Asian Beef Wrap

My sister does not eat onions, nor green onions. Surprisingly she ate this though. And she ate more than one wrap so she's gotta like this. I know I do, cuz I ate until I was stuffed. :P

You can wrap everything yourself and then serve it, or just place the skillet on the dinner table and have everyone make their own wraps. This is essentially what I did. It's more like a family meal this way.


Asian Beef Wrap
(serves 4-6)

Ingredients:

• 8-12 10" flour tortillas
• 1 head of green lettuce, leaves washed and dried
• 1 lb lean ground beef
• 1 bell pepper, diced
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 cup mushrooms, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 green onion stalks, finely diced
• 1 Tbsp soy sauce
• 2 Tbsps oyster sauce
• Salt & pepper, to taste
• Hoisin sauce
• Sriracha

Directions:

1. Heat up a large skillet over medium high heat. When the skillet is very hot (a water droplet would bounce and sizzle away), add ground beef. Season with salt and pepper. Cook until beef is no longer pink.
2. Toss in bell pepper, onion, and mushrooms. Cook until onions start getting soft.
3. Add garlic and soy sauce. Cook until garlic is fragrant.
4. Stir in oyster sauce and green onions. Turn off heat. Season with more salt and pepper, if necessary.
5. To assemble, lay a thin layer of lettuce leaves on a tortilla. Spoon about 1/3 to 1/2 cup of beef mixture into the middle. Top with as much hoisin sauce and Sriracha as you like. Fold opposite ends and roll into a small/medium wrap. Repeat with remaining filling.
6. Enjoy with a cold glass of limeade or strawberry lemonade.

Sichuan Udon Soup Bowl

Super spicy! But that's how K and Hubby likes it. It's remarkable how spicy K likes his stuff. Just like daddy, I guess?

This is super easy and super simple. Perfect to warm you up on a cold night. K loves the fish tofu (it's really just fish paste shaped into tofu and deep fried). He wouldn't eat anything else other than that. That's okay I suppose. At least he's getting SOME protein? =\

It really doesn't matter if you're throwing in frozen or fresh fish tofu and meatballs. As long as they're separated into their own pieces, it's all good. The most important thing is to make sure the soup is super hot if you're having an egg with it. Mind you, if you're scared of eating potentially not fully cooked eggs, just fry it or leave it out all together.


Sichuan Udon Soup Bowl
(serves 4)

Ingredients:

• 1 2.5oz packet of Sichuan Hot & Spicy Hot Pot soup base
• 8 cups water
• 1 inch knob of ginger
• 1 large carrot, chopped
• 2 small packages of enoki mushrooms, trimmed and washed
• 1 lb fish tofu
• 1 lb beef/pork & mushroom/pork meatballs (any Taiwanese or Vietnamese kind will do)
• 4 packages/blocks of Udon noodles
• 2-3 stalks of green onion, cut into 2 inch slivers
• 4 eggs, at room temperature (optional)
• Cilantro, stalks and leaves separated

Directions:

1. Squeeze out the soup base paste into a large Dutch oven or pot. Add water and bring to a boil.
2. When water boils, add ginger, carrot, cilantro stalks, fish tofu and meatballs. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes, or until they float to the top, if using frozen. Transfer into a large (mixing) bowl or plate.
3. Add in enoki mushrooms and cook for about 3 minutes, or until tender. Transfer to another bowl or plate.
4. Add in noodles and cook until al dente. Split noodles into 4 big bowls. Transfer the meatballs and fish tofu back into the soup to warm up. Leave the soup to boil while you're arranging the bowls.
5. Arrange green onion slivers, enoki mushroom, fish tofu and meatballs on top of the noodles, leaving a small space in the middle for the egg, if using. Crack an egg in the middle and quickly ladle hot soup over top. Garnish with cilantro leaves.
6. Serve hot.

Bacon Fried "Rice"

Surprisingly quinoa is one of those foods that Hubby doesn't mind eating. K actually likes eating it too. As long as it's mixed with something with lots of flavour. Enter the bacon here. I had been craving fried rice but didn't have any leftover rice. So I just used quinoa as a sub. Turned out really nicely. I'm impressed. So much so that we'll probably be making this more often. :)

I like using truRoots Organic Quinoa. It's already pre-rinsed so I don't have to bother with rinsing the quinoa and then toasting it dry before actually doing any cooking. :D


Bacon Fried "Rice"
(serves 4)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups uncooked organic quinoa (rinsed and toasted dry)
• 6 slices bacon, diced
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 4 eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 1/4 cups water

Directions:

1. In a small pot, add water and quinoa. Bring to a boil. cover and simmer on the lowest heat for 15 minutes. After the 15 minutes, take off the heat and rest for 5 minutes before fluffing with fork.
2. Meanwhile, cook diced bacon pieces in a large skillet until all the fat has rendered and bacon bits are crisp. Transfer the bacon bits to a paper towel lined bowl. Drain off fat, leaving about 1 tablespoon in the skillet.
3. Add beaten eggs and stir with chopsticks or a spatula while the eggs are cooking, breaking the egg into bit size pieces. Once eggs are half way cooked, add bacon back into the skillet, along with the peas. Cook and stir until peas are heated through.
4. Toss in quinoa and stir until combined.
5. Serve with soup.

