Soy braised pork and sauteed bok choy

Soy braised pork in the slow cooker is one of my favorite slow cooker meals.  Enjoy the pork ladled over a bowl of rice.  Mmm.  I love asian food.

I picked up some "pork for stew" from the super market, which are end pieces of pork sold cheaply.  You can also use shoulder pork blades cut into chunks for this dish as well.

Added to the slow cooker: 3 pounds of cubed pork, soy sauce, brown sugar, red wine vinegar, sliced ginger, some salt and pepper.  I also added in some dried seaweed to add in some additional flavor.  Slow cook on Low for 8-9 hours.

 It comes out delicious and perfect every time.


Don't forget to have some vegetables with your meal everyday.
To have some quick Asian veggies to go with your Asian pork, cut up and wash up some small bok choy.  Separate the stems from the leaves because stems take longer to cook.
heat up a skillet, add in olive oil and minced garlic.  Add the stems in and saute until its somewhat tender.  Add in the bok choy leaves and a sprinkle of kosher salt until wilted.

Slow Cooker Scalloped Potatoes

Yes! it's another slow cooker dish!
This time, it's a side dish: scalloped potatoes.

Typically, scalloped potatoes are made in the oven, where it comes out bubbly and crunchy at the top.  Although I prefer that over the slow cooker version, where there is no crunchy bubbliness, but on a work night... convenience wins.  :)

I sliced up about 3 pounds of potatoes, with the skin still on.  I did it manually since I don't own a mandolin slicer, and personally, those things creep me out.  Usually, the recipe calls for cream of mushroom soup, but I *hate* cream of mushroom soup.  I found this thing called "cream of chicken" soup at the store.  Never heard of it, but willing to try it, so I threw that with the potatoes.  Added cream (I use half & half, which has less fat than cream), salt, and several handfuls of cheese. 

Set the slow cooker on high for 6 hours. I used a timer to shut off my slow cooker at the 6 hour mark, since I would am not home to turn it off).
The potatoes came out warm, creamy, and cheesy.  Who wouldn't enjoy that.  =)
Unfortunately, I made too much (I recommend 1 pound next time, not 3 pounds), and I ended up having to toss some. =(

Slow Cooker Chicken Curry

Here is the first food post since my hiatus!

Don't be surprised to see many slow cooker meals posted up on here. The slow cooker is such a life saver because I work such long days, it is much easier to throw together food in a pot in the morning, turn it on LOW, and have dinner ready and waiting for me when I return home.

Some people think that slow cookers are only for cold winter nights -- don't let them fool you. I enjoy meals out of my slow cooker year round. You are not limited to soups (did you know you can even bake a cake in a slow cooker?), and having a meal ready for you when you get home from work is better than no meal at all!

This was the first time I made chicken curry in the slow cooker and it came out such a success. To make it even a bigger success, when I added a dallop of plain nonfat yogurt to my chicken curry right before eating it, it came out so creamy and so rich... and Damn Delicious! Sure, you can make a dish creamy by adding fatty creams to the dish, but why would you do that... plus, the tartness of the plain yogurt adds a nice bite to the dish.

I got a head start the night before on this dish, to get the busy-work out of the way, so I can sleep in a bit longer in the morning.
The night before, I de-fatted and de-boned the chicken (I used dark meat). I discard the fat and saved the bones in the freezer (to make chicken stock in the future).

I cut the chicken into 1 inch cubes and placed into the slow cooker. On my vegetable-only cutting board, I chop up carrots and onions and add that to the slow cooker as well.

NOTE: I use separate cutting boards for meats and vegetables to prevent cross contaminatio I can't stand n00bs who don't understand that raw meats has bacteria, so you want to play it safe, even if you wash your cutting boards thoroughly.

The next morning, I scrubbed up and chopped up some potatoes. I do not peel the potatoes since the skin is delicious and I do not cut it the night before since potatoes oxidizes (just like cut apples). Add the potatoes to the slow cooker, as well as some tomato paste (i use canned), 2 tbs of curry (nothing fancy, the kind from Albertsons), and some cumin, salt and pepper. I had some leftover chicken broth in the fridge, so I dumped all of that into the slow cooker, then added some water to supplement. I also like my curries and sauces to be thick so I added 4 heaping spoonfuls of flour to the pot. Perhaps I could have used corn starch or tapioca starch, but because all my kitchen supplies are packed away neatly (our kitchen is under renovation so I need to cook out of my make-shift kitchen), I dont have my entire kitchen arsenal on-hand.

Mix everything together in the slow cooker so everyone gets a coating of each ingredient, then turn on the slow cooker to "Low" setting and let it run for 8 hours.

When I came home, the entire house smelled so good!

Give the entire pot a quick stir, then ladle a big helping of chicken curry over a bed of rice (I eat brown rice).
Don't forget to mix in the plain nonfat yogurt if you like, to add additional creamy tartness.

New look. New format.

