Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Beef and Broccoli Stirfry



My first attempt to use lighting to enhance my food photo. I cut the flash, and put a light source in the background to create texture. Better, but the lighting needs some work. I also need to work on my positioning and props. Considering these things makes quite a difference!

This beef and broccoli recipe is from Campbell's Soup, called Orange Beef & Broccoli. You know I like simple, tasty and healthy!

Friday, March 10, 2006

Simple Egg Noodle Stirfry



Well, it isn't really the egg noodle that is stirfried, it's the rest of it, which is whatever you want it to be. Tonight, I chose to stirfry chunks of chicken thighs, green pepper, and carrots. This meal is very very simple to make. And thanks to my Mom, who explained how to make it to me one night over the phone, I can now make use of the packages of egg noodles my parents so kindly bought me from Vancouver.

Ingredients:
4 rolls of egg noodle
Oyster sauce to taste
Soya Sauce to taste
Sesame oil - just a drizzle
Olive oil
1 onion, sliced
2 cloves of garlic, diced
2 carrots, julienned
1 Green pepper, thinly sliced
4 chicken thighs, sliced to chunks, or strips

Marinate chicken a med sized bowl with: a teaspoon of corn starch, seasoned with salt, white pepper, a drizzle of sesame oil, and a table spoon of soya sauce.

Place egg noodle in boiling water. Stir until egg noodes break apart. Once they are all separated, boil stirring for 30 sec to 1 min. Drain and rinse with cold water. Place back into pot, and then drizzle lightly with olive oil. Add the oyster, soya sauce and sesame oil. Stir until evenly coated. Set aside.

Heat on high a large non-stick pan with a tablespoon of olive oil. When hot, add onions and garlic. Stirfry for a couple minutes, then add the chicken. Stirfry until browned (2-3 minutes). Add veggies and stirfry for 5 more minutes.

Portion noodles in bowls or plates. Top with stirfried yummies.

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Tilapia



Nice, light, tasty, healthy. Pan fried Tilapia seasoned with salt and pepper. Drizzled with soya sauce. Nice with rice and lots of veggies. Veggies here: Steamed Gai Lan drizzled with sauce (garlic, sesame oil, oyster sauce, chicken broth).

Monday, March 06, 2006

Salmon

Salmon is very versatile to cook with. Not only is it quick, and always tasty, you can use so many different ingredients to give it that extra zing. It can be pricey, but if you go to Costco and buy a big pack, ranging from $15-$20, slice it in meal size portions, and freeze them, you'll have a good 4 or 5 good meals out of it (for 2 ppl that is)!

So, for a while I've been making this broiled soy-maple glazed salmon...but I ran out of maple syrup. Since then, I've made broiled salmon with store bought hollandaise sauce. Blech. The sauce was way too overpowering over the salmon. This is it before pouring the sauce:



That was a couple weeks ago. Tonight, I made my last portion of salmon. This time, I tried a new recipe from Chatelaine's March edition.



Mmmmm! I love it. A bit tangy from the lime, with a southern taste from the cumin and tobasco sauce. Because this portion was pretty small, I sauteed some shrimp and zucchini in garlic, S&P.

Chicken Chili

A great substitute for traditional beef chili...chicken chili! And this recipe is quick and healthy. From the February edition of Chatelaine magazine



This pic was from the first time I made it. I didn't have zuchinni. But, when I made it the second time, I made the chili, pretty much as per the recipe. I roasted zuchinni and green pepper before adding it to the chili sauce. It was good the first time, but doing this made it even better.