Spicy baked beans

What's a big breakfast without baked beans? I've always loved the canned grub from the stores but since I've started scrutinizing food labels, none of the commercial baked means made the cut. This recipe was originally from one of my Foodskills classes a few weeks ago but I made some modifications in terms of sugar and alcohol. All in all, it was quite delicious and I'd never buy baked beans in a can again!

Spicy Baked Beans


1 Cup Spicy Baked Beans = 3 Carbohydrate exchanges*


Ingredients:
1 can (220g) white beans (navy, butter, kidney etc)/ if dry beans, soak overnight and boiled until cooked
1 can (200g) crushed tomatoes
2tsp olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped finely
3 garlic cloves, chopped finely
1/2 tsp ground pepper
Tobasco sauce to taste
1 tbs tomato paste
Herbs to taste
Water/Salt-reduced stock

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius. Drain canned/cooked beans. In a saucepan, heat olive oil. Add onion, garlic, pepper and cook until soft with medium heat, about 15 minutes. Add tomato paste and cook for a further 2 minutes. Add 100ml water/salt-reduced stock and reduce by half. If beans become too dry, add a bit of water/stock.Add tomatoes, herbs, beans and Tobasco. Bring to boil and transfer to baking dish. Cover and bake for around 40 minutes, stirring occasionally.

* 1 Carbohydrate exchange = 15g Carbohydrates
Note that beans are a high-starch vegetable (along with potatoes, peas, radishes, sweetcorn, lentils and more). Diabetics have to be careful of their carbohydrate content and if you choose to have them, you have to cut down on your other carbohydrate sources in the same meal.

Grocery Store Wars

The tutor introduced us to this particular clip today. It's a little more than 5 minutes long and absolutely hilarious. You've got the Organic Trade Organization to thank for producing it.

Cuke Skywalker, Darth-Tater, Obi Wan Cannolli, R2D2 made from Tofu! So cute. You've got to watch this gem. =)

Vegetarian Chap Chae

A couple of weeks ago, I headed down to the city to satisfy my chap chae craving (and boy it was a major one to satisfy). I must be out of luck as even the best chap chae in town did not even come close to hitting the spot. It was much too oily, slightly soggy and ten miles past my threshold of sweetness in a supposedly savoury dish. Disappointing much. I set out to make my own chap chae a few days ago because, hey -  reduced sugar, fresh ingredients, no-no greasiness? - sounds terrific to me.


Ever since I first heard of Chap Chae, I have this inkling suspicion that it actually means 杂菜 ('mixed vegetables' in Mandarin). Sure enough, Wiki confirmed that. Or so history claims that Chap Chae was created in the 17th century for a huge banquet in the palace. The king actually loved this dish so much that he presented the creator (and his WHOLE LINEAGE) with a title equivalent to 'Secretary of Treasury'. It's a bit mental what they do in the olden days huh?


Traditional Chap Chae was made with cellophane - sounds like I'm eating tape - noodles made from potato starch and a variety of vegetables like shiitake mushrooms, cucumber and daikon radish. Inspired by David Chang's recipe, here's my take on one of my favourite Korean dishes.


Vegetarian Chap Chae


Makes 2 meals


Ingredients:
100g uncooked sweet potato cellophane noodles, cooked as per instructions
1 tbs oil
1 red onion, thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 medium carrot, julienned
1 medium cucumber, julienned
3 dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked and thinly sliced
3 medium pieces dried black fungus, soaked and thinly sliced
2 handfuls mung bean sprouts, washed
1 tbs soy sauce
1 tbs sesame oil
1 tsp artificial sweetener (I used Splenda)
Pepper to taste
Toasted sesame seeds for garnish


Preparation:
Heat oil in large saucepan, sauté onion, ginger and garlic until fragrant and onions are soft. Lower flame. Add carrot, black fungus and mushrooms and cook for about 5-8 minutes. Add mung bean sprouts and cook for 1 minute (I like them crisp). In a large bowl, add the noodles and mix in the cooked vegetables. Toss in the cucumbers and the Splenda (dissolved in soy sauce), sesame oil and some seasame seeds. Mix thoroughly and add pepper to taste. 


