Fried Egg With Balela Bean Salad And Buttered Toast

Recipe submitted by: Jane Ong

I can't live without eggs.  I had been having at least one egg for every meal (breakfast, lunch, dinner) for many years since I was weaned off my milk bottle. But my egg consumption has been drastically cut down since I graduated college.  It was not because I was worried about the cholesterol.  It was mainly because I have this horribly long commute in the morning to work that I don't have time to cook and eat breakfast.  But whenever I have the time to indulge in my morning breakfast at home, I always treat myself a fried egg over easy.  According to Harvard University, eggs contain nutrients including protein, vitamins B12 and D, riboflavin; and folate, and therefore may help lower the risk for heart disease when consumed in moderation. (i.e., One egg per day.) To make my fried egg breakfast healthier, I gave it a middle eastern twist by pairing the egg with Trader Joe's super delicious Balela Bean Salad. (If you are a talented cook, you can probably make your own Balela Bean Salad, but I opt for Trader Joe's all natural high quality ready-to-eat version because I absolutely don't know how to make this bean salad myself.)

Makes 1 Serving:

Ingredients:

• 2 oz of Trader Joe's Balela Bean Salad ($2.69 for 8 oz container)
• 1 large organic egg
• 1 piece of high quality white bread, toasted and buttered (I got my bread freshly made from my favorite Japanese Bakery)
• Dried parsley flakes 
• Moran's Grilling Seasoning 

Direction:

1. Fry an egg in any style you want (I prefer mine to be over easy with runny yolk inside).
2. Sprinkle dried parsley flakes and Moran's Grilling Seasoning on top of the egg, serve with buttered toast and Balela Bean Salad.

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Banana Foster Tarts

Recipe submitted by: Jane Ong

Knowing my limited cooking abilities, my mother-in-law emailed me a recipe that she claimed was so deliciously easy that it would keep me mellow at the end of my stressful work day and also make me feel somewhat accomplished about myself...

Ingredients: (Make 6 tarts)

• 1 package Keebler Mini Graham Cracker Pie Crusts
• 3 ripe bananas, sliced
• 1/2 stick butter
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/8 cup brandy (I used Pierre Douchene Napoleon Brandy V.S.O.P bought at Trader Joe's)
• A pinch of cinnamon powder

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven at 375F, lightly spray the pie crusts with Pam Butter Cooking Spray and bake for 5 minutes.
2. At medium heat, cook butter and brown sugar in a sauce pan, stir until sugar and butter melt together.
3. Add brandy to 2) above, stir and heat until bubbly.
4. Add banana slices, gently stir until bananas are well coated with the liquid.
5. Remove from heat and let the mixture sit for a few minutes.
6. Spoon the bananas mixture into the pie crusts, sprinkle with cinnamon powder.

I think this banana brandy sauce will also be good on pancakes and waffles.

Blue Corn Tortilla Chips Breakfast Under 5 Minutes

Recipe submitted by: Jane Ong

Even though I eat out most of the time, I still use my kitchen to cook, particularly after I returned from my vacation in Southeast Asia and blew all my savings just so I could live like a princess for a few weeks. In the last couple days, I have been eating this for breakfast and dinner at home because it's fast, easy and cheap....

Makes 1 Serving:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of Trader Joe's Organic Blue Corn Tortilla Chips
• 1 large organic egg
• 1/4 cup of Trader Joe's Mild Pico De Gallo Fresh Salsa
• Dried parsley flakes 
• Moran's Grilling Seasoning 

Direction:

1. Layer a plate with  blue corn tortilla chips.
2. Fry an egg in any style you want (I prefer mine to be over easy with runny yolk inside).
3. Put egg on top of the blue corn tortilla chips and spoon the fresh salsa around.
4. Sprinkle dried parsley flakes and Moran's Grilling Seasoning on top of the egg and serve.

The grill seasoning and the parsley flakes just made my egg taste really good.  The Trader Joe's salsa is one of the best fresh salsa I had tasted, and I think it's the best tasting store bought fresh salsa among all the store bought fresh salsas that I had tried in various American grocery stores.  I won't recommend jar salsa at all.  You can surely make your own salsa if you prefer, For me, I think I can't do a better job than Trader Joe's in terms of producing such a high quality salsa, or does it even make economic sense for me to make it myself.

