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Dinner ideas, Quick and easy recipes, Vegetarian

Sauteed Sesame Tofu

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This Sauteed Sesame Tofu can be pulled together in no time at all. It’s not the sweet kind of tofu rather a savory kind. 

So if you’re looking for a new way to prepare tofu, then this recipe is sure to impress.

I sometimes like to enjoy it just like this or I will prepare some rice and vegetables on the side and serve it like that.

Whichever way you prefer to serve this recipe you can’t go wrong. It’s basic but also so versatile that it goes great with anything. 

IS SESAME TOFU VEGAN

Yes, since tofu is plant based it sure is.

Want to make it a bit sweet? Feel free to add 2 or 3 tbsp of honey to the sauce and your good to go.

You can also serve this as a appetizer around the holidays, why not it takes really no effort at all and would sure to be eaten up in no time. 

This is one of my favorite ways to make tofu and trust me you won’t miss the meat in this recipe. Because the tofu has a good source of protein and essential amino acids.

It is also an excellent source of iron and calcium and the minerals.

In addition, tofu is a good source of magnesium, copper, zinc and vitamin B1. So go ahead and indulge! 

HOW TO MAKE SESAME TOFU

  • Start by slicing the tofu as seen in the steps picture above. Once it has been sliced, dry it off as much as possible with a paper towel.
  • Next make the sauce, add all the sauce ingredients into a small bowl and whisk with a fork till combined. 
  • Now in a small bowl add the tofu along with the cornstarch and coat. Add the combination of cooking oil and sesame oil to a non stick frying pan, and saute the tofu on each side for 5 minutes, turning a often in order to brown the tofu. 
  • Once browned about 15 minutes into cooking, add in the sesame seeds and toast for 2 more minutes. Drizzle the sauce overtop of the browned tofu and saute for 5 more minutes. Serve and enjoy!

Recipe adapted from: Genius kitchen

Note: You can always add 2 tbsp of honey for some added sweetness if desired. 

I am so thrilled you are reading one of my recipes, I appreciate every single one of you! If you made this recipe i’d love to hear how it turned out. Thank you very much for reading and until next time see ya in the kitchen. Don’t want to miss a recipe? Sign up for our NEWSLETTER delivered right to your inbox!

Quick and easy recipes

Cajun Creamed Corn

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This Cajun Creamed Corn is not your sweet Southern Corn you may be more familiar with, not to say this isn’t sweet. Because it is, we are still using sweet corn after all. 

However we are omitting the sugar and using cajun seasoning to spice it up some.

This is my kind of creamed corn, I hope you enjoy it too.  

My cajun creamed corn is so good it can be enjoyed as is or as a side to just about any meal.

Made with just a few simple ingredients of milk, butter and cornstarch then seasoned to perfection.

Your sure to crave this stuff next time you’re looking for a unique side dish to serve.

Feel free to use milk in replace of cream or almond milk if desired.

Also if you want it more thick simply add one more 1 tbsp of cornstarch during the cooking phase.

Did you know that sweet corn is very good for you? 

It’s true, it’s loaded with lutein and zeaxanthin, two phytochemicals that promote healthy vision.

Besides helping with weight loss, the insoluble fiber in corn feeds good bacteria in your gut, which aids in digestion and helps keep you regular.

Once this recipe has been cooked, feel free to add cooked bacon pieces to this corn mixture. It works really good in this side as well.

I am so thrilled you are reading one of my recipes, if you made this recipe i’d love to hear about it! Thank you very much for reading and until next time see ya in the kitchen. Don’t want to miss a recipe? Sign up for our NEWSLETTER delivered right to your inbox every Month!

Dinner ideas, Quick and easy recipes, Skip the takeout

Spicy Beef Lo Mein Noodles

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Spicy Beef Lo Mein Noodles are made in a delicious sauce that your sure to enjoy. When it comes to Lo Mein noodles the sauce and cooking techniques are what’s is important. 

So please follow along to see how it’s made. First you will want to wash and prepare the vegetables, I like to use fresh broccoli, carrots, red peppers and snap peas with my beef lo mein.

Then I tend to look for gluten free lo mein noodles, use the ones that best suit you. 

Feel free to mix up the vegetables however remember fresh is always best.  Then the noodles will need to be softened in boiling water before cooking and seasoning them.

You can always add shrimp, tofu or chicken to these noodles in replace of beef if desired. And if you want to spice it up some, simply add more red chili paste or serve with sriracha sauce.  

The varieties of lo mein noodles are endless, so it’s good to experiment with the different brands to find your favorite.

Also you may want to add more soya sauce near the end. Just be sure to stir everything together well beforehand and tasting it before adjusting the flavor.

 


 

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Date Night, Dinner ideas, Skip the takeout

Beef and Vegetable Ramen

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These Beef and Vegetable Ramen Noodles are made in a delicious sauce that you’re sure to enjoy. 

You can make this dish more or less spicy according to your personal taste. 

The heat in this dish comes from the cayenne pepper, I like to use just 1/2 a tsp for this recipe.

Which gives it a touch of heat, kinda similar to the spicy ramen noodle packages you may find at the store.

