Mushroom Upside Down Omelet, and My Snack ideas : Fiber, Fiber!

Hey everyone! How’s your Thanksgiving break???….well….I am being really slacking in posting these days! gotta catch up!

I was doing some “running training” these days, and surprisingly, I find FUN in running! During that 30 min session, I accelerate my speed, finally , to 6 !! don’t laugh at me if you are a professional runner ( I know that 6 is your cooling down speed ) . When I first start to run in 2006, my speed is 4.6. well, you call it power walk. But after three years of cardio workout, I gradually increase my speed to 4.8, 5.0, 5.2, and last weekend, I tried to alternate the speed in the second half , from 5.2 to 5.6, to 5.8, and to 6.0. I clearly feel the muscles on my thigh, and its telling me that running is such a great work out.  So, I’ll keep the momentum and keep young!!! (even my 26th birthday is coming in three weeks!) So here is my fun running trainnning session:

Total Time : 30 min.

1 min: 4.7 warm up.

10 min: @5.2 running.

5 min: @5.6 running.

3 min: @5.8 running.

3 min: @6.0 running.

3 min: @ 5.7 running.

3 min: @ 4.6 , incline @ 11.5 , power walk.

2 min. @ 4.2. no incline, cool down.

Time pass so quickly and you’ll never get bored with that alternating speed !

Okay, back to eats.

these days I begin to pay attention to my snacking behavior. and I am scared to find out that :

My snack choice is a bit ….calorie loaded (nuts) …..and some time sugar ladened (cereal, hot choco) …  :-(

it’s kinda getting on my nerves…most snacks sold on shelves are not perfectly in line with the idea of healthy snacking options.  So I decided to make my own.

Objective : Small portion (1/4 cup), High Fiber , Low sugar , Low Fat,  hold hunger.  and most importantly, generate Dopamine  that makes me happy!!!

So, I made this: Fiber One Ginger Muffin:

Why Fiber One ??? Because I put:

Rolled Oats (old fashioned),  Wheat Bran, Red Beans (as topping), Fiber One cereal (they are so sweet that I need to adapt them! )

All fiber-rich ingredients !! Plus, I grind some ginger to give it a spicy flavor that perfect for winter days.

it’s like 1/4 cup sized, low fat, low sugar, low cal snack.  Yah !! we are good to go!

My dear friends , What do you normally eat for snack? ?? How many snacks do you take a day???

For  the Mushroom upside down omelet (love this fancy name, wahahaha) ,  it’s pretty easy:

Did you happen to see those little browned mushrooms on the backside of my omelet???

Ingredients:  mushroom, 2 eggs, finely chopped Chinese Chives (if you love that special flavor!).

cheese, just a bit.

so first brown the mushroom , till the juice is all out. then pour in the eggs till its half done.

Top with Chinese chives , it goes so well with the egg. The egg-chives dumpling is a very famous  vegetarian version

Top with cheese, and fold it. Da da, done!!

Enjoy!

I love Roasted Turkey Skin!!!

Yupp, I know, it’s fatty, it’s oily, it’s unhealthy…..but why the turkey skin taste so, so, so good, so, so, so irresistible????

Can you understand why I’m saying that??

Yesterday was about being thankful, being thoughtful , and being tender-hearted. and of cause, as my very first “whole turkey” experience, I am being extremely open to the really good fat, really good calories, really good carb. I ate , em, probably a whole turkey leg skin, plus, packs of dark and white meat, plus, the “pie chart” that I wouldn’t mind learning – pecan pie, pumpkin pie (traditional), pumpkin pie (lighter), tiramisu…., and I’m sorry I lose track of how many scoop of “smash” potato, and “smash” yam, I generously admitted to my plate

well, don’t blame me, puuuleease! I was just so excited to enjoying my first “very American” Thanksgiving :

So here is the table, with that HUGE turkey dazzling my eyes…..Lili and I “steal” (we call it “sample”, but Dan call it steal!) the corn bread stuffings, the mashed sweet potato , and potato. Plus, almond chocolate, Wasabi peanuts. oh yah my fav!!

I really like their plates:

So I can’t help take quite a few pictures of that table setting. They got a whole dozen of these plates for 6  dollars!  they looks pretty nice for the price!

oh btw, do you know what’s my favorite way of eating turkey meat???

