Your Favourite Food Channel aka Healthy Yums

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!

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!

The first time we tried this recipe was about five months ago. The local grocery store where we were at back then sold this fresh, creamy french feta cheese. One day, we happened to mix it with some pasta and other things, and it simply melted into a cream sauce-type thing.

We wanted the same effect tonight, but the only feta available at the stores here is the crumbly type in oil. So we heated up some soy milk, threw in some herbs, and crushed the (5% fat) feta into the milk. Then we threw everything else into that, and basically got the above result.

What went in?

Mushrooms, chopped chilies, tomatoes, lightly sauteed garlic in olive oil (fresh garlic gives it too much bite and spice), green olives, shrimp, spinach, and wholegrain pasta.

I maintain that creamy pastas do not have to have a lot of fat in it :o).

Tip of the day: We like to keep and use the water that we cook our pasta in. Mr Green likes to drink it. I'm not opposed to that, but I prefer to use it as a sauce thickener, or sometimes, a sauce in itself. Tonight we used it to thicken the soy milk-cheese mix. When I'm using a tomato-based sauce, pasta water can be used for the same purpose. Or brown rice water. I've read that restaurant chefs also use pasta water in their cooking. The thicker, the better. So don't throw away your pasta water, help save the world's water, today!

Haven't been grocery shopping in a while, and so there really wasn't much to work with in the cabinet tonight. There was brown rice, olives and eggs. Oh, and an apple.

So I thought, an apple...fried rice with egg. Why not :o).

I didn't even have garlic or onions to work with, so what I did was cook an egg with hardly a teaspoon of olive oil, threw in some chopped chilies, and a chopped up green apple. I let that cook a while, not too long, though, I still wanted some bite in it. Then I threw in already lightly panfried chicken, olives, and lastly the rice...with a little bit of fish sauce for taste.

It came out pretty well, actually. The apple gave it a slightly sweet taste, and the fish sauce was just the right touch :o)


Mr. Green butts in: The few times healthyyums wants to cook and actually does it she totally exceeds all expectations. This was just one instance - and it turned out great! I'm not a big fish sauce fan, but it really made this dish!

Pizza was on tonight's menu. Again. This time Mr. Green attempted a thick crust type of pizza pie. It certainly did look more like a pie. Don't you think? Curried chicken as the main topping! YUM!

If we opened a pizza place, would you buy pizza from us? :o)

This is an overdue entry of mine. Sometime last week, I wanted something Asian and spicy for lunch, and I decided to make sweet and sour chicken.

I chopped up some onions and garlic and lightly sauteed them with very little olive oil (you can use just about a teaspoon if you're using a non-stick pan) until fragrant. Then I added some chopped tomatoes and let that cook for a while to give it a little sour taste, then I added sambal oelek in place of fresh chili (which I can't seem to find out here) to make it a sauce and also to give more of the right kind of sour taste (right kind meaning the kind that I like :P). I also added just a little bit of honey for the sweet part of this dish.

Meanwhile, I baked some chicken I had marinated in curry powder and a little bit of soy sauce. We never deep fry anything, and always chose to bake or grill instead. To keep the meat from drying out while baking, just drizzle a little bit of olive oil before putting it into the oven. You end up using much less oil than deep frying, and it won't be greasy but tender and juicy :o).

After cooking the chicken, just pour the sauce over the chicken, and there you have it! Sweet and sour chicken...slurp. I served this with some brown rice and fresh spinach on the side.

Note: If you haven't noticed, we hardly use any beef in our cooking. This is because we feel that chicken is a healthier meat. According to experts, you're only supposed to have red meat once a week. The rule of thumb when it comes to red meat portioning is generally the size of your palm.

Mr. Green butts in: YUM! I absolutely loved it!

After writing my previous post, I was a little disappointed for not doing more with the beets and brussel sprouts. I made up my mind to try something creative, so I took one of my already-cooked beets and made it into a sort of pasta sauce. After putting the cooked beet, uncooked brussel sprouts, and uncooked carrots through a garlic press (hey, I work with what I've got), I poured in some tomato sauce and seasoned with salt, oregano and basil. I was feeling hungry so I didn't cook it at all and skipped even my normal garlic and olive oil routine, which in hindsight probably would've worked well. The result was good, but I used a whole beet (the one's here are quite large) so the ratios were a little off, and a tiny bit of the beet taste remained. Maybe for some that's a good thing, but for me its back to the cutting board! Until next time...

Mr. Green talked about how he makes chicken soup (or broth more like it since he leaves it on the stove for 12 hours to simmer down) in his last entry on The Moistmaker. He boils chicken with an onion, carrots, broccoli stems and a little bit of salt to taste. He spends quite a lot of time making chicken broth, mostly for my benefit. On a cold, snowy day, I love nothing more than piping hot chicken soup with fresh vegetables for dinner. I also prefer soup over anything else when I feel like something light (low carbs), but nourishing.

