Easy Microwaved Broccoli with Butter Thyme

I liked the mixed vegetable side dish that was offered at Texas Roadhouse.  It was really simple and crunchy.  So, I tried to create it at home using the microwave.  You can steam yours if you like but for me microwave is easier in this easy dish.  You can omit the salt if you use salted butter and also you can replace the butter with extra virgin olive oil.  When you use olive oil, just make sure you stir and mix the broccoli well with your hands before you put it in the microwave.

This is one easy side dish to serve with your American dinner.  I served with my Chinese dinner with no problem too.  One healthy meal can be grilled chicken with this broccoli, baked sweet potato wedges and a piece of toasted whole wheat bread.

Ingredients:

Broccoli crowns, washed and cut, about 3-4 cups

2 Tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into thin slices (you can add more if you like)

Sprinkle of sea salt/ kosher salt

Touch of black pepper

Dashes of dried thyme
Dashes of garlic powder

Methods:

1.  In a microwave safe plate or dinner plate, place the broccoli on top.  Add slices of butter all over it.  Sprinkle with some salt to taste, touch of black pepper and some dried thyme and garlic powder.

2.  Microwave for 4-5 minutes or according to microwave direction or until the butter is melted and the broccoli is soften but still crunchy.

3.  When you take out of the microwave, give it a quick stir to mix well with the butter sauce.  Season to taste with salt if needed.

Note:  If you use salted butter,  you can probably omit the salt or cut down on the salt.

Salmon Noodle Soup

This noodle soup is almost identical to my Chicken Shells Soup.  The only different is salmon was used and I added red bell peppers.  This is the first time I used salmon in soup and I was impressed at how well it hold it's shape and tastes really good.  Now I have new way of cooking salmon as this gives me an idea of creating other soupy salmon dishes.

I really loved these two types of noodle soup, of course you can use other kind of dried pasta that you have at home.  You can easily cook a big pot and enjoy it for days.  Give it a try and feedback to me ya!

I'm sharing this noodle with Presto Pasta Nights, an event created by Ruth from Once Upon a Feast.  This week host is Daphne from More Than Words! Check out the delicious round up on April, 16th!

Ingredients:

Olive oil

1/2 white/yellow onion, chopped

1 bay leaf

8 grape tomatoes, cut in half
1/4 red bell pepper, thinly sliced or chopped

1 salmon fillet,cut into cubes, marinate with white wine and white pepper

1/2 cup shells 

1/2 cup frozen mixed vegetable

Dash of dried thyme
Dash of dried oregano
Dash of dried parsley

Salt to taste

Black Pepper

Chicken or vegetable stock

Method:

1.  In a medium size saucepan, add in some olive oil, about 1-2 Tbsp.  Add in onion and stir-fry until fragrant.  Add in bay leaf, stir-well.  Add in grape tomatoes and red bell pepper and stir-well.

2.  Add in frozen mixed vegetable and stir well.  Add a little salt to season the ingredients.  Add in chicken or vegetable stock, quite a lot because it is a soup and you want to cook the shell pasta too.

3.  Add in the shell pasta, stir and let it simmer until the pasta is cooked.  When cooked, add in the cubed salmon, carefully stir into the soup, cover and let the salmon cooked, just few minutes.  Uncover and season to taste with dried herbs and black pepper.

4.  Take out the bay leaf before serving.

Chicken Noodle (Shells) Soup

Evy was diagnosed with ear infection recently.  It was her first and since she didn't complain about her ear ache, I had no way to know.  It got worst when her ear infection caused her to have high fever and coughs.  Finally we took her to see her pediatrician because we thought she might have flu or H1N1 because the fever was high like 103.7'F.  Then, it was diagnosed to be ear infection resulted from stuffy nose and caused the high fever because it was already inflamed.  She was given antibiotic for 10 days.  How magical was the antibiotic, just one dose and she was feeling much better.  I gave her the ibuprofen for the fever and pain as well.  Just like the pediatrician said, she would be herself and ready to go to school again.


