Easy Ground Turkey Taquitos

The cuisine of Mexico is diverse and extraordinary from the basics for the soup that fuels everyday life to simple cheese quesadillas with beans or chicken taquitos. I like to make this quick Mexican food for breakfast when I have some leftover rotisserie chicken. Today, I will share this recipe using ground turkey. This recipe is easy and quite light in the ingredients. It is not quite as heavy as most of the Mexican recipes.

Ingredients:

6 oz. ground turkey or chicken

1/2 cup chopped red onions

1/2 cups sliced sweet bell pepper

3 tbs chopped cilantro

10 oz. Mexican cheese mix

Season with salt, black pepper, and one package of Sazon Iberia

5- 9 inches tortilla

Directions:

Line a baking tray with foil (makes it easy to clean up)

Preheat oven to 350°.

In a bowl, combine turkey, onion, sweet bell pepper, and cilantro. Season with salt, black pepper, and the Sazon seasoning. If you like spicy, add chili flakes.

Divide the filling and cheese on top of each tortilla, and then roll each tortilla up.

Spray with cooking oil on the baking tray.

Place the rolled up tortilla with the seam side down on the baking tray. Spray some cooking oil over the top of each tortilla.

Bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Serve hot, warm, or cold.

Cabbage Cake

Cabbage is a vegetable with a lot of nutrients. Koreans prepare most of their dishes in addition to kimchi using cabbage. Vietnamese people mostly just boil, stir-fry, or sometimes make cabbage soup with pork bone or shrimp. The nutrients found in cabbage can help control inflammation, improve digestion, lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol levels, and especially always protect a healthy heart. Because of the high content of Vitamin C in cabbage is believed to be linked to the antioxidant properties of this vital nutrient and its ability to boost the formation of collagen. With all the good nutrients found in cabbage, I want to introduce this easy recipe to create this cake. For Asians, this cake can be served with cooked rice and the soy dipping sauce. For those who would like to eat this cake as a burger, then make it as sandwich. Either way, this recipe will satisfy everybody.

Ingredients:

1 lb. of shredded cabbage (it is sold in grocers like Sam’s Club or Waltmart)

2 eggs

4 oz. canned tuna

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 red onion, diced

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

Oil for pan frying

Seasonings:

Salt, Sugar, Black pepper

Herbs:

Chopped cilantro (for Asians)

Thyme, oregano, or parsley, chopped (for Westerners taste as a burger)

Directions:

Bring 4 cups of water to boil. Add cabbage and cook for 10 minutes. Then drain.

In sauté pan, add 2 tbs of oil. Stir in the onions and garlic and cook 5 minutes or until the onions are golden brown.

Drain tuna and set aside.

In a large bowl, place the cooked cabbage, onions, tuna, and the yolks and whites of 2 eggs.

Add flour and mix well. Season the cabbage mixture with salt, black peeper, sugar, and chili as you go.

Mix in cilantro.

Form a cake as big or small as you like.

In a sauté pan, add 1/4 cup oil and heat until the oil is hot. Place each cake in the hot oil and turn the heat to medium and cook each side for 5 minutes or until each cake turns crispy and brown.

Remove each cake from pan and place on a paper towel to absorb some of the oil.

Serve hot with soy dipping sauce.

To make soy dipping sauce:

In a bowl, add the following:

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup vinegar

1/4 cup sugar

Mix well then add garlic, chilli, and 2 tbs of lemon juice. You can taste the sauce to your liking.

Tips for making as a burger:

Add the cheese of your choice.

Add nonfat Greek yogurt, salt, black pepper, and lemon juice or minced garlic or garlic powder. Honey can be added to this sauce. Also, thyme, parsley, or basil can be used for this sauce.

Seafood Mix Fired rice

It seems that these are difficult times for nearly everyone everywhere in the world. The food problem cannot be solved due to price instability. In order to be able to have economical meals that give your family enough energy to go about their daily lives, this is a recipe that I am very pleased to present. This recipe is very easy to make and does not take much time. As long as there is day old, cooked rice in your kitchen and mixed seafood in your refrigerator, your family will have a great fried rice dish.

Ingredients:

 5 cups day old, cooked rice

2 cups seafood mix

2 Chinese sausages, diced

2 eggs

1/2 cup diced red onions

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 tsp fresh ginger, minced

Seasonings:

Combination of the following: 

1 tsp salt, sugar, mushroom seasoning, and 1/4 tsp black pepper

1 tbs hoisin sauce

2 tbs soy sauce

1 tsp hot sauce (optional)

Other ingredients:

1/4 cup diced carrot

1 cup total consisting of a combination of red, yellow and orange sweet bell peppers

Garnish with chopped green onions and cilantro

Mixture of 1 tbs sesame oil and 3 tbs vegetable oil

Directions:

Roughly chop the seafood mix because in this seafood mix the squids and shrimp are quite large. Then put them in a bowl and set aside.

