Simply Cooked

Dirty Dishes

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Fri, 17 May 2013 12:49:00 +0000

The dirty dishes seem to be taking over my life. What you can see here is all of my counter space - really, that's all the countertop in my small Hong Kong kitchen. And it's all covered in dirty dishes.

It doesn't take much to fill this space with a mess. Every night when I cook dinner it looks like a bomb has gone off in this spot - or so says my husband. So every night I try to clear the kitchen counter completely and wash everything before going to bed. And I try to do this several times on the weekend. Washing dishes seems to be my life's work. (I can't wait until I have a dishwasher one day.)

It's hard to feel creative in the kitchen when it's like this. So I have been sticking to very simple meals lately (below: eggs, veggies, and cauliflower hummus). And washing all of the dishes.

Do you have a dishwasher?
Do you have a problem that stops your creativity in the kitchen?

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Toast: A Story of a Boy's Hunger by Nigel Slater

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Wed, 01 May 2013 06:42:00 +0000

What I like about Nigel Slater's memoir, Toast, is the way each anecdote from Slater's childhood is titled with a food. Slater's mother was a great home cook who provided flapjacks, pancakes, apple crumble, rice pudding, a Sunday roast, mashed potato, and so on. Slater was close to his mother, less so to his father and much older brothers, who had left home when he was young. He refused to eat eggs and loved sweets.

The defining moment of his childhood was his mother's death when he was nine. His father mourned in silence and Slater wasn't allowed to go to the funeral. Slater was utterly alone in his grief. Father and son didn't talk about their bereavement and an unsettled normalcy was resumed in their house. Young Nigel found that his father left two marshmallows by his bedside at night time. He had written in a school essay shortly before his mother's death that a marshmallow was the food closest to a kiss. Slater's dad couldn't connect with his son in any verbal way and they remained distant until his father's death when Nigel was sixteen.

Despite the sometimes tense subject matter of Toast, this is an enjoyable and readable book. I found myself captivated by the way food and life are intertwined in Slater's writing. (I also think about my life as being intertwined with food.) The small sketches are often humorous and enlightening. I am looking forward to finishing the book soon.

Toast was our monthly Kitchen Reader book. You can read Nigel Slater's columns for The Observer here and see the other times I have written about him here. Toast has been made into a movie, which I would love to see!

Do you see your life and food as intertwined?

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Weekend Links #29

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 10:31:00 +0000

Weekend Links is a way of sharing all the engrossing things I see around the internet. I publish Weekend Links approximately every two weeks. As usual, I welcome your ideas and feedback.

food reading links:
--A review of an article from The New England Journal of Medicine about seven myths of weight loss (from Weighty Matters). Number one myth: "Small sustained changes in energy intake or expenditure will produce large, long-term weight changes." Big changes are needed to turn your health around.
--On the other hand, here's an article about how recognising and celebrating small food wins can lead you to bigger ones (from Mark's Daily Apple).
--A blogger talks about oil pulling as a technique for oral health and overall health (from Kitchen Stewardship).

recipe links:
--Whether you are a poached egg beginner or expert, I think you would like this short video about how to make your poached eggs round instead of stringy with the help of a mesh strainer (from Lifehacker).
--These grain-free raisin cookies are calling my name (from Figure of 8).

off-topic links:
--I like to listen to pop music while marking books at school. I use Grooveshark, an internet music-streaming service.
--Here is a photography project of children from around the world with their prized possessions, from photographer Gabriele Galimberti.
--I've been reading a novel called The Orientations by Stephanie Sun, and really liking it. She sketches believable characters (link to Amazon).

What engrossing things have you seen around the internet?

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Riced Cauliflower

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 09:50:00 +0000

This recipe is affectionately known as "cauli rice" in my house. It's a rice substitute that I eat all the time, most recently with beef chilli and chicken curry.

Cauli rice is very mild and neutral tasting - just like rice. It is just finely chopped cauliflower, pan-fried in butter until translucent or a little charred. It's a very simple backdrop to a spicier main dish.

I usually use the whole head of cauliflower when I make cauli rice; I eat a third of it immediately and save the rest for later. It's great warmed up - just like rice. This weekend I ate some as the base for breakfast, topped with avocado, tomato slices, and two fried eggs.

Riced Cauliflower
serves 3

1 head of cauliflower
about 1/4 c (60 g) butter

Use a food processor to chop the cauliflower into rice-sized pieces. Alternatively, finely chop using a knife.

Heat a large skillet and melt some butter to coat the bottom of the pan.
Add enough cauliflower to make a thin layer on the bottom of the pan. Fry over medium heat for 3 minutes.
Stir if you want your cauli rice translucent. Let cook without stirring for browned cauli rice.
Cook the rest of the cauliflower in batches.

Have you ever tried riced cauliflower?

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2013 Health Goals: Quarter One Check-Up

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 13:18:00 +0000

I'm using a little red diary to track my health goals this year. I've been food journalling and recording my exercise. Each day I use checkmarks to see if I've been successful with four goals:

exercise each day
eat no sugar
eat no wheat
eat no grains

Now that the first three months (one quarter!) of the year are past, I thought I should check and see how I am doing with each of these goals.

