A while ago, I shared "How to make leftover fries great again!" at social media, not intending to make a full post out of it here; then again I thought why not? A post does not always need to be lengthy as long as it captures the essence of the message. So, a quick post to share how to revive soggy leftover french fries and make them great again. Here comes Cheesy Crispy Leftover Fries.
A turkey lunch or dinner plate with all things "Thanksgiving" - turkey, green beans, Brussel sprouts, pomegranate, persimmon, sweet potato. These ingredients are all in-season during the month of November.
Honestly not much effort (oh, isn't that all we want ? ) putting together this meal plate, so that we can all enjoy delicious food without breaking any sweat. Besides ready-cooked turkey breast that was store-bought, the vegetables and sweet potatoes were prepared and cooked at home - veggies steamed, and sweet potatoes roasted.
Saratoga Farmers Market right by West Valley College has one of the freshest variety of produce including seafood. Ever since I chanced upon this seafood stall in the market, bought (and tried) the Alaskan wild salmon, I never want to buy salmon belly or salmon collar from the Japanese supermarkets anymore. Usually I go for the belly and collar because these cuts of the salmon are hard to find in the regular stores such as Whole Foods Market, or Sprouts Farmers Market.
This healthy bowl-meal is nutritious and well-balanced with steamed veggies - mix of broccoli, zucchini, yellow and green beans, roasted purple potatoes and roasted (farmer's market!) salmon.
Veggie Bowl with Roasted Purple Potatoes and Roasted Salmon Collar
All else remains the same in building veggie and grain bowl-meals - start with a base of veggies (keep it plenty. use a variety), switch around the protein options (meat or meatless), and opt for whole grains or complex carbs.
Today, the protein feature is Roasted/Grilled Salmon Collar which is great source of protein, omega-3 fatty acids and collagen. Personally, the collar is my favorite cut of fresh wild salmon, just the right amount of flesh and fats ratio. It is not as "meaty"as the fillet, and so rich in flavor (when there's fat and bones, there is flavor!). It's not easy to fail in roasting salmon collars (the fat protects it!) and be guaranteed with delicate, moist tender flesh every time.
Not forgetting that the last months of the year is sweet potato season, today we have some leftover chickpea and sweet potato pureed soup made the day before, reheated the next day and served with boiled/steamed chicken dumplings*, making this a light yet comforting one-dish meal.
When it's asparagus season, make asparagus veggie bowls (or grain bowls).
I'm doing without the grains today, keeping it to asparagus, broccoli, bell pepper and garlic roasted potatoes, topped with sliced avocado and hard-boiled eggs.
Meal planning and preparation during the weekend helps in setting a healthy and nutritious mode for the week. If you can't do full meal preparation during the weekend, a partial meal preparation such as cleaning/rinsing and slicing/chopping the vegetables, and batch-cooking the eggs goes a long way in saving you much time during the busy weekdays.
If you are looking for more veggie bowls and grain bowls ideas, they are labeled under Search Ingredients on the right column of the website. There are vegetarian/plant-based, poultry, seafood options of veggie and grain bowls available.
Earlier, I have tried making hasselback potatoes which can be a side (carb) accompaniment with entree (protein) such as salmon e.g. Pesto Salmon, Dijon Mustard Salmon or chicken e.g. Herb Garlic Roast Chicken, Satay-Inspired Spiced Chicken Chop, served with steamed vegetables such as asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower and green beans.
At that time, I have the luxury of homemade pesto to dress the hasselback potato.
So now, without homemade pesto, what is the next best dressing or topping for the hasselback potatoes?
It is not bacon, also not cheese. Instead, it is the easiest fool-proof dressing - smooth and creamy plain organic greek yogurt, jazzed up with spices.
The lunch bowl today is similar to this healthy and delicious Broccoli, Cauliflower, Chicken Quinoa Bowl. Routine might not be be a bad thing after all.
Batch-cooking quinoa and chicken breast leftovers are all part of meal preparation and that really got me into the groove of such a meal combination (or shall I say, post-workout worthy meals).
Come meal time, all we need is re-heat the leftovers, roast some sweet potatoes or potatoes and steam fresh vegetables (Note: Steaming vegetables is a gentle quick-cooking method that maintains vegetables' nutritional value and beautiful color).
Good morning to a healthy 2019!
Hearty breakfasts like this Broccoli, Kale, Winter Squash with Egg should be done more often. Truth is, there is hardly any time to prepare so many ingredients (kitchen war zone evidenced below) before 7am.
But the breakfast spirit should live on, regardless of time. So I prepared THAT many ingredients and made breakfast-style lunch!
The trick to this dish is not to over-do the greens, yet give a little
more to the potatoes and hard winter squash.