Then you will want to start by chopping all your vegetables up first, this is the hardest part really.

As it can be a bit challenging if you do not have knife skills to julienne the carrots and peppers. 

However practise makes perfect and in time you will figure out the best method for you. If you really prefer a little help in that area you can always use a food processor to do those jobs for you if needed.

I like to use broccoli, carrots, red peppers and snap peas for this dish.

Although you can use whatever veggies you have on hand really.

Not a fan of beef feel free to add some shrimp, tofu or chicken to these noodles in replace if desired. 

Once the veggies are saute yet still slightly crisp.

You will then add back in the cooked ramen along with that delicious premade sauce.

Toss everything together to serve. 

DELICIOUS! Feel free to try other vegetables such as broccoli, kale or even asparagus. 

This dish also works well with chicken and tofu!

This recipe proves that you don’t have to put a lot of effort into making this type of takeout dish.

I just know your going to love it as much as we do!

Serve some “Spicy chili sauce” on the side for some extra heat or add more cayenne during the cooking process.

Also you can add beef bouillon cubes in replace of the beef stock, just make sure your using equal amounts of water/liquid

I am so thrilled you are reading one of my recipes, if you made this recipe i’d love to hear about it! Thank you very much for reading and until next time see ya in the kitchen. Don’t want to miss a recipe? Sign up for our NEWSLETTER delivered right to your inbox every Month!

Desserts

Cherry Tiramisu

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This Super delicious and decadent Cherry Tiramisu is a cross between Black Forest Cake and Tiramisu! And is super simple to make, I kid you not!

It is said the origin of tiramisu goes back to the 1960s in the region of Veneto, Italy.  Tiramisu has several meanings such as “pick me up”, “cheer me up” or “lift me up”.

And is coffee-flavoured Italian dessert.

That is made with espresso or strong roast coffee and mascarpone cheese, and cocoa among a few other key ingredients.

My recipe here uses espresso, vanilla extract, mascarpone cheese, cocoa and whipped cream vs raw eggs.

Be ready to have your socks knocked off with this one 🙂

Just be sure to follow the directions I have listed below and you will be on your way to Tiramisu heaven! 

You may be thinking, can it really be made without the eggs?

Doesn’t traditional Tiramisu have raw eggs in it? And my answer to that is “Yes” and “No”.

Some traditional Tiramisu recipes that hail from Italy will ask you to put raw egg whites in the Tiramisu.

However not all Italians do that, just look at Laura Vitale recipe which this recipe was inspired by.

She is Italian and does not agree with putting raw eggs in her recipe either.

The reason some do that is one because it’s tradition and two it also creates a light and fluffiness to the cake.

With mine, we are substituting those raw eggs for fresh whipped cream which helps to maintain that light fluffy texture. And is much better if you ask me! 

See this whole sheet cake above? Between me Jason and my girlfriend had it polished off in two days.

It is that good guys!! The whole darn thing was gone in less than 48 hours 🙁 and I was so sad.

Also if you have kids in the house or don’t drink alcohol you can omit the rum.

You can make the Tiramisu more on the sweet side like most cakes or follow the traditional Tiramisu style that has more of a liquor espresso taste, which I must prefer.

Plus the cherries have enough sugar in them already so adding heapings of extra sugar is not necessary.

I used fresh sweet cherries for this filling and cooked them down with a little cornstarch and water.

You can use fresh or frozen cherries just make sure there the sweet ones otherwise you will want to add some sugar as well.

And if you want to skip the stovetop cooking method, by using a cherry pie filling instead. Just keep in mind most of those are filled with sugar so your Tiramisu will be allot sweeter than mine. If prepare it from scratch it tastes much better if you ask em.

Tiramisu has always tasted best the next day, so if you cannot wait the 24 hours. Allow it to sit in the fridge for at least 6 prior to serving.

Also feel free to replace the cherries with raspberries if you’d like, they go really well with the Tiramisu flavors as well.


I am so thrilled you are reading one of my recipes, I appreciate every single one of you! Thank you very much for reading and until next time see ya in the kitchen. Don’t want to miss a recipe? Sign up for our NEWSLETTER delivered right to your inbox!

 

 

Dinner ideas, Quick and easy recipes, Skip the takeout

Beef Vermicelli

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These Beef Vermicelli noodles are super simple to make and are packed full of flavors from Thai food that you have come to expect and love.

Because everyone thinks i’m some kind of highly skilled Asian chef, when really im just following some basic steps to obtain this lovely dish. 

This recipe is very easy to prepare and has red and yellow peppers along with bok choy in it among some other very important ingredients. 

I used to order this often from my local Vietnamese restaurant, now I make it myself.

Today you can find many different types of ways to prepare this popular dish, this is my take on this delicious recipe.

I hope you give it a try and let me know what you and your family think. 

Some people like to make this dish with shrimp, chicken or pork. 

And others like it purely vegetarian, which is good also. So do what works best for you, after all it’s your meal. 

You will want to start marinating the beef first and while its marinating you can then soak the vermicelli noodles.

Also preparing the vegetables around this time is perfect too. Since the actually cooking part takes less than 15 minutes.

