FAST FOOD

No no no, I am not talking about big Mac and Fried chicken.

I am talking about home-made fast food , ready in 15 min!

Like this chicken fried rice ( sounds familiar – Trader Joes’ fans? :-))

and this chicken fried noodles:

I was never a fan of frozen meat – I felt they all made of mysterious ingredients if you ever watched the Jimmy Olivers show. But Tyson Grilled&Ready Chicken kinda of changed my impression of frozen food.

I got a free sample of this chicken stripes from foodbuzz taster maker program, FYI,  Tyson also made beef stripes and chicken breast if you are intersted.

the nutrition info looks not bad:

in this bag, 80% of them are really big pieces of chicken stripes , and 20% are smaller , which is ideal for chicken fried rice or noodles:) I am surprised that these chicken stripes are PERFECTLY SEASONED according to my palate.

The chicken is actually cooked already, so it shortens the cooking time:

steps:

1. using a non-stick frying pan (this is the one from Lock&Lock, super cute!) , heat a bit oil

2. scramble the eggs, then veggies;

3. add already cooked rice / noodles, add about 1/2 cup of water, as well as the frozen chicken stripes, let it simmer for about 5 min, stir occasionally;

4. Done – EAT!

It takes less than 15min, and tastes like a 40 min’s work! 🙂 Enjoy , my dear friends!

Good Chef Needs A Good Frying Pan

Not the one that gets sticky all the time!!!

I ruined my stainless steel pan 2 months ago by caramelize onions for 20minutes. It became BLACK. Literally, changing from this:

to THIS:

I am not joking. I would be much happier if “black” in my stainless steel pan means “non-stick”. Unfortunately, it STICKS all the time.

So you can imaging how excited I was when I open the Lock&Lock supporter package last week!!!!

It is an awesome, fancy, hip, ceramic (and I assume it means non-stick), flower patterned frying pan!!!!!!!!!

Sorry I keep on bombing you with the pan :-p, but this is where the food comes from!!! I can not wait to try:

With just a little bit oil, I sauteed some pork . It is totally Non-stick !!! according to manual, the flowering pattern at the bottom of the pan prevent the food from sticking, and the pan is made with Non-toxic, eco-friendly coating materials. Well, I have to say, the color is an awesome addition to  my kitchen too!

I made this: snow pea with pork:

and I love the color so much , so I just use the frying pan as another plate!

My happy meal : brown rice, egg tomato with black fungus, snow pea with pork!

I am really happy with this frying pan – because I want to be a terrific chef !

Spicy Baked Tofu with Nuts Sprinkles

I bet you will love it:

This dish is so simple to make and so flavor !!! If you have a crush on Tofu and Nuts – please try this recipe!!!

Ingredients:

1. 3/4 package of Firm tofu,

2. Chili pepper (all any kind of spicy condiments you like) with a bit oil.

3. Optional : nuts!! I choose the dry roasted peanuts , I think cashew will work great too:

Steps – well can I just say: slice the tofu , mix everything together and sprinkle the nuts on top?

I love my new lock&lock glass bake dish , especially their bright color on the handles. Again this is a gift from Lock&Lock , I am selected to review their Borosilicate glass baking dish. The handle come with different bright colors – you can serve it directly from oven to table!!!  😀

After 30 minutes in the 350F oven, the tofu is all crispy, chili just melts into the tofu, and nuts are golden brown.

Hope you like it! 🙂 It is a hassle free summer dish!

Real Chili!!!

As it is getting warmer, I think I do need some chilllll(i)…..

This time is real stuff – I made chili exactly the same as the recipe on the box:

These are all you need :

1. 2.5 lb of beef

2. Chili kit, which comes with 7 individual package of : chili pepper, corn flour (for thickening, I didn’t use), oregano/cumin, onion/garlic powder, paprika, red pepper ( I used half ), and salt.

3. kidney beans,

4. 1 can of tomatoes (with juice) + water

5. Any veggies you like , I used 1 big white onion. But I guess carrot will work well too.

6. Optional : I am craving for some Parmesan cheese today instead of sour cream 😛

Okay…this pic may look a bit scary, yet this is how it look like while wildly boiling. The steps are pretty simple

1. Sautee beef, drain the fat ( I used 80/20, which is very juicy for chili)

2. Sautee the onion, add water, beef, can of tomatoes, and kidney beans (fully cooked), and secrete packages 🙂

3. Simmer for 30 min, until all flavor blends

Viola ~~~~ Please enjoy:

Did you happen to notice the special glass pot I store the chili ? It was a gift from lock&lock. I was fortunate enough to be selected as their “lock&lock supporters”. Lock&Lock is a company that makes things VERY important for students – I used and loved all their air-tight, perfectly sealed containers for almost 5 years when I bring lunch to the office.

