Asian Salmon with Fried (Brown) Rice

Asian Cuisine is probably my favorite. I love the culture and the history behind the food. They are masters of flavors, truly genius people, who passed down recipes from centuries ago. And religion plays a big part in how they eat. For the Daoists, Yin and Yang balance in all food is very important. The 5 Tastes are also important--sweet, sour, spicy, bitter, salty. Go here for more details.
So, I wanted to make salmon, for some reason I was craving it, even though it isn't my favorite fish in the sea. But I guess my body needed some Omega-3s. Those are the healthy fats your body needs. They are found in avocados, dark chocolate, fatty fish, some nuts and nut oils. If you are feeling down, you should add more of these to your diet, because it reduces depression.
So all of you people who think food is just something that doesn't matter, or doesn't affect you, think again. What you eat now will directly affect your body in the near future. It's not just eating healthy that's important, it is knowing WHY you need to eat healthy that makes a difference. If you are interested in being healthy and learning new things about food and the way it affects your body, check out My Food Pyramid.

I decided to treat Jen (I make my friend's lunches $6 each) with a delicious meal. She very much enjoyed it too! Excellent!

Asian Salmon

2 salmon filets

1/4 c low sodium soy sauce

2T rice wine vinegar

1.5 T miso paste (optional)

drizzle sesame oil

grated ginger (or very finely chopped)

1 clove minced garlic

chopped green onion sprinkle of brown sugar

1. Mix all ingredients, except salmon, in a bowl. Place salmon in a large plastic bag (or two small separate) and pour marinade over top. Make sure all of the salmon is covered with marinade. Set salmon in a small bowl so it doesn't leak and put in fridge for 30 minutes.

2. Preheat broiler to 400 degrees. Place a piece of foil on a baking sheet. Take out salmon with tongs, and shake off excess sauce. Place on foil. With a fork or spoon, or even the end of the tongs, take out the garlic, ginger, and green onions from the marinade and place on top of the salmon. (just try not to get too much of the sauce with it). Place fish in oven for about 20-30 minutes. 

3. Every 5 minutes, spoon some of the marinade over the top of the fish. The fish will be done when it is firm like a pound cake and the outside is crispy.

Veggie Fried Brown Rice

3-4 c precooked (day old, optional) brown rice, you want it to be a little dry so it doesn't turn out mushy like mine did

frozen mixed veggies

broccoli (cut small)

green onions

1 egg

soy sauce

ginger, optional

garlic, optional

1 tsp sugar

2T soy sauce

drizzle sesame oil

any other green veggie you want

1. Because I have only made fried rice once in my life, and it was this time, and I slightly failed at it, I will give you a BASIC fried rice recipe that will satisfy all of your needs. All you need to do is add the veggies (like broccoli) to the pan and cook a bit before you add the egg. You may also add the ginger and/or garlic when the veggies have cooked for 2-3minutes. You want the vegetables to be slightly cooked, but still crunchy throughout. Push veggies to the side and scramble the egg in the bottom of the pan. Add the rice, sugar, soy, sesame, green onions. Stir and cook for a few more minutes. But if you can't figure it out go here.

Enjoy!

Sopa de Pollo

Actually craving it as I write...
For some reason, the flavors of Mexico are soothing to me. I know the reason. My mother, whilst I was in the midst of her belly, ate a plethora of foods, from none other than the neighborhood Mexican restaurant. Now, maybe I'm stretching the truth a bit here when I say that it was a weekly outing for her, but I do know that once I was out of said womb, it was a weekly ritual to join friends at Cazadores on Friday night.

I know some of you cringe at the thought of American-Mexican food, and I concur that the state of Mexican food in this country is unjustly represented, but hear me out. My sister just LOVES the queso. It is always a perfect, unassuming bowl of cheese dip they fling on the table just scalding hot from the microwave, but it is also more than that. Then there's the Child's Plate No. 3 (my childhood favorite): a cheese quesadilla with bean instead of rice, please. But it's more than that. Then there's Carnitas...no longer on the menu, but always a GREAT standby. But it's more than that. Chile Verde, favorite meal to share with Dad. Taco salad, on lighter days. Nachos Supreme when I was in my prime. And chicken soup.

Little Sopa de Pollo, over there on the bottom of the left hand side of the menu, I see you. I see how (yet again) unassuming and simple you are. But ah! here is the perk of being a Regular. A perfect meal, but it's more than that. Those dishes really bring me back to childhood and the nostalgic reality of life. I try to go to Cazadores every time I'm home, but sometimes I don't make it. On my last trip, we ordered ToGo and I was about to leave to come back to my apartment. I got chicken soup. I was lost in my thoughts while I hastily gobbled down chunks of chicken and avocado. The perfect meal after an 8 hour car ride when you want something light. The perfect way to lift your spirits on a cold winter day. The perfect accompaniment to a long, sickly day spent on the couch. Why can't I make this? It felt like an epiphany. I mean sure, I can make a MEAN carnita and all the enchiladas in the world but THIS? Of course, it is REALLY REALLY simple.