NOT with gravy!!!!

BUT with Garlic Salt!!!

My friends laughed at me for quite a while but I promise, they really taste great!!

 

 

 

 

and, last but not least, here comes my layered sweeten rice cake:

are you able to see that four layers: white sweeten rice, red beans, white sweeten rice, and puree red bean and purple sweeten rice, plus: coconut flakes!

I hope it doesn’t disappoint you guys!  I have sweet teeth….

AND…..

I am being encouraged and inspired today, because I finally see the movie :  Julie and Julia !!! it talks about the blog girl who LOVE food finally turn this into a wonderful career. She find so much joy in cooking. Setting up a goal, and finish that 524 recipes from Julia’s “Master the Art of French Cooking”, it’s such a big achievement. Some point in my life, I will definitely do that. Because I really find the joy in researching recipes, creating new dishes, and sharing with the blog friends and friends around me.

what makes me really touched is the support from their beloved ones. Being really understanding, supportive, and sometimes “crazy” about cookings, makes Julie and Julia both succeed in their career.

Love makes life beautiful.

Love makes your little dreams sounds big,

Love makes your crazy idea turning into a career,

Love makes your pain, effort , tears, all worthwhile.

Love makes life beautiful.

Yes, it does.

One Day before Thanks Giving: I am blessed.

I don’t think I always have good luck, yet firmly believe that I am blessed. Whenever I feel desperate in my life, there is always someone I can turn to.  I have been writing my dissertation for almost one year. The obstacles in model programming, the problems in writing style, the countless nights that I struggled with the positioning … it is very slow , and it is difficult. However, I am blessed that there is always unstinted support from my advisor. I am grateful that I have him to point the road in my academia career. yesterday we spend almost 5 hours together, sitting down, line by line, word by word, revising my writing.  He is a top Marketing professor in the field and he has a 24-7 schedule. Me? I am just a PhD student under his supervision. He could just let me re-write, re-write and re-write following the journal style until it’s ready. Yet he choose to sit down and tell me why the revision is as such and so. I learned so much about writing  during that 5 hours.  I feel my words are just not enough to express my appreciation. Sometimes in our life, we need a great teacher to generously offer his support, to point the right road we should take, to set up a perfect example, and let us have a clear idea of what kind of life we want to live.

I spend a day at home working on my paper. No fancy meals – save my stomach for tomorrow

I had a double mushroom egg soup for lunch:

double mushroom: whatever mushroom you like I just add in a shiitake to have some smoky flavor. First sautee the mushrooms until they are golden browned, then add in hot water. when the soup is boiling, quickly stir in the egg. You can add some corn starch to thicken the soup – I am just being a bit lazy today  For seasoning, I use sesame oil, white pepper (it’s a must!) and some salt.

then I prepared a dish for tomorrow’s party in my friend’s house in DC. She always said : no no no , no need to bring anything! I always feel that it’s a pity that I can not show off my cooking skill! haha So I made a very traditional Chinese dessert: Sweeten Rice Layer Cake.

Hey don’t argue with me it’s not Layered cake …yet….!! I couldn’t cut it today, but wait till tomorrow:-P I promise it’s three layered cake :

layer one: white sweeten rice, steamed.

layer two: purple sweeten rice and red bean. sweetened.

layer three: purred red bean

layer four: top layer , as you can FINALLY see, it’s the coconut flakes.

ooops, I feel like I am doing a hierarchical hidden Markov model (which is actually my disserataion!).  I had tried to cut it and want to sneak a peak, yet I failed….the cake almost fall apart. So I put away my knife and recover the cake with additional pureed red bean , hope my friends won’t find out! haha

it’s very gooey, if you like that texture from sweeten rice. also red bean part is very sweet and crunchy. See if I can take a nice shot tomorrow! !!

Good night everyone, have a great thanks giving !!!

 

Several Days of Light Eatings : Tribute to Warm Salad

I always feel a little bit hesitate to have salad in the cold days. I am kind of avoiding those cold greens, which makes my stomach really uncomfortable after eating. Yet after several days of trial, I fall in love with them. Inspired by Maggie , I decide to say YES to salad, even its is snowing outside!

