Brown Rice and Broccoli Casserole

It's been a while since I last posted any tasty meal, so here is one we had tonight - brown rice and broccoli casserole.  It took sometime due to the baking process, but otherwise it's a fairly simple dish to make.

As usual, remembered to take a picture when the dish was half way gone.

1&1/2 cup of cooked quick cooking brown rice *
4 dried Shitake mushrooms, diced
1 cup cooked broccoli, chopped *
2 stalks of celery, diced
1/2 large onion, diced
Canola oil
1 14oz can cream of mushroom soup *
2/3 cup water
2 jumbo Smart Dog veggie links, diced*
1&1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
salt and pepper to taste

* I used the Success Boil-in-Bag brown rice.  According to the package, one bag is supposed to yield 2 cups of cooked rice, but my estimate is probably 1&1/2 cup or so.  It just didn't look like there were 2 cups of it.  For the broccoli, I used the steam in a bag frozen kind.  It saves some time and makes the whole process just a bit easier.  For the soup, I used Amy's organic semi-condensed cream of mushroom soup.  Well, as for the veggie links, since I'm a fan of substituting ingredients, you get the idea, swap them out with other vegetarian or non-vegetarian protein as you wish.  You may want to cook the raw meat before baking, otherwise you should prolong the cooking time in the oven.

Soak the dried Shitake mushrooms with boiling water in a small sauce pan with lid.  That way the tops of the mushrooms also get moistened and soften, since mushrooms tend to float on the water for their light weight.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375 F, cook the rice according to the package direction (I used the same baking dish to make the rice so I have one less dish to wash.), chop up the celery and onion.  Heat some canola oil up in a small skillet, saute the onion and celery until they are softened.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Take the mushrooms out of the water.  Gently squeeze the water out of the mushrooms but BE CAREFUL!  The water in the mushroom is very HOT, so squeeze them gently under running tap water to avoid burning yourself.  Chop the stems off the mushrooms and dice up the caps.  Add the mushrooms into the onion and celery mixture, let them cook for a couple minutes, then turn the heat off.

Drain the water off the rice bag and pour it into a 2 quart baking dish.  Add in the broccoli, the onion mixture and the mushroom soup.  Use the empty can to get about 2/3 cup of water and pour into the dish.  Add the chopped veggie links.  If they are frozen, thaw them out for easier chopping.  Mix everything well.

Shred the cheese on top of the dish and spread them around evenly.  You can mix some cheese in with everything else; I didn't want too much cheese flavor myself, although my hubby probably disagrees on this one.

Cover the dish and stick it in the oven for about 25 minutes.  Then take the cover off to bake an additional 5 or 10 minutes.  Dinner is served.  The mushroom soup really renders the savoriness to the dish, the Shitake mushrooms add unique flavor, and the celery adds a little crunchiness to a rather soft dish.  Everyone enjoyed the meal, so I declare it's a success!  Bon appétit, everybody.

Potato Zucchini Flat Cakes

Lunch time is closing in on Easter Sunday.  I wanted to use the zucchini on hand, but I'm kind of tired of the usual stir fry or stuffed zucchini.  I could make zucchini fries, but then I had to have something to go with it.  Hmm...wonder what the good old internet has advice for me....As I was typing "zucchini" in the search bar, a picture titled "zucchini cakes" in the search result caught my eye.  Yes!  I shall make that; but of course, my own version.

1 medium Rusett potato
1 large zucchini, shredded

What they look like when uncooked.

3 stalks of green onion, chopped
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 cup of meatless crumbles, heated through
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon dry basil
1 egg
Garlic powder, salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons milk (unsweetened almond milk)
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Olive oil

Half of the batch, nice and golden.

Cut the two end of the zucchini off and shred it in a big bowl, mix in a little salt.  While waiting for the juice to come out, wrap the potato in a moist paper towel and cook it in the microwave till well done.  Peel the skin off and mash the potato well.  Mix all the ingredients except for milk, soy sauce, zucchini and cheese.

