Pomegranate Salad with Maple-Spiced Walnuts and Honey-Mint Lemon Dressing

I love a good fruit salad. It's the kind of dish that doesn't seem like much and requires some thought to make an impression . You know what I mean? Most fruit salads I have at restaurants are just mindless jumble of seasonal fruits. The more creative ones would add yogurt as topping. And that was my education of fruit salads through eating out.

I'm glad I'm a learner and I educate myself pretty well otherwise I may never discovered the beauty of a GOOD fruit salad. Especially the type that is filled with season's best, picked at their peak, and speaks FRESH in every bite. This fruit salad is a winner because it's tossed in a light sauce of fresh squeezed lemon juice, honey, fresh mint and a touch of cane sugar: just enough to bring out the natural sweetness in the fruits without overwhelming it while the fresh mint works as a refreshing compliment.

The key is to use fresh ripe fruit. Under ripe or overly ripe will kill it. And if you must, canned fruit such as mandarin orange wedges or even peaches can be used, but fresh is truly best. This is a very versatile recipe; you can use other fruits combination: blackberries, apples, pears, peach, etc.

This salad would be perfect for breakfast, brunch, dessert or potluck. It will also serve as compliment to French toast, waffle, or pancakes.

Ingredients:
(makes 4 side servings)

• 1 banana, peeled and sliced
  
• 1 pomegranate, peeled and break seeds apart
• 1 C seedless grapes, halved

Honey-Mint Lemon Dressing

• 3 TB pure honey
• 3 TB fresh mint, chopped
• 3 TB fresh-squeezed lemon juice
• 3 TB natural cane sugar

Combine all ingredients together in a bowl. Refrigerate until ready to toss with fresh fruits.

Caramelized Walnuts (optional)

• 1/2 C walnuts
• 1/3 TB Maple syrup
• salt and pepper
  

Combine walnuts, maple syrup, pinch of salt and pepper in a medium bowl, tossing well to coat. Spread pecan mixture evenly onto a baking sheet coated with oil. Bake at 180° for 15 minutes, stirring after 5 minutes. Cool completely and break nuts into small pieces.

Mix cut, fresh fruits and Honey-Mint Lemon Dressing in a serving bowl. Toss to coat evenly. Sprinkle with chopped caramelized walnuts. Garnish with sprigs of fresh mint.

Veggie Smoothies

It began with the extra hydroponic butterhead lettuce: it came with roots and I was happily keeping it alive in a jar of water next to the sink. Few days passed and still no sign of cooking at home. I got nervous and started surfing for inspiration. Not much. Then the conversation with Fredrik about juicer came to mind. Hmm.... so I typed "lettuce smoothie". And what do you know? GREEN SMOOTHIE, anyone?

With Lettuces

Banana, blueberry, golgi berry, yogurt, lettuces and cinnamon powder.

Who would have thought? No sign of green at all =)

It's not that different than our usual morning stable: banana with mixed berries yogurt smoothie. I just threw in another handful of lettuces. I was going to keep in mum but Adrian walked in and I could see the expression on his face. "It's ok. I know what I'm doing" said the cook. You got to give this man a lot of credit for the faith he has on me.

How did it turn out? Well, the tartness of the berries overpowered whatever green taste the lettuces may have. Would I do it again? Only when there's leftover lettuces again.

With Chinese Celery

Same ingredients as Lettuce Smoothie plus raspberry and Homemade Almond Milk in instead of Homemade Yogurt.

Pretty~

This was the result of a big mistake. I was looking for parsley and somehow mistook Chinese celery as the Italian flat-leaved parsley. Although I had a couple celery recipes (cream of celery soup, butternut/ apple soup)that I liked and enjoyed, I don't go around and search for celery recipe as I would with broccoli or eggplant. You know what I mean?

