If you’re like I used to be, you try to get some exercise occasionally.  Actually, my efforts constituted more than trying for several years.  I rose before the sun at least four mornings a week on good weeks, stumbled into my car, and drove to my friend’s house hoping that my light knocking on her door wouldn’t wake the dogs.  I often felt that our trudging through the dark streets, sweating up one hill and huffing down the next had little effect.  Of course, my stamina had definitely improved, I no longer wheezed when trotting up the stairs, and most of my clothes fit better.  Unfortunately, the scale and I haven’t had an amiable relationship for years, so I rarely factored its results into my evaluation about whether my toiling was having any kind of noticeable effect.

How sad.

The last seven months of no exercise have taken their toll.  Although I’ve chosen to completely avoid my scale so can’t have the bad news confirmed, and my clothes haven’t quite taken on the appearance of a wet suit, I’ve begun to puff when I walk up stairs again.  My knees hurt, and my feet feel as if they’re carrying around a pack mule’s load.  So with little fanfare, and conscientiously avoiding any talk of a resolution, I’ve promised myself to take better care of my body.  I know how to do this and so I will.  It doesn’t mean giving anything up;  it means paying attention to what I eat, and how much.

It also means I have to get out of bed before the sun at least four mornings a week.  My good friend will join me two of those days, and I’m hoping I can get my husband to at least think about it on the other two. In the meantime, indulge me my veggies.

Have you ever made spring rolls with rice paper?

Not Quite Authentic Spring Rolls

For the spring rolls…

Spring roll wrappers (Bahn Trang)

basil

cilantro

mint

cucumber

carrots

green onions

snap peas

avocado

cooked shrimp *optional*

For the dipping sauce…

6 T soy sauce

6 T rice vinegar

squeeze of fresh lemon

3 T sesame oil

2 tsp. ginger, freshly grated

sriracha

To prepare the spring roll wrappers, layer a few paper towels onto the counter and dampen them.  Pour warm water into a wide-bottomed bowl.  The water should be very warm, but not so much that you can’t dip your hand into it.  Place one of the wrappers into the water to soften completely, about 15 seconds or so.  Remove to the paper toweling.

Layer basil first, then the vegetables, followed by a couple of shrimp, then the mint and cilantro onto the wrapper.  Fold one portion over the filling tightly, fold in the sides, then roll snugly until completely wrapped.

Cut in half, dip, and crunch away.

Notes:

• You can find the spring roll wrappers at your local Asian market, or if you’re lucky, Whole Foods.  They’re made of rice, salt, and water and can be delicate until you get the hang of softening them in the warm water.
• It’s fun to change the fillings to whatever you enjoy.  I like loading them with fresh, raw veggies because they’re so healthy, and quite filling.  Two or three are plenty.
• The dipping sauce is fun to play around with as well.  Mine is an adaptation of a salad dressing I got from the back of a bag of soy bean sprouts.  We’ve tried a peanut dipping sauce which is also good.
• If you’re thinking about calories and counting on this, the wrappers are about 30 calories each.  Not bad.  Not bad at all.

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Halloween officially launches the party season as far as I'm concerned.  It's not like we have a calendar full of swanky events scheduled…I'm counting zero right now…, but having any excuse to get together constitutes a party.  Why not?  Football, the holidays, and…..Election Night!  Whether it's a raucous group of good friends, or a more tame cocktail get together, the occasion is always better if the food is excellent.

And speaking of excellent, what could be better than a dish that can be a dip or a salad?  It's elegant, it's healthy, and oh my goodness, it's delicious.

The first time I made this, my brother dug in with a tortilla chip and popped it in his mouth, asking between chews and mmmming, "What is this?"

"Raw fish," I responded.  "Good, huh?"

And he thought he didn't like avocados or fish — let alone raw fish.

Spicy Tuna and Avocado
prepare 1 hour before serving

1 yellowfin tuna steak, extremely fresh
4 T extra virgin olive oil
1/1 tsp. sesame oil
zest of 1 lime
juice of 1 lime
1/2 tsp. wasabi powder
1-1/2 tsp. light soy sauce
Sriracha hot sauce to taste (8-10 shakes)
1-1/2 tsp. kosher salt
3 green onions, sliced thinly
1 minced roasted jalapeno, seeds removed
1 ripe, firm avocado, diced
1 tsp. black sesame seeds

Using an extremely sharp knife, cut tuna into 1/4-inch slices, then cut those slices into 1/4-inch pieces.  You should have fairly small evenly cut pieces.  Place in a medium bowl.