Christmas Trees Crostinis

Content submitted by: Jane Ong

I never had to even boil water until I graduated college.  My parents always discouraged me from even stepping into the kitchen, because they themselves were forced to spend their entire childhood and young adulthood in the home kitchen and working in the kitchen.  For some twisted reasons, my parents just didn't want their children to go even close to the kitchen.  I'd come to learn how to make a sandwich when I started working and living on my own.  This year, I felt I had to prove to my friends that I wasn't totally helpless and spoiled just because I get most of my meals from restaurants. So, I decided to throw an early Christmas cocktail party at my tiny apartment before I went overseas for my Christmas vacation. Based on my years of sandwich making experience, I made Christmas Trees Crostinis for the cocktail party.  It was fast, and easy and I was proud that they were extremely well received and they disappeared from my party tray really really fast.

The Japanese bakeries here in Los Angeles make the best and freshest white bread in the entire Los Angeles (just my opinion).  Naturally, the delicious white bread makes the best tasting Crostini. My friends could just eat the plain toasted white bread by itself non-stop.  It's how good the Japanese white bread was. 

I bought a Christmas tree cookie cutter years ago wanting to make Christmas tree cookies to bring to the Christmas party at work.  I ended up not making any cookies but bought a party tray of disgusting cookies from the grocery store instead.   When I saw the brand new cookie cutter that had never been used all these years, I thought of using it to may be  make some croutons for salads.  Then I felt they were too big for salads and decided to turn them into Crostinis.  The cookie cutter turned out to be really useful in making festive looking Crostini. These Crostinis are extremely easy to make and taste really good with Champagne.   

Makes 24 Crostinis  

Ingredients:

1. 24 pieces of really really good quality white bread 
2. 4 tablespoons olive oil
3. 2 teaspoons dry parsley flakes
4. 1 can (5oz) tuna in oil, drained and flaked (reserve 1 to 2 tablespoons of oil)
5. 1 red bell pepper, finely diced
6. 1 cup can (7oz) sweet corn
7. 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
8. Salt & ground pepper 
9. Powdered Parmesan cheese for garnish

Direction:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Cut 24 Christmas trees out of the white bread using a cookie cutter. Place the Christmas tree pieces on the baking sheet.  On both sides, brush with olive oil and sprinkle with parsley flakes.  Bake for 10  to 12 minutes or until golden.  Turn over once during baking.  


2. In a large mixing bowl, mix together ingredients 4) to 7).  Use some of the reserved oil from the can tuna to bind the ingredients if necessary. Or you can use some mayo to bind instead.  Season with salt and ground pepper.


3. Spoon the tuna mixture from step 2 above onto the baked Christmas tree pieces, garnish with powdered Parmesan cheese and serve.  

Martha Stewart's Double Chocolate Brownies Recipe Make Great Christmas Gifts

Content submitted by: Jane Ong

In the past few years, I always picked up a Martha Stewart Magazine on the magazine rack whenever I visited a grocery store.  It was however just pure browsing.  I hadn't tried any recipe or any craft from the magazines.  I have been a very busy professional slave and I never had time to do much other than flipping through the glossy Martha Stewart Magazines during check-out.  2 years ago during my sabbatical, I had the leisure to finally make her Double-Chocolate Brownie recipe.  They are so delicious that I have been  making them as Christmas gifts for my landlord and his family ever since. They love them tremendously, which I am very glad.

I can't be buying the glossy Martha Stewart Magazines all these years and not learn one trick or two in terms of gift wrapping. I originally was looking for the Martha Stewart brand gift box but they seem to be kind of pricey.  So I just grabbed whatever that was the cheapest:

$3.76 for the Bags & Ribbon, $1.99 for the 9 gift tags, and 9% sales tax, total $6.27 to pack 32 brownies with 1 gift tag left for use to tie to another gift.  This is  not the first time in my life I made gifts from the kitchen, but  I still don't know how to tie a proper bow.  My bows just didn't come out as proper looking as the one shown on the Wilton photo.  I still don't know how to do it. So one of my resolutions for 2016 will be to find out how to tie a bow properly and learn to do it.  Hopefully there is a tutorial on Martha Stewart's website somewhere?

Notes From Our Editors: Tell us about your most favorite food gifts for Christmas and we will send you a box of Godiva Chocolate Truffles if we decide to publish your review here. For submission guidelines, please click here to connect with us.

