1/3 cup Raisins

1/3 cup sliced almonds, toasted

Curry Dressing:

2 heaping tablespoons Nayonaise (vegan) or Mayo; I like Follow Your Heart Vegenaise

2 heaping tablespoons Mango Chutney

2 teaspoons curry powder

If you don't have Mango Chutney, use the following ingredients, it tastes pretty close. The first two times I made the dish, I didn't have Mango Chutney, and the end result was very good also.
2 heaping tablespoons Mayonaise or Mayo
2 1/2 teaspoon curry powder
1 clove Roasted garlic, minced
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar

1 teaspoons lemon juice

1 teaspoon sugar or agave

dash of salt & ground pepper

Cut Tofu into 1/2 inch cubes, pan fry until lightly golden. For firmer texture, use extra firm tofu and deep fry and cubes until lightly golden. You can also baked the tofu in a 375F oven on a lightly greased baking sheet for 30 minutes, stirring halfway through the cooking time. Don't over cook the tofu; it can get dry. Mix the ingredients of the curry dressing in a small bowl and set aside. Combine tofu, bell peppers, green onions, carrots, cilantro, raisins, and almonds  in a large bowl. Top with the curry dressing and toss thoroughly. Chill for at least an hour. The raisins will sweeten up the dish; add salt & pepper to taste before serving.

Corn Muffin & Corn Bread

Kimberly loves corn bread. She was working on a school project and needed a good corn bread recipe. (Her project was to design, typeset, and whatever one needed to do to publishing a family cookbook.)  I have a lot of recipes for lot of things but apparently not corn bread. I loved the Napa Valley Pantry's World Best Corn Bread mix. It made a moist and slightly sweet corn bread with bits of corn. Yummy! My mouth watered just thinking about it. However, the "worlds best corn bread mix" was no longer available. Come to think of it, I have not make cornbread much ever since I ran out of Napa Valley Pantry's corn bread mix. All other corn bread recipes I tried in the past was just ok. After all, how can you compete with the "worlds best"?

My assignment from Kim was to try new cornbread recipes, so I tried two vegan corn bread recipes. One is from The Kind Diet by Alicia Sliverstone and the other one is from The Little House of Veggies http://littlehouseofveggies.blogspot.com/. The Kind Diet corn bread was better than most of the recipes I've tried but it was too sweet and too crumbly. It had potential; so I modify the recipe and ended up making four batches of corn bread in one week. After a lot of eating and surveying, I think I really like the end product. The corn bread recipe from the Little House of Veggies is also very good. I have a hard time deciding which one I like better so I've included both recipes.

Anyway, after all the trouble I went through, Kim said that she got a good recipe from her best friend's mom. Oh well, I guess at least I've found one good corn bread recipe and one good corn muffin recipe.

Whole Grain Corn Bread - base on the corn bread recipe from The Little House of Veggies with minor modifications.

Dry Ingredient:
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup whole wheat flour (white wheat)
1 tablespoon baking powder1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon xantham gum (optional, helps the cornbread bind together better)

Wet Ingredients:
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 cup soymilk, almond milk, or milk of choice
1/3 cup canola oil

Preheat oven to 400F. Lightly grease a 8 inch square baking dish. Mix all of the dry ingredients together. Then add the wet to the dry. Pour into the baking dish and bake for 25 minutes.

Corn Bread or Muffin - loosely base on the corn bread recipe from The Kind Diet

Wet ingredients:
1/3 cup maple syrup
1 3/4 cup of rice milk
1/4 cup safflower oil

Dry ingredients:
1 1/4 cup cornmeal
3/4 cup whole wheat flour (or gluten free flour, see below)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon Real Salt
1/8 teaspoon of xanthan gum (it helps with binding)

Preheat the oven to 400F. Combine the wet ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Mix the dry ingredients together and add to the wet mixture. Mix till ingredients are well combined, do not over mix. The mixture is quite runny. For muffins, line the muffin tin with paper liner and evenly distribute the batter in the muffin tin; fill to about 2/3 full and bake in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until the center pass the toothpick test (a toothpick inserted in the center of the bread or cake comes out clean). Makes about 18 muffins. For corn bread, pour the mix into a lightly grease a 8 inch square baking dish and bake for 30-35 minutes.

I made a batch of this corn bread with the gluten free flour below, and it was yummy. Loved it!

Gluten free flour recipe from The Art of Gluten Free Baking:

1 1/4 C (170 g) brown rice flour
1 1/4 C (205 g) white rice flour
1 C (120 g) tapioca flour
1 C (165 g) sweet rice flour (also known as glutinous rice flour or under the brand name, Mochiko)
2 scant tsp. xanthan gum

Oatmeal Cookies

I bake these healthy oatmeal cookies and loved them. Kaydn and Roland discovered them and they were vanishing fast from my pantry.  I wanted Cassidy to try them before they were gone, so I asked her to have a taste. She politely said "no, thank you." Later on, I try to get her to eat these cookies again when she was reaching for some corn bread. She had a funny look on her face and said "thanks, but I am not in the mood for oatmeal cookies." I really wanted her to try it so I followed her around in the kitchen and kept saying "try it, you've got to try it." It was almost like the book Green Eggs and Ham, I followed her around and repeatedly say "try it, try it, you will like it, just take one bite!" She said the cookie looked "funny", too chunky, and "too healthy." I should started to quote Green Eggs and Ham and made a joke about it but my drill sergeant instinct won and I tried to "order" her to eat the cookie. Of course this did not work. Roland heard the commotion and came upstairs to see what was going on. He was able to persuade Cassidy to have a bite. Once she had one bite, she was hooked. I tried to stop her from finishing the rest of the cookies but she said they were so good and she could not stop eating them. The recipe is adopted from Alicia Silverstone's Oatmeal, Walnuts, and Dry Plum Cookies recipe form The Kind Diet.