I thought she was suffering from flu and wanted her to drink more fluid and lighter meal.  So, I created this chicken shells soup for her.  I only had shells pasta at home thus the used of shell pasta.  I added mixed vegetable so that she could have some veggie in her diet.  This will definitely be something I would cook when someone is not feeling well at home.

I'm sharing this noodle with Presto Pasta Nights, an event created by Ruth from Once Upon a Feast.  This week host is Aqua from Served with Love .  Do go and check out her delicious pasta round up tomorrow, March, 19th! 

Ingredients:

Olive oil

1/2 white/yellow onion, chopped

1 bay leaf

8 grape tomatoes, cut in half

1/2 roasted chicken breast (from store), shredded

1/2 cup shells 

1/2 cup frozen mixed vegetable

Italian seasonings

Salt to taste

Black Pepper

Chicken or vegetable stock

Method:

1.  In a medium size saucepan, add in some olive oil, about 1-2 Tbsp.  Add in onion and stir-fry until fragrant.  Add in bay leaf, stir-well.  Add in grape tomatoes and stir-well.

2.  Add in frozen mixed vegetable and shredded chicken breast, stir well.  Add a little salt to season the ingredients.  Add in chicken or vegetable stock, quite a lot because it is a soup and you want to cook the shell pasta too.

3.  Add in the shell pasta, stir and let it simmer until the pasta is cooked.  Season to taste with Italian seasonings and black pepper.

4.  Take out the bay leaf before serving.

Roast Chicken with Garlic and Thymes

I tried a new chicken recipe for my Thanksgiving dinner. This recipe can be done last minute as it doesn't need to be marinated/seasoned before hand. This chicken was fragrant and tasted divine. You can eat the garlic together with the chicken or spread it on bread to enjoy. Remember to place the garlic close and underneath the chicken when baking or else it will be burned and turned rock hard. You can substitute the dried thyme with fresh thyme. Stuff a few inside and sprinkle some cut thyme on the skin.





Ingredients:

1 whole chicken
2 Tbsp. butter, melted
25 cloves of garlic (with skin) toast with some olive oil
1 lemon
Dried Thyme
Kosher salt
Black Pepper

Methods:

1. Clean the chicken, pat it dry with paper towel. Brush the skin with melted butter, any leftover butter, pour it into the chicken cavity or inside the skin.

2. Cut the lemon in half, squeeze half lemon on each side. Stuff half squeezed lemon inside the chicken. Generously sprinkle both sides of chicken with kosher salt, black pepper and some dried thyme. Sprinkle some inside the chicken cavity as well.

3. Preheat the oven to 375'F. Place chicken breasts side up on a aluminum lined baking pan and arrange garlic cloves close to the chicken. Bake for 1 hour 30-45 minutes or until cooked. Rest for 5 minutes before cutting.

Penne Tuna Pasta

Have you tried the pouch tuna? I recently bought some to try because it was on sales and I seriously liked it. No draining required and it was so convenient. It was fairly expensive without the sales so stock up when it goes on sales. Friday noodle/pasta night again and of course I had to think of something to cook. Saw a packet of Penne pasta and pouches of tuna in my pantry and my sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil on my kitchen counter and thought it would make a good combo. I read that tomatoes, mushrooms and Parmesan cheese have naturally occurrence glutamate (amino acid) that said to produce the fifth taste called "umami" by Japanese. No wonder so many people loved to sprinkle Parmesan cheese on their pasta and pizza and love tomato based products and mushroom soup. Parmesan cheese especially has high level of glutamate, so I am wondering if you stay away from MSG (salt form of glutamate), do you stay away from Parmesan cheese too?




Ingredients:

1 (16 oz) Penne Rigate pasta
2 ( 5 oz) pouches premium light tuna in water
1/2 cup frozen corns
4 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
6-8 sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil, chopped
1 stalk of scallion, chopped
Pinch of red pepper flakes (optional)
1/4 cup white wine
Salt, to taste
Pepper medley (or black pepper), to taste

Method:

1. Cook penne rigate as package direction, drain in cold water and set aside.

2. In a sautepan, heat up some olive oil. Add garlic, fry until fragrant. Add frozen corns, pinch of red pepper flakes and sun-dried tomatoes. Fry until mix well.