Mix together olive oil, sesame oil, lime zest and juice, wasabi, soy sauce, hot sauce, and salt.  Pour over the tuna, then add the onions and jalapeno.  Gently toss.

Dice the avocado (see notes) and carefully incorporate into the tuna mixture.  Sprinkle on the sesame seeds and refrigerate until serving.

Notes:

• This recipe is an adaptation of Ina Garten's Tuna Tartare.  My best friend introduced me to it and have loved it ever since.  Each time I make it, the recipe changes a bit.
• Sriracha sauce is a type of hot sauce — very hot sauce.  You can use any of your favorite hot sauces, or adjust the quantity of this.  The recipe isn't the same without the spice.
• The lime juice is important in this, and limes don't produce the same amount of juice.  Start with less, taste and adjust just like when seasoning.
• Make sure the tuna is very, very fresh. It will be a bright, deep pink and not smell fishy.
• Roast the jalapeno whole in a hot skillet, under the broiler or over an open flame until blackened.  Let rest covered about 15 minutes, then peel off blackened skin, remove stem and seeds and mince.
• To cut the avocado, slice in half around the seed.  Grab each side, and twist in opposite directions.  To remove the seed, with a sharp knife, hack into the seed once with enough pressure to get the knife to stick, then twist the knife gently and lift the seed out.  To dice, with the peelings still on, score completely through each half making a grid.  Invert the halves and gently push off the cubes.  Here is a demonstration.
• As a dip, serve with tortilla chips, crackers, or seeded flat breads.
• As a salad, place on a bed of salad greens and save a bit of the soy sauce oil mixture to drizzle around the greens.

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My hunkster is more than a little dismayed about the weight he gained over the busy season this year, so guess what we’ve been eating?

Salad.  Lots of it.

But we’re regular salad eaters, so this isn’t dismal news.  I just make the salad the main course when we’re feeling tubby.  My lanky almost sixteen-year-old son tolerates it for a couple of days and then invariably wants to know where the meat is.

Lettuce in Your Kitchen by Chris Schlesinger and John Willoughby was a birthday present from a good friend many years ago.  One of the most frequent ways I’ve used it is to get dressing ideas.  I don’t have difficulty putting salad ingredients together ever.  But I do struggle from time to time with more than the same old citrus based dressing I tend to rely upon.

It had been quite some time since I made what is often referred to as a Chinese Chicken Salad, and although I was in the mood for something Asian inspired, I didn’t want canned mandarin oranges, or any fruit, for that matter, in our dinner.  At least not this week.  Give us time, and we’ll be desperate.

So I settled on a crunchy combination of vegetables with sauteed chicken and a dressing I altered because although I loved the sound of the ingredients, the quantities were pretty bold — especially the sugar.  There’s no point in eating salad if the dressing is loaded with calories, right?

Asian Inspired Chicken Salad with Sesame Ginger Dressing

Dressing
1/4 c. vegetable oil
1-2 T sesame oil
1/3 c. rice wine vinegar
1/4 c. soy sauce
2 T fresh minced ginger
salt & pepper to taste

In a small jar with a lid, mix all ingredients and shake.  Taste and adjust flavors to your liking.  Pour over salad and toss, or pass around to pour on individual salads.

Salad
4 boneless chicken breasts
1/2 small head savoy cabbage, shredded
1 head romaine lettuce, chopped
1 c. snap peas
1/2 large red pepper, sliced thin
1 large carrot, peeled and sliced
4 green onions, chopped
1-1/2 c. bean sprouts
1/2 c. cilantro, coarsely chopped
1/8 c. roasted sunflower seeds

Season chicken pieces and saute in a bit of olive oil until both sides are golden brown and the meat is no longer pink.  Set aside to cool, then cut into large pieces.  Set aside.

In a very large bowl, add romaine, then savoy.  Arrange chicken pieces around the exterior, filling the center with carrots, peas, red peppers, onions, and cilantro.  Sprinkle bean sprouts around the exterior, and toss in the sunflower seeds.

Notes:

• The original dressing called for 1/3 c. sesame oil, 1/2 c. soy sauce, and 1/4 c. sugar!  I should try harder to give recipes I haven’t tried a break before I adjust them, but I couldn’t get past so much sesame oil.  Two tablespoons added plenty of flavor without overpowering the other flavors.
• And the sugar?  No comment.  If sweetness is something you enjoy, some honey would be nice in this.
• This is a huge salad that nicely stuffed the four of us.  I would think that with all the chewing we did, some calories were burned in the process maybe?

