Who says healthy isn’t flavorful? Well that was me a few years back. I was skeptical of “healthy” until I lived with a roommate (Elle) who lives and eats healthy. I credit her for introducing me to organic and alternative ways to enjoy good food. She knew I was big, big, big on rice. It comes with the territory — being Filipino and being used to eating rice with every meal, it’s hard to go without it. She suggested eating quinoa seeds to replace rice grains in my diet, to which I politely obliged and ended up loving it!

According to Wikipedia, quinoa has a high protein content within the range of 12% to 18%, and unlike wheat and rice, it contains a balanced set of essential amino acids, making it an unusually complete food. It’s a good source of dietary fiber and phosphorus and is high in magnesium and iron. Quinoa is also gluten-free and considered easy to digest. How’s that for a healthy addition to your meals?

I cook quinoa every now and then, ‘sneaking’ it into our meals to make them healthier. This time, we just had it with veggies. I just roasted vegetables, taking a few things that seem ordinary on their own. They added up to a really nice flavor with every bite. You get some crunchiness from the broccoli, and a bit of ‘meatiness’ from the mushrooms. This colorful roasted mixture went on top of quinoa tossed in 1/4 tsp garlic powder for a delicious, healthy, filling, and beautiful dinner. It would be great with some meat or whatever you like, but it’s great and satisfying on its own already.

Here’s a sneak peak of the cooking process:

QUINOA WITH OVEN ROASTED VEGETABLES

Yields 2 to 3 servings

Ingredients:

• 1/2 yellow bell pepper, seeds removed, sliced into 1/4″ strips
• 1/2 green bell pepper, seeds removed, sliced sliced into 1/4″ strips
• 6 button mushrooms, sliced into quarters
• 6 baby carrots, sliced into quarters
• 1 package (a handful) of broccolini
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• kosher salt
• fresh ground pepper
• 1 cup uncooked quinoa, cooked in 2 cups of water and 1/2 tbsp of butter
• extra virgin olive oil

Preparation:

1. Set your oven to “Broil”.
2. Put the bell pepper strips in an oven-safe pan. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with a pinch of salt and fresh ground pepper. Toss them together so the strips are coated with oil. Place in the oven and broil for 5 minutes.
3. Take the pan out of the oven. Add the mushrooms and carrots. Add more olive oil and toss. Broil for 2 minutes. Remove from the oven and add the rest of the other vegetables. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and toss. Broil for 2 minutes. Remove from the oven and toss again.
4. In a big bowl, toss the cooked quinoa with garlic powder.
5. Place quinoa on a serving plate and top with the roasted vegetables. Enjoy your healthy dinner!

Tips for Cooking Quinoa:

1. Rinse it thoroughly in warm to hot water, at least 3 times to get rid of the bitter flavor/stuff/coating.
2. Add half a tablespoon of ‘butter’ (we use Earth Balance Buttery Spread) for every cup of quinoa.
3. Cook using one part quinoa to two parts water. You can use a rice cooker to cook it, but remove it from the heat once the indicator shows it is cooked, then toss with a fork to keep it from burning. Leave it uncovered for 5 minutes to let the remaining liquid evaporate.

And from hereon, feel free to call me the Patron Saint of Cinnamon Rolls for talking about and making way too much of them. Anyway, I think I’ve finally got my holy grail recipe sealed to perfection, after a several baking litanies. If you’re still searching for a cinnamon roll recipe to knock your socks off, I’ve updated the recipe with less flour, a different kind of sugar for the caramel, and a hint of lemon for the glaze. I’ve discovered the goodness of using turbinado sugar for the caramel by accident — because I ran out of golden brown cane sugar. Who knew it would make it extra extra gooey? I got the idea to add lemon because I add a hint of lemon when making sweet stuff like flan (which also has caramel) and it elevates all the flavors, plus it smells good. If you’d like an easy-to-print PDF copy, you can download it here » Ultimate Caramel Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Glaze.

Oh, by the way, would you like the recipes to be print-ready in PDF? We’re looking into incorporating that to get you cooking faster. What do you think? Your feedback would be helpful!

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Enjoy the rolls and happy weekend everyone!

