I hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving, we had to go to two Thanksgiving feast…first to my husband’s family and then to my family’s dinner. No need to mention that was too much food.

At my mother in law we took all the food there and it was a kind of traditional Thanksgiving meal: turkey, mashed potato, potato salad, gravy, yams, cranberry sauce, dinner rolls, pumpkin pie, pumpkin cupcakes and so on. At my side of family is was a little more elaborate, we had the traditional food and prime rib, fried noodles, stuffed mushrooms, egg rolls, California rolls, baked salmon, devil’s egg, vegetarian dishes, and lots and lots of different desserts. Anyway, I brought back from my mother in law some left over of the mashed potato and the broth from the turkey. So the next day, after two big meals we decided to go light, I made a soup using the turkey broth and the mashed potato.

Ingredients:

2 cups of turkey broth, remove the fat that sit on the upper layer
¼ cup barley
2 chicken breasts
3 carrots cut is small pieces
3 stalk of celery cut in small pieces
1 cup frozen corn
1 cup mashed potato
1 bay leave
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Cover the chicken breast with water and add the bay leave, cook until the chicken is tender, remove from the water and let it cool down. Use the water to cook the barley until soft.

In the meantime shred the chicken and set aside. Add the turkey broth to the barley and the carrots. Let it cook for a few minutes and add the celery, corn and the shredded chicken. Let is cook for 2-3 minutes and add the mashed potato, make sure that you mix well so the mashed potato dissolve in the soup.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

You can use leftover turkey instead of chicken…

It is so yummie with the mashed potato, it gives the soup a cloudy color and light texture.

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Everytime that I cook meat sauce for pasta I end up with lots and lots of sauce…and I just feel that having the same dish over and over is not that much fun.
After trying to invent different things with the meat sauce I remembered one time at Disney World in some restaurant we were served for breakfast poached egg over a kind of meaty red sauce…so here I am! By the way, you guess was right Grace!

Ingredients:

Left over meat sauce
2 zucchinis
2 carrots
1 cup frozen bell pepper (red, yellow and green)
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

In a pan add the chopped zucchini, carrot to the meat sauce.

Cook for approximately 5 minutes. Add the frozen peppers, salt and pepper to taste.

Let is simmer for another 5 minutes.

In the meantime make poached eggs. I add some vinegar to the boiling water so the egg “clots” and the egg white will not spread all over the boiling water.

Assembley:

In a bowl, spoon the meat sauce with the veggies and add the poached egg on top. Serve warm…it is delicious, I on purpose like to break the egg yolk into the meat sauce, is so yummie…

Now the award…
I got this award from Palidor at Crazy Asian Gal. Thank you Palidor, very sweet of you 

I don’t know why I came up with this name…maybe because I used half ground beef and half ground pork…not very creative I must say…
Like many recipes of meatballs that I’ve seen, ground beef and ground pork are mixed together, so I thought why not for a pasta sauce? Well, turn out to be yummie, so here it is…and the amazing thing is that I made breakfast with the leftover, yes…breakfast…can you believe? Stay tune!

Ingredients:

1/3 lb ground lean beef
1/3 lb ground pork
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 cloves garlic, crushed and minced
1 small onion chopped
½ teaspoon thyme
½ teaspoon oregano
1 can Trader Joes tomato sauce
1 pinch ground allspice
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

In a pan sautee the garlic and the onion with olive oil, add the ground meats. Let it brown.

Add the tomato sauce, thyme, oregano, allspice, salt and pepper.

Cook for approximately 20 minutes in low heat.

Serve over pasta.

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Other day I was browsing a local Korean grocery store and bought a package of Korean glass noodles, so I decided to make it with the ingredients that I had handy in my fridge.
Since I am very familiar with the Chinese glass noodles which usually are thinner, I just thought that I could adapt it and cook these one in a similar way.
You can substitute the Chinese sausage to any other kind of meat or even omit the meat.
When I served it to my husband he had a funny comment “whatever it is…is good”…so here is how I made the noodles.

Ingredients:

Glass noodles
Chinese chicken/pork sausage
1 onion sliced
2 carrots grated
½ bunch of bok choi
2 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon soy sauce
Sal and pepper to taste
½ tablespoon sesame oil

Method:

In a small pan boil water and add the glass noodles, cook until the noodles are soft.

Drain the water and set aside.

In the meantime, sautee the onion with 1 tablespoon olive oil, until slightly brown, add the sausage.

Remove from the pan, in the same pan add the remaining olive oil and sautee the bok choi and the grated carrot. Once it is cooked, add the sausage mix and the glass noodles, add soy sauce, salt and pepper. Once it is all well mixed add the sesame oil.

Serve warm.

Did you know that glass noodles are transparent noodles made from mung bean, yam, sweet potato or yuca starch? Usually are sold dry and need to be boiled in water in order to eat..

