Roasted Rack of Lamb with Glazed Soy Maple Syrup

It's about the time to celebrate the going year and coming year. It was interesting year for me and I am excited about the new year. So, I just cooked this very easy lamb dish to get ready celebrating! I heard this combination of soy sauce and maple syrup is good to tone down the distinct lamb's gamey flavor. I use organic "Grade B" maple syrup. This unrefined sweetner is not only tasty as caramel flavor, but it's nutritious rich in minerals and vitamins. I will talk about that later more in depth. 

Roasted Rack of Lamb w/ Glazed Soy Maple Syrup
( Serving: 2+ , Cooking time: 20 min.)

Ingredients

1. Lamb rib rack (frenched: fat is already cleaned and bones are exposed and ready to be cooked): 1lb +
   
2. Low sodium Soy Sauce: 1 tablespoon
3. Maple Syrup ( Grade B): 1 tablespoon

Direction:

1. Heat the oven to 375 °F.
2. Mix low sodium soy sauce and maple syrup.
3. Marinate Lamb with sauce and sit for one hour in room temperature.
4. Roast Rack of Lamb bone down for 20 min for medium rare (time varies). 

My Shopping List: Lamb rib rack 1.15 lb $13.79
Where: Fresh and Easy Neighborhood Market

How to enjoy food with less fat

I hope everyone had happy Thanksgiving. I had a wonderful one and I ate so much. Thanksgiving dinner has actually pretty healthy ingredients. We just need to look at and notice how to cook and how to eat these healthy ingredients not to be super fat dinner. Here is the few easy trick to cook same ingredients but less fat at the end. Start this and make it as your dairy habit.

1. Take out skin from meat
2. Eat sweet fruit and vegetable like kabocha, sweet potato, banana instead of butter base sweets
3. Cut vegetable lager so, when you cook, oil or other cooking agent will absorb less.
4. Flash the fat with boiled water for fatty meat like pork and beef. It will also help make taste absorb into meat better.
5. For stir fried vegetable need to be cooked longer time, use microwave to cook 70% and then cook in the pan with oil, such that it will use less oil.
6. Steam instead of sautee.
7. Bake with oven or toaster oven instead of deep fried. Need only little sprinkle of oil.
8. Use coated pan to cook. You need less oil or butter for non- stick pan.

Whole Wheat Spaghetti w/ Shrimp and Peas and Garlic Butter Sauce

I got the 100 % whole wheat spaghetti, which I was not really the fan of because it's not that chewy as normal pasta. But I want to replace the habit of eating white flour to whole wheat flour for the health benefit. We consume so much of flour product, and benefit of white flour is really nothing besides it helps to make stomach bigger. Whole wheat pasta has more than twice the fiber ( ave.5g fiber for 2oz dry pasta) than normal pasta (2g fiber for 2oz), which we all know how good fiber does in our body. What I don't  like about the whole wheat pasta is that the texture of pasta and surface of the pasta doesn't absorb spaghetti sauce well. To ease this problem, I cook pasta little bit longer to make softer and add small butter right away to mix with hot pasta. And add this sauce! The richness of the sauce and lightness of whole wheat pasta matches pretty well.

 Shrimp and Peas w/ Garlic Butter Sauce
( Serving: 2, Cooking time: 15 min.)

Ingredients

1. Uncooked shrimp
   
2. Yellow Onion: 1/4 medium large chopped
3. Green Onion: 3 sprig chopped
4. Green Peas (frozen)
5. Crimini Mushroom (Fresh Italian Brown Mushroom) sliced
6. Olive oil : 3 tablespoons
7. Garlic: 1 clove chopped or pressed
8. Butter: 1/2 tablespoon
9. Parmesan Cheese
10. Salt / Freshly grounded Pepper

Direction:

1. In a pan, put olive oil and heat it. Add onion and green onion and sautee for about 5 min. 
2. Add shrimp, garlic, mushroom, 1 tablespoon water, little bit of salt and pepper and cook till color of shrimp change to orange. Do not cook to long as shrimp will get dry and tough.
3. Add Parmesan cheese and butter, cook additional 1 min.
4. Pour over cooked whole wheat pasta!

*It's like pasta with cream sauce, but no heavy cream. 

Cheese Omelet with Bolgnese Sauce

Here is what I make next morning with Bolgnese sauce I made yesterday.
Cheese Omelet with Bolgnese sauce !! I use Gruyere cheese. For less fat, make egg white only omelet with low fat swiss cheese instead. (or no cheese, it's still really yummy.)
Besides the spaghetti, I can eat anything with this sauce !

