Fast Food: Garlic Noodles & Taiwanese Cabbage

I'm an instant ramen addict. To kick this habit, I've been trying to substitute other noodles, such as this:

Ingredients:
3 cups of noodles
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp lemon juice
3 cloves of garlic, finely diced
1/2 tsp garlic chili
1/2 tsp fried scallions
1 chili pepper, finely diced
1 boiled egg
2 cups of Taiwanese cabbage

Instructions:
1. Boil noodles as per instruction, drain & place on plate
2. Boil cabbage (do not overcook). Once the water is boils, add the cabbage and let it cook for 30 seconds, remove from heat, drain.
3.  Make sauce by combining: soy sauce, lemon juice, garlic, chili,
4. Add boiled egg into sauce. Using a spoon or fork, break the egg into fine pieces in the sauce
5. Add sauce, cabbage, & scallions to noodles

Total time: 10 minutes

Enjoy!

Dessert: Red Bean Soup

This is one of the easiest desserts to make! 

1 bag of red beans, well washed

1'' of ginger

water (see amount below), add as needed

sugar: start with  1 cup, adjust as needed

slow cooker-begin with high then reduce to warm when beans are cooked

Time: 4 hours

Stir Fry: Taiwanese Bamboo and Tofu

Ingredients: 

1 bag of bamboo (from Taiwan)

1 banana pepper (thinly sliced)

1/2 red bell pepper (thinly sliced)

1 cup of bbq tofu (thinly sliced)

1 cup white onion

2 tbsp Taiwanese vegetarian bbq sauce

1/3 cup of shiitake mushroom (sliced)

Instructions:

1. heat up pan

2. Add mushroom, bamboo, sauce

3. Add tofu

4. Stir until ingredients are cooked

5. Add white onion, bell pepper, banana pepper

5. Garnish with cilantro & white pepper (according to your taste taste)

6. Serve with white rice

stir fry bamboo with mixed vegetables

vegetarian stir-fried Taiwanese bamboo

Enjoy!

Lazy Day-Ramen Instant Noodle

 We felt a bit lazy  and decided to make ramen instead. It took less than 10 minutes to prepare all the ingredients and cooked them.

Our brother is a ramen addict. Lately he has navigated toward an Indonesian brand, Mi Goreng. Of course, being a loyal brand of Mama's, a brand from Thailand, we wanted to compare which was better.

Ingredients (per serving plate)

1 pack instant ramen

4 cups of water

1 egg

1/2 cup bamboo

1 cup of longitudinally slicked red bell pepper

1 cup cai lan (or gai lan)

1/3 cup straw mushroom

Garnish:

1 chili pepper, finely diced

1 tsp fried scallions

1 tbsp green onion, finely diced

1 tsp cilantro

1 lemon wedge

1/3 tsp (a few drops) of sesame oil

1/2 tsp roasted sesame seeds

(when making your ramen, you can substitute any of the above)

Procedure:

Boil water, add mushroom & seasoning packet

Add ramen and egg, bamboo & bell pepper

Once ramen is cooked, drain into plate

garnish with garnish ingredients

Mi Goreng Ramen

Dry version of Mama's Ramen

If you're lazy, ramen is a delicious way to satisfy your hunger. Add a bit of vegetables and voila! healthier food.

Which brand tasted better?
My husband prefers Mama because the noodles are crunchy while I liked the Mi Goreng because the noodles remained long and chewy. But both were delicious...MmmmmMm.

Happy Eating!

First time at Olive Garden

As a kid, I've yearned to eat at Olive Garden after each Olive Garden commercial on TV. I was wildly impressed with their claim to have sent chefs to Italy to learn how to cook Italian food. Of course, skeptics have questioned whether this is true. CNN verified that they do have a shared ownership of a cooking institute in Italy. And now my dream is alive.

After the failed attempt to get seating last year (we were told the wait was >2 hours! waiting that long for food when you're starved is bleh), we tried once more. While there was still a line, we were seated within 30 minutes.

At last! I was eating at Olive Garden! My husband was probably amused by my excitement. After having eaten at authentic Italian restaurants Italy, I was still giddy about Olive Garden! This goes to say that one is often brimmed with excitement as childhood dreams are fulfilled.  Our waiter, a young man named Marvin, seated us and took our order. We determined that he deserved at least 20% tip for being so courteous.

While we cook vegetarian at home, we tend to order seafood and chicken while eating out.

penne di mare

chocolate mousse--not too sweet--definitely delicious!

With unlimited soup, salad and bread, the dinner was worth every penny. We were stuffed. After all those years of wanting but failing to go to Olive Garden, I was thoroughly happy with my experience. It was more special  because I shared this experience with someone so dear.

Taiwanese Vegetarian Noodles-two ways

Ingredients:

Noodles

Dark Soy Sauce

chili oil

sugar (a pinch)

carrots

bbq tofu

green onions (to garnish)

garlic

fried scallions

Vegan Mexican Rice--a filling Friday dinner

It's Friday and we've thought about Mexican food this week! Tonight, we plan on a movie night so dinner must be quick. Can't wait for the hubbie to be home to try!

1 tomato
3/4 medium white onion
3 jalapenos
2 cups long grain rice
1/3 cup canola oil
5 minced garlic cloves
2 cups vegetable stock, or water if you do not have
1 small can (8 oz) tomato sauce

1 1/2 tspsalt

1/2 cup fresh cilantro, minced

1 lime
cheese

Procedure:

1. Remove ribs/seeds from jalepenos, mince

2. Dice tomato

3. Rinse rice (until water is clear), drain

4. Heat pan, add oil, allow to heat

5. Add rice to heated pan, stir until golden brown/translucent, reduce heat to medium

6. Add onion, jalepenos, garlic, salt. Stir until fragrant

7. Bring to boil for 5 min

9 Transfer to bakeware and bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or until rice is dry and fluffy

10. Top it off with cheese, it will melt when in contact with hot rice
11. Serve with cilantro & lime

Happy Friday!