Chicken Cobb Salad

It's almost summer, so that means more salads! I swear it's the only time when I actually crave salads and can eat them without a grimace. This one is pretty darn good too. And filling. Until I realize I'm missing carbs. You see...I have a problem; if there aren't a lot of carbs in a meal, I'll believe I'm hungry until I eat a lot of carbs. But at least now I'm mixing in brown rice, red rice and black rice in with my Jasmine rice so it's healthier. :D

Anywho, this is an awesome salad. Definitely one of the staples we're going to have more often of.


Chicken Cobb Salad
(serves 4)

Ingredients:

• 2 boneless and skinless chicken breasts
• 2 medium avocados, diced
• 1 341ml (12oz) can of corn niblets
• 2 medium tomatoes, diced
• 1 cup cooked black beans
• 4 slices of bacon, diced
• 2 romaine lettuce hearts, rinsed and chopped
• 4 eggs, hard boil and diced/chopped
• 4 green onion stalks, finely diced
• 1/2 - 1 cup ranch dressing
• Salt & pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. In a skillet, cook bacon over medium high heat until crisp. Remove from pan to a paper towel lined plate. Set aside.
2. Season both sides of the chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Brown in the skillet with the bacon fat. Cook for about 6-7 minutes each side until nicely browned on both sides and cooked through in the middle.
3. Meanwhile, divide romaine lettuce into 4 large bowls (or plates). Divide avocados, corn, tomatoes, black beans and eggs and arrange on top of the lettuce, leaving space for the chicken.
4. Once chicken is cooked, let it rest for 5 minutes before chopping into bite size pieces. Divide and add to the salad.
5. Sprinkle the bacon bits and green onions on top of salad.
6. Drizzle with ranch dressing and add salt and pepper to taste.
7. Serve alone or with garlic bread.

Saucy Sliced Beef with Peppers & Onions

I feel like this is from a Chinese restaurant, only it's not nearly as unhealthy as the ones you'd eat at Chinese restaurants. Or maybe it is! I don't know. I just know that I didn't use that much oil. Lol.

I really liked this. It was hearty and yummy. Very homey feeling to it. My fave kind of food. ;)


Saucy Sliced Beef with Peppers & Onions
(serves 4-6)

Ingredients:

• 1 lb flank steak, cut into stir fry strips (see note)
• 2 medium bell peppers, chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 green onion stalks, chopped into 1 inch long pieces and/or diced
• 1/3 cup water
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 Tbsps cornstarch, divided
• 1 Tbsp Hoisin sauce
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 5 slices of ginger
• 1 Tbsp canola oil
• 1 tsp sesame oil

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, mix 1 1/2 tablespoon of cornstarch with the beef. Let it sit for about 15 minutes.
2. Heat a wok over high heat. Add canola oil and wait for it to shimmer. Add beef and let it start browning for a minute. Once the beef can be moved easily without ripping any meat, toss in ginger and garlic. Stir for a few seconds until garlic gets fragrant. 
3. Stir in peppers, onions, Hoisin sauce, sugar and soy sauce. Cook for a few seconds while you make the slurry.
4. In a small bowl, make a slurry out of the water and remaining cornstarch. Pour into the wok and mix well.
5. Cover and let it cook until the peppers and onions are tender. Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary.
6. Turn off heat. Mix in green onions and sesame oil.
7. Serve with rice and soup.

Note: Cut the steak along the grain into 2 inch wide slabs. Then position the flank so that the grain is perpendicular to you. Using a sharp knife, cut against the grain on a bias (45 degrees) into strips that you'd see in Chinese restaurant stir fries.