The chicken broth that Mr. Green prepares can also be used for other dishes. You could add noodles and other meats, garnish it with some cut up lime, beansprouts and chopped chilli to make a soup-based Asian noodle dish like Vietnamese Pho.

Another suggestion is to toast some bread and crush the bread into the soup, kinda tastes like croutons with cream soups.

Or you could add some rice and tofu to the soup and have chicken rice soup :o).

Yum.

Chicken in Denmark is not overly expensive, but you can save money by buying a whole chicken instead of the pre-cut pieces. One benefit of the extra work involved is that you have plenty of scraps leftover to make a really tasty (and healthy if you cool it and separate the fat) chicken soup broth. I usually throw in a few carrots, an onion, broccoli stems (or celery), and salt to taste. Then I let it simmer overnight with the cover on. In the morning I strain the broth and refrigerate until I can separate the fat. The vegetables I sometimes use elsewhere, but since they've lost most of their nutrients to the broth, its solely for taste.

Today was pretty busy and I didn't feel very creative come dinnertime. I decided to put myself to good use by cutting up chicken and making soup. Slowly my creativity (and hunger) awakened, and although the soup wouldn't be fully ready for a few hours, I decided to make a sandwich. I remember watching a Friends episode (The One With Ross's Sandwich) where Ross gets a special sandwich made for him after every Thanksgiving by Monica. You never get to see the sandwich, but its described as being really large with 3 slices of bread. The thing that makes it special is the middle slice of bread is soaked in gravy, and it is lovingly referred to (by Ross) as 'The Moistmaker'. Anyways, someone eats his sandwich, Ross goes nuts, and is asked to take a leave of absence because of his anger issues.

All of this was going through my head tonight and I figured I'd create my own. Enter the Chicken Soup Sandwich! It all starts with 3 slices of dark rye bread (mørkt rugbrød in Danish), the middle of which is soaked in chicken soup (luckily rye bread is sturdy otherwise I don't think it would work). Underneath 'The Moistmaker' is a layer of grilled eggplant, followed by a bed of fresh spinach leaves, and finally a layer of sliced tomatoes. On top of 'The Moistmaker' are strips of chicken breast and sliced mushrooms (both sautéed in olive oil and garlic). The entire sandwich once assembled is grilled to perfection. The result was quite good and definitely lived up to the hype (although small mouths beware - this one might require some oral stretching).

The last post I wrote, showed two simple ways to serve the Lucky 5's sauce. Since it was a serving for 5 and we're only 2, I saved the rest. At healthyyums' suggestion, I decided to try some different ways of serving the sauce. Today's results were Baked Lucky 5's Macaroni and Baked Lucky 5's Eggplant (or Aubergine depending on what you like). Both topped with a low-fat (6% to be exact) grated cheese that is native to Denmark. It's called Slanke Ost which translates to Slim Cheese. It's very stinky when uncooked, and a bit salty, but becomes quite good when melted. The taste is difficult to describe - somewhere between brie, cheddar, and swiss. At any rate, I will keep you all updated on the Lucky 5's progress (healthyyums seems to think it's missing just a little something yet).

Lucky 5's Baked Eggplant

I've been experimenting lately with easy-to-remember recipes. Many a time I've found myself in a situation where I'm wrist deep in some kind of recipe and suddenly realize that I have forgotten the next step. In order to refer to the recipe, I have to wash my hands, dry them, find the recipe, and then start again. It seems to happen a lot.

To avoid this, I've been thinking up quick and easy recipes that can feed a number of people with minimal stress or hassle. Today, I experimented with a tomato sauce-like recipe that I like to call Lucky-5's. You'll see why shortly. Note that these carrots give to the tomato sauce a lot of the sweetness that usually has to be added in the form of sugar or honey.

Lucky-5's Sauce (serves about 5 people)

Ingredients:

5 Large Carrots (washed, and shredded - should make about 500 ml of shredded carrots)
5 Small Tomatoes (washed and diced)
1 - 500g Box of Tomato Sauce (a little less than 500 ml - probably about 2 cups)
5 Large White Button Mushrooms (washed and sliced)
5 - 1/4" slices of Broccoli Stem (washed, and shredded)
50 Spinach Leaves (or approx. 1/2 a large bag, washed and chopped)
5 Small Garlic Cloves (minced)
5 Peri-peri Chilies (sliced) - can be substituted with Sambal Oelek
1 tsp. Basil
1 tsp. Oregano
1 tsp. Salt

Method:

Heat on half heat a large (12" diameter or more) pot and once hot add carrots, shredded broccoli stems, garlic, salt and chillies. Stir occasionally for approximately 10 minutes until carrots begin to stick on the bottom. Add diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, basil and oregano and stir. Allow to just begin to boil, then add chopped spinach. Allow to just begin to boil again, add sliced mushrooms. Serve immediately over pasta, rice, etc.
healthyyums butts in: I thought it tasted better over rice. I suggested that next time, Mr. Green mixes some grated (low-fat) cheese to give the rice a richer taste. For a healthier option, use whole grain pasta and brown rice!

