Simple fish tacos

This dinner takes less than 30 mins (if you're quick in the kitchen) to make and is so healthy! This has been our go to fish dinner recently and it is so easy to make! As with all our recipes we always stress that quality of ingredients is key to deliciousness! I use organic when possible and it makes a difference. You can also build with more salsas and toppings like shredded cheese or chipotle cream. I hope you all enjoy this fun and yummy meal!

Simple Fish Tacos

Heirloom tomato salsa

Sweet tomatoes 3 cups

Onion 1/4 cup small dice

Salt to taste

Cilantro a handful minced

Squeeze of lime

mix together!

Guacamole

2 ripe avocados

1/4 cup chopped onion

Salt to taste

Lemon 2 tbs

Mush avocados with fork,mix in rest

Tilapia

Pan fried with salt and pepper

Shredded cabbage

Whole wheat tortillas

Annie's Veggie Eggy Frittata

The morning is here and have a table of hungry tummies waiting..

 Looking for a quick and simple eggy breakfast dish ?

Here we have Annie's Veggie Eggy Frittata!

Grab a bowl and some eggs- crack and whip them together

Heat oil on a non stick or cast iron pan - add chopped ingredients

 - onion ,red potatoes , zucchini and summer squash

- herbs and season with salt and pepper 

Add in the egg mixture and stir until all set

let it cook on medium heat - when it starts bubbling 

pop in the oven ( pre-heated 350 ) for 10 - 15 minutes

Remove from oven and add any cheese you like!

we have aged provolone here.

Enjoy!

we all had seconds! Thank you Annie!!

Lemon Chicken Kale Soup

Here is a super fast and easy recipe for a super comforting and delicious soup.  It isn't made completely from scratch, although you can if you would like to and have the time.  I like to use kale but you can substitute with any leafy green.  This is what I make when I'm exhausted but still want to make something healthy and satisfying for the family.  This takes 40 minutes from start to finish and that includes the prep time.  That's quick!  I made this last week and now looking at the pictures, I sure wish I had some!

INGREDIENTS

1 rotisserie chicken, meat hand pulled in bite size pieces

2 boxes chicken stock

3 carrots

1 bunch kale

1 lb potatoes

1 onion

3 cloves garlic

tablespoon thyme

lemon juice to taste

I served with crusty bread and tomato persian cucumber feta salad

COOK

saute onion and garlic

add carrots

add potatoes

add thyme

saute until veggies start to brown a little

add stock, bring to boil & simmer until veggies are al-dente

add chicken meat

add kale

salt and pepper to taste

lemon juice to taste (I used 1 1/2 lemons)

I find fresh organic veggies tastier than conventional

Farm Fresh Dinner

rigatoni with asparagus, garbanzo beans and tomato

A friend at work subscribes to a organic farm delivery service that drops off a box of produce at her doorstep every week.  Lucky for me, her boyfriend, the one that actually cooks the stuff was out of town this week and I was the recipient of the box!  The box contained some fruit, green leaf lettuce, cabbage, red chard and asparagus.  It was beautiful beautiful produce.  Last night I made chicken adobo and sauteed the cabbage with garlic and oyster sauce.  Tonight's dinner really highlights the farm fresh ingredients that I had on hand and inspired this beautiful and delicious dinner.  The green leaf lettuce actually had taste unlike much of it's supermarket kin already washed and ready to go in the bags.  I did have to wash everything from the farm but the work was so worth it.  I dressed the salad simply with olive oil, balsamic, salt and pepper.

The pasta was super simple.  I sauteed garlic, onion, a can of garbanzo beans and the asparagus from the farm.  Then I added a can of chopped tomato, salt and pepper to taste.  Toss with pasta of choice. That's it!  It was so delicious!

I love this farm direct delivery idea so much.  I love how you don't know what's in the box until it gets to you.  I love how the cooking is inspired by ingredients.  It's local and sustainable.  I'm sold.  This is the farm where I am http://www.farmfreshtoyou.com. I've read that this is getting popular all over the US so do a google search and see if this is available to you.  Happy cookng!