Exercise every day.
December was a bad month for exercise as I had a knee injury - as a result my marathon plans for January were scuppered. Then I had foot surgery on 9 February, and for two weeks after that I couldn't walk, let alone exercise. I had a pretty large scar that was healing and I only exercised two times (in quarter 1) since then. I went for my first run since then on 7 April and I am looking forward to a lot more exercise in the quarter ahead. Maybe I shall make my marathon debut in the summer.
Success rate: 19% (17 out of 90 days)
Success rate until 8 February: 38% (15 out of 39)

Eat no sugar.
Nutritionists and food philosophers may not agree about the merits of saturated fat, eating meat, and which fish is sustainable. Everyone, however, agrees that eating sugar is bad for you. I also feel strongly about this, but obviously not as strongly as I think! This is the food goal on which I have progressed the most poorly. I realised today while thinking about this check-up post that my head knowledge about sugar is not connecting with my lips each evening when crave a snack. It's time for me to start planning ahead better to have snacks available - or an alternative activity (like folding laundry?!).
Success rate: 20% (18 out of 90 days)

Eat no wheat.
I decided to give up wheat when I read about its inflammatory effects. Before this year I was badly affected by bloating and not eating wheat has made a huge improvement to this. It has been easier than I thought it would be to not eat wheat. I have replaced pasta with shredded vegetables (like courgette ribbons). I don't really like sandwiches, so I usually have a salad at lunch time. For breakfast I have been making these wonderful "breads". When I have eaten wheat, it has been out of conscious choice, for example, when I ate at a Michelin starred restaurant with a friend.
Success rate: 49% (44 out of 90 days)

Eat no grains.
When I feel tempted to eat rice, I have been substituting riced cauliflower. Instead of hot porridge for breakfast I eat hot scrambled eggs. I'm not sure why the success rate is so low for this goal, as I felt as though I was doing quite well with this. I don't feel too attached to many grains. So I think it is time to finally kick them out of my diet.
Success rate: 41% (37 out of 90 days)

All in all, none of these are very high success rates! Sigh. Well, at least I know that I can improve from here. Actually, even though I have not made wonderful progress so far, I feel quite positive about these goals. Reviewing them has made me see that I am committed to them and I want to continue with them. It's time for me to really make a difference to my health by meeting these goals. By the end of the year, I am sure I can do it.

What are your health goals? Do you track your success in some way?

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Luxury Dark Chocolate Cheesecake (grain-free, low sugar)

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 05:47:00 +0000

Anthony and I just returned from ten days visiting in the UK. While we were there we celebrated his dad's and his dad's girlfriend's birthdays - they are on the same day!

Anthony's dad is a diabetic. I made this cheesecake to be something he could enjoy. It is supremely creamy, heavy, dark, and chocolatey. The whole 9" (23 cm) cheesecake has only 3 teaspoons of sugar, which is from the bar of 85% dark chocolate.

The raspberries on top add an important element. They add a little more sweetness and a counterpoint to the thick, smooth cheesecake.

Luxury Dark Chocolate Cheesecake
serves 8

for the crust:
200 g (1 3/4 c) walnut halves
50 g (1/4 c) butter
2 t cocoa
1 t cinnamon

for the filling:
300 ml (1 1/3 c) heavy (whipping) cream
100g 85% dark chocolate
1 T gelatin powder
250 g (1 c) cream cheese, at room temperature
2 T cocoa

First, make the crust.
Crush the walnut halves in a food processor until ground into a fine meal.
Melt the butter.
Mix all the crust ingredients in a bowl.
Press into a 9" (23 cm) pie plate.
Put in the freezer until ready to fill it.

Now make the filling.
Whip the heavy cream until soft peaks form.
Break up the dark chocolate and place in a microwavable bowl. Microwave in 60 second bursts, stirring between each one. Only two thirds of the chocolate needs to melt. By stirring, the remaining chocolate will melt.
Place 125 ml (1/2 c) boiling water in a bowl. Sprinkle over the gelatin. Stir rapidly to dissolve the gelatin.
Mix the cream, chocolate, cream cheese, and cocoa in a large bowl. Add the gelatin mixture.
Pour into the chilled crust.
Refrigerate for at least an hour, until ready to serve.

Other chocolate desserts:

Chocolate Snacking Cake
Chocolate Chiffon Cake
Raw Chocolate Cheesecake which is dairy-free and uses courgettes (zucchini) in the filling - via Paleo Parents
Chocolate Cheesecake Tarts with coconut crusts - from Healthful Pursuit

Have you ever cooked for a diabetic or someone else with special dietary requirements?

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Spice: A History of Temptation by Jack Turner

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 19:15:00 +0000

Spice: A History of Temptation by Jack Turner is an overview of the role spices have played in history. I have learned from this book that spices were a big driver in the European exploration of the New World and Asia. The book focuses mostly on the spices native to Asia: cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, mace, ginger, and pepper. These grew only in Asia, and in the case of nutmeg and mace, on only the five tiny, volcanic islands of the Moluccas.

Ancient and medieval Europe grew many herbs and aromatics, including coriander, parsley, cumin, and saffron. In fact, saffron was grown in England in medieval times. However, the exotic Eastern spices were sought after. The Romans traded gold for spices and explorers such as Columbus and Magellan were motivated to find spices on their journeys.

This book was our Kitchen Reader book club choice, chosen by Suzy of sudden lunch! It focuses more on history than on culinary uses for spices. As well as examining the role of spices in exploration, Turner also highlights spices as aphrodisiacs, nutrients, and spiritual agents. Due to the wide-ranging topics, there is no real narrative to the book and I found the chapters hard to follow and difficult to read. On the other hand, I picked up a lot of information that was new to me.