The beauty of Chap Chae is that it is so easy to make, requires cheap ingredients and can be served either hot or cold! One thing though, I had some leftovers the next day and it became soggy and mushy. Not very nice. So it's a good idea to finish it within the day - not a hard thing to do since it's so yummy anyway! :) 

Oddball salad

It's sweet, savoury, spicy and oddly delightful. This will definitely win no cooking competitions. I think most people wouldn't even try it but I love it so here it is:

Oddball salad


Makes 2 meals


Ingredients:
120g uncooked pasta
1 1/2 cup pumpkin, thinly sliced
1 cup mushrooms, generously sliced
1 medium capsicum, sliced
1 medium apple, cut and de-cored
1 medium tomato, cut into wedges
1 stalk spring onion, chopped
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon powder (unsweetened)
Cream-based salad dressing (no-sugar added)
Handful of walnuts
Herbs and pepper to taste

Preparation:
Boil pasta and set aside. Preheat oven to 120 degrees. Spice apple slices with cinnamon. Arrange apples, pumpkin, capsicum and mushroom on baking tray and bake. After 15 minutes, check mushroom, apple and capsicum. Remove from oven if cooked. Continue cooking pumpkin for a further 10-15 minutes or until cooked and slightly crispy. Add baked ingredients and walnuts to boiled pasta. Mix in salad dressing and garnish with spring onion. Add herbs and pepper to taste. Can be served hot or cold.

Now the question is : Would you try it?

Beef rolls

I was craving for a lean, mean steak the other day but I've only got some measly slices of sizzling beef in the freezer. They were half a centimetre thin and definitely could not pass as steaks. So I came up with this idea to spice up my poor meat:

Beef rolls 

Makes 2 rolls (appetizer-sized)

Ingredients:

2 thin slices of lean beef (I used sizzling beef)

spring onion

capsicum

leek

1 teaspoon olive oil

Preparation:

Julienne spring onion, capsicum and leek, making sure all ingredients are about the same length. Assemble onto beef slice, roll tightly and cut off excess vegetables at the sides. Heat oil in pan. Place beef roll, 'seam-down' onto pan to seal. Reduce heat and cook all sides of roll and ensure that it is cooked long enough so that the vegetables are cooked.

I used those ingredients because that's all I had in my fridge. Cheese, carrots and long beans could work well too.

Chinese mushroom and ginger chicken

My grandmother has cooked this for me since I was a tot and it's one of my favourite family recipes of all time. The great thing is it not only tastes great but it's so simple to make!

My ultimate comfort food. :)

Chinese mushroom and ginger chicken


Serves 2 meals


Ingredients:
2 chicken drumsticks (or thighs), deskinned
4 large dried Chinese mushrooms (any type will do)
1 tablespoon young ginger, sliced into thin strips
2 teaspoons sesame oil
2 teaspoons light soy sauce
Pepper to taste

Preparation:
Soak mushrooms until soft (I use hot water so they soften very quickly), squeeze out excess water and slice into thin strips. Place chicken into a metal bowl (or any bowl that is suitable for steaming). Arrange mushroom and ginger strips on top of the chicken and drizzle with sesame oil and soy sauce. Add a dash of pepper for a nice bite. Steam* for 20-30 minutes or until chicken is cooked and tender.

*I place a small steaming rack in a large pot, add hot water and bring the water to boil. Then, when water is boiling, place the bowl atop the rack and cover the pot. Be sure to keep an eye on the water level as they evaporate pretty quickly. When the water level goes too low, just add some more hot water to the pot.

Mushroom Pizza

Ain't that a pretty picture? I just love overloading on mushrooms.

Mushroom Pizza


Serves 2 meals


Ingredients:
6 medium mushrooms, thickly sliced
1 piece Lebanese bread
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 medium tomato, sliced into wedges
Herbs and pepper to taste

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 120 degrees. Spread tomato paste on Lebanese bread evenly. Arrange mushrooms and tomato. Season with herbs and pepper. Bake for 15 minutes or until mushrooms are cooked.

Mushroom and cauliflower soup

Remember the mushroom soup recipe I posted up previously? Here's an even better version with cauliflower! I do realize that I'm flooding Sugarless with cauliflower. It's just that I'm in love with cauli now and I'm a student eating on a tight budget so I always buy what's on special. Caulies are in at the moment.