A couple bunny shaped patties for my kids, well, they were meant to be bunnies.

Drain the juice out off the zucchini, mix in with the mashed potato mixture; then put milk and soy sauce in, the cheese last; mix all the ingredients well.

Heat a large skillet with olive oil in, shape the potato zucchini mixture in patties, plop them in to cook until golden brown, about 4 minutes each side.  Make about 11 patties (around 2&1/2" to 3 " in diameter).  It might be tricky to flip the patties since the potato is very fine and easy to crumble apart.

It tasted savory, yet mild, quite yummy, perfect for lunch.  Four of us cleaned up the whole batch, no leftovers!

Vegetarian Quiche

Looking for some iron packed vegetarian food, naturally spinach came to mind. Quiche seems to be the thing to try.  After reading through some online recipes and the reviews, here is what I came up with a little Asian twist.

1 tablespoon butter or oil
1 medium-small onion, chopped
1 10-ounce package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained well

1 9-inch frozen pie crust
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1/2 cup straw mushrooms, roughly chopped *
4 eggs *
1/2 cup low sodium cottage cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon dried dillweed
1/2 tablespoon flour

Half eaten quiche.

The lighting in this one isn't super, but I want to show the cut side of it.

* Straw mushrooms can be found at Publix or Asian food markets.  Try to find the ones with no salt, but if you can't, water and salt is ok.  Just remember not to add as much extra salt when seasoning the dish. Also, other types of mushroom will be a good addition too. I sometimes add dried shiitake mushroom (yum!). Soak the shiitake in hot water first then slice or chop however you want them.

* You could substitute half of the eggs with egg white to cut down the cholesterol level. Personally I think whole eggs add tastiness to the dish, so not using all egg white probably will be all right.

Melt butter or heat oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat.  Add onion and saute until translucent. Sprinkle a little bit of salt and pepper in. Add spinach and the mushroom; stir until spinach is dry. Cool the mixture a bit.

Preheat oven to 375 F.  Dust the bottom of the pie crust evenly with flour and add a little bit of both kinds of cheese to the bottom. In a large bowl, beat the eggs, cottage cheese, salt, pepper, nutmeg and dillweed together. Stir in half of the remaining cheese in the mixture. Pour the spinach mixture into the pie crust. Then add the egg/cottage cheese mixture. Sprinkle the rest of the cheese evenly on top.  Cover the pie crust edge with foil to prevent from being burnt.  Bake until the filling is set and the cheese is golden, about 50 minutes.  Cool slightly.  Cut and serve.

I like the slightly crisped cheese on top and the straw mushrooms really enhance the flavor.  My daughter was so excited to have the leftover for lunch two days in a row after having it for dinner, if that says anything about the dish.  I also made it for our family Christmas gathering this year, as there were a few vegetarians in the family. It was a tasty addition for some protein and vegetable intake.

Baked Vegetarian Sausage with Cannellini Beans

I went to a demonstration & dinner class at Williams-Sonoma the other night.  The chef made a casserole dish with Italian sausage and cannellini beans.  It was quite tasty.  It gave me an idea for my own vegetarian version of it since the rest of my family are active vegetarians.  Here is how it goes.

Olive oil

Good thing I made skillet full of it, almost forgot taking a picture.

4 Morningstar breakfast original flavor sausage patties
2 veggie smart dogs
1/2 cup meatless crumbles
1 medium onion, diced or thinly sliced
1 medium carrot, peeled and diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsps fresh thyme, chopped
1&1/2 tbsps William-Sonoma mushroom demi glace *
2 cans cannellini beans, mostly drained *
1 3/4 cups water
1/4 cup tomato paste
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1/3 cup bread crumbs *
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

* The original uses the beans with the liquid, but I thought it wasn't necessary to have that much sodium in my food and it turned out very good.  But I did add the water in the cans to get some flavor.

* I use Panko Japanese style seasoned bread crumbs.

* When you put the demi glace in, need to stir and break it down to mix in with the rest of the ingredients because it's very congealed together.