3. Add tuna, stir-well, white wine and mix in the cooked penne and scallion. Season with salt and pepper. Mix well and fry until hot. Serve.

I'm sharing this noodle with Presto Pasta Nights, an event created by Ruth from Once Upon a Feast. This week host is Ruth herself, do go and check out her delicious round up on Friday, Nov 6th! Thanks!

Pork Chop Dinner

I made some pork chops because I was too lazy to pre-slice the pork for stir-fry. So, I decided to make a western pork chops dinner with the asparagus that I had in the fridge. This was such an easy dinner to prepare because all I did is to marinate the pork chops overnight with my special sauce. The next day I just seared the pork chops in some olive oil on both side and then let it finished cooking in the oven. Sprinkled a little olive oil, some salt and peppers on my asparagus and in the preheated 450'F oven for 15 minutes. I also opened a can of Pillsbury garlic crescent rolls (not in picture) and baked it for 10 minutes and I had myself a complete dinner.

At the end of the dinner, hubby complained not full!! LOL! Actually when he first saw this, he asked, "Where is the rice?" I said, " What rice? No rice, got crescent rolls already, this is a western meal." :P

What surprised me is Evy actually loves pork chop. She asked me yesterday, can you cook this bread that eat with meat and veggie one? I was like what the heck was she talking about? At first I thought she meant roti canai with Jap. curry but she knows the words roti canai and curry so it must be other thing and then I remembered this. True enough, she said she wants to eat pork chop.

Good Old Bowl of Chili

I decided to make a pot of Chili today. It's non-traditional but very easy to make. I don't have a specific measurement simply because I hate to take out the spoon to measure everything. I used pork slices instead of ground pork/beef. Again too lazy to ground the pork with my cleaver. Why Chili? Because it's freezing cold over here and I'm dreaming of a bowl of hot Chili!



First, I browned the pork in extra virgin olive oil. Dish out and set aside. Then, I add in one chopped yellow onion and 2 cloves of chopped garlic. Brown those in the E.V. olive oil, when brown, I pour in 28oz. of whole tomatoes with juice (break it out) and 15oz. of red beans in Chili, add in the pork slices and some water. The seasonings I used were garlic powder, onion powder, cumin powder, paprika powder, cayenne powder, oregano, parsley, a little cane sugar, salt & pepper to taste. Covered and let it simmer at low heat for 2 hours. Serve with shredded cheese and rice on the side.

Note: Add 2 cans of red beans in Chili or any beans you fancy if you like lots of beans.

Easy Thanksgiving Meal 2007

Definitely not a traditional meal at all because we had our Thanksgiving meal a day after. Yup! You heard it right. Why? My hubby lor! Everything was prepared for me to cook for dinner. We were planning to go out for lunch just some where close to our house (Denny's or IHOP) as we did every year. But last second hubby decided to drive to Denver to eat some Chinese food (hoping that nobody called him during that time, oh yeah, he was on-called), so off we went. When we reached Denver, it was like 2+pm and we were served dinner menu. We ordered salt & pepper crab (hubby said less messy to eat), salt and pepper pork ribs and HK kailan in garlic sauce. And we were served with free dessert, green beans sago sweet soup! (Oh wow, like this one I cooked before!). After that, we went to buy some "Ham Chin Pengs" and Fried Glutinous Rice Balls with mung beans filling, large BoBa Yam Milk Drink and headed home. Got home around 5pm and we were still soooo fulled that we decided to skip dinner. So the "Ham Chin Pengs" and Fried Glutinous Rice Balls became our quick dinner. And thus resulted in Thanksgiving meal served on Friday. I can only do this because I didn't have to bake a turkey and no guests to expect. If not, how can? Sharing with you what I intended to cook on Thanksgiving day.


Clockwise from left: Maple Glazed Carrot with Toasted Walnuts, Cut Green Beans with Crispy Shallots, Pan-sealed Chicken Breasts in Sage, Mashed Potatoes.


Serve with yummy Gravy and Toasts spread with toasted garlic in EVOO.



