Adzuki Bean Soup

Adzuki beans are red beans that are cheap and very healthy, and are typically used in Asian desserts.  I have had them in dessert soups and pastries, and have always liked them since I was a little girl.  You can find them in Asian supermarkets or sometimes in the "ethnic" section of other grocery stores.  Here is some nutritional information from the website livestrong.com to try to encourage you to make this recipe:

"A 100 g serving of cooked adzuki beans offers 128 calories, 0 g of fat, 7.5 g of protein, 25 g of carbohydrates, 7.3 g of dietary fiber, 8 mg of sodium, 0 mg of cholesterol, 121 mcg of folate, 532 mg of potassium, 168 mg of phosphorus, 52 mg of magnesium, 2 mg of iron, .57 mg of manganese, and 1.78 mg of zinc."

Convinced?!

Recipe/Directions
-soak 1 cup of adzuki beans in water overnight
-rinse and drain well
-place adzuki beans in large pressure cooker or pot and add 7 to 8 cups of water
-cover and simmer for 20 minutes in pressure cooker or 1 hour in regular pot

-serve with 1 tbsp condensed milk
-eat for breakfast, snack, or dessert!

Variations:  Other people thicken the soup, and/or add raw or brown sugar instead of condensed milk.  Do as you please!

Julia Child - Mastering the Art of French Cooking

TIME TO GET FAT!!!!

Inspired by the book & movie, Julie and Julia, I will be embarking on a French cooking journey and making a series of recipes from the book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking.  I will be interspersing these dishes with some healthier, less heavy meals, especially considering it is summer and ridiculously hot outside (i.e., not really a time for heavy stews and meats with cream).  All recipes will be slightly adapted since I cannot be bothered to follow exact recipes.

Recipe 1:  Potage Parmentier (Leek and Potato Soup)

4 cups potatoes, peeled and diced
4 cups leeks, sliced
10 cups water

Boil and then simmer these ingredients for 50 minutes.  Mash with potato masher.  Add 2 to 3 tbsp of butter and decorate with fresh parsley before serving.

PS. This is not a recipe with a lot of butter and cream....wait for it!

Steamed Wontons & Fried Wontons

Wow, it has been so long since I have posted that I have had to create a "to blog" folder on my desktop to clean up all of the files of pictures cluttering it up.  Since I have last posted, I have had these wontons twice.  The first time I had made the filling and there were not enough wonton wrappers to use it all up, so I froze the meat mixture and used it again last night.  Here is the recipe!

Meat mixture
pork or chicken (or shrimp if you are a fancypants)
canned bamboo shoots, drained
canned water chestnuts, drained
green onion
1 egg
3 dashes of Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp soya sauce
pepper to taste

*process all ingredients together in a food processor

Buy wonton wrappers (make sure they are not dumpling wrappers, as wonton wrappers are thinner).  Wrap about a tsp of meat mixture in the wontons and seal with either water + cornstarch (pre-mixed in a little bowl) or a beaten egg.  There are many ways to wrap wontons, some more elaborate than others.  Look!
http://www.homemade-chinese-soups.com/how-to-fold-wontons.html

I don't actually do any of those.  My techniques are a family secret.  And by family secret I mean that it is too hard to describe in words and I can't seem to find a picture on the internet to show you.

Cooking wontons
I had planned to boil all of the wontons (in a separate pot of water, NOT directly in the broth because the flour from the wrappers will come off into the broth and it will taste bad).  Then I was going to make a separate soup broth with green onions and Chinese vegetables.  However, Aki decided to deep fry some of the wontons and they were DELICIOUS!!!  We dipped the deep fried ones into Japanese mayonnaise.  Last night when we had them again, we actually fried all of them as a delicious Friday treat!

Buddha Bowl Recipe from Fresh Restaurant

Another Fresh recipe!  And this one is much much much (much x 3!) easier to make than the Ninja bowl and just as tasty.  Apparently this is the most popular rice bowl for newbies to Fresh.  Thank you to Ruth Tal & Jennifer Houston for the recipe (from the refresh cookbook).

Buddha Bowl

Ingredients 
6 cups cooked brown basmati rice
1 1/2 cups Marinated Tofu Cubes (see Ninja Bowl blog post for marinade recipe)
1 batch Thai Peanut Sauce, heated (see below)
4 cups bean sprouts (I used alfalfa sprouts)
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
1/2 cucumber, sliced and cut into half-moon shapes
1 tomato, sliced and cut into half-moon shapes
1 lemon, cut in wedges

Method
1. Put 1 1/2 cups of cooked brown basmati rice in a large rice bowl.
2. Top with a portion of Marinated Tofu Cubes in the middle.
3. Pour one 6-ounce ladle of warm Thai Peanut Sauce over the tofu and rice. Be sure to cover all the tofu
with sauce to warm it up.
4. Put a handful of bean sprouts on top of the sauce, piling as high as possible. On top of the bean sprouts, place a few leaves of cilantro.
5. Around the edge of the bowl, arrange four slices of cucumber and tomato.
6. Garnish with a wedge of lemon. Repeat for each serving.