The Eastern spices were highly sought-after before the modern era. This was because they were “small, long-lasting, high-value and hard to acquire.”
Pepper was a common currency among rich people in Europe in medieval times. “Spices had the supreme merit of being accepted everywhere, a sort of universal currency.” Even now some rents carry a token peppercorn value.
Nutmeg and mace are from the same tree. Nutmeg is the stone of the tree’s fruit, mace is the outer covering of the stone. The tree grows only on the tiny archipelago of the South Moluccas, “nine outcrops of rock and jungle comprising a total land area of seventeen square miles” in the South East Asia.
The nearby Molucca Islands and were for millennia the “source of each and every clove consumed on earth.”
Ginger boosts circulation and for this reason it was viewed as an aphrodisiac. Newlyweds in eighteenth century England heading to the wedding bed were served a posset of wine, milk, egg yolk, sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. (It sounds delicious regardless of its other properties; I would like to try making it!)

Today, spices are no longer as valuable or exotic as they were. Cinnamon, nutmeg, and the other Eastern spices are now widely available and are not used as currency. Spices are no longer a mystery to us. In Spice, Turner makes the assertion that “food has played a huge role (and a curiously neglected one) in shaping the destinies of humanity”. It reminds me of the history of salt we read as part of the Kitchen Reader a couple of years ago. Spices certainly motivated exploration and trade routes; I have no doubt that many other foods are central to history.

"Green Things" Pesto

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 09:30:00 +0000

While I am cooking, I set aside all the little green scraps. I keep them in the fridge until I have collected a large handful or two. Then I make "green things" pesto to use up the delicious green leftovers.

The "green things" are all the odd bits that don't go into our dinners:

Hard lower broccoli stalks
Curly broccoli leaves
Darker leek sections
Woody lower asparagus stalks
Ribs of dark, leafy greens

When there is a little container of these green bits, then I make this dead-easy pesto. I make it in the evening at the same time as a meal. I steam or boil the green things, depending on what the regular meal preparation already requires.

Then I puree the green things with some olive oil, lemon juice, and maybe some parmesan cheese. If there are extra walnuts or cashews around, they might get thrown in, too. If there are no nuts available, that is fine too.

I use the pesto for so many things. It's an easy way of enjoying vegetables at many times of day!

Use as a sauce for pasta
Use as a topping for a lunch time salad
Use as a sauce on top of steamed vegetables
Make a veggie-laden breakfast by ladeling it over grain-free breakfast breads
Mix with some creme fraiche or plain yogurt and use it as a dip for vegetable sticks

Green Things Pesto
makes about 1 cup (250 ml) sauce

This is more of a suggestion than a recipe. Feel free to add or subtract ingredients that seem good to you.

3 c (3 large handfuls) of mixed green things (leeks, broccoli or asparagus stalks, ribs from leafy greens)
a large glug of extra virgin olive oil
1 lemon, juiced
2 T grated Parmesan cheese
1 clove garlic (optional)
1/2 c (a handful) of nuts (optional)
salt and pepper

Steam or boil the green things until soft.
Puree the green things with the rest of the ingredients.
Taste and add salt and pepper if required.

Do you like pesto?

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Apple and Cinnamon Mini Cake

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 10:48:00 +0000

Of course I collect the "MoneyBack" points that my local grocery store offers, since I visit the shop every day or two. Do you collect points? But what do you do with all those points? Well, I was just ridiculously excited when I saw that MoneyBack was doing a Le Creuset promotion. I redeemed all the points I had for two small stoneware bowls and two mini casserole dishes. I didn't really need any new kitchen items, but they were just so beautiful!

I selected the mini casserole dishes on a bit of a whim, not knowing if they were something I would actually use. After the small bowls, I didn't have enough points left for the big bowls which were on offer, so I was looking for something smaller. The mini casserole dishes caught my eye because they were so cute.

It turns out that I have been using them for plenty of things. I made stuffed peppers in them (an easy yet impressive meal for two soon to be featured here), lemon and courgette cottage cheese quiche (also coming soon), and pumpkin custard. And now this brilliant mini cake.

The cake is sweetener- and sugar-free. It's grain-free and is made with coconut flour. It's also gluten-free (if you use gluten-free baking powder) and dairy-free. So basically, this is the perfect healthy, tasty cake for you! It's just right for two people. Also, it takes only a few minutes from start to fork.

Mini Apple Cake
adapted from The Paleo Professional
serves 2

This cake makes a great afternoon snack, dessert, or even breakfast. It contains no sweetener except the apple. If you like your cake sweeter, add a tablespoon of maple syrup.

1 green apple
1 T butter
1 egg
1/4 c + 1 T (75 ml) coconut milk or water
1/2 t vanilla extract
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t cinnamon
3 T coconut flour

Cut the green apple into small pieces. There is no need to peel.
Place the apple in a microwave-safe bowl, cover with a damp paper towel, and microwave on high power for 1 minute 30 seconds.
Set the apple pieces aside.

Melt the butter.
Whisk together the butter, egg, coconut milk, vanilla, baking powder, and cinnamon in a bowl.
Add the coconut flour and whisk well.
Stir in about half the apple pieces.

Transfer to a small ramekin (which has volume 350 ml or more).
Microwave on high for 2 minutes 30 seconds.
Top with the extra apple pieces.

