Teriyaki Pork, broccoli and rice dinner in 20 minutes

Simple, fast and delicious recipe.

You can get this dinner on the table in 20 minutes. What cam be better for a working woman? Only the dinner in 5 minutes, which would most probably be the oats:-)

Cooking Time : 15 minutes 

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Serves : 3 people

This teriyaki sauce may be used with pork, chicken or beef.

For teriyaki sauce: 

soy sauce- 1/2 cup

flour – 1 teaspoon

honey – 1 teaspoon

garlic powder – 1/3 teaspoon

ginger – 1 teaspoon

vinegar – 1 teaspoon

Meat:

pork- 1 lb finely chopped

In 1/3 cup of soy sauce mix honey, ginger powder and garlic powder, stir well, add vinegar and flour stir well.

Chop the pork in 1 in X 0.5 in chunks. pour the sauce in the wok pan, add pork and simmer on low heat until the sauce thickens. Don’t let the sauce become too thick, add water if necessary. I didn’t add the salt here as the soy sauce is saulty, but if you need salt, you definitely should add it here.

Broccoli:

1 lb of broccoli

Cut the broccoli flowers off,wash. put on a frying pan, add 1/2 cup of water, add salt and steam for 2 minutes.

Rice:

1 cup of white rice

Wash and roil rice until cooked (15-20 minutes).

Rinse with cold water, add 1 tablespoon of butter , 1 teaspoon of salt and stir well.

Your dinner is ready, serve warm and enjoy!

Love,

 

Vegan tender asparagus in orange sauce

This entry is part 3 of 4 in the series Go Vegan!

Scrumptious recipe, simple as that.

Asparagus is considered to be a luxurious plant as it not harvested for at least three years after being planted. Plus asparagus needs a lot of space to grow.Main nutritional benefits of asparagus is that it has  No Fat, contains No Cholesterol and is low in Sodium, what can be better?

Asparagus has number of health benefits, such as: anti-cancer benefits, heart health and anti-inflammatory benefits etc etc.

Asparagus is easy and fast to cook, so when I came onto discounted asparagus at my produce store I was excited.

I wanted to experiment and cook it without animal-based ingredients, as I usually use butter for my orange sauce.

If you don’t know how to trim the asparagus, it’s really as simple as snap!

Please see the video tutorial here.

Ingredients:

Asparagus- 1 lb

Orange- 2 pcs

Salt- 1 tablespoon

Black pepper- 1 teaspoon

sesame seeds- 1/3 cup

Olive oil – 1/3 cup

Water- 3-4 qt.

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time 5 minutes

Ready in 15 minutes

Serves: 2-3 people

Cooking Level: Easy

Preparation:

Wash and trim the asparagus as shown in this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhVEBsOWJDA&feature=colike

Set a 3-4 qt. saucepan with water to boil. Put your asparagus in boiling water and set the heat on medium. Boil for 3-5 min.Add 1 tablespoon of salt just 1 minute before taking the asparagus out.

Meanwhile, prepare the sauce:

Take the juice of two oranges, pour it into preheated frying pan, simmer for 2- minutes, then add olive oil, salt, pepper and oregano. Simmer for 2-3 minutes.

Put the sprouts of prepared asparagus on plate(s) and pour the sauce on it, cover with sesame seeds.Enjoy!

As you see I didn’t add no mustard and butter , which is normally added in the orange sauce. I wanted to make this recipe as light as possible. It’s good with brown rice or white rice.

The dish is light and is good for those working on their weight loss or for people with heart conditions.

Blueberry-Cottage Cheese Pancakes

This entry is part 3 of 3 in the series Dessert

I love pancakes or biscuits with cottage cheese., they have different texture and amazing taste, and… I convince myself that I get more calcium by cooking pancakes with cottage cheese. So, when I decided add to my pancakes with cottage cheese blueberries I figured that the dish would be even more beneficial, as blueberries are beneficial for the nervous system and for brain health, and there is exciting new evidence that blueberries can improve your memory. Besides all this these pancakes are very, very delicious, that’s why you can see only one pancake in this picture – it was the last one that I managed to take a picture of… before it vanished :-)

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 15 minutes

Eating time: 5 minutes:-)

Serves: 3 people

Servings: 6 thick pancakes

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of blueberries

1/2 cup of buttermilk

1/2 cup of cottage cheese

2/3 cup of flour

3 tablespoons of sugar

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract (or vanilla sugar)

2 large eggs

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

6 teaspoons of  corn or vegetable oil.

