A salad fit and mighty as a main dish protein salad bowl featuring shredded chicken, quinoa, red cabbage, Brussel sprouts, snow peas.
Quinoa is nutritious whole grain that can be easily added to vegetable salads and make salads a meal. Make Smoked Salmon Turmeric Quinoa Bowl, Broccoli Cauliflower Celery Quinoa Bowl, Biryani-Inspired Quinoa Pilaf, Asparagus Quinoa Bowl.
A turkey lunch or dinner plate with all things "Thanksgiving" - turkey, green beans, Brussel sprouts, pomegranate, persimmon, sweet potato. These ingredients are all in-season during the month of November.
Honestly not much effort (oh, isn't that all we want ? ) putting together this meal plate, so that we can all enjoy delicious food without breaking any sweat. Besides ready-cooked turkey breast that was store-bought, the vegetables and sweet potatoes were prepared and cooked at home - veggies steamed, and sweet potatoes roasted.
The major difference between this Cabbage, Woodear Mushrooms Salad and the regular raw veggie salad is: these finely julienned/thinly sliced vegetables (including the mushrooms) are blanched to cook - vegetables become warm, tender and infuses deeper with sesame oil-based dressing.
This ready-cooked vacuum-packed roast half duck has shown its worth, not only as alternative protein choice in protein/ salad/ grain bowl-meals, but also as main course specials during Thanksgiving and Christmas recently.
Meal preparation is a breeze with this Maple Leaf Farm Roast Half Duck, sold in two individual 14-oz packages (total 28oz, approx. 4 servings, $17) at our local Costco.
As earlier mentioned - effortless to prepare, ready in minutes, this tender and lean mean piece of gourmet bone-in roast duck is very delicious, consider it Michelin-restaurant quality (but I have not tasted any Michelin restaurant dish, so do take this as comparative compliment to superior taste and food quality).
Cruise through summer with this super easy, fresh and flavorful Tomatoes, Kale, Brussel Sprouts and Almonds Salad, especially when you have lost your cooking mojo in the scorching summer heat.
Still think it's a chore? Think no further. Get your favorite store-bought salad blend (mine's from Trader Joes) and make this Cruciferous Crunch Salad with Almonds and Apples.
Kale Sprouts or Brussel Kale, is one new kid on the block that is a cross between Red Russian kale and conventional Brussel sprouts.
These kale sprouts certainly bear resemblance to Brussel sprouts and Red Russian kale, if you
associate its shape to Brussel sprouts, and color to Red Russian kale.
In wholes of purple stalks and green leaves, they cook faster than Brussel sprouts under the heat of the pan and taste milder than Brussel sprouts, with an appealing bittersweet when gently sauteed with the simplest ingredients: garlic, salt and pepper.
Grab them when you see them. It's seasonal.
As temperatures dip with the surrounding fall/winter foliage, I look forward to seasonal Brussel sprouts and pomegranate. What is better than combining the green and red holiday colors in a single dish.
This side-dish is very easy to prepare. The flavors are bright and refreshing as the savory garlic brussel sprouts complements with a surprising burst of sweet-tangy pomegranate.
Chicken breast. That is how I am beginning the post for today.
I am not after "white" healthy lean meat in any way. In fact, I am a "dark" meat person when it comes to chicken. There must be health freaks out there waiting to strangle me right now. While drumsticks ("dark" meat) is cheaper than chicken breast ("white" meat) in the USA, the other way is true in Asia where drumsticks are typically (or always?) pricier than the not-so-popular often-bland-and-dry chicken breast.
So why am I cooking with chicken breast today? It was the "sales" fault.
Let us make a healthy and nutritious all-in-one-skillet, one-pan of mainly cruciferous vegetables (e.g. kale, brussel sprouts) and lean chicken breast meat.
Do you prefer "dark" chicken meat (e.g. drumsticks, thigh) or "white" (e.g. chicken breast)?
This bowl of soup is all part of the Brassica oleracea family which includes cabbage, brussel sprouts and broccoli (broccolini to be exact).
If there is only one essential tip to share for making this soup a success, it is to not over-cook the brussel sprouts and baby broccoli when they are added into the soup.
I have always doubt the crispiness of baked spring rolls. I mean, how can "baked" ever compare to deep-fried crispiness ? Today I have come to confirm this. Baked spring rolls MAY NOT look perfectly golden-brown BUT they CAN BE crispy. Yes, THESE ARE CRISPY!
What does that mean? A person who enjoys deep-fried foods but avoids deep-frying because of the grease (and smell) in the kitchen (that same person has to end up cleaning the kitchen as well...so now you know) is finally able to find a solution to satisfy her cravings for crispy spring rolls without deep-frying.