Super easy Spaghetti Bolognese Sauce

 I love Italian food. I don't have Italian mom, but this is my mom's recipe I grow up with and tweaked little bit in my way. This is the simplest spaghetti sauce ever and taste pretty good. Hardest part is chopping the vegetable. The finer, the better taste of sauce. I can use this sauce for many dish. Spaghetti Bolognese, Lasagna, and my new breakfast menu:  omelet ! 


BOLOGNESE SAUCE


(Prep time: 15 min., Cooking time: 1 hr 45 min.)

Ingredients

1. Ground Beef: 1 lb (15/85 is my favorite, use 5/95 for less fat)
   
2. Organic Celery: 2-3 stalks finely chopped, make 1 cup
3. Organic Carrots: 2 large or 3 medium finely chopped, make 1 cup
   
4. Onion: 1 medium large finely chopped, make 1 cup
5. Crimini Mushroom (Italian Brown Mushroom): 4 oz chopped
   
6. Olive oil: 6 tablespoons
   
7. Red Wine: 4 tablespoons
8. Low sodium Tomato juice or Tomato base Vegetable juice: 2 qts (64 fl oz)
9. Bay leaves: 3
10. Salt / Pepper: 1/8 teaspoons sea salt, freshly grounded pepper
11. Beef broth concentrate if necessary for extra taste

Direction:

1. In a 2.5 qts sauce pan, sautee chopped celery, carrots, onion with olive oil. Keep stirring for10-15 min with medium low heat.
2. Add ground beef, red wine, salt and pepper and sautee till it becomes lightly grown for about 3 min.
3. Add 1 1/2 qts of tomato juice, bay leaves (and beef broth concentrate). Cook with medium low heat for 45 min. Stir the sauce occasionally. 
4. Add mushroom and the rest of the tomato juice (1/2 qts) and cook for additional 45 min.

* Sauce tastes the best next day
* I use the low sodium tomato (or vegetable) juice because the normal tomato juice has too much salt in and this will make sauce too tangy. The lower the salt intake, the better for your health too. The sauce tastes slightly varied depends on the tomato juice.

My Shopping Cart: Low Sodium Garden Patch (vegetable juice) 64 fl oz
Where: Trader Joe's

Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

There are many kinds of way to cook stuffed cabbage rolls. Most popular one is with tomato sauce. But I love making with clear broth. I can taste of cabbage rolls itself more than with strong tomato sauce.

Stuffed Cabbage Rolls with Beef Bouillon Soup

( Makes 8 rolls)

Ingredients

1.  Green Cabbage: 1 large (use 8 leaves)
2. Ground Beef: Lean (96/4) 1/2 lb
   
3. Ground Pork: Lean 1/2 lb
4. Onion: 1 small finely chopped
5. Butter: 1 tablespoon
6. Panko: 3 tablespoons
7. Milk: 3 tablespoons
8. Egg: 1
9. Fine sea salt: 1/2 teaspoon
10. Freshly grounded pepper: 1/4 teaspoon
11. Nutmeg: 1/4 teaspoon
12. Organic Celery: 1 stalk with leaves, cut in 1/4
13. Organic Carrot: 1 large, cut in 1/2"
14. Bay leaves: 1
15. Water: 4 cups
16. Beef bouillon cube: 1
17. Black Pepper corn: 3

Direction:

1. In the large pot, boil water.
2. Remove center core of whole cabbage and place cabbage into pot. Cook for 2-3 min. till leaves are bright green and tender. Take out whole cabbage from pot and remove outer leaves. Put cabbage back into pot and repeat till you have 8 leaves. 
3. Slice off the hard center vein of cabbage, set aside.
4. In the pan, sautee chopped onion with butter for 3 mins. Transfer to a large mixing bowl.
5. In the small dish, add milk into panko and make it well soaked.
6. Place ground beef, ground pork, panko mix, egg and salt, pepper, nutmeg in the bowl with the onions, and mix together with hands until well blended. 
7. Place 1/8 of mixture on a cabbage leaf, starting from stem end, roll the cabbage up. Use wooden toothpick and tuck together at the end. repeat 8 times.
8. In the pot, place cabbage rolls and pour water, celery, carrot, bay leaves, pepper corn and bouillon cube. Cook for 30 min.