Preparation:

Mix glour, eggs and cottage cheese and buttermilk, whisk in sugar, vanilla extract and baking powder.

Add blueberries into your batter (between 1/2 of cup and 1 cup depending on how much blueberries you like in your pancakes).

Cooking:

Fry your  pancakes on a small frying pan, one at a time. Don’t forget to add vegetable or corn oil ( 1 teaspoon per each) when frying.

Serving:

Serve warm, sprinkled with dark chocolate.

 

Enjoy,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Light cauliflower soup with chicken

This entry is part 5 of 5 in the series Soup

This soup is light  and is a great comfort food. I like to have this warm soup for dinner after a very busy day.The best thing is that you can prepare all the necessary veggies when you have time (or buy the ready mix) and just enjoy the soup in 20-40 minutes. You can also prepare the chicken broth a day (or an evening before). All in all it’s agreat comfort food for the whole family.

 

Serves: 4 people

Preparation time 20-30 minutes

Cooking time 20 minutes

Ready in 40-50 minutes

For the soup you will need:

Veggies:

1 finely chopped onion

1/2 big shredded carrot (or you can just slice it width-wise)

1 medium bell pepper (yellow or orange)

4-5 medium potatoes cut in cubes

1/2 of large cauliflower (flowers cut separately into a mid-sized chunks)

Poultry (not  a must , but I cooked it  as a non vegan soup. You can easily eliminate all animal based food if you’d like to).

2 chicken thighs ( skinless)

Herbs:

1/4 cup of dill

1/4 cup of chives

Salt

Pepper

Preparation:

Wash the chicken thighs,take off the skin and cut off the fat.

Set to boil in a 3-4 quart saucepan, add the salt and pepper (I add about 1-2 tablespoons of salt and 1/2 of black pepper).Boil for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile prepare the veggies: Peel the potatoes, onion and carrot,  wash carrot, potatoes, bell pepper and onion.

After the 20 minutes are up and you see that the chicken thighs are cooked, take them out of the saucepan and let them cool down on a plane. (So that you could cut then in cubes as well)

Cut the potatoes in cubes (mid-sized) and add to the saucepan. Shred the carrot and chop the pepper and onion.  Put everything  in the saucepan. At this time, turn the gas down to medium-low and continue simmering your soup.

Take the cauliflower, cut the flowers of , wash them and them cut the flowers in quarters or halves (depending on their size).  Set the cauliflower aside, you will throw them in 10 minutes before turning the gas off).

Now work with your cooked chiken- just cut off some meat from the chicken thighs, so that they wouldn’t be so huge and  impossible to serve in a plate.

After cooking the veggies for another 20 minutes, add the cauliflower and the chicken into the saucepan; wash and chop the hers.

Stir everything well , taste for salt and spices.

The soup will be ready in 10 minutes after you have added the cauluflower.

Serve warm!

Tuna soup with beans

Tuna soup with beans.

The idea of this soup belongs to my in-law, when she was was trying to fix  s soup fast. Originally it  was different, but I liked the idea, and in fact it’s a great anti-stress soup.  So i improved the soup a little and voila: the combination of creamy pinto beans and salty chunks of tuna works just fine.
It doesn’t require high qualifications either , just chop everything and mix in a saucepan ;)

Preparation time:  15 minutes.
Cooking time: 45 minutes
Ready in : 1 h
Ingredients:
4 qt. water
2 cups of pre-soaked beans(overnight)
1 medium carrot (grated)
3 big potatoes (peeled)
1 small bell pepper
2 small onions
2 tuna cans
2 eggs ( hard boiled and grated)
1 tablespoon of salt
Black pepper
1/2 cup of finely chopped dill
2 tablespoons of sour cream.
1 teaspoon of vegetable oil
 Preparation:
Pre-soak the pinto beans (better overnight).
Set the saucepan at the medium heat and boil the beans for20 minutes ( they should be cooked by this time, if pre soaked overnight)