Do you collect grocery store points? Have you ever redeemed them for anything?

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Pumpkin Custard

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 14:02:00 +0000

This delicious gluten-free and grain-free dessert is so simple. It's basically a healthy, whole food pumpkin pie without a crust. It's a one-bowl procedure to whisk together the ingredients and then the custard bakes away quietly for almost an hour. It emerges from the oven with wafts of cinnamon and warm pumpkin. It's great alone or topped with coconut cream or a sprinkle of spices.

This pumpkin custard is from Practical Paleo by Diane Sanfilippo, a book that has been helping me eat fewer carbs. It's half cookbook and half detailed reference book. My recent cauliflower hummus was also inspired by Practical Paleo. All the recipes are very simple. For example, I made spiced turkey burgers that had only two ingredients - 500 g of ground turkey and one tablespoon of garam masala spice. (Now that is an easy recipe!)

The recipe for pumpkin custard is also featured on Sanfillipo's blog, Balanced Bites. Just have a look at the recipe to see how easy it is.

Have you bought any good cookbooks lately?

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Jackfruit and Durian Chips - Snacks from Thailand

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 03:29:00 +0000

I was in Thailand recently accompanying a school trip. One afternoon I tried these dried fruit chips from the hotel shop. I picked up two types: durian chips and jackfruit chips. Each packet cost me THB 40, which is about GBP 0.90 or USD 1.35. As I consumed my snack, I took tasting notes for you. Read on to find out more.

Durian is known to be a very smelly fruit. (When I pass it on the market stalls in Hong Kong I sometimes hold my breath.) So I opened the packet gingerly. But there was no unpleasant odour, or any smell at all, when I ripped it open.

Durian is reportedly an aphrodisiac (source: The Visual Food Lover's Guide, QA International, 2009). The whole fruit is very big (football-sized) and has a spiky skin. The flesh inside is creamy and pale. In Asia, durian is eaten with sticky rice and in China it's used in pastries.

The durian chips were very thin (about 2 mm) and crispy. They were a little salty. I don't read Thai, but I think the ingredients are listed just above the bar code and I think the two added ingredients are 2% salt and 0.5% something else (a preservative, probably, or maybe sugar). The durian chips tasted a lot like potato or root vegetable chips, and I think they would be great with a savoury dip.

Jackfruits are also very large and have a strong smell. They can be eaten as a vegetable before they are ripe and as a fruit when mature. The jackfruit chips were crunchy and thicker (about 4 mm thick). They were not salted (as you can see from the ingredients list below). They were much sweeter, and reminded me of dried banana chips. They were airy in texture, and not at all dense. I can imagine they would be good crumbled on top of yogurt and sprinkled with coconut flakes.

My packet of jackfruit chips was also certified halal.

I enjoyed both the durian and jackfruit chips. However, neither of them tasted as exotic as I expected. They were quite plain and didn't have the strong tastes or smells I was expecting.

Have you ever eaten durian or jackfruit? Do you like dried fruit?

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Weekend Links #28

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 11:47:00 +0000

Weekend Links is a way of sharing all the engrossing things I see around the internet. I publish Weekend Links approximately every two weeks. As usual, I welcome your ideas and feedback.

food reading links:
--This lengthy and thorough article (from the New York Times) examines why junk food is so addictive and how it is marketed. Eye-opening.
--Twelve best food movies (chosen by Serious Eats). Which ones have you seen? (The comments on this post are brimming with controversy about which films should have been included.)
--The Guardian explains that sales of horsemeat in restaurants and butchers in the UK has risen dramatically. It's healthy and tasty, too.
--Can you train yourself to love healthy food? The Guardian gives thoughts.

recipe links:
--I'm planning to make these chipotle chicken bowls with avocado for a meal soon (from What I Gather).
--In my grain-free quest, I have discovered that my childhood food of "mini pizza made on toast" can be reinvented as "mini pizza on aubergine slices". Here's the inspiration from SparkRecipes.
--Fifteen basic ingredients to make Asian food taste authentic (from The Kitchn). I currently have ten of these in my pantry and would never be without them.

off-topic links:
--An inspiring list of 40 fitness professionals (from Timbo Nation) who are "game changers". They seem like men and women worth learning from.
--"52 Totally Feasible Ways to Organize Your Entire Home" (from BuzzFeed).

What engrossing things have you seen around the internet?

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The Sharper Your Knife, The Less You Cry by Kathleen Flinn

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 14:32:00 +0000

Have you ever considered a radical career change? Sometimes I dream about what I might have done in an "alternate life". I think that I could have become an executive assistant to an important and busy person, making their life functional and organised. Sometimes I think I could have been a technical writer; maybe a science correspondent for a newspaper. Other times I think I could have set up a bed and breakfast by a lake.

I have never wanted to a be a full time chef, though. I have now read a couple of books about people who threw in the towel at their "ordinary" (non-cooking) jobs and went to culinary school. These brave souls are willing to give up their stability and life's work to date to retrain as a restaurant chef. I love cooking; I do! And perhaps you do, too. But would you want to train as a cook? Or work full time as a chef?

Kathleen Flinn, the author of February's Kitchen Reader book, left her "regular" job to take courses at the Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Arts School in Paris. She learned how to prepare all the French classic recipes on the syllabus, including mirepoix (diced vegetables for stock), quail, sweetbreads, all the classic sauces, and lots of meat stuffed with meat. Her memoir, The Sharper Your Knife, The Less You Cry details the cranky chefs, competitive classmates, and knife/life skills she learned along the way.

