Will it waffle???? These certainly did, and created the most amazing aroma in the kitchen! I took some of my favorite flavors from my recent gluten free scones, and turned them into waffles as a quick handy snack. Stella has a 3 day market (WildflowerWoods2024) this weekend, and I wanted to make sure she had something tasty to pick up and eat whenever she had a moment.
Crispy, tasty and packed with protein!
2 small onions, thin slivers or sub sliced scallions (green onion)
1/3 cup minced pepperoni (or use cooked, crumbled bacon)
1 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese (use your favorite!)
1 3/4 cups flour – all purpose, or a gluten free substitute (I used Cup4Cup)
1 tbsp & 1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp white sugar
1 tsp salt
freshly cracked black pepper to taste (a few grinds should be good)
3 large eggs
1 cup milk (I used full fat)
** olive oil to brush your waffle maker**
The first thing to do is carmelize your onions – take your time with this step and do it early enough to allow them to cool before using. When cooled, chop them up. If you want to skip this step – use thinly sliced green onions.
Mince pepperoni and set aside.
Shred cheese and set aside. I don’t like to use preshredded, but if you do, go ahead!
In a large bowl whisk egg and milk together until well combined.
In a smaller bowl combine all the dry ingredients, flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and pepper.
Slowly incorporate the dry ingredients into the egg mixture. If you are using a gluten free blend, allow it to sit for 5 minutes. I find GF flours have a tendency to be gritty, and this seems to alleviate that. Add in the onions, pepperoni, and cheese. Stir well to make sure you get goodness in every bite.
Preheat your waffle iron, and for every batch use a silicone brush to coat the surface with olive oil once you are ready. My waffle iron has 4 smaller waffles on the lower pan, I first tried 1/3 of a cup and found that a bit too much, so settled on 1/4 cup per individual waffle.
If you don’t have a waffle iron, I would imagine these come out fine as a pancake also.
They were inhaled so I can’t say with certainty, but I imagine they would freeze well, and reheat in toaster oven just fine.
You know something good is coming when this already smells great.Make sure to distribute your goodies throughout.I wasn’t even sure they would cook through they puffed up so much, but they did!Perfect little hand held bites of deliciousness!
You can tell how much I’m enjoying eggplant right now. A little chopping, and assembling ingredients gives you one of the best low effort/high flavour dinners, and likely to be in the rotation as long as the eggplant is growing out the back door! If you love Mapo Tofu, you are going to really enjoy this – the eggplant gets so creamy and sucks up all the flavour in the sauce.
I roasted some cauliflower tossed with white miso paste, chile sauce, and olive oil – great to have a bit of a crunchy contrast – next time I might also scatter a few roasted peanuts over as garnish.
PORK
12 ounces ground pork
3 tsp water
2 tsp Shaoxing wine (or sake)
1 1/2 tsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp white pepper
Mix all ingredients together and allow to marinate while you do the rest of the prep.
INGREDIENTS
2 long Japanese eggplant (can use round eggplant but peel if the skin is too tough)
vegetable oil
1/4 cup minced garlic
1/4 cup minced ginger
2 tsp Szechaun pepper (finely ground)
1/4 cup black bean sauce
1 1/2 cup chicken stock
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
2 tbsp chile crunch (optional)
2 tsp corn starch mixed with 1/4 cup water for slurry
GARNISH
sliced scallions and roasted sesame seeds
METHOD
Just before you start cooking, cut the eggplant lengthwise and then into smaller (triangle?) pieces. If you do this too early, they will discolor.
Heat wok over med high heat, and when it is starting to smoke add the eggplant in a single layer (do in batches if you have to). Allow to sit undisturbed until you get some color on the eggplant pieces and then stir them up, and allow to caramelize a bit on all sides.
After you’ve cooked all the eggplant, add 2 tbsp oil to the wok and saute the ginger for a minute, just until it starts to soften, then add the garlic. Fry just until fragrant, (watch carefully, burnt garlic is bitter!).
Add the pork mixture and stir fry until it has been cooked through and lightly caramelized in bits.
Stir in the pepper and the black bean sauce. Cook for one minute until it is bubbling, and add the chicken stock, chiile crisp (if you are using it), sugar and sesame oil.
Add the eggplant to the mixture and stir well. Once it is all combined and boiling again, stir in the cornstarch slurry and just allow it to thicken and get nice and glossy.
Serve over fluffy white rice, garnished with green onions and toasted sesame seeds.
If you want to make this gluten free use sake or dry sherry in place of the Shaoxing wine, use gluten free chicken stock, and make sure your black bean sauce is gluten ffree (it is hard to find!).