Pause. Breathe deep. And behold a remarkably rich and creamy mac n’ cheese that’ll have you smitten:

And the good thing is, we didn’t even have to lift a finger in preparing it! Dan’s mom, Mary Anne, baked it as part of Easter dinner at their house, and we took some home. Woohoo! What can I say — she spoils the family good. :-)

The recipe she used was from one of the finalists on Emeril’s Best Mac ‘n’ Cheese Ever Challenge, Princess Thompson, who described this as — ‘…the right mixture of love and cheese and once you taste you’ll want to Smack Yo Mamma and say, “Why didn’t you ever make macaroni and cheese like this?“‘

It was awesome. I still remember taking my first mouthful. Wow.

Go make ‘em before you get a smackin’ from your friends and family! Here’s the recipe: Continue Reading

Things have been slow here because of bodily aches and pains (the perks of working in front of the computer for too long). I haven’t cooked anything this week because of ‘em. Dan has been such a good sport — cooking the other night and cleaning up after. Ahhh…what good life! Haha.

Having been deprived of cooking and currently stuck with the inability to knead dough for my next projects — soft pretzels and bagels — I have to satisfy my food and kitchen quota somehow.

Yesterday afternoon, after a full day of running around to figure out all these aches that I shouldn’t be feeling till I’m twice as old, I succumbed to the devil’s hiss of window shopping. While waiting for Dan to get out of work, I found myself at our usual stop: Williams-Sonoma. I drooled over the KitchenAid stand mixer that I really shouldn’t get right now, and ended up buying cute (and huge!) kitchen towels.

Don’t the citrus colors make you smile? [Just roll with the sick one 'ere. Haha] I just couldn’t leave the store without them! :-)

Now it’s your turn to spill — What have you purchased for your kitchen lately? What indulgence did you allow yourself?

Speaking of, I want some chocolate pudding pie now.

Right, right…I gotta go. I was advised less computer time. Ciao!

** Note:  This is not a sponsored post. I wish.  Do you hear me, Williams-Sonoma?!? :-)

Do you plan your menu for the week? Do you have your grocery list down to the last ingredient? We rarely do. We couldn’t even stick to it because our taste and craving for food change so much. Our grocery shopping and cooking philosophy is: buy what looks good and fresh, is in season (and, therefore, has a good price), and we’ll think of something to make with them. This works well especially for its surprise factor, and creative and culinary freedom. We often decide what to cook once we’re right in front of the stove. Sometimes we see a sign on the street, a TV commercial, or a picture on a magazine, that would inspire the next meal. Our dishes really almost always starts from there.

That’s how it was for this meaty plate. The March 2008 Gourmet issue arrived the week we got some nice thin steaks. I saw the recipe for blade stakes with mushroom-madeira sauce and was lured by its simplicity: short cooking time and few ingredients. Sounds perfect for a weeknight!

I made this one night after we came home from our 90-minute Bikram yoga class. If you’ve ever been in one, I think you’ll understand what I mean when I say that there would be times when you’d want to eat — no, scarf down — a big plate of food immediately afterwards.

This was our delicious ‘reward’ after a long arduous workout:

Yummy, yummy, yummy. We almost licked the plate clean. What’s more, it looked and tasted like it took a lot more time and effort than it really did. You can make it when you have guests over and not break a sweat. Love it!

The thin steak slices cut down the cooking time even more (such a bonus if you’re starving). We had leftover madeira, thanks to the herb crusted fillet of beef that we cooked for Christmas. I used fresh crimini mushrooms and white onion (instead of shallot). If you can believe it, these are the only main ingredients that you really will ever need. The madeira we have is decently priced (less than $10) and it works beautifully. You don’t have to get the priciest thing on the shelf, unless you have too much extra dough or feel like feeding the queen.

** Madeira substitutes: According to The Cook’s Thesaurus [bookmark that site, it's good for you], you can use port (especially a dry port), Marsala, dry vermouth or sherry (especially a dry sherry), or stock (Either beef or chicken stock works well in meat-based sauces).

If you want some good-tasting steaks with sauce in less than 30 minutes, try making this. [Sorry, there's no step-by-stop photo because we were in a mad rush to cook and eat.] Here’s the recipe:

Thin Steaks in Mushroom-Madeira Sauce
[adapted from the Gourmet March 2008 recipe, page 84.]