Combine the seasonings in a small bowl.

In a medium bowl, combine the rice, hoisin sauce, hot sauce and egg whites and yolks of two eggs. Mix well.

In a small bowl, combine sesame oil and vegetable oil and set aside.

In a large wok, add 1 tbs of the combination of oils. Add half of garlic, ginger and red onions. Stir and cook for 1 minute or until fragrant. Add carrots and cook for 2 minutes.

Add diced sausage and cook for 2 minutes, then add the seafood mix. 

Use the seasoning mixture to season as you stir and cook the seafood. Add the bell peppers and cook just for another minute.

 Adjust the seasoning again before removing from the wok.

Add the rest of the oil and the onions mixture in the wok and heat the oil until almost hot. Add the mixture of rice.

Turn the heat to medium and let the rice cook slowly to absorb all the eggs.

Season the rice with soy sauce and return the seafood mixture to the rice. Cook further for 10 minutes.

The rice is ready when you can hear a crackling sound or as a Chinese chef calls it "when the rice is dancing in the wok".

Sprinkle with chopped green onions and cilantro.

Pigs in the Blanket

This is an easy recipe for a quick breakfast or snack. The pig in this recipe is a variety of sausage or hot dog for the filling.  The crescent or a biscuit is a wrap around the sausage. Cheese can be added for the taste of your family’s choice. It takes less than 30 minutes, and breakfast is served

Ingredients:

1 biscuit dough (large one)

1 package of sausage (your choice)

8 pieces American cheese

 Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Remove the biscuit dough from the package

Use a roller to roll out each piece of dough.

Place cheese in the center.

Place sausage in the center of the cheese.

Roll the dough up and place on the prepared baking sheet seam-side down.

Brush with egg wash. (optional)

Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes or until golden brown. 

Tip: Egg wash is a mixture of beaten eggs and milk or water brushed over pastry or dough before baking in order to give an attractive color and shine to the surface:

Ginger Chicken Soup

Ginger chicken soup is a traditional Asian soup, especially since this dish came from China in ancient times and was used to nourish the body. The very sick couldn’t eat anything but drink a bowl of chicken broth. Ginger chicken soup became a better way to feed sick patients because ginger contains gingerol, which has powerful medicinal properties and can treat many forms of nausea, especially morning sickness; it will help the patient's body quickly recover when they have a cough or cold. However, this dish has been modified according to Asian countries and has also become more specialized, not only as a liquid dish to drink for sick people but also it has become a very typical dish during the cold season. Today, I am simply making this soup in an easy way with easy-to-find ingredients. Regarding other variations of this soup, depending on the family and taste, there will be more ingredients to add, such as mushrooms or other herbs to make the dish more nutritious. If you can buy free range chicken, it will add more deliciousness to this soup. This soup can be eaten as is or with vermicelli, rice, or bread.

Ingredients:

3 chicken legs

1 large piece of ginger, peeled and Julienned (about 1/3 cup)

4 shallots, sliced

1 white onion, chopped

Oil for cooking

6 cups water 

1/2 cup rice wine or volka

 Seasonings:

Fish sauce, salt, black pepper, and mushroom seasoning or chicken powder

Garnish: 

Chopped cilantro and green onions

Directions:

Remove skin from the chicken and cut into large chunks.

Place chicken pieces in a large bowl filled with water, salt, and vinegar for 15 minutes. Wash the chicken and drain.

Place chicken in a large bowl and marinate the chicken with half of the ginger and onion and seasonings for 1 hour.

In a sauté pan, add oil and sauté the chicken until brown.

In a medium pan, add 6 cups of water, wine, and the rest of the onions and ginger. Bring to boil and simmer for 10 minutes. After that, add the chicken from the sauté pan and discard whatever else is remaining in the sauté pan.

Bring to boil and turn heat to low. Skim off the residue that rises to the surface.

Adjust the seasonings to your family’s liking. Cook for another 20 minutes or until the chicken is soft.

Sprinkle with cilantro and green onions.

 Tip: if using fresh mushrooms, Sliced mushrooms and add just 10 minutes before the cooking time is done.

Another herb can be added, such as a Betel leaf. Slice the betel leaf and add this herb at the last minute of cooking time.

Baked Tilapia

We are living in a technological time. It is difficult to make sophisticated dishes that take a lot of time with complicated ingredients, especially for people who are both busy at work and still want to make delicious dishes for their families.  I share this easy recipe because it needs only 5 ingredients and most of them are already in the kitchen of most of us. From the preparations to the finished dish, it only takes about 15 minutes and this dish is ready to serve.

