Today's Dinner: Miso Shrimp + Beet Salad

Ingredients:
12 medium shrimps (I save 6 for tomorrow's lunch)
Water
Japanese Miso Paste
Soy Sauce
Sesame Oil
Cooking Wine
Organic Salad Greens
Non-Salty Sunflower Seeds
Milled Flax Seeds
Fresh Beet
Roasted Sesame Seeds

To cook shrimps:
1. In a little bowl, mix about 2 table spoons of water with some miso paste (adjust to your own taste), add 1 part of soy sauce with 1 part of sesame oil into the bowl. Mix well and pour in a heated sauce pan. (If you want to end of with more sauce for later you can just double the quantity here, then you will have extra sauce for tomorrow's lunch too.)
2. Toss in the shrimps, add some cooking wine and cook until shrimps are done.

While the shrimps are cooking, prepare your salad:
1. Peel and roughly chop one fresh beet. Then use a mini food processor to further chop it into smaller pieces. You will have enough beet to last several meals.
2. In a big bowl, mix salad greens with some unsalted sunflower seeds and about 1 tablespoon of milled flax seeds. Toss and mix well.
3. Sprinkle fresh chopped beet on top.
4. Add cooked shrimps, and use the sauce the shrimps were cooked in as the salad dressing.
5. Finally, sprinkle some roasted sesame seeds on top as garnish!

Today's Dinner: Honey Ham Tofu Quinoa Bowl

I only had 15 minutes to cook today and this thing took only 15 minutes to prepare... It contains two separate dishes: mushroom quinoa with seaweed + honey ham tofu. It will serve 2 people.

Ingredients:
Organic Quinoa : 1 cup
Dry Arame Seaweed (optional): about 1/2 cup
Dry Sliced Shiitake Mushrooms: about 3/4 cup
Seasalt
Hon Dashi (or other kind of soup stock powder)

A Box of Silk Tofu
Sliced Honey Hams
Soy Sauce
Sesame Oil
Balsamic Vinegar
Roasted Sesame Seeds


Prepare mushroom quinoa first:
1. First, soak 1/2 cup of dry arame seaweed in a bowl with cold water. Set it aside.
2. Bring 2.5 cups of water to boil, turn the heat down to medium.
3. Add 1 cup of organic quinoa and about 3/4 cup of dry shiitake mushrooms into the pot. (I break the mushroom into smaller pieces by hand.) Stir occasionally and let it cook for 13 minutes until all water is absorbed. Add some sea salt and dashi while cooking (you can add other kind of stock powder if you don't have dashi).
4. The arame seaweed should be soft and double in volume now. Get rid of the soaking water and add just the seaweed into the pot and mix well. Serve hot.

To prepare honey ham tofu (while the quinoa is cooking):
1. Take a box of silk tofu, plate it and slice it into smaller pieces.
2. Chop some sliced honey hams into small pieces. Sprinkle them on top of the tofu.
3. To make the sauce, mix 1 table spoon of each: soy sauce, sesame oil and balsamic vinegar. Mix well and pour it on the tofu.
4. Finally, sprinkle some roasted sesame seeds on top. That's it.

Note: You don't have to use seaweed if you are not used to the taste, or you can just use a little bit to see if you like it or not. It's so good for your health though. Arame seaweed is actually a good one to start with since it has a milder taste.

Today's Dinner: Quinoa Tofu Salad

First, I have to confess that I have real problems following any recipes. I cook from whatever I have in my refrigerator. So my combination of stuff might looks weird, but this one is yummy and refreshing.

For this salad I used:
1 cup of organic quinoa (You can buy bulk quinoa at your local supermarket's health food area.)
organic mixed salad greens
firm tofu
raw slaw
sunflower seeds
red salsa
green salsa
sea salt

To cook quinoa:
Bring 2 cups of water to boil.
Turn the heat down to medium heat.
Add 1 cup of organic quinoa into the pot and cook about 13 minutes until all the water is absorbed. Meanwhile add some sea salt while it's cooking.
This will give you about 2 1/4 cups at the end, and I end up using only half of it for the salad (for 1 person).

1. In the salad bowl, mix the salad greens, slaw, and sunflower seeds.
2. Break firm tofu into smaller pieces and toss them in. (There is no need to cook the tofu.)
3. Add cooked quinoa into the mixture.
4. Finally, I added both red salsa + green salsa into the bowl and mix the whole thing really well.

Usually I might grill some shrimps with miso paste and add them to the salad. But I was too hungry so I skipped the shrimps for tonight...:)

Super Foods

In my previous post I mentioned that I've been trying to eat healthy starting about a month ago. I got this book by Dr. Gillian McKeith on Amazon and it is filled with great information. Too bad I don't have BBC America, otherwise I will for sure be watching her show whenever it airs. (I have to say just by simply following her advice on how to eat and what to eat, I've lost about 6 or 7 pounds already and I am never hungry.)

The other day, I was watching the morning show while the hosts and their guest nutritionists started to talk about the 10 super foods that will "save your life", I had to get a pen and papers to take down some notes. According to the show, here are the 10 super foods that we should be eating as part of our regular diet (not in particular order):

And here are the notes that I've taken down:

1. Swiss Chard:
Very important for retinal health; if you are a smoker or are around second hand smoke a lot, you need to eat this veggie.

2. Flax Seed:
Fights depression and rich in omega 3 fatty acid. You have to grind flax seed before you eat it (use a coffee grinder).

3. Cinnamon:
You can take the pill form, or just grind the cinnamon and sprinkle it into your coffee or oatmeal... doesn't have to be fancy either; regular cooking cinnamon will do.

4. Quinoa:
Rich in protein, fiber, also a very good source of magnesium and vitamin B2. Add it to your diet if you suffer from migraine headaches.

5. Ginger:
Eat a piece of candied ginger after meal to help digestion, or drink some ginger tea.

6. Guava:
Rich in vitamin C, potassium and fiber. Eat the whole thing with skin.

7. Pistachio:
Full of fiber and antioxidants, also gives you more bang per calories than other nuts. It's a heart-healthy snack.

8. Parsley:
Rich in vitamin K, preventing blood clog. In the show they said Frank Sinatra used to have a big bowl of raw parsley every day; he would sprinkle salt and pepper on his parsley and just ate it like that.

9. Beet:
Fights cancer and decreases inflammation. Eat it raw; don't cook it: You can grate it and use it in your salad.

10. Açaí Berry (pronounced "ah-sai"):
This is the number one, mother of all super foods according to the show.
It has 10 times more antioxidants than red grapes and 10-30 times the anthocyanins (antioxidant flavonoids that protect many body systems) of red wine. It can come in the form of paste, or juice/smoothie. I buy the juice from Costco; it's cheaper.

Remember there are a lot more super foods that are not on this list. It's important to eat a diet with variety of natural foods. : )