Salmon Baked in Foil

Most Asian families like mine have many children, but the next Asian generation of families is getting smaller. Preparing a meal for one or two people sometimes is hard to utilize the ingredients in an effective way. Most of my nieces and nephews are still in college and are still single. They always call me for a healthy recipe for one or two, and it gave me ideas to start creating healthy recipes for just one or two. I use only good fats from plant-based oil, such as olive, coconut, canola, sunflower, flaxseed, and sesame seeds. Fatty fish, such as salmon, tuna, trout, and sardines, are the protein sources that I must have daily. Today, I will introduce an easy recipe for everyone who has only a small space for cooking in his or her apartment. This recipe needs just foil and a few ingredients to create a simple healthy recipe.

Ingredients;
One 6 to 8 oz. salmon fillet
1 piece of foil
1/4 cup sliced white onion
Sauce ingredients:
2 tsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tsp honey
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp fresh herb, such as thyme or parsley, cilantro
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp cayenne

Directions;
Cut a piece of foil to form a baking basket large enough to hold salmon (about 8 inches x 8 inches).

Mix sauce ingredients together in a bowl.
Place the white onion slices into the foil baking basket first followed by the salmon and topped with the sauce. Seal the foil to cover the salmon completely.

Bake in a toaster oven or NuWave® oven set to 350° for 10 minutes. Serve with steamed broccoli, asparagus, or your choice of vegetable.

 

 

Eggplant and Mushrooms Curry

Eating healthy and easy cooking are now big parts of my everyday preparation of food, which is a joyful part of life. Every bit of preparing food is enjoyable and a spiritual experience in the kitchen as in all other aspects of life. We are living in a fast-moving society, and we forget how to slow down and enjoy the beautiful things around us. Sometimes, a simple meal can make healthy and happy faces while serving it. I hope that people who sometime stop by my blog can feel the love that I intend to share every day in my cooking.

Ingredients:
1/2 eggplant, cut into bite size pieces
2 cups okra, fresh or frozen
5 mushrooms, quartered (about 2 cups)
1 cup chopped white onions
2 tbs oil
Spices:
1 tbs curry powder
1 tsp turmeric
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbs lemongrass
1 tsp salt
1 tbs sugar
2 tbs soy sauce
Sauce ingredients:
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 ½ cups kelp stock or water

Garnish with chopped green onions and cilantro

Directions:
In a medium sauté pan, heat oil over medium heat. Stir in chopped white onions and cook for 3 minutes or until softened.

Stir in turmeric, curry powder, garlic, and lemongrass. Cook and stir for 2 minutes.

Add chopped tomatoes and season with sugar, salt and soy sauce.

 Cook for 5 minutes and stir in the rest of the ingredients. Bring to boil.

Turn down the heat to simmer. Cover and continue to cook for 30 minutes or until the eggplant is
 tender. Adjust the seasoning before turning off the heat.

Garnish with chopped green onions and cilantro. Serve with rice.

Easy Chocolate Muffins

One easy sweet recipe for entertaining guests, especially kids, is for chocolate muffins.  A basket of freshly-baked muffins is so inviting to everyone. It is easy because it is quick to prepare. I always have cake mix ready, and the rest of the ingredients are either nuts, dried fruits, or frozen fruits that will complete the basic muffin recipe. For someone, like me, that is not a professional baker, baking muffins and giving them to a neighbor is always a welcome gift. The chocolate muffin is a safe bet to give away as a gift because nobody refuses to eat chocolate muffins. Here it is an easy muffin recipe.

Ingredients:
Dry ingredients:
1 ½ cups cake mix
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Wet ingredients;
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°.
Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients.

In a Vitamix container, add eggs, milk, and oil and blend for 15 seconds.

 

 

Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the beaten wet ingredients into the well.
Stir gently until just combined (do not overmix).

Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tin liners (2/3 full) for each muffin.

 Bake in the preheated oven (for about 20 minutes) until golden or firm to the touch.
Let cool and serve.

The Smartest Man in the World

A doctor, a lawyer, a little boy and a priest were out for a Sunday afternoon flight on a small private plane. Suddenly, the plane developed engine trouble. In spite of the best efforts of the pilot, the plane started to go down. Finally, the pilot grabbed a parachute and yelled to the passengers that they better jump, and he himself bailed out.

Unfortunately, there were only three parachutes remaining.

The doctor grabbed one and said “I’m a doctor, I save lives, so I must live,” and jumped out.

The lawyer then said, “I’m a lawyer and lawyers are the smartest people in the world. I deserve to live.” He also grabbed a parachute and jumped.

The priest looked at the little boy and said, “My son, I’ve lived a long and full life. You are young and have your whole life ahead of you. Take the last parachute and live in peace.”

The little boy handed the parachute back to the priest and said, “Not to worry Father. The smartest man in the world just took off with my back pack.”

Moral: Your job doesn’t always define you, but being a good human being does.