Look how soft and creamy the eggplant is – addictive!Cook pork crumbles until crispy in spotsLook at this happy wok, bubbling away – and smelling incredible.
My garden is overflowing with Japanese eggplant right now and I couldn’t be happier about that. I’ve got enough that I’ve had to move on from my usual go to of miso/soy grilled eggplant and try other preparations. This is a sure fire winner, a quick and easy one dish meal, and served with rice a very complete meal. Never fear, I still made a salad ….. I think by now Grant is disappointed when salad doesn’t show up for dinner.
These beauties are delicious 😋 I’m late to learning a love for eggplant but making up for it now!
14-ounce package extra-firm tofu
Neutral oil for roasting (I use safflower)
1 tablespoon cornstarch
3/4 to 1 pound eggplant
Kosher salt
3 to 4 tablespoons unsalted butter (the higher amount is slightly more rich)
1 heaped cup thinly sliced shallots or 1 medium white or red onion, thinly sliced
5 garlic cloves, peeled, crushed
2 tablespoons finely chopped ginger
1/2 cup low-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon granulated or brown sugar
1 tablespoon crushed or very coarsely ground black pepper, and more to taste
Rice, for serving
Chile-garlic sauce, crispy chili oil, or sriracha for serving
Heat oven to 425 degrees F. Drain tofu and place on a few layers of paper towel with more over it; set aside for 5 minutes, or until needed. Drizzle 3 tablespoons oil over your largest baking sheet and place it on the oven to get very hot while you get everything else ready. Trim eggplant and cut eggplant into 1-inch pieces. In a large bowl toss with 1 tablespoon oil and a few pinches of salt. Remove hot pan from oven and spread eggplant over half to 2/3 the pan. Cut tofu into 1-inch cubes. Toss gently in empty bowl with cornstarch and a couple pinches of salt until coated. Spread on empty part of baking sheet.
Roast tofu and eggplant in oven for 20 minutes to start. After 20 minutes, use your thinnest spatula to gently separate the tofu from the pan and flip to crisp and brown on the other side, about another 10 minutes. Do the same with the eggplant. At 30 minutes, the tofu should be crisp and browned and the eggplant should be roasted and tender. If needed, cook it for 5 more minutes.
I have a number of sources for amazing Asian cooking, Kenji Lopez Alt, Andrea Nguyen, Just One Cookbook, The Woks of Life, but in a surprising turn, this came from another of my all time favorite bloggers, Deb Perelman of Smitten Kitchen. I’ve never had a fail from any of her recipes, and if you want to truly be entertained, hop on over to her blog for the full write up, and more of her wit.
We had Salad Bar (Sloan’s choice) for Sunday dinner, which meant creating these salad rolls from the leftovers was a breeze! Stella and I often get stuck in on projects for lunch, but this was so quick and easy, utilizing the grilled chicken and prepared vegetables.
What sells this though, is the peanut sauce! So good, Stella and I decided it better go on the blog right away so we remember the recipe, and how quickly it came together.
SALAD ROLL INGREDIENTS
rice paper wraps
cooked thin rice noodles
cooked chicken, grilled prawns, or whatever protein you fancy
slivered vegetables, whatever you like
bean sprouts
lettuce
Soften wraps in warmish water, don’t allow to get too soft or they will tear as you wrap. They continue to soften as they sit.
Lay wrap down, and with lightly moistened fingers place your ingredients in the lower half of the wrap, fold edges in to trap filling and then roll as tightly as you can. The sky is the limit with whatever you like to fill your salad rolls with. We didn’t have any lettuce but if you do, laying a leaf down, and then placing the filling on the lettuce helps to prevent the wrap tearing and gives the salad rolls a nice crunch.
(you can google wrapping salad rolls – there are lots of those videos available)
The star here …. PEANUT SAUCE
1/2 cup peanut butter (use natural for the most peanut flavour)
1/3 cup soy sauce
2 tbsp toasted sesame oil
2 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tbsp sambal oelek or chili paste
1 tbsp hoisin sauce
2 tbsp sugar (could sub honey if you prefer)
1 knob of fresh ginger, peeled (to taste)
1 garlic clove, peeled
Up to 1/4 cup of water, to thin as needed.
Whiz all this up in a blender, using water as you see fit and taste to see if it needs any adjustments.
The chili paste is where the little bit of spicy heat comes from. We both like a little bit of heat, but not overwhelmingly spicy. We found 2 tbsp was perfect but go according to your own tastes, and of course the type of chili paste you have.
I got the base of this recipe from Lindsay at Pinch of Yum, and we decided to get it on here so we don’t keep looking for one … thanks Lindsay!