Sweet & Spicy Mango Chicken

I've had mango chicken before, but it tasted a little weird. I'm not sure how I feel about mangoes with chicken. But this one was pretty good. It's more sweet and spicy than mango-y though. Maybe I just needed to add more? I DID add a lot of other stuff :P


Sweet & Spicy Mango Chicken
(serves 4-6)

Ingredients:

• 1 mango, peeled, pitted and cut into 2 inch long strips
• 2 bell peppers, thinly sliced
• 1 small onion, thinly sliced
• 4 slices ginger
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 boneless and skinless chicken breasts, cubed
• Salt & pepper, to taste
• 1 tsp cornstarch
• 3 Tbsps Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp Sriracha
• 1 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1 green onion, cut into 2 inch long strips
• 1 Tbsp canola oil

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, combine chicken with cornstarch and a pinch each of salt and pepper. Marinate for 10-15 minutes.
2. Heat up a wok over high heat. Add canola oil. It should start shimmering. Add chicken breast.
3. Once chicken starts turning opaque on one side, stir around. Add in ginger, garlic, peppers and onions. Toss around until the onions start to soften.
4. Stir in mango strips, ketchup, sugar, Sriracha and soy sauce until everything is well coated in sauce. At this time, if you want your dish to be really saucy, add about 1/4 cup of water.
5. Cover with a lid and cook until chicken is cooked through and veggies are tender crisp.
6. Adjust seasonings if needed. Stir in green onions.
7. Serve with rice and soup.

Spicy Cucumber Salad

Cucumbers are awesome as a side in the summer when you're having some sort of Asian dinner with rice and some stir fries or whatever. It's refreshing and so good for you if you've had a lot of deep fried junk like how I normally do in the summers. :P


Spicy Cucumber Salad
(serves 2-4 as a side dish)

Ingredients:

• 1 English cucumber, diced
• 1/2 tsp garlic chili
• 2 Tbsps white vinegar
• 2 Tbsps soy sauce
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• Salt

Directions:

1. Place the cucumbers into a small mixing bowl. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and let it sit for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, squeeze out as much of the cucumber juice as possible and return back to the bowl.
2. Add garlic chili, vinegar, soy sauce and sesame oil. Toss until well coated.
3. Let the cucumbers marinate in the sauce for 15 minutes before serving.
4. Serve as a side with rice and another okazu, or alone.

Bean Sprout Salad

This is so simple yet it's so yummy to eat as a side with rice and some sort of protein (stir fry, stew, anything Asian, etc.).

K actually likes to eat it on its own. He uses his fingers to pick up everything. He's going through a phase where he likes to use his hands instead of a fork or spoon. OH WELL. Hopefully it'll end soon :P


Bean Sprout Salad
(serves 4-6 as a small side)

Ingredients:

• 1 lb bean sprouts, rinsed
• 1 English cucumber, sliced into matchsticks
• 1 green onion, finely diced
• 2 tsps sesame oil
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• Salt
• Sesame seeds (optional)

Directions:

1. In a medium mixing bowl, toss cucumbers with a pinch of salt. Set aside for 5 minutes. 
2. Meanwhile, bring a pot of water to boil. Blanch bean sprouts. Rinse under cold water and squeeze out as much water as possible. 
3. Add bean sprouts to cucumbers. Mix in green onion, sesame oil and garlic. Taste and add more salt if needed.
4. (Optional) top with sesame seeds. 
5. Serve with rice and some sort of Asian okazu or alone.

Fish Tofu & Veggies Stir Fry

There's nothing quite like a simple stir fry to stretch your protein. In this case, it's a half pound of fish tofu. Okay, fine. So fish tofu doesn't really have that much protein, but still. It's protein-ish? Meh, you can always just sub the fish tofu with any protein. Chicken or pork slices are always my go to (marinated with soy sauce, sugar, cornstarch and oil). It's what I grew up with...but I think fish slices would go nicely too. Just gotta brown them, take them out and then add them back in at the end so that it's not overcooked.

