Lemongrass Mussels, Vegetables & Noodles

Ever since trying frozen mussels Steamed Mussels in White Wine Sauce - Trader Joes, I have let down my guard on frozen shell-fish products, in general. That said, I still take a few moments to scan the ingredient list and nutrition label to make sure the ingredients are as natural (less processed) as possible and the sodium level is not exceedingly high. For example, the clams used in Steamed Eggs with Clams is a good quality product that produced such deliciousness with minimal effort.

Back to the Whole Catch Mussels - Lemongrass Curry from Whole Foods Market which might not have one of the best ingredient lists (it's okay good, just not perfectly good) but @$2.99 a package, who could resist this value deal, and the convenience it will bring to the table when one craves seafood.

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Tomato Sauce Meatballs Protein Bowl

No mangoes to make Mango Tomato Sauce Meatballs, but there is always a pack of frozen vegetables available, so why not? For added fiber and overall nutrition as the more (veggies), the merrier.

That completes today's Meatballs Protein Bowl - steamed vegetables as the base, and portion of pasta to pair with tomato sauce meatballs.

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Black Bean Patty Vegetarian Protein Bowl

This vegetarian plant-based protein bowl is made with store-bought black beans patty, paired with vegetables - broccoli, Brussel sprouts, spinach, carrots and cooked barley.


With more time on hand, you can always make your own bean patty/cake e.g. Black Bean Potato Patty/Cake. 

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Chicken, Spinach, Cauliflower Bowl

These chicken protein bowls are always what I fall back on no matter how meal plans are changed up over the weeks, or months, even years. They are dependable in terms of ease of preparation, nutrition and taste.


Those in touch with my blog would have known by now how I usually rely on store-bought rotisserie chicken in protein bowls. Though I am fully aware it is not difficult to cook a whole chicken from scratch, I simply cannot afford the time (and energy) when there are other commitments to juggle with.

Since I use store-bought rotisserie chicken quite frequently, I have to make sure of the quality. So I try to get better quality ones - plain roasted (preferred) or classic roast (more widely available in stores) using just chicken, salt and black pepper. Nothing artificial when it comes to flavorings/seasonings.

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Cordyceps Flowers Steamed Cod EnPapillote

Parchment cooking En Papillote did not fail me. This Asian-Style Steamed Cod Fish Fillets with Cordycep Flowers, Gojiberries, Woodear Mushrooms turned out wonderfully delicious.


Cordyceps Flower or Cordyceps militaris is a type of mushrooms in family Cordycipitaceae, and are usually cooked in soups. 

Instead of steaming the fillets over the stove, the fish wrapped in "parcels" are "steamed"/roasted in the oven.

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Garbanzo Beans Chickpeas with Vegetables

Happy 2026 and we hope your 2026 has been off to a great start!

The new year starts off with this healthy nutritious vegetarian/meatless bowl meal nicely balanced with a variety of cooked vegetables, roasted chickpeas/garbanzo beans, and black rice.

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Fried Chicken Bowl

Never would I have thought that fried chicken would one day be featured in my bowl meals because fried chicken - KFC style, the fried chicken we grew up eating, is one of the last food dishes I would cook at home.

Out of sight, out of mind. Well, that was until this $2 off fried chicken coupon was sighted in my supermarket shopping account. And what can be better than using this discount to buy an item that I would never prepare/cook at home.


How about waiting for a double discount deal? That popped up in my mind. I will wait for a 5-dollar Friday - that's when 8-piece fried chicken goes on sale for $5 (vs other times, almost twice the price, about $9); then use this $2 discount on this 5-dollar Friday.Woot! 8-piece fried chicken (mix of fried drumsticks and thighs) for $3! (pardon the overuse of exclamation marks).

That's frugal living (did you know: our family also uses store-bought whole rotisserie chicken to prep the family's protein bowls); and planning ahead is part of frugal living including today's semi-homecooked bowl meal.

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Shishito Peppers (Twist Chili) Tofu Bowl

This is a vegetarian version of Shishito Peppers Protein Bowl, substituting chicken with tofu. 


They are many ways to make delicious tofu including Chimichurri Tofu, Korean Spicy Tofu, or Chilled Tofu, Five-Spice Marinated Tofu. Instead of tofu, you can also use Tofu Sheets/Yuba - another great meatless high-protein option. Yuba/Fresh Tofu Sheets Salad is one of my favorite ways to enjoy yuba/fresh tofu sheets

If you going for a simple, no-frills tofu recipe, a little salt, black pepper and garlic powder also goes a long way.

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Cabbage Quinoa Chicken Salad

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.

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Smelt Fish Protein Bowl

Besides salmon, mackerel, milkfish, hairtail ribbon fish, this high calcium smelt fish (oven-roast or pan-fried) can also be protein entree to these protein bowl meals.


Oven-roast or pan-fried, these smelt fish (also known as capelin or Japanese masagos) are deliciously crispy and makes protein bowls such a healthy delight to enjoy.

If you are not a fan of fish, you can opt for other seafood option or stick with chicken.

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Shredded Chicken Curry Bowl

When there was leftover curry chicken, we made Curry Chicken Protein Veggie Bowl. But this time, only gravy remaining and no chicken leftover in the curry chicken! The frugality in me simply wants to "save" that precious gravy (can't waste the essence of curry chicken, right?).