Preheat oven to 400F.

In a large, ovenproof pot or deep skillet, warm 1 tbsp of olive oil over medium-high heat.  Add the sausage patties and smart dogs to brown them a bit, about 2 minutes on each side.  Transfer to plate.  Roughly chop the patties and smart dogs.  Add a bit more oil and the onions, saute until softened.  Add the garlic, carrot and thyme, and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.  Put the demi glace and 3/4 cup water in and bring to a simmer.  Add the crumbles, drained beans and tomato paste with 1 cup of water in the bean cans (1/2 cup in each can to get some flavor without all of the sodium content). Cook until the liquid begins to thicken, about 3 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper. Add the chopped sausage patties and smart dogs in.

In a small bowl, stir together the bread crumbs, Parmesan and a little olive oil.  Sprinkle the mixture over the top and bake until golden brown, about 15 to 20 minutes.  Let cool slightly before serving.

The result was phenomenal.  In other words, yummilicious!  It's substantial and flavorful, a dish the whole family can enjoy.  That prompted me to take a picture for the blog, so I won't forget to make it in the future.  We had it with some chips.  I imagine it will also go well with toasted bread of some sort.

Mini Sesame Seed Balls

Ever since I repinned a picture of sesame seed balls from Pinterest, I wanted to make these yummies myself. Gosh! It's been almost 6 months now (had to go to my Pinterest board to check when I pinned it). I bought the ingredients but hadn't got to making them. Finally, today I had the time and determination to do it.

The bare ball before the sesame seeds.

2 + 1/4 cups glutinous rice flour *
3/4 water
1/2 cup brown sugar
About 1/3 cup untoasted sesame seeds
Red bean paste *
Oil for frying *


* For some reason, I couldn't form a dough with the amount of the flour in some of the recipes I found. It was too soupy. This is what I came up with through experiment. Red bean paste is available at Asian supermarkets. You can use peanut oil, vegetable oil, or canola oil for frying.

Heat the water in the microwave for 1 minute, mix the brown sugar well in the hot water. Place the flour in a big bowl and create a well in the middle. Pour the sugar water into the well and mix it well to form a dough. The dough should be moist and smooth but not too sticky to pry your fingers away from.

Ready for frying

Pinch some off the dough to form a ball about an inch diameter big, make an indentation in the ball, big enough to scoop the red bean paste inside, then pinch the dough to cover up the paste and roll it in your hands to form back the ball shape. Roll the ball in the sesame seeds, make sure it's covered with seeds evenly all around. Line the seed-covered balls up ready for frying.

You can use a wok, a pot or a fryer to fry the balls. Cover the pot with a little over an inch of oil. I find that amount of oil is enough to do the job since the balls aren't that big. Heat the oil up to 350 F. Gently lower the balls into the pot. The number of balls to fry each batch depends on how big your frying vessel is, the rule of thumb is not to crowd it. Also, be aware of the oil temperature will heat up above 350 F, so it's a good idea to turn the heat down and keep an eye on the temp to make sure not to burn the balls!

Floating on the surface

Let the balls stay in the pot about 3:50 to 4 minutes. When they are ready, the balls will float on the surface. Ladle them out and put them on paper towels to drain off some of the extra oil. The whole batch makes about 32 sesame seed balls. They taste best when they are just cooled off, but still taste good even after the crispiness goes away. I don't recommend storing in the fridge however, it will get too chewy I imagine. They are what I call "yum yum". Enjoy!

This is also a good family activity with kids. I bet they will have fun forming the balls and rolling them in the sesame seeds. Of course, they will certainly enjoy eating them, like mine do.


One side note, I recently prepared the balls at night but didn't have time for frying, so I stored them in zip lock bags in the fridge overnight and fried them the next morning. They still tasted good. However, I'm not sure what the maximum of time you can store them in the fridge since the glutinous rice flour will get drier over time.