Baked Cod Fillet Served with Linguine With Pesto and Tomatoes

Content contributed by: Jane Ong

Trader Joe's has this tasty Linguine with Pesto & Tomatoes  for $2.99 per a 16 ounce bag that makes a great meal when paired with  Trader Joe's oven ready breaded cod fillets.  A box of 8 to 9 pieces of breaded cod fillets is only $9.99.  I normally don't buy frozen fish fillets because most of the fish fillets in American grocery stores are "Products of China" and I am  aware of the fact that there isn't that many unpolluted shores or rivers in China to produce that many fish fillets for export.  So when I saw that Trader Joe's oven ready breaded cod fillets are "Products of the USA", it naturally became one of my favorite grocery items from TJ.  I popped them into the oven as instructed and they came out pretty good.  

Instant Chicken Lo Mien (Tossed Noodle)

Content contributed by: Jane Ong

What's the difference between Lo Mien and Chow Mien?  Chow Mien is when noodles are stir-fried with high heat with a lot of commotion, versus, Lo Mien is more laid back. Lo Mien's just  about gently tossing the boiled noodles with sauce without all that big fire bursting from the hot wok as seen in the kitchens of Chinese restaurants...

I love both but I usually order Chow Mien at restaurants because Chow Mien requires a big fire to really taste like Chow Mien to me. It just always tastes better at restaurants.  But I can absolutely make Lo Mien at home.  This one is very easy and delicious. All I need is one package of the following Yakisoba, a bunch of chopped green onions and some shredded cooked chicken, that was left over from the whole fried chicken that I had from the Chinese restaurant.  Any leftover steamed chicken or roast chicken, or the store bought rotisserie chicken will do.  This recipe requires no straight measurement of ingredients and I can toss in as much or as little chicken or green onions as I want.  I always like to have a plate of Chinese Broccoli on the side when I eat this. I just like to always have some veggies to alternatively munch on while having my instant noodles.

Cooking Direction:

Cook the noodle according to the package instruction (which is really about boiling the noodle with water), toss in the green onions when it comes the time to add the seasoning from the package (as per package instruction). Then toss in the shredded chicken after the sauce dries up and the noodles look like the Lo Mien or Chow Mien you see in Chinese restaurants.  After everything is well tossed and mixed together in the pan, scoop everything up and serve.  The entire cooking  time is less than 5 minutes. It's fast, it's easy and it's delicious.  This brand of  Yakisoba is very very good!!!  It's our favorite brand as of now...

This is cheap and delicious. This makes the best home-made Lo Mien / Chow Mien that rivals the ones at restaurants, but for much cheaper.  This is available at Amazon for less than $1.00 a package.

Smoked Salmon Fried Rice

Content contributed by: Jane Ong

I went to my friend's house in Colts Neck NJ again yesterday for yet another BBQ.  I would have declined the invitation but I just didn't know how to say no.  Afterall, I live in Los Angeles and my friend claimed if I didn't take this rare business trip of mine to visit her more, there wouldn't be opportunity like this once I leave the Garden State to return to the Golden State.  Oh well, I agreed, so I went even though I found her McMansion really boring and her BBQ and cooking just "bland".  When I got there, I suggested my friend to order some Chinese Fried Rice as a side dish to her BBQ steak (which tasted really gross, and they were from the big pack bought  from Costco).  I was however unable to find a decent Chinese restaurant that is within delivery distance.  Just why does my friend or anyone love to live in the middle of nowhere like this?  So I used the smoked salmon which she stocked up in her fridge, to make Fried Rice myself.  I guess living in a place like Colts Neck just means "more cooking at home", which means more "homework",.....

Makes 2 Servings

Ingredients: 

• 2 beaten eggs 
• 2 cups of cooked Jasmine rice (I don't like brown rice but you can do brown rice) 
• 4 - 5 slices of Atlantic smoked salmon (I often used Scottish smoked Salmon) 
• 1 teaspoon of soy sauce 
• 1 tablespoon of chopped green onions 
• 2 tablespoons of Olive oil 

Direction: 

1. Heat wok with 1 tablespoon of olive oil on medium high heat, stir fry the smoked salmon pieces until you can crumble them with the spatula, 1-2 minutes. 
2. Push the crumbled salmon to one side of the wok and pour in the eggs, stir until the eggs are cooked and crumbled, 1-2 minutes. 
3. Put aside the salmon and egg mixture on a plate, pour in the wok 1 tablespoon of Olive oil, and continue to heat on medium high heat for 1 min. 
4. Add chopped green onions and stir fry for 30 seconds. 
5. Add cooked rice and stir fry for 1-2 minutes. 
6. Put back the salmon and egg crumbles to 3 above, drizzle soy sauce all over and stir for 30 seconds. Transfer to rice bowls and serve.

