Carrot Burgers on Rice

To get my daughter to eat a new food can be a very exhausting process.

Anyway, I have made this recipe several times. I have gotten it just about perfect for our tastes. Instead of corn flakes I use 1/2 cup of dry oats, 1/2 cup cornmeal, add an extra egg, some garlic powder, a little extra salt, and instead of the celery I used some fresh dill and cilantro. Sometimes I also add a little bit of tofu or zuchhini. The batter stays good for up to 5 or 6 days, and I especially love them with some horseradish mayo.

When I am making the batter I have Scarlett stand on a chair so she can watch me. She loves raw carrots so I showed her what was going into them. Then we pan fry with spray oil (the best thing is they stick together and cook so nicely!) and I add a small slice of cheese on top. I put it on a bed of rice (Korean style) and draw a face with ketchup.

Baked French Fries

I have a Pakistani friend I grew up with. She recently suggested I try an Indian spice called Garam Masala. I found it in the local supermarket megastore that carried lots of foreign foods. This spice is a blend of pepper, bay leaves, cumin, nutmeg and cinnamon... among others. It's the perfect spice for someone who likes their food to have an interesting flavor without it being flaming hot.

I put it on everything, from vegetables to eggs. I like it so much I even put it on my popcorn once (shouldn't I get some sort of Indo-Pakistani medal for using it this way? Totally addicted). The best use for it seems to be on potatoes, and this is a dish I give to my 4 year old since she loves french fries. I leave the skins on the potato for added nutrition, and serve it with organic ketchup which is made without corn syrup.

Apparently here are lots of masala Indian spices to try, so this needs further research.


Ingredients:

Salt (around 1/2 tsp to 1 tsp)
1 tsp Garam Masala (or use a bit of chili powder, garlic, cumin, etc)
1 tsp seasame seeds (optional)
1/4 cup Panko bread crumbs
Olive oil (small amount, usually 1 tsp or tbsp is enough)
3 medium sized russet potatoes

Directions:

Cut the potatoes in half, then cut into thin slices (around 1/3" thick). Put into a bowl and add breadcrumbs and then sprinkle with the rest of the spices. Drizzle lightly with olive oil and mix really well.

Spray a couple sheets of aluminum foil with no-stick spray. Lay them out so they do not overlap. In an oven preheated to 400 bake for 40-45 minutes, turning them at least once or twice so they do not burn.

Whole Grain Krispies

Like everything we end up eating, this is a cross between American and Asian food. In Korea they used to sell snacks made out of puffed rice along the roads going out to the country, or in city markets. They were not so sweet and stuck together with a small amount of corn syrup.

This snack was inspired by those foods as well as rice krispie treats. I like this because it's lower in sugar, and convenient for my four year old when we are in the car. I also eat them quite a bit when I am done exercising and need to refuel.

The whole grain puffed rice cereal I bought at Wal-Mart in their organic foods section. It comes in a plastic bag, looks like rice krispies but sightly brown with larger kernels. They also are 60 calories per cup, about 1/2 the calories of regular cereal. For the second cereal I used a Korean whole grain snack mix. If you can find sugar free marshmallows, give yourself some bonus points.

Ingredients:

1 tbp butter
6-10 large marshmallows, cut in half
2-3 tsp honey

1 and 1/2 cups Whole grain puffed rice cereal
1/2 cup of other cereal (I used a Korean whole grain snack, but you can also use grape nuts, chopped cracklin' oat bran, puffed wheat, etc.)
1 tsp seasame seeds
Optional: handful of chopped peanuts, dried blueberries, sunflower seeds, etc.

In a saucepan warm the butter at very low heat. Add the marshmallows and honey and cook until it melts, being careful it doesn't burn. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Spray a sheet of aluminum foil with cooking spray and spread the mixture on this. Pack it down well with your hands (get them damp so it doesn't stick), trying to get rid of the larger air pockets. Let it sit for 1-2 hours before cutting.

Update: I made this again with corn flakes instead of the rice krispies. Amazing texture! Really crunchy and chewy.

Asian Udon Salad

Asian Udon Salad

I've made this salad quite a few times. It's pretty easy, the only time consuming part is waiting for it to marinate so that you can eat it. :-) I have tried a few other Asian salad recipes and they seem to be either too oily or too bland. This is just the right balance of being light yet filling (thanks to the protein) while still having tons of flavor.