Ready for eating

Chinese Pumpkin Cake

I made a pumpkin pie a couple weeks ago. The inevitability of the pumpkin leftover going bad has loomed over my head ever since, but I kept forgetting to do something about it. Of course, the container sitting at the back of the fridge didn't help me to remember it either. Today, I finally remember to make some Chinese pumpkin cake.

This is part of the dough. Remembered to take a picture halfway.

1 cup mashed pumpkin
1 cup glutinous rice flour
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup sugar
Red bean paste for filling
Extra flour for rolling
Oil for frying

Frying on the bottom sides.

Mix the pumpkin, flour and sugar well together to form a stretchy dough. Add a little water if it gets dry. Put hands on the extra flour so when your hands roll the dough, it won't get sticky. Form a dough ball with a generous inch diameter. Make an indentation in the middle while holding it in one hand, scoop some red bean paste in there, say 1 to 1&1/2 teaspoons full depending how sweet you want it to be. Pull the edges of the dough to wrap the filling inside, make sure no filling is showing. Apply more flour if it gets sticky to the hands (you don't want that, it'll be a sticky mess). Flatten it to a small round shape. The batch makes about 15 little cakes.

Heat oil in the pan, fry each side of the cakes for a few minutes until they are golden brown. Drain the oil off the cakes a bit on a paper towel. Let them cool. Voila! They are ready to eat. Good stuff!

I used cashew butter as filling for some and the rest was the traditional red bean paste. My family members prefer the bean paste ones. I think it's because they are sweeter than the cashew butter ones. I like both kinds. I can imagine experimenting with other food as fillings, sweet or savory, creamy or crunchy, whatever floats your boat. It might turn out to be a pleasant surprise.

Nicely browned and ready to be eaten.

Pineapple Fried Rice

Recently when dinner time draws near, I've had a hard time to come up with an exciting meal idea. Yesterday afternoon after I went back and forth a couple times with my family on what was for dinner, fried rice was finally decided. It was almost 6 o'clock, so I removed myself from the couch and set to start dinner. Good thing I have instant brown rice in the fridge to cut down the cooking time.

1/2 cup unprepared instant brown rice

This is probably one serving worth.

Olive oil
1 teaspoon chopped garlic
1/3 cup chopped onions
1 medium carrot, sliced
1 green onion, chopped
2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped
4 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup roasted lightly salted cashews
2/3 cup diced red bell pepper
2/3 cup diced yellow bell pepper
12 pineapple chunks
2 tablespoons raisins
Tamari sauce or salt and pepper to taste

Prepare the instant brown rice in the microwave according to the package instructions. At the same time, chop the other ingredients and beat the eggs. Heat a large skillet or wok with olive oil in, put garlic, onions, carrots and white parts of the green onion in until the onions are translucent. Then put the green parts of the green onions and cilantro in. I don't like the green parts of the vegetables get overcooked. Dump the rice then stir in the eggs. Season with either Tamari sauce or salt and pepper to your taste. I put about 1 heaping tablespoon of Tamari sauce. When the eggs set in, add the cashews, bell peppers, pineapple pieces and the raisins. Mix everything well to serve.

Some fresh basil would be an excellent ingredient for this too. But I didn't have it on hand, so I used cilantro instead.

I used Uncle Ben instant brown rice. I like the texture of it, not as chewy like the regular brown rice, or as mushy like the instant white rice. I just bought some store brand kind but haven't tried it yet. We shall see how it'll turn out when I try it next. Don't forget to store the brown rice in the fridge after the package is opened.

Bon Appetit!

Stuffed Zucchini with Bread Crumbs

Friday was last day of school for the kids. I signed up to make some sandwiches for their classes' last day celebration. Since I'm a sucker for cuteness, I decided to go out of my way to cut the sandwiches in heart shapes and flower shapes with cookie cutters. In result, there were lots of bread crumbs piled up in the kitchen from 2 loaves of bread. Two days later, some of the bread crumbs got stuffed into the zucchinis and squash as part of the dinner (I didn't have enough zucchinis, so I used a yellow squash).