Sopa de Pollo

shredded chicken from 2 cooked chicken breasts or meat from a rotisserie chicken

one-two boxes low sodium chicken broth

cooked brown rice (1-1.5c uncooked)

Pico de Gallo (make your own by FINELY chopping 2:2:1:1 onions:tomatoes:jalepeno:cilantro)

1-2 avocado, depending on taste

limes

chopped green pepper (my addition)

1. Cook brown rice according to the instructions on the package. Shred chicken into bite-sized pieces. Heat up in a saucepan with the chicken broth. 

2. Meanwhile, chop all your veggies. Slice the limes for juicing. Squeeze some lime on avocado so it doesn't brown.

3. When the broth is heated, scoop a bit of rice in your bowl, then some chicken and broth, then add all other ingredients. Squeeze fresh lime on top.

Great with a cheese quesadilla on the side.

Enjoy!

Pork Gyoza

For those of you who have never been to the wonderful land of Dim Sum, I pity you. You may not know, but you've missed out on the most wonderful food of your life. Don't fret, I'm here to help
I've only made gyoza (dumplings) on a handful of occasions, but that's enough times to know how to make them correctly and incorrectly.
Now you might be wondering, "Aren't pot stickers really difficult to master?" I will answer No. Maybe your first 25 dumplings wont look the greatest, but they will taste delicious!

Asian food is to me as Soul Food is to the south. It's what I crave, it's what I want on a perfectly rainy Sunday afternoon, and it's the only thing I want when I'm sick.

Now, you might look at the recipe and freak out at the list of ingredients, but honestly, you'll love these SO MUCH that you'll want to make them all the time. Those ingredients like Fish Sauce, Rice wine Vinegar (probably the most useful ingredient you'll have to buy for this) and Sesame Oil will probably not get used as frequently as you wish, but you should try to experiment with them. I use Sesame Oil on numerous things to finish them off.  Maybe add it to your favorite marinade for a new twist...

Pork Gyoza/Dumplings/Pot stickers

somewhere between 1/2 and whole pound of ground pork (as lean as you can find)

(For a vegetarian option, use sauteed cabbage)

sauteed spinach, finely chopped and squeezed in a paper towel to get out extra moisture

2 green onions

thumb-sized piece of ginger

2-3 garlic cloves minced and mashed

Few dashes of Fish Sauce

2 tsp sugar

2Tbls soy sauce

1 tsp rice vine vinegar

round wonton wrappers

Dipping Sauce

soy sauce

sesame oil

rice wine vinegar

1. Get out the wonton wrappers to thaw (if they are the frozen kind). Start by finely chopping all veggies and grating the ginger on a micro plane. Mix all ingredients into the pork and set aside to marinate for 30 minutes.

2. Set up a workstation with a cutting board in front of you, the bowl of pork near your working hand, and get a small bowl of water for your fingers. Unwrap the wrappers and lay a damp paper towel on top.

3. Start with one wrapper in your hand and with the other hand, grab a very small (about a small teaspoon size, you might want to measure first to get the feel) amount of pork mixture. Place it into the center of the wonton wrapper. With the same hand that grabbed the pork, dab your finger into the water and run it around all the edges of the wonton wrapper, making sure every part is moistened. Then bring together two opposite edges of the wrapper, pressing to seal. Starting on the right side, bring the front part of the wrapper towards the center, making a pleat, and press to seal. You should have room for about two-three pleats before you get to the corners. When I get to the corners, I push the very end in towards the center and press to seal. Repeat on the other side. While making these, since you are taking more wrapper from the front side, your dumpling will start to shape like a half-moon. Keep working till you run out of pork and/or pot stickers.

4. Heat a large, flat skillet on medium and spray with good amount of oil. Place filled dumplings onto the  hot pan and cook until the bottoms turn brown (you can lift them up to peek). Then add about a 1/4-1/3 cup water to the pan and cover quickly with a lid. Steam pot stickers until they are cooked through and most of the water is cooked off. (Note: the wrappers may look transparent when cooked completely) You might have to try one to see!  :]

5. For the sauce, start with about 1/3 c soy sauce, drizzle in 1 tsp sesame oil and 1 tsp rice wine vinegar. Garnish sauce with chopped green onions.

ENJOY!

