Veggie soup with quinoa

Trying to duplicate my love with the soup at Season's Harvest Cafe in Cypress.

The only difference was the price.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup cooked quinoa
1 cup zucchini, sliced
1 cup broccoli
1/4 cup red bell pepper, cubed

Direction:

1. Cook your broth with my Chicken Broth recipe or open a can of beef broth. 
2. Boil the ingredients until zucchini and broccoli are tender.
3. Remove from heat and season with sea salt.
4. Ready to serve.

My version is good as their version.

Aromatic Tea Eggs

Egg prices went down recently in Houston. It's time for some delicious, low-cost tea eggs. When I was growing up in Taiwan, my mom made a pot of tea eggs and I could eat 7 of them in a single setting. Why not 8? No one wants to be 王八蛋 - a foul language in Chinese .

I don't add soy sauce to my tea egg recipe. It kills the aromas from tea and spices. Don't add salt until soaking cycle. (step 6)

Mmm... yummy to marble pattern.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 doz of eggs
1/2 cup of green tea leaves
6 star anise (Chinese Five Spices)
2 cinnamon sticks, 3 inch size
8 cups water, depends on the size of your pot (see step 4)

Directions:

1. Boil eggs until hard, about 5 minutes. Don't over boil.
2. Remove from heat. Soak in cool water.
3. Lightly tap the shells with a metal spoon, but not to crack open.
4. Fill water to slightly cover the eggs, put all ingredients in liquid.
5. Heat to boil, then reduce to simmer. Constantly pouring liquid to top the eggs.
6. Cook until egg shells turn brown. 
7. Turn off heat, top the lid and let soak overnight.

Originally posted on Pbase.

Chicken Soup Made of Scraps

It's cold outside. My favorite comfort food is soup. Instead of spending money at the restaurants, I decided to make my own chicken soup. After learning from Ziad at Eatwell Bakery Cafe , I want to try his "nothing but chicken" recipe. Well, I had to clean up my refrigerator last night. I added some other stuff.

I striped this chicken to bones only. I used other parts for entree.

Ingredients:
1 Chicken back and bones from breast part. Don't remove skin. That's for flavoring.
2 Carrots, medium size
1 Celery, stalk
1 Cucumber (I hate to waste a freeze-burnt veggie.)
1/2 Onion
1 piece American Ginseng (optional)
1-3 tbsp Salt, after the soup is done

Procedure:

1. Put everything in the pot and fill with water to cover the ingredients.
2. Set Midea Electrical Pressure Cooker to SOUP setting for 33 minutes.
3. Follow instruction to start the process.
4. When done, release pressure and discard all vegetable solids. 
5. Remove soup and meat from the pot, season with 1 tbsp salt to taste.

Fresh chicken is on sale 58¢ per pound at H-E-B on Beechnut. Time to make some good soup at home and save my money for Houston Rodeo next month.

Low GI Cookies

This is a recipe for healthy and delicious oatmeal raisin cookies with lots of fibers and very low sugar. Great for people watching their A1C and stay on the low Glycemic Index (GI).

The energy you get will be burned from chewing them. 

Ingredients:

7 tbsp soften butter
1 tbsp molasses
5/8 cup Splenda
1 egg
1/2 tsp Vanilla
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/2 cup Quaker oats
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup dried fruits (chopped dates, apricots, etc)

Directions:

1. Cream butter & Splenda in mixing bowl
2. Mix wet ingredients (molasses, egg, vanilla) into bowl
3. Mix dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, cinnamon) into bowl
4. Turn in oats, raisins & dried fruits into bowl
5. Form dough in 1 tbsp measuring spoon
6. Bake at 375° 10-12 min or until golden brown
7. Cool 5 minutes on cookie sheet, remove to cooling plate, after cooling, place in plastic container to store.

Yields 28 cookies @ 3 gram carbs & 6 gram fiber per cookie
Originally posted on Facebook 6/19/10

Fried Honeycomb Tofu

If you don't like the tofu texture, try this easy recipe. Fried frozen tofu with garlic, cilantro and sweet'n'hot dipping sauce makes your dinner appetizer so grand. The Chinese said: 美味無窮!

Fried Honeycombed Tofu adds excitement to your dinner table.

Ingredients:
1 pack hard tofu
3 cups oil for frying

Dipping Sauce:
3 cloves garlic, chopped
6 stems cilantro, chopped
1 cup low sodium soy sauce
Desirable amount of Sriracha

Direction:

1. Cut tofu into pieces of half inch thick.
2. Lay the slices on a clean plate and put them in the freezer overnight.
3. Next day, remove them from the freezer and soak in water.
4. Squeeze out excess water and lay on a layer of paper towel to let dry.
5. Heat oil on medium heat until ready for frying* (about 5 minutes). 
6. Carefully drop the slices into oil. Flip once to have even coverage.
7. Remove from heat when tofu pieces turned light brown.
8. Lay fried tofu on dry paper towel until surface is no longer greasy.
9. Mix the dipping sauce ingredients for dipping or serve with your favorite dipping sauce.

