Bake A Meal (BAM) - Chicken and Green Peas

If you want a nutritious meal but do not want to spend too much time in the kitchen, "bake a meal". or BAM, is definitely the way to go.  I usually put everything onto a baking pan, turn on the oven, and leave the kitchen to continue my other chores at home until the food is done baking.  I am happy that the food was still delicious enough, and  my kids and husband served themselves directly onto their plates like a dinner buffet.  This saved time and cleaning up the dishes afterward. Here is one of the BAM I often make:

Rosemary Chicken , potatoes, green peas with onion.

Ingredients:

1  Whole Chicken
3 Russet Potatoes, peeled and diced
3 stalks of carrots
1 Can of green peas, drain and discard liquid
1/2  a Yellow Onion
1 sprig of fresh rosemary
Garlic salt
Black pepper

Directions:

1. Rinse whole chicken and dry with paper towel.
2. Sprinkle rosemary, garlic, salt and pepper generously inside and outside of chicken.
3. Place diced potatoes, carrots, chopped onion onto baking sheet.
4. Bake at 350 degree for 35 minutes.
5. Add the green peas with the potatoes and cook for 10 more minutes.
6. Check the thickest part of the chicken (thigh area) to make sure the chicken is cooked. 

Note:

Put a sheet of foil on top of the baking pan before placing all the food to be baked to save cleaning up by just discarding the foil afterward.

Spring Fashion

A couple weeks ago, as the weather was turning warm but was still cold at the same time, I went hunting for a trench coat.  I was very lucky to find this trench coat:

The weather was so nice yesterday after many cloudy and raining that I couldn't wait to go out.  I had no place to go but I wanted to dress up and decided to go for a short shopping spree.  I was glad to be free from wearing any stockings and wore my beloved platform zebra print shoes.  I also paired it with my suede skirt, which I have had for many years.

I was also happy to find this cotton jacket, because the length stops perfectly above my hip.  I am happy that the color is off white since I don't look nice in just white. This can be worn with jeans and casual skirts for casual chic looks.

I have been trying to find a pair of nude shoes, which are the trend of this season but so far, I've had no luck in that department yet.

Healthy Soup - Daikon Seaweed Miso Soup

I have been eating this soup to help me lose some weight. Daikon cleanses the blood, promotes energy circulation and increases the metabolic rate.  Seaweed is very high in alkaline and also help with the cleansing process.  My kids didn't like the smell of the fresh seaweed.  I took extra step just to get rid of the overpowering smell of the seaweed.  I boiled the seaweed in hot water first for about 5 minutes, drained and then proceeded to cook it with the rest in fresh pot of boiling water.  The soup was so delicious that we ate only that for dinner and were still full.

Ingredients:

1 (8 oz.) Daikon radish, cut into bite-size pieces
1 lb. Lean pork
Fresh seaweed, rinsed well with water a couple of times
5 cups water
2 slices of ginger (optional)
Silkien Tofu, diced
1 tbsp of Dashi powder (Japanese soup base mix)
1 1/2 tbsp white miso paste
2 Scallions, chopped

Directions:

1. Place daikon, seaweed  along with 5 cups water into a 2-quart saucepan and place over high heat. 
2. Add tofu and cook for another minute. Turn heat off.
3. Remove 1/4 cup stock from the pot and place in a small bowl.  Using a fork, dissolve the miso paste and add it back into the soup pot. Stir in the dashi powder. Garnish with scallions and serve

Note:

Always add miso and dashi powder before serving.  Heat destroys the nutrition value of the miso,so always remove the soup from heat when adding miso paste and dashi powder.

Soup In A Cup

Puff pastry is useful for a quick dessert or snack. I used puff pastry to make this soup for my kids last week.  It looks elegant but is actually really simple to make.

Ingredients:

1 Russet Potato, peeled and diced
1/4 Yellow Onion, chopped
1 cup frozen green peas and carrots
1 tbsp of cooking oil
1 small can of cream of mushroom
1 same amount of water as cream of mushroom
Black Peppers

Directions:

1. Thaw one sheet of puff pastry on a foil in at room temperature 30 minutes before baking.
2. Rinse and chop all ingredients.
3. Heat up pan and cooking oil.
4. Stir fry onions until fragrant.
5. Add potatoes and stir fry for 1 minute.
6. Add green peas and carrots and stir fry.
7. Add 1 can of water to the cream of mushroom and mix well.
8. Add pepper and diluted cream of mushroom to the pan and cook with the rest of ingredients.
9. Cover and cook for 5 minutes until potato is cooked.
10. Transfer soup into 4 small cups.
11. Cut thawed puff pastry into 4 equal pieces. Carefully place one piece on top of each cup. 
12. Seal the edge of pastry by brushing some water along the edge.
13. Beat one egg and brush egg wash on top of each pastry for coloring.
14. Put in oven and bake at 390 degree for 10 minutes.
15. Serve when it's hot.