Mushroom and Cauliflower Soup


Ingredients:

180ml low fat/semi-skim milk

1/2 onion, chopped

3 garlic cloves, chopped

300g fresh mushrooms, sliced/chopped

1/2 head cauliflower, roughly chopped

65ml (1/4 cup) fat-reduced cream

salt, pepper and herbs, to taste

Preparation:

Bring milk, cauliflower, onions, salt, pepper and herbs to boil in a pan. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring often. Add mushrooms and cook for a further 15 minutes. Stir in cream. Transfer 1/2 of the soup into a blender and puree until desired consistency. Repeat for remaining soup. 

Big chicken

The idea of turkey for me when I was younger was Christmas and Christmas Eve feasts where we'd have a whole roasted turkey filled with potato stuffing, ready to be carved and then fed to the hungry mob, yours truly included. There would always be cranberry sauce and a roast leg of lamb. Lets not forget the creamy warm potato salad and garlic bread. Oh Christmas.

But it's the middle of April and Christmas is still eight months away (yes, I counted). Doesn't mean that I can't have turkey now! It was on sale and I thought why not?


Simple Roast Turkey


Serves MANY meals


Ingredients:
1 good-sized turkey drumstick
4 teaspoons Worcestershire Sauce
Herbs and pepper to taste

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 170 degrees. Clean and remove all visible fat from drumstick. Season with Worcestershire Sauce, herbs and pepper. Roast uncovered for approximately 30 minutes. Check to make sure that the turkey does not dry out. Cover, reduce temperature to 150 degrees and continue to roast for another 20 minutes or until completely cooked and flesh falls off the bone. Serve.

Tuna Pasta

I first had tuna pasta three years ago when I stayed in an Italian lady's house. Before that, I have never heard of fish cooked with pasta before, except the occasional smoked salmon in creamy sauce. But boy, the lady was a whiz in the kitchen and got me instantly hooked on this dish. It's so simple that I wanted to cry and beat myself up for not making it more often.

Tuna pasta in tomato sauce


Serves 1 meal


Ingredients:
150g cooked pasta
1 small can tuna (approx. 95g per can)
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1 small onion, chopped
3 bulbs garlic, chopped
1 tomato, roughly sliced
3 medium mushrooms, sliced
1 teaspoon olive oil

Preparation:
Heat oil in saucepan. Brown onion and garlic. Cook mushrooms. Add tomato and tomato paste. Add tuna. If sauce becomes too dry, add some water. Stir and remove from heat. Serve with pasta.

A not-so-Shepherd's Pie

Carbohydrate counting is a major pain in the ass sometimes. Okay, a lot of times. You just cannot afford to overeat, else you'll get a soaring blood glucose reading two hours later, which makes you disappointed and depressed and wishing for a double chocolate ice-cream,which you can't have, and this makes you even more depressed. Happens to me anyway. It's one of those days where you get lots of the why me?'s. Life just isn't fair sometimes when you think about it.

Good thing my friend brought me to church today and I felt loved and tended. So I'm all good now. Good enough to share a recipe with a butt ugly photograph. :)

Cauliflower Shepherd's Pie


Serves 3 meals


Ingredients:
1 head cauliflower, roughly chopped into small pieces
300g lean minced beef
2 small onions, diced
2 cups celery, chopped finely
1 cup leek, chopped finely
1 medium carrot, diced
1 cup mushrooms, chopped
2 medium tomatoes, roughly sliced
3 tablespoons tomato paste (no added sugar)
3/4 cup grated cheese (preferably Mozarella)
2 teaspoons Worchestershire Sauce
1 tablespoon olive oil
Pepper and herbs to taste

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 150 degrees. Marinate minced beef with Worchestershire Sauce, pepper and herbs for at least 20 minutes. In a deep pan, heat oil and brown onions. Add leek and celery, stir. Add marinated beef and stir until meat is almost completely cooked. Reduce heat. Add tomatoes, mushrooms and carrot. Continue to cook until mushrooms turn soft. Add tomato paste, pepper and herbs, stir. Add a bit of water if sauce becomes too thick. Simmer covered for 10 minutes. Pour beef sauce into baking tray and completely cover with cauliflower. Sprinkle cheese over top layer and bake for 30 minutes or until cauliflower is cooked.