Flinn talks a lot about the recipes she learned to prepare. Though the culinary school recipes all seemed to finicky for me to be genuinely interested in them, I found myself enjoying the food and life connections. Flinn's love of cooking means she can use it as a refuge when homesick, angry, or confused. When the chefs picked on her, she wrote, "He ignored me. I took out my frustrations on the guinea fowl."

Flinn's encountered a chef whose food she thought was inventive, Christian Le Squer, at his restaurant, Le Doyen. During their conversation, she mentioned that her favourite dish was the amuse-bouche, the tiny pre-appretiser dish of beet sorbet on top of smoky fish. He was excited and explained that he tried to think of ingredients that don't work together, and then find a way that they could. I was really inspired by this idea - and I feel like it's my usual "what's in the fridge for dinner?" conundrum!

"Taste, taste, taste!" is the mantra Flinn took away from Le Cordon Bleu. She wrote that this was advice for cooking and for life. I'm sure her culinary tastes changed dramatically through her time at culinary school. Her whole life changed after her move to culinary school.

Have you ever considered (or executed) a dramatic change in your life?

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Cauliflower Hummus

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 06:47:00 +0000

Do you need more strategies to help you (or your family) eat more veggies? Here is one of my favourites: dip your vegetables in vegetables. Yup, skip the store-bought or homemade dairy-based dips and stick to veggie-based condiments.

This is a beloved way of eating for me and I have even talked about it before when I made sweet potato spread. And now I have experienced the wonders of cauliflower hummus!

This hummus tastes just like the chickpea version, but uses steamed cauliflower instead. It's dead simple and delicious. Plus is ridiculously cheap. What's not to love?

Find the recipe on Joyful Abode.

More vegetable-based dips:
Sweet Potato Spread
Vegetable Pate
Romesco Sauce or Dip (made with red peppers and tomatoes) - from Herbivoracious
Spinach and Artichoke Dip (dairy-free) - from Paleo Spirit

Do you have an "eat more veggies" strategy?

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Warm Bean and Courgette Salad with Mint

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 09:00:00 +0000

I read a lot of food blogs. Precisely 278 food blogs. I use Google Reader to do this - it aggregates all the new posts and if you've never tried it before, you should! Start by adding Simply Cooked and a few other blogs to your Reader and away you go! (You'll love it, I promise.)

Here's the thing. There is a big, gaping hole in my list of food blogs. I want, but can't seem to find, more food blogs that concentrate on vegetables. I can't get over my love to all things veggie, and I want to find more people who feel the same. I want to drool over pictures of beautiful salads. I want to find intriguing combinations of crisp and green things. I want to feel inspired to make more of my vegetables and inspired to buy more new-to-me items.

So please can you help me? Do you know any bloggers who do veggies well? They can be of any slant - vegetarian, vegan, or meat-eaters; paleo, primal, or traditional.

Just in case you also want to find more veggie-hugging bloggers, here are some of my favourites!

Sprouted Kitchen - complete with gorgeous photos and innovative ideas
Herbivoracious - vegetarian and wide-ranging
Inside Insides - for seeing the beauty of vegetables - through MRIs of food
Love and Lemons - vegetarian couple with pristine food photos
Center Stage Wellness - plant-focused food plus other mind and body wisdom

My current idea for tasty vegetables is to make a warm salad and add mint. Fresh mint leaves add a newness to this (or any) veggie mixture. Try it and see.

Warm Bean and Courgette Salad with Mint
adapted from Simple Chinese Cooking by Kylie Kwong
serves 4 as a side dish, or 2 as the base of a veggie-loving meal

100 g (1 handful) snap peas
100 g (1 handful) green beans
500 g (2 medium) courgettes (zucchini), sliced
1/2 c mint leaves

for the dressing:
1/2 c (125 ml) soy sauce
3 t sugar
2 t sesame oil
2 T peanut oil

Bring a large saucepan of water to boil.
Add the snap peas and green beans and boil for 1 minute.
Add the courgettes and boil for 1 more minute.
Drain the vegetables and refresh under cold water.

Mix the soy sauce, sugar, and sesame oil together in a small bowl.
Place the peanut oil in the still hot saucepan (but off the heat). When the oil is hot, add it to the dressing ingredients and mix well.
Toss with the vegetables. Serve warm or cold.

Other salads with mint:
Cucumber salad with garlic and mint
Moroccan beetroot, carrot, and mint salad - from Simply Recipes
Grilled peach salad with mint and basil pesto - from Love and Lemons
Chopped salad with feta, lime, and mint - from smitten kitchen

Where do you find inspiration for vegetables?

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Bean Sprout Salad

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 03:41:00 +0000

Bean sprouts - not the sexiest of vegetables. In fact I find them kind of unpleasant. But I learned a new method of preparing them and I was mighty impressed. Blanch them - a brief dip in boiling water made them silky! I was amazed at how much more palatable, enjoyable, even, the sprouts became.

Serve these bean sprouts as a side dish to your favourite stir fry. Perhaps they are still not sexy, but now bean sprouts can at least be tasty!

Bean Sprout Salad
adapted from Simple Chinese Cooking by Kylie Kwong
serves 4 as a side dish

The trick here is to blanch the bean sprouts before tossing them with a simple dressing.

