Easy Mints Pesto

Mints are paring well with lamb and pork. Mints are easy to grow, and the benefit of having mints in the garden is priceless. Mints, cucumbers, and ginger in water is a healthy drink for summer. This water combination can be drunk every morning to detox the body, according to Indian medicine. I love mints, so in my garden I have a lot of different kinds of mints. Today, I will introduce an easy recipe for pesto using mints and parsley. I know most pestos have pine nuts and cheese. For my family’s diet, I use almonds or other kinds of nuts that are available to me. I omit the cheese because of my family’s diet. Here it is, this pesto will save time preparing simple baked fish fillets. For advancing the recipe, this pesto can be used as the sauce to prepare the potato-mushroom pizza.

Ingredients:
1 cup packed mints leaves
1/3 cup flat-leaf parsley
3 scallions, green part only, sliced
1 shallot, chopped
Zest of one lemon and juice
1/2 cup olive oil
Salt to taste and pepper
Cayenne pepper (optional)
1/4 cup almond (your choice of nuts)

Directions:
Place all the ingredients in a food processor except the oil and blend well. As the machine is running; add oil slowly. Store the mixture in a jar with lid in the refrigerator for up to one week.

 

Basic Bread Pudding

People always ask a question about how do they use the stale sweet bread. I like to prepare bread pudding with stale sweet bread. This simple bread pudding is best to have for breakfast. This is a basic bread pudding, but for enhancing the recipe, use other toppings such as, powdered sugar, cream cheese, vanilla sauce, etc.. For me a piece of simple bread pudding in the morning is heaven!!

Ingredients:
4 cups cubed stale sweet bread
1 cup milk
4 tbs butter
1/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tbs vanilla
1 tsp ground cinnamon or pumpkin spice

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°.*
Heat milk and 3 tbs of butter in a microwave until the butter has melted. Let cool for 2 minutes.
In a mixing bowl, combine eggs, sugar, and vanilla. Whisk well.

Add the milk mixture to the egg mixture. Add bread cubes into the mixture and mix well. Pour into a baking dish.

Dot the surface with the last 1 tbs butter and bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

*Note: I highly recommend purchasing a NuWave® oven because it will reduce cooking and baking time for most recipes. Inserted fry summation Mark!

Stir-Fried Vemicelli with Crabs

Last week, my niece visited me, and she bought some crabs from Pike Place market in Seattle.  I had some crabs left over after she left. The quantity of the crabs was just enough to make a stir-fried noodles dish for two. This is a quick and easy recipe to please everyone. If it is hard to find live crabs, the crabs that are sold at Costco is what I always use. The same recipe can be made with shrimp or squid as well. I like this dish because the noodles made from mung bean starch or sweet potato starch is healthy. The kind of vegetables is the choice of each cook. I use what I had in my refrigerator. This recipe also can prepared for vegans too.

Ingredients:
2 bunches of vermicelli
1 to 2 cups cooked crabs
1/4 cup oil*
3 garlic cloves, mined
1 shallot, thinly sliced
1 handful of bean sprouts
1 carrot, peeled and julienned
1/2 celery, julienned
1/2 red or yellow bell pepper, julienned
1/2 white onion, sliced
1 piece dry fungus, soaked in water for 20 minutes and julienned
2 green onions, cut into 2 inch lengths
Seasoning ingredients:
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 tsp chicken seasoning or mushroom
Other ingredients:
Soy sauce

Directions:
Prepare the vegetables and set aside.
Mix the seasoning in a small bowl.
Heat oil in a wok and add shallot and garlic. Stir on low heat until fragrant. Pour the garlic-shallot oil in a glass bowl.

Bring a pot of water to boil. Add salt and 1 tbs of oil. Stir in vermicelli and bring back to boil. Stir and cook for less than 1 minute. Submerge in cold water and drain.

Place noodles in a medium size bowl and add 1/3 of the garlic-shallot oil and 1/3 of the seasoning. Mix well.

In the same wok, add some garlic-shallot oil. Add crabs and stir for 1 minute. Add some seasoning to crabs; Remove from wok.

Add some garlic-shallot oil into a wok. Start to cook carrot for a few minutes.

 Then add the fungus, celery, and bell pepper.  Stir and cook each vegetable until tender. Add the seasoning to the vegetables.  Let cook for 3 minutes.