Thai Peanut Sauce

Ingredients
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 inch ginger root, peeled and minced
1 1/2 cups natural smooth peanut butter (I used crunchy!)
3/4 cup lemon juice
5 tbsp. tamari (I used soy sauce)
2 tbsp. paprika
2 cups water
cayenne pepper to taste

Method
1. Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk until smooth.
2. Heat gently for 10 minutes, stirring often. Serve hot.

Gnocchi Goodness

I don't necessarily like gnocchi specifically, but I think it is a super easy way to make fresh pasta.  When I say super easy, I mean in comparison to hauling out the pasta maker and feeding the dough through and rolling it.  The best time to make gnocchi is when you have leftover mashed potatoes! 

Ingredients
1 cup mashed potatoes
1 cup flour
1 egg

Directions
Mix ingredients together and knead until it forms a ball.  Grab a small portion of the dough and roll out into a worm-shaped worm (couldn't think of another word...worm-shaped....structure?).  Cut worm into several 1 inch pieces.  Press each piece with a wet fork, if you want to be fancy.  Cook in boiling, salted water until they float! 

Sauce
Top with sauce made from canned tomatoes (posted in a previous thread).  If I were a cool blog person, I would add the link in here, but I am not, so you will have to fend for yourself!

Story
When we made this, Aki was kneading the dough and I came up beside him and said, "need anything?"  And he said, "no, just the dough!"  Get it?  HAHAHAHA we are so funny!  That's definitely a knee-slapper.  Actually the funnier part is that I was going to say the exact same thing, but Aki stole my joke before I got to say it.  Rude! 

Healthy Smoothie Mix

I drink a lot of smoothies (enhanced with extra goodness - see below) in the summer for breakfast or for a snack, especially when it is very hot and I don't really feel like eating.  However, in the winter I don't have as many because I get cold easily.  Since I have been feeling very tired lately, I have decided to start drinking them again so that I can ingest more protein (via the protein powder). 

This mixture consists of: 
10 heaping tbsp rice protein powder (vanilla flavoured)
10 tbsp ground flax seeds
10 tbsp oatmeal
10 tsp of chia seeds (watch out - they really stick in your teeth!)
10 heaping tsp wheat bran
10 heaping tsp wheat germ
5 tsp cinnamon

I used to add all of these  ingredients separately, one-by-one, and it would take a long time!!!  Since then I have smartened up and just make this mix once in a while, which saves a lot of time.  I actually shake the bottle up before I use it so that everything is nicely mixed together.

To make the smoothie, I use:
1 banana
3 tbsp peanut or almond butter OR small handful of frozen fruit
3 heaping tbsp of the mixture
1/4 cup greek yogurt
half milk, half water (enough to fill up the rest of the magic bullet container)

BLEND!  DRINK!  ENJOY!

Lasagna Roll-ups (With Hidden Tofu!)

I like lasagna roll-ups because they are so small and individually portioned.  Sometimes when I think of eating a big lasagna and having to cut it up, or even eating a big hamburger, I feel overwhelmed.  This recipe is directly from allrecipes.com, but I would probably use a lot less Parmesan cheese since it is expensive!  I love how there is a whole lot of tofu hidden inside as well!

Ingredients

• 1 (16 ounce) package uncooked lasagna noodles
• 1 pound mozzarella cheese, shredded
• 1 (15 ounce) container ricotta cheese
• 1 pound firm tofu
• 1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach - thawed, drained and squeezed dry
• 2 cups grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 (28 ounce) jar pasta sauce

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook lasagna noodles for 5 to 8 minutes, or until just slightly underdone; drain and rinse.
2. In a large mixing bowl, mix together grated cheese, ricotta cheese, tofu, frozen spinach, and 1 cup Parmesan cheese.
3. Lay out a noodle. Spread a layer of the cheese mixture on the noodle, then add a thin layer of sauce. Roll the noodle up, and place seam side down in a 13x9 pan. Repeat for other noodles. Top with remaining sauce and Parmesan cheese.
4. Bake in a preheated 350 degree F (175 degree C) oven for 30 min, or until hot and bubbly.