Dry ingredients:
1 cup quick cooking rolled oats
1 cup whole wheat flour (from white wheat)
1/3 cup date sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon Real Salt

Wet ingredients:
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup safflower oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon molasses

1/4 cup chopped dried plum (dried plum = prunes or other kind of dried fruit)
1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350F and line the cookie sheet with parchment paper.
If your date sugar is clumpy, place the 1/3 cup date sugar in a blender with 1 cup of flour and pulse until date sugar and flour are well blended with no clumps. Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Combine the wet ingredients in a separate medium size bowl, mix well and add to the dry ingredients. Stir the mixture well and fold in the dried plums and nuts. If the cookie dough is to crumbly, add 1 - 2 teaspoons of water, one teaspoon at the time, until the dough stay together.
Use a small ice cream scooper and drop the dough onto the cookie sheet. Lightly press down to flatten the top. Bake for 10 minutes or until lightly browned on the edges. Let cool on cookie sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely. Make about 30 cookies.

I think we should re-read the Green Eggs and Ham together as a family :-D
I would not, could not, in a box.
I will not eat them with a mouse.
I will not eat them in a house.
I will not eat them here or there.
I will not eat them anywhere.
I do not eat green eggs and ham.
I do not like them, Sam-I-am.

What do you do with your basil harvest?

I am sad to see the temperature droop as we get more into the fall weather. Not only it means cold winter months are heading this way, it also signal the end of cutting fresh basil from my herb garden whenever I need basil for cooking. It's especially sad when unexpected cold nights freeze my basil plant and turn the whole thing black before I get a chance to harvest them. To not take the chance of loosing basil to cold nights, I started harvest my basil plants this weekend in mid October. I'm making a batch of regular pesto to freeze and a batch of almond tomato pesto for pasta.

I was wondering what else to do with them so I can enjoy basil in the winter months since freeze them in the freezer turn the herb black. I google "how to preserve basil" and learned a few things from articles on the internet. I froze a batch of basil leaves after I rub olive oil on them. They did not turn black!

http://www.herb.co.za/herbal/basilsweet01.htm,

Harvesting and preserving your Sweet Basil

Don't try to dry your sweet basil as the flavour is not the same as fresh basil. You can keep the leaves briefly in plastic bags in the refrigerator or you can preserve them in olive oil or vinegar. To freeze you can puree the leaves with a little water and freeze them in ice cube trays or you can cover both sides with olive oil and freeze them whole.

http://www.justhungry.com/preserving-shiso-basil-lemon-verbena-and-other-herbs

Basil puree 
For every 2 cups of fresh basil leaves (lightly packed into the measuring cup), use 1/2 cup of light olive oil (I prefer a light, relatively flavorless olive oil so that the basil flavor really shines through, but you can use an extra virgin if you prefer.) Be sure to pick the leaves only from the stems. Wash the leaves then pat them dry with kitchen towels.
If you are a purist you will mash the leaves with a mortar and pestle, but I use the food processor. Whiz up the leaves until chopped, and add the oil to make a puree. Add a few drops of lemon juice, and a little salt (1/4 tsp. or so per 2 cups of basil).I freeze this spread thinly in plastic zip bags. To use, just break or cut off as much as you need. You can turn this into pesto by adding freshly grated Parmesan, crushed or grated garlic, and ground pine nuts. (The easy way of course is to whiz everything together in the food processor.)

Hearty Pinto Bean Stew

I opened a can of pinto beans by mistake thinking that it was refried beans. As I was contemplate what to do with a can of pinto beans, I saw this recipe in The Kind Diet and decided to give it a try. It was so good! I modify the recipe to use canned instead of dried beans and enough to serve 4. It's a very quick and easy soup.

2 teaspoon olive oil

1 small onion, diced, medium size
2 cans of pinto beans
4 cups of creamy tomato soup; Imagine Creamy Tomato Soup is dairy free. Pacific Creamy Tomato Soup is not. I use Pacific Creamy Tomato soup; it available @Costco.
4 teaspoons shoyu
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil or 1 tablespoon dried
1/4 teaspoon of dried oregano
dash of red pepper flakes

Lightly sauté the onion in olive oil in a 2 quart sauce pan. Add the rest of the ingredients: pinto beans, tomato soup, shoyu, garlic, basil, and red pepper flakes to the onions, cover and simmer for 30 minutes over medium heat.

You can substitute 2 cups of dry pinto beans for the canned beans. Cover the beans in water and soak overnight. Drain and rinse the beans. Bring the beans and 4 cups of water to a boil over medium heat, reduce the heat to medium low, cover and simmer for 30 minutes or until the beans are tender. Drain the water and use the beans in the above procedure. You can also cook the soaked beans with a pressure cooker.

Here is a link to more information about cooking with beans: http://missvickie.com/howto/beans/beanframe.html