Healthy Pasta Salad

This is a quite healthy vegetables loaded lunch with Omega 3 from tilapia! I love this simple and easy recipe and would like to share it with you. The nice thing about salad is that you can basically add in any vegetable that you like and mix it with the dressing and it will turned out to be a good meal !

Ingredients
1/4 box macaroni
1 slice low fat cheese
4 tablespoon low fat mayonaise
1 tablespoon yellow mustard
1/2 tb garlic powder
1/2 tb dry parsley
1/2 cup of broccoli florets
1/2 cup corns
1/2 cup green peas
dash of pepper to taste
dash of sat to taste
2 tilapia fillets marinated with salt and pepper
1 ts vegetable oil

1) Bring 2 large pot of lightly salted water to boil
2) Add pasta and cook for 5-8 minutes until al dente in one pot and cook brocolli , corn and peas in another pots for 3-5 minutes
3) Drain brocolli, peas and corns and rinse in cold water. Drain the pasta and stir in one slice of cheese until melted
4) Heat 1 ts oil in a non stick skillet over med heat
5) Sear tilapia about 5 minutes each side or until just cooked
6) Mix mayonaise, mustard, parsley, brocolli, corns, green peas, and garlic powder in a bowl
7) Lastly, add in the fish and if you prefer big chunks, just slightly break the fillet and mix in with the salad
8) Add salt and pepper to taste

Cream Of Broccoli

Ingredients

1 lbs of brocolli
1 onion
1 carrot
3 cloves of garlic
3 cups of skim milk
1 tb butter
1 ts nutmeg
1/2 cup white wine
2 tb of sour cream
salt

1) Chopped onion , garlic, and carrot
2) Saute onion, garlic until fragrant with butter in a pan , then add broccoli and carrot
3) Add milk and white wine, simmer for 15 minutes
4) Blend the soup in the blender
5) Add milk until desired consistency
6) Add nutmeg and season with salt to taste
7) Divide the soup into 2 bowls and top the soup with 1 tb of sour cream

Chilli

Chilli , yum yum . I guess this is the first time i enjoy eating chilli. Is not because i am so narcissistic into thinking that other chilli is not great and my chilli recipe is the best. Well, of course i hope so , but the truth is usually in a restaurant the chilli is cooked with minced beef and i dont really fancy beef. I guess that is kind of obvious that i don't have any beef dishes in my blog. Anyway, this is chilli that is cooked with minced pork .. YUMS ! love it .. is a comfort and hearty meal. :)

Recipe
1 can of kidney beans
3 roma tomatoes blended
1/2 yellow bell pepper
2 red jalapenos ( we love it spicy)
2 big onions
1 lbs of minced pork
1/4 cup of red chilli pepper flakes
2 tb of hot sauce
1 tb cumin
1 tb dried oregano
1 ts coriander
2 ts paprika
1 tb cornmeal
1 tb cornflour
1/2 can of beer
1/2 cup of water
2 cloves garlics
1 tb olive oil
salt to taste
sugar to taste

1) Chopped onion , yellow bell pepper , garlic, jalapeno
2) Saute onion , bell pepper, garlic and jalapeno until fragrant, then add minced pork
3) Saute until brown, then add blended tomato, beer, and 1/2 cup of water
4) Add cumin , paprika, red chilli flakes, coriander, hot sauce, oregono and drained kidney beans
5) Bring to boil , then simmer for about 2 hours
6) Thickened with corn flour, and cornmeal ( add more cornflour of you like thicker consistency)
7) Add sugar and salt to taste
8) Serve it warm

Chicken Cordon Bleu

I bought lots of chicken breast in costco recently, with the thought of eating healthy. I usually will get chicken thigh or chicken drumstick, because to me , dark meat usually is tastier and juicier but for the sake of " healthy diet", i just need to make some changes . This chicken cordon bleu doesn't disappoint. It is easy, does not need hours to marinate and is great!