This glass container is called a Borosilicate Glass pot, which is safe for microwave and oven cooking (gonna used to for roasting veggies and meat!).

It comes with the strainer:

The thing I like most is…..it looks so pretty that I can serve directly on the table, store in the fridge, and microwave without making a mess:-P

Yet the lid is not oven safe, which means I couldn’t used it as a casserole. But other than that, I am happy with this glass pot 🙂

Hope you like the chili in the pot:

Do you use steamer? Steamed Sa Cha Beef :-)

When I was in China, my parents used steamer a lot : for buns, for fresh fish, for crab, for etc., etc., etc. However, I have never really steam a lot of things here. It takes longer, and I don’t have the proper tools. You know, it is always a difficult job to get the bowl out of the pot  – I don’t want to burn my hand! !

But people from CSN store has generously offered me a Oster Food Steamer. It is a review post that long over due…. I received the steamer late Jan , and finally I got to use them!

When I got it, I was so excited. It looks exactly as what my parents have:

This is a ‘compressed’ version : one layer:

You can extend them:

😀 isn’t that cool ? ! It is extremely easy and safe to use (did you notice they give instructions on the side? )

So I made a dish that I have been craving for:

Steamed Sa Sha Beef with Japanese Yam !

My old ways dealing with meat (all kinds of red meat, actually), is to make soup. Today, I tried something new!

It doesn’t look fabulous. But I promise, it tastes fabulous. The beef is soooooo tender after being steamed for 2 hours. The flavorful fat juice has all been absorbed by the Yam, which renders the sweetness with a salty, sa cha twist.

So here is the ingredients:

stew beef chunks, soy sauce, rice wine, and…..

Sa Cha Sauce!!! A seafood based sauce, combined with onion powder, garlic powder and thousands secrete ingredients that makes it goes well with so many stuff ! I am being very generous today , spooning a lot of sa cha sauce into my beef marinade.

after marinade the beef for 1 hour, I carefully lay them over the sliced yam. Of course you can use any kind of yam, or potato, or taro (drooooling!). Steam for 2 hours and you will be mesmerized by the unique Sa Cha flavor !!!

Hope you love it, my friends!

Serious Jet Lagged, and Review of My New Secrete Weapon!

I have never been so tired of travelling…. 7 hours on the flight , exhausted, and 8 hours back. These all happens within 3 days. Where have I been?!

Yes, Amsterdam. Exciting, crazy, wild city. But you can find peace and calm too:

That was quite a trip. Even though it was not as relaxed as I wish it could be, I had a place to clear my mind 🙂  See what I bring back home:

I have been collecting tea cups every where I traveled. Yes I know it is heavy and bulky, but totally worth the effort when you sip tea and have a wonderful afternoon 🙂

So my review of my secrete weapon is long overdue…. 😛 People from CSN stores has generously offer me another opportunity (gift card ) to review their product.  I decided to paid the rest and get this nice bread maker:

This is a $99 bread machine, very beautiful exterior. the ratings on Amazon and some other websites are consistently to be 4.5/5 (  I did the research!). It has LOT of bread options that I am excited about, especially its’ whole wheat bread dough setting, French bread setting, fruit/nuts bread. It also has the express bread making function for 59min bread. I have only try the whole wheat bread, so I will review this function first, and I will leave the others for later.

btw, the paper besides the machine are the bread recipes that I am going to try out.

I made this simple maple whole wheat bread first:

1. 3 cups of whole wheat flour

2. 1 package of yeast ( test in luke warm water)

3. 1 1/4 cup water

4. 1/4 cup of maple syrup.

5. 1 teaspoon of salt.

6. Vital Gluten (to make the bread rise higher , even though it doesn’t work that well….)

7. 1/4 cup of vegetable oil

According to the instructions ( I follow it strictly this time), put the dry ingredient (1,6) on top of wet ingredient (3,4,5,7), and then put the yeast on top of them (very important according to the menu).

Set the menu as ” whole wheat — 1.5LB bread “. Then the timer automatically starts. The total time is 3:48min for this whole wheat bread. It warms up for about 15 mins, and then start to knead, rest, knead, rest, and bake.   You can just walk away and have some fun.

Now comes my perfect whole wheat bread!!! if you read my blog before, you know that I had a unpleasant past with bread making…. But now, my saver is here!!!