To make this totally vegetarian, just add some marinated firm tofu and you're good to go. :D


Fish Tofu & Veggies Stir Fry
(serves 4-6)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup toasted/roast cashews
• 1/2 - 1 lb fish tofu, sliced (or 1 marinated chicken breast, sliced/1 package marinated tofu, cubed/ 1/2 - 1 lb marinated pork tenderloin, sliced; etc.)
• 1 small onion, thinly sliced
• 2 medium carrots, thinly sliced
• 3 celery ribs, thinly sliced
• 3-5 slices ginger
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1 green onion, cut into 2 inch long pieces, white parts separated from green parts
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp canola oil

Directions:

1. Heat up a wok over high heat. If your cashews aren't roasted, toast them in the dry wok and then set aside in a clean bowl.
2. Add oil and let it heat up until the oil shimmers. Add in ginger, garlic and white parts of the green onion. Cook until fragrant.
3. Add protein and cook until lightly browned.
4. Toss in onions, carrots, celery, salt, sugar and soy sauce. Mix well. Cover and cook until protein is cooked through and veggies are tender crisp.
5. Stir in green parts of the green onion. Transfer everything onto a serving dish. Top with toasted/roast cashews.
6. Serve with rice and soup.

Stir Fry Eggplant with Minced Meat

So I love eggplant when it's stir fried or deep fried. I just love it. Hubby can't stand it so I almost never have it unless we're out at a restaurant. This is probably only the second time I've bought eggplant to cook at home. I'm so glad I did. This was so yummy.

I made it spicy just cuz I'm just in love with this garlic chili that I bought on a whim from the grocery store a while back. If I don't have any chilies at home, I just use this. It's crazy spicy and SO GOOD. Probably cuz we love garlic so much in our household...I dare say that it's better than Sriracha for stir fries and that sort of thing. Anything that requires a dipping sauce or something like that, Sriracha is still king. ;)

Honestly, you can turn this into a vegetarian dish if you don't add the meat. It doesn't really matter whether you do it or not. I just don't like making too many different dishes at night (read: lazy) so I add the meat to ensure I get some protein. :P


Stir Fry Eggplant with Minced Meat
(serves 2)

Ingredients:

• 1 medium Chinese eggplant (about 8-10 inches in length), cut in half lengthwise and then 1/2 inch half moons or into 2 inch long strips
• 1/4 lb lean ground pork
• 3 Tbsps soy sauce, divided
• 3 tsps canola oil, divided
• 2 tsps cornstarch, divided
• 1 tsp sugar, divided
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 inch knob of ginger, cut into slivers
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 tsp oyster sauce
• 1/4 tsp garlic chili
• 1 green onion, finely diced

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, marinate the pork with 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, 1 teaspoon of canola oil, 1 teaspoon of cornstarch and 1/2 teaspoon of sugar for about 15 minutes.
2. Heat up remaining oil in a wok over medium high heat. Swirl it around so that all the sides are coated with a thin later of oil. Add marinated pork and cook until browned. Add in eggplant, garlic, ginger and cook until eggplant starts softening.
3. Stir in oyster sauce, remaining sugar, remaining soy sauce and garlic chili. Toss until well coated.
4. In a small bowl or cup, make a slurry out of the remaining cornstarch and water. Add to the wok and toss. Cover the wok and cook until eggplant is fully cooked.
5. Turn off the heat and toss in green onions.
6. Serve with rice.

Garlicky Celery

You know how if you go to Korean restaurants and order certain dishes, there'll be little side dishes to go with the meal? Apparently if you order some set meals from Taiwanese restaurants, you can sometimes get these small side dishes too.

One day I got this cold garlicky celery side dish with my beef curry and rice meal. It was very cool so I decided to so it at home. It's crazy easy and an easy way to add more veggies to a meal. I dare say that it's even an easy way to use up any uncooked Chinese veggies (aka choy) leftover. Although I'd probably cut up any choy into bite size pieces so I can just have it as a snack. :D

Garlicky Celery
(serves 2-3)

Ingredients:

• 4 celery stalks, sliced into 1/8 of an inch thick pieces
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tsp canola oil
• Salt, to taste
• Water (optional)

Directions:

1. In a medium nonstick pan, heat up oil over medium high heat. Add in celery and cook for about a minute or until the celery starts softening a bit.
2. Add in garlic and cook until garlic is fragrant and celery is tender crisp. Season with salt. Add a tablespoon of water if needed to prevent celery from browning.
3. Serve hot as a side or chill in the fridge for an hour or so and serve cold as a side.