Return the noodles and crabs to the vegetables. Make a quick stir to combine.

Add the bean sprouts and adjust the seasoning at this point with soy sauce. Add the green onions and serve.

 

* you might not use all the oil and it can be kept in refrigerator for weeks to use for other dishes

Stir-Fried, Blood Pressure Lowering, Eggplant Dish

Do you know the names of foods that lower blood pressure? They are eggplant, tomatoes, and fruits, such as bananas. So today, I will introduce a simple stir-fried eggplant dish with ground chicken. This is an easy recipe with just a few ingredients that offers a full range of nutrients needed daily. Moreover, eggplant with tomatoes dishes will help lower blood pressure and provide an excellent meal.
 
 Ingredients:
12 oz. ground chicken
1 eggplant, cut into 1 inch chunks
2 tomatoes, cut into wedges
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 shallots, chopped
Sauce ingredients:
1/2 cup vegetable broth or water
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbs soy sauce 
2 tsp honey
1 tsp oyster sauce
Black pepper
 
Garnish with chopped cilantro and green onions
 
Directions:
Soak eggplant in a bowl filled with water and some salt for 30 minutes and then drained.

Heat oil in a wok. Add shallots. Stir for 1 minute and add ground chicken and garlic.

Cook until the meat is no longer pink. Then add eggplant.

 Stir for 2 minute and then add sauce. Bring to boil and add tomato.

Cook until eggplant and tomato are tender.

Adjust seasoning at this point. Add more soy sauce or salt. Place on a serving plate and sprinkle with cilantro and green onions. Serve hot.

 

What Is Better?

*There is a saying that there is nothing in life that can be more beautiful than the images of a boy and girl clutching hands with pure hearts filled with love and getting married together. What is better than the love of youth? The answer is that there is still one more thing, and that is the image of the couple when they are near the end of the journey of life when there hands are trembling but are still clenched and their faces full of wrinkles but are still radiant with the faith of love. Even though their hearts are old and tired, they still hear the beating of love and devotion to each other. Yes, in this life is still a beautiful love and love that exists even when the youth has been taken away by time. An eternal love grows over the years and will forever exist in the beating of two loving hearts. Congratulations to all of you who love, are loved, and still love your life partner forever.

Black-Eyed Peas Congee (Chè đậu trắng)

Of the many desserts in Vietnam, the black-eyed peas congee is one of the dishes I enjoyed. Normally, this recipe requires quite a long cooking process due to the part of cooking the black-eyed peas first. Lately, when I discovered that I can use black-eyed peas in a can, it has become heaven for me every time I want to prepare this dessert. Carefully read the label on the black-eyed peas can to ensure there are no spices, just salt and water. Also, I learned making this dessert in a rice cooker is another wonderful shortcut method.  I haven't told all my friends or family members just yet about the shortcut because I would like them to think that I have to spend all day making this dessert. With this simple cooking method, I do not have to stand by the stove and stir constantly to prevent the sweet congee from burning. For this recipe, I believe that the porridge will be very special, and if you do not tell people how you cooked it, they will feel that you are very precious to them.


Ingredients:
1/2 cup sweet rice, rinsed and drained
1 can black-eyed peas, rinsed and drained

1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups water
1/4 tsp salt
A rice cooker
Coconut cream for the topping and roasted sesame seeds


Directions:
Place black-eyed peas on the bottom. Then add sugar, sweet rice, and salt and vanilla. 

 

 

 If you can find the fresh pandan leaves for this recipe, then omit the vanilla. Put the pandan leaves on top. Add water and close the lid. Turn to cook like making rice. Let it cook. The sweet congee is done when the cooking time is set.

 

 

 

 

Serve with coconut cream and sprinkle with some roasted sesame seeds.
*To make coconut cream:
 1 cup coconut milk or cream
1/2 cup water
3 tbs sugar
Pinch of salt
2 tsp vanilla (or pandian leaves)
2 tsp cornstarch
Directions:
Combine all the coconut cream ingredients (If you can get some fresh pandian leaves, they will be better. Just proceed with pandian leaves and omit the vanilla) in a bowl and mix well.