Cheers!

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There’s an Asian market very near to where I take my son for guitar lessons each Thursday afternoon.  It’s a dangerous place for me because every aisle contains ingredients for dishes I’ve often wanted to make, but was too lazy to find out where I might drive to purchase them before now.  Who would think that a market called Ranch 99 sold Asian food?  Certainly not me. 

Do I really need yet another excuse to buy food? I already shop at too many grocery stores as it is.  I do have a regular market that I won’t ever give up because I know where everything is in the entire store.   And then there’s Trader Joe’s.  They have an eclectic assortment of yummy things at rock bottom prices — especially in the deli and dairy.  But most of the time, they won’t have something I can’t live without, and that forces me to cross the street to pick up the rest of my list at Henry’s.  Henry’s is a Wild Oats store.  You know, bins full of flour and trail mix, or rolled oats.  On special occasions, I go to Whole Foods just because I love the produce and fresh seafood, meat, and deli counters. 

Now, I’ve found the Asian market.  *sigh*

If it wasn’t bad enough the first time I oogled my way through the store, the second time, I grabbed noodles and hot sauce and baby bok choy that was only 69 cents a pound.  There’s no way I could pass that up, even if I already had baby bok choy at home in the fridge.  You just never know when baby bok choy might come in handy.

But what happened always happens.  By the time I unpacked it all, I realized there was no way I could actually cook what I’d purchased. It makes me remember the days I actually used to be organized about all of this. There’s only so much food that three of us can eat.

A few days passed.  Maybe more than a few.  Regardless, so many passed that I noticed the bok choy sprouting blooms.  No water — just plenty of light from the window, and a snug wrap in the plastic it was packaged in.  Then the blooms actually grew some more.

Clearly, I had to do something with this lovely vegetable that was trying so hard to get my attention.

Garlic Beef with Shiitake Mushrooms was the answer.

1 lb. sirloin sliced very thin
1-1/2 tsp. corn oil
1/2 lb. shiitake mushrooms, stems removed, and sliced
4 cloves chopped garlic
1-1/2 tsp. grated fresh ginger
3/4 lb. snow peas
3 baby bok choy, quartered lengthwise
2 T. rice wine
3/4 lb. taiwanese noodles, pan fried

Beef Marinade

3-1/2 T soy sauce
2 T rice wine
2 T minced chopped garlic
1 T cornstarch

Oyster Sauce

1-1/2 c. beef broth
6 T oyster sauce
1-1/2 T rice wine
1 tsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. toasted sesame oil
1-1/2 T cornstarch

Cut the sirloin into slices as thin as you can get them.  For very best results, ask the meat cutter to do it for you.  If this isn’t possible, make sure the meat is slightly frozen.  Combine beef with marinade in a plastic bag and let sit while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

Mix all ingredients for the oyster sauce together and set aside.

Prepare noodles according to the package directions.  Usually, the noodles are soft and need to be cooked for about 3 minutes in boiling water, then drained before adding to a skillet with oil to be fried.  To fry the noodles, spread them across the bottom of the pan and let sizzle until you can tell they’ve begun to hold together.  Using a wide spatula (or two) flip the noodles to the other side to brown as well.  Keep warm until serving.

Heat a large skillet (or wok) over high heat.  Add the oil and heat until very hot.  Add the beef slices and stir-fry until no longer pink.  If your beef is very thin, this will happen quickly.  Pour beef into a bowl and set aside. 

Add more oil to the skillet if necessary, and when hot, add shiitakes, garlic, and ginger, stir-frying until heated — about a minute.  Then add the bok choy, stir-frying until heated, the white parts begin to lightly brown, and the greens to wilt.  Add the snow peas and rice wine and stir-fry for less than 2 minutes.

Add the oyster sauce and cook, stirring constantly until thickened.

Add the beef to the vegetables and mix lightly.

Cut the noodles into quarters, and spoon the beef over to serve.

Notes:  This was surprisingly good.  Although we expected to enjoy it, we didn’t think we’d enjoy it as much as we did.  I found the original recipe in a Google search about an hour before starting the prep.  I’d been scanning my magazines and cookbooks for something we had all the ingredients for, and couldn’t find anything.  Three ingredient Google searches always work.  It’s amazing.  And, I was able to use much of what I purchased, except for the bok choy, which was on the menu a few more times that week.