My salads are warm, light, and veggie-ful. Hope my dear readers could try them out to fulfill your veggie-cravings.

Warm Salad Course One: Baked Kale, Mushroom and Eggo Salad

Ingredients:

it’s all there in the names!

Mix kale leaves, sliced mushroom with pinch salt; have an egg on it before sending them to the oven. Yes egg, not cheese this time ( you all know that I’m a big cheese eater! haha) You would love when the flavor of egg immersed in the kales!

Bake them about 15 min at 350 degree oven, easy dinner!

the top kale leaves are crisp like those kale chips, and bottom kale leaves are still leafy green! I love this combination of crunchy and juicy from the same kale leaves!

in-between two salad course, I would like to show off a coffee (instant coffee! can’t believe it!)

yeah, I was amazed when I got this beautiful pattern and take a pic of it right away. never imaging a sophisticated swirl will come from a instant coffee!! The dark bubbles melted away pretty quickly.  To be honest, I like this “taster’s choice” from Nescafé – my favorite way ? mix 1tsp of them, 1 tsp of chocolate powder, makes it a nice sweet treat for the day.

Alright, now comes our 2nd course of warm salad:

Endive and Red Pepper, with Acorn-Tofu Creamy Sauce:

wash the greens and red pepper, lightly salt them, and microwave the bow for 45 second. That’s the key for making the warm salad without losing the fresh color of the greens!

The creamy white sauce (which I had marketed for thousand times i guess? hehe ) . This time is a bit different because I add in some nature sweetness from Acorn. It should be more yellow-ish than it appears here:

I use : 1 small baked Acorn, mashed, 1/3 cup of silky Tofu, 2 tsp of shredded cheese, lemon and pepper to taste.  Puree all of them till smooth texture.  if you like ranch for your salad, this might be a great healthy alternative

Enjoy my dear friends!

 

btw, I had think about doing a 7-day challenge about posting everything I send to my stomach . Though I see lots of blogger friends doing that, it’s still a bit scary to me…I mean, posting everything I eat, means making a big confession of some of my guilty pleasures. well, but I guess it’s really fun to find the truth of your diet and see what’s right and wrong. My dear friends, have you done that before? How do you feel? Do you think that’s a good idea or I’ll get “traumatized” after that?

I’ll try to start the week after, because, this week is thanksgiving! I probably will scare myself to death seeing myself eating sooooo much food ! hahaha

Have a good night, my friends!

POM glazed Salmon with Creamy Tofu Sauce – Well, let me call it Salmon in the POM sea!!!

I’ll be brief today. A post for the POM contest: POM glazed Salmon with Creamy Tofu Sauce:

Or, maybe I should give them a more artistic name: Salmon in the POM sea!

Ingredients:
1. 1 big Pomegranate

2. Salmon Steak

3. Tofu (1/2 cup)

4. Mozzarella cheese (1/4 cup)

5. Lemon juice

6. pepper.

How to Make them:

1. Use food processor to blend 2/3 the pomegranate aril, filter out the seeds. Marinate sliced salmon with half of the pomegranate juice and cooking wine, for 20 minutes.

2. Blend tofu , mozzarella cheese , 1tsp of lemon juice and pepper until creamy smooth. Then stir in the 1/3 pomegranate’s arils.

3. Bake marinated salmon in the oven for 20 minutes.

4. in the mean time, heat the other half of the pomegranate juice in a small pan, and use corn starch to thicken the sauce.

5. Place the baked salmon at bottom, spread on the creamy tofu sauce and pomegranate aril mixture, and then pour in the thickened pomegranate juice to surround the salmon and creamy white tops. Done!

What’s special about it???

1. Use pomegranate to marinate salmon is a great idea. The juice is fresh, sweet and with a “lemon” style zest. Perfect for salmon.

2. The creamy tofu sauce tastes very creamy – just like those creamy white sauce, yet with much less fat and calories. blending in some pomegranate aril gives the sauce some surprising sweetness

3. No need for sugar when we do the “pomegranate gravy”. The juice itself if perfectly sweetened and taste really fresh and zesty.

Enjoy!!