 Ingredients: 

1 tilapia fillet (about 6 to 8 oz.)

Seasonings:

1 tbs olive oil

1 tbs ranch seasoning mix for salad (I use the Hidden Valley ranch)

1/4 cup milk

1/2 tsp garlic salt

Directions:

Place the tilapia fillet on a baking dish.

Combine all the seasonings in a bowl and mix well. Pour over the fish and bake in the oven at 350° for 10 minutes. The temperature setting and time depends upon the type of oven that you own.

Tip: slice some white onion on top or sprinkle chopped fresh parsley on top.

Vietnamese Coconut Banana Cake-(Bánh Chuối Nướng)

Banana is such a nutritious, delicious, and favorite fruit all over the world. From a kind of fruit that seems too familiar to us every day, with some interesting variations, we immediately have delicious snacks, such as sweet banana soup, banana smoothies, banana ice cream, fried banana cake, steamed banana cake, and so on. Today, I will share a classic way to finish using leftover stale bread and ripe bananas.  I combine the method for making Bánh Chuối Nướng and bread pudding to create this easy recipe. The red color of the Vietnamese banana cake comes from the Thai banana, which holds the shape better than regular banana that is sold in America grocers.  I use vodka or any kind of hard liquor, which is added while sautéing the bananas that will help to increase the change that results in the red color for this cake.  I do not think the taste is any different because of the color. A baked banana cake has a moderate sweetness, the creamy taste of coconut milk, the aroma of butter, which is neither too hard nor too soft.  It is certain that you will remember the very characteristic taste of baked banana cakes if you try it once.

Ingredients:

7 ripened bananas

1/3 cup melted butter

7 slices of sandwich bread

1/2 cup coconut flakes

1 cup sugar

1 cup coconut milk

1 tbs vanilla extract

2 eggs

1/4 cup of a hard liquor of your choice

Other requirements: 

1 cup dried cranberries 

1 tbs honey

Equipment: a 9 in. diameter round cake pan

1 piece of parchment paper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°.

Peel the bananas and slice them into big chunks.

Dice the bread and set aside.

In a sauté pan, add 2 tbs melted butter, half of the sugar, and all the slices bananas. Stir and cook the sliced bananas for 10 minutes. Add the liquor and continue cooking until the bananas are getting soft but not soggy.

Save 1 tbs of the melted butter for later.

In the meantime, with another bowl combine the rest of the sugar with the batter, bread, coconut milk, eggs, cranberries, and vanilla. Mix well and let it sit for 20 minutes. 

Cut a piece of parchment paper to cover the bottom of the baking cake pan and brush with 1 tbs of butter.

Add half of the cooked bananas with the soaked bread and milk mixture and mix well. Pour the batter onto the prepared cake pan. Arrange the other half of the cooked bananas on top.

Bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes.

Combine 1 tbs of butter and honey.

Remove the cake from the oven after 40 minutes and brush with butter and honey.

Put the cake back into the oven and bake for another 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Turn the oven off and let the cake stay in the oven for 30 minutes. This will help to make the cake easier to remove later.

I like to serve the cake warm, but the flavor is better when it cools and served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Roasted Hazelnuts with Garlic and Chili

Roasted hazelnuts with garlic and chili are a rustic dish of the Vietnamese people. This dish is also a snack that is used as an appetizer at parties, or it is also very popular on the streets.  I use hazelnuts in this recipe to make this dish instead of peanuts. However, the original recipe uses fresh garlic and fish sauce. I will introduce this dish for vegans; Therefore, I changed the ingredients instead using the fish sauce and fresh garlic, I use garlic powder and garlic salt. With these changes, the hazelnuts will be kept fresh longer. This recipe can be served with cooked rice and will make a fantastic meal for vegans.

Ingredients:

2 cups hazelnuts without shells

2 tbs peanut oil or any kind of oil

Seasonings:

1 tsp of each of the following: garlic salt, chili flakes, onion powder, and garlic powder

2 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

Directions:

Combine all the seasonings in a bowl and set aside.

In a sauté pan, add oil and hazelnuts. Over low heat, stir the nuts until almost done (about 10 to 15 minutes).

 Stir in the seasonings and continue to stir the nuts until all the nuts are well coated with the seasonings. Turn the heat off and let cool off before storing in an airtight container.

Tip:

Using the same method as above, use honey or sugar to make candied nuts.

Every 2 cups of nuts you will need:

2 tbs oil

1/4 cup sugar or honey

Pinch of salt