Healthy Lunch Ideas

grilled chicken breast with dino kale, sugar snap peas, quinoa mixed with sauteed mushrooms with S&P and balsamic

In our household, we've been consciously trying to improve our diet by trying to stick to lean proteins, lots of leafy greens and whole grains. We've totally converted to brown rice, spelt pasta (infinitely better than whole wheat pasta) and whole grains like quinoa and barley. One big personal hurdle was to eat healthy lunches while at work. It is too challenging to stick to healthy options when left to eat out or do take out. It is also very very expensive to eat take away healthy organic foods. I was spending up to $20 a day sometimes eating from places like Real Food Daily! Well, I got wise and put in a little effort on Sunday nights to prepare lunch items. I've been doing this for a month now and I've not only saved money but lost weight and feel great! I basically steam vegetables, make a whole grain and a protein. I try to stretch out the pre-made items by switching out the protein or adding an avocado or nuts. Sometimes at the end when I'm low on items, I'll supplement with hummus and flax bread. The following are list of things that combine well as a salad or as a group of sides like the pic above with yummy grilled chicken breast. I personally don't care for traditional salad too often but can eat lightly steamed greens everyday! Remember, try to vary your diet as much as possible and always eat whole foods. I know us cookngs love our pork and yummy comfort foods. With moderation and balancing with wholesome options, we can eat really anything we want!

Ideas for lunch items

Proteins: chicken breast, boiled eggs, lentils, tofu, tuna, pork tenderloin

greens: kale, collard greens, chard, arame seaweed, broccoli

veggies: carrots, sugar snap peas, sprouts, squash

grains: brown rice, quinoa, kashka, barley, cous cous

dressing: tahini or Annie's Asian Sesame dressing

toppings: nuts, sunflower seeds, japanese seaweed/sesame condiment

Please share your ideas for easy healthy lunches in the comments!

Chinese New Year Celebration Feast 2011

Chinese New Year 2011 

Sharing Mama Ng's Menu

Braised shiitake mushroom with oyster and 

fat choi ( might be some type of sea veggie? looks odd but fun to eat)

 Lobster with ginger scallion and chinese celery

 Foo jook tong ( bean curd soup) with mushroom and chinese dried scallops

Pea shoot stir fried with garlic and fish sauce 

 Crispy roast pork

 Steamed seabass with ginger scallion and soy sauce

 Buddha's delight ( Lor horn jai) 

quite of list of ingredients used in this dish, let's see if i can remember them all,

napa cabbage, shiitake mushroom, bean noodles, wood ear fungus, water chestnut, beancurd sticks, fat choi , snowpeas , am i missing anything else ?

sorry about the poor photo, couldn't wait to eat 

White poached chicken served with oyster and hot mustard sauce.

 Always happy with Mama Ng poached chicken, so moist and tender.

Posted a little late but better than never. 

Did you enjoy your New Year's celebration?

Top Chef All Star thoughts

Does working under extreme conditions truly measure a chef's talents? Is this the Amazing Race or Top Chef? While a fun and dynamic challenge, I couldn't help but to feel bad for these poor tired souls. Clearly, the requirement of running laps on no sleep got the better of ALL of them. The culmination, Carla puttering around the store still shopping with only under an hour to cook. All of the dishes lacked imagination and the choice of equipment baffles me. What I would have done is grab a rice cooker and an electric wok and rocked a stir fry over rice. No? Who hasn't gone to a greasy Chinese joint at 3AM after partying all night? Just sayin' Come on! But this is why I pose the extreme conditions question. Does the effort for better television destroy the potential for truly inspirational cooking? I for one am not a fan of the one-hand-tied-behind-the-back or no-utensils or no-sleep challenges.

Poor Angelo. This week I realize that he really was not getting weirder and weirder. I really did not see until now that this is a man at his Top Chef threshold. He was running on empty. The same chef who put out complex and beautiful food made salty potato soup. Sad but it was his time to go. I knew something was up when Mike was singing his praises followed by clips of uncharacteristic bro-love gestures from Angelo.

Dale won with grilled cheese and tomato soup. I'm sure it was a fine grilled cheese and tomato soup. But really? A grilled cheese and tomato soup won an elimination challenge of Top Chef All Stars with only 7 chefs left? Maybe Bravo should do a Top Top Chef Producers show.

thoughts:

Why did they even have the interior designer guy on? That was so random.

Okay, maybe having Ming Tsai judge was more random than the interior designer guy.

I wasn't a fan of the Muppet quickfire. But since Molly liked it I liked it too. Ok, I liked Elmo's "cow chips" comment.

Nice sweater Bourdain!

To Molly he's Dr. Tony!