Creamy TOFU source, Purple Marble Cake

If you opt for creamy white sauce every time waiter asks for topping of that linguine, – please count me in! I love the smooth texture and cheesy smell of the white sauce… and not surprisingly, I feel guilty every time I indulge.  But this creamy tofu sauce is definitely gonna replace your guilt with pure pleasure : really light yet decadent flavor of that creamy white sauce !

It goes well with Italian noodles for sure, and of cause salad greens. I was inspired by actor’s diet blog post of a tofu sauce, she kindly send me the link – yet I am overwhelmed by the ingredients’ names…they are just beyond my limited ingredients-name-pronunciation abilities!!  So I am again relying on my instinct for food… Sorry Lynn, I am being sloppy ! but the sauce ends up really good!!!

So here is my simple ingredients for creamy tofu sauce:

1. 1/2 cup of silky tofu.

2.  1/4 cup of mozzarella cheese.

3.  TJ’s Lemon and Pepper, to seasoning.

4. 1 tsp of sesame oil ( you can use olive oil too:)

and that’s all!!

Blends them really well until this smooth texture (oops, not that smooth, huh )

I promise that tofu sauce is 100% creamy white sauce flavor, yet much less fat and cal. The consistency of the sauce turns out perfect in my first try, you can make it thicker or thinner as you prefer.

Top endives and roasted red peppers with creamy tofu sauce, packed with protein and veggies.

I wish the restaurants  offer me this option too!!!

As my tradition, dessert is served. Gee. I am adapting all the recipes – is that a bad sign of a chef ???

So my light version of famous marble cake today is : purple marble cake

The lovely purple color comes from the red bean and purple sweeten rice. I am addicted to creamy red bean  spread as you all know. and this time I add in some purple sweeten rice which said to be good for girls’ blood system.

So for purple part is the red bean spread and blended purple sweet rice porridge. white part – simple and easy as the ordinary cake base. I guarantee the mixture of the two result in this purple-ish color:

“Life is short, so have some dessert first” . (from a small breakfast cafe in country side Australia).

Refined Southern Dish, and Rejuvenated cheese crackers

I have never thought about cooking southern dishes, and to be honest, I haven’t done any research about southern style food. But this one for sure is one of them. Per request of my dear guest, I make this simple but flavorful dish with a little twist.

so, have you guys ever heard of ” Corned Beef and Cabbage” ? ? ?

dang dang! here it is!

well, not exactly the same as you would expected, but this is my version to stuff in more veggies and make it lighter for this dish.

This is the first time I heard about the dish, especially the corned beef makes me struggled quite a bit. Just finish watching the movie of “food Inc.” , anything corn related makes me feel fat for no reason….

Mix the corned beef, cabbage, and cubed potato together, (no salt added since the sodium in the corn beef is already 20% DV !

I stuff them in the halved red bell pepper, with some mozzarella cheese,  30 min at low 300 degrees. Done !!!

The juice comes from corned beef has savored the whole thing….especially potatoes, I haven’t had them for about one year! and they taste really good!!! For the roasted bell peppers, juicy and sweet, I love them!!!

the only thing is cabbage goes a bit dried out because of long time roasting….if you can cook the potatoes beforehand and stuff the mix in, maybe 15 min would be good enough .

re, re, re, re,…., sorry if I remind you of the email box!!!  ^_^ the rejuvenated cheese cracker???

yupp! I got some pure cheese cracker from coco yesterday (thx u !), they said they are made of 100% cheese….

hoooooray !! I am a CHEESE person, and I would love to have anything made of cheese – mild or sharp, whatever, anything related to milk just makes me happy

well, I tasted some of them, too much is not a good thing…the cracker is a bit oily, and way too salty for my taste buds….But as I never really toss food, I always think of ways to re-use them

So, for the whole day, I’ve been thinking of how to make them re-juvenate and exaggerate that cheese flavor….

suddenly the pumpkin cheese muffin from Starbucks pops in ….that was really something I remembered and marketed for a long time….

Yuppppy ! so I am gonna re-do the cheese cracker version pumpkin muffin !

I chopped the cheese crackers first and have some small ones for the tops.

The other ingredients:

1.  2 cup of self-raising flour ( I am almost done with that big bag ! )

2. 2 tsp of sugar.

3. 1 tsp of butter.

4. chopped cheese cracker ( about 1/2 cups).