Note:

For an even more quick and simple soup, just open a can of soup and pour it in the cup, then follow steps 11 to 15.

Chinese Soup - Pears and Pork Soup

This soup is good to have when the weather is dry during the cold seasons.  It is very light and tasty. The fruit is enriched with vitamins and apricot kernels that help sooth the throat.  I make this soup often whenever my kids have itchy and dry throats.  My daughter had a sore throat over the past few days and I made this for her yesterday.  It was so good that she requested to have the same soup again today.

For those who would like to learn how to make Chinese soup regularly, these are also staple ingredients to have at home.

Dried Figs

Dried Dates (Those on the left are dried and coated with sugar, the right ones are just from supermarket,either one is fine to use).

Dried Scallops

South almonds (smaller in size, sweeter taste) on the left, North almonds (bigger in size, bitter taste, only use a few pieces at a time) on the right.  They are always used together. Both are actually apricot kernels, not almonds.

Ingredients:

1 lb. of lean pork
3 Dates or Figs (dried or fresh is fine)
2 Dried Scallops, soaked
2 tbsp south almonds (Chinese Apricot Kernel, sweet ones = "south apricot kernel")
1 tsp north almonds (Chinese Apricot Kernel, bitter ones = "north apricot kernel")*
3 Pears or Apples, cored and cut into quarters

Directions:

1. Boil half a pot of water.
2. Add all the ingredients except pears or apples.
3. Bring to boil on high heat, turn down to simmer and boil for 40 minutes.
4. Add the cut pears or apples, and continue cooking for another 40 minutes.
5. Add salt for taste. Turn off heat and serve everything with soup on a bowl.

Note:

*North almonds are actually apricot kernels and are bitter in taste.  Never use too much of them. These ingredients can be found in any Chinese store and supermarket. 

Perfect Handbag for Travel

I was very happy to see this BCBG leather handbag while shopping in the mall on Saturday.  It meets all the requirements I need for a handbag for traveling.  I am not tall enough to carry a large bag but really needed one that has enough room to travel while still fashionable for sightseeing or shopping.  The size of this handbag is just right for me. It comes with short handles and an adjustable shoulder strap.  I especially like the metal chains on it. It gives a modern feel to it. The shoulder strap in this picture was shorten and hit above my hip, which is good for me:

It can also be used as a tote bag to bring extra items onto the airplane or a shopping bag to free up my hands while sight seeing.

Front view:

Back view:

It's roomy inside and there are two open and zipper pockets for easy access to little items such as a cell phone, iPod, earbuds,etc.

It is important for me that the handbag also has a zipper pocket on the outside so that I can retrieve my passport and other ID conveniently.  It is also great that it has a zipper closure on top so that things will not fall out of the handbag if I accidentally drop it.

I also like the fact that it's light-weight and fashionable enough to go out without packing an extra handbag in the suitcase.  This also comes in black. The picture here shown the strap was extended:

It seems the white looks better for this handbag. I think I will most likely get the white one since I usually travel in the summer. I didn't get the handbag because it wasn't on sale.  Hopefully,  it will be on sale the next time I go shopping again.

Beef Chow Fun

This is a common Cantonese dish a lot of people love. It is not easy to master this dish!  It is common believed that you need to use a lot of oil to stir fry this. I had tried a few times to make chow fun without success.  Even though the taste was great, the noodles always tended to be too mushy or not fluffy enough (noodles were not separated enough, like some noodles were still in chunks) after a few stirs.   I have finally succeeded in making the chow fun very fluffy and tasty for the first time. 

Ingredients:

2 tbsp cooking oil
1 pkg Fresh chow fun

8 0z. Flank steak

1/2 Yellow Onion

1 pkg Bean Sprouts

1 tsp Dark Soysauce

1 tsp Oyster sauce

1 tsp Cornstarch

1/2 tsp Sugar

Green Onion 

Sauce: Some dark soy sauce and oyster sauce

Chili sauce (Optional)

Directions:

1. Rinse the noodles in cold water.
2. Separate the noodles into thin slices.
3. Drain the noodles well.
4. Slice beef and marinate beef with soy sauce, sugar, soy sauce, and cornstarch and set aside in refrigerator.
5. Rinse bean sprouts and slice yellow onion.
6. Heat oil, stir fry yellow onion until fragrant
7. Add in the beef and stir fry until cook
8. Add bean sprout and stir fry for few minutes.
9. Add noodles, dark soy sauce, oyster sauce and stir gently and until mix well.
10. Top with green onion to serve.

Note:

I learned that the oil is not the most important.  It is most important to separate the chow fun first before cooking.  The trick to separate it successfully is to make sure the noodle was already soft when rinsing. If it was previously refrigerated, microwaving it for 5 minutes until soft before rinsing helps separate the chow fun easier.