Which food we should buy organically to avoid pesticide exposure? : " Dirty 12"

We live in the era of convenience with technology. And toxic chemicals creating convenience does a lot to our health problems. Fruits and vegetable (non-organic) grows with pesticides. And we also eat them (with food). Pesticide will increase risk of:

• leukemia
• cancers (brain, lung, lymphoma, kidney)
• generic damage
• decreased fertility
• asthma and allergies
• liver and pancreatic damage
• Nerve damage
• disrupt hormone function
• birth defects
  

Even the amount is small, it's still there. It is said that washing them does not wash pesticide away. We won't see any sadden difference in health by eating them, but in the long period of our life time, it's better not consuming them now for our better future especially children.

We can reduce the risk by eating organic food. "Organically grown" food uses no synthetic fertilizer or pesticide. Environmental working group (EWG) has a list called "dirty dozen". This data is based on USDA pesticide data program(PDP) tested between 2000-2008. This test is done with food already washed or peeled. It is estimated that if we eat these "dirty dozen" food organically, pesticide exposure can be reduced up to 80%. It's ideal we eat all food organically, but given the economical reason, buy at least these12 top (most pesticide contaminated) food on the list organically.

"Dirty 12" (most toxic)

1. celery
2. peaches
3. strawberries
4. apples
5. blueberries
6. nectarines
7. sweet bell pepper
8. spinach
9. kale
10. cherries
11. potatoes
12. grapes (imported)
    

See full list of 49 fruit and vegetables here:
The Full List | Environmental Working Group

Papaya shake I am very proud !

This is the beginning of the day. Papaya(+) shake. More accurately, papaya w/ banana + orange shake. I tried adding bunch of other fruit, but so far, this is my favorite combination.

Papaya
Banana
Orange
Non fat yogurt
Orange Juice
Low fat Milk (or soy milk)

Abs exercise

This may be the note to myself. Tummy exercise !! Summer is coming !!
http://health.msn.com/weight-loss/slim-down-for-summer/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100257661&gt1=31048

Sake Poached New Zealand Red Snapper

I got wild caught New Zealand red snapper (whole) from the market.
Cook with sake and eat with little bit of ginger soy is my favorite way to eat them...... >^_^<
It's so tender and tasty.

Tonight's dinner: Sake poached red snapper w/ shiitake mushroom, Green mix (broccoli, cauliflower, green bean, romanesco: I love this Italian vegetable!), Grape tomato, Israeli couscous w/ garbanzo bean, Snapper egg drop soup.

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SAKE POACHED NEW ZEALAND RED SNAPPER W/ SHIITAKE MUSHROOM
(Serving: 2, Prep time: 5 min., Cooking time: 15 min.)

Ingredients:

1. 1 wild caught New Zealand red snapper (1 - 1 1/2 lb)
   
2. 4 large shiitake mushroom, sliced
   
3. 1 green onion, sliced in 1/2"
   
4. 1/2" ginger root, sliced
   
5. 4 tablespoons sake
   
6. salt / pepper

Direction:

1. Rinse red snapper and put in a roasting pan. Lightly salt and pepper both side.
2. Pour sake in the pan.
3. Put sliced shiitake mushroom, ginger, green onion on top of red snapper.
4. Cover and put in the oven. Bake about 15 min.
   
5. Take pan out of the oven, set aside to cool off about 3 min.

* Eat with little bit of low sodium soy sauce with grated ginger.
* If you get red snapper in the fish market and when they clean the fish for you , ask to take fish head ( if you are ok with fish head) and use it for snapper soup. It will make great soup stock. Put the head into dashi water, add sake, ginger block, green onion. Cook for few minutes, and slowly pour lightly beaten egg, cook till egg forms for 20 seconds.

My shopping cart: Wild caught New Zealand red snapper (1 lb +) $7.20
Where: 99 Ranch Market

Hirame (halibut, flounder) vs. Karei (turbot, sole or righteye flounder)

If you know about fish, both hirame (ヒラメ）and karei （カレイ）are flatfish and look similar. But there are few differences between them. Hirame has head in left side (left-eyed) and karei has it in right side (right-eyed) with few exception in some species. (You probably don't need to know the anatomy of fish.... I know) Hirame swims around and catches fish to eat, so it has tighter body. Hirame is good for sashimi for that reason. Of course you find all sorts of cooking method from baking to saute. Karei in the other hand, catches and eat food on the sea ground in the sand. It has smoother texture than hirame because of  their activity level.

Both hirame and karei are high in protein, low in fat and contains taurin and good source of vitamin B. Taurin is known to prevent liver disease, energy-giving, lower blood pressure, and lower cholesterol. It contains collagen especially around fin. Collagen supports body tissues such as skin, bone, tendons, muscles, and cartilage.