Low-Fat BlueberryYogurt With Peanuts

Content contributed by: Jane Ong

Recently, I've been having too many heavy breakfasts with eggs and bacons at various restaurants and my hotel here in Toms River.  This morning, I decided to go light on my breakfast by adding a pinch of Planters Low Sodium Roasted Peanuts to a cup of Dannon Low-Fat Blueberry Yogurt. This is one travel-friendly breakfast which I can whip up in any hotel. I love peanuts and I add them to a lot of my meals.  I feel very grateful that I don't have nuts allergy.  I just can't imagine not being able to have peanuts.

Korean Style Scallops Ramen Noodle Soup

Content contributed by: Jane Ong

I ate a lot of instant Ramen. Instant Ramen was the only thing I'm competent in cooking.  It's easy and it's always tasty to me.  I'm just addicted to Ramen.  But I have to say I don't like the Nissan brand of Instant Ramen at American grocery stores.  I would not be eating so much instant Ramen if only that were the only brand available.  All my friends who had tried the Asian Ramen I recommended to them can't go back to the typical instant Ramen at the American grocery stores.  The above Scallops Ramen Noodle Soup was made with one of my favorite brands of Asian instant Ramen.

I love spicy food but this can be too spicy for a lot of non-Asian people.  To tone down the heat and the spice,  use half bag of the seasoning or less and substitute half of the water from the cooking instruction with fat free organic chicken broth. This Ramen is available at Amazon.com for $21.34 for 20 bags.  

Making the Scallop Ramen Noodle Soup is easy. Just cook the Ramen according to the package directions, throw in a few Trader Joe's jumbo sea scallops together with the Ramen.(I choose this brand of scallops because they are meaty, they taste really good and fresh except for the occasional few grains of sands which I don't know how to get rid of; and most importantly, they are from the USA, not from China like the other brands).  In the last minute of cooking, throw in  a bunch of organic baby spinach and a pinch of chopped green onions, and then you will get a bowl of  bubbly hot and authentic tasting Korean style Scallops Ramen Noodle Soup in just a few minutes with  no fussy measurement or different pots and pans to deal with....

Banana Nut Muffins

Content contributed by: Jane Ong

These muffins are the best Banana Nut Muffins I ever tasted even though I was very confused after watching Tyler Florence's demonstration on the video and reading the printed recipe. I was torn between using 1.5 cups of flour as told by the video and 2 cups of flour as written on the recipe.  Also, Tyler said in the video he was using 1.5 cups of brown sugar and 1 tablespoon of vanilla extra, while the printed recipe instructs the use of 1 cup of brown sugar and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extra.  After a lot of head scratching, I decided to follow the printed recipe exactly.  I'm glad I did because these muffins turned out to be very delicious with a great texture and a heavenly aroma.  They aren't overly sweet like the ones in the grocery stores.  To me, these muffins just have the right sweetness. The ingredients are just what I always have in my kitchen.  I found this recipe when I was desperately looking for ways to use up the very ripe and spotty bananas.   I love this recipe because unlike other banana muffin recipes, this one doesn't require a long list of special ingredients like special yogurt, flaxseed, banana pudding mix, bran, honey, and the list goes on and on .  This is a short and simple recipe that produced super delicious and wholesome banana nut muffins.  I made 12 this morning for breakfast and we only have 6 left.  Next time I'm going to try to follow the video and see if the muffins will taste any different. 

The Millennium Punch

Minestrone Soup

Content contributed by: Jane Ong

I usually get turned off by a recipe that has a long list of ingredients that I have to go to the store to get before I can cook it.  So after my mother-in-law gave me the recipe for this minestrone soup that my husband loves so much, I have been sitting on it for a very very very long time.  All these dried herbs, canned items and Italian sausages are usually items I don't have lying around and I have to specially remember them so I can grab them when I'm grabbing the usual grocery items during my usual shopping trip. I had never even heard of  Ditalini pasta until I saw this recipe.  But I have to admit, this soup tastes much better than any I had tried in restaurants. It makes a great meal when served with toasted garlic bread. I also love that the soup freezes extremely well (without the pasta).

