10 Power Foods

When I saw avocadoes listed on the top of this list I was delighted!

1. avocadoes- vitamin C, folic acid, lutein, potassium

2. beans: fibers

3. berries: antioxidants, vitamins

4. dark green veggies: folid acid, vitamins A & C, fiber, antioxidants

5. eggs: vitamin A, protein, iron

6. fatty fish: salmon, black cod, sardines: protein, essential fatty acids

7. nuts: vitamin E, protein

8. organic grass-fed beef: zinc, protein, iron

9. sweet potatoes: vitamins A & E

10. yogurt: calcium, probiotic bacteria, protein

Cool Summer Recipes

Now that summer is here and the Southern California weather is feelin' muggy and humid like over in the East Coast, we could do some cooling especially with FOOD. Yum. So while some of these entrees are not all"cooling", they are typically consumed and prepared during the summer season where grilling, BBQing and lightly tossed salads are commonplace and complimentary!

The following recipes are all compiled and/or modified from ideas from friends' friends and simple and easy recipe cookbooks found on the top shelf of our kitchen cupboard. So enjoy and stay cool!

Shrimp Avocado Salad

As soon as I heard the word "avocado" my ears tuned in quickly. Here is a modified recipe I will actually try tonite!


ingredients:

1) 1 bag of frozen cooked shrimp (Trader's Joe's usually has this with tail or without tail and they sell salad shrimp which is generally smaller)

2) 1 ripe avocado

3) olive oil (garlic roasted or regular)

4) Italian herbs such as oregano, thyme

5) lemon juice (from lemon or bottle)

6) white wine vinegar

7) fresh cilantro or basil

8) 2 Roma tomatoes

9) 1 mango diced in cubes

10) Spring Mix Salad or Romaine lettuce

toss the salad!

Peel and dice the avocado, put the shrimp on top. Add the prepared vinaigrette, mix lightly and cover. Vinaigrette1/3 cup roasted garlic olive oil1/2 cup cold-pressed extra-virgin olive oil1/4 cup white wine vinegar (or substitute lemon juice) 2 teaspoons mixed dried herbs or 2 tablespoons finelly chopped fresh herbs. Mix all the ingredients in a jar. Give it a shake before using. I usually use dry oregano and thyme or fresh lemon thyme and basil. Add chopped basil leaves, cilantro, tomatoes and diced mango cubes and then toss.

Sticky Pork Steaks

ingredients:

1) 4 lean pork steaks

2) 1/4 cup plum, hoisin, sweet & sour, or duck sauce

3) 1/3 cup honey

4) 1 tbsp ketchup

5) 1 tsp. dark brown sugar

6) 2 tbsp. dark soy sauce

7) 1 garlic clove finely chopped

8) 1 tbsp. finely chopped ginger

9) 1/4 cup sesame oil

10) dry sherry to taste

grillin' time!

Combine the sauce and mix well together. Preheat grill pan over high heat. Arrange the pork steaks in a single layer and brush tops with sauce then place steaks, sauce side down on the grill for 5 min. Brush the upper sides of steaks with sauce, turn, and continue cooking for 5 minutes.

Reduce heat to medium and cook steaks for about 10 more minutes or until they are firm and juices run clear when pierced with a toothpick or fork. Serve with rice or pasta.

steak sandwich

ingredients:

1) 1 lb. flank steak

2) 1 clove garlic finely chopped

3) cooking wine to taste

4) soy sauce to taste

5) Kosher salt ( a pinch or 2)

6) sugar sprinkle to taste

7) black pepper

8) french bread

9) sliced mushroom

10) sliced brown onion

11) lettuce, tomatoes

preparation time!

1) Turn on broiler on oven

2) Marinate steak with seasonings above. Place flank steak and broil for 3 minutes and turn over for another 3 minutes until desired quality (rare, medium well, well done). When turning, brush rest of sauce on top.

3) After cool down, slice flank steak into bite size pieces (remember to cut against the grain or perpendicular to direction)

4) Stir fry onions and mushroom..Salt to desired taste and sprinkle brown sugar

5) Slice tomatoes and peel lettuce and place in french bread with the steak.

More summer recipes to come! Keep checkin' Or you can submit your favorite recipes please!!

