Vegetable Egg Foo Young

As root vegetables are in season right now, I have been experimenting with interesting ways of cooking them. I brought some turnips home along with carrots and bean sprouts from my last trip to the supermarket. When time came to prepare dinner yesterday, I thought of using all these ingredients to make a dish.  Simultaneously, those eggs in the fridge appeared in my vision.  So I came up with this 'Egg Foo Young' dish.  As you may know, Egg Foo Young is one of the dishes that you can find in some of the Chinese restaurants.  It is cooked the same way as an omelette. Quite honestly, this was the first time that I had ever used turnips to make Egg Foo Young.  I love their sweet flavour.  They go so well with carrots and bean sprouts.  I also made some sauce and put it on the side.  For me, I enjoy eating Egg Foo Young with or without the sauce.  

Ingredients

1 cup carrots -shredded

1 cup turnips - shredded

1 cup bean sprouts

4 eggs

1/2 teaspoon fish sauce

pinch salt and pepper

2 tablespoons oil

Sauce

1 cup chicken broth - low sodium is preferred

1/4 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon oyster sauce

1 tablespoon corn starch

Directions

Egg Foo Young

1. Beat eggs in a large bowl.  Mix in fish sauce and pepper.  Set aside.
2. Pat dry carrots, turnips and bean sprouts.
3. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a frying pan.  Stir fry carrots, turnips and bean sprouts over medium high heat for about 45 seconds to 1 minute. Season with salt and pepper. 
4. Remove from heat immediately. Drain excess liquid if there is any.
5. Add cooked vegetable ingredients to the egg mixture and mix well.
6. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a clean frying pan.  
7. Pour 1/2 cup of the mixture to the oil.  Spread it evenly.
8. Cook until the bottom is starting to turn brown.  Flip over and brown the other side.
9. Repeat with the remaining ingredients.

Sauce

1. Stir all the ingredients in a saucepan until smooth.
2. Bring it to a boil while stirring over medium heat.   Cook until thick.
3. Serve on the side of the egg foo young.

Makes 2 to 3 servings.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Not long ago, I discovered a beautiful blog  justonecookbook.com which is created by Nami. Although I have never met her in person, her friendly, sincere attitude has inspired me ever since. It was around Christmas time that Nami had mentioned about this peanut butter cookie recipe on her blog.  I like Nami's idea of substituting 1/2 cup of brown sugar for 1/2 cup of granulated sugar, and using the extra crunch peanut butter.  When I baked these cookies last night, I adapted Nami's recipe by using chocolate chunks instead of chocolate chips.  I also added one teaspoon of vanilla extract to enhance flavor.  Despite all the resolutions which are still fresh in our mind, how can we resist the allure of scrumptious cookies?

Breaking chocolate into small pieces

Ingredients
1 cup extra crunch peanut butter
1 egg
1/2 cup white sugar (I only used 1/4 cup)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup chocolate chunks 
Cocoa powder for sprinkling


Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a mixing bowl, beat peanut butter, egg, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract at medium speed slightly.  
3. Drop by spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
4. Bake for  9 to 12 minutes.  
5. Let cool on a baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack.
6. Sprinkle some cocoa powder over top.  

Roasted Parsnips, Carrots and Potatoes

We enjoy going to our local farmers' market on Saturday.  Although the market is open year round, the selection of vegetables and fruits is quite limited in winter.  We bought some fresh carrots, parsnips,  potatoes, garlic, basil and rosemary during our last visit.  Yesterday, I used all these ingredients and made a very delicious side dish for dinner. Apparently, you don't need a fancy recipe to make a tasty dish when you use fresh ingredients.  They can produce their own flavors.  Adding too much seasoning may destroy the purpose of buying them fresh.  

Before they go into the oven

Ingredients

1/2 lb parsnips 

8 baby carrots - 5" to 6" long

6 small red potatoes - 12 oz.

2 garlic cloves - chopped

2 basil leaves - chopped

2 rosemary sprigs 

1 tablespoon butter - melted 

2 tablespoons olive oil - extra for greasing the baking pan

Pinch of salt and pepper

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
2. Brush the bottom of a 9"X 13" baking pan with oil.
3. Peel parsnips and carrots.  Cut parsnips in half crosswise, and then into strips lengthwise.  
4. Cut small potatoes into chunks without peeling the skin.  
5. In a large mixing bowl, toss the first six ingredients with butter and olive oil until evenly coated.  
6. Season with salt and pepper.
7. Transfer to the greased baking pan.
8. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until tender.  Toss once during baking.
9. Transfer to a serving dish.

Makes 3 to 4 servings. 

Pork Tenderloins With Rice

After eating excessively during the holidays, starting with some lean pork tenderloins would probably be the right choice.  One of my new year's resolutions is to stay healthy, but also to enjoy delicious foods.   I hope I will discover more interesting recipes, and improve the quality of the pictures so that they look indulgent.  I am inspired by all the talented and creative food bloggers out there.  Their beautiful food blogs make my passions for cooking get stronger.

Ingredients
2 (1 lb) pork tenderloins
3 basil leaves - chopped
1 tablespoon rosemary - chopped
3 garlic cloves - minced
1 teaspoon ginger - minced
3 tablespoons soy sauce 
1/2 teaspoon salt - can be reduced
Pinch of black pepper
1/2 cup vegetable or chicken broth 
2 tablespoons honey
1/4 cup corn starch - for coating
1 tablespoon oil


Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a small bowl, mix basil, rosemary, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, salt and pepper together.  
3. Rub the ingredients over the pork tenderloins and place them in a freezer bag.  Refrigerate for about an hour.
4. Remove the pork tenderloins from the freezer bag.  
5. Coat pork tenderloins with corn starch.  
6. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.  Pan sear the pork tenderloins until golden brown on all sides, and then transfer the pork tenderloins to a baking dish, uncovered.  
7. Add the broth to the meat, and bake for about 15 minutes.
8. Take the meat out, brush the top with one tablespoon of honey.  
9. Put the meat back into the oven and bake for 10 minutes.
10. Take the meat out again.  Flip to the other side.  Brush with the remaining honey and bake for another 10 minutes.  
11. Remove from oven.  Let rest for 5 minutes before slicing.
12. Serve with rice.