Pan-Fried Quinoa Cakes With Cheese

I tried Quinoa for the first time last year, and have slowly developed a liking to it with each new recipe I make.  Pronounced "keen-wah",  this superfood is often referred to as a grain, but is actually a seed from a vegetable that is related to swiss chard, spinach and beets.  It's gluten-free, and high in protein, fibre, and calcium.  I find myself making Quinoa in place of boring ol' rice a lot more these days.  The one thing I suggest when making Quinoa, is to rinse it thoroughly with water in a fine-mesh colander before cooking.  If you don't, the taste can be very bitter (learned that from the first few times making it... no wonder I didn't like it at first!)  Sometimes I cook a huge amount, and store it in the fridge for use during the week.  I enjoy it with avocados and chickpeas in a salad, or heat it up and use it as a side dish at dinner.

I just discovered a new Quinoa recipe that is so tasty, healthy and easy!  Hope you give it a try, and let me know what you think!  ~Janice ❤

Pan-Fried Quinoa Cakes with Cheese... and Sriracha on the side!

Here is the recipe for Pan-Fried Quinoa Cakes with Cheese (makes about 24 cakes):

• 4 cups cooked Quinoa 
• 1/2 cup shredded parmesan or cheddar cheese (I used a mix of both kinds)
• 6 tablespoons flour
• 4 green onions, chopped
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• salt and pepper to taste

• olive oil for pan-frying
• Sriracha sauce (for some kick!)

1. Place all ingredients except for the oil and Sriracha, in a large mixing bowl.
2. Stir until thoroughly mixed.
3. Heat oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat.
4. Form patties that are about the size of a cookie, and 1/2 inch thick.
5. Fry until golden brown on one side (about 5 minutes), then flip over and fry 5 minutes more.
6. Serve with Sriracha sauce,  plain yoghurt, or tzatziki sauce.

Combine cooked Quinoa with all other ingredients

Pan-fry in olive oil over medium-high heat for 5 minutes

Carefully flip over with a thin spatula, then fry for 5 minutes more

My Mom's Potato Rice Cake Recipe (Lo Bak Go)

Happy New Year!  I really have been neglecting my blog the last few months, but feel inspired to start up again, so I hope to post more regularly from now on.

Seeing that it's close to Chinese New Year (January 31st), I would like to share with you a  recipe of my Mom's called Lo Bak Go (which translates to Lo Bak= Daikon Radish, Go= Cake).  It is served quite frequently in Chinese restaurants during Dim Sum lunch, and is also called Turnip or Radish Cake. In this case, I am substituting the daikon radish for potatoes, hence the name Potato Rice Cake.  I have been eating this dish since I was a little girl, and have always wanted to make it, so I asked my Mom if I could watch and photograph her doing it. This recipe holds a very special place in my heart, as my Mom is getting on in life, but I'll always have this forever to remember her by! I enjoy a piece of the cake dipped in a little bit of soy sauce and hot sauce.  I will post the recipe at the bottom of this post. I hope you'll give it a try!  ~Janice ❤

Lo Bak Go - Chinese Potato Rice Cake

The first step in the recipe is to prepare the filling, which is by far the best part of the cake.  It is the tiny pieces of salty, savoury, hearty, meaty goodness!  It consists of finely chopping together Chinese sausage (Lap Cheng), Chinese mushrooms, dried shrimp, salted turnip, and green onions.  You can find most of these ingredients in Asian food stores, or Chinatown.  You could use cubed ham, chicken breast, or even firm tofu in place of Chinese sausage. Because let's face it, they are not the healthiest, which probably explains why they taste so damn good! After finely chopping the ingredients, stir fry them in a bit of canola oil and salt until tender.  This step can be done a day or two ahead.  Just cool and store in the fridge until you are ready to make the cake.

The filling: Chinese sausage, Chinese mushrooms, dried shrimp, salted turnip, green onions

Chinese sausage (Lap Cheng)

So on the actual day of making the Rice Cake, the steps involved are as follows: 

Peel and chop the potatoes, make the rice liquid or batter for the cake, add the filling, then steam the rice cake.  First, peel and chop the potatoes into 1 cm cubes.  We used russet potatoes, but any kind will do.

  

Next, make the rice liquid or batter, using Rice Flour.  We used two 400 gram bags to make five pie-plate sized Rice Cakes.

Mix the flour with some water that has been boiled and cooled, add 2 tsp. of tapioca starch, then knead with hands until it becomes dough-like.