Peel the potatoes, onions and carrot.  Wash and cut the potato in cubes, wash and grate the carrot, wash and cut in small cubes the bell pepper.  Wash and cut in cubes the onion( divide it in two halves) Put everything ( except for the onions, put ONLY half of the onion chopped ) in the saucepan with beans and simmer for the next 20-30 minutes.

Meanwhile hard boil the two eggs. When the eggs are ready let them stand in hot eater for 10 minutes,then drain  and let them cool down.
Shell the eggs and grate.
When the veggies are cooked add the tuna, mix everything very well, add 1 tablespoon of salt ( this is to my taste, taste maybe you will need only 1/2 of tablespoon or maybe you need more), add black pepper according to your taste.add the grated egg and mix everything very well. Turn the gas to low heat.
Take the other half of onion and prepare the sauce with sour cream (2 tablespoons) , onion ( the half that is left) and the dill finely chopped. Proceed in this manner: start frying the onion on medium heat, then add the sour cream and then finely chopped dill, stir everything and pour the sauce in your soup.
Simmer for the next 5 minutes and your soup is ready!
Serve warm.
Enjoy!

Catfish stuffed with crabmeat, cream cheese and Italian peppers.

This recipe is very delicious and is the invention to make an alternative to turkey or chicken for the holidays. Simple and fast to prepare, festive and  colorful , but mainly this dish is healthy and will vanish very fast from the plates.

For the recipe you can use whole catfish and catfish fillets. You can use any other fish like tilapia or flounder steaks, whole carp etc. This recipe is very low on cholesterol.

1 Catfish (4 lb.) cleaned, or catfish fillets (8)

½ pack of cream cheese

¼ of Italian pepper

¼ stick of sweet unsalted butter melted

½ onion chopped

1 tsp. cumin

2 tsp. black pepper

1 cup of crab meat (imitated or real crab meat)

½ cup of shrimps (optional)

3 tsp. salt

1 lemon

 

Step 1. Clean the catfish (if you are using whole fish). Wash in hot water and rub very well under the hot water to clean the skin better. (Or skin the fish, if you prefer)

Step 2. Prepare the stuffing:  finely chop the pepper and onion, add the cream cheese and mix very well. Cook the crab meat by boiling it in salt water for 3 minutes.  Cool the crab meat and shrimps, then drain and chop it. Add crab meat and shrimps to the rest of the stuffing, season and mix very well.

Step 3. Stuff the cleaned and seasoned fish. (Season the fish by rubbing into the skin 1 tsp. of cumin,1 tsp. pepper and 2 tsp. of salt). Sew the fish up and put on a greased baking dish.

Step 4.  Preheat the stove at 350F. Bake the fish for 25 min, pouring the melted butter on it after 10 min of baking and squeezing in half of the lemon onto it 20 minutes after the baking was started.

If you are using fish fillets just put the stuffing between the fillets and bake the fillets for 20 minutes pouring the melted butter and lemon juice 10 and 15 minutes after the baking started accordingly.

After the fish is ready let it sit in an oven fir the next 5 minutes. Put on a large plate, and take the threads before serving.

Top 5 holiday vegan dishes. Pick yours!

This entry is part 6 of 7 in the series Holidays

Christmas is when you spend a lot of time with your family, give a lot of presents and cook  a lot of food. Even if you have a vegan or vegetarian family member or friend there’s virtually million of dishes you can treat them with. I chose my 5 favorite Christmas vegan dishes for the holiday table.I y will have them on mine. If you have any other favorite dishes you want to share with me post the picture of the dish and recipe link below! Happy holidays!

Green beans with sesame seeds.

