Spinach Ambrosia Salad

I was craving for this last night. Although this recipe doesn't call for dijon mustard, generally the dressing would include that which I didn't have at the time.

2 slices of bacon
3 cups of spinach
3 mushrooms, sliced
1/4 of an onion, thinly sliced
feta cheese (to your liking)
5 tbs red wine vinegar, more if desire
pinch of sugar, salt, and black pepper

1) Cook bacon on skillet, remove bacon and cut into pieces, set aside. Reserve bacon oil.
2) On low heat add to bacon oil red wine vinegar, sugar, salt, pepper until well blended.
3) Pour warm bacon dressing over a bed of spinach, sliced onions, sliced mushrooms, and chopped bacon topped with feta cheese.
Optional: Can substitute onions with pickled onions for an even more tangy taste.

I made myself a small bowl last night. Yummers! Saving the rest for today's lunch. Putting this on What's for Lunch Wednesday - I haven't done this in a long long time...

Peanut Butter and Jelly Muffins by The Sneaky Chef

I have raved about The Sneaky Chef for quite some time now. Missy Chase Lapine (the auther) is really awesome giving ideas on how to hide veggies in everyday food. I absolutely loved her book. Yes she even hides them in desserts too!! I have recently made this Peanut Butter and Jelly Muffins and I wanted to share this with you.

1 c Flour Blend(1/3 cup whole grain flour, 1/3 cup white flour, 1/3 cup wheat germ)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1/4 c brown sugar
1/4 c canola oil
3/4 c orange puree (or use baby food! I use this sometimes: 1/2 cup carrots and 1/4 cup sweet potatoes)
3/4 c smooth peanut butter
8 heaping tsp favorite Jam (not jelly)

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees, line muffin tin with paper liners.
2) In a mixing bowl, whisk together the Flour Blend, baking powder, baking soda and salt, set aside.
3) In another large bowl, whish together the eggs and sugar until well combined, then whisk in oil, orange puree, and peanut butter.
4) Fold the dry ingredients into the wet and mix until flour is just moistened (don't over mix).
5) Scoop about two tbsp of batter into the large muffin cups until half full.
6) Place a heaping tsp of jam in the center of each muffin, then cover the jame with another 2 tbsp of batter, filling the cups just over the top. (scale back if using mini-muffin cups)
7) Bake for 25-30 min until the tops are golden brown.

















I had two while it was warm and it was delish! Please feel free to check out the website for more free recipes!

Don't forget that you could get your very own, brand new copy of The Sneaky Chef on my GIVEAWAY that is happening right now til the end of the month!! You are qualified if you have contributed to the Tsunami Relief Support for Japan. Go here for the Giveaway details!

I have been taking alot of bentos pictures but have yet to post. I made Chinese Chicken Salad for me and my sister and I brought it to her work (and I got to see my baby nephew)! Here is a pic of that. I used leftover Rotisserie Chicken from Costco.

I also deboned the rest of the chicken, then I threw the carcass in a pot of water and let it simmer until the meat falls off the bone, remove the bones, then added rice and dry scallops in the pot and made myself a bowl of jook too! That's 2 ways for leftover chicken! And don't forget the chicken quesadillas, that's 3 ways with one chicken from Costco!

Here is my lunch for tomorrow, since it's "What's for Lunch Wednesday"!!

This bento consist of Steak (with steak seasoning, olive oil, and mirin), Gen Ji Mai rice, sautee veggies (mushrooms, carrots, asparagus), and grapes. The yellow container is microwavable, so I'm going to microwave the medium rare steak and it would be perfectly cooked for lunch! Looking forward to my lunch!!

Maki Sushi and Sushi Bento

This past weekend I visted a garage sale and they were selling an assortment of sushi dishes, I thought I was in heaven! I found out that they had a japanese restaurant before and they just had them stocked and wanted to finally get rid of them. There were alot more that I wanted to get...but I don't have too much room in my kitchen so I just picked up about 10 assorted dishes (glass and plastic) and they were only US$8!

Because I went nuts with the dishes, I figured I should make some sushi tonight. This time I decided to make Maki Sushi with tamago, tuna, and imitation crab. I have previously posted sushi how-tos here if you want to learn how to make different types of sushi, including maki sushi. Below will be recipes to make tuna and tamago.



Canned Tuna Sushi Filling

1 can (5 oz) tuna (drained and finely chopped)
3 tsp sugar
3 tsp shoyu
3 tsp mirin

1) In a skillet, combine sugar shoyu and mirin and let simmer.
2) Add in tuna and mix until liquid evaporates.

