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A friend asked me recently if we could come up with any recipes using leeks. So I looked online for some ideas, and came up with this recipe,

Ingredients

Wholegrain pasta
Chicken
Leeks
Mushrooms
Chicken stock
Soy milk (unsweetened)
Olives
Grated low-fat cheddar
Pine nuts (optional)
A little bit of low-fat margarine

Lightly saute some cut up chicken in low-fat margarine until cooked. Add in chopped leeks and continue sauteing. Add some chicken stock and cover. Let cook for a while. Add a bit of soy milk and let cook for a while. Pour into a baking pan with pasta and sliced mushrooms. Cover the top with grated cheddar cheese and add some pine nuts. Bake in the oven until pasta is cooked. Top with sliced olives and serve.

The picture shows the dish without pine nuts. I think pine nuts roasting with the cheese on top would be a nice touch to this dish. The olives give it a slightly salty taste to the otherwise sweet (due to the leeks). Our chicken stock was also homemade and remember to use wholegrain pasta!

Mmm mmmm. I never thought to try a leek recipe before this. But I was intrigued when it was suggested. I do like the taste of leek, which isn't as strong as a raw onion, but light and sweet. I also kind of like the look it gives the baked pasta :o).

Leeks are really quite the healthy vegetable. According to The World's Healthiest Foods, it's a good source of manganese, vitamin C, iron, folate and vitamin B6. Research has shown it to be very good at stabilising blood sugar, lowers the risk of ovarian cancer for women, reduces bad cholesterol and reduces the risk of prostate and colon cancer. The only safety precaution that needs to be taken when eating leeks is that it has a measurable amount of oxalates, which when becomes too concentrated in body fluids, can crystalise and this becomes a problem. Those with existing (and especially untreated) kidney and gallbladder problems are adviced to avoid the leek.

Fresh leeks can be stored in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. Once cooked, they become highly perishable and can only keep for two days in the refrigerator. Happy cooking!

Mr Green felt like oatmeal and raisin cookies the other night. For some reason he made them spherical instead of flat and round. Mr Green...why?

I don't know what he did really. I just know it was good, and he reduced as much fat as he could using reduced fat options. He also chose to use digestives for the crust instead of graham crackers.

We could have made it healthier though. A few months ago, we made cheesecake using soft silken tofu instead of cream cheese. We flavoured it with fresh pumpkin and it really did taste like a pumpkin cheesecake, only without all the fat. We got the idea from a recipe that substituted cream cheese with tofutti, a soy-based cream cheese. We figured soy-based? Why not just use Japanese silken tofu which was readily available at the local grocery store...worked like a charm :o).

I'll let Mr Green add on to this when he feels like it.

We apologise for the past one-week hiatus. The reason being there's an upcoming major event that requires quite a lot of our time in preparation. I'm not quite sure when we'll be returning to our normal transmission but I'm going to try my best!

We had chicken satay for dinner the other day. Satay is a very popular Southeast Asian dish of meat slivers on sticks or skewers. In Malaysia, it's usually beef or chicken served with peanut sauce and a side of rice cubes, cut up cucumbers and onions. We didn't have much ingredients to work with, so we basically just had the chicken satay without the sauce or sides.


Marinade for the chicken
Finely chopped garlic
Some soy sauce
A little bit of curry powder (hence the yellow from the turmeric)
Honey
A little bit of olive oil (this also prevents the chicken from getting dry during grilling)

After marinating, grill in oven until cooked. This usually takes about 8-10 minutes or so.

Pretty simple, eh?

Now if you wanted to make the peanut sauce, here's a cheat version using peanut butter instead of fresh peanuts.

Firstly, saute some 2-3 shallots, 1 clove of garlic, chili powder (the Asian kind) or chili paste, 2 tbs curry powder in 2 tsp of olive oil. Once fragrant, add some lime juice, 1 tbs light soy sauce, 3 tbs crunchy peanut butter (get the all natural kind without preservatives for a healthier option) and about 3/4 cups of unsweetened soy milk. Cook until preferred thickness.

Remember to choose lean chicken meat!