Recipes
3 tablespoon of butter
2 chicken breast
2 slices of cheese
2 slices of ham
bread crumbs
2 tb paprika + cayenne pepper + a dash of salt+garlic powder
Salt
pepper

White sauce
1/2 cup of white wine / shaoxing wine
2 tablespoon of flour /cornflour
1/2 cup of milk/ heavy cream / half and half


1)Preheat oven to 350F
2)Use the back of the knife to pound chicken breast to 1/4 inch thickness
3)Sprinkle salt and pepper on the chicken
4)Place a slice of ham on top of chicken followed by a slice of cheese
5)Roll the chicken and secured with toothpick
6)Coat the chicken with bread crumb+ cayenne pepper+paprika+ garlic powder+ salt
7)heat the butter in a pan, pan sear the chicken about 5 minutes each side, until brown
8) bake in oven for 35 minutes
9) Meanwhile, to make the white sauce, add flour to the pan (with the chicken dripping)
10) Add milk/cream and wine. Cook until thickened.
11) to serve, pour the sauce on top of the chicken. For side dishes, boiled the green peas and brocolli and seasoned with pepper and salt

Pizza Dough

This is the third time i am making pizza at home. This is the pizza dough recipe that i like best. With try and error, i came up with the ratio below. The pizza dough is crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside! The rule of thumb for pizza making is when you think the dough is sticky when u are kneading them , add some flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, and if you think the dough is dry/crumble, add 1 table spoon of water until you have a shiny and lively dough :)

To serve 4

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour + 1/2 cup ground semolina flour
1 level tablespoon salt
1 packet active dried yeast
1 tsp sugar
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup lukewarm

- in a bowl , mix all purpose flour, salt and semolina flour
- in a cup, add the yeast into the warm water, oil and sugar. Leave it for about 5 minutes.
- Then pour the yeast mix into the flour. By using a fork , mixing it until it all come together. Then , knead with hand until it becomes springy and smooth. To make sure it is well kneaded, poke on the dough , if it spring back , then it is well kneaded.
- place a very hot water in the oven on the lowest rack
- Place the dough in a large dusted bowl and dust the top. Cover with damp cloth and place it on the upper rack in the oven for 1 hour .
- When the dough double in size, punch it down and roll it out with rolling pin about 1/4 inch thick
- preheat the oven to 450F
- Put on the topping and bake in oven ( lower rack for 5 minutes, then middle rack for 4-5 minutes until it is browned)
- Then ITADAKIMAS


* tips on making pizza - Make sure the dough is well kneaded
* roll it out thin, really thin if you want to have a thin crust pizza !

Black Pepper Chicken Chop with Potato Wedges

Chicken Chop ! We can find this commonly in Malaysia's western restaurant but strangely enough i dont see it in any of the menus in US. This is one of the food that i miss terribly and i always make sure i had it before i return to US. However, to cure my chicken-chop-craving, i do mak it frequently at home here. It is quite easy and yield a pretty good result !

Ingredients: Main
• 2 chicken thighs
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• salt
• 1 tsp brown sugar

Ingredients: Sauce
1. 2 tb butter
2. 2 cloves garlic
3. 1 large onion, cut into strips, mushrooms (if desired)
4. 1 teaspoon sugar
5. ground black pepper, and salt to taste
6. 2 tb light soy sauce sauce
7. 2 tb worcestershire sauce
8. 1/2 cup flour , 1-2 cup water ( to your preference thickness)

Preparation:
1.Skin and de-bone chicken thighs, tenderise the meat using the tenderising hammer or the back of a chopping knife.

2. Mix all the main ingredients together, cover the meat with the marinade and leave it in a closed plastic container for about 1 hour.

3.Preheat the oven t 350F. Oil the grill pan and place it on 350F about 3 minutes. Place the chicken on the grill and return it back to the oven. Grill the chicken each side for 5 minutes- 8 minutes or till it is golden brown (depending on how thick the piece of chicken is).

4. To make the sauce, melt 2 tb butter in pan. add flour and stir until it become creamy brown. Whisk in 1-2 cup of water and chicken dripping. Add in onion , and mushrooms.

5. Add in the black pepper, light soya sauce, and Worcestershire sauce ; stir-fry for 1-2 minutes.

6. . Add on more of the ingredients to suit your taste if necessary.

7. Pour the sauce over the chicken chop and serve with your favourite steamed vegetable.

Enjoy !