Ready to eat, these salad rolls were so quick, we had them on the table easily.
Set aside a bit of time to make this dish – today it took me 2 1/2 hours but it makes a lot, and keeps really well in the fridge for a couple of days. Just call it kitchen yoga and you are guaranteed to feel quite smug.
This Korean noodle dish is truly crave worthy. If anything, tastes even better the next day but don’t let that stop you from making and eating it for dinner the same day! It took a bit of effort to find potato starch noodles but it was worth the effort. They have a springy texture that is unlike any other noodle I’ve had.
12 ounces (340g) of pork loin or steak – cut into very thin slivers
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp water
1 1/2 tbsp chinese cooking wine (shaoxing)
1 /2 tsp oyster sauce
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp freshly ground white pepper
1/2 tsp sesame oil
I’ve also learned a new technique through J.Kenji Lopez-Alt about velveting meat for stir frying, and trust me, it makes a huge difference!
First, give your meat a little bath – scrub it in running water and then squeeze to drain it really well.
Combine the meat with all the other ingredients in a bowl and massage it vigorously – I like my using my hands but feel free to use a spoon if you prefer. Set aside for 30 minutes, or in the fridge for 4 hours or so.
Blanch spinach or kale in boiling water, cool and chop a little.
Stir in:
1 clove minced garlic
1 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp salt
10 ounces (280 gr) of sweet. potato starch noodles (Dangmyeon) – cooked acording to package
Sauce for noodles:
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp sugar
Once noodles are cooked, drained and rinsed, cut them into smaller pieces and stir with the sauce. Set aside.
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 red pepper, thinly sliced
1 yellow pepper, thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, diced
3 scallions, cut in 3 ” pieces
1 pack of baby spinach or kale (as much as you like, really)
bean sprouts (as many as you like)
OPTIONAL:
raw carrot strands
slivered snap peas
pea shoots
cucumber, thinly sliced
Japchae sauce
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
2 1/2 TBSP soy sauce
1 TBSP sesame oil
1 TBSP gojuchang (korean spice paste)
Stir well in a large bowl. Taste and adjust for seasoning. I usually use low sodium soy sauce but using Gluten Free soy sauce, now that Stella is Celiac, we are all learning to cook without any wheat in our products, so initially I found this a bit salty, I adjusted with a little rice vinegar and touch of oil. (Basically, the vinaigrette I had made and in the fridge)
UPDATE – see below for a sauce suitable for all gluten free folks – it was so good!
Time to stir fry the veg!
In a wok or large fry pan heat vegetable oil and stir fry onion and red pepper until soft and set aside. Then stir fry any other vegetable you choose to add.
I like to have a mix of raw and stir fried veg……
Heat wok again and add some vegetable oil – stir fry the meat, and add in the bean sprouts and kale or spinach, fry just until softened. Add back the red pepper, onion, garlic mix as well as the cooked noodles. Toss well to warm everything through and then add to the bowl with the sauce, mixing well
Once you have everything prepared, toss it all with the sauce. My usual tactic is to put all the veg in the bowl and then gradually add the sweet potato noodles, that way I don’t overload the bowl with too many noodles. Just ask Mike, I’m guilty of cooking more noodles than needed – always.
Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds and chives or green onions for a little color.
Sit back and enjoy! Pour yourself a glass of well deserved wine.
Todays version included sautéed mini bok choy. You could easily call this a clean out the fridge noodle dish, anything goes! This doesn’t have any meat in it at all, I felt like some Korean grilled chicken thighs – a bit of sweet, spicy and char makes it perfect. That is on the grill separately. If you leave it as is, you’ve got a great vegetarian dinner!
This was all the sautéed vegetables in tonights dish – each in the pan at separate times. I know, I’m fussy that way – go ahead and throw it all in at once if you like, and let me know if it makes any difference …. haha
Here are the raw veg – along with the cooked sweet potato noodles. – today was spiral carrots, bean sprouts, pea sprouts and slivered snap peas.
JAPCHAE SAUCE GLUTEN FREE VERSION
3 TBSP GF soy sauce
1 TBSP brown sugar
1/2 TBSP sesame oil
Whisk together until the sugar is dissolved. I added a bit of chili oil for a little kick, but honestly, this was fantastic, and we all loved it.
If you can find gojuchang free of malt barley, then you could just use the original sauce recipe.
Stella was insistent that I get my recipe for vegetable pancakes on the blog right away so she could make them at home with Hayley! Such a quick, easy and delicious way to have a meal on the table in minutes, these are great for lunch, dinner or snacking. I usually make a pile and they warm up quickly in the toaster oven. They are a bit of a mash up of Korean pajeon, Japanese Okonomiyaki and Chinese scallion pancakes (even a bit like my zucchini fritters!)