Posted on 26 Tháng Tám 2016 by Huynh Hue

Semi-Homemade Tomato BBQ Sauce

For easy cooking, rotisserie or BBQ is the easiest method to create a meal for large or small groups. I have been cooking for quite sometime now and the best way to create a wonderful meal is to have a ready-made sauce. I like to make BBQ sauce at home because most of the BBQ sauces in bottles that are sold in stores are way too sweet for my taste. However, I like to use some of the BBQ sauce flavors to add into my sauce.  It works for me. With ready-made sauce, I think meals can be ready using either meat or seafood. Today, I will demonstrate this tomato BBQ sauce recipe. This sauce is a life saver.
Ingredients:
1/4 cups olive oil
Two 14.5 cans tomato stew, blend in  blender
1 onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup honey
2 tbs blackstrap molasses
2 tbs Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup total of fresh herbs, oregano, thyme
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 cups BBQ sauce, your choice
Directions:
Heat oil in a medium-size saucepan and sauté the onion and garlic until softened and fragrant.

Stir in the rest of the ingredients uncovered, and simmer until the sauce has thickened.

 Season with some salt, if needed. Let cool and refrigerate for up to two weeks.

Use the handheld blender to give the sauce a smooth textutre

Stir-fry Rice Noodles with Shrimp and Tofu

Most of Asian family is large family like mine. However, with a busy life seems the family get smaller each day. The Asian recipes are for most part to create for large family or big event. I feel that my job now is to start create a wonderful Asian cooking for two. The recipe today is similar to Pad Thai recipe, but it is much easier to accomplish at home because it is not a long-list of ingredients. I saw many video for Thai cooking on the street and it gave me this idea to create this recipe. The dry noodles are usually used but I prefer fresh noodles because it much faster. The sauce for this dish is a combination of salty, sweet, sour and spicy. The original of the sour taste comes from tamarind but the lime juice will do the job. I use the dark molasses and honey to get a sweet flavor but healthier or use dark brown sugar if health issue is not the case. For quick cooking use shrimps but other protein such as chicken, pork or beef can be used to be sure to adjust the cooking time. Let get cooking

Ingredients:
For the sauce:
1/2 cup water
3 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp molasses
11/2 tbsp honey
3 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp rice wive vinegar
1/4 tsp chili flakes or cayenne powder
For the noodles and others:
4 to 6 oz noodles
4 oz shrimps, peeled, deveined
1 eggs, lightly beaten
4 oz tofu, cut into cube
1 cups beansprouts
1 shallot, slice
2 garlic, minced
3 tbsp oil
Garnish with roasted peanut, chives and Basil

Directions:
for the sauce: Combine all the ingredients together in a bowl and whisk well. Adjust the seasoning for your taste such as more sweet, salty and set a side
If using the dry noodles, let the noodles soaked in a warm water until softened,pliable. I soaked fresh noodles for 5 minutes.
In a nonstick skillet heat 1 tbsp oil over medium-heat. Add shrimp in layer not over lap and cook, without disturbing, until beginning to brown.

Now stir and cook for 1 minute or until shrimps turn pink. Remove to the bowl.

Add 1 tbsp oil to the skillet and add tofu. Cook undisturbed to brown the tofu like shrimp and remove into the bowl with shrimps.

Add the shallot and garlic to the empty skillet and stir and cook until fragrant,about 1 minutes. you might need a little more oil but I don't.

Add beaten egg, stirring vigorously to make a scrambles eggs but moist, about 10 second or more.

Add noodles and toss to combine. Add sauce and turn heat up to high, tossing gently until noodles are well coat with sauce.

Return shrimps, tofu to the skillet. Add beansprouts, tossing again to combine, about 1 minutes. Add half of the chives. Toss well.

To serve:
Place noodles on a serving plate and sprinkle the roasted peanut, chives and basil.

 

Asparagus Crab Meat Soup

I started learning how to cook from my mother when we still owned a restaurant in Chicago. Most of us also learned cooking from famous chefs or from cookbooks. However, I try to create easy, healthy recipes for my family, and I hope that busy women out there will try to make a good meal for their families. Today’s recipe is for another good healthy soup that is popular in Chinese restaurants or takeouts. I use the dashi stock to make this soup much tastier and healthier. The dashi stock is very easy to make, but the dashi powder is also good too and saves time for busy cooks. I will now repeat how to make the dashi stock making it even easier for the reader to follow. Here it is.

Ingredients:
Dashi stock ingredients:
One 4” x 4” piece kelp or kombu
1 oz. bonito flakes or a handful of anchovies
5 cups water

Directions:
In a saucepan, soak the kombu in water for 1 hour. Turn the heat to moderate heat and cook over low heat to allow more time for its flavor to infuse the water. Remove the kelp or kombu when the water starts to bubble. Add the bonito flakes and turn the heat up until gently boiling. Turn off the heat. Let the bonito flakes settle to the bottom and drain the dashi stock. If using anchovies, soak the anchovies at the same time as the kombu and slowly boil the stock.

Ingredients for Crab soup:
2 cups crab meat
2 eggs
1/2 lbs fresh asparagus
Stock ingredients:
5 cups of all dashi stock above
1 tbs soy sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 tbs dry sherry
1 tsp fresh chopped ginger
1 cup green onions and cilantro
4 tbs cornstarch added with 5 tbs water

Directions:
Slice asparagus and set aside.

Break eggs and set aside.
Heat 2 tbs oil in saucepan and stir-fry fresh ginger until fragrant. Stir in crab meat and cook for 2 minutes.

 Add the stock and bring to boil. Add asparagus. Bring back to boil.

Season with soy sauce, dry sherry, salt, and pepper. Stir gently the broken eggs into a thin stream. Stir in the cornstarch mixture and boil gently.

 Ladle soup into a serving bowl and sprinkle with green onions and cilantro.