Its been 2 years since my last post, and almost 4 years since I started this blog.  It's time for a brand new look & feel, and resume posting on the (somewhat) regular basis.

For those who have forgotten what the previous blog looked like, here is a screenshot:

I dropped the ball on updating the blog regularly, because the entire task was very daunting: while trying to cook an entire meal on a work night in my hungry and exhausted state, I need to take photos of every step of the preparation &cooking process?  After uploading the photos from the camera to the computer to the blog, I found writing the actual blog post very difficult:  I never use measurements when I cook, but when writing each post in traditional recipe format, I must include the actual measurement for every ingredient?  
The entire task from start to finish was very difficult.  

In the end, I could not keep any of that up and stopped blogging.

Here is my soluition moving forward:

1. No more step-by-step photos directions.  Text only.
2. No more recipes in traditional 'recipe' format.  This means; no exact measurements, no bullet list of ingredients, no enumerated list of instructions.
   As I always remind people, cooking is not about exact steps and measurements.  Cooking is about using some information (whether its a cooking technique, or dinner meal idea) and adding your own twist and creativity to your dish.
   Thus, it is contradictory for me to post step-by-step directions how to cook, and how much of each ingredient.
   My blog entries will now be in log or "diary" form. 
3. Lastly, I need to keep in mind that this blog is supposed to be for 'fun'.  =)

- Jen

Veggie Omelet!

Omelets are great for breakfast, lunch, AND dinner!

Feel free to add meat into your omelet but I made mine vegetarian.

Veggie Omelet

Ingredients:
- 2 eggs
- 6 mushrooms, sliced
- 1/4 small onion, diced
- 1/4 avocado, sliced
- a small handful of spinach (I used frozen spinach since that doesn't rot in the fridge)
- a slash of milk
- salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
1. Beat eggs, milk, salt and pepper.

2. Saute onions, mushrooms, and spinach

3. Add the eggs, and turn heat down to medium heat.

4. Lift up parts of the cooked egg, to let the raw egg on top drip down and get cooked.

5. Cover with a lid, until the omelet is cooked

6. Plate the omelet, folded and half, and top with sliced avocado.

7. Serve with hash browns and bacon! yay!

Stir Fried Bitter Melon

I remember hating bitter melon when I was a kid. It was so ridiculously bitter, I could not imagine anyone enjoying this dish. But slowly as I got older, I slowly learned to love the unique bitter flavor. It is definately an acquired taste.
Bitter melon is a tropical and sub tropical fruit commonly consumed in South/South East Asia, China, Africa, and Carribbean.

Stir Fried Bitter Melon

Ingredients
- 2 bitter melons
- 1 tbsp Chinese fermented black beans, (a little smashed)
- salt to taste
- 1/4 cup of water

Instructions
1. Cut the bitter melon lengthwise, and gently remove the seeds


















2. Slice the bitter melon into thin slices














3. In a wok or skillet, heat up the bitter melon in a little oil.

4. Add the black beans and salt, and toss evenly. Add the water














5. Cover the bitter melons and let simmer, stirring occasionally, until the melons are tender and thoroughly cooked. Add more water is needed.

6. Eat as a side, with steamed rice.

Hearty Beef Chili

Warm hearty chili, perfect for dinner on a cold day.
I prefer to make my chili using fresh chunks of beef, rather than the traditional ground beef. However, feel free to substitue this recipe with any type/cut of beef you prefer.


Hearty Beef Chili

Ingredients:
- 1.5 pounds of beef. Cut into tiny cubes
- 1 tsp of cumin
- 1 tsp of black pepper
- 1/2 tbsp of red pepper flakes
- 1.5 cups of water (use 1 cup if you prefer a thicker chili)
- 15 oz of Cannellini beans, drained
- 24 oz of canned diced tomates
- 1 tbsp of Worcestershire sauce
- 3 oz of tomato paste
- 1 cup of diced onions
- Salt to taste

Instructions:



















1. Brown the beef and onions















2. Add water, tomatoes, tomato paste, cumin, cannellini beans, red pepper flakes, Worcestershire sauce

3. Stir, cover, and simmer for about 25 minues.














4. Add salt and pepper to taste.

5. Enjoy! Also tastes great with toasted bread. :)

Pine Nut Green Beans

String beans are good... but I always felt like they were so lonely!
When trying to figure out how to make string beans more exciting... PINE NUTS popped in my head.
These delicious toasty little nuts are the perfect sidekick to string beans.

Pine Nut Green Beans

Ingredients:
- 1 pound of string beans
- 1/3 cup of pine nuts
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
1. Blanch your string beans, by throwing them in a pot of boiling water for 3 minutes, or until almost tender. Drain.
2. In a dry skillet, toast your pine nuts over medium heat. Be careful, because these can quickly burn!















3. In a separate pan, add olive oil, and minced garlic.

4. Add pine nuts and string beans.















5. Toss with salt and pepper.

6. Serve