When Mr. Green made this pizza, he also kept enough dough for another pie. This time, he made it with baked curry chicken instead of tuna, and minus the broccoli. We had no idea how it would turn out, but we are happy to report that the curry chicken flavour goes VERY nicely with the tomatoes and strong Danish low-fat cheddar. Yippee!

I usually have more time to cook on the weekends, and I try to cook Asian half the time since Mr. Green is such a maestro at his pastas and pizzas. Today, however, when asked what I wanted for dinner, I said I felt like Asian food and wanted a sambal dish (sambal is a chili-based condiment, popular in Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore), possibly with kale. I told him how to whip up a quick dish, and as always, Mr. Green delivered! The kale was cooked just right (not bitter), the sambal was flavourful, and the cut up chilies and tomatoes were just the right touch to the dish (it was interesting to note that the tomatoes managed to give the right amount of sour and sweet to the dish. In Malay cooking, tamarind is usually used for this purpose in sambal).

Kale is probably one of our favourite vegetables (spinach tops the list, hands down). Like broccoli, it's a form of cabbage and we usually either steam, or saute it lightly (like tonight) in order to retain its nutrients (I've been meaning to dedicate an entry to the topic of cooking methods in order to maximise nutritional value, but perhaps some other time). Also, kale is one of those vegetables where the more you cook them, the stronger it tastes. It's probably in your best interest to cook it lightly if you prefer kale not to taste so bitter in the first place.

According to it's wiki page, kale is sweeter in colder climates. I also had no idea that kale had such a huge following in countries like Portugal, Germany, Sweden and Denmark. Apparently, kale is quite the big deal in northwestern Germany, where it's on the agenda of most social clubs to visit a country inn and eat large quantities of kale, sausages and schnapps.

I cannot stress enough how great a vegetable kale is. It is an excellent source of Vitamins K, A, and C, manganese, beta carotene and a good source of calcium, dietary fibre and potassium. And that's just for starters! It's also rich in antioxidants, and is an anti-inflammatory.

The website The World's Healthiest Foods, provides all you need to know about kale. It quotes scientific studies that have been conducted to show health benefits such as how kale combats cancer (ovarian cancer especially), how it helps your body detoxify, it lowers cataract risks and promotes lung health. And...it has been shown that leafy greens rich in Vitamin E slows down the loss of mental functions. I could always use brain food!



I found other kale lovers on the net, such as the following blog, I heart Kale,



It's got tons of vegetarian recipes that I find verrrrry appealing *toothy grin* and will probably try some of them quite soon. Veg-box recipes also has more kale recipes for you-who-are-curious to browse through.

Tip of the day: The World's Healthiest Foods is a non-profit website that provides a lot of information on eating, cooking and feeling healthy.

This is my debut on this blog, even though a few of my recipes have made their way on here already. Today's lesson - Pizza.

When I was in high school I made spending money doing many different jobs, but I moonlighted as a pizza maker where I learned all kinds of things about how to make a really good pizza. I also learned what not to do, and how most pizza places rip off their customers (because they use really cheap ingredients). Without further adeu, its time to impart my knowledge...

The most important thing when making a pizza is to consider the crust and the sauce. Toppings are simple (as they are usually not prepared in any way other than cutting), but its the sauce and crust that make a really good pizza. For most pizza makers these recipes are highly guarded - and for good reason - their livelihood depends on it being a secret. Another thing to keep in mind is to use a pizza screen for thin crust pizza - circulation is everything for dough that is not pre-cooked. Lastly, the thicker your toppings the longer the cook time (this may be obvious).