Oh man, this turned out to be so good! Even the two little ones wiped their plates cleaned. I was really surprised at little Edda, she even asked for second helping of carrots and green beans!! Not very traditional without the Turkey but hubby said no turkey, I guess he wouldn't want to eat the leftover for days.

I cooked my carrots, green beans and potatoes in Swanson 100% fat free and zero MSG chicken stock before adding other stuff to it, thus making it more flavorful. I didn't want to make my usual Sweet Potatoes Pie because I still have cupcakes and Tiramisu in the fridge. Really don't want to overeat my sweet so decided to postpone it.

Breakfast for Lunch

Once in a while I would cook breakfast for lunch. I called this my sinful lunch because it has one fried whole egg, a cheese, 2 slices of Canadian bacons and English muffin slab with butter and then pan fried in a pan ! So sinful right? I think I tried to make myself feel better by buying the whole grain English muffin...*wink*...Anything whole grain or whole wheat sounds so much better for us, makes it sounds healthier.

This is for Evy, drizzled with Ketcup!


This is for myself, top with Lingham chili sauce. Oh soooo good!

BBQ Ribs

My experiment with oven BBQ ribs:

Cut the slab into half and rub it with spice rub. Put it in the disposable aluminum tin and let it marinate for at least 2 hours in the refrigerator, covered.

Then, bake in 300'F oven covered with foil for 3 hours. After that, take it out and spread it with your favorite BBQ sauce and bake uncovered for an additional 1 hour. When done, broil in 500'F oven for 5 minutes. Spread the top of the ribs with additional BBQ sauce or dripping from the pan before serving.

Verdict: Surprisingly tender and moist, but not fall off the bone soft.



Spice Rub Recipe from Test Kitchen:

1 Tbsp + 1/2 tsp. paprika
1 1/2 tsp. chili powder
1 3/4 tsp. cumin
1 1/2 tsp. brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
3/4 tsp. dried oregano
3/4 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. white pepper
1/2 tsp. cayenne

Western Dinner Night

Not sure about you, but as for me sometimes I do long for some western meal instead of the usual chinese afair. One thing though my hubby prefers chinese anytime since his first comment while seeing what's on the table was, "Why do you have to cook all these weird dishes?". Yes! Anything not chinese/asian is considered weird to him. I actually knew this was coming but I went ahead and cooked these because I have a craving for green bean casserole and some mashed sweet potatoes. Haha... too bad for him!

Baked Cornish Hens with spices and dried Rosemary

Traditional Green Bean Casserole (recipe found on web)

Mashed Sweet Potatoes

I actually cooked some fried rice this afternoon for his lunch box the next day (since I know he won't want a western meal lunch box) , nothing special just a simply "hamtam" what's in the fridge fried rice and his comment when he saw the lunch box was, "Wow, got fried rice to eat, yummy!". He would prefer white rice and simple eggs with chai por over the above anytime. Another of his favorite is pan-fried luncheon meat and fried eggs with white rice! Very chinese right? Anyone hubby is like that?

Seafood Gumbo

I have some brats left from the July 4th BBQ, so I thought I will make gumbo out of it. This is my first time making a gumbo and I used Paula Deen's Savannah Seafood Gumbo recipe. It has good reviews and I have most of the ingredients so I gave this a try.



This is half of Paula Deen recipe since it's only two of us. Still yield 4 servings.

Ingredients:

1/8 cup oil
3 Tbp. all-purpose flour
(A)
1 cup onion, chopped
1/2 cup green bell pepper, chopped (I used red)
1/2 cup celery, diced (I didn't have this)
2 large garlic cloves, minced
(B)
2 cup chicken broth
1/2 Tbp. Chicken base (I used chicken granules)
(C)
1 1/2 cup water
1 bay leaf
3/4 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 tsp. dried basil
1/6 cup dried parsley
1/2 tsp. lemon pepper
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 tsp. House Seasoning {consisted of 1 cup salt + 1/4 cup black pepper + 1/4 cup garlic powder} ( I just sprinkled some salt, black pepper and garlic powder)
1 Tbp. worcestershire sauce
1/2 can (14.5 ounce) diced tomatoes or 1 cup fresh diced tomatoes
(D)
2 cup sliced Cajun-Style fresh link sausage, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (I used brats)
2 cup cut okra (fresh or frozen)
(E)
1 cup oysters & liquid (I omitted this)
1/4 pound crabmeat (I omitted this)
3/4 pound fresh peeled shrimps
1 1/2 cup bay scallops