For those who prefer grains in place or potatoes/squashes, try Broccoli, Kale, Quinoa with Egg.
My new-found favorite store-bought rotisserie chicken is the perfectly plain roasted variety from Whole Foods Market. By perfectly plain roasted, it means chicken, and no other seasonings. However, that does not mean no flavor. The chicken is still naturally flavorful, moist and tender.
Besides being wallet-friendly, a pre-cooked whole chicken saves time in the kitchen, so that a salad-bowl meal such as Broccoli, Cauliflower Chicken Quinoa Bowl, Asparagus Cauliflower Chicken Quinoa Bowl or this Vegetables and Rotisserie Chicken Bowl with Corn and Sweet Potato can be ready and steady in no time.
This is the kind of wholesome, healthy and delicious meal treat that I look forward to, after a good morning workout. Check these workout meals (pre- or post-workout) that were prepared with mindful eating and balanced nutrition in mind.
Store-bought or roasted at home; freshly cooked or leftovers; thigh meat, or breast meat. You can work in any meat (or meatless) protein options into this platter or bowl of food which is often gloriously called - salads; or simply a one-dish meal.
From start to finish, this delicious and nutritiously balanced meal took only about 30 minutes to complete, with the help of good-quality store-bought rotisserie chicken from Whole Foods Market.
Not only it saves time, store-bought rotisserie chicken is also budget-friendly if you regularly prepare meals for a small family of two to four. Typically, a whole roasted chicken can be used in two-three meals for a family of two. The drumsticks and wings consumed on the day itself, and leftover chicken (thigh meat and breast meat) used throughout the week in sandwiches/wraps and in dishes such as Asparagus, Cauliflower, Chicken Quinoa Bowl, and Asparagus, Chicken, Potato Bowl.
As much as I want to capture drool-worthy moments with my camera (or should I say, cellphone?), making/cooking healthy nutritious flavorsome meals with the simplest cooking method (e.g. steaming, roasting) has taken its priority in the past months.
With bountiful autumn harvest of squash in the grocery stores right now, pick any variety, roast it and use it for a warm salad like this one I am featuring today.
When the goal is to simply get healthy lunch and dinner on the table, it’s not a bad idea to stick with routine and habit. Routine makes it much easier to develop the habit of meal preparation.
Meal preparation has become quintessential ever since salad-bowl meals (e.g. Asparagus, Chicken and Potato Bowl, Mushrooms Broccoli and Green Bean Bowl) became house meals in my family. It is not extremely difficult; but a dedicated preparation will get us there, sooner and better.
The prep. work on Sunday, before the new week begins includes boiling and peeling a batch of eggs so that hard-boiled eggs are ready-to-use for the week; slicing broccoli and cauliflower into florets; dicing carrots, for example, so that these vegetables can be conveniently used for cooking during the work week.
Take this bowl, for example. It may seem an easily assembled meals but meal prep includes:
Just before we jump onto the "summer-means-salad" bandwagon (yes, I will be sharing more wholesome salad-as-a-meal in summer, stay tuned!), I thought I should take a step back and do a little introduction on salad dressing. A salad dressing can make or break a salad; and a homemade dressing is definitely way healthier than store-bought.
You know what? I used to think that salad dressing is out of my world, something that appears, kinda sophisticated. Well, it is not; especially when I K-I-S and found that Keeping-It-Simple actually works in my favor, and flavor. Something so simple that it does not bog you down when you want to prepare it. Something that will not make you go "nah, so difficult, I don't want to do it anymore".
It is definitely easier to form a habit when the task (of making it routine), is undaunted.
My go-to is always vinaigrette-based dressing, just because the base elements of extra-virgin olive oil and organic apple cider vinegar are the only ones stocked in my kitchen. Yes, my pantry stocks no other artisan oils and vinegar but it does not feel deprived.
It is not difficult to whisk up a salad dressing, at least the dressing that makes it to my salad bowl. It has gotta be quick, so the dressing makes it to my salad bowl. It has gotta be healthy, so the dressing makes it to my salad bowl.
Quick and healthy is this "Golden" Dressing that I am going to share with you today. Still, it is a vinaigrette-based dressing that gets it golden hue from ground turmeric, coupled with ground black pepper.
Hopping on the wrap-wagon with some leftover tortilla wraps from making garlic black beans burrito, I decided to make more wraps as these minimal-preservatives tortilla do not keep long.
Sweet potato puree/mashed sweet potato works quite well in the wrap and its texture works fine with another creamy element - avocado. To pump in more vegetables, celery and cucumbers were also added while making the the egg omelette.