I hope you'll enjoy this as much as I did. I wolfed it down pretty quick with a big bowl of plain lettuce. Hearty and filling, YUM!

You can't go wrong with an omelette!

Unless say, you burn it to crisps and cinders while you leave it on the stove when the phone rang and it's your tongue-wagging long lost friend on the line. Apart from that unfortunate event, omelettes are pretty much fail-safe with a great YUM factor and is seriously easy to cook.

Eggs are tricky as they are loaded with cholesterol. Here's a list comparing different cholesterol levels in eggs per 100g:

Hen egg - yolk only              1480mg

Hen egg - white only            0mg

Hen egg - 1 (55g) whole egg   228mg

Duck egg - whole egg           850mg

Quail egg - whole egg           415mg

Our daily dietary cholesterol intake should be less than 300mg. So, choose wisely when you are about to reach for another tempting sunny-side up or a second helping of nice fluffy scrambled eggs. Remember that other foodstuff that you consume may also contain cholesterol.

Tomato and mushroom omelette    

Serves 1 meal with staples

Ingredients:

1 medium chicken egg, beaten

1/4 medium onion, chopped 

1 medium tomato, sliced

4 mushrooms, sliced

1/2 stalk spring onion, chopped

Olive oil, for cooking

Preparation:

In a non-stick pan, heat olive oil. Add onion and cook until golden brown or fragrant. Add tomato and mushrooms. When mostly cooked, pour in egg. Decrease flame. Sprinkle spring onions on top and serve. 

I love the taste of unseasoned cooked egg but you can add some herbs and a tiny pinch of salt.

Crunchy baked caulies

I must say I am NOT fond of cauliflowers. Whenever we had Chinese stir-fried vegies, I'd pick them out and chomp them down hastily and then enjoy the rest of the food on the plate. I don't know, I find them rather bland and pretty unremarkable. Decided to give them another shot after catching a whiff of baked cauliflowers somewhere.

My my, I would definitely eat them in a regular basis now!

 Crunchy cauliflowers

Serves 2 meals with staples

Ingredients:

1/2 head cauliflower, chopped.

1 tablespoon olive oil

Salt and pepper, to taste

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 150 degrees. In a roasting pan (or a cake tin) sprinkle cauliflower with salt and pepper. Drizzle olive oil. Chuck the pan into the oven and bake for around 30 minutes or until cooked. Remember to shake the pan every 10 minutes or so to avoid burnt caulies.

*Serving size according to 1500kJ/day diet.

Bake 'em, love 'em

I have reconciled with myself that I am so not an awesome photographer. I'll just have to make do with sub-par quality pictures. Sigh. Anyway, I was being lazy and whipped up this as a meal:

Baked Vegetable Market

Note that I did not include the sundried tomatoes in the recipe. They got burnt. Haha.

Baked vegetables

Serves 2 meals with staples

Ingredients:

1/2 head cauliflower, hacked to nice pieces

1 large tomato, with top sliced off

1 medium carrot, sliced 1cm thick

1 medium zucchini, sliced 1cm thick

1 large fresh button mushroom

1 bulb garlic

Salt and pepper, to taste

2 tablespoons olive oil

Preparation:

Dump cauliflower, tomato, carrot and zucchini onto roasting/baking pan, making sure of minimal overlapping. Chop 1/4 off of garlic bulb, sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon olive oil, season and wrap in olive oil. Season the other vegetables, drizzle with remaining olive oil. Pop into oven and bake for approximately 20 minutes or until cooked. Remember to remove the mushroom after about 10 minutes or they will burn.

Bubble and squeak

I do realize that this is not the best picture ever but I just have got to share this recipe with you. Apparently, eggplants (otherwise known as aubergine or brinjals) are loaded with fibre (if unpeeled) and are found low in the glycaemic index, which makes it great for diabetes control. They are also low in fat, WHOOPIE!

Oh and eggplant is a member of the 'nightshade' family. Which is a cool family name. 

