Foodarrific» Vegetables

An amazing salad with no name

Chili Queen — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 09:38:06 +0000

I’m super crazy about salads these days and since we’re trying to eat healthier, I don’t think that’s a bad thing at all. We try to have some sort of salad every week and I’m working it into a regular feature.

We’ve always been big fans of 1001 Island dressing. It’s the sweetness factor that the kids take to instantly. But somewhere along the line, I figure I could make a healthier dressing from scratch.

Doesn’t this look delicious? Here I have romaine lettuce, tomatoes, onions, orange, grapefruit, cranberries and sunflower seeds with my own concoction of a citrus dressing topped off with ham bits. It didn’t taste half bad actually!

This was so easy to put together and was a great excuse for me to get away from reading about the side effects of extenze I have to do for a writing project.

Vegetarian tempura and miso soup

Chili Queen — Wed, 04 May 2011 12:43:41 +0000

Tempura is a hot favorite in our household and even more so now that I’ve started making it myself for our vegetarian days. With some miso soup to go with my yasai tempura (vegetable tempura), we’ve got an entire Japanese meal at home.

I’ve got my wasabi (green mustard), soy sauce and instant miso soup sachets in 3 flavors – tofu, seaweed and green onion.

The instant miso soup is so easy that I just need to add hot water and all those dried ingredients in the sachet instantly popped to life! The thing I love most is that it’s sodium-reduced too!

The tempura batter is easily whipped up in a large bowl with 1 cup flour, half cup cornflour, pinch of salt and pepper and icy cold water. I’m not one to measure ingredients to a T but these are just to give you an idea.

Mix everything together to a consistency thick enough to coat the veggies. I used sweet potatoes and broccoli here but you can use shrimp and any number of your favorite veggies. Deep fry till golden brown.

The dip is just some wasabi in a small dish with a drizzle of soy sauce stirred together. But be warned, will instantly send a powerful sting right up your nose. If you can get someone to capture that fiery moment on a digital camera casio, it will be priceless (just kidding ).

And there you have it, yasai tempura and miso soup for the whole family without forking out the big bucks.

Recipe: Roast chicken and vegetables

Chili Queen — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 07:45:52 +0000

One of our favorite go-to meals when we’re in a time crunch is roast chicken and vegetables. It’s a meal that all my kids love so I don’t even have to think about convincing anyone or having leftovers to deal with the next day.

All you need is:

chicken thighs (or a whole chicken)
potatoes, cut into large chunks
carrots, cut into large chunks
celery, cut into 3″ lengths
baby corn
your favorite rub or marinade
your favorite herbs
olive oil

Marinate the chicken with your favorite rub/marinade and set aside for 2-3 hours.

Place the chicken on one side of your roasting pan, and the vegetables on the other side. Drizzle some olive oil over everything and sprinkle on your favorite herbs. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Roast in a 25o degree F oven for about 45 minutes or till done.

That’s it. Done. So what if you have an information technology degree instead of one from a culinary school? You can do this. It’s simple, tasty and healthy.

Stirfried broccoli and carrots

Chili Queen — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 03:55:33 +0000

This is one of the dishes that I prepared for my son and stored in the fridge to be eaten later. It’s so easy and so healthy you’ve just got to try it.

I used:

2 heads of broccoli, cut into large florets
0.5 bag of baby carrots
1 clove garlic, finely diced
1 small slice of salmon
mushroom/oyster sauce
cooking oil
salt and pepper to taste

First, I heated up some oil in a non-stick pan on medium to low heat.

Place the slice of salmon, lightly salted and peppered, in the pan and let it fry slowly first on one side, then flip over and allow to fry until cooked through and both sides are lightly brown. This should take roughly 10-12 minutes.

Remove the salmon to a plate. Using a fork, break up the salmon into flakes and remove the bones. Leave aside.

Add a bit more oil in the pan on medium heat and lightly fry the garlic for a 2-3 minutes till fragrant. Be careful not to burn the garlic or it will taste bitter.

Throw in the carrots and add a splash of water and leave it for about 5 minutes to soften up.

Add the broccoli, a dash of mushroom/oyster sauce and a sprinkle of pepper. Stir-fry for approximately 5-7 minutes till the broccoli is cooked. Watch closely to ensure broccoli is not overcooked or it will turn yellow.

