Main Dishes

Double Blueberry Banana Pancakes

March 19, 2013 by Betty

“Mmmm, yummy! Can we have it again tomorrow?” This was the resounding comment that I got from our kids for our Double Blueberry Banana Pancakes. Recently I’ve come across a few different versions of pancake with bananas and eggs. The first recipe I tried asked for one egg per banana. That’s simple enough I thought, but my hubby thought the banana was too overwhelming for him. So together we came up with our own version of banana pancakes. Now everyone’s happy and this is definitely one breakfast that’s kids loved and mom approved! Besides, everybody pitched in to cook breakfast. This is an easy recipe for young children to take part in the cooking process.

Ingredients:

4 ripe bananas

8 eggs

1/3-cup size measuring cup

2/3 cups Trader Joes multigrain pancake mix (our favorite multigrain pancake mix)

Fresh blueberries

Fresh strawberries

½ tsp vanilla extract

Instructions:

Have one child smash the bananas.
Another child beats the eggs.
In the meantime, someone else can wash the strawberries and blueberries. Then we have all three of our kiddos sliced the strawberries using butter knives (most of the strawberries did not turn out into slices, but that’s okay, we all enjoyed some yummy odd-shaped strawberries).
Preheat griddle to 225 degrees F. (in frying pan over medium heat if you don’t have a griddle)
Now mix together the mashed bananas, eggs, a handful of fresh or frozen blueberries, pancake mix and vanilla extract. The batter will be slightly lumpy.
Using a 1/3-cup scoop, pour batter onto a lightly oiled griddle, (we used coconut oil) and cook pancakes until golden brown, about 6 ½ minutes. Then flip pancakes and again cook this side until golden brown, about 4 ½ minutes. Note that the second side required less time to cook than the first.

Serve hot drizzled with raw honey or maple syrup and even some butter if you prefer; Ours were simply topped with fresh blueberries and strawberries. We gobbled up those pancakes in no time!

Yield: 17 pancakes

For a family of 5, we had 3 pancakes left after breakfast and the kiddos ate it for their afternoon snack.

Bon appetit!

Filed Under: Main Dishes Tagged With: blueberries, blueberry, eggs, healthy breakfast, healthy pancakes, pancakes, strawberries, strawberry

Chinese Pork and Chive Dumpling Recipe

January 30, 2013 by Betty

I love Chinese dumplings. In fact, one of the things that I look forward to whenever I visit San Francisco is devouring some of the yummiest Chinese dumplings. To help us celebrate Chinese New Year, I decided to give it a shot at making my own dumplings. This is called jiaozi in Chinese. This is a real easy recipe and the clan rolled up their sleeves and got involved. They even turned some into playdough, but that’s another story.

We made two batches: one with unbleached white flour and the other with half whole wheat and half white. My kids loved both. For the mixed flour batch, see notes below. Here’s what we did for the white flour ones:

Ingredients: (for the filling)

1/2 pound ground pork
1 cup of chopped Chinese chives (also known as garlic chives or Chinese leeks)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon rice wine
A few dashes of white pepper powder
5 drops of sesame oil

For the skin:

2 cups unbleached white flour
1/2 cups water

Instructions:

Mix the flour with water and knead it for about 20-25 minutes or until the dough gets soft. Separate the dough into two equal portions and roll them into cylinders (about 1 inch in diameter). Cover them with wet towel and set aside.

Prepare the chives by chopping off the root (white part) of the chives. Use only the green part. Chop chives into small sections. Mix the chives with ground pork and add all the seasonings. Chill in fridge for 30 minutes or more.

To prepare the skin, cut the dough into 1/8 to 1/4 in. length. (closer to 1/8 if you prefer thinner skin)On a floured surface, using a rolling pin, flatten the dough until it becomes a round skin about 3 inch in diameter.

Put about 1 Tbsp of filling into the center of the skin and seal it up tightly with your fingers. Seal skin with water if needed.

Heat up a pot of water on high until it boils. Drop the dumplings into the boiling water and bring water back to a boil.

Cover the pot and turn heat to medium for about 5 minutes.

When dumplings are done, scoop them out on a serving plate. Serve hot with Homemade Ponzo Sauce or Orange-Ginger Dipping Sauce or your favorite vinegar-based dipping sauce.

Enjoy!

Notes: For one cup of white and one cup of whole wheat flour, I used 1/2 cup water plus 2 Tbsp more. The rest of the instructions are the same as above. Dumplings could be made ahead for freezing. I freezed a batch on my cookie sheet then stored in ziplock bags once they are frozen. Cooking time is slightly longer for frozen ones.

Here’s Chico and Mei Mei attempting to help.

Chico and Mei Mei decided to have some fun and made some playdough instead.

Buddy rolling out the semi-whole wheat dough.

Here’s our dumplings made with white flour.

Filed Under: Main Dishes, Side Dishes Tagged With: Chinese chives, Chinese leeks, dumplings, garlic chives, pork, sesame

Turkey Cabbage Wrap With Quinoa

January 17, 2013 by Betty

I have to admit, a lot of Chinese dishes that are in the restaurants now-a-days are not very healthy. They are either deep fried or smothered with sauces and most of the time with added MSG. So, I decided to do my own. I’ve changed and tweaked this recipe from what was originally a Chinese dumpling dish. As it turned out, the critics loved it…I mean my kids loved it.