You will see more halibut in the store as an expensive fish, but karei is cheaper and taste as good as hirame. Karei tend to be lower in mercury contamination becuase it's from deep ocean.

Flounder you will find in the store also has similar habitat to karei (turbot), so it has smooth texture. But it's almost too soft and mushy for me. It almost melts down and breaks it when cooked.


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SIMMERED KAREI (KAREI NO NITSUKE)
(serving 3-4, Cooking time 15 min)


Ingredient:

1. 4 Karei (turbot or sole) pieces
2. 3 green onion
3. Ginger sliced make 1/2 tablespoons
   
4. 3 tablespoons cooking sake
5. 1 tablespoon Mirin (sweet cooking rice wine)
6. 1 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce
7. 3/4 cup water

Direction:

1. Pour hot water on the karei to clean the skin. Quickly wash with cold water and put aside.
   
2. Cut green onion in 1 inch piece. Put in the toaster oven and grill for few minutes till it starts to get brown. (but don't burn)
3. In the pan, put cooking sake, mirin, soy sauce and water. Cook till it boils.
4. Add karei and ginger in the pan, cover and simmer for 5 min with medium heat.
   
5. Add grilled green onion in the pan and cook additional 3 min.
   

My Shopping List: Turbot fillet (4 in pack) $5.00
Where: Seafood City
If you don't have Mirin, you can substitute with organic maple syrup and extra sake.

Is chicken darkmeat bad to eat?

Usually people think dark meat is a nasty thing to eat. Not really true. Only bad thing is that it contains saturated fat. Dark meat actually contains more nutrition than white meat. Dark meat has more iron, zinc, riboflavin, niacin, thiamin, vitamin B6, vitamin B12 and amino acid than white meat. Chichen dark meat has high in vitamin A, K, B6, B12, niacin, selenium and zinc. Of course it has great source of protein. Just take off ALL skin BEFORE cooking to reduce saturated fat. Here is my favorite easy drumstick recipe.

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PAPRIKA CHICKEN DRUMSTICKS
(serving: 3-4, Cooking time: 2omin.)

Ingredients:

1. 8 chicken drumsticks, skin off
2. 1/2 onion sliced
3. 3/4 tablespoons hungarian sweet paprika
4. Extra virgin olive oil little bit
5. 1 tablespoon Butter
6. 1-2 tablespoons lemon juice
7. 2 tablespoons Red wine
8. 1 tablespoon organic ketchup
9. 1 tablespoon half and half (optional)
10. salt / pepper
    

Direction:

1. Put lemon juice over skin- offed chicken drumsticks.
2. In the pan, put butter and olive and saute chicken 2 min. both side.
3. Saute onin for 2 min.
4. Add 1/2 cup water and pinch of salt and pepper
5. Add paprika, red wine and ketchup, cover and cook for 10 min.
   
6. Take off from heat. Add half and half. Don't put it for lower fat option!
   

Easy yummy meal less than $5 per person !

These days you just can't spent fancy $ to buy food nor spend $ in the restaurant, but you don't want to buy dinner from fast food restaurant to fill our stomach. No worries. Here are the few recipes that I love. I can run to Trader Joe's and spend less than $5 per serving to cook nice meal. It's so easy and so yummy. AND it's quite filling as well

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WILD ALASKAN SALMON WITH KALE
(serving : 2, Cooking time: less than 30 min)


Ingredient:

1. Wild Alaskan salmon (frozen) 1 pack of 2 fillet
2. 4 cups chopped Kale
   
3. 3 tablespoons butter
4. Sea salt / freshly grounded pepper

Direction:

1. Pre heat oven 325 degree
2. Saute chopped kale with 1 tablespoon of butter in the pan for 2 min till kale's volume get smaller and softer. Remove from heat and set aside.
   
3. Season thawed salmon fillet with pinch of sea salt and pepper both side
4. Slice 1 tablespoon butter into 4 and place in the bottom of roasting pan
5. Place 1 fillet of salmon (skin bottom) in the roasting pan.
6. Place sauteed kale on top of the salmon and place other fillet of salmon (skin top).
7. Place remaining 1 tablespoon butter on top of 'salmon sandwich'
   
8. Cover with foil and bake in the pre- heated oven for 15 min till salmon' s inside color just get changed from dark coral color to lighter. Don't over cook. Salmon will get dry and harder.
   