I purchased the beef already cut (1/16"), artfully arranged, packaged, and frozen at the Asian market.  I saw it and had to buy it because I knew I’d find some creative way to use it.  The first dish I used it in (which won’t be posted because I have no photos…), I  briefly marinated it and then wrapped it around a few pieces of thin asparagus before putting it under the broiler.  No recipe — just fun on a Friday evening.

The rice wine is something I can purchase at my regular market:  Kikkoman’s "manjo" Aji-Mirin or sweet cooking rice wine works fine.  I probably need to see what the Asian market has to offer in the way of rice wine, but I barely have room in my cupboard as it is, so I used what I had. The original recipe, which can be found here, says that sake can be used instead of rice wine.  Sake seems to be the only ingredient I didn’t purchase at the Asian market! 

I used a large skillet because I no longer own a wok.  It took up too much room in my cupboard, and my skillet works just fine.  It’s all about making sure the heat is high enough to cook the food without burning it, but keeping it as crisp and fresh as possible.  My husband loves to do the skillet thing, so he was on this task.  Of course, I wasn’t quite sure my skillet would every be the same again!

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At some point, a little turkey goes a very long way.  Or perhaps it’s the larger portions of food, or the dessert you forgot to send with your guests in little take away containers.

Regardless, we end up needing something light and easy for dinner so that we can recover briefly before the next round of holiday eating begins.  These lettuce wraps are perfect for that.

I think the first time I had lettuce wraps was at P.F. Chang’s.  The idea of a lettuce wrap was so perfect (tasty, crunchy, not filling) that I had to try and come up with my own after I got home.  Since experimenting, I’ve come across other versions and try out their ideas, too.

Each time I make lettuce wraps, the recipe is a bit different because I’m trying something new, or I only have available certain ingredients.  There are a couple of ingredients we have to have each time, however, because to us, that’s what makes the wrap.  Since the lettuce is a no-brainer, celery and water chestnuts are it.

Types of Ingredients

Oil:  1 tsp. peanut oil, or 1/2 tsp. sesame oil and 1/2 tsp. canola

Meat:  I usually use lean pork.  This can be in the form of leftovers, or from a lone chop in the freezer.  This time, I used very lean ground pork that Farmer John puts out.  Chicken is also good — especially if it’s been marinated.

Wrap:  Iceberg lettuce works best because we enjoy the fresh crunch when the first bite is taken.  Butter lettuce works best, however, as the pieces have more flexibility and there’s less breakage and the resulting need to grab a fork to scoop up what’s fallen on your plate.

Veggies:  Chopped celery, carrots, sugar peas, green onions, and bell peppers are excellent.  This time, I added both yellow and red peppers, sugar peas, and celery.

Other:  Water chestnuts are a favorite ingredient because their crunch adds nicely to the mix.

Flavoring:  Garlic! Chopped cilantro adds a nice flavor, but basil is also good.  Or neither works just fine.

Sauce:  Soy Sauce by itself is okay, but I’ve also tried bottled stir fry sauces and splashes of Asian-style marinades.  I usually have hoisin sauce in the cupboard or fridge, so I used it this time and think it tastes best. I’ve never made it before, but there’s an interesting recipe here I’m going to give a go tonight just to see how it compares.

Heat:  Mixing a bit of chili paste into the soy sauce usually heats things up enough to satisfy the palate that needs a kick of spice.  Chopping up 1 T. of jalapeno, habanero, or Thai chili and adding it to the saute pan also works well.

Directions


I don’t have a wok any more, so just use a very large saute pan.  It’s easy to put all the ingredients in it, let them soften and brown, and then stir gradually to incorporate them into the filling.

After the mix has been created, I add about 2 T. of hoisun sauce, stir well, and then add the cilantro.

To get the lettuce ready, cut the end of the lettuce out of the head and carefully pull and entire leaf away from the head from the bottom instead of peeling from the top.  This helps to keep the leaf from snapping.

The wraps work best if they’re not overloaded with filling.  A couple of heaping tablespoons (tableware) work just fine.

It’s a good idea to serve rice or noodles with these, as the men in the house usually look at me and wonder where the rest of the food is.  But I enjoy them because the flavor is outstanding, there’s much to crunch, and they’re healthy!  Plus, the possibilities are endless for the filling.  Experiment with the flavors and ingredients you enjoy best.

Cheers!

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