*Ready for Frying: Drop a small piece of tofu. If it dips to the bottom then come right up, it is ready to fry.

Originally posted on Instagram June 15, 2013

Low-Sodium Coleslaw

This is my instant slaw recipe - skipping the marinate.

Got to love it when it's fast. Faster than driving to KFC.

6 cup shredded cabbage
1 tbsp shredded carrot
1 cup mayo
2 tbsp vinegar (prefer apple cider vinegar)
2 tbsp oil
1 tbsp Splenda
1/2 tsp celery salt
Dash of ground pepper

1. Sprinkle celery salt on vegetables and rub until soft.
2. Stand for 10 min
3. Squeeze out excess liquid. (If too salty, rinse with drinking water and squeeze out the liquid.)
4. Mix in other ingredients.
5. Toss well.
6. Refrigerate for an hour or marinate overnight.

Sugar-Free Vietnamese Pickles

If you like the taste of daikon pickle at a Vietnamese restaurant, you could try this recipe without worrying about raising your blood sugar.

Ingredients:
1 cup carrot strips
1 cup daikon strips
1 tbsp salt
2 tbsp Splenda
1 cup vinegar
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 cup water

Refreshing flavor to enjoy at anytime

Directions:

1. Rub the salt on carrot and daikon and let stand for 30 minutes. 
2. Rinse off the salt with drinking water. 
3. Drain completely. 
4. Pour the rest into container 
5. Toss frequently 
6. Ready to serve in 2 hours; better tasting pickles takes overnight

Originally posted on pbase.

Miso Chicken Breast

Ingredients:
1 de-boned chicken breast
1/2 cup Zinfandel
3 tbsp miso paste
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
5 sliced jalapeno

Miso has extra aroma after cooking

Directions:
Marinate all ingredients overnight
Heat oven to 400 degrees.
Bake 20 minutes uncovered.

Stir Fry Chicken Pieces

Ingredients:
One half chicken breast
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp corn starch
2 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
2 cups of cabbage
2 tsp chili sauce
1/2 cup of chicken broth
dash of salt
dash of pepper

I used Huy Fong Chili Garlic Sauce (from the maker of Sriracha) 

1. Cut chicken into bite size.
2. Mix corn starch and soy sauce into chicken piece in a lunch box.
3. Cover and marinate overnight.
4. Cut cabbage into half inch strips.
5. Heat oil in a wok on high heat for a minute. Don't let it scorch.
6. Stir in cabbage. 
7. Coat them with heated oil and stir, stir, stir until slightly transparent.
8. Add chicken broth, salt and pepper.
9. Lower heat to medium high and cook until slightly soft. Don't overcook.
10. Remove from heat and set aside.
11. Use remaining oil and add 1 tbsp oil, if needed.
12. Stir in chicken pieces. 
13. Coat them with heated oil and stir fry until surface changed to white. About 3 minutes.
14. Mix cooked cabbage, hot sauce into the wok. 
15. Stir fry on high heat for about 2 minutes. Sample the chicken pieces, make sure no longer pink inside.
16. Remove from heat. Ready to serve with steam rice.

Technique of stir frying: Coat the ingredients with heated oil and keep stirring until cooked. This will allow meat to be tender and evenly cooked.
I prefer olive oil is because of flavor and healthy benefits. You can use vegetable oil.

My First Jambalaya

Ingredients:
2 drumsticks
3 cups of water
4 oz of fully-cooked Smoked Sausage, about quarter of a ring
8 medium size (26-30) shelled shrimps
A box of Zatarain's Jambalaya Mix
1 tbsp oil

1. Boil chicken legs in water and cook them at medium heat for about half hour or until you see the meat falling off the bones. 
2. Pull the meat apart from the bones. 
3. Set the liquid aside. I'd rather use the juice from boiling chicken to replace water as required.
4. Slice the sausage into thin as possible pieces. 
5. Half the shrimps, make sure you remove the yucky parts.
6. Followed the directions on the box of Zatarain's Jambalaya Mix. 
7. Viola! Jambalaya is served in less than 60 minutes.

I normally use lower sodium version, because I want to taste the meats.
Next up, stir fried chicken pieces using one-half of the chicken breast.

Easy meals in 60 minutes or less.