File powder (for thickening) (I omitted this)

Method:

1. In a large pot, combine oil and flour. Cook over medium heat stirring constantly until the roux has browned to a light chocolate color.

2. Add (A), saute for 2-3 mins, stirring constantly. Slowly add (B), stirring as you go. Add (C).

3. Add (D). Cover pot and let it simmer for 1-1.5 hour (I simmer for 1 hour, but if it's all seafood, 30-45 mins would do, so that the okra can still be in pieces.), stirring occasionally. Add (E). Simmer for an additional 15 mins. Serve over hot rice.

4. Sprinkle file powder on individual bowl, stir in before serving (Find this unnecessary as it was thick enough).

My Note:

It's actually a very good recipe, quite delicious. But next time I will omit the sausage and add chicken breasts instead. No oyster because hubby won't touch it. Will substitute the House seasoning with Old Bay seasoning. More okra would be nice too, since I love veggie. Definitely would make this again.

Simple Thanksgiving Dinner for Two

As the title said, it's simple and quick to prepare. As most of you probably know, I'm lazy when come into preparing an elaborate meal especially just for the two of us. So, I had been cracking my head of what to cook on Thanksgiving night that's super easy to make.

I bought some brussel sprouts since it was on sales and I remembered watching Ina Garten (Barefoot Contessa) baked her brussel sprouts and according to her, crunchy on the outside but soft on the inside. So, I got to try it. Bought some baking potatoes too so why not baked it together with the brussel sprouts right. And I got the idea of pan-frying the turkey breasts from Rachael Ray (30 Minutes Meal), quick and easy. I cut my turkey breast thinly into slices so it's faster to cook compared to the whole turkey breast.

Baked Brussel Sprouts:

Preheat the oven to 400'F. Line a baking pan with aluminium foil and spread the washed and trimmed brussel sprouts on top. Sprinkle with EVOO, a generous amount of salt and freshly ground black peppers. Coat and mix everything together with your hands. Baked for 20-25 mins.

Potato Wedges:

Washed the skin of potatoes until clean. Cut and quarter the potato into wedges. Again spead it on aluminium foil covered baking pan. Sprinkle with EVOO, salt, black peppers, paprika and garlic powder. Mixed everything together with your hands. Baked in preheated 400'F oven for 20-25 mins. Turned the potato wedges over half way through baking.

Pan-Fried Turkey Breasts: (you can substitute it with chicken breasts)

Sprinkle the thinly sliced turkey breasts with EVOO, sage powder, salt, black pepper and garlic powder on both sides. Heat a frying pan with a little EVOO and pan-fry the turkey breasts until cooked. Do not overcook the turkey breasts as it will turn hard and dry. Take out the cooked turkey and place on a plate. Pour some white wine (that you drink) to deglaze the pan (or as the cook called it, to get all the good stuff out). When thicken add about 1 Tbp. or 2 Tbp. of butter into the sauce. Stir until the butter melted. Now, pour the sauce over the turkey breasts to serve.

Roast Herbs Chicken

Ingredients

1 whole chicken
Salt to taste

(A)
sage powder
dried sage herbs (can omit if you don't have it)
dried rosemary
garlic powder
extra virgin olive oil


Steps

1. Rub the salt all over the chicken, under the skin and in the cavity.

2. In a bowl, add (A) together and mixed well.

3. Next, use a brush to brush (A) mixture all over the chicken, under the skin and in the cavity. Place the chicken on a wire rack or a roasting rack.

4. Bake in preheated 350'F oven for 1 hour & 45 mins or until the thermometer inserted in the thigh area registered 180'F. Cool for 10 mins before chopping into pieces.