Serves 4

4 small zucchinis
1&1/4 cup of bread crumbs, cubed
3 tablespoons chopped onion
1 clove of garlic, chopped
1 small stalk of green onion, chopped
Black pepper to taste
Tamari sauce / salt to taste
Canola oil
Four cheese Mexican blend

Cook the zucchinis whole in boiling water for about 8 minutes, then take them out to cool a bit. Cut them in halves lengthwise. Scoop out the pulp and chop them. Saute the garlic, onion and green onion until tender in canola oil, then add the pulp and bread crumbs. Add tamari sauce (or salt) and black pepper to taste. Stuff the zucchinis with the bread mixture. Put them on a baking dish lined with foil and bake at 350 F for 20 minutes.

Before the cheese was added to the top.

At about 15 minute mark, sprinkle the Mexican cheese over the top until it's melted, then sprinkle another layer of cheese over. You can turn off the oven at this point and let them stay in the oven for the remaining 5 minutes to let the flavor set in. Take them out and serve.

In the end, the bread crumbs I used in this dish barely made a dent on all those bread crumbs I had, but the dish turned out to be flavorful, thanks to the Mexican cheese. I think the cheese on top needs to be a kind that has some punch to it. Also the zucchinis and the onion added a nice soft crunch to it. By the way, I used a grapefruit spoon to scoop out the pulp. I found it was easier than using a regular spoon.

Oops, almost forgot to take a picture before it was all gone.

We had fried eggs with it, quite a good combination.

Quinoa Burger Patties

It was a Sunday afternoon. I was trying to figure out what to make for dinner. My family was not much of help, one said "French Toast" as usual, another said "Soup" (didn't sound too good on a warm day)... So once again, I turned to the good old internet for answer. I had quinoa in mind and was wondering what else I could do with it beside the usual cooking method. Inspired by the quinoa burger patties recipe on epicurious.com, I decided to make my own version. It's a simple one. Here is how I did it.

The first batch of the patties.

Makes about 8 patties

1/2 cup uncooked quinoa
2 to 3 tablespoons cilantro, chopped
1 to 2 skinny stalks green onion, chopped
1 egg + 1 tablespoon egg white or water
1 cup bread crumbs (about a slice of bread)
roughly 1/2 cup shredded cheese*
2 tablespoons Tamari sauce*
2 teaspoons Italian salad dressing*
Black pepper to taste

* I used Organic Valley Mild Cheddar cheese. This cheese is pretty mild, so it doesn't overpower the flavors of the other ingredients, but you can use a stronger kind if you prefer some cheesy taste. On the dressing, I used Newman's Own Lite Italian Dressing. The tamari sauce was the low sodium kind. You may substitute it with soy sauce.

Cook quinoa with liquid ratio of 2:1 (2 liquid and 1 quinoa that is). I used 1/2 cup of water and 1/2 cup of vegetable broth as my liquid combo. Bring the quinoa to a rapid boil then turn down the heat and simmer for about 10 to 15 minutes or until all the liquid is absorbed. When done, the grain appears soft and translucent and the germ ring will be visible along the outside edge of the grain. Sorry I didn't measure how much 1/2 cup uncooked quinoa made after it was cooked.

Put the cooked quinoa into a mixing bowl to cool a bit. Meanwhile, chop up the cilantro and green onion; tear up some bread. Mix them in the quinoa, then add the cheese and the egg. I added extra egg white to make the mixture give more moisture and adhesiveness for the patties. You can add water instead if you don't have egg white readily on hand to use. Or you can just dump another whole egg in it. I happened to have a small carton of egg white in the fridge. Personally I don't like to crack an extra egg just to use the white or yolk. You'll need some extra moisture for the cooking process, otherwise the patties will be too dry. You can adjust the amount of bread crumbs and egg white or water whichever you choose as you go along.

Add the remaining ingredients and mix them well. Form patties about 2 to 2 1/2 inches diameter and 1/2 inch thick. The mixture make about 8 patties. Heat up the skillet with some olive oil and put the patties in over medium-low heat, cook about 6 minutes or until the bottom sides are sturdy enough to be flipped over. By the time the patties are flippable, the bottoms are probably browned adequately. Then cook the other side until golden brown as well.