This healthy turkey wrap is one delicious meal with raw cabbage and a heapful of quinoa. To add flavor and pack the meal with more nutrients, I added black fungus. Growing up, I remember eating black fungus in my egg rolls and some vegetarian dishes that my grandmother cooked, so I tossed in some sliced black fungus and indeed it’s a great complement to this dish. On a side note, did you know that black fungus has been used as a medicinal food in China? It’s got amazingly high levels of iron. To read more about black fungus, see references and my pictures below. Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 tsp coconut oil (or oil of your choice)

½ cup uncooked quinoa (makes 2 cups cooked, in this recipe you only need one cup cooked, but I usually double my recipe so this works out wonderfully. Cooking less than ½ of quinoa just seems too little to even bother).

1 cup water

2 Tbsp grated ginger

2-3 tsp finely chopped fresh garlic

½ lb ground turkey

1 ½ cup diced green cabbage

9 small dried black fungus-makes about ½ cup soaked and thinly sliced. (Optional)

½ – 1 Tbsp low-sodium tamari soy sauce

15 cabbage leaves

Instructions:

Soak black fungus for at least 20 minutes, then cut into thin slices. (See pictures below) Set Aside.

Put quinoa and 1 cup of water in a pot and bring to a boil. Turn heat down and simmer until all the water is absorbed about 12-15 minutes. Remove from heat, covered and let it sit for 5 minutes. Set aside.

Heat wok or large sauté pan with coconut oil in medium heat. When pan is hot, add ginger and garlic and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds.

Add ground turkey; cook for about 4-5 minutes, stir and crumble meat while cooking. Now add black fungus in pan and cook for about 4 minutes more.

Add diced cabbage and cook for about 2 minutes. We prefer our cabbage crunchy, but if you like your cabbage softer, cook slightly longer to your liking. Then turn off heat.

Add cooked quinoa.

Lastly, mix in tamari to taste. Starting with ½ Tbsp and add more to taste.

Served hot with cabbage leaves drizzled with Orange-Ginger Dipping Sauce. Yum!

Yield: 15 cabbage wraps with 1/4-cup filling or 7-8 wraps with 1/2 cup filling. (for my family of 5, 2 adults & 3 young kids, I have to double the recipe)

Soaked black fungus.

Thinly sliced black fungus.

Notes: You can easily substitute cabbage wrap with lettuce of your choice. My kids’ favorite is crunchy Romaine lettuce.

References:

Chinese Food Health

Filed Under: Main Dishes Tagged With: cabbage wrap with quinoa, turkey cabbage wrap

Sushi Bowl Recipe

December 11, 2012 by Betty

My family loves sushi. A couple of times out of the month I’d make California rolls and my kids just couldn’t have enough of it so I decided to change things up a little bit and convert regular sushi into a sushi bowl. This sushi bowl turns out to be a hit and now one of our favorite family meals. Here’s my version of the sushi bowl.

Ingredients:

2 cups short-grain brown rice
3 1/2 cups water
3 (4-inch) square sheets nori seaweed
6 ounces extra-firm tofu
2 avocado, peeled, pitted, and thinly sliced
3 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted
4 green onions, chopped (optional)

Instructions:

Rinse and drain the rice two or three times. Combine the rice and water in a rice cooker or a saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat, cover, and simmer gently until the water is absorbed, about 45 minutes.

Toast the nori in a preheated 300F degree oven or a medium-hot skillet for a few minutes. Crumble or chop coarsely.

Drain the tofu and pat it dry. Cut the block of tofu lengthwise through the middle to make four 1/4-to 1/2-inch thick sheets of tofu. Two at a time, cook in a dry skillet or well-seasoned skillet over medium-high for a few minutes until browned on one side. Flip gently, then continue cooking for another minute or so, until the tofu is firm, golden, and bouncy. Let cool, enough to handle, then cute crosswise into matchsticks. Repeat with the remaining sheets.

When the rice is done, scoop the rice into individual bowls and top with tofu and avocado slices following with some yummy homemade Ponzo sauce (see below). Lastly, toss in toasted nori and add a sprinkling of sesame seeds. Garnish with chopped up green onion. (optional) Served immediately with Orange-Ginger Dipping Sauce or Ponzo sauce. See Easy Homemade Ponza Sauce below for recipe. Enjoy!

Makes 4-6 servings.

Notes: Other substitutes for tofu are wild salmon filets, chicken or beef. To avoid GM foods (Genetically Modified foods or biotech foods) use organic tofu.

Easy Homemade Ponzo Sauce

3 tablespoons low-sodium tamari soy sauce
3 tablespoons rice vinegar (brown or white)
3 tablespoons mirin (Japanese seasoning wine)

Makes about 1/2 cup

Ponzo sauce from The Taste for Living World Cookbook by Beth Ginsberg and Mike Milken and sushi bowl recipe adapted from 101 Cookbooks.

To get a snippet of GM foods, watch Food Inc., a documentary. Your library might carry this.

Filed Under: Main Dishes Tagged With: sushi, sushi in a bowl

The Healthy Taco Boat

August 24, 2012 by Betty

What comes to mind when you think of tacos? Most likely salsa, meat, some form of wrap or crunchy tortilla chips. As a mom who wanted to instill in her kids healthy eating habits, I am always on the lookout for nutritious alternatives. So this week I served up the Healthy Taco Boat made with baby Romaine lettuce leaves. In the boat were some shredded chicken and cheese topped with creamy avocados and home-made salsa. For those of you who are dairy free, just skip the cheese. BTW… the only place I found these cute baby Romaine lettuce hearts is at Costco. If the lettuce is limp, soak it in water for about 5-10 minutes to give it a little crunch.