500 g bean sprouts
2 T soy sauce
1 t sugar
1 large green chilli pepper, sliced
1/2 t sesame oil
1 T peanut oil

Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil.
Blanch the bean sprouts (possibly working batches depending on the size of your pan) for 30 seconds.
Remove and drain well.

Mix the soy sauce, sugar, green chilli pepper, and sesame oil in a small bowl.
Put the peanut oil in the still hot, but empty (and off the heat) saucepan for a minute to become hot. Then pour the peanut oil into the dressing and mix well.
Toss with the bean sprouts.

Other recipes that use bean sprouts:
Vietnamese summer rolls
Ginger noodle soup
Vegan sprout bowl with creamy curry sauce - from Healthful Pursuit
Paleo pad Thai - from Against All Grain
Mushroom, bean sprouts, and rocket salad - from Salad Pride
How to grow your own sprouts - from Adventures in Local Food

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Weekend Links #27

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 05:00:00 +0000

Weekend Links is a way of sharing all the engrossing things I see around the internet. I publish Weekend Links approximately every two weeks. As usual, I welcome your ideas and feedback.

food reading links:
--A Christian food blogger talks about bread (from Kitchen Stewardship). She and her family are gluten-free for health reasons but Jesus calls himself "the Bread of Life". How does she reconcile life and faith?
--Are you a supertaster? This article includes a link to a quiz on the BBC Science website to help you find out (from The Guardian).
--A study links eating more fruits and vegetables with better moods (from Science Daily). Eating better today also improves your mood tomorrow.

recipe links:
--An ingenious bread made with avocados, eggs, and coconut flour (from TGIPaleo).
--I was reading about grilled prawns on the Donna Hay website (pictured)... but the part that really caught my eye was the mint salt on the side. So simple, and so clever.
--Using long, thin Japanese aubergines (eggplants), spiced like Italian sausages (from The Chubby Vegetarian).
--Roasted ginger lime Brussels sprouts sound like an amazing idea (from spabettie).

off-topic links:
--An article (from the BBC) that suggests that eight hours of sleep a night might be unnatural. History and science seem to suggest that two four hours sleeps would be better, separated by an hour or two of wakefulness.
--I found an organising column called High Straightenence. Heehee!

What engrossing things have you seen around the internet?

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Valentine's Day Ideas

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 04:46:00 +0000

We long ago stopped debating about eating out or in for Valentine's Day. Eating out on February 14 is too expensive, with fancy, overpriced set menus. And the service always seems a little surly because the restaurant is busy and the staff would rather be elsewhere. As a result, we eat at home on Valentine's.

(The best day to go to a restaurant, we discovered, is February 15! The restaurant is much quieter and the meals are back to normal price.)

What about you? Will you or your loved one be cooking for Valentine's Day? Here are some ideas to make this romantic day easy and successful.

Starters:

Pumpkin and peach salad with lemongrass dressing

Cauliflower soup with roasted red pepper swirl

Chilled strawberry soup (Sorry, no picture, it's from that far back in the Simply Cooked archive!)

Main dishes:

A romantic living room picnic

Superfood salad

Beef bourguignon

Hasselback potatoes

Desserts:

Honey panna cotta

Simple dark chocolate mousse

Strawberry and nutella muffins

Sugar-free frozen banana cream pie

Cranberry and date heart cut-out cookies

What are your Valentine's Day plans?

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Beef Stir Fry with Black Bean Sauce

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 11:34:00 +0000

Happy Chinese New Year! It's the biggest festival of the year this week in Hong Kong and everywhere is decorated and filled with people celebrating. Red is the colour of choice everywhere. Buildings are decorated with lights and cartoon-ish animals as well.

I'm not celebrating this week, though. I had two small procedures on Saturday to remove a mole from my face and a large lesion from my foot. I'm immobilised on the couch for at least a week. So it's probably a good thing that we have a week's holidays from work. The stitches on my cheek are making it hard for me to eat (and smile!, as you can see below). So it's mostly soup at the moment.

But you should definitely celebrate Chinese New Year this week. How about a nice beef stir fry? With black bean sauce. It's so simple to make and even easier to enjoy. And it's auspiciously red as well.

Beef Stir Fry with Black Bean Sauce
serves 3
adapted from Simple Chinese Cooking by Kylie Kwong

for the beef:
500 g beef fillet
1/3 c (80 ml) vegetable oil
1/4 c (60 ml) chopped spring onions (scallions), to garnish

for the marinade:
2 T Chinese cooking vinegar or dry sherry
1 t sea salt
1 t sugar

for the sauce:
1 small onion
1/4 c (60 ml) sliced ginger
3 garlic cloves
1 T preserved (salted) black beans
2 T Chinese cooking vinegar or dry sherry
1 T sugar
1 T soy sauce
1 T oyster sauce
1 T cider or malt vinegar
1/2 t sesame oil
1 red pepper, thinly sliced
2 large red chillies, sliced diagonally

Cut the beef into thin 1 cm slices.
Mix the marinade ingredients and leave for 30 minutes.
Measure out all the other ingredients because the cooking process happens very quickly.

Heat half the oil in a wok (or a frying pan with high sides) until shimmering.
Add the beef strips (possibly in batches) and stir fry over high heat for a couple of minutes until cooked through.
Use a slotted spoon to remove the beef from the wok.