9. Take out from oven, sit for 3 min. with cover before serve.

Eat with brown rice or your favorite pasta.
You can substitute kale with baby spinach if you can't get kale.
Shopping List: Frozen Alaskan salmon ($7-8 for 2 in 1 package), Kale ($1.29) or Baby spinach bag ($1.99)
Where: Trader Joe's / Whole foods for kale

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CHICKEN SHNITZEL
(serving 2 -4, Prep time: 20 min , Cooking time: less than 10 min)


Ingredients:

1. 4 chicken breast
2. 1 1/2 cups panko bread crumbs
3. 1 egg beaten
4. 3 tablespoons whole wheat  flour
5. 5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
6. 1/8 teaspoon sea salt / pepper
7. Slice of lemon and basil leaves
   

Directions:

1. Dry chicken with paper towel. Place chicken breast between cooking sheet. Pound chicken with heavy rolling pin to flatten evenly to 1/4" thickness
2. Mix Flour, salt and pepper and coat chicken
3. Dip in beaten egg to coat, allow the excess to drip off and roll in the panko bread crumbs.
   
4. Heat olive oil in the pan with medium heat. Wait till heated (drop few panko into oil. If panko start to fry immediately, it's ready to cook) about 30 sec.
   
5. Place chicken and cook 2 1/2 min. each side.
6. Take out of pan and garnish with sliced lemon and fried basil leave

Best way to eat this is just to eat as is with little bit of squeezed lemon and basil for flavor if you like. No additional sauce to dip please. We really don't need to add lots of things (usually high calorie, fat and sodium or sugar) to basically kill the taste of food itself. I use just 1 tablespoon of olive oil per chicken to cook instead of the traditional way of deep frying. It tastes as good as "deep-frying". This way, you don't need to waste a bottle of good oil and chicken doesn't get too greasy and fatty.

ShoppingList: Frozen Boneless Chicken Breast Meat with Rib Meat ( 40 oz pack ) $6. --
Where: Trader Joe's

BRUSSELS SPROUTS : anticancer agent and more

I got Brussels sprouts stalk today and thought to post my recipe. I hear Brussels sprouts is not ranked as people' favorite kind of vegetable, but given the benefit of nutrition, it's great to add to the regular daily vegetable diet. Brussels sprouts is Brassica family, which is the family of cabbage, broccoli, kale and collard greens. It is loaded with vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin K, protein, potassium, iron and fiber. Vitamin K has notable key roles in healthy blood clotting and metabolizing calcium. It helps to prevent postmenopausal bone loss for woman. It helps to prevent calcification of arteries. It has three times more nutrition than cabbage. It also contains substance called sinigrin. Research says sinigrin may prevent colon cancer.

Nutrition facts by NutritionData

BRUSSELS SPROUTS with GREEN BEANS GARLIC GINGER SAUCE
(Serving 3)



Ingredients:

1. 1 lb chicken breast tenderloins or chicken breast, cut into small strips
2. 15 Brussels sprouts pieces, slice off the base, peel off loose or yellow leaves, cut in half
3. 6 oz French green beans
4. 1 clove garlic minced
5. Fresh ginger size of thumb, minced
6. 1 tablespoon potato starch (katakuriko)
7. 2 tablespoons rice wine or dry sherry
8. 2 tablespoons less sodium soy sauce
9. 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
10. Salt / pepper

Directions:

1. In the bowl combine chicken, soy sauce, rice wine and potato starch. Mix well and set aside for 10 min.
2. Heat small amount of oil in the pan with medium heat, stir in Brussels sprouts and sprinkle of salt and pepper, add 1/4 cups of water, cover and cook till water evaporates. Set aside.
3. Heat oil in the same pan with medium-high heat, stir in prepared chicken, ginger and garlic. Cook till chicken gets white color inside.
4. Add cooked Brussels sprouts and green beans to chicken. Stir for 2-3 min. Serve quickly.

Eat over brown rice. I got Brussels sprouts stalk, French green beans (frozen), chicken breast tenderloin (frozen) from: Trader Joe's

Healthy Diet to prevent Heart Disease

I hear people having heart attack left and right everyday and it's the major cause of death more than anything else along with cancer these days. Not just for older people, but for very young people as well. We are living in the busy, modern world not necessary putting too much focus on what to eat besides eating quickly, conveniently, satisfactorily, economically and will produce good looking figure if it can. Lot of time, that results consuming a lot of salt, fat, cholesterol. All bad for your heart. Not all convenient/cheap/filling food is bad. You just need to know what it is to choose. There are plenty of easy food available to satisfy your needs to live our busy life healthy!

Good article about heart health diet by Mayo clinic. "heart-healthy diet: 7 steps to prevent heart disease"
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/heart-healthy-diet/NU00196