The following day, two different leftovers: shredded chicken breast and curry gravy became good friends - combo created by adding leftover shredded chicken breast into the leftover curry gravy, then reheated to make this Shredded Chicken Curry Veggie Bowl.

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Chinese New Year Pork Trotters with Noodles and Vegetables

Braised pork trotters is one of the Chinese New Year dishes enjoyed during this festive season as pigs are auspicious animals in Chinese culture and symbolize strength and good fortune.

This dish is prepared using store-bought boneless pork trotters, tossed with noodles symbolizing longevity equivalent to being in good health and paired with "lucky" vegetables combo.

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Egg Frittata Breakfast Sandwiches

Skip store-bought breakfast and make your own healthier version.  This time, I improved on these breakfast sandwiches with egg frittata as sandwich fillers. These are great make-ahead breakfast sandwiches.

Our family enjoys egg frittata including Onion Egg Frittata, Gouda Cheese Egg Frittata, Pico De Gallo/Salsa Egg Frittata, Frozen Veggies Egg Frittata, Fish & Oats Egg Frittata (made with leftover fish!).

Make a batch, wrap up the extras and warm them up when required.


The idea of make-ahead is to save time especially when the day gets busy. However, you still have to fork out some time about 20 minutes or so, during less hectic days to make this happen; or more accurately, make the egg frittata happen. This is an easy version of entirely-oven-baked egg frittata, all for the sake of us, the busy humans.

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Roast Duck with Asparagus, Sweet Potato

Happy New Year 2025 to all. Hope 2024 has been great and 2025 will be better.

Always love a delicious duck dish come winter time, and Costco's Maple Leaf Farm Roast Half Duck has always been my family's favorite and go-to. Not only these ready-cooked duck make delicious duck protein bowls, they also make meal prep. a breeze. There is also no need to worry if the kitchen oven can fit and roast a whole duck.

I revisited one of our winter favorites - duck, brussel sprouts and sweet potato, and made this Duck with Roasted Asparagus, Steamed Gai Lan Chinese Broccoli and Purple Sweet Potato dish.

Curry Spiced Trout Fillets

Whole fish tastes better when cooked on the bone; and whole fish, especially when it is still swimming in the tank, is probably one of the freshest!

No whole fish today but fillets of trout are used here; just because fresh fillets (not labeled as "previously frozen") were available from the market's seafood section. These fillets may well work into my favor today, as the marinade will be readily and quickly absorbed into the fish, and certainly makes cleaner and fuss-free food preparation (as with whole fish, comes an additional step to proper clean the inside of the fish).


No time? Season with a little salt and pepper. 2 minutes more? Prepare some spice seasoning as marinade. With 5 minutes extra-time to spare, mince up ginger-green onions paste on top of the spice seasoning.

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Tempeh Protein Bowl with Marinated Feta Cheese

These bowl-meals are usually built in a few steps which include preparing the vegetables as the base and portioning the protein.


Protein feature in today's bowl is tempeh, and hard-boiled eggs (discover this Rapid Egg Cooker) paired with vegetable base that includes steamed broccolini, red cabbage, mushrooms (check this multipurpose Stainless Steel Steamer)

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Shrimps Chicken Multigrain Congee Porridge

A few days away from daylight savings when we turn our clock back an hour. The days are getting shorter and temperatures are down to sweater weather.

A warm wholesome bowl of multigrain congee (this Rice Cooker /Multicooker will be useful) is a welcoming meal as we embrace autumn and winter. Call this Surf and Turf as shrimps (prawns) and ground  meat (pork, chicken) are added to the otherwise plain bowl of congee made from brown rice, millet, quinoa.

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Tacos Pork Carnitas, Fish Salmon #TacoTuesday

Our family was never quite into tacos, burrittos, Mexican food and cuisine in general. However, this past year of occasional day-tripping and local travel opened up our travel food world to food trucks, especially taco trucks.

Though we prefer to have home-cooked food (these food storage containers will come in very handy), having to depend on prepared/store-bought food while travelling has become unavoidable. However, eating out past few years has become very expensive. When you are travelling on the road, what is your go-to for food?

For us, it's tacos - definitely not those fancy-schmancy $8 tacos in restaurants but traditional authentic basic no-frills meat tacos topped with onions and cilantro. We are always excited to discover and try great delicious $2-3 tacos on our road trips, and try to keep our meal budget under $15 (for two people).

Semi-homemade: carnitas tacos with pineapple salsa, cilantro

There comes a time to take matters into my own hands with semi-homemade tacos (check this best-selling taco holders) at home, getting some good quality pork carnitas from the store, then putting it together at home.

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Shishito Peppers Chicken Protein Bowl

This thin-skinned, wrinkled-looking, mild- spicy East Asian pepper variety - Shishito Peppers is one of the easiest chili peppers to prep and cook. 


When roasted, the natural "smoked" flavor of these blistered peppers make protein bowls extra delicious.

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Seaweed Avocado Egg Salmon Wrap Sandwich

I could not wait to try this seaweed wrap hack since the tortilla wrap hack got into me sometime ago.

There are many options to fill the four quarters of seaweed nori sheets. Here is one with egg, cucumber, avocado and salmon.

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