Broth Butt Chicken

Okay, so I lied. I wasn't going to roast a chicken any other way than when I did my Sage & Bay Salt Roast Chicken but I had a friend's beer butt chicken one day and it was just crazy moist. I was intrigued...

Originally I was going to use some beer instead, but I found some beef broth in the fridge I wanted to use up, so I used that instead. Shouldn't you be using chicken broth instead? Yeah, I probably should've but that would've meant I'd open up another 1L thing of chicken broth when I really only needed to use a little over half a can to cook the thing.

I can't tell you how important it is to let anything you plan on roasting to rest on the counter an hour before you roast it (same goes for steaks). It cooks more evenly so it tastes way more awesome. I hope I never forget to do this. Lol. :P


Broth Butt Chicken
(serves 4)

Ingredients:

• 1 whole chicken
• 1 can of chicken broth/beer, can rinsed and dried
• 4 russet potatoes, washed, peeled & cubed
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 medium carrots, chopped
• 2 celery ribs, chopped
• 1 head of garlic, cloves separated & peeled
• 4 tsps Sage & Bay Salt, divided
• 2 Tbsps extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. In a large bowl, toss potatoes, onions, carrots, celery and garlic cloves with olive oil and 1 teaspoon of Sage & Bay Salt. Pour into a 9" x 12" roasting pan.
3. Open up a can of chicken broth or beer, pour 1/3 to 1/2 of the can onto the veggies (or consume the beer). Make a little spot in the middle of the pan for the can and place the can in the opened space. Set aside.
4. Rub chicken with remaining Sage & Bay Salt. Stick the chicken onto the can so that it props the chicken up (as if can is sticking up into its butt opening).
5. Carefully place roasting pan into the oven and roast for 70 minutes, or until internal temperature reaches 165F.
6. Carve the chicken and serve with the roasted veggies and potatoes with a side salad.

Ham & Pepper Fried Rice

OMG we always have so much leftovers after a Christmas dinner. Same for Thanksgiving too. Maybe next year I'll just make turkey for Thanksgiving and ham for Christmas. I really actually only like the ham. Hubby used to love turkey but he prefers ham now so really it's just the extended family that likes turkey.

I gotta say though, it's pretty amazing when you present a nicely cooked turkey to a big group of people. Makes you feel accomplish. ^^

Anywho, I used deli ham for the picture cuz I forgot to take a picture of the one with real ham and sometimes I need to get rid of deli ham quick. But who cares. It's still the same recipe. Only it tastes way more amazing with real ham that you've cooked using a picnic shoulder. Drool....


Ham & Pepper Fried Rice
(serves 2-3)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups cold leftover white rice (1-3 days old)
• 1/2 lb ham (or any cooked meat or medium firm tofu), finely diced or crumbled
• 1 bell pepper, finely diced
• 1 - 2 Tbsps ginger, minced
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 green onion stalks, finely diced
• Salt or soy sauce, to taste
• 2 Tbsps canola oil

Directions:

1. Heat a wok on high heat to warm up canola oil. Add in ginger, garlic and ham. Stir fry until ham starts to caramelize/brown. Add in eggs, stirring vigorously so that it doesn't burn and scrambles into tiny pieces.
2. When egg is still a little runny, add in bell peppers and rice. Stir to break up all the rice. Season with salt or soy sauce. 
3. Once the rice softens and is no longer in clumps, turn off the heat. Stir in green onions.
4. Serve with soup.

Hungarian Goulash

Honestly I have no clue how authentic this is. It probably isn't, but I don't care. It's yummy and it's something that goes awesome with the Fluffy Whole Wheat Rolls I made specifically for this.