Whatevayougot Casserole

In planning to spend the last few days of the month on about $150, I decided to make some frugal culinary decisions. Also, I found this recipe book that my mother had given me, Quick Dishes for the Woman in a Hurry circa 1982, which inspired me with this dish. I really like that book because it is a blend of Paula Deen's fun'n'fatty food, and the 1950's quick-fix-canned-food stage. The recipe in the book called, "Jiffy Creamed Chicken" calls for CANNED chicken, and for some reason (assuming this book was written for the woman in a hurry) they think that you will always have a can of CHICKEN in your pantry. What is this? wartime? haha.

Anyways, reading the recipe, originally topped with bread slices cut into roosters/chickens with cookie cutters, I was reminded of Paula Deen, who always seems to make me feel warm and fuzzy. I was also brought back to a summer camp where they served the chicken and rice dish made from cream of mushroom soup, chicken, and rice. I then trotted over to my pantry where I pulled out my one can of Cream of Mushroom Soup (with roasted garlic) and started scheming. 

I then raided my fridge to find leftover chicken (precooked [which reminds me that the best thing to have in your fridge, just in case, is an extra breast or thigh, roasted. Any time you cook chicken, cook extra.]), leftover creamed spinach, frozen peas. I also decided to add some whole wheat shells to the equation.

Really, I just threw in leftovers with whatever else I thought would taste good from the pantry. You can take this Casserole any direction you want.

And I made my own croutons and didn't cut them into chicken shapes.

Also, here is a testimonial from my roommate/best friend, Mica: 

" This casserole was absolutely perfect. the mixture of flavors was satisfying and  delicious. it also used a bunchof leftovers we already had. i brought it to school for the lunch the next day, and it was just as delicious cold as it was hot. YUM.    "

Whatevayougot Casserole

2-3 slices of bread

1-2 chicken breasts, precooked

1/2 small onion

1 garlic clove (if you are using regular cream of mush soup)

1/2c frozen or canned peas

1/2 pkg frozen spinach, thawed and squeeze-drained or whatever veggie you like or have leftovers of (mushrooms would be good)

1 c precooked medium shells (or rice, or whatever starch you like)

parmesan cheese

1. Saute onions and garlic in olive oil until soft. Add chicken until it is heated through. Add Cream of Mushroom Soup, peas, spinach. Gently heat through. Salt to taste.

2. Cook the rice or pasta while the other ingredients are heating. Also cube the bread, toss with olive oil and garlic salt, and toast in the oven (350 deg for about 10 minutes or until golden and crispy).

3. Mix the soup mixture and cooked pasta together. Pour into a greased baking pan/casserole dish, top with croutons and cheese.

4. Bake at 350 until cheese is melted and the center of the casserole looks warm and slightly more firm than when it went in.

Enjoy!

What you've always wanted: The Perfect Risotto!

My new comfort food is anything Carbs. Actually, I think it has always been my comfort food, but I am getting the chance to indulge it more now that I am exercising more.
It all starts with Arborio Rice, which can be expensive, but WELL worth it (mostly cause it expands to three times greater than how it starts!)

This is what it looks like before it is finished cooking.

You might want to do a couple taste tests to see if it is cooked through. All of the liquid should be absorbed and it should look like a thick, semi-globby paste, with rice.

Perfect Mushroom Risotto

about 6-8 mushrooms (I used babybella) chopped

3 cups chicken (or vegetable) stock

1 c arborio rice

oregano, thyme, salt, pepper

half an onion

butter, olive oil

parmesan

1. In a small saucepan, heat the stock until just warm, not boiling. In another saucepan, chop onion and sauté in butter and olive oil. Add mushrooms just as onions start to soften. Add about 1 tsp of oregano and 1/2 tsp of ground thyme.

2. Add arborio rice and toast for about 2 minutes.

3. Using a ladle, put about half a cup of the stock in the rice pot. Stir every few seconds. This pot should be at about medium heat--enough to where the rice is cooking, but not enough to where the mixture is sticking to the bottom of the pan or that it is violently bubbling. This step requires patience and lots of stirring. I've found that if you want really creamy risotto without the cream, you must stir.

4. After the stock is mostly absorbed into the rice, keep adding, in the same increments, until you've used all the stock and the rice is fully cooked. If rice is not cooked through, heat up more stock and add it to the rice. Cut off the heat and add a small handful of parmesan cheese.

Serve on its own, topped with chicken, or as a side.

Enjoy!

Rosemary Garlic Smashed Potatoes

As of the last day or two, the current weather, rain, has me feeling a tad down (that paired with other events).

Although, I love looking out one of my kitchen windows to see the luscious green foliage enjoying the summer showers. What a comforting sight to see foliage! What a change from the city where I once lived!

