This is a post about recipe ideas that are very much unrelated to Valentine's Day.
:)
I haven't posted in a while huh? It feels weird, probably because I used to post almost every single day when I first started up this blog...well, times have changed!
So instead of celebrating Valentine's Day I've compiled a few simple and healthy recipes that I tested over these past few weeks.
First of all, these Goji berry protein bars!
Though my mom still uses them more often in chicken soup and other Asian dishes, I'm beginning to take a liking to eating them straight out of the package (after rinsing them, of course). Dried Goji berries are very chewy and tend to get stuck in your teeth more so than other dried fruits--or is that just me?
But anyways! These bars require only 5 ingredients: oats, ground flaxseed, honey, PEANUT BUTTER (I've been off nut butters completely for a few weeks until three days ago when I purchased Jif to-go packs from Target. Let's just say I'm very happy to be reunited with peanut butter :D), and of course dried Goji berries.
These bars make for a really yummy mid-morning (or afternoon) or on-the-go snack, and the Goji berry peanut butter combination is surprisingly, really tasty :)
yields 2 bars
Ingredients:
5 tbs oats (steel-cut or rolled)
5 tbs ground flaxseed
2 tbs peanut butter
1 tbs honey
1 heaping tbs goji berries (I rinsed mine first. You can use any dried berries you want)
Directions:
- Place all of the ingredients in a bowl and mix together until combined.
- Once you reach a nice consistency where the mixture is not crumbly, you can add extra ingredients (chia seeds, dessicated coconut, cacao nibs/mini dark chocolate chips, etc.) or scoop the mix onto two flattened out plastic wraps and form protein bars.You can form balls too, or cubes or whatever you fancy :)
- Put them in the fridge for 30 minutes to set, then enjoy!
As a kid, I hated vegetables. I avoided them at restaurants and refused to eat them at home.
But this lifestyle change I made a few months ago of eating healthier, whole foods and exercising on a daily basis has made me come to love vegetables so much more, that I've even considered becoming a vegetarian. But I love seafood too much, and sometimes I just have to have that piece of chicken. Maybe I'll try out this vegetarian thing in the future and see how it goes, but for now I am content with being an omnivore.
And even though I used to hate vegetables, I've always loved bell peppers. With its natural sweetness and fresh, crisp texture, this capsicum is very versatile and works well with an abundant of ingredients ranging from meats to other vegetables.
You can stuff basically anything in the bell pepper halves. Another cool and healthy idea is to crack an egg right into a bell pepper half, pop it in the oven at 350° F for 15-20 minutes or until your egg is thoroughly cooked :)
Stuffed Bell Peppers
yields 2 servings
Ingredients:
1 bell pepper, halved and cored
1/4 carrot, finely diced
1/4 small zucchini, finely diced
2-3 cauliflower florets, finely diced
1 deli turkey slice, shredded or cut into tiny pieces (optional, or replace with diced cubes of meat of your choice, or go vegetarian!)
salt and pepper to taste
water
1 tsp olive oil
Directions:
- In a sauce pan, heat a teaspoon of olive oil at medium heat. Add in all of the finely diced vegetables and pour about 1-2 tablespoons of water into the pan and cover with a lid. Allow the vegetables to sit and steam for about a minute.
- Open the cover and use a spatula to move the vegetables around so the water doesn't gather in one place. Gently spread the vegetables evenly into a bed covering span of the saucepan. Add a bit more water if needed, and cover again to let the vegetables steam for about 2-3 more minutes until they are tender and cooked.
- Add in the shredded turkey pieces (or whatever meat you choose, or no meat at all) and turn off the heat. Season with salt and pepper to your liking.
- Preheat the oven to 350° F and line a baking sheet with foil (dull side up, shiny side down!) and place both halves of the bell pepper on it. You can season the bell pepper with salt and pepper if you'd like, but I didn't cause I like the natural sweetness of the vegetable.
- Fill both halves with the vegetable mixture as you would a bowl, and top with cheese or season if desired.
- Bake for about 15-20 minutes until the bell pepper is tenderized and cooked thoroughly. Remove and enjoy! :)
Despite it still being winter, the weather today was slightly warmer than usual, so I made these refreshing avocado and apple smoked salmon wraps for lunch. The smoked salmon and apple combination might sound a bit strange at first, but the sweetness of the fruit balances out the saltiness of the fish. It's an overall bright and summery dish, and makes for a somewhat fancy appetizer, snack, and I guess mini meal, too :)
I got this idea from browsing through photos with The Eatery. The Eatery is an app that lets you snap pictures and keep a photo documentary of the things you eat throughout the day, kind of like a food journal! Then you rate your own photo and rate other people's photos: the more you rate the more rates your photos get. I've been using this app for about three weeks now and I love it ^_^ It keeps me accountable and helps me practice portion control; since I'm more aware of what I eat throughout the day, I'm gradually getting a hang of the whole thing about "eating in moderation" (which is very difficult for me cause I like eating too much). I'll admit, I cheat..by not taking photos of literally everything that I eat, so there's still my tendency to overeat at times...but I'm workin' on it!
Avocado and Apple Smoked Salmon Wraps
yields 1 serving
Ingredients:
4 pieces smoked salmon (my pieces were rather small)
4 thin slices of apple, no peel
1/2 avocado
Directions:
- Julienne the slices of apple, and slice the avocado into small, thin chunks and set aside.
- Lay out the pieces of smoked salmon on a plate or flat surface and place the apple and avocado pieces on one end of one of the salmon pieces, then roll inwards. Repeat with the other smoked salmon pieces, serve immediately and enjoy! :)
- - - - - - - - - - - -
The next time I post on this blog I will probably have relocated and settled in already (hence the hiatus I've been talking about for a while but has been delayed til NOW. Finally...). As nervous as I am for this
Though I wasn't born here, I've spent a good 12 years growing up in Southern California. I don't feel too sad now, but I'm sure I'll miss this place. I'll miss all of the friends I grew up with, the teachers and adults that have impacted my life and challenged me in some way, the 5 minute walk from my house to Trader Joe's...No other suburb in the world can compare to this one. But I guess it's time for me to leave for a while, so the next time I write a blog post it will be from the other side of the Pacific :)
Happy Valentine's Day and peace out, America!
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