I used beef shank cuz it was on sale, but honestly any cheap cut of meat/muscle would go well with this. The awesomeness of braising and stewing makes any meat super tender and fall-apart-y. This is definitely a dish that best utilizes those cheap tough meats. :D


Hungarian Goulash
(serves 2)

Ingredients:

• 1 lb stewing beef, cubed
• 1 large onion, sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 Tbsps paprika (Hungarian is best)
• 3/4 cup beef broth or water
• 2 Tbsps tomato paste
• Salt & pepper, to taste
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 Tbsps canola oil

Directions:

1. Heat oil on medium high heat in a medium pot or Dutch oven. While the oil is heating up, add flour and season it with about 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper in a medium mixing bowl. Toss in beef cubes to coat evenly.
2. Sear beef cubes until they're nicely browned. Sear in batches, if necessary. Transfer beef to a bowl or plate. Set aside.
3. Stir in onions, garlic, paprika and tomato paste, scraping up brown bits as the onions releases its juices. Cook until onions start to soften and garlic gets fragrant. Add the beef back in, including any juices that may have run and beef broth or water.
4. Bring to a boil and then lower heat to the lowest setting. Cover and simmer for 2 to 2 1/2 hours, or until tender (beef falls apart when poked with a spoon).
5. Serve with Fluffy Whole Wheat Rolls and a side salad.

You can always make this into a one pot meal by adding some root veggies in the beginning to stew and then adding in some cooked quinoa at the end.

Pollo a la Brasa with Potatoes

I was looking at this Peruvian restaurant's menu. I've never had Peruvian food before, but I'm always up for trying new cuisines, so I was intrigued. I hadn't a clue what I'd order if I went to the restaurant, so I did a little research.

One of the least adventurous dishes was the pollo a la brasa (Peruvian roasted chicken). I thought it looked yummy so I went and looked up some recipes and came to this one. I don't know how authentic this is but it was indeed yummy. Of course I didn't follow the recipe exactly. I tried. I really did, but I hate water brines, so I didn't do that. Instead, I had planned on marinating the chicken over two nights rather than just one. But then I got impatient and wanted to eat this. Next time I'll marinate it for two nights because the flavour didn't really get all the way into the chicken. Oh wells.

And it's easier to roast a chicken after it's been cut into 8 parts, so that's what I did. Hah. :P

I think this can be a dish that I could just serve on plain white rice rather than the potatoes. Or wild rice. I love wild rice.....or a rice pilaf! Oh the possibilities...


Pollo a la Brasa with Potatoes
(serves 4)

Ingredients:

• 1 whole chicken, cut into 8 pieces
• 1/4 cup canola oil/extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup vinegar
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp garlic salt
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 Tbsp soy sauce
• 3 medium russet potatoes, cubed

Directions:

1. In a large Ziploc bag, combine oil, vinegar, garlic, chili powder, cumin, garlic salt, paprika, oregano and soy sauce. Toss in the chicken pieces and massage until well coated. Marinade in the fridge overnight (or 2 nights).
2. Preheat oven to 375F. 
3. Add potatoes into the Ziploc bag. Massage until potatoes are well coated. Pour everything from the Ziploc bag into a roasting pan, arranging chicken to rest on top of the potatoes, skin side up.
4. Bake for 45 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through (165F when tested with a thermometer). Rest for 10-15 minutes before serving.
5. Serve chicken with the potatoes and a side salad.

Update: You can always freeze the chicken pieces for up to 2 weeks in the freezer and then take it out the night before you want to bake it to defrost in the fridge.

Roast Veg & Sausage Casserole

I'm always scared of trying out new veggies. Hubby doesn't eat many veggies, so if I try something new and he doesn't like it, I'm forced to eat it all. Hence there's this enormous pressure to make sure it tastes delicious. I finally tried fennel! After passing it by so many times during my many grocery shopping trips, I finally took the plunge and bought one. It had lots of the fronds on it so I used it as garnish. I figure if I roast the veg, it should be fine right? Roasting veg is the best way to have any veg!

So here's what I did with the fennel bulb I bought...after chopping everything into bite sized pieces anyway. The sausage is pretty salty so I didn't give it to K. But he ate up all the veggies and potatoes. He even had the roasted garlic! I do hope that boy will continue loving onions and garlic as he gets older. :)


Roast Veg & Sausage Casserole
(serves 3-4)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 fennel bulb, chopped
• 2 Yukon gold potatoes, chopped
• 1 medium carrot, chopped
• 1/2 large onion, chopped
• 5 garlic cloves
• 1 lb garlic sausage, chopped
• 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup chicken stock
• 2 Tbsp dried Italian herbs
• 2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
• Salt & pepper, to taste
• Handful of fennel fronds (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375F.
2. In a large bowl, combine chicken stock, olive oil, herbs, garlic and a pinch each of salt and pepper. Mix well.
3. Add in veggies, potatoes and garlic sausage and toss/stir until well coated.
4. Pour everything into a large (2L) casserole dish. Cover with a lid (or wrap tightly with aluminum foil). Bake for 45 minutes, or until veggies are fork tender.
5. Take out of the oven and add the balsamic vinegar. Mix everything and then bake for another 10-15 minutes, uncovered.
6. Set on the counter to rest for 5 minutes. Garnish with the fennel bulb fronds (optional) and serve in a bowl.