Mother's Day Dinner

You know how it is...home cookin' always beats the crowds at restaurants and especially on Mother's Day. This year, we had the delight again..of both Moms being here as well as my brother who is back from the East Coast for the summer. We also welcomed 2 lovely visitors whom one actually taught at a culinary art school in Taiwan. So Bob was feelin' the pressure! ; )

We cooked a total of 4 dishes and in addition to the main course meal, Mel's dad made a yummy mango pudding (packed with real mangoes) and a platter of fresh fruit from Bob's mom. With the team work of 3: me, Bob, and my brother, we served a warm dinner at the Law resident this year. Here are the 4 main dishes, 2 of them are what you may already recognize from our previous entries:

1. Salmon with tofu (See previous entry for recipe)

2. Bok Choy with Shitake mushroom (See old entries for recipe)

3. Chicken w/ "Hup cherg gua" (Praying squash)

4. Black bean spare ribs

Black Bean Spare Ribs

ingredients:

- a slab of ribs, cut into separate bite-size pieces
- black bean garlic paste
- salt
- generous amounts of corn starch
-cooking wine

cookin' time!
- after seasoning, place in steamer and steam for 1 hr. or more depending on the amount of ribs

And you're done! Quick, easy, and yummy!

Everything Salmon

Another one of our favorites is salmon. You can't get tired of salmon because there are just an endless array of choices when cooking salmon!

Salmon is reasonably a healthy fish, with the least amount of methylmercury as with other types of fish. The health benefits can be attributed to the high level of protein and Omega-3 fatty acids which are thought to contribute to "brain power". It is generally recommended to eat wild salmon rather than farmed salmon since farmed salmon may contain high levels of dioxins which can cause some health risks.

Onto Bob and Mel's cooking ideas with salmon. The following are dishes we have tried at home. At your own caution, you may also try this at home...haha...

salmon with tofu

This is a relatively quick and simple dish if you don't have time to cook.

1.) Cut up silken tofu (soft) into rectangular pieces. Lightly salt the top or splash some soy sauce lightly on top of each tofu piece.

2.) Cut salmon fillet and place on top of each piece of tofu.

3.) Salt the top of the salmon fillet and glaze with black bean garlic sauce

4.) Pour some cooking wine in the dish

5.) Place saran wrap over dish and cook in the microwave for about 2-4 min. depending on the portion that you have.

grilled salmon

1.) Using a salmon steak (with bone), season both sides lightly with kosher salt (more flavorful than regular salt). Pour some soy sauce to desired taste.

2.) Heat up grilling pan with generous amounts of oil so that the salmon will not stick to the pan during frying.

3.) Once the pan is heated, place salmon steak into pan. In the meantime, cut up some thin slices of ginger and green onion.

4.) Grill for about approx. 5 min. (depending on the size/thickness of steak, grilling time may vary) or until a little charred (brown/gold tone) and occasionally flip the salmon.

5.) When it is almost done, the skin will be slightly charred and the salmon will turn to a fleshy lighter pink color, pour some wine over and more soy sauce if needed. Sprinkle ginger and green onion during the grilling and cover the pan (Oil will splash from fish with the high heat and grilling)

broiled salmon

1. With a salmon fillet or steak, season lightly with kosher salt and sprinkle with Mrs. Dash ( a salt-free blend of onion, spices, black peper, basil, bay, marjoram, savory, thyme, cayenne pepper, coriander, cumin, mustard, rosemary, garlic...you get the idea!)

2. Turn on broiler setting in your oven. Put in broiling pan and broil until done! Feel free to splash some lemon juice on top too!!

All of these are relatively quick and easy to cook. If you have more salmon recipes, we would like to hear them! As crazy about salmon as we are, we would be more than happy to post them here.

Have a nice day!

Stir-Fry Eggplant with Pork

Bob and Mel love eggplant especially when it's cooked with minced pork. Although it's mostly served by itself as a spicy Szechuan dish when we cook it, we take out the spice and instead make it a little tangy n sweet with vinegar and sugar.

With eggplant, it can get a little tricky because it takes awhile for it to soften up. When we cook it, we like to cut it up into smaller chunks.

ingredients:
1.) minced ground lean pork

2.) 2 eggplants, cut into chunks

3.) vinegar to taste

4.) sugar and salt to taste

5.) vegetable oil

6.) soy sauce to desired taste

7.) oyster sauce to desired taste

cookin' time!

