Creative Easy Onion Pancakes

Ingredients: Dumpling wraps, green onions, salt, olive oil.

1. Two dumpling wraps, put green onions in between, use a little bit water to close them together(same as closing an envelope).

2. Fry them in the oil until each side is brown and crisp.

3. Sprinkle some salt on top.

Super easy, super fast, and super tasty!

Radish Kelp Soup

Ingredients: 3 medium size daikon radish, kelp, kale, soy sauce, olive oil.

(Serving size: 2)

1. Chop daikon radish to 1/2 inch thick pieces.

Chop a small amount of kale leaves into thin strips.

Sautee radish and kale in a pan for about 8 mins until the radish is browned on each side.

2. Add 4 cups of water, 3 teaspoons soy sauce to the pan.

Add a hand full kelp into the soup.

Cover it, cook about 10 mins until the radish is tender.

Kelp is the best natural source of Iodine. Including some Iodine in our diet can effectively help regulate thyroid function, decrease radiation absorption, aid weight loss and reduce fatigue.

We can find Kelp at most of the Asian market. Kelp we buy from the store is usually dried and salted. But it is very easy to prepare. Usually there is no need to add additional salt to the kelp dishes, and it is very easy to use scissors to cut the kelp into any shape you want. If we cook kelp in a soup then no soaking required before cooking. On the other hand, if we cook it without water, we need to soak it in water until tender before cooking. It usually takes less than 10 minutes.

Reverse Green Onion Pasta

Green onion is not just a seasoning. Let's start reversing your old way of thinking. Let green onion be the leader of the dish. This is based off a traditional Chinese recipe (onion oil noodles/pancakes).

Ingredients: 5 bunches green onions, minced garlic, leeks, 1 medium size zucchini, pasta/noodles, salt, olive oil. 

1. Chop 4 bunches of green onions, 1 inch long,

Chop 1 medium size zucchini,

Chop 1 small leeks into very thin slices, about 1/8 inch,

Mince 1 bulb of garlic.

Sautee them together in a pan about 5 mins.

2. Stir in cooked pasta. Stir fry about 3 mins.

3. Thinly chop another bunch of green onions, 1/4 inch.

Sprinkle them at the last minute. 

Add salt. 

Stir. 

Remove from  the heat.

Vegan Chilaquiles

Ingredients: Tortillas, kale, enoki mushrooms, soy sauce, vinegar, olive oil

1. Cut tortillas into thin strips. Thinly chop kale and enoki mushrooms.

2. Sautee kale and enoki mushrooms.

3. Add tortillas strips to the veggies. Cook until slightly brown.

4. Add some soy sauce and vinegar to taste.

Chilaquiles can be made any way you want. Basically it is made by fried tortillas cooked in salsa. This is just one simple way. I also baked some cauliflower on the side.

I cooked the veggies first because tortillas may absorb all the oil. It may make it hard to sautee the veggies.

Meaty Mixed Greens

Ingredients: Mixed greens, bread, minced garlic, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt

1. Tear up the bread and mix it with different greens

2. Mix minced garlic with olive oil and let it chill for a while to avoid the spiciness

 (You can decide the amount of oil and garlic. I prefer to let every piece of food to have a thin layer of oil. )

 3. Add a little bit of balsamic vinegar and salt to taste

Try baked kale chips instead of pita chips

1. Heat oven to 350F
2. Arrange torn kale leaves on a baking sheet
3. Drizzle with 2 Tbsp olive oil, seanson with salt
4. Bake, rotate once, until crispy, 12 to 15 mins
5. Toss with lemon zest

From magazine

Stuffed Chilies

Yellow chilies stuffed with mushroom, tofu, shallots and  lemon juice.

Prepare chilies:

1. Roast chilies on a pan without oil until each side is slightly burned.

2. Soak the chilies in cold water.

3. Peel off the burned skin. Open the chilies gently. Remove the seeds.

4. Set aside.

Prepare the stuffing:

1. Cut firm tofu, mushroom, shallots into little cubes.

2. Cook them in olive oil until tender.

3. Add salt, black pepper and soy sauce to taste.

Stuff the chilies:

Stuff the chilies. Squeeze some fresh lemon juice on top.