To me this vegetable mixture is perfect, peppers and bok choy works so well.

The only traditional ingredient I didn’t add here was thai basil which you can top this dish with at the end if you’d like.

You can always substitute Thai basil leaves for regular fresh basil leaves.

I didn’t have any on hand today so I used cilantro instead which works good too.

Also I like to use Garlic chili sauce, which gives it the right amount of heat vs cutting up fresh whole thai red chilies.

They are just to hot for me to handle, and I always end up with burning hands.

I like to add 2 tbsp of this Garlic chili sauce to my recipe, however for this one I used 1 tbsp in the ingredients section because I’m sure more people prefer a milder dish.

ENJOY!

I am so thrilled you are reading one of my recipes, if you made this recipe i’d love to hear about it! Thank you very much for reading and until next time see ya in the kitchen. Don’t want to miss a recipe? Sign up for our NEWSLETTER delivered right to your inbox every Month!

The best way to get ahold of me is through the comments! I absolutely love hearing from my readers, and I respond to each and every comment I receive.

Chicken, Dinner ideas, Quick and easy recipes, Slow Cooker recipes, Soups & Stews

Chicken Verde Soup

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This simple one pot chicken verde soup will knock your socks off! If you have tried my Authentic Green Pork Chili and liked it. 

Then you’re sure to like this Chicken Verde which is made in the same Tomatillo green sauce. 

This soup is perfect for Cinco de mayo which is coming up here in two days. 

¿Estás emocionado por el cinco de mayo = are you excited for Cinco de mayo?

Or you can just enjoy it just because Mexican food is an awesome anytime of the year!

Now there is a process to making authentic tomatillo sauce and that starts with roasting tomatillos, along with garlic, jalapenos and onions in the oven. 

However that takes a lot of time and would make this recipe not so quick.

So instead we are using a pre -made green chili sauce that has all those authentic mexican ingredients in it. 

So what are Tomatillos anyway? Well they are little green looking tomatoes, known as the Mexican husk tomato, but they are hard to find here in Canada.

We even send Bubba out to locate these rare tomatillos for this recipe, but he failed to come back with any local ones.

Rather he did come back with a bottle of “Tomatillo Salsa” which has the tomatillos in it, along with the cooked jalapenos, onions and garlic that are needing in this recipe.

Add some sliced avocados and tomatoes on top along with chopped fresh cilantro for garnish. Oh and don’t forget to squeeze the juice of a lime over top too!

This really kicks up the flavor and pulls the dish together so well. Also if your wanting to tone down the spicy flavor some feel free to add a dollop of sour cream.

I like to serve this dish with warm corn tortillas for dipping or serve alongside a bed of rice. If you have a little more time on your hands and want to make the salsa verde from scratch, here is a great recipe for “salsa verde“. 

If your cooking for a large crowd keep this recipe in mind, not only is it easy to prepare it’s also inexpensive and goes long ways.

Just double the ingredients up if your wanting to feed more than four people, by using my easy to use recipe adjuster above. 

Recipe inspired by: Kevin over at Closet Cooking


I am so thrilled you are reading one of my recipes, I appreciate every single one of you! If you made this recipe i’d love to hear how it turned out, you can leave a comment below. Thank you very much for reading and until next time see ya in the kitchen. Don’t want to miss a recipe? Sign up for our NEWSLETTER delivered right to your inbox!

 

Dinner ideas, Quick and easy recipes, Skip the takeout

Quick Ginger Beef

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Who knew cooking chinese food at home would be this easy, I can make this Ginger Beef dish in under 15 minutes no problem as long as I prep a little prior. 

Preparing in advance takes no time at all, just tenderize the beef in some cornstarch and water and pre cook the rice.

To tenderize the beef, simply slice the flank steak across the grain and marinated it in a cornstarch water mixture prior. 

And then cook the rice in a rice cooker, once those step are done the rest of the dish takes literally less 15 minutes to pull together.

Ginger beef or Ginger chicken are popular dishes in many asian restaurants.

And is actually Jason’s favorite stir fry, so whenever I say I’m making it tonight! He gets excited and actually does all the dishes afterwards.

I read over a few dozen recipes and tested a few then came up with this method to cooking it to our liking.

This recipe is not only super delicious, it’s also quick and healthy for you, I hope you give it a try!

Also this dish can be made for a fraction of the cost of what you would pay for takeout.

So if your trying to get your family to eat healthier, try this recipe tonight.

Sauteed in the most delicious sauce your family won’t believe this didn’t come from delivery. 

If you like this dish be sure to check out this website for more of my favorite asian dishes.

You can throw in practically any type of pepper in here green, orange, yellow.

Also some people like to add julienned carrots so do whatever works for you.

If you end up trying this I would love to know what you think, just let me know in the comments below.

Stay tuned to this blog for more Healthy Chinese Recipes to come in the following months 🙂


I am so thrilled you are reading one of my recipes, if you made this recipe i’d love to hear how it turned out! hank you very much for reading and until next time see ya in the kitchen. Don’t want to miss a recipe? Sign up for our NEWSLETTER delivered right to your inbox!