I will get a better photo, but Stella didn’t want me to wait, she loved them so much!
1/2 cup all purpose flour (once Stella was diagnosed with celiac, we used Gluten Free Flour)
1/2 cup potato starch or cornstarch
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp Chinese 5 spice powder (optional but we liked it)
1 tsp sea salt
1 egg
3/4 cup very cold water
4-6 cups very thinly sliced or julienned vegetables
oil for frying
Whisk dry ingredients together, then stir in egg and water. Add in all your vegetables and stir just to combine. You only need enough batter to hold the vegetables together.
Preheat oven to 300 to keep the pancakes warm as you cook them.
Heat oil in frying pan, and drop in 1/4 cup amounts, flattening them out slightly. Cook for 3-5 minutes on each side until golden brown and crispy. You will have to do this in batches, so keep them warm in a 300 oven until you have them all fried. Don’t crowd the pan or they will steam rather than fry.
I first tried this recipe as Korean pancakes, adding some chopped kimchi as well as a bit of the juice, but ended up using it for many different vegetables.
Serve with dipping sauce:
1/4 cup soya sauce
1-2 tbsp rice vinegar
1/2 tsp sesame oil (I like toasted)
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp hot sauce or chili crisp (such as sriracha)
Stir together and set aside for service. Taste and adjust for your personal preference.
Use whatever vegetables you have in your fridge! It really is a fridge clean out in the best possible way.Okay, so i have more than 4 cups vegetables … ha ha … you only need enough batter to hold it all together!Make sure you don’t crowd the pan – it takes very little oil.Flip when nice and crispy, and a golden brown.These ones had fresh shrimp and lots of chives.Another day, another batch
Need a quick, easy but delicious dinner idea? Here you go – this broth is amazingly flavorful for so few ingredients and can be packed with whatever you have in your fridge.
Sloan took this photo of her own bowl – I love a recipe that allows everybody to fashion their own meal the way they want to eat – a sure fired winner for picky eaters!
6 cups chicken broth (use veg broth if you. are looking for a vegetarian night!)
4 flattened but not minced garlic cloves – left whole
1 inch piece of ginger, sliced
4 green onion ends, white part only
3 tbsp light soy sauce (or low sodium soy sauce)
1 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp Shaoxing (chinese cooking wine)
1 tsp sesame oil
This is one of the quickest broth recipes I’ve ever made, and it is absolutely delicious. Ready in only 30 minutes, that gives you enough time to prep all the delightful ingredients you want to complete your lunch or dinner.
Heat a little neutral oil in a deep pot and lightly toast the garlic cloves, ginger slices and white parts of green (spring) onions. As soon as they are lightly roasted, add the broth, soy sauce, sugar, Shaoxing, and sesame oil. Bring to a gentle boil, and then turn down and simmer for 30 minutes. You can do this as early as you like and just keep it warm until you are ready to eat. When ready to serve scoop out the aromatics and you have a lovely clear broth to enjoy with as many fill ins as your bowl can hold.
Serve with: Any or all of the following!
Cooked ramen, udon or egg noodles
Vegetables (cooked in the broth if you like!)
Fresh bean sprouts
Cooked wontons
shredded chicken
cooked seafood
Garnish your bowl with the slivered green onion tops, toasted sesame seeds and cilantro. Serve alongside hot sauce and hoisin sauce if anybody wants to add a bit more punch.
I usually have another pot of boiling water on the go that I first cook the noodles in, then lightly blanch vegetables (bok choy, spinach, bell peppers, zucchini, snap peas). Frozen wontons (purchased or homemade) can also be cooked in this water. I find that if you cook everything in your seasoned broth it dilutes the seasoning and results in a cloudy broth. Both still good, but you may need to adjust seasonings.
Use whatever you like to create your own bowl – we love a combination of lightly cooked and fresh vegetables, as well as plenty of herbs – top it all with peanuts or cashews, sesame seeds and more herbs. Don’t forget a drizzle of chile oil if you like the heat!