When I cook any kind of patties, balls or whatnot that contain raw eggs or meat in the mixture, I'm always afraid that they aren't cooked all the way through enough, so I tend to cook them with the lid on at a low cooking temperature for a little while and check to make sure it's not burned or overcooked. Sometimes I also add a tiny bit of water. That way the bottoms won't get burned easily and the whole thing get cooked through.

The flavor of the patties turned out to be surprisingly delicious. It was savory but light. Hubby usually is not a big fan of quinoa but he loved the patties. The kids liked them too. We had avocado slices and zucchini fries with it in a bun. Quite a burger, wouldn't you say? Yum yum!

The latest quinoa burger meal, with corn.

On a side note, you could make the patties in different shapes with cookie cutters; just to make it more interesting to eat for kids.

Chunky Salsa

Nowadays it seems every eatery has salsa on the menu in one form or another. However, I haven't come across one that is close to the salsa recipe I've used. It might be because mine is home made and it's very chunky, just the way I like it. I got the recipe during my brief stay in Arizona when I first moved to the States. After moving to Georgia, I took it to my workplace Thanksgiving potluck feast one year. I know I know, it was not a traditional Thanksgiving dish, but at the time I was new to the whole Thanksgiving theme and I hadn't cooked much western dishes, so I figured it would add a new zest to the feast; plus I didn't have to worry about someone else bringing another salsa dish. The salsa surprised everybody, pleasantly of course, not only because people liked it a lot, but also because it was from me, an Asian chick who brought such a non-Asian dish. As a result, the recipe was emailed to many at request.

Here is the original recipe I made my famous salsa from:

2 14.5oz cans of diced tomatoes (or equal quantity of fresh diced/mashed tomatoes)
2 small cans of diced green chilies
1 mid-large onion, diced
6 stalks of green onions, diced
6-8 stalks of cilantro, chopped
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Garlic salt to taste
Ground lemon pepper/pepper to taste
Jalapeno pepper (optional)

Mix all the ingredients well together and it's ready to serve.

I've always used much less onion (not a fan of raw onion), more cilantro (love cilantro) and left out the jalapeno. I was also careful with the garlic salt since it had more salt than garlic taste. It was not super spicy, but has enough to wake up your taste buds to dance a bit.

As good as it was, strangely enough, I haven't made it at home much. The culprit was probably my laziness. For a while, we kept buying it from a local restaurant that had a booth at the farmer's market in town. Years went by, one day dear hubby was having a hard time to think of a dish to take to Thanksgiving potluck feast at work. So I offered my salsa recipe but suggested he should put it together to make it his own. He did it with a few tweaks. The dish was consumed and it was a hit. Everyone was asking him for the recipe. He was quite pleased and proud as he should be. From then on, he became our family salsa man. He has made salsa regularly for two of us to enjoy while we are watching movies or anime at night. Here is the updated recipe (hubby halved it as our own movie snack).

2 14.5oz can of diced tomatoes with zesty mild green chilies
1 medium-sized onion, diced
6 stalks of green onions, diced
10 stalks of cilantro (leafy parts), chopped
2 medium-small fresh jalapeno peppers, diced
Add the following to taste:
Sea salt
Garlic powder
Black pepper
Vege-Sal
Lemon juice

Vege-Sal package looks like this. It can be found at health food stores.

Mix the ingredients well together. Voila! Hubby often uses less onion to accommodate my taste. The two recipes each hold their own. Depending on your personal preference, one might taste better than the other, but I like them both. Perhaps, I like the new one just a tad more, because hubby makes it and you don't have as many cans to open. If you want you can try both versions, and/or make your own adjustment to get the best taste to your liking.

This is about half of the recipe amount as our movie-time snack.

Oh, by the way, for the chips to go with the salsa, we usually get Tostitos Natural Blue Corn Tortilla Chips. Yum!