Ingredients:

8 oz of dry uncooked udon, soba, or thin spaghetti (udon was used for the photo)

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Sauce:

3 tbs rice wine vinegar (or any light vinegar)
1 tsp sugar
3 tbs soy sauce
1 clove garlic minced
1 tbs sesame oil
1 tbs oyster sauce
1 tsp wasabi paste
Dash of black pepper

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4-5 tbs toasted sesame seeds
2 green onions, chopped
1 cup raw baby spinach
1 cup of one of the following: imitation lobster, crab, cooked shrimp, or a can of drained tuna (lobster used in photo)
1 small tomato, chopped
1/2 cucumber, deseeded, chopped (optional)

Directions:

1. Cook the noodles according to the directions. Drain and rinse in cold water until they are cool.
2. Mix together ingredients for the sauce. Make sure the wasabi paste is well blended.
3. Stir in noodles and rest of ingredients, toss well.
4. Allow to marinate in the fridge for 45 minutes. Add a dash of salt if needed.

Japanese Peanut Salad Dressing

Last fall I bought some very fresh lettuce and tomatoes at the farmer's market after a 13 mile run with friends. Salads can be really boring so tried this salad dressing recipe, it was awesome. I already had all the ingredients- only substitutions were salad vinegar and splenda for sugar. This is great because Japanese salad dressing usually sells for about $5 a bottle!

Orange Mochi Thing

My daughter loves to help me with baking. It's one of her favorite past times.

Anyway this is a combination between a recipe for pumpkin mochi (Japanese sticky rice cake) and Lebanese flourless orange cake. I am not really sure what to call it, but it tastes good.

I like using glutinous rice powder and mixing it with banana, pears and all kinds of blended fruit. The texture always turns out very surprising... very rich without being heavy. It also seems to work well with fruit that is about to spoil, so I use bananas that are turning black or tangerines that have become a darker orange.

This makes around 6-8 pieces.

Ingredients:

1 cup of mochiko (glutinous rice powder, can be found in the Asian section of most supermarkets)
1/4 cup of bisquick
1/2 cup of splenda for baking
1/2 cup of sugar (I use all splenda but it tastes better with half sugar)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder

3 tablespoons of chopped almonds
1/2 cup of applesauce
4 tangerines (I used small ones, clementines)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup of egg whites or 2 eggs
1/2 cup of soy milk


Preheat oven to 350.

Mix together dry ingredients.

In a large microwave safe bowl, take the 4 tangerines and microwave with halfway full of water for 4 1/2 minutes. Rinse in cold water to let them cool. Do not peel. Cut them into four pieces, carefully look for any seeds and take them out (the seeds will cause this to taste bitter, so this is important! One seed in the mix will ruin the whole recipe).

In a food processor grind the chopped almonds until they have formed a powder, then add the pieces of tangerine (again, do not peel... grind with the skin.) Finally add the soy milk and grind well.

Add this mixture to the dry ingredients, as well as the rest of the wet ingredients (egg, vanilla, applesauce.) Spray a breadpan or small casserole dish (mine was 6" by 10") with Pam, pour in mixture. Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until light brown on top. Let cool for 45 minutes before eating.

Substitutions:

If you want to make it gluten free leave out the bisquick. Also tried this with two tangerines and 1 mashed banana, still turned out great. Can substitute an orange if tangerines are not in season, but you might want to use only 1/2 the peel since it's quite a bit thicker. I have used canned fruit successfully also such as pineapple, pears, and peaches.

Banana Bread with Mung Bean Flour

I am fascinated with mung beans.

If you've ever had Asian dessert breads, the sweet white bean filling is made out of them. They can be ground up and made into seafood pancakes, like they do in Korea, or they can be baked with sugar and coconut milk like they do in Viet Nam.

Why are they important? 1/2 cup of mung beans has 25 gm of protein. Most store bought protein bars have around 15 gm of protein, so this is a cheaper way to get your needs... as well as being delicious. Eat a piece of this right after a workout to help your recovery, and it will also curb your appetite the rest of the day.

After experimenting with Banh Dau Xanh (Vietnamese) I decided to use the flavor to make a high protein version of banana bread. You'll find this bread to be very filling despite not having any oil or sugar. Instead of cooking and grinding dry mung beans, I used Korean mung bean flour which has a much better texture. It turned out delicious- not too sweet, slightly crispy on the outside with a soft, moist inside.

If you don't live near an Asian grocery, here is how you can make mung bean flour.

Ingredients:


1 cup Mung Bean Flour (Noktu mil-karu in Korean)
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup Splenda
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 egg
1 mashed banana (really ripe and turning black)
1/5 cup water
1/5 cup soy milk
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
1/3 cup chocolate chips (optional, I add them sometimes to get my daughter to eat it)

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Mix dry ingredients first, then add the wet. Mix well. If the batter is too stiff, add a tiny bit of extra water. Pour in a greased 8X4 in sprayed with cooking spray
3. Bake for 40 min, or until a chopstick in the center comes out clean and the top is light brown.