Baked tomatoes, squash and potatoes

Ingredients:
Onion, tomatoes, yellow squash and potatoes, thinkly sliced
Olive oil, plus more for drizzling
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Tbsp fresh thyme leaves
Vegan parmesan cheese
Cook onion first until tender and slightly golden.
Arrange the onion on the bottom of the baking dish.
Overlap tomatoes, squash and potatoes.
Season with salt and pepper.
Sprinkle with thyme and Parmesan.
Drizzle with oil.
Heat oven to 375 F.
Bake covered for 30 mins. Uncover and bake until golden, 30 mins or more.
(From magazine)

Chewy rice cakes with green beans

Ingredients: Rice cake, green beans, roasted garlic, soy sauce

1. Heat oil, cook green beans 3 mins.

2. Add rice cakes to it (add more oil if needed), stir them every 30 seconds.

Cook about 5 mins until the rice cakes are slightly brown ( takes more time if the rice cakes are frozen).

3. Add soy sauce to taste, cook 2 mins.

4. Add roasted garlic to taste.

About Rice Cakes:

Also called "Nian Gao" (年糕) in Chinese

Rice cakes can be found in both Chinese market or Korean market. They are usually frozen and come in different shapes. They can be cooked either frozen or thawed. If you want to save cooking time then soak them in warm water for 2 hours before use.

Rice cakes are chewy. Boiling makes it soft. Frying makes it hard, and the longer you fry the harder it gets. But we love their chewy texture. Give it a try!

Basil Tofu Eggplant

Ingredients: Eggplant, firm tofu, fresh basil, garlic, soy sauce, salt

1. Heat oil, add chopped garlic, eggplant and basil. Stir. Let the oil cover each side of the eggplant. Cook 3 mins. Set aside. It is ok if the eggplant is still hard.

2. Heat oil, cook firm tofu, each side 5 mins. 

3. Add cooked eggplant to tofu. Add soy sauce. Cover the pan over medium heat and cook 5 mins.

4. Add salt.

Tip: Keep an eye on the food after adding soy sauce to it. It is safer to use medium heat. Soy sauce dries faster than you think.

Root Veggies Chowder with Collard Ribbons

1. Combine orange juice, maple syrup, vinegar. Set aside.
2. Heat oil. Cook onion. Add salt and ginger. Add water to make broth. Set aside.
3. Heat oil. Cook potatoes, carrots and rutabaga until well-browned.
4. Add vegetables to onion broth. Cook until tender.
5. Add collard greens.
6. Stir in 2 Tbs. of orange juice mixture.
(From magazine)

Celerooms

Celery and mushroom are a very good match!

Cook them together whatever way you like!

Tips: Usually old celery stems are hard to chew. But boiling them for 5 minutes before cooking with other ingredients can solve this problem perfectly! No need to throw away the old ones, yay!

Roasted Zucchini

Ingredients: Zucchini, Roasted garlic, Sea salt, Black pepper

1. Heat up a pan with olive oil. Place zucchini cut side down.

2. Cook 5 mins then turn them over.

3. Cook another 5 mins until each side is brown.

4. Add roasted garlic, sea salt and black pepper to taste.

I also cook tomatoes together with zucchini. They add more flavor to the whole dish. 

Same way of cooking yellow squash and they taste really good! 

Sweet Walnut Spinach Salad

Ingredients: Raw walnuts, Spinach, Sweetener (eg. raw blue agave)

1. Heat up a pan on medium heat, put crushed raw walnuts in it 

 2. Keep on turning them over because it is very easy to burn them 

3. Cook about 7 mins until brown

4. Add sweetener to taste and cook until the sweetener is boiling

5. Turn off the fire and let it cool

The walnuts should be crispy and ready to serve with sauteed spinach

Roasted Sweet Peppers

Sweet peppers + Olive oil + 30mins + 450F = YUM!!!

The simplest and tastiest dish you can cook with your toaster oven!

Ground Meef

How to make Tofu taste like ground beef/meat?

You only need: Firm tofu, Soy sauce, Olive oil, Chinese bean paste(your choice).

1. Mash the tofu with your hands. Dry the tofu with high heat for 5 mins.

2. Add olive oil, cook 5 mins till it's yellow.

3. Add soy sauce to make it brown, cook 3 mins. 

4. You can choose to add some Chinese bean paste to make it more flavorful. 

Tip: Bean paste can be found in any Chinese market. It's very inexpensive.

Mushnach Pasta

Ingredients: Mushrooms, Spinach, Green peas, Vegenaise, Garlic, Onion powder, Sea salt, Olive oil.

Step 1: Boil the pasta till tender.

Step 2: Sautee garlic with olive oil.

Step 3: Add mushrooms. Cook 5 mins.

Step 4: Add green peas. Cook 1 min.

Step 5: Add spinach. Cook 1 min.

Step 6: Add the cooked pasta.

Step 7: Add vegenaise.

Step 8: Add onion powder and sea salt to taste.

Tip: Some salt and olive oil in the water makes the pasta taste better!