Sauce should be more sweet. Dough should not be too sweet. If you follow these rules, you'll probably be on the right track. I've made dough sweet before, and it can work, but the sauce dictates a lot, and when you blend sugar or honey with tomatoes, the result is very good. Here is a pretty good recipe for wholemeal pizza dough (although I don't follow it exactly). The problem with using wholemeal flour is that you wind up with dough that is either too sticky or too dry. Because of this I like to go through the rising stages on the sticky side, and then generously flour the mesh to prevent sticking once the baking begins. Remember that wholemeal flour benefits a lot from multiple rises. Do it right, and you should have something that looks like this.
Next is the sauce. I won't give away my secrets (Ayu has already told of the basic ingredients, and I usually make my sauce to my taste anyways), but I will tell you that a thicker sauce, with the right amount of sweet, the right amount of olive oil, and a balanced blend of spices can basically make a pizza. I've made pizza on dough without yeast (just egg, flour and water - which in general I do not recommend), and it worked because of the sauce. I'm sure you can find plenty of recipes for sauces online, but don't be scared to invent your own. It's pretty difficult to mess up beyond repair - if too sweet or spicy, add more tomatoes or sauce. When spreading the sauce, do not spread it too thick. If you do, it may be difficult to eat because the toppings will slide off. A thin, even layer is what we're looking for. I've been experimenting lately with adding chilies to my sauce and have been getting great results.
Next, the toppings. Some people like to put meat at the bottom, but I prefer any leafy greens to go down there to keep the overall profile of the pizza down. Cheese on top helps ensure this as well. Feel free to go crazy at this point and let your imagination run wild (I used canned tuna on this pizza after the chopped spinach, and it turned out surprisingly well). One tendency that I have noticed with most people making pizza, is that they tend to over-cheese because they think it is necessary. I used to do this as well, until college when my best friend introduced me to the concept of cheese-less pizza. I know, it sounds like culinary blasphemy, but since then I've noticed I like pizza a lot more if it only has a small amount of cheese (just to add to the taste, not to be the focal point). I would encourage anyone who is lactose intolerant, or just wants to cut calories to try this as well. You may find, like I did, that you like it better.
The last picture (sliced tomatoes on the top) is something Ayu and I have come to love. It tends to make the cheese underneath softer, and also adds an interesting texture and look to the pizza.

Now is time for baking. As noted previously, the thicker the topping layer, the longer the cook time. I cook pizzas at 220ºC (or 425ºF), on the middle rack, on the convection setting (if you have it on your oven). A pizza like this takes around 20 minutes, and allow it to cool a few minutes before slicing. The finished result should look somewhat similar to the following.
Happy Cooking!

Who doesn't like pizza?! :o) Mr. Green makes the best whole grain pizza crusts. I don't really know his secret...I'll have to wrestle it out of him one day!

I do know that today, he only used whole grain flour, water, yeast, sugar, salt and olive oil. As for the sauce, he mixed tomato sauce, basil, oregano, spicy sambal oelek (a must in most of our cooking), some chopped chili and garlic.


As you can see from the above photo, Mr. Green got creative and used black olives for one half, green olives for the other, and low-fat cheese on the half with both kinds of olives.

Ah, homemade pizza. Yum. Much healthier than your local neighbourhood pizza joint, too.

Here's another open sandwich Mr. Green made for me. Mr. Green loves sandwiches! I love sandwiches just as much as the next person does, but sometimes two slices of bread is too heavy for me and so Mr. Green makes open-faced sandwiches then.

What I didn't realise until we got to Denmark, is that open-faced sandwiches is a very traditional, sandwich type deal in Scandinavia. They call it smørrebrød here, and typically consists of a slice of whole-grain rye bread (like the above), and could be topped with smoked salmon (also like the above). Unbeknown to Mr. Green, he's actually made us smørrebrød for dinner tonight! :o)

(Tip of the day: Smoked salmon is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which means healthy fats, niacin, vitamin B6, protein, vitamin B12 and selenium. However, it is also high in sodium, so pair it with low-fat and low-sodium options and remember, everything in moderation!)

I felt like something creamy and heavy today. But I didn't want the high fat content. So I searched around for a recipe for cream or cheese sauce that doesn't use any butter. The following is what I came up with, and it turned out pretty well!

Ingredients (estimated portions)

2 cups of finely grated low-fat cheese (I used cheddar)
4 tbs of whole grain flour
2 cups of soy milk (unsweetened. I'll never use soy milk with added sugar if I can help it)
1 tbs of oregano
Kale
Broccoli
Mushrooms
Sun-dried tomatoes

Notice that these portions are just approximate portions. That's what happens when you're playing around in the kitchen. So feel free to play around with your own portions according to taste. By the way, this might happen quite a lot, having to quote estimated portions :o).

Mix the cheese, flour and oregano together. Make sure the cheese is coated with the flour. Heat the milk, then mix in the cheese mixture slowly, constantly stirring it until it melts and thickens. You can add or reduce the milk to your preferred thickness.

Cut up the kale and steam them separately. Kale has a bitter taste to it and so I prefer to always steam them first.

Once the sauce is nice and thick, add in the broccoli and mushrooms. Cook it a little while with the sauce, then add in the kale and sun-dried tomatoes.

Serve over whole grain pasta.

Yummilicious, was creaaaamy and tasted heavy, but low in fat :o).