Sweet Potatoes Rice (地瓜飯)

Sweet potato is one of the healthiest food one can eat.  It contains vitamins A, Bs, C, manganese, potassium, dietary fiber and some iron. It improve immune system, preserve eye sight, fight infections, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer and has low glycemic index.  But for people with kidney and gallbladder ailments, consult your doctor before consuming.

I have a combination of orange and purple sweet potatoes for my rice simply because I love the different displayed of colors.

This is one healthy and delicious way of eating the sweet potatoes.  You can make it complete with a fried egg (sunny side up) on top for a more balance meal.  Or you can serve it with lean protein and a veggie side dish.

Purple Sweet Potatoes (紫色地瓜)

Sweet potatoes or 地瓜 come in various colors.  The most common orange and yellow and not as common purple.  The purple color one is slightly more expensive.  Sweet potato is really good for us as it contains lots of vitamin A, C, manganese, Bs, potassium, dietary fiber and iron.  Hence, it has antioxidant, anti-inflammatory properties, can improve immune system, preserve eye sight, fight infections, anti-cancer (some even said better than ginseng) and low glycemic index (suitable for diabetics).  This is by far one of the healthiest food to eat.  However, people suffering from kidney and gallbladder ailments are not suitable to eat this.  Consult with your doctor for a recommended amount.

Recipe coming up will be my version of sweet potato rice (地瓜飯), stay tune for this healthy and yummy rice!!

Korean Sweet Sesame Chicken

 

We quite liked this dish as it was sweet and tangy and nothing could go wrong with a sweet tangy sticky sauce on a fried chicken strips.  When I looked at this picture again, I realized that I forgot to garnish it with the toasted sesame seeds.  It involved some steps and the last step sort of slip past me.  Hehe...

I had tried a spicy version and I wanted to try the non-spicy version too hence this dish was made.  I also made it healthier by using chicken tenders instead of wings.  When the ginger and garlic were minced and mixed in this dark sauce, my girls won't know what they were eating and they loved the sweet and tangy sauce.  Just don't tell them what were in the sauce when they asked.  What a great way to trick them!  :D

Easy Crimini Mushroom in Asian Sauce

Mushrooms have been in the spot light especially in health books, magazines and health food store.  It is a fungus that packed with nutrient powerhouses.  It is an excellent source of selenium, a potent antioxidant that fight off damaging free radicals, and thus anticancer.  The dried Shiitake mushroom is said to reduce high cholesterol levels, high blood pressure and protection against breast cancer.

You can easily find the dried Shiitake mushroom at any Asian supermarket.  It is cheaper at Asian market since shiitake mushrooms has been a staple in our Asian cuisines.  Since mushroom is one of the health-boosting and anti-inflammation foods, I would make sure I cook it at least once a week.  The above is fresh crimini mushroom that I bought at Sunflower Market.  I read that when crimini mushroom matures, it becomes portobello mushroom.  Crimini mushroom is sometimes called baby portobello.  I love the texture of this mushroom, it's firmer than the white button mushroom.  I would eat a wide range of different mushrooms and not limiting myself to one or two to fully benefit from it.

Chocolate Whole Wheat Oats Buns

Sharing a picture of my chocolate whole wheat oats buns that I made for our breakfast.  I added cocoa powder just for fun and stuff a few chocolate chips as filling.  The above picture is the unbaked buns but ready for oven.

This is the baked buns.  Guess I shouldn't decorated the buns with chocolate chips on top as it soften and sort of melted a little when baked in the oven.  Kinda messy for my girls to eat too.  But they loved the chocolate chips as filling!

Stir-Fried Chicken with Leeks (鸡胸肉炒韭菜)

I have started buying more leeks at my supermarket trip recently.  I found the flavor here is less pungent than the one in Malaysia.  Perhaps that was the reason why my hubby (he disliked eating leek in Malaysia) and girls have no problem in eating leeks that I cooked.  Leek is a part of onion family called Allium just like garlic, scallion and onion.  Leeks provide a good source of fiber, folid acid, manganese, potassium, calcium, vitamin B6 and C and iron.  It was said to improve the immune system, lower bad cholesterol levels, increase good cholesterol levels and fight certain cancer.  I eat leek purely not because of its health benefits but I happen to like leek a lot especially when it is stir-fried with a little oyster sauce.

I served the above as a one dish meal with a bowl of watercress soup.  This dish had frozen tofu, chicken breast, leek, red bell pepper, carrot and garlic.
 

Korean Chicken Vegetable Stew (Jjim Dak)

When I saw this dish in a Korean cookbook, I had to try it.  Why?  Because it has my favorite dang myun or sweet potato vermicelli in it.  Before that the only uses of dang myun for me is to make japchae (vegetable beef vermicelli) and I was so glad to find another uses for it.  Normally this dish is made with potato and since I don't really buy potato, I used Korean radish instead.  It paired so well together as the radish soaked up the flavor of the spicy gravy and won't crumble if cooked for too long.

This dish is very appetizing to me as it is spicy, sweet and savory at the same time, goes really well with a bowl of hot rice.

One thing I need to note though.  You have to eat this dish fast or once it is cooked.  If left on the stove, the dang myun will soak up all the gravy and become thicker and softer.  It is actually not too bad though as it makes the dang myun really flavorful.  But for presentation purposes or if you have guest then it will be a bad idea.

Edda's Drawings at 4.5 Year Old

Her illustration of princesses.

Edda is my girly girl who likes princesses and play with barbie doll.  So, of course she loves to draw princesses too.  I am impressed of her drawings these days, really what an improvement.  See her drawings at 3+ year old here and here.

Princesses with chat box.  But she still couldn't spell and read, so she just simply wrote down the alphabet that came to her mind.

Mee Sua Soup with Dumplings (菠菜饺子汤面)

I needed a quick lunch fix for Edda and me.  Earlier, I made a batch of chicken chive dumplings and freeze it for emergency such as a quick lunch idea and also an alternative for Evy when I didn't cook enough for her school's lunch box.  I checked my pantry and I had one bundle of somen left, just enough for both Edda and myself.  An lunch idea was formed as I remembered the way my mom cooked the somen for me during my confinement.  If you liked to check out my mom version just click under confinement.  It's similar to this except I added the spinach, dumplings, homemade glutinous rice wine and a little this and that.