Serves 6

Ingredients:

1. 3/4 cup uncooked Ditalini pasta 
2. 1 tablespoon olive oil 
3. 1 (4-ounce) link Italian sausage, casing removed
4. 5 garlic cloves, minced
5. 1/2 large yellow onion, diced 
6. 1 cup diced carrot 
7. 2 celery ribs, diced
8. 2 teaspoons dried parsley flakes
9. 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme 
10. 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper 
11. 1 (15-ounce) can unsalted chickpeas, rinsed and drained 
12. 1 (15-ounce) can roasted diced tomatoes, undrained 
13. 4 cups organic low fat chicken stock (I used Trader Joe's) 
14. 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 
15. 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 

Direction:

1. Cook pasta according to package directions, drain. 
2. While pasta cooks, heat a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add sausage; cook 3 minutes or until lightly browned, stirring to crumble. Add garlic, onion and next 6 ingredients; cook 10 minutes. Add chickpeas, tomatoes, and chicken stock; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes. Stir in pasta, salt, and black pepper; cook 1 minute. 

Zucchini Chicken Sausage Stir Fry

Content contributed by: Jane Ong

Handling raw meat can be daunting for any new cook, particularly for those who are squirmish with touching or looking at any bloody raw animal flesh. Marinating and cooking raw meat also means longer preparation and cooking time.  Fortunately, there is always a quick and delicious recipe that doesn't trigger the raw meat trauma. This dish is easy and quick to cook.  It tastes good and doesn't require precise and fussy measurement or timing.  Inexperienced cooks can just chop up something and toss something, add a pinch of this or a drizzle of that; and it would still taste good because the store bought sausage is already pre-cooked.

Ingredients: (For 2 servings)

• 2 links of sliced fully cooked chicken sausage (Al Fresco Spinach & Feta Chicken Sausage)
• 2 sliced zucchini
• 1/4 sliced yellow onion
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 2 tablespoons regular soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons low sodium chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 2 tablespoons canola oil

Directions:

1. Mix sugar with soy sauce, stir well and set aside.
2. Heat wok or large skillet with canola oil on medium high, brown the sausage, about 3 minutes, flip the sausage once in between browning time, set aside on a plate.
3. To the same wok or skillet, add minced garlic and stir fry until fragrant.
4. Add onion and zucchini to 3) above and stir fry for about 3 minutes, sprinkle the chicken broth and cook for about 2 minutes, then add the soy sauce mixture from 1) and cook until the sauce begins to dry up.  
5. Add the sausage from 2) above and stir well for about 30 seconds, transfer to a warm plate. Serve with steamed Jasmine rice.

Buttery Apple Biscuits

Content contributed by Jane Ong

When I first met my mother-in-law before I married my husband, she offered me biscuits at a breakfast she made.  I remember how I was taken by surprise when I saw them.  All my life, I had  biscuits that looked very different and then I later found out Americans call the biscuits I had learnt in my English class back home  "cookies" or "crackers".   One bite into my MIL's American biscuit, I decided that I didn't like it.  It was too salty for me and then it had that  hint of bitterness that turned me off. I remember how I used to fight with my sister over the "biscuits" back home when I was little.  I was shocked to find out that there would actually be a kind of "biscuits" in the world that I dislike.  My mother-in-law later told me proudly that those biscuits were really easy to make and they were from her favorite Pillsbury's biscuits from the tube...

I had stayed away from all biscuits ever since, until I found  this recipe.  I was determined  to learn to bake something simple and easy.  After browsing through ton loads of recipes online, I finally found this recipe that is short, that doesn't seem to take too much time, that doesn't seem to need a mixer, a blender, a food processor, a mold, or other gadgets.  I was initially skeptical about it because it was a recipe for making biscuits and I thought I didn't like biscuits.  I decided to risk a second try at it though.

But no matter how short and simple a recipe is, a dumb cook in training like me can still encounter complications.  The recipe instructs me to cut in butter. But I absolutely have no idea what it really means.  Cut with what? How to cut?  My butter was already cut into pieces when I dumped them into the bowl... I just didn't get it.  Anyway, I just mixed everything together with my own two hands since I didn't know what to do next after I had the flour, sugar, salt and butter in the bowl...

Since I don't own a rolling pin, I used my hands to pat down the dough.  I also don't own any biscuits cutter so I used my glass to cut the biscuits.  Regardless of everything I lack of as a new cook, I'm very happy that I gave this biscuit recipe a try.  These biscuits are so delicious and buttery.  The apples and the molasses made the biscuits super tasty.  It's amazing how my perception about food can change if only I keep an open mind and give it a second chance.

Anyway, my husband and I love these biscuits so much we ate them all already.  Thank god that the recipe only makes six so I'm not feeling as guilty.  (Click here for the recipe.)