To further comfort myself, I decided to indulge in a trip to Harry's Farmer's Market where I continued to buy food I don't need. I found the cutest potatoes there (I know they are always waiting for me when I arrive). If you don't have these tri-color potatoes, you could just use the tiny red potatoes, which I think might be called summer potatoes? Not sure, but I continued to make a lovely side dish.

Okay, maybe they aren't the most glamorous of side dishes, but if you pile the finished ones in a small lightly-colored bowl, a Martha effect ensues. It is a Good Thing.

Smashed Potatoes

small bag of small potatoes (about 15-20)

sprig of fresh rosemary

2 cloves minched, smashed garlic

2 T butter

2 T olive oil

salt, pepper

1. Boil potatoes until a sharp knife sticks into and comes out of the largest potato fairly easily. Drain.

2. In a large skillet over a medium-low flame, melt butter and oil and add garlic. Cook garlic just a minute, do not let brown.

3. Add in drained potatoes. With a large spoon (I used a soup ladle), lightly press down on the potatoes until they give way slightly. This should form a smashed potato; the skin should be broken in a couple places.

4. Brown each potato on both sides and turn off heat. Toss in finely chopped rosemary. Serve hot.

Enjoy!

What the Pho?

The Vietnamese Pho is probably one of the best dishes ever created. There's nothing more comforting that a big bowl of noodles! It can be pretty versatile too, you can omit the chicken broth and use vegetable broth, and you can also put whatever veggies you like in it.

Furthermore, you can use whatever kind of noodles you want. I used tofu noodles cause I like to limit my carbs (they are pretty good, they just need to be boiled before you make the soup). By the way, it is pronounced Fuh? (with a question mark).

Olivia's Pho

1 pkg tofu noodles (or rice noodles)
2-3 c chicken broth

chicken breast

ginger

2 cloves of garlic

dark soy sauce

bean sprouts

sugar snap or snow peas

carrots

mushrooms

cilantro

lime

salt

sambal (spicy chili sauce)

1. Slice all veggies thin and set aside until service.

2. Parboil the noodles in water first. Drain noodles, set aside. Slice chicken fairly thin, season with salt, and boil in the same pot with 2-3 cups of chicken broth. Add smashed garlic cloves, slices of fresh ginger, and a few splashes of soy sauce. Add noodles when the chicken is almost done. 

3. Let simmer until the flavors meld together. Take out cloves of garlic, add all veggies. Stir in Sambal. Serve with limes.

Spinach and Feta Frittata

My new go-to meal is the Frittata. I usually make it when I have forgotten to thaw out a protein for dinner or lunch.

It is pretty simple to make, and you can customize it however you like! Chopped ham would be yummy too!
I added spinach for its nutrients and flavor. Spinach, along with those fruits and veggies high in Vitamin A like carrots, broccoli, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, mangoes, guavas, kale, and pumpkin, are excellent for people with acne. As David Grotto states in his book 101 Optimal Life Foods, "Six to nine servings of fruits and vegetables a day will keep acne away. These same vegetables also support your liver's detoxification ability" (25).

                          

Spinach and Feta Frittata

6 eggs

3/4 package frozen chopped spinach

1/4 c milk

1/2 medium onion

1 clove garlic

Feta cheese

salt & pepper

1. Chop the garlic. Sprinkle with salt and mash with the side of your knife to make a paste. Slice the onion. In a small pan, sautee onions with salt, pepper, and olive oil on medium heat. As the onions start to get softer and brown, add a splash of water. Do this every couple of minutes until you get the consistency that you want (I made them soft, easy to cut with a fork). Then add in garlic paste to slightly cook it.

2. Thaw the spinach in the microwave (about 6 minutes) then place in a couple paper towels and squeeze it until most of the excess moisture is out. Meanwhile, heat a large, oven-proof pan on medium and turn on your oven broiler to a high setting (about 425). In a bowl, crack the eggs and whisk with milk. 

3. Thoroughly spray the pan with cooking spray. Add the onions and spinach to the egg mixture, season with salt and pepper, then pour into the pan. Using a rubber spatula, stir the eggs around a bit until they start to set. Turn down the heat a little bit as not to brown the bottom. Run the spatula around the edge of the frittata as it is cooking so it does not stick.

4. Let the frittata cook on the stove until most of the eggs are set. Place pan under the broiler until all eggs are cooked. Slice into thirds and top with Feta cheese.

(good for breakfast, lunch, or dinner)

Funds

eggs= 1.59 carton =.79 (for 6 eggs)

feta= about 3-5

half onion=.74

Total Tally= $3.00* (for whole frittata)

*prices based on individual ingredients, not the whole package they come in.