Anyway, the trouble is I've never been a great fan of eggplant and if they're not cooked properly, they become a sticky slimy gooey mess. Ugh. Came up with this bright idea of an eggplant lasagna and my my it was divine.

Eggplant Lagsana

Serves 4 meals with staples

Ingredients:

1 medium eggplant, sliced 1cm thick

1 large tomato, sliced thinly

4 medium fresh mushrooms, sliced thinly

1/2 medium onion, sliced 

Salt and pepper, to taste

Pizza cheese, low fat, enough to cover top layer

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 120 degrees. Arrange eggplant slices at the bottom of a baking tray, season lightly. Remember to have a light hand when seasoning with salt. Arrange tomato, repeat with another layer of eggplant. On subsequent layers, use onion, tomato and mushrooms until you run out. Cover the top layer of lasagna with cheese. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes or until eggplant is squeaky bubbly cooked.

Mushroom soup

 

 I've been having an inkling for nice, creamy mushroom soup ever since ages ago and all the canned ones in supermarkets contain sugar. After trolling the Internet for a recipe that doesn't add starch/flour, I've found this. I've got to tell you, it's Y-U-M! 

Delicious Mushroom Soup

Serves 3 meals with staples

 Ingredients: 

 250ml (2 cups) low fat/semi-skim milk

1/2 onion, chopped

3 garlic cloves, chopped

300g fresh mushrooms, sliced/chopped

65ml (1/4 cup) fat-reduced cream

salt, pepper and herbs, to taste

Ingredients:

Bring milk, onions, salt, pepper and herbs to boil in a pan. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring often. Add mushrooms and cook for a further 15 minutes. Stir in cream. Transfer 1/2 of the soup into a blender and puree until desired consistency. Repeat for remaining soup. 

Tip:

To get chunky bits of mushroom, only puree half of the soup.

*Serving size according to 1500kJ/day diet.

Simple as!

Fried rice is a very common and popular Chinese/Asian dish. Usually cooked from leftover rice and a wide array of ingredients, fried rice is simple, versatile and yet utterly delicious. How I love to top it off with a nicely fried egg. 

Simple Fried Rice

Carbohydrate exchange(s): 6

Diabetic portions*: 2 meals

Ingredients:

brown rice, cooked (60g uncooked)

1/2 cup garlic shoots, finely chopped

1/2 cup french beans, finely chopped

1/2 cup mushrooms, diced

1/2 cup ham, sliced

egg

2 tbs olive oil

1/2 tsp light soy sauce

sesame oil, to taste

pepper, to taste

Preparation:

Heat 1 tbs olive oil in large saucepan. Add garlic shoots and french beans, cook until garlic shoots are fragrant. Add mushrooms, stir and cook until soften. Add cooked brown rice and ham, mix thoroughly. Drizzle soy sauce and sesame oil. Mix thoroughly. Dish up. Heat remaining olive oil, fry egg. Serve on top of rice with a dash of pepper.

Tips:

Ingredients can be substituted according to personal preferences.

*Serving size according to 1500kJ/day diet. 

Prologue

Life's defining moments - birth, old-age, illness, death - comes in stages. Usually. Mine got muddled and illness came first before old-age.

I was 20 and a half on 2nd January 2010 when I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. It was a shocker, my world crumbled and crashed around me. All I felt was this deep black void. I was numb, heartbroken and anguished. Why, I wondered, me? 

Peculiarly, I have nil family history of T1 Diabetes. It felt like winning a discordant lottery. It was my luck, my fate, my life to lead. I stared at the ceiling into the wee hours of the night and remembered something my friend said not too long ago: God shall not provide us challenges that we cannot conquer. I am not Christian but I believe that we are made to have the ability to overcome all challenges life throws at us.

I woke up the next morning, drying off my tears of yesterday and rebuilt my crumbled walls. I have determination, youth and supportive, loving people around me. I shall not be alone in this lifelong challenge. 

Diabetes strikes a personal chord, not only because I've got it, but because I have always loved and enjoyed food. I am also a half-baked dietitian. The greatest restriction for us diabetics is our diet and I am determined to enjoy my greatest passion. 

This shall be the the first of my many forages into the world of food, health and nutrition blogging. Hello!