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pound beef eye of round steak , patted dry & cut into 1/4-inch to 1/3-inch thick slices
• 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 1/4 cup chopped white onion
• 7 crimini mushrooms, sliced
• 1/2 cup Madeira wine** (we used rainwater Madeira, medium dry)
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch mixed with 1 tablespoon water
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

Procedure

1. Sprinkle meat slices salt and pepper. Toss together.

2. Heat 1 1/2 tablespoon oil in a large heavy skillet over medium-high heat until it shimmers. Place meat in the skillet and cook 1 to 2 minutes on each side, depending on thickness. Transfer to a plate and keep warm, covered.

3. Add the remaining oil into the skillet, and onions. Sauté for 30 seconds. Add mushrooms and sauté until golden, 3 to 4 minutes.

5. Add the wine, 1/4-teaspoon salt, and 1/8-teaspoon pepper and briskly simmer for 2 minutes. Mix in water and any meat juices from plate. Boil for 2 minutes.

6. Prepare cornstarch mixture, add to the skillet with mushrooms and simmer until thickened, about 1 minute. Pour sauce over the steaks before serving.

To those who celebrate it — Happy Easter!

Dan bought this tulip plant last week. It’s trying hard to keep itself alive in spite of the heat. It feels like the weather changed in the blink of an eye and everyone’s in shorts and flip flops. Gotta love Arizona. :-)

Enjoy your Sunday! Have fun with the Easter festivities (don’t you miss being a kid today?). Give Spring a warm hello!

There’s a new place in North Phoenix for healthy eating. It is tucked away off Camelback and 16th Street but don’t let the strip mall location scare you from trying this place. It’s Zoe’s Kitchen. It’s a quaint cafe-like place that serves up amazing dishes that are full of flavor and eye-appeal but are prepared without deep frying.

I visited this place using a free coupon that was given to the office and no one claimed it. They missed out on a great deal because this place did not disappoint on anything. This place offers a great vast array of great dishes, sandwiches, and salads. My coupon got me a platter of quesadillas. These were out of this world! It was not your usual quesadilla at all.

Chicken, spinach, scallions, and feta melted slightly between tortillas with a scoop of rice pilaf. I saw some of you drooling at the sound of that combination. It tastes just as divine as it it sounds. I wish I had a camera so I could share the awesome appearance of the quesadilla for you all. Even Joy, who says she doesn’t like wraps, said she would devour this dish from Zoe’s.

There’s locations in Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Louisiana, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas. Give this healthy alternative to the ordinary a try if you have one in your area! Enjoy!

Quiche used to be one of those foods that I had no opinion of — I neither like nor hate it. Just so-so. I’ve never had one that sent sparks flying until I took a bite of my own the other day. I know it’s extremely biased to say that, but considering how hypercritical I am of my cooking and calling anything sub-par as ‘failures’, please bear with me on this.

I have never made quiche and haven’t had the inkling to make one. This changed decades later when I saw the crustless quiche in the March 2008 issue of Gourmet (page 84). I instantly envisioned my own tasty fluffy egg-y goodness in ramekins:

A couple of minutes out of the oven, with the poofy top now sunk in.

I was inspired to make them in serving size containers, which should be just the right amount for me and Dan. I coated the ramekins with corn flake crumbs, lined the bottom with leftover corned beef (from Monday’s dinner) that was sauteed with white onion and celery. Then came the topping of shredded Colby Jack cheese. Finally, the egg-milk-cream mixture sealed it to make quiche. The result was beyond divine:

Love at first bite.

The sweet scent of sauteed onion, celery, and corned beef lingered in the kitchen while these were baking, so I was expecting a good treat after 25 minutes. Digging into the just-out-of-the-oven steaming quiche released a comforting aroma that surpassed all my expectations. The first bite was indescribable. Wow — did I really make this?! It was light and soft, the eggs were perfectly, perfectly cooked. The ‘filling’ was oh so happy to be melded in the cheese and egg and milk. Just…wonderful. I think Dan and I have now been “converted” from being unimpressed with quiche to loving quiche.

I learned a lesson the day I made my first quiche: Don’t walk away from a dish until you’ve tried making it at home. The freshness of the ingredients and the dish itself, and the joy of cooking, make a huge difference. Yes, there might be few mistakes every now and then, but that’s what makes it a great adventure!

If you love quiche, try this and let me know what your quiche-connoisseur taste buds think. If you never liked quiche, are still on the fence, and/or would like to try it, I honestly think this might make you change your mind. And it’s so simple to make, too!