Add the rest of the oil to the wok and heat until shimmering.
Add the onion, ginger, garlic, and black beans and stir fry over high heat for 1 minute.
Add the Chinese cooking vinegar, sugar, soy sauce, oyster sauce, cider vinegar, and sesame oil. Stir fry for 30 seconds.
Finally, add the red pepper and red chillies, and stir fry for 1 minute.

Garnish with the spring onions.

Are you celebrating Chinese New Year?

My Berlin Kitchen by Luisa Weiss

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 13:23:00 +0000

Luisa Weiss had an American dad, an Italian mother, and grew up in Germany and the United States. As she reached adulthood, she began to wonder where in the world she belonged. She explored her heritages through travel and food. Her memoir, My Berlin Kitchen, is an attempt at catharsis through writing and eating. It was our Kitchen Reader pick for January.

Much of Luisa Weiss' story resonated with me. It is hard to be a person who doesn't know where home is. I am not sure my homeless feelings are as consuming as hers, though. I count Canada, the UK, Europe, and Hong Kong among my choices for a place of belonging. And for the most part, I feel happy in all of them. For Weiss, she was overwhelmed not by rootlessness, but the feeling that she had roots in too many places. And these places were impossible to be in all at once.

Weiss connects her feelings of home with food, a natural feeling to many, it seems. Each chapter of her memoir includes a meaningful recipe and many of them are intriguing and drew me in further to the story. (Weiss also writes and publishes recipes on her blog, The Wednesday Chef.) Top of my list to try soon are spicy roasted chicken thighs. They are a comfort meal for Weiss, and I can see why. While roasting they would smell like the garlicky promise of care and belonging.

A lobster dinner is the taste of my Canadian home. And my annual Christmas visits with my parents include a lobster dinner at my request. The steaming lobster and the silky butter are set out over the newspaper-covered table. We each use a set of sharp implements. After only a few minutes, everyone's hands are a mess of seawater and lobster juice. My brother takes over the tutelage of any visitor who needs pointers on how to attack their lobster. My mother likes to suck out the minute pieces of meat in each leg. My dad likes to crack the claws and save some for lobster sandwiches the next day. At the end, we grab the newspaper and debris and roll them up into a bundle, and toss it straight into the compost bin. Every year we enjoy the pleasures of lobster as a family. The lobster dinner shows me that we belong together.

What foods signify home for you?

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Coconut and Nut Snack Bowl

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 08:50:00 +0000

This simple snack bowl has got me through many sugar cravings. I have found that cinnamon and coconut are both tastes that I find sweet, even when there is no sweetener involved. This lovely little bowl contains almond butter, coconut oil, flaked coconut, and some walnuts, all sprinkled with cinnamon.

It was Sarah Wilson who first put me onto cinnamon and coconut. The added cup of chai tea makes it even better. I have been eating variations of this snack in the afternoons and also as a "dessert"; my main sugar cravings are mid-afternoon and late evening after dinner.

Coconut and Nut Snack Bowl
makes one small snack

In the summer, my coconut oil is liquid in the cupboard so this snack gets moistened and sticks together well. In the winter, I am too lazy to melt the oil; I don't mind the drier texture.

1 T almond (or other nut) butter
1 T coconut oil (solid or melted, however you prefer)
1/4 c (20 g) unsweetened coconut flakes
a small handful (about 6) walnuts (or other nuts)
cinnamon

Place the almond butter and coconut oil in a bowl. Sprinkle over the coconut flakes.
Roughly crush the nuts and add.
Sprinkle with cinnamon.

Do you get sugar cravings? Do you have any strategies to quell cravings?

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Mongolian Beef with Red Pepper and Chinese Cabbage

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 13:42:00 +0000

My parents host a Chinese student in their home in Canada; he moved there to attend high school and learn English for university. This is the second Chinese student they have hosted, and this time food has been an issue. All teenagers are picky eaters, but especially this one who is far from home. In an effort to help him, my mother and I have been getting Chinese cooking hints from Kylie Kwong's book, Simple Chinese Cooking. (It was one of my Christmas presents from my cousin. Cookbooks are my favourite presents!) My mother and I each have a copy and we are exchanging notes about what we try.

This dish took only 35 minutes from start to finish - and that includes 30 minutes of marinading time! Next time I'll also add very thinly sliced carrots; you could use any vegetables. Just slice them thinly and throw them all in together. I reckon my mother's picky eater would love this recipe because of the thick, tasty sauce that seeps down into the rice (or noodles).

Mongolian Beef
serves 2
adapted from Simple Chinese Cooking

All the ingredients need to be chopped before you begin cooking since the stir frying will only take a few minutes. Serve with rice to soak up the plentiful sauce.

for the marinade:
1 T cornstarch
2 T sherry or Chinese rice vinegar
1 T soy sauce
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 t sesame oil

450 g ground beef
250 g Chinese (nappa) cabbage
2 t sea salt
1 red pepper
2 T hoisin sauce
2 T sherry or Chinese rice vinegar
1 T oyster sauce
1 t cider or malt vinegar
2 T vegetable oil
1 small bunch of spring onions (scallions)

Mix the marinade ingredients and add the ground beef. Stir to coat and leave for 30 minutes.

Thinly slice or shred the Chinese cabbage. Sprinkle with the sea salt and toss thoroughly in a bowl. Leave for 15 minutes.