The damage is done and I just got to fix it, don't I? It would be a whole lot easier if I had a juicer. Since I don't just have to make it into smoothie. I found recipes for banana and celery soup, and cantaloupe, celery and blueberry salad. Well, I guess it's I can just throw in to the morning mixed berries smoothis as I did with lettuces.... how convenient.

Chocolate Pudding Take Two

They are so easy to make I'd be sorry if I had not given them a fair trial. Unlike my previous recipe, these two recipes require only cocoa powder. The best part: they can be ready in 5 minutes (minus the chilling time). Chocolate Avocado is interesting because it requires no heating at all! However, our votes go to the Vegan Coconut Chocolate Pudding - coconut milk rocks!

Chocolate Avocado

(makes 2 large servings)

• 1 ripe banana
• 1/4-1/3 cup raw honey
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 avocados, mashed
• 1/4 cup, plus 2 Tbsp. dark cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup water

1. Process banana, raw honey, vanilla in a blender till smooth.
   
2. Add the avocados, cocoa powder and process till creamy. Scrape down the sides a few times with a rubber spatula. Add the water and process briefly.
   
3. Store in a sealed container. It will keep for three days in the fridge or two weeks in the freezer.
4. Serve chilled or at room temp.

Vegan Coconut Chocolate Pudding

(makes 2 servings)

• 3/4 C brown sugar
• 3 TBS cornstarch
• 1/3 C Dark Cocoa Powder
• 2 Cups coconut milk
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
  

1. Sift brown sugar, cornstarch and cocoa powder into a medium bowl, mixing thoroughly.
2. Fold in coconut milk and stir to mix well.
3. Heat the mixture over medium heat. Stirring constantly.
4. Remove from heat when the mixture thicken and becomes shiny. Stir in vanilla extract. Cover and refrigerate to chill.
   

Pancake: Banana Caramel and Strawberry Balsamic

I have been stoked with pancakes since last week's Banana Pancake with Coconut Syrup Peanut Butter. I have practically been waiting to do another pancake since. Nothing special about this week's pancake but the sauces: Banana Caramel Sauce and Strawberry Balsamic Vinegar. They were good individually, but also superb with mixed. The best part is, they are super easy to make.
I made quite a few changes in the recipe, which I'll show in bracket and italic.

Ingredients
(make 20 10cm pancakes)
4 eggs
2 tbs white sugar
375ml buttermilk or 200ml milk + 175ml Greek yogurt (lemon juice + milk)
50g melted butter (Coconut oil)
1 1/2C self raising flour (whole wheat flour + salt and baking powder)
1/2 tsp cinnamon sugar (cinnamon + sugar)
200g fresh ricotta

Option:
berries
chocolate chips

1. Separate the white and yolk of the eggs. Beat the yolk with sugar until pale and creamy.
   
2. Stir in buttermilk and melted butter to blend (I used coconut oil).
3. Fold in the flour (whole wheat flour + 1 tsp salt + 1 1/2 tsp baking powder), cinnamon and sugar.
   (I prepared this a night ahead and stick the bowl into the fridge for overnight)
4. Stir in ricotta cheese. Whisk the egg white until soft peaks are formed. Carefully fold the egg white into the flour mixture. DO NOT OVER MIX.
5. Melt a tablespoon of butter over medium heat. Scoop 1/2 cup of the mix for one pancake. When the bottom is about to set, (Optional: sprinkle some berries or chocolate chips over the top) flip to fry the other side. You may transfer the pancake to a 100C oven to keep warm while you work on the sauce.

Banana Caramel Sauce
Ingredients
(enough for 2 pancake)
1 Banana, chopped
2 Tablespoon butter
2 Tablespoon brown sugar

1. Melt butter over low heat. Stir in sugar and banana. Stir infrequently until the sugar is melted.
2. Spoon over pancake to serve.

Strawberry Balsamic Vinegar
Ingredients
Strawberry, diced
2 Tablespoon brown sugar (maple syrup)
2 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Toss everything together. Chill in refrigerator until ready to serve.