This bowl featured lightly sauteed bok choy, and a pile of fresh veg – cucumbers, radish, tomato, fresh herbs and scattered with fresh chives.another night we sauteed peppers and zucchini, adding mint and basil with chopped peanuts
Cooking the bright flavours of Vietnam are the only way we can travel there right now and this one bowl was packed with lightly carmelized pork patties, tender rice, sautéed vegetables and the crunch of pickled vegetables. Finish it all off with fresh vibrant herbs and peanut crumbles. Don’t forget the nuoc cham to drizzle over! In Vietnam this is often served with enough of the nuoc cham to make you think it is a soup, here I just drizzle enough to make each bite sing! You can easily serve with rice noodles instead of the rice, but we sure do miss fresh rice noodles in Vietnam, so we often use rice. I guess I have to figure out how to make fresh rice noodles at home…
MEATBALLS
8-10 ounces ground pork
1 tbsp fish sauce
2 tsp white sugar
1/3 cup finely sliced green onions
1 clove minced garlic
1/4 tsp each freshly ground white pepper and sea salt
Oil – for frying.
NUOC CHAM
3 tbsp white sugar
3 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice
1/3 cup warm water
3 cloves minced garlic
1 small birds eye chili (or 1/2 tsp chili pepper flakes)
PICKLED VEGETABLES
This is really just a guideline – use whatever vegetables you think complement the vegetables that you are sautéing.
2 cups very thinly sliced vegetables – use a mandolin if possible
In a bowl mix up the vegetables, and toss with 1/2 tbsp each salt and sugar, then pour over:
3/4 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup warm water
Make this at least an hour before dinner to allow the quick pickling to work.
INSTRUCTIONS
Mix all the nuoc cham ingredients together and set aside to allow those flavours to get to know each other.
Mix all the meatball ingredients together and form meatballs, then pat down into little patties.
In a lightly oiled fry pan fry all the patties until they are golden brown and slightly sticky.
SERVING
Pork patties
Sautéed vegetables of your choice
Cooked rice or rice noodles
Pickled vegetables
roughly chopped roasted peanuts, basil, cilantro & mint
Centre the rice or noodles in the bowl, and circle that with the pork patties, sautéed vegetables, pickled vegetables and drizzle with the nuoc cham. Finish with a sprinkle of fresh herbs and peanuts. Dig in! Serve with a little bowl of the nuoc cham to dip your pork into for a little extra juiciness.
Sliced steak, grilled vegetables, Mexican seasoned rice and a refreshing tomato cilantro garnish – top it all off with this Chipotle Honey Vinaigrette and you’ve got a winning dinner.
We love a good dinner bowl that packs a lot of flavour. This dressing kicks everything up a notch with the combination of sweet, smoky and spicy. I use it on everything, and tonight it did triple duty as a dressing to brush on vegetables before grilling, a marinade for the steak and then a drizzle over the completed dish.
1/2 cup avocado oil
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce
2 tbsp honey
1 garlic clove
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp sea salt
freshly ground pepper to taste
Combine all ingredients in a blender and simply whizz it up until smooth and creamy.
RICE
In the same blender you used for the dressing, whiz up 1 tomato, 1 garlic clove, 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp chicken stock and some minced cilantro stems. Supplement that with water to give you enough for your usual ratio of water/rice.
VEGETABLES
Season the vegetables with the dressing above and grill until just cooked and still slightly crisp.
STEAK
Brush the steaks with a little of the dressing above and allow to sit at room temperature for 1 hour – Grill to desired temperature. We like ours medium rare.
GARNISH
Quarter mini tomatoes and mince up cilantro. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and give it all a squeeze of lime.
Pile it all on top of the rice and drizzle the dressing over – I guarantee you will be making this on repeat. Go ahead and buy the good steak – you don’t need much to complete your dinner.
I think this would work equally well with any protein you chose to make – and at this time of year when the vegetables are coming in strong locally it would make an amazing vegetarian meal if you just added more of a variety of vegetables. I missed grilling onions tonight and I think that would have added a great punch of flavour.
The vinaigrette came from Love and Lemons, a great website with so many amazing recipes.
Is there anything better than a vinaigrette that you want to use on everything? I doubt it. We’ve used it to dress up grilled vegetables, served it drizzled over a Mexican steak bowl, and of course just as dressing for a simple salad. The added bonus is that this is the easiest dressing to make.
Use it in a variety of ways – today it was drizzled over a Mexican Steak Bowl, and it was perfect with the combination of sweet, smoky and spicy.
1/2 cup avocado oil
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
1 chipotle pepper from a can of chipotle in adobo sauce
2 tbsp honey
1 garlic clove
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp sea salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste
The directions are embarrassingly easy ….. simply toss it all in a blender and let it whizz until everything is creamy and smooth. The combination of chipotle, honey and lime is brilliant.
Grilled steak and vegetables, served over a bed of Mexi style rice and garnished with a juicy fresh tomato and cilantro salad. This dressing is amazing.
This recipe came from the the Love and Lemons website, and you can be sure anything from Jeanine Donofrio is going to be delicious.
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