Simple, yet delicious, this dish is great for holiday table.Sesame seeds and olive oil give the dish rich taste and doesn’t matter if you are vegan or not, you will anyway enjoy it a lot!

Healthy and Easy Vegan beet salad with prunes.

Beets with prunes have sweet taste, if you add a little garlic the dish will be more  more salty and this contrast will be very appealing to your senses. In addition to this this dish possesses  many healthy benefits, so don’t leave it behind. Enjoy!

Read the recipe

 

Pickled eggplants with carrots, garlic and herbs

Goes well with mashed potatoes and with broccoli, with rice and beans. Great contrast dish, but takes time to prepare.

See the recipe

Delicious braised cabbage with raisins

Great as the main and side dish, sweet raisins and bell

pepper and salty cabbage go well together.

There won’t be too much of this dish it will vanish fast!

 

 

Read the recipe

Vegan spicy sautéed mushrooms in 10 minutes.

This is a very fast to cook dish chop mix and saute and you have a great dish in matter of minutes. It’s up to you to decide if you wanna make it spicy or not! I like it spice with saurkraut `and cranberries on the side. Read the recipe

Apple and prunes mustard stuffing for turkey chicken or duck.

This entry is part 3 of 7 in the series Holidays

This stuffing “lives” in my family for decades. I remember my grandmother cooking it since I was a little child.

Preparation time: 5 minutes.

Cooking tome: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

4 apples (peeled and cored)

1/2 of white onion

1 carrot

1 pinch of salt

1 pinch of pepper

1 pinch of cumin

1 pinch of oregano

8 prunes

1 tablespoon of olive oil

2 tablespoons of prepared honey mustard

Step 1. Peel carrot, apples and onion.

Step 2. Cut the apples in quarters and cut the core with seeds.

Step 3. Shred the carrot and  Finely chop the onions.

Step 4. Wash the prunes.

Step 5. preheat the frying pan at max heat. Then turn it to medium, add the olive oil, put the apple quarters, cover with shredded carrots and onion. Braise for 5 minutes at medium heat.

Step 5. in 5 minutes add the salt, peppel and spices. mix everything, add the mustard and braise for another 3 minutes.

Step 6. 2 minutes before turning the heat off add your prunes, mix everything and braise for another 2 minutes.

Done!

This stuffing may be used for any bird. It will be good with duck and chicken and with turkey. It may be cooked overnight or the day when you plan to roast your bird. Just  remember to not use too much stuffing in your bird!

Have a great holiday and  a great time with your family!

 

 

 

Soup with meatballs, mushrooms,spaghetti and cheese.

This entry is part 4 of 5 in the series Soup

This is a great warm winter soup. It takes only 30 minutes to cook, but it vanishes even faster than it took you to cook

 

it.

Cooking time 30 minutes.

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Serves 4 people.

[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:5]

 

Top 3 Fall Soups

This entry is part 1 of 3 in the series Soups

 These three soups are the best comfort meal for the lunch in fall: it enegrizes, keeps you warm and boosts your taste buds. You can add lots of flavors to these soups by experimenting with herbs: basil, dill, parsley and others.

 

Vegetarian Pea Soup 

Vegetarian pea soup is good those days when you want a rich-creamy soup without any meat component in it. It’s a comfort food perfect right for the days when it’s chilly and drizzly outside. This recipe has simple ingredients and doesn’t require to be a skillful chef to prepare it.

All in all perfect autumn soup for the family. Read more

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pumpkin crème-soup with shrimp, cream cheese and basil.

It’s autumn and it means that it’s time for a great pumpkin soup with shrimp that I just LOVE cooking.

It doesn’t require a lot of effort but it comes out perfectly smooth, bringing in the autumn flavors and colors into your kitchen.

I tasted this soup long time ago in Europe, brought it into my kitchen and my family just loves it. Hope, you will too. Read more

 Zucchini crème-soup

This is a very simple crème soup. It takes 40 minutes to cook and your family will enjoy this meal. It’s a great summer or fall soup for your to enjoy! Simple and flavorful! It takes little effort to cook and it’s a really light  dish. It gives you energy and makes you feel good. Read more