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These cheese balls are called “pao de queijo” in Portuguese, which can be translated to cheese bread. They are very popular in Brazil and you even see this bread selling at the malls in small kiosks.

The interesting thing about this bread is the texture which is not the conventional bread texture therefore you need to acquire the taste. When I first introduced this bread to my American friends I need to admit that I was a little reluctant since I was not sure of the acceptance of it, but interestingly most of them liked it and even asked for the recipe.

The good thing about this recipe is that you can make the balls and freeze, so when you have guest the cheese balls can go from the freezer to the oven and be served in less than 25 minutes. I always make them in advance, as a matter of fact I always have them in my freezer.

Ingredients:

1 lb tapioca powder
4 eggs
1 cup water
½ cup vegetable oil
1 ½ teaspoon salt
Parmesan cheese

Method:

In a small pan add water, oil and salt, bring to boil and carefully add to the tapioca powder.

Mix gently until you can manage with your hands (be careful it is very hot).

Alternatively add the eggs and the Parmesan cheese until a dough is formed.

The trick is to add Parmesan cheese to form a big ball of dough.

Make small balls (freeze at this point if you desire), bake for 20 to 25 minutes at 300F.

Serve warm. Makes approximately 50 to 60 cheese balls.

If you enjoy this traditional recipe for the Brazilian pao de queijo, you might want to try the Asian version.

Did you know that tapioca powder is a starch from yuca? Therefore is gluten free? Yuca is known as “cassava”, “mandioca” and “aipim”. Yuca is native of Brazil (Amazon) and now is cultivated worldwide. Tapioca is well known commercially as pearl tapioca, where is commonly used in Southeast Asia in sweet drinks.

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This corn soup is very satisfying in spite of being low in fat. It is great as a meal by itself.

Ingredients:

3 ears of corn on the cob cooked in water
1 can of chicken broth
2 eggs slight beaten
1 cup of leftover chicken
1 tablespoon corn starch dissolved in 3 tablespoon of water
1 tablespoon sesame oil
¼ cup fresh green onion finely chopped

Method:

Cut the corn from the cobs and place the corn in the blender with water just enough to cover the corn and blend (chop mode).

I like to have the corn in pieces where I still can bite them. If you like them in less solid form, just chop for a longer time.

Pour the corn, chicken broth and an extra measurement of water in a pan under a high heat. Once the soup starts to boil, add the chicken. Again bring to boil and gently add the corn starch dissolved in water, stir constantly. Once the soup start to bubble, add the slightly beaten egg and finish by adding sesame oil and green onion.

Serve hot.

Did you know that corn contain high levels of antioxidants? Antioxidants are known to decrease the incidence of cancer and heart disease.
Interestingly when you cook corn you lose vitamin C but you gain ferulic acid which is an antioxidant.

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Bacon? Who does not like bacon? Anyway, this easy and simple chicken dish is enriched with bacon flavor. Do not add any other oil, since the bacon contains enough oil for the cooking.

Ingredients:

5 chicken drumsticks
1 small onion chopped
2 slices of bacon cut in small pieces
2 garlic cloves
1 cup frozen mixed bell pepper
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

In a medium pan over medium heat fry the bacon, until crispy, add the onion and let it caramelized.

Add the chicken and let it brown both sides of the drumsticks.

Add ½ cup of water, salt, pepper and lower the heat. Let it cook for approximately 8 to 10 minutes, or until the water is around half of the initial volume (thick sauce).

Add the frozen mixed bell peppers and increase the heat.

Let it cook until the peppers are soft for another 3 to 4 minutes.

Serve over white rice.

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This is a very simple side dish with lots and lots of green…spinach!

Ingredients:

1 bunch spinach
1½ cups long grain rice
2 tablespoons onion finely chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Parmesan cheese grated

Method:

Wash the spinach and boil in approximately 4 cups of water. Let it cook for 2 minutes. Drain the spinach and save the water from the spinach. Chop the spinach and set aside.

In a small pot add the olive oil and the onion, let the onion brown. Add the rice already washed and drained.

Saute the rice so it is covered with the olive oil. Add the chopped spinach and 2 ½ cups of the spinach liquid, salt and pepper. Bring the heat to high, once it starts to boil, lower the heat and let it simmer for approximately 20 minutes or until the liquid has been absorbed by the rice.

Top with parmesan cheese and serve hot.

Did you know that spinach is a rich source of iron and calcium? Moreover, spinach contains more iron than meat and other vegetables. But the iron in spinach is poorly absorbed by the body unless eaten with vitamin C, which is not the case of the iron found in meat. Nevertheless, spinach still has a large nutritional value, it is a rich source of vitamins A, C, E, K, magnesium, and several antioxidants. In addition spinach is an excellent source of manganese, folate, vitamin B12, B6, calcium, potassium, fiber, copper, protein, phosphorous, zinc, omega-3 fatty acids, niacin, and selenium. That explains why Popeye the Sailor Man loved spinach!

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