Heat up pan with generous amounts of vegetable oil to glaze the eggplants while stir-frying. The eggplant cooks well with the oil and gives it that glisten and soaks up the oil well. Add salt and sugar, vinegar to taste. Season the minced ground pork with soy sauce, sugar, and oyster sauce. After the eggplant has tenderized, remove from pan and then stir-fry the ground pork. After browned and almost done, add eggplant back into the pan and mix the pork and eggplant together. The eggplant should be ready when a fork can go completely through the chunk easily and eggplant has a "sticky" feel to it.

The Power Breakfast

Mornings are always such a RUSH for Bob and I. It's quite obvious, I'm not a morning person.
And I think I made Bob to be likewise.
But I'm starting to want to change my habit of waking up just 15 min. before I'm out the door for work during the week. Aiyah. Anyway, a friend and I were flipping through this book at BORDERS the other day on the Japanese Diet and what makes the Japanese diet so much more healthier...well, we came across the Japanese POWER Breakfast. The POWER is in the rice and carbs that are not what empty calories fill you up in donuts, pastries..etc...
Well, you know me. Whenever I find something intriguing I always voice it to my hubby. Didn't think he was really listening. But he was. And to my surprise, on Sunday night, he came home with the groceries and whipped up dinner in no time. Dinner you say? Well, I ate it the next morning for breakfast too. Inspired by the Japanese breakfast which consists of miso soup, tofu, bonito flakes, rice, seaweed, & fillet of salmon..Bob made us tofu miso soup w/ udon! Mmmmm...yummmm!

And yes, this morning I ended up drinking what's left and it actually gave me more energy...believe it or not! I didn't feel hungry until later! Try it! Oh, but remember...use low sodium miso soup package!

So, let's put the POWER back into breakfast.

ingredients:

1.) miso paste to taste

2.) dried seaweed for soup

3.) enoki mushroom

4.) 1 package of udon noodles

5.) silken soft tofu (optional) cut in cubes

Something Warm for a Cold Winter Evening

Bob is excellent when it comes to thinking about what to cook on the spot. Coming home from a long day of work, he can just peek in the fridge and throw in the ingredients together to make something that warms our hearts and bodies. Thank God for a husband who cooks! He's always full of great ideas..within minutes too!

But of course, Mel is
right there trying to support him as best as she can.

Sometimes the nights can get cold..especially now when it's winter. So, cooking something like potato soup was the most warm-hearted idea and he got Mel thinking about the soup all day the following day! It reminded both of them of the Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana soup but with a different kick to it.

Here are the ingredients. Remember, Bob cooks by "feeling" so the quantity of each ingredient may not be specified here:

1) Approx. 3 large potatoes, unpeeled, rinsed, diced into cubes
2) 1 sweet brown onion sliced (Mel's idea)
3) cilantro to taste (Mel's idea)
4) about 3 pieces of Italian sausage diced and cooked in frying pan
5) Kosher salt & ground pepper to taste
6) approx 2 Tbs. of flour in cold water until smooth consistency
7) about 3/4 full boiling water in pot
8) 2 drops of vanilla (secret ingredient that brings out the flavor)

Boil potatoes, cooked sausages, flour, cilantro, onions in pot. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add vanilla. Boil until potatoes are soft to bite.

Enjoy some hot soup tonite!

Christmas Dinner 2005

This Christmas, it was a quieter Christmas compared to previous years. We actually all fit around the dining table, according to our cousin Randy, which is a rare event. It was more personal and we had more intimate conversations. Usually our Christmas dinners would include cousins and grandparents from both sides of the family and we would all spread out around the house, on floors or couches, wherever we find space.

The "Be Our Guest" post did not do justice since the pork loin pictured was not actually Bob's pork loin. On Christmas Dinner, while I cooked sticky rice (Randy's favorite) made with shitake mushroom, ginger, garlic, dried scallop, green scallions, and of course, 2 cups premium sweet rice, and 2 cups of regular short-grain rice,

Bob cooked his pork loin for the second time to treat our family. So besides the number of vegetarian dishes, this was a favorite alongside my parent's roast prime rib! So delight yourself in these almost professional pictures taken by Bob. It looks even better than the pictures taken off the web!