Even though you can not see lot of holes in my bread, it is REALLY soft inside. I think the ‘kneading’ process ( which I didn’t pay attention to previously) is extremely important. The exterior is very crusty, perfectly sweetened. I store the bread in a sealed bag for 5 days, still , I enjoy the last piece of it. Just toast them and they taste as freshly made.

For this whole wheat bread, I will give it a 4 /5 . 🙂 the only thing I am a bit disappointed is my bread didn’t rise high enough !! hehe, next time, I will try the combination of 1 cup of bread flour + 2 cups of whole wheat flour, which is recommended, and let you guys know how it goes!

Now I am finally having some fun with bread making!!!

I went to Boston, yet I forgot my camera…

Oh How silly I am!!!

Even though the trip to Boston is absolutely NOT for fun ( it’s for non-stop, four day talking, getting challenged, and exhausted….), but forgetting my camera is unforgivable!!! The weather was extremely nice —which said to be unusual in Boston. I did have time to take a little walk around Harvard square, MIT, along Charles River, and harbor. Nice breeze. Can’t find a better relaxation than that.

And, since we have a daily budget for meals , I spend them all, I spend them all, I spend them all….I really like two Thai food place in Copley Place – one is Chili Duck, the other is Thai Basil. The Sushi is superb too, especially that Dauzo…..I wish I had recorded those moments for you! But if you got a chance to visit Boston, I highly recommend these place to satisfy your picky stomach!

So when I am back home, I make a little note for myself – get a small digital camera soon, so I can take it with me anywhere!

I feel sorry that I couldn’t share with my dear blog friends about Boston…but i do have some other food pictures:

another Buitoni Salad!

I got this Buitoni coupon from Foodbuzz taste maker program ( again! thanks ! ) it finally helps me to find the one I love!!!

This is the wild mushroom Agnolotti. ( who can help me pronounce this name! :-P)

I make this salad with two vine tomatoes, sweet corn,  sweet peas and just a little bit red onion ( I don’t want to burn my stomach again!)

Drizzled with Balsamic Vinegar, Dill, and pinch salt and pepper.

This time, I am VERY satisfied with the filling!!! there is A LOT mushroom, that I can really see. It seems that the mushroom is blended with cheese already. Taste very cheesy 🙂

Are you able to see it ? 🙂 Enjoy !!

Finally, My Waffle Maker is HERE !!!!!!!!!!

Can’t be more excited to try out this new baby!!!!!!!!

The people from Wayfair  generously offer me a double duty , waffle/pocket sandwich maker to review. What an awesome opportunity! hoooray!!! I have been waiting, waiting, waiting, and finally its here!!!

So my breakfast becomes much fancier this morning

you know I eat a lot for breakfast 😀  Today’s breakfast menus is:

Home-made soymilk ( with soybeans and Goji berries)

Waffle (oh yah!) x2 + laughing cow

grapefruit

1/4 cup of walnuts ( I already ate them , no pics sorry :-P)

This is the first time I have home-made waffle , with a bit creations here. I used:

Bean dregs ( leftovers from making soymilk) + wheat bran + whole wheat flour + flaxseed + 1 egg

The waffle maker is really cool –

My Review:

Functionality: 5/5. It’s pretty small (as you can see from above, only two pocket), perfect for one person. I haven’t tried out the pocket sandwich yet – but can’t wait!!! it’s fun to have a double duty waffle maker, isn’t it 😛

Easiness to use: 4.8/5. the waffle plate and the sandwich plate are all cast-iron, non-stick. I am actually surprised how easy to get the waffle out, and how crispy the waffle is. It takes about 3 min to pre-heat, and 4 min to get waffle done. The only problem I have is it takes a bit long to cool it completely down.

Easiness to clean: 4.8/5! It just can’t be easier to clean, since it’s non-stick plate, just wipe it with the paper tower and good for next morning 😀 or you can wait till it cools down a bit and rinse it ( and maybe u need to wait for another half an hour :p)

Price : $47.99

Over all, I am pretty happy with this new baby.  I give it a 4.9/5 highly recommend this 😀 (or maybe you can interpret it as “I am way to excited to try out home-made waffle” ). anyway, this is a pretty good choice if you are looking for a waffle maker, at a reasonable price. Don’t forget you can also made pocket sandwich with it ..he he he he he, I am already drooling on a ooey gooey cheese pocket sandwich ~~~~

Speak of the toppings for waffle – I tried the laughing cow today 😀 coz I am kinda craving for something salty and milky. I am also thinking of pineapple as toppings. Can anyone give me some ideas for the toppings??? how do you like your waffles ??? Thanks a lot for making my breakfast more exciting!!!!