Black Bean Salad

You know, I cannot believe I haven't made a post about this recipe yet. This is one of the salads that I make every summer because Hubby and I both love it so much. It's stupid easy and filling. It's better with the lemon juice (or even lime juice) but we don't always use it if we don't have it. It still tastes good but the acid from the lemon/lime juice really makes the salad scrumptious. :)


Black Bean Salad
(serves 4-6)

Ingredients:

• 1 540ml (19oz) can of black beans, rinsed & drained
• 1 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, halved (or 2 medium tomatoes, chopped)
• 1 311g (11oz) can of corn niblets, rinsed and drained
• 2 green onion stalks, finely diced
• 2 small or medium avocados, chopped
• 2 Tbsps garlic infused extra virgin olive oil
• Juice of half a lemon or lime
• Salt, to taste

Directions:

1. In a medium mixing bowl, toss everything, except the avocado, and a pinch of salt together. Season with more salt if necessary. Just before serving, toss in avocado chunks.
2. Serve with grilled chicken or steak.

Tomato Fish Stew

Never would I have thought to make a fish stew. I was actually going to make a chowder with all this snapper that I got from Costco. But then I saw "stew" and thought "oh why not?"

I gotta say...this isn't bad. It tastes especially yummy over Brown Rice and Beans. I had it the next day for lunch and it wasn't fishy either. SCORE! :D


Tomato Fish Stew
(serves 4)

Ingredients:

• 6 snapper filet, quartered into strips (about 2 lbs)
• 2 medium tomatoes, chopped
• 1 small onion, sliced
• 1 tsp dried thyme (or 1 spring of fresh thyme)
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 inch knob of ginger, minced
• 1 Tbsp fish sauce
• 1/3 cup water
• Salt & pepper, to taste
• 2 Tbsps virgin olive oil, divided

Directions:

1. Heat up 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium high heat in a large sauce pan. Season the fish strips with salt and pepper. Pan fry the strips until golden brown on both sides. Transfer to a plate.
2. Heat up remaining olive oil in the pan. Toss in onions, tomatoes, thyme, garlic, ginger and fish sauce. Cook until onions and tomatoes have softened. Add in water. Return fish to the pan. Cover and simmer for 3-5 minutes, until the fish is cooked through.
3. Serve over Brown Rice and Beans (or just rice).

Stir Fried Snow Pea Leaves with Prawns

This is really just another variation of my Garlic Stir Fried Snow Pea Leaves. I had some and needed a very quick lunch. K really liked the prawns but I had to shovel it down quickly so he wouldn't be able to eat much. Not that I'm trying to starve my kid, but he's pretty sensitive to shellfish, so it's just best if he doesn't have too much of it.


Stir Fried Snow Pea Leaves with Prawns
(serves 4-6)

Ingredients:

• 1 lb snow pea leaves, rinsed
• 1/2 lb medium prawns, shelled & deveined
• 1 red hot chili, finely diced
• 2-4 ginger slices
• 3-4 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 Tbsps canola oil
• Salt, to taste

Directions:

1. Heat a wok over high heat until smoking hot. Add canola oil. Once the oil is shimmering, quickly drop in the ginger slices, garlic & chili. Cook until fragrant.
2. Toss in prawns and cook until just starting to turn opaque.
3. Add in the snow pea leaves, turning over as you add more. Keep turning and mixing until about 2/3 of the leaves are all wilted. Season with salt. Cover with lid and cook for 3-4 minutes or until all the leaves have wilted. 
4. Serve with rice (and a protein side dish if you need more protein).

Garlic Stir Fried Snow Pea Leaves

This is one of my favourite veggie dishes to order when in Chinese restaurants. It's stupid easy to make but tastes really good. Hubby typically will eat all the garlic so I don't bother mincing it up. There's no point! the only "bad" thing is that you kinda need to use a lot of oil. Or at least a lot more than you'd normally use. But who cares...it's not like I have this very often. ;)

These leaves are like spinach in that they will take up so much space when raw, but if you cook them, they'll wilt so much. So make sure you're cooking enough!