Top Chef All Star thoughts

Well, well, well. Ciao Fabio. We are sad to see him go but after all, it is Top Chef, not Top Comedian! He is SO funny though! Bravo needs to give him his own show. This episode is one of my all time favorites. The challenges were interesting and dynamic and how 'bout having Jimmy Fallon as guest judge?? He was so much fun! His family and the announcer guy from the show were hysterical! Congrats to Carla for one delicious looking pot pie. This is very reminiscent of her season where she really steps up leading into the finals. Let's hope she can go all the way again! I really like her food; simple, honest and always true to her style. Dale goes from too bland to too salty. Come on bro! Wake the #$@ up!! Antonia rocked the tongue and showed some skills. The rest were not memorable. Angelo acts creepier and looks greasier every episode. What's going on with that dude?

a little like Hannibal Lecter? just a bit?

thoughts:

Hey Angelo! It's "chee-poht-lay" (chipotle)

What was Dale calling Angelo? Was it "stunning guy"?

I like eating tongue but was a little skeeved by seeing the whole big thing being sliced. ewww

Stir Fried Chicken with Mushroom and Soybean Stick

Another quick stir fry for a lazy night....

Did a quick check in the kitchen to see what I had handy.

Opened the fridge: cooked chicken breast in the pantry: dried shiitake mushroom and soybean sticks

hmmm......got it!

Decided to do a stir fry with famous-never fail oyster sauce and tons of garlic.

We were also fighting a cold so I made sure the garlic was not cooked all the way ( natural antibiotic)

The semi cooked garlic along with the oyster sauce gave the mushrooms a slightly buttery chewy texture which I like. The result was perfect, a savory side dish good with salad, rice or congee.

Ingredients:

• chicken - cooked + shredded
• dried shiitake mushroom - soak in warm water until soft- thinly sliced
• dried bean curd stick- soak in warm water until soft - cut into half inch size
• oil
• oyster sauce
• head of garlic - minced
• white pepper
• cilantro

Heat pan with oil, add half of the minced garlic, mushroom, cook for a minute then

add bean curd sticks and chicken, give it quick stir and toss

add the rest of the garlic and oyster sauce, give it quick stir and toss again make sure it all mixed well.

Done!

Great with fresh cilantro!

Top Chef All Star thoughts

Wow, brother Dale truly showed his prowess not only in the kitchen but also in his wargame strategies! I mean picking Marcel to be the opposing captain is probably the Top Chef all time best strategic move...ever...period. He knew no one would cooperate with him. The other team was doomed no matter who was on his team. It is sad that the only thing I remember about Dale from his original season is his temper. It is obvious that he did a lot of soul searching after seeing himself act like a douche on national TV. These days, his cooking is impressive and his temperament in control and confident. Well done Dale! Even though he wasn't the winner, he stood out most for me. Blais is such a whiny crybaby that it is hard to take him seriously. Also, I'm personally not drawn to his cooking style. Although his bromance with Fabio is very funny. Too bad it is Blais since we all know he will never measure up to Stefan. Nevertheless it is still very funny. I started following Fabio on twitter and he is just as funny. He plugs his ebook a little too much but its still very adorable because its Fabio. Also, his show recaps has me in stitches!

Well, you all know I am delighted and dancing about Marcel's elimination. All the other chef's have been so professional with their criticism, boiling it down to poor people skills. For me, it seems a spanking and a time out is in order!

thoughts:

Really Angelo, stop making crudo. Snore....

Did anyone see Tre? Was he even on the show? What happened to the "force in the kitchen"?

Did Marcel dye his hair? Why does it look so different?

Top Chef All Stars thoughts

Ok now. You just can't mess with Chinese people and their dim sum! Getting really bad dim sum while starving from waiting forever was NOT a good situation. I was surprised there wasn't a mutiny. The diners must have been invited and comped is all I can guess. It was a disaster of epic proportions and the judge's blogs say the show didn't look as bad as it really was. All I can say is if the cookNgs were there, we would have been in that kitchen way before Tom decided to go check. You know, get things in order! There would have at least been some decent fung jow from Casey's stash! I was sad to see Casey go because she actually could cook and had a decent personality. Boy did that Jaime dodge another bullet. Bye bye next week? We can only hope since this is Top Chef, not Top Scallop.

thoughts:

Was Angelo always that tall? Angelo, really, don't make a raw dish.

The quicker quickfire was lame. Tom gets to decide which dishes measured up to his own?

How arbitrary is that?

The anger management is wearing off. Dale is definitely starting to simmer. I'm getting a little nervous.