Here’s the visual step-by-step guide:

On to the recipe:

POST ST. PATTY’S CRUSTLESS QUICHE

Yields 3 small ramekin servings

Ingredients – can be easily doubled

• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, plus additional (softened) butter for coating the sides of the ramekin
• corn flake crumbs for coating the sides of the ramekin
• 1/2 white onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup sliced celery
• 1/2 cup cooked corned beef, diced
• 9 tablespoons Colby jack cheese, shredded
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper

Preparation

1. Pre-heat oven to 425°F.
2. With a cooking brush, thinly coat the sides of the ramekins with softened butter. Add about a tablespoon of cornflake crumbs then rotate the ramekin to spread the crumbs and let them adhere to the butter on the sides. Tap awaw and remove excess crumbs..
3. Sauté onions and celery in a tablespoon of butter in a frying pan over medium heat, about 2 minutes. Add corned beef, and sauté for 4 minutes. Remove from the heat then divide and spread on the bottom of each ramekin.
4. Top with 3 tablespoons of cheese for each ramekin. Spread evenly.
5. Whisk together eggs, cream, milk, and 1/2-teaspoon pepper in a medium bowl. Pour into each ramekin.
6. Place ramekins on a baking sheet and bake in the oven until top is golden and custard is set in center, about 25 minutes.
7. Slightly cool before serving.

Notes

• This is a fantastic “basic” recipe that you can alter with your own ingredients for the filling – fish, poultry, beef, vegetables, including your leftovers!
• You can easily double the recipe to fill a 10-inch quiche dish or 10-inch glass pie plate. Bake for 25-30 minutes.

[Side note: I can't believe I forgot the "You" in the title!]

Are you a big snacker? What do you snack on?

I’m a certified snacker. I don’t eat really big meals, but I eat little bites throughout the day. I get hungry every 3 hours, up to midnight. It’s my body’s functional flaw. That’s why I avoid buying and keeping junk foods in our pantry [especially Pringles, Stax, and Cheez It -- my major weaknesses] or I’d be so tempted to reach for them.

Yesterday at the supermarket, I made a conscious choice to get healthy snacks, including these:

If my parents are reading this they’d be surprised considering that I have insisted for years that I hate grapes. It seems that I’ve outgrown my aversion to them [to the grapes, not my parents! Haha...I love them.]. Not sure why — because of age? fact of mortality? Who knows. One thing’s for sure, I keep popping them in my mouth now.

They’re green, too. It’s intentional. ;-) Happy St. Patty’s!

Coincidentally, my green Gourmet apron free from the new subscription just arrived. It’s a sign! A sign that we need to get going with our corned beef and beer, that is. Later foodies!

We always have lemon in our kitchen. It’s so versatile I’ll put it right beside kosher salt and fresh ground pepper as my top go-to flavor enhancers for anything from salads and appetizers, to main dishes and desserts. This time I used it to marinate the chicken tenders. It gives a slight acidity to counter the saltiness of the flour coating and dip. I’m not sure if lemon juice adds to the tenderness, but the chicken pieces were a joy to sink my teeth into. They were very juicy. Yumm!

When Elle posted a baked chicken wing recipe on her site, I craved for these BWW wings. However, as you can see on what we’ve been posting lately, the past week has seen the height of all things unhealthy in our household. I decided to make something less life-threatening . I tried to get the goodness of wings into a healthier package for a guilt-free eating experience by:

(1) using chicken tenders instead of chicken wings;

(2) baking instead of frying in vegetable oil; and

(3) using canola oil instead of butter.

Just to give you some perspective, butter has 62% saturated fatty acids, while canola oil only has 7% [source: On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen], the lowest of all common edible oils. Addendum: According to the nutrition information on the label of the oil I used, it contains 1g of saturated fat per tablespoon. I used half a cup or 8 tablespoons for the recipe and there were leftovers. After baking, some of the oil were left in the pan as well.

Doesn’t that make it a lot more appealing to indulge in these?

I’ll be bold enough to say that they taste better than the BWW wings we cooked before:

It has the right amount of spice and a nice blend of garlic flavor, but not too much to keep you from engaging in a conversation (hehe). It’s a fantastic substitute for spicy chicken wings. Better flavor, but less the fat. What more can you ask for?

Give it a try next time you’re in the mood for wings. Here’s the recipe: Continue Reading