By the way, do you know the difference between Asian-style vs Western-style omelette? The former tends to be on the drier-side (almost like a pancake) while the latter is associated with being moist and sometimes, runny. This case, we need the drier version (Note: Dry but not too dry) for the wrap.
Hasselback potato must be one of the fancier ways to serve potatoes. I seldom cook potatoes at home. They usually appear in vegetable potato curry (refer Spicy Cauliflower and Potato Curry) or chicken curry; or when occasionally, steamed/boiled potatoes or mashed potatoes is served alongside a Western-style meal with entree e.g. oven-roasted chicken or oven-roasted salmon; and vegetable-sides e.g. steamed broccoli, roasted carrots, roasted cauliflower (refer Roasted Cauliflower with Basil, Roasted Whole Cauliflower).
The urge of try hasselback potato came by when I made yogurt-pesto sauce some time ago and simply love that sauce-dressing. As the homemade pesto (Basil Walnut Pesto recipe) already has cheese in there, this yogurt-pesto sauce perfectly stands in for the cheese-bacon combo often seen in hasselback potatoes.
Of course, potatoes can be simply diced, then boiled or steamed or roasted (whichever way you prefer), then tossed with this yogurt-pesto sauce. But did I say hasselback potato just looks fancier? It even scored a WOW, or rather "what is that" (in amused and amazed tone) from the other half, as if the potato sliced this way has become something else and not a potato.
The yogurt-pesto sauce is easy to make by mixing homemade pesto into organic plain yogurt.
Have you heard of this Chinese Dongbei 东北 dish - Di San Xian 地三鲜 ? I have not, till few months ago when my friend "whatsApp-ed" me a photo of what she cooked - a dish consisting of these three ingredients: eggplant, potato and green bell pepper, then told me it was Di San Xian. I may not have tasted this dish but it is making its way to my to-do list nonetheless.
Di San Xian 地三鲜, loosely translates to “three delights from the earth” .."a stir-fry of golden fried potatoes, eggplant wedges and
crisp green peppers, laced with vinegar and studded with garlic that tastes like much more than the sum of its parts" (Source: NYTimes.com).
With the potatoes, this is such a hearty dish for winter. The seasoning also cleverly works its way and marry the potatoes, eggplant and bell peppers so magically with notes of savory and sweet, complemented by sour black vinegar hints.
Remember this one-pot Cabbage Rice? The idea of fuss-free cooking where it is best to cook "everything" (carbs, vegetables, protein) in one-pot or one-pan, never fails to inspire me in creating new dishes. Chicken soup turns chicken soup noodles, stir-fry vegetables transforms to a vegetable stir-fry noodle. Less pots and pans means less cleaning up and in some way, makes cooking less of a hassle.
I fell deeper in love with cooking a one-pan "everything" dish when I made two recent discoveries - using Indian Basmati Rice for a classic Chinese dish, and the HappyCall (ceramic-coated non-stick) Pan. It started with this Shanghai Vegetables Rice (I have used Indian basmati rice for a rather traditional Shanghai dish) - all cooked and done in the same pan/pot, with basmati rice - from start to finish. Using basmati rice, the final dish was less "sticky and wet" compared to using jasmine rice when cooked with moisture-rich vegetables. I don't often cook with white rice but recently, for the sake of Shanghai Vegetable Rice, I have.
This is another one-dish meal which saves me the trouble of cooking the noodle ("carbs") accompaniment. With homemade wontons (shared and given by my "wonton expert" friend), all I had to do was to cook a big pot of chicken soup with potatoes, carrots, tomatoes.
A big pot of chicken soup is "double-duty" (1) make stock/broth that can be used for cooking other dishes; and (2) prepare the actual meal.
A vegetarian rendition of kale and sausage soup that I have always wanted to try cooking at home, but just waiting for the opportunity - the right time for sausages to appear in my kitchen. So it came the time that these vegan sausages chanced upon my house, so why not?
The spiced "sausages" in the soup definitely bring warmth in a cold winter day. The addition of potatoes made this an easy one-dish meal with carbs, protein, fiber all in one.
Some other kale and sausage combinations I have tried include Kale and Sausage Pasta, Chicken Hot Dog with Kale and Spicy Sausage Saute with Winter Greens.
What kind of warm and/or spicy dishes have you been cooking this winter?
With the half potato used in the Black Bean Potato Cakes/Patties, I had another half, plus the remaining few florets of cauliflower left in the fridge - which is how the Cauliflower Potato Cheddar Cheese Soup came about.
Sometimes, it just clicks, and happens. The soup that was unplanned for but was made - thanks to weird quantities of ingredients remaining, sitting around.
The cheese imparts a savory depth to the soup while the seven-spice powder gives a magic kick to the otherwise basic white soup.