5. 1 egg.

alright, i won’t bored you with the easy muffin making steps, just do it!

don’t forget to top with our little guys

350 Degree oven, 20 min.

Do you see the cheese melted on top of that muffin??? the inside has a subtle melted cheese flavor as well!!!!

I wish you were here to share with me this sweet treat

btw, that’s my BIG one bite of this cutie!

Layered Tofu Cake, Swirl Coffee Cookies. Perfect Saturday.

I can’t believe it have been raining for like one week!! how come Maryland is having so much rain this year?

as the weather gets cold, my craving for warm dishes spikes, especially for warm soups. Today I just accidentally make a realy delish soup . Yes, by accdident!

So the meal is called a steamed layered tofu cake with salmon and shiitakes …oh my. that’s a long name without any fun ! yet you have to forgive me – I have been totally brain damaged after 7 days of paper writing!

This dish is fully packed with protein:  let me just do a quick statistical analysis:

1. Salmon: 21 g.

2. Tofu: 9g.

3. Shiitake: 12.5g.

Sounds like a perfect source of good protein meal ! So I make a layered Tofu Cake with Salmon and Shiitakes.

to be frank, I have no idea that after steaming this for 10 min, the dish will turn into a soup. But the soups just taste surprisingly good! it’s just full of the flavors from that savory salmon , and smoky shiitake..plus, the salmon is perfectly “merged” with the the silky tofu, which makes it like a real burger in some sense

stacking those tofu , salmon and shiitake slides is nothing technically challenging. Well, my tips is : please please please make the tofu slices BIG enough to hold your greedy salmon input! I almost crashed one stack because I am trying to put 4-5 salmons in it!

here is the ingredients:

1. 2 Shiitake, soaked in hot water for about 15 minutes until they are soft and soaky. Thinly slice them.

2. about 10 slices of salmon, marinade them with light soysauce and cooking wine , for about 20 mins (depends on how thin you can slice them!)

3. Silky Tofu please. that taste just much better when steamed.

stack everything together with whatever order you like ( and I don’t mind if you stack them with 5-6 layers with your super good hands).

steam them for 10 minutes. sprinkle with finely chopped basil to fresh it up.

It is such a satisfied meal !!!

May I serve some swirl coffee cookies as well?

They are a great pick-me-up. because, the dark part, is purely coffee …and I pour in around 1/2 cup of instant coffees, not intentionally!!! So I can only have them in the morning

I guess i dont’ need time to explain how a cookie taste like. yeah, they are cookies, makes lifes so much sweeter, perfect to go with tea or coffee if you are not scared of coffine intake today.

I trust my brand cookies – I know exactly what’s in it:

1. Dough #1:  1 Cup self-raising flour + 1tsp of sugar + 1/4 of veggie oil.

2. Dough #2:  1 Cup self-raising flour + 1tsp of sugar + 1/4 of veggie oil+ 1/2 instant coffee (I guess 1/3 cup would be enough, if you don’t like the bitter flavor from coffee).

3. Knead two doughs and stack them , roll it .

4. after freezing the combination dough for about 40 min, cut it, bake them at 350 degree oven, about 20 minutes. Before it cools down, sprinkle with unsweetened coconut flakes.

Should I still call it a guilty pleasure???? come on, there is even no butter in my cookie!!

Hope every one has a great weekend and enjoy cooking creations!

A little Adventure II: oodles of noodles_Radish noodle with Spicy Hummus

I need some fresh air

As above, so below.

Food definitely offers me pure pleasure, even if they are guilty pleasures.

so, let’s talk about food !

As the episode may remind you, the meal created these days might be extremely weird , funny, outrageous, …, taste ? so far so good!

I made a Radish noodle that absolutely carb-free, topped with Spicy Hummus!

I keep my finger crossed that you still believe they look like noodle!

I use the food processor to create these oodles of noodles from the Radish ( white one, from Asian Market). They are pretty juicy and crisp, with a little pepper-like spicy. I love to eat them raw , and serve cold as salad.

So the ingredients:

1. Shredded Radish ( I promise  they still look like noodles ))

2. 3 long green pepper

3. about 1/3 cup of hummus.

4. 1tsp of olive oil.