Add enough water to the dough until it is similar to the consistency of homogenized milk.  Again, make sure you use water that has been boiled and cooled, as opposed to tap water.  This makes the texture of the finished cake more smooth.  We needed to use about eight cups of water to get the right consistency.  Stir with a ladle between each cup of water. You'll be able to tell it's ready when the back of the ladle is completely coated with the white liquid.

Ok, here comes the fun part...now it is time to steam the Potato Rice Cake!  Using the ladle, fill a pie pan or deep dish with the rice liquid, until it is about 1/3 full.  Sprinkle the potatoes first, then the meat filling all over the surface.  Be generous with this, as this is what makes the cake taste so yummy!  

Next, ladle more of the liquid on top of the filling until the plate is about 2/3 full.  You should still be able to see some of, but not all of the filling.

Place the pan or dish in a steamer, and cook for about 40 minutes total.  After 35 minutes of cooking time, sprinkle some chopped green onion on top to add some colour.  If you don't have a steamer, you can make your own steamer by using a large wok filled with about an inch of water, place a small round rack or inverted plate in the wok, then place the pan or deep dish on top of the rack.  Simmer for the same amount of time, and you will get the same result, which will look like this:

Finished!

Pan-fried leftovers the next day!

Here is the recipe for Potato Rice Cake, or Lo Bak Go, in case you wanted to make it yourself.  My Mom used 2 bags of rice flour to make 5 pie pans of cake.

For the filling, which can be prepared the day before:

• 8 dried Chinese (Shiitake) mushrooms, soaked in water for 30 minutes
• 3 Chinese sausages (Lap Cheng)
• 1 cup dried shrimp, soaked in water for 30 minutes
• 2 pieces salted turnip, soaked in water for 10 minutes
• 4 green onion stalks, chopped  

1. Drain and squeeze out the excess water from the mushrooms, shrimp and turnip.
2. Finely chop all ingredients.
3. Heat 1 tbsp. of oil in a hot pan.
4. Add a pinch of salt and stir fry everything together for about 5 minutes.
5. Cool and set aside.  Refrigerate if not making until the next day.

Rest of the ingredients:

• 4 large, or 6 medium russet potatoes, peeled
• 12 cups boiled, then cooled water
• 2 bags rice flour (red bag) *Note: do not use the Glutinous rice flour (green bag)* 
• 2 tsp. tapioca starch
• 2 shallots, chopped  

1. Cube potatoes into 1 cm. squares.
2. Heat 1 tbsp. of oil in a hot pan, and saute shallots for 2 minutes.
3. Add potatoes and pan-fry for about 10 minutes.  This gives the potatoes extra flavour.  Set aside.
4. Start on the rice flour liquid by pouring the bags of flour into a large bowl.
5. Add 2-1/2 cups of the boiled water to the bowl, and mix together with your hands.
6. Add tapioca starch.
7. Knead with your hands until it becomes like dough.
8. Add the rest of the water in, one cup at a time, stirring with a ladle between cups.  It should resemble homogenized milk.
9. You can tell it is ready, when you dip your ladle in the bowl, and the liquid forms a white coating on the back of the ladle.
10. Using the ladle, spoon the liquid into one of the pie pans until it is 1/3 full.
11. Sprinkle potatoes, then the meat filling all over the surface of the liquid.
12. Ladle more of the liquid on top, filling the pan to 2/3 full.  You should be able to still see some of the filling, so don't cover completely!
13. Cover and steam over boiling water for about 35 minutes.
14. Sprinkle some chopped green onions on top, then cover and steam for 5 minutes more.
15. Carefully remove the pan from the steamer.  Cool slightly, then cut the rice cake into pieces.
16. Serve with soy sauce and hot sauce.  I like to use Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce. Enjoy!
17. Any leftovers that are stored in the fridge can be pan-fried in oil until a crispy crust is formed (see photo above).  This tastes even better, and it's usually how Dim Sum restaurants serve it.    

Chicken Thighs with Wide Buttered Noodles, Fennel and Grapes

I love food that is simple and flavourful with minimal ingredients.  I have found the most tasty, yet elegant chicken recipe!  You can easily serve this to your family as a weeknight dinner, or it would be perfect for a formal or holiday dinner as well.  It is Tyler Florence's "Chicken Thighs with Wide Buttered Noodles, Fennel and Grapes", from his cookbook entitled Tyler's Ultimate.

The combination of the crispy chicken, fennel bulbs, butter and parsley is to die for.  I have made this dish many times for my family and it's definitely a favourite, even with the picky eaters!