Garlic Stir Fried Snow Pea Leaves
(serves 4-6)

Ingredients:

• 1 lb snow pea leaves, rinsed
• 2-4 ginger slices
• 3-4 garlic cloves
• 2 Tbsps canola oil
• Salt, to taste

Directions:

1. Heat a wok over high heat until smoking hot. Add canola oil. Once the oil is shimmering, quickly drop in the ginger slices and garlic cloves. Cook until fragrant.
2. Add in the snow pea leaves, turning over as you add more. Keep turning and mixing until about 2/3 of the leaves are all wilted. Season with salt. Cover with lid and cook for 3-4 minutes or until all the leaves have wilted. 
3. Serve with rice and a protein side dish.

Brussels Sprouts & Bacon

People are weird. Or maybe I'm the weird one. Yes, I'm sure that's it. But I love brussels sprouts. Sure they've got a cabbage-y taste. But that's really what they are - tiny cabbages. They're even better when deep fried and sprinkled with Parmesan. Yum. I don't deep fry stuff at home, so I'll go out for that.

In any case, I made some brussels sprouts with bacon for Thanksgiving. I think it was a hit. At least people ate it. So that's a win, for sure.


Brussels Sprouts & Bacon
(serves 12-14)

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs brussels sprouts, washed and cut into halves
• 1 lb bacon, chopped
• Juice of one lemon
• Salt & pepper, to taste
• Water

Directions:

1. In a large pot or Dutch oven, throw in the chopped bacon and cook on medium heat until bacon bits are crispy. Transfer bacon bits onto a towel lined bowl or plate. Set aside.
2. Drain off all but 1/4 cup of bacon grease and return pot to the stove. Turn the stove up to medium high and add brussels sprouts. Cook, stirring occasionally, until they're tender crisp (about 10 minutes). Season with lots of salt and pepper.
3. Take the pot off the stove, or just turn off the heat. Mix in bacon bits and lemon juice.

I like to dump my bacon into a cold pot and then turn on the heat. Starting with a cold pot ensures that I'm not gonna get splashed with grease the moment raw fat touches a hot surface. You can also add a splash of water to start the cooking process.

Ratatouille

I watched the movie and was intrigued. But never did make any. But then I had this zucchini in the fridge and didn't have any ideas on what to do with it...Well, that's not true. I had wanted to make zucchini bread for K but was too lazy. I did have to use it up before it starts going bad, so I got some eggplant (on sale and should've gotten more) and mushrooms (also on sale!) to make ratatouille. It's always so exciting making something new. Exciting and scary since I gotta make sure that Hubby will actually eat it. And he did! He likes it. In fact, we all liked it. :)

We can't understand how it can be a meal though. It definitely needs some sort of protein with it. But that's probably cuz we love our meat so much. Although it did taste better the next day, so I can see why people would be able to eat it by itself the next day. :P


Ratatouille
(serves 4-6)

Ingredients:

• 1 large zucchini, chopped
• 1 large eggplant, chopped
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 lb mushrooms, chopped
• 1 796ml (28oz) can of diced tomatoes
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tsp dried sage (or 1 Tbsp fresh)
• 1 tsp dried thyme (or 1 Tbsp fresh)
• 1 tsp sugar
• Salt & pepper, to taste
• 2 Tbsps extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

1. In a large pot or dutch oven, heat oil on medium high heat. Add in onions, garlic and mushrooms. Cook until garlic is fragrant and onions start to soften. 
2. Add in zucchini and eggplant. Season with salt, pepper, sage and thyme. Cook until eggplant starts turning colour. 
3. Stir in the can of tomatoes and sugar. Mix well. Bring to a boil and then lower heat to simmer for 30 minutes, covered. Season with more salt and pepper, if needed.
4. Serve alone or with a protein.