Eileen Likes To Eat

Whole chicken legs are SUPER cheap at Fresh & Easy.  6 thighs and 6 legs are only about $5.  I bought one pack and made Taiwanese style stewed chicken leg.

紅燒雞腿 Taiwanese Style Stewed Chicken Legs

Taiwanese stew is very easy to make.  Soy sauce, rice wine, water, crushed garlic, green onion, and a pack of “stew bag (滷包)” that you can purchase from Chinese supermarket.  The stew bag has spices and herbs in it, but it’s optional.  You can also add ginger.  Most people do, I think.  But personally I don’t like ginger so I never add ginger to my stew.  The amount that I added is approximately rice wine : soy sauce : water = 1 : 2 : 3.  At this point, I have no idea how the sauce tastes like.  But no worry.  Just wait till the sauce started boiling, then you can throw the meat in there.  You can also use pork or beef.  But I wouldn’t use chicken breast.  They breast meat won’t taste as good as leg meat.  Chicken wings works great in this sauce though.  When the sauce starts to boil again, turn the heat to low, cover the pot, and let the meat stew for about 1 hour. 

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When I cook Chinese/Asian dinner, I always like to make 3 dishes. There is 1 meat dish, 1 vegetable dish, and 1 more whatever I feel like making dish. I think I do that because that’s how my mom cooks our everyday dinner at home.

Pork Bulgogi

I bought marinated pork bulgogi at Korean supermarket.  I cooked the meat first in a pan, then used the juices and drippings to sauteed some onion.  That way, the onion soaked up all the flavor form the pan.

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I like the Tasty Bite Punjab Eggplant I tried last week. So this week I bought another Tasty Bite’s quick Indian meal to try.

I picked Peas Paneer.  “Green peas & paneer cheese in a spicy tomato sauce” was the description.  I always like paneer cheese.  It tastes like firm tofu.  Spicy tomato sauce sounds good with rice.

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When eating by myself, I want food that’s fast and easy to prepare.  I found Tasty Bite’s Punjab Eggplant at Sprout Farmers Market.  It was on sale for about $3.  On the package it said “heat and eat in 90 seconds”.  That was exactly what I want!

The back of the package read: “Punjab Eggplant is made using all natural, fresh ingredients hand-picked on our farm.  Enjoy flavors from around the world for lunch, dinner or as a quick and easy snack.  There are so many ways to explore exotic, authentic Tasty Bite cuisine – ‘it’s delicious, good for you and ready to eat in just seconds.”  The Punjab eggplant came in a pouch.  Instruction for heating are either heat the pouch in boiling water, or get the content out in a bowl and heat in microwave.  I did the microwave version.

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My mom is a great cook. She never cooked anything fancy or gourmet-like. From the look of her dishes, people probably wouldn’t think she’s a great cook. But she is able to take everyday ordinary ingredient, and turned it into really tasty dishes. I cooked 2 dishes that I learned from mom. Dr. P likes the dishes, and even requested that I pack lunch for him to bring to work with those dishes. ^^

銀芽雞絲 Chicken with Bean Sprout

Cut up one chicken breast into strips.  Sauteed the chicken with a little bit of olive oil.  Take the chicken out of the hot pan when the color turned white.  Add a little bit more olive oil to the hot pan.  Add minced garlic, then add bean sprout.  Sauteed until bean sprout is half cooked, then add the chicken back to the pan.  Seasoned with salt, lots of black pepper, and the secret ingredient, rice vinegar.  Gotta add some vinegar to make this dish taste right.  (Tasting right meaning tasting like my mom’s version.  ^^)

Continue reading 2 Dishes Learned from Mom

I wanted to cook something healthy. While flipping through Eating Well Magazine, I saw the recipe of Inside-Out Lasagna.  The pasta dish was very simple to make with everyday healthy ingredients.

Inside-Out Lasagna

Here we take basic lasagna ingredients—ricotta cheese, pasta and tomatoes—and skip the layering and long baking time to make a super-quick and satisfying meal for the whole family. To cut down on prep time, look for presliced mushrooms. For meat lovers, brown some crumbled turkey sausage along with the onions and garlic. Serve with: Steamed broccoli and whole-grain baguette.

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I haven’t cooked for so long, and really miss it. I have been really busy with school stuff since it was the end of the semester. Lots of lab notebooks due, have to study for lab final and written final, paperwork needs to be done for graduation, preparing for the seminar class before taking the state board exam…. etc. Not to mention that I still have a wedding to plan, which is coming up in 2 1/2 month! I am stressed just thinking about all those things. But somehow cooking relaxes me. I really wanted to cook, but didn’t have that much time. So I found a Rachael Ray’s 30 minutes Fish ‘n’ Chips recipe.  Perfect!

Fish ‘n’ Chips

Here is the recipe with my modification:

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It was Dr. P’s grandma’s 100th birthday last Sunday. 100th birthday! 100TH BIRTHDAY!!!! I don’t think I’ve known anyone who is 100 years old before I met Grandma P. The birthday party was held at Uncle P’s house. Dr. P has a really big family with 4 generations all together at one time.  It was a really great birthday party with a lovely family and delicious food.

There were about 50 people at the party.  Every table at Uncle P’s house was covered with food.  Some were catered, and some were prepared by the aunties.

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I saw the recipe for Moo Shu Pork Kebabs on Rachael Ray’s website.  The recipe looks simple, and I have all of the seasoning ingredients on hand.  I made a quick visit to the supermarket to pick up fresh vegetable and meat.  30 minutes later, I had Moo Shu Pork Kebabs on the table for lunch.

Moo . . . → Read More: 木須肉串 Moo Shu Pork Kebabs

After finishing eating the rotisserie chicken from Costco, I used the leftover bones to make a pot of chicken stock.  Simply add onion, celery, carrot, and water, simmer for 1~2 hours, then you will get a pot of tasty homemade chicken stock.

蛋花雞湯麵 Egg Drop Chicken Noodle Soup

I made a bowl of Egg Drop Chicken Noodle Soup . . . → Read More: 蛋花雞湯麵 Egg Drop Chicken Noodle Soup