I took photos of the actual recipe from the book, and posted them at the bottom of this post.  Try making this for yourself, and let me know what you think!  I'm sure you'll be adding it to your list of favourite recipes too! ~Janice ❤

My version of Tyler Florence's Chicken Thighs with Wide Buttered Noodles, Fennel and Grapes

My Sexy Summer Salmon Avocado Zucchini Anchovy Salad!

Do you ever go to a restaurant and get annoyed when someone orders a salad, but he/she prefers the dressing on the side? Well... I'm one of those annoying people! Don't get me wrong... I used to love dressing on my salad, the more the better!  But that all changed once I got married.  My husband used to order his salad without any dressing, and I used to think he was nuts!  I thought, how could anyone possibly have a salad with no dressing! 

I would like to share with you a very simple Salmon Salad recipe with you that is insanely easy to make. I made it for dinner tonight, in fact.  It was absolutely delicious, and I cannot wait to make it again!

Easy Salmon, Avocado, Anchovy, Zucchini Salad

      Here are the ingredients:

• 1 bag of mixed greens of your choice
• 1 fillet of salmon (my fish market had fresh salmon burgers today, so I used that instead)
• 1 avocado, cubed
• 1 can of anchovies in olive oil
• 1 zucchini, sliced 
• olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste 

1. Pan fry the salmon in a little bit of olive oil until brown and cooked, then cut into chunks.
2. Grill or pan fry the zucchini until brown and tender.
3. Assemble the salad greens in a big bowl.
4. Add the salmon, zucchini, avocado and anchovies.
5. Drizzle with olive oil.
6. Season with salt and pepper.

And that's it!  I hope you enjoy this salad as much as I do.  Let me know what you think, and please feel free to comment with variations or suggestions!  Happy eating!  ~Janice ❤

This salad is insanely easy to make!

My First Blog Post!

I can't tell you how excited I am to officially write my very first blog post!  Being a newbie to the blog world, I find it can be overwhelming at times with all the options available in creating a blog. Please bare with me as I learn the ropes, and discover all the creative and exciting ways I will be able to improve my blog.

A little bit about me... Let me first just say that I am a wife and Mom of two kids living in Canada. When I first decided to start a blog, I began by throwing around different ideas for the subject matter and content for it.  My interests range from music to movies, from reading to writing, from tennis to Bikram Yoga. Then I narrowed in on three things that I really had a passion for, three things that I am constantly Googling and researching.  The three things I came up with were Makeup, Food, and Photography.

Growing up, I was always interested in playing with makeup ever since I can remember.  I was limited though, as the only makeup my Mom ever wore, and still wears, is lipstick. I remember always sneaking in her room to try on the bubble gum pink shade that she had on her table.  In high school, I started experimenting with eyeshadow.  My favourite look was putting very pigmented, frosted smokey lavender eyeshadow over my entire (yes, entire!) lid from brow bone to lash line!  Nowadays my tastes in makeup are a bit more subtle, shall we say.  Being a Mom, finding the time to put on makeup can be a bit challenging sometimes, but I never leave the house without at least some kind of product on my lips.

Fast forward to today... these days, I always do my research before buying a cosmetic item.  With great outlets such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Makeupalley and the millions of beauty blogs out there, I am able to make an informed decision before I spend money on any beauty product.  Sometimes I find myself asking, "Did I really need to spend $35 on a lipstick?" I think about it for a minute, then answer with an enthusiastic "Yes!" It's so important to take time for yourself, and do the things that make you happy and give you pleasure.  I believe that a happy Mom = happy kids, and am lucky that I have a husband who recognizes this and encourages me regularly to take time out for just me.  He'll take the kids out so I can have the house to myself to read or take a bath in peace, or suggest that I go out to dinner with friends, or go get my nails done, or sit in the hot tub at the pool.

Ever since the birth of my two kids, I have developed a great passion for cooking.  Not only do I love trying new recipes of all kinds of cuisine, but I also enjoy going out for a meal and appreciating beautifully plated works of art.  My favourite foods tend to lean towards  Japanese, Thai and Indian, but I also love a bbq steak, or a taco from TacoTime.

Which brings me to my third passion in life - photography!  I love documenting elements of everyday life, whether it be a gorgeous plate of salad, to my kids playing on the monkey bars, to a friend's wedding, to my dog getting a haircut, to Mickey Mouse at Disneyland, and the list goes on and on.  I believe that I have a good eye for presentation, and making things look pretty.

Please join me in my journey as I discover new makeup products, mind-blowing tasty eats, beautiful images, and anything else to add to my list of adorations.

Here's to Eyeliners, Eats & Exposure! ~Janice ❤

Playing around with photographing a few of my favourite makeup products