Serve on a plate (or in my case, I placed in a Rubbermaid container for refrigerating) and top with the salmon flakes.

And that’s all there really is to it. It’s really tasty and goes well with pasta, noodles or rice.

My son had some fruits left over from the fresh fruit baskets we got for Christmas and he ate those for dessert.

Hobson’s choice

Chili Queen — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 12:42:31 +0000

I go to the grocery store and quite frankly, the selection of fruits and veggies here pale in comparison to the plentiful variety I’ve seen in California. I keep walking around in circles trying to decide which fruits appeal to me but the selection is quite sad so usually I end up picking up just anything.

So sometimes even if I earnesly want to eat what a colon cleanser review tells me, there’s no guarantee I can find the item or not have to pay through my nose for it. Know what I mean?

Lunch @ Baja Fresh

Chili Queen — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 15:58:31 +0000

I’ve been eating more Mexican food than I ever have, partly because there are just so many Mexican restaurants in California and we’ve found them to serve really good food.

This is the 2-taco shrimp combo we had at Baja Fresh served with rice and a variety of beans.

And here is my favorite new love, their Tostada Salad with chicken. Heaven! It’s fresh with heaps of guacamole and cream. It’s tasty piled high with the different types of salsa and pickled peppers from their salsa bar! If I ate this every day, I might be able to reduce my ab workouts!

I’m definitely going back for another round of this amazing Tostada .

Sauteed spinach with fresh button mushrooms

Chili Queen — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 17:33:58 +0000

I have a half bag of spinach left from our spinach soup noodles two nights ago so I decided to use it up in a saute dish. It’s very easy and spinach, as you know, is very good for health and probably takes care of hormonal acne too if I’m not mistaken.

The recipe couldn’t be simpler.

2 cloves garlic, sliced
3-4 fresh button mushrooms, sliced thickly (optional)
spinach
cilantro, coarsely chopped
2 tsp chicken bouillon/powdered flavoring
a dash of soy sauce

Heat up a skillet on medium/high heat with a drizzle of oil. Add garlic and fry for a few minutes till fragrant. Add mushrooms and saute till slightly soften. Add spinach and continue saute-ing for a few more minutes till spinach is wilted down. You do not need to add water as the spinach itself will output liquid as it cooks.

Add chicken flavoring and soy sauce. And you’re ready to serve over rice. It’s really that easy.

Burst of colors at the Farmer’s Market

Chili Queen — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 20:35:05 +0000

We went to the Farmer’s Market two weekends in a row. I just couldn’t get enough of the burst of colors of the fruits, vegetables and flowers there.

Don’t expect a digital frame here. Just this old rustic frame standing smack in the middle of that frenzy of colors tells you everything here is all natural.

They have such a variety of fruits and veggies it positively made my head spin with ideas. Just imagine the kind of food you can cook up with all these!

Whole food by the pound

Chili Queen — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 18:28:49 +0000

Yes, I’m still here in sunny California enjoying the cool morning breezes and hopefully cooler temperatures this weekend. Well, last weekend, we visited Whole Foods, a grocery store that’s packed with organic food, healthy food and all that’s good and green, even for those with malignant Mesothelioma.

Well, we also found a little surprise. They have a buffet corner where you can pile your recycled paper plate with yummy, healthy food of your choice. What’s interesting is that at checkout, just present your filled plate and you get charged for your food by the pound.

This is what I had. Fish and a few chips, mashed potatoes (yes, I was starving!), salad, chow mein and curry chicken (miss my spicy so much!).

Steamed yam cake

Chili Queen — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 12:27:53 +0000

Once in a while, my aunt would whip up our favorite steamed yam cake for us if we beg hard enough. I haven’t got a clue how it’s made. I really should learn the recipe from her one of these days since my kids love it so much and the ones sold outside are somewhat watered down and not as yammy.

This picture of this steamed yam cake was taken before she sprinkled the chopped spring onions on top. So it looks rather bland with only chopped peanuts and fried shallots. But trust me, once you drizzle on the accompanying chilly and brown sauces, it tastes like heaven!

Steamed yam cake is a great one-dish meal usually served at lunch. It’s usually eaten slightly warm or at room temperature. I’ve never tried to subject it to the coolness of refrigerator filters but I doubt it would taste good cold.