Pork Belly Claypot Rice

It's kind of deceiving since you're supposed to (I think) cook everything in the Claypot but I made the pork belly first and THEN cooked rice in the Claypot with the cooked pork belly, some of the sauce and veggies. Doesn't the pic just look AWESOME? Lol


Pork Belly Claypot Rice
(Serves 2-3)

Ingredients:

• 3 cups ready made braised pork belly
• 1/2 cup reserved braised pork belly sauce
• 1 cup uncooked Jasmine rice
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 4 stalks Shanghai Bok Choy, quartered
• 1 green onion, finely diced (optional)

Directions:

1. Wash rice a couple of times in cold water until the water runs clear(ish).
2. Put rice and water into a large Claypot. Bring to a boil and then lower heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
3. Uncover and quickly put in the Bok Choy on top of the rice and top with pork belly and the sauce. Cover and simmer for another 10 minutes.
4. Turn off heat and let stand COVERED for another 15 minutes before serving.
5. Mix everything together and then serve in bowls. Garnish with green onion (optional) and enjoy!

You can always drizzle more sauce over the rice before eating. It's so good!!!!! So very decadent. You might need a little more pork belly though with all that rice. Or you can just lessen the rice. I love rice, so it was good for me. But normally people like to eat more of the pork belly like my Hubby so then more pork belly or less rice would be a good idea.

Sage & Bay Salt Roast Chicken

I used this Sage & Bay Salt to dry brine my turkey last Christmas and it tasted AMAZING. That being said, I wondered how it would taste on regular chicken. I just had to give it a try, right? So I did! It's a little time consuming to prep but on the day you actually get to eat it, it's a breeze to roast. I felt like being lazy, so I just threw in some potatoes and veg and called it a day. One pot meals are awesome, aren't they?


Sage & Bay Salt Roast Chicken with Potatoes & Carrots
(serves 4 - or two very hungry people)

Ingredients:

• 1 small whole chicken (2-3 1/2 pounds)
• Sage & Bay Salt, 3/4 tsp per pound of chicken
• 4 yellow potatoes, cut into bite size pieces
• 1 cup baby carrots
• 1 small onion, quartered
• 6 garlic cloves
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Rinse chicken well and pat dry with paper towels. Rub sage & bay salt all over chicken, depositing more on the thicker parts, like the breast and thighs. Sprinkle and rub a little inside the cavity of the chicken. Place in a large ziplock bag and seal while pressing out as much of the air out of the bag as possible. Marinade for 2 days in the fridge, turning and massaging the chicken once or twice each day.
2. Rinse the dry brine off of chicken and pat dry. Let stand at room temperature 30 minutes prior to roasting.
3. Preheat oven to 475F.
4. Pile veggies and potatoes in the middle of a roasting pan or casserole dish. Season potatoes and veggies with salt and pepper. Drizzle with olive oil and give it a good toss to get everything lightly oiled up. Set aside a handful of veggies.
5. Place chicken breast side up on top of the veggies in the roasting pan. Loosely stuff reserved veggies inside the cavity. Tuck the wing behind the breasts so that they don't burn while roasting.
6. Place roasting pan into the preheated oven and roast chicken for 20 minutes. 
7. After 20 minutes, turn down the temperature to 350F. Continue roasting 20 minutes per pound until cooked thoroughly or until internal thermometer registers 160-165F when jabbed into the deepest part of the leg. (Chicken will continue to cook a little while resting)
8. Take roasting pan out and cover loosely with aluminum foil to let chicken rest for 10-15 minutes.
9. Separate the chicken meat from the bones. Cut meat into bite/manageable sizes. Mix with veggies and  drippings and serve family style. Enjoy!

Oh MAN. I'm never roasting chicken any other way - well maybe with a different brine rub just for funsies. Lol.

You can pour half a cup of water (or chicken stock) on the bottom of the pan before you put it into the oven if you want. That way the veggies at the edge won't burn. Although some of the crispy onion pieces tasted glorious - like onion rings without the batter. 

If you're health conscious, you can remove some of the fat from the chicken drippings before mixing everything together to serve. Depending on how fat your chicken is, it can get pretty oily. I suspect a Free Range chicken would be less oily, but not as tender, obviously.

P.S. You'll notice that one of the chicken legs in the first picture is kind of detached. This is another way of figuring out if your chicken is cooked. If you pull the drumstick and the bone comes straight out clean away from the meat, the chicken is done. This works for turkeys too. :)

P.P.S. Remember to keep the carcass and wing tips to make a stock or congee (rice porridge). I tend to make chicken noodle soup the next day unless I need to make some congee for K; he always gets first dibs. ;)