Thinly slice the red pepper and set aside.
Mix the hoisin sauce, sherry, oyster sauce, and cider vinegar and set aside.
Chop the spring onions and set aside.

Heat the oil in a wok until hot and shimmering. Add the beef and marinade and continually stir until the beef is no longer pink.
Add the hoisin sauce mixture and stir well.
Add the cabbage and pepper and stir fry for 2 minutes.
Remove from heat and sprinkle with the spring onions.

Are you (or were you) a picky eater?

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Edible Gifts: Irish Cream and Pistachio Fudge and Dark Chocolate Kahlua Fudge

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 00:09:00 +0000

These two delicious fudge recipes are from the blog Eat Good 4 Life. Irish cream pistachio fudge is made with white chocolate. Dark chocolate kahlua fudge also has almonds. Both are heavily rich! Even a small cube is luxurious.

Last Christmas I gave these as gifts to my colleagues. I wrapped up two pieces of each kind of fudge with plastic wrap and ribbons.

I made two 9"x9" (23 x 23 cm) pans of fudge. Then I used my baking ruler (just a regular ruler that I keep scrupulously clean) to cut it into 1" squares. I actually trimmed the sides and then cut 64 squares.... So that meant that I had plenty of gifts plus Anthony and I ate all the oddly shaped side bits!

I made the fudge over two evenings. On the first evening I melted the chocolate, added the liquor and nuts, and poured the fudge into pans to set.

On the second evening I did the cutting and wrapping. I added stickers on the bottom of the packages so I could write little thank yous to the colleagues who have helped me.

The fudge was very well received. The alcohol taste was just enough to be noticeable but still very much a background flavour. The fudge tasted more of silky smooth chocolate and nuts. I'll definitely make both kinds again as they made perfect gifts.

Other edible gifts:

Do you like to give (or receive) edible gifts?

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Chickpea and Chorizo Flatbread

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 11:48:00 +0000

I wrote recently about how I was out of ideas. Not just for blogging, but for cooking as well. Thanks to all of you for your sympathy in the comments on that post and on Facebook. A few days later I was frustrated and feeling like chucking stuff out. I attacked a messy kitchen cupboard and ditched some old, expired flours. I consolidated three bags of almond flour into a canister. Foods I am trying to avoid eating (mostly wheat-based) were put out of reach. And I discovered I had a big container of chickpea flour that I had forgotten about. I was determined to make something interesting out of it.

This flatbread got me out of my rut! It was so simple (my favourite word!): just whisk and bake. It livened up our plates due to the chorizo spiked throughout. And it made our light dinner a bit more satisfying.

(Sidebar: Without a bit of meat, my husband claims that he does not feel as if he has eaten properly. So I make up things like this flatbread to slightly increase the meat content of our meals without turning into a meat-centric eater myself. [Does anyone else have this problem?])

Now I find that I am full of ideas! At least, lots of ideas for chickpea and chorizo flatbread.

Make this flatbread into a meal by:
1. topping it with sauteed broccoli, mushrooms, and ground turkey (pictured)
2. serving it on the side of sweet potato stew
3. pairing it with grown-up baked beans for a posh "beans on toast"

Turn the flatbread into appetisers by cutting into small squares or triangles, then:
1. topping with ricotta and a dill sprig
2. broil with a slice of raclette cheese until bubbling; add a cold cucumber slice to finish

Chickpea and Chorizo Flatbread
makes a 9" (23 cm) square flatbread

1 c (120 g) chickpea flour
1 t salt
2 T olive oil
50 g chorizo

In a bowl, mix together the chickpea flour and salt. Whisk in1 1/2 c (375 ml) water until smoothly blended. Allow to rest while you proceed with the recipe.

Preheat the oven to 425 F (230 C).
Pour the olive oil into a 9" (23 cm) square pan. Finely slice the chorizo and add it to the pan.
Place the pan in the oven while it heats. Allow the chorizo to release some tasty oils. Remove the pan if the olive oil starts to smoke or it smells as if it might burn.

When the oven is hot, pour the batter into the pan and bake for 30 - 40 minutes until the bread is set.

Have you discovered any intriguing ingredients in the back of your cupboard lately?

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Cranberry and Walnut Muffins

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 12:35:00 +0000

Here are four things that make me feel Christmassy:

1. listening to Christmas carols while cooking
2. singing along to Christmas carols
3. the smell of baking muffins with cranberries and orange
4. my fingers around a mug of steaming spiced tea

I think we should all welcome advent and look forward to Christmas with these cranberry and orange muffins. What could make you feel more Christmassy?

Cranberry and Walnut Muffins
makes 16 small muffins
adapted from Simply in Season

1 2/3 c (200 g) whole wheat flour
1/3 c (40 g) plain flour
1 1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
1 egg
1/3 c (80 g) sugar
3/4 c (190 ml) orange juice
1/4 c (60 ml) water
1/4 c (60 ml) vegetable oil
1 t vanilla extract
1 1/2 c (150 g) cranberries, fresh or frozen (not thawed)
1/2 c (60 g) chopped walnuts

In a large bowl, mix together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
In a medium bowl, mix together the egg, sugar, orange juice, water, oil, and vanilla extract.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Add the cranberries and walnuts.
Stir only until combined.

Spoon into muffin cups, filling to the top.
Bake at 350 F (180 C) for 20-25 minutes, until a tester comes out clean.
Let cool in the pans for five minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

What foods make you feel festive?

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