Blend 2 to 4 will end up with a beauty green:

those peppers are not dramatically spicy …thank God I pick the right one!

and the hummus now just blend in more naughty flavors ! I love this sesame seed, chickpea, peppers, cumin, and extra virgin olive oil mixtures ! Looks like I am creating a spicy version of pesto as well !

I decide to throw in another “spicy hummus” picture to rigidly prove it’s greenish lovely color:

 

 

 

 

Top the noodles with spicy hummus, and drizzle some light soy sauce. Em em., so good.

A Little Adventure I: Taste of Cloud Nine, Hummus Stuffed Aubergine

Do I sound like writing a paper with that title “I” “II” “III”, well Maybe baby! I AM writing a paper these days – it just take over my minds and I am being seriously academia in terms of cooking too!

But I am kinda a fan of day dreaming, and needs little fantasy every now and then.  Cloud nine, was a famous bar in Tallest building in Shanghai.  The night spent there drinking and savoring delicate dessert would always be an unforgettable moment for me. unfortunately, the Bar is not there anymore. So, somehow my memory is stirred up, and somehow I’m thinking of an good old friend.

All of these name the cake even before I make it.

Taste of Cloud Nine

The cloud is actually egg whites. and lots lots lots of Nuts, because I’m a nut person:-). and I add in the pumpkin spice to make it have the flavor of the season:

Nobody complaining how many nuts I am putting in the cake!!! Please!!!

the ingredients for cake:

1. 2 cup of self-raising flours  (being a bit lazy today ) +  1 tsp pumpkin spice +2 egg yolk

2. 2 egg white beaten until stiff perk foam.

3. Nuts, Nuts! 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds + 1/2 cup almond, coarsely chopped

first I bake the cake for about 15 min in 350 oven, till its half done. then I spread on the egg whites> it’s so much fun!

So here comes the result:

I intended to spread the egg whites more evenly  - but as you know, model estimation never comes as you expected , so my first egg white bakery doesn’t have a perfect presentation here. BUT, the baked egg whites just taste so special – it’s absolutely crisp on the outside, and pretty airy when you actually having a bite (well I didn’t mark it as a souffle In addition, there is a very tempting eggo smell in the top layer !

if you can see this very thin and puffy layer of baked egg white :

just add a little fantasy to my pumpkin nuts cake.

with my handmixer, every time the cake comes out very soft , moist and airy.

So have a taste of cloud nine!

ooops, seems I make the sequence flipped. My entree comes after the dessert today. sorry!

I called this series a “a little adventure”, because I am going to try out several new ingredients, make a do-over of the ways eating them, and see how it goes.  So today’s actor is Aubergine.

I’m being academic here, haha – it’s just the Thai eggplant _ but who doesn’t want a fancier name !

they are like ping-pong ball sized egg plant, and taste absolutely different from those purple ones! they are much more crunchy even after cooking, and enormous amount of seeds inside!

today’s adventure - hummus stuffed Aubergine

I know there is a traditional dish with meat stuffed eggplant. but I’m eating way too much meat these days, I need to cut it down a bit.

So I “geniusly” think of my hummus. (the fact is, it has been there for about 2 days!)

cut the top off, cross cut the aubergine and stuff in the hummus. drizzle a bit oyster sauce and olive oil.

see how green they are before going in to the oven!!

Aubergine has a very unique flavor that just impossible to describe. they are smoky, subtly bitter (from those seeds), but really crunchy. Aubergine is a Persian name.

I turn to 300 degrees, a bit lower then the normal temp I bake stuff. well you may notice that every time I say something about oven temp, it’s alway 350 degree. wahaha:-) that’s just so me. as I never closely follow recipes (confess!), I am being sloppy on the oven temperature too.

maybe my way of cooking hasn’t reach a point that oven temp will hurt the delicate food flavor yet. Hooooray!

When it comes out, I am a bit confused by its greyish color . But I do find the surprise of that golden edged hummus !

I am so happy that the glazed color from oyster sauce is still there after bathing in 300 degree oven! the salty flavor of aubergine all comes from that hummus. perfectly seasoned. and they are still very crunchy !

I just love these egg shaped, Persian named eggplant. you don’t need to pair it with strong flavored sauce – hummus is good enough.

Bon Appetite Everyone!