My Asian Kitchen

It is not very often that food makes it on to my "bucket list."  But I have always wanted to recreate the bean sprout-y, water chestnutty goodness of what I always think of as "chow mein."  Now, I have since learned that what that refers to is actually the noodles (fried in this case) but that is not the bit I like the best.  I like the vegetable goop that goes on top!  I love to eat it with chop sticks like I used to as a kid at the Asian Kitchen restaurant on Burnside.

Now, my husband doesn't much care for Chinese food.  Once or twice a year is plenty for him.  He eats some pork fried rice and is content.  So we don't spend our date dollars on eating out at the Chinese joint.  So I often have a craving for chow mein and think, "Wouldn't it be great if I could make it at home?"  But whenever I would decide to try making my own, I would invariably be missing some key ingredient.  But not today!  I sprouted my own mung beans this past week, and was more than ready to embark on a new culinary adventure.

I located a recipe that looked promising and started assembling my ingredients.  Celery, onion, water chestnuts and bean sprouts made it in time for the photo opp:

I didn't do step-by-step pics, because they are included in the recipe above.  I made some substitutions, due to preference and availability.  I used sesame seed oil instead of peanut oil because it was what I had on hand.  I omitted the mushrooms because I just don't care for them.  And I served it over rice and without chicken, because it wasn't dinner time.  But the recipe was lovely, and I will certainly make it again.  And I have conquered another item on my bucket list.  Grow my own bean sprouts and make chow mein at home?  Check!

Enjoy!

Homegrown Goodness

I have been playing with my food again.  Here is a picture of the main part of my lunch today.  Sprouted beans on a bed of steamed rice:

I will dish up some spicy cajun vegetable soup over it, and it will be both filling and yummy!  I love eating something that I have grown right here in my kitchen.  Doesn't get much fresher or more local than that, eh?

And here is another thing that I am growing in my kitchen right now:

You guessed it, sourdough starter bubbling away.  And below are some sprouts that I put on Bryan's sandwich today:

Just thought I would post a few pictures to show you all what I've been up to.  Sprouting and baking, mostly.

Enjoy!

Homegrown Sprouts

My husband surprised me a few weeks ago by requesting sprouts for his sandwiches. I was excited to hear him requesting something so healthy! So I pulled out my Easy Sprout and started growing some:

This batch has been growing for about 4 days, I think.

Then I de-hull them in the salad spinner I just acquired (from a co-worker who was no longer using it) and they are ready to go into our sandwiches and salads.

We have been using them so quickly, I am now doing two batches at once. This low cost sprouter (AKA: mason jar) doesn't get as good of air circulation as the other, but as you can see, it works just fine.

I am making rinsing my sprouts part of my FlyLady routines in the morning and evening, just before I shine my sink. :)

Have you ever grown sprouts, salad greens or herbs inside? Tell me about it in the comments below!

Happy sprouting!

Colorful Lunch

After the last extremely bland-looking bento, I knew I had to kick it up a notch or two. So I stepped out into the garden and came back with some color:

Salad contains:

• romain lettuce, spinach, carrots, cucumber & celery (from the grocery store)
• borage flowers and leaves & tomatoes (from the garden)
• sprouts (grown on my counter-top)
  

Up close you can see how fuzzy the borage leaves are:

I wasn't impressed with the texture. And though I've heard the flavor described as akin to cucumber... I couldn't distinguish it.

Here is the rest of my lunch, in bento form:

Grapes fill the top tier, and my own concoction of tomato-basil-garlic-chicken-pasta fills the bottom.

Happy Bento!

Today's Lunch

My lunch for today is very similar to yesterday's (because not only was it super delicious, but I had the ingredients all made up and could put it together quickly).

On the left is mujaddara topped with an olive and carrot and tomato slices. On the right are some cracker pretending to be Saltines, my attempt at carrot butterflies, lots of sprouts, some hummus, grapes and tiny cookies.

I am amazed how filling these lunches are, even though they are packed into such a small space. I almost couldn't finish mine today, and I'm a pretty big eater.

Note to self, the sprouts work fine as a divider for the hummus, but don't stop moisture from getting through like the foil did. Result? Soggy crackers. :P

Greek Cuisine

For these bentos, I really went overboard cooking three items from scratch for it. But it was all in the name of the theme: Greek Cuisine!

In the larger container I placed homemade hummus, home-grown sprouts, browned tortilla strips, tomatoes, grapes, and itsy bitsy Nestle chocolate chip cookies baked from scratch. (Okay, I know that these cookies aren't Greek, but I can't exactly eat baklava as it has butter in it, right?)

The smaller of the two containers I put homemade mujaddara, decorated with tomato slices and steamed broccoli.

I also packed up a box for my co-workers who have been drooling over my new and improved (tasty!) lunches. It contains the same ingredients, with the addition of an olive.