Tamago

3-4 eggs
3 tsp sugar
3 tsp mirin
2 tsp shoyu
1/2 tsp salt

1) Beat eggs with sugar the rest of the ingredients
2) Pour egg mixture thinly on a greased (or non stick) skillet on medium heat.
3) Start from one end, lift and roll egg over until the eggs are fully rolled, making sure the eggs are cooked while rolling.
4) Push the "egg roll" back to the end you started with, then pour another dose of egg mixture thinly on skillet, wait for the egg mixture to set, then continue to roll to the other end of the skillet.
5) Continue step 4 until you are out of egg mixture, the roll should look like the size of an egg omlette.
6) Let "egg roll" continue to heat on low to cook through, remove from skillet and place on a cutting board.
7) Cut them into 1/2 inch slices.


It took me quite a while to get the tamago done. There are special skillet made especially for tamago making so you can look for those if cooking this way is too hard. While I was making this Mr. P asked if I was okay, since I was in the kitchen for quite some time. I told him I'm fine, and so he asked "are you having fun?", I quickly smiled and said "YES!!!" Ah...funny how cooking makes me happy. =)

Left over sushi goes into my bento box for lunch tomorrow.



















Bento box top tier contains 3 pieces of meatballs and caesar salad, bottom tier contains 6 pieces of maki sushi (3 are using brown rice, 3 using half brown half white).

Kalua Pork & Cabbage, Salad & Fruit Bento

I haven't made my own kalua pork yet, but if you have a slowcooker, pork butt, hawaiian salt, and liquid smoke, you'll have a delicious kalua pig in a day. Here is my recipe here.

But if you live in Hawaii and you supported a Kalua Pig fundraiser, you'll end up with some in your freezer. You can do alot besides eating this with rice. One that I often do is Kalua Pork Quesadillas (another post). The other would be Kalua Pork & Cabbage, over rice.

1 cup of kalua pork
half of a small cabbage (shredded)
Hawaiian salt
black pepper
sesame oil

1) In a pot or skillet, cook shredded cabbage until soft, about 8 minutes.
2) Add in kalua pork and stir and mix well
3) Drizzle about a tbp of sesame oil and continue to stir fry.
4) Add in a dash of Hawaiian salt (not too much as pork should already be salty), and a dash of black pepper.
5) Serve.

Some people like it alittle wet so the sauce can cover the rice, some people like it drier. Depending on how you like it. If you want it drier, you can use a paper towel to soak up the cabbage water before adding in the kalua pork.

I try to serve this dish quite often as Mr. P loves Hawaiian food. Once in a great while I would even buy lauau, poi, lomi lomi salmon, and poke to make it a hawaiian feast!

I've got no leftovers for lunch the next day. So I packed myself salad and fruits in a Fit N Fresh bowl. Bottom tier contains: lettuce, olives, carrots, and mushrooms; top tier contains: apples, grapes, and sweet juicy korean pear. Added to "What's for Lunch Wednesday"






















There is also a baby gift basket giveaway by Good Eats 'n Sweet Treats. Since I don't have any luck what-so-ever in winning, why don't YOU try?

Potato Salad with Imitation Crab, Singapore Chili Crab

I made my first batch of potato salad when I was living in CA for a summer, nearly 10 years ago. Before I moved to CA, I have NEVER really cooked, my parents did all the cooking. But once I realized I'm on my own (despite having roommates), I need to start cooking. After moving back to Hawaii, I would make potoate salad for potlucks and gatherings. My friends' responses to my potato salad were very positive and they even request for it from time to time. I think that got me interested in trying different recipes. Well, that was just *part* of the reason, the other reason was Mr. P's inability to cook....but that's another story...

Snack Bento, Crab Salad, Miso Salad Dressing

The day has come! Lil P said he doesn't need anything special for his snacks anymore. I brought this bento to him and asked what he would like on top of the bran muffin, and he said "no need to put anything, i'm fine like this" and told me to leave it like this. I think this 9 year old is all grown up! No more cutsie stuff anymore! =( This snack bento contains Bran Muffin, grapes, and oreo cookies.

Salad in Fit & Fresh container

Haven't had salad in awhile. So I decided to make salad and pack it in my Fit N Fresh Lunch On the Go container. This container is pretty awesome, it actually comes with an ice pack that sits in the middle of the box so you can keep the bottom (the salad: lettuce, tomatoes, avocados, olives, soy beans, croutons) AND the top (nectarine and spinach/tomatoe/garlic bread) cool! Unfortunately I cannot show you the ice pack because I can't seem to find it in my freezer. But you can see it's fairly easy to pack even without the ice pack!

I have other Fit N Fresh products (Salad bowl, cereal bowl, 2-cup containers, chilled shaker) in my house and they all come with ice packs. I didn't realize how much of their products I have until I listed them!

The cereal bowl though, the ice pack ring gets thicker when it's frozen, so I did have some difficulties closing the lid. Most times i leave it out, or I let the ice pack ring chill a bit first before packing and putting the lid on. But it does come with a spoon that is fitted on top of the lid. how cool is that?

Overall, Fit N Fresh products are good. I have been seeing their kids line at the grocery store now. I am tempted to get them, but decided against it. Because they seem to have similarity with what I have, and I'm happy with what I have. :)