This is also a new filling I have created for vegetarian lovers. Wonder what's the filling? Look closely.
Sometimes it is much easier to put together a dish like this Roasted Vegetables Couscous when there is no desire to stand behind a stove for even 15 minutes. With leftover pesto (previously frozen) thawed, roasted Brussel sprouts and organic red bell peppers, this dish can be prepared and cooked without much effort.
The way kale is usually cooked at home is as a light stir-fry (finely diced stems first, then the fine shredded leaves, with some garlic) or soup. As you might have noticed, I try to minimize food wastage or you can say, stretch my grocery budget as much as I can. So in this instance, when the kale leaves are used to make soup, the kale stems were not wasted and "saved" for this.
In fact, this creation is all about leftovers. I have eight wrapper skins (left from making Dumpling Sui Kow Soup), broccoli stems (left from Steamed Broccoli) and kale stems (left from Kale Soup). Sharing this with Hearth and Soul.
Kale, Brussel Sprouts, Mushrooms Wonton Cups
In a preheated oven, heat warp in a muffin pan 375 for 5 minutes or less till they crisp. Separately in a pan on the stove top, sweat some onions, garlic, ginger, then saute carrots, add the thinly diced kale stems and broccoli stems and saute for about 3 minutes. Then add fine shreds of brussel sprouts and mushrooms and saute for about 5 minutes. Add some sweet corn kernels (frozen, already thawed), continue to saute for about 3 minutes. When cooked, scoop the veggies into the crispy cups.
This Brussel Sprouts and Mushrooms is an easy and very flavorful side dish.
First, the mushrooms were allowed to cook down to develop flavors with onions, garlic and black pepper before adding the Brussel sprouts to cook in the steam already infused with flavor notes of earthy mushrooms.
Certainly a technique you can use if you favor grease-less low heat cooking.
Brussel Sprouts with Baby Bella Mushrooms
Heat a little oil in the pan and saute 2 tbsp red onions, followed 1 tbsp minced garlic. After about 3-5minutes, add 5 baby bella thinly sliced (seasoned with 1 tsp soy sauce and 1 tsp cooking wine in advance), pinch of ground black pepper and cook it down for about 8 minutes, adding 1-2tbsp of water at the halfway mark just to create a little moisture. When the mushrooms are almost done, add in 12 Brussel sprouts (cross at the bottom) and mix well with the mushrooms. Cover the pan, turn the heat down to low-medium and allow the steam in the pan to cook the Brussel sprouts. It will take another 8 minutes. Eyeball to make sure brussel sprouts are cooked yet not overdone.
Sharing this with Hearth and Soul
Tag: mushrooms, brussel sprouts
If there is seasonal dish, then is there a shoulder-seasonal dish? Basically a dish that may bridge two seasons, for example summer's corn and bell peppers with fall's Brussel sprouts?
Too early for Brussel sprouts? Make sure to pick those with small compact heads, as they usually more tender and have a sweeter flavor than large ones.
A summer-fall dish - Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Corn Kernels and Bell Peppers; this dish is just it! Roasted Brussel sprouts tossed with roasted fresh corn kernels (shucked from corn on the cob) and bell peppers.
The Brussel sprouts are roasted in the same oven batch with the corn kernels and peppers; however roasted separately on different trays.WHY?
Towards late Brussel sprouts season, these mini-cabbage-like heads are certainly gets bigger and bigger at the grocery store which I frequent. Small and compact-head peak season Brussel sprouts are usually more tender and have a sweeter flavor than large ones.
Brussel sprouts have been steamed and roasted before. However since the late-season Brussel sprouts are larger and look more like cabbage anyway, why not stir-fry them this time, like cabbage.
To add a variety of vegetables in a plate, there are also diced green beans, sliced carrots and shiitake mushrooms in this easy and light stir-fry
Fall season is also brussel sprouts season and I am going to eat them wholeheartedly.
They are usually expensive (due to being typically imported from nearby countries such as Australia) in Singapore. But now, I have the luxury to buy them reasonably, seasonably and relatively cheap in the US. Brussel sprouts are high in Vitamin K, C, A; folate, maganese, potassium, iron....mmmmm...you should look at the long nutrients list.
Contrary to the popular and common method of pan-frying with bacon or butter, I did the "Chinese" thing and steam them. Cooking Tip: To get them uniformly cooked yet not overcooked remains the same regardless of cuisine if you want to cook them whole. Cut a cross at the base/bottom of each brussel sprout so that "heat" can get in there easily.