Pour into a saucepan and bring to boil. Simmer for a few minutes or until thickened

 

Kale and Quinoa Minestrone

I spent 10 days in California with my family, and I realized that most of my family members are not eating healthy. They are busy at work; meals are not planned well. I am back home now and back to my kitchen with my routine of eating healthy foods. Today, I will introduce a quick healthy soup, which is very easy to prepare. Cool soup in an airtight container can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or in the freezer up to 6 months. I love to make soup because frozen  soup can be thawed overnight in the refrigerator and warmed up for quick a meal. Kale and quinoa are healthy ingredients as study after study indicates that vegetables and grains will keep weight in check. It is easier to add vegetables into our daily diet.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup quinoa, rinsed
6 cups chicken or vegetable broth
4 cups chopped kale (tough stems removed)
1 can white or northern beans, drained and rinsed
2 cups marinara sauce, homemade or store-bought
1 tbs olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup chopped onions
1/2 cup chopped carrots
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped fresh thyme, oregano, and parsley*
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions;
In a medium saucepan, heat oil. Add onions, carrots, and celery.

Cook and stir for 5 minutes. Add garlic, kale and the fresh herbs. Cook and stir for 1 minute.

 

Stir in quinoa, chicken broth, and marinara sauce. Bring to boil.

Cover with lid ajar. Simmer for 15 minutes or until quinoa is tender.
Divide beans in half. Add the mashed beans and the whole beans to the soup.

Simmer for 10 minutes or until soup has slightly thickened. Serve with a piece of bread.

 

*If fresh herbs are not available, use 1 tbs of dry Italian seasoning.
Sorry for not having a nice photos

Steamed-Stuffed Eggplants

Fish and seafood are good sources of vitamins A, B6, and B12, which keep the skin, hair, and eyes in good conditions.  Having diet with more fish and vegetables daily will improve red blood cells to develop and the nervous system to function properly. I can go on and on how wonderful it is to have fish and vegetables in the daily diet. The Asian cuisine uses quite often root vegetables, such as squash, bitter melon, cucumber, and eggplant. Usually these foods are cooked in the form of stuffing, then deep-fried, baked, or steamed. The stuffing for these vegetables are either ground meats or fish paste. However, since fish is a good source of vitamins, the stuffing for this recipe should be the fish paste.  It can be made at home or can be bought in Asian grocery stores. This recipe is very easy and healthy with a few ingredients. It does not take long to create and bring a good healthy meal to family and friends.


Ingredients:
3 Japanese eggplants
Filling ingredients:
4 oz. fish paste
2 tbs fresh dill, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 small shallot, minced
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp fish sauce
1/4 tsp black pepper
 
Scallion oil ingredients:
2 green onions, thinly sliced
1/4 cup oil


Directions:
Wash and cut the eggplants into 8 to 10 equal portions (about 2 inch lengths). Remove some of the center of the eggplant to make a hole in the middle.

 

In a small bowl, combine all the filling ingredients and mix well.

Stuff the filling into the holes of each eggplant.

Place the stuffed eggplants onto a heatproof dish. Place in a steamer and steam for 20 minutes or until the eggplant is cooked but tender.
Combine the oil and scallion in a small bowl and place in the microwave for 1 minute.
Top the steamed eggplant with scallion oil and serve with Vietnamese dipping sauce.

 

Ravens and Meaningful Lessons about Life.

There's a Raven that wants to integrate into the human’s world. The humans said to the Raven that his black colored feathers are so unlucky . The Raven suppresses his pain to color his feathers into a white plumage. The humans liked the Raven's white plumage until it spoke when they realized that it was still the bad luck black Raven and chased it away. The humans said to the Raven that his voice unfortunately was ominous, and the Ravens swallowed doses of mercury to change his voice. But the Raven did not know whether or not it has tried it is, when people know it is the Raven, they will chase it away. The Raven asked God why it tried everything, but people still did not accept it. Is there anything else that he must do? God answered the Raven did not need to change himself but the PREJUDICE OF HUMANS. Once humans refuse to change their way of thinking, then it would be impossible to accept the Raven. A Raven to them forever is not good. The question is when a Raven tries to turn itself into a human, is it no longer a Raven anymore? Also, when the Raven returns to its own community, will the white Raven with a clear voice still be acceptable there?

People often feel the need to change in order to satisfy everyone. But, if you change yourself, will others change their prejudices about you?