Banana Pancake with Coconut Syrup Peanut Butter

I came across a Peanut Butter Boy who has this obsession with, surprise! PEANUT BUTTER. I took his Banana Pancake and Maple Peanut Butter Recipe with a few adaptations and didn't skip any of the optional steps. The result: it's obscene but REAL GOOD!! It was such a winner that it "kind of" removed my disgust for the Banana Peanut Butter Omelet on its website...... Plus, I found out "someone's" childhood addiction of runny egg (boiled for exactly 3.5 minutes!) scrambled with jam and peanut butter for breakfast......hmmm......
The recipe makes an awful lots of pancakes. I went ahead with the volume and kept the remaining batter in refrigerator. It should keep good for 7 days. I can't wait to experiment with different toppings for our next servings.

Ingredients:
*Makes 12-15 (3″) pancakes.

Pancakes:
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup cottage cheese with pinch of salt (I used ricotta)
3 eggs
2 bananas, divided

Optional:

Blueberries (I used raspberries)
1/4 cup mini dark-chocolate chips
1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts
Mix the chips and walnuts together in a small bowl

Coconut Syrup Peanut Butter:
1 cup creamy natural peanut butter (I prefer chunky)
1T Coconut syrup (PB Boy uses Maple syrup + 1Tablespoon of sugar)

1. To make pancake batter blend oats, cottage cheese, eggs and 1 banana in a blender until smooth and creamy. Slice remaining banana into thin slices and set aside.

2. To make peanut butter spread, pour coconut syrup and peanut butter into a jar and stir until well mixed.

3. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat with a splash of butter. Place about 1/4 cup of batter in each spot and flatten with the back of a spoon. Place 3 slices of banana in each pancake along with raspberries and optional ingredients. Cook for about 1-2 minutes. Once the top starts to set, flip and cook for an additional minute.

4. Spread peanut butter spread on top. I finished it with a very generous dash of maple syrup. YUM!!

*Storing: The batter will keep in the fridge for about 7 days. When you remove it from the fridge, it will be much thicker due the temperature and oat absorption. Add milk, 2T at a time, to achieve desired batter consistency.

Cinnful Apple Fruit Salad

This was my first at tempt of making fruit salad. I just can't resist it because it comes with cinnamon. And I thought it would work well with the Strawberry Cheesecake French Toast. Indeed. They went SO well together that the Breakfast Salad paled in comparison.
It's super easy - you just need to soak the raisin in apple juice the night before and toss all the ingredients together just before serving and Voila!

Ingredients:

(makes about 9 cups)

4 crisp sweet apples

2 bananas, sliced thin

2 sweet pears

½ cup raisins (I mixed raisins with dried blueberry and cranberry)

1 cup unsweetened apple juice

1 cup plain low-fat yogurt

¼ tsp. lemon juice

1 tsp. vanilla extract

½ tsp. cinnamon

Sliced roasted almonds (optional)

1. Pour raisins into juice and refrigerate overnight. Also refrigerate all uncut fruit overnight.
2. Chop fruit shortly before serving and mix in large bowl.
3. Fold in yogurt, lemon juice, apple juice with raisins, vanilla and cinnamon.
4. Sprinkle each serving with sliced almonds. (I forgot this last step....)
   

Viva La Vida Breakfast!

Poached Eggs with Tomato and Banana Sauce & New Potato Wedge Omelette

There's no question how much of a breakfast person I am. I can skip lunch, and sleep on an empty stomach but NO ONE, absolutely NO ONE can take my breakfast away. I almost never skip breakfast. I would intentionally wake up early enough so that I can have a simple breakfast before I head out for Yoga. On days when I have the luxury of having long breakfast at home, I'd plan the menu a night before. Yes, that's how obssessed I am with my breakfast. I literally can have breakfast for morning, lunch and dinner. I'm sure Pee Wee would approve.

Poached Egg with Tomato and Banana Sauce

Kind of bizarre, isn't it? At the same time I couldn't resist to find out what it taste like. I'm always hesistant when it comes to poaching eggs. I'm intimidated by having to scoop the egg while the yolk is still runny. Actually I did a rather good job this time; without knowing what I did right..... I wish I had taken a picture before they were smothered by the sauce. Poached eggs are typically served over toasted bread. I didn't. I served it with a side of mixed greens with sun-dried tomatoes and blue cheese. I have to say that the taste of melted butter, sweetness of bananas and sourness of tomatoes blend very well together. The recipe uses water. But I like cream. It gives a sort of volume and creaminess to the texture. Yum~

Ingredients:
4 eggs
1 banana, chopped
1 tomato, chopped
cream (adjust)

1. Boil a pan of water with two tablespoon of vinegar (I used apple cider vinigar) to simmer. Break egg into a bowl and tip it over simmering water. Repeat with the other eggs. When the eggs are set, remove from pan with slotted spoon and let dry on paper towel.
2. Melt a tablespoon of butter. Add chopped tomatoes and bananas. Fry for a minute. Stir in cream (or water if you don't like to use cream) and let simmer. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
   
3. Pour the sauce over poached eggs to serve.
   

One of the things I like about writing this food blog is instead of just following the recipes, I now spend more time researching for nutrition information and the "how, why, where, when, what" of cooking. For instance, many times I come across recipes that use different varieties of potatoes: Russel, fingerling, new potatoes, etc. Are they that much different? So I found this Potato Council website from British.

Apparently there are thousands of different varieties of potatoes grown around the world. Potatoes are often categorized according to season. For instance, new potatoes are planted in the winter, ready for harvesting in spring or early summer. They are sometimes called early potatoes. Potatoes harvested in the late summer or early autumn, instead of being called "late" or "old", are known as maincrop potatoes.

They also differ in texture- some are firm and set, while others are fluffy, waxy, or floury. If you want to make a mash, you want a floury potato that has higher dry matter and brighter and more granular in appearance. On the other hand, waxy potatoes are good for salad because they are good at staying firm and keeping their shape.

So there's my homework. Nevertheless, when it comes to shopping for potatoes, there really isn't much to be sophisticated about. Regardless of the shape, size, colour, they are all labeled "potatoes". I guess if I wanted to, I could probably learn to distiguish them from the appearance. But I digress.

New Potato Wedge Omelette

I didn't bother to investigate if the potato I used was new potato or otherwise. It's just one of those washed potatoes in the supermarket vegetable corner. Don't be too excited by its name (as I did): it's very much a frittata made with potato. Or Spanish tortilla. I made a few adjustment to the recipe:

1. I added chopped fresh herbs - tarragon, parsley, oregano and thyme.
2. I used a mix of Cheddar and Romano cheese
3. Cream instead of milk
4. It was served with chili mayonaise on a bed of vinaigrette arugula and fresh cherry tomatoes with pine nuts.
5. I top the omelette with more quartered tomatoes before baking.
   

Ingredients

• 350g new potatoes, scrubbed and cut into wedges
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 100g sweetcorn
• 4 medium eggs, beaten
• Dash of milk
• Salt and black pepper
• 75g Cheshire cheese, grated

1. Place the new potatoes in a pan of lightly salted boiling water. Cover and simmer until tender. Drain.
2. Heat the oil in a frying pan. (Add mixed herbs here if you are using). Add the sweetcorn and potatoes and fry for 1 minute.
3. Lightly beat the eggs, milk (or cream), salt, pepper and half the cheese (cheddar). Add to the pan and cook gently for 3-4 minutes until almost set.
4. Sprinkle over the remaining cheese (Romano) and place under a preheated oven until golden.
